OS X Vulnerable to DLL Hijacking

According to a detailed article by Patrick Wardle, OS X with Gatekeeper is vulnerable to attack from applications loading dynamic link libraries (DLLs) that don’t specify a path name. “The operating system looks for the DLL file in a number of well-defined directories. An attacker could thus ‘hijack’ the DLL by placing a rogue DLL file into one of those directories, so that the operating system will find the rogue DLL first….Unfortunately, by abusing a dylib hijack, an attacker can…

ADTPro 2.0.1 Released

Version 2.0.1 of ADTPro has been released.  This version has a fix that is important for users with native RS-232 serial ports (though they’re getting more and more rare all the time).  There’s also some help for  our friends that are trying to tune their audio settings, and a few  other bug fixes.  Initial text bootstrapping is faster due to some  screen trickery and denser packing of data. http://adtpro.sourceforge.net 2.0.1 – March 21, 2015 New functionality: * [Audio] Client sends…

Apple’s Paradigm Shift for Computing in 2015

Technology continues to March forward each year providing transformations in new levels of power, performance, conveniences in computing.  2015 surely is no different.  Apple will soon make available a familiar but yet radically different design for the computing paradigm.  Apple’s new dictate for computing will become either a love or hate situation.  As you might guess I am referring to Apple’s soon-to-be released Macbook next month.     So what are the issues?  And, why a love or hate sit…

Beneath Apple Dos Original Text Now Online

The original manuscript for the book, Beneath Apple Dos is now available for Apple II historians.  Apple2Scans.net curator and owner of 6502Lane Mike Maginnis has posted the text to his website with the help of the original author, Don Worth. For more information about the text, check out the 6502Lane website at: http://www.6502lane.net/2015/03/12/don-worths-beneath-apple-dos-original-text-files/

Apple Watch event to be held on March 9

Apples long announced Apple Watch looks to be coming on March 9th.  Apple has an announcement event planned for that day at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco at 10am PDT. Apple also will be live streaming the event over the Internet as they have done with all of their events since Tim Cook took the reins of the company. You can view the live stream using Safari or Apple TV on the day of…

Apple to Move to the Dow

Apple has long been listed on the NASDAQ stock index and will be moving to the Dow Jones Industrial index.  The move for Apple, also ousts long time Dow Jones stalwart, AT&T. Source: Reuters

Apple to spend 1.7 Billion Euros on Green Data Centers

Apple has announced an initiative to make their latest data centers in Denmark and Ireland completely 100% energy self-reliant.  The two plants will come to a total cost of 1.7 Billion Euros and will go into operation by 2017.  According to the press release ” CORK, Ireland—February 23, 2015—Apple® today announced a €1.7 billion plan to build and operate two data centres in Europe, each powered by 100 percent renewable energy. The facilities, located in County Galway, Ireland, and Denmark’s…

Vintage Computer Festival East 10.0 Announced

Vintage Computer Festival East 10.0 has been announce.  The festival will run the 17th  to the 19th of April and will be held in Wall, New Jersey. According to their website: Vintage Computer Festival East is a hands-on, family-friendly celebration of computer history. It offers a book sale, classes, consignment sale, exhibit hall, food, lectures, museum tours, prizes, vendors, workshops, and more. The event is produced by Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists (MARCH) and is hosted at the InfoAge Science Center….

TurboTax Printing Uploads Data to Intuit

      Mac users wanting to save a PDF of their TurboTax return or print to file, are forced to upload their data to Intuit via a silent connection.  The Mac TurboTax license says, “You may save your return as a PDF file and understand it may be processed on Intuit servers, not as part of the Software.” In a February 19 Wall Street Journal article, Intuit blames Apple:  According to Julie Miller, an Intuit spokeswoman, TurboTax made the…

Going to the National Parks? Enter with Apple Pay! (Soon)

Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced that the National Parks system will soon be another Apple Pay customer.  If you have ever entered a national park that is popular like Yellowstone or Mt. Rainier National parks, the lines entering the parks can sometimes be overwhelming. This will soon be alleviated by the Apple Pay enabled iPhone 6, with travelers being able to pay their park entrance fees with Apple Pay.  One can only hope that this will alleviate the lines…

Retrofitting an LCD to an Apple monitor

some years ago, I got a //c 9” green monitor, which worked fine for a few months, but I missed the color games. My options were connected to a TV (impractical) and also tried a small LCD monitor without success, as new monitors are 16:9, much more elongated than the traditional 4:3. The best solution was to get a replacement color monitor of the same size. In many forums asked if I could adapt Color Classic Macintosh monitors, Sony televisions…

KFest 2015 Announced

KansasFest 2015, the Apple II centric convention has been announced.   Held each year in Kansas City, Missouri, KFest is the only remaining convention which is dedicated to the Apple II Computer.  This years event will be held 14 to 19 July.  More details about the registration are forthcoming.  For more information, check the KansasFest website at: http://www.kansasfest.org

Photos for OS X Coming With Yosemite 10.10.3

First impressions of Apple’s up and coming Photos app for OS-X Yosemite were just announced by a number of publications with Apple lifting it’s  embargo for media outlets to publish first impressions and hands-on reviews. the final Photos product will be delivered to Mac users as part of a free software update this spring with the 10.10.3 release of Yosemite. Photos for OS X will be a significant  improvement for users in the Apple ecosystem and will be a familiar experience for most Mac users.  Power…

Patch for Cubit on Laser 128 Posted

Steve Nickolas has posted a patch which fixes the Apple II game Cubit on the Laser 128 computer.  Cubit was a 1980’s clone of the popular Arcade game Q-Bert and was long the bain of those users who purchased the Video Technology produced Laser 128 Computer.  A single memory location jump was causing the game to stop mid-stream as explained by Steve below: My experience has been Cu-bit breaks on a Laser due to firmware incompatibilities because it jumps to…

Radio Shack Declares Bankruptcy

Radio Shack, long considered a hackers dream has fallen on hard times as of late.  They have struggled mightily to keep pace with the changing market and have finally bitten the bullet with the filing of Bankruptcy.  During the 1980’s, Radio Shack was one of the main competitors for the home computing market along side Apple and Commodore.  Their computers made headway into many schools and homes but failed to keep pace once they switched to IBM compatible systems in…

Macbook Air to go on a diet in 2015.

One might think Apple’s MacbookAir is an incredibly thin machine, and indeed it is.  Well, 2015 is going to be the year Macbook Air  even sees further dramatic change.  The venerable MBA already thin and light will be slimming down further with radical new concepts on the horizon. For starters, Apple will do away with the internal fan.  This will allow quiet operation just like a fanless iPad.   Apple plans to jettison most of the ports on the current Macbook Air .  The…

More AppleSource Newsletters Posted by Apple II Scans

The Apple II Scans website (http://www.apple2scans.net) has posted two new AppleSource Newsletters/  AppleSource was an Apple dealer centric newsletter produced by Apple Computer Inc. The latest additions include the AppleSource 24 and the non-numbered AppleSource issues. You can download all of the available issues from the Apple II Scans AppleSource page at: http://www.apple2scans.net/magazines/applesource/

What’s in the Apple Yosemite 10.10.2 Update

Apple released their latest update version of their Yosemite Mac OS X Operating system this week.   10.10.2 includes a number of enhancements and fixes, including : Resolves an issue that might cause Wi-Fi to disconnect Resolves an issue that might cause web pages to load slowly Fixes an issue that could cause Spotlight to load remote email content when this preference is disabled in Mail Improves audio and video sync when using Bluetooth headphones Adds the ability to browse iCloud…

Apple Releases iTunes 12.1

Apple has released an update to iTunes for both Mac and Windows.  Version 12.1 includes a new control widget which allows users to control which song is playing within the notification center.  It also includes fixes which are meant to improve the ability of iOS devices to sync with the desktop. The widget allows users to control the song choice, see which song is playing or to buy new songs or albums from the App store. http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1614?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Virtual II Updated to 7.5.2

Gerard Putter has updated the Virtual II emulator.  The latest update to version 7.5.2 includes the following fixes: Fixed an issue that could cause the virtual procesor to get stuck in an endless loop. The right arrow key did not work correctly when used for game control. This has been fixed. Virtual II is an Apple II emulator for Mac OS X and is $49.95 for the full version.  You can download the shareware version or the update from the…