Archiv der Kategorie: Bier

2021

More as an encouragement to hope than out of any optimistic impulse, I’ve put together the dates for 2021. Fitting with the somewhat murky outlook, CalendarTree doesn’t respond anymore. Oh, well… Google and its calendar still work (and will likely continue to work after they join Skynet). Knowing some of y’all’s preference for non-cloudy things, I’ve left an ICS file here.

As for actually meeting in person… pray to the Bundeszipfel. Some people are talking about meeting virtually in the meantime, in the MacAdmins Slack, in the #switzerland channel.—Can you believe that Slack community is now at almost 37’000?

2020

Our dates for year 2020, numbers 97 through 108, are online on CalendarTree (and on Google as an iCal feed). The big 100 is going to happen on April 23rd. So exciting!

Check #switzerland channel of the MacAdmins Slack for short term info and chat.

Leaded Seoul

Just so I can actually point people to a site with dates: Those for 2019, numbers 85 through 96, are on CalendarTree (and on Google as an iCal feed).

Until we meet again, for the [MacSysAdmin] Bier #82, on Thursday, 18 October 2018, still as always at Café Gloria, some of us are fortunate enough to travel north, to Göteborg, to attend the actual MacSysAdmin 2018 – detailed travel reports are expected!

More and more frequent short-term info is still to be found in the #switzerland channel of the MacAdmins Slack.

Limits on Joins

Yup, it’s totally embarrasing that I haven’t posted anything here since August last year. What, however, is not embarrasing at all is that we now enter our sixth year of get-togethers—or meetups, as the young’uns say—that our events are well-attended by a great group of people, that this happens regardless of my ability to send out little reminders, and that there was a spontaneous 12th meeting last year in December.

So let me at least post the dates for 2017, available at CalendarTree (or on Google Calendar). And then we’ll meet again on Thursday, 19 January 2017, from 18:45, as always at Gloria, for the [MacSysAdmin] Bier #61. In-between you can find many of us in the MacAdmins Slack, often in the #switzerland channel.

V.90

So about 25 years ago, this happened. By which I literally mean this, right here, where I’m posting this: The WorldWideWeb. 25 years. Twenty-five. And one of the results: The world isn’t getting worse — our information is getting better, says Ray Kurzweil; and I just might start autoreplying with this on Facebook: This is ‘by far the best time in human history’ — despite what you might read on Facebook.

Doesn’t mean there aren’t any problems left:

Maybe even Apple’s going mushy, part I, part II? Maybe not.

Sorry for not making it last month, but I’ll do my best to show up at Gloria next week on Thursday, 18 August 2016, from 18:45, for the [MacSysAdmin] Bier #56, while we continue to wait for our new iPhones

Atomic Clock

So, WWDC brought us the macOS (10.12) Sierra preview, relieves us from remembering that “X” is really ’ten’—and the next version of that other OS won’t be “iOS X”, but “iOS 10”—and returns us, name-, but not spelling-wise, to where we left off in 2001; underneath, it’s Darwin 16. Aside from Siri? Apple File System, or at least the beginnings of it:

Also announced and almost practically relevant: Apple Pay for Switzerland. And ridiculous, ridiculous reactions and reporting. For now, this seems like a usable overview: Welche Schweizer Kreditkarte für Apple Pay?, pointing to the Swiss Bankers MasterCard Prepaid and the Simply VISA Card. A curious article, “Viele Kreditkarten schluckt das iPhone nicht: Mit diesem Trick funktioniert Apple Pay trotzdem”, points to boon by wirecard, which should supposedly virtualize any creditcard and make it available to Apple Pay; we shall see. I’ll wait for the end of July: “Für Cornèrcard Miles & More Karten steht Apple Pay ab Ende Juli zur Verfügung.

By now almost ¯\_(ツ)_/¯: Security:

Admin & apps:

Anyone who acts like IT security isn’t a people-person job is full of shit. Machine-level solutions only fix machine-level problems.”—“So. Fucking. Important. We are in customer service.”

And feel free to ask me how I feel about Adobe—though, in fairness, they responded quickly in those cases—when we meet at Gloria on Thursday, 21 July 2016, from 18:45, at the [MacSysAdmin] Bier #55. But not before you enjoy the Rogue One teaser reel.

—M&M

802.11g

It’s always thankless to write something knowing the big event is coming up. Helpfully, Apple decided to try “doing something a little different this year”. See The New App Store: Subscription Pricing, Faster Approvals, and Search Ads; App Store Subscription Uncertainty; and FAQ: How Apple’s new App Store subscriptions affect you (among, you know, the rest of the Internet). And, apparently, macOS and, cautiously hopeful, no more oh-es-ex. Right.

Then again, we can always return to the perennial favorite, security. And two-factor authentication: “I was hacked today: my Twitter account, two email addresses, & my phone. It was not due to passwords, they hacked my phone account itself.” See also How activist DeRay Mckesson’s Twitter account was hacked (via Daring Fireball).—And I’m sure all our Swiss telcos will swear that can’t possibly ever happen with them…

There was also some confusion around TeamViewer: Upset users, first accusatory, then apologetic company; see also: A Letter To TeamViewer Users On The Recent Cyber Attacks.—A lot seems to go back to these mega-dumps: Seven Hundred Million (via Michael Tsai) or Cluster of “megabreaches” compromises a whopping 642 million passwords. If you trust Troy Hunt, you can check your username or email address on ’;–have i been pwned?—yes, my LinkedIn account is listed, but I’ve changed that password, like, four times this year alone…—This should therefore not surprise: “Security and privacy risks causing so many to avoid online activities should be a wake-up call for the entire field”, which links to Lack of Trust in Internet Privacy and Security May Deter Economic and Other Online Activities—if your business relies on the Internet, do you have a plan?

Because we’re admins:

Tumbled upon:

Let’s chat next week, after this and that, and that other thing, at Gloria on Thursday, 16 June 2016, from 18:45, at the [MacSysAdmin] Bier #54.

—M&M

Little Red Corvette

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):

Security:

Varia:

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

PS: Purple Tears (via NextDraft).

Groom Lake

We can’t not talk about Apple and the FBI:

Less high-profile, but no less high-impact: Apple Blacklists Its Own Ethernet Driver. Oops.

Even before the last beer, some of us were in London at MacAD.uk and there’s now slides, with video apparently underway.

Notes from the past month:

[MacSysAdmin] Bier #51 on Thursday, 17 March 2016, from 18:45 at Gloria, as always.

From LaLa-Land, M’n’M

Gold

I think we all agree the big news was Hoefler & Co. releasing Operator: Rands likes it, Gruber likes it, of course I bought it. Turns out, Hoefler & Co. fonts generally—so says their support—do not include the glyphs for delta (0x2206) and not sign (0x00AC), which Bare Bones’ BBEdit (and, I guess, TextWrangler) uses for displaying usually invisible tab and carriage return. So, so sad.

In other news: Adobe launches major new PR campaign for Apple’s app sandboxing technology, according to Daniel Jalkut. See also: Warning: Bug in Adobe Creative Cloud deletes Mac user data without warning.

No time for more, because still in London, post MacAD.uk, but come join us for the 50th (!) [MacSysAdmin] Bier on Thursday, 18 February 2016, from 18:45, at Gloria, and let Michael and special guest Balz tell you all about the pub conference…

Update: By popular demand, we are meeting at 18:45 at The Butcher (Heinrichstrasse 239) for a quick bite, then at 19:45 at the gallery for the performance.

—M&M