News, News, News and More News had a year hiatus, but it's back as it's Easter and due to not being at work, I need to type something or else my fingers feel weird. So here's some news. Delicious!

Apple is pushing Safari on Windows users by making it an option in the Apple Software Updater, even if you haven't got Safari installed. Tsk, tsk, naughty Apple.

X-bit Labs has taken a look at the MacBook Air as a pure Windows notebook. Heathens! They don't think it works too well as a Windows notebook, but you can tell they're envious.

Engadget gets their grubby mitts on a beta of version 2.0 of the iPhone software that brings some cool stuff like Cisco VPN access (hello Swinburne Uni students) and Exchange support. They even rub it in our noses by uploading a video.

"Should I use anti-virus software on my new Mac?" is a common cry from Mac newbies. Us Mac diehards just laugh and say no, continuing to laugh as we walk away. However, our Windows friends have been so brainwashed, I can hardly blame them. TidBITS has a good piece on why Macs don't really need anti-virus software. Pass it on to that switcher in your life.

Doctors are loving the iPhone right now, but some required apps just don't work via a web interface. Now that the SDK is out there, a lot of software is being written that's aimed at the medical profession to take advantage of the iPhone's unique features. Wired gives us a heads up on what impact the iPhone can make in the health arena/

Whilst on the iPhone, iClarified has a handy-dandy glossary of iPhone terminology. DFU mode, baseband, bootloader and so on. Nice one iClarified!

More iPhone: We saw the SDK video where games were being touted as something possible on the iPhone. I crapped my pants when I saw Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone. "Eat that DS Lite!" I shouted loudly to myself, internally. Dan at RoughlyDrafted takes a more in depth look at the iPhone and iPod Touch's future as a gaming platform.

And lastly, something mildly Mac related, but none the less super exciting - new Futurama movie! "The Beast with a Billion Backs" will be on FOX in June and hitting channel BT for us the same time.

Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the University of Waterloo, Canada did a proper scientific study to assess the effects on brands on behaviour and it was discovered that "people who were exposed to the Apple logo generated significantly more unusual uses for the brick compared with those who were primed with the IBM logo." - I always thought that using a Mac made me want to actually do something with a computer, now there's something resembling proof that I wasn't crazy.

Goddamn browsers sucking up all my RAM! Well maybe not so much anymore, as Firefox 3 closes in, Arstechnica did some benchmarks on browser RAM use and Firefox 3 uses significantly less than all the other browsers they tested. Huzzah to that and adios Safari, you total pig.

And Appleinsider claims a new Penryn based mini is on the drawing boards.

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antivirus? why? there is still nothing out in the wild doing any damage.
the few things that have emerged have been proof of concept or social engineering excercises... ie you have to install the virus and run it yourself....

as for using the admin account.. well on that I do do.

I'd be very interested to see how Safari 3.1 pits up against Firefox 3 Beta 4, sadly that chart only had Safari 3.04 in it :\

i have never used antivirus and i use the admin account for my day to day use, and even my passwords are nothing special. i am not scared of the internet.

there is no real chance of getting at my computer, you would be better off taking mail from the letterbox out the front of my house, or putting sugar in my petrol tank.

I think anyone using bootcamp and windows should have anti-virus running under bootcamp. More so if they are running XP.

And it doesn't hurt even in Parallels/VM ware installations (unless you don't mind trashing and reinstalling).

Assuming that the windows installs on ones Apple(s) are used online of course.

It's *much* more accurate to say "OS X doesn't need virus protection" than it is to say "macs don't need virus protection" IMO.

Apple update in windows also pushes quicktime and itunes you.

I don't know about the apple logo but I <3 the companion cube in steams Portal game just because it's the only cube with a heart on it.

I do love safari but it generally sucks 300 meg of ram for me, same pages, 6 pages open in firefox at the moment and 106 meg... piclens plugin for firefox is neat also.

I cant do multitouch stuff in firefox , hope they get safari on memory diet soon.

I don't use AV software, and I don't plan on doing so. Security through obscurity is a myth.

Although I do use a standard user account instead of running as the admin user.

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Safari's memory use is utter madness...its currently using 635Mb for me and I don't even have my usual amount of windows open. Madness! That said, I still haven't upgraded to 3.1 yet...maybe that's better *doesn't count on it*

I admit to being a bad boy, I use an admin account. But that said, I generally only visit around five sites regularly, rarely download anything (and never through file sharing networks), and never seem to get spam in my work email accounts. And I flatly refuse to compromise my performance to run an antivirus. I'm with timothy, no fear.

IMHO, the reason as to why there is no malicious software in the wild is irrelevant.

The fact of the matter is, there is no malicious software targeting Mac OS X in the wild. At the current moment I can use my computer with relative impunity (thats not to say I am careless).

If at some point in the future there is malicious software targeting Mac OS X and if that malicious software becomes so prevalent that I can no longer maintain my current computing habits, then I will consider anti-virus software.

Until then I do not see the point in wasting both money and machine resources on snake oil. Nor could I in good conscience recommend others to do the same.

I'm of the same opinion as many others here. At the moment there is nothing that will really download software onto my machine without me knowing so. So in that regard, i never download anything if im not sure of what it is and what it does.

I generally only vist a few select sites and they are all proven to be reputable and risk free. I also run the admin account as my main account for day to day use.

I guess being a smart user of the internet is really all it takes on a mac. I don't think i need AV software atm, but maybe when macs become targeted more frequently.

The only attack on mac computers i can remember was when the boys on the podcast were talking about that poor (yet hilarious) guy who was complaining about having installed a Trojan on his computer (which he had to type in his password for the software to install). It was revealed it came from a porn site, and i don't think anyone heard too much from him again. Being wise to some of the tricks of those who mean harm via the internet is all it really takes to be protected for now IMO.

Don't use AV, no reason to.

I do have a separate user account from the admin account.

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