Panic is having a sale on Transmit, Coda, Candybar and Unison, all 50% off for 3 days only.

If you need an excellent FTP program, check out Transmit. If you need a newsreader, Unison is good. I don’t use Coda nor Candybar, but I hear good things about them.

This showed up on my 23″ Apple Cinema Display today.

At first I thought it was a stuck-off pixel, but I made a image with a black and red pixel in it, and those are much smaller than this, and I can kinda see the red pixel through the spot.

So maybe it is some dust, or condensation between the LCD and the matte?

The pixels in the image are the blurry spots to the left and right of the anomaly.

The Mobile Wiki Server is now available on iTunes.

If you’d like to carry a wiki around with you and share the contents over WiFi, this might be the product for you!

According to this report by Landon Fuller, the Java that ships with Mac OS X contains a vulnerability that allows any website to excecute code on your Macintosh via Java.

This is a fairly serious issue and so I am recommending you disable Java.

For Safari users:

1. Open Preferences under the Safari menu
2. Click the Security settings icon
3. Uncheck “Enable Java”

If you need Java for a particular site that you trust, you can enable it, use the site, then disable it again.

This will affect those who use Yahoo! Games, etc, but it is a very serious security issue.

Apple’s response to those awful Microsoft “I’m a PC” ads like “Lauren” is out. Watch it here before the spoilers below:

The ad starts off by implying some PCs are slow. Some Macs are slower than other Macs, but ok, the MS ads did say that some of them wanted performance for cheap.

Then the ad talks about wanting a computer with a large screen. Most macs have largish screens, but I don’t know if 13″ is considered large. However, not everyone who buys a MacBook buys it because it is a cheaper Mac, some buy them because they are a small, fast Mac.

Next comes the punch line is Apple’s shot across Windows’s bow in the area of security, viruses and ease of use, which is common in the Apple “I’m a Mac” ad campaign.

But the coup de grâce is when the “Lauren” of Apple’s ad replies with “I’m a Megan” to Mac’s “Hi, I’m a Mac”

Yep. People are not Macs nor PCs. They’re people trying to get stuff done – Quickly, simply and move on with their lives with as few headaches as possible.

Microsoft, in copying Apple’s campaign with their own “I’m a PC” campaign (really, there is no creativity left at that company), could not even get that right. They have PCified people. They have reminded people that they are the same virus ridden, slowing over time, filled with bloated malware, defective units that eventually die, with the exception that people are not able to reboot, unless they go on Biggest Loser or something.

I don’t want a machine that is as defective as I am. I’ve got my own issues to deal with. I want something that improves my quality of life.

I’m not a PC. Nor am I a Mac. I’m a Mac user. And that makes me happy.

Diagnosed Machine: MacBook Pro unibody 15″ 10.5.7
Diagnosed Drive: Internal 7200rpm
Diagnosing Machine: Mac Pro via target disk mode Firewire 800

Tools: DiskWarrior 4.1.1 directory repair

Results:

• Some files had bad icons
• Some files had bad creation dates
• Some volume information was incorrect

I replaced the directory to no immediate ill effects

Diagnosed Machine: MacPro 10.5.6
Diagnosed Drive: 500gb time machine volume
Diagnosing Machine: Same
Tools: DiskWarrior 4.1.1 directory repair

• Repaired available space
• Repaired text encodings bitmap
• custom icon flags repaired
• text encodings repaired

I replaced this directory with no immediate ill effects. I ran time machine and a 32mb backup ran.

Diagnosed Machine: MacPro 10.5.6
Diagnosed Drive: 1.5tb Seagate
Diagnosing Machine: Same
Tools: DiskWarrior 4.1.1 directory repair

• No issues found

Diagnosed Machine: MacPro 10.5.6
Diagnosed Drive: 320gb boot drive
Diagnosing Machine: MacBook Pro via target disk mode
Tools: DiskWarrior 4.1.1 directory repair

• Repaired available space
• Repaired text encodings bitmap
• custom icon flags repaired
• text encodings repaired

Drive seems fine

I’ve opened up a new category here at Geeks R Us for Macintosh maintenance.

At PMUG we often give people tips on how to maintain their Mac. I thought it might be good to jot some of those ideas down.

I’ve also added a sub-category called “log” which I will use to log any and all maintenance I do to my machines and what the outcome was.

This is for my benefit as much as yours, but I felt it would be good to know just how often, or how infrequently, I maintain my machines. This data will help me give better advice to others!

This is a first! Software Update failed to download 10.5.7 due to an invalid digital signature. Oops. Someone at Apple made a boo boo.

I guess we wait for a fixed updated!

Apple has released 10.5.7 of Mac OS X Leopard.

Details can be found here but include:

Additional Information

What’s included?

General

• Includes latest security fixes.
• Includes additional RAW image support for several third-party cameras.
• Improves performance of video playback and cursor movements for recent Macs with NVIDIA graphics.
  
• Resolves an issue with Dvorak keyboard layout in Mac OS X 10.5.6.
• Improves the reliability and accuracy of Unit Converter, Stocks, Weather and Movies Dashboard widgets.
• Addresses a situation that may cause issues when logging into Gmail.
• Improves reliability when syncing contacts with Yahoo!.
• Expansion Slot Utility for Mac Pro now reports the correct PCIe slot configuration.
• Improves network performance when connected to certain Ethernet switches that have Flow Control enabled.
• Improves stability for network home directories hosted by Mac OS X Server v10.4.
• Improves Finder search results for network volumes that may not support Spotlight searching, such as Mac OS X Server v10.4, Time Capsule, and third-party AFP servers.
• Includes several improvements to Directory Service and Client Management.

iCal

• Improves overall reliability with CalDav.
• Improves reliability when automatically syncing with MobileMe.

Mail

• Addresses reliability and sync issues with Notes.
• Addresses an issue that may cause the BCC field to populate incorrectly when redirecting a message from the Sent mailbox.
  

Parental Controls

• Improves consistency with Parental Controls and application restrictions.
• Addresses an issue in which time limits may not work properly with full-screen games and Fast User Switching.

Printing

• Resolves an issue that may cause certain third-party printers to print to the incorrect paper tray.
• Non-admin user accounts can now be allowed to add and remove printers by enabling Parental Controls and selecting "Can administer printers".
• Includes other printing reliability and stability improvements.

Some friends and I were discussing about the inability to open the Downloads folder from the Stack on the dock, when the stack is fanned.

I don’t like the grid view (I have one, it is called the Finder) so I use fanned, sorted with newest at the bottom.

You can open the Downloads folder’s parent by command-clicking on the fanned Downloads stack, but not the folder itself.

Well, yes you can. You command-click on an item in the fanned Downloads stack. The Finder will then open the Downloads folder and select that item.

P.S. Or click the “n more in Finder” at the very top of the stack, but it is so far away, it is quicker to just command-click the bottom item.