Jonathan Zdziarski, a security researcher for viaForensics who says that iOS app hacking is easier than you think.

(Credit: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

LAS VEGAS -- While Apple was making its decidedly lackluster Black Hat debut just one floor up, security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski was explaining the dark art of iOS app hacking to a smaller but still crowded room.

A senior forensics scientist at viaForensics, he clearly didn't have much faith in the security of apps running on iOS. "iOS can be infected through a new zero-day, or you can take a phone and run real fast. Apparently, bars are a great way to pick up iPhones," he said as the audience chuckled, clearly remembering the two separate lost iPhone prototype incidents.

He wasn't joking, though. There are three ways to hack an iOS app. One involves a zero-day exploit, a previously-unknown security hole. These are rare but not unheard of for iOS apps. The other two involve getting physical access to the phone, Zdziarski said.

"You can infect the phone without a passphrase. The virus or bit of code sits on the phone, waiting for the user to unlock it." Or, he explained, "Give me two... [Read more]

For many people, being able to view Hulu and other Flash media content on a big-screen TV is the best feature in Mountain Lion.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

If you've managed to get your hands on Mountain Lion for Mac, there's a really cool feature called AirPlay Mirroring where you can show your desktop and more on a big screen hooked up to an Apple TV. AirPlay Mirroring is something you might use when you want to show your work at a meeting, show your photos to your family, watch video, and so on, but on an Apple TV-connected big screen. Here's how to do it.

You start by making sure your computer is on the same network as your Apple TV, then look for the monitor-shaped icon in your Menu bar -- Mountain Lion automatically detects when an Apple TV is in range. To start AirPlay Mirroring, select Apple TV from the AirPlay drop-down menu.

The first thing you'll probably notice is there is a little bit of lag between your laptop and the TV, but you can open windows, move files around, or whatever you want, and you can see it all on the big screen.

Under the AirPlay icon, simply choose Apple TV.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

With your desktop on the big screen, there are several ways you can take advantage of the larger viewing area. If you ... [Read more]

Are you reading this blog post on a Mac? Would you like to continue reading it on your iPhone or iPad? With Web2Go, you can beam it straight to Safari on your iOS device. Here's how it works:

First, install the 99-cent Web2Go app for your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch; it's a universal app. Next, head to the Mac App Store and install the free Web2Go companion app for your Mac.

(Credit: Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET)

Once you have both apps installed and have Web2Go on your Mac running in the background (it opens a small icon in your Mac's menu bar when running), open Web2Go on your iPhone or iPad. If both your Mac and iPhone or iPad are on the same Wi-Fi network, the iOS app when launched will automatically detect your Mac. You'll see a button that lists the title of the Web page you are currently viewing on your Mac with the name of your Mac below. Tap the button and Web2Go will open that page in Safari. Sometimes when you launch the iOS app, it opens ever so briefly before whisking you away to Safari, saving you the step of having to tap the button.

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• How to run CCleaner automatically
• Permanently delete files in Windows 7
• Stop applications from updating automatically in Windows

Lots of tools claim to be useful for your PC. Whether an application cleans out junk files, duplicates, or other nasties, a lot of the time it wants to take a spot in your right-click menu. Supposedly, this is for "your convenience," but most of us know what's convenient and what's just more bloat for Windows.

CCleaner released a recent update that added a feature that allows you to clean out random application shortcuts from the right-click menu. This is useful for those apps that either didn't give you a choice in the matter, or those that used some sneakiness to make the option go unnoticed. Additionally, it's much better (and likely safer) than manually digging through the registry.

An excessive right-click menu.

(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET)

So if you're tired of having a right-click menu that's just too bloated, here's how to remedy the issu... [Read more]

A 3D view of San Francisco in the newly-updated Google Earth app for iOS.

(Credit: Google)

Months ahead of when Apple plans to bring its own photorealistic 3D maps to iOS, Google has beaten the company to the punch.

Google today is updating its Google Earth app on Apple's platform to include the same 3D imagery it showed off in early June. That same feature rolled out to users on Google's Android in late June.

iOS users are getting those same 14 regions, including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston and others. As Google adds more 3D cities to its database, both those platforms will get them at same time.

So just how soon will Google get some more 3D cities in its repertoire? It's in the works says Peter Birch, a product manager on Google's geo team.

"By the end of this year, we're targeting getting coverage for 300 million... [Read more]