We knew good and well that Microsoft was aiming for a 2012 launch of its latest and greatest operating system, and if sources reporting to Bloomberg are accurate, it looks like we’ll have a date with Mrs. October. Purportedly, work will wrap on Win8 this summer, with PCs and tablets (!) to ship in October carrying the newfangled OS. We’re told that the initial rollout will include devices running Intel and ARM processors, and not surprisingly, this positions Microsoft to make a serious play for holiday dollars. Still wondering if it’s for you? Give the Consumer Preview a run, won’tcha?
This morning, Apple announced the next version of Mac OS X, dubbed Mountain Lion, is scheduled to be available at the end of summer. It’s filled with cool new features, but who wants to wait until this summer to get them? Here’s how you can get the best features of Mountain Lion right now.
Messages
Messages is a little like iChat, but it lets you send messages to iOS devices via iMessage, and if you have Mac OS X 10.7.3 on your computer, you can actually start using theMessages beta today. Just download it, install it, and start keeping your messages in sync across all your Apple devices.
You’ve probably seen Notification Center on iOS 5 as it was probably the most-desired feature lacking from Apple’s mobile operating system. It provides a more subtle notification system on your mobile device and a pulldown list to see your current notification history. A similar feature will be available as part of Mac OS X Mountain Lion. Although Apple’s Notification Center for the desktop is going to be a far more robust, most of us currently use Growl for notification banners. Growl will cost you a few dollars if you want the latest version, but you can download an older copy for free. The advantage of paying is that the latest version (only available for Mac OS X Lion 10.7 or later) includes a feature called Rollup, which is essentially the same as Notification Center. (See the screenshot to the right for an example.) It saves your notifications in a little window so you can see what you missed while you were away.
Growl is limited by what can send it messages, however, so you won’t receive notifications for things like SMS and calls. If you’re a Google Voice user you can get those notifications by installing an app like GrowlVoice ($5) or BigPhone ($5 / Free). These apps not only let you get call and text notifications on your computer, but let you respond to both as well.
AirPlay Mirroring
AirPlay Mirroring takes whatever is on your Mac’s screen and wirelessly mirrors it on your television (via an Apple TV) or any other device that can receive an AirPlay transmission. You can do this right now with an app called AirParrot ($10). It provides the exact same functionality. If you want to take things a step further than Mountain Lion can offer, then you’ll also want to check outAirServer. This app will let you receive AirPlay signals on your Mac so you can send video from other devices, like your iPhone or iPad, and watch them on the computer.
GateKeeper
GateKeeper is Apple’s attempt at preventing malware on your Mac, and it does this by letting you decide which kinds of apps are allowed to run and which apps are not. You can run any app you download (the way things currently work in Lion), only allow Mac App Store apps or apps signed with an official Apple developer ID to run, or just allow apps downloaded directly from the Mac App Store to run. Obviously you can currently run all apps or just Mac App Store apps right now, without any fancy features, but the developer ID check is definitely something new. While we believe that you’ll be just fine if you’re diligent, there is malware protection and antivirus software for your Mac should you want to play it extra safe right now.
iCloud
iCloud—Apple’s service that syncs all your information to the cloud and across devices—is already a part of Mac OS X, but the integration is deeper in Mountain Lion. One of the features Apple is touting in the iCloud upgrade is document sync, allowing you to access your documents across multiple computers and mobile devices. You can have that right now with InSync and a Google Docs account. InSync lets you access all your Google Docs files directly from your desktop and keeps them in sync with the online version as well as any other computers. Of course, there’s also Dropbox. It’s not exactly the same thing, but it will keep your documents in sync and we do love it a lot.
Share Sheets
Share Sheets is a feature that essentially places a drop-down menu in your browser (and a few other apps) so you can easily share media with others through various services. You can achieve this same effect in any web browser by creating a folder of bookmarklets—little pieces of JavaScript that perform simple functions. For example, bookmarklets exist to save an article to Instapaper or Read It Later, share on Facebook or Twitter, send an image to Flickr, send a web page as an email, and much more. There are so many bookmarklets nowadays that you really just have to search for what you want to accomplish with the word “bookmarklet” after it and you’ll have it. As a result, you can build out your own Share Sheet-esque bookmarklet folder with more functionality than Mountain Lion will be able to provide.
Notes
Notes is Apple’s addition of a syncing notes application to Mac OS X, but there’s absolutely no reason to wait for Mountain Lion to get this functionality whenNotational Velocity, using the Simplenoteservice, already provides this exact functionality. In fact, Simplenote is so well done that you’ll probably continue to use it after you get your hands on Apple’s official syncing notes application. Simplenote has apps for iOS, Android, and Windows so you have the additional advantage of using any platform you want. If you want to use rich text and images, try Evernote instead.
Reminders
Reminders is just a simple to-do app, and there are plenty of those to go around on Mac OS X already. Our favorite isWunderlist, which is a slightly more robust task management app that works on multiple platforms so you’re not syncing your to-dos with just your Mac. You can have them on your iPhone, iPad, Android,Windows computer as well. It also works in your web browser, providing access just about anywhere.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Mountain Lion, the next version of the Apple’s OS X operating system, is formally in the works and will be on our computers later this summer. Most intriguing is that it will further blur the lines between iOS and OS X, bringing apps like Messages, Notes, Reminders along with utilties such as Notification Center and—FINALLY—AirPlay Mirroring.
Based on what Apple is revealing for now, many of the new features revolve bringing iOS functionality to the desktop. Not only do these new apps and features behave the same as their iOS analogs, but they seamlessly sync with those apps as well. Let’s take a look at each.
Messages
Messages will completely replace iChat, allowing you to trade iMessages back and forth with those on their iOS device (but don’t worry, it’ll still support AIM, Gtalk, etc.). FaceTime has also been integrated into the app, further consolidating all of Apple’s messaging platforms. If done correctly, this could be the end of the awkward divide between iMessage, iChat and FaceTime.
Notes
Write down a few notes on the mobile Notes app, and they’ll appear on your desktop. The desktop version, however, has a few new tricks. You can pin notes to your desktop (remember stickies before they got pushed into the widgets layer?). You can also drag and drop images into notes and send those off to other people.
Notification Center
And from the looks of things, Notification Center is looking to completely and utterly upstage Growl, which has served as the de facto OS X notification framework for years. The OS X version behaves much like the iOS iteration, with a full drop down menu, and banner updates, which look uncannily like Growl bubbles.
Gatekeeper
Gatekeeper is a simple, preemptive security barrier for people worried about downloading malicious programs. Malware isn’t much of a problem on OS X, but if you’re worried, Gatekeeper will let you assign one of three set download levels: anything, Mac App Store only, or programs from trusted developers plus everything in the App Store. If something violates the security level you’ve set, you won’t be able to install it. This should go well with the grandparents.
Twitter
Twitter is now built into OS X. Mountain Lion will let you, say, tweet photos and links directly from iPhoto and Safari, and every time you’re mentioned or hit with a direct message, you’ll get an automatic notification—no extra Twitter software needed.
Game Center
The iOS Game Center has always been neglected backwater territory for Apple, so Mountain Lion is pushing it right onto your desktop. You’ll get to plug into the same leader boards and friend-finding available on your phone, but now it’s on your laptop! Hey! It’s unclear whether this is just for games available on both OS X and iOS, or whether just Mac gamers will be able to go at it with each other.
Gatekeeper
Your to-do list is getting spun out of iCal into its own app, allowing for multiple, searchable lists that are synced between your Mac and all of your iOS devices.
Share Sheets
You know that arrow icon on your iPhone? The one that you click to share photos from your albums? Now you’ll be able to do that same thing throughout OS X apps, too: emailing your notes, uploading your videos, and tweeeeeeeeting will all be done from one handy icon.
Final Cut Pro X received a shiny new update today, outfitted with support for multicam editing and support for external broadcast monitors. But most importantly is support for a new third-party plugin which lets editors import their sessions from legacy version of Final Cut Pro. Something users had long lamented.
According to PC Mag, the new $10 plug-in, names 7toX, will take your old FCP sessions in the .EDL format and convert it to a compatible XML file, which Apple stands firmly behind.
Key to the app’s development, according to {Apple exec Richard Townhill], was the new plug-in API. “We wanted to make sure that we were building APIs for Final Cut Pro X that were richer and more powerful than what we had in previous releases. We’ve actually got a faster growing ecosystem than we’ve ever had before.”
The update is free and available now, along with 7toX. Now will you fanatics quit with the sobbing? [PC Mag]
Customers can get the HP TouchPad for the low, low price of $149.99 with the purchase of an HP or Compaq Laptop, Desktop or All-in-One computer1. Customers can take advantage of this deal online at BestBuy.com, and at all Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile standalone stores nationwide.
If you’re trying to break into a Windows computer—whether you’ve forgotten your password or are hatching an evil plan—you have quite a few options. Heres how to do it, and how to keep your own computer protected.
There are a few methods to breaking into a computer, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. We’ll go through three of the best and most common methods, and nail down their shortcomings so you know which one to use—and how to exploit their weaknesses to keep your own computer secure.
The Lazy Method: Use a Linux Live CD to Get at the Files
If you don’t need access to the OS itself, just a few files, you don’t need to go through much trouble at all. You can grab any Linux live CD and just drag-and drop files onto a USB hard drive, as you would in any other OS.
How It Works: Just download the live .iso file for any Linux distribution (like the ever-popular Ubuntu) and burn it to CD. Stick it in the computer you want to access and boot up from that CD. Pick “Try Ubuntu” when it comes up with the first menu, and it should take you right into a desktop environment. From here, you can access most of the hard drive just by going to the Places menu in the menu bar and choosing the Windows drive. It should see any NTFS drives just fine.
Note that depending on the permissions of some files, you might need root access. If you’re having trouble viewing or copying some files, open up a terminal window (by going to Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and type in gksudo nautilus, leaving the password blank when prompted. You should now have access to everything.
How to Beat It: This method can give you access to the file system, but its main weakness is that the malicious user still can’t access any encrypted files, even when using gksudo. So, if the owner of the computer (or you) has encrypted their files (or encrypted the entire OS), you won’t get very far.
Sneaky Command-Line Fu: Reset the Password with the System Rescue CD
If you need access to the operating system itself, the Linux-based System Rescue CD is a good option for breaking in. You’ll need to do a bit of command line work, but as long as you follow the instructions closely you should be fine. Hat tip to our friends at the How-To Geek.
How It Works: Just download the .iso file for the System Rescue Live CD and burn it to disc. Boot from the disc and hit the default option when the blue screen comes up. After everything loads and you’re presented with a command-line interface, type fdisk -l to see the drives and partitions on your computer. Pick the Windows partition (usually the largest NTFS partition) and note the name, e.g. /dev/sda3.
Then, run the following command:
ntfs-3g /dev/sda3 /mnt/windows –o force
Make sure to replace /dev/sda3 with the partition you noted earlier. Next, cd to your Windows/System32/config directory with this command:
cd /mnt/windows/Windows/System32/config
We want to edit the SAM file in this folder, so type the following command to get a list of users:
chntpw –l SAM
Note the username you want to access, and then type the following command, replacingWhitson Gordon with the username in question.
chntpw –u “Whitson Gordon” SAM
At the next screen, choose the first option by typing the number 1 and hitting Enter. This will clear the user password, making it blank. When it asks you to write hive files, hit y and press Enter. It should say OK, and then you can type reboot to reboot the computer. When you boot into Windows, you’ll be able to log in to that user’s account without a password.
How to Beat It: Once again, the weakness of this method is that it still can’t beat encryption. Changing the password will disallow you access to those encrypted files, which, if the user hasencrypted their entire OS, makes this method pretty useless. If they’ve only encrypted a few files, though, you’ll still be able to access all the unencrypted stuff without a problem.
Brute Force: Crack the Password with Ophcrack
Where the other two methods are vulnerable to encryption, this method will give you full access to everything the user can access, including encrypted files, since this method relies on finding out the user’s password instead of bypassing it.
How It Works: We’ve actually gone through this method before, but it doesn’t hurt to have a refresher. All you need to do is download and burn the Ophcrack Live CD(use the Vista version if you’re cracking a Windows 7 PC) and boot from it on your computer. It’ll take a little bit of time to boot, but eventually it will bring you to a desktop environment and start attempting to crack passwords. This may take a while. You’ll see the passwords pop up in the top pane of the window, though, when it finds them (or, if it doesn’t find them, it’ll notify you). You can then reboot and log in to Windows using those passwords.
How to Beat It: While this method works on encrypted OSes, it can’t crack every password out there. To increase your chance of having an uncrackable password, use something complicatedand greater than 14 characters. The stronger your password, the less likely Ophcrack will be able to figure it out.
There are a lot of methods to break into a Windows computer (in fact, we’ve featured some of them before), but these are a few of the best and most widely useful. Apart from encryption, very little can stop the first two methods, and on those occasions you have Ophcrack to possibly fall back on. Got your own favorite method for getting into your computer without a password? Share it with us in the comments.
If you don’t have an installer CD handy, you just need to do a bit of fancy command-line footwork to achieve the same end as the CD method. Boot up the computer, holding Command+S as you hear the startup chime. The Mac will boot into single user mode, giving you a command prompt after loading everything up. Type the following commands, hitting Enter after each one and waiting for the prompt to come up again before running the next one:
Both of these methods are easy to pull off, but if your victim has encrypted their hard drive, you won’t be able to see or reset the password. So, to protect yourself, it’s a good idea to turn on FileVault under System Preferences > Security.
However, for even more protection, you can set up a firmware password on your machine. Just boot up from the OS X Installer CD and go to Utilities > Firmware Password Utility and set a firmware password. This prevents other folks from being able to boot up your computer from another hard disk, CD, or even in single user mode. Someone with bad intentions could still bypass it, but it would require quite a bit of alone time with your hardware. So, for best results, you’ll probably want to have both layers of protection: encrypt your drive with FileVault and set up a firmware password using the installer CD.
