Everyone got AirPods except you? No worries, Dave and John have you covered with some AirPods alternatives. Otherwise it’s listener questions dominate the show, as usual, with topics ranging from where to store your iTunes Media, network topology, replacements for Dropbox’s missing Public folder and much more. Download today and enjoy!
Happy Holidays from The Mac Observer to You!
Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus, Solstice…It doesn’t matter what you celebrate this time of year—or if you celebrate at all. The Mac Observer hopes this weekend is a wonderful time for you, and that you get to take a day or two off to relax. We’re taking Monday off, but we’ll be back on Tuesday, December 27th, with our iPhone, iPad, and Mac coverage, along with a fresh TMO Daily Observations episode, too.
Congressional Encryption Working Group Backs Encryption (with Mixed Message)
The Congressional Encryption Working Group (EWG) released a year-end report this week stating specifically that, “strong encryption is essential to both individual privacy and national security.” This leaves Bryan Chaffin with hope, even though the report contained a few mixed messages.
See the History of Space Exploration in the Chart of Cosmic Exploration
The history of space flight is amazing, especially when you take into account the vast distances between planets and the complex flight paths spacecraft take to get to their otherworldly destinations. Pop Chart Lab does a great job of showing what humans have accomplished in their beautiful Chart of Cosmic Exploration. The 39-inch by 27-inch color print details the routes for about 100 different craft that have gone to the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. The print costs US$38 and you can pick it up at the Pop Chart Lab website.
iOS Developers Get More Time To Use ATS
Apple Posts Its Public Encryption Key, Encourages Customers to Verify Emails
Apple has a new support document encouraging customers to verify encrypted emails, especially security emails from Apple. The document includes Apple’s own public PGP key for those verifications. Apple noted that its current PGP key will be valid until May of 2018. PGP, or “pretty good privacy” is one of the most popular encryption schemes in general use today, through both the PGP Corporation and the open source GnuPGP. Apple posted links to both. You can subscribe to Apple’s Security-announce emails at Apple’s website.
Sponsor: Rip DVD to Mac, iPhone, iPad, & Android in MP4 For Free with MacX DVD Ripper Pro
We’d like to thank Digiarty, makers of MacX DVD Ripper Pro, for sponsoring The Mac Observer this week. Long-time readers of TMO will know Digiarty as the folks who make apps for managing your media in ways that Apple’s tools won’t, and this time is no exception. Right now Digiarty is offering a “Christmas Giveaway” of MacX DVD Ripper Pro, their app for easily ripping, clipping and extracting audio from DVDs. The promo starts now and runs through January 5, 2017. There are a limited number of copies available per day so go get yours now!
Uber Location Privacy, AirPods Followup - TMO Daily Observations 2016-12-23
Uber is in the spotlight again over privacy concerns. Bryan Chaffin and the Maccast’s Adam Christianson join Jeff Gamet to look at how Uber is collecting location data and how we can block that, plus Adam shares his AirPods experience.
Hey Quark Fans, Check Out QuarkXPress for Dummies
It’s been a while since a quality QuarkXPress book came out, so my long time friend and graphic design expert Jay Nelson stepped up to the plate with a QuarkXPress for Dummies. Jay explains print and digital publishing workflows, color management, image resolution, fonts, output formats, and more. He also explains the evolution of QuarkXPress, which is great for understanding how it went from being the premier desktop publishing tool to the more specialized product it is today. QuarkXPress for Dummies is available now on Amazon for US$34.99.
Pokémon GO Finally Comes to Apple Watch
iOS 10: Inviting People to Control Your Home Accessories
In today’s Quick Tip, Melissa Holt is going to walk us through how to allow someone to access the devices in our Home app. It’s fun! We live in a very strange future in which your friend across the country could turn your lights on and off to mess with you…but only if you know how to invite him in first.
Kerbal Space Program (Steam Keys): $13.99
We have a deal for you on Kerbal Space Program, the fully-fledged, physics-based space flight simulation game. Highly rated, it’s available on the Steam platform for Mac (PC, Linux, and SteamOS, too), and you can get it for $13.99 through us. There’s a video on the deal page, more pics, and additional information, too.
Congressional Encryption Working Group Backs Encryption, Thoughts on CES - ACM 390
The Congressional Encryption Working Group has issued a year-end report on encryption that finds weakening encryption would harm the national security interests of the United States. Bryan and Jeff discuss the implications, as well as a new request from the Turkish government asking Apple to unlock an iPhone 4s owned by an assassin. They cap the show with a preview of CES expectations.
Russia And Turkey Ask Apple to Unlock Killer's iPhone 4s
Apple’s encryption debate isn’t over yet. Several days ago, a man assassinated the Russian ambassador to Turkey before turning the gun on himself. Now, Russian and Turkish authorities have asked Apple to unlock the shooter’s iPhone 4s.
Spam Call Blockers, USB-C iPhone - TMO Daily Observations 2016-12-22
AT&T is getting in on spam call blocking, so Dave Hamilton and Bryan Chaffin join Jeff Gamet to look at how their system works and talk about other spam call blockers, too. They also discuss why replacing the Lightning connector on the iPhone with USB-C might not be a bad thing.
Raspberry Pi Brings PIXEL Desktop Environment to the Mac
The team behind the super affordable Raspberry Pi computer platform has been working on their own desktop environment called PIXEL, and now it’s available for the Mac. PIXEL is built on Debian, so it’s a fully bootable system, and includes everything you need to be productive, the Chromium web browser, and more. They designed it so you can pop it on a USB flash drive or DVD and run it from there. PIXEL is still in an experimental stage, so don’t rely on it as your primary OS. It’s a free download at the Raspberry Pi website.
AT&T Launches Spam Call Blocking with Call Protect for iPhone
AT&T launched a new spam call blocking service this week called Call Protect. The service blocks calls before they reach your iPhone, but it comes with some big limitations.
OfficeSuite Premium 3-Year Subscription: $9.99
We have have a deal for you today on three-year subscription to OfficeSuite Premium. This is a cross-platform (iOS, Windows, Android) alternative to Office that handles DOC, XLS, PPT, and CSV files. This license lets you use the software on up to 1 phone, 1 tablet, and 1 Windows PC at the same time. Get the details on the deal listing.
Looking for an iOS Calendar? Try Timepage
Timepage for iPhone and iPad is beautiful, not-too-minimal, and yet feature-full. David Charier says it really feels like a fresh take on calendars that’s worth a look. And he loves it.
iOS 10.2 Fixed Issues With MFi Hearing Aids
If you use hearing aids that are certified Made For iPhone (MFi), you may have noticed a couple of bugs. A Reddit user mentions (via MacRumors) that his Resound 9-series hearing aids had problems with FaceTime and Find My iPhone. He noticed that the ringing associated with outgoing FaceTime calls routed through his iPhone speaker instead of his hearing aids, even though it worked with other Bluetooth devices. Additionally, the pinging that Find My iPhone uses played through his hearing aids, rather than on the missing device, which made it impossible to find his phone. iOS 10.2 fixed both issues, something the hearing-impaired community will no doubt be delighted to learn. Apple maintains a list of MFi-certified hearing aids on its website.
