Web Design & Development Blog

Apple will be issuing a software update in response to a recent increase of malware attacks on Macs. The malware, which pops up on computers under MacDefender, MacProtector or MacSecurity, has been targeting Mac users for the past few weeks.

Apple said it will be updating its Mac OS X software. The update will automatically remove the malware and its known variants that try to trick users into entering credit card information. The malware program works by alerting users that they have a virus on their computer, and then offers to remove it if users enter a credit card number to purchase the software.

While users are waiting for the Mac OS X update, Apple’s support page is issuing instructions for removing the malware on their site. It is possible that the attacking malware interferes with anti-virus programs, so even users who have anti-virus software might want to take precautions and follow Apple’s instructions.

The instructions on the support page tell users to avoid installing the software in the first place – either by quitting the browser, or if that doesn’t work, then by a “Force Quit” from the browser. If the malware installer automatically downloads, users can go to the download folder and drag the installer to the trash.

Here is some advice to user to avoid the phishing scam: Firstly and most importantly, do not give your credit card number or other personal information to any pop-up from the Internet, ever. Secondly, if anything on the Internet tells you something is wrong with your computer, do not be gullible and believe it. You want to get as far away as you can from that king of stuff.

While this advice might be common sense to some users, the fact is that Apple users didn’t have to worry too much about scams in the past, which could make users susceptible to opening these scams now. Most scammers target PC’s because they are the vast majority of computers. However, Macs have become very popular, which makes them a new target for scammers.

To combat this, Apple does have some recommendations for anti-malware software and provides several staff picks for outside software on its site. Apple provides security updates exclusively for Macs with their software updates, such as the update that will automatically get rid of the malware like MacDefender.

Mozilla has kept its promise to come out with new releases of the Firefox open-source browser on a faster schedule. The new beta version of Firefox 5 arrives just a couple months after Firefox 4 was officially released.

Mozilla recently released the Aurora development channel, which is in the pre-beta stage and allows users to test the new software features and capabilities that are more refined than the “nightly build” releases that may or may not appear in beta or final releases.

“The shift to a rapid release development cycle delivers cutting edge Firefox features, performance enhancements, security updates and stability improvements to users faster,” said Mozilla on their Aurora development channel.

Basically, Mozilla made this system to deliver Firefox updates more quickly while also giving users the opportunity to participate in building the software. Mozilla’s faster browser development schedule is intended to help the open-source organization keep pace with Google, which is constantly coming out with new releases of the Chrome browser. Microsoft is also trying to keeping up by showing previews of Internet Explorer 10 less than a month after the release of IE9.

Users can check out Firefox 5 and see a number of new performance and stability enhancements, but the most important is the support for the new CSS animations standards, which is new CSS technology that animates XML elements on web pages. Also included in the new release is what Mozilla calls the “Channel Switcher,” which is a tool that allows users to move between aurora, beta and final release of the browser and test features at each level of development.

The beta release of Firefox 5 can be downloaded from the Mozilla website.

Since the release of Firefox 4 and IE9 the two browsers have seen nothing but growth and no indications of it stopping either. The two browsers have only been available for more than a month, let’s take a look at the stat counter statistics of the steady growth of the browsers.

The table shows the different browsers from March to April and their market share estimates. The change column indicates the increase or decrease in the market share from the two months. The relative column shows the proportional change, for example the IE7 had 20% abandoned the browser last month.

Firefox 4 and IE9 had both excellent figures with Firefox having 7.59% and IE9 2.32% of the market. Both browsers have seen more than a 200% increase in one month, which shows the browsers gaining popularity among users. With saying that the browsers did just recently come out and it is easier to double your market when you start with nothing.

The table shows that with the introduction of Firefox 4 the versions before had dropped at the same rate that the new version grew. With the pace Firefox is going at the older edition will become extinct within 6 months. Firefox has a quick update system and if it keeps going at this rate different versions may become extinct sooner.

IE is more complex with their usage patterns. IE6/7 market share has significantly dropped, which is good because the browsers are outdated, but they still hold a decent portion of IE market share. IE8 has no significant change but still holds the largest chunk for IE market share. IE9 is gaining but has a long way to go to catch up to.

The bad news for Firefox and IE is that Chrome continues to gain more market share. Chrome browser has consistently being gaining 1% of the market share every month with one third of those users migrating from Firefox and two thirds from IE. There’s no sign of Chrome growth letting up and their users have been faithful to their browser. The market share race is getting close between the three browsers with all of them showing growth.

Apple has overtaken Google as the world’s most valuable brand, ending Google’s four-year rule as the leaders of internet browsing, according to a study by global research agency Millward Brown.

Apple’s brand value has leapt 84% to $153.3 billion, and a substantial portion of their success is based off of how well the iPad and iPhone 4 have been selling. Apple’s portfolio of desired consumer goods has pushed past Microsoft in becoming the world’s most valuable technology company, as well.

Google’s brand declined 2% to $111.5 billion, dropping to the number two spot. Microsoft was up 2% to 78.2 billion, rounding out the top five spots among the most valuable global brands.

Some of the most notable brands that have taken great leaps toward the top 100 are Facebook and Baidu, the leading search engine in China. Facebook recorded the greatest jump with a 246% increase to $19.1 billion, making its first debut on the top 100 chart at number 35. Baidu was the second fastest climber at 141%, putting it at number 29 on the chart.

Other surprising findings include that Amazon has made the number 14 ranking, overtaking Walmart at number 15, to become the most valuable retail brand in the world with $37.6 billion. Also, Toyota has reclaimed its position as the world’s most valuable car brand, recovering from the 2010 product recall. Nineteen of the top 100 brands came from emerging markets, and 12 of the top 100 came from China.

The brands’ values were based off of a mix of factors, including future earnings (discounted to their present-day values) and in-depth consumer surveys, according to Millward Brown. If you’re interested in more information, check out the full report.

Apple has released iOS 4.3.3, the update that changes how iPhone and 3G iPad devices store and back up the location based tracking database cache. The update couldn’t come soon enough as Apple received a ton of criticism when two data researchers publicly announced their discovery of the location database cache stored on certain Apple products.

Apple responded to the criticism by answering questions and concerns that consumers and politicians had. Apple said that they are not tracking user and the data does not transmit back to Apple. The reason why the devices were tracking location was to use the cell tower and WiFi hotspot information to determine your location when using GPS. Also when Location Services were turned off, it was still tracking which they said was bug.

The iOS 4.3.3 update is second half of Apple’s response. When users go to update their software it tells users, this update contains changes to the iOS crowd-sourced location database including:

• Reducing the size of the cache
• No longer backing the cache up to iTunes
• Deleting the cache entirely when Location Services is turned off

The update is now available for download by connecting devices to iTunes

Google, which is consistently improving how we search, has made finding images related to a particular subject easier with a new feature. Sometimes, it’s hard to come up with the exact words to describe what your looking for. Allowing you to sort by relevance or by subject gives you different options that get you closer to what you’re looking for.

When using a word or phrase to search in Google Images, the images are automatically sorted by relevance by default. If you click on the “sort by subject” button, Google will organize the search results into categories that are likely to relevant to what you’re looking for.

For example, searching for “London” will likely give you all kinds of different images. But, if you sort by a subject, you’ll get images of famous spots such as London Eye – the famous ferris wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames – or London’s iconic Big Ben tower, or the London Bridge and images of the city at night.

This feature helps when you don’t remember the exact term for a dog breed, flower type or coffee that you’re looking for, but you can offer different variations of the term.

Even though it may seem like an easy task, this feature took expertise to create as linking images to a subject is a lot harder than most people think. “By looking at multiple sources of similarities, such as pixel values and semantic relationships, and by mining massive amounts of data, we can make meaningful connections and groupings among images,” said Google’s Donald Tanguay in a blog post.

This feature should be available to everyone soon, if not right now. Check out the video on how this feature works:

Google is always trying to find ways to improve their search engine and provide better results while cutting down search time. Their goal is to make it as easy as possible for users to find what they want when they want it while relieving as much stress as possible for the user. Every few weeks, Google is coming up with new update to their search engine and secure superiority over other search engines.

Google Instant is one of the major updates to the search engine lately, which improves the speed of search tremendously. To use Google Instant, users type a few letters of what they are looking for and search predictions are automatically provided.

Google constantly ventures into new ways of improving this feature. For instance, they’ve made the feature part of the Google toolbar search and added the feature to mobile devices, Google video and other tabs of Google’s search like Places, which is located on the left-hand panel. The list goes on and while Google continuously improves this feature, other search engines get left behind.

One of the most recent improvements to the search engine is in the Recipes Tab on the left-hand panel. Before this update, one search would be the same as any other search – typing into the search bar and then getting search-predictions. Now, while in the Recipes view, users get more relevant predictions for their searches as it focuses on food. For example, if users were typing in “C”, they’ll get predictions such as “chicken” or “cake” versus “Craiglist” or “CNN.” Taking it further, if you were to type “Co,” you’ll get predictions of “cookies” or “coconut.” Some of these options might inspire users to veer off the beaten path and cook something that they were not even trying to search for in the first place. Even though this is a minor improvement, the fact is that Google is making search faster and easier for the user.

There is one thing we can be sure of with Google: They will always be refining their search engine for the user to get faster, quality and easier-to-find search results.

iPhone users are wondering why Apple is tracing their every move by location based tracking, which is built into iOS. Apple had kept quiet about the situation until Steve Jobs broke that silence.

As stated by MacRumors, one of the readers sent an email to Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, wanting to know the reason for this feature. Jobs himself responded to the concerned iOS user. Here is the user’s email:

“Steve,
Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It’s kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don’t track me.”

Here is how Jobs responded:

“Oh yes they do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.”

As expected, Apple is believed to not have actually tracked and then used the location data. Despite that, the truth is that iOS devices are recording every location of where users go. Jobs’ response of saying the info is “false,” is a referral to the rumors circulating that Apple is tracing customers and then using that information for a purpose, which seemed not to be the case at all.

Apple responded a couple days later in a statement they released explaining how the company uses the location based data, an issue that caused some controversy in the mobile phone world. The statement covers all the concerns and questions that an iPhone user would have for Apple on this issue.

The main concern of iPhone users is first addressed: “Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so,” thus backing up Steve Jobs email sent earlier in the week.

Apple says in the statement that there are two “bugs” that need to be dealt with. The first one deals with how much data the phone stores from Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers surrounding an iPhone’s location, which could store “up to a year’s worth of data.” The second bug deals with the continuation of iPhone’s updating this information even when users turn off Location Services on their phone. Apple plans on dealing with these issues in a software update coming in a few weeks, along with the discontinuation of backing up data on iTunes when users sync with their computers. With the updates, the iPhones shouldn’t “store more than seven days of this data,” a huge downsize to the year’s worth of data that was originally being stored.

What Apple says it’s really doing is “ maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.”

The most important issue of the whole dilemma is that Apple isn’t storing your location information by tracking your iPhone as suspected, and then using that information for some plan to use it against you. Apple is taking steps in the right direction by admitting that they are storing much of the information by coming out with software updates that are going correct those “bugs” with the location based tracking. Hopefully, this is the last privacy issue that Apple needs to deal with.

Two security researchers recently raised concerns for what they discovered about the iPhone and iPad with 3G support: The phones maintain detailed logs that track users’ locations, which are then stored on unencrypted files on their computer. Although it appears that Apple is not actively collecting the location tracking data, it still raises some concerns for the privacy of everyone who owns a iPhone or iPad.

The data file is stored on users’ iPhone or iPad until they sync their devices with their computers, after which it’s stored in backup files on iTunes, according to Pete Warden and Alasdair Allan, the researches who discovered the potential privacy problem. With the information being stored on an unencrypted file, anyone who accesses a user’s computer has detailed information about where they and their iPhone or iPad have been, including time-stamped latitude and longitude coordinates.

The location based recording seems to have originated with the release of iOS4 last June. This means users may have unknowingly accumulated a year’s worth of location information on their phones or computers. It also appears that Verizon iPhone users aren’t being affected by this – only the GSM based iPhones are affected for now.

“Apple has made it possible for almost anybody — a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information about where you’ve been,” Mr. Warden said. This could possibly be bad for those users who haven’t been on their best behavior lately. If they are doing something that they shouldn’t be, they should consider leaving their phone at home.

Apple hasn’t commented on why it is logging all the detailed location data or why the information isn’t in an encrypted file. It’s a good possibility that Apple plans on using this information at some point – who knows when – for social networking services or a targeted marketing plan.

“[Apple] have new features in mind that require a history of your location, but that’s pure speculation. The fact that it’s transferred across devices when you restore or migrate is evidence the data-gathering isn’t accidental,” Mr. Warden said.

But there is a way for users to encrypt the backup files that are stored on their iTunes.

Here’s how you do it:

• Launch iTunes and connect your iPhone to your computer.
• Select your iPhone in the Library list in iTunes, then choose the Summary tab.
• Scroll to the bottom of the window and check Encrypt iPhone backup.
• Enter a password when prompted.

The data on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad is also stored in an unencrypted format, and the only way to secure that information is to use a passcode lock. Users can do that by going to: Settings > General > Passcode Lock.

For now you can’t stop it, but you can remove the information from your computer by wiping your backup files from your computer. However, at that point you’ll have no backups to restore your phone in case you lose it. If you do lose your phone, all your location based tracking data goes right into the hands of the person who found it. If you decide to wipe out your backup files, every time you sync your phone another file is created, so you would need to wipe that file out every time.

Just four weeks after Microsoft released their much hyped new browser, IE9, they are already showing previews of a platform for Internet Explorer 10. At Mix11, a developers conference held in Las Vegas, Microsoft unveiled the first look at what’s to come for the new browser, and the preview is now available for download.

IE10 is supposed to be a continuation of the work done on the hardware acceleration of IE9 – the HTML5 and CSS3. “IE10 builds on full hardware acceleration and continues our focus on site-ready Web-standards,” said Dean Hachamovitch, IE’s corporate vice president, in an announcement. “This combination enables developers to deliver the best performance for their customers on Windows while using the same, Web-standard markup across browsers.”

With Microsoft only three weeks into the production of the new browser, there is a lot to look forward to as they keep working to improve the web. Microsoft’s goal for the new browser is to create a more powerful, native, and robust web. They are doing this by including additional support for CSS3, which will include gradient and flexible box layout. They also plan on giving previews of IE 10 every eight to twelve weeks, just so people can get a glimpse of their progress.

The browser market share is getting ever tighter as new versions of browsers keep coming out, and Microsoft wants to stay on top. The recent release of IE9 is currently being downloaded 27 times per second, which may initially sound impressive but it isn’t as staggering of a figure as Microsoft would have hoped. After Mozilla released Firefox 4, the browser was downloaded 5,000 times per minute during the first day. If Microsoft is hoping to be sitting all alone at the top with their new improvements, they are striving for it in their next version, Internet Explorer 10.