The Wide, Wide World of Apple

[Barrister]

Huh - I just saw this:

Apple owns up to odd—but serious—Snow Leopard data-loss bug
A serious data-loss bug is affecting a small percentage of users who have upgraded to Snow Leopard and use guest accounts. Though Apple says the bug is "rare," it is working on a solution.

By Chris Foresman | Last updated October 13, 2009 1:25 PM CTText Size   Print this article Leave a comment  Snow Leopard has, in our experience, been a mostly problem-free upgrade. However, an unusual and potentially serious bug has been identified related to guest accounts and Snow Leopard upgrades. Unfortunately, using a guest account has the potential to wipe your own user account clean of all data, though Apple has acknowledged that it is aware of the problem and is working on a solution.

The problem doesn't affect every Snow Leopard user—it seems to be linked to changes in the way guest accounts are handled between Leopard and Snow Leopard. To trigger the bug, a machine running Leopard with the guest account feature enabled must be updated to Snow Leopard. The next time the guest account is accessed, it appears to wipe the user's main home directory clean, as if it were also a guest account.

"We are aware of the issue, which occurs only in extremely rare cases, and we are working on a fix," an Apple spokesperson said in a statement Monday.

MacFixIt first noted the problem in early September, as users who experienced the problem began posting about the issue in Apple's support forums. Later, MacFixit identified a way to avoid the problem: disable the guest account before updating, and re-enable it after updating. Or better yet, if you don't really need guest accounts, just leave them turned off.

Unfortunately, unless you have a recent Time Machine or other backup, your data may be gone for good—unless you're willing to pay for an expensive data recovery process. But then again, Ars readers are they sort that have regular backups, right?

Apple is currently seeding a beta of Mac OS X 10.6.2 to developers for testing, though there is no information that it addresses this bug specifically. Given the potential for massive data loss, though, we expect that fixing the problem is a priority for Mac OS X engineers.

Good to know, since I have a guest account enabled (but it's never used) and have upgraded to SL.  I'll disable guest tonight.

[Neil]

If you just want a computer that works, without any fiddling around with accounts and whatnot, better just get a PC.

[Barrister]

If you just want a computer that works, without any fiddling around with accounts and whatnot, better just get a PC.

I've done far, far more fiddling with PCs than I have on my Mac.

But no, Apple is not perfect.

[derspiess]

Beeb-- Cnet did a "Prize Fight" between the Zune HD & 3rd Gen Ipod Touch.  I disagree with a couple particular comments they had on the Zune HD, but I can't disagree with the overall result.  I think the Zune HD compared really well for a first-gen device.

http://reviews.cnet.com/2722-6490_7-285.html

I've had people at work ask me if I'd recommend the Zune HD over the Touch, and in a couple cases I had to recommend the Touch because of the apps.  But I still recommend the Zune HD to anyone who wants a richer media experience.

[MadImmortalMan]

http://www.dickipedia.org/dick.php?title=Steve_Jobs

Steve Jobs
From Dickipedia - A Wiki of Dicks
Steve Jobs (born Steven Paul Jobs on February 24, 1955) is the CEO, chairman, and co-founder of Apple Inc., as well as the founder of cutting edge animation studio Pixar, thereby making him the dick to thank for a seemingly endless cavalcade of anthropomorphized machines, talking insects, and/or tow trucks voiced by Larry the Cable Guy.

Steve Jobs is a new school dick. In direct refutation of the traditional dick that still dominates both the business and academic worlds, Jobs masks his dickitude with a hip, user-friendly interface.

Along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Jobs helped popularize the personal computer in the late 1970s. He was also responsible for developing the mouse, an invention that not only revolutionized home computing, but also forced millions of men to switch over to left-handed masturbation.

Jobs is widely considered responsible for the Apple brand's sleek functionality. This has earned him a devoted, almost cult-like following, especially amongst two other new school dick populations: freelance graphic designers and adult-aged trust fund babies who have nothing better to do with their weekday afternoons than pack their iBooks into a messenger bag and head over to Ozzie's Coffee in Park Slope, Brooklyn, to continue working on the mission statement for yet another "non-profit" they're starting.

No matter how many PC users he manages to convert, Steve Jobs will always totally sweat Bill Gates' jock.



Early years

Steve Jobs began crafting stylishly elegant housing for his powerful egomania from the moment of his birth in San Francisco, the "Golden Dick City," on February 24, 1955. He shares this birthday with fellow hipster hero Joe Lieberman, and Hollywood heartthrob Abe Vigoda.

Jobs grew up the son of a "repo" man for a local "finance" company in Cupertino, California, a town whose other famous sons include one of the drummers for Primus and the guy who played head "terranaut" in that movie The Core, the 2003 sci-fi catastrophe that spelled the beginning of the end for Hilary Swank. Interestingly enough, Cupertino is not only home to the headquarters of Apple Inc., but also Symantec, Sun Microsystems, and other wannabe playas who wish they could techno-pimp half as big as Apple.

Unlike many Fortune 500 CEOs, Steve Jobs attended noted druggie school Reed College, where, sure enough, he became a druggie. Like many druggies, he got a job in video gaming. Then, he went on a pilgrimage to India, center of both mysticism and computer science. It was a spiritual journey that brought Jobs right back to Atari, where, possibly under the influence of LSD, he and Wozniak developed a souped-up version of Breakout, creatively called "Super Breakout."

Apple I

Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple Computer Co. in 1976 and introduced their first personal computer, the similarly creatively named Apple I, which they priced at $666.66, a number Wozniak is said to have arrived at because he liked repeating digits. Also, he is a Satanist. It was the computer's second iteration, Apple II: The Edge of Reason, that turned Apple into a publicly traded company, and Jobs into a multi-millionaire.

However, it wasn't all IPOs and Orwellian TV commercials for Jobs, who was fired by the guy he had hired as Apple CEO just a year earlier. It takes a pretty big dick to get fired from your own company.

Intermission

Because John Ratzenberger wasn't getting enough voice work, Steve Jobs bought George Lucas' computer graphics division, though unfortunately not before it could create Jar-Jar Binks. Renamed Pixar, the company produced several box office hits. Then Jobs sold it to The Walt Disney Company for $7.4 billion in stock, thus making him the single largest shareholder of the single largest dick corporation on earth.

Apple II

In 1996, Apple bought NeXT computers, another company Jobs founded, and within two years Jobs was back as Apple CEO. Many NeXT technologies found their way into Apple products, most importantly the development of the "lowercase i," which, when added to the beginning of any product name, will make people want to buy it.

Managerial style

As a CEO, Jobs is known for being a geek who likes to be feared, supposedly wielding firings as his weapon of choice. Though he proudly boasts the Guinness World Record for "Lowest Paid Chief Executive Officer," with a yearly salary of $1, that's mostly so he can dick the IRS out of tens of millions of dollars. Maybe he's not so new school after all.

Personal Life

Steve Jobs fancies himself a hippie, even going so far as to have dated Joan Baez. Of course, there aren't many hippies who run a company whose net worth exceeds $5 billion, or who ban books from their retail stores.

Although Jobs claims not to eat meat or poultry, he does occasionally eat fish. This type of vegetarian is known as a lazy hypocrite.

Jobs was one of the first CEOs to wear mock turtlenecks. Now they're all doing it.

Honors

In 2007, Steve Jobs was named Most Powerful Businessman by Fortune Magazine. If that dick distinction—or "dickstinction"—doesn't close the book on his dickishness, then what does? Oh, maybe this: less than a week and a half later, he was inducted into the California Hall of Fame. By Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Steve Job

A "Steve job" is slang for a sexual maneuver in which one partner reams the other with an iPhone until he or she finally gives in, heads down to the Apple Store, and shells out $500 for one.

[Barrister]

No doubt about it - Steve Jobs is a world-class dick.

But he makes such wonderful consumer electronics...

[BuddhaRhubarb]

he's trolling, beeb. Snow Leopard is small upgrade, that from all reports works fine.

I dunno.  I just saw some story on Google News about how there were some reports of problems and data loss, and figured that Mac has come to an end and all their little foot soldiers would have dogs eating their stomachs in the desert.

Only stupid people are brand conscious.  :meh:

[BuddhaRhubarb]

It's amazing how much work goes into crap like that dickipedia thing. to be only heh/meh worthy. The interwebs FAIL again. Jobs is a CEO and by that reason alone has no choice but to be a dick... there's no way around that.

[grumbler]

It's amazing how much work goes into crap like that dickipedia thing. to be only heh/meh worthy. The interwebs FAIL again. Jobs is a CEO and by that reason alone has no choice but to be a dick... there's no way around that.

True, but they could present the dickishness in a genuinely amusing way, as opposed to this sophomoric-amusing way.

Agree it is a waste of lifespan to read, but am glad the authors of it are wasting lifespan on something so easily ignored, as opposed to, say, smearing their shit on walls.

[Caliga]

Jobs is a CEO and by that reason alone has no choice but to be a dick... there's no way around that.

[Ed Anger]

Jobs is a CEO and by that reason alone has no choice but to be a dick... there's no way around that.

Management is evil.

[Caliga]

Management is evil.

But a dick...? 

[Ed Anger]

Management is evil.

But a dick...? 

I'd generally say yes. Or at least an asshole.

[Barrister]

I just found out that Bell Canada (and Telus) will start to sell the iPhone next month.

Why is this important?

Previously iPhone could only be had through Rogers, which offers zero service in the Yukon.  But Bell Canada owns our local company, so it does offer service.

Which means that I'm getting an iPhone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ed Anger]

I just found out that Bell Canada (and Telus) will start to sell the iPhone next month.

Why is this important?

Previously iPhone could only be had through Rogers, which offers zero service in the Yukon.  But Bell Canada owns our local company, so it does offer service.

Which means that I'm getting an iPhone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll throw a party in its honor.