It’s that time of year again.

Every year around this time we start hearing the rumors about what the next iPhone or iPad or other Apple gizmo is going to be/look like/do. And every year the major and otherwise perfectly respectable and factual news and tech sites go berserk reporting “the next iPhone” on their front pages.

Do not listen.

Just ignore it.

Go back and read those two lines again.

So far, the media has a horrific track record when it comes to guessing what Cupertino is going to be bringing out at the next conference or special event. They’re usually generally right about the type of device that’s going to be debut, but the tech specs have never been even close.

Let’s take last time for the iPhone. If you listened to the pundits and Apple-watchers, we were going to get a 4 inch wunderphone that did 3D graphics and took pictures with a resolution rivaling $10,000 digital still cameras. It was going to be thinner, faster and lighter, and it was going to change everything about the iPhone. EVERYTHING!!!

We got the iPhone 4s. So, they were right on it being faster, and Siri was kind of a big deal, but were absolutely wrong about everything else.

Shall we bring up the “folding tablet” crap from not that long ago? No, let’s not.

Now we’re hearing it again. 4.8 inch screen, better engine, better software, better everything and it’ll be lighter and slimmer and …

My guess, there will be a new iPhone later this year and it will have a bigger screen. Otherwise, it’ll be an iPhone, plain and simple. Apple does not have a history of totally overhauling products without warning. They tweak the case this time, the interface with a software update, the resolution on the screen and camera the time after that. Slow, methodical and logical every step of the way.

When they’re going to do something gigantic, they tell everyone about it. The iPhone with its revolutionary methods was not a shock. The way it looked and worked was a shock, but the fact that Apple was going to do it was not. When the MacBooks went unibody and then shaved 2/3rds of their weight it was always because that was the next logical step. Lion was a logical step beyond Snow Leopard (well, some disagree, but at least from Apple’s perspective it is). Mountain Lion is yet another logical step.

Ignore the rumors, and just wait to see what Apple delivers. You’ll be just as thrilled with the end result, and not disappointed because there’s no projector built into the thing.

Photo Credit: Nite_Owl

By Mike Talon •
General Info •
0

Article source: http://www.newbie2mac.com/2012/05/ignore-the-rumors/

By Mike Talon
in General Info
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Email is a part of daily life. A few companies trying to outlaw it aside, everyone uses it and deals with tons of mail every day. What many users of Social Media don’t think about is keeping that email separated from their personal email accounts via another address entirely.

There are many reasons to set up and keep a distinct email for all your social stuff, but the two main ones are:

– Anonymity: If you’re planning on creating a persona distinct from your real-world one, then you want to keep email from and/or about that persona distinct from email that you get for everything else. This also goes for the inevitable spam, “new feature” blasts and all the other garbage you *will* get whenever you sign up for a Social Media site/network. Keeping a different address just for your accounts means that you can ignore it whenever you need to, while your co-workers and friends can still get their messages to you on your “real” address.

– Company ownership: Following on from last week’s post, there is always the chance that you may change jobs at some point. Hopefully, that’s because you got a spectacular offer and voluntarily left. If you’re using Social Media in conjunction with your job, and then suddenly aren’t, will you still have access to your work email until you can shift everything off of it? For most of us, the answer is no, and that poses a major problem. By using a different email address that you control, you can get everything that doesn’t belong to the company off of it, then hand it over to them if they want it.

A cautionary tale to illustrate both points:

I was just listening to a story about a friend who had two co-workers quit. As is the usual case in these instances, he got to watch their email accounts in case a customer who didn’t realize they left reached out for something. He now knows way more than he ever wanted to about their social lives, and also knows that they’re trying very hard to change login information, addresses, etc. Why? Because they both used the company email address when signing up for Social Media sites and networks, and all those emails are still flowing in.

So, better safe than sorry. Sign up for another email address (possibly a free service like GMail or a low-cost fee-based option, your choice) and use that address for your Social Media stuff.

Photo Credit: Horia Varlan

Article source: http://www.sociallyworking.com/2012/05/why-you-need-a-social-email-address/

Many Mac users find they need to use Windows too. There’s nothing wrong with that, as a large number of business applications don’t work the same or don’t exist at all for OS X.

When using Windows software on OS X, there are a couple of ways to go. You could use something like WINE (a Windows emulator) or use a virtualization tool like VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop and a Boot Camp partition or other VM. Most of the folks I’ve met use virtualization, and that leads to a couple of issues and risks that OS X wouldn’t have natively.

First, there’s security. Running Windows in a VM and/or Boot Camp and allowing OS X applications to share data with it means that Windows virus and malware attacks can infect other software and files. While it won’t be able (in the vast majority of cases) to infect the Mac, it can still destroy data and cause havoc. It also means that accidentally opening the wrong email attachment in OS X could open the infected attachment in Windows – where it can execute and run riot. You could disable data sharing between the VM and OS X, though that means that a lot of functionality you want to use will be disabled as well.

Also, since the VM may bypass the local firewall – this depends on your VM network settings – personal information and data stored in the VM could fall victim to attacks. If the VM can see your data in OS X directories, then that data is vulnerable as well.

So, first things first, get an anti-malware tool and personal firewall for your Windows VM/Boot Camp. Microsoft makes Security Essentials available free through Windows Update, so that is a great place to start for anti-malware. Ensuring the Windows Firewall is on and active helps keep others out. Details on both of these tools can be found on the Microsoft website.

Next, make sure you update your Windows Boot Camp partition and any VM’s regularly. Too many of us use Windows very infrequently, and that means that the installations of Windows remain offline, and don’t get updated automatically like a desktop running Windows as the primary OS can be configured to do.

There are two ways to do this. You can manually run Windows Update from the Start menu at least once per month. Microsoft releases patches the first Tuesday of each month, so running Windows Update on the second full week of each month will keep you covered. Second, you can set Windows Update to automatically apply updates whenever it sees them. This isn’t the best method though, because it will mean you get hounded for reboots unexpectedly, and you do not get anything but the more critical updates installed.

No matter what, remember that if you run Windows at all, you need to keep it patched and protected. With Parallels and VMware automatically sharing documents folders, Windows malware can cause quite a bit of damage, even to OS X.

Photo Credit: Steve-h

By Mike Talon •
General Info •
0

Article source: http://www.newbie2mac.com/2012/05/dont-forget-about-windows/

By Mike Talon
in Dos and Don’ts, General Info
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Talking to people means you have to have things to say. That’s a pretty basic rule of conversation, and it can lead to some interesting consequences on Social Networks.

While talking on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. you will meet all different kinds of people. They’ll want to have all different kinds of conversation on a myriad of topics. You have to be very careful not to fall into the trap of saying something inappropriate in timelines and pages that are directly affiliated with your company, lest you incur the wrath of the Powers that Be.

In my case – just as an example – my company preferred that I did not tweet personal conversations on my corporate identity, so I have two different Twitter timelines. @miketalonnyc for personal stuff, @VSI_MikeTalon for anything dealing with my day job. This lets me talk to my online friends about whatever I want, without those conversations crossing over to the timeline I use when I need to transmit corporate messaging.

There is another reason to keep different identities for work and play – ownership. When you tweet about your company, you’re directly affiliating with your company. That means – unless you have a written document saying otherwise – that the company can claim ownership over your Twitter, Facebook and other accounts. Why would they do this? Because your friends and contact lists constitute a customer list of sorts, and companies absolutely love customer lists! While this is still being challenged in the courts, at least one case may end up in favor of a company over the guy who built up the Twitter follower list. That’s bad enough, but he may have to pay the company in question for “using” their customer list if he loses the case – no small amount of cash to be sure.

By having one identity used for work, and one for your own stuff, you can clearly show the line between what posts and followers are yours and which “belong” to the company you’re working for.

In some cases, you may be lucky enough to be able to keep one account for work and play. If you are, get it in writing to protect yourself, then have at it. For the rest of us, keeping two identities is a good idea both to allow you to speak freely and to ensure you know what both you and your organization own.

Photo Credit: KM Photography

Article source: http://www.sociallyworking.com/2012/05/keeping-work-and-play-apart/

While Macs are much less cumbersome when it comes to updating, fixing and fiddling, they are not without those needs entirely. On a regular basis, you do need to go through some tasks to keep your OS X computer running smoothly and safely.

Once a week, I go through a maintenance procedure on my iMac and MacBook just to keep everything going the way I want it to go. The process is simple, and gets the job done without wasting a lot of time. The whole shebang should take less than 30 minutes a week unless there are a large number of updates, so find some time and get it done.

Here’s my weekly procedures, your mileage may vary, but feel free to copy my methods =)

1 – Software Update. Apple generally posts updates for OS X about once per month, but if there’s an emergency (like the recent Flashback malware) they can release updates much more often. Once a week is a good trade-off between being a time-consuming drudge and keeping everything updated and safe.

To run Software Update, click the Apple menu and choose “Software Update…” and follow the instructions that come up on screen. If there are no updates, the process takes about a minute. With updates the time varies, but even massive updates seem to finish within 30 minutes or so.

2 – App Store. If you have any software from the Mac App Store, then go to Apple Menu, “App Store…” and click on the Updates tab at the top. Download any updates to installed applications.

With no updates, the process is also less than a minute. If you have updates, the time varies, but is generally less than 15 minutes start to finish even if a lot of programs need updates.

3 – Check for other app updates. I use MacUpdate Desktop and rave about it quite a lot. One of the reasons is that it can find updates for just about every app I use on my Macs, and deliver the updates to me with a few clicks.

If you don’t want to use MacUpdate, you can always open each of your apps and look under the name of the app in the menu bar, or sometimes the help menu, and check for updates. This is much more time consuming, but will still get you updated.

4 – Run maintenance tasks. There is a great freeware tool called Onyx that will help you perform routine maintenance tasks on your Mac in a very user-friendly way. The tool can perform all the tasks I do each week, including:

- Cleaning up caches, trashes and miscellaneous data that hangs around after it’s no longer welcome

- Running the OS X monthly, weekly, and daily maintenance tasks

- Performing a Repair Permissions run on the OS X system volume

These steps improve performance, correct minor issues and head off problems that may be brewing in the background. The whole process takes about 15 minutes, and the Onyx user interface makes it very easy to perform.

Take half an hour, once a week, and keep everything in running order. You’ll be safer (by getting and installing updates that plug security holes), faster (by removing old cache files and patching permissions errors), and better (by getting the latest versions of your apps with their bug fixes).

Photo Credit: JanneM

By Mike Talon •
HowDoI? •
0

Article source: http://www.newbie2mac.com/2012/04/routine-maintenance-is-routine/

By Mike Talon
in Dos and Don’ts
No Comments

As with any form of transferring information, social media can become mired in the idea of broadcasting information out, instead of being true communication.

Take Twitter, for example. Many folks use this networking tool as a broadcast medium. They send out dozens of tweets, but never interact with anyone else. Others do nothing but retweet and repost, but do not listen for feedback. This is a one-way broadcast, not a true communication or collaboration.

Facebook, G+ and Pinterest can be the same way, with people blasting out update after update and pin after pin, but not listening to what other folks are saying in comments or in their own independent posts.

Falling into the trap of broadcasting only can be a killer for any Information Worker. We’re planning to use social media to communicate with customers, potential clients and others; but in reality we’re just screaming into the wilderness. That means the message will quickly get lost.

It’s relatively easy to communicate instead of broadcast, but it does take a little effort. Here’s a few simple ideas to keep in mind:

– Follow other people. So many folks on Twitter just send out information, but follow so few people back that they cannot possibly be listening to what’s out there. This isn’t to say that you should automatically follow everyone, or that you should randomly follow folks. See who interacts with you, and pick some people who you want to interact with. Then follow those people to foster a two-way communication stream.

- Reply and answer back. In addition to posting, read the timelines of those you follow and those who comment on your posts. Reply to them to say thanks, or to ask questions or make comments to foster more dialog. This doesn’t have to be an all-consuming time-sink, just a few minutes here and there in your day is enough for most people.

- Do share links and retweet/repost, but don’t flood your timeline. Forwarding on things you find that are part of your message is a great idea, but a constant stream of links and RT’s can put people off. Instead, use a service like Buffer to spread out your links and other posts so that you reach more people in more places. This gives you the ability to start a dialog with more people in more places, too.

- Talk about other things. Yes, we – as info professionals – mostly talk about what we’re doing/selling/creating. That’s normal and expected, but shouldn’t be the only thing in your timeline. Talk about what’s going on around you – such as local cultural and sporting events happening near you. This allows people to see that you’re not a one-trick-pony, but rather a real person who is willing to talk, not just broadcast. This shouldn’t be forced, however. Pick things you’re interested in to talk about. Got a hobby, play certain games or have an interesting side-job? Talk about those things, so you can show that you’re interested in more than just the corporate message.

Remember, social networking is networking. Multiple people sharing information and talking to each other. Don’t fall into the trap of making your social media streams become a loudspeaker that tunes out anyone else online.

Photo Credit: Wayne Large

Article source: http://www.sociallyworking.com/2012/04/its-about-communication/

Recently, I had a conversation on Twitter with a friend who was considering what tools his end-users should be using to access Exchange-based email on their OS X clients. Apparently many of the employees of his firm are on – or are switching to – Macs at home, and wanted to know what to use to access the corporate mail systems.

After going back and forth with him, I decided to do a blog post here about what the two bigger tools, Mail.app and Outlook 2011, could offer in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

Mail.app

Only recently, with the advent of Exchange 2007 in the mainstream, the native email app for OS X started being able to connect to Exchange using native protocols (ActiveSync/Outlook Anywhere). That doesn’t mean it doesn’t work with earlier versions, but it did so over IMAP and POP protocols, which many organizations do not allow outside the corporate network. Now, however, it’s a real competitor to Outlook on the OS X platform, and so a lot of users are looking at it for corporate mail.

Pros:

- Native to OS X, so no need to install additional software or acquire additional end-user licensing (you still need CAL’s for Exchange, though)

- Familiar interface to users who mainly use Macs

- Single email client for home and office mail (both a pro and a con)

Cons:

- Requires three apps (Mail, Calendar, Address Book/Contacts) to accomplish the common business tasks that Exchange is used for

- Mixes all email accounts, signatures, etc. in one mail client (both a pro and a con)

- Less corporate control over end-user data. Organizations can still disconnect accounts, but many Outlook-only data control measures and archiving systems won’t work (It should be noted that many archiving tools don’t work in Outlook 2011 either, but some do)

Outlook 2011

The de-facto standard for Exchange Email, Outlook has always been the preferred client for corporate users on Windows. Until Office 2011, the only option on Mac was Entourage, which has not be a well-loved piece of software. In 2011, Microsoft released the latest version of Office for Mac, which included a full-feature version of Outlook specifically designed for the OS X world.

Pros:

- Comes as part of Office 2011, which is probably already installed due to wanting to work with native MSFT apps for Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, etc. (Yes, I know that Apple has apps for those too, but for Windows-based companies, using the Office Suite is likely)

- Allows for segregation of user personal email from work email

- Has mail, calendar and contact functions in one application

Cons:

- Requires licensing for Office 2011 for each end-user

- Requires Exchange 2007 and up (for native Exchange protocols)

- Looks/feels/acts differently than most Mac apps (uses the MSFT Ribbon and doesn’t sync to the Address Book/Contacts app by default, for example)

What both do:

- IMAP, POP and ActiveSync/Outlook Anywhere protocols with or without a VPN

- Can sync contacts, calendar events and email

So who wins?

This is a tough call. For those who refuse to have Office 2011 on their machines, then Mail.app is the preferred choice. For those who don’t mind a few MSFT apps on their OS X boxes, there are a lot of benefits to going with Outlook – especially if you keep both personal and corporate mail on your Mac.

For me, I went with Outlook for my corporate mail. I use Mail.app for my personal accounts, and didn’t want to have to worry about accidentally sending personal mail to corporate contacts or vice versa. I also have Office 2011 installed for some interop reasons in the work I do, and therefore already had Outlook installed on my Macs.

Take a look at the pros and cons, but for an off-the-cuff opinion, I recommend Outlook 2011 for Exchange Server, Mail.app for everything else.

Photo Credit: Tim Morgan

By Mike Talon •
HowDoI? •
1

Article source: http://www.newbie2mac.com/2012/04/mail-app-or-outlook-2011/

A lot of noise has flooded into the net over the last few days surrounding a piece of malware called “Flashback.” Here’s what you need to know:

1 – What is it?

- First things first, it is NOT a virus. Computer viruses are malicious programs capable of copying themselves across networks. The user doesn’t have to do anything to get infected.

- It is, however, a trojan. Trojans (named after the famous horse in Homer’s writings) get on your computer by pretending to be, or hiding themselves in, some software you want to install. You get tricked into running some software, such as an update to Flash Player as in this case, and the malware gets installed instead.

- This particular trojan installs a back-door into your Mac, that allows malware writers to check in with websites and download other software you don’t want onto your machine over time. It does this by forcing your web browsers to load pages any time they are opened up (and silently); and it forces the browsers to open up just in case you weren’t planning on doing that yourself.

- More insidiously, the malware disables the native, limited, virus protection system in OS X, and therefore this program can render your machine vulnerable to older, known threats.

- Both Snow Leopard and Lion are vulnerable if you installed Java. Since many applications use Java, the Java runtimes are most likely already installed on your Mac.

2 – How do I get it?

Flashback is downloaded from websites where you see alerts that you need to update Adobe Flash Player (which is where it gets its name). Since the malware has been carefully built to look like an Adobe Flash installer, many users think they’re just getting updated software and authorize the installer with their Administrator Password.

That’s all it takes, as once the trojan has your admin password, it has free rein to do whatever it wants.

3 – How do I know if I have it?

Finding Flashback is a little tricky. There are some apps that seem to be able to detect it, but that means downloading and installing another app, which may not be the best method. Instead, look in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder and look for the Terminal app.

Then, in Terminal, copy and paste the following three commands, hitting the Enter key after each one:

defaults read ~/.MacOSX/environment DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES

defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info LSEnvironment

defaults read /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Info LSEnvironment

After you run each command, you should see a message that ends in “… does not exist” If you have any other response except one that ends with that phrase (does not exist) then you have most likely got a Flashback infection. Thanks to Wired.com for the instructions

4 – How do I get rid of it?

Removal of Flashback is not easy or automated. There will be a removal app from Apple in the near future, but you should not wait. F-Secure has a set of instructions for manual removal that you can perform today, but they’re not a set of simple point-and-click things. You’ll have to use Terminal, and keep a notepad handy to keep track of information.

Reach out to an expert if you need assistance, as you definitely don’t want this hanging out on your Mac until Apple finally releases the automated Flashback Remover app.

5 – OK, my Mac is clean (or I cleaned it up), now what?

First, make sure you update your Mac with the latest OS X software. Click the Apple menu and choose “Software Updates…” to check for new software and tools from Apple. The latest updates for Snow Leopard and Lion have security updates to Java that block Flashback from being able to install. I do this once a week, though it’s very rare that Apple releases more than one set of updates per month.

Next, install anti-malware software. We all know that Macs are not immune from malware, and you need to protect yourself. Sophos, Intego and others make great anti-malware software for Macs. Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac (which I’m currently using) is even free for home use.

Also, get a two-way firewall package if you can afford it. For example, Little-Snitch is a great tool that is very user-friendly and lets you know when things on your Mac are trying to talk to the outside world. You can choose to allow the connection once, forever, or block it if you think it shouldn’t be phoning home.

Little-Snitch is so good at its job that the makers of Flashback wrote a special routine into the software to look for it, and give up trying to install if L-S is installed. It’s not free (it’s about US$30) but definitely worth it if you have the funds available.

Finally, always remember to only accept application updates from one of three sources:

1 – You used the “Check for Updates” system inside the application itself.

2 – The update is delivered via the “Software Updates…” system in OS X

3 – You went to the vendor’s site manually (not via a link or in an email) and download the update directly from them

Any other time software wants to update, or install for that matter, cancel out and seek that software from one of the three sources above.

Stay clam, stay safe, and remember that every OS can be hit with malware. This isn’t the first time it’s happened on a Mac, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Photo Credit: Tama Leaver

By Mike Talon •
Security •
0

Article source: http://www.newbie2mac.com/2012/04/so-what-the-heck-is-flashback/