Snow Leopard beta seeded to developpers once again..

The betas of the long awaited Snow Leopard update continue at a fast rate. Apple has begun seeding a new build of Mac OS X 10.6.2 to developers, one week after the previous beta… Apple says that over 140 components have been addressed in 10.6.2 betas so far, including issues in Dictionary, USB. Expose, File Sync, QuickTime, Screen Sharing, iPhoto,  Spotlight,  TrackPad preferences, Time Machine and more..

The new release tends to graphics issues, specifically relating to drivers, QuartzCore, and ColorSync, as well as issues with the Dock. Apple  is asking developers to pay special attention to TrackPad preferences, graphics drivers, and virtual machines….

 

Google Chrome available for Mac

Google has released an official developer preview of Google Chrome for  Mac. You can download the developer preview of the new browser at Google’s official webpage.

Chrome also has several features resembling Safari 4 in Snow Leopard (e.a.: sandboxing – each tab runs on tis own, so if one crashes, it doesn’t chrash the whole browser. You can also change Chorme’s theme,  just in case you don’t like the default theme ..
Importing bookmarks, settings, and history from your browser isn’t any more difficult then counting to 1…

iBoot-359.3.2 kills 24kpwn exploit

Apple has apparently recently made a slight update to its shipping iPhone 3GS models, deploying an updated boot ROM that does not allow the exploit typically used to jailbreak the devices to be employed.
The iBoot-359.3.2 started to ship last week.

MuscleNerd from the iPhone Dev-Team has confirmed that the loss of the 24kpwn exploit would mean a normal jailbreak would be impossible for the time being. While previous iPhone hardware and software updates have temporarily squashed jailbreaking tools, this apparently marks the first time that Apple has quietly changed the boot ROM on devices in production to address the issue.

Jailbreaking iPhones and iPod touches allows them to run applications and access features that have not been authorized by Apple, and has also allowed users to pirate iPhone applications. Recent data from mobile advertising firm Pinch Media reveals that it has seen nearly four million jailbroken devices on its ad network, with 38% of those using at least one pirated application. Among iPhone applications that have been cracked and made available for pirating.

Apple goes even greener (PT.III)

The Wall Street Journal called out Apple’s resignation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as an act of “green political correctness,” rather than a smart business decision.

The editorial singled out both Apple and Nike, two companies that recently forfeited their stake in the Chamber over its stance on greenhouse gas emissions. It noted that former Vice President Al Gore, a member of the Apple Board of Directors, stands to profit from potential anticarbon legislation.

The Journal suggested that the tax impact for both companies would be relatively small. Under the proposed Boxer-Kerry bill in the Senate, Apple’s carbon taxes would reportedly be between $43 million and $108 million a year.

It concluded that companies should not “dump” the Chamber over one issue. If every company did that, it said, the Chamber wouldn’t be able to serve anyone’s interests, as it would be too worried about each individual company’s specific agenda, rather than the health of business in general.

Apple has earned its share of fans and critics in the wake of its decision. Chamber President Thomas Donohue took on Mac maker after it said it would prefer the Chamber to have a “more progressive stance on this critical issue.” Donohue said Apple forfeited the chance to “advance a 21st century approach to climate change.”

But Apple earned accolades as well, from U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who called the move “wonderful.” Greenpeace, too, applauded Apple’s decision to leave the group.

While Apple left the Chamber entirely, Nike only withdrew from its board. The shoe-maker has retained its membership. Preceding them in departure were three utility companies, Pacific Gas & Electric, PNM Resources and Exelon.

Mac Pro six-core

Gulftown is the codename of a yet-unreleased Intel chip. It will be sold under the Intel Core i9 name, while the server version is to be called the Xeon 5600 series. It will be the first dual-socket, six-core processor for Intel.

Hardmac has reported that Apple is testing the Gulftown Xeon chip in the new Mac Pro desktop. The chip is an improvement over the model currently being used in the 2009 model with more horsepower and lower power consumption.

The new Mac Pro will have a modified motherboard with a 10Gbit/second Ethernet port. In addition, it is said to support 8GB and 16GB RAM modules, an increase from the 4GB offered today. That would mean the system could carry up to 128GB of RAM.

The new 32 nanometer chips have 12MB of L3 cache, and 6 cores with 12 threads for each CPU. Apple usually doubles the processors in its high-end professional workstations, so it’s possible the new Mac Pro system could have a total of 12 cores. The new hardware could be released sometime in the first quarter of 2010.

The new hardware is said to possibly arrive in early 2010, before the new chip enters mass production. If true, it is likely that the Mac maker would have short-term exclusive use of the new Xeon CPU.

New iPhone 3GS firmware – Apple’s try to fight off hackers

According to iClarified, Apple has updated the BootROM for the iPhone 3GS to iBoot-359.32. This software upgrade is reportedly not vulnerable to an exploit hackers previously used to crack open the hardware.

Previously, hackers had relied on an exploit known as “24kpwn,” which allowed users to run unauthorized code on the iPhone OS. The latest BootROM, however, does not allow use of the exploit.

A member of the iPhone Dev Team who goes by the handle MuscleNerd noted this is the first time ever that Apple has done a BootROM update in the middle of a product line, without a new hardware model. The Dev Team is a group of hackers who release tools used to exploit the iPhone OS.

Apple’s interest in preventing users from jailbreaking, or running unauthorized code, on their iPhone is likely centered around piracy. Apple and the jailbreaking community have gone back and forth for some time, as the handset maker looks to close avenues used by hackers.

While jailbreaking does have other uses than piracy — such as running applications not allowed on the App Store or unlocking the device for use on other carriers — the procedure can also allow users to steal softwarefrom the App Store…

iPhone app controls car

iPhone users can now go keyless, if they want to spend $500 for the Viper SmartStart system.

The  app is available free, on iTunes. But you need a Viper receiver that costs 500$ to be able to say goodbye to your keys.

SmartStart lets you lock or unlock  your car, set the alarm, start it from remote, unlock the trunk and there’s a “panic or car finder” for those parking lot nightmares. You can also manage more than one car on it and assign more than one user per car

(If you’ve already got a Viper system, you can add on the iPhone SmartStart module for $299.)