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The real prize in Mountain Lion is the integration of iCloud storage for documents. Photo: Apple Whatever Lion did to my MacBook Pro to turn it into a dog, Mountain Lion has undone with a feline grace. Gone are the lagging issues with software, the horror of Safari freezes and the spinning beach ball in permanent residence. Instead, it’s all nippy performance, smoother web browsing and, well, the odd appearance of the beach ball - but at least it isn’t omnipresent. Other Mountain Lion improvements include the rather nifty notifications panel and iOS-integrated apps. However, the real prize in Mountain Lion, the missing link that has bothered me and many others for some time is the integration of iCloud storage for documents. Some describe Mountain Lion as a minor upgrade to OS X but the integration of web-based storage across the Mac and iOS platform is the feature that acts as a Babel fish - or Rosetta Stone if, shame on you, you don’t know your Douglas Ada

Apple is beefing up its security prowess with the purchase of AuthenTec, a small security company focused on fingerprint sensors and identity management. On Friday, AuthenTec indicated in an 8-K regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, that they agreed to be acquired by Apple for $356 million. Apple’s $8-a-share offer is a 58 percent premium over the stock’s Thursday closing price of $5.07. Why would Apple want AuthenTec?  ZDNet’s Larry Dignan provided two reasons. First, Apple is increasingly focused on iPhones and iPads being adopted in the enterprise. Improving the security of their devices is seen as key to this process. Second, AuthenTec licenses its technology to several smartphone and computer manufactures, such as Samsung, Lenovo, Nokia, and Motorola. Apple may not have wanted a rival to buy the company. Image taken from U.S. Patent Publication US 2010/0321158 A1 - Digitized by Google Regardless of Apple’s exact reasons for buyi

Once upon a time, security was easy - or at least, relatively so. Windows might have a lot of vulnerabilities, but it’s “the devil we know.” And we knew what to do to protect it: Keep it patched, run anti-virus/anti-malware, use a firewall, follow some best practices. You could even reduce the odds of getting hacked, if only through security by obscurity, by using a non-Windows operating system. In the words of a best-selling novelist, the world moved on. Today we do our computing in a multi-device, multi-platform world. Linux-based operating systems such as Android are proving to have plenty of vulnerabilities of their own. And as Mat Honan’s recent experience with being “hacked hard” shows, using iPhones, iPads and MacBooks no longer protects you from having your accounts taken over and your devices wiped by an attacker. What can you do to avoid being victimized? The first step is a change in attitude: You have to stop thinking of security as a Windows problem or an

Summary: I carry two phones in my shorts all summer and some recent reports have me a bit freaked out and thinking I may be harming my body with this practice. The GAO requested that the FCC reassess cell phone energy limits, but that will likely take years to get valid results. Do you take precautions to limit smartphone exposure?     A couple of reports came across my desk that frankly have me a bit freaked out about carrying my multiple mobile phones, I usually carry two phones from different carriers, in my pants and shorts pockets. My wife showed me an article she was sent from the Internet, discussed on this Mercola.com website , about a woman who reportedly developed cancer in the shape of her cellphone in an area where she regularly carried it (in her bra). The GAO also just issued a report today stating that exposure and testing requirements for mobile phones should be reassessed. We have seen conflicting studies over the years regardin

Web design with CSS, HTML, and JavaScript has evolved to the point where web application interfaces often rival their desktop counterparts. However, there are still caveats and workarounds that can make creating a design from the ground up a daunting task. Getting your design to work in every operating system and browser combination is time consuming and, quite frankly, a pain. This has all been done before, so why reinvent the wheel with every design? CSS frameworks like YAML (Yet Another Multicolumn Layout) provide a base so you can worry about overall site design instead of the many quirks of web design. Building blocks The YAML site describes it as “A modular framework for truly flexible, accessible and responsive websites.” As the documentation states, YAML provides a cross-browser compatible, functional, modular skeleton layout, which contains all of the most often used page elements. It utilizes column-based and grid-based CSS layouts. This allows you to qu

I’ve been a part of the IT industry (in one capacity or another) for nearly 20 years now. During those years, I’ve seen all sorts of trends, thoughts, and events come and go like the wind. I’ve experienced people with a vast range of skills and interests, and I’ve seen and heard dog and pony shows from more companies than I care to remember. While I’ve held my post(s) within the IT industry, I’ve learned a few random things about the industry itself that I wanted to share with all the good readers of TechRepublic. So hold onto your seat, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. 1: Companies always promise more than they can deliver This is almost across the board. A company will promise you the moon, telling you that their product will solve every problem your company has. But sales pitches should never be believed. If you want to know the truth about a product, you find forums (like TechRepublic) where end users and other IT pros chat about products. The company I work for recentl