S1E157 – Essential Apple Podcast 157: Simon does another solo show

Recorded 8th December 2019

Yes I’m back! And there is a slew of stuff to discuss, even if none of the stories are particularly “huge”. Just me this week so a shorter show than usual (Mark was going to come on but he had an unpleasant eye infection that left him extremely under the weather) But for what it is worth, here it is. Late posting again for “operational reasons” (i.e. I am just really really busy).

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

  • Listeners of this show can claim $10 off purchases of Luminar and/or Aurora HD 2019 use the coupon code EssentialApple at checkout for your extra discount!
  • Get Donny Yankellow’s 2FunDads iMessage stickers for FREE

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Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.


On this week’s show:

APPLE

  • Apple 2nd December “event” was a non event
    • But Affinity Publisher won Best Mac App…
  • Apple’s new Mac Pro will be available to order on December 10th — The Verge
  • Jonathan Ive removed from Apple’s leadership page – Engadget
  • Apple Threatens To Pull Out Of Russia Market Come 2020 – IB Times
  • How to fix the new 16-inch MacBook Pro’s clicking speakers — Cult of Mac
  • Apple just bought the first-ever batch of carbon-free aluminum — Fast Company
  • Thousands of iPhones end up in the shredder or unnecessarily scrapped every month — ZDNet

TECHNOLOGY

  • BMW No Longer Charging Monthly Fee for CarPlay in Cars With Newest Software – MacRumors
  • Smartphone ‘addiction’: Young people ‘panicky’ when denied mobiles – BBC News
  • Lunaz is electrifying beautiful but unreliable classic cars – Engadget
  • Rivers could generate thousands of nuclear power plants worth of energy, thanks to a new ‘blue’ membrane – Science Mag
  • Report: Magic Leap wanted to sell 100,000 headsets. It sold 6,000. — Mashable

SECURITY & PRIVACY

  • Lock down your Gmail like Fort Knox with Google’s Advanced Protection Program – Cnet
  • Putin signs law requiring Russian apps on smartphones, TVs and PCs – Engadget
  • LastPass bug leaks credentials from previous site – ZDNet
  • New Mac Malware Uses ‘Fileless’ Technique To Attack Stealthily – Fossbytes
  • Tricky VPN-busting bug lurks in iOS, Android, Linux distros, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, say university eggheads — The Register
  • The iPhone 11’s U1 chip necessitates constant geolocation checks, Apple says — Ars Technica

WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

  • MacUpdater keeps your Mac apps up to date effortlessly – Cult of Mac

Essential Apple Recommended Services:

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  • Sudo – Get up to 9 “avatars” with email addresses, phone numbers and more to mask your online identity. Free for the first year and priced from $0.99 US / £2.50 UK per month thereafter…
  • 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.
  • Wire – Free for personal use, open source and end to end encryted messenger and VoIP.
  • Pinecast – a fabulous podcast hosting service with costs that start from 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.


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