What's New - Jun 21, 2006

By: Benjamin Martin - Revised: 2006-07-21 richard

Download Slides – PDF-File, 1.7 MB

Introduction

What's new for the Mac in the previous month:
  • General issues, workarounds and fixes
  • New Software and hardware
  • Software and hardware updates/patches


Notable Updates


New Hardware


Issues

  • MacBook Pro
    • Beware of objects caught in hinge
      • Items stuck in hinge can crach the LCD casing costing $1,260 to fix!
    • Do not move the laptop while SuperDrive is recording
      • As per Apple's documentation the MacBook Pro should not be moved while it is burning discs.  Doing so can jar the mechanism and caused scratched media.

Events

  • NECC (National Educational Computing Conference)
    • San Diego ~ July 5th - 7th
  • WWDC (Apple Worldwide Developers Conference)
    • San Francisco ~ August 7th - 11th
    • The Student Computing Labs Apple Infrastructure will be sending four participants.  Let us know if you have any specific questions you'd like us to ask, or if you'd like us to attend a particular workshop.

Volume Purchase

  • Unviversity departments, faculty, staff, and students are eligible to get in on the purchase
  • iMac 17-inch
    • 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1GB SDRAM, 160 GB Serial ATA HD, 8x SuperDrive, ATI Radeon x1600 w/ 128 MB VRAM, Apple Care 3-Year warranty
  • Cost: $1250
    • This is a $158 savings off the regular education price, >$300 off of regular Apple Store Pricing

IT Utility of the Month - "Little Snitch"

You start an application that tells you that a new version is available. You suddenly realize that with every start this application connects to the developer's server. Even statistical information about your computer may be sent this way. Little Snitch helps you avoid this situation.

Features
  • Prevents applications from "phoning home"
  • Protects you from trojans, worms, and other network parasites
  • Shows which applications send information over the internet
  • Provides a higher level of security for the paranoid

Conventional Firewalls vs. Little Snitch
  • Conventional Firewalls base rules on internet addresses and port numbers...Little Snitch bases rules on app names
  • However little snitch is not meant to replace OS X’s built in firewall.  It performs complementary tasks to give you added security and control


Shareware
  • Little Snitch works for three hours before turning off and must be relaunched to start working again (demo mode)
  • Buy a license for $24.95
Includes Factory Default Rules for daemons
  • So you don’t block daemons (lookupd, cupsd, ntpd, slpd, nmbd, configd, natd, mDNSResponder, etc)

Humor