Hopeless Geek

Point and counterpoint:

Since the late 1960s, much of the North Atlantic Ocean has become less salty, in part due to increases in fresh water runoff induced by global warming, scientists say.
—Michael Schirber, LiveScience, 29 June 2005

The surface waters of the North Atlantic are getting saltier, suggests a new study of records spanning over 50 years. They found that during this time, the layer of water that makes up the top 400 metres has gradually become saltier. The seawater is probably becoming saltier due to global warming, Boyer says.
—Catherine Brahic, New Scientist, 23 August 2007

Whatever the anomaly, the cause is global warming.

Please explain how this indecisive and backpedal-friendly text:

“Intuit is currently planning for 2008 Quicken offerings and is investigating the best possible ways to serve the entire Quicken community. With anticipation of the launch of the new Mac OS X (Leopard) and Intuit’s ongoing focus on delivering customer driven innovation, more information around future Mac offerings will be shared at a later time.”
MacNN | Intuit speaks on Quicken 2008 Mac, Leopard

Became this declaratory statement:

Continuing to show commitment to the Mac OS X platform, Intuit says it is looking ahead to 2008 Quicken for Mac product introductions and anxious for Leopard’s release. ... While no official word has been released, it appears likely that similar features [to Quicken 2008 for Windows] will appear in the forthcoming Quicken for Mac releases, though specific product options and pricing will likely differ.
MacNN | Intuit speaks on Quicken 2008 Mac, Leopard

I’ve been busy with other things for the past week or so, so I haven’t gotten around to discussing anything that happened at WWDC. First, I’d like to share my thoughts about the whole Safari for Windows fisco and how I feel everyone is getting it wrong. This is important stuff and a lot of people are clamoring for page hits about it and saying all kinds of things to get it, and those things are generally short-sighted and misinformed.

Why?

Why is there a Safari on Windows? After reading a number of news sites and blogs about this, the following possible reasons emerge (in ascending order of insanity):

• Apple wants to increase the kickback they get from the Google search feature.
• Apple wants more exposure to Apple software (chasing another halo effect).
• Apple wants to give Windows web developers a break so they can test on Safari on the same machine.
• Apple wants to get into the browser market and edge out IE and FireFox.

Apple has a pro tips site that usually has some good, if trivial, tips on it. Today, however, the tip is how to send files via FTP using the Finder. This has been impossible since the inception of Mac OS X.

I’m guessing someone saw that you could download via FTP and presumed the reverse worked. Didn’t we all?

Update: It’s been pulled now.

Why does this admin authorization which is not root authorization let the installer run scripts as root, as Adam proved by a test package? Isn’t that a serious bug and security hole, as he claims?
Well, yes and no. The answer lies in a file called /etc/authorization. This is an XML file in property list format which defines the various rights a process can ask for when using the Authorization Framework, and defines a set of rules that are applied when this happens.
“Rainer Brockerhoff”:http://brockerhoff.net/bb/viewtopic.php?p=1973

Well, yes, but there’s a problem with that. As I noted in the article, I altered the /etc/authorization file to try and change the behavior and it did not change it. In fact, the authorization file says the user should be prompted and the user still isn’t. Installer is doing something inside itself to get around that, and that’s the problem. Apple actively went against their own security practices to make the product easier on novices at the expense of security, a very Microsoftian practice.

Translating this into a slightly less geeky form, this is the autorization right requested by the AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges() call, which is the one used by the Installer. It can be granted to users of the “admin” group, is granted automatically to the root user, and times out in 5 minutes. AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges(), in turn, is the system call to run a script as root; which is allowed for administrators, as we’ve seen.
“Rainer Brockerhoff”:http://brockerhoff.net/bb/viewtopic.php?p=1973

I don’t believe they’re even calling that function to gain root, honestly, because it follows the authorization file. It can’t not. They’re doing something else and I believe that’s a red herring here. There’s no way to call that function and have it not consult the database, so they’re doing something internal to get around it. Be that a SUID program somewhere or some private call, they’re getting around the clause in authorization that says the user needs a password.

This one’s priceless. This goes to show the level of stupidity at Apple Defects, that he intends to harm Apple’s image without concern for accuracy, and that he’s trying desperately to find things to “report” on.

More Electrical News…

A user on YouTube has posted a video of his MagSafe Power Adapter issuing electrical discharges from around the rubber base. The MagSafe is a great invention however it is not without problems, in the past users have reported their MagSafe adapters igniting into flame and melting, amongst other issues. One would assume this particular MagSafe adapter is slowly beginning to fray and the protective rubber shield is no longer functioning problem.