Type of Article: MacNews News Article

Since its creation in 2006, (RED) has worked to help the more than 37 million people living with HIV across the globe.

This World AIDS Day, Apple celebrates a record year of giving with over $30 million raised for the Global Fund, equating to 144 million days of ARV medication that prevents the transmission of HIV from mothers to their unborn babies. Over the past 11 years, Apple customers have helped provide an equivalent of 475 million days of lifesaving medication.

Apple has released Security Update 2017-001 to fix a vulnerability that enables access to the root superuser with a blank password on any Mac running macOS High Sierra version 10.3.1.

Yesterday afternoon Lemi Orhan Ergin set off a firestorm on Twitter when he revealed a glaring security issue in MacOS High Sierra—anyone can login as “root” with no password required. It turns out that the issue in question works with any authentication dialog in High Sierra.

The Pixelmator Team has released Pixelmator Pro, codenamed Whirlwind, which includes a modern single-window interface, nondestructive, GPU-powered image editing tools, machine learning-enhanced editing features, and more.

“Its innovative, user-centered design makes editing images on a Mac simpler than ever, Saulius Dailide, one of the founders of the Pixelmator Team, said. “And with its GPU-powered and machine learning-enhanced editing tools, Pixelmator Pro is built for the future.”

Apple has scheduled downtime for iTunes Connect from Dec. 23-27, so its employees can celebrate the holidays. iTunes Connect is a suite of web-based tools for managing content sold on iTunes, the iBooks Store, and the various app stores. 

New apps and app updates won’t be accepted during those dates, so any releases should be submitted, approved, and scheduled in advance. Other iTunes Connect and developer account features will remain available.