Apple on Thursday released Java update for OS X that removes a number of common variants of the Flashback trojan virus. Discovered last week to have infected more than 600,000 Mac computers, Flashback is a trojan that is capable of intercepting sensitive data and transmitting it back to an attacker. Security experts at F-Secure published instructions on how to manually detect and remove the malware, but Apple’s new Java update will handle the process automatically. The update, Java for OS X Lion 2012-003, is available for download immediately from within Apple’s integrated OS X software update utility.

Adoption of Apple’s latest version of OS X stalled in October following a strong start that saw OS X Lion downloaded more than 1 million times during its first day of availability this past July. Ad network Chitika analyzed its recent traffic and found that Lion’s share among all operating systems is just over 1.5%, barely a blip on the radar. Usage of the new OS had grown at an average rate of 4.05% each month between June and September, but since then its share has increased at an average rate of just 0.98% per month. Read on for more.

Lion’s growth in usage share among other versions of OS X also fails to impress. Chitika reported in late September that Lion’s usage share had climbed to 14.18% since launching, as Snow Leopard dipped to a 55.5% usage share. In just over a month since that report, Lion gained less than 2 percentage points to reach 16% and, surprisingly perhaps, Snow Leopard’s usage share increased half a point to 56%.

“Apple’s ‘most advanced’ operating system OS X Lion (formally OS X 10.7) hasn’t exactly been their most popular release,” Chitika’s Ryan Cavanagh wrote on the company’s blog. ”According to Apple’s Press page, Lion sales were hot over the first few days, even seeing over one million downloads in the first day. However, since then the latest version of OS X has faced criticism from both users and reviewers alike.”

Cavanagh suggests that issues such as Wi-Fi instability and poor battery performance on MacBook Pro models could be among the causes of hesitation among Mac users. ”Lion’s adoption rate has been less than stellar, to say the least,” Cavanagh added. “While we are seeing consistent monthly growth, Lion isn’t taking off the way some had anticipated.”

Apple on Thursday released the latest public build of its Mac OS X operating system, version 10.6.8. Release notes are as follows:

The 10.6.8 update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:

- Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion
- Resolve an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit
- Improve support for IPv6
- Improve VPN reliability
- Identify and remove known variants of Mac Defender

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4561.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

The new Snow Leopard build is available for all modern Apple PCs, and the highlight is clearly the first bullet item listed above: “Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion.” Apple is expected to release OS X Lion next month.

Apple’s senior manager in charge of its new iCloud solution has left the company to join online healthcare startup HealthTeacher. John Herbold held senior positions on the iCloud team and the MobileMe team before that, and he worked on a number of other projects while at Apple. Herbold joins HealthTeacher as Vice President of Product, focusing on digital engagement. “John has a proven background of engaging audiences across the devices we use to learn,play, socialize and be entertained,” said Scott McQuigg, CEO of HealthTeacher, in a statement. “Applying his experience developing world-class interactive products, John will lead our efforts tobroaden digital engagement with kids, their families and their teachers, all focused on measurably improving youth health.” HealthTeacher, according to the company’s website, is a service for school teachers that helps them provide health promotion, disease prevention, social/emotional wellness and safety resources to students. HealthTeacher’s full press release follows below.

Apple Product Leader Joins HealthTeacher as Vice President of Product

NASHVILLE, TN (June 21, 2011) – HealthTeacher announced today that John Herbold has joined the company as Vice President of Product. Prior to joining HealthTeacher, John was a Senior Product Manager on the iOS team at Apple Inc.

Most recently at Apple, John played a key role in the creation, development and launch of iCloud and led the development and marketing of Photo Stream. Prior to launching iCloud,John was a Senior Product Manager on Apple’s MobileMe team. While at Apple, John defined, shipped and marketed numerous products including iPhone and iPad apps, web apps and cloud services.

“John has a proven background of engaging audiences across the devices we use to learn, play, socialize and be entertained,” said Scott McQuigg, CEO of HealthTeacher. “Applying his experience developing world-class interactive products, John will lead our efforts to broaden digital engagement with kids, their families and their teachers, all focused on measurably improving youth health.”

“To dramatically bend the curve on youth health, we must create engaging and innovative experiences that make good health cool and aspirational—all while encouraging kids to move beyond the screen and be more active,” said John Herbold. “HealthTeacher is already playing a significant role in improving youth health through its work with teachers and schools. I look forward to leading the effort to enhance digital engagement that will equip our youth for a more successful future.”

Previously, John was a technology investment banking analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.He earned his M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and his B.S. infinance from Miami University.

Apple has released OS X 10.6.7 for Mac computers, and it includes some stability, performance, and security enhancements. It also fixes display issues that have been plaguing early 2011 MacBook Pro models. The update should make the Back to My Mac software more reliable, resolves some issues that occurred while transferring files to SMB servers, addresses bugs related to FaceTime performance and the Mac App Store, and improves graphics stability and display compatibility when using your MacBook Pro with an external monitor. The entire update should be roughly 390MB in size and can be downloaded through Snow Leopard’s software update utility.

Amidst some controversy, Apple announced Friday that its newly launched Mac App Store topped 1 million downloads on opening day. Apple launched the Mac App Store on Thursday as a central location for developers to distribute OS X software. The idea mimics the company’s iOS App Store, of course, which is responsible for the current mobile app explosion among smartphone platforms. The Mac App Store launched with over 1,000 free and paid software titles, and in many cases paid apps were available at deep discounts. “We’re amazed at the incredible response the Mac App Store is getting,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a statement. “Developers have done a great job bringing apps to the store and users are loving how easy and fun the Mac App Store is.” Hit the break for the full press release from Apple.

Mac App Store Downloads Top One Million in First Day

CUPERTINO, California—January 7, 2011—Apple® today announced that over one million apps have been downloaded from the Mac® App Store℠ in the first day. With more than 1,000 free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the revolutionary App Store experience to the Mac, so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes® account, download and install them in just one step.

“We’re amazed at the incredible response the Mac App Store is getting,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Developers have done a great job bringing apps to the store and users are loving how easy and fun the Mac App Store is.”

The Mac App Store offers apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews. The Mac App Store is available for Snow Leopard® users through Software Update as part of Mac OS® X v10.6.6.

Mac developers set the price for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit developer.apple.com/programs/mac.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Longing for an updated version of Tweetie for Mac? Well, come tomorrow — rumored to be exactly at noon ET when the Mac App Store launches — Tweetie for Mac will be rebranded as Twitter for Mac and immediately available. The screenshot up top was dug up by Razorianfly, and the new Twitter application should bring native retweeting, real-time updates, and “drag and drop” tweets — though we have no idea what that last one is. Hit us up on Twitter — @BGR — when the App Store launches and you’ve downloaded the new Twitter for Mac hotness, alright?

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Apple released a new beta of its Snow Leopard operating system to developers on Thursday. OS X 10.6.6 beta 2 comes almost a month after the first beta release of the OS, and it is listed as a Gold Master edition for developers accessing it through the Mac App Store developer program. In addition, “developer support for fetching and renewing App Store receipts,” is among the listed changes. This could mean that a public release of OS X 10.6.6 and the Mac App Store are imminent.

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According to French blog MacGeneration, Apple will unveil Safari 5 during Monday’s WWDC 2010 keynote. Not much is known about Safari 5, but according to a changelog that MacGeneration was able to get a hold of, the major new features brought forward will be Safari Reader, a 25% bump in JavaScript performance, option to make Bing the default search engine, 12+ new HTML5 features, developer tools, and hardware acceleration for Windows. There are also lot of enhancements alleged to be apart of the update, but for those we’ll have to ask you to hit the jump.

[Via TUAW]

Safari 5 Changelog

• Safari Reader: Click on the new Reader icon to view articles on the web in a single clutter-free page.
• Improved Performance: Safari 5 executes Javascript up to 25% faster than Safari 4. Better page caching and DNS prefetching speed up browsing.
• Bing Search Option: New Bing search option for Safari’s Search Field, in addition to Google and Yahoo.
• Improved HTML5 support: Safari supports over a dozen new HTML5 features including Geolocation, full screen for HTML5 video, closed caption for HTML5 video, new sectioning elements (article, aside footer, header, hgroup, nav and section), HTML5, AJAX History, EventSource, WebSocket, HTML 5 draggable attribute, HTML 5 forms validation, and HTML 5 Ruby.
• Safari Developer Tools: A new Timeline Panel in the Web Inspector shows how Safari interacts with a web site and identifies areas for optimization. New keyboard shortcuts make it aster to switch between panels.
• Smarter Address Field: The Smart Address Field can now match text against the titles of web pages in History and Bookmarks, as well as any part of their URL.
• Tab Settings: Automatically open new webpages in tabs instead of in separate windows.
• Hardware Acceleration for Windows: Use the power of the computer’s graphics processor to smoothly display media and effects on PC, as well as Mac.
• Search History with Date: A new date indicator in Full History Search shows when web pages were viewed.
• Top Sites/History Button: Switch easily between Top Sites and Full History Search with a new button that appears at the top of each view.
• Private Browsing Icon: A “Private” icon appears in the Smart Address Field when Private Browsing is on. Click on the icon to turn off Private Browsing.
• DNS Prefetching: Safari looks at the addresses of links on web pages and can load those pages faster.
• Improved Page Caching: Safari can add additional types of web pages to the cache so they load quickly.
• XSS Auditor: Safari can filter potentially malicious scripts used in cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
• Improved JavaScript Support: Safari allows web applications that use JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) to run faster and more securely.

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Mac owners, get ready — it’s update time again and Apple has obliged by rolling out OS 10.6.3 for your updating pleasure. The freshly released update includes a long list of bug fixes and improvements which are included in their entirety after jump. New OS X owners unfamiliar with the process can use Apple’s built-in update (Apple menu > Software Update) to apply the latest OS or visit Apple’s support website for the manual download. First impressions both good and bad are welcome in the comments

General operating system fixes and improvements provided for:

• performance of Logic Pro 9 and Main Stage 2 when running in 64-bit mode.
• printing reliability.
• sleep and wake reliability when using Bonjour wake on demand.
• a color issue in iMovie with HD content.
• glowing, stuck, or dark pixels when viewing video from the iMac (Late 2009) built-in iSight camera.
• an issue in which the Finder reports a -36 error when copying directories to a drive formatted as FAT32.
• reliability of photo screen savers.
• compatibility issues with OpenGL-based applications.
• an issue in which shadows in PDF of Aperture book are black instead of gray.
• an issue in which the microphone level in iChat may not increase the volume after reducing it to prevent a feedback event.
• the reliability of certain third-party USB devices.
• the Accounts preference pane can now limit login to members of groups hosted by a non-Apple directory service, such as Active Directory.
• DNS server ordering as specified in Network Preferences and DNS reliability.
• the reliability and compatibility of QuickTime X.
• Data Collection: Mac OS X v10.6.3 can collect diagnostic and usage information from your Mac and send it to Apple for analysis automatically. The information is only collected with your explicit consent, and is submitted anonymously to Apple. For more details, see this article.

AirPort and wireless networking fixes for:

• general reliability for wireless connections.
• improvements to 802.1X reliability, including closed network connections , and WPA2.
• sleep/wake reliability for current iMac models when connected to 2.4GHz wireless networks.

Date and Time fixes provided for:

• Daylight Saving Time rules to reflect recent changes in areas including Argentina, Fiji, Pakistan, and Antarctica.

Directory Services fixes provided for:

• an issue that could cause the system to become unstable or unresponsive when bound to an LDAP server using SSL.
• an issue in which the 802.1X Loginwindow Profile is in place, but the wireless network is not available, directory authentication over Ethernet will now succeed.

File Services fixes provided for:

• an issue that could prevent saving files from Microsoft Office 2008 to an SMB server volume.
• issues copying, renaming or deleting files on an SMB server volume.
• clear-text authentication enabling to an SMB file server.

iCal fixes provided for:

• changing the invitation list for a single instance of a recurring event will no longer “un-book” the location of the meeting.
• an issue in which new invitations on a Microsoft Exchange server might not appear in the Notification pane.
• properly showing recurring Microsoft Exchange events which have a set end date. For details, see this article.

Mail fixes and improvements provided for:

• an issue that causes background message colors to display incorrectly in Mail.
• signing and encrypting messages, such as when using an Entrust PKI (Public Key Infrastructure).
• synchronization of the “Sent” mailbox on a Microsoft Exchange server.
• an issue that could cause Mail to delete mailboxes on a Microsoft Exchange server that is hosted behind an Internet load balancer.

Mobile Accounts fixes and improvements provided for:

• home directory synchronization when the home directory is stored on an SMB file server.
• properly warning mobile users in an Active Directory domain about upcoming password expiration.
• creating a Mobile Account that uses smart card authentication, without using a command-line tool.
• reliability in background synchronization.

MobileMe fixes and improvements provided for:

• an issue in which movies could not be viewed in Safari when visiting www.me.com/gallery.
• reliability of iDisk Sync.
• reliability of syncing calendars.

Parental Control fixes and improvements provided for:

• restoring Safari bookmarks functionality to parental controls users.
• better handling of Safari bookmark management when using Parental Controls.
• more reliable application launch restrictions when using Parental Control.

Rosetta fixes provided for:

• an issue that prevented files with the # or & characters in their names from opening in Rosetta applications.

System Imaging fixes and improvements provided for:

• the asr command, which now accepts the “–allow fragmented catalog” option, for restoring images that have a fragmented catalog file. For details, type man asr in Terminal.
• the installer command, which can now be used to upgrade a Mac OS X v10.5 system with a QuickTime 7 Pro key installed to Mac OS X v10.6.

Time Machine fixes and improvements provided for:

• reliability from Time Machine-to-Time Capsule backups, including multiple computers.
• an issue with Time Machine in which system backups could be restored onto unsupported Mac configurations.
• an issue in which a Time Machine backup might not work using an AirPort connection.

Xsan fixes and improvements provided for:

• the reliability of Fibre channel connections to an Xserve RAID.
• an issue that could cause the size of certain Fibre channel LUNs to be mis-reported.

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Something photographers have been waiting for; Aperture 3 finally brings all the features we know and love in iPhoto ’09, and meshes them with a new and improved Aperture software set. We’re talking about great organizatioin features using Faces and Places, brand new Brushes that let you paint effects on images, full 64-bit support for Snow Leopard, and even Facebook and Flickr uploading — all part of more than 200 new features. Apple has a free 30-day trial on their website or you can buy Aperture 3 for $199. Still, some new MacBook Pros would have been appreciated, guys…

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In the Windows vs. Mac wars, the Apple fanboys now have another reason to gloat: Apple just last night updated Boot Camp to support Windows 7. Along with this update came the year’s first security update, which supposedly addresses 12 security vulnerabilities. Boot Camp version 3.1 supports the 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 users and Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate are supported as part of the update, too. With the upgrade in software and support for new drivers and utilities, if you need Windows 7 to run certain software, processes, or perhaps you prefer to use Windows for things like coding and development, knock yourself out. The update is available now.

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Attention Mac users: Drop whatever it is you’re doing and run Software Update, because OS X 10.6.2 has been released by Apple. Coming in at a rather large 499.9MB, the update contains a considerable amount of bug fixes with the most notable righting the big ol’ scary guest user bug that threatened to delete your precious data.  We’ve got the entire change log after the break, but let’s not kid one another; you’re gluttons for punishment and will install whatever updates your system tells you to.

General operating system fixes provided for:

• an issue that caused data to be deleted when using a guest account
• an issue that might cause your system to logout unexpectedly
• Spotlight search results not showing Exchange contacts
• the reliability of menu extras
• an issue in Dictionary when using Hebrew as the primary language
• shutter-click sound effect when taking a screenshot
• an issue with the four-finger swipe gesture
• an issue adding images to contacts in Address Book
• an issue in Front Row that could cause sluggish or slow frame rates while watching videos
• creation of mobile accounts for Active Directory users
• reliability and duration of VPN connections
• general reliability improvements for iWork, iLife, Aperture, Final Cut Studio, MobileMe, and iDisk
• overall improvements to VoiceOver performance
• this update addresses video playback and performance issues for iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009) and iMac (27-inch, Late 2009) computers that may occur in some situations while AirPort is turned on

Fonts fixes provided for:

• an issue with font spacing
• an issue in which some Fonts are missing
• font duplication issues
• an issue with some PostScript Type 1 fonts not working properly

Graphics fixes provided for:

• an issue when connecting monitors to DVI and Mini DisplayPort adapters
• an issue in which the brightness setting may not be remembered on restart
• addresses functionality with specific display models
• general reliability and performance improvements when using some applications

Mail fixes provided for:

• a situation in which Mail’s unread count may not update properly as messages are read on another computer
• an issue in which deleted RSS feeds may return
• an issue in which Mail cannot preview or Quick Look attachments when composing a new message
• an issue that can cause Address Book and/or Mail to stop responding when opened
• an issue in which email messages received from an Exchange Server are not formatted correctly
• an issue in which Mail reports “Account exceeded bandwidth limits” for some Gmail accounts

MobileMe fixes provided for:

• performance when accessing files from iDisk via the Finder and syncing iDisk files
• an issue in which syncing iDisk files does not proceed beyond “checking items”
• reliability and performance when syncing contacts, calendars, and bookmarks with MobileMe (syncing with iTunes and iSync are also improved)
• an issue that prevents some users from logging into MobileMe via the MobileMe System Preference pane

Network file systems fixes provided for:

• compatibility with third-party AFP servers
• file synchronization for portable home directories

Printing and faxing fixes provided for:

• automatic printer updates improvements
• Print dialog allowing you to enter and send to more than one fax recipient

Safari fixes provided for:

• a graphics distortion issue in Safari Top Sites
• Safari plug-in reliability

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This bug report has some serious teeth. Apple’s discussion boards have a growing number of reports claiming that user home folders are being automatically deleted when utilizing Snow Leopard 10.6′s “Guest” account login feature. Apparently one wrong click and a log in to the guest account can end in your actual user account folders being wiped out. Yikes. So far the only recourse has been for those who have recent backups on external media. There has been no acknowledgment of the issue from the Cupertino fruit company yet. We also apologize to any Sidekick, Mac OS X users, who log into Guest accounts — you’re having a tough week.

[Via iTWire]

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Sure Apple’s latest OS just found its way to market but according to rumor, Cupertino is already hard at work on the first revision. According to AppleInsider, Snow Leopard 10.6.1 was seeded to developers participating in the invitation-only AppleSeed program on September 1st — a mere four days after 10.6 launched. No word yet on what fixes/features 10.6.1 is sporting but there are several reported issues out there that could use some tending to. As to when 10.6.1 might see the light of day, speculation suggests a few weeks at most.

UPDATE: According to a tip we just got, here’s some of the 10.6.1 release notes:

“The 10.6.1 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes for:

• compatibility with some Sierra Wireless 3G modems
• an issue that might cause DVD playback to stop unexpectedly
• some printer compatibility drivers not appearing properly in the add printer browser
• an issue that might make it difficult to remove an item from the Dock
• instances where automatic account setup in Mail might not work
• an issue where pressing cmd-opt-t in Mail brings up the special characters menu instead of moving a
  message
• Motion 4 becoming unresponsive

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