Mac OS X

A new way to hijack Windows machines was found by researchers in the course of some experiments. Experts at InfoSec Institute, an information security services company, tried the MITM, or man-in-the-middle, attacks that exploit features that present in recent versions of Windows to make it easy for computers to connect to networks using the next generation IPv6 protocol.

According to Jack Koziol, a program manager at InfoSec Institute, the attack may also exploit features of Apple's OS X for Macs, however the proof-of-concept has not been tested on that platform.

Winrumors reported that preparing its Windows 8 for the release Microsoft is taking some feature from Mac OS X. Thus, this option adapted to Windows machines will reportedly be named “History Vault.”

Winrumors says that History Vault will be an advanced backup utility similar to Time Machine for Mac OS X. The system will create regular, automatic backups using Windows' existing Shadow Copy feature.

A developer Theo Watson has managed to hack the Kinect hardware for the Xbox 360 to run it on a MacBook Pro running Mac OS X. Previously the same thing was made for a Windows 7 PC.

While the Kinect on OS X doesn’t work the same way as it did on Windows 7, where a user had complete control over its motors and all, still it is a significant breakthrough that has great prospects for future Mac OS X machines use.

Amazon has announced the release of the newest update for Mac Kindle. The application can be downloaded from Amazon site by any users worldwide. New Kindle for Mac which enables users to read Kindle e-books on the Apple OS X has obtained new features such as searching within the text, adding and editing notes, highlighting passages and reading in multi-column mode. 

Bookmarks and annotations can also be synced across all Kindle devices and apps owing to Amazon's Whispersync technology.

Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed that the company will offer a Mac OS X tool that syncs "selected content" between Macs and Windows Phone 7 devices. Since Microsoft unveiled its new operating system for mobile phones observers and consumers were speculating whether new Windows Phone 7 would support direct synchronization with Apple's Macintosh machines.

On Wednesday this week Apple is holding an event where attendants will see once again how the company’s profits are getting more dependent on different devices other than PC. The Cupertino will show its new iPod Touch with a camera for video chatting and a revamped Apple TV set-top box that will reportedly resemble an iPhone 4.

As it became known Tuesday, Adobe Systems patched 20 security vulnerabilities in its Shockwave Player, used to display content created by Adobe's Director program, offering advanced tools for creating interactive content.

These vulnerabilities are in versions of Shockwave Player up to version 11.5.7.609, on both Apple's Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. The patched version is 11.5.8.612, according to an Adobe advisory.

According to a report from Net Applications the market share of Windows 7 is increasingly growing while Mac OS X is experiencing stagnation. Since it was released in October last year Windows 7 has been steadily progressing and this July it passed Windows Vista to become the number two operating system in the world.

The report unveils that Mac OS X market is not growing with a slight drop as Windows 7 fuels a PC-buying surge.

Meantime, the top operating system which is adored most by users remains Windows XP which will turn 9 years in October 25.

According to the speculations that leaked to the pages of the New York Times Apple is looking to release the fourth upgrade of its Apple TV user interface. The sources cited by the Times paper said they didn’t know whether the UI overhaul would be made on the top of the Apple TV's existing, Mac OS X-based software or involve a - much rumored - shift to iOS. They could not also confirm if the overhaul will implicate any hardware revamp.

Sony is launching a new touchscreen-equipped all-on-one PC line. Scheduled to debut in July this year the Vaio J series features a 21.5in display with 1920 x 1080 resolution and "multiple lamp" backlighting. It's driven by a 2.26GHz Intel Core i3-350M processor and an Nvidia GeForce 310M 512MB graphics chip.

Other specifications include 4GB of DDR 3 memory, a 500GB 7200rpm hard drive, a multi-format DVD writer, 802.11n wireless networking, Bluetooth and a webcam.

Google made an official announcement that it will launch a complete version of its Chrome operating system in the fourth quarter while the exact launch date will be provided later. The Chrome OS "will be offered to users in the fourth quarter," said Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management, during a speech at the Computex electronics exhibition in Taipei.

Security researchers reported this week that Mac users are at risk of installing a spyware application that comes hidden into free software they download from three popular websites. Intego, a provider of anti-virus software for Macs, reports that the spyware dubbed as OSX/OpinionSpy is distributed through software available on sites including Softpedia, MacUpdate, and VersionTracker.

The security firm says that the malicious application is not installed automatically during the download process instead it infects a machine during the installation of free software.

Users of Mac OS X who want to have a tool for organizing and resizing their windows in a convenient way are now offered one. Mizage has presented its Divvy application which is in one row of other windows managers like MercuryMover, Fiwi, Cinch, and SizeUp.

Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther" (released in 2003) was successfully hacked by a Finnish geek Toni Nikkanen who has become the first to use it on a smartphone, and it's not the iPhone.

The phone model where the hacker managed to install Apple’s operating system is Nokia's N900 smartphone.

As Psystar last week indefinitely suspended sales of its only product a $50 utility that lets customers install Apple's Snow Leopard operating system on generic Intel-based computers, the company promised to resume the production "in the coming days." Those machines will run Linux rather than Mac OS X.