The new Maps will likely be explained at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.  Until then, we will have to wait and see.

San Francisco

Tickets for Apple’s WWDC for 2012, held on June 11-15, have already sold out.  2 years ago, it took 8 days to sell out, last year a mere 12 hours.  Tickets were snatched up in hopes to sell, but Apple has made it clear that will not be the case.  Tickets are non-transferable and may not be resold in any way.  A pass to the WWDC is $1,599 and will, most likely, see the release of some new Mac hardware and software.  My hopes are for a new iPhone, but with the fall release of the iPhone 4S, the chance seems slim to none.

On another note, Apple is continuing to stun the business world with a solid first quarter.  35.1 million iPhones and 11.8 million iPads sold net Apple another record breaking quarter with net profit around $11.6 million. Sales of the iPhone are staggering and account for around half of the company’s revenue. iPad sales were not as high as last quarter, but this may be due to the company’s supply in the U.S.  We will continue to update on any important news from Apple as we look forward to the WWDC!  On an ending note, Tim Cook made an interesting comment on Microsoft’s take on tablet’s coming out with keyboards attached saying, “You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.”  The tablet is a niche market right now and it’ll be interesting to see how other tablet-makers compete with the iPad.

When was the last time you backed up? Better question, when was the last time you tested your backup and make sure the files worked? It’s called a fire drill. As we learned back in elementary school, fire drills are done so you can learn the way things are done properly.

Sean suggests printing your file list and dropping a marker on your list three times. Attempt to recover those three files. It’s a great way to take a sample of your data and attempt to see if it works.

Remember it’s not about the backup, it’s about the restore. Yes it’s backing up, but how long can you be without your data.

Great lesson by Sean at BackgroundBackup.ca.

Dear 100,000 people still infected:
You know you are infected – what’s stopping you from downloading the Flashback removal tool and updating your computer? Are you waiting for your consultant to come by and do it for you? You must be pulling your hair out looking at porn when google searching for work! Please run your updates.

Ok that’s it!

NOTE: I use the word “virus” in this post but neither of these two items are actual viruses in the meaning that no damage is done to your computer. One is a malware, the other is a trojan.

Over the last month, the idea that Mac’s don’t get viruses have gone down the tubes. Last month the Flashback tool was released. It was a fake Adobe Flash installer that just caused your web browser to go to porn sites via an exploit in Java. In order to get this virus, you not only had to download the fake installer, but install it and put your password in to authenticate the installer. Of all Mac users, roughly 600,000 people were infected. None of those 600,000 people were any of my clients, so that was good for me but the plethora of email about it was enough to think they did get it. Apple was a little slow on the uptick about it, but finally released a Java update that fixes, and removes the Flashback tool. But I guarantee that if I go to the majority of clients they will have not run that Java update.

Just last week, a new Trojan was exploited for the Mac. This one, named LuckyCat, installs itself into Microsoft Office. It actually takes screen shots and downloads your data to a remote computer. This one is clearly more dangerous than the Flashback, but like Flashback it runs on a Java exploit. This means if you still haven’t run that Java update you are exposed to this “virus”.

So what’s the answer to protected yourself? Apple knows about these issues, so they release Software Updates! RUN THEM! The longer you wait for your consultant to come and run them for you, the longer you are leaving yourself prone to issues. It’s quicker for you to run the Software Update then it is for the consultant to undo the damage done thanks to the virus.

Here we go! It’s official, Apple will be introducing the newest iPad at their media event on March 7th. Rumors about the specs have been flying around the internet lately and the image in Apple’s invite almost completely confirms the addition of a higher resolution/retina display. Another observation regarding the picture seems to be the lack of a home button. Now we know the iPad can rotate the display a full 360 degrees to be oriented, but the home button seems to be used less and less with new swipe features added in iOS. Other features most likely to be announced in the new iPad include: a faster processor (a5x dual-core chip), better camera (8 megapixel like the iPhone 4S), and LTE for faster data transfer.

We look forward to the media event on March 7th and getting a better look at the new iPad.

The App Store was introduced July 10th, 2008 and has changed the way we use our cell phones, computers, and tablets.

This new version seems like more of an update to Lion, but we will wait until the official release this summer to see just how many features are added.

Also helping drive the stock price is the rumors circling around the March 7th event. While the date has been confirmed the current rumor is that at the event Apple will release the iPad 3 with a quad-core processor (possibly the A6), a 2048*1536 Retina Display and 4G LTE.

SNL hit the nail on the head about LTE – watch here:

That being said, LTE rollout has been slow internationally and the rumor is that the iPhone 5 (whenever that gets released) will have LTE as well.

We shall see in only 3 weeks. Stay tuned to Virtua Computers’ Blog for more information.