Mac OS X may be at risk via the original AirPort Card because of an attack methodology published last week as part of the Month of Kernel Bugs. The attack can corrupt some "internal kernel structures," and causes a kernel panic - a crash. The developer of the attack believes that he may be able to modify this with some effort into a root exploit in which control of the machine could be seized.
In case anyone was wondering, there's no news from Macworld San Francisco's keynote address or from Apple that relates to AirPort today. The new Mac mini has AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth support, but they're built-to-order options. You cannot install either option (or memory) after purchase yourself, but will need to have an Apple service center do it--this isn't one of those "you might void the warranty" situations. There's a pretty tightly fitted together set of innards....
Peter Horvath wrote in to note that AirPort Express firmware update 6.1.1 disables screen saver mode on a machine that's streaming music. Apple confirmed this for him at a relatively high tech support level. The only solution is to revert to version 6.0 of the firmware. Apple is aware of it, so I imagine we'll see a 6.1.2 release soon....
This one deserves an exclamation point. Rogue Amoeba has used their very clever brains to extend AirPort Express wireless music streaming (AirTunes is Apple's name for it) so that any application can stream its sound to an AirPort Express. Here's that exclamation point: ! Coming in 2005....
Are you a suffering from heartbreak of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) over AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme? Do you know someone who suffers from dropped, halted, or interrupted transfers? Take the latest firmware micro-releases for the two base station models, and don't call me in the morning. Apple released two micro-releases today that add to their recent major upgrades to Extreme and Express firmware: AirPort Extreme Firmware 5.5.1 and AirPort Express Firmware 6.1.1. These micro-release numbers belie the major fixes: improving hard reset feedback through LEDs, reinstating printers that should work but failed after the last firmware upgrade, fixing a slow crash problem for WPA used with WDS, and this major FTP problem. A PPPoE garble added in the last firmware update for Extreme is also repaired....
In TidBITS today, I present the problem and solutions to dealing with AirPort Express's single Ethernet port. The new base station will ship any day now from Apple, and it includes streaming music, USB printer sharing, and but one Ethernet port. That port can't do double duty to share your network connection without polluting your service provider's network with bad dynamic addresses. What to do? Read the article for advice.... (Of Interest, Glennf)
If you were wondering when the AirPort Express would be shipping, Amazon.com may have slipped the news early on their site: they say it will ship July 20. Update: Some sources are saying the Express will ship as early as today, even.... (News, Glennf)
I received nice email from a fellow who runs Base Station Repair.com, which repairs and buys old AirPort Base Stations. They offer a $6.50 plus shipping do-it-yourself capacitor repair kit if that's what's killed your graphite. You can have them repair it, if it turns out that's the problem, for $45, which includes return shipping. They will refund all but shipping charges to return it to you if they can't repair it. They can also tell you if there are additional parts that need replacing. They even buy dead base stations for up to $45 to $50 for broken graphite and snow base stations with all of the parts intact (power cord, internal card, etc.). They pay $30 for working AirPort Cards. I haven't used his service, so I can't vouch for their work, but the site has a lot of excellent information, and it seems like one of the best ways to avoid purchasing a new base station if your current setup works. Let us know how you fare with them, and whether this tip has been useful to you.... (Tips, Glennf)
Apple says it's shipping the AirPort Express. You can order it from Amazon.com for $124.99, five bucks below its retail price. If you choose the slowest shipping method, you don't pay for shipping, either, in the U.S.... (News, Glennf)
Apple has apparently stopped selling AirPort Cards (the original 802.11b flavor) directly to consumers, meaning that if you have a Mac model that wasn't revised in 2003 or later, you can't turn to Apple to add Wi-Fi support. (This may be old news -- I'm not sure when they actually stopped the direct sales, but have been reading that AirPort Cards go for $100 or more on eBay right now!) There are alternatives, depending on which computer you have and which Mac OS version you're running. For instance, Belkin's 802.11b USB adapter has support for Mac OS 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, and 10.3! PowerBooks and Power Macs have PC Card and PCI Card options, even in Mac OS 9; more options are available in 10.2 and 10.3, however. I have an appendix covering a range of options for alternatives to AirPort and AirPort Extreme for older and newer machines in my ebook Take Control of Your AirPort Network. We just released the 1.1.1 update to the book: it's now $10 instead of $5, but it's 150 pages instead of 89! I added a full configuration guide for AirPort Express among many other additions and improvements.... (News, Glennf)
If you've got an RSS feed for this blog, you'll notice a refresh of posts. We just moved the location from one server to another, and upgraded the blog to the latest version of our blogging software, Movable Type. Templates are still shaking out, so you might see a little weirdness on the Web side until we figure out all the little details to fix.... (, Glennf)
Mac users ignore, but Windows XP users who have installed Service Pack 2 (SP2), you can now get back your access to AirPort Express through this update.... (News, Glennf)
A couple of antenna-related announcements for Mac users in the last few days. MacWireless introduced its three 11g antenna booster models which work with three kinds of antennas they already sell. The booster increases gain further, which pushes the range of the antennas. They don't work with Dr. Bott's two antennas, only with models sold by MacWireless. MacWireless continues to expand its comprehensive line of Mac-oriented Wi-Fi products, filling many gaps for older and newer Macs alike through a combination of drivers and hardware. I note on their site that their trade-in for an old AirPort card is now $60, which is a pretty decent price. They sell on eBay for that much or more, and this removes that hassle of an auction transaction. QuickerTek also continues to provide oodles of options for Mac owners focusing on the antenna side. Their announcement today is for a $100 5.5 dBi whip antenna to extend the range of AirPort Extreme Cards in 15-inch and 17-inch aluminum PowerBooks. I find the range on my 15-inch Au to be quite good, but 5.5 dBi is a large upgrade and could allow you to use a PowerBook over a larger area in a home, office, or hotspot. The site says the antenna upgrade is possible for ordinary users, too, but doesn't provide the installation guide for examination on their Web site.... (News, Glennf)
If you're a Mac OS X user and meet certain requirements, you can become a beta tester of Boingo Wireless's Wi-Fi hotspot connection software. They're looking for a total of 25 qualified testers; you get unlimited Boingo usage at thousands of for-fee hotspots as part of your beta testing. Very cool if you're a traveler. Read the full details at TidBITS's blog, ExtraBITS.... (Of Interest, Glennf)
For reasons best known at Apple, there is no longer a list of AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme Base Station compatible USB printers. I asked, and they said the list had become unwieldy. Unfortunately, there's no definitive place on manufacturers' Web sites to find out which printers work with these two types of Apple base stations. You don't want to buy a base station and find out your USB printer is incompatible; nor do you want to buy a printer for your base station only to find out that it's incompatible./ iFelix is maintaining this unofficial list of USB compatibility, however. It has several simple layers of information: printers that were on Apple's list at one point are in normal type; those added later are in bold; those that iFelix himself (itself?) has tested are in dark red. The page also lists known incompatible printers and known compatible Wi-Fi-enabled printers. Great list, and I suggest that if you have information, you contribute it and hope that iFelix keeps up the good work. This thread at the Apple Discussions for AirPort Express may also be of use.... (Tips, Glennf)