A Santa Cruz woman is using Leopard’s Back to My Mac remote control software to track a thief who stole her laptop.
The woman, named Joey, had her MacBook and iPhone stolen from her truck. The thief didn’t wipe the MacBook, and Joey was able to log on remotely every time the crook connected to the internet using Back To My Mac. Built-into OS X, Back To My Mac allows administrators to take full control of machines over the Net.
Joey was able to remove sensitive data; copy and delete files; and then spy on the thief using the MacBook’s built-in iSight camera.
The crook spends a lot of time in cafes using free WiFi to search file sharing networks for software, music and movies.
As the crook surfed the Net, Joey was able to compile a full profile for police, including his Gmail account, home IP address, mother’s maiden name, and even snap clear pictures showing the detail of his tattoos.
Santa Cruz police are reportedly issuing a warrant to arrest the thief.
Joey was documenting the entire process on a LiveJournal account, which has been taken offline, likely to prevent the crook from getting wind of his impending arrest.
Via Roughly Drafted.
Written by Leander Kahney on April 17th, 2008 with no comments.
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A few weeks ago, Apple launched a helpful sub-site called 'Find Out How', specifically designed to help new Mac adopters find their way around the new operating system, programs, and hardware.
Apple's video tutorials are a relatively new addition, but they have been really useful in recent years. The iPhone tutorial was released before the product launch, which allowed fans a chance to fully familiarise themselves with the UI before they even got hold of the product.
Now a part of every major hardware and software release, these guides have been beefed up and expanded to form a nice little sub-site. If you're not a 'read the manual' kind of person, Find Out How is a great alternative that can only help to convince people that moving to Apple is a great, simplistic choice.
I recommend you take a look- even the most advanced Mac user still has much to learn:
Find Out How
Written by Will on January 31st, 2008 with no comments.
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I've been waiting for the first big Leopard update for a while now. Out of the box, it worked beautifully, but as is usual with operating systems, more and more problems developed over the first few months of release. Steve's customary update on the sales figures at Macworld was a comforting one- almost 5 million
A few of the features introduced by Leopard were left slightly undeveloped. Stacks were eye candy, rather than an efficient file organisation system, and whilst the coverflow file view is nice, the functionality isn't quite perfect.
You might think my expectations are a little high, and I would be the first to admit that Leopard shits all over Vista, a cheap imitation which can't even pull off the tricks that Apple mastered with Tiger, years ago. And its no coincidence that Apple's market share is rising rapidly- with the problems Vista presents, Apple's PC's are a perfect alternative, and thus Apple has seen an 'explosive' increase in Mac sales.
The newest seed is said to add a list view to stacks, numerous fixes including specifically to CoreGraphics, BackupCore, DVD Playback, File Systems and Web Content Filter. These are the kind of changes which make Apple that little bit different, and ensured that previous OS's were solid pieces of software, even at the end of their lifecycles. However, noticeably absent is the rumoured AirDisk backups, which were even a feature of the beta versions.
Perhaps Apple are keeping some of the bigger updates for the next seed. We shall see, but the improvements will only help to make Leopard into a more appealing operating system...
Written by Will on January 25th, 2008 with no comments.
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I was really let down by the Macworld 2008 keynote yesterday. Steve Job's keynotes are a thing of lore, and yesterday, his legendary speeches lost a bit of their allure. There was a lack of 'BOOM's, no 'one more thing', and actually, an obvious empty spot, bereft of new, exciting products.
For the last year, Apple could do no wrong. They have released a stream of complete, advanced products, which has directly translated into a build up of momentum, and their shares ballooning to $200. Given these circumstances, the keynote was never going to live up to the collective Apple communities' expectations.
The online community tends to glorify these speeches, but I have already noticed websites such as Gizmodo and Engadget turning a accusing eye to Apple's court. The only way to sum this up is to take an objective look at what Apple 'really' released yesterday. Firstly, we have the success of Leopard, a solid release that really helped Apple to increase their market share following Vista, or 'OS Version Hell', as I like to call it. So far, so good. But from here on, things turned a bit sour.
Next came the release of Time Capsule, essentially a promised feature of the original beta version of Leopard which was removed from the Gold Master at the last minute. After a long wait, we are offered a 'new product', essentially an Airport base station and a hard drive in one. What was wrong with my original Airport Extreme and Hard drive that I had set up for Leopard? Instead, now I have to fork out for a stand alone product, when third party peripherals are cheaper, probably more reliable, and generally preferable.
There was much controversy surrounding the failed first incarnation of Apple TV, the most recent occasion where risky innovation hasn't worked for Apple. Apple TV 2, however, looks set ot work, and the Movie Rentals idea is a solid one. The price is right, with the $4.99 fee sitting somewhere lower than your average Blockbuster.
Next exhibit- the iPod/iPhone debacle. The reality of an SDK is getting ever closer, but Apple thought it would keep us sated to release some new applications for the iPod, ported over from the iPhone. How cool! We get stocks, weather, notes, mail and maps, all for 'free'. That is, if you don't already have an iPod. Early adopters get stung by Apple, just as usual, by having to fork over $20 for five free applications.
And finally, the Macbook Air. I was initially wowed by this thing, and its hard to deny Apple's marketing plan- it fits inside an envelope? 'The thinnest laptop ever' is an excellent piece of computing design and minituarisation, but could have been oh so much more. There are a few areas where the target market (road warriors), will find issues, such as the non-replaceable battery.
I respect and adore Apple, but yesterday they came dangerously close to losing my interest altogether. Its isn't a coincidence that the shares have fallen to $160, and the 'Keynote Index' theory is broken. All in all, Macworld 2008 wasn't successful, and Apple will have to reel out some special products over the next few months in order to regain their impetus. Where were the new Apple Cinema Displays? Where was my iPhone 3G announcement? Where was my Macbook Pro refresh? These, and many more glorious products, were noticeably absent...
Written by Will on January 16th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on iPhone and Steve Jobs and Apple TV and iPod and leopard and Apple and Macworld and SDK and keynote and Macbook Air and Time Capsule and Macworld 08.
Time Machine, the automated back-up system built into Mac OS X Leopard, has been justly celebrated for making the least-fun of all computer practices easy. At the touch of a button, you can find every revision of every single one of your files on hand at the time of its installation. Unfortunately, as Steven Fisher recently discovered, this comes with an ugly side effect: Even executable code can get run from Time Machine. Cool as that might sound, the consequences could be grim:
Let me give you a simple example: You find out Adium (for example) has an available exploit that the developers haven’t patched yet. You remove Adium, but it continues to exist in your backup. You visit a web page that activates the Adium bug, and Adium is launched from your backup. That you can launch Adium from your backup is not a bug. That Mac OS X will do so automatically without confirmation is a bug. The backup should be considered a vault for the user, not Launch Services.
Yikes. Rogue code is bad. Rogue code that you have to go out of
your way to re-delete from your archives? Really nasty. Apple, let’s get a fix going.
Via Daring Fireball
Written by Petemortensen on November 5th, 2007 with no comments.
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