Cyber Enemy No.1 Finally Offline
A 28-year-old Miami man has been indicted for the largest credit and debit card theft ever prosecuted in the U.S., with data from more than 130 million credit and debit cards stolen, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Albert Gonzales, also known as segvec, soupnazi and j4guar17, was charged, along with two unnamed co-conspirators, with using SQL injection attacks to steal credit and debit card information. Among the corporate victims named in the two-count indictment are:
- Heartland Payment Systems (a NJ card payment processor)
- 7-Eleven (the Texas-based store chain)
- Hannaford Brothers (Maine-based supermarket chain)
Adobe & PowerPC Chip Call It Quits
Here’s a heads-up for all “pre-Intel” Mac owners. Adobe yesterday put PowerPC users on notice: in a newly published FAQ, the company confirms that future versions of the Creative Suite will run only on Intel-based Macs.
In explaining the move, Adobe cited Apple’s announcement that the forthcoming release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) will not support the PowerPC chip set.
From their press release: “With Apple’s future development focused on Intel Macs, Adobe is aligning its resources accordingly. Customers are being notified to provide fair notice of any changes regarding the operating systems and hardware supported by Adobe solutions. By announcing these changes now, Adobe customers will have time to plan their migration strategy accordingly.”
According to the FAQ document, Creative Suite 4 and Creative Suite 3 will continue to run on both PowerPC and Intel machines, but Adobe will limit all future updates to the programs to fixing “critical issues.” Hmm.. where have I heard THAT before?
Snow Day Coming Without QT Pro?
According to rumors, the release of Mac OS X 10.6, Apple’s operating system, aka Snow Leopard, might arrive a bit early. Though Apple announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June that Snow Leopard would hit stores in September, tech blogs became “Xmas morning giddy” when it was rumored it might be ready to debut on or about August 28th.
The real buzz across the net is all about Quicktime X, and it’s ultimate effect on Quicktime Pro. Is QT Pro alive and kicking, or on life support? How does it fit into Apple’s new multimedia strategy? I’ll let you decide.
Getting Chop’t
While Trish and I were in DC, we checked out this cool restaurant called “Chop’t” recommended by my daughter. I was a salad based eatery that literally made the best salad I’ve ever eaten. It was lunchtime and the line still moved pretty quickly. The selection was vast and the food was excellent. At first I thought it was overpriced, but it turns out I got so much food that I had to take it back to the hotel. They serve sandwiches (wraps) as well as salads, so there’s something for everybody. The very biggest and best salads and salad sandwiches, with the largest variety of ingredients and the best bang for the buck. I highly recommend if you’re near Chinatown in DC, go check check ‘em out.
As a designer, I was impress at the clean lines of their visual identity pieces. Here are a few for your personal observation.
What if the King of Pop made Spider Man? It almost happened!
The passing of Michael Jackson has caused many to reflect on their encounters with him. Some are downright extraordinary. As wild as this one sounds, it’s quite true. Michael and Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee almost collaborated on a buyout of the Marvel empire. During their conversations, Jackson expressed a personal interest in working on a “Spider Man” movie. In the grand tradition of Marvel Comics’ famous series, Lee’s response offered up a “What If?” tale involving Jackson and Spider-Man tailor-made for an alternate Marvel universe. Check out “Stan the Man” in an MTV interview:
Apple Event Scheduled for Wednesday Sept. 9th: Music, NO Tablet!
It has happened every September since 2005, and in a few short weeks it will happen once again. Apple is indeed planning a keynote event for the week of Sept. 7. And according to sources close to the company, the date is Wednesday, Sept. 9. Sadly, it will not feature the tablet device the company is rumored to be developing.
The event will be held in San Francisco–most likely at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where it has occurred in years past–and is expected to showcase upgrades to the iPod line and an update to iTunes that may involve some sort of social element. Our sources insist it will not involve any discussion whatsoever of the tablet Apple is reportedly developing.
Too bad. It’s looking more and more like we’ll have to wait until 2010 for that.
No word yet on who’s to preside over the event. There’s been speculation that it will mark the first public appearance by CEO Steve Jobs since returning from medical leave earlier this year. Sources have no information on whether or not that will prove true.
Project Management in the Digital Age
I know many of you are hoping to someday give every client the website of their dreams. But this client-driven vision is often skewered by the largest of companies with the best of intentions. So how come it still gets screwed up? Too much red tape? Too many cooks in the kitchen? Too much money?
None of the above. It’s not about size. It’s about paying attention. Sometimes a yellow legal pad, a no.2 pencil, and a 1-on-1 conversation is more productive than a conference call involving 30 people in 4 time zones.
So the key is to bring your ears to the meeting (your Good ears). Still don’t understand what I mean? This may help. I’ve seen this cartoon (below) off and on for years. Engineers don’t think it’s funny, but it always makes ME laugh. Hope it keeps your dream alive too.
