Bullshit. I do as well, and you know what I do? when I go to take a piss I check my e-mail. You sound like a world class douche bag.

Someone shit in your cereal this morning? Nice ad hominem rant there

The two are different yes, but they both include secret software on the machine to take photos without the user's consent, and while the purpose of obtaining the photos may be different, the intent is the same - to get a picture of the user of the laptop without their knowledge or consent.

They should all be punished.

No. He HAD pancreatic cancer which (probably) spread to his liver. He has a new liver and as a result has to (or had to) take anti-rejection drugs, and no pancreas and a bunch of other missing stuff due the whipple procedure used to remove the pancreas, etc. He probably has a hell of a time absorbing nutrients, maintaining his blood sugar, etc. I respect the man for continuing to get out of bed every day.

No kidding. I've been to my local Shack numerous times over the last fer years looking for parts, like enclosures, crossovers, resisters, etc. I always end up driving 30 miles to Fry's. RS sucks now. I have no idea how they stay in business.

It's not the same or even close. Open Safari, from the Menu -> Safari -> Preferences. On the first page un-check "open safe files after downloading". The point being that if this was truly an informative article and not an advertisement they could have included this little bit there. Having that option checked is a prerequisite for this exploit.

Follow up. I find it interesting that they gloss over the fact that to completely avoid this all you need to do is turn off download safe files in safari, and/or not be stupid. Their solution is to purchase their anti-malware package for Mac. Question for samzenpus, how much did these guys pay you to post this?

Not really. And I wasn't really surprised to find that this is a slashvertisment. Sophos makes anti-virus software for Macs. I prefer to get my news from someone who doesn't have a vested interest in selling me stuff directly related to the content of the article.

This is completely true. The question is whether or not you NEED bluetooth, web cam, etc, etc. I have done countless comparisons and I generally find that the iMacs are comparable in price to desktop machines when you incluse everything, including a web cam, bluetooth. wireless keyboard and mouse, a 27" IPS monitor, etc. I have found that the MacBook Pros are about 20% more expensive than their Lenovo Think Pad counterparts (generally T-Series. I don't compare to Dell, I've burned up a lot of Dells and I just don't like the disposable build quality). Of course you could then go on to calculate the benefits of a machined aluminum enclosure and the glass click pad, etc.

The other thing is longevity. I find that Macs generally last me about 4 years. I typically buy one level from the top, avoiding the large premium for purchasing the absolute best one. My current Mac is 3 years old and will be perfectly capable of running Lion when it ships. Most Dells I've had simply don't last as long. The PS dies, or the CPU fan goes, or something. You're not saving anything if you save 25% on each purchase but have to buy twice as many...

The base MacMini is expensive, but can be worth it if you are Mac based, but the upgraded MacMinis are really expensive compared to PC counterparts. I have a couple of Minis because they were only $700 and they serve their purpose well.

Personally I prefer UNIX to Windows and there is some commercial software I need that doesn't have decent replacements on Linux, so the Next derived OS X is a natural fit for me and my company. One of these days maybe I will be able to run my business on Linux, but I've been waiting for the year of the Linux desk top and it has yet to arrive. I do, however, use Linux based servers.

I'd like to see a source for that. I suspect if he actually said that Google would know about it.

I'm sorry but you're way out of line. Firstly, I'm not a Tea Party member, but I am a sympathizer. You must be getting all your news from CNN and NBC if you actually believe that all Tea Party members are racist or retarded. YOu have nothing constructive to say, just a long rant of insults. Let's hear a detailed list of the real policy issues you have with them, not more of the Bill Maher inspired ad hominem attacks.

I don't really have an answer. I do prefer the way Macs do things with permission and installing things over Windows. Microsoft's solution is to basically lock everything down and makes you answer yes every time you want to do something. OS X asks you for your password to do dangerous things. I'm not defending Safari here - it really needs to be locked down, but everyone should simply uncheck the "open safe files after download". I believe that in ore recent versions it is defaulted to off, but I can't verify that. Personally I use chrome anyway because I just like it better for many subtle reasons. I understand that most of the people in userland are generally clueless when it comes to computers and that this is what criminals prey upon, but I guess I have a hard time feeling sympathy. I mean here it is 2011, I've had countless windows machines, linux boxes and macs hooked up to the internet and I've never contracted a virus or malware. I don't run virus software, but I do have a sophisticated firewall. How many times do people need to be told not to install something if they don't know what it is? I'm sorry but if someone visits a website and ends up with an installer and they click "yes - install" and provide their password, they kinda sorta deserve what they get regardless of the OS.

Society for the most part has always punished intelligent people unless that intelligence is coupled with wealth or power.

Because the user gave permission by clicking the checkbox in preferences?

I worked at getting this to happen this morning, and I finally did. What happens is that you search for an image, click on it, it redirects you to a site like this http://69.50.202.201/f1f7925050f1f83d3b0fc524a72f5af09f55c52837b293fb Which displays a bogus virus scanning screen and downloads a zip file. In safari if you have open safe attachments checked it will unzip the file, anti-malware.zip in this case and run the installer. THis is true. However, this is a social engineering application. YOu still have to click continue and provide your password to install anything. As far as it goes it is very well done, but it is not a drive by install - you MUST EXPLICITLY GIVE PERMISSION to install it. I'm sure a bunch of people will install it, but there's nothing you can do about that. I felt comfortable enough to search this out and try it myself with no ill effects. Turn off open safe attachments in Safari if it bothers you.

I agree. I have a few clients that have not popped for an SSL cert for their site and have people loggin in in the clear. I've explained it to them in detail, in writing. I don't get it, but there you go...