mac

On Thursday, Mozilla pushed out a new security update for its new Firefox browser. Version 3.0.1 for Windows and Mac addresses vulnerabilities in malformed GIF files on Mac OS X, command-line URLs that could launch multiple tabs when Firefox is not running, and a potential remote code execution by overflowing CSS reference counter.

Meanwhile, Mozilla updated the earlier version of Firefox with 2.0.16 on Tuesday. The update addresses two of the Firefox 3 critical issues--command-line URLs and overflowing CSS reference counter.

Version-specific updates have been pushed out automatically to existing Firefox users.

Mozilla will continue to … Read more

Got questions about Apple? Or how about the new iPhone 3G? Well, if you do, you've come to the right place.

Our next upcoming Ask the Editors Live chat begins at 11 a.m. Pacific Time (2 p.m. Eastern), Thursday, July 17. Our special host will be CNET News.com staff writer, Tom Krazit, who will be here to discuss, debate, and answer anything to do with Apple from the new iPhone 3G, Macs, iTunes, to the future of Apple, you name it, Tom is your Apple man!

So get your Apple questions ready and click here to … Read more

Still waiting for your iPhone 3G? Wondering if you should buy a Mac?

Come over to CNET's Forums for an Ask the Editors session with me at 11 a.m. PDT for an open discussion on anything and everything Apple. With the iPhone 3G launch last week, and Apple's earnings on tap for Monday, there should be plenty to talk about.

I'll try to get to as many questions as possible, but I can only take questions for an hour. Bear with my fingers as I shake off the effects of a three-day vacation and re-learn how … Read more

Correction, 10:45 a.m. PDT: This blog initially misstated Apple's global market share. It was 3.3 percent in the second quarter, according to IDC, up from 2.9 percent a year ago.

Gartner and IDC both see the global computer market rising, 16 percent and 15 percent, respectively, with Hewlett-Packard (18 percent market share) and Dell (16 percent market share) winning big, as The Wall Street Journal reports.

U.S. growth, however, was somewhat tepid at 4.2 percent, according to Gartner. (IDC pegs it at 3.6 percent.) As demonstrated in the earnings calls for Sun, … Read more

For a long time, Apple had an informal marketing slogan "5 down, 95 to go" referring to its percentage share of the computer business.

We gave them a hard time back then, because they didn't even have the 5 percent market share they were always talking about. These days, though, they have well passed that number and are inching closer to 10 percent, at least in the U.S.

While Windows certainly still dominates the computer market, Apple's operating system continues to gain market share. Just released second-quarter market share figures from Gartner show Apple shipments … Read more

In a move that everyone was waiting for, Apple has finally sued Psystar for violating its copyright and has asked for the company's profits and a recall of all orders.

"As alleged more fully below, by misappropriating Apple's proprietary software and intellectual property for its own use, Psystar's actions harm consumers by selling to them a poor product that is advertised and promoted in a manner that falsely and unfairly implies an affiliation with Apple," Apple's suit claims. "Psystar's actions also have caused, and are causing, harm to Apple and constitute a misuse of Apple's intellectual property."

Everyone knew Apple would eventually make a move against Psystar, but I'm not too sure anyone thought the suit would feature the kind of saber rattling it does. That said, it's the smart move and one that Apple must make if it wants to get away from anything of the sort happening again.

But if it doesn't use its head and try to force Psystar to its demise, Apple will open a can of worms that it may not be able to handle so easily.… Read more

Apple is the master of hype. Normally, it lives up to that hype. But in its 3G iPhone launch and now with its MobileMe synchronization service, Apple has fallen down. Flat.

Billed as an upgrade to Apple's .Mac service (to which I have subscribed for years), MobileMe is anything but. In fact, as The Register reports, it's not even the push email service that it purports to be. It's IMAP, just as .Mac was.

Email is managed through IMAP, and strictly speaking is pulled by polling the IMAP servers every minute, though that gives a reasonable impression of being pushed....

[C]hanges made using the desktop application are not instantly or automatically reflected on the iPhone or within The Cloud. Such changes need to wait for a synchronisation process, a lag of up to 15 minutes, before they are propagated between the platforms. Not only that but anyone trying to use some of the more advanced IMAP capabilities, such as the APPEND command, will find the MobileMe service unaware that any changes have been made to their e-mail account, at least until a good-old SMTP delivery triggers notification.

Is it really that big of a deal? Perhaps not. But it's also false advertising on Apple's part, and an unworthy "upgrade" on a service that for years has only had one major benefit: The name ".mac." I don't want a lame ".me" email address, and I'm finding that I don't really benefit from the changes to the .Mac service.

Are you getting more mileage from MobileMe?

UPDATE: I just received this from Apple:… Read more

Amid the shaky launch of the iPhone 3G, Apple's new MobileMe service--a juiced-up revamp of its .Mac offering--also took a blow. Apple has consequently opted to entitle eligible members to 30 days free as a we're-sorry gift.

.Mac accounts had been scheduled to "migrate" to MobileMe last Wednesday evening, but instead produced an outage in which neither service was available. New subscribers, meanwhile, had experienced issues signing up.

"The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was a lot rockier than we had hoped," a details page from Apple explained. The offer isn't for … Read more

Some open-source backers, including myself, have noted in the past Apple's ironic "free pass" when it comes to sharing code.

Despite using copious amounts of open source, Apple remains the most proprietary company on the planet. You can hardly say the name "Apple" without signing an NDA.

And yet many in the open-source world love Apple. I am one of them. Some suggest that open-source development is better on the Mac, and I've offered reasons for this. However, TechCrunch is right to question the love affair with all-things-Apple: