Apple news blog

Yesterday, Mac software developer Intego published a security memo on an exposure that exists with the ARDAgent application on OS X 10.4 and 10.5. ARDAgent runs when you use Screen Sharing in 10.5, and if you’ve enabled Remote Management in the System Preferences panel, but this exploit actually works when ARDAgent isn’t running. As far as I know, this exploit was first published on the Apple page at Slashdot, though it probably appeared elsewhere earlier.

You can read the details of the exploit in the Slashdot entry, but basically, it relies on the fact that ARDAgent runs as root and can send AppleScript commands, such as do shell script, to the system it’s running on. Given ARDAgent is running as root, any shell script launched by ARDAgent also runs as root, so such scripts run without promptin…

I’ve had an aluminum keyboard since just after its launch, and I generally love it. However, what annoys me was that it easily misses some keystrokes, specially the 1/! key on my keyboard.

Today I decided to take a look at the key, and now I have it working much better. Simply raise the key with a nail and then gently insert a knife and pull down, so that the plastic cover is separated from the spring. Now you’ll need a small piece of paper folded three or four times — cut it if needed so you get a 2mm x 2mm square, with less than 1mm thickness. Put this folded paper on the inside part of the plastic cover, so it touches the key membrane when closed, and fix in place with a piece of tape. Here’s what my modified key looks like.

Put the key back on the spring (press until you hear a couple of clicks). Now the key will be more responsive than before. If the piece of paper i…

Upon trying to create a book in iPhoto ‘08, I noticed a lot of the old themes were not available. Browsing around, I found the theme folder for iPhoto in the top-level Library folder, in Application Support » iPhoto » Themes.

Inside that folder were many themes not available through iPhoto itself, but that were available in older versions. As one example, BabyBoy-Hardcover.IPBookTheme isn’t available in the list of book themes pop-up menu, but it is in that folder. I can’t guarantee how safe/legal the following process is, but I was able to enable the old themes by editing a parameter in that theme’s Contents/Resources folder.

I opened Contents » Resources » Implementation.plist in a text editor (or Property List Editor) and changed the Hidden parameter from yes to no. After saving my changes and restarting iPhoto, the old theme was available in iPhoto.

[robg adds: I used BBEdit and ran a multi-file search to find the hidden th…

Everyone is concerned about Steve Jobs’ health, prompting the obvious question about succession plans at Apple. The company seems doomed without him. Who has the vision and drive? But Apple will be fine without Jobs, although it won’t …

After our story about the AT&T subsidy for the Apple iPhone, it appears there remains an enormous amount of confusion about AT&T’s iPhone 3G upgrade policy. We had previously posted a guide based on circulating rumors describing individual eligibili…