The Essential Apple Podcast Essential Apple Crew

After a bit of a cock up last week which was completely Simon’s fault (and he’s very very sorry about it) Simon does a solo show because Nick is otherwise engaged... Simon has thoughts on AI after more adventures with generative tools, fun tunes from Suno, some with lyrics by Simon, Copilot generated images (some with AI weirdness) and a whip around some of the news stories...

MISSION TO SEAFARERS APPEAL

The Mission to Seafarers is looking for donations of old, but working, smartphones and internet capable tablets to give seafarers far from home a way to talk to friends and family
If you have any old smartphones or tablets cluttering your cupboard and drawers why not donate them to this worthy cause? If you are in the UK contact Vicar@felixparish.com or your nearest Mission to Seafarers Centre, or if you live outside the UK simply visit missiontoseafarers.org.

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!

Recorded 14th April 2024


On this week's show
NICK RILEY

Spligosh in the Slack
Sutton Park Circuit church worship on YouTube
Nick’s church stream videos on You Tube

AI – Tunes, Images and Thoughts

Making Music with Suno.ai and images from Copilot Designer
You can find all my AI music here
Best place to look at my AI images is in the Slack



APPLE

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference returns June 10, 2024 – Apple
The first gaming emulators are now on the iOS App Store and one has already been pulled – TechRadar
Apple Vietnam operations expanded, in Chinese diversification – 9to5Mac
How to edit PDF files on Mac: Pixelmator Pro is the easiest way – BGR
Apples Self Service Repair Program Will Finally Let You Use Second Hand Parts – TechPP
Apple's iOS 17.4 browser choice is under fire, despite increased adoption increases – iMore
Apple quietly added Qi2 charging to the iPhone 12 – The Verge

SECURITY & PRIVACY

iPhone Lockdown Mode explained as mercenary spyware attacks target users – Lad Bible

VINNE & THE SQUIRRELS VS THE ANALYSTS

Apple's M4 plans could make the latest MacBooks outdated already – TechRadar

WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

How To Reduce Photo File Sizes On Your iPhone – SlashGear
Fix ‘Cannot Be Opened Because the Developer Cannot Be Verified’ Error on Mac – TechPP
How to Remove Line Under Battery on iPhone – TechPP

JUST A SNIPPET
For things that are not worth more than a flypast


'I bought fake Apple Airpods on Amazon - I was shocked at what actually arrived' – The Mirror
Newer AirPod 2 and AirPod Pro ones still available on Amazon!




Essential Apple Recommended Services:

All Things Secured – Online security made simple by Josh Summers.
Pixel Privacy – a fabulous resource full of excellent articles and advice on how to protect yourself online.
Doug.ee Blog for Andy J’s security tips.
Ghostery – protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing.
Simple Login – Email anonymisation and disposable emails for login/registering with
33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
AnonAddy – Disposable email addresses
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... You get to keep 2 free avatars though.
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 and on the App Stores – 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.

This week Simon and Nick are joined by Mattieu Kopp co-founder and CTO of CYME.io, makers of Avalanche (a tool for migrating photo libraries from App to App), plus Peakto, Find My Snaps, and since we recorded this Peakto for Lightroom, which are amazing AI/ML powered tools for searching and organising your photos in clever and interesting ways. After discussing that they all take a wander through some of the news from the week, including an M series chip flaw and a medical world’s first.

MISSION TO SEAFARERS APPEAL

The Mission to Seafarers is looking for donations of old, but working, smartphones and internet capable tablets to give seafarers far from home a way to talk to friends and family
If you have any old smartphones or tablets cluttering your cupboard and drawers why not donate them to this worthy cause? If you are in the UK contact Rev. Andrew Dotchin Vicar@felixparish.com or your nearest Mission to Seafarers Centre, or if you live outside the UK and would like to help, simply visit missiontoseafarers.org and make a donation.

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!

Recorded 10th March 2024


On this week's show
NICK RILEY

Spligosh in the Slack
Sutton Park Circuit church worship on YouTube
Nick’s church stream videos on You Tube

MATTHIEU KOPP

Links to all their product info, socials and blog at CYME.io

APPLE

United States v. Apple (Complaint) – Hardcore Software
U.S. versus Apple: A first reaction – Six Colors
Various comments by John Gruber – Daring Fireball


Here's why Apple is negotiating with Google on AI partnership – iMore
Apple 'accidentally' updates every AirTag in the world at the same time – iMore
Entertainment expert claims "nobody's watching Apple TV Plus" – [iMore]
What's a Steve Jobs signed business card worth? How about $181,183 – 9to5Mac

TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE

Pig kidney transplanted into living person for first time – CNN
Watch This Humanoid Robot Talk and Complete Tasks Thanks to OpenAI Tech – PC Mag

SECURITY & PRIVACY

Vulnerability found in Apples Silicon M-series chips – and it cant be fixed – Mashable
There’s a vulnerability in Apple’s Mac chips –and the fix might be as bad as the flaw – MSN
Unpatchable vulnerability discovered in Apple M1, M2 and M3 chips – Tom’s Guide



JUST A SNIPPET
For things that are not worth more than a flypast


Check Out This Functional 3D Printed Macintosh – MacRumors


Essential Apple Recommended Services:

All Things Secured – Online security made simple by Josh Summers.
Pixel Privacy – a fabulous resource full of excellent articles and advice on how to protect yourself online.
Doug.ee Blog for Andy J’s security tips.
Ghostery – protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing.
Simple Login – Email anonymisation and disposable emails for login/registering with
33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
AnonAddy – Disposable email addresses
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... You get to keep 2 free avatars though.
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 and on the App Stores – 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

On this show: the World Wide Web turned 35, Nick still has hacker issues, Sonoma bugs, Vision Pro used in neuro surgery, hints that Apple are ramping up on their AI works and more. As ever Simon and Nick have a natter about it all.

MISSION TO SEAFARERS APPEAL

The Mission to Seafarers is looking for donations of old, but working, smartphones and internet capable tablets to give seafarers far from home a way to talk to friends and family
If you have any old smartphones or tablets cluttering your cupboard and drawers why not donate them to this worthy cause? If you are in the UK contact Rev. Andrew Dotchin Vicar@felixparish.com or your nearest Mission to Seafarers Centre, or if you live outside the UK and would like to help, simply visit missiontoseafarers.org and make a donation.

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!

Recorded 10th March 2024


On this week's show
NICK RILEY

Spligosh in the Slack
Sutton Park Circuit church worship on YouTube
Nick’s church stream videos on You Tube

APPLE

The World Wide Web just turned 35 years — and please, stop calling it the Internet – TechRadar
Vision Pro used in surgery for the first time "to eliminate human error“ – 9to5Mac
Apple reports AI training breakthrough – Philip Elmer‑DeWitt
Apple buys startup DarwinAI, adds staff to its AI division, Bloomberg reports – Reuters
A wrinkle in lawmakers’ plans for TikTok: Finding a willing buyer – CNN
New macOS Sonoma update is reportedly taking down printers as well as USB Hubs – TechRadar
Oracle Warns macOS 14.4 Can Cause Java to Terminate Unexpectedly – MacRumors
Apple is now assembling the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 in Brazil – 9to5Mac
iOS 18 could bring hearing aid functionality to AirPods Pro – Cult of Mac
Leaked Apple roadmap hints at iPhone SE 4, foldable iPhone, and AR glasses – TechRadar
Apple developed chip equivalent to four M2 Ultras for Apple Car – 9to5Mac
Building Under Regulation – Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky

SECURITY & PRIVACY

GarageBand update comes with an important security patch – 9to5Mac
Do an iPhone's 'Journaling Suggestions' Settings Reveal Your Name and Location? – Snopes

WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

How to Fix iPhone Messages Indexing [2024] – TechPP


Essential Apple Recommended Services:

All Things Secured – Online security made simple by Josh Summers.
Pixel Privacy – a fabulous resource full of excellent articles and advice on how to protect yourself online.
Doug.ee Blog for Andy J’s security tips.
Ghostery – protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing.
Simple Login – Email anonymisation and disposable emails for login/registering with
33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
AnonAddy – Disposable email addresses
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... You get to keep 2 free avatars though.
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 and on the App Stores – 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
You can follow us on:
Twi

On the show this time, Nick got hacked! Apple and Epic get into another spat, in which they both came off looking stupid, and childish... Simon and Nick have been playing with A.I. image tools. Apple made modifications to its new EU rules, a man has recovered over 200 Apple Watches from lakes in Illinois and Donny is disappointed in his Zagg pencils for iPads, and of course some other stuff too!

MISSION TO SEAFARERS APPEAL

The Mission to Seafarers is looking for donations of old, but working, smartphones and internet capable tablets to give seafarers far from home a way to talk to friends and family
If you have any old smartphones or tablets cluttering your cupboard and drawers why not donate them to this worthy cause? If you are in the UK contact Rev. Andrew Dotchin Vicar@felixparish.com or your nearest Mission to Seafarers Centre, or if you live outside the UK and would like to help, simply visit missiontoseafarers.org and make a donation.

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!

Recorded 10th March 2024


On this week's show
NICK RILEY

Spligosh in the Slack
Sutton Park Circuit church worship on YouTube
Nick’s church stream videos on You Tube

APPLE

Apple reverses course and clears way for Epic Games to set up rival iPhone app store in Europe – The Independent
M3 MacBook Air has this one major upgrade Apple didn't advertise – Tom's Guide
Apple confirms the MacBook Air M3 won't be a fingerprint magnet – TechRadar


Apple releases MacOS Sonoma 14.4 with a whopping 64 bug fixes – ZDNet
Apple could be planning a giant, foldable MacBook that doubles as your iPad – TechRadar
Apple's Box Office Misfires: Are Napoleon, Flower Moon, Argylle Worth it? – Variety
Apple’s last-minute App Store changes come with a catch – The Verge
What’s the most popular Mac in the US? Here’s what one study says – 9to5Mac
HomePod 17.4 Lets Siri Learn Your Default Music Service – iDrop News
There is no excuse for failing to action Spotify HomePod support – 9to5Mac


Alternative iOS App Stores Only Work for 'Grace Period' When Traveling – MacRumors
Apple removes big barrier for rival iPhone app stores – Cult of Mac

TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE

Google is following Apple's lead by adding new developer fees in the EU – Engadget
Why the hell would Google promise seven years of updates? – Android Central

WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

This Simple Trick Helps Stop Your iPhone Apps Tracking You – Living Etc
I review laptops for a living and this is now the MacBook I recommend – Tom’s Guide
Zagg Pencil wears out in a day – Donny in the Slackroom

JUST A SNIPPET
For things that are not worth more than a flypast


Over 200 Apple Watches recovered from Illinois lakes by metal detectorist – 9to5Mac
Colorware delivers a retro makeover with limited edition 'Apple Number 2 Pencil' – 9to5Mac


Essential Apple Recommended Services:

All Things Secured – Online security made simple by Josh Summers.
Pixel Privacy – a fabulous resource full of excellent articles and advice on how to protect yourself online.
Doug.ee Blog for Andy J’s security tips.
Ghostery – protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing.
Simple Login – Email anonymisation and disposable emails for login/registering with
33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
AnonAddy – Disposable email addresses
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... You get to keep 2 free avatars though.
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 –

This week Simon has a new microphone so hopefully the sound will be a little better. Meanwhile apparently the “Titan has Fallen”, the Apple car project is “officially” dead, Vision Pro returns are no worse than any other Apple product, there is new Post Quantum crytographic protection coming for iMessage, and more! Simon and Nick set to and try to make sense of it all...

MISSION TO SEAFARERS APPEAL

The Mission to Seafarers is looking for donations of old, but working, smartphones and internet capable tablets to give seafarers far from home a way to talk to friends and family
If you have any old smartphones or tablets cluttering your cupboard and drawers why not donate them to this worthy cause? If you are in the UK contact Rev. Andrew Dotchin Vicar@felixparish.com or your nearest Mission to Seafarers Centre, or if you live outside the UK and would like to help, simply visit missiontoseafarers.org and make a donation.

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!

Recorded 3rd March 2024


On this week's show
NICK RILEY

Spligosh in the Slack
Sutton Park Circuit church worship on YouTube
Nick’s church stream videos on You Tube

APPLE

The Apple Car project is reportedly dead – Engadget
Crash of the Titan: a short history of Apple’s doomed car project – The Verge
Apple Car project cost Apple $10 billion over a decade of work – AppleInsider
In loving memory of the Apple Car – Creative Bloq


Apple Vision Pro return rate is about the same as the iPhone 15 Pro – AppleInsider
Apple TV+ to get the most exciting sci-fi TV series to be greenlit in years – T3.com
Apple Wont Remove Home Screen Web Apps From iOS After All – PC Mag UK
Apple Adds M3 Macs to Its Do-It-Yourself Repair Program – iDrop News
Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ movie is now streaming on Apple TV+ – 9to5Mac
Apple ID could get a branding makeover to Apple Account – Cult of Mac
Gurman: No Apple Event Planned for Upcoming iPads and Macs – MacRumors
Apple hit with class action lawsuit over iCloud’s 5GB limit – 9to5Mac
Zoom Pulls the Plug on Older Versions of iOS – PC Mag UK
Netflix Subscribers Can No Longer Pay Through Apple’s App Store – MacTrast

TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE

Windows 11 borrowing Apple’s ‘iPhone as a webcam’ feature for Android – 9to5Mac
No physical buttons, but the bottom of the trackpad still clicks.
Tap-drag to drag*.
Three finger swipe up reveals all windows and desktops.
*The the tap-drag gesture is tragically flawed, however, as it does not have any form of drag lock, so you have to be able to complete the drag in the available area of the trackpad. Which is nowhere near as big as Apple’s.



SECURITY & PRIVACY


Blog - iMessage with PQ3: The new state of the art in quantum-secure messaging at scale – Apple



Dougee Says:
iMessage lacked post-compromise security.
In the Signal protocol, your communication keys are constantly updated and “ratcheted” forwards. This means that a compromised phone/backup won’t be useful for long. You’ll replace the stolen keys within a few minutes. In iMessage this wasn’t true: public keys were long-lived.
The new update adds periodic rekeying using elliptic curve cryptography, to ensure that compromised keys quickly become useless, both in the future and for decrypting past messages. This closes an important threat vector.
Along with key transparency, this makes iMessage a state-of-the-art cryptographic protocol.
Even with those improvements, the remaining problem is that elliptic curve crypto is not secure against future quantum computing advances. This doesn’t matter today, but if such computers are built in the future, they could be used to decrypt past conversations.
So Apple has made two changes in this update.



Frequent elliptic curve rekeying.



Second “post quantum secure” algorithm: Kyber.


This algorithm rekeys as well, but a litt

This week Simon and Nick consider Steve’s birthday and, sadly, two years of war in the Ukraine, plus Post Quantum Cryptography, Apple’s first folding device, some Apple TV+, and an Apple Ring?
Apologies if the sound is still a little below par, Simon’s new mic didn’t arrive in time for this recording, but hopefully all will be well by the next show.

MISSION TO SEAFARERS APPEAL

The Mission to Seafarers is looking for donations of old, but working, smartphones and internet capable tablets to give seafarers far from home a way to talk to friends and family
If you have any old smartphones or tablets cluttering your cupboard and drawers why not donate them to this worthy cause? If you are in the UK contact Rev. Andrew Dotchin Vicar@felixparish.com or your nearest Mission to Seafarers Centre, or if you live outside the UK and would like to help, simply visit missiontoseafarers.org and make a donation.

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!

Recorded 25th February 2024


On this week's show
NICK RILEY

Spligosh in the Slack
Sutton Park Circuit church worship on YouTube
Nick’s church stream videos on You Tube

APPLE

Steve Jobs Would Have Celebrated His 69th Birthday Today – MacRumors
Here's how much it costs Apple to make the $3,500 Vision Pro – 9to5Mac
Critical Mac And iPhone Security Warning—Stop Doing These 3 Things Now – Forbes
‘iMessage With PQ3: The New State of the Art in Quantum-Secure Messaging at Scale’ – Daring Fireball
New iMessage PQ3 Encryption Protocol Protects Against Post-Quantum Attacks – TidBITS
Apple’s own descriotion of what they’re doing - Apple


iPhone 15 owners are still having Bluetooth problems – almost 6 months after launch – Tom's Guide
New Rumor Suggests An Apple Ring Could Be ‘Imminent’ – iDrop News
Apple's first folding device won't be an iPhone – iMore
Apple chipmaker moving ahead toward 2nm processors in 2025 – Cult of Mac
Exclusive: Apple Maps to get a big boost in the UK – iMore
MASTERS OF THE AIR Is Apple TV+s Most Watched Series Launch Ever – [GeekTyrant]https://geektyrant.com/news/masters-of-the-air-is-apple-tvs-most-watched-series-launch-ever-which-is-great-news)
Apple TV Plus space thriller Constellation divides opinion – iMore
Apple's hit sci-fi show is finally set to resume filming following production delays – GamesRadar

WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

Sorry But You Need To Stop Using This Old School Phone Hack To Dry Your Phone – HuffPost UK
Apple debunks common charging myth that people claim could harm your battery – UNILAD
15 Cool Apple Watch Features You're (Probably) Not Using – iDrop News
10 iPhone pro tips that are actually helpful – BGR


Essential Apple Recommended Services:

All Things Secured – Online security made simple by Josh Summers.
Pixel Privacy – a fabulous resource full of excellent articles and advice on how to protect yourself online.
Doug.ee Blog for Andy J’s security tips.
Ghostery – protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing.
Simple Login – Email anonymisation and disposable emails for login/registering with
33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
AnonAddy – Disposable email addresses
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... You get to keep 2 free avatars though.
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 and on the App Stores – free for perso