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TidBITS#731/24-May-04

This week’s security vulnerability is real, and cuts to the core of Mac OS X. Read on for Adam’s look at the problem and how to protect yourself, along with Matt Neuburg’s explanation of how it happened. Joe Kissell then explains Apple Mail’s spam filter with an excerpt from his new "Take Control of Spam with Apple Mail," ebook, and Adam introduces Envision, a program that turns a Mac into an Internet picture frame. In the news, we cover a minor Apple reorg and the releases of Office 2004 and SubEthaEdit 2.0. Lastly, no issue next week!

Adam Engst No comments

No TidBITS Issue 31-May-04

No TidBITS Issue 31-May-04 -- After this week's extra-long TidBITS issue, we're taking a week off for the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, which coincides with Managing Editor Jeff Carlson's birthday celebrations and the days I'll be spending at the MacDesign conference

Jeff Carlson No comments

Apple Creates New iPod Division

Apple Creates New iPod Division -- Highlighting the importance of its digital music player to Apple's bottom line, the company has formed a separate iPod division headed up by Vice President Jon Rubinstein, who previously ran Apple's hardware engineering

Adam Engst No comments

URL-Based Mac OS X Vulnerability Revealed

It's not a Trojan horse, but a recently revealed security vulnerability does appear to be a very real concern. The exploit relies on unsafe actions that Apple allows for certain URL schemes (such as the http, ftp, or mailto bit at the beginning of a URL) and makes it possible for a malicious code to be delivered and executed silently, without the user realizing anything has happened. The problem was initially thought to revolve around only two of these URL schemes: disk and help

Matt Neuburg No comments

Explaining the URL-Based Mac OS X Vulnerability

Exactly what is it about Mac OS X that is responsible for the security vulnerability currently being discussed? The situation is a little confusing, and I may be muddling some of the details, but here's my current understanding of the situation. As you know, when you double-click a document in the Finder, the application that "owns" that document starts up and opens the document

TidBITS Staff No comments

Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/24-May-04

The second URL below each thread description points to the discussion on our Web Crossing server, which will be much faster, though it doesn't yet use our preferred design. Mac Browser Security Hole -- Readers discuss the reality of the recently reported Mac OS X security hole and what should be done about it