shownotes_20220306

Opening
Pre-Roll
  Sponsor: Coda
    This episode of the Maccast is brought to you by Coda. More on them later in the show.
Sponsor: Kandji
  Kandji
    If you work in IT or tech support in an Apple environment and have to manage multiple devices and machines you know how time consuming that can be.
    A new Mac can be transformed into a ready-for-work computer, with all the right apps and settings in place. Devices managed with Kandji keep themselves secure — apps are patched, macOS is updated, and security controls are enforced, without active management from admins.
    As an Apple admin, the more you can let users control which apps are installed on their devices, the better for you. Kandji’s Self Service app lets you do just that on both iOS and macOS.
      Not only that, it will make your users a lot happier. I work in an environment that is extremely locked down and I can tell you it’s frustrating for me and my sys admins that I have to create a ticket every time I need something updated or installed on my Mac.
    With Kandji you can show users a curated list of the apps that they can install on their own. You can customize that Self Service app with your own branding, help text, and software categories.
    Apps in Kandji’s Auto App catalog can also be set to deliver via Self Service. And once installed, they are kept patched automatically.
    Kandji has been focused on device autonomy through automated remediation since they first started. If an app is uninstalled or a setting changed, the Kandji agent detects it and fixes it, saving you time and stress.
    Kandji can also help you protect endpoints by enforcing over 150 pre-built security controls. These controls go beyond the scope of the MDM framework to help you secure your devices. They also automatically remediate, even when your devices are offline.
    Go to https://kandji.io/maccast for a free demo or trial. That’s K-A-N-D-J-I.io slash maccast, https://kandji.io/maccast for a free trial or demo.
News
  Apple announces “Peek Performance” event
    They sent out the announcements that make March 8th at 10 AM PT the official time and date of their next special event
    A clever play on words that would seem to indicate that at least one announcement could be a “sneak peek”?
    Third-generation iPhone SE, a refreshed iPad Air, and new Apple Silicon-powered Macs.
      iPhone SE: A15 Bionic and 5G support
        Some new tidbits from Kuo
          a new 256GB storage option
          5G support will include both mmWave and Sub-6GHz 5G connectivity
          No new colors. Black, White, or Red only
      iPad Air 5: A15 Bionic chip, 5G connectivity, and an upgraded 12MP ultra-wide front-facing camera with Center Stage support.
      New Macs? What they do here is a little less certain. A like announcement is an updated entry level 13-inch MacBook Pro, possibly with an M2 processor and maybe the Mac mini “Pro” with M1 Pro and M1 Max options.
        Gurman does claim the M2 is ready to go, so MacBook Pro or Mac mini are seeming likely candidates
    So what’s the “peek”?
      Well first, who knows if it’s even a thing?
      Still you got Apple’s AR / VR headset, the upcoming “Proer” versions of the M1 Pro and M1 Max that are expected for the Mac Pro. Could be lots of neat stuff.
  What’s next for Apple Watch
    Mark Gurman in his latest newsletter said that he’s expecting to deliver three new models of Apple Watch this year
    An updated Series 8, an updated SE, and a new edition geared to extreme sports (the Apple Watch “G-Shock” edition)
    As for new designs or new features beyond updated processors don’t expect too much.
    He does note significant software updates around activity tracking but thinks the only possible new sensor might be the body temperature monitor, but even that is only a maybe
    It’s been said that Apple continues to look into new sensors for body temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar but to date none have surfaced in an Apple Watch and this year it still may not happen. Bummer.
    Despite that Gurman still seems excited about this years updates saying he expects "the biggest in the history of the Apple Watch since the original model”.
    Outside of Gurman’s comments display analyst Ross Young has mentioned Apple could add a new larger display size to the 41 and 45mm size options they have now.
    I wonder if the larger display would go with the “extreme” model as those tend to be larger watches anyway.
  Apple TV+ takes on Ben Franklin
    Apple has announced a currently untitled Apple TV+ series based on the life of Benjamin Franklin
    It is a limited series and based on the book "A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America" by Stacy Schiff
    Not only that, but it will star Michael Douglas in the title role as Ben Franklin
    It covers him at the age of 70 when he served to convince France in 1778 to create the Franco-American alliance and support American democracy and help it gain independence
    The show will be written and executive produced by Kirk Ellis which I think is amazing because he also is know for the series John Adam’s which partly covers the same historical events with Franklin.
    I love historical based dramas, so I look forward to seeing this whenever it arrives on Apple TV+
    Apple may need to share MLB streaming rights with NBC
      This from a report in the New York Post
      You may remember last month that Apple was said to be very close to getting a streaming deal for weekday national games as ESPN relinquishes their contract
      Apple is hoping to gain exclusive rights, but this new report says NBC Sports has had "serious talks" with the MLB for broadcasting the games on their network and streaming service Peacock.
      Reportedly MLB is looking to get $100 to 150 million out of the deal and Apple could end up paying the majority of it according to the report.
    Apple has also made a deal for an Apple TV+ series based on the 1927 silent film Metropolis originally directed by Fritz Lang
      The new adaptation, will I assume NOT be silent, and written, directed, and run by Sam Esmail who is well known for the series Mr. Robot.
      I loved Mr. Robot and if the new series is up to the writing and quality of that show it will no doubt be amazing.
  Can Apple get lossless Bluetooth
    We’ve heard rumors that Apple want’s to be able to deliver their lossless audio over wireless but as they’re working on it seems like Qualcomm has done it.
    They introduced two new chips this past week. The “S3” and “S5” that use Bluetooth 5.3 technology and combine that with a new aptX Adaptive-based audio codec which enables bitrates that can support lossless audio.
    They claim it can do both regular lossless quality (or CD quality) and partial Hi-Res audio.
    Now Apple doesn’t use Qualcomm chips, so they’re not going to benefit from this, but I have to imagine Apple will have lossless wireless audio soon as well. I would think something they’d want to have in place for the next update to the AirPods Pro.
    What do you think. Is wireless lossless audio something that is important to you?
    I have to be honest and say for me it’s “meh”. Nice to have, but I can’t really tell. I have it turned on on my Apple Music account, but I don’t think if you place a lossless vs a AAC compressed track I could probably tell the difference.
  Display confusion
    There seemed to be, at least to me, some confounding reports surrounding the future of Apple Displays
    First we have an “exclusive” from 9to5 Mac who’s sources tell them that Apple is working on a new even higher resolution 7K “Apple Studio Display” (so higher resolution than the Pro Display XDR)
      They also say that it’s built with an A13 chip
    What’s not clear is if this is the new “lower cost” display we’ve been hearing about. The part about having an A-series processor we’ve heard before.
    The fact that they called it a “Studio Display” and not an XDR display seems to indicate possibly a more “consumer” model, but then you have that resolution.
    Gurman says this the item Apple may give us a “peek” at at it’s event. He claims Apple “completed work on it months ago”
    And then we have Ming-Chi Kuo tweeting that Apple is going to have a more “affordable” 27-inch display
      To keep costs lower it will likely not have mini-LED backlight or some of the other XDR tech.
Sponsor: Coda
  Coda
    Know what’s great? Being able to work from anywhere. I just need my laptop and decent Wi-Fi.
    Know what’s not so great? Being spread out across the country and trying to keep the team on the same page and focused on tasks.
    That’s where Coda come in.
    With teams working all across the country, if your best work is spread out across documents and spreadsheets, and a stack of workflow tools you have to jump in and out of all day, you need Coda, the doc that brings it all together.
    Coda is endlessly customizable AND connected. There are templates for anything and everything. Product roadmap, remote onboarding, OKR tracker, meeting notes...You name it, Coda has it.
    Coda adapts to growing teams and changing strategies. It can help change how you view information depending on what you need to do with it. And perhaps most importantly Coda seamlessly integrates with the tools you need.
    Everything in Coda is synched. Make an update in a table, and it automatically shows up everywhere. No more relying on copy & paste to keep lynchpin projects current! Your team can operate on the same information and collaborate the way we all want to, quickly and efficiently.
    With Coda, you can solve for just about anything. And right now you can get started having your team all working together on the same page for FREE.
    Head over to Coda dot I O slash maccast. That’s C-O-D-A dot I O slash MACCAST to get started for FREE. Coda dot I O slash maccast.
Feedback, commentary, opinions
  Did you see the “mini” Mac mini?
    YouTuber Quinn Nelson from Snazzy Labs did an amazing [M1 Mac mini hack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQWGFKhBQwU) on his channel
    As you may know Apple the Apple “standard” M1 machines (not the Pro or Max) use the same processor
    What’s super odd is that despite having a much more energy efficient processor that gives off way less heat Apple used the same old mini case and massive 150W power supply from the Intel era
      Maybe to save money on a re-deign or not to upset education and enterprise customer who depend on the form factor, for say rack mounting in a server farm
    Still as Nelson points out… and proves the Mac mini could be smaller.
    In the video he proceeds to take the internals, match them with a new power supply and put them in a custom 3D printed and Mac Pro inspired case that is 78 percent smaller than the M1 Mac mini.
    The case while neat I personally did not think it was that great looking, but it was 3D printed.
    Impressive. What would be even more impressive is if Apple redesigned the mini because it could get even smaller than what Nelson achieved.
    I do think the mini is likely WAY overdue for a redesign and especially in the era of Apple Silicon it feels like Apple should minify the mini, but what do you think?
  Apple File Provider Platform
    Tom wrote me to ask for help with a recent issue he’s run into with Microsoft One Drive
    In the past Tom had a OneDrive folder on an external drive and had an option to keep ‘all files on this device’.
    But then with a sudden recent update that all changed
    Now OneDrive is using the “Apple File Provider” program and they have switched the option to “files on demand”
    So that means two things…
      1. Files can no longer be stored on an external drive
      2. Files in the One Drive folder are not all stored locally
    The reason for the switch seems to be largely due to the fact that Apple in macOS 12.3 deprecated support for kernel extensions
    The big advantage of switching to use Apple File Providers is that it better integrates with the OS, especially iOS.
      You can get access to all cloud file locations, like OneDrive, from the files and and from the file picker
    But it did mean that the location of the OneDrive files moved to ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-Personal and could not be changed.
    What was odd was the defaulting to “files on demand” meaning if the system needs space it would remove older files.
    Well good news is according to [a blog post](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-onedrive-blog/updates-to-files-on-demand-on-macos/ba-p/3207503) on the Microsoft site they added back the option to “Always Keep on This Device” and to use an external volume
    Still Tom had asked: Where can I find a solution where:
      1. My files are all stored locally and in the cloud
      2. My files are stored on an external drive - not on the internal drive
      3. My files are backed up reliably
    I believe that Dropbox allows you to place your Dropbox on an external drive.
    The main issue with using an external drive for cloud syncing though is reliability. What happens when that volume is unmounted? Your files can get out of sync. So use caution.
    You can use a backup service like [Backblaze](https://backblaze.com)
      They have an iOS app that lets you access your cloud files, but it’s not a sync.
      it also doesn’t integrate with the Files app (not an Apple File Provider)
  Suspicious iCloud app data
    Bob wrote me to say he had been reviewing his iCloud app data and found data from an app that was unfamiliar to him and was not on any of his devices
    Not only that, it had a suspicious name, COPD with some Chinese characters
    He asked me what may have happened.
    My best guess is that this is an app that may have been installed years ago and you’ve simply forgotten about
      It’s also a possibility it was called something different in the past?
    Apps that sync or store data in iCloud will not have their iCloud data deleted if you simply delete the app from your device.
      I think it’s because having an iCloud sync or backup of the data is intended as just that. A backup.
      In theory if you re-install the app you’d get your data back.
    But Bob’s question does bring up a good topic for a bit of house keeping.
    You may want to periodically review your iCloud data and cleanup any old data for apps you no longer use or need.
    Settings > Tap on your name at the top
      Tap iCloud
      Tap Mange Storage
      Scroll through the list and you can tap on any app and then tap “Delete Data…” to remove it’s data from iCloud.
  Thing of the Moment: Stop Motion Studio
    Ryan’s daughter asked him if there was a way to take a bunch of pictures and put them together so it was like a video
    He used that as an opportunity to explain that that was a form of animation and video editing called stop motion and gave some movie examples
    He then searched the App Store for software to help his kids create their own stop motion and found the app Stop Motion Studio
    The app has the tool you need to create stop motion animation using your iPhone or iPad camera
    There’s a timeline for editing, onion skinning, effects, sound effects, etc.
    The Free version has some features disabled, but there is in-app purchase $4.99 USD to unlock all the features (one-time price)
      They also sell a “Pro” version on the app store which is just the app with all the features unlocked.
    [Stop Motion Studio](https://www.cateater.com)
    [iStopMotion](https://boinx.com/istopmotion-create-stop-motion-animation/)
      Unfortunately I think iStopMotion for Mac is dead.
Closing
  Supporters
    maccast@gmail.com
    Bandwidth for the Maccast provided by CacheFly at cachefly.com
    Advertising is handled by Backbeat Media at backbeatmedia.com
  Keep emails coming. Audio comments.
    281-622-4269 or 281-Mac-I-Am-9
      PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
    Follow me on Twitter
    Checkout the page on Facebook