The Fall of Mighty Mac?!?
By Brian | November 17, 2007
A month ago, I blogged about Apple’s new OS X Leopard operating system, and commented on how so many of its features seemed similar to those in Windows Vista, a comparison that usually runs the other way when it comes to comparing OS’s.
Well, the other day, Apple did something else that made it seem hauntingly similar to Microsoft:
Apple has released a major security update to current and previous versions of its OS X operating system.
Most significantly, the update fixes 41 vulnerabilities, many of which could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary — ie: malicious — code on the affected system. The affected software includes the Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) Flash Player Plug-in, AppleRAID, the Mach Kernel, the Safari Web browser, and other core system components.
On Thursday, Apple released an update (10.5.1) for Mac OS X “Leopard,” which debuted last month. It includes three fixes to the Application Firewall that could lead network services to be exposed. Apple also released a security update (3.04) for Safari 3 Beta for Windows XP and Vista on Wednesday. The patch fixes a tabbed browsing flaw that could expose user credentials, several cross-site scripting vulnerabilities, and a buffer overflow bug, among other issues.
As I’ve said many, many, many, many, many, many times before, Apple’s starting to play with the big boys now, and they’re bound to encounter similar issues (and take similar) action in this regard.
Tune in next week, when we read about the poor sysadmins who didn’t install the 41 patches right away because they decided to spend some time testing on their network infrastructure before rolling them out to hundreds of users, only to be attacked by the hacker who has now downloaded the patch, reverse-engineered the malicious code, and sent it crawling for servers in exactly that position…
Welcome to the party Apple. Sit back and enjoy Microsoft’s new ad campaign, starring John Hodgeman comforting Justin Long: “It’s OK, Mac, it happens to everyone eventually. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m told there’s a patch you can get that will clear it all up. Kinda like smoking…”
Categories: Tech Talk | 6 Comments »
What the Daily Show Writers are Doing These Days…
By Brian | November 17, 2007
They’re writing Daily Show YouTube clips:
(Hat tip: Wil Wheaton)
Categories: Primetime TV | Comments Off on What the Daily Show Writers are Doing These Days…
RCCTP Update – 11/15/07
By Brian | November 15, 2007
The daily update is up. Today: Christmas lights, extra boughs, and High School Musical! Check it out.
Categories: New York, New York | Comments Off on RCCTP Update – 11/15/07
Witch Anatomy
By Brian | November 15, 2007
In the window of The American Craftsman at Rockefeller Center this morning:
I don’t even want to know…
Meanwhile, I’m really liking having a digital camera with me as I walk to/from work every day. I’m tellin’ ya, they should put these things in cell phones!
Categories: The World Wide Weird | Comments Off on Witch Anatomy
Marching Band. Video Game. Where Could You Go Wrong?
By Brian | November 15, 2007
Check out the Cal Marching Band’s 16-big Video Game Halftime Show:
The Gizmodo video doesn’t lend itself to easy embedding like YouTube, so the picture above is a link to another page, but trust me – it’s worth the click…
Categories: Words about Music | Comments Off on Marching Band. Video Game. Where Could You Go Wrong?
In which I let down dozens of people (maybe)…
By Brian | November 14, 2007
I wound up working from home today, so I don’t have a live picture of the tree to share. But there is an update. Depending on your glass-is-half-empty/glass-is-half-full score, I’m sure you’ll conclude that I’m either very resourceful with the tools at my disposal, or a lousy, stinkin’ cheater.
Also, Jason Bennion pointed out to me in the comments from my last post that the oh-so-witty captions I’m putting on my posts are not available on Firefox, as they are on Internet Explorer. Given my limited skills with Javascript, I’m quite frankly surprised that Firefox can’t handle something I’ve written. Either I’ve written the code wrong, or Firefox breaks on the simplest of Javascript code.
For the geeks out there, here’s the relevant snippet. Any feedback? Also, if anyone knows how to set the alt text on the picture when it changes, let me know & I’ll do that. I don’t know off the top of my head and I don’t have time to Google it right now.
function Fade_Image(inc){
//Set fade speed
if (document.all){
document.images.imagetofade.style.filter=”blendTrans(duration=1)”
document.images.imagetofade.filters.blendTrans.Apply()
}//Load up next picture
curr_img = curr_img + inc
if (curr_img > (p-1)) curr_img=0
if (curr_img < 0) curr_img=p-1
document.images.imagetofade.src = preLoad[curr_img].src
caption.innerText=Cap[curr_img]//Do the Fade
if (document.all){
document.images.imagetofade.filters.blendTrans.Play()
}
}[…]
<td width=605 height=1000 valign=”top” align=”left” colspan=2>
<img src=”images/shim.gif” name=’imagetofade’ width=600 height=400 onclick=”Fade_Image(1)”><br>
<center><span id=”caption”>Categories: New York, New York, Tech Talk | 6 Comments »
RCCTP Update – 11/13/07
By Brian | November 14, 2007
The new pictures are up. Today – the Swarovski star, an office-eye view, and men sweeping pine needles!
Fun for the whole family…
Categories: New York, New York | Comments Off on RCCTP Update – 11/13/07
How to make a Photoblog – Lesson One
By Brian | November 12, 2007
So I just realized how annoying it would be to look at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Photoblog (hereafter referred to as the RCCTP) each and every day, and have to click through a bunch of pictures you’ve already seen just to see the one or two new ones I posted that day.
So, I’ve reversed the order. The most recent picture will now be first, so you can click “Next” until they look familiar, and then you’re done.
Those who would like to see the entire album in sequence, can click the double right arrow (end of album), and then use the left arrow to page through the set backwards.
Next week: Getting over myself & just using Flickr for cryin’ out loud…
(Oh, and P.S. – the November 12th pictures are up…)
Categories: Blogging about Blogs | 4 Comments »
How to Ruin Sesame Street in One Sentence
By Brian | November 12, 2007
Matthew Baldwin of Defective Yeti:
Watching Sesame Street today with [my son], it suddenly occurred to me that every time Maria hugs Elmo, some lecherous muppeteer is copping a feel.
38 years of Emmy-award winning children’s television right down the drain. Thank God my kids have moved on to all things Nickelodeon…
Categories: Primetime TV | 2 Comments »
And by “day,” he means “night”
By Brian | November 12, 2007
I took special care to setup the photoblog so that I could post pictures to it without being at my home PC. I remembered to bring the camera, and oh yes – I took the pictures. But alas, there are no devices in the office that can transfer an image from an SD memory card to a PC for uploading.
And so, the daily pictures will post sometime between 9pm and 12AM each evening. Those suffering from anticipation can rest assured that after today, they will still have a picture to see each morning – it’ll just be day old news. Like a newspaper.
Categories: New York, New York | Comments Off on And by “day,” he means “night”