Last Thursday, Apple released the Java for OS X Lion 2012-003 update to kill the Flashback malware.  The update also configures the Java web plug-in to disable automatic executive of Java applets, which keeps Flashback from spreading.  This update works for all Mac users with Java installed.

For OS X Lion users WITHOUT Java installed, Apple has provided a download of a Flashback malware removal tool.  If Flashback malware is found, a dialog box will appear and let you know that the malware has been removed.

This is a very long overdue thank you post to Mike Bombich and his excellent backup and cloning solution for Mac, Carbon Copy Cloner (a/k/a CCC).

As the name implies, Carbon Copy Cloner allows you to make an exact copy of a volume, keeping ALL files (even the invisible ones).  This clone is the only way to make a bootable backup, which can get you back up and running right away on another machine in the event that your main machine dies.  Cloning comes in handy for other reasons as well, such as upgrading to a new version of OS X or migrating to a new and larger hard drive.

CCC also offers incremental backups, meaning that it only copies the items that have been modified since the last backup.  One of the things our techs love best about CCC is that it will back up to network shares as well as hard drives and disk images.

We all love the “set it and forget it” capability that is built in to CCC.  You can attach a drive to your machine and schedule backups for whatever time is convenient for you and your workflow.  CCC will even email you to keep you aware of your backups!

One would expect that with all of these features CCC would come with a hefty price tag, but no, Mr. Bombich offers this beautiful backup solution for FREE, and asks only that you donate whatever you can to support future versions of the software.

Version 3.4.4 of Carbon Copy Cloner was released this past Tuesday.  This latest version has several new features and fixes some issues that occurred with the last version.  Some of the new features include:

• Support for archiving and cloning the Lion Recovery HD partition.
• Scheduled tasks can now be configured to wake or boot the system when the task is scheduled to run.
• CCC’s Source menu includes a “Create a Lion Installer” choice for users with a Lion Installer application in /Applications, which will clone the Lion Installation disk image onto a physical volume.

More info on the latest release of Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.4 can be found here.

So iTunes Match came out last week and I’m going to use my mother’s favorite euphemism to describe the feedback I’ve been getting from techs and users: “interesting.”

Plenty of grumbles about the 25,000 song limit.  There’s a way around this, but it’s a bit complicated so you might want to consult with one of our brilliant, Apple certified techs.

As our tech James pointed out, iTunes Match also fails to recognize the most popular song in a lot of albums.  And there’s no AC/DC in iTunes!

You can use iTunes Match on multiple machines to match and upload songs to the same iCloud account, which is really handy. You can merge songs from your different libraries into the same library within iCloud, and then you can download those songs to other machines or get them on your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad.

So is it worth $24.99 a year? If you have a lot of non-iTunes purchased music, then $24.99 a year might be worth the ability to upload un-matched songs to iTunes Match cloud storage for playback later. Also, your matched music will play back from the cloud in 256-Kps quality even if your original files were poor quality.

For more info on iTunes Match, visit Apple’s site here.

I know a lot of our clients are writing up end-of-year purchase lists for much needed upgrades, so I thought I would mention this promotion that is being offered by FileMaker.

If you buy a Retail or Education version of FileMaker Pro 11 from the FileMaker Store,  you will get a bonus FileMaker Pro 11 license free.  The offer ends December 15, 2011.

Also! For our Bento users, FileMaker has released the Bento Holiday Kit, which includes 3 pre-designed library templates that help organize holiday greeting cards, print labels, plan parties and track gift lists.  And it’s absolutely free for Bento 4 for Mac users!

As of today, you can update your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch by connecting your device to your machine.  Onscreen instructions in iTunes will tell you how to proceed.

Among the over 200 new features are iMessage, Twitter, Notification Center, Reminders, and PC Free.  With PC Free you no longer need to own a computer in order to have an iPhone, iPad, or iPad Touch.  The app allows you to set up your device wirelessly, and you can back it up automatically to iCloud, which is also out of beta today and available for use.

For more on iOS5 click here.

Actually, Apple released Migration Assistant Update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 yesterday.  From Apple’s site:

About Migration Assistant Update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard

This update addresses an issue with the Migration Assistant application in Mac OS X Snow Leopard that prevents transfer of your personal data, settings, and compatible applications from a Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard to a new Mac running Mac OS X Lion.

So!  Be sure to update before you install Lion 10.7! Either update via Software Update under the Apple Menu on your machine, or download from Apple’s site.

Another tip I meant to mention in the last post regarding the transition from MobileMe to iCloud, was about Flickr.  Flickr is a really good way to share photos, create galleries of images and even set up an online portfolio (we have several users who are graphic designers that do this).  Flickr’s integration with iPhoto, Facebook and other sites makes it very easy to use.  For example, when you post a new image to Flickr, you also choose to have it automatically post to your Facebook wall, Twitter feed, etc.

Flickr also generates easy to find links for sets or collections of images (so you can email direct links to the work you want to show).  Flickr is a Yahoo! service, but you don’t have to have a Yahoo account to join or sign in.  You can also access Flickr with your Google or Facebook account credentials.

You can also check out your Flickr photos on your Apple TV.

Best of all, with a Flickr Pro account you get UNLIMITED photo uploads (20MB per photo) and unlimited storage for only $24.95 a year.

One of our users wanted to know what would happen to keychain syncing when MobileMe is phased out next year.  Just to updateeveryone on what is going to be safe in iCloud and what is going to be axed, here is the official Apple list:

iCloud = Mail, Bookmarks, Calendar, Contacts, Find My iPhone, and Back to My Mac.

The items that will be cut are Dashboard Widgets, Dock Items, System Preferences, iWeb publishing, Gallery, iDisk, and Keychains.

So what is one to do without keychain syncing through MobileMe?  As there’s no system wide keychain on iOS, one could either put a text file in Dropbox or go with 1Password.

1Password will allow you to do Over-The-Air syncing via an encrypted file in your Dropbox account, or over WiFi by manually opening the host app on your computer and your iOS device at the same time.

On your iOS device, you can use 1Password to browse the web (embedded Safari) and it will auto-fill your passwords for you.

There’s also an app called MacDropAny that allows you to add any folder on your Mac to the folders that Dropbox syncs. One of our techs uses it to back up his AddressBook, and it should be able to be used for keychains as well — assuming that one’s user account passwords are the same on each computer.

Also, what about iWeb sites that have been published to MobileMe? Apple’s document on how to move an iWeb site from MobileMe to another hosting service can be found here.

What about photos that have been published to the MobileMe Gallery? It’s likely that all of your photos are already in your iPhoto library, but you should make sure that you save your MobileMe Gallery photos and videos before MobileMe expires.

And last, files on users’ MobileMe iDisk?  Make sure you save your files to your Mac (or PC).  Dropbox is an excellent replacement for iDisk.

In the meantime, enjoy MobileMe until it ends on June 30, 2012.

We have several clients who use Final Draft so I wanted to write a little post about a new reader application for iPad, FDX Reader, that our tech James told me about.  FDX reader lets users read Final Draft screenplays (it does not read screenplays written in other programs) in their .fdx file format.  This means no more opening a screenplay to ugly raw XML or going through the extra step of converting to PDF before moving to the iPad.

According to the specs on the designer’s site, FDX Reader works a lot like iBooks or the Kindle app.  It keeps track of how many pages a reader has read, keeps scene numbers and lets readers go back and forth between any page.

FDX Reader for iPad is $7.99 at the app store and requires iOS 4.3 or later.