A little "knowledge"

Well it seems that there are a couple of things that are running around these days that have people looking at spec sheets - though it it likely that neither group is related that closely. First, there are a number of people who are looking at the two worms/proof of concept attacks that are now supposedly in the wild for Mac OS X now. Ars Technica has a pretty good run down on the situation (and Macworld reminds us that the BT issue was patched over a year ago). Basically, smart computing practice will keep you safe. On the other hand, there is an exploit for Safari that is out there as well (Ars again). Second is the Canon 30D/20D v2/30D again has been released by the good folks at Canon in time for the PMA and the boo birds are already flocking to rail against a device that they have not even seen yet - all because it was not as big or spectacular an upgrade that they felt that they deserved (for me, it's good news because now I have an option of the 20D or the 30D - essentially the same, but the 20 will be cheaper, and until the actual reviews come out). Personally I'm waiting to see what sort of power hog the new larger LCD will be and I think I may go with the 30D if I find that the viewfinder ISO is useful - though on all my digis, the ISO is hidden in a menu, so I don't think I'll miss it on a 20D. I've found a preview on Rob Galbraith on some of the new features and some of them may be compelling enough to spend the extra few dollars on - many of them would allow better on the spot evaluation of pictures - hence allowing for faster learning and hopefully better images and keep/trash ratio. 1/3 stop selections for ISO is also nice, it also looks like the battery life is better even with the larger screen. I've commented on this before, but this is just another instance that it's come up. "People" never seem to be as satisfied as they should be with what they have and they are always looking to knock down what others have done. In terms of the Mac - the media seems to be circling like a vulture on the previously "impervious" OS. Mac people are a little smug on security, but the media is treating these issues as if there are glaring holes in the system. Like really, the bluetooth exploit needs to be transmitted between computers that are within 10m and the only if they have BT turned on and discoverability turned on. The other exploit requires the user to put in an admin password to look at what seems to be an image file. The third one that came out this morning - the Safari exploit is significant but that will likely be remedied rather quickly. On the camera side, I am wondering how people equate specs with ability. There are so many photographers that are still producing amazing images using hardware that is 3-4 years old. It's not about the hardware, it's about the person behind the equipment. Both of these situations seem to really hit home the adage that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing". Technorati Tags: Canon 30d, Mac Viri