Tech-oriented howtos & musings
Just a quick post to record the hard-won knowledge of just which ports Wi-Fi Sync uses for communicating with the server app running on your iTunes computer:
Wi-Fi Sync 1.1a uses port 48281 (TCP and possibly UDP)
WiFi Sync 2.0ß (build 97) uses port 14867 (TCP)
Unix is deceptively simple. It’s file permission structure is a perfect expression of this. Simple to learn, but powerful in use. Unfortunately for some it’s just too much to get their heads around (viz “I keep trying to empty the trash but it tells me that I can’t!!11!”).
Is Apple’s solution to educate the masses about file ownership? Oh no no, if Johnny wants to delete a folder full of files he should just be able to right? Regardless of whether his account created the files right? That’s “it just works” in action right?? So what do they do? They have a helper (hah!) application with admin rights that Finder can kick off to merrily delete files that you don’t have the rights to delete. Neat huh? This aberration’s name? Locum.
A nice analysis here for those of you who grok Unix. The author makes a number of hopeful assumptions that Apple have put in the necessary checks and balances to ensure this little bugger is not misappropriated. Given the greater attention iOS has been receiving in Cupertino for the last few years I’m afraid I don’t share his optimism.
Late last year the Koobface worm made a certain amount of noise in the virus community as one of the first cross-platform pieces of malware seen in the wild (it propagated in part via a Java applet). Now I can’t speak for Windows (wouldn’t bother) but on Macintosh it couldn’t do zip without the user actively clicking on a Java warning dialog (see first screenshot at this URL). I thought to myself “No worries, just one more example of how Macintosh is less susceptible to malware than leaky old Windows”.
Then I saw the graph on this recent follow-up from The Register; fully 16% of successful infections are on Macintosh. Given it’s relatively miniscule market share compared with Windows that is a HUGE infection rate! It just goes to show that the average Maccie is no smarter than any other computer user and will gaily click on any link if the social engineering is good enough ;-P
So my trusty PowerBook G4 finally turned up it’s toes after 6 years of faultless service. What happened? One warm evening the screen went black and never came back; my diagnosis is one fried GPU. So far so what; computers die every day right? What makes this different is why the poor bugger got too hot…
Front and centre on my desk is my work laptop; a big old HP Workstation, and the PowerBook always sat to it’s left. If only I noticed months ago that the exhaust vents for the cooling are at the back left corner, and that the intakes for the PowerBook are along the back behind the screen hinge…
So I checked the specs – the PowerBook’s top operating temp is 35ºC. The ambient temperature in the room was 26ºC. Then I put the thermometer behind the Mac…. 33ºC! Okay so supposedly the Mac can take that, but for days and weeks on end?? I would imagine not.
Moral of this sad story? Always check where your laptop gets it’s cooling airflow from. Oh, and the new Macbook Pro now sits on the right hand side of the killer PC ;o)
So it is of course obvious to any one that the introduction of code signing in Leopard plus the recent introduction of the Mac App Store are the first two steps on the road to your beautiful Apple computer becoming nothing more than a big iPad.
Here’s step three – a missive recently sent out to all OS X Developers who have apps hosted at Apple’s Mac OS X Downloads site.
Thank you for making the Mac OS X Download site a great destination with apps that offer users new ways to work, play, learn, and create on their Mac.
We recently announced that on January 6, 2011, the Mac App Store will open to users around the world, presenting you with an exciting, new opportunity to reach millions of customers. Since the introduction of the App Store in 2008, we’ve been thrilled with the incredible support from developers and the enthusiastic response from users. Now we’re bringing the revolutionary experience of the App Store to Mac OS X.
Because we believe the Mac App Store will be the best destination for users to discover, purchase, and download your apps, we will no longer offer apps on the Mac OS X Downloads site. Instead, beginning January 6, we will be directing users to explore the range of apps available on the Mac App Store.
We appreciate your support of the Mac platform and hope you’ll take advantage of this new opportunity to showcase your apps to even more users. To learn how you can offer your apps on the Mac App Store, visit the Apple Developer website at .
Best regards,
Ron Okamoto
Vice President, Worldwide Developer Relations
Apple Inc.
The short version? Apple are closing their Mac OS X Downloads site. The long version? OS X Lion (or whatever cat follows that) will make app code signing mandatory and suddenly if you’re not in Apple’s cosy little walled garden you’re out in the cold, and your laptop joins your phone in being a device that you rent from Apple rather than actually own outright.
In the face of this disappointing future, three cheers for Jay Freeman (saurik) for his recent announcement of ‘Cydia for Macintosh’ – at least there’s one person out there who sees the way the wind is blowing and is in a position to do something about it. Note that it is very relevant that Jay sees that in the main Cydia contains ‘system tweaks’ rather than applications. Fighting Apple’s lockdown of your iDevice (whether phone, pad, or laptop) is and has always been more about giving you back complete ownership over the device you paid for rather than running any particular application on it.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation have done some marvellous analysis of the way in which Facebook has gradually eroded it’s users privacy over the years:
Facebook’s Eroding Privacy Policy: A Timeline
In short, Facebook started out stating that your data would only be shared with other Facebook users, and then only those in groups you specified in your privacy settings.
Contrast that with the current policy whereby your name, picture, list of friends and more are considered public information (AS IF!) and much of your data is shared with Facebook’s partner sites whether you like it or not.
See Rixstep’s coverage for further redux.
If your web hosting space is getting filled to the gills with IMAP messages and you want to do a bit of a purge, you’ll do all the necessary deletions and trash emptying in Apple’s Mail app, but to no avail – the messages remain on the server.
The trick is that you need to quit Mail in order to force it to _truly_ delete the messages and hence allow the server to do so.