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First Real Malware for Mac

Flashback

Flashback is the first malware (malicious software or virus) for the Mac that people should worry about. It can infect computers through a vulnerability in Java. It’s estimated that 600,000 Macs have been infected, about 1% of Macs in use. Flashback collects personal information such as bank and login information. To see if your Mac is already infected, follow the instructions from Macworld.

Unlike with Windows PCs, this phenomena is new to Macs. The closest previous infection I remember was when a torrent version of Apple iWork ’09 contained a trojan. But that just impacted people who downloaded the pirated torrent. Flashback is far worse since someone can get it by just visiting a website.

Protection

It’s easy to protect yourself against malware and viruses on a Mac. There is no need to buy anti-virus software which doesn’t really help much on a Mac. Instead, take these steps that deal with the exploits of Java and Flash.

1. Perform Software Update

Apple’s updates automatically patch Java and remove Flashback. Open System Preferences and go to Software Update, Check Now.

2. Disable Java in any web browser you use

Safari
Go to the menu item:
Preferences -> Security -> Web Content
Uncheck Enable Java

Chrome
Go to the URL:
chrome://plugins/
Click Disable for Java

Firefox
Go to the menu item:
Tools -> Add-ons
Click on Plugins and click Disable for the Java Applet Plug-in

3. Install a Flash Blocker

My favorite is ClickToFlash, the Safari Extension which gives you access to Flash content if you click on the Flash window. This has the additional benefit of hiding annoying Flash ads.

Another tool I use is FlashFrozen, available for $0.99 through the Mac App Store. This handles all Flash running on your computer. It is especially useful for Mac laptops which can have their batteries quickly run down by errant Flash sites.

 

UPDATE: Oracle (the owners of Java) have released their own Java updates now. If you have Java installed on your system, you should get the latest Java SE Development Kit from here:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk-7u4-downloads-1591156.html
After installing, go to Utilities – Java Preference. From there, drag the latest Java to the top. As of this writing, that is Java SE 7. Uncheck the older Java versions. The next time you start a program that uses Java, it will now use the newer Oracle Java that has the latest security patches.

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Fax a PDF from a Mac

Faxing seems to be an ancient technology that just won’t die.  It is still embraced, often even preferred or required, by many businesses.  Most people don’t want to have to own a fax machine any more but do have to fax from time to time.  There is a modern day solution.  You can easily fax any PDF from a Mac.  And since you can convert anything in a browser to a PDF easily on a Mac, it allows you to fax almost anything you could print out.

Apple makes a USB fax modem but sadly, they’ve not maintained it so it doesn’t work on the latest Macs any more.  Fortunately, US Robotics makes a great US Robotics USB Fax Modem that is compatible with a Mac.

Once plugged into a Mac, you’ll notice you have gained a new option via the Print PDF menu.

If you’re like me and have dropped your expensive home phone service for a cheaper Voice over IP phone line, then you may have a little more work to do to actually get a fax to go through.  In the case of the popular Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service, you have to tell the line that you are about to fax so it can optimize the connection.  This is done by prepending a *99,, to the phone number you are faxing to.

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Seagate Momentus Hybrid Hard Drive

I recently upgraded the client’s old laptop hard drive laptop to a hybrid drive from Seagate:
Seagate Momentus XT 750 GB

Hybrid

What’s special about it? It’s got 8GB of solid state drive. That makes its speed somewhere between a standard hard drive an SSD. The drive intelligently moves commonly used files to the solid state portion. The hard drive handles all that on its own, appearing to the computer as just one drive.

With the original hard drive in this 5 year old Mac, it booted up in 55 seconds. With the new drive it booted up in 43 seconds. But after three boots, it had moved the boot files to the SSD and was booting up in 24 seconds. It felt much faster for common tasks and commonly used programs.

If you need a large fast drive, this Seagate is a great compromise. SSDs at 750GB are prohibitively expensive. And standard hard drives are much slower.

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Why People Torrent

Cartoon from The Oatmeal depicting why people torrent content illegally.

It’s clear why people torrent. But it took me a while to figure out why HBO does not offer HBO GO, their internet video streaming service, as a stand-alone option outside of cable, even for a high fee like $40/month. HBO’s co-president Eric Kessler said that they would never offer HBO GO for sale to non-cable subscribers.

The reason is that HBO is owned by Time Warner Cable. They want to keep the existing cable TV model going. Time Warner doesn’t want to become a “dumb pipe” for TV programming streamed from others.

An independent HBO would clearly find that it makes business sense to offer HBO GO for sale and bypass the cable/satellite providers. So Time Warner created a content/distribution cabal that unfortunately limits the options to consumers. Comcast purchased NBC for the same reason.

See Freepress’s ownership charts showing all the vertically integrated media organizations.

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Sodastream Hack

Sodastream is great at making bubbly water. To save on the cost and time needed to switch out the CO2 canisters, I decided to hook up a regular CO2 tank instead of using the small canisters from Sodastream.

ITEMS NEEDED

1) FreedomOne+ adapter from CO2 Doctor on this order page. I ordered the model with 72H (meaning 72 inch length straight cable) and CGAWG (connector type for standard CO2 tanks, as opposed to PBWG for Paintball Tank connector). Other companies make similar adapters, but this one is well built and the company is helpful and responsive. With this modification from the CO2 Doctor, a 5 or 20 pound tank can be connected.

2) 5 lb CO2 tank that I fill at my local paintball store for $10. Gas companies also do refills. I consider myself a normal-to-heavy user of Sodastream with a few glasses/day. I make extra fizzy water (4-7 farts of the Sodastream, depending on mood). My pressure gauge still shows that I have a lot of CO2 left and I’ve been using the single 5 lb tank for over 6 months.

3) Sodastream. I liked the look of the Sodastream Pure model the most. It can hold only the smaller 14.5 oz cylinders which is fine because I’m not using the internal tank. I drilled a hole at the bottom of it and another hole in my kitchen counter to hide my large tank underneath (see pics).

VALUE

This isn’t cheap at $300 total: adapter from CO2 Doctor ($130), Sodastream ($80-130), CO2 tank ($65), and a single fill-up ($10). But any addict to carbonated water can easily spend this in under a year. And the ongoing cost or marginal cost per additional amount of carbonated water after the initial cost is almost nothing.

SODA

You can easily add syrups to make your own sodas. The Sodastream syrups don’t taste good to me and they contain Aspartame. Instead try the great syrups from Pittsburg Soda Pop.