News and reviews of interest to Mac IT professionals

Review: Xserve (2009)

Andrew T. Laurence — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:56:00 -0700

Apple's 2009 Xserve is that rare upgrade that delivers on all fronts: this server is undeniably faster than the previous generation, uses less power, and exudes less heat.That combination doesn’t happen very often.

Kace to boost Mac features in systems management appliances

Philip Michaels — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:36:00 -0700

The company plans to introduce changes to its family of Kbox appliances this summer that will let IT administrators manage Windows and Mac OS X machines from a single interface on a single appliance.

Microsoft to sell Windows 7 for $50

Nancy Gohring — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:00:00 -0700

Microsoft is rolling out special deals and pricing information for Windows 7 this week.

HFS+ for Windows makes Mac volumes accessible to Windows PCs

Peter Cohen — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:20:00 -0700

HFS+ for Windows is a PC utility that makes Windows talk with HFS file partitions, used by Macs.

Nova offers ExpressCard-based 3G modem

Peter Cohen — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:22:00 -0700

Nova media's GlobeTrotter Express 441 works in ExpressCard slot-equipped MacBook Pros.

QNAP intros 8-bay desktop NAS

Peter Cohen — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:42:00 -0700

QNAP's new 8-bay NAS takes 2.5-inch hard drives and can sit on a desk instead of in an equipment rack.

Analysis: An IT take on iPhone 3.0

John C. Welch — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:24:00 -0700

You've heard about copy-and-paste, Spotlight searches, and other consumer-friendly iPhone 3.0 features. But there's plenty in the update for corporate types, too.

Extensis releases Universal Type Server 2.0

Peter Cohen — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:25:00 -0700

Universal Type Server 2.0 now supports Open Directory and Active Directory and other key improvements.

WD offers new solid state disk drives

Peter Cohen — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:06:00 -0700

Western Digital has unveiled a new generation of SSDs from its acquisition of SiliconSystems in March.

FileWave Inventory 9 adds PO management, vendor database

Peter Cohen — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:50:00 -0700

FileWave has released a new version of Inventory (formerly Asset Trustee), now with support for a vendor and product database and other key improvements.

Kroll unveils data recovery for Apple Xsan

Peter Cohen — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:18:00 -0700

Kroll Ontrack has announced a data recovery service for corrupt Apple Xsan 2 systems.

Apple Java update fixes security hole

Peter Cohen — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:06:00 -0700

Apple has, at long last, addressed security problems with Java that Sun fixed more than six months ago.

ATTO Fibre Channel cards certified for HP EVAs

Peter Cohen — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:35:00 -0700

ATTO's Celerity Fibre Channel cards are now certified for use with HP EVA systems.

Analysts: iPhone 3G S still not enterprise-ready

Matt Hamblen — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:27:00 -0700

Despite some enterprise-geared improvements in the latest iPhone, the analysts Computerworld spoke to say those steps are not good enough for widespread adoption of the new smartphone inside large businesses.

VNC Enterprise Edition adds cross-platform remote printing

Peter Cohen — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:24:00 -0700

VNC Enterprise Edition adds support for cross-platform remote printing and cross-platform chat.

MailForge e-mail client released, Eudora successor

Peter Cohen — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:53:00 -0700

MailForge is a new e-mail app that should appease long-time Eudora users, according to its developer.

Google unveils plug-in to marry Outlook, Gmail

John Fontana — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:16:00 -0700

Google Tuesday unveiled synchronization technology that supports Microsoft Outlook as the front end to Gmail, giving users an option to scrap Exchange on the...

iPhone OS 3.0 adopts some BlackBerry-like security

InfoWorld staff — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:22:00 -0700

With the forthcoming iPhone 3.0 update, the iPhone is moving a bit closer to enterprise requirements, according to InfoWorld.

Apple announces Snow Leopard Server developer preview

Peter Cohen — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:42:00 -0700

Snow Leopard Server has been released as a developer preview, with the full release planned for September, just like Snow Leopard

WWDC Preview: iPhone 3.0 hopes from an IT pro

John C. Welch — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:54:00 -0700

Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference opens on Monday. John C. Welch predicts what changes in iPhone OS 3.0 mean for the IT crowd.

Paragon releases Snapshot backup software

Peter Cohen — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:29:00 -0700

Paragon has released Snapshot, a new sector-level backup utility for the Mac.

Microsoft faces Russian antimonopoly hearing

Jeremy Kirk — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Microsoft may have violated Russia's antimonopoly laws for withdrawing Windows XP from the market last year, the Federal Antimonopoly Service said on Thursday.

Port Map: Simple port mapping for your router

Rob Griffiths — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:01:00 -0700

If you occasionally want to access your home Mac from afar, whether it be to reach shared files, access a Web server, check in on a Web cam, or any other such purpose, Port Map is a free solution that can make the process simpler.

Forrester: Economy has led to software pricing changes

Chris Kanaracus — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:32:00 -0700

Business software vendors are using a variety of means to entice customers to buy amid the recession, a new report has found.

The truth about Apple's security issues

Rich Mogull — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:45:00 -0700

Security expert Rich Mogull deconstructs Apple's failure to patch a Java security hole and the criticisms of those who think its security advertising rings false.

Review: Spector Pro mac 2009

Jeffery Battersby — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:00:00 -0700

Spector Pro mac 2009 is a powerful keylogging tool with the additional capability of giving you a visual representation of everything that is being done on a monitored computer at any point in time.

CIS issues free benchmark on iPhone security

Matt Hamblen — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:26:00 -0700

The Center for Internet Security today released what it termed the industry's only consensus security benchmark for the iPhone.

Eight iPhone apps and services for system admins

John C. Welch — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:28:00 -0700

John C. Welch rounds up the iPhone apps and services that make his IT job go a lot smoother.

Mac Software: Stepchild to Windows versions no more?

Tom Kaneshige — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:57:00 -0700

Growth of the Mac in the enterprise space may be forcing software makers to improve their support for Mac versions of their products, CIO.com reports.

AirRadar surveys your wireless signals

Nathan Alderman — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:01:00 -0700

Increasingly, the airwaves around us are a jungle of competing wireless signals. Koingo Software’s AirRadar not only helps cut through the clutter, but also provides useful information about your wireless signal of choice.

Google outage lesson: Don't get stuck in a cloud

Ian Paul — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:33:00 -0700

Google has apologized for yesterday's service outage that left 14 percent of its user base without Google's wide variety of online services for a few hours. Lesson learned -- don't trust the "cloud" with your data, exclusively.

What happens to the data when an online storage site closes?

Tom Spring — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:50:00 -0700

Online storage sites, the toast of the Internet circa 2006, are shutting down in droves, putting the data and images of their users in jeopardy.

Mac News Briefs: BoinxTV update adds audio, image adjustment features

Macworld Staff — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:24:00 -0700

The newest version of Boinx Software's live video production software adds a number of new features and bug fixes, including support for a high-quality chroma key filter. The developers for rooSwitch and RapidWeaver also unveiled updates Thursday.

Opinion: Is Apple barking up the wrong tree with Grand Central?

Neil McAllister — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:57:00 -0700

Vendors are scrambling to provide developer tools to support multicore CPUs, but customer demand is heading in the other direction, writes Neil McAllister of InfoWorld.

Sprint to offer mobile 3G Wi-Fi device

Peter Cohen — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:29:00 -0700

Sprint will begin offering Novatel Wireless' MiFi 2200; it provides Wi-Fi access to Sprint's 3G data network.

‘Team of Apple executives’ to deliver WWDC Keynote

Peter Cohen — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:00:00 -0700

A team of Apple executives led by Phil Schiller will deliver this year's keynote address at the upcoming Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple revealed on Wednesday.

Notes push e-mail coming to iPhone

Nancy Gohring — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:40:00 -0700

IBM said its newest version of Lotus Notes will push e-mail to iPhones.

LaCie introduces two new network storage systems

Peter Cohen — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:29:00 -0700

LaCie is rounding out its network storage offerings with two systems, one with capacity up to 10 terabytes.

In praise of Directory

John C. Welch — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:54:00 -0700

Directory is one of the hidden gems of Mac OS X Server, and if you're using Open Directory, it's a great way to facilitate better communication between employees. John Welch shows you what it can do.

Using Twitter for business information and advice

Michael Gowan — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:19:00 -0700

Twitter is handy for businesses looking to leverage social networking for promotion, but it's also a handy support tool for businesses that need help.

Bank of America still not ready for iPhone

Matt Hamblen — Wed, 06 May 2009 07:47:00 -0700

Despite Apple's determination to make the iPhone enterprise-ready, there are still some holdouts, such as Bank of America, which does not let its employees use the phone at work.

iPass aims for mobile cloud service platform

Stephen Lawson — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:59:00 -0700

iPass introduced an iPhone client and plans someday to offer a platform for third-party applications.

A look at GeekTool

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:33:00 -0700

Rob Grififths takes you on a tour of GeekTool, a free system utility that lets you display images, text files, and the output of Unix commands on your desktop.

Is it time to cut the Ethernet access cable?

John Cox — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:18:00 -0700

A range of companies with wireless LANs are discovering that 50% to 90% or more of Ethernet ports now go unused, because Wi-Fi has become so prevalent.

ConceptDraw Pro 8 adds NetDiagrammer plug-in

Peter Cohen — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:04:00 -0700

NetDiagrammer is a new network topology planning tool designed as a plug-in for ConceptDraw Pro 8.

Fifteen easy fixes for Mac security risks

Ryan Faas — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:13:00 -0700

The Mac OS is a pretty safe platform, but no system is perfect. There are a number of security holes that are common on Mac OS X systems. Computerworld's Ryan Faas shows you how to close them.

Analysis: What Exchange 2010 means for Mac users

John C. Welch — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:45:00 -0700

Microsoft's planned changes to Microsoft Exchange 2010 suggest that Mac users working in an Exchange world may no longer feel like afterthoughts. John C. Welch looks at the changes and how they'll affect Mac users.

Oracle, entering hardware arena, agrees to buy Sun for $7.4B

Elizabeth Montalbano — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:30:00 -0700

Oracle has signed a deal to purchase Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion, plunging Oracle into the hardware market.

Atempo Digital Archive expands Mac support

Peter Cohen — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:24:00 -0700

Atempo Digital Archive has expanded its Mac support with the new 2.3 release, which is getting a preview at NAB in Las Vegas.

Review: iStat for iPhone

James Savage — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:47:00 -0700

iStat displays data about your iPhone. But its true value comes when you pair it with the free iStat Server for the Mac to get remote access to your Mac's statistics.