Apple has released a Mac OS X software update labeled “Security Update 2011-003″ for Mac OS X 10.6.7 that includes a native malware removal tool.

The focus of the update is on the MacDefender malware scam and its variants, now referred to as “OSX.MacDefender.A”. Once the update is installed your Mac will be scanned for instances of the malware, which will then be removed and prevented from running. From there after, a list of variants will be updated daily by Apple automatically, and if you encounter MacDefender or a variation of it, you will get a dialog warning you to move the afflicted file to the Trash.

Download Anti-Malware Security Update 2011-003

You have two options to get the anti-MacDefender update:

• Users can download the Security Update via Software Update from the Apple menu
• Download directly from Apple (2.36 MB DMG file)

Apple recommends all Snow Leopard users install the security update, and it does not require a restart to install unless an infection is found. An abbreviated description of the update is as follows:

Security Update 2011-003 provides additional protection by checking for the MacDefender malware and its known variants. If MacDefender malware is found, the system will quit this malware, delete any persistent files, and correct any modifications made to configuration or login files.

Even without this software update MacDefender is easy to remove and avoid completely. Furthermore, release notes in the latest Mac OS X 10.6.8 developer build indicate that the malware protection will also be baked into the upcoming 10.6.8 update.

You can read more about this update on Apple’s Support page.

A new patent has been discovered that details a revised Dashboard system in Mac OS X that allows for multiple Dashboard environments and a new method of managing widgets. On the surface, that might not seem too exciting since Dashboard has been around for ages, but when you look at the patent diagrams, see the inventor list, and consider recent rumors that iOS 5 will likely include widgets, you start to see there’s a potential relationship developing here between iOS and Mac OS X.

This is pure speculation based on patent schematics, but the patent drawing on the left shows obvious structural similarities to an iOS home screen. Here’s that patent drawing side-by-side with an iOS screenshot for comparative purposes:

The patent specifies widgets, but what if iOS apps could run as widgets on a revised Dashboard in Mac OS X? What if the “multiple Dashboard” screens were like the multiple iOS home screens that you can swipe between? I wrote about the possibility of iOS coming to the Mac as a Dashboard replacement last year, and I continue to think it’s a compelling way to merge the two platforms. Don’t forget there’s another Apple patent out there showing an iMac touch that runs iOS and Mac OS X, so it’s probably not a matter of “if” it’s a matter of “when” this will happen. Further cross pollination is expected if iOS 5 actually does include the ability to run widgets, which presumably would be similar to the widgets already available in Mac OS X.

The other interesting aspect of the patent application is that Scott Forstall is listed as one of the inventors. If you aren’t familiar with that name, Scott Forstall is the the Senior Vice President of iOS Software at Apple, he reports directly to Steve Jobs and is considered to be one of the masterminds behind Mac OS X and iOS. Prior to being the SVP of iOS Software, Forstall was a Senior Director on Mac OS X. But he switched to the iPhone role in 2008, so why would he be listed on a Mac OS X patent in 2011? More evidence or am I reading too much into this?

You can read more about the patent and a few others over at PatentlyApple, and you can see the full “Multiple Dashboards” patent diagram below:

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The usually tightlipped Apple has dropped a few bombs this morning, announcing that none other than Steve Jobs himself will unveil Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud at WWDC 2011 on June 6. Did you catch that? Apple has confirmed much of what was only speculation until now. This is an unusual move for Apple, so let’s break it down:

• Steve Jobs is healthy enough to unveil major product announcements, although he is still technically on medical leave
• Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is clearly on track to meet the summer ship date
• iOS 5 will finally be unveiled to the world, this is expected to be a big one and it will put to rest the rumors of what iOS 5 will and won’t do
• iCloud is now confirmed by Apple, answering questions about the patents and cloud rumors that have floated around for over a year

Apple is typically silent on upcoming products and events, so the fact they are telling the world ahead of time about two officially unannounced products (iOS 5 and iCloud) is significant. I think the press release also means that developers will see the following at WWDC:

• Mac OS X Lion GM : Likelihood – High : Judging by the current state of Developer Preview 3, a Golden Master release probably won’t be available immediately, but perhaps a few weeks out from WWDC. Developers will probably at least get a release date for the GM, and a new more stable build to play with that has features currently lacking in the existing previews (iCloud integration?).
• iOS 5 Beta Builds : Likelihood – High : There’s a very high probability that Apple will release the first beta build of iOS 5 to developers at WWDC. Do you really think Apple is going to tease everyone with the latest and greatest iOS 5 features but not let developers play with it? It’s coming.

Chances are also good that we’ll see the Mac OS X 10.6.8 update released either before or at WWDC 2011, this is an essential update to Mac users one because it addresses the MacDefender scareware, and more importantly, because it readies Mac OS X to upgrade to Lion.

Will There Be “One More Thing” at WWDC 2011?

Now the big question is, what, if anything, will be the “One More Thing” that Apple and Steve Jobs are so famous for, waiting until the end of a keynote presentation to unveil a new product or piece of hardware. Speculation is running rampant about this one, here are some of the candidates:

• MacBook Air Sandy Bridge & ThunderBolt Updates : Likelihood – High : Word on the street is that supplies of existing MacBook Air models are dwindling, which typically points to an imminent refresh. The MacBook Air lineup is expected to get upgraded CPU’s with Intels Sandy Bridge chipset and the inclusion of the ultrafast ThunderBolt I/O port. Other signs of a coming refresh? Apple has lowered the price on MBA refurbs, and Best Buy is selling the current models at a reduced price.
• iPhone 4S : Likelihood – Low : Most rumors put the next iPhone release date at the end of summer, sometime in August or September, but some are interpreting a report on Macotakara to suggest that the “4S” could be unveiled as soon as next week at WWDC. This is unlikely to happen, but it would produce a lot of excitement if it did.
• Mac OS X Lion available immediately : Likelihood – Low : A few sites have suggested that Lion will be made available immediately to the public at WWDC, but if you’ve heard much about Developer Preview 3 you’ll know it’s not ready for primetime quite yet. There are still bugs, quirks, crashes, but more importantly, developers need their hands on a GM build before it would ship to the public anyway.
• iOS 5 available immediately : Likelihood – Zero : This is so ludicrous it’s almost not worth publishing, but some of the rumormills out there are claiming iOS 5 will see an immediate release at WWDC. The reason this won’t happen is simple, developers need time to ready their current applications to work with iOS 5 and whatever new features and enhancements it will have. Will they get an iOS 5 beta? Yes. A final release? Not a chance.

Anyway, enough speculation. Here’s the full press release about WWDC 2011, courtesy of Apple:

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Sometimes the easiest fix when troubleshooting an AirPort wireless connection problem is to just turn AirPort on and off. Instead of using the menu item or System Preferences, we can enable and disable AirPort very quickly directly from the Mac OS X Terminal.

Turn Airport Off via Command Line
networksetup -setairportpower airport off

Turn Airport On via Command Line
networksetup -setairportpower airport on

You won’t see any confirmation in the Terminal that the command succeeded or failed, but if you watch the AirPort menu icon you will see the bars disappear indicating the wireless interface is turned off, or reappear indicating that wireless is activated again.

We can also string the commands one after the other to power cycle the wireless interface on a Mac:

Quickly Power Cycle AirPort with Mac OS X’s networksetup Tool
networksetup -setairportpower airport off; networksetup -setairportpower airport on

The AirPort wireless card seems to respond faster to the command line networksetup tool than any other method, making this an ultrafast method of power cycling the wireless interface. This is often enough to resolves basic wireless router connectivity issues like IP conflicts or malfunctioning DHCP requests.

I have enough regular encounters with one particularly flakey router that I created an alias to power cycle my AirPort card, you can do this by adding the following to your .bash_profile just be sure it is on one line:

alias airportcycle='networksetup -setairportpower airport off; networksetup -setairportpower airport on'

Now like any other alias, you only type ‘airportcycle’ and the wireless interface will immediately turn itself off and on again.

Disabling and reenabling AirPort is not the same as connecting to a wireless network from the command line, although you can do that too also by using the networksetup tool.

If you’re bored of the Mac command line this is both cool and geeky and should keep you entertained for a bit. JSLinux is a fully functioning version of Linux running entirely in a web browser, meaning if you have almost any modern web browser suddenly you can run a basic version of linux on any computer.

You don’t need to install anything, just load the JS PC emulator page. It’s quite limited but it does show a great job of showing off the power of modern Javascript engines and the diverse capabilities of linux.

Check out the Javascript PC Emulator here

A friend of mine claims this even works on the iPhone and iPad and I don’t see much reason why it shouldn’t. Unfortunately I tried running this on my neolithic iPhone 3G and Mobile Safari had trouble rendering JSLinux (screen below), sometimes it even crashed, but YMMV and this could be a problem with the stone age 3G and iOS 4.2.1 more than JSLinux itself.

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When the iPad first came out, some critics accused the device of being just a big iPhone that couldn’t make phone calls. Two years later, that phone call thing has been addressed by a new app that claims to turn any iPad 3G into basically a giant iPhone. The app is called PhoneItiPad and it’s capable of making phone calls, sending SMS, using FaceTime by phone numbers, and achieving everything else you’d expect to perform on an iPhone.

Although there is no release date set, the developers at iPhoneIslam say it will be available soon from the Cydia store, meaning you will have to jailbreak your iPad to download the app.

Is this useful? You’ll have to decide that, but I can imagine situations where you’d want to send a text or make a quick phone call from an iPad instead of whipping out a phone. Even if you don’t think this has any practical use, you have to admit it’s an impressive hack, and this is exactly why Apple won’t ever completely kill jailbreaking even if they match many of the other benefits.

The release of Mac OS X 10.6.8 looks to be right around the corner with another developer build being issued for beta testing. Incremental OS updates are generally just bug fixes, but the developer notes of this build show there’s more to this one than usual, indicating that 10.6.8 will include the MacDefender Removal tool that Apple mentioned last week and also prepare users for installing Mac OS X 10.7 Lion by distribution through the Mac App Store, seemingly confirming that a public release is soon.

Apple has previously stated that Lion will be released in “summer 2011″, with increasing speculation suggesting that a Lion GM build may be released to developers as soon as next week at WWDC 2011. This would put a public release several weeks later, but again, this is just speculation.

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For years there was an undeserved assumption that the Mac platform was unfit for gaming, but not anymore! Thanks to the Mac App Store, the Mac platform is amassing a wide library of amazing games that must be played.

If you’re a gamer, check out this list of some of the best RPG’s, shooters, platformers, and strategy games the Mac App Store has to offer, all on sale for this weekend! Because what better way to pass a long weekend than with some new games?

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If you don’t want to bother with defaults write commands or the terminal, an alternate method to show hidden files in Mac OS X is to simply use the Chrome web browser.

Just hit Command+L and enter / into the address bar (alternatively, you can enter file:/// as the address), and you’ll be presented with the root directory showing all hidden files and folders as well as the typically visible files.

Files that are invisible are prefaced by a period in Mac OS X so looking at the screenshot you’ll see .fseventsd, .Spotlight-V100, .Trashes, and .Vol are all typically invisible to the user. Once you’re looking at the root directory you can drill down to more specific directories like file:///Applications/ or you could go to your home folder right away by accessing file:///Users/Username

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If you grew up in the 80′s and you had an interest in video games plus a computer, you probably played Kings Quest. Now, you can relive the past for free thanks to AGD Interactive, who has remade and redrawn Kings Quest 1: Quest for the Crown, Kings Quest 2: Romancing the Stones, and Kings Quest 3: To Heir is Human, and released the three versions as a free download from their website.

Each KQ game has a great storyline with a ton of game play with those now classic retro pixelated graphics. The series was a big hit for DOS, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Mac, even Amiga, but even if you haven’t played it before and you’re just a fan of retro adventure games, you’ll also get a kick out of the Kings Quest lineup.

Download Kings Quest 1, 2, & 3 for Free

AGD Interactive offers each version as a free download for Mac or Windows:

• Kings Quest 1: Quest for the Crown – Direct Download for Mac or Windows
• Kings Quest 2: Romancing the Stones – Direct Download for Mac or Windows
• Kings Quest 3: To Heir is Human – Direct Download for Mac or Windows

The games run flawlessly and the system requirements are quite low so you should be able to play them on just about any Intel Mac or a Pentium PC if you’d rather play on office time.

Kings Quest is a great blast from the past, highly recommended!

More screen shots below:

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