UKMac.net

Apple Patches Java Vulnerability - At Last

Scott — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:35:58 +0000

After what seems to be the longest Time, Apple have finally released an update for Java that addresses the long standing vulnerability that if exploited could result in malicious code being executed on your Mac.

For many the only safe solution until this release was to disable Java in the browser preferences rendering sites that depend on Java ( not Javascript ) unusable.

The update is available through Software Update and weighs in at a hefty 158Mb.

10 Free Mac Inspired Wordpress Themes

Scott — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:31:07 +0000

The chances are that if you are setting up a Wordpress blog about Apple, OS X, Macs or anything else that originates in Cupertino that you will have at some stage Googled “free mac wordpress themes” or something similar.

There are many Mac and Apple themed themes although many sites seem to use the same one or two themes.

To save you the effort of trawling through the duplicates and hopefully help you to find theme better suited to your site here is a collection of the better examples that you can find.

iTheme

This has to be the grandaddy of Mac Wordpress themes. Lots Mac related sites use this theme.

Demo
Download

i3Theme

A slight variation on iTheme with left and right sidebars.

Demo
Download

Librio

A nice clean theme in the style of the Finder.

Demo
Download

iNove

A glossy Mac style theme with nice header menu and clean clutter free design.

Demo
Download

Leopress

Leopress is another Finder style theme modelled on the enhanced finder in OS X Leopard with left hand side bar and integrated search.

Demo
Download

Coffee Desk

Not strictly a Mac styled theme but the theme includes an iPhone and an aluminum Mac keyboard so maybe suitable for some Mac sites.

Demo
Download

Retro Mac

Style based on the original Macs monochrome GUI, famously used as the theme for Robert Llewlyns Car Pool Site

Demo

Leopard Mac

The Leopard wallpaper and aqua buttons set off this theme which aims to look like a Mac desktop complete with menu bar and disk icons.

Demo
Download

Tigerpress

Another theme inspired by the Finder, this time includes desktop wallpaper from OS X Tiger.

Demo
Download

Mad For Mac

A Macbook banner head gives this style a slightly Mac inspired feel though otherwise it is a fairly typical 2-column Wordpress theme.

Demo
Download

Calaboration - Setup Google Calendars In iCal

Scott — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:35:02 +0000

Calaboration is a simple application from the Google Code library that allows you to easily setup to link to your Google Calendars. Upon launch you are prompted to login to your Google account ( it supports Google Apps for Domains accounts ) after which you are presented with a list of the calendars associated with the account to select from.

Once selected the calendar will appear in iCal allowing not just easy review of Google calendars but also updates to be made.

Calaboration is NOT a sync app. Once it has been run you do not need to run it again. All the application does is setup iCal CalDAV to connect to your calendars.

OS X 10.5.7 Update Just Landed

Scott — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:12:19 +0000

The latest update to OS X Leopard ( 10.5.7 ) has just launched through Software Update. Full details of the fixes and improvments can be found here

RoughlyDrafted.com Views on Windows 7

Scott — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:32:37 +0000

Daniel Dilger has posted a thoughtful and well reasoned summary of why he thinks Microsoft have got it all wrong with Windows 7 ( Why Windows 7 is The Next Zune ). Whether you are pro or anti-Microsoft I think you will find his argument pretty compelling. With the rise of OS X and Linux ( netbooks ) Microsoft are really beginning to see some solid competition and it is fairly clear that Windows 7 is not a get out of jail free card for Redmond.

Personally when I read about Windows 7’s new “XP mode” I thought maybe Microsoft had grasped the problem and were putting a sensible solution in place to enable them to free themselves from the shackles of backward compatibility without losing too many customers along the way ( clearly nothing innovative here as this is what Apple did by rolling OS 9 into OS X when it was released in 2000 ), however when I read the full gen on this and realised that this “slick” integration actually requires you to install Virtual PC and then XP and then Antivirus and firewall software for XP etc I was forced to concede that yet again Microsoft have completely missed the point !

Sorry Redmond but I think you have some tough times ahead and some tough decisions to make, and to be honest I think I agree with Daniel that from past history it is unlikely you will make the right ones.

iPhoto 09 Now Works from External Drives and Network Shares

Scott — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:37:05 +0000

Tidbits.com has a report on the 10 new features that appeared in the latest update to iPhoto 09 ( xx ) that Apple neglected to advertise. One of the new additions that is particularly interesting to me and many others with more than one Mac, is the ability to open iPhoto libraries from external drives or network drives. This works for any logged on user not just the person who created the library.

This is a real benefit and means I can now maintain a single library on the network and a backup on a removable drive. Not sure as yet what the performance will be like and it may be that it is not really practical to use a shared network drive for this ( on 100Mb network anyway ). I will have a go and report back on my findings later, meanwhile if you had already spotted this and have tried it out I would be interested to hear how you got on.

Is Skype on iPhone Illegal in the UK ?

Scott — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:20:26 +0000

ITProPortal has an interesting post about the newly released Skype app for iPhones and whether it is illegal to use in UK under current O2 terms and conditions. See this article for the full update.

iMovie 8.0.1 Update Undocumented Features

Scott — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:41:58 +0000

According to TheAppleBlog the recent update to iMovie introduces more than just bug fixes, see this article for the full information.

Coming Soon Free Copies of Norton AntiVirus For Mac

Scott — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:04:03 +0000

Coming soon on Ukmac a Free giveaway of Norton AntiVirus for Mac. Check back here soon for more details.

Yet More Apple Netbook Rumours

Scott — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:55:38 +0000

Engadget.com have another report of possible relevance to Apple netbook rumours. They claim in this article that Apple have struck a deal with LG to supply 10″ OLED displays for the forthcoming netbook. To be fair Engadget do comment that the source of this report may well not be the most reliable and to read this for what it is, just another rumour….