MicroTechXP

A rare Mac OS X Trojan has been spotted on the internet. The AppleScript-THT Trojan horse exploits a vulnerability within the Apple Remote Desktop Agent to load itself with root privileges onto compromised Mac machines. The malware, which is capable of infecting Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 boxes, surrenders control of compromised systems to hackers.
Keystroke logging on compromised systems, taking pictures (using the built-in Apple iSight camera) or capturing screenshots are among the hacker exploits enabled by the malware, Mac security outfit SecureMac reports. The malware weaves its malicious spell while attempting to remain undetected by opening ports in the firewall and turning off system logging.
View: The full story @ The Reg

I am a Windows XP user and I have tried Windows Vista on my computer and I can’t say I did not like it, but I can’t say I loved it. My experience was not that great because of horrible drivers  from nVidia (you make great cards but not drivers) and because my PC is older than 3 years. Yes I know, Vista was meant for a new computer and not for an old one with a Pentium 4 in it. Well I tried it and it ran smoothly until I wanted to play games or run multi-media applications.

After my experience with Vista I decided to revert back to Windows XP and wait until I get the new Intel Nehalem architecture latter this year and go back to Vista (hopefully Vista drivers from nVidia are much better). The experience showed me something though, it showed me what Vista needed and what it needed to improve upon. So I have made a list 7 things that I think that Windows 7 should have that will make Windows 7 a better operating system.

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It was ten years ago today that Steve Jobs mounted the Flint Center auditorium near Apple’s campus and revealed the product that would save Apple, and become the best selling computer of all time: the iMac. It is hard to believe that this cute little guy is ten years old, but it is true.
The original iMac came stocked with a 233MHz G3, 32MB of SDRAM (though you could bump it up to a whopping 128MB), a 4 gig harddrive, 2 USB ports, a CD-ROM drive (not a CD burner, Apple was late to that party), and an IrDA port. These specs might not make your heart skip a beat nowadays, but the iMac is the product that started Apple’s amazing turn around. It was the first mainstream computer to break with the past and offer only USB ports, no legacy connectors here. And it is worth noting that the iMac can also be attributed as the killer of the floppy disk.

View: Full story @ TUAW
Video: Steve Jobs introduces the iMac.

It may be the quickest $10,000 Charlie Miller ever earned.
He took the first of three laptop computers — and a $10,000 cash prize — Thursday after breaking into a MacBook Air at the CanSecWest security conference’s PWN 2 OWN hacking contest.
Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810, and the MacBook as prizes, saying that they could be won by anybody at the show who could find a way to hack into each of them and read the contents of a file on the system using a previously undisclosed “0day” attack.
Within 2 minutes, he directed the contest’s organizers to visit a Web site that contained his exploit code, which then allowed him to seize control of the computer, as about 20 onlookers cheered him on. He was the first contestant to attempt an attack on any of the systems.
Miller was quickly given a nondisclosure agreement to sign, and he’s not allowed to discuss particulars of his bug until the contest’s sponsor, TippingPoint, can notify the vendor.
Contest rules state that Miller could only take advantage of software that was preinstalled on the Mac, so the flaw he exploited must have been accessible by, or possibly inside, Apple’s Safari browser. [Yahoo! News]

Might Apple have interest in gaming beyond its pokey iPod gaming offerings? Maybe, when you consider that the company has recently applied to expand its trademark into the realm of gaming. The new filing was made on February 5, and has not yet been assigned to an examining attorney.

The trademark filing seeks to extend the “APPLE” (text) trademark to cover a wide swath of the gaming world, to with:

“Toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video ga mes; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games.” (emphasis added.)

Tradmork, who first unearthed the application and contacted us about it, suggests that this could be the first credible evidence that Apple might build a gaming machine. The question is, does this filing suggest anything more than the iPod gaming that already exists? [Arstechnica]

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Apple has started quietly shipping 64-bit Windows Vista drivers (for Boot Camp) with the install disks of the latest Mac Pros which were just released earlier this month. The installation instructions that come with the new Mac Pros specify this new feature:

Important: You must use a single full-install Windows installation disc (Service Pack 2 is required for Windows XP installations). Do not use an upgrade version of Windows and do not install an earlier version of Windows XP and attempt to update it later to SP2 or later. Use only 32-bit versions of Windows. If you have a Mac Pro introduced in late 2007 or later, you can use a 64-bit version of Windows Vista.

The finding has been confirmed by multiple users. No indication if these drivers will become available with the next Mac OS X update. Mac OS X 10.5.2 has been undergoing testing and is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Leopard’s Boot Camp feature allows owners of Intel-based Macs to natively boot into Windows.  [Macrumors]

You could hear the collective sigh from the crowd. When Steve Jobs unveiled the newest member of the Macintosh fold, the skinny MacBook Air laptop, the Mac-faithful sighed with pleasure. But it was just a momentary exhale.

Once the magnetic effect of Jobs’ personality wore off, even fans who had lined up by the thousands at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco to hear Jobs Tuesday morning were groaning. 

“Lame,” said software developer Jukka Laiho, when asked for his opinion of the keynote address.

It didn’t help matters that Laiho was one of hundreds of attendees who arrived early, only to be shut out of the keynote as the show’s organizers tried to suck in a long line of people. “I woke up at 5 o’clock this morning and stood three hours in queue, only to miss the first 50 minutes of it,” Laiho groused.

Is Apple’s MacBook Air, with its $1,799 price tag, a machine you want? One you need? Will you buy one this year? Weigh in. Add your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below.

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Steve Jobs took the stage this morning at the Macworld Conference & Expo to exhort the Mac faithful and announce a handful of new products.
MacBook Air
The rumors were true. Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s latest portable, the $1,799 MacBook Air, which he called the “world’s thinnest notebook.” Dissing Sony’s TX series, Jobs said that other subnotebook manufacturers inevitably compromise on the display, have mini-keyboards, and run too slowly due to heat issues.
Specs:

• 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo
• 80GB 1.8″ Hard Drive standard, optional 64GB solid-state drive
• 0.76″ thick at thickest point, weighs 3lbs.
• 2GB RAM
• 5 hours of battery life
• $1,799 for 1.6GHz, 80GB HD model; $3,099 for 1.8GHz, 64GB SSD model
• Full aluminum case

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Crave hangs with people in high places — that’s how we get exclusives and free food. A few weeks ago we were having a civilised dinner with our friends at Asus and angling for cool stories when we were told in a very hushed manner: "Asus is helping Apple build a Tablet PC."
We’re tempted to ignore all Apple rumours because there’s just so many of them, but this rings true because Asus is Apple’s contract manufacturer. It’s one of the companies responsible for building the iBooks, PowerBooks and MacBooks of this world, so when their guys tell us they’re building an Apple Tablet, we believe them.
We checked back with our source at Asus on a different day and they confirmed that the Apple Tablet will not be based on existing Asus designs such as the R1. It will come from a completely new blueprint, possibly based on the patent Apple filed back in May 2005. We’re guessing it’ll be based on Intel Core architecture, a tweaked version of Leopard, and have all the multi-touch, CoverFlow goodness we’ve seen in the iPhone and iPod touch.
So, can Apple turn the Tablet PC into a success when previous attempts have failed? The short answer is ‘yes’. Any company that can make a mobile phone with no buttons, no picture messaging, slow Web access and no video capture into the most desirable phone on the planet can easily make tablets popular.
Sadly, we’ve no word on when we can expect the Apple Tablet PC, nor what the final specs will be, but you can bet your bottom dollar it’s being built as you read this. Mac fanboys rejoice. [Cnet Crave]

Apple said Tuesday that it sold over two million copies of Mac OS X Leopard since its release on Friday, far outpacing the first-weekend sales of Mac OS X Tiger, which was previously the most successful OS release in the company’s history.
Sales included copies sold at Apple’s retail stores, Apple Authorized Resellers, the online Apple Store, under maintenance agreements and bundled with new Mac computers. In comparison, it took the Cupertino-based Mac maker approximately six weeks to ship its 2 millionth copy of Mac OS X Tiger back in 2005.
"Early indications are that Leopard will be a huge hit with customers," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. "Leopard’s innovative features are getting great reviews and making more people than ever think about switching to the Mac."
Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X and is packed with more than 300 new features. Among them is Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; and major enhancements to Mail and iChat. [AppleInsider]