It’s true, Craig Federighi let loose a perfect little Quick Tip last week at WWDC, did you catch it? Your two geeks did, and they’re here to share it with you. In addition to some more Quick Tips from other listeners, this episode is chock full of answers to your great questions on topics like preparing your iTunes library for Catalina, upgrading to a new Mac, and much, much more. Press play and enjoy learning at least five new things!
macOS
Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s Global Accessibility Chief Talks Tech
Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s Global Accessibility chief, talks about new accessibility features in iOS 13 and macOS Catalina.
Accessibility, as it always does, plays a significant role in not only the conference itself — the sessions, labs and get-togethers all are mainstays of the week — but also in the software Apple shows off. Of particular interest this year is Apple’s Voice Control feature, available for macOS Catalina and iOS 13 devices, which allows users to control their Macs and iPhones using only the sound of their voices.
The new features, such as Voice Control, are amazing.
Apple Deprecates SHA-1 in iOS 13 and macOS Catalina
Apple is deprecating SHA-1, an old security standard, in iOS 13 and macOS Catalina. This is good news since we now have the more secure SHA-2 and SHA-3.
macOS 10.15 Catalina Deprecates UNIX Scripting Languages
The older Python language, version 2.7, is being deprecated in macOS 10.15 Catalina and won’t be included in macOS 10.16. The same goes for other UNIX scripting languages.
Nervously Sweating, Astro HQ Compares Luna Display and Sidecar
Astro recently wrote a blog post comparing its Luna Display product against Sidecar. But they left out an important detail.
6 macOS Catalina Features Not Announced on Stage
We saw a preview of some macOS Catalina features on stage, but Apple didn’t have time to cover them all. On the preview page we see a full list of features coming.
WWDC19: Here’s the List of macOS Catalina Device Support
LIke our iOS 13 device support page, we now have a list of the macOS Catalina device support. And it supports a wide range of devices.
RIP Bash: macOS Catalina Will Set Z Shell as Terminal Default
Starting with the macOS Catalina beta, your Mac will use Z shell as the default shell in Terminal, replacing Bash which has been on the Mac since 2002.
WWDC Day One Coverage – TMO Daily Observations 2019-06-03
Dave and Kelly recap the first day of WWDC including the (public) keynote address and the State of the Union, new hardware, and new software.
WWDC19: Project Catalyst Could Help Revive Mac Gaming
Project Catalyst is Apple’s official name for what we now as Marzipan. It lets developers port iOS apps to the Mac. I think it can help revive Mac gaming, because presumably games will also be able to get ported. Apple Arcade will be available on macOS as well.
But the big news is clearly Catalyst. Details are still thin, and Apple will most likely share more information this afternoon during its State of the Union WWDC keynote.
Bypassing macOS Security With Synthetic Clicks
Security researcher Patrick Wardle found he can bypass macOS security by using synthetic clicks built with AppleScript.
Typically apps are signed with a digital certificate to prove that the app is genuine and hasn’t been tampered with. If the app has been modified to include malware, the certificate usually flags an error and the operating system won’t run the app. But a bug in Apple’s code meant that that macOS was only checking if a certificate exists and wasn’t properly verifying the authenticity of the whitelisted app.
Mr. Wardle refers to this as a “second stage” attack, because the hacker or malware needs access to your Mac to exploit this bug.
Apple is Shutting Down Back to My Mac on July 1
On July 1, 2019 Apple plans to shut down its Back to My Mac service. This let users set up a network of Macs that could be accessed remotely.
Splinternet, WWDC Wishes – TMO Daily Observations 2019-05-30
Bryan Chaffin and Andrew Orr join host Kelly Guimont for a discussion of walled-off sections of the internet and a look ahead at WWDC.
macOS 10.15 Screenshots Show Music and TV
9to5Mac has more screenshots of Apple’s future OS releases. Today we’re seeing macOS 10.15 screenshots of Music and TV.
Pandora Desktop App for Mac is Now Available
Pandora announced today that the Pandora desktop app for macOS is now available to download, giving you full-featured access to the streaming service.
Marzipan, iMessage's Social Media Play, WWDC Spoilers, with Andrew Orr - ACM 512
Will Marzipan be locked to the Mac App Store, and what effect will it have on the Mac experience? Bryan Chaffin is joined by Andrew Orr to discuss this, as well as the idea that iMessage is slowly backing its way to being Apple’s first successful social media play. They cap the show with a look at recent WWDC spoilers.
macOS: New Details on the Music Player in 10.15
Cult of Mac reports:
Some sources previously stated that the [macOS 10.15 Music] app would be made using Marzipan, which lets developers easily port iPad apps to the desktop. But new information reveals that won’t be the case.
In fact,
The Mac’s next-generation Music app will be based on iTunes, not ported over from iOS.
This makes some sense. The legacy macOS iTunes has a lot of Mac-specific code, including iOS device syncing and encrypted backups. But it’s probably also just phase one in the evolution of iTunes/Music on the Mac.
Apple Releases Patch for ZombieLoad Flaw in Intel Chips
ZombieLoad is a serious flaw affecting almost every Intel chip since 2011. Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have issue patches for it.
The tech giant said in an advisory that any system running macOS Mojave 10.14.5, released Monday, is patched. This will prevent an attack from being run through Safari and other apps. Most users won’t experience any decline in performance. But some Macs could face up to a 40 percent performance hit for those who opt-in to the full set of mitigations.
Crazy that Intel chips have had this since 2011. This is the first time I’ve heard of ZombieLoad.
EVE Online Makes it Easier for Mac Gamers Running Wine
EVE Online is an MMO where gamers can build and pilot spaceships and explore the universe. Today the company will start using direct upstream Wine versions for its Mac client.
On rollout, Mac users will no longer need to run a wrapper to execute a 32-bit client on their native 64-bit operating systems, which will allow the EVE client to make better use of system resources and resolve a number of long standing issues that pilots who are playing on Mac experience.
Using upstream Wine will also improve the speed at which updates will reach our pilots who’re playing on Mac, with a multitude of Mac compatibility improvements becoming available to all Mac users with this single release.
macOS 10.14.5 Brings Security Updates
Alongside iOS 12.3 and other software updates, Apple also released macOS 10.14.5, and it brings bug fixes, supports AirPlay 2, and more.
Will Marzipan Apps Be Locked to the Mac App Store?
Dave Mark brought up a good question regarding Jason Snell’s article, which is about how the Mac won’t be locked down like iOS with the introduction of Marzipan apps.
Will I be able to download a Marzipan app from a developer’s site and just run it on my Mac? Or will Marzipan restrict apps to the Mac App Store?
I have a feeling they will be restricted to the MAS. If Mark Gurman is right, Apple plans to merge iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps into a single download. After that, the two App Stores could be merged. Locking Marzipan apps would be the logical first step down that road.
Apple Earns Money, Services vs. Hardware, and AT&T's Fake 5G with Ken Ray - ACM 511
Bryan Chaffin is joined by guest cohost Ken Ray for a spirited look into Apple’s earnings report. The two also weigh the real meaning behind Apple’s outward emphasis on services and what that means for Apple hardware. They cap the show with a rant about AT&T’s fake 5G. Spoiler: AT&T’s claims of a “5G” network are fake.
Bloomberg WWDC Leak Highlights: Updated Maps, Health, Apple Watch Audio Books, Reminders, More
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman got the goods on Apple’s WWDC software plans. Highlights include several improvements to Maps that I’m looking forward to. Apple is also improving the Health app, Reminders, adding audio book support to Apple Watch, a standalone app for the Apple Watch App Store on the watch itself, new Watch complications and faces, improved share sheet in iOS, combined Find my Friends and Find My iPhone, improved iMessage, an updated Books app with a reward system, and much more. There’s a ton of information in this piece, and it’s a good read.
macOS Mojave: How to Disable Mojave Screenshot Shadows
macOS Mojave changed the way we took screenshots with a new Screenshot app. Here’s how to disable Mojave screenshot shadows using Terminal.
