Written by Benny Ling | 03 February 2012
Posted in Apple

A company called Passware has revealed they can crack Lion's full-disk encryption as used in FileVault 2 in under an hour. Their software, also by the same name, uses a FireWire connection to inspect the computer's memory in order to extract the encryption key — which can then be used to crack the password. Of course, there are several caveats to this kind of security: if an individual has physical access to your machine, you've likely got more issues to worry about. Plus, the software isn't cheap at US $995.

Mac OS X 10.7.3 has hit Software Update, which means you can update your machines at your leisure. It's a relatively minor update, but it does add support for a few new languages, as well as fix a few issues here and there. If you have a few machines to update or have been burnt by delta updates before, make sure you grab the combo update from the Apple website.

Written by Benny Ling | 02 February 2012
Posted in Apple

Apple has released a significant update to Final Cut Pro X that adds a few features in order to play catch up with some of the features requested by video pros. The second update brings the version number up to 10.0.3, but I wouldn't be fooled — the new version adds multicam editing capabilities, advanced chroma keying, and improved XML support for greater compatibility with third party plugins. Some video pros are still saying it's "too little, too late" from Apple, but if nothing else, adding such significant features means that Apple is at least trying to do the right thing.

ZFS support was slated to become a very cool new feature in Snow Leopard, but that didn't happen. Thanks to Apple's former chief ZFS architect, though, you can now use ZFS on Lion with his company's app, called ZEVO. ZEVO brings the technology of the ZFS filesystem to your Mac in a way that's entirely Mac-like; it's extremely easy to use.

Written by Benny Ling | 01 February 2012
Posted in Apple

Apple has released an updated version of their AirPort Utility for Lion, and now it looks very much like its iOS counterpart. The updated AirPort Utility for Mac brings the version number up to 6, features a new visual map of your network, and is generally a very nice upgrade. Some users may lament over the ability to see client signal strength and other detailed information such as logged data, but overall this is a refreshing updated aimed at making things more visual for users.

The Verge has a hands-on session with the MacBook Air LandingZone, a curiously Thunderbolt-less dock for the MacBook Air that was recently successfully funded on Kickstarter. The LandingZone comes in both 11 and 13-inch flavours to suit both models of MacBook Air, features two USB ports, an Ethernet port as well as mini DisplayPort passthrough, but there's no Thunderbolt port to be seen.

Written by Benny Ling | 31 January 2012
Posted in Apple

A new set of patents from Apple reveals what the company could eventually do with magnets, and what a fantastic patent it is (even if it, like most technology described in patents, never sees the light of day in actual products). Magnets could eventually be used to control ferrofluids to provide haptic feedback in keyboards, for example, or even to implement security devices using magnets. The full patent report by Patently Apple is an eye-opening read.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has called the New York Times report on Apple's supply chain "patently false and offensive", after the Times asserted that high-level Apple executives turned the other way when faced with issues regarding the treatment and conditions at many of Apple's component supplier factories. If nothing else, Apple cares about their supply chain — as evidenced by the supplier responsibility report they released not too long ago.

Written by Benny Ling | 30 January 2012
Posted in Apple

Last week Tim Cook held a meeting at Town Hall where he unveiled to Apple employees a new employee discount. The new employee discount sees Apple employees receiving a $500 discount on new Mac hardware, as well as $250 off the price of iPad. What's interesting is that 9 to 5 Mac report that the discount is on top of an already-existing 25% discount on hardware, but given the generous discount some Mac models are excluded: most notably the Mac Mini.

Just like CES before it, Macworld|iWorld has unveiled a few new products that may be of interest to Mac users. Particularly interesting is the unveiling of the Western Digital MyBook Thunderbolt Duo, an external Thunderbolt device that allows units to be daisy-chained in order to make one logical unit. What's more, the drives within the unit are user serviceable, meaning that you'll be able to upgrade or replace the drives yourself without voiding your warranty.

Written by Benny Ling | 27 January 2012
Posted in Apple

The transcript of Tim Cook on the Apple earnings call has a small section dedicated to iCloud, but his remarks on iCloud are as important as the rest. With 85 million iCloud subscribers, Gruber says it's extremely likely iCloud will be a big part of what Apple are aiming to do in the next ten years, and would be surprised to see any Apple product released from here on in without some kind of iCloud integration.

Written by Benny Ling | 26 January 2012
Posted in Apple

Written by Benny Ling | 25 January 2012
Posted in Apple

Apple are expected to adopt the gigabit Wi-Fi standard much earlier than the spec will be fully ratified by the IEEE, similar to how they supported the draft versions of 802.11n before that was fully ratified. Their support for the new 802.11ac standard will most likely be due to chip-maker Broadcom, who already support the new standard in a few variations of their chips — chips that are used in most Apple products for Wi-Fi.

Written by Benny Ling | 24 January 2012
Posted in Apple

As we start to see Thunderbolt devices trickle into the market, we start to see impressive Thunderbolt devices enter the market. The Apollo is one such peripheral from Universal Audio that is a high-resolution audio interface that's rackmountable and features classic analog sound. It's an incredibly impressive piece of hardware for audio professionals, that is best suited for studio-quality recordings.

Written by Benny Ling | 23 January 2012
Posted in Apple

IBooks Author is a fantastic new piece of software from Apple that allows users to create interactive textbooks with ease, but its launch has been marred by licensing and format issues, report Ars Technica. More specifically, the EULA of iBooks Author seems to imply that people cannot sell their iBooks Author-produced work outside of the iBookstore — just like apps on iOS, produced using Xcode.