As you know, boundaries between local applications and web applications are meshing. We rely more and more on chat, voice and email services that are online. Fluid is a nice approach to the conversion of your favourite online destination into a site specific application or browser. I’ve created “applications” for GMAIL, Google Voice, LinkedIn, facebook and Mobile Me. All you have to do is paste your online service’s url into Fluid’s dialog box and add an icon (128 x 128 pixels) for the finishing touch. You will have a convenient launchable online destination thereby avoiding the launch of a separate browser.
If your destination site is allergic to Fluid’s default choice of a browser emulation, you can set it yourself. When your relaunch the application, it will remember your choice.
When the iPad first came out in April, I was really excited because to me it felt like the fabled tablet-computing revolution might finally start. It’s been a long time, after all Microsoft has been producing a tablet ready version of Windows for 10 years and companies like HP have been making tablets for just as long. When the iPad came out, the big question was wether or not it was “good enough” to replace the desktop.
So is the iPad the new desktop? Well, no. What’s important to understand here is that the current iPad is just the first version of a product that will get both better and cheaper over the next few years. It’s also the first product of a renewed attention to the tablet market.
The iPad is not perfect, but what I can say is that it as totally replaced my MacBook pro for browsing, Facebook, Twitter, RSS and many other reading activities. The upcoming iOS 4.2 for iPad will bring a lot of the stuff that’s missing on iPad like printing, folders, unified inbox and many other stuff. Combined with the support for Bluetooth keyboards that 3.2 brought us, it makes the iPad a very cool device for people mostly consuming data on their computer. As a developer, I obviously need my desktop, but my mom has been using her iPad 95% instead of going to her iMac. It’s pretty obvious that she could easily live without a desktop.
Is it more limited than a desktop? Of course it is. Some of these limitations will go away with new versions of the hardware and the software, but what many are forgetting is that these limitations are not always a bad thing. The iPad is a much, MUCH easier computer to use than a regular desktop for a normal user. The app store alone makes it much easier for people to install applications than normal mac os x.
Many of my friends are dubious of the usefulness of the iPad and while I can’t say that the iPad itself will win over the desktop in the next few years, I do believe that tablets in general will replace the desktop for many less technical users soon. When you can buy a touch screen tablet for 199$, many will opt for that option.
(written on my iPad)
Once in a while, I run into software that just amazes me. Read this blog and you will see how often it happens 
. VirtualBox, a Sun Microsystems initiative—now under the Oracle Empire—is just plain old outstanding. It comes in a free version and in an enterprise version (OSE).
I like Parallels when it comes to maintaining virtualization environments on the Mac but I have to admit that I will keep my install of VirtualBox. It is simply too elegant of a solution to overshadow its well deserved disk space and small footprint. It installs quickly and has a straightforward interface loaded with all virtualization essentials. I especially like the fact that you can export an install in Open Virtualization Format and import of course. Portability of entire environments with their dependancies and OS.
Coupled with the JumpBox service of “bottled IT”, you obtain a one computer IT department to deploy and test CRMs, Blogs, Project Managers, mixed environments, Software Development, Mail and other vital enterprise services. The JumpBox + VirtualBox combination should help smaller companies explore open source solutions to common business operation requirements.
Local network experiments or Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) hosting solutions run in virtual machines (instances) supporting an amazing number of OSs and their automatic updating. A sys admin in a box with root credentials still available. You can keep running the service from your virtualization or eventually deploy it on its dedicated server or better yet in the cloud.
I just installed Windows 7 because I wanted an installation I was familiar with and did not want to enter yet in a JumpBox 15 day trial. I will when we get a green light for newco! Still have to install Windows drivers, Flash, Firefox and Malwarebytes and… run updates but still it is always interesting to be running Windows on my Mac. Hey Windows users, you could run OS X on your PC with VirtualBox! Oh well, so much for that.
I’m trying out Little Snitch 2 by Objective Development the makers of award winning LaunchBar. I have to admit I really like it as it made me realise how little we know about our own outbound traffic. Skype for example, constantly sends information to your contacts—to report on their status, I guess. Other applications “speak” to a url to find out if an upgrade is available. All this at your expense…
It sort of follows-up on my previous post on security. While most traffic activity is benign, Little Snitch gives you additional means of knowing if all is well on your network. The demo version can be reactivated every 3 hours. You can get the application for about 29.95 Euros. Enjoy the LEDs.
You think you’re safe because you’re using a Mac? Think again. When you consider all possible types of computer security exploits and the fact that we spend most of our computing time online, you have to wonder at why is Apple so stealth about the issue?
But the Windows environment is so much more vulnerable. True, but it is also getting more attention from security software manufacturers and protection updates are superior in frequency and number. So are the threats you would say. But what about cross platform threats coming from iTunes, PDFs and SWFs and Windows installs made possible by bootcamp and Parallels?
And what about online threats emerging from email, web browsing and… social networks! Recently, we’ve seen links to social networks being actively distributed in spam messages. Eventually, social networks may, to a great extent, replace email in spreading malware. We hear from the very serious Kaspersky Lab experts. While social networks threats are still in their infancy remember that the browser executes lines of codes…
Kaspersky goes on to add:
Many Mac OS users have a false sense of security. They are convinced that there are simply no threats that target their operating system. At the same time, Apple Computers admits that malware for Macs does exist. In the latest update for OS X 10.6.4, Apple quietly added a new signature to its antivirus scanner to protect computers against Backdoor.OSX.Reshe.a
Source: SECUREVIEW
And here’s a discussion on MAC OS X security threats.
In Snow Leopard, Apple made a notable effort to protect the system against malware with the introduction of XProtect which it updates once in a while through Software Update. Apple’s approach on the issue is to not make a fuss about any threats to the system. While this behaviour might induce a false sense of security among Mac users, it is highly recommended to double up on protection and get additional software. According to critics, the Apple approach is far from effective. The finder is not protected when it loads a CD, DVD or a USB key… While there are currently only 2 major Mac trojans there are variations of them and at least 2 go undetected by XProtect according to Intego…
When you consider that cybercriminals want to get at your personal data i.e. banking credentials, you realise the most potent threats seem to be browser based! In any case consider MacScan, Norton and Virus Barrier for paying software and as always an Open Source alternative for Unix email scanning: CLAMAV. There is also an impressive free browser security scan from Qualys.
