First things first: You can now register for MacSysAdmin 2016, as always in Göteborg, this year from 4 – 7 October 2016. Limited to 240 seats, lots of great familiar and new speakers, and, if I’m not mistaken, the 10th anniversary. Some Swiss people are flying up on Sunday, 2 October, with LX1226, staying at the familiar Elite Plaza, and returning on Sunday, 9 October, with LX1227, or so I’m told. If you’ve been before, I don’t have to tell you anything—if you’ve never been, you really should!
Then Apple held an event on 25 March 2016 and announced Liam, whom we can’t have. But you can now buy a new iPhone 5(S), erm, SE, finally in rose gold! And an iPad Pro that’s smaller than the old, but still current iPad Pro, but the same size as the iPad Air 2, but with better speakers. And—wait for it—in rose gold! Also, the new small one only does USB 2, while the old big one does USB 3 (via @WillBeech (via @marcoarment)).
For those constantly worried about their data in the cloud on other people’s servers—though I’m with Ticci—note that EU-US safe harbour might not apply anymore, but then, we’re not in the EU, instead, we’re an internet piracy haven. And while we’re on other people’s servers: Remember how they with their oh-so secure BlackBerries made fun of us with our “insecure” iPhones? Oops, I guess: Canadian Police Obtained BlackBerry’s Global Decryption Key (via Daring Fireball). Also, other people’s servers: The book I bought and wanted to read while on vacation: Here’s How Google Makes Sure It (Almost) Never Goes Down.—Not unrelated: Lessons learned while protecting Gmail.—And Dropbox announced Project Infinite, which sounds a lot like odrive’s placeholder files—“good… copy; great… steal”, I guess… Let me also note Cloud Status App (via Daring Fireball), which comes in handy when you’re using other people’s servers. Finally, Arq 5 now lets you backup your files even faster, to even more servers, your own or other people’s.
Speaking of the Alphabet’s seventh letter: Chrome 50 ends support for Windows XP, OS X 10.6, other old versions (via Chris Adams).—Those “other old versions”, you’re asking? They include OS X 10.7 and 10.8. Better upgrade soon-ish…
Things I’ve enjoyed (since 13 March 2016, the last invitation):
- Hacking Gmail to use custom domains for free:
dig kermic.com MX
. - More Star Wars! Without Rey, sadly, but maybe Jyn will make up for it: Rogue One.—Also: Yoda – Luke – Rey.
- Email Isn’t The Thing You’re Bad At. Phew. Not for Tobias, but the rest of us. Maybe another mail client will fix it? Canary Mail.
- Thankfully preserved by Daring Fireball: Fiat Chrysler CEO: Apple Should Not Try Making a Car on Its Own. Because we’ve never heard that before… Speaking of flops: “In 2015 the Swiss exported 4.5m watches in the $200–500 band & 3.4m in the $500-$3,000 band. Apple sold 10–12m Apple Watches. Some flop.”
- Bash everywhere: Developers can run Bash Shell and user-mode Ubuntu Linux binaries on Windows 10. As Rich Trouton says: “I’m looking forward to this. Who knew that shell scripting was also going to be ‘write once, run anywhere’?”
Security:
- The problems with forcing regular password expiry.
- I’m testing Objective-See’s RansomWhere? and found the background interesting.
- Another security guide for OS X.—I’d have liked a bit more background on some options, but solid overall.
Varia:
- Slack for free? Ryver (probably via Capterra).
- Another bucket for your tasks: MeisterTask.
- Hmm: “ReactOS […] ’s design is based on Windows in the same way Linux is based on Unix […] ReactOS looks and feels like Windows, is able to your run Windows software and your Windows drivers…”
- Automatically Cache Updates To Your OS X Server.
- YubiKey in Switzerland.
- For those using JAMF’s Casper: d3.
- From Tobias: Network Analyzer App.
- For Tobias: “Farewell to Lytro cameras, which took photos that you could refocus AFTER taking them. Company is… refocusing on VR.” Cf. Lytro’s 755 Megapixel Cinema Light Field Camera.
- Like LaunchBar—yeah, the original CMD-Space, even before Spotlight—but for menus? OptionSpace.
- An App Store For Bots: Botlist.
- If I ever buy a camera: The Leica Q.
- You’d be disappointed if I didn’t include this: Swisscom gibt zu, dass sie zu Wegelagerern des Internets werden wollen.
- Coz I never get to listen to all the podcasts: MacAdmins.org Podcast.
- And you thought the 29 W USB-C Power Adapter was for the MacBook: iPad Pro Fast Charging.
- Risky? Massively Speed Up Time Machine Backups.
- While my wife appreciates the uniqueness of my (ab)used Apple leather case, I might get a new one: Metro Case.
- “so @ubnt just broke into the home wifi market big time”: AmpliFi Wi-Fi.
- Git on iOS: Working Copy. But note, too: “Troubleshooting remote unix or linux box using a SSH client for mobile devices.”
- I’m with Gruber in wishing this were true: “Drinking more coffee may undo liver damage from booze”.
- The Wirecutter knows us well: Why All Printers Suck (Even the Best Ones).
And so, after I return from summer, we will meet at Gloria on Thursday, 19 May 2016, from 18:45, for the [MacSysAdmin] Bier #53, in the winter…
Marhaba, M&M