Hasta La Gadget!

If the online chatter is to be believed, Apple’s very soon to be released Snow Leopard has in its code new protection for fighting malware. According to the picture above corroborated by other online reports, a DMG downloaded by Safari was checked by the OS and found to contain the “RSPlug.A” Trojan. The system promptly suggests you eject the disk image to avoid damage. Should Apple really be treading down this path, it begs the question of how often and how comprehensive / aggressive the company will be updating its antivirus logs. If nothing else, it’s a certainly a notable symbolic gesture that the one-time underdog might be gaining enough market share to catch the attention of the darker side of the internet — and all of a sudden, David Puddy isn’t looking nearly as bad.

[Thanks, David]

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

Snow Leopard packing antivirus software? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Apple Store has come back online and its pretty obvious announcement is confirmed. Snow Leopard will ship out starting August 28th as a $29 upgrade. The Friday launch should make for a wild, crazy weekend. [Apple] Full press release:

Apple to Ship Mac OS X Snow Leopard on August 28

CUPERTINO, Calif., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today announced that Mac OS® X v10.6 Snow Leopard(TM) will go on sale Friday, August 28 at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple’s online store is now accepting pre-orders. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard® users for $29.

“Snow Leopard builds on our most successful operating system ever and we’re happy to get it to users earlier than expected,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “For just $29, Leopard users get a smooth upgrade to the world’s most advanced operating system and the only system with built in Exchange support.”

To create Snow Leopard, Apple engineers refined 90 percent of the more than 1,000 projects that make up Mac OS X. Users will notice refinements including a more responsive Finder(TM); Mail that loads messages up to twice as fast;* Time Machine® with an up to 80 percent faster initial backup;* a Dock with Expose® integration; QuickTime® X with a redesigned player that allows users to easily view, record, trim and share video; and a 64-bit version of Safari® 4 that is up to 50 percent** faster and resistant to crashes caused by plug-ins. Snow Leopard is half the size of the previous version and frees up to 7GB of drive space once installed.

For the first time, system applications including Finder, Mail, iCal®, iChat® and Safari are 64-bit and Snow Leopard’s support for 64-bit processors makes use of large amounts of RAM, increases performance and improves security while remaining compatible with 32-bit applications. Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) provides a revolutionary new way for software developers to write applications that take advantage of multicore processors. OpenCL, a C-based open standard, allows developers to tap the incredible power of the graphics processing unit for tasks that go beyond graphics.

Snow Leopard is the only desktop operating system with built in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and it allows you to use Mac OS X Mail, Address Book and iCal to send and receive email, create and respond to meeting invitations, and search and manage contacts with global address lists. Exchange information works seamlessly within Snow Leopard so users can also take advantage of OS X only features such as fast Spotlight® searches and Quick Look previews.

Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard, the next major release of the world’s easiest to use server operating system, will also go on sale Friday, August 28. Snow Leopard Server includes innovative new features such as Podcast Producer 2 and Mobile Access Server and is priced more affordably than ever at $499 with unlimited client licenses. More information and full system requirements for Snow Leopard Server can be found at www.apple.com/server/macosx/.

Pricing & Availability

Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard on August 28 at Apple’s retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers, and online pre-orders can be made through Apple’s online store (www.apple.com) starting today. The Snow Leopard single user license will be available for a suggested retail price of $29 (US) and the Snow Leopard Family Pack, a single household, five-user license, will be available for a suggested price of $49 (US). For Tiger® users with an Intel-based Mac®, the Mac Box Set includes Mac OS X Snow Leopard, iLife® ’09 and iWork® ’09 and will be available for a suggested price of $169 (US) and a Family Pack is available for a suggested price of $229 (US).

The Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller between June 8, 2009 and the end of the program on December 26, 2009, for a product plus shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Users must request their Up-to-Date upgrade within 90 days of purchase or by December 26, 2009, whichever comes first. For more information please visit www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate. Snow Leopard requires a minimum of 1GB of RAM and is designed to run on any Mac computer with an Intel processor. Full system requirements can be found at www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html.

We’ve heard whispers that Apple might be unleashing Snow Leopard to the unwashed masses a bit earlier than September, but this listing in the company’s UK online store is the most concrete evidence we’ve seen to date. Still up as of this writing, the page clearly says Snow Leopard is shipping by next Friday, August 28th. No way to actually order it at this point and no clue whether or not this is just some glitch, but if the gang at Cupertino are really planning to launch in a week’s time, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear something official sooner rather than later.

Update: A pair of tipsters have revealed the same August 28th ship date for the US Up-To-Date program. Screenshot of a shipping confirmation after the break.

[Via TUAW, thanks Will G.]

Continue reading Snow Leopard shipping August 28th, says Apple’s UK online store (update: US too)

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

Snow Leopard shipping August 28th, says Apple’s UK online store (update: US too) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

I originally started this column on my take on what an Apple tablet might be (I literally dreamed about it and started to write it down when I woke up). I was really into it, which explains why I didn’t save it as I wrote. I think you can see where this is going.

Like a cartoon character who notices that he’s no longer standing on solid ground and suddenly begins to fall, I reached over to save, but was too late. My trusty XP install suddenly blue screened. Muttering just a few choice words, I rebooted, only to blue screen again. No problem, there’s always “safe mode.” Too bad safe mode blue screened as well. With little hope of getting anything recovered, I gave up, fired up my Mac and started from scratch. It’s not the first time this has happened to me, where for some reason or another I’ve lost work on my computer. I suspect it’s happened to a few of you out there too.

But this latest bad experience changed my thought process from Apple tablets to what’s wrong with the whole PC landscape and today’s operating systems.

Continue reading Entelligence: Stains on the sleeve of my operating system

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Entelligence: Stains on the sleeve of my operating system originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The good news is that upgrading to OS X Snow Leopard is going to be pretty cheap for people who wisely sprung cash for Leopard. But before you buy, you better check your situation and plan the right move, money-wise.

You may have a few questions: Am I eligible for a cheap upgrade? How about a “free” upgrade? What’s this about family packs? Should I be shopping for a new Mac? Not to worry, Prof. Dealzmodo will help clear things up.

As you can see from this handy chart,, the process of upgrading to a new OS is a little more straightforward for Mac users than it is with Windows. Again, everything starts with meeting the minimum system requirements, which in this case means bye-bye, Power PC—you gotta have an Intel chipset:

• Mac with an Intel Processor
• 1GB of memory
• 5GB of disk space
• DVD drive (though MacBook Airs can “Remote Install” from another computer)

Snow Leopard Pricing
Upgrading from Leopard is the easiest: $29. If you own multiple Macs, a Family pack is just $20 more: $49 for 5 users. Keep in mind, though, that Snow Leopard does not have any activation restrictions, so buying a Family Pack for two or three computers is kind of a waste of money (though using a single-Mac disc on multiple machines is technically illegal). Just remember, if you need tech support on any of your multiple machines during the 90 days that you are covered after buying the OS, you’ll have to have a legit software license.

If you bought a Mac anytime after June 8, you get Snow Leopard even cheaper with the “Up-To-Date” program: $10. Sure, it’s not “free” like Windows 7, but Apple sends you the install disc, and says that the $10 mostly goes to shipping and handling.

The Tiger Catch
Apple has said it themselves:

For Tiger users with an Intel-based Mac, the Mac Box Set includes Mac OS X Snow Leopard, iLife ’09 and iWork ’09 and will be available for a suggested price of $169 (US) and a Family Pack is available for a suggested price of $229 (US).

And retailers are doing a good job of making sure people know:

If you are an Intel Mac user running OS X 10.5 or above (Leopard), then there is no reason why you shouldn’t take advantage of such an inexpensive upgrade to Snow Leopard. However, OS X 10.4 (Tiger) users will be forced to pick up one of the much pricier boxed sets that bundle Snow Leopard, iLife and iWork if they want to make the jump. iWork ’09 is about $55 on Amazon, so you’re getting something for your money, but it may not be what you want.

If you fall into this latter category, I would say it might be time to start looking into a new Mac with Snow Leopard and iLife ’09 pre-installed, rather than putting an additional $169 into a dated machine. This is especially true if you are are still running a PowerPC, which can’t be upgraded at all.

From time to time, Apple abandons users of dated machines and OSes—the rationale is that it keeps them from having the heavily layered code that Windows is always criticized for. Still, if you’re the guy running Tiger on an old PPC machine, you’re definitely feeling like a second-rate citizen in the Apple-verse. It’s time to move up… or move on.

Of course, dropping over $1000 on a MacBook might not be in the cards for everyone right now (although a Mac Mini is a relatively affordable way to get your foot in the door at $600), but it is important to consider that Apple’s Up-To-Date Program offers a Snow Leopard upgrade for $10 on purchases that include qualified refurbished systems. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—buying refurbished is the smarter move.

[Background Image via Flickr]