Apple MacBook MC516LL/A Notebook - Core 2 Duo 2.40 GHz - 13.3" - White

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Key Specifications

* Up to 10 hours of continuous use with 63.5-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery. (Learn more)
* 13.3-inch LED-backlit, glossy widescreen display with a widescreen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels to give you plenty of room to multitask. And the display is greener than ever: power efficient, free of harmful toxins such as mercury, and made of arsenic-free glass.
* Fast 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor helps you breeze through everyday tasks such as emailing, web browsing, and working with documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in iWork or Microsoft Office for Mac (both sold separately).
* NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor (with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory) for an outstanding everyday graphics experience. (Learn more)
* 250 GB hard drive (5400 RPM)
* 2 GB installed RAM (1066 MHz DDR3; supports up to 4 GB)
* 8x slot-loading SuperDrive with double-layer DVD support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* Built-in iSight camera for video chatting
* Wi-Fi wireless networking (based on 802.11n specification; 802.11a/b/g compatible)
* Gigabit Ethernet wired networking (10/100/1000BASE-T)
* Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) for connecting with peripherals such as keyboards, mice and cell phones.
* Two USB 2.0 ports
* Mini DisplayPort video output with optional adapters for DVI and VGA output.
* Built-in stereo speakers and omnidirectional microphone
* Combined optical digital output/headphone output (also includes line-in/microphone jack)
* Dimensions: 13 x 9.12 x 1.08 inches (WxDxH)
* Weight: 4.7 pounds
What's in the box
MacBook; 60W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug, and power cord; install/restore DVDs; printed and electronic documentation

Limited Warranty And Service
The MacBook comes with 90 days of free telephone support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase the AppleCare Protection Plan to extend your service and support to three years from your computer's purchase date. Only the AppleCare Protection Plan provides you with direct telephone support from Apple technical experts and the assurance that repairs will be handled by Apple-authorized technicians using genuine Apple parts

The Longest-Lasting Macbook Battery Ever--Up to 10 Hours

Now take MacBook with you everywhere without worrying about plugging in or even carrying your power adapter. Its built-in lithium-polymer battery lasts up to 10 hours on a single charge, which makes it perfect for long flights, all-day workshops, and marathon study sessions. The new energy-efficient NVIDIA integrated graphics processor improves battery life by using less power for everyday tasks like writing email and surfing the web.

Thanks to its advanced battery chemistry and charging technology, the MacBook battery can be recharged up to 1000 times--good for about five years of typical usage--and lasts nearly three times the lifespan of typical notebook batteries.

High Performance Graphics
With the new fast and energy efficient NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor, the MacBook gets a performance boost of up to 80 percent over the previous generation MacBook. You'll get outstanding speed and power for things like browsing photos and watching movies. And its advanced architecture delivers smooth, responsive action for games like Spore, Call of Duty, and Sims 3.

More Than 1 in 10 Mozilla Bug Finders Turn Down Cash

The open-source Mozilla project has been offering cash bounties for security bugs for six years now, but often bug finders simply turn down the cash.The open-source Mozilla project has been offering cash bounties for security bugs for six years now, but often bug finders simply turn down the cash.
Between 10 percent and 15 percent of the serious security bugs reported since Mozilla launched its bug bounty program have been provided free of charge, according to Mozilla. "A lot of people would say, 'Don't worry about it. Donate it to the EFF [Electronic Frontier Foundation] or just send me a T-shirt,'" said Johnathan Nightingale, the director of Firefox development, in a recent interview.

Mozilla was a pioneer in this area. It started offering a US$500 bounty for security bugs in August 2004. Since then, it's had more than 120 bugs reported by about 80 researchers. The project recently upped its bounty and is now paying out a maximum of $3,000 for critical security bugs. A few weeks later, Google announced that it, too, would pay up to $3,000 for security bugs reported in its products.

"It's been a really successful program for us. We're really happy with it," Nightingale said.

Ironically, it's Mozilla -- the project that's been built on free contributions -- that pays bounties for bugs, while its biggest competitor -- Microsoft -- has so far refused to pay out.

Mozilla doesn't pay for the vast majority of bugs that get reported -- just for security flaws -- and developers don't complain, Nightingale said. "Security bugs are unlike other things," he said. "There are other markets."

Browser bugs can be worth a lot of money on the black market, for example, where they are snatched up by criminals looking for ways to sneak their malicious software onto people's computers. By offering a cash bounty, Mozilla hopes it can tip the scales a bit, and get some finds from people who would like to do the right thing but also really need the money.

"In North America, $3,000 is not nothing," he said. "But in a lot of the world, $3,000 is a big deal, and our contributions come from lots of places."

It may be that cash payments for security research are becoming the norm. Mozilla developers say other software companies are starting to take notice and are now talking about bug bounty programs of their own.

Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert's e-mail address is robert_mcmillan@idg.com

Quote: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/202713/more_than_1_in_10_mozilla_bug_finders_turn_down_cash.html

Let's Certify Business Savvy

IT professionals have demonstrated a willingness to pile up IT certifications . In an increasingly competitive job market, they see them as a way to separate themselves from the pack. But no IT certification currently available can gauge whether a professional understands how IT supports and complements the overall business. If there were such a certification, hiring managers would find it to be a boon.

Skeptics have critiqued certifications as long as they have existed. They say the only worthwhile measure of IT competency is experience. A rsum full of technical certifications says little about a candidate's ability to see the bigger picture and integrate those technical skills into business goals.

The industry would benefit from professional credentials that demonstrate what hiring managers really need: employees who "get it."

We need a new type of certification, one that measures a person's understanding of how computing integrates into, and drives, today's business. A certification that weighs understanding of business computing concepts, business processes, communications skills and technical acumen would better reflect the package of skills needed in today's IT workforce.

IT professionals have to be jacks of all trades. They have to think and work like general practitioners. The certifications from Microsoft , Cisco and others are comparable to the very specialized skills of heart and back surgeons. These are incredibly important skills that, if applied in the right circumstances, can be critical to problem-solving. But, in today's workplace, IT professionals are more often asked to use general knowledge and work across many fields, rather than use highly specialized skills on isolated tasks. IT professionals need to be capable of understanding the business they support, its products and services, in order to recognize the benefits their work can enable.

The recession has changed the role of many IT professionals. Staffs are leaner, and more is asked from everyone. While IT professionals were at one time relegated to behind-the-scenes work, today they are frequently asked to interact with clients and communicate their proposals in the boardroom. Technical certifications don't measure such abilities. In addition, few computer science programs have updated their curricula to meet the needs of today's workplace.

The business computing community must articulate the needs of today's businesses to IT education programs. A certification that helps prepare IT professionals to succeed when they enter the workforce will be a boon not only to students and IT professionals with little experience, but also to the myriad businesses that rely on their skills. This kind of general certification can guide curricula at technical colleges and four-year universities, and provide graduates with the expertise they need to hit the ground running.

The IT certifications available today have done a fantastic job at identifying specialized talent. But it's time we address a glaring hole and provide a certification that marries technical know-how with an understanding of business needs. Students, educators, young professionals and business owners would all be better off for it.

Randy Dufault is the chair of the Common user group's Certification Steering Committee. Common is the world's largest user group of midrange IBM and IBM-compatible technology.

Read more about management and careers in Computerworld's Management and Careers Topic Center.

Quote:http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/202715/lets_certify_business_savvy.html

Wall Street Wants These Tech Skills - PCWorld Business Center

Wall Street Wants These Tech Skills - PCWorld Business Center

Wall Street Wants These Tech Skills

Financial services firms are recruiting more IT professionals this summer than a year ago, and they are looking for strong programming, database and operating system skills to keep their real-time banking and trading systems up and running.

"Technology is extremely important on Wall Street, where they have vast quantities of data that needs real-time analysis," says Constance Melrose, managing director of eFinancialCareers, an online listing of available jobs in the banking, trading and money management fields. "We have a lot of clients who are looking for technologists who can handle the speed, quantity and precision of that information."

Techies interested in these posts will have a leg-up on the competition if they have experience in one key business area: risk management, a capability that was sorely lacking on Wall Street prior to the recession.

Melrose said Wall Street firms are seeking techies who have experience using IT systems to evaluate portfolio risk, trading risk and credit risk. Techies who have identified and analyzed computer systems and security risks are in demand, too.

"Risk management is about identifying and assessing risks and modeling what could be the impact on those risks under changing conditions," Melrose says. "These risk management skills are getting more important in light of financial reform and compliance and reporting requirements."

The number of IT jobs posted by financial services firms was up 24% in July 2010 when compared to July 2009. This was the fourth month in a row that tech jobs were up year-over-year, according to eFinancialCareers.

"Overall recruitment activity is up on Wall Street across the board, and that is sweeping up the tech industry, too," Melrose says. "We think it's a solid trend."

Most of these IT jobs are located in cities with a concentration of financial services firms, including New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco.

Topping the list of the top 10 technology skills in demand for Wall Street firms are programming expertise in the C, C++ and C# languages. Other programming skills that are needed include Java, J2EE and Perl.

"When it comes to Wall Street, the C languages are very important because they allow speed of execution, support language quantities of data and enable you do to a lot of simulation and modeling," Melrose says. "They have the capability to deal with big data strings."

Financial services firms want database skills, too, with knowledge of database administration, SQL and Oracle all making the top 10 list.

Rounding out the list of technology skills in demand on Wall Street are knowledge of operating systems-particularly Unix and Linux-and project management skills.

Melrose said Wall Street firms prefer to hire techies with experience in the financial services field, rather than those who have IT certifications. But, she says, it's not impossible to switch industries.

"Now is a good time to try to move into financial services on the tech side," she says. "One entry point would be on the database side. Financial firms need people who have really good experience administering databases. People with good experience in security are needed, too. Those are the skills that are transferrable."

Melrose advises techies interested in the financial sector to pursue business courses in such areas as financial engineering and risk management. "What skills do you have in identifying a risk and assessing it?" she asks. "Assessing the probability of risk in one scenario can probably be applied to another scenario."

Read more about software in Network World's Software section.

For more information about enterprise networking, go to NetworkWorld. Story copyright 2010 Network World Inc. All rights reserved.

Security August 06, 2010 9:46 AM Adobe Scrambles to Fix PDF Flaw

Adobe is rushing to develop a patch for a vulnerability in Acrobat Reader revealed at the Black Hat security conference. The update--expected the week of August 16--will be the third time this year that Adobe has been forced to fix flaws outside of its regularly scheduled quarterly update pattern.

Adobe published a security bulletin announcing the upcoming update for Adobe Reader 9.3.3 for Windows, Mac OS X, and UNIX, and Adobe Acrobat for Windows and Mac, as well as Reader and Acrobat version 8.2.3 for the same platforms to resolve a number of security issues. Adobe noted "that these updates represent an out-of-band release. Adobe is currently scheduled to release the next quarterly security update for Adobe Reader and Acrobat on October 12, 2010."

Microsoft also released an out-of-band patch for the Windows shortcut vulnerability--only a week ahead of the planned Patch Tuesday updates. The rapid turnaround by Adobe from vulnerability discovery to patch is commendable, but the rise in zero-day exploits forcing both Adobe and Microsoft to frequently provide updates outside of the normal patch release cycle threatens to negate the benefits of having a regularly scheduled patch release system.

The issue being addressed by Adobe is a vulnerability in Adobe Reader which was unveiled at Black Hat by security researcher Charlie Miller. Miller has made a name for himself by repeatedly winning the Pwn2Own contest at the CanSec West security conference.

A Secunia advisory related to the Adobe flaw explains "The vulnerability is caused due to an integer overflow error in CoolType.dll when parsing the "maxCompositePoints" field value in the "maxp" (Maximum Profile) table of a TrueType font. This can be exploited to corrupt memory via a PDF file containing a specially crafted TrueType font."

Summed up in plain English that IT admins and users who are not developers can understand, Secunia adds "Successful exploitation may allow execution of arbitrary code." Bottom line: an attacker could exploit the Adobe Reader flaw to take control of a vulnerable system and install or execute other malicious software.

Interestingly, it is a flaw in the way fonts are rendered in PDF documents that allows the JailbreakMe Web site to circumvent iPhone defenses and alter the core functionality of the smartphone OS. However, according to Miller the flaws are unrelated to one another. Thankfully, Apple is hard at work updating iOS to address that issue.

IT admins concerned with being exposed to potential exploit of this vulnerability pending the update from Adobe can always look into alternative PDF readers such as FoxIt Reader and Nuance PDF Reader.

Quote: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/202751/adobe_scrambles_to_fix_pdf_flaw.html?tk=hp_new