shownotes_20160316

Opening
  Opening Music
    Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
Sponsor: HelloFresh
  HelloFresh
    HelloFresh is a meal kit delivery service that makes cooking fun, easy, and convenient!
    Each week you get a new set of delicious recipes to choose from with Classic, Vegetarian, and Family Meal choices.
      And HelloFresh employs a full-time registered dietician on staff who reviews each recipe to ensure it is nutritionally balanced
    They let me try out the service for a week and I can tell you it exceeded my expectations
      Picked my 3 meal choices for the week.
      They came and they were perfectly packed.
        They use a special insulated box and shipping is always free.
      Everything for each meal was in it's own box and the meats and seafood were packed below on ice and perfectly fresh and cold.
      There were easy recipe sheets for each meal with step-by-step instructions. Each meal is designed to take about 30 minutes to prepare whether your an expert or a novice
      All the ingredients are provided in exact proportions so you don't have waste and we were impress at the quality. Fresh, perfect veggies, and quality ingredients.
      The end results were also delicious. All three meals. We had shrimp risotto, Chimichurri steak, and a chickpea curry with rice.
      And the recipe sheets are right there you so you can build up your recipe library and re-make your favorites anytime you want.
    Hello fresh seems perfect for busy couples and families who want to have sit down meals at home, but don't have all the time for shopping and prep. Or really anyone who want to eat at home more.
      It also solve the "what are we going to eat this week" meal planning problem. A big one in my house.
      You can order 3, 4, or 5 different meals per week designed for either 2 or 4 people
    Now here's a deal.
      Maccast listeners can try out HelloFresh and get $35 off their first week of deliveries.
      For $35 off your first week of deliveries, visit hellofresh.com and enter 'maccast' when you subscribe!
    I think you'r gonna love it and thanks to HelloFresh for sponsoring the Maccast.
News
  Apple's event confirmed for March 21st
    Official invites went out last week and the date is confirmed.
    It will be live streamed and will happen on Apple's Camus in Cupertino at 10 AM Pacific time
    iPhone SE
      "Special Edition" (Small Edition)?
      4-inch iPhone with iPhone 6s like specs.
      A9 processor, NFC/Apple Pay support, metal case with curved edges
      Ports and buttons still configured like the iPhone 5s
      Priced starting at around USD $400 - $500 in 16GB and 64GB storage options.
      Gene Munster thinks Apple might keep the "excess stock" of iPhone 5s' around at a cheaper price
        Could appeal to emerging iPhone markets like India, Brazil and Russia.
    iPad Pro 9.7-inch
      Leaked case designed appear to confirm a lot of what we think we already know
      Opening for a SmartConnector, LED flash, and quad-stereo speakers
      Supposed to have the faster A9X processor with 4GB RAM
      Pencil and Smart Keyboard support
      Likely a appropriate sized version of the Smart Keyboard as an accessory
      Pricing expected to start at $499 for a 16GB wi-fi model.
    Also new Apple Watch bands and pre-configured combinations
      A black Milanese Loop
    Expect iOS, watchOS, and tvOS updates to come out as well
      Apple shipped iOS 9.3 beta 7 already just a week after beta 6f
    New MacBook updates could happen at the same time
      Macbook Pros and the 12-inch Macbook are over due for updates.
      New Skylake processors and configurations
      Might just be spec updates on Apple's website.
    Products announced during the even will possibly be available for order at the end of the same week or the next.
    Latest China sales numbers from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech showed growth, but at a slower rate
      The numbers covered a three month period ending in January and showed that iOS had a 25 percent marketshare in China
      Grew from 19 percent in the three month period ending September 2015 to over 27% in the three month period ending December 2015.
      January was the weakest month, but might have been due to consumers waiting for Chinese New Year deals in February
  iPhone 7 rumors increase
    French blog NowhereElse posted a leaked rear case design for an iPhone 7.
      reduced camera bump, but larger camera hole
      antenna lines that are closer to the top and bottom edges and no line across the middle.
    The same French blog also posted alleged pictures of the dual-lens component for the iPhone 7 Plus (which also surfaced back in January)
    The dual lens technology
      Acquired from Apple's acquisition of LinX Imaging
      A wide angle and a 2-3 x optical zoom lens
      Software to combine data rom both sensors for images with more clarity, detail, depth.
      Also can enhance low light capabilities.
    A Chinese site supposedly posted the first images of an iPhone 7 Plus
      Shows the "reduced camera bump" and a pill shaped camera housing with the dual lenses.
      Also has the minimized antenna lines along the top and bottom
      It also shows a "Smart Connector" on the back.
    Another set of leaked Chinese images show a front and bottom of an "iPhone 7"
      As expected there is no headphone jack, but it's also missing a home button.
      There has been speculation for years of Apple toying with eliminating the Home button.
      If you're wondering "What about Touch ID", they say the technology has been integrated into the display. Something we've seen hinted at in Apple patent filings.
      I think it's unlikely.
    iPhone modding company Feld & Volk says based on their research both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus may include dual-lens cameras
      They have been accurate in the past.
    It's still believed Apple will drop the headphone connection on the 7 series devices
    There are also new rumors that the Plus model may get a 256GB storage option.
      The justification for this rumor is a 256GB NAND flash memory produced by SanDisk
      It's actually smaller than the current 64GB modules Apple uses allowing for a thinner design and more storage.
      Apple Insider doubts the rumor, but speculates that if true Apple could introduce the iPhone 7 Plus in sizes of 64, 128, and 256.
      Seems to me more likely to be 32, 128, and 256
    Personally I feel that basing much on leaked images or rumors right now is very speculative at best
      A lot of what we are seeing could be pre-production or spec designs
      Apple is well know for trying may options out during the prototype phases and changes designs and specs up to the final minutes of going into production.
      The idea of a Smart Connector has not been proposed before, but could be interesting
      It certainly gives credit to the idea that Apple might be considering an iPhone 7 "Pro" design.
  Apple's FBI fight heightens encryption debates
    The fallout seems to continue with companies, governments, and agencies on both sides pushing legislation and technology to give their side an edge in future fights
    In the UK the Investigatory Powers Bill
      A draft is currently in Parliament, only a draft, so now law yet
      It has language in it that seems to give state agencies the power to compel companies to build in ways for them to be able to hack devices
        This includes communication service provider (CSPs), these are Internet and phone companies.
      It also includes a non-disclosure to companies asked to do so could not reveal what they were compelled to do.
      The U.K. Government seems to want to get the legislation through the Parliament before the end of this year.
      The concern is that doesn't leave a lot of time for review or scrutiny of the proposed changes to the law
      The the Security and Intelligence Committee and other government committees who looked at an earlier proposal of the legislation expressed concerns that it was too broad and didn't account for privacy protections
      Current revisions reportedly don't address those concerns.
    Government seems to be posturing that things could get a lot worse if Apple fights this order
      DOJ filed a response with a warning that made it sound like they considered filing for an order that would have compelled Apple to turn over the iOS source code and signing keys so the FBI could write the hack themselves.
        Saying they didn't because, "…such a request would be less palatable to Apple"
      President Obama was as SXSW and warned of what might happen in a battle ensues between tech companies and the government over encryption
        ""What will happen is, if everybody goes to their respective corners, and the tech community says 'either we have strong perfect encryption or else it's Big Brother and an Orwellian world', what you'll find is that after something really bad happens, the politics of this will swing and it will become sloppy and rushed and it will go through Congress in ways that are dangerous and not thought through,"
        Seems to basically imply that if companies take steps to ensure encryption is so strong that they can't be compelled to let the government in then the government would be forced to mandate back doors.
        Republican Congressman Darell Issa called the comments "tone deaf" with regards to the technology involved.
        There is no way to create a special key just for the US government and law enforcement.
    For it's part Apple also seems to be reacting for the future based on the current case
      The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is making plans to secure iCloud data in a way where they will no longer have the encryption keys for the data they store
      As mentioned perviously Apple can currently decrypt iCloud backups and data stored on their servers when presented with a valid warrant
        Something they did for the FBI in the San Bernardino case
        That is because Apple holds the keys that encrypt that data
      If they change that, then Apple would no longer be able to decrypt that data even if presented with a warrant.
      There are currently some things, like iCloud Keychain data, that Apple already encrypts in iCloud this way.
      This would seem to expand that technique to apply to ALL iCloud data.
      Sounds like the basic idea is that Apple would combine the encryption keys for iCloud with a user set passcode or passphrase that Apple would not have access to outside the authentication process.
      The disadvantage to the change for customers is that if a use forgot their iCloud password it would be impossible for Apple to help recover any iCloud data or to get access back
        This is something that Apple can currently do.
        It comes up too in cases where a family member had died and they family want to transfer the data.
  Apple News gets new ad formats
    Apple updated the support document for ad sizes, titled Ad Specifications for iAd, to add a new format called "News Ad Format"
      It's in the "Native Banner" section.
    Seems like it will allow for feeds to have sponsored ad content.
    Like many of these kinds of ads there seems to be little to let you know this is an ad
      Just a small line of "Sponsored by" text.
    Apple this week also opened up the Apple News service to smaller publishers and individual bloggers
      So far Apple has allowed publishers to submit their feeds, but been approving only select publishers
    Adding new ways to generate ad revenues and opening up the platform should help bring more publications and potentially more eyeballs to Apple's News app.
    Do you use the News app regularly? What do you think?
      I've used it a bit more lately and find it's good when I want to just "browse" what's happening.
      As a tailored digital newspaper/magazine it's interesting.
      The most frustrating thing though is feeds that are not offering full articles. Kills the experience.
        Wish there was a way to filter and identify these to weed them out.
      I doesn't and really can't replace my dedicated RSS readers.
Feedback, commentary, opinions
  Ransomware follow-up
    Jill had some good feedback.
    One way to protect against malware and ransomware is to set Gatekeeper to only allow apps from the Mac App Store.
      This isn't a 100% guarantee, but will severely limit your exposure
      System Preferences > Security & Privacy. Set the Allow Apps Downloaded from to 'Mac App Store'
      You can then Command+Click an app or installer and choose 'Open' to temporarily allow installation of that one non-app store app. Or temporarily change the Gatekeeper setting.
    Also, many pointed out that using the checksum trick is not good advice because if a hacker has access to the site they could also change the checksum
      True, so it's not a 100% certainty, but if you do it and get a checksum fail you at least know to not install.
  Flaky HomeKit? Check your router.
    Last week I tried to help Matt out with some HomeKit issues.
    In the segment I mentioned that HomeKit is in some ways, to coin a Steve Jobsism, "a bag of hurt".
    It can be finicky and some hubs will give you trouble. My for example will responds as if it worked via Siri when it didn't. Reporting "the lights are now on" when I'm still sitting in a dark room.
    Updating the hubs firmware, running in off and on again, rebooting the iOS device were all fixes.
    But Matt resolved his own issue and it actually had nothing to do with HomeKit, or at least not directly.
      I had suggested trying Settings > HomeKit. Then selecting the "Home" and just turning off "Remote Access"
      My thought was maybe it wasn't staying internal to the local network, but attempting to go through the Internet and getting stopped.
      Well when Matt tried it kept giving him an error, "Can't configure this option. Please try again."
      So he thought let me try using LTE. When he switched the option was ON, but when he changed back to wi-fi it would go off.
      The testing on LTE everything was working. So maybe the issue was the wi-fi
      Sure enough resetting the network setting and router cleared everything up.
    Gary also wrote in to ask about some of the complexity of each kind of HomeKit thing having it's own app.
      If you buy a set of devices, iDevices, ElGato, Ecobee, Phillips each has it's own hub and own apps.
      There isn't much you can do on the hub front. Though, using something like Homebridge might work if someone has written a plug-in for your Homekit devices
      So can you have one app to control everything?
      The answer is YES.
      You might have to set up and register your devices with HomeKit in their own app, but once registered any app that sees HomeKit should see all the Homekit devices that are registered
      There are third party apps, like Home for iOS
      Or you can use El Gato's Eve App or Insteon's Insteon+ App
        I like Eve's
      In each app you can set up zones, rooms, and create scenes with access to all your devices.
      And really if you use Siri voice commends you don't directly interface with any App.
  Mail Move To Shortcuts
    Here's a couple cool Mail tips to make accessing key mailboxes and moving messages to them easier
    Use the 'Favorites' Bar. which is like the 'Bookmarks Bar' in Safari
      Under View > Show Favorites Bar (Command + Option + Shift + H)
    You can drag Mailboxes and folders into the Favorites Bar
      Access by clicking on them
      The first nine will have a shortcut assigned by default
      Command + #, where # is the items numbered position left to right in the Favorites bar. The first item is 1 the second 2 and so on. So Command + 3 will take you to the third mailbox listed in the Favorites Bar.
      Reorder them by dragging them in the favorites bar.
    You can also move items to the Favorite mailboxes
      Drag a message or group of messages directly onto the Favorite item in the bar
        If it's a folder you can hover and the favorite will expand (spring-loaded)
      There is also a menu item. Mailbox > Move to Favorite Mailbox. Then you'll see the list.
      Plus you get 'Move to Favorite Mailbox' shortcuts.
        Command + Control + #. Works the same as the Favorite Mailbox shortcuts. The # is the favorite mailbox number.
    If you need even more scripting for moving or copying messages then you could try using something like Alfred 2 and the Alfred scripts Alfred Mail Actions Workflow
      These don't seem to have been updated for two years, so I'm not entirely sure they will still work
      The source code is on GitHub, so if there is an issue you could likely modify the script to get it to work.
  Fix Network issues with DHCP reservations
    Every had issues on you home network where your network name kept changing, adding a (number) after the name?
    Or maybe you connect and get the message, “Another device on the network is using your computer’s IP address”
    This is often because of the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service in your router not expiring the IP address or that being cached on the network, but then attempting to assign it to another Mac.
    To fix it you could reset the router. Then it would assign each device and Mac on your network a new IP.
    You could also turn off DHCP on your router and manually assign each device and computer an IP address. Time consuming and what if you want to just plug-in a new device or want to give a guest access to your home network?
    You can actually have the best of both worlds with something called DHCP reservations.
    DHCP Reservation
      A way to assign the same IP address to the same computer or devices from the DHCP server (router)
      Supported by Airport Express, Macs and iOS devices. Also many 3rd party routers.
    Finding a client id
      You will use either the DHCP Client ID or the MAC address to assign the DHCP reservation on your router
      DHCP Client ID
        On Mac, System Preferences-->Network-->choose interface (Ethernet, AirPort, etc.)
          Click the 'Advanced…' button
          When set to 'Configure Using DHCP' in the TCP/IP tab there is a box for DHCP Client ID
          Set the ID to whatever you want, but remember it for later
        On iOS
          Settings-->General-->Network-->Select the network
          Under 'DHCP' add a 'Client ID'
      MAC Address
        Media Access Control address.
          A number consisting of six groups of two hexadecimal digits separated by a colons
        For ANY network device, or more specifically interface. Not just an Apple thing.
        On the Mac
          System Preferences-->Network-->Select the Interface
          Click on the 'Ethernet' tab
          Note the Ethernet ID
          Can also find it in the System Profiler under 'Network'-->'Locations' and looking for the 'MAC Address' value for each interface.
        On iOS
          Settings-->General-->About
          Note the 'Wi-Fi Address'
    Make the reservation
      Specific instructions will vary slightly based on your network setting and router
        I use an AirPort extreme and private IPs in the 10.0.0.0 range. 192.168.0.0 and 172.16.0.0 are also possible
      In the Airport Utility
        Select the Airport and click the "Manual Setup" button
        Select the 'Internet' section
        Then click on the 'DHCP' tab
        Setting the DHCP address range (optional)
          I do this to leave part of the range open for static IPs
          Normally DHCP will assign numbers from 1 to 255 in the last IP slot. So, 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.255 for example
          Here you can limit where the range will stop to a lower value.
        You can also check your DHCP lease time here
        Section for DHCP Reservations
          Click the "+" button
          In the 'Description' enter anything you'd like to remember the reservation
          Reserve by, choose MAC Address or DHCP Client ID
          Then enter the MAC Address or Client ID depending
          Set the desired IP address. Preferably outside the range of already DHCP assigned addresses on your network, but still in the DHCP range.
          Click 'Done' and then Update to reset the Airport
        You may need to reset the device or renew the DHCp lease for it to take effect on the client.
        From this point forward on your network it should always assign that IP address to that device.
    Once set now each time a device connects it will get the same IP every time. Devices without reservations will get an IP address from the DHCP service on the router as normal.
    Doing this can also be helpful for troubleshooting since you will know the exact IP address for specific items on your network
      A trick I use is to reserve IPs based on device types.
      All my iOS devices are in the .20 range, all my Macs in the .40 range, my Home automation .50s, Sonos .70s
  Thing of the Moment: RadTech Sleevz for iPad Pro
    I think I've told you about the RadTech Sleevz for Macbooks and Macbook Pros in the past
    Now they have them for iPad Pro and they are just as awesome.
    They sent me one to try out and now my iPad Pro will never be without it.
    It's a tight fitting microfiber fabric cover that slides over and protects the entire device some scratches
    Give me piece of mind when sliding it into a bag with other items.
    The cloth is called Optex Super80 and it is super durable. I've had my Macbook Pro one for years and it looks like new
    You can use the Sleev as a cleaning cloth to wide away grease and smudges.
    Doesn't add any bulk
    Slide it on with the Smart Connector on the open side and you can still attach the Smart Keyboard cover.
    Has an option to get slots on the back for Apple Pencil
    Comes in six color options. Grey, Fuchsia, Indigo, Green, Grape, or Black.
    USD $30.95 and add $1.00 for the Apple Pencil slots.
    Worth every penny and you'll find them at radtech.com
Closing
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