Recorded 15th March 2020
WWDC goes virtual (no surprise there), people are already making predictions based on the image, iOS14 leaks predict homescreen list view. Microsoft take down a zombie botnet and Bill Gates steps down from the board. But more important than all of that for this show we are joined but Andrius Gailiunas of Pixelmator to update us on what they’re up to. Also Andrius and I talk a bit about COVID-19 in the “Not the show” section at the end.
GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS
- Get Donny Yankellow’s 2FunDads iMessage stickers for FREE
Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!
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:
ANDRIUS GAILIUNAS
- @pixelmator on Twitter
- andriusg@pixelmator.com
- www.pixelmator.com
APPLE
- Apple’s WWDC 2020 kicks off in June with an all-new online format – Apple
- Apple just dropped a huge hint that the Arm MacBook may be announced at WWDC – Digital Trends
- Apple also announced it will commit $1 million to local San Jose organizations to offset associated revenue loss as a result of WWDC 2020’s new online format.
- iOS 14 to include new homescreen list view option with Siri suggestions and more – 9to5 Mac
- New Powerbeats 4 appear on Walmart shelves ahead of expected official announcement – 9to5 Mac
TECHNOLOGY
- Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board – Ars Technica
- Lend your spare Mac CPU time to help study the Novel Coronavirus: Fighting disease with a world wide distributed super computer – Folding@Home
- Microsoft takes down global zombie bot network – BBC News
SECURITY & PRIVACY
- From @Dougee: This is a really good write up and contains good information about the Checkm8 exploit.
- Developer of Checkm8 explains why iDevice jailbreak exploit is a game changer – Ars Technica
- Luca Todesco teases checkra1n hacks on a T2-equipped MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar – iDownloadBlog.com
- At Least 20 VPN and Ad-Blocking Apps With 35 Million Downloads Actually Monitored Users’ Phones – Gizmodo
WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS
- Korg Kaossilator App For Android & iOS Is Currently Available For Free – Synth Anatomy
JUST A SNIPPET
For things that are not worth more than a flypast
- ProtonMail and ProtonVPN switch to working from home during COVID-19
- Cliqz and Ghostery switch to working from home – “Stay safe, wash your hands and be a role model! #FlattenTheCurve” – Twitter
- Nothing particularly special in that ATM I know but next week we should have Pete Knowlton of Ghostery back on the show to talk to us about everything going on at Ghostery with Midnight etc and what a week at home has been like for him!
NEMO’S HARDWARE STORE
- Nemo will be back as soon as the trucks can get to him…
Essential Apple Recommended Services:
- Pixel Privacy – a fabulous resource full of excellent articles and advice on how to protect yourself online
- Ghostery – protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing.
- 33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
- 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!
- Comparitech DNS Leak Test – simple to use and understand VPN leak test.
- 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.
Social Media and Slack
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