AppleTV overhaul gets lost in the iPhone and iPhone Apps Store hoopla
By Leslie Poston
While everyone has been yammering on about the release of the iPhone 3G, the lines surrounding the release of the iPhone 3G, and the opening of the iPhone Apps Store, a significant announcement was being missed. AppleTV was given a face lift!
Everyone is abuzz about the Remote feature in iTunes 7.7, but no one was talking about AppleTV 2.1, the AppleTV upgrade released at the same time as the iTunes update and iPhone buzz. The update included a few mundane maintenance items and some flashy new features as well.
Some of the security fixes include protection from malicious code that can be executed when viewing a movie file purposely corrupted with malware or viruses. Apple called these files “maliciously crafted movie files” several times in its description of the security fix, possibly hinting that people have finally started to target Mac users with an increasing level of viruses and malware. Welcome to the mainstream, Apple!
In addition to several security fixes on a variety of issues arising from the “maliciously crafted movie files” there is a fix for an issue with QuickTime. It seems that some QuickTime files had been hacked to transmit malicious code executions to the AppleTV user who was unlucky enough to grab that particular movie to watch. Apple seems to have had a number of issues with QuickTime vulnerability in recent months, though they seem to fix them rapidly as they crop up.
There were also security fixes for issues arising with HTTP and PICT files. The cooler items on the update list were compatibility with the new iTunes Remote feature, and compatibility with MobileMe. Well, MobileMe hasn’t managed to stay up for long yet, but we’re assuming once that is stabilized this promised compatibility will emerge. It should allow users to integrate their AppleTV, iTunes, iPod and iPhone into a seamless experience. Meanwhile, AppleTV users can rest easy that their entertainment box is secure again.
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on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
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