apple-list August 2015

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2 participants
5 discussions

INTEREST: Chrome browser stops FLASH ads.... ish

by Wayne Billing

Google, maker of the Chrome browser, has already stated it would be pausing many FLASH animations. In their latest posting, they emphasize this will begin September 1st, 2015 and they suggest that the makers of the ads change from FLASH to HTML 5 to ensure the ads keep displaying: …from: https://plus.google.com/+GoogleAds/posts/2PmwKinJ7nj [cid:B3A47200-282F-40B7-BF4F-315E1E27E9A7]<https://plus.google.com/+GoogleAds/posts/114353304932511604018> AdWords<https://plus.google.com/+GoogleAds/posts/114353304932511604018> Shared publicly - 27 Aug 2015<https://plus.google.com/+GoogleAds/posts/+GoogleAds/posts/2PmwKinJ7nj> In June, we announced (https://goo.gl/TF7dmD) that Chrome will begin pausing many Flash ads by default to improve performance for users. This change is scheduled to start rolling out on September 1, 2015. Most Flash ads uploaded to AdWords are automatically converted to HTML5. To ensure your ads continue to show on the Google Display Network, please follow these steps before September 1: 1) Identify any Flash ads in your account that aren’t eligible for automatic conversion: https://goo.gl/I4186A 2) Convert these ads to HTML5: https://goo.gl/ZBq5DR [cid:C7980F2F-5765-43F2-8FFA-B4BD75F06620]<https://goo.gl/TF7dmD> Bringing Better Performance to Rich Media on Chrome Video and interactive…<https://goo.gl/TF7dmD> = - = - = - = - = - = NOTE: this is in addition to the Chrome embargo on NPAPI plugins such as VLC: NPAPI plugins don't work on Chrome version 42 and higher https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/6213033?hl=en

8 years, 7 months

FYI: iSight Camera Replacement Program for iPhone 6 Plus

by Wayne Billing

The following item has just been released but other recall/repair of Apple items can be found at: http://www.apple.com/ca/support/exchange_repair/ The first thing to do is check your serial number on the appropriate Apple page (linked to from the Exchange/Repair page). Each page has instructions on how to find the serial number of your device. …from: https://www.apple.com/ca/support/iphone6plus-isightcamera/ iSight Camera Replacement Program for iPhone 6 Plus [iPhone 6 Plus] Please select a Country Albania Australia Armenia Bahrain België Belgique Bolivia Brasil България Cambodia Canada (English) Canada (Français) Česká republika Chile 中国 Colombia Danmark Deutschland Egypt España Eesti Ελλάδα France French Polynesia Hong Kong (English) 香港 Hrvatska Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italia 日本 Kazakhstan 대한민국 Latvija Lietuva Luxembourg (English) Luxembourg (Français) Luxemburg (Deutsch) Macau (English) 澳門 Macedonia Magyarország Malaysia Malta México Moldova Montenegro Nederland Nepal New Zealand Norge Österreich Pakistan Philippines Россия Polska Portugal Réunion România Saudi Arabia Schweiz Suisse Serbia Singapore Slovensko Slovenija South Africa Sri Lanka Suomi Sverige 台灣 ไทย Türkiye United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Vietnam Other countries Apple has determined that, in a small percentage of iPhone 6 Plus devices, the iSight camera has a component that may fail causing your photos to look blurry. The affected units fall into a limited serial number range and were sold primarily between September 2014 and January 2015. If your iPhone 6 Plus is producing blurry photos and falls into the eligible serial number range, Apple will replace your device's iSight camera, free of charge. The iSight camera is located on the back of your iPhone 6 Plus: [iPhone 6 Plus iSight camera] …follow the above link to check your serial number, for more information, and for instructions on how to proceed if your serial number qualifies for the replacement….

8 years, 8 months

FYI - Use Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp

by Doug Hamilton

Good Morning: FYI, Apple has updated their "Boot Camp" driver suite to support Windows 10. Details regarding the system requirements, and installation instructions, can be found here https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204990 Regards, ------------- Doug Hamilton, BA, MA, ASP Senior Computer Consultant Computers-on-Campus; Univ. of Manitoba P: 204-474-6196 F: 204-474-7556 E: Doug.Hamilton(a)umanitoba.ca http://www.umanitoba.ca/bookstore/computers/

8 years, 8 months

FYI: Researchers show security importance of upgrades to OS X

by Wayne Billing

…from: http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/03/mac-firmware-worm Researchers create a worm that infects Macs silently and permanently by Roberto Baldwin<http://www.engadget.com/about/editors/roberto-baldwin/> | @strngwys<http://twitter.com/strngwys> | August 3, 2015 [cid:1775869A-A926-4E5E-B09D-65CBA98C67AA]<http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/03/mac-firmware-worm/> Macs have typically been heralded as the more secure of the two main operating systems. But according to researchers, at the firmware level, that's not necessarily true. Ahead of their 'Thunderstrike 2: Sith Strike<https://www.blackhat.com/us-15/briefings.html#thunderstrike-2-sith-strike>' Black Hat<https://www.blackhat.com/> presentation, Xeno Kovah, Trammell Hudson and Corey Kallenberg demonstrated to Wired<http://www.wired.com/2015/08/researchers-create-first-firmware-worm-attacks…> that Macs have some of the same vulnerabilities as their Windows counterparts. The exploit is especially troubling because now a phishing email or click on a link on a malicious site could compromise the computer. This is in addition to the exploit shown last year that was spread by the ROM of infected external drives and accessories like a Thunderbolt to ethernet adapter. These exploits are nearly impossible to detect because security software doesn't scan the firmware and reinstalling the system doesn't remove the problem. The exploit highlights that firmware (the software that boots a computer) isn't typically encrypted out of the factory and doesn't authenticate updates from the manufacturer. The researchers say they have alerted Apple about the issue and according to the Wired article, the company has patched one exploit and partially patched another. This is the second Thunderstrike exploit<http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/27/yosemite-update-fixes-zero-day-flaws/> to target Macs. The first version was fixed with OS X 10.10.2 and required the hacker to have physical access to the computer. This new version is more nefarious because the malware can be delivered via a link. The latest OS X security update (10.10.4) seems to keep the exploit from taking hold. Still, vulnerabilities like this are a reminder that companies should be encrypting all the elements of a machine to reduce the chance of their customers getting hacked<http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/02/mac-firmware-exploit/> in the first place.

8 years, 8 months

FYI: Fake Safari update installs MacKeeper, ZipCloud

by Wayne Billing

tl;dr (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Too_long;_didn%27t_read<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Too_long;_didn't_read>): Some malicious weblinks are claiming to supply a required update to Safari for OS X. You’ll be generally better off if you update your OS X (and Safari) via Apple Menu > App Store…. > Updates. …from: https://blog.malwarebytes.org/fraud-scam/2015/07/fake-safari-update-install… Fake Safari update installs MacKeeper, ZipCloud JULY 28, 2015 | BY THOMAS REED<https://blog.malwarebytes.org/author/treed/> [cid:7BA55B93-B0DC-4DC9-9633-7CD2533544B7] Last week, we discovered a new version of the InstallCore installer<http://www.thesafemac.com/installcore-adware-proliferates/> that displays an unpleasant new trick: it pretends to be a Safari update! This new installer was obtained while visiting one of the “First Row Sports” scam sports streaming sites. When I attempted to view one of the supposed streams, it redirected me to a page that claimed that Safari was outdated. (I was using OS X 10.9.5, so this actually was true.) [fake_Safari_update]<https://blog.malwarebytes.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/fake_Safari_update…> Clicking the Update Now button downloaded a disk image file named “Apple Safari Setup.dmg”. The installer on that disk image did not look like an Apple installer at all, but nonetheless, I opened it anyway. I was greeted with the familiar InstallCore installer interface, except that the first page of the installer read “Welcome to Safari.” [fake_Safari_update2]<https://blog.malwarebytes.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/fake_Safari_update…> Continuing with the installation resulted in being asked to accept the “Search-Assist” extension for Safari, with a big Yahoo! logo at the top of the window. Next was acceptance of the installation of MacKeeper, though the text was relatively small and uniform, and the familiar MacKeeper logo was nowhere to be seen. Finally, I had to accept the installation of ZipCloud. I chose to accept all of these, of course. As a result, both MacKeeper and ZipCloud were installed and opened automatically. Interestingly, the typical InstallCore Safari extension was for some reason not installed. The usual Set Search Settings extension for Firefox, which I have observed multiple times with InstallCore, was also incorrectly installed, as always. Although no browser extensions were successfully installed, both Chrome and Firefox had their preferences modified. Both browsers had their home pages and search engines set to a Yahoo “Search BOSS” page, which is how Yahoo is tricked into paying the scammers for promoting it. Most interestingly, however was the fact that this app also installed a newer version of Safari and a number of Safari’s support files! This, of course, had the effect of completely breaking Safari on my 10.9.5 system, as the newer version (8.0.6) cannot run on that version of OS X. I was immediately suspicious that malicious changes might have been made to this copy of Safari, but I have not found any evidence of that. Nonetheless, even if I were able to run this copy of Safari, I would not choose to do so. Victims of this malicious installer should immediately remove both MacKeeper and ZipCloud, of course, but should also reinstall OS X<https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18872>. This will overwrite Safari and its support files with fresh copies. It should not be necessary to erase your hard drive, simply reinstall on top of your existing system. Although this should not affect your data, it would nonetheless be wise to back up your computer before starting this process, just in case something goes wrong. ________________________________

8 years, 8 months

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apple-list August 2015