Apple has updated the iPhone SDK to version 9a2151. The download is smaller than the original, coming in at a still massive 1.36Gb. This update notably includes the Interface Builder.

Also seeing an update is Aperture 2, which has, only a short time after being released, been updated to version 2.1. "Released today, Aperture 2.1 introduces an open plug-in architecture that lets photographers use specialized third-party imaging software from right within Aperture. In fact, customers downloading the Aperture 2.1 update will receive the new Dodge & Burn plug-in." Also, the update addresses performance and stability issues "including import, Quick Preview, All Projects view, image adjustments, books, printing, and export" .Does this mean that Aperture is finally receiving the serious attention from Apple it deserves?

From The Register: 'Apple's Safari license says that users are permitted to install the browser on no more than "a single Apple-labeled computer at a time." This means that if you install Safari for Windows on a Windows PC, you're violating the license.' This just to add another "WTF" for Windows users who got Safari installed as part of the latest iTunes update.

Part of one of my old jobs was detecting fraud and the like, so I completely understand this intresting artile on Inside the Twisted Mind of the Security Professional. Imagine not being able to walk into a shop without seeing all the security flaws in it, or do anything for that matter without being able to think about how it would be possible for someone to breach security or safety.

Yet more Wired, this time on Why Apple does everything right, by doing everything wrong. For Steve Jobs, the regular Silicon Valley rules do not apply, but in doing what seems like the opposite of everyone else, he has made Apple the success it is today. Edit: Disko rightfully pointed me to John Gruber's tear-apart of the article which is infinitely more entertaining than the article itself.

For Windows users who want to access their NTFS hard disks connected to a Mac, there's an update to NTFS-3G where they claim that users can now both read and write to NTFS drives. However, users have been saying that it's not compatible with 10.5.2. Has anyone tested it?

The admin of a blackberry forum went out of his way to sign up and link us to his poll on the iPhone vs. the Blackberry in business. We take his arguments to pieces. However, it is interesting that Apple has canned its foray into business servers (no longer selling the XServe RAID) and is focussing on business use of the iPhone instead.

One of MacTalk's earliest members, mechcon, has just released his first podcast. Retrospekt is a gaming podcast that, among other things, discusses old-time first-person shooters.

MacTalk member cornks has posted a guide on how to make a photo contact sheet using Comic Life. This app was bundled with computers and Mac OS X a couple of years ago, but isn't any longer.

Like something out of sci-fi horror, Boston Dynamics demonstrated their Big Dog military robot and its ability to stay upright while travelling across uneven ground, even when kicked hard or while slipping on ice. The idea of being confronted by one of these loudly buzzing things with a gun in the future is quite frightening.

I think it's fair to point out John Gruber's response to this article titled: "How Leander Kahney Got Everything Wrong by Being an Irredeemable Jackass"

And it also, when it comes to coherent, well-written, properly researched and informative articles, the rules do not apply for Leander Kahney, the author of this article. Here's an official tearing-him-a-new-one by John 'Jiminy' Gruber. I think jackass is understating it a little, though.

The Wired piece in question is not really news, it's more like the steaming pile of shit you accidentally step in on your way to get the news.


Edit: Can anyone hear an echo in here? Oh wait, it's just me talking to myself... Disko too quick

Better news still is that George Ou has been laid off from CNet/ZDNet. He wrote a huge amount of rubbish over the years.

I don't take most of these articles seriously though. They are only entertainment/a means to get advertising hits.

Holy mothership! That BigDog thing is scary. Sounds like a swarm of chainsaws coming after you.
It'd be absolutely useless on a stealth mission. However, it's an excellent alternative to a wheeled Mars rover... Remember: In space no one can hear your ludicrously loud robot :P

Be comforted by this, then.

You know why it's so weird looking?

It's the backwards knees. Its front legs are the wrong way around.

You're absolutely right. It looks like two pissed idiots who got into a panto cow suit all wrong... and for reasons I'm yet to comprehend, also have a dozen chainsaws inside the cow suit

Edit: I'm talking about the original BigDog video not the piss-take one above, which is obviously two pissed idiots