Therefore, for instance, if someone enters the guest mode and follows the trick, he or she can read or edit all the files, alter settings, delete other users, basically just about anything the owner could. The vulnerability currently affects only Macs running on the latest High Sierra update. Hence, if you were hesitating to update, you probably should wait for another month or so. While I personally couldn’t test it out since it doesn’t affect every Mac and I was one of the lucky ones, a multitude of users and researchers have come forward on Twitter acknowledging the bug....

Note: Here I’m using iTunes 11 for Windows, but the steps are the same with the OS X version and newer versions of iTunes. The menus may vary slightly. Change iTunes Imported CD Track Quality Open iTunes and go to Edit > Preferences. Then under General Preferences click the Import Settings button. Since you’ll probably want the album to play on any of your devices or desktop software players. Change Import Using to MP3 Encoder from the dropdown menu....

A survey of 750 CIOs and other IT leaders by software company Pegasystems found confidence in tech teams was “on shaky ground” as organizations look to radically overhaul their IT functions. More than half (56%) of IT leaders surveyed said they were uncertain that their IT teams could bring about positive change in the department over the next five years, with almost one in five (17%) reporting either significant doubts or no confidence whatsoever....

Disney has released a new Maleficent: Mistress of Evil poster featuring Angelina Jolie’s titular character front and center. The original Maleficent was released in 2014 and offered a revisionist take on the evil fairy character from Disney’s 1959 animation Sleeping Beauty. Rather than a vindictive old hag, Jolie’s Maleficent was far more sympathetic and three-dimensional with a backstory that justified her thirst for revenge and a redemption arc that pitched her more as an anti-hero than an outright villainess....

A UK survey comprising 5,000 knowledge workers, 750 hiring managers and 400 senior decision makers by consultancy AND Digital found that people at different levels of seniority within companies have “substantially different” ideas about what skills are most needed. This is causing significant challenges when it comes to closing talent gaps, and a mismatch “between what hiring managers know to be right and what their organizations choose to invest in”....

Baby Yoda GIFs from The Mandalorian have been restored on Giphy after copyright confusion caused them to be taken down. The long-awaited Star Wars series revolving around an armored bounty hunter and his exploits after the destruction of the Empire has now arrived on Disney+, and there’s no doubt the breakout star of the show has been the small green alien child christened “Baby Yoda” by the internet. The creature known as Baby Yoda made his surprising first appearance at the end of the first Mandalorian episode, and fully captured fans’ hearts in the second episode, which saw him engaging in all sorts of Yoda-like behavior including eating a frog and using the Force to lift a giant rhino-like creature called a Mud Horn that the Mandalorian was in the process of fighting....

en you search for or touch a location on the map, head to the navigation menu by touching the car, walking, or transit icon. Then the three-dot overflow menu appears at the top right, from which you can send directions, opting to include the current traffic, satellite view, or terrain. The “Share Directions” option could use a little differentiation from the check boxes underneath it, as it’s not quite clear that it’s a button you press to do something....

From 9to5Toys.com: Best Buy offers Microsoft Office 2011 Student Teacher Edition for Mac for $69.99 with free shipping. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen on this Office suite (which doesn’t include Outlook). Adobe offers $100 off for students on Creative Suite 6 applications using code BTS2012. This includes Adobe Lightroom for $79.99 and CS6 Master collection for $799. For pros, Adobe offers CS6 Creative Cloud for $29.99/month for your first year of membership ($360 for the year or under $1/day)....

Update: Benz has clarified that the behavior of his machine turned out to be due to some kind of software conflict, making it more reasonable that no-one had suspected zero brightness earlier. What appeared to be a major MacBook Pro problem resulting in $10,000’s worth of warranty work finally turned out to be a ridiculously simple fix taking seconds and costing nothing at all … Photographer and developer Greg Benz tells the story....

Dark Mode for Mac premiered in macOS Mojave as a simple way to toggle the system appearance from the default bright theme. The new macOS Catalina release is a software update that improves how Dark Mode works with new features. The new OS version lets you schedule when Dark Mode is activated. This is based on sunset and sunrise by default. There are also ways to quickly toggle between light or dark themes and set specific apps to their own theme....

With some similarities to last year’s screenshot updates that came with iOS 11, macOS Mojave offers up some handy new functionality and changes to taking screenshots. Follow along for what’s new and how to use the new features. With the newest macOS version, Mojave, you can still take screenshots in the same ways that you’re used to, but there is a new interface that brings even more functionality. macOS: How to use the new screenshot features in Mojave Use the keyboard shortcuts cmd + shift + 3 for a standard screen shot, or cmd + shift + 4 to make a selection (or manually Preview → File → Take Screenshot) Use cmd + shift + 5 to open the new screen shot interface available in Mojave Click Options in the new interface to show mouse cursor in screenshots After taking a screenshot, click the thumbnail in the bottom right corner of your screen to quickly access markup tools Keep reading for a more detailed look at the new options, including how to include your cursor in screenshots without software like Grab....

Entry-level data scientists need to get acquainted with Microsoft Excel. If you’re already familiar with it, the one-hour “Excel Pro Tips: Data Visualization” course can take you way past regular charts into the program’s powerful data visualization tools. Then, you can dive deeper into four hours of lessons with “Microsoft Excel: Data Visualization with Charts & Graphs.” Similarly, data analysis requires a firm foundation in both statistics and probability theory....

Making The Grade is a weekly series from Bradley Chambers covering Apple in education. Bradley has been managing Apple devices in an education environment since 2009. Through his experience deploying and managing 100s of Macs and 100s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple’s products work at scale, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for students. Being in school IT, I get a lot of sales calls....

What would you buy if you suddenly found $1 million in your bank account? A Russian man bought himself new property, new cars, a single iPhone, and six years in prison after spending what was actually the bank’s money. Newsweek shares that Roman Yurkov discovered $1.3 million in his bank account due to a technical error before going on a weird spending spree: Yurkov insists that his bank told him that there was no issue with his bank account, so he convinced himself that the newfound fortune came from a payout from gambling....

Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian creators considered using CGI Baby Yoda if the practical effects puppet didn’t work, but Werner Herzog put a stop to it. The first ever live-action Star Wars TV show released on Disney+ when it launched Nov. 12. Prior to its premiere, there were reports that The Mandalorian included a major Star Wars spoiler that would have an impact on the larger universe. That spoiler turned out to be the as-yet-unnamed character dubbed the Child, more popularly known as Baby Yoda since the character is a young version of Yoda’s species, a name for which is also as-yet-unknown....

My shiny new maxed-out 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar finally arrived yesterday, and it was time to migrate everything from my old Mac. I wrote in the first piece that I was wasn’t overly concerned about the port situation, though did recognize that it wouldn’t be an entirely painless transition. That pain did kick it on day one, however, when I attempted to migrate my data, apps and settings from my old MacBook Pro …...

The iPhone and iPad have made a cute little chime noise when plugged it into charge since their inception, but the Mac has no such noise as it uses the MagSafe light indicators to show charging status. This changed with the new 12-inch Retina MacBook which doesn’t have MagSafe so it uses the iOS chime sound to indicate charging. By default, this noise is simply disabled for other Macs …...

LEGO has had a long and fortuitous relationship with the Star Wars license, dating back to 1999, and has spawned six video games, multiple toy sets, animated short films, and several TV spin-offs. The BrickHeadz line started in 2016 and sold exclusively at San Diego Comic-Con. It featured pairs of comic book characters, like Superman & Wonder Woman, Batman & the Joker, Ironman & Captain America, and Black Panther & Doctor Strange....

Magic: The Gathering’s new planeswalker, Oko, is one of the most exciting new additions to the game’s lore in recent memory. He’s a mixture of the more interesting qualities of Jace - enigmatic, brilliant, and saddled with a storied past - alongside some newer qualities, including a penchant for mischief and the ability to shapeshift. Oko is also a fey planeswalker, the first fans have ever had the pleasure of meeting on a card....

We learned earlier this month that Philips was working on a major update to its Hue app for its smart home lighting system, and the new version has just hit the iOS App Store. The company says that it has listened to user feedback as well as consulting with everyone from lighting designers to user experience experts. The result is a range of new features, improved usability for old ones and the return of an old favorite removed in version 2....