ExtraBITS for 1 February 2016
In this week’s ExtraBITS roundup, you can ask questions of the co-creator of the legendary game The Oregon Trail, Security Editor Rich Mogull offers travel security tips in a Macworld podcast, and The New Yorker gives a humorous look at the next version of OS X.
An “Ask Me Anything” with the Co-Creator of The Oregon Trail — Remember the Oregon Trail game, which was a mainstay on Apple computers dating back to the Apple II? One of its co-creators, Don Rawitsch, is currently taking questions in one of Reddit’s “Ask Me Anything” threads, where users can ask him anything they want. To see Rawitsch’s replies, look for the blue-highlighted “donoregontrail” username. In case you were curious, Rawitsch clarifies that he personally has never suffered from dysentery. (The game phrase “You have died of dysentery”
has been popularized on T-shirts.)
Rich Mogull Gives Paranoid Travel Tips on the Macworld Podcast — TidBITS Security Editor Rich Mogull joined Glenn Fleishman and Susie Ochs on the latest Macworld Podcast to discuss recent Apple security issues, but the discussion quickly turned to travel, with Rich offering tips on digital security while traveling, especially when crossing borders and visiting hostile countries. If you’re headed to another country and are concerned about your data and devices, it’s worth a listen.
New Yorker Spills the Beans on the Next OS X Release — Writing for The New Yorker with tongue firmly planted in cheek, Greg Tannen channels what Apple’s release note writers really want to say in a joke piece about the upcoming OS X Haleakalā. (“No, don’t bother trying to spell it. It took us three tries, and we made the damn thing. Anyway, Haleakalā National Park is in Hawaii, which we thought was cool, and we’re doing this whole national-parks name thing . . . so, well, there you go. Haleakalā!”) Go read the full article, but not right now if it would be
inappropriate to find yourself giggling in public.