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mac.nz is owned by Mark Webster, an experienced writer and IT commentator with articles published over the years in Monitor, Stamp, Loose, Macguide, Tone, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, D-photo, NZ Classic Car, The Dominion Post, NetGuide, NZ Herald online and for PC World. He is also a director of the CreativeTech conference.

He was the editor of NZ Macguide magazine for five years and has worked exclusively with Macs for 20.

Mark is the author of the NZ history book Assembly: NZ Car Production 1921-1998 (Reed Books, 2002).

He is a speaker on Information Technology and automotive, historical and Apple subjects, and works as a Mac trainer with wide experience. Mark has dispensed Apple knowledge at Natcoll, to MAINZ, for ImageText, to 3Media, MacMillan Publishing and for Microsoft, and to dozens of individuals.

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The New Zealand Herald Mac Planet blog by Mark Webster

Security chief

Wednesday, 03 March 2010

OS X nearly hits 11% in the US, Windows dropping online: Web analytics firm Quantcast has recently published usage statistics for operating systems, broken out into geographical regions. The company's data shows that 10.9 per cent of online users in North America are using Mac OS X, an increase of nearly 30 per cent over the past year. Qauntcast measures OS share by comparing the operating system of users via the company's "audience measurement services," similar to statistics gathered by Net Applications. Such usage patterns can give us a rough idea of the installed base of an OS among end users. Windows still has a commanding share – 86.8 percent – it has been steadily declining while Mac OS X has been steadily increasing. (Of course, it may just mean Mac users are more active online, a supposition for which there is a good case.)

More on Flash – security issues: Flash lovers usually talk about how many games are only available using Flash. Flash haters usually talk about performance issues, especially on the Mac. Adobe tries to make the argument that not including Flash is bad for users' freedom of choice.When it comes to browser security, top hacker Charlie Miller says that it's all about Flash. More specifically, avoiding Flash. TJ Luoma on TUAW writes "Even back when I was using Windows and Opera, one of the features I used most often was "Disable Plugins" – which was really another way of saying "Disable Flash," and I do that these days in Safari using ClickToFlash.


Mozilla security exec goes to Apple: Former Mozilla security chief Mwende Window Snyder (pic from Fast Company) has been hired by Apple. She started her new job on Monday, where she’s now working as a senior security product manager.

Apple is the third browser-maker in the past five years that has employed Snyder, who had previously worked as a security strategist at Microsoft where she managed the company’s relationships with security consultants and had worked on the Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 operating systems, says Macworld.

(Won't she just turn Flash off?)

Al Gore 'taunted', takes another 227K anyway at Apple meeting: Apple's shareholders passed on a sustainability proposal during last week's meeting (the first time in recent memory that Apple didn't go for stricter environmental standards), but apparently the shareholders weren't just against the proposal, reports TUAW. At least one of them was openly heckling Al Gore about his work with the environment. Shelton Ehrlich (who apparently has a reputation among Apple shareholders as a conspiracy believer) stood up and called Gore a "laughing stock," railing against Gore's re-election to the board of directors. 
But this changed little; according to an SEC filing, Gore picked up another 10,000 stock options from Apple, netting him more than $227k according to Apple's current stock price. 
All right for some. 
(Now he can add some more electrical devices to his mansion.)

Canon firmware update for EOS 5D Mark II camera: Version 2.0.3 offers several changes to the video frame rate, adding a 24p mode and bringing the 30p speed down to 29.97 to comply with television production standards.

Adobe dropping Version Cue: Adobe has announced it will cease to support Version Cue in future versions of Creative Suite. The server-based file management system, which works in conjunction with Adobe Drive, is currently integrated with several CS4 software packages such as Design, Web or Master Collection. Capabilities focus on managing shared project files, searching for metadata, and hosting PDF reviews.
(It's a bit like Bridge – looks great, don't use it.)