What is MD5?

MD5 stands for ‘Message Digest algorithm 5′, and for most applications, MD5 represents something like a digital fingerprint so that you can be sure a file is exactly the same whether it is stored here, there, or anywhere. It’s a very effective way ensure a digital signature and file integrity.

So why use MD5?

If you’ve ever downloaded a large file, you probably want to be sure that the file wasn’t corrupted in the process. This is particularly true with things like disk images, where using a corrupt ISO to install software can lead to disaster (I once used a corrupted ISO file to attempt a Linux install, bad idea). Using the MD5 Hash, you can be sure that the file you have on your machine is digitally identical to the original file from the source. Many sources of large files will offer an MD5 Hash to compare your file to so that you can be sure the file has transferred completely and without any molestation.

Why are you telling us about MD5?

Recently I made a post about how to check MD5 hash on Mac OS X and the first question I got from a friend of mine was ‘what the heck is MD5?’ so basically that told me an explanation of MD5 and it’s common use may be helpful to our readers. As a Mac user, I use MD5 hash’s all the time to check large file integrity, and it’s just good computing knowledge to have. Hope this helps!

For practical uses, check out how to check MD5 hash on your Mac

Have you ever wanted to make your MacBook or MacBook Pro’s keyboard lights dance to the music you are listening to? Has the thought never crossed your mind? Well me neither, but once I saw someone using this iTunes plugin on their MacBook Pro I was instantly hooked on the novelty. iSpazz is the name of the iTunes Visualizer Plugin and it works exactly as advertised, the keyboard lights will flash in sync to the music you’re listening to! It also has a feature to allow the screen’s backlight to flash too, but that just about sent me into a seizure like a bad Japanese cartoon so I’ll opt just for the keyboard lights. File this one under the ‘cool useless eye candy’ category!

Download the iSpazz iTunes plugin and drop it in ~/Library/iTunes/iTunes Plug-ins/ and from there you can select it as a visualizer option within iTunes.

Download now
Developer home

Apple Computer now has a 9.4% Market Share in the USA, putting it in 4th place behind HP, Dell, and Acer and above Toshiba. 9.4% is pretty remarkable considering just earlier in the year Apple was in 5th place with a 7.6% market share, and this is in the worst economic climate the USA has seen since the Great Depression! Way to go Apple! The survey states that Apple has an ‘unofficial’ market share of 4% worldwide. I’d be curious to know what country has the highest market share, judging by the amount of Mac’s at your average Starbucks, it’s probably the USA.

[ IDC via Electronista ]

Apple has released a list of software that has been deemed incompatible with 10.6 Snow Leopard. If you haven’t upgraded yet it’s possible you’re afraid of application incompatibilities, and rightly so. It’s worth taking a look to see if any version of the apps you are dependent on make the list.

These apps will be moved to an “incompatible software” directory upon installation of Snow Leopard:

• Parallels Desktop, ver. 2.5 and earlier
• McAfee VirusScan, ver. 8.6
• Norton AntiVirus ver. 11.0
• Internet Cleanup 5 ver. 5.0.4
• Application Enhancer ver. 2.0.1 and earlier
• Unsanity
• AT&T Laptop Connect Card ver. 1.0.4, 1.0.5, 1.10.0
• launch2net ver, 2.13.0
• iWOW plug-in for iTunes ver. 2.0
• Missing Sync for Palm Sony CLIE Driver ver. 6.0.4
• TonePort UX8 Driver ver. 4.1.0
• ioHD Driver ver. 6.0.3
• Silicon Image SiI3132 Drivers ver. 1.5.16.0

Apple: 10.6 Incompatible Software List

Is this the messiest desktop ever? I don’t know much about this photo, other than it shows a wildly chaotic Mac desktop with a few billion iChat conversations going on and that it’s taken by popular photographer Sam McGuire. If there was ever a need for Expose, I think this it it!

[ Sam McGuire via BallTilIFall ]

You can easily check the MD5 Hash of any file on your Mac, all you need to do is launch the Terminal and type the ‘md5′ command:

md5 big_huge_file.iso

You’ll be returned with an MD5 Checksum Hash that you can check against the source MD5 code provided to you (or that a friend shares, or whatever). It will look something like this:

MD5(big_huge_file.iso)= 20665acd5f59a8e22275c78e1490dcc7

The part after the = sign is the MD5 hash code that you can compare against the source to be sure that the file has retained it’s integrity through transmission. Very handy when downloading large files!

Alternatively you can use the openssl command to check MD5 checksums on your Mac, like so:

openssl md5 big_huge_file.iso

The data returned to you will be the same whether you use the openssl command or the md5 command, it’s really just a matter of preference.

This is a warning to all Snow Leopard users, be aware that a somewhat obscure Snow Leopard bug deletes ALL DATA from a user account, yikes! This will likely NOT effect you, but if you’re a Snow Leopard user you should understand the bug and the consequences. According to CNET:

“when logging into the guest account on their Mac first and then logging into their regular account, some users are finding all their data to be missing and their accounts completely reset.”

Apparently Apple is aware of this issue, and it’s not particularly widespread (suggesting it doesn’t happen all the time), but in any case Snow Leopard users should protect themselves and NOT use the Guest account for the time being! I’m sure Apple will release a bug fix rather quickly since this is gaining some mainstream press around the web.

If you’ve run into this problem and you’re freaking out, check out this page on CNET for a possible fix to restore data.

Personally, I love Snow Leopard and the only issues I’ve had are problems with Snow Leopard wireless connections.

One of my favorite add-ons for MacBook and MacBook Pro’s with the keyboard backlight is this awesome app from Lab Tick that allows you to manually control the keyboard backlighting via a menubar item. Yes, you can control the MacBook Backlit keyboard illumination via the function keys as well, but having the menubar item is very handy, try it out yourself! It’s been updated and works perfectly in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Control the MacBook Backlit Keyboard Illumination

Control backlight via Menubar Item:
* Lab Tick – download now

Control backlight via MacBook / Pro keyboard function keys:

* F8 turns off backlighting completely
* F9 dims keyboard backlighting
* F10 brightens keyboard backlight