May 1, 2006 [LINK]
We Mac uses tend to be complacently smug about ease-of-use and security issues, but no operating system is perfect. According to the SANS Institute, based in Washington D.C., one of the most notable trends in Internet security is the "rapid growth in critical vulnerabilities" in Mac OS X. Some Web sites contain malicious viruses and Apple Computer had to release a patch for its Safari browser, but the vulnerability also affects Firefox and Mozilla browsers. See sfgate.com, via Instapundit. There is a good report about how Apple Computer and its customers are both slow to wake up to this problem at MSNBC.com. (via MacAddict)
Meanwhile, Apple's quarterly profits surged from $290 million in 2005 to $410 million this year, while Intel's profits fell, even though Apple recently shifted to Intel microprocessors. See Washington Post. So far no members of Congress have proposed a windfall profits tax to rein in the rapacious capitalists in Cupertino.
The new month revealed a "bug" in my new automated blog system, so I had to spend a couple hours tweaking the subroutines so that I won't have to worry about it when June 1 rolls around. I will have to do some more fiddling before the end of the year, or else a sort of "Y2K" glitch will result. This little chore has diverted my attention from the high-priority task of getting the stadium impression / feedback feature up and running. Sigh...