Big Developers Praise Mountain Lions Gatekeeper, But Hobbyists Dont

OS X developers selling software through the Mac App Store are satisfied with the inclusion of Gatekeeper in OS X 10.8. The security-centric feature determines which software gets installed on a Mac, and which programs don’t.

Allowing three types of program installation, one of which removes all restrictions, Gatekeeper is viewed as a thoughtful addition by many developers in the industry, including Delicious Monster, Iconfactory, Panic, and many others.

Interviewed by ars technica, the studios all convened that end-users are much better off with Gatekeeper, than without.

But that thought isn’t shared by hobbyists.

Wesley Reynolds used to maintain a popular Dropbox Droplet widget, but now he gave up development, in part because of Mountain Lion and GateKeeper.

“I could pay my $99 to find out how to fix this problem and sign my app, but I did this as a bit of a hobby to learn how dashboard widgets work, and the $99 was too big a pill to swallow,” Reynolds said.

“I think Gatekeeper is pretty much killing the hobbyist coder on Mac,” he said. “No longer will you be able to grab the tools for free that you need to code a program and then share it with whoever may be interested in it.”

Reynolds continued, saying “It was exciting for me to have created a handy little widget as an experiment to learn about Dashboard Widgets, and then, just because it's done, throw it up on the Web and have many thousands of people download it and use it.”

“Now, a hobbyist coder can still download the tools for free, and learn to code and make a neat app that will run on their computer, no problem, but they can't give it to anyone over an Internet connection without Gatekeeper kicking in,” he added.

What most people will probably extract from this opinion is that Apple is to blame for “killing the hobbyist coder on Mac.”

Actually, it’s the imminent rise of malware on OS X that’s causing it. Apple is simply taking the natural steps to protect its user base.

Via: Big Developers Praise Mountain Lions Gatekeeper, But Hobbyists Dont

Apple Maps Used Only by 4% of iOS Customers [Survey]

Data management company Snappli has conducted a study to determine how customers are responding to Apple’s Maps application in iOS 6. Not surprisingly, the results weren’t positive.

Eldar Tuvey, product marketing and strategy, Snappli, says 64% of their US and UK users in the past week are now on iOS 6. He added that as many as 16% of the users upgraded to iOS 6 on the first day.

25 percent of Snappli’s users were viewing Google maps at least once a day before the upgrade to iOS 6, the survey showed. When they upgraded, the number shot up to 35%, most likely out of curiosity to see the new Apple Maps app.

However, once the public saw its glitches, that number dropped down to a meager 4% in the next five days.

In summary, says Tuvey, “Before iOS 6, one in four people were using Google Maps [daily]; after iOS 6, one in 25 are using Apple Maps daily, and that figure is falling….”

Via: Apple Maps Used Only by 4% of iOS Customers [Survey]

Simon Cowell and Will.i.am Looking for the Next Zuckerberg in X Factor for Tech

If you aren't getting enough of reality TV, who does frankly, don't worry, there's more coming your way. And if you're tired of singing, dancing, cooking, etc. shows, reality TV mogul Simon Cowell and rapper Will.i.am, known for his unique spelling skills and for being part of the Black Eyed Peas, are teaming up for something utterly original, an X Factor for Tech (working title, presumably).

In X Factor for Tech young would-be entrepreneurs will compete to become the next Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, for the older demographics, i.am told The Sun.

Just like this type of reality TV shows have revolutionized the music industry and given rise to huge stars, over and over again, you can expect the next Google or Facebook to come out of a show like this. Or maybe not.

Via: Simon Cowell and Will.i.am Looking for the Next Zuckerberg in X Factor for Tech

HP ElitePad 900 Windows 8 Tablet with Smart Jacket Unveiled

HP has been teasing a business tablet for quite some time now and today we’ve just found out that the company is preparing yet another tablet that may be targeting the “business / enterprise tablet” market sector.

The name of the new device is HP ElitePad 900 and it is powered by the dual-core Clover Trail SoC.

The 10.1” IPS screen sports a modest 1280 by 800 pixel resolution while the thickness will be a rather bulky 9.2 millimeters (0.36”).

Storage will be handled by a 64 GB eMMC and communication option such as Bluetooth, NFC and WirelessN will also be present.

The tablet will reportedly come with a rather interesting optional accessory called “Smart Jacket” that will allegedly offer increased connectivity and even some extra battery life, but no features are clearly known at this time.

There is no word on pricing, but availability is slated for January next year.

Via: HP ElitePad 900 Windows 8 Tablet with Smart Jacket Unveiled

Dexter Season 7 Premiere: Are You?

The seventh season of Showtime’s “Dexter” is officially on, with the premiere episode airing just hours ago. First reactions to it are positively raving: finally, we have an answer to that long-standing question of what Deb will do when she finds out about Dex.

Though the first episode, “Are You…?” touched on other topics as well, it mainly dealt with the issue of Deb’s reaction to learning that her foster brother Dexter was a cold-hearted, possibly serial killer.

*Fans who have not seen the season premiere yet are encouraged not to read any further than this – major spoilers ahead.*


As fans must know, season 6 ended with the biggest cliffhanger in the entire series (yes, even bigger than Rita’s death at the end of season 4), when Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) walked in on Dexter (Michael C. Hall) during one of his killing rituals.

It was then only to be expected that this season would deal with the ardent question: would Deb still love Dex if she knew him as he really was, the soulless monster he never ceased to be?

Even so, the way “Are You…?” did it still surprised, as both E! News and TV.com point out.

After the rather lackluster season 6, the season 7 premiere showed lots of promise, a return to “Dexter” form, by being creative, original and, just as important, smart.

It tackled the question head-on and left no room for silly guesses. It put Dexter and Deb on the spot, showing how heavily her new find would weigh in the balance of their already-delicate relationship.

“With one word, ‘Yes,’ which Dexter says to Deb at episode's end when she searches his apartment and finds his blood sides and asks if he's a serial killer, Dexter once again left us with our jaws in the floor,” E! writes.

TV.com agrees: with only 2 more seasons to go, “Dexter” is finally on the right path. Whether our favorite (anti-)hero will be able to survive this new crisis, which is bigger than anything he’s ever been confronted with, is still a guess.

“This is the episode that the show needed. There was still a lot of fluff, but the only people who really matter right now are Dexter and Deb, and ‘Are You…?’ suggested that finally, the show is willing to play the one card it has left. We might be in for great final run,” the e-zine says.

If you’ve seen the season premiere already, drop us a line in the comments section to tell us what you made of it.

Via: Dexter Season 7 Premiere: Are You?

Analyst: Mists of Pandaria Fails to Match Cataclysm Launch Performance

An analyst working for Lazard Capital Markets has revealed that, according to internal figures, the sales performance of the recently launched Mists of Pandaria expansion for the MMO World of Warcraft has been significantly lower than that of previous expansions, including last year’s Cataclysm.

Lazard estimates that Mists of Pandaria has sold between 600,000 and 700,000 copies during its launch week, which is about 60 percent down when compared to Cataclysm.

The analysis firm has acknowledged that it has no way of tracking the sales that Blizzard is creating digitally via Battle.net, but believes that they are not enough to balance the sales equation.

Traditionally, each new expansion for World of Warcraft has managed to sell better than its predecessor and the core game release, setting a new record for the series.

A clear decline for Mists of Pandaria might be a sign that World of Warcraft is no longer attractive to players at a fundamental level and that there’s almost nothing that Blizzard can do to resurrect interest.

World of Warcraft reached a peak subscription number that was over 12 million and is still the most played MMO that requires players to pay a monthly fee to access it.

However, the game has lost players over the last few years and many now believe that Blizzard is thinking about ways to move the title to a free-to-play infrastructure if the losses continue.

Cataclysm has seen overall sales of 3.3 million units.

Mists of Pandaria has introduced an entire new continent for gamers to explore and a new race, the Pandaren, to play as.

The Monk class has also been opened up and the rest of the line-up has received a number of tweaks to their skills and abilities.

Blizzard itself has not offered any information on the sales numbers for Mists of Pandaria.

Via: Analyst: Mists of Pandaria Fails to Match Cataclysm Launch Performance

Internet Explorer 9 Is the Most Secure Browser, Better Than Chrome Study

A week after Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 got hit by a critical vulnerability, security research firm NSS Labs rolled out a study to reveal that this particular IE version is actually very secure.

Security experts examined the security features of four leading browsers, namely Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari, with IE 9 performing the best when it comes to malware protection.

Each browser was tested with all available updates installed on Windows 7 workstations, the security firm guarantees. And the results are rather surprising.

Internet Explorer 9 blocked 95 percent of malicious activity, NSS Labs said in a press review, while Chrome came second with 33 percent. Safari and Firefox block less than 6 percent, which is a bit worrying given their market share at this moment.

The click fraud malware tests again brought Internet Explorer 9’s security features in the spotlight, as Microsoft’s browser blocked 96.6 percent of this particular threat. Again, Chrome was placed second with 1.6 percent, while Firefox and Safari blocked 0.8 and 0.7 percent, respectively.

“Given Chrome’s prominence and increasing market share, we predict ongoing increases in click fraud unless Google takes serious steps to improve its click fraud protection,” said Dr. Stefan Frei, research director, at NSS Labs.

Internet Explorer 9 was recently affected by a critical security flaw that allowed attackers to execute malicious codes on the vulnerable computers, stealing private data and compromising sensitive information. Microsoft reacted very quickly and issued a fix in less than 3 days, which made security experts believe that the Redmond-based firm actually knew about the bug since July.

Via: Internet Explorer 9 Is the Most Secure Browser, Better Than Chrome Study