January 2007 - apple-list - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

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by michael kinnear 23 Jan '07

23 Jan '07

Please leave me off your list until September 2007. Michael Kinnear

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FYI: Apple's 802.11n accounting conundrum
by billing 22 Jan '07

22 Jan '07

<Accounting Guru goggles on> WARNING: accounting contortions ahead ...from: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6151790.html?tag=nl.e622 By Tom Krazit, CNET News.com Published on ZDNet News: January 19, 2007, 6:56 PM PT Apple's explanation of a planned Wi-Fi upgrade fee has its roots in obscure accounting rules that tell companies how to book sales of future product upgrades. Apple said Thursday that it plans to charge customers $1.99 for a software download that enables the 802.11n Wi-Fi technology currently present in almost all MacBooks and MacBook Pros with Intel's Core 2 Duo processor. The company says accounting rules known as generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) force it to ask for money for the download. "During the past several months Apple has shipped some Macs with the hardware to support 802.11n, but the draft of the 802.11n specification was not complete enough to create the required software," Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox said in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "Now that the draft specification is complete, we are ready to distribute the software to make the 802.11n hardware in these Macs come to life." But because the company has already recognized all the revenue from the sales of those computers, it has to now charge customers at least a nominal fee in order to establish the value of its software upgrade and satisfy an obscure accounting regulation known as SOP 97-2, said Fox. Apple didn't have to do it this way, say accounting experts. But the company most likely faced difficult choices in relation to the upgrade: It could have held off on shipping the new Macs until the upgrade software was ready. It could have skipped the 802.11n capabilities altogether. Or it could have deferred revenue from the new Macs until the software was ready--all unlikely and unpalatable options. Hence, the $1.99 fee. [...] Apple began selling MacBook Pro notebooks with Intel's Core 2 Duo processor in September, later adding that chip to MacBooks and iMacs. However, the company also included 802.11n chips in almost all of those systems without telling buyers, Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed at Macworld last week. Here comes the tricky part: under accounting regulations developed over the last several years, when companies sell a product with multiple pieces that are delivered at different times, they must determine the separate value of each piece of that product, accounting experts say. And the company can only record the revenue associated with a specific piece when it is delivered to the customer. This is a very common practice in many industries, said Ryan LaFond, assistant professor for accounting at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Business. For example, magazines receive all the money for a full year's subscription at the time the subscription is purchased, but they only record that as revenue as each issue is delivered, deferring the remaining balance into a liability account called unearned revenue. [...] That means a company in this situation would have to defer all the revenue associated with the product until it can establish the value of the Wi-Fi upgrade, or until it delivers the complete set of software, said Brett Trueman, a professor of accounting with the Anderson Business School at the University of California at Los Angeles. So, Apple would have had to defer all the revenue for Macs sold with the 802.11n chips from September until it delivers the upgrade in February, and that's not a realistic option. So now, Apple has to establish a value for the Wi-Fi upgrade in order to satisfy the requirement to separately account for the different pieces of software. One easy way to do that is to charge people for it. There's absolutely nothing in the GAAP requirements that says Apple must charge its customers for that software upgrade. The only requirement imposed by GAAP is that Apple must account for the separate value of the 802.11n capability, said MIT's LaFond. It can do this by creating a value at the time of purchase or it can wait until it delivers that capability to record all the revenue associated with the product. Another option, if the company had wanted to keep the 802.11n capabilities secret, is to create a "new arrangement" with the customer. Apple sold the customer a notebook in September, and is now selling the customer 802.11n capabilities for that notebook. These are two separate transactions that satisfy the need to account for the undelivered 802.11n capability as well as Apple's desire to book all the revenue for the notebook up front and keep the use of the 802.11n chip a secret. Any of those options would satisfy Apple's need to account for the separate delivery times for the Macs and the 802.11n capabilities, according to several experts interviewed for this article. But simply blaming the fee on GAAP, or on the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations as some rumors have suggested, does not tell the full story. "If I'm a company, and I want to give my customer something, GAAP isn't going to prevent you from doing that," LaFond said. But at a time when Apple's accounting practices are under significant scrutiny from regulators looking into the company's stock-options backdating practices, the company has to be extra careful about following the proper procedures while keeping financial analysts happy with strong earnings reports. <Accounting Guru goggles off>

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FYI: iPhone in Canada?
by billing 17 Jan '07

17 Jan '07

...from a posting from Rogers Wireless Communications Service/ Customer Care: > On Tuesday, January 9, 2007, Apple announced the unveiling of their > new > iPhone, a combination mobile phone/digital music player/camera > > Availability > " The iPhone will first be introduced in North America (United > States around June, 2007) > " Cingular is the only wireless carrier to launch the iPhone in the > United States > " Rogers is actively working with Apple to launch the iPhone in Canada > as soon as possible and will be the exclusive provider of the > iPhone in > Canada > " Apple is planning to introduce the iPhone in Europe (Q4 2007) and > Asia > (2008) > " Please be advised that Rogers will be offering the iPhone > exclusively > in Canada. Unfortunately, the launch date and pricing for Canada > are not > yet available > " Other Canadian wireless carriers will not launch the iPhone, Rogers > will be the only Canadian wireless carrier to offer the iPhone > It's hard to say exactly how to interpret this but I get the feeling that Rogers is somehow going to be tied up with the release of iPhone in Canada. ::-) ...and from another Canadian source: > .... the iPhone will be available on a two or three year contract, > and a data plan must also be purchased [from Rogers] If you go by lag-times found in other "smart phone" releases (6-9 month delays), the iPhone might be arriving in Canada in late 2007 or early 2008.

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INTEREST: iPhone coming, Cingular going, and how is Rogers Communication related?
by billing 13 Jan '07

13 Jan '07

Apple announced on Tuesday their iPhone - the "iPod/cell phone/web browser" in one device. The "cell phone" service on iPhone is available (currently) only if you are a subscriber to the Cingular service in the United States. Cingular is owned by AT&T and today AT&T released the following announcment: ...from: http://news.com.com/ATT%20to%20phase%20out%20Cingular%20brand/ 2100-1039_3-6149743.html?tag=nefd.top > AT&T to phase out Cingular brand > AT&T will begin to extinguish the cell brand to imprint its more- > than-century-old name firmly across its services. > By Reuters > Published: January 11, 2007, 10:30 PM PST > Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBack E-mail this story > to a friendE-mail View this story formatted for printingPrint Add > to your del.icio.usdel.icio.us Digg this storyDigg this > > AT&T will begin to extinguish next week the brand of cell phone > operator Cingular, built up with billions of dollars over a few > years, to imprint its more-than-century-old name firmly across its > services. > > AT&T, which took full control of No. 1 U.S. mobile carrier Cingular > with its $86 billion purchase of BellSouth last month, will launch > on Monday a campaign to mark the change. > > "We did not enter that decision lightly," Wendy Clark, vice > president of advertising at AT&T, said in an interview. "We came to > understand that consumer customers and business customers alike are > looking for a single provider. We heard it so consistently across > the marketplace." > > In its first stage, Cingular will share its orange logo of a > bouncing jack with the AT&T globe logo on everything from > television ads to sales uniforms and monthly bills. > > AT&T 's name and logo will eventually replace Cingular in a process > expected to take several months, with the exact timing determined > as more customer feedback comes in, Clark said. > > But with its long and complicated history, AT&T may face customer > confusion over its name, marketing experts said. Also, Cingular > built up a reputation among younger customers who may not easily > associate with the AT&T brand. > > [...] > The new AT&T was formed in the merger of SBC Communications and > AT&T in late 2005. Adding to the mix, in late 2004 Cingular bought > AT&T Wireless, eradicating that brand for its poor reputation among > customers. > > "The good news is there is a difference between AT&T and AT&T > Wireless," Clark said. "We have benefited significantly...by having > 12 months under our belt as the new AT&T." ...and in a related bit of information, it turns out that AT&T Wireless(Canada) did exist until it was recently sold to Rogers. The reason this is interesting (in an iPhone kinda way) is that AT&T Wireless installed a GSM/EDGE cellular network across Canada. This network is now owned and operated by Rogers. GSM/EDGE is the type of cellular service supported (currently) by iPhone. So, if/when iPhone comes to Canada, it will be with Rogers - unless there is an unlikely new iPhone design released supporting other cellular networks. Just thought it would be useful information to anyone thinking about the iPhone or wanting to get more information about iPhone availability in Canada. Wayne p.s. It's interesting to note that Apple's web site refers to the iPhone as the iPhone (Apple Symbol-iPhone). Due to the conflict with the also recently announced Cisco branded iPhone, perhaps a name change from iPhone to Phone (AppleSymbolPhone) is in the offing - just as the code named iTV product was changed to TV (AppleSymbolTV). p.p.s. .from: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2007/ pi20070111_181241.htm Cisco Sues Apple over iPhone Patent Cisco Systems (CSCO) Files a lawsuit in the California district court against Apple (AAPL), seeking to prevent Apple from infringing upon, deliberately copying, and using Cisco's registered iPhone trademark. Cisco says it obtained the iPhone trademark in 2000.

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QUICK PREVIEW: some MacWorld announcements: iPhone, �TV
by billing 09 Jan '07

09 Jan '07

iPhone: - runs OS X 9:47: A giant touchscreen interface. Multi-touch! You can do multi- gestures on the screen itself. Screen auto-rotates picture. 9:52: Controls on the side, volume, silent. The Back: 2-megapixel camera. 9:53: Top: headset jack, SIM, sleep-wake. 9:53: An iPod connector, just like the iPod (on the bottom). 9:54: Proximity sensor on the face, turns off the screen so your face doesn't press the buttons. 9:54: Ambient light switch and accelerometer to switch from portrait to landscape. 9:55: Built-in speaker. 10:16: Rich HTML: Any IMAP or POP. 10:16: Safari on the phone. Browsing gives you the standard (tabbed) browser view but scrolling, zooming, all via the gestures. You view the entire page first (too small to read in normal view, so you need to zoom in). 10:16: Google Maps: Sat directions, traffic, and maps. 10:16: Widgets: Weather and stocks. 10:17: Everything goes over EDGE or WI-Fi, which switches "seamlessly" when the phone detects Wi-Fi. 10:17: Yahoo Mail will provide free push IMAP email for all customers. TV (AppleTV): 9:27: USB2, Ethernet, WiFI, HDMI, Component, Stereo inputs. 9:28: 802.11b/g/n 9:29: You can store 50 hours of videos on its 40GB hard drive. AppleTV can stream up to five computers. 9:31: Streaming theatrical trailers from Apple.com. The quality's actually pretty good at 720p. 9:34: Apple's showing off some Zoolander and Heroes clips from the Apple store. 9:36: Music, photos, slideshows (Ken Burn's effect-type). 9:38: Phil Shiller's brought his MacBook over to stream up an episode of Heroes to the AppleTV. 9:40: Taking orders today, shipping Feb.

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Macworld Keynote Live Text Feed Coverage
by Doug Hamilton 09 Jan '07

09 Jan '07

If you're looking for live video coverage of the keynote from MacWorld regrettably there isn't any. However, there are several web sites providing live text feeds of the keynote. This webpage should help you find a live text feed of the keynote: http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2007/01/9115/ Regards, Doug ------------- Doug Hamilton, BA, MA, APP Senior Computer Consultant Computers-on-Campus; Univ. of Manitoba 204-474-6196 (Ph.) 204-474-7556 (Fax) http://www.umanitoba.ca/bookstore/

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Happy New Year ...and a rather tongue-in-cheek look at Windows Vista
by billing 08 Jan '07

08 Jan '07

Happy New Year, all. I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season. ...on the note of "fun things", here's a link to a video done by David Pogue, technology correspondent for the New York Times. It is his quick over view of Microsoft VISTA: http://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_main.jsp? nsid=a28ed9693:10fee2765a0:372&rf=bm&st=1167932755448&mp=FLV&cpf=false&f vn=8&fr=051106_050849_3b99bbc2x10b250417a7x6442&rdm=100605.38635174709 (sorry for the long URL. Some of you may need to copy and paste it in bits if it gets split across lines.) Welcome back, Wayne

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"Month of Apple Bugs" - fixes
by Doug Hamilton 04 Jan '07

04 Jan '07

While Apple has yet to officially responded with fixes for any of the bugs exposed by this group: http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/ An enterprising open-source developer has already begun the task of fixing the bugs: http://landonf.bikemonkey.org/code/macosx As with any third-party software be sure to read and understand what the software is going to potentially do to your system before you install any of the "fixes" — particularly on a work system. Regards, Doug ------------- Doug Hamilton, BA, MA, APP Senior Computer Consultant Computers-on-Campus; Univ. of Manitoba 204-474-6196 (Ph.) 204-474-7556 (Fax) http://www.umanitoba.ca/bookstore/

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INTEREST: Sony settles in U.S. over spyware glitch; Skype virus steals passwords
by billing 04 Jan '07

04 Jan '07

...from: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/12/19/sony-rootkit.html Last Updated: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 | 4:27 PM ET CBC News Sony BMG has settled two more lawsuits over CDs sold by the company that included a hidden copy-protection program that opened their computers to hackers and viruses. The company announced on Tuesday it will pay $1.5 million US and pay thousands more in customer refunds after settling lawsuits in California and Texas. The settlements come months after Sony settled with Canadian consumers over the CDs containing one of two types of copyright protection software — MediaMax or XCP. The copy protection software, called Extended Copy Protection or XCP, is installed when the CD is put into a computer. The program uses a technique called a rootkit to hide the fact that it is running, making it more difficult to disable. Security experts say the Sony program wasn't itself harmful. However, the program remains active on the computer even when the CD isn't being played and at least one computer virus has been written to hide behind the same cloak. The technology was also able to read and transmit IP addresses, thereby identifying the user and sending personal information back to Sony BMG. Continue Article Philippa Lawson, executive director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), said in September the music company could then use that information to go after illegal file- sharers in Canada. Three separate suits were filed in Canada. The first lawsuit, affecting customers in every province except British Columbia and Quebec, was settled in September. The other two provinces reached settlements later in the year. Under terms of the separate U.S. settlements, Sony will pay $750,000 to each of the states in civil penalties and costs and reimburse customers whose computers were damaged during attempts to uninstall the software. "Companies that want to load their CDs with software that limits the ability to copy music should fully inform consumers about it, not hide it, and make sure it doesn't inflict security vulnerabilities on computers," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in a statement. --------------------------------- ...from: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/12/19/tech- skypetrojanvirus-061219.html Last Updated: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 | 12:40 PM ET CBC News Internet security company Websense Inc. on Tuesday said it had found a password-stealing computer virus that spreads through the popular Skype voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) communications software. The Trojan horse sends a message through the Skype Chat text-based instant messaging tool and asks the recipient to download a file named sp.exe. If a user complies, the virus downloads Skype programming code and new versions of itself from the internet and tries to steal passwords, Websense's security alert said. A Trojan horse is a program that appears to perform one function in order to hide a malicious one. Like the mythological Trojan horse such programs are named after, the deception tricks people into granting them access. But the risk posed by the Trojan does not stem from any security flaw in Skype, Websense said, noting that the VoIP program properly forces any attempts to gain access to it to be authorized by the user. "There is no vulnerability in Skype at this time that has been uncovered," Websense's security alert said. Websense said the sites that the Trojan uses to download the Skype code and new versions of itself were offline on Tuesday. The security firm first reported the threat on its security blog on Monday but mistook the Trojan for a worm. A worm is a type of virus that copies and spreads itself. The initial infections appeared to be in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in South Korea, Websense said. At the end of September, Skype had 136 million registered users around the world.

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FYI: LMH and Kevin Finisterre announce the "Month of Apple Bugs"
by billing 03 Jan '07

03 Jan '07

Two security researchers (known as LMH and Kevin Finisterre) have created a web site (http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/) where they intend to publish "security flaws in different Apple software and third-party applications designed for [the OS X] operating system". Published so far are: - for January 1, 2007: Apple's QuickTiime - A vulnerability exists in the handling of the rtsp:// URL handler. This issue reportedly affects QuickTime™ Version 7.1.3, Player Version 7.1.3. Previous versions should be vulnerable as well. Both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X versions are affected. - for January 2, 2007: VideoLAN's VLC Media Player: A format string vulnerability exists in the handling of the udp:// URL handler. This issue reportedly affects VLC for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. - for January 3, 2007: so far no report has appeared on the site The authors of the website describe their efforts this way: "This initiative aims to serve as an effort to improve Mac OS X, uncovering and finding security flaws in different Apple software and third-party applications designed for this operating system. A positive side-effect, probably, will be a more concerned (security- wise) user-base and better practices from the management side of Apple. Also, we want to develop and provide tools and documented techniques to aid security research in this platform. If nothing else, we had fun working on it and hope people-with-a-brain out there will enjoy the results. " Their FAQ page answers concerns about if the issues are being reported to the vendor before public disclosure? "Rarely, the point is releasing them without vendor notification. Although, sometimes we may decide to pass an issue through the appropriate people. The problem with so-called 'responsible disclosure' is that for some people, it means keeping others on hold for insane amounts of time, even when the fix should be trivial. And the reward (automated responses and euphemism-heavy advisories) doesn't pay off in the end." Finally, also on the FAQ page, they indicate they are not very concerned about criticism of their efforts. In answer to the question "John Doe has written a 'post' in his blog, saying he debunks the XXX bug, what's that?", they reply, "No worries. It's probably someone begging for attention or PR-brainwashed." Apple's response so far? Apple spokesman Anuj Nayar said the company always welcomes feedback on how to improve security on the Mac.

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