I have been reading up on this ubiqutous ‘Month of Apple Bugs’, and in light of this article, I have become increasingly angered with the website. The article on AppleGazette makes very valid points, as to why effectively the MOAB project has lost all of its credibility. I want to state upfront that I’m not writing this as an Apple Fanboy (though I am), I am writing this as a user of OS X and Windows, and various Apple products.

The MOAB project aims to show off a vunerability in Apple products over the 31 days of January. The first bug was understandable, a Quicktime based Buffer Overflow that has a “vulnerability in the handling of the rtsp:// URL handler allows remote arbitrary code execution.” This affects Windows an Mac OS X. This is a real flaw in Apple software, and can allow the execution of malcious code, via this buffer overrun, so it is critical.

The second vuneralibility however is debatable. In my eyes, this flaw is neither OS X, nor Apple. This flaw is based within the popular VLC Media Player. Now lets stop here for a second. VLC? Yes, the cross platform and open-source media player available on Windows, Linux, *nix and other platforms. However you look at it, I have no idea how this is an Apple Bug. Yes remember the title of the project. Other than running on OS X, and the actual vunerability allowing execution of arbitrary code (as with the Quicktime flaw above) which as you can see it would allow execution of code on OS X. But does this mean the problem is anything to do with Apple themselves? NO. Do we blame Microsoft for 3rd party software that has holes in it which can cause Windows to get a buffer overrun? Abosultely not. We blame the software developers. Why should Microsoft (or in this case Apple) deal with an application that they do not develop? It makes no sense. If you call your project ‘Month of Apple Bugs’ then please use Apple bugs, and not an open source software that has the same vunerability in every other distribution!
As AppleGazette pointed out, they do state on their website:

Are Apple products the only one target of this initiative?
Not at all, but they are the main focus. We’ll be looking over popular OS X applications as well.

Yeah they do defend themselves, but for goodness sake, if you create a title, which is then missleading what do you expect people to do? How is an OS X application an Apple Bug. It is only on the same OS. I’ll re-iterate myself: Do we blame Microsoft for flaws in developer ‘x’ software? Hell no. The developer is blamed. It seems that they are only seeking attention by putting Apple and Bugs in the same title. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for this. After all publicising vunerabilities helps to get them fixed faster, and thus leading to a more secure application. However I don’t like the other statement on their website:

John Doe has written a ‘post’ in his blog, saying he debunks the XXX bug, what’s that?
No worries. It’s probably someone begging for attention or PR-brainwashed.

Maybe they should have a look at their answer, because when you post titles of the project on social websites like Digg, del.icio.us, forums, etc, people will be miss-lead on what the actual flaws are on. Posting an open-source software bug on the second day is no good way to get started, and with their title it seems like they are the ones begging for attention.

The third vunerability is similar to the first one in that it is a vunerability which allows the execution of arbitrary code through Quicktime, but in Windows. Specifically it is “A vulnerability in the handling of the HREFTrack field allows to perform cross-zone scripting, leading to potential remote arbitrary code execution.” I understand that this is Apple bugs, and again this makes sense, even though the proof of concept “uses Microsoft Text Driver ADODB connection which requires an anonymous FTP login to the exploit location, for an unknown reason“. After all, Quicktime is Apple software. It’s like Microsoft patching flaws in Microsoft Office for Mac.

How many actual flaws do they have that are Apple software / OS X bugs? I would like to know, as it seems to me they have little. Displaying a flaw in an a open-source and cross-platform (Windows & Linux included) which is not even developed by Apple on the second day is really shoddy. I for one am quite annoyed, not for the fact that they are displaying Apple bugs, but because they don’t! Granted we have only seen three, and 2 out of these 3 were Apple software (Quicktime) related. I am saying this for all the Diggers and those alike who like to skim read articles and are a lot of time miss-informed by such things.

Get your act together MOAB, this is not a good start (a pretty bad one at that).

The way I connect my Xbox 360 to my LCD Screen, is using Elgato’s EyeTV Hybrid tuner and the EyeTV software. This works fine, however the picture produced is only SD. I wasn’t happy with the way the picture looked, especially on my 17″ Dell Monitor. I looked around the net and I found a page with lots of details on the wiring on how to connect a component (PbPrY) to a VGA out. After spending lots of time working out what pins go where and stripping all the cables, connecting them all together, it ended up not working. I double checked the leads with a multimeter, and everything was fine, all the cables were connected the right way. My Dell screen just showed: “Error: Cannot display input mode”.
I searched over the internet, and I found the problem was listed on the original page I visited. The problem is, the cable doesn’t convert the PbPrY signal to a VGA, it just hooks it up to the VGA. This means your input device has to support component input, which my LCD obviously didn’t. Converting the signal is much more complicated and requires IC’s and software. All that work for nothing! I even cut my finger! Let’s hope I can put the cable to good use somehow else.

Part deux of the gaming news round-up over the last few weeks.

• Could the Wii not support game saves to SD memory cards? According to the manual it is, but not according to the console itself. That’s what Joystiq found out. Lets hope Nintendo fix this in time for the release, as we wouldn’t want to replay an entire game when at your friends house, do we? [link]
• Engadget’s Wii software walkthrough video and gameplay walkthrough videos allow you to see what it would be like if you owned a Wii. Shortly it will come true for a lot of people, or at least we hope.
• Microsoft revealed the HD download service for US Xbox 360 owners. These will allow you to download 720p HD TV shows from CBS, Comedy Central VH1 and more. Deleted TV shows can be re-downloaded for free in either HD or SD. Movies are ‘rent-only’, whereby you have two weeks to watch a movie, but after you start watching, you have 24 hours to finish the film. After that the film will no longer play. During the 24-hours, you can watch the film an unlimited number of times. [link]
• Engadget open the retail version of the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player and have a play around with it, naturally with tons of photos (above) [link]
• The PS3 gets dismantled before it is even in circulation. The four part videos take you through a detailed disassemblement of the PS3 showing the CPU, heatsink, the blu-ray drive, etc. [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4]
• PS3 kiosk is a fake! The PS3 behind the glass in retail outlets are not even functional, no, it seems that Sony may be scared of the PS3 overheating or exploding, so they placed a separate version enclosed in the kiosk. The actual console is very well ventilated to make sure the heat dissipates as much as possible. My, my… [link]
• Size comparison of the Wii, the PS3 and the Xbox 360. The PS3 is the largest, and the Wii is the smallest (though it’s not like we didn’t know that) [link]
• The Xbox 360 HD-DVD player is fully functional in PC’s. Hook it up using the USB, and some Toshiba drivers you can not only view the files on the HD-DVD, but if your PC can handle it, it can also play back the movie. Nice. What’s more, the Mac recognises the drive instantaneously without any drivers, but there is no software to playback the video. Oh well! [link]
• A DVD ‘enhanced’ version of the Wii will be released to the US and Japan in the 2nd half of 2007. The current Wii’s contain the DVD drive, however they do not have the software capable to play movies. The most likely reason for not including the software, is to avoid licencing fees which would increase the price of the console. [link]

While I was unable to post during the last two weeks, there has been plenty of gaming news floating around, so be prepared for a awfully long post.

• New Halo 3 Info: 1up.com have revealed lots of new information about Halo 3. There will be three different editions of Halo 3, a standard, a collectors and a Legendary edition. New brute weapons, Spike Rifle and Spike Grenade. The Mongoose ATV, like the Warthog, however there is no turret. A new assault riffle as the starting weapon, Bungie hope to improve the tactics of the game, so it is more fair. Save multiplayer, and single player gameplay videos and watch them again. The left and right bumpers are being used as the reloading buttons for your weapons, so what happens with the X button now? [link]
• PS3’s SIXAXIS controller is completely disassembled to reveal its innards. A layer by layer documentation takes you through the motion sensing parts, the non-replaceable battery, and the rest of the gadgetry. [link]
• The Wii house of fun in London. SPOnG managed to take a look around Nintendo’s secret house which is kitted up with Wii gear, for the press. They took lots of photos and described their experience with the various games and such. Photo shown above. [link]
• 70GB Hard drive for the Xbox 360 spotted. While the photo could be a fake, the most likely explanation is, Microsoft wants you to be able to store those Movie and Video downloads somewhere (currently for the US only, more in the next post) The video marketplace allows you to download various movies, tv shows and short films, some in HD, which obviously needs plenty of space. [link]
• Sony fanboys hijack the Nintendo Wikipedia entry and cover it with “nintendo sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1″, for a mere few minutes, until the Wikipedia admins notice. “In the short moments before Wikipedia admins could get the correct page back up, the assailant successfully misled several would-be Nintendo fans to assume the company had gone out of business, then deciding to ’switch teams.’ [sarcasm]” [link]
• Engadget get down to business, and get hands on with their final production unit of the Wii. Plenty of high-res images of the unboxing, the console and all its accessories. What more could you want? [link]

I split down the post into two separate articles. It’s probably more helpful for the eye.

A lot of gaming news has happened while I was away, so I thought I’d summerise it all.

• Sony sues games importer Lik-Sang out of existence. Sony originally filed a motion against Lik-Sang in August of 2005 for exporting PSP’s to the UK before the release of the console there. Just last week a high court judge in London ruled that the sales were illegal in Europe and blocked them, even though Lik-Sang argued they broke no Hong Kong laws.
  Last week, Pascal Clarysse, Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com argued; “Fighting multiple lawsuits in different countries at the same time and paying high premiums to expensive lawyers is an overwhelming situation for a small company like Lik Sang. Launching separate court actions with separate claims and different judges is completely unnecessary, except for the fact that it helps reaching one single target: outspend Lik-Sang to death. Pay beyond.” [link]
• Could there be a Xbox 360 Dashboard update waiting for us in a weeks time. Xbox Live’s Major Nelson mentioned on his podcast that he has been testing out the Xbox 360 Wireless Communicator on his development kit, which has “excellent” sound quality. Major Nelson goes on to say that “even if you went to the store today and bought it, you couldn’t use it until you have the fall upgrade to the dashboard.” With the Wireless communicator being released on 31st October, it makes us wonder whether the dashboard update would be released on or before the 31st; and that day is just looming. [link] Major Nelson’s Podcast, mentioned at around 1:16:30.
• Sony has cleared up good and bad things about the PS3. Some of the postive notes are: HD Movies can be stored on and played directly from the hard drive, although codec support is yet unknown; Reports are that within 10 seconds of selecting the movie from the menu, its playing. The bad sides include: no HD cables in the box for definite; PS3 does not upconvert DVD’s, and will not enhance PS1/PS2 game’s graphics; no included remote, one can be bought separately for $24.99, and uses bluetooth not IR, so say goodbye to your universal remote. [link]

A Dutch Xbox 360 fan site (X-life) is reporting that Microsoft will be officially supporting the DivX and XviD formats within two months. This means that no 3rd party software will be needed to stream XviD and DivX files to the 360, and presumably, it also means that XviD encoded DVD’s will also be able to be played on the 360. However this is just a rumour so far, as it has not been confirmed by anyone else. The following excerpt, was translated from Dutch, during a Microsoft retailer training session.

After the event I had a short talk with the host and asked him whether there’d ever be support for DivX and Xvid playback. Much to my surprise, he started telling me that Microsoft is working hard to implement this and a firmware update is expected within 2 months allowing you to play DivX and Xvid directly on the 360.

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The shorts for Thursday 12th October:

• The EggCuber in action – above (video) [link]
• It’s been four years, but Windows XP SP1 support ended on Monday [link]
• Developers are from Mars, Programmers are from Venus [link]

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Microsoft may be making an ingenious move by offering Vista for free or at a discounted price to those who buy a new PC with Windows XP after October 28th. Those who buy a new computer with either Windows XP Pro, XP Tablet Edition or the 64-bit version of Windows XP will be eigible for a free upgrade to Windows Vista (presumed to be the premium edition).
For those with Windows XP Home, will be able to upgrade for $49 to the Basic Edition and $79 to the premium edition. This seems like a very good move, which will allow customers to effectively dodge paying for Windows Vista, and most people will have to upgrade their computers anyway if they wish to be able to run Vista on it. So far Microsoft are keeping a tight lid on things and are only saying that they are “working with partners”.

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David Chartier from TUAW has found that on his iMac, he has had no success of installing Release Candidate 2 of Windows Vista. Even with the new Boot Camp 1.1.1 update, which was supposed to offer compatibility with the new iMacs, the installation fails. Windows Vista reports that it doesn’t like the drive Boot Camp creates, thus it doesn’t even format it. Other users have also reported this, but some say it works fine for them.

“Judging by what’s being said I would say that despite the updates, Vista will not work on Core 2 Duos, perhaps cause they’re 64bit?” – TUAW Commenter AeronPrometheus

David said that he downloaded the 64-bit version, which doesn’t work. However others suggest that using the 32-bit version may work. We’ll have to see if Apple says anything about it.

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As a counter measure by Microsoft to stop people from using the Xbox 360’s DVD drive to copy Xbox 360 games, they have updated the firmware of the Hitachi/LG drive. As seen in the picture above, they have also put a lot of plack glue over the chip, as if to stop hackers from physically gaining access to the chip, and flashing it that way. This does now mean, however, that the Team-X kit which was used to allow gamers to ‘back-up’ their 360 games using their computer is now rendered useless.
It was a long and arduous process of taking apart the 360, removing the drive, connecting it to your PC and flashing its ROM, but it got the job done. For those who are interested a new episode of IPTV show the broken shows you how to back up your 360 games. For the meanwhile, sit tight, as I don’t think it will take long for the Xbox-scene crew to work out how to hack it again. Read on for the full technical details.

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The shorts for Tuesday 3rd October 2006 are:

• PSM3 Magazine get their hands on the PS3 – Fast, quiet, heavy and a dust magnet (above) [link] [video]
• Zune Wireless basically worthless – You can’t connect to the internet via it’s WiFi or sync to your computer via its WiFi [link]
• Microsoft Unbox Zune for CBS’ camera with blatant marketing speak – “brown is the new black is the new white” [link]
• DVD Jon has reverse engineered Apple’s FairPlay technology and is licensing it to companies [link]

In an effort to try and whip Sony in the HD war, Microsoft forgot to mention the fact that 1080p on the 360, won’t be so simple. Depending on the method you’re using to connect your 360 to your set, you will get different outcomes of games and movies. A Microsoft insider, on the AVS Forum, cleared it up for us all; for 1080p in all categories, you’ll have to buy a VGA cable, and not a HDMI cable.

Using your 360 with component cables:

• Xbox 360 games will be upscaled to 1080p, and games which are 1080p native (none yet) will run without a hitch.
• HD-DVDs will run at a maximum of 1080i, which is due to the AACS DRM implemented into HD-DVDs.
• DVDs will only play at 480p (ouch!), due to the CSS inside DVDs, which prevents upscaling any higher.

Using your 360 with a VGA cable:

• You’re all set, as DVDs, games, as well as HD-DVDs will display in full 1080p.

That is really underhanded for Microsoft to not tell us about this, as many people use the component HD cable that comes with the 360 to play games in high-def. I too use the component cable, and it all looks so good. Our Sony TV, actually doesn’t have a VGA input, but has 1 HDMI, which we use for Sky HD.
This really irittates me, as not only would it be good to finally have a good up-scaling DVD player, but we would have to buy a cable, for which not many TV’s support. Granted, there are TV’s which will have VGA inputs, but most don’t. Most have DVI, which is pure digital (while VGA converts analogue to digital), though you can get an adapter for that. Our TV doesn’t have DVI (hey it’s a good TV!), but we do have a DVI – HDMI converter. You may say that I could use the HDMI slot, as I wouldn’t be watching Sky the same time as playing on my 360, but then I would have 3 cables, the 360 VGA cable, a VGA to DVI cable, and our DVI to HDMI cable. I don’t know about you but all that converting doesn’t seem like a good idea, and I don’t know whether it would work anyway, because of the HDMI at the end.
Leave it to Microsoft to make such a stupid move.

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Shorts for 24 September 2006.

• Amazon UK attribute the Zune to “Apple Computer”, recently fixed it (above) [link]
• Xbox 360 add-on HD-DVD drive adds 1080p, for $170, to be released on November 22nd in Japan [link]
• Digital fingerprint lock broken by MythBusters’ photocopied fingerprint! (video) [link]

Microsoft has apparently confirmed to IDG News Service, that all six versions on Vista will ship on one DVD. This means Microsoft only have to make one DVD and then apply stickers for relevant versions. This gives consumers an easy way to upgrade, if they like Vista and want more benefits from the more expensive versions, it saves them from having the buy another disk. They could get a serial key by email, and then pop in the old disc to upgrade.
This does, however, also mean that hackers will probably be able to rip the disc to shreds and find a way to get Vista Ultimate while only paying for Home Basic. After all, there are people who have less morals and just want the software, not me *cough*. It’s not like Microsoft is a multi-billion dollar company, with the world’s richest man as the head?

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Today’s shorts for 21 September 2006.

• USBCell provides a rechargeable NiMH battery in the shape of an AA battery to use in normal devices (above) [link]
• Office 2007 details revealed for Mac, including new UI, with the ‘ribbon’ from Office 2007 for Window [link]
• Microsoft steals Zune P2P idea from WeedShare? [link]
• Apple sells 125,000 movies on the iTunes store within the first week of its launch [link]
• iTV has Hard-Drive, well according to Disney’s Iger, the answer is yes! [link]

When Microsoft announced that they are releasing Windows Vista RC1 I immediately went to download it. I didn’t in the previous BETA because I didn’t want to destroy my dad’s Windows PC. But now he wants to try it out so we downloaded it. However I realised that I needed to become a part of the Customer Preview Program to do this, which I didn’t sign up to back in June. However I found a good trick to get a key (this is legit and actually works!). The original site crashed but I managed to get the form (below). There is also another link you can follow, but I’m not sure whether that works for all countries, or just the US. Either way you can try them both So select your country and press go.
Note: You will need a Windows Live account (Passport.net account) to sign in.

Ah, another IE 7 beta version for the public to test and scrutinise.

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) Beta 3 has been designed to make everyday tasks easier, provide dynamic security protection and improve the development platform and manageability. End user improvements include a streamlined interface, tabbed browsing, printing advances, improved search functionality, instant feeds (RSS), dynamic security protection, and more.

The specs are limiting users to the following spec: Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1 and XP Professional x64. And of course you will have to have that hated, Windows Genuine Advantage running. I tested out the beta before it reached the public and I just didn’t like it, and being a Mac user, there is no need for it. But it is better than IE 6, I think.

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Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista Beta 2 is available for the public to download and test. The traffic was so overwhelming that Microsoft closed the download. It was only available for a number of hours. Hans Verbeeck managed to download his copy and he went to install it onto a MacBook Pro.
So how did he do? Well he succeded. At first he downloaded the x64 version of Vista, but then later realised this at an error screen. So he downloaded the right copy and things started to go smoothly. He installed Vista but an error screen came up saying that Vista had not installed correctly. However he said that this was not a problem and you just need to return to the install screen and us the ‘Repair’ link on the bottom left hand corner. That was the end, and he started to mess with the settings to get Vista looking good. Note: To get the Vista DVD working he had to go through a number of steps, which can be found on his blog.

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I hope you don’t think I’m bashing Vista, because I haven’t tried it out. It seems quite cool, honestly, but I think it’s coming a bit too late. Windows Vista is what XP should have been. Anyhoo, I saw this article over at ComputerWorld where they list their 20 most annoying things that you probably wouldn’t like in Windows Vista. Granted this is from the Beta previews, so it can (and let’s hope it does) change. It’s a really long, 12-page, article so I won’t bother to really go into it. But they cover various areas such as Microsoft copying from other companies, and that it’s not the copying that annoys them, but the fact that they make it worse and not better. Other topics like graphics for Areo, Price, all the SKU’s (honestly it’s like 6+ versions!) and faulty assumptions on the start menu. It’s a really good and detailed article and I’d recommend it, no matter what your opinion is on the subject.

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I know that Windows Vista is still in Beta — more than half a year till it arrives — but it is worth while mentioning how stupidly hard it is to delete a shortcut icon! No this isn’t an application, DLL or something important, but a bloody shorcut icon that merely points to a file. If you think the dialog box above is the only one, well you’re mistaken. Nicolai had to go through five dialog boxes before she could finally delete the icon from her desktop. You can see the steps she had to take at a Flickr posting.
Though this may only be a ‘bug’, if you could class it as that, Microsoft needs to understand the limits. It is good that Vista is asking us for permission for these sorts of things, but it is here when it goes overboard. They tried to over-do the idea from OS X, where to access a system file, or to delete a system file – not an alias though (like shortcuts), OS X asked you for verification once and after that it left you alone. I’ll say again that I know that Vista is still in Beta, but you can see from Microsoft’s ideas, that they are overstepping the boundaries of security. They tried to fix the flaws in XP by asking you for permission, but soon it will be ‘Are you sure you would like to open Firefox.exe, Firefox.exe is an application that has not been trusted by Microsoft and it may contain malware. OK are you really sure?‘ Listen to the community Microsoft, and get this fixed!

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