iMac Seagate Hard Drive Recall.

Apple has determined that a very small number of Seagate 1TB hard drives used in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac systems, may fail under certain conditions. These systems were sold between May 2011 and July 2011.

Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) will replace affected hard drives free of charge.

Apple is contacting affected iMac owners who provided a valid email address during the product registration process to let them know about this program.  If you have not been contacted, but think you have a 1TB Seagate hard drive, you can enter your serial number to see if it's part of this program. Here is the link to the Apple announcement:

Apple Seagate Recall

Roar.

Ginger

UPDATE:  Lion, OSX 10.7, Apple's newest operating system will come out tomorrow, July 20. This will be a new era of upgrade, as this will ONLY be available through the App Store. So in order to upgrade to 10.7, you must first have 10.6, Snow Leopard. Actually, 10.6.6, which is when the App store was introduced. If you have Leopard, OSX 10.5, you can get a copy of OSX 10.6 from Amazon for around $30. If you are running Tiger, OSX 10.4 or earlier on a PowerPC, time to gather those shekls and upgrade your hardware. Of course, should you be the first to upgrade to Lion? Well, let's consider some things. First of all, system requirements. Do you have what it takes?


Mac OS X Lion System Requirements

In order to install Mac OS X 10.7 you will need:

• Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
• 2GB of RAM
• Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later with the Mac App Store installed
• At least 4GB of additional disk space to accommodate the download, but more is obviously recommended

And then there's the "C" word. Compatibility. Since Lion will NOT support Rosetta, Apple's dynamic translation process which allows software built for PowerPC's to run on Intel Macs, many earlier applications like Eudora and Quicken will not work. So it's best to check to see if the software vital to you is compatible.

Here is a compatibility table by roaringapps.com:

ROARINGAPPS.COM COMPATIBILITY ABLE

Will I upgrade right away? Well, I will back up my system using SuperDuper, and jump right in. Then if there is too much freak happening, I'll restore to 10.6. But yes, I am a risk taker. Open the gates and let 'er buck.

A note about Quickbooks 2009 and 2010

What's the news for those folks using earlier versions of Quickbooks for Mac? Bad news. Not supported in Lion. My favorite paragraph in the explanation:


We know many of you are disappointed by this news. We’re sad to deliver it. And it’s just us telling you this, the QuickBooks for Mac team. Not our marketing or PR department. We want you hear the full story straight from us. All of you are important to us.


Oh. Like, "I'm breaking up with you, but at least I'm doing it by email and not by texting you". It's a ridiculous statement which basically says that if Intuit supported older software compatibility, they wouldn't have time to keep their newest working. 


...we have to be honest and say that supporting new operating systems is a significant investment in our team’s time. It means testing, finding, and fixing bugs in all three versions on all the operating systems. It’s not quite three times as much work across the board, but it is a significant increase. And that would mean that we wouldn’t have time to improve QuickBooks for Mac to make it even better based on your feedback. 


I don't buy it. Microsoft does it with Office, even Adobe with the CS series, many software companies keep updating older versions. Some of my dearest friends are still using FileMaker 10 happily even though the current is FileMaker 11.


Here's the full explanation from Intuit.


"Well, you SEE Mrs. Cleaver..."

I'm Back!

Macmama has been very busy in the last 2 months, moving to a new home, sneaking a puppy into the house, and receiving a homeward bound college freshman. So apologies for the silence.
Here we are , at the forefront of the release of Lion, and all kinds of questions are swirling in the clouds, the very same cloud being one of them.
But, one thing that HAS been keeping me up at night, besides aforementioned freshman and puppy, is the compatibility of Quickbooks 2011, which I use grudgingly but religiously. There have been many statements by Intuit indicating that Quickbooks was not compatible with Lion. But yesterday, they released an update that solved that issue. Here is the link:


QUICKBOOKS 2011 UPDATE

Now as far as Quicken for Mac, we are not so lucky. Since the Mac version was originally built for PowerPC architecture, Intel based macs had to use Rosetta;  a dynamic translation process which allows software built for PowerPC's to run on Intel Macs;  to run Quicken. SO according to Intuit, your choices are:


1. Use Quicken Essentials (Aughhhh!!!)
2. Use Mint.com (hmmm)
3. Use Quicken for Windows (now come on!!)


Look at the full explanation here:


Intuit 'splains

So I am using Quicken Essentials, and as a long time Quicken user, I do not like it. It's flabby, and looks different to me. And trust me , I do NOT need to make balancing my checkbook any more difficult than it already is.


OK, time to take the puppy to the dog park.


By the way:

And Apple has plans...

From the horse's mouth:"In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware."


Here is a link to Apple's official statement:


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4650

New malware targets Mac OSX users.

Reprinted from Macrumors.com, May 2, 2011, by Eric Slivka
Antivirus firm Intego today noted the discovery of new malware known as "MACDefender" targeting Mac OS X users via Safari. According to the report, the malware appears to be being deployed via JavaScript as a compressed ZIP file reached through Google searches.


When a user clicks on a link after performing a search on a search engine such as Google, this takes them to a web site whose page contains JavaScript that automatically downloads a file. In this case, the file downloaded is a compressed ZIP archive, which, if a specific option in a web browser is checked (Open "safe" files after downloading in Safari, for example), will open

.

More information is available in Apple's support communities (1, 2), where users report that the malware is popping up directly in Google image searches.

Users running administrator accounts and with the Safari option to open "safe" files automatically checked appear to be most at risk, with some claiming that no notification of installation was seen or password required. Only when a screen popped up asking for a credit card number to sign up for virus protection did they realize that malware had been installed on their systems.

For those infected with the MACDefender malware, the following steps are recommended:

1. Open Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor and quit any processes linked to MACDefender.

2. Delete MACDefender from the Applications folder.

3. Check System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items for suspicious entries

4. Run a Spotlight search for "MACDefender" to check for any associated files that might still be lingering.

Full details on the malware and the simplest steps needed for its complete removal are still being investigated.

Users are of course reminded that day-to-day system usage with standard accounts rather than administrator ones, as well as unchecking the Safari option for automatically opening "safe" files, are two of the simplest ways users can enhance their online security, adding extra layers of confirmation and passwords in the way of anything being installed on their systems.

You can read more about this on macworld.com.

Life in the big city

As you know, stuff happens. Things break, they don't last as long as we would like them to, and sometimes our things get stolen. This unfortunately means that our portable devices can sometimes end up in the wrong hands. More and more of our crucial information is stored on computers, and sometimes it feels that we are helpless to prevent the risk of identity theft.


Many of us take our laptops everywhere, and it's very easy to turn away for a second, only to find it gone. What can we do?


In the next day or two, I will give you my feedback on Undercover, Orbicule's anti-theft software for Macs, an invaluable partner to their other product, Witness, reviewed below.

Witness in my pocket

As promised, a few words on a low cost motion detector on your laptop. 
Witness, an application from Orbicule, "...turns your Mac into a home alarm system, using its iSight camera as a motion sensor. If motion is detected, Witness sends mugshots and video to your iPhone or iPad."

When I first downloaded Witness, I was surprised at the ease of setting it up. You create an account online, and can access it from any computer AND (here's the great thing) yes, there is an iOS app for both iPhone and iPad. After you install it on your computer, a little house appears on your menu bar, and you can activate and deactivate from either your laptop, or, get this, from your iPhone or iPad. So if you leave the house, and forget to turn it on, you can do it from afar. And the $39 price tag is pretty good for this little mini alarm system.


But (of course, a but), it was only AFTER I paid the $39 and received my license by email that I was notified of a small bug, that the notification system did not work with the iPhone and iPad, and that Orbicule was waiting for their fix to be approved by Apple. Oh sure, now you tell me, I thought. Of course, I wanted to believe them, but experience prevented my optimism.


And how happy I was to be wrong, they INDEED fixed it within a week of my purchase, and although it is no substitution for a true alarm system, now we can find out if our landlord is visiting us while we are not at home.


More from Orbicule:


Witness not only functions as an alarm system, it also locks your Mac, preventing anyone from looking at your files. You can use the built-in lock screen that comes with Witness, or the standard Mac OS X screensaver password feature. Witness nicely integrates with your Mac’s screensaver password: when you come home and unlock your screensaver, Witness automatically turns off the alarm.


Other products from Orbicule include Undercover, theft recovery software for Mac and iOS, and Incognito, a Safari extension that prevents Facebook and Google from following you on the web.

Undercover

Incognito

When Orbicule's fix was accepted by Apple for the App store, they sent an email apologizing for the delay, and offering a 15% coupon on all of their products. I think they should have offered half price off for at least  one product, but I am still happy with this mini security system.

Secret Intruders?

This week I will be reviewing Orbicle's Witness, which basically turns your Mac into a very basic home alarm system, using your isight camera as a motion detector. I have been using it for about a week, and will give you my review in a few days. It all started when we thought maybe our landlord, or some previous tenant was walking into our house while we are gone. More in a few days!

The Borg Apple.

Often times I get an email or call from one of my customers who want advice on a complete Mac set up. Sometimes they are switching from PC, or upgrading from an antique system. So I send them to the Apple store with this list; computer, printer (usually has a $100 rebate), iPhone, external hard drive, Apple Care and Microsoft Office 2011, Home and Student edition. Although I usually don't buy software from Apple since it's cheaper elsewhere, coming home with everything in one trip is appealing to many.

But alas, what they often come home with is everything on the list with one change; instead of Office, they have iWork; Apple's answer to Microsoft's Office suite. It seems, they relate, that the nice sales person explained that Office is not an Apple product, and iWork works much better and does the same thing. As we used to say back home,

 "Now lookie here, Apple!"

YES, I think iWork is fun and good for lots of people and things. Keynote is much easier than Powerpoint, and just fine if you are in a MacCentric work or play place. But, face it. Most of the word processing world belongs to Microsoft. And most of the time that I suggest Office, it's for a good reason. Sometimes these customers are amateur or professional writers that hope to get some work published, or have to share files with PC users, or just want a fuller, more powerful word processor or spreadsheet. And now, with Office 2011 coming closer to the Windows version of Word etc, for many users, it's a no brainer.
I have been using Office 2011 since it came out, and I must say, it's a pleasure. The media browser works just as well as it does in Pages, so if I want to drag and drop a photo in one of my documents, it's very easy. And, the "ribbon" is finally in the Mac version, making PC users who switch more comfortable.
Also, Excel has Visual Basic version 6.5, the same as the PC version. Powerpoint still feels bloated and clumsy to me, I prefer to use iWork's Keynote for slide presentation. And although Outlook, the replacement for Entourage;the earlier Microsoft mail client for Mac; has full support for Exchange, and has nice search capabilities; it is still too buggy for me. So I use:

WORD PROCESSOR: Microsoft Word 2011
SPREADSHEET: Excel 2011
SLIDE PRESENTATIONS: Apple Keynote
MAIL CLIENT: Apple Mail

One thing I will say also about Office 2011. I have written to Microsoft support about the buggy behavior of Outlook ( I was reviewing Outlook for a client), and have usually gotten immediate and committed service professionals to stick with me on the issues. My experience with Office, is that usually by the 3rd of 4th service update, many of the bugs are worked out.