Appeals Court Sides with Apple in Dispute over Psystar’s Unauthorized Mac Clones
It has taken nearly two years, but CNET reports that an appeals court has ruled in favor of Apple in its lawsuit against Psystar, a company that began selling unauthorized Mac clones back in 2008.
Circuit Judge Mary Schroeder ruled yesterday that Psystar’s Mac clones violated copyrights Apple holds, and its ban on sales will be upheld. According to Judge Schroeder, Psystar specifically violated copyrights Apple holds in Mac OS X, and said that the U.S. District Court’s ruling in favor of Apple was just.
Apple was awarded a permanent injunction against Psystar in December 2009, but Psystar appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit a month later.
Psystar’s 2009 last-ditch effort to raise funds for its legal fight against Apple
Psystar was unusually defiant in its stance against Apple given the threat it faced from the substantially larger company, and extended its legal efforts well beyond what most small companies would typically be willing to engage in. Those efforts lead Apple to suggest that Psystar could have been part of a conspiracy with the backing of a larger entity attempting to break open Apple’s stranglehold on Mac OS X systems, but no concrete evidence of such a connection has ever been exposed.
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Chinese carrier says Apple’s iPhone 5 will support 4G-like HSPA+
Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone will feature support for fast HSPA+ 21Mbps network speeds, sometimes advertised as “4G,” carrier China Unicom has revealed.
AppleInsider
How to enable the FTP server (ftpd) in Lion
Apple decided to remove the GUI for enabling and disabling FTP from Mac OS X Lion. Generally speaking, that’s not a bad move, because most times SFTP is available anywhere FTP is, and SFTP is far superior in terms of security. No one should be using FTP over the Internet.
However, there are some cases when using FTP is perfectly fine. For instance, transferring large files over your own LAN. I do this all the time when transferring DVD rips from one machine to another. Others have mentioned that they have some devices which only support FTP so SFTP isn’t an option.
Personally, I prefer FTP on my LAN because, since it is unencrypted, there’s no extra processing time needed to encrypt and decrypt the transfer. I’m also willing to admit that there may not be much practical difference in most cases — that is, I don’t know that SFTP is much slower than FTP, but when you’re talking about “8 GB at a time” transfers, every little bit matters.
Enabling FTP on Lion
The good news is that Apple did not remove the FTP server (/usr/libexec/ftpd) from Lion, they only removed the GUI to enable or disable it.
The even better news is that there are (at least) two GUI tools for re-enabling it:
- Lion Tweaks (which also lets you toggle other Lion settings)
- FTPD Enable App which is an AppleScript app to launch ftpd
For those of us who prefer the command line, there are even instructions on how to enable ftpd using launchd.
ftpd.zsh
I wrote a small shell script called ftpd.zsh which will let you turn ftpd on or off, or check its current status. Usage is very simple:
-
ftpd.zsh --on -
ftpd.zsh --off -
ftpd.zsh
#1 will turn it on, #2 will turn it off, #3 will show you whether it is currently on or off.
My script is based on Daniel Smith‘s launchd commands mentioned above. The script must be run as root, but if it isn’t, it will automatically re-launch itself using ‘sudo’ rather than failing ungracefully. It is also smart enough not to try to turn it on when it is already on, or off when it is already off.
To use the script, download ftpd.zsh and then put it somewhere in your $ PATH such as /usr/local/bin and make sure it is executable chmod 755 /path/to/ftpd.zsh. (If any part of that previous sentence didn’t make sense to you, I recommend using one of the GUI programs listed above. Using the Terminal is one option, but it’s not the only option.)
Once again I repeat: if you are trying to connect to another machine over the Internet in an otherwise unencrypted manner, use SFTP. The only time FTP should be used is when there is no chance of the password being ‘sniffed’ by a nefarious third party.
You can enable SFTP and SSH in Lion (and previous versions of OS X) by going to System Preferences » Sharing and making sure that “Remote Login” is enabled. When in doubt, use SFTP. But if you need FTP and are aware of the risks, now you have the option of enabling it when needed.
ftpd just one time
If you want to enable ftpd immediately without downloading or installing any scripts or apps, simply enter:
sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist
into Terminal.app. If you want to turn it off afterwards, enter the command
sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist
All ftpd all the time
If you use any of the above solutions, ftpd will be disabled again when you reboot the computer. If you want to enable ftpd automatically after every reboot, you will need to edit /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist by looking for the lines
and changing them to
which will tell Lion to enable ftpd on reboot. Use the launchctl load command shown above to enable it without rebooting.
Note: I recommend that you do not edit ftp.plist unless you absolutely cannot avoid it. I am firmly against tinkering with anything in /System/ but at the end of the day, it’s your computer, and if if your situation requires ftpd to be available at all times, editing the plist is the best way to make sure it is always on.
How to enable the FTP server (ftpd) in Lion originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Humble Indie Bundle team offers a Frozen Synapse Bundle
The Humble Indie Bundle guys are back with another pay-what-you-want bundle of games. Proceeds from your purchase may be directed to the developers or to charity, in any combination you like. This time around, they’re focusing on the turn-based strategy game Frozen Synapse, offering it up to anyone who wants to pay in at any price.
There is a reason to pay a little higher this time. If the price you choose is higher than the average (currently around US$ 4.50) will also get you the Frozenbyte bundle, featuring the great Trine, the Shadowgrounds games, a game prototype called Jack Claw, and the upcoming release Splot. That lot for less than five bucks is a great deal, even if the Humble Indie Bundle folks aren’t actually providing a bundle to everyone this time around.
And as you’ll probably remember from the past few offerings, these guys have a habit of adding even more extras into their deals, so odds are good that those six games aren’t all you’ll get if you buy in now. As usual, all of the games are available through Steam and are compatible with Mac, Linux and Windows. If you need something to play this coming weekend, you won’t find a better deal around.
Humble Indie Bundle team offers a Frozen Synapse Bundle originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog
The new Kindles: Which to choose?
There are a lot of Kindles out there now. By our count, Amazon announced seven new models on Wednesday. So, which one’s the right one? Jason Snell has the answers.
Apple Rushing Retail Store Renovations Ahead of iPhone 5 Launch
While Apple has received considerable publicity for its push to open dozens of new retail stores over the last three months, the company has also been renovating a number of its stores to bring them up to the latest designs. Most of these straightforward renovations result in the stores being closed for about a week, during which time they are boarded up with Apple’s standard black construction barriers and posted with notices directing customers to either the closest alternative store location or to Apple’s website for information on locations.
Among the locations currently under renovation in the lead-up to the iPhone launch:
Chestnut Street retail store in San Francisco
- Chestnut Street (San Francisco, California): Closed September 26th through October 4th. 9to5Mac posted a photo yesterday showing the closed location with an AT&T worker and his van directly in front of the store.
New layout of University Village retail store in Seattle
- University Village (Seattle, Washington): Closed September 26th through October 6th. GeekWire posted the details on the renovation, which include new display counters, Genius Bar, and other fixtures. Planning documents show Apple moving from a layout three product display tables wide to one using four narrower tables across the width of the store. The report also notes that Microsoft will be opening its own retail store directly across a small parking lot from Apple’s store on October 20th, giving Apple additional incentive to spruce up the location.
Walnut Creek retail store (Thanks, John)
- Walnut Creek (Walnut Creek, California): Closed September 26th through October 3rd. The location opened in 2003, but was remodeled back in August 2009.
At least two other stores, Biltmore in Phoenix, Arizona and Sagemore in Marlton, New Jersey, were closed for renovations last week and have since reopened for business.
Update: Apple’s Legacy Place store in Dedham, Massachusetts is also closed September 26th through 30th.
Some readers have noted that all of the closures are for stores open to the street and not in enclosed malls and shopping centers. Consequently, the closures may be related to the installation of new security grating to help deter smash-and-grab robberies that have become increasingly common at Apple’s street-facing stores. With the exception of the University Village store in Seattle, it is unclear if there are additional renovations being performed at the stores.
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Apple launches iTunes Store in all remaining EU countries
Apple on Thursday launched the iTunes Store in the 12 European Union countries that had yet to gain access to it, ending an eight year wait for what has become the world’s No. 1 music store.
AppleInsider
Travel ads doing especially well on the iPad
AllThingsD has an interesting report on the boom of travel ads in the last year. Mobile ad network Greystripe has seen travel-related mobile ad campaigns grow by 50% this past year. While researching why, they found the iPad has a lot to do with it. Greystripe found that a whopping 91% of iPad owners use their iPads for travel-related tasks, like booking flights and hotels, or planning trips.
Breaking it down, the study revealed that 47% of iPad users booked hotel rooms on the device, while 37% used the iPad to book flights, 28% used it to make restaurant reservations, and 24% used it to rent a car. Greystripe found that survey respondents were more likely to use the Safari web browser to book their travel needs through websites instead of dedicated apps.
Only 49% of iPhone users were willing to use Safari to book their travel needs, instead relying primarily on apps. The willingness of iPad owners to visit a company’s website to book their travel needs probably relates to the iPad’s larger screen.
Travel ads doing especially well on the iPad originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog
TUAW TV Live: Let’s talk iPhone
Welcome back to another episode of TUAW TV Live, the weekly live streaming video show where the chat room is the star! This week, the conversation will primarily focus on one topic — what is expected and what we’d really like from Apple next Tuesday. Of course, there were some announcements from a different source earlier today, so that will shape the conversation as well.
Below, you’ll find a Ustream livestream viewer and a chat tool. The chat tool allows you to participate by asking questions or making comments.
If you’re driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you’re stuck in traffic, please don’t — keep your eyes on the road! However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone and join the chat by downloading the free Ustream App. It’s a universal app and is wonderful on an iPad, both for viewing and participating in the chat. Speaking of the chat, you can also drop into our IRC room #tuaw-tv on the chat1.ustream.tv server.
We’ll start at about 5 PM ET, so if you’re seeing a prerecorded show, be sure to refresh your browser until you see the live stream. For those of you who are not able to join us for the live edition, you’ll be able to view it later this evening on our TUAW Video YouTube channel and as part of the TUAW TV Live podcast viewable in iTunes or on any of your Apple devices.
Don’t like Flash? Click here to watch the video without the Flash viewer seen below.
TUAW TV Live: Let’s talk iPhone originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Opinion: Oh, and about those iPods…
Does October 4 spell the death of traditional iPods? It makes a good headline, but the reality is, probably not. Here’s what Chris Breen expects to see.Ads
