News Round Up 7/15: Old OS’s Don’t Die, UK Apple Pay, iBook Author, More Flash Exploits, Comic Con Trailers

You Released An Update For WHAT?

When an OS gets an update 22 years after its release, you’re right to assume that it’s some weird industrial controller or obscure banking software. Of course Apple II fans are a crazy bunch that have kept the torch alive for Apple’s old school systems, including the Apple II GS. I’m not sure if anyone reading Macgasm still has an Apple II GS humming away in their basement, but it’s great to see the enthusiasm that defines Apple users carries over to keeping the old stuff alive. Check out the release notes at A.P.P.L.E.

Apple Pay In The U.K.

You can sing that along to the Anarchy in the UK. Hey, I wonder if you can use your Sex Pistols credit card in Apple Pay? If you’re a UK iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch user, you can now use Apple Pay. According to App Advice there are some odd restrictions in place when compared to the US service, especially a limit of £20 for each transaction. This is likely due to concerns about fraud expressed by UK banks.

iBooks Author Updated

Though iBooks was never the success that Apple had envisioned it, iBook Author allowed for some pretty cool features. The tool was limited to selling eBooks in the iBooks store, but the latest release allows you to create generic ePub files that you can sell and use on non-Apple devices. That does mean that you’ll lose a lot of the bells and whistles that make iBooks unique. However, as iMore reports, this is still a really great eBook editor for the Mac.

Another Day Another Flash Exploit

Hot on the heels of the last big update for a Flash 0-day. There’s yet another update coming out to patch another exploit found in the Hacking Team files. As Ars Technica reports, Firefox has just decided to block Flash by default. At this point home users just need to remove the plug in altogether. (Which just happens to be my tip this week.) Unfortunately enterprise users are likely stuck with an app or two that requires flash, including some heavy duty stuff like VMWare’s Sphere. Your best bet may be sticking to Chrome and removing Flash from your system.

Comic-Con Trailer Round Up

We heard you like round ups so much, that we put a round up in your round up. I spend most of my time just barely keeping up on the Apple news every day, meaning that I miss a lot of the pop culture news. Thankfully, Wired has a round up of everything that was announced at Comic Con. This includes the heavy hitters like Star Wars, Suicide Squad, Doctor Who, and Ash Vs. The Evil Dead.

Featured Macgasm Deals 

  • GoSafe 520 Dashcam
  • Learn Docker from Scratch
  • Speedy 50W 5-Port USB Charger
Mac geek? Gamer? Why not both? Mike is a writer from Wisconsin who enjoys wasting immense amounts of time on the Internet. You can follow him on Twitter.