Instapaper posted a thoughtful analysis on the future of Instapaper in a post-iOS5 Reading List world.

If you’re not familiar, Reading List is a new feature for Safari that allows you to quickly flag a page with the intent to read it later. It  automatically strips the article of all sidebars, ads and other distractions that may take away from the content of the article. It also syncs between devices.  Basically, it’s Apple’s take on Instapaper or Read It Later.  But will it replace these services?  Read on..

instapaper:

A lot of people have asked these questions on Twitter or via email since the WWDC keynote last week, so I’ve consolidated my answers here:

Will Safari’s Reading List feature “kill” Instapaper?

I highly doubt it.

But I’m not standing still. I’m preparing some great updates for the coming…

Although I’m not particularly surprised by the results, it’s pretty interesting to see the raw numbers.

It’s also interesting (and somewhat ridiculous) that Apple deleted this app from the App Store after hearing about its passcode tracking. I find that ridiculous, considering passcode “thievery” is a non-issue unless you have physical access to the device you harvested the passcode from. Hopefully that gets resolved soon.

Apple rolled out a security hotfix today that patches the only flaw that Mac Defender exploited: Human ignorance.

This message appears upon downloading Mac Defender, which is known for taking advantage of Safari’s default settings to download and open itself automatically as soon as the browser visits a carrying page. Now hopefully users won’t be so quick to intentionally enter their account information, allowing the software’s installer to take control. Thanks Apple!

I’m fascinated by today’s consumer-level viruses. It’s incredible how easy it is for rogue security viruses to fool the average user into giving their credit card information. Almost one in every five customers I support will have paid for the fake anti-virus that is holding their computer hostage.

What’s even more fascinating are the latest attempts at fooling Mac users with the same variations of malware. On Windows machines, most infections break in through exploits in web browsers and their plugins, essentially forcing their way into your machine. But on Macs, there currently are no software exploits. So instead, Mac Defender and other Mac malware must exploit the intelligence of the user by displaying a phony Finder window:

The user must then install the malware as they would any other software. Essentially the user is willingly installing the software.

I haven’t run into too many Mac Defender infections in the wild. Unfortunately, judging by the rate at which Mac Defender is branching into alternate names and installation schemes, I’m predicting several more Mac customers coming to me with infections by the end of the year. Thankfully they’re easy to fix and Apple seems to be on the case, but now that the public eye has seen how easy it is to abuse the average Mac user, I’m sure this is only the beginning of something terrible.

Although it did not break any rules, controversial app iCapitalism was rejected from the iOS App Store.  Ordinarily I would be upset, but here is an excerpt from the game’s description:

How do I play?
Click on the Play tab. Then click Increase Your Level. You will be presented with a list of level upgrades you can purchase with real money.

So there’s really no skill involved?
None at all! The person who pays us the most wins. The rest are displayed on a leaderboard in descending order.

Does my money get me anything besides a higher spot on the leaderboard?
When you increase your level you can enter a custom message. All other players can see this when you’re on leaderboard. The top payer player becomes the “Head Honcho,” and their (inevitably more important) message will be the first thing everyone sees when they boot the app.

Basically, it’s a Facebook freemium game that openly admits to being a money mill.

Although it would be an interesting social experiment, there is no way this would ever work with Apple’s current In-App Purchase model. If you thought the Smurf Village or iRich controversies were bad…