Andrew from Retrevo has some peeves about tech. As always, none of them make sense. Here they all are… totally debunked.

With laptops, netbooks, ultrabooks and desktop PCs (plus tablets), knowing what to buy and which platform (Windows vs Mac) can be almost impossible. Here is some help.

Last week, the big news in the Mac community was the arrival of the Flashback trojan. For so long, Mac users lived under the pretense that they could not get a virus. The Flashback proved that wrong. For years, it was a numbers game. There is no sense in writing a virus for the Mac when the PC had such a large market share. Virus writers are looking to achieve something on a massive level and the PC was the way to do that. While the Mac doesn’t have nearly the market share of PC still, it has grown and continues to grow at a rapid pace. It has suddenly became apparent to virus writer and users that the Mac represents a significant enough target.

The arrival of the Flashback trojan was the first indication that a virus on the Mac was a credible threat. It used a security vulnerability in Java to infect the machine. There was no apparent danger by getting it and it didn’t seem to actually do anything. If anything, it was a message that the Mac is not as secure as people may think. At its height, Flashback had infected over 650,000 users. Apple quickly released a security patch to remove it, shut down access and prevent future exploitation via Java. Last count showed around 270,000 users still have it. Norton by Symantec has a tool available to download (for free) to check for Flashback and remove if necessary.

Now we have SabPab (sometimes called SabPub, by Kapersky). It is a simple backdoor Trojan that serves no purpose, but to wait further instructions, at which point your computer is under the control of the hacker instructing the virus. It could be used to steal information from your machine. It may also be used as part of a botnet army in a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. 

So far, Norton has classified SabPab risk as very low and gives instructions for removal if you own their Anti-Virus software. One step to be taken in the event Norton is not installed on your system is to search for the following files in these locations.

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.PabSabAgent.pfile
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.PabSabAgent.plist

Stay ahead of the virus by updating your software and keeping current with the patches Apple releases. You can do it by looking at Apple’s latest software releases or following the directions to run Software Update.

The growing popularity of the app store has made Apple ID’s a target for scammers, hackers, phishers and every other digital scoundrel. With that ID, they have access to your library of music, movies, books, and apps as well as personally identifiable information and financial information. The stories of people having their Apple ID hacked have not happened frequently, but as with the new Mac virus (flashback trojan), the ever increasing popularity of Apple means an increased vulnerability.

To combat this issue, Apple has added security to your account, effective today. It is a series of three security questions and a rescue email that will help you prove your identity in the event your account is compromised or you forget your password. The integration of the new settings is caused by using the app store on your phone. It is important to note that updating existing apps will not trigger the change. If you don’t have any new apps to download, but want to up the ante on security, just choose the first free app you can find and subsequently delete it.

The attached photo shows the popup notification as well as the screen to choose/answer the questions. After it is complete and recovery email is entered (hidden from view in screen shot), a confirmation email will be sent from Apple, alerting you to click and verify the email address used. Even while updating security, they are sure to avoid scams.

Some skepticism has appeared around the web and the legitimacy has been questions. This is, in fact, from Apple. It is only triggered when an app is downloaded and the email appears to be genuinely from Apple as well. This is being seen by too many people with different apps and varying configurations to be a unified scam anyway.

The received email reads:

Thank you.

You’ve taken the added security step and provided a rescue email address. Now all you need to do is verify that it belongs to you.

The rescue address you have given us is ???@???.com. Just click the link below to verify, sign in using your Apple ID and password, then follow the prompts.

The rescue email address is dedicated your security and allows Apple to get in touch if any account questions come up, such as the need to reset or change your security questions. As promised, Apple will never send you any announcements or marketing messages to this address.

One guiding principle and sales tactic used by Mac evangelists and Apple fanboys over the years is that if you own one, it can’t get a virus. This has been purported as true for many years. The real truth is that you can and will get a virus with a Mac the same way as with Windows. The story of invulnerability did not come out of nowhere, however. There was some statistical truth to it. 

You have to look at it from a virus coder’s perspective. Some do it for money, some do it for a cause, and some do it just to cause mayhem. Whatever the driving force is, it’s about scale. Massive scale that affects as many people as possible. 

Until about 2007, Mac desktops and laptops belonged only to the most die hard of fans. To attack and have your efforts be ubiquitous, it was important to go for the Windows platform. Does that mean that a virus could not be written for a Mac? Of course not. It means it wasn’t in the best interest of those looking to cause virtual destruction. Since the launch of the iPhone, Apple as a whole has been climbing at a rapid pace and so has their Mac division of computers. Naturally, this has drawn attention from malware developers.

The Flashback Trojan virus has been ported to the OS X operating system and an estimated 600,000 people have been infected. It wasn’t long ago that finding 600,000 Mac computers was the challenge.

There are ways to be protected. Look at the list of things you can do to help ensure you don’t land in the same situation.

1. Buy a well known Anti-virus software suite like McAfee, Norton, AVG and pay for the updates and actually UPDATE it frequently. Being innoculated from all the malware made in 1997 does not help as new threats constantly emerge.
2. Do not open attachments in emails from untrusted uers. Some viruses will spread via email so use your new anti-virus software to scan attachments even from you know.
3. Run vulnerability scans looking for possible infections that may have been missed on the way in.
4. Stay away from websites that do not look credible. Go to known sources. If you are searching, stick with the first couple of pages on Google’s search results. If it can get ranked that high, it’s probably trustworthy. Unfamilar TLDs (the .com, .net, .biz, etc) are clear warning signs. Look out for .info, .cc, .ru and others that represent country codes - of countries you don’t live in.
5. Use a firewall. Whether it is part of the Anti-virus package you purchased or you get separate software, it will prevent unwanted visitors from leaving things on your network. Sometimes you bring it in by actions; other times you let it in by inaction.
6. Buy a router. Most people have them by now, but for those that don’t, they range in price, but start as low at $15. This will give you an added layer of security to keep the outsiders out.
7. Most importantly, pay attention to the computing world and news. When new viruses pop up and gain traction, the news talks about them. Keeping yourself in the loop will help you know what to expect and how to recover. It will also help you clean a virus sometimes before the anti-virus can even update.

With a little vigilance and few protective measures, anyone can surf the Internet safely and enjoy all it has to offer.

This is an initial reactions video to the new Apple Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. I understand I’ve only been using it a day and things may change. I also understand I may have missed the mark on stuff. Before you scream and throw a tantrum realize these are FEELINGS and initial impressions. Not hard facts.

As many people are aware, Apple kicked off Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address this morning. Included in this year’s keynote were all the updates to the OS X in the forthcoming OS X 10.7 Lion, iOS 5, and the new iCloud. Much to the dismay (but not surprise) of consumers, there was no mention of a new iPhone.

The updates are plentiful and many weren’t even mentioned in the 2 hour address. To make sifting through the feature set easier, below is an aggregate list of all that was announced today.

Before that, here are some statistics delivered.

• There are 54 million Mac users worldwide.
• PCs lost 1% market share last quarter and Mac grew by 28%.
• Lion comes with 250 new features.
• Mac App Store has surpassed Best Buy and Amazon for software purchases.
• 200 million iOS devices sold.*
• 44+% of the mobile websurfing market.*
• iPad sold 15 million units in from launch to iPad 2. iPad 2 sold 10 million from launch to present.
• 90,000 apps created specifically for iPad.
• 1,500 new API calls in iOS 5.

• OS X 10.7 Lion

1. Multi-touch gesturing builg into the OS to take advantage of laptop trackpads or the Bluetooth ones for the desktop
2. Full screen apps get rid of menu bars and scroll bars (scroll bars present while actively scrolling). Better utilization of desktop space. While apps are in full screen, users can “swipe” between them. Momentum scrolling (similar to iPhone) is in effect.
3. “Mission Control” is a unification of Expose and Spaces allowing for better navigation and creation of spaces.
4. Mac App Store, launched in January, has updates such as in-app purchases.
5. Launchpad, accessed by a swipe, shows all apps on the computer, regardless of location in an iOS style layout.
6. Resume brings users back to the same place in an application that was last left off - such as page in a document, including highlighting, setting, palettes, etc.
7. Autosave protects in those instances where a crash or problem occurs between manual saves. Unlike Microsoft Word auto-recovery, Autosave in Lion creates a new file. Use Autosave menu to revert to last version, manually save upon recovery or turn it off altogether.
8. This paves the way for versioning. It is like OS X’s time Machine for files. Use it to scroll back and forth in time to find different revisions of same file.
9. Air Drop is like the Drop Box for Mac. Peer to peer file sharing. Drop a file into Air Drop to share with other users who will be prompted to accept.
10. Mail is totally redesigned with conversation view and a left hand email list, much like iPad in landscape orientation.
11. Lots of other small features such as a Windows Migration Assistant.
12. No more CDs. Lion is available for purchase through the Mac App Store for $29 and will be installable on all personally owned Macs for that price. Also, no reboot required, which is the first for an OS upgrade.

• iOS 5

1. Notifications totally revamped. No more popups mid-screen. Now, there is a small notification at the top a la Android that does not interrupt activity.
2. Newsstands gives users the ability to manage and read subscriptions to magazines and newspapers in one aggregate location. It will automatically update with new issues.
3. Total Twitter integration with single sign-on and use of camera, photos and other apps.
4. Safari has been given a full screen Safari reader, read it later option to mark pages and tabbed browsing. The tabs are the one interesting part of this.
5. Reminders are a native to-do list. Included is a feature to set reminders by time or location. Notifications given when GPS notes the user in a certain location. Husbands be warned… you can no longer forget to pick up the milk.
6. Camera received updates. It is available from the lock screen giving instant access. Users can take photos without inputting a passcode (if enabled on phone), but must input passcode to reach previously taken photos. Volume up button functions as a shutter button now. Holding a tap on a part of the photo exposes for that area. Photo editing has been included with items such as crop, rotate, red-eye reduction or a one-click enhancement.
7. Mail support rich-text formatting, indentation control, flagging and searching contents of a message now.
8. Slide both thumbs up on the keyboard to split it, giving half to each side. This makes it easier to type with just the thumbs - unless you have unusually long thumbs that can reach the middle of the iPad.
9. No more PC needed. New phones will be activated over the air (OTA). Also, iOS updates will be pushed OTA as well. All delta updates, which means only the changes come down, saving on data usage for those on non-unlimited plans.
10. Game Center now has friend and game recommendations, making it more social.
11. New messaging service gives delivery receipts, read receipts, and real-time typing notifications. BlackBerry Messenger beware. Also, messages can be delivered to iPad or iPod Touch using Apple identity (no phone number needed).
12. WiFi syncing with iTunes.
13. Flick between apps with a gesture.
14. iOS 5 due out this fall.

• iCloud

1. Sync photos, etc across all devices instantaneously.
2. Previously branded as MobileMe for $99, iCloud is a new service that will be free.
3. Once an app is purchased, it can be synched and downloaded to all devices. New devices will be propagated with all apps and settings using iCloud.
4. Music, books, photos, videos will be backed up to the cloud as well.
5. iCloud APIs will be made available, allowing third-party developeres to make use of this in other apps.
6. Photostream uses iCloud to showcase photos on other devices, including AppleTV.
7. To prevent data consumption, the last 1,000 photos will be displayed.
8. There are 3 ways to get non-purchased/ripped music from iTunes onto devices using iCloud. First is by synching new devices over wire or WiFi. Second is to repurchase all songs via iTunes. Last, for $25 per year iTunes Match will look at all songs on a computer (not bought via iTunes), find them in the iTunes library and attribute them to the users’s account.

Those are all the big things announced today. Stay tuned as iOS 5 filters out to developers and more features are found. Many people are disappointed with the lack of a hardware update and found this years keynote to be lackluster, at best. There were no bombshells and most that was announced was expected in some form. However, these updates are incredibly useful. Some are much needed. Others are unprecedented but fun and exciting.

The next iPhone is on the way. It is just a question of when. Without an announcement today, do not expect it in 2011. Enjoy all the new updates and features until then.

The proliferation of smart phones has created a new business model in the world of technology. That business model is the app store. This idea was pioneered by Apple and the iPhone and had been adopted by the Android community. Apple has incorporated this into the iPad as well. Even the update from OS X 10.5 Leopard to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard incurred a $30 fee, which is well below the price of any operating system upgrade ever before. The Android community has a Google Marketplace and individual carriers and phone manufacturers have their own repositories as well, such as Verizon’s or Motorola’s stores. 

Yesterday, Apple made another unprecedented move by incorporating an app store into the desktop. The update to their Snow Leopard operating system from 10.6.5 to 10.6.6 brought the inclusion of this new feature. Now,  users can download full scale desktop applications and pay for them using their iTunes credentials and payment information without the need for physical media. The overhead is lower which brings prices down. One such example is Apple’s photo editing application, Aperture, which retails for $199 and is now on sale in the app store for $80. Developers have learned a quick lesson that by dropping the price you will more than make up for it in sales volume. 

People will, for example, by 10 apps at 99 cents, but rarely buy 1 app at $10. And the logical deployment of applications via the cloud means that developers can afford to charges this prices and keep profits and profit margins up. 

The update to the operating system is, of course, free. When completed you will notice a new icon in your dock that is the app store. When entering, apps are broken up by free apps, paid apps, popular apps and more. You can browse by genre or search for something specifically. 

This is a bold move for Apple but will likely be very popular. If the success of app stores for smart phones and tablets is any indication, it is almost a sure bet that this model will be copied on other desktop platforms before long as well. 

Once again, Apple held a keynote event. Steve Jobs showed up in jeans and a turtleneck, as expected. This event had a theme. It wasn’t iPhone or iPad. It was all about the Mac. What did we learn?

• iLife has a new version called iLife 11. It will ship with every new mac and be $49 to upgrade for existing owners. The updates that come with it are not very exciting though.
• iPhoto gives fullscreen views, new slideshow transitions and updates to Facebook and Flickr integration. You can also email directly from iPhoto now. The user interface is redone. Finally, you can shop for photo cards, books, etc from within the application.
• iMovie’s focus was around effects and making movie trailers. See YouTube soon for the felt effect of these features.
• GarageBand is also limited in its new feature roundup. new effects are added as is a feature titled Flextime that allows you to stretch audio to fit. The common component in all iLife products is the interface that is very iOS-ish. Will we see iLife on the iPad soon?
• FaceTime on the Mac arrived (in Beta) today. You can now call an iPhone 4, iPod Touch or Mac - over Wi-Fi. It integrates with Address Book so if you have an iPhone and sync with a Mac, you already have all of your contacts imported. This can be very cool.
• The news we were all waiting for was confirmed by the new, big “cat” peeking out from behind the Apple logo. OS X 10.7 Lion is on the way. Unfortunately it will not ship until the summer of 2011 but it brings two major updates. The smaller of the two is “Mission Control.” It is a combination of Expose, Dashboard and Spaces. This will let you view everything running in full screen. With a gesture you see all of your desktops (spaces) along the top, all of your full screen apps organized and your dock as the bottom. The other is a Mac app store. You can purchase and download apps directly from the store exactly like the iPhone/iPad app store. Apps will also update via the new app store.
• If hardware is your thing, you’ll be excited about the MacBook Air refresh. It is 0.68 inches thick at the fattest portion and will come in both an 11-inch and 13-inch version. All models are solid state hard drives giving instant on capability. The bottom end is priced at $999 and the highest priced is $1599.

That is all we really saw. More developments to come for OS X Lion and its features such as Mission Control or Launchpad. Launchpad is an iOS style launcher for all apps, complete with pages and folders as seen on iOS devices. It was not the most outrageous  Apple event but had enough cool new goodies to keep us happy.

Tweetie for Mac

Tweetie is a Twitter client fo the Mac that has been promoted through Macheist.