Essential Apple Podcast 88: Slow News Week!

Recorded 20th May 2018

I am joined by Suffolk Pete to take a ramble down the byways of what news there actually is this week. One biggish story – and most of what you read about that was apparently wrong, and one that quite literally dumbfounded the pair of us with the sheer stupidity some people seem to display. Other than that we do our best to find a few things of interest to fill up the time.
You don’t need a special invite to join our Slack community any more, you can now just click on this Slackroom Link to join up instead!

Essential Apple Recommended Services:

33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
Sudo – Get up to 9 free “avatars” with email addresses, phone numbers and more to mask your online identity.
ProtonMail – End to end encrypted, open source, based in Switzerland. Prices start from FREE… what more can you ask?
ProtonVPN – a VPN to go with it perhaps? Prices also starting from nothing!
Fake Name Generator – So much more than names! Create whole identities (for free) with all the information you could ever need.
Pinecast – a fabulous podcast hosting service with costs that start at nothing.

Essential Apple is not affiliated with or paid to promote any of these services… We recommend services that we use ourselves and feel are either unique or outstanding in their field, or in some cases are just the best value for money in our opinion.

On this week’s show:

SUFFOLK PETE

On Twitter as @hermboy
Apple Pencil
AirPods are great
On volunteering to use Windows 10
Changing monitor for an Apple one
Nethergate Brewery
Adnams Flat White Porter was a limited edition and seems to no longer be available from Adnams at this time.

SIMON’S MENTIONS

Classic Shell
Bargain Lightning Cable Pack reduced from £40 to £5! At that price how can you go wrong?
Charge cable bracelets
- Super cheapo version
- Not sure if this is just the same one for more money
- A slightly more decorative one
- and for a somewhat more the plaited leather one
- Bsolli also have a brown leather braided one with a gold clasp
- Bsolli also offer two sizes, 8.3in or 9.1in – if you’re interested get the bigger one – I have small wrists and the smaller one is tight even on me…

APPLE

iOS developers form union to pressure Apple – OS News
Here’s how to check for – and remove – the Mac malware mshelpe – 9to5 Mac

TECHNOLOGY

Snapchat rolled out controversial redesign despite employee hesitation – 9to5 Mac
Cell phones thrown in the trash are exploding in garbage trucks and dumps – BGR

SECURITY

It has been a bad week for encrypted messaging and it’s only Wednesday – Ars Technica
No, PGP is not broken, not even with the Efail vulnerabilities – ProtonMail

IN THE NEWS

Cambridge Analytica files for bankruptcy amidst “siege” of negative attention – Ars Technica

JUST A SNIPPET

For things that are not worth more than a flypast

Windows Notepad finally plays nice with Unix, Linux and macOS code – Techradar
Don’t Skype Me: How Microsoft Turned Consumers Against a Beloved Brand – Bloomberg

WORTH-A-CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

How to speed up Apple Watch software updates dramatically – iDownload Blog

Nemo’s Hardware Store (37:02)

My Charge Home & Go Pride Edition – $35 US on Amazon
Startech Thunderbolt 3 to eSATA Adapter + USB 3.1 (10Gbps) Port – Mac / Windows – $99 US or £107 UK on Amazon
Catalyst Products – Read Warren Sklar’s MyMac review

Social Media and Slack

You can follow us on:

EssentialApple.com / Pinecast / Twitter / Facebook / Google Plus / Slack

Also a big SHOUT OUT to the members of the Slack room without whom we wouldn’t have half the stories we actually do – we thank you all for your contributions and engagement.
You can always help us out with a few pennies by using our Amazon Affiliate Link so we get a tiny kickback on anything you buy after using it.
If you really like the show that much and would like to make a regular donation then please consider joining our Patreon or using the Pinecast Tips Jar (which accepts one off or regular donations)
And a HUGE thank you to the patrons who already do.

Support The Essential Apple Podcast by contributing to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/essential-apple-show