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.

The hubbub over new Macs

Despite not likely being a Mac only event there seems to be a lot of focus in the community on the Macs Apple may or may not announce in March.

Many think Apple’s next event will happen March 8th. We’re expecting a new iPhone SE and entry-level iPad, but it’s the possible M2 Macs that have the rumor mills buzzing

Three new Mac models have been spotted in filings to the Eurasian Economic Database

A2615, A2686, and A2681 all listed as running macOS Monterey

The models I assume would be a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, new MacBook Air, and new Mac mini.

The successors to the M1 versions from last year with updated M2 processors

In recent note from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman he thinks Apple will announce the updated entry level MacBook Pro and the Mac mini, but the MacBook Air will likely come later in the year maybe near the holidays.

For the 13-inch MacBook Pro model MacRumors claims to have sources telling them that there will be no design changes, just a M2 processor update

That means it keeps the TouchBar, doesn’t gain a notch, and no ProMotion like it’s bigger 14-inch and 16-inch sisters

Seems really odd to me to not bring all the models together with the same design language.

Ultimately that means just adding two graphics cores, bringing it up to 10, but keeping the same number of CPU cores and bumping performance a bit.

Some had been hoping to see a 27-inch M1 Pro and Max version of the iMac, but now display analyst Ross Young says that model is likely coming in June (honestly I felt like the “Pro” announcements would be in June)

It’s believed that Apple has been working on a miniLED version of the 27-inch iMac for a while and it will likely come with a “Pro” moniker

Previously he had said a possible August or September launch, so that’s moving the date up quite a bit.

A company that makes password cracking tools called Passware claims to have found a vulnerability in Apple’s T2 chip that allows it to bypass the password lockouts and crack passwords on the machine

They already have a tool that uses GPU acceleration to make brute-force attacks at a rate of tens of thousands of passwords per second which can potentially crack password on older non-T2 Macs

But the password lockout on T2 Macs had previously thwarted them. There they’d have to go after brute-forcing the decryption key and that takes millions of years.

With the new method they still are extremely slow, about 15 or so attempts per second.

So as long as you have a good, random, and sufficiently long password it would still take thousands of years to brute force crack.

If you have a short, say six character, password that is not random and contains dictionary words it could crack in as little as 10 hours or so.

The tool also requires direct physical access to your Mac, so choose a good password and keep control of your own computer and you should be fine.

Apple TV+ focus on SXSW

The 2022 SXSW film festival in Austin, TX happens on March 11-19 and looks like Apple plans to debut a new film and four of their new series at the show

For the film they’ll screen "Cha Cha Real Smooth" which stars Dakota Johnson and is directed by Cooper Raiff. The film also won the Audience Award at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

Apple will also screen the series “We Crashed” which follows the story of the rise and fall of the WeWork founders and stars Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway.

They will show their new docuseries about basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson called “They Call Me Magic"

Along with the new drama series "Shining Girls" which stars and is executive produced by Elisabeth Moss

And finally a new project from the filmmakers behind “McMillion$” James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte. A docuseries called "The Big Conn” which tells the story of Eric C. Conn, an attorney who "defrauded the government over half a billion dollars in the largest Social Security fraud case in history."

Meanwhile Apple is also prepping for the upcoming Oscars

Their films CODA and The Tragedy of Macbeth received several nominations, Apple films are up for six awards in all

According to “Just Watch” following the announcements of the nomination both films returned to the top 10 streaming charts in the US.

In addition Apple plans to re-release CODA into theaters select major cities in the U.S. and London for a limited run and the showings are free on a firs come first served basis.

The showings will happen three times a day from February 25 through February 27 and they will all have open captions to "be fully accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing"

And of course Apple TV+ continues to announce and expand it’s line-up of content

They announced a new docuseries called Omnivore

It’s about food and “will tell the story of humanity and the planet through eight defining ingredients.”

They also seem to really want to get more sports content one way or the other (we talked bout their rumored bid for Thursday night football)

A report from “THR’ claims Apple has ordered a 10-part docuseries called “The Dynasty” about the New England Patriots

The project comes from Imagine Documentaries and NFL Films and is based on a book of the same name by Jeff Benedict

It follows the Tom Brady years of the franchise

Dutch fine up to 20M now

Back in January the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets expressed their displeasure with Apple’s proposed solution for allowing 3rd party payments in dating apps on the Dutch App store.

The authority had ruled that Apple need to allow for such payments and Apple complied but said developer would have to create a new version of their app if they wish to use an alternative payment system.

As such they gave Apple until January 15th to change their conditions or they would start fining Apple five million euros a week up to 50 million euros until they changed their policies

Plus Apple still will collect a 27% fee on 3rd party purchases, but the Dutch Authority doesn;t seem to have any issue with that.

Well Apple didn’t do anything and hasn’t for the past 4 weeks so as such they’ve now paid 20 million euro in fines.

I think that Apple plans to just payout the full 50 million to have their way. It’s not clear to me what, if anything, happens to Apple after they reach the maximum fine.

iPhone 14 Pro: Moar RAM?

A rumor coming out of a Korean blog says that Apple will add the most RAM it ever has to the new iPhone Pro models

The leak says Apple will bump it up to 8GB some think to match the recently announced Samsung Galaxy S22 models.

It’s not the first time we heard this rumor though. Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu made the same claim near the end of last year

Still even this years iPhone 13 Pro models best the Galaxy S22 and they have 6GB of RAM. It’s not clear exactly why Apple would need to add more as they’ve always been able to do more with less.

Apple isn’t typically one to just play “keeping up with the Sams”, so if they do bump it I feel it’d have to be for some specific feature or functionality. Maybe to better support the new higher 48MP camera they’re rumored to be adding?

It’s also looking like the iPhone 14 (non-Pro) model might not be gaining ProMotion and that will remain a “Pro” feature

The Elect says that BOE will be supplying Apple with low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) thin-film transistor (TFT) OLED panels for the upcoming iPhone 14 series

LTPO displays are used in the iPhone 13 Pros and is the tech that allows for variable refresh rates up to 120Hz

SimpliSafe

Today’s episode of the Maccast is brought to you by SimpliSafe Home Security.

Have you ever wanted to know what’s happening at home when you’re not there? I’m a big fan of the new Wireless Outdoor Camera from SimpliSafe. It lets you see what’s happening outside right from your phone and alerts you when anyone approaches, so you always know who’s there.

Now luckily for me my neighborhood is relatively low key, not too much happens but I can tell you thanks to SimpliSafe was able to see which neighbor was letting their big dog leave me little “presents” on my lawn and now it’s not happening any more

I get to have the piece of mind know if something more serious was happening I’d know about it

SimpliSafe has everything you need to keep your home safe—from entry and motion sensors to indoor and outdoor cameras.

I loved the easy of set-up and it was great to be able to fully customize my system to my home.

SimpliSafe is monitored 24/7 by professionals ready to dispatch police, firefighters or EMTs to your home.

SimpliSafe is less than $1/day and you can set it up in around 30 minutes. There are no long-term contracts or commitments.

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Two-step KVM

Here’s a solution that came from Chad that seems pretty good though not exactly like the one click KVM’s of you're

Does require dual input monitor, a wired keyboard, and a RF (not Bluetooth) mouse.

So you connect each machine to a different source input on the monitor. Say one on HDMI and the other on Thunderbolt 3

Then Chad uses a simple USB A/B switch from Sabrent called the [USB 2.0 Sharing Switch](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074TZKGVR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_7ZZ01WD8BC89ZCJJN4F8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1)

It’s only USB 2.0 but for a mouse and keyboard that shouldn’t matter.

Then the RF dongle for the mouse is plugged into the Apple wired keyboard (or any wired keyboard with a USB port)

So to switch Chad just has to change the source on the monitor and then click the A/B switch for the mouse and keyboard.

He says this setup has been working reliably for him for the past six years.

TouchID in clamshell

I think it was last episode I mentioned my new M1 Pro 14-inch MacBook Pro work computer

I’m using it in clamshell mode with the Monoprice USB-C to DVI adapters that were my “Thing of the Moment"

But also commented that it’s a bummer because I can’t use the TouchID in clamshell mode.

Terry email me to remind me that Apple has their new Magic Keyboard with Touch ID keyboards in both a compact and extended edition and they work with ALL Apple Silicon machines

It’s a bit of a costly upgrade at USD $149 and $179 respectively, plus I only have one Apple Silicon machine so far, but might be worth the investment in the future

Side note… even though the Monoprice USB-C to DVI adapters work beautifully plugged directly into my Mac I’m finding I can’t use two monitors when plugged into my Anker 13-in-1 Thunderbolt 3 dock

Though I don’t think I tried one on Thunderbolt and 1 on HDMI through the dock

Thoughts? I think it’s because I might to to daisy chain on the downstream Thunderbolt port? Unfortunately not really possible with my old DVI / HDMI monitors.

I see some new monitors in my future, but something with extra downstream ports for sure. Recommendations?

The [32-inch LG UltraFine™ 4K UHD LED Monitor](https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-32UL950-W-4k-uhd-led-monitor) 32UL950-W looks pretty nice.

Also the BenQ [32 inch 4K Thunderbolt 3 Monitor with Display P3 | PD3220U](https://www.benq.com/en-us/monitor/designer/pd3220u.html)

Apple TV Privacy Settings

Dan wrote in about an article he read recently that compared privacy settings on set-top streamers

The article makes it seem as if Apple auto-opts you into data collection so that they can make recommendations for you view, but that’s a bit misleading

When Dan checked his settings he was indeed opted-in, but that is something that is part of the set-up on ANY Apple device these days.

When setting up the set-up will ask you a few things

Do you want location services on

Do you want to share Siri Dictation data

Do you want to share data with Apple

Do you want to share App data with app developers

The default option is “yes” in I believe ALL cases and Apple makes it appealing saying it will help them improve their products and services, but you can always opt out.

You can adjust all of these options in Settings > General > Privacy

Some other settings and options to be aware of…

Allow apps to ask permission to track you

Under Settings > General > Privacy

Select Tracking

Turn Allow Apps to Ask to Track on or off. (you might want “Off” if that’s your default posture)

Each app that asks for permission to track while this setting is turned off will be treated as if you tapped Ask App Not to Track.

Set which third-party apps can access and remember preferences for Apple TV users

Helpful if you have multiple users on your Apple TV

Again under Settings > General > Privacy

Select Apple TV Users, then turn App User Access on or off, or select Reset User Access to remove any user-specific preferences from all third-party apps.

Review Analytics data

Fair warning it’s probably gobblety goo to most folks. JSON data format.

Settings > General > Privacy

Select Analytics Data

Select a data item and click “View”

Thing of the Moment: iPhone Leather Wallet with MagSafe

This one comes from Justin who says he’s a “non-case” iPhone man and recently upgraded his iPhone SE v2 to a new iPhone 13 mini

He likes the slim feel of the bare iPhone and figures that the way Apple designed it to be used

But he also found the sharp edge (design) combined with the size hard to hold in one hand and was considering adding a bumper case but didn’t find one he liked.

Then he had a chance to try out a relatives MagSafe iPhone Leather Wallet

And for him adding the wallet was “a game changer"

He said the little bit of extra depth it added allowed his hand to cup the phone perfectly making it easier for him to use and operate in one hand.

It fits, as Apple says, about 3 cards perfectly and Justin says it’s slim and smooth enough not to interfere with easily getting the phone in and out of his pocket

Finally as a bonus it has AirTag FindMy functionality built in and ask you if you want to set it up the first time you attach the wallet to your device.

Sounds like a nice pick.

I’ll also make a pick for Apple’s Leather iPhone case. I find it adds a nice grip to the device and feels great without adding a lot of bulk. Plus the wear and age very well and you can use the MagSafe version in conjunction with the MagSafe wallet.

Supporters

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