We all hate it when our favorite website or server goes down. Even for a few minutes.
I know when something like Netflix, or Amazon, or iCloud goes down it impacts me
I'm an unhappy customer. But my unhappiness is really nothing to the impact on the business who service is down.
Luckily for us there are those of you out there who are there to save us from outages, the unsung heroes of Dev and Ops teams.
And luckily for folks like you there's Opsgenie from Atlassian.
It's your job to respond quickly to incidents and to do that you need a tool like Opsgenie in your utility belt.
Opsgenie gives teams the power to respond quickly and efficiently to unplanned issues.
It helps to notify all the right people through a smart combination of scheduling and
escalation paths that takes into account things like time zones and holidays.
allows for deep flexibility in how, when, and where alerts are deployed, supported by
over 200 integrations like Jira, Amazon Cloudwatch, DataDog, New Relic, and more.
tracks all activity and provides useful insights to improve future incident responses
With Opsgenie, your next incident doesn’t stand a chance.
Visit: [Opsgenie dot com](https://opsgenie.com) to sign up to get a FREE company account and add up to 5 team members.
Never miss a critical alert again with Opsgenie.
News
Apple Muzak
AppleInsider pointed out that Apple filed a US trademark application for the term "Apple Music for Business"
The filing happened on November 29th, but also notes other filings including one in Jamaica back in June.
The assumption is a service like this would be aimed at businesses and enterprises who want to play Apple Music in the background
In that case the service would need to provide licensing with public performance rights.
If purchased separately these licenses typically can cost a few hundred or thousand dollars per year, depending on usage and the size of the business
Apple also reportedly a London-based music startup called Platoon according to Music Business Worldwide
The company was co-founded by iTunes veteran Denzyl Feigelson and LoveFilm co-founder Saul Klein.
Platoon was focused on developing early-stage artists in the UK and the US discovering artists like Billie Ellish, sho is featured in Apple's latest holiday ad.
Feigelson had worked with Apple for 15 years and was responsible for artist relations and live events including producing Apple's famous iTunes Festivals in London.
The report says the company will continue to operate with the same team out of London.
A source also told the publication that the deal "gives Platoon the backing and resources to accomplish its vision and continue its goal to develop original music and visual content - while leaving artists free to sign with who they want and distribute their music where they want".
Easy to see why Apple would have an interest in Platoon. The ability to spot and highlight new and upcoming talent is critical in keeping Apple Music relevant and competitive in the streaming music space.
Apple Video goes MA?
CNBC is reporting this week that Apple Worldwide video in advanced talks to purchase the rights to Israeli drama series "Nevelot" (or, "Bastards")
It's described as a violent and mature drama series and being reformatted for a US market by "Homeland" creator Howard Gordon and "Law and Order: SVU" show-runner Warren Leight and possibly co-staring Richard Gere
The show centers around two military veterans who go on a killing spree targeting young people, "because they believe today's kids don’t understand the sacrifices of their generation."
Dark and grim indeed and directly in contradiction of what we've been hearing today about Apple requiring it's shows and series to have a wider and more wholesome "general audiences" appeal.
Back in September The Wall Street Journal claimed that Apple would be unlikely to produce original content that contains gratuitous sex, violence, profanity, or risqué storylines in an effort to avoid tainting its wider brand image.
Zach Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, heads of programming fro Apple, have been working overtime to dispel the myth that Apple is interested only in family-friendly material.
Newer reports seem to be indicating that Apple is Apple is interested in finding "different" content some of which may not fit "traditional" formats
They are apparently open to most things as long as they have substance and are not gratuitous
Apple wants high-impact content based on things people have heard of, like books, franchises or ideas that have resonance
They are also considering shows that don't fit a 30 or 60 minute format and stuff that could be more interactive and immersive.
While a bit disappointed personally I think Apple going after a wide range of content is a much better move
They should have good parental controls in place to control access to appropriate content.
The recent report also gave a title to the morning show drama starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. "Top of the Morning" which is the same as the title of the book the show is based upon.
ECG comes to Apple Watch
Apple released watchOS 5.1.2 and finally enabled the Electrocardiogram feature for Apple Watch Series 4 owners in the US
And yes, it's ELECTRO, "echocardiogram" like I said on the last show (thank you Lily)
Series 4 owners also get new complications for the Infograph watch faces
Mail, Messages, Home, Maps, Apple News, Find My Friends, Phone, and Remote
The update also will detecting an abnormal heart rhythm (a-fib) and can give owners an alert to possible issues. The Afib feature works on all models that support watchOS 5 (US only)
In setting up both the ECG and a-fib notification you are asked your age and alerted that the features are "not intended for use by people under 22 years old"
Apple also says they are not to be used as the only method for detecting heart issues only that the Apple Watch can serve as an aid in the first detection of possible issues.
Apple says people already diagnosed with atrial fibrillation should not use the app
Apple Watch can’t currently detect things like strokes or heart attacks.
You cannot trick it by changing your region settings. It only functions on models purchased in the United States.
If your in Canada you might have a wait.
Someone asked Health Canada on twitter and the response was they had not received an application for the Apple Watch Series 4
They also stated, "The decision to submit a medical device license application rests with the manufacturer."
Apple does plan to bring the feature to more Apple Watch owners, but how and when is the bigger question.
Other new features:
Direct access to supported movie tickets, coupons, and rewards cards in Wallet when tapped to a contactless reader
Receive notifications and animated celebrations when you achieve daily maximum points in a day during an Activity competition
Manage your availability for Walkie-Talkie from Control Center
US Carriers begin offering eSIM setup
AT&T and Verizon rolled out it's eSIM support last week with the release of iOS 12.1.1
They support both pre and post-paid plans
Verizon's activation seems to be enabled through the "Join Now" option in their MyVerizon app.
T-Mobile showed off it's app to PCMag
Won't be available until later this year
Uses an app vs going into the carrier to activate via a QR code
Seems to be limited to activating pre-paid plans on the second line.
Once you have two lines enabled you can use Control Center to get the status on each line.
eSIM is an option available on Apple's latest iPhones the iPhone XS series and iPhone XR
New Apple case for XR
We heard it rumored that Apple was planning to offer a clear case for the iPhone XR, but now it looks like they released it.
There are also some indications they might have a new iPhone battery case for the iPhone XR and XS series soon.
Guilherme Rambo at 9to5Mac uncovered references to three new battery case model identifiers in iOS
Sponsor: CacheFly
CacheFly's Web Optimization Solution
When websites don't load we lose interest. For each second a page takes to load it costs a company ~16% in engagement. Fewer visits means fewer customers. That's not good for anyone.
CacheFly has your back. With their new Web Optimization capabilities, all of your content will be optimized before it's delivered to visitors without requiring any development effort from you.
With the recent addition of Cachefly’s flexible edge application platform and implementation services, their capabilities reach far beyond those of any traditional CDN.
CacheFly's Web Content Optimization solution includes:
Powerful APIs for solving content distribution problems
On the fly Next-gen Image optimization
Application Load Balancing
Smart asset delivery
Listen, if your website is directly tied to your revenue - and you know it is - optimize your site's content. Now.
Guarantee the best user experience for all of your customers no matter where they are or what device they're using today.
The good people at CacheFly are even going to provide a free optimization consultation for listeners of this podcast. That's right - just for you!
Know exactly where your site stands today with a Lighthouse Score report and learn how CacheFly's Web Optimization solution can help ad 60pts instantly to your score visit https://mac.cachefly.com (m-a-c-dot-c-a-c-h-e-f-l-y.com)
Feedback, commentary, opinions
Customizing Podcast App Stations
Listener Dick was frustrated iTunes and syncing podcasts to his old Nano using a "smart playlist" to display podcasts by release date.
There appears to be no way to play "all" episodes in order
The iPod software only allows playback by "Show"
You can create and sync a "Smart Playlist" that is sorted correctly, but you have no way to access it from the iPods interface.
You could manually change the media type of each episode from "Podcast" to "Music" and then make a music playlist, but what a PITA.
With Apple's Podcast app on iOS you can do it, but there it's not simple either. By default You can use the "Episodes" list sorted by "Date Added" with the "continuous playback" option on, but then you can't get Oldest to Newest order.
The default "Episodes" list seems to only let you sort one way.
The Podcast app has something called "Stations"
With these you can create multiple lists that filter and sort shows in a number of ways.
You find them in the "Library" section and you can create and edit them by tapping the 'Edit" link.
Tap "New Station" and give it a name, say "By Release Date"
Then you are given several options to control
Play: this is the order they will display and play in
Group by Podcast, if you want the filters applied by each podcast individually
Episodes: which episodes to include, "X most recent"
Media Type (audio or video)
Unplayed Only (toggle)
Podcasts, you can choose which shows to include in this Station.
So for your scenario Dick:
Play: Oldest to Newest
Group by Podcast: Off
Episodes: All Episodes
Media Type: All (maybe audio?)
Unplayed Only: Off
Podcasts: All Podcasts
You can create as many stations as you like and then access them under Library.
I have One for just the most recent episodes, just my Mac podcasts, and just my favorite podcasts.
I always prefer sorting oldest episode to newest because i fall behind.
Shake to undo without a shake
Play question from Brett
If the app only supports shake to undo you can use the Accessibility options and set up “Assistive Touch”
Go into Settings > General > Accessibility > Assistive Touch and toggle "On"
You'll see a white "dot" on the screen you can drag it around to position it.
Tap the dot to get the assistive touch menu (lets you activate other "gesture" controls)
Tap ‘Devices’ > ‘More…’ > ‘Shake’
You could also go to Accessibility > Assistive Touch and under ‘Customize Top Level Menu…’ add the ’Shake’ to the first menu if you don't want to have to drill down more levels.
In the Assistive Touch options you can also set a “Custom Action” like “Double-top” and set that to shake.
Then when you double tap the Assistive Touch icon it will initiate the shake gesture
Finally, I like to enable Assistive Touch under the Accessibility Shortcut.
Then I can triple-tap and select the “Assistive Touch” option to toggle Assistive touch on and off when I triple press the side button.
