During the special event today Apple announced the worldwide availability of OS X Mavericks. The tenth major release of OS X brings technological advancements, new apps and battery enhancements to the Mac.

Apple is beginning a new pricing model for its software updates of OS X with the release of Mavericks. Today Apple announced that OS X Mavericks will be available for free as a digital download from the Mac App Store.

The tenth major version of OS X brings iBooks and Maps app to the Mac for the first time. Users will now be able to read and buy books from their Macs. Maps app provides directions, street view and integrates with Calendar app.

Safari includes shared links from your social networking accounts like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. It also bring significant speed and performance improvements to the browsing experience.

OS X Mavericks brings new ways to organise your files by assigning tags to each file. Multiple tags can be assigned to a single file to make it easier for you find a file and organise your work flow. Finder now also includes tabbed browsing to avoid the clutter of multiple Finder windows taking up your screen space.

One of the most notable features in the new software update is iCloud Keychain. This allows you to upload your log in details from the KeyChain Access app to iCloud and autofill your username and passwords. This would also be available to iOS devices in a new update.

Advanced technologies included in the update make it more energy efficient and make your Mac more responsive even as you use more apps. One of the ways the company has accomplished this by introducing App Nap and Safari Power Saver. These features allot more resources to the app in the forefront while slowing the apps in the background.

OS X Mavericks is now available for download for free from the Mac App Store. Follow the download link here. The update comes at 5.29GB.

iPhone 5s Touch ID fingerprint sensor has been bypassed by a German hacker, who claims the process was fairly easy. When Apple announced the new iPhone 5s with fingerprint scanning technology the security and reliability of the new feature was questioned by many.

Earlier this month we published an analysis of the new biometric sensor by a security technologist who said, “… someone with a good enough copy of your fingerprint and some rudimentary materials engineering capability — or maybe just a good enough printer — can authenticate his way into your iPhone”. His analysis has now been proved to be accurate as the hacker whose nickname is ‘Starbug’ described the entire process as “trivial”.

The tools used to bypass the Touch ID  fingerprint sensor included scanning fingerprint from the front screen, high-res laser printer and printed circuit board etching kit. It took the hacker 30 hours for his first attempt but he claims that with proper setup the bypass can be accomplished within 30 minutes. The video shows the detailed process and even though the hacker claims the process is easy it does require skill, knowledge and experience to perform the hack.

iPhone 5s allows up-to 5 failed attempted and then locks the device with the fallback passcode. So, if someone manages to steal your iPhone, they would have only five trails to attempt a successful unlock. Also, it’s worth noting that Apple has included mandatory passcode unlock if the iPhone reboots or hasn’t been unlocked for 48 hours.

It is a well known fact that even the passcode can be bypassed using advanced software tools however, with the new activation lock thieves would possibly not be interested in stealing your phone. With activation lock the iPhone requires your Apple ID and password to turn off Find My iPhone, erase the device or reactivate and use the device.

Touch ID in the new iPhone 5s is an attempt by Apple to encourage more users to secure their device by setting a passcode yet not having to face the trouble to enter it again by again. You just place your finger over the home button and within 1-2 seconds the device unlocks.

Even though Apple’s Touch ID has been bypassed for the average user this shouldn’t be of much concern. Performing the hack to unlock the device would could still render the device useless without the Apple ID and password. The personal data can also be remote wiped anytime using Find My iPhone service.

What seemed to be happening was that some hacked individuals iTunes accounts, that have been readily available on the Chinese Black Market for some time, were being used to game App Store metrics and push a certain developer’s apps up to the top of the App Store rankings. Thus generating sales for them.

The apps themselves were mostly copyright infringing copies of Japanese Manga that the developer had duplicated and was selling under his own name. Apple were fairly quick to react when developers used to occupying those rankings on the App Store were bumped down by an influx of these fairly dodgy looking Vietnamese apps. Upon investigation the website for the developer was shown to not even be real.

Phil Schiller got involved over the weekend and contacted these, and other concerned developers to tell them that Apple were looking into it. The errant developer was fairly quickly removed from the App Store, along with all of his apps.

And today Apple issued this statement on the issue…

The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns.

Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded.

If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about cancelling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorised transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.

When you consider just how many iTunes accounts there are, and how many probably have passwords with people’s pet’s names, or their favourite food – despite users always being advised to use more secure passwords – it is hardly surprising that accounts get hacked from time to time. As long as you are using a decent password for your iTunes account, and only connect via Apple’s site, or iTunes then you should be OK.

If you are concerned about your account or credit card being on file with Apple, then perhaps consider using a card with a lower limit, or taking your card off when you are not using the account. Or perhaps use PayPal as a payment option.

At the end of the day this was not a massive hack on the iTunes store, and you are no more likely to be exposed through iTunes to this kind of thing than you are when using your credit card in a real store or on any other web site like Amazon for example. As long as you use sensible passwords, and practice fairly common sense protocols when shopping online!

The point is that this is not an “Apple Issue”, it’s an internet issue, but with Apple being so high profile at the moment people love to jump on these stories and blow them out of all proportion.

Personally I think Apple reacted very quickly to this problem, and seem to have cleared the whole thing up quite satisfactorily.

Are you worried about the security of iTunes? Have you had your account hacked? Let us know in the comments…