Tech Talk / By Martha Knight

Lions and tigers and Yosemite, oh my!

Yes, the new version of Apple’s OS X operating system is Yosemite, and it has been released. Apple finally ran out of cats two OSes back. Is the company going to start in with wolves and foxes and coyotes and jackels? Not likely. Nobody wants to market a product that is some kind of a canine—a dog.

So inquiring Mac owners want to know, can they run Yosemite on the Macs they own now, or do they have to either pass up the new OSX or run out and buy a newer Apple machine?

From what is known about the specs, or minimum requirements for installing Yosemite, here are the Macs what can run OS X 1-.10, aka Yosemite:

The late-2008 Aluminum MacBook, and early-2009; the late-2008 MacBook Air; Mid-to-late-2007 MacBook Pro; iMac from mid-2007; the early-2009 Mac mini; the early-2008 Mac pro; and the early-2009 Xserve.

The same requirements applied to the 10.9 Mavericks OS.

If your hardware is newer, you are good to go to Yosemite. That’s true even if you didn’t upgrade your system with a better processor, or more memory or storage.

If you are staring at your Mac and wondering exactly what vintage it is, click on the Apple, choose About This Mac, then More Info.

The big thing Apple announced last Thursday was Apple Pay. Tim Cook, Apple CEO, bragged up the mobile payment platform with much hype. It launched Monday (a few days before you read this).

Cook says another 500 banks have climbed aboard, added to the list of initial adopters. The banks will provide the necessary support to their customers in coming weeks and months.

Processing partners are said to be Visa, MasterCard, American Express through some of their issuing banks. Also, some major retailers will support ApplePay.

There are naysayers. They point out that banks will have to pay a fee to Apple to be enabled to work with its encryption system. It is believed the fee will be passed on to customers.

Meanwhile, Google Wallet has provided a virtual MasterCard at the retail purchase point. The user can enable any debit card or credit card, and gift cards.

ApplePay relies on NFC for no-contact payments. A dedicated chip called Secure Element is the hardware heart.

Will the new iPad Air and iPad Mini support Apple Pay? Think of those proud owners using their latest large and small Apple tablets in stores! Nope, won’t happen. No NFC in those. Use them for online purchases, not for point-of-sale. The touch ID capability will add a measure of convenience.

However, the new iPhone 6 line does have the necessary communication chip for POS use.

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Speaking of encryption, FBI director James Comey thinks we have too much of it. With the latest technology for keeping Big Brother, and “Father, Brother and I,” out of our email correspondence and online collaboration and messaging places, there’s what Comey calls a “significant public safety problem.”

How did this happen? Comey says this situation has arisen in a “post-Snowden world.” The echoes of Edward Snowden’s whistle blowing are still resounding.

The legal authority for government to intercept telecommunications data resides in the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which was enacted 20 years ago.  It requires network and broadband providers to build into their systems the means for government and law enforcement to intercept communications.

Government agencies are supposed to get court permission to use this capability, but Snowden’s revelations and others have shown that this has not always been the case, or that permission has been given more easily than we had supposed, and applied more broadly. “We” have been spying on our foes, our friends and ourselves. Are the motives and uses malign, or “just in case we need to find terrorists”? Lack of information, followed by disinformation, left us wondering.

But with the recent advances in encryption technology, the ability to hide communications from the bad guys and general snooping, and to protect us from hackers and crackers, phishers and cyberthugs has left government agencies scrambling to keep up.

Law enforcement could be stymied by “black spots” that block surveillance when police agencies and the FBI are seeking evidence or tracking the activities of suspected criminals, says Comey.

Encryption services and products are marketed actively in a market where there is plenty of demand.

Apple and Google have vowed to provide encryption in their mobile devices, operational by default. Android and iOS will provide what customers want, in the way of privacy.

Two-key encryption, with the customer being in charge of its use, will mean the companies will not be able to comply with government demands for access.

Users were resentful, even alarmed, when Snowden’s revelations told them that the communications they had assumed were sacrosanct had been opened to the government and harvested on a very broad scale. Some of the ire was directed toward the services, from Google to Apple to phone companies and hardware makers and “the cloud.”

In response, the companies have been promising better encryption, privacy and security.

Comey wants CALEA overhauled to make sure law enforcement and government agencies will be able to get in when they and courts deem it necessary —as defined, how?

Privacy, or protection from an increasingly dangerous world? Rights, or law enforcement? Where do we draw the lines?