The macOS High Sierra Supplemental Update that fixed a nasty Disk Utility bug has been out for a few days has been picked apart by Daniel Martín. There’s some interesting (and very nerdy) stuff in here.
via @_inside
posts
My Smart Speaker Conundrum
We’ve had an Amazon Echo in our kitchen for over a year now. We use it for the things people use an Echo for, including check the weather, get caught up on the news, turn on light, set timers and listen to music.
That last use is an important one. Most evenings, we have something playing. I pay for a Spotify account that I have hooked up to the Echo, as Amazon’s Prime Music offering only includes around 2 million songs, and in our testing last year, often lacked what we (or the kids) wanted to listen to in the kitchen.
Balance
Balance is a powerful menubar app for your money built by a team from Apple, Stripe and Ethereum. It was featured in the U.S. Mac App Store when it launched in February.
Thanks to Balance for sponsoring 512 Pixels once again this week.
The End of AIM⇢
Michael Albers, VP of Communications Product at Oath, the company that now owns AOL, Yahoo and every other dead Internet brand you can think of is here with some sad news:
AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed. As a result we’ve made the decision that we will be discontinuing AIM effective December 15, 2017.
On Going Apple Watch Only⇢
Yours truly on iMore, writing about the Apple Watch with LTE:
Leave your silly phone behind, it whispers, and it’ll just be you and me. For basic connectivity, it does the bill: My spouse can call me if something comes up, and my business partner can send me an iMessage if he needs anything. I can take a call or reply with Siri quickly and easily, all while I take a quick break from filling my rings. If I am involved in an accident or need help, I can get in touch with anyone in my Contacts list with ease.
Apple Patching macOS High Sierra APFS Container Bug⇢
Matheus Mariano found a nasty High Sierra bug: the system dialog box to unlock an encrypted APFS container exposed the password for that container in the hint field.
As plaintext.
Whoops.
Mariano alerted Apple, and the company has replied with details on how to make sure your data is secure. According to Rene Ritchie, Apple is pushing a supplemental update to High Sierra to fix the dialog box and close the security issue, a little over a week since Mariano’s post went up.
25th Anniversary ThinkPad⇢
IBM’s first ThinkPad debuted exactly 25 years ago today, with a bright red TrackPoint nub and a classic design that still exists in a modern form. Lenovo, the company that bought ThinkPad from IBM, is celebrating the laptop’s 25th anniversary today with a special anniversary edition of the ThinkPad. Even if every ThinkPad looks retro, this is a particularly retro version of the ThinkPad design based on the current ThinkPad T470 model.
Sonos Announces One Smart Speaker
The new $199 smart speaker ships with Alexa support out of the box, but Google Assistant and AirPlay 2 are coming in 2018.
Sonos has long been praised for the sound quality of their speakers, but before this, that experience was locked away in the Sonos app. If your streaming service (or favorite podcast network) wasn’t in the app, it was very difficult to get that audio to play on your fancy speaker.
Apple Releases watchOS 4.0.1
The update fixes that nasty Wi-Fi bug:
watchOS 4.0.1 fixes issues that in rare cases were causing Apple Watch to join unauthenticated (captive) Wi-Fi networks, such as those found in public places like coffee shops and hotels, which direct the user to a web page before the network can be accessed.
I caught my watch trying to connect to one of these networks just the other day. I hope this takes care of things.
Query #13: Calculator Games⇢
This week on Query, we talk about some cool AR apps, migrating Health.app data and my recent Apple Watch misadventures.
Connected #162: Daily Dongle Carry⇢
Federico makes a confession, the trio considers how Apple could improve Do Not Disturb and then Myke forgets how Round Robins work.
My thanks to our sponsors for this episode:
- Balance: Find out more about Balance Open and get $2 in Ethereum.
- Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code WORLD at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
- FlightLogger: Real-time flight tracking for worry-free travel.
60 Mac Tips, Volume 2⇢
David Sparks and Brett Terpstra are back with a new project:
60 Mac Tips, Volume 2, is a collection of tricks and tips to make you more efficient on your Mac. There are 60 screencasts and two hours of video that explains why each tip or trick is special and how to use it on your Mac. Learn these tips and turn yourself into a Mac power user.
Among these 60 screencasts are tips on macOS, Siri for the Mac, using the keyboard, Spotlight, Automator, Safari, Mail, Apple Notes, Apple Photos, Terminal Tips, and third-party apps. After reading and watching these tips and tricks, you’ll be more efficient on your Mac than ever.