Over on the TenFourFox blog, Spectre’s impact on the G3, G4 and G5 families of processors has been documented.
Spoiler alert: The G3 and early G4s are resistant to the exploit.
Category: Apple
Disk Copies 30 Years in the Making⇢
There’s an iMac for Everyone
When the original iMac went on sale, it was undoubtedly a consumer product. Some professional Mac users mocked the colorful design and lack of legacy ports, unaware that their beloved Power Mac would soon follow in the iMac’s USB-shaped footsteps.
The iMac G4 was also a consumer machine, but it creeped into the workplace slowly, thanks to its incredible design.
The iMac G5 brought the mighty PowerPC G5 CPU to Apple’s all-in-one, which now sported the design we recognize today, with the computer tucked behind the screen. This machine, and the plastic-clad Intel iMacs that followed it got more powerful and more capable over time.
Why I Bought an iMac Pro⇢
Over on iMore, I walked through my decision to buy an iMac Pro, and why the 2017 i7 iMac wasn’t the right machine for me.
High Sierra Found to Have Yet Another Password Bug⇢
A bug report submitted on Open Radar this week reveals a major security vulnerability in the current version of macOS High Sierra that allows the App Store menu in System Preferences to be unlocked with any password.
Something seems pretty broken with High Sierra’s authentication system as well as Apple’s QA work on the OS.
Apple Releases macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental Update, iOS 11.2.2 to Address Spectre
Time to check for updates on your Mac and iOS devices. If you are running Sierra or El Capitan, there’s a Safari update ready for you to help protect against this vulnerability.
Apple Addresses Meltdown and Spectre⇢
Security researchers have recently uncovered security issues known by two names, Meltdown and Spectre. These issues apply to all modern processors and affect nearly all computing devices and operating systems. All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected, but there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time. Since exploiting many of these issues requires a malicious app to be loaded on your Mac or iOS device, we recommend downloading software only from trusted sources such as the App Store. Apple has already released mitigations in iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2 to help defend against Meltdown. Apple Watch is not affected by Meltdown. In the coming days we plan to release mitigations in Safari to help defend against Spectre. We continue to develop and test further mitigations for these issues and will release them in upcoming updates of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.
The Case of the Unattached AppleCare
I recently bought a new computer, and picked up AppleCare+ for it. The process of covering the serial number with the warranty is known as “attachment.” The vast majority of the time, this process is seamless and fast, but I’ve been around the block a few times, so today, I ran my computer’s serial number through Apple’s “Check Coverage” tool to double-check that everything was in order.
Everything was not in order:
On the iMac Pro’s T2 Chip⇢
I’ve spent the last week with Apple’s new iMac Pro, and in most ways it’s just a faster Mac. It’s the first pro Mac desktop in over three years and the fastest Mac yet made, granted, but still entirely familiar. And yet in many ways—some noticeable, some entirely invisible—this new Mac is completely different from all past Mac models.
The iMac Pro may be an outlier today, but in the future we’ll probably look back on it as the start of a new era for the Mac, all because of the Apple-built T2 chip it carries inside. Here’s how the T2 makes this iMac Pro unlike all other Macs.
High Sierra Patched for Intel Memory Access Flaw⇢
A serious design flaw and security vulnerability discovered in Intel CPUs has reportedly already been partially addressed by Apple in the recent macOS 10.13.2 update, which was released to the public on December 6.
It looks like 10.13.2 mostly implemented a fix, with more tweaking coming in 10.13.3.
iFixit Posts iMac Pro Teardown⇢
$29 Batteries Available to All iPhone 6 or Later Customers, Even if It Passes Diagnostics⇢
I was in my Apple Store over the weekend, and every other person through the door had an iPhone 6 or 6S in hand, inquiring about getting a new battery installed. I had assumed Apple would be testing these phones and only replacing batteries that were operating below a certain threshold, but it seems like anyone who wants one can have a new battery installed at the discounted price.
This is going to cost Apple a pile of cash, but it’s the right call. Apple needs consumers to trust them, and that relationship has been damaged for many people. Turning someone away because their battery hasn’t failed would only make it worse. It’s better for the company to eat some battery swaps that it doesn’t need to do to start rebuilding trust.