NYC schools freezing Mac orders due to WiFi problem...

A problem with Apple computers accessing the New York Department of Education's wireless networks is freezing the school board's orders for the computers. A technical liaison for one of the New York City public schools tells MacNN that the issue seems to revolve around the new iMacs shipping with Leopard, but could surface in other Leopard-imaged machines. The DOE is currently in discussion with Apple to resolve the problem.

Safari 3.1.1, Firefox 2.0.0.14 fix security flaws...

Apple today released Safari 3.1.1, an update to its cross-platform browser, while The Mozilla Foundation released FireFox 2.0.0.14, an update to the open-source browser. Safari 3.1.1 is available for Mac OS X Leopard/Tiger as well as Windows systems; it includes improvements to stability, compatibility and security. Specifically, the update addresses the flaw that allowed Charlie Miller to win $10,000 in the Pwn2Own contest at CanSecWest as well as another security issue affecting latest builds of Tiger (10.4.11) and Leopard (10.5.2) and two security issues affecting Windows XP/Vista. A little over two weeks after the flaw was utilized to hack into Mac OS X, Apple says it fixed the security issue (CVE-2008-1026) where a maliciously crafted web page may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution due to a heap buffer overflow in WebKit's handling of JavaScript regular expressions. Apple's newly patched browser addresses the issue by performing additional validation of JavaScript regular expressions.

Rivet 1.0 streams media to Xbox 360

Rivet 1.0 has been released, enabling users to stream video, music, and photos from Mac OS X to an Xbox 360 over a home network. Rivet allows users to quickly browse and view their entire collection of digital media from from anywhere in the house on their Xbox 360. The Mac OS X folder structure and organization is completely reproduced to allow you to quickly find the appropriate media. Features include: Music streaming of your iTunes library; Photo streaming of your iPhoto library and user defined folders; Video streaming from user defines folders; Full organization support, your mac is recreated on the Xbox 360 and quick automatic updating on the Xbox 360 when files are added, deleted, or moved. The tool requires Mac OS X v10.5 or later, uses iTunes for music sharing and requires a networked Xbox 360. Rivet is priced at $19.

Doozla drawing app for Mac OS X released...

plasq has announced the release full screen children's drawing application -- dubbed Doozla -- featuring simple free-hand drawing and color tools, webcam and tablet support, entertaining color-in templates and background images. The tool has four creativity modes: drawing - free-hand drawing on a background, coloring in -- add color and lines to the character templates provided, draw on background -- draw characters and objects into the provided background scenes and Webcam Drawing - use your webcam to capture a picture and draw on top of it. Doozla contains a pro-level drawing 'vector' engine underneath a child-accessible interface.

NBC reconsidering iTunes, wants anti-piracy measures...

NBC is again considering distribution of its TV shows through the iTunes store, pending a more rigid anti-piracy stance. According to CNET, George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer for NBC Universal, says that digital piracy hurts the company to the point where it is not viable to distribute its content digitally. The statement comes after NBC Universal pulled shows such as Heroes and The Office from iTunes over a pricing dispute between itself and Apple.

Apple hits 6.6% US marketshare in Q1...

New research from Gartner says Worldwide PC Market Grew 12 percent in first quarter of 2008, with the U.S. recession effecting minimal disturbance on Global PC Shipments in the quarter. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 71.1 million units in the first quarter of 2008, a 12.3 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007. Apple saw the biggest gain among the top 5 vendors in the U.S. market, enjoying strong retail sales coupled with "decent growth" in the professional market. Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard extended its lead, with marketshare increasing to 18.3 percent. Dell registered its second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in the worldwide market.

First Look: Universal Drive Adapter...

Transferring data from one computer to another can be cumbersome without special file transferring programs, especially if you’re trying to move data from an old Windows hard disk to a Macintosh. For an easier solution, just yank a hard drive out of one computer and connect it to a second computer as an external hard disk. Of course, this requires buying an external hard disk case and making sure the external hard disk case works with the particular interface of your hard disk. In case you don't want to worry about learning different hard disk interfaces, Newer Technology offers the Universal Drive Adapter, a product that connects to any hard drive no matter what type of interface it uses.

Reports question Mac clone maker Psystar...

Just over 10 years ago, Motorola, Umax, and Power Computing were active members of the official Apple clone community, and the recently popular Psystar is looking to offer the same sort of service, but it could be too good to be true. The Psystar Corporation seems to have materialized out of thin air, and that investigation reveals that the company could be little more than a potential fly-by-night operation.

UK music group pushes for media player tax...

The British government should tax the sale of media players, a body of the UK music industry is advocating. The Music Business Group is said to have rejected a recent government proposal, which would see people legally able to transfer music from CDs to media players for free; while the practice is widespread and taken for granted by the public and companies like Apple, in the UK it is technically a violation of copyright. The MBG is said to have taken the same position as America's RIAA however, and called for a levy on sale of devices such as iPods.

Quark Publishing System 7.4 goes Leopard...

Quark has announced Quark Publishing System 7.4, the second maintenance release of its industry leading collaborative workflow system. Based on Java, this release of QPS adds as support for Mac OS 10.5 Leopard, full text search and LDAP support. In addition, the new QPS Web Hub now runs with Apple's Safari browser as well as Firefox. QPS user names and passwords can now be managed through a company's active directory to consolidate user management. Full Text Search allows users to search document content within any assets that are stored in QPS. There is also the added ability for users to check in multiple assets at the same, and Russian and Polish interfaces are now available in QPS.

IBM offers Mac switch program...

In an apparent attempt to lessen its reliance on Microsoft Windows, IBM has launched an internal pilot program designed to support employees who decide to switch to the Mac platform, according to Roughly Drafted. The pilot program ran from October 2007 through January 2008 and distributed 24 MacBook Pros to researchers at different sites within IBM Research. Of the sample group, 18 users said that the Mac offered a "better or best experience" compared to their existing Windows computer. 19 of the 22 users asked to keep their Macs after the pilot program had expired.

Piper: European iPhone selling light, 3G device soon...

Changes in the European iPhone market may have a dual significance, argue analysts with Piper Jaffray. Following a 75 percent price cut in Germany earlier this month, the UK has also slashed the price of the 8GB iPhone by 37 percent, to reach £169 ($335). Piper argues once again that this is a sign European carriers are attempting to clear out stock in advance of a 3G iPhone, anticipated for June; it may also however be emblematic of sales below expectations, a factor typically attributed to the iPhone's unusually high price in Europe, and a widespread acceptance of 3G that Apple cannot currently deliver on.

TranslateIt! 9.2 adds new dictionaries...

The developers of TranslateIt! have released a new update, v9.2. The software is a multilingual dictionary that operates by hovering over any word in a Cocoa application; more complex translations can be handled by copying from the clipboard, dragging-and-dropping, or running them manually. English, German and Russian morphology support is present, and audible pronunciations are available for over 23,000 English words and 5,000 German ones.

Apple takes home red dot design awards...

Apple is one of the winners of this year's red dot awards, given to the designers of a number of products from around the world. Some 50 awards were given out this year, from a pool of 3,203 submissions submitted by 1,253 companies; Apple secured two awards, for the iMac in the computer category, and the iPhone as best mobile device. Apple has also received red dot quality markings for several other products, namely the iPod touch and nano, the iPhone's Bluetooth headset, and both the cabled and wireless aluminum keyboards.

Apple sets out WWDC 08 awards...

Apple has laid out some of the Design Awards that will be given out at this June's WWDC conference. For the first time, two iPhone categories have been created: the "iPhone Developer Showcase" will highlight programs in ongoing development with the beta SDK, while "Best iPhone Web Application" will focus on the only commercially-sanctioned iPhone applications at the moment, those built for Safari. Winners in these categories will receive two 15-inch MacBook Pros, two 30-inch Cinema Displays, an 8GB iPhone and a 16GB iPod touch, plus developer bonuses such as an ADC Premier Membership.