Apple unveils tightened Mountain Lion requirements
Apple has released the System Requirements for its upcoming new version of OS X, Mountain Lion, and as is usually the case with any operating system release, not all Macs need apply – even some that qualified for the Mac's current operating system, Lion.
The basic System Requirements are rather straightforward, although as 512 Pixels notes, Apple provides a bit more detail than it has in the past:
- OS X version 10.6.8 (Leopard) or later
- 2GB of memory
- 8GB of available disk space Read more...
Mac OS X leaking passwords of FileVault users
Users of older Mac OS X versions who upgraded to the current Mac OS X 10.7.3, "Lion" and opted to stick with the older version of the FileVault encryption system, may have a problem. It appears that Apple developers enabled a debug option in 10.7.3 which makes the user's password appear, in clear text in a log file, whenever the user mounts the encrypted folder. The problem was identified by security expert David I. Emery who reported the issue on a security mailing list.
The problem appears to only affects users who upgraded from Snow Leopard to Lion and did not activate the new FileVault encryption on Lion which switches to encrypting the whole hard disk rather than just the user's home directory. New users and new installations of Mac OS X Lion are not believed to be exposed to this risk. Read more...
Apple’s new OS X tightens screws on some malware
Apple will introduce a new Mac security model with OS X Mountain Lion this summer that by default lets users install only programs downloaded from the Mac App Store or those digitally signed by a registered developer.
Some experts called Gatekeeper -- Apple's name for the model and technology -- a game-changer while others criticized it as less than watertight.
Gatekeeper will block the installation of the most common kind of Mac malware yet: Trojan horses unwittingly executed by users who have been duped into downloading and installing fake software.
Last year, several campaigns of "scareware," programs that posed as antivirus software but actually infected systems with attack code, made headlines. Apple responded to the scareware threat by repeatedly updating a rudimentary blocking list that debuted two years earlier. Read more...
Apple’s new OS X tightens screws on some malware
Apple will introduce a new Mac security model with OS X Mountain Lion this summer that by default lets users install only programs downloaded from the Mac App Store or those digitally signed by a registered developer.
Some experts called Gatekeeper -- Apple's name for the model and technology -- a game-changer while others criticized it as less than watertight.
Gatekeeper will block the installation of the most common kind of Mac malware yet: Trojan horses unwittingly executed by users who have been duped into downloading and installing fake software.
Last year, several campaigns of "scareware," programs that posed as antivirus software but actually infected systems with attack code, made headlines. Apple responded to the scareware threat by repeatedly updating a rudimentary blocking list that debuted two years earlier.
Apple even took the trouble during the skirmishing to issue a tool that scrubbed infected machines of the "Mac Defender" malware.
Mountain Lion, which Apple said Thursday will ship late this summer, uses a new mechanism to bar malicious applications from most Macs. Read more...
Apple updates Lion, patches 51 bugs in Mac OS X
Apple on Tuesday patched 51 vulnerabilities in Mac OS X, most of them critical, in 2012's first security update.
Both Mac OS X 10.7, aka Lion, and 10.6, better known as Snow Leopard, were updated with fixes. The two operating systems were last updated in mid-October 2011.
Some Lion users reported post-update catastrophes. In a quickly-growing thread on the Apple support forum, users said that after updating, every application crashed when launched.
Among the patches were a pair that addressed a vulnerability in SSL (secure socket layer) 3.0 and TLS (transport layer security) 1.0 that was demonstrated last September by researchers who crafted a hacking tool dubbed BEAST, for "Browser Exploit Against SSL/TLS." Read more...
Microsoft’s secret weapon against Google — Office for iPad and Lion
For years Google has targeted Microsoft Office with its Google Docs and Google Apps Web-based productivity suite. Office still rules the roost, but Google has been making some headway. But versions of Office being developed for the iPad and OS X Lion may help seal Microsoft's lead.
The Daily reports that Microsoft is developing a version of Office for the iPad, as well as for OS X Lion.
The version for the iPad could be a Google stopper. The Daily says it is expected to sell for somewhere around $10, the price that Apple has set for its productivity apps Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Read more...
Apple begins testing Mac OS X 10.7.3 with focus on iCloud storage
Apple on Tuesday began widespread testing of Mac OS X 10.7.3, the third maintenance update to its relatively new Lion operating system that will improve upon iCloud's Documents in the Cloud, among a handful of other areas.
People familiar with the first external build of the forthcoming update -- labeled OS X Lion 10.7.3 build 11D16 -- say the Mac maker has requested developers to focus their evaluation efforts on iCal calendars, Mail, AddressBook and iCloud's document storage. Read more...
Google patches 32 Chrome bugs, revs browser to v.14
Google today patched 32 vulnerabilities in Chrome, paying more than $14,000 in bug bounties as it also upgraded the stable edition of the browser to version 14.
The company called out a pair of developer-oriented additions to Chrome 14 and noted new support for Mac OS X 10.7, aka Lion, including full-screen mode and vanishing scrollbars.
Google last upgraded Chrome's stable build in early August. Google produces an update about every six weeks, a practice that rival Mozilla also adopted with the debut of Firefox 5 last June.
Fifteen of the 32 vulnerabilities were rated "high," the second-most-serious ranking in Google's four-step scoring system, while 10 were pegged "medium" and the remaining seven were marked "low." Read more...
Apple issues Lion disk disaster recovery tool
Apple on Monday released a utility that builds a Lion recovery disk on a USB flash drive, giving users a way to restore their Macs if the machine's hard drive fails completely.
The Lion Recovery Disk Assistant is a free download, and requires a flash or "thumb" drive of 1GB or more, or an external drive connected to the Mac via a USB cable and port.
"This drive can be used in the event you cannot start your computer with the built-in Recovery HD, or you have replaced the hard drive with a new one that does not have Mac OS X installed," Apple explained in an accompanying support document. Read more...
Will OS X Lion roar in the enterprise?
Since its release on July 20, Apple's newest version of OS X, known as Lion, has been bought, downloaded and installed by more than a million users. As an operating system, it represents a new paradigm: Apple's desktop platform is becoming more iOS-like. To date, most of the focus has been on new features like gestures, Mission Control, the new download-based install process, and user interface tweaks that are the biggest since the OS X public beta was introduced in 2000.
But what about Lion in the workplace? Certainly, it should appeal to small firms. But a growing number of companies have a large-scale installed base of Macs.
Here's a look at how Lion will affect the existing processes at those organizations and what companies considering a big Mac investment should keep in mind. Read more...
Apple Talk: Lion review – a roaring success or will it just make you growl?
I've been using Lion for about five days now. I installed it a couple of days after it was released. In that time I've grown to love it and be slightly infuriated by it in roughly equal measure.
Lion is a major evolutionary step for Mac OS X. The July release comes a few months after Steve Jobs' twin declaration that we are living in a post-PC world and that the Mac is no longer centre of the digital hub, merely another device. A bitter pill for millions of loyal Mac users to swallow.
The evidence of Apple's post-PC philosophy is clear. The Mac's input works with traditional input devices - keyboard and basic mouse, but the flourishes and the benefits are reaped through using devices controlled by touch.
The ideas that Jobs and other executives highlighted in Apple's Back to the Mac conference last year are here and for the large part work well. The big idea was that Apple had learned a fair bit designing and selling iOS devices, particularly the iPad, and wanted to share some of the interface elements and concepts with the Mac. Read more...
On first day, Apple sells 50 Lions for every lion
During its first day of availability, Apple sold 50 copies of its new Mac OS X Lion operating system for every living copy of the actual African Lion for which it is named.
Or over 160 copies. Or 25 copies. Or somewhere in between. It depends on who's counting the lions – the Panthera leo leo, that is.
As for Mac OS X version 10.7, the one-day sales number was over one million. "Lion is off to a great start," Apple head marketeer Phil Schiller said in a Thursday press release, exulting in his perception that "user reviews and industry reaction have been fantastic." Read more...
OS X ‘Lion’ ships Wednesday, says Apple
Apple will launch its Lion operating system tomorrow, the company's chief financial officer said Tuesday.
Rumors floated nearly constantly during July that Mac OS X 10.7, aka Lion, would debut in the next few days or at most, the following week.
Those rumors are now moot. Read more...
How to get your Mac ready for Lion
Now that Apple has released to developers the golden master of Lion (Mac OS X 10.7) -- typically the final non-public version before the official release -- speculation is mounting as to when the next major version of Mac OS X will hit the street. But the golden master signifies something more important on a practical level: It's time to start getting our Macs ready for Lion.
Apple is advertising Lion as the easiest-to-install version of Mac OS X yet, and that may be true. But there are still a few things you can do right now to ensure that your Mac is ready for 10.7 when the update finally arrives.
What you need
To install Lion, you need a Mac with a minimum of 2GB of RAM and one of the following Intel processors: Intel Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7, or Xeon -- early Intel-based Macs with Core Solo or Core Duo processors aren't compatible. You can determine your Mac's processor and the amount of installed RAM by choosing About This Mac from the Apple menu and looking at the Processor and Memory lines, respectively. Read more...
How to prep your Mac for Lion
Now that Lion has reached "golden master" status, it may be just days before Apple releases Mac OS X 10.7.
Only Apple knows the release date -- the latest rumors have it as July 6, maybe July 14 -- but you can prep your Mac now to make the upgrade go smoother and faster.
Make sure your Mac can handle Lion
Lion's system requirements are slightly different than Snow Leopard's, so you need to verify that your Mac can run the new operating system.
Select "About This Mac" from the Apple menu, and look at the "Processor" and "Memory" items in the resulting pop-up.
For Processor, your Mac must have an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 or Xeon CPU.
As for Memory, you need 2GB or more.
You can't do much about a processor that won't run Lion, but it's easy and inexpensive to boost memory in a Mac. Crucial, one of the largest RAM sellers, prices a 2GB upgrade for a mid-2008 MacBook (the low-end model came with just 1GB stock) at $30 or a 4GB upgrade for $60. Read more...