One thing I don't get though... http://ebolatracking.org/ - I get there's a lot of stupid people in New York, California, Texas... but Maine? Why the hell is Maine over 10000 tweets... it's mother effing Maine.
Probably because that's where that Healthcare Worker who has been making such a stink about being voluntarily Quarantined for a whole 21 days in her own house (a Quarantine she decided on her own to break today), lives.
I wonder if the CC Companies will start a "Transaction War" with CurrentC, threatening to either cut-off or raise the per-transaction fees for those retailers who sign exclusive deals with CurrentC?
Afterall, if it does catch-on, that could be a major loss of income for the CC Companies and their attendant verification services.
Companies that are for profit that want to take an even bigger cut of your money, run on public networks, and make money selling your data.
I can't say about Google Wallet; but Apple Pay takes no cut of your money, nor does it sell your data, because a sales transaction is between exactly two parties: Your bank (as your agent), and the merchant (as the other "end point"). And the Merchant doesn't get anything but a one-time transaction approval code. The Merchant has no data to sell in the case of brick and mortar stores (nor does Apple). In online transactions, you probably will be giving up your name and shipping address to the Merchant, though (duh!).
Apple does act as the intermediary between you and your bank during the setup process for a new card; but does not sell that information nor can it even decrypt the information sent back through them to update the Secure Enclave in the iOS device. Then, nothing and no-one can retrieve it directly.
Supposedly the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard. I've heard mix-messages, but the Apple person on CHAT confirmed it. However he could be wrong too.
I guess we'll find out soon.
If it is soldered, that is a sad day indeed.
Soldered. From the Apple Store page for the 'mini:
"Memory
This Mac mini comes standard with 8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory. Please note that the memory is built into the computer, so if you think you may need more memory in the future, it is important to upgrade at the time of purchase."
The memo you missed is that after some fracturing among the various open versions, they got together and formed the OpenZFS group, which does some sharing of plans and code as updates are made. Since that time, the open-source versions have matured from promising curiosities into really great implementations. The older open-source version for OS X has died, and been replaced by a derivative of the Linux version, which is a strong piece of work.
You're right, of course.
When I looked into ZFS on OS X as a way to do an ultra-fault-tolerant RAID for a friend's massive media collection (after I painstakingly recovered the data on his Buffalo RAID, as per my original post), the state of the state wasn't very promising, and so I ultimately punted on the idea. But it most certainly looks like the situation has MUCH improved, thanks in large part to the efforts of the OpenZFS Group.
Fortunately, Apple tends to listen to its Userbase pretty well, and there appears to be renewed interest among Users for full-on ZFS Support in OS X. At least we can hope...
At least OpenZFS is now compatible with the newly-released OS X 10.10 (Yosemite).
FreeBSD 10.0 will boot on ZFS, after an easy installation where you do shit on the command line but it's very easy due to the documentation. No idea about doing it on a Macintosh though. That was just a quick try in a vbox VM.
Thanks for the info!
Well, at least a few ZFS (albeit non-bootable?) versions that work at least up to Mavericks (10.9) seem to be alive and well on OS X, as seen here and here. And here is an informative forum thread from someone who has been using ZFS as his primary filesystem on OS X for over 2 years.
However, to answer the GGP's concerns about not supporting ZFS on a boot drive: If you are truly running a "Server"-type of setup, why, oh, why would you be keeping your main data stores on the System (boot) Drive, anyway? And once you are past that point, then it seems like ZFS is pretty much as "supported" on OS X as it is on most *NIX-based systems. That is to say, to a somewhat greater or lesser extent, depending on your needs/expectations.
But if does seem like ZFS on OS X is anything but a "dead" issue, at least as far as the F/OSS community is concerned. Yes, it would be very nice for Apple to take another look at full-support of ZFS, now that it has matured. Let's hope they get serious about it again someday...
It has Thunderbolt. Attach as many drives as you like.
Yeah, but ZFS with 2-disk parity does me no good for the system disk, since OS X will not boot from it. (And proprietary hardware "RAID-in-a-box" is something that I will not accept anymore.)
I'm wholeheartedly with you on the consumer-grade NAS RAIDs, been there, painstakingly recovered that...
But I thought that ZFS won't boot on any system. And that Apple was done with its fling with ZFS. Did I miss the memo?
Aside from the Mac Pro, the Mini was the only Mac that you could easily change the hard drive and memory yourself. I just had a quick look at the specs of the new mini and I can't tell if you can still do that.
Memory, yes. But changing the hard disk was not a task for ordinary mortals. (Been there, done that.)
What concerns me is the lack of any mention of dual-drive configurations. If I can't mirror the boot drive, then it just became much less useful as a small server.
I admit I couldn't find a dual drive configuration, either; but I would bet that Apple sold next to none of those before, or else they wouldn't have killed it.
But wouldn't a TB or even USB 3.0 HD be fast enough for mirroring these days? I mean, I doubt you'd be running an airline reservation or stock-brokerage on it; so what's a few milliseconds between friends?
I'm worried that the mini may go the way of the iMacs and head into being a totally sealed/pre-configured device and have no user changeable parts.
What? The iMac is anything but sealed.
True, you aren't going to find a dozen choices for a replacement mobo on the shelf at Fry's (anymore than you would for, say a Dell or HP AllInOne); but there are at least some commodity, replaceable parts in an iMac.
And as far as accessibility for repair being a bit tedious, again, I refer to other AIO designs. I would hazard a guess that changing a bad Power Supply in ANY AIO would be a painful experience. But it can be done.
So, "no user changeable parts" is simply hyperbole.
And writing this makes me cry again, because I know that there is no way that I deserved such good dogs, no matter how much I tell myself that they turned out good because of the way I treated them. They're special, and I'll always remember them.
My feelings exactly. And I cried too when I posted my previous Reply. So I know...
and a couple of dogs from two neighbors (one who thinks he lives here, and one who wants to live here:-)
The dogs, or the neighbors, want to live there?;-)
BTW, thanks for your kind words.
You know, as much as I loved my late Sister and my late Mom, I hardly EVER "talk to them". But I never, ever pass by the kitchen window (which looks upon where my two dogs are buried) without telling them they're "good boys", and/or "Daddy loves them", etc. And same thing when I pass by their graves (they're buried side-by-side in separate, home-built, quilt-lined "coffins"), I always say at least "Hi, babies!" to them...
Yes, it is a profound thing to be the instrument of death for something so innocent, loving and loved. A VERY profound thing. Even though I know academically that I was doing the right thing, you can almost NEVER know whether THEY feel it's "Time to Go"... And that is what tears me up, and will likely continue to tear me up for some time to come.
And even though we have gotten a new Mutt (all my dogs have been mixed-breed), this one a sweetie-pie male Pit Bull mix that was being abandoned by (yet another) next-door neighbor who "Couldn't take him with them...", and have already had dozens of heartwarming and funner-than-fun, laugh-out-loud moments with him, there is still a hole in my heart where my babies C.J. and Little Bit live on...
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services report on their investigation [huffingtonpost.com] found that 94% of the animals given to PETA for adoption were instead euthanized, 90% within one day.
Are you kidding me, Barbara???
Yow!!! As someone who still has nightmares about the two pets (dogs) I have had to have euthanized, one with Osteosarcoma at 17 years old in 2009, and the other with Cronic Renal Failure and Adrenal Gland Cancer at age 13 just last July, something like that makes me insane...
At the risk of getting flamed for "Godwin-ing", I just thought they were a way-over-the-top animal protection group; not the ones who had the "Final Solution" to animal cruelty...
...and the OS should have promptly informed them that they were about to run a program.
HELL, the OS probably should have informed them that the file was named in a suspicious fashion likely to cause confusion. Something like ".*." should be easy enough to spot and be on the lookout for.
The file is obviously suspicious. It does not require strong AI in order to see this.
This little bit of nonsense has been a problem for so long that Microsoft should have adapted to deal with the situation by now.
It also highlights the stupidity of hiding file extensions.
Actually the dialog that would have popped up would warn that it was downloaded from the internet, and would have supplied a link to the URL.
So...they get infected just like Windows does? Because at the shop the vast majority I see are either "user installs pirated shit, gets bug" and "Hey u want to see teh hot lezbos for free? Install 'Iz_not_Viruz_is_Codec.exe" so u can watch teh hot womens 4 free!" which it wouldn't surprise me is also being used for this attack....except you know replace lezbos with "oiled up muscle men";-)
Mods: Parent is "Informative" in exactly what way?
Unfortunately, the researchers didn't mention how the malware spreads, but they shared that it is unpacked into the/Library/Application Support/JavaW directory, poses as the application com.JavaW, and sets itself to autostart.
So for all I know, this could either be a world shattering event where by zero day exploits are being used on OSX to leverage malware.
OR it could be like the HK protesters where by you needed to J/B your phone first.
So I am reserving my panic until I know more.
And what of these mythical "Backdoors"? Isn't it convenient that the "Researchers" provide zero information on them?
Are you? Higher end Android devices can be hooked up to a USB keyboard and an HDMI equipped screen. If Windows 10 switches into desktop mode when docked with a screen, keyboard and mouse (or the phone screen becomes a glorified touchpad) then it will be the computing device I've been waiting for for over a decade. (But it probably won't, because that would cut into their sales figures.)
So, what you are saying is that the idea of One GUI To Rule Them All is a fucking joke; just like the "other side" is saying, right?
This just means your Mobile Device (which is always going to be more resource-starved than even the weakest Desktop) is going to be saddled with a bunch of Desktop GUI-cruft that it may never use, depending on the Application and User's Tastes. Because it ain't just a matter of Start Menu vs. Metro Tiles. It's a whole different paradigm.
And at least Apple is smart enough to know that. There have been some "leaks" from iOS into OS X; but if you look at them, it has been done in a very considered, and generally low-key way, largely to the benefit of the Desktop experience. Not what Redmond is foisting on the world. Simply no comparison. I'm not cheerleading Apple here; I am just saying that you simply cannot just shove a Mobile, Touch-Based UI down the Desktop-User's throat. And having a Mobile Device that has a schizoid UI that flips back and forth??? Yeah, Suzy Homemaker and Joe Sixpack are gonna dig that, yeahrightsure...
WP 8 and 8.1 are WAY better than WM6. Have you tried using a windows phone lately? It's actually a very good experience. Even Apple fanbois are starting to convert.
Yeah, something like 10 million of them converted just last weekend...
Slashdot Mirror
I blame Outbreak. http://nypdecider.files.wordpr...
One thing I don't get though... http://ebolatracking.org/ - I get there's a lot of stupid people in New York, California, Texas... but Maine? Why the hell is Maine over 10000 tweets... it's mother effing Maine.
Probably because that's where that Healthcare Worker who has been making such a stink about being voluntarily Quarantined for a whole 21 days in her own house (a Quarantine she decided on her own to break today), lives.
Does someone have an online "List" of Retailers that accept CurrentC instead of ApplePay/Google Wallet?
If that existed, we geeks would know which Retailers to boycott.
Promoted correctly, even the "normals" would get it, and perhaps ensure that this Fraud Machine (CurrentC) is stillborn.
I wonder if the CC Companies will start a "Transaction War" with CurrentC, threatening to either cut-off or raise the per-transaction fees for those retailers who sign exclusive deals with CurrentC?
Afterall, if it does catch-on, that could be a major loss of income for the CC Companies and their attendant verification services.
Companies that are for profit that want to take an even bigger cut of your money, run on public networks, and make money selling your data.
I can't say about Google Wallet; but Apple Pay takes no cut of your money, nor does it sell your data, because a sales transaction is between exactly two parties: Your bank (as your agent), and the merchant (as the other "end point"). And the Merchant doesn't get anything but a one-time transaction approval code. The Merchant has no data to sell in the case of brick and mortar stores (nor does Apple). In online transactions, you probably will be giving up your name and shipping address to the Merchant, though (duh!).
Apple does act as the intermediary between you and your bank during the setup process for a new card; but does not sell that information nor can it even decrypt the information sent back through them to update the Secure Enclave in the iOS device. Then, nothing and no-one can retrieve it directly.
I am suggesting a boycott of these two stores. Since I know for certain they accepted apple pay and then and now refusing.
Yep. That's the ticket. Adults vote with their feet.
I'm starting to think the only people they used for their focus groups were obese old people with bad vision.
Hey! I happen to be an obese old person with bad vision, you insensitive clod!
And no, I wouldn't want all-caps Menus. That actually reduces readability.
Supposedly the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard. I've heard mix-messages, but the Apple person on CHAT confirmed it. However he could be wrong too.
I guess we'll find out soon.
If it is soldered, that is a sad day indeed.
Soldered. From the Apple Store page for the 'mini: "Memory This Mac mini comes standard with 8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory. Please note that the memory is built into the computer, so if you think you may need more memory in the future, it is important to upgrade at the time of purchase."
There is a meager i7 option when "Built to order"
BUT!!!! No Quad Core i7. Still just a dual core.
That, combined with the soldered RAM has a bunch of people upset.
IIRC, there has never been a quad in the 'mini. Heat dissipation issues.
The memo you missed is that after some fracturing among the various open versions, they got together and formed the OpenZFS group, which does some sharing of plans and code as updates are made. Since that time, the open-source versions have matured from promising curiosities into really great implementations. The older open-source version for OS X has died, and been replaced by a derivative of the Linux version, which is a strong piece of work.
You're right, of course.
When I looked into ZFS on OS X as a way to do an ultra-fault-tolerant RAID for a friend's massive media collection (after I painstakingly recovered the data on his Buffalo RAID, as per my original post), the state of the state wasn't very promising, and so I ultimately punted on the idea. But it most certainly looks like the situation has MUCH improved, thanks in large part to the efforts of the OpenZFS Group.
Maybe now Apple will come around and take another look at full-support of ZFS, like what was going to happen in Snow Leopard Server, before Apple got cold feet.
Fortunately, Apple tends to listen to its Userbase pretty well, and there appears to be renewed interest among Users for full-on ZFS Support in OS X. At least we can hope...
At least OpenZFS is now compatible with the newly-released OS X 10.10 (Yosemite).
FreeBSD 10.0 will boot on ZFS, after an easy installation where you do shit on the command line but it's very easy due to the documentation. No idea about doing it on a Macintosh though. That was just a quick try in a vbox VM.
Thanks for the info!
Well, at least a few ZFS (albeit non-bootable?) versions that work at least up to Mavericks (10.9) seem to be alive and well on OS X, as seen here and here. And here is an informative forum thread from someone who has been using ZFS as his primary filesystem on OS X for over 2 years.
However, to answer the GGP's concerns about not supporting ZFS on a boot drive: If you are truly running a "Server"-type of setup, why, oh, why would you be keeping your main data stores on the System (boot) Drive, anyway? And once you are past that point, then it seems like ZFS is pretty much as "supported" on OS X as it is on most *NIX-based systems. That is to say, to a somewhat greater or lesser extent, depending on your needs/expectations.
But if does seem like ZFS on OS X is anything but a "dead" issue, at least as far as the F/OSS community is concerned. Yes, it would be very nice for Apple to take another look at full-support of ZFS, now that it has matured. Let's hope they get serious about it again someday...
The mini wouldn't be a bad way to go... it's not that expensive and I can still use my 27" monitor.
Was thinking the same. The good specs and lower price make the new Mini quite attractive desktop.
Speaking of specs, does anyone know why there is no i7 configuration, or did I miss a BTO option?
It has Thunderbolt. Attach as many drives as you like.
Yeah, but ZFS with 2-disk parity does me no good for the system disk, since OS X will not boot from it. (And proprietary hardware "RAID-in-a-box" is something that I will not accept anymore.)
I'm wholeheartedly with you on the consumer-grade NAS RAIDs, been there, painstakingly recovered that...
But I thought that ZFS won't boot on any system. And that Apple was done with its fling with ZFS. Did I miss the memo?
Aside from the Mac Pro, the Mini was the only Mac that you could easily change the hard drive and memory yourself. I just had a quick look at the specs of the new mini and I can't tell if you can still do that.
Memory, yes. But changing the hard disk was not a task for ordinary mortals. (Been there, done that.)
What concerns me is the lack of any mention of dual-drive configurations. If I can't mirror the boot drive, then it just became much less useful as a small server.
I admit I couldn't find a dual drive configuration, either; but I would bet that Apple sold next to none of those before, or else they wouldn't have killed it.
But wouldn't a TB or even USB 3.0 HD be fast enough for mirroring these days? I mean, I doubt you'd be running an airline reservation or stock-brokerage on it; so what's a few milliseconds between friends?
I'm worried that the mini may go the way of the iMacs and head into being a totally sealed/pre-configured device and have no user changeable parts.
What? The iMac is anything but sealed.
True, you aren't going to find a dozen choices for a replacement mobo on the shelf at Fry's (anymore than you would for, say a Dell or HP AllInOne); but there are at least some commodity, replaceable parts in an iMac.
And as far as accessibility for repair being a bit tedious, again, I refer to other AIO designs. I would hazard a guess that changing a bad Power Supply in ANY AIO would be a painful experience. But it can be done.
So, "no user changeable parts" is simply hyperbole.
And writing this makes me cry again, because I know that there is no way that I deserved such good dogs, no matter how much I tell myself that they turned out good because of the way I treated them. They're special, and I'll always remember them.
My feelings exactly. And I cried too when I posted my previous Reply. So I know...
and a couple of dogs from two neighbors (one who thinks he lives here, and one who wants to live here :-)
The dogs, or the neighbors, want to live there? ;-)
BTW, thanks for your kind words.
You know, as much as I loved my late Sister and my late Mom, I hardly EVER "talk to them". But I never, ever pass by the kitchen window (which looks upon where my two dogs are buried) without telling them they're "good boys", and/or "Daddy loves them", etc. And same thing when I pass by their graves (they're buried side-by-side in separate, home-built, quilt-lined "coffins"), I always say at least "Hi, babies!" to them...
Yes, it is a profound thing to be the instrument of death for something so innocent, loving and loved. A VERY profound thing. Even though I know academically that I was doing the right thing, you can almost NEVER know whether THEY feel it's "Time to Go"... And that is what tears me up, and will likely continue to tear me up for some time to come.
And even though we have gotten a new Mutt (all my dogs have been mixed-breed), this one a sweetie-pie male Pit Bull mix that was being abandoned by (yet another) next-door neighbor who "Couldn't take him with them...", and have already had dozens of heartwarming and funner-than-fun, laugh-out-loud moments with him, there is still a hole in my heart where my babies C.J. and Little Bit live on...
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services report on their investigation [huffingtonpost.com] found that 94% of the animals given to PETA for adoption were instead euthanized, 90% within one day.
Are you kidding me, Barbara???
Yow!!! As someone who still has nightmares about the two pets (dogs) I have had to have euthanized, one with Osteosarcoma at 17 years old in 2009, and the other with Cronic Renal Failure and Adrenal Gland Cancer at age 13 just last July, something like that makes me insane...
At the risk of getting flamed for "Godwin-ing", I just thought they were a way-over-the-top animal protection group; not the ones who had the "Final Solution" to animal cruelty...
Nobody would buy such a computer. They already tried to float that boat, and it sank.
I think they will try it again with some version of the Surface Pro. Trust me, MS is full-steam-ahead these days with "Software As A Service".
...and the OS should have promptly informed them that they were about to run a program.
HELL, the OS probably should have informed them that the file was named in a suspicious fashion likely to cause confusion. Something like ".*." should be easy enough to spot and be on the lookout for.
The file is obviously suspicious. It does not require strong AI in order to see this.
This little bit of nonsense has been a problem for so long that Microsoft should have adapted to deal with the situation by now.
It also highlights the stupidity of hiding file extensions.
Actually the dialog that would have popped up would warn that it was downloaded from the internet, and would have supplied a link to the URL.
How can Macs be for homosexuals when it's Windows that is designed to be backdoored . . .
LOL! You've made my day...
So...they get infected just like Windows does? Because at the shop the vast majority I see are either "user installs pirated shit, gets bug" and "Hey u want to see teh hot lezbos for free? Install 'Iz_not_Viruz_is_Codec.exe" so u can watch teh hot womens 4 free!" which it wouldn't surprise me is also being used for this attack....except you know replace lezbos with "oiled up muscle men" ;-)
Mods: Parent is "Informative" in exactly what way?
But then .. from TFA
Unfortunately, the researchers didn't mention how the malware spreads, but they shared that it is unpacked into the /Library/Application Support/JavaW directory, poses as the application com.JavaW, and sets itself to autostart.
So for all I know, this could either be a world shattering event where by zero day exploits are being used on OSX to leverage malware.
OR it could be like the HK protesters where by you needed to J/B your phone first.
So I am reserving my panic until I know more.
And what of these mythical "Backdoors"? Isn't it convenient that the "Researchers" provide zero information on them?
Windows 7 is simply Microsoft's best operating system ever.
As a user of both Windows and OS X, I would wholeheartedly agree.
Too bad Microsoft threw it away...
Are you? Higher end Android devices can be hooked up to a USB keyboard and an HDMI equipped screen. If Windows 10 switches into desktop mode when docked with a screen, keyboard and mouse (or the phone screen becomes a glorified touchpad) then it will be the computing device I've been waiting for for over a decade. (But it probably won't, because that would cut into their sales figures.)
So, what you are saying is that the idea of One GUI To Rule Them All is a fucking joke; just like the "other side" is saying, right?
This just means your Mobile Device (which is always going to be more resource-starved than even the weakest Desktop) is going to be saddled with a bunch of Desktop GUI-cruft that it may never use, depending on the Application and User's Tastes. Because it ain't just a matter of Start Menu vs. Metro Tiles. It's a whole different paradigm.
And at least Apple is smart enough to know that. There have been some "leaks" from iOS into OS X; but if you look at them, it has been done in a very considered, and generally low-key way, largely to the benefit of the Desktop experience. Not what Redmond is foisting on the world. Simply no comparison. I'm not cheerleading Apple here; I am just saying that you simply cannot just shove a Mobile, Touch-Based UI down the Desktop-User's throat. And having a Mobile Device that has a schizoid UI that flips back and forth??? Yeah, Suzy Homemaker and Joe Sixpack are gonna dig that, yeahrightsure...
WP 8 and 8.1 are WAY better than WM6. Have you tried using a windows phone lately? It's actually a very good experience. Even Apple fanbois are starting to convert.
Yeah, something like 10 million of them converted just last weekend...
To another iPhone.
Idiot.