Connie Talbot 6 Years Girl On Britian's Got Talent Show

Two days ago I watched iPhone OS 3.0 Software Sneak Peak Show. There are so many excitement features. Specially I am very impressed by Smule' music application: Ocarina. Then I went to Smule's web page and saw a show of Connie Talbot, 6 year girl, Britain's Got Talent Show.

Mac Software Update: iTunes 8.1 and FrontRow

Today I got two new updates: iTunes 8.1 and FrontRow update. I saw a news on these two updates in MacRumors blog first during the day.

There is not reboot requirement after the update. The only thing is that when the update finishes, the update window stays there. The installation button is disabled. However, there is no close button and I had to close the window by clicking on x.

Virus?

Recently I got a call from an IT security person at my work. He told me that my computer has a virus and it has been keeping back during the past weeks.

Cut the story short. What I realized is that I have installed DropBox at work long time ago. A few weeks ago I started to share a folder with my friend in another country when I communicated with him over the internet on my Mac. I have the DropBox installed on my Mac as well. My friend is using Windows. What he tried was to put a doc file in a DropBox folder in his computer and set me to share the folder. The problem is that his doc file has a virus infected. The next day when I went to work. The DropBox synced the file to my work computer which is Windows.

After I uninstalled my DrogBox at my work computer, the virus is gone. A thorough scan was executed on my computer and nothing was found.

The interesting thing is that my Mac have never been affected by the virus. Of course, I don't have any anti-virus application installed and I could not check it. However, with Apple's OS security mechanism, I don't think it is possible to get virus by using word doc files. There is no way to get anything executable.

This is an excellent example to explain the security difference between the Apple computer and the Windows based PC.

In addition to Apple great security guard, I have followed a recommended advice to set up normal user accounts for my family members. Whoever logs in the Mac will have limit privilege to access OS. This does not affect my family member to use my Mac computer. My account has administrative right and I do all the installation work of applications on the Mac.

Another rule is that I only install applications after a full review or applications from Apple or trusted corporations. I put all the none-Apple applications in MyApplication folder and create alias for other accounts in their dock or desktop. Whenever I don't like some applications or for any security reasons I realize later, I simple delete the application.

DropBox is a nice web tool to share files. However, you can imagine how easy you can get infected with virus with shared files from friends who uses Windows. There are many great Cloud applications emerging, but... Just be very careful on the Cloud!

Mac Tips from ScreenCastsOnLine HD Podcast

Just watched two podcast from ScreenCastsOnLine HD. One is about Mac's color picker(show 187: Mac Montage 06) and another one is about Mac OS Speech future(show 172: OSX Speech Technology). Both are very cool shows!

The Color picker is an OS level library for applications. There are so many ways to pick up colors. Some I know from Windows but some others I have never seem in Windows. For example, you can pick up color from a image, you can create your own color picker project and share with other people, and you can get plug-in to get special pickers. Hex Color picker is great for Web developers to display colors in hex codes and it is integrated with Color picker UI.

I have owned my iMac for more than one year. I knew that OS has speech command feature. I have never tried it. The show demonstrates the configuration so easy to use. You can use speech command. I tried it to open Finder and close it. Even it is very cool, but I don't think I'll use it. My wife came to my room to see what was happening while I was commanding my Mac.

Speech to Text is a very good feature as well. You can highlight text in browser and let OSX to read the text. That's very good way to listen and to check my blog in a relaxed way. I just tried to let OS's Alex (male from system preference) to read my blog in preview mode and I found several spelling errors.

New Mac Software Updates

Today, I found new updates from Apple. The following pictures display four updated software items:

• AirPort Utility Software
• Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.5
• iLife Support
• AirPort Client Update 2009-001

The new updates need restart my iMac.

BestofYouTube: Validation

Just watched a video on youbute.com, actually from my iTune's subscription: Validation. I really enjoy watching it. It is a short movie with a great fable story.



"You are so beautiful",
"I just want to see your smile".

I hope you like it too.

PS: notes from the Validation's description:

Validation" is a fable about the magic of free parking. Starring TJ Thyne & Vicki Davis. Writer/Director/Composer - Kurt Kuenne. Winner - Best Narrative Short, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Jury Award, Gen Art Chicago Film Festival, Winner - Audience Award, Hawaii Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Comedy, Breckenridge Festival of Film, Winner - Crystal Heart Award, Best Short Film & Audience Award, Heartland Film Festival, Winner - Christopher & Dana Reeve Audience Award, Williamstown Film Festival, Winner - Best Comedy, Dam Short Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Film, Sedona Int'l Film Festival.