Author Archives: Daniel Palmkvist

The inventor of Liquidmetal is convinced that it would take at least three years and hundreds of dollars for Apple to properly prepare the technology necessary to mass-produce large products made of the alloy.
Dr. Atakan Peker – the discoverer and developer of the formulation that later become known as Liquidmetal,made a statement in his interview with Business Insider that Apple is years away from using the material in large-scale projects,pointing out the fact that there is “no suitable manufacturing infrastructure yet to take full advantage of this alloy technology”.

The former Vice President of Technology at Liquidmetal estimates that an investment of $300 million to $500 million and about five years would be needed before the alloy actually ends up in the hands of consumers.

“This is a technology that has yet to be matured and perfected both in manufacturing process and application development,” Peker said. “I should note that this is a completely new and different metal technology.”

Liquidmetal inventor

The possibility of MacBook casings being made of the Liquidmetal in the near future is really small,though,there is a tiny chance that small parts – like hinges and brackets,can be produced.

Apple now has exclusive rights to use the technology in electronics.Due to that there’s been a rumor that the upcoming next-generation iPhone is going to be made of the alloy.However,the company has so far only used the metal once to make a SIM-card ejection tool for the iPhone and iPad.
The structure of Liquidmetal makes it a perfect material to design device components like casings and frames of as it is both,strong and eye-pleasing.

“Liquidmetal is super strong, scratch and corrosion resistant, resilient and can be precision cast into complex shapes,” Peker said.”Plastics are low cost to manufacture into complex shapes but not strong enough. Metals are strong but difficult to produce into complex shapes. And glass feels and looks beautiful but is highly fragile. Liquidmetal can combine these advantages and remedy some of these shortcomings.”

Peker thinks that the metal is going to be used to replace existing components,followed by a “breakthrough product” and that can only be made by studying the alloy’s special qualities.

“Such product will likely bring an innovative user interface and industrial design together, and will also be very difficult to copy or duplicate with other material technologies,” Peker said.

A lot of people think that productivity of their work depends on the size of their screen.They assume it’s difficult to get much work done on a small screen.Now,that is one big misconception.You may use a MacBook Air with 11” display and follow these simple tips to maximize productivity with the small screen:

1) Hide Inactive Apps

Use “Command+Option+H” to hide all applications and windows except for the active app, you can also “Option+Click” out of a specific app to hide it as you begin working elsewhere.Hidden apps are really easy to find once you enable transculent icons in the Dock.

2) Auto-Hide the Dock

Press “Command+Option+D” to enable auto-hiding of the Dock,summon it when needed by swiping  to the bottom of the screen with the cursor.Dock is an awesome app launcher,though,it is better to keep it hidden when not in use.

3) Use Full Screen Apps

Full screen apps help you to keep your focus and make the most out of small screens.This feature was designed for Mac laptops,so don’t refuse to use it.Click on Arrows icon in the upper right corner of an app to enter into full-screen.

4) Use Virtual Desktops

Create new desktops via Mission Control by hovering over the right corner and clicking the “+” button. Use this with full screen apps to create a great desktop workflow that can quickly be swiped between

5) Assign Window positions and split screen

Another tip.Utility apps that assign window positions and split the screen between active apps are very useful if you use a laptop.There are a lot of free options available.You may use them anytime you need to see two apps at once.

6) Use an External display ot AirDisplay

If possible,it might be a good idea to connect a portable Mac to an external display.It might be an iPad or AirDisplay – it might sound like cheating,but,this will definitely improve your productivity!

Now that the whole Flashback event is almost over you might think your Mac is completely safe again,huh?Well,think again.There’s been a new research made by security specialists Sophos that revealed a “disturbingly high level” of Macs that are currently carrying malware.Though,main part of those are designed to attack Windows machines.

According to the research,of 100,000 Macs that Sophos analyzed,one in five Macs was found to be carrying Windows malware.The situation with Macs is not as bad as the Windows one – only one in 36 Macs is carrying malware potentially dangerous to Mac OS X.Technically,the Windows-directed malware cannot harm Mac OS X,but it can be spread,and it can affect your system in case you decide to run Windows on your Mac.

It appears that 2.7% of those machines are carrying Mac OS X malware.You might think that 2.7% is not that big of a problem,until you actually realize that it is one in 36 machines – now,that is alarming.Senior technology consultant at Sophos – Graham Cluley – is urging Mac users to open their eyes and realise that malware is a growing problem for the Mac:

“Some Mac users may be relieved that they are seven times more likely to have Windows viruses, spyware and Trojans on their Macs than Mac OS X-specific malware, but Mac malware is surprisingly commonly encountered. Mac users need a wake-up call about the growing malware problem.”
The Flashback infection is at the top of the charts when it comes to Mac malware threats.Over the past few weeks it had infected more than 600,000 Macs.This is what the statistic looks like:
1. OSX/Flshplyr – 75.1%
2. OSX/Fake AV – 17.8%
3. OSX/RSPlug – 5.5%
4. OSX/Jahlav – 1.2%
5. Other – 0.4%

There are quite a few ways to pick up these infections.You can get them from the infected USB jump-drives,e-mail attachements,files you download from the web,or from “drive-by installation” files,whereby the malware doesn’t require user interraction in order to be installed onto a Mac.
Cluley explains that Mac users are an “easy target” because they underestimate the size and volume of malware threats and sincerely believe that Macs are invincible.Therefore,they believe that Macs don’t need an antivirus software:
“Cybercriminals view Macs as a soft target, because their owners don’t typically run anti-virus software and are thought to have a higher level of disposable income than the typical Windows user. Mac users must protect their computers now or risk making the malware problem on Macs as big as the problem on PCs.”

Here’s a list of top malware for Windows,discovered on Macs:
1. Mal/Bredo – 12.2%
2. Mal/Phish – 7.4%
3. Mal/FakeAV – 3.8%
4. Troj/ObfJS – 3.6%
5. Mal/ASFDldr – 3.3%
6. Troj/Invo – 3.0%
7. Troj/Wimad – 2.6%
8. Mal/Iframe – 1.5%
9. Mal/JavaGen – 1.4%
10. Other – 61.2%
A small part of this malware dates all the way back to 2007,and Sophos claims that much of it wouldn’t even be around if users had installed an antivirus software sooner.

Some of this malware dates back to 2007, and Sophos insists that much of it wouldn’t be around if users had installed an antivirus product sooner.”The simple fact is that you can scan your Mac for infection from your armchair,” Cluley said. “The test is painless and free; you just download an anti-virus product and allow it to check your computer and protect it against infections in the future.”
Sounds like a good thing to do ASAP,huh?

According to last week’s rumor,Apple is going to adopt a thinner in-cell touch technology for the display on the next-generation iPhone,the new analyst with KGI Securities – Ming-Chi Kuo,released a report looking at how that might change could help to reduce the thickness of the iPhone from current 9.3 mm of the iPhone 4S to under 8 mm. This move could help Apple to compete against its Android-based challengers,which have been reducing their product thickness over time.

“Since Apple’s smartphone competitors have generally slimmed down their high-end offerings to 7-8mm, Apple needs to make a leap forward from 4S’ 9.3mm thickness. We believe Apple will aim at 8mm or below (at least 1.4mm slimmer) for iPhone 5, in a bid to ensure brisk sales through 2014, while peers will also continue to introduce increasingly slim models next year.
As such, all iPhone 4S components that account for thickness must be slimmer, specifically, touch panel, battery and casing. Moreover, a marginal amount of space is required between the three parts for the sakes of assembly tolerance and thermal expansion of components.”

Ming-Chi Kuo claims that switching to in-cell touch technology in the next iPhone will make the new iPhone just 0.5 mm thinner.Kuo also expects similar reduction coming from the battery,which he predicts Apple will be able to broaden somewhat inside the casing,allowing for a roughly 10% reduction in battery thickness.

And finally,the last 0.5 mm reduction in thickness could come from a metal back case concept,which could come in at half the thickness of the glass back that the current iPhone has.So,altogether,Apple could now slice 1.4 mm off from the iPhone’s thickness in order to bring the next-generation model in at just 7.9 mm thick.

Another positive aspect about the adoption of an in-cell touch technology for the display in the next-generation iPhone is the fact that display production would be greatly simplified,with fewer steps in manufacturing process and fewer vendors involved,the reduction in production time is also highly likely – from 12-16 days to just 3-5 days.

Finally,after Apple’s release of software updates that can clean infected Macs and prevent infection,the number of Flashback-infected Macs is decreasing.But,is it safe for IT departments and average Mac users to relax and forget about the crisis?Hell no!This whole Flashback-situation was nothing but a wake-up call to It and security professionals,as well as to average users – Macs are not invincible anymore!
Analyzing the Flashback events of the past couple weeks,we got five main themes and lessons to consider when it comes to Mac security.

1) Mac malware threats do exist,even though they’re still pale,compared to Windows security issues.
The important thing here is to understand that Macs are going to be targeted more and more each day,since the platform gains more traction with consumers and businesses.The antidote for Macs malware should be locked and loaded before another threat occurs,because nobody knows when that might happen.Although,the number of malware threats for Macs is still fairly small,compared to Windows threats.
2) Macs do need malware protection,and it should be centrally managed
It seems like almost every IT shop relies on security software that’s centrally managed and includes malware protection.The good thing about the centrally managed system is that IT alerted to infections may deal with them in an instant – either remotely,using the central management console,or in person – at the infected machine.Having your malware protection centrally managed allows you to deal with any threat as quickly as possible.

3) The best malware protection for Mac may not be the same as the best antivirus software for Windows.
Here is the thing.With this whole Flashback situation Windows-oriented security and anti-virus producers weren’t the first companies to respond to the threat.On the other hand,Intego,which specializes in Mac security solutions,had already determined the threat,before Flashback became a big story.Now that is something you need to think about.The next major Mac threat might be way more dangerous,it is just a matter of time.For that reason,it’s a good idea to look at Mac protection options,rather than simply sticking with the same vendor that produces malware protection for Windows.

4) Companies need to invest in the training and resources in order to effectively protect their Macs
A lot of companies,especially small or mid-size businesses,with a small amount of Macs,technicians and system administrators don’t really know how to effectively lock down and secure Mac systems.They assume that default OS security settings should be enough – and that is like playing with a time bomb.If the company wants to have a good,solid protection,it needs to invest into training and resources to build up an effective protection mechanism.

5)Companies need to ensure BYOD Macs are protected
If a company is considering adding Macs to the BYOD mix it needs to learn how to protect those Macs for the sake of their owners and the safety of the company as well.