Maccast 2016.09.26 - Show #586
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
V Sponsor: Criquet
V Criquet
* So I'm a nerd and I fit the cliché. I'm not often thinking about fashion or my clothes. At the same time though I do care about how I look. Balancing comfort and style is not always easy for me and I hate going out shopping.
* It's why I was intrigued and excited about having Criquet as a new sponsor.
* They are a shirt company dedicated to creating amazing shirts that feel great and look great.
V The company has an awesome great story too.
* Two guys (Hobson and Billy) from Austin who were looking for the great old polo shirts of the past. The nones that made guys like guys like Nicklaus, Palmer, JFK and Dean look so cool.
* They couldn't find them so they started a company.
* A side note, Arnold Palmer passed a way today. I didn't follow golf too closely but even I know he was a legend and well respected in his field. I love the tea and lemonade drink that was named after him. He'll be missed.
* So what the guys at Criquet did was design a shirt that has the nostalgia of the past with a modern design and fit.
V They sent me the signature Players shirt to try out and I loved it the moment I put it on.
* The fabric is 100% certified organic cotton and super soft and breathable.
* What most impressed me tough was the fit. You know I enjoy a good craft beer and so often the issue is an Xl will fit around the middle, but it's sliding off at the shoulders. The shirt was a perfect fit. Not too baggy, but not too slim either.
* And then there are details like the removable collar stays. Usually something you'd think of in a button down, but they added them to avoid "bacon collar". The curling that you're going to get in other polo shirts. It seems like a small thing, but it really makes a difference between looking sharp or just sort of ruffled.
* I'm in tech so I generally don't have to get "dressed up", but with a Criquet shirt I can stay casual and comfortable and still look good enough to head out to my favorite bar or a nice dinner at the ned of the day.
* I also love that I can shop from the comfort of home without worrying about it because they have no hassle, free returns and exchanges.

* Best of all Maccast listeners you can get 20% off your first order by using the code MACCAST at checkout.
* So check 'em out. Head to http://criquetshirts.com/maccast to see all the great styles and designs. That's C-R-I-Q-U-E-T-shirts.com.
V News
V macOS Sierra Arrives
V Siri on the Mac
* No "Hey Siri" (tip later). Keyboard shortcut or click the icon in the Dock
* Uses a floating window and you can drag and drop, or copy and paste, results into other app
* If it has a "+" in the upper right it can be "pinned" to the top of Notification Centers Today view.
V Natural language file searches in Siri.
* Note that the AI index will take several hours to get created.
V Auto Unlock with Apple Watch
* Snell notes that it's inconsistent.
* Universal Clipboard also seemed to be inconsistent
* iCloud Desktop and Documents and Optimized Storage (more later)
V Photo People and Content searching. Again wait for the index to be created.
* Also Photo Memories.
* Support for all the iOS 10 Message features
* New Apple Music look in iTunes
* Tabs in document based apps.
* Picture in Picture
V iCloud Document sharing and collaboration
* new versions of the iWork apps, requires Sierra
* Keynote has a new live presentation mode.
V Which Mac can upgrade
* iMac (Late 2009 and later)
* Mac mini (2010 and later)
* Mac Pro (2010 and later)
* MacBook (Late 2009 and later)
* MacBook Air (2010 and later)
* MacBook Pro (2010 and later)
* You can upgrade from OS X 10.7 Lion or later.
V Which Macs can get new features
V Universal Clipboard or Apple Pay
* iOS device that is running iOS 10 or watchOS 3
* iMac (Late 2012 and later)
* Mac mini (Late 2012 and later)
* Mac Pro (Late 2013)
* MacBook (Early 2015 and later)
* MacBook Air (Mid 2012 and later)
* MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 and later)
V Auto-unlock
* Any Mac model from 2013 or later
* iPhone running iOS 10
* Apple Watch running watchOS 3
* Signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID
* Two-factor authentication must be turned on
V If you use a Fujitsu Scan Snap you might want to wait.
* There are some bugs with their software and Sierra some that could result in data loss.
* Some scanned pages in a PDF may become blank, either immediately, after being edited, or when the document is converted to a searchable PDF.
* Black-and-white pages are saved as color, which increases the size of PDF files.
* When exporting images through the Quick Menu, the images may be displayed as blank pages in the preview screen.
* Using the Merge Pages feature of ScanSnap Organizer may delete some pages.
* When using duplex scanning with business cards, data on the back side of cards isn’t imported to CardMinder.
V Apple also released all new developer betas for iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS Sierra
* iOS 10.1 brings the beta "bokeh" feature to iPhone 7 Plus.
* The rest looks like mostly bug squishing stuff.
V iPhone 7 success or failure?
* The analysts are seem to not know what to make of the data
* For sure supplies are constrained, especially in the Plus models, but does that necessarily translate to high demand?
V Jet Black is the new White
* Low yield rates of between 60 and 70 percent causing low stock of that model.
* Jet Black apparently accounted for roughly 30 percent to 35 percent of pre-orders worldwide, while in China it accounted for 45 percent to 50 percent of pre-orders.
V J.P. Morgan's Asia Pacific research team thinks Apple might up production for the end of the year to 75 million up from 70 million units.
* They also think a larger percentage of those models will be Pluses.
* Still that's well below the estimated 85 to 90 million iPhone 6s units Apple reportedly made in the later half of 2015
V KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo raise his estimate for 2016 from 65 million to between 70 million and 75 million
* The adjustment is based on the popularity of the iPhone 7 plus and the Samsung Galaxy Note recall
* Several reports from carries have said sales were well above the sales for iPhone 6s and even iPhone 6
* Kuo thinks that's a false result brought on by artificial scarcity and not directly from consumer demand.
V Still other "supply chain" reports claim that Apple ordered components to build 80 to 85 million iPhone 7 units pre-launch and have increased those orders 17 to 25 percent which would yield over 100 million units before 2016 is out.
* This seems way too high to me.
V Pegatron's CEO said he thinks iPhone 7 is exceeding estimates and doing it because consumers think it's a good upgrade.
* He would of course not speculate on sales numbers just saying that hew was "cautiously optimistic" about sales of the iPhone 7.
V Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster is more optimistic after doing his annual in store research estimates
* His firm performed stock checks of 134 Apple retail stores 9 days after the iPhone 7 launch
* The data showed 20% of iPhone 7 SKUs were in stock overall, with 34% of the iPhone 7, and 6% of the iPhone 7 Plus models available for purchase.
* Gene seems to feel that the lack of stock availability is indicative of higher demand.
* He think this launch looks more like the iPhone 6 launch (10 million vs 13 million for iPhone 6s)
V So over all it's looking like we'll see either similar or slightly lower Q1 numbers for iPhone 7
* iPhone 6, Q1 2015, was 74.5 million iPhones sold
* iPhone 6s, Q1 2016, was 74.8 million.
V Apple launched in 30 more countries last week.
* The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are now available in over 55 countries (well, if you can find the one you want).
V Supplies might open up a bit in October.
* Report that Apple retail store managers have been informed that all models, colors, and configurations of the iPhone 7 will be available for walk-in customers on Oct. 8.
* Apparently there has been a freight company bankruptcy backing up international shipping and delaying some containers full of iPhones and assorted Apple Watch models.
V More possible iPhone 7 bugs
V Reports of some iPhone 7 and 7 Plus model failing to reconnect to cellular after turning off Airplane mode.
* One suspected culprit is possibly the new Intel LTE modem. Unclear if it would be a hardware or software issue.
* Others have noted re-seating the SIM card can fix the issue.
* Apple is apparently investigating the issue and advises customer to power off and back on the phone to work around the issue in the meantime.
* If it really bothers you some have been talking their devices to the Apple Store for a exchange.
V Strange Sounds emanating from your device
* This seems to be something impacting iPhone 7 Plus
* Possibly "coil noise"
* Try to get a replacement from Apple or schedule an exorcism
V Bad sound quality from the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus when taking phone calls
* The audio is described as being "distant" like it's coming from behind the device.
* Seems odd, but reports say actually lowering the volume can help
* The issue seems to be only with call audio, not other sounds.
* Some reports have said customers have been told this is a Verizon issue and that Apple is looking into it.
V Yellow LCDs
* I got reports from a couple listeners and I actually know what this is.
* Solution is to wait a day or two for it to go away.
V iPhone 7 LCD is 'best ever'
* And might even have pushed LCD technology to it's limits at least according to Display Mate
* The site note the new display has two standard color gamuts. The new DCI-P3 Wide Color Gamut that is used in 4K UHD TVs and Digital Cinema, and also the traditional smaller sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut. More importantly the site says, "both color gamuts have been implemented with absolute color accuracy that is visually indistinguishable from perfect.'
* They say the iPhone 7 has incredible brightness in high ambient light when needed, has a record high contract ration and a record low screen reflectance.
* The do note that the screen Reflectance is not quite as low as the iPad Pro 9.7 which has an innovative AR coating, gut it is lower than any smartphone they've ever tested. AR coatings are not appropriate for smartphones because of exposure to "scratchy" things in pockets and purses.
* They loved the iPhone & display noting that it's a "major upgrade" from the iPhone 6 display and saying, " It is by far the best performing mobile LCD display that we have ever tested, and it breaks many display performance records."
* They rated the iPhone 6 display as an "A" and say the iPhone 7 shows significant to major across the board improvements.
V They bring up the question with an LCD this good does Apple need to move to OLED in the next phone?
* Each of the technologies have their strengths and weaknesses
* Still moving to OLED will solve a lot of technical and design goals for Apple.
* Thinner, lighter, smaller bezels, and flexible for curved designs.
* They also have response time, better viewing angles, and an always-on display mode.
* Plus being individually controlled without the need for extra backlight they can be even more energy efficient.
* All perfect reasons for Apple to switch.
V Lightning EarPod teardown
* Also the 3.5mm headphone jack adapter and both reveal a DAC
* There is no manufacture listed on the chip but assumptions are it would be Cirrus Logic.
V Apple fixed an bug with the headphone controller
* Basically after being plugged in for a while the on headphone controller stopped working.
* Also was an issue for 3rd party headphones running over the adapter.
* This was patched in the iOS 10.0.2 update.
V I had some back and forth emails with Kevin who took issue with me saying that I suspected that Apple was removing the headphone jack because they want to have an "all digital" connection out of the iPhone.
* Kevin thought I was implying that the Ligtning connector was only a digital connection and incapable of carrying an analog signal.
* I had not meant to give that impression because I actually didn't know at the time. I do now. Seemed perfectly logicial to me that it could carry analog or digital and that Apple just is choosing digital.
* The reality is though the Lightning connection on the iPhone does not appear to support anaolg audio out. Probably why both these adapters have DACs.
* It's also why in 2012 the 30-pin to Lightning adpater also had a DAC in it.
V Kevins email to me though had a bigger point. He sees Apple move as deleting a port and making it external wihout changing the functionliy and trying to convince people otherwise.
* Point being That you have an analog signal coming out of the iPhone's old 3.5mm jack and it's basically the same thing now with a 3.5mm dongle. The only difference being where the DAC happens.
* Why does Kevin care so much. Well he's blind and uses Voiceover to navigate. Audio is critical to how he uses the iPhone.
* Bluetooth is not a viable solution for Voiceover users due to latency.
* A blind user will also almot always have headphones plugged in and now they lose the ability to charge and use their device at the same time.
* Sure you could use the $40 Belkin adapter, but that's 2 Lightning connectors and clumck when you add the 3.5mm dongle.
* Kevin asks, and rightly so, where the Lightning adpater with a 3.5mm jack and Lightning pass through for power.
V Apple Watch tops smartwatches
* The latest data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech
* Smartwatch adoption is still pretty low, 4.7% ownership in the US and 3.2% in EU.
* Still Apple maintains the largest share of that market according to Kantar's data.
V 33.5 percent in the US and 3.1 percent in the EU.
* Still those numbers were down a little from the previous 3 month period likely due to anticipation of Apple Watch 2.
* Kantar also thinks that Apple adding both GPS and waterproofing will help with sales and demand for Apple's smartwatch over the next 12 months.
* They also say that price drops on devices like the Series 1 should help bolster sales numbers as well.
V A report from Bloomberg says all the hiring Apple has been doing of healthcare experts is for transforming HealthKit into a tool that improves diagnoses.
* It's all about the data.
* The ability for doctors to get access to data and making it easier to gain insight from that data.
* The idea would be for HealthKit to interpret health and fitness data and provide advice to patients, doctors, and others accordingly.
* Apple Watch would be a big part of that data collection and the piece nots possibly two new apps.
* A sleep tracker and a tool for "measuring the tim e taken for the heart rate to fall from its peak to resting level,
V My issue with this is the data. Right now Apple seems to have many bugs in:
* Collecting accurate and consistent data
* Syncing that data into the Health app data base. Especially from 3rd party apps, but also from their own apps.
V Apple not buying McLaren
* The Financial Times claimed that Apple was looking to purchase luxury carmaker McLaren for between $1.3 and $1.9 billion dollars.
* They were not sure if it would be a full takeover or just a strategic investment.
* Reportedly Apple was interested in McLaren's automotive-related technology, engineering prowess, and patent portfolio.
* McLaren denied that it is in talks with Apple in a statement given to The Verge.
* The report seemed odd from the beginning considering Apple's project is likely a platform or car targeted at transportation services or a mid to high end consumer car.
V They might be looking to buy Lit Motors though according to a New York Times piece.
* Lit Motors makes self-balancing electric motorcycles.
* "Motor" cycle might be a little understatement. The design has the cabin of a car, with features like airbags, air conditioning, and a sound system.
* The self balancing tech supposedly can keep the vehicle upright even in a T-bone collision.
* Many former Lit Motors engineers work at Apple already.
* Some wonder why Lit?
* Beyond just the engineering talent I think a small fleet of affordable autonomous personal transportation EVs would be just right for Apple's car project.
* Before you rule out "single" passenger. Think on-demand car service and it starts to make more sense.
V Apple DID acquire machine learning startup Tuplejump according to TechCrunch
* They are India-based company focused on simplifying data management techniques and creating tools to make it easy to deal with large quantities of data.
* It's thought that Apple is was interested in the company's "FiloDB" open source project
* It's designed to use machine learning concepts and analytics on massive amounts of data in realtime.
* There are lots of technologies inside Apple using an benefiting from machine learning.
* Tech would have applications in Siri, macOS, iCloud, Photos, iTunes, etc.
* Heck Apple even said that there is machine learning in the palm rejection inside the Apple Pencil
V Siri in the living room?
* AppleInsider noted an unusual FCC filing by Apple that surfaced this week
* The device mentioned seems similar to a 4th gen Apple TV, but the power draw is much lower
* 100 mA with a peak of 700 mA, and between 5.5 V and 13.2 V. The Apple TV is 12v and 920 MA.
* There are also Bluetooth and NFC tests by the FCC in the filing, but none for wi-fi.
* Most of the testing docs are hidden by a confidentiality request.
* Speculation is that this device may be a Amazon Echo like device for Siri in the living room.
V This based on a second report from Bloomberg
* They claim Apple has had the project in development for at least two years
* And that now prototypes exist and Apple is doing testing outside the lab
* The device is reportedly designed to control appliances, locks, lights and other home devices via voice activation
* The piece also notes that Apple hasn’t finalized plans for the device and could still scrap the project.
* Feeding on other rumors the leak also says that Apple may use the facial recognition tech from their Faceshift and Emotient acquisition to give the product the ability to react based on who is in a room or a person’s emotional state.
* Originally it was thought Apple might integrate the technology into Apple TV, but that was reportedly scrapped.
V Another part of the project is reportedly code-named “Invisible Hand,”
* The idea is a completely screenless interface to Siri
* Fully controlling your devices via voice commands
* Imagine a device like this, but using always on mic in the Siri remote, iPhones, and the new Apple Air Pods to pick up voice commands.
* Would let you potentially issue command from anywhere to the device over wi-fi. With an AirPod in your ear it could intelligently and discreetly return responses to the issuer of the commands.
* So AirPods are our "comm" badge, our devices + iCloud are the data, processing, information gateway, and Siri is our interface.
V International news roundup
V Apple has become a partner with Flipkart in India ahead of that countries iPhone 7 launch on Oct. 7th
* Flipcart is India's biggest e-commerce storefront.
* Flipkart was previously offering iPhones and other Apple products but via 3rd parties not from Apple directly.
* The deal is not for just iPhones. They will also offer Macs and iPads.
V Apple opened its first retail store in Mexico
* Apple Vía Santa Fe is now open in Mexico City
V Sponsor: Smile
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V It helps you communicate better and more consistently. Think of all the things you type over and over. In your job, in your personal life.
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* I use them for various email signatures, code block, Maccast replies.
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V Feedback, commentary, opinions
V Time to move to two-factor
* This came up before on the show, but until recently I had not realized that there was a difference between iCloud 2-factor authentication and 2-step verification
V The reason this is coming up again now is a couple things.
* HomeKit remote access (now Apple TV 4 only) and macOS Sierra's unlock your Mac with an Apple Watch feature
* Carlos wrote in to point out that you need to have 2-factor Authentication set up for this to work. It is not sufficient to use 2-step verification.
V To check what you are using, if anything you can do one of two things
* Check in the iCloud Settings on an iOS device. Under your account and the Password & Security section. It will say either "Two-step Verification" or "Two-factor" authentication On.
* Or check on the [My Apple ID]( https://appleid.apple.com/) site. Look in the Security section for either "Two-step Verification" or "Two-factor" authentication On.
V Devices that support Two-Factor
* iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 9 or later
* Mac with OS X El Capitan or later and iTunes 12.3 or later
* Apple Watch with watchOS 2 or later
* Windows PC with iCloud for Windows v5 and iTunes 12.3.3 or later
* On an unsupported device you might be asked to add your six-digit verification code to the end of your password when signing in.
V Gary also discovered the same thing and also found that switching ain't simple
* Play comment from Gary
* I did not seem to have as much trouble, but it was a little bit of a pain.
V If you're using "Two-step Verification" you'll need to switch
* Turn off Two-step Verification from the [My Apple ID]( https://appleid.apple.com/) site.
* Log-in and click 'edit' in the Security section.
V Turn off "Two-step Verification".
* Note that this will also remove and disable app-specific passwords and they will need to be re-generated and re-assigned to every Mac and iOS app that needs them.
V Turn on Two-Factor Authentication
* You can do it at the MyApple Id site
V On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 9 or later:
* Go to Settings > iCloud > tap your Apple ID.
* Tap Password & Security.
* Tap Turn on Two-Factor Authentication.
V On your Mac with OS X El Capitan or later:
* Go to Apple () menu > System Preferences > iCloud > Account Details.
* Click Security.
* Click Turn on Two-Factor Authentication.
* Once you switched you may be asked to re-authenticate iCloud on all your devices, including AppleTV
V Carlos noted that he had "allow" the Apple Watch login several times before it actually started working.
* Also to use the Watch unlock you need a mid-2013 or later Mac) running macOS Sierra and the Apple Watch needs watchOS 3 installed
V Print to PDF in iOS 10
* Covering this because Apple has made this really hard to discover how to do.
V Using any App that has a "Print" option
* Tap the "Share" icon to bring up the Share Sheet.
* Scroll to the right until you see the "Print" button. Tap it.
V 3D Touch "Peek" (force press) and then "Pop" (press harder) on the preview of the document
* On non-3D Touch devices use the "pinch-to-zoom" gesture to "expand" the preview.
* This will display it as full pages. Now on this screen, tap the "Share" icon again to bring up another Share Sheet.
* Now, you can choose from your normal list of document services (iCloud Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and it will export as a PDF.
V Optimized Storage in macOS Sierra
V How to access the settings
* Under the Apple menu choose About This Mac, and click the Storage button.
* Bar graph shows categories Apps, Documents, GarageBand, iBooks, iCloud Drive, iOS Files, Mail, System, Photos, and Other. At the end is a hashed area of "purgeable" storage (logs, caches, etc, but Apple doesn't say).
* Click the 'Manage…' button to bring up the config options. Will actually launch the System Information app
* You can also just launch the System Information and get to storage management under Window > Storage Management.
V From this panel you can see storage categories like Applications, documents, and specific apps like GarageBand, Photos, Mail, etc.
* Some of these will let you dig further to look at files and manage or delete them
* Others, like Photos, launch you into the App to mage it's file and storage from there
* For document based stuff though you can view a list of files, dates, and file sizes and delete (Finder style) in the app.
V The Documents view of Storage Management has three sub-views
* Large Files, Downloads, and File Browser
V At the top is the " Recommendations view" which lets you access the Optimized Storage settings
* In here you have Store in iCloud, Optimize Storage, Empty Trash Automatically, and Reduce Clutter
V Adam Engst notes that it's a UI "nightmare" and that, "even the icons, in this section changes depending on what options you may have already set".
* If it doesn't look right, i.e. the icons didn't update properly, he says quit and relaunch the System Information app.
V Reduce Clutter
* This seems to just be a link back into the Documents view of the Storage Management panel discussed earlier
* Lets you identify large or old files and remove them.
V Empty Trash Automatically
* Will remove items in the trash that have been there for more than 30days.
* I hate a "full" trash can, so this feature is not for me.
* This setting is also in Finder > Preferences > Advanced as a “Remove items from the Trash after 30 days” checkbox
* You can only turn the feature off from the Finder, not the System Information panel.
V Optimize Storage
* Turning it on give you two options
* Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows (purchased form the iTunes Store) and keep only recent email attachments or no email attachments.
* Again you can only turn the optimize Movie and TV option off from iTunes, iTunes > Preferences > Advanced > Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows
* The setting for Mail Attachments can be found in Mail > Preferences > Accounts > acccount-name > Account Information. There’s a pop-up menu for Download Attachments that can be set to All, Recently, or None.
* The setting in 'Optimize Storage' for mail attachments sets it for all accounts to the same setting. After that to change it for individual accounts or to turn it off, you guessed it, you have to go through Mail.
V Store in iCloud
* Again Engst says this UI is completely confusing. It controls two entirely separate features and he wording and checkboxes change depending on what you’ve already done.
* If you already have iCloud Photo Library on it will just show options for "Store all files in iCloud". If you don't use iCloud Photo Library it will give you an option to enable that too.
* Side show, the Desktop and Documents folder syncing feature.
V The Desktop and Documents folder syncing option, new in macOS Sierra, is also accessible in System Preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Options
* Turning this on will remove your Desktop and Documents folders from your home folder to iCloud Drive
* You will no longer see them in your Home folder (a bit scary). They will still be visible in Finder windows, from the Finder’s Go menu, or from within iCloud Drive.
* If you enable the feature on multiple Macs using the same iCloud account the folders are "merged" so you have a unified Documents and Desktop folder across all your devices.
* Also, because it's in iCloud Drive now all those files are also accessible via your iOS devices.
V The obvious downside here is that if you have a lot of stuff in your Documents folder (and who doesn't) you'll blow past your 5GB of free iCloud storage
* 50GB: $0.99/mo.
* 200GB: $2.99/mo.
* 1TB: $9.99/mo.
* 2TB: $19.99/mo.
V And then turning it off gives you the scary dialogs that Apple is becoming know for:
* Basically warning that if you turn the feature off Documents and Desktop files will be visible only in iCloud Drive.
* But then it explains if you want to keep them locally you can move them back by copying them or moving them from the iCloud Drive.
* I assume because they are no longer part of the "sync set" there won't be issue there.
* Sierra also put blank Desktop and Documents folders back inside your home folder. Bummer being you can;t replace them, so you have to copy contents from the matching folders in iCloud Drive.
* Back to Store In iCloud
V If you have enabled Desktop and Documents folder syncing when you now check the System Preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Options there will be a new Optimize Mac Storage checkbox.
* Turning that on will tell Sierra that if you need local storage space it's OK to delete old, large files from your local drive to save space.
* That would leave only the copies in iCloud Drive, but you'll still see icons in the Finder for these items. Like iCloud Music files they'll have a little cloud badge on them.
* As Engst points out, for a backup fanatic like me, this is a scary proposition.
* It seems that at some point you could end up with the iCloud copy being your ONLY copy. I don't trust Apple that much, do you?
* To me it seems more like a good option for a secondary Mac, say an Air that is your "road" Mac. Much like you would do with optimize storage for iCloud Photo Library. Have a "master" Mac with full local copies and backups.
V Add 'Hey Siri' to you Mac
* Obviously you need to me running macOS Sierra with Siri
V Add a Keyboard shortcut to activate Siri
* System Preferences > Siri
V Click on the Keyboard Shortcut dropdown menu and select a preferred shortcut
* Hold Command + Space
* Hold Option + Space
* Press Function + Space
* You can also set your own custom combo.
V Apple did not include "hey Siri" functionality, but you can add it by using the Accessibility Dictation feature
* Launch System Preferences
* Head to Accessibility –> Dictation
* Check the Enable the dictation keyword phrase and set the phrase to 'Hey'. This will be teh phrase that tells your mac to listen for a dictation command.
* Now select Dictation Commands
* Check Enable advanced commands.
V Click the "+" to add a new command
* Set "When I say" to "Siri
* Set "While using" to "Any Application"
* Set "Perform" to Open Finder items and select Siri from the Applications folder
* Click 'Done'
* Now when you say 'Hey' your Mac will listen for Dictation commands and when you say Siri it will launch the Siri app just as if you clicked it form the Dock.
* Of course you can play with the phrasing, so if you wanted 'Yo Siri' instead you could do that.
* Know it can be a bit finicky, but still a fun trick.
* If it doen't work or stops working try disabling Siri and the dictation keyword phrase, and then reenabling them.
V Closing
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