This story caught my eye for two reasons: 1. you don’t often hear about a malicious Mac file, and 2. it involves Space Invaders.

According to Symantec, there is a trojan file out there (referred to as an OSX.Loosemaque threat) that disguises itself as a Space Invaders-style game. The catch is that for every alien ship you kill, you also kill off a file on your hard drive. Ouch!

Then there’s this, which, quite frankly, fascinates me:

“What’s interesting is that the author of this ‘game’ flat-out says what it does on his Web site,” the post continues to reveal. “Reading through the author’s description, it seems that he has created this game/threat as some sort [of] artistic project. The aliens are your files and there are consequences for ‘killing’ them. However, if you die, the game is supposed to delete itself.

Right. This is a psychological study of sorts. You kill an alien ship and you suffer the consequences. An eye for an eye, I suppose.

Symantec is concerned that, while the author is open about the consequences, other people could modify the game with an even more malicious (and hidden) intent.

So don’t go downloading that free Space Invaders game. The consequences might be a little too much.

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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.

I’ve spent the last week MIA. Earlier in the week, I installed Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro. The install went smoothly. Then I tried to accomplish things.

A real snow leopard would have done less damage. Microsoft Office products would open but were unable to save or print or print to PDF without crashing. I had the same experience with Adobe Acrobat 7 and Photoshop Elements 6. To add insult to injury, iCal and Mail were acting funky, with repeated crashes. I was unable to do anything I need to accomplish on a daily basis. I made sure I had the latest and greatest updates of all the software, but that didn’t fix the problems.

Luckily, I’d backed up all of my personal files before I started the upgrade. But I hadn’t backed up my entire machine, including all those tiny extensions, plug-ins, and shareware apps that add tweaks to different programs and the overall operating system. However, I bit the bullet. I performed a clean install of Snow Leopard, wiping out everything. A clean install means that I then had to re-install all the programs on my machine, from the iLife suite to the Adobe and Microsoft suites. Again, I made sure to download the latest and greatest of everything.

At this point, I’d invested almost 2 days in trying to upgrade my system. Imagine my surprise when I was having the exact same problems as before. I was unable to save or print and my iCal and Mail were crashing repeatedly. I investigated my issues on the Web, but these didn’t seem to be common problems. Seeing as how I needed my email, appointments, and applications in order to run my business, I had no choice. I downgraded. In order to return to Leopard (10.5), I had to do a clean install, again wiping out everything.

Day 3 found me re-installing and updating everything for the second time. Everything worked – almost. Mail didn’t function – it wouldn’t even open. I tried everything I could think of, but ended up making an appointment at the Apple Store. Unfortunately, the appointment was a day or two away.  In the meantime, I had learned a lesson – for the second time. I obviously have a hard head. About a year ago, I had a backup drive give out, and I hadn’t backed up my backup, so to speak. At that point, I gave serious consideration to storing everything in the clouds, but I never followed through. This time around, I’m all about the cloud.

I was already halfway there. My photos are already on Flickr, so I didn’t lose those. My mail is completely IMAP and/or Gmail, which means I didn’t lose too much of it. Using Gmail has gotten me into the habit of not really filing things – I just tag things and sort them into Smart Folders in Mail, but they remain on the server. I did manage to lose a couple of things, but overall I ended up okay.

Since Mail.app wasn’t working, I was able to access my mail through various webmail applications. I seriously considered moving everything into two Gmail accounts forever, and not needing to use Mail.app ever again. Unfortunately, I’m not willing to part with my IMAP accounts and move to POP. In order to use only Gmail and/or Google Apps for Your Domain for all of my email addresss (six of them), I would have to change them all over to POP. So Gmail for everything was out. Alternatively I tried Mozilla Thunderbird, which I disliked, and Entourage. Entourage had some nice qualities, but like Outlook, it doesn’t handle IMAP very well. I was stuck.

As for my iCal, I was already in the cloud. When I made the decision many months ago to switch away from an iPhone, I knew I’d need to sync my calendar and contacts somehow – and it might not be Mac-friendly, so I bought Spanning Sync and started syncing everything with Google. So my calendars were synced not only with my Google account, but with Mobile Me. The only change I made was to install Google Gears so that now I can access my calendar if I’m ever offline.

For To Do/Tasks, I finally broke down and started using Remember the Milk. I know, everyone has been using RTM for ages. I’m behind the curve. Using Gears, I can access it when I’m offline, and I installed the widget to the right of my Google Calendar as well.

I downloaded DropBox and I’m going to use all 2 GB, I think, and I may upgrade to a paid version (50 GB for $10/month). I’ll store all of my client contracts, latest and greatest client updates, and so on out there. I can access it from anywhere and I feel better with my most important files in the cloud instead of just sitting on a backup drive. I’ve already been bitten by that.

My bookmarks and passwords were lost. In a way, this was probably a good thing. I’m now going to be a lot more secure. I downloaded KeePass, an open-source password manager that will store my most important passwords, including passwords to things on my computer (as opposed to just things online). The database file for KeePass is stored in my DropBox. Additionally, I started using Xmarks. Xmarks syncs my Firefox bookmarks across computers. Additionally, it syncs my Web passwords and brought in my Delicious bookmarks as well. However, it does seem to blow up if it tries to sync with Safari, but only if Safari is already syncing with Mobile Me.

So that’s how I’m moving into my own little cloud. I still have a few issues to work out. Logging into bub.blicio.us, for example, only seems to happen if I use Safari and not Firefox. The Apple Store Geniuses played around with my Mac yesterday and rescued Mail.app for me. It was using a Snow Leopard preference file in regular Leopard. So much for a clean install. But overall, I’m finally back in one piece – and cloudlike.

Photo credits: Snow Leopard via CC

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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news atmichelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.

I usually carry a MacBook Pro 15 unibody, one generation back, with an extra battery. I intentionally did not upgrade to the new version of the MBP 15 because I enjoyed the luxury of carrying additional batteries should I need them. Even in the best, yet practical situations, I could wring 3′ish hours per battery – just enough to cover a transcontinental flight.

The problem is that I have to dim the screen and turn off bluetooth and wifi in order to ensure longevity. I enjoy the brightness and it helps especially when writing for long periods of time, but the caveat with doing so is that I have to give up a significant fraction of juice.

I recently ran an experiment where I took my MacBook Air on a flight from New York to San Francisco and even though Apple claims up to 5 hours of battery life, I was left roughly with 1.5 hours of down time. The notebook didn’t make it, even though everything was tuned for maximum life.

I’m scheduled to travel to Europe soon and as most airlines have yet to include power outlets in economy, I did some research into power alternatives for both the MBP and the Air. I’m in the throes of writing my next book and I need all the power I can get!

After hours of thorough investigation and analysis, I decided to give HyperMac a shot.

HyperMac is an external battery specifically for MacBooks and also provides a USB port to power to power a variety of other devices, in my case, a power hungry iPhone 3gs.

My initial attraction to HyperMac was its design quality and focus. It’s specifically engineered for people just like me who need up time due to extensive travel or in-field activity. The secondary factor for selecting the HyperMac is its aesthetics and construction. It’s gorgeous and of course complements the lines of any aluminum MacBook.

The company offers four different models depending on power consumption needs and behavior, including the MBP-60, the MBP-100, MBP-150 and MBP-222. Prices range from $199.95 to $499.95.

I opted for the MBP-100, which boasts a capacity of 100-watts per hour.

The MBP-100 can power a MacBook Air for up to 16.7 hours of wireless productivity and up to 15 for the MacBook Pro 15. However, for those power users who require ultimate life, the MBP-222 can provide up to 31.5 hours and 27.2 hours of wireless productivity on the MacBook Air and 15-inch Pro respectively.

Weight isn’t an insignificant issue however. The MBP-100 weighs in at 1.6 pounds, The MBP-222 checks in at 4.7 pounds and the smaller MBP-60 weighs only .8 pounds. When carrying a bag of gear while making the rounds, every ounce starts to add up. But there’s a reason that these HyperMacs aren’t lighter…they’re constructed of aluminum yes, but they also feature high-end military-grade lithium batteries that are rechargeable up to 1000 times and ship with a one year warranty.

My usage experience differed however, simply because I choose a higher brightness than used in most battery life tests.

In the end, I am extremely pleased with the performance of the MBP-100. In fact, I may actually purchase a MBP-060 in addition when I need to save the weight and only require up to 11.8 hours of wireless computing.

I also enjoy the freedom from being tethered to power outlets wherever I travel. Now I can pick a table instead of a floor seat, a view over a corner, and also set up shop anywhere I please instead of waiting for those individuals who consume all the available outlet to power every device they own.

The other benefit I should add, is that for those new MacBook users that don’t have the luxury of replacing internal batteries, the HyperMac is your portable power and charging station and backup battery all in one.

Follow HyperMac on Twitter.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

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Now available! (click below to purchase the new book or poster):

Apple has been all over the news this week … and it’s only Tuesday.

Yesterday, word came down from on high that Snow Leopard will ship at the end of this week. If I recall, it was originally supposed to ship sometime in September. I posted earlier this month that Amazon was showing it for pre-order. Now it should arrive at your house by September 1.

Amidst all that excitement, we also have Steve Jobs returning to work to focus on that rumored Apple tablet I posted about in July. According to the Wall Street Journal, the tablet is real and on track for release in late 2009 or early 2010.

Jobs’ attention to the tablet is a sign of how important the new device is to Apple, the Journal said. Since unveiling the iPhone in 2007, the company hasn’t released a new product category, choosing instead to enhance its existing line of MacBooks, iPods, and iPhones.

A tablet has been in the works for some time. Apple was granted a patent on such a device last year. But the design process apparently hasn’t been a smooth one. Jobs halted the project twice, once because of poor battery life and again because of insufficient memory, a person familiar with the matter told the Journal.

In an e-mail to the Journal, Jobs said that “much of your information is incorrect,” but he didn’t provide specifics. An Apple representative declined to comment further.

(via C|Net)

Add in the new TV commercials and Apple is scoring a tech news hat trick this week. Some companies just always have to be the center of attention.

Last night as my husband was Tivo-ing through the football game and the commercials, I saw an Apple ad go by. We stopped, clicked back a few frames, and watched. It says something about an ad campaign when you stop fast forwarding and make an effort to view the commercial.

Apparently two new Apple ads debuted last night. I’m entertained by the ads, as I always have been. I enjoy John Hodgman and Justin Long – and last night, David Puddy, er, Patrick Warburton. The actors make me smile. I’m also entertained by the Seinfeld thing. Remember when Jerry did those strange commercials for Microsoft? Now we have Puddy shilling for Apple. I find it funny.

The ads seem to have received mixed reviews, however, as some people are just tired of the shtick.

Gizmodo: The ad reiterates the same played-out message we’ve heard in dozens of these ads: PCs get viruses, crash, push your grandparents down the stairs, whatever, so go buy a Mac and be hip or something. Apple’s amassing a really funny cast here; even Justin Long was great in Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and tossing Patrick Warburton in there could have been a golden opportunity to be, you know, funny instead of just smug. Too bad Apple seems content to stick with the status quo.

Cult of Mac: The ad isn’t funny, just like the rest of the ailing series. This joke has definitely run its course. Like Sieinfield itself, it’s time for Apple to pull the plug.

The ads directly target the Microsoft “Laptop Hunters” campaign, using girls who are similar to Microsoft’s (and now HP‘s) Lauren. The campaign drives home the fact that Macs are generally virus-free. Now, I know that most of you are smart enough to avoid viruses on your PCs, but that’s you. Every week, we have a different PC in our house that belongs to a member of our family. We’re always stripping them of viruses and malware. I hope my family watches these commercials. I could do with less computer fixing.

Below find both ads embedded from YouTube:

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Cheers!

Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.

by Brian Solis via PR 2.0

As Twitter and Facebook compete for your attention and social status, there’s another story that serves as the undercurrent for something much more important, a fully pervasive and functional social operating system (OS) that serves as a open platform to connect you, your content, updates, and activity to your friends, peers, and followers across your social graph, regardless of network, browser, or device.

Facebook and Twitter have effectively created immersible destinations and ecosystems that facilitate the development and deployment of applications that not only replicate capabilities currently available in traditional software and cloud computing, but also create a new dynamic for social collaboration, interactivity and engagement hosted in each respective network, desktops, and across the social web. Each network boasts a library of thousands of applications that only continues to burgeon.

Unlike the file interoperability between applications that run on Mac and Windows, Twitter and Facebook platforms are proprietary, although Facebook provides a bridge to automatically port tweets into your Facebook personal News Feed for example.

>Twitter and the statusphere have become our attention dashboards that serve as our soure of news and information as well as hub for communication – more so than email. We’re just now beginning to recognize and acknowledge this shift in content consumption and production behavior. The new ecosystem for sharing, discovering, and publishing updates and micro-sized content reverberates throughout social networks and syndicated profiles, resulting in a formidable network effect of activity and interaction. It is the digital curation of relevant content that binds us contextually and through the statusphere we can connect directly to existing contacts, reach new people, and also forge new friendships through the friends of friends effect (FoFs) in the process.

Source

Last year, Facebook rolled out its Connect program to extend the platform and also aggregate your disparate social activity by enabling you to login to participating sites and services using your Facebook credentials.

Facebook Connect is a technical bridge that links your Facebook profile with other online networks to feed your associated activity back to your personal Facebook News Feed. For example, if you’re commenting on a blog hosted on the Moveable Type platform, you can now login with your Facebook details and not only will your comment and link to your Facebook profile appear on the blog, the activity of commenting is also linked back into your activity feed for your friends and colleagues to see. Digg allows Diggers to log on using their centralized Facebook ID and for each story they digg, the activity is documented back on their profile. The idea is to collect and present distributed activity in one focused stream to create a centralized hub for presentation and interactivity between you and those within your social graph. Examples and Facebook Connect partners already number in the hundreds if not thousands.

Twitter, at one point, was and maybe still is a Facebook Connect partner. However, the social platform is also going to connect your identity and distributed activity through its new “Sign in with Twitter” program.

Many networks currently facilitate connectivity between activities. You can send updates from participating communities directly back to Twitter, similar to the Facebook program. While many services related to Twitter require your username and password, your credentials were still guarded at the services level as well as in Twitter’s network. Now, your identity is verified at Twitter’s gates and will no longer need to reside in multiple locations.

Instead of creating and maintaining multiple identities, eventually you’ll only have to manage two – Facebook and Twitter – until, perhaps someday, you only need one.

So, back to the Mac vs. Windows discussion. With its new login system, Twitter is attempting to extend its social OS by also aggregating identity and officially channeling outside activity back into the Twitter timeline, which could ultimately feed into Facebook.

After the failed attempt at acquiring the popular micro community and with mass public attention now on Twitter, Facebook now has an official and formidable competitor in the social OS category. It’s userbase is 200 million strong compared to maybe 8 million. But current numbers aren’t reflective of the outcome. This is a long and winding road that will traverse numerous grades and hurdles.

Many are focusing on the technical aspects and openness of Twitter’s authentication system. I believe that the bigger story resides with the platform and the ability to lure developers, foster innovation, and seamlessly connect users and activity to friends, peers and followers to stimulate new registrations, adoption, consumption and interaction. Facebook and Twitter, and other emerging and existing networks on the periphery in the evolving social landscape, will eventually play host to much more that the proverbial “conversation.” They will enable not only a new genre of communication, but also centralized professional and personal collaboration and management.

by Michelle Lentz

Today I discovered Nambu for Twitter and I really like it. I’ve been an avid user of Twhirl because it let me manage multiple accounts so easily. I was just never a Tweetdeck fan. Most of my friends are rabid Tweetdeck users though, and I think Nambu nicely provides advantages of both. Nambu is a Mac only tool though, so those of you on a PC will have to stick with Tweetdeck.

Still in beta, Nambu allows you to set up multiple Twitter accounts and then have different views. Like in Tweetdeck, you have the option for Groups for filtering, as well as for self-selected Columns (home, direct messages, mentions, sent). If you have more than one account, you can intersperse the columns as well.

Personally, I’m not a column fan – it takes up too much space on my desktop. But Nambu gives me an option that takes up as much room as two Twhirl windows, but still gives me access to all the great stuff available in columns – it’s a single column plus a list.

I can easily see when there are new tweets, new mentions, or new direct messages to either account. I also like the option to view all the links that have come through recently. Just like on Twitter.com, you can create and save your own searches as well as view the latest trends. One of the neatest features is threaded replies. I can finally follow a bit of a conversation.

Nambu supports Twitter, Friendfeed, Identica and is working on Ping.fm support.

From my limited use of the beta today, I have a few requests. I’d love to be able to turn off the notification pop-ups except for replies and direct messages. On that same thought, I’d love if replies and direct messages had a sound option. Finally, support for Facebook, somehow, would also be great.

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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

by Brian Solis

Painting by Scott Conary

All good things come to an end. This is indeed true for the once high-flying Macworld Expo. Apple pulled a “Granny Smith” on the San Francisco-based conference, announcing today that this year will be its last. And, in a true kick-em when they’re down blow, the company announced that Steve Jobs will not deliver the goodbye keynote. Instead, Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will do the honors at this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo.

I guess that marks the beginning of the end for the once illustrious show. Perhaps its a sign of the times. Or, perhaps it will only be a sign of the impending rumors that will run rampant because of this decision. Trust me, pulling out of the show will not affect Apple’s sales whatsoever. Rumors and speculation however, may fuel a downward trend for the company’s stock.

Over the last few years, Apple has dominated the first half of January by announcing products that consistently stole the spotlight from the massive Consumer Electronics Showcase held in Las Vegas during the same time frame. Apple’s innovation and presentation has been nothing short of breathtaking.

How can you continue the pace of industry-redefining evolution?

Rumors are swirling that this year, Apple will introduce a low-price Netbook line that will be supported by iTunes and the ever-popular AppStore.

Goodbye Apple. We’ll miss you from Las Vegas.

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