
Manpower | Nov 16 2008 |
BORLOX To convert the man page with title 'fubar' to publication-quality PDF: Enter "man -t fubar | open -a -f Preview" (without the quotes.) Yes, it involves some text entry, but if you're reading man pages you need to do that anyway. Besides ManOpen, another free alternative to be aware of is Bwana. (Version 2.0) | |
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Aerocut | Nov 14 2008 |
BORLOX Just in case anyone is confused about what this does: it uploads your images to a remote server, apparently in Italy, where the processing takes place, and then downloads the results back to you. I just checked the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy pages on the developer's site. Both are blank. Maybe you have to open an account to see that information. I have no idea what rights the developer considers himself to have to his customers' data. I wouldn't use this product for anything serious without consult a lawyer first. An Italian lawyer. (Version 2.1.3) | |
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Aerocut | Nov 15 2008 |
KKNOPP Wow so what are we downloading? An image uploader that sends the files to someone that deletes the background in Photoshop just like any of us would normally do? Is the market getting THAT BAD in Italy? (Version 2.1.3) | |

Aerocut | Nov 15 2008 |
DIGIPEEKS S.R.L. First of all I want to apologize to you for "Term of use" and "Privacy Policy". We are translating it with our lawyer and we will publish them in next week. The description of the service is right; we observed that the clipping path creation is the most boring work for graphic artists and professionals.That's why we spent several years in research to obtain the highest precision in clipping path creation. The result is Aerocut,a full Photoshop-compatible service that cut drastically the human time for clipping paths creations. Thanks to our RealEdge technology,our server detect EVERY clipping path in the image with the a precision never seen before. Aerocut get server's result and show EVERY clipping path to you so you only have to CHOOSE the right one for your work. The boring work is done by our server,you only have to "navigate" in clipping paths. Once you finished you can export the result in several formats. In this way you can merge our precision with a lot of standard programs,like Photoshop, and continue to work in usual way,but faster. Thank you, (Version 2.1.3) | |

Aerocut | Nov 15 2008 |
KKNOPP Got any pictures of this advanced imagery trix0rs you have about? What do you give to your customers that make them believe other than "Because we said it" ? I am not being trollish here, I am honestly curious. As I do a lot of Photoshop image manipulation at work. most of it involved taking cars out of a picture, etc. (Version 2.1.3) | |

Aerocut | Nov 16 2008 |
DIGIPEEKS S.R.L. @KKNOPP: yes, in our gallery section: http://www.digipeeks.com/en/gallery.html the precision can be seen easily. For example take a look to the yellow flower image: we tried to extract the petals with "quick selection tool" in Photoshop but the result is blurry and unprecise. It cut out the petal with a straight line and we spent several clicks to obtain this unsatisfying result. That's because Photoshop' selection tools work with a precision that is over the pixel resolution. In Aerocut the same image produces a more accurate result: the petal's ragged edge is perfectly capture by Aerocut and you can simply select it. Since the mathematical model we developed works in a sub-pixel precision, RealEdges are detected with an accuracy never seen before. Also, our service is completely automated, there's no human intervention in any step of the process. An introductive,subtitled in English, video can be found at: http://www.digipeeks.com/en/tour.html Anyway the best way to appreciate our precision is trying Aerocut, with the registration you can try up to 50 images or 50 megapixels. Thank you for your questions! Michele Petterlini (Version 2.1.3) | |

Aerocut | Nov 16 2008 |
KKNOPP Your gallery section shows two pics that are examples. But anyone could have done that in Photoshop as well. I meant proof that their is some special setup that you have that we don't have access too. Showing comparative photos isnt proof of that. That's STILL taking your "word" for it. (Version 2.1.3) | |

AppleJack | Aug 31 2008 |
BORLOX I don't like to criticize a free application that many people apparently find useful, but deleting swap files? What's supposed to be the point of that? They're deleted automatically anyway at startup. (Version 1.5) | |
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Mathusalem | Aug 12 2008 |
BORLOX Promising, but doesn't yet deliver. I tried to use this to back up my home directory to S3. I chose an encrypted compressed disk image as the archive type. It made a complete local copy of the source directory, including all the files I had excluded from backup, then stalled with the progress dialog showing "idle". No data was uploaded. Also, I noticed that it can't create a new bucket if one already exists. If the developer keeps working on it, this might be a useful app someday. (Version 1.0b11) | |
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Sparkle | Jul 25 2008 |
BORLOX Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea? Applications that don't need to access the network, shouldn't. The Mac OS is moving toward a sandbox security model in which applications can be selectively allowed access to kernel facilities such as I/O and networking. This framework conflicts with that model. A security-conscious user should have an admin account that is used only for administrative tasks such as software installation. Only the apps that are required for those tasks should run in that account. All other work should be done in another account, without admin privileges. Sparkle conflicts with that model, too. The one time I tried it, Sparkle installed an app bundle with wrong, wide open, permissions. Unfortunately, more and more developers are included this waste of disk space in their products, and you can't remove it, because then the apps won't launch. (Version 1.5b4) | |
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DivX | Jul 19 2008 |
BORLOX The installer package phones home without asking permission from the user. It also tries to cover its tracks. When you run the installer, it installs, among a lot of other stuff you probably don't want, an application called "Pingie." Pingie is launched automatically by the postflight installer script, then deleted, so you never know it was there. By runnings strings(1) on the executable in the Pingie.app bundle, you can see that it contacts a server at http://hints.netflame.cc/, which redirects to a Digital River marketing site. It sends, at least, the product version and your IP address. The only reference to all this in the installation documents is in the middle of the legal boilerplate of the EULA: "During the installation process and through use of the software covered hereunder, we may collect non-personally identifiable information, as well as personally-identifiable information, all as set forth in our Privacy Policy, available at http://www.divx.com/legal/privacy.php; please read it." Read it indeed. And better yet, don't run the installer at all. Use Pacifist or some other tool to extract only the files you want from the package. In my case, that was only the QuickTime decoder component. I had no use for the player or any of the other questionable stuff in the package. (Version 6.7.2) | |
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DivX | Jul 24 2008 |
UMAROMC Wow! Thanks for the heads up!!! I HATE things like this! (Version 6.7.2) | |

DenyHosts | Jul 10 2008 |
BORLOX Excellent stuff. I've been using it for years. If you're running a public SSH server, you MUST install this. It's for advanced users -- a Python script, not a GUI application -- but it well repays the effort to learn how to set it up. What it does is to watch a log file for unsuccessful attempts to connect to your SSH server. If there are too many attempts from a particular IP address, DenyHosts blocks all further SSH connections from that address. Optionally, it also connects to a central server and downloads the IP addresses of hosts that have attacked other users. Those hosts are then blocked too, usually before they ever attack you. Your attackers' addresses are also uploaded to the server. This creates a group-immunity effect. It can also notify you by email when a host is blocked. (Version 2.6) | |
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RealPlayer | Jun 5 2008 |
BORLOX This piece of garbage prompts to start a root daemon every time it runs, even after you've told it not to, and after you cancel, it asks for an admin password anyway because it wants to write to a file in the application bundle. Somehow, Real always manages to outdo itself by making each new version worse than the last one. (Version 11.0 build 876) | |
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Microsoft Expression Media | Jun 1 2008 |
BIGDAVE56 Good catch. How embarrassing is that- posting a screen shot (that is nothing but a splash screen anyway) containing a legal threat. That is laughable even by M$ $tandard$. I was eligible for the free upgrade to Expre$$ion, but am already scanning the landscape for potential substitutes, because I have little hope that M$ won't **** it up, or even drop Mac support entirely, sooner or later. (Version 2.0.1447) | |

Domain Name Grabber | May 21 2008 |
BORLOX Another scam widget. This one passes domain-name queries through to the developer so he can register the names first and sell them back to the user. (Version 1.0.4) | |
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Domain Name Grabber | May 21 2008 |
KIDDAILEY There have been numerous reported instances of people performing searches for odd, one-of-a-kind domain names only to discover the next day that someone else had registered them after they performed the search. If you are planning to purchase a domain name, you definitely should consider NOT doing a search for it until you are absolutely ready to buy. In the case of this program, it *is* sending all whois requests through a domain registrar: www.securepaynet.net (which appears to be a GoDaddy reseller). You can verify this by looking at the source code for the widget. That doesn't mean that they are hijacking the domains you search for, but a widget for something like this reeks of suspicion, and I'd would NEVER trust it myself. (Version 1.0.4) | |

Domain Name Grabber | May 23 2008 |
NAMECAT.COM Contrary to Borlox' libelous statement, Domain Name Grabber is absolutely *not* "another scam widget". For 3 years, many searches per day have been done via this widget and not one NameCat.com customer has complained about their domain searches being "hijacked". All Domain Name Grabber queries are safe and sent via SSL to protect them. Anyone is welcome to take it out for a test drive and see for themselves. That being said, there is certainly no need for speculation, suspicion, and *especially* not baseless accusation. Feedback and suggestions on how to improve Domain Name Grabber are always welcome! (Version 1.0.4) | |

Refurb Store Widget | May 18 2008 |
BORLOX A good example of the sort of widget to avoid. It provides no information you couldn't get just as easily from apple.com. All it does is direct queries to the developer's site so he can collect personal data for his own use. (Version 1.0.1) | |
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ExpanDrive | Apr 11 2008 |
BORLOX Being based on MacFUSE, it only supports password authentication, which SSH servers exposed to the Internet shouldn't use. (Version 1.1) | |
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ExpanDrive | Apr 11 2008 |
PJM Did you even *look* at the product before your fingers typed this nonsense? Hint for the clueless: read first. ssh keys work fine with ExpanDrive. (Version 1.1) | |

Home Weather Center | Nov 12 2007 |
BORLOX It will only run if it has write access to the application bundle, which means you either have to run it in an admin account (if it's installed in the Applications folder), or you have to install it in your home directory, where it's only available to one user. Either option violates the UNIX security model. (Version 1.8) | |
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Exces | Oct 14 2007 |
BORLOX I don't know what this guy is up to, but there is absolutely no reason for anybody to use this app or pay for it. It's just a disguised, defective wrapper for the DiskImages framework. The mysterious super-secret vaults it creates are merely obfuscated sparseimages, the same kind you can create for free using Disk Utility, or with cheaper, better third-party apps such as DropDMG. The only differences I can see are, first, that this app somehow manages to impose a spurious 10-GB limitation on the size of the image, and second, that the files can't be shared with anyone who doesn't also have this app installed. Well, actually they can, if the recipient goes to the trouble of extracting the sparseimage file from the bundle it's hidden in, but what's the point? (Version 1.1.4) | |
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Security_Key | Aug 9 2007 |
BORLOX Firmware password protection can be bypassed by changing the RAM configuration. Its only use is to prevent rebooting something like a kiosk machine in single-user mode, where the box is physically locked up and only the keyboard and mouse are accessible. Otherwise it's worthless. Physical security of data comes from encryption, not from being unable to boot the machine. If the developer wants to do something useful, he should try devising a two-factor authentication system like the SmartCard support already built into the Mac, but without the need for specialized hardware and media. (Version 1.2) | |
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Security_Key | Aug 3 2007 |
BORLOX I don't like to criticize someone who contributes a free (as in beer) project, but it seems the developer is considering charging money for it. I've known 9-year-old children who could bypass this by booting in single-user mode. No one should install it with the idea that it provides any security against tampering by an attacker with physical access to the computer. There are ways to provide that kind of security, but this isn't one of them. I really can't see any point in this software at all. (Version 1.0) | |
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GlowWorm FW Lite | Mar 4 2007 |
BORLOX This is the only usable product of its kind for the Mac. The only competition is the embarrassingly-named Little Snitch, which has such a broken security model that nobody should use it. The important difference between GW and LS is that unprivileged users can use GW without being given control over other users' processes. The firewall rules are set by the system administrator, but they apply to all users. With LS, the foreground user can allow or deny access to the network for any process running as any user. Even if you're the only user of your machine, that's a huge security hole, because it means that any application you run could potentially open the firewall without your knowledge. LS supposedly takes some precautions against this, but the model is fundamentally bad. The GW interface isn't beautiful, but it's adequate. The menu bar item has crashed on me once. Otherwise no problems with stability. The Mac platform needs the functionality that this application provides. Users who are conscious of privacy and security should support the developer. (Version 1.5.3b2) | |
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GlowWorm FW Lite | Mar 7 2007 |
SJK Thanks for the brief comparison of GW vs. LS security models. (Version 1.5.3b3) | |

GlowWorm FW Lite | Mar 9 2007 |
SENOJSITRUC Yeah, support the developer! :-) Thanks for the review. I'm constantly working to increase stability. If you find any consistency to the crashes, please send along the details (cjones@glowworm.us). Thanks! (Version 1.5.3b3) | |

GlowWorm FW Lite | Aug 13 2008 |
NONYA STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY! Installed this product in several variations with Leopard 10.5, ie beta, 'stable', etc. All destroyed my OS + required reinstallation. BIGGEST PIECE OF CRAP EVER, AND THIS FROM A FORMER PC USER! (Version 1.5.3b4) | |
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