The Flashback malware which was found to be infecting over 650,000 Macs at its peak was earning its creators up to $10,000 a day, according to security specialists Symantec. The OSX.Flashback.K trojan, which is believed to be the largest Mac infection to date, is designed to steal page views and advertising revenue from Google.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has promised to investigate Apple’s claims of 4G connectivity for the new iPad in the United Kingdom after the Cupertino company failed to remove all references to ‘4G’ from its U.K. online store. Although the device boasts 4G capabilities, they are not available in the U.K. where there are currently no 4G networks.
If you have been reading Ken Segall’s new book about Apple, Insanely Simple, then you’ll recognize the hallmarks of simplicity all over JawBone’s work. Even the e-mail containing the press release for its new speaker reads as little more than “Jawbone just released a BIG JAMBOX.”
That’s what it’s called. The BIG JAMBOX. And from its name, you know almost all there is to know about it.
There is perhaps no name in the world of hacking as legendary as Geohot. George Hotz was the first person to unlock the original iPhone back in 2007. He was 17 years old at the time. He also released multiple jailbreaks, including “purplera1n” for the iPhone 3GS. Hotz later went on to hack the PlayStation 3 and battle Sony in a high-profile lawsuit.
In a recent profile by The New Yorker, we get a fascinating look at Hotz and several stories from his career as a prolific, self-taught hacker.
When Apple introduced the MacBook Air without an optical drive, everyone freaked out. “How on earth will we be able to watch all of our DVDs and listen to our CDs?” cried the internet. And sure, totally disowning physical media with a disk drive-less laptop may have been a little preemptive of Apple back in 2008, but the times have changed since then. We live in a world of digital media and digital software distribution. The success of services like Netflix and the Mac App Store proves that.
With rumors saying that Apple will introduce new and improved Macs in the coming weeks, what can we expect? Faster processors? Solid-state hard drives? Retina displays? While these features certainly seem to be on the table, there’s also the chance that Apple’s next-gen MacBook Pro will sport significant physical changes. Namely, we could finally see the optical drive retire from the MacBook line once and for all.
Apple’s iTunes Match service is rolling out to more countries across the globe, including Italy, Greece and Portugal. The music storage and streaming service can be purchased directly in the iTunes Store.
This marks Apple’s second major international rollout of iTunes Match to date, following the service’s expansion to parts of Latin America and Europe back in January.
Take a look under your desk at that power-strip. My guess is that, even though it is probably overloaded with another power-strip plugged into it, there are at least a couple of spare sockets. It’s not that you don’t need them — it’s that you can use them thanks to all the awkward-shaped adapters jammed into it. If only you could bend and twist your power-strip to get better access to its hard-to-reach holes…
Cult of Mac Deals has what our readers have called “the best giveaway yet” — and it’s really hard to argue that.
It’s a giveaway that will level up your productivity…because we’re offering you a chance to win a bundle that contains all of The Omni Group’s top Mac apps!
This giveaway is valued at $580 — and it’s one that you definitely want to have in your Mac toolbox!
Earlier in this day, we reported on a New York Times piece in which the paper claimed that Apple was using a variety of measure to avoid paying U.S. income tax. It turns out that the Times based key pieces of its information on a study that had been discredited two weeks prior.
The data used by the Times included a report by the Greenlining Institute, which made errors in computing Apple’s supposed tax rate at 9.8% for the 2011. The data used by the report effectively compared Apple’s 2011 profit with taxes paid by the company for profits in 2010 and drew unfounded conclusions as a result.
The iPad has a pretty slick feature that you can access when it’s in the locked state. If you look to the bottom right of the lock screen, you’ll see an icon that looks like a picture of a little flower. Tap that and your iPad will start a slideshow of all the photos it has onboard. The default slideshow is fun, especially if you have your iPad up on display, but you don’t have to settle for the default settings. Today’s tip shows you how to change them to your heart’s content.
When it comes to our mobile devices and the operating systems we use, we can sometimes be a bit defensive and downright vile. We’re usually quick to make a joke or two at the expense of one another, but in the end, we’re all human, and most of us are surprisingly close friends who frequently kick back and enjoy a cold beer together (even if some of us accidentally leave our prototypes behind). That’s why this next invention will have tech-loving beer connoisseurs foaming at the mouth (literally).
Remember the IKEA cardboard camera that popped up in a Milan press goody-bag last week? It turns out that it was actually a thing — IKEA is billing it as the “world’s cheapest digital camera,” and it should be going on sale in the Swedish giant’s labyrinthine stores soon.
Like the rest of the BookBook range, Twelve South’s BookBook for iPhone ($60) is a luxury, handmade leather wallet case that’s designed to look like a pocket-sized vintage book. Not only will it lovingly house your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S, but it also features three credit card pockets, and a larger pouch for notes and bills.
The BookBook is available in a dark tan brown leather, and every one is hand-distressed to ensure each one is a little bit unique. As you’d expect, the case provides access to your iPhone’s dock connector; headphone jack; mute switch; and volume, home, and sleep/wake buttons.
Readers, your desperate wish to have Monty Python in your pocket everywhere you go has finally – finally – been granted. With Python Bytes on your iOS device, you need never be far from a quick spurt of Pythonism whenever you feel the need for it.
So whether you must hear the Parrot Sketch while waiting for the bus, or would like to pass the time in dull corporate meetings by watching Michael Palin do the Lumberjack Song, or simply enjoy seeing John Cleese in a pink bra; whatever the circumstances, this is the app for you. Possibly.
Going camping this spring? And by “camping” I mean hiking or biking with your home on your back, and heading out into the wilderness. I don’t mean loading up your SUV and dragging a grill, a tent the size of a European house and enough ball games to keep an entire schools-worth of kids occupied for a month.
So, if you’re heading out under your own power, how about taking a stove that a) requires no liquid fuel, b) burns fast and hot and c) charges your iPhone? What’s not to like?
Tim Schroeder has created two similar, but slightly different, apps for getting your hands on stuff you’ve used recently on your Mac.
Recent Redux is a more full-featured app, priced at $3.99 on the App Store. Recent Menu is its cheaper little sibling.
A jailbreak tweak called Forecast presents a handy weather widget on your iPhone’s lock screen for displaying current weather and the weekly forecast. Powered by Apple’s own Weather app, Forecast replaces the standard time and date at the top of your iPhone’s lock screen. Weather info is displayed on the right while the time is still displayed on the top left of the lock screen, giving you the best of both worlds.
There’s an unforeseen cost for companies as workers become more mobile and trends like BYOD become ever more common. It isn’t the cost of a mobile management solution, deploying iOS apps, or even supporting iPads and iPhones that users want to use to connect to the work email and other business resources.
What is this hidden cost? Wi-Fi.
Popular iOS Twitter client Tweetbot has been updated with several new features and improvements in the App Store. Version 2.3 for iPhone and iPad is available now with more gestures, added timeline thumbnail support, and more. Storify and Droplr integration has also been included for sharing Twitter conversations and media/links with followers.
Last week we brought you some amazing software tools to change the way you watch video on your iPad, iPhone, and Mac. Digiarty’s MacX DVD Ripper Pro Streamer Edition software is being given away free to all Cult of Mac readers until May 2nd. Not only can this easy-to-use software package rip your DVD collection and put the movies on your Mac, but it can also stream the files to your iPad or iPhone.
But wait, it gets better. Digiarty has also decided to throw in their MacX Video Converter Pro software as well, so you can convert any video file into something that will play on your iPad or iPhone. MacX Video Converter Pro will convert MKC, M2TS, AVCHD, AVI, WMV, and YouTube FLV videos files into to MP4 & h264 files that are friendly with the iPad and iPhone.
Another sweet feature of MacX Video Converter Pro is that it can download website video from YouTube, Vimeo, MySpace, Metacafe, etc. Now your favorite viral Internet videos can be saved on your computer for you to use whenever you want. Remix your favorite cat videos. Create new Rebecca Black and Madonna GIFs. Or just do something crazy amazing like mashing up the Lion King with The Dark Knight Rises. What you do is up to you, but you have to enter the giveaway to get your free copy.
Here’s how to get your copy:
It’s hard to believe a mobile game franchise that’s about four years old could be more popular than ever but that seems to be the case with the uber-popular Angry Birds. Today, Rovio announced their latest iteration, Angry Birds Space, has broken all previous records and surpassed 50 million downloads in just 35 days — making it one of the fastest growing mobile games of all time.
While it will be six months or longer before Microsoft releases Windows 8 and its companion products, the company has been putting out a lot of information about its plans lately. One big Windows 8 mystery to date is Windows for ARM based tablets. Formerly known as Windows on ARM (or WOA), the company recently settled on Windows RT as the official name for Windows 8 on low-cost ARM-based tablets.
Microsoft is very clearly positioning Windows RT tablets as iPad competitors for both the home and business markets. Until recently, there wasn’t much solid information about them beyond that they would include a touch optimized full version of Office. With the information released recently, however, there’s enough detail to speculate how Windows RT tablets will stack up to the iPad in business.
The jailbreakers among you will undoubtedly already be familiar with DreamBoard, an awesome tweak that quickly applies custom themes to an iOS device. It’s probably the easiest way to give your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch a nice new look, and therefore it’s extremely popular.
One shameless iOS developer is attempting to cash in on that popularity by creating a DreamBoard knockoff that is now available in the App Store for $2.99.
Patent Armageddon is set to take place in less than a month thanks to dates set by Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero. The settlement talks were originally ordered by Judge Lucy Koh of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, in hopes that Samsung and Apple’s CEOs and their chief lawyers could reach an agreement to end the 50+ lawsuits filed by the two.
Having already treated himself to the hugely popular photo-sharing service Instagram earlier this month, there’s talk that Mark Zuckerberg could now be eyeing up a potential takeover of Viddy, a service that is often described as “Instagram for videos.” It would be the perfect companion to Facebook’s latest purchase.