Yesterday, I wrote my review of 1Password, the OS X application, but I didn’t go into detail about some of Agile Web Solutions’ other offerings that help make 1Password even better. One example is my1Password, a service that AWS will provide (either for free or at cost, unknown at this point) that ties in with 1Password. my1Password is currently in private beta, and the only reason that I have access is because everyone who bought the January 2008 MacHeist Bundle got an invite. However, I have been trying it out for quite awhile, and so here is my review.
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Tags: 1Password, Agile Web Solutions, my1Password, online, passwords, review, security, service

The other day, I was showing off 1Password, one of the apps that I use most frequently on OS X, to a friend. I was subsequently surprised to discover that I’ve apparently never actually reviewed it on my blog. Well, actually, that’s partially true: I reviewed it back in 2006, when it was still called 1Passwd and wasn’t that good, but that post no longer appears on here (since I recently cleared out my fairly lame old posts from before January 2007). In fact, the only real mention that I have of it on this blog was its awesome iPhone/iPod touch app I reviewed a month ago. However, 1Password has gone through revolutionary changes since I reviewed it in 2006, and now I’ve been using the app for almost a year, and it’s been getting better and better. And so today, I’m going to make things right by reviewing 1Password, the application, today, and tomorrow, I’ll be reviewing a new 1Password service that I have invite-only access to and have been playing around with.
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Tags: 1Password, Agile Web Solutions, applications, identities, keychain, Mac, passwords, review, security, wallet

I’m probably not the only person on the block who has thought that of the various user experiences in the many applications that make up Mac OS X, network settings have been some of the worst. Apparently Apple agreed, because the various network settings have probably gotten the most reorganization of any other settings in the operating system to be much more intuitive and much friendlier to the common man, while still retaining the power and control that many IT users need. This weekend (Saturday and Sunday) has a two-part Leopard Feature Presentation on the network tools that make up Mac OS X. Today’s presentation looks at AirPort Utility, the built-in setup and management software for those of you with an AirPort Extreme or Express Base Station. I was going to give this a pretty good review at first, but now that this application has completely screwed me, I’m going to start begging for some help.
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Tags: accessibility, AirPort, base station, broken, firewall, Help, interface, Leopard Feature Presentation, Mac OS X Leopard, review, security, utility, wifi, wireless, WPA

I picked up Little Snitch along with the latest MacHeist/MacUpdate bundle, and thought I’d give it a try. I know that there are a number of Mac users that find it essential, but I didn’t, and found myself turning it off pretty quickly.

The general idea behind Little Snitch is that many applications have an internet “call home” feature–cases where they will connect to the internet through a network connection when you may not know. One classic example of a “call home” function would be a Software Update feature, which many applications come with these days. What Little Snitch does is that any time an application attempts to make a network connection, it will bring up a window notifying you what the application is doing. You can choose to deny an application from making its connection, or you can allow it. There are a number of options for allowing it: you can restrict the application to the same server, the same port, both, or allowing the app to make any kind of network connections. In addition, you can authorize either that particular connection, similar connections until the app quits, or those kind of connections forever.

There are some conscious people who would want to know about all of these connections and control which can be established and which can’t, but I’m just not one of these people. After a little bit, the notices seemed to get a bit annoying (reminding me of the infamous Windows Vista Cancel/Allow windows), and I was just allowing all connections that it presented me with. So I turned it off. But although I personally find it kind of a niche product, for the people who would actually care about these connections, Little Snitch is a good (if not a bit pricey) choice.

Final Rating:

Tags: Mac, network, preferences, review, security, Software, utility