The MagSafe adaptor (or, more specifically, the connector) is one aspect of Apple notebooks that I really like.  If you've not seen one it's a power connector that attaches to the notebook using a magnetic connector.  This provides a robust and easy to hook up power feed while at the same time offering protection against your notebook hitting the floor should someone trip on the cable.

It's a simple and elegant solution, but there is a hidden complexity - not all adaptors are the same.  In fact, in the US there seems to be five different MacBook/macBook Pro/MacBook Air adaptors.  These are documented on the Apple website.

If you have multiple Apple notebooks, you want to keep track of which adaptor fits each Mac.

(Hat tip to David Morgenstern - The Apple Core)

Hours after Firefox 2.0.0.12 is released, a serious vulnerability is discovered.

You probably thought otherwise after they just released version 2.0.0.12. a couple of hours ago, that had a fix for numerous other vulnerabilities. But guess what? we are going to see 2.0.0.13 pretty soon I guess. I snared at Mozilla before: don't patch vulnerabilities for fifty percent, take the time and fix the cause. Because directory traversal through plugins is all nice and such, we don't need it. We can trick Firefox itself in traversing directories back. I found another information leak that is very serious because we are able to read out all preferences set in Firefox, or just open or include about every file stored in the Mozilla program files directory, and this without any mandatory settings or plugins.

I guess we'll be seing 2.0.0.13 soon.

Several people have emailed me wanting to know what the MD5 hash for the Windows Vista SP1 RTM is.  I guess these folks are looking to get their hands on a copy in some other way than from Microsoft.

The disc I received from Microsoft contains two packages - one for 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) Windows, and the MD5 hashes of these files are as follows:

• 32-bit (434MB): d597866e93bc8f80ecca234c4e9ce5a2
• 64-bit (726MB): 983308426e8ee7649f53b41f4e5c42d4

Here's what Microsoft has in store for us next Tuesday:

Critical:

• 7 critical updates.  Some updates will require a restart.

Important:

• 5 important updates.  Some updates will require a restart.

These updates apply to Windows, Office, Internet Explorer and Visual Basic.

Question: I'm building a PC for the first time and I've got it working (Woo Hoo!) but one thing that I haven't figured out is how to get the headphone/mic sockets on the front of the case to work.  I've found a cable with a load of connectors on it marked MIC, GND and RET_L and stuff but can't find where they connect to on the motherboard or soundcard.  Any help you could offer would be appreciated.

Building a PC is becoming easier and easier - if you can put a jigsaw together, you should be fine putting a PC together.  In fact, hooking up the front panel audio is one of the trickiest parts - it's certainly the bit I find fiddliest!

You've found the right cables (the one's marked MIC, GND and RET_L and so on), now you need to find the connector head for these cables on the motherboard.  It looks like this:

If you can't find this you need to take a look at the manual for your motherboard and/or sound card.  Look for a connector head called AC 97, Intel Front Panel Audio, IFPA or just front panel audio (if you only see a connector for HD Audio, this is different and almost no cases will hook up to these - you'll have to buy a separate panel).

Once you've found this, you need to sort out the connectors and hook them up to the appropriate pin in this way:

• Pin 1 - MIC
• Pin 2 - GND (Ground)
• Pin 3 - MIC PWR
• Pin 4 - GND
• Pin 5 - OUT_R
• Pin 6 - RET_R
• Pin 7 - AUD_PWR (chances are you won't have this one)
• Pin 8 - Doesn't exist
• Pin 9 - OUT_L
• Pin 10 - RET_L

This can be a fiddly job so take your time and use a pair of tweezers if you find your fingers to be too big.