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Essential Apple Podcast 175: An SSD and a Hackintosh fail

A full house of guests this week as Suffolk Pete, MacJim, Nick Riley and Mark Chappell join me – other than the new MacBook Pro, we didn’t really have much news so we chat about Pete’s SSD replacement in his 2014 MacBook Air and Nick’s experiment with creating a cheap Hackintosh.

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

  • Glenn Fleishman’s Working From Home book is completely FREE and can be downloaded here
  • Steve at Geeks Corner will be having more giveaways in the near future. Keep an eye on the site or follow him on Twitter @GeekCorner_uk

Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!

Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.

Continue reading → Essential Apple Podcast 175: An SSD and a Hackintosh fail

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Essential Apple Podcast 174: A mixed bag of news and Jim’s new mic

This week I am joined again by MacJim and Mark to talk about Jim’s new microphone, the iOS 13.5 beta, Apple bugs, Apple’s earnings report, the NHS contact tracing app, and more.

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

  • Glenn Fleishman’s Working From Home book is completely FREE and can be downloaded here
  • Steve at Geeks Corner will be having more giveaways including Luminar 4 and Affinity softwares in the near future. Keep an eye on the site or follow him on Twitter @GeekCorner_uk

Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!

Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.

Continue reading → Essential Apple Podcast 174: A mixed bag of news and Jim’s new mic

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Setting up Firefox for Privacy

A guest posting by Andy J from his blog at doug.ee

My browser of choice for privacy is Firefox. There are browsers that are privacy and security focused, but I decided to stick with Firefox with some privacy add-ons (extensions) and some tweaking to the settings. Out of the box Firefox respects your privacy and security, with a few tweaks and add-ons you can improve the security of your browsing. In this article I will show you how to make use of these to help protect yourself.

Continue reading → Setting up Firefox for Privacy

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Helm Audio Tag a Hero Giveaway

HELM Audio is giving away 2 pairs of the HELM True Wireless 5 headphones each week until May 31st to heroes working on the frontlines to fight COVID19. We want you to tag your hero!

Everyone knows someone right now who is working hard to keep us safe in the middle of this pandemic. Maybe it’s a family member working in a hospital, or your neighbor is a paramedic, or a friend works at a food bank or is a member of the military, or your partner works in a local police or fire department. These heroes deserve some recognition for their courage doing what they do everyday.

Tag your hero with a short (one or two sentence) description of how your hero is working the frontlines for all of us, and tag them. We’ll randomly select two heroes each week up to May 31st for the free TW5’s. Winners will be announced on the Facebook page and we’ll notify them via DM.

Also Medical workers, first responders, or US military members stationed here in the US can already get a pair of TW5 headphones at a 50% discount with an ID.me account. Learn more about this program below the fold or at helmaudio.com.
If you’re putting your safety at risk to keep us safe, we truly appreciate your service. Thank you!

Continue reading → Helm Audio Tag a Hero Giveaway

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Thoughts on the iPhone SE (2020)

By James Ormiston (@MacJim)

For some years now, I’ve become ever more critical of Apple with each iPhone launch, where the entry level pricing rose higher and higher. We’ve seen those who are on a limited budget left with the choice either to pay more than they had planned, or choose an alternative mobile from the Android marketplace. Personally, I finally had enough when Apple launched the iPhone X which took the price into the stratospheric region of over £1,000.

Continue reading → Thoughts on the iPhone SE (2020)

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Essential Apple Podcast 172: Apple’s Super iPhone SE 2020

Apple launched the iPhone SE 2020 – and delivery dates have already slipped into May… Uncle Tim has been appointed to the Californian Economic Taskforce. Zoom in the press for the wrong reasons (again). Google warn Chrome users to update to latest version immediately. Simon is joined by Andy J, Mark Chappell and James Ormiston to try and make sense of it all.

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

  • Glenn Fleishman’s Working From Home book is completely FREE and can be downloaded here
  • You can get Ghostery Midnight free for 3 months with the coupon code ‘workathome’
  • Steve at Geeks Corner was having another giveaway for a little game called Trance X head over there to enter if it’s still running.

Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!

Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.

Continue reading → Essential Apple Podcast 172: Apple’s Super iPhone SE 2020

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Essential Apple Podcast 171: Apple & Google Sitting in a Tree

Mark Nick and Jim join Simon to talk about another week in lockdown, the tech news from the week and whatever else comes up in the conversation.

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

  • Glenn Fleishman’s Working From Home book is completely FREE and can be downloaded here
  • You can get Ghostery Midnight free for 3 months with the coupon code ‘workathome’

Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!

Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.

Continue reading → Essential Apple Podcast 171: Apple & Google Sitting in a Tree

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Essential Apple Podcast 170: Insane Sandwich

Mark returns to the show and we’re joined by Donny Yankellow and Guy Serle to talk about the iPad turning 10, iCloud folder sharing, AirTags, Zoom, video conferencing and more.

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

  • Glenn Fleishman’s Working From Home book is completely FREE and can be downloaded here
  • You can get Ghostery Midnight free for 3 months with the coupon code ‘workathome’

Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!

Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.

Continue reading → Essential Apple Podcast 170: Insane Sandwich

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Essential Apple Podcast 169: LOCKDOWN!

You may notice some difference in the sound this episode – Simon’s Mac had a kernel panic right at the end of the show and wiped out his recordings… Luckily Nick records a backup but his set up is a simpler Piezo recording with no Audio Hijack wizardry. However without him there’d have been no show at all. So we aren’t complaining. Also we need to get Jim a mic that doesn’t “rustle”!

This week news of any great consequence (well non COVID-19 news anyway) was a bit thin, but as we’re all in lockdown guests weren’t! In a bit of a houseparty Simon is joined by Nick Riley, James “MacJim” Ormiston, special guest Ronnie Lutes and eventually Donny Yankellow… to make a fist of what they could dig up to chew over.

And the amazingly brilliant interlude is “stolen” from Daniel Matarazzo

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

  • Glenn’s book is completely FREE and can be downloaded here
  • You can get Ghostery Midnight free for 3 months with the coupon code ‘workathome’
  • Steve over at Geeks Corner is having an Apple Watch Strap giveaway… Why not pop on over and enter and get the chance to win an AppleWatch strap of your choice?
  • I didn’t mention this on the show but Serif have made all their Affinity apps on Mac/PC and iOS available on a 3 MONTH free trial and reduced the priced by 50%… If you were even remotely interested now is the time to try and buy!

Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!

Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.

Continue reading → Essential Apple Podcast 169: LOCKDOWN!

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Essential Apple Podcast 168: Working from home special

Apple launch and all new MacBook Air, iPad Pros with LiDAR, a keyboard with backlighting and trackpad for the new and previous gen iPad Pros, updated MacMini with more storage, new iPhone cases and watch straps. iOS 13.4 got a demo from Craig Federighi and more. BUT before we get to that I am joined by special guests Glenn Fleishman (author, journalist, 2x Jeopardy champion and more) and Pete Knowlton (from Ghostery) and we get led down a path of talking about WFH, COVID-19, and a whole load of associated matters.

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

  • Glenn’s book is completely FREE and can be downloaded here
  • You can get Ghostery Midnight free for 3 months with the coupon code ‘workathome’
  • Steve over at Geeks Corner is having an Apple Watch Strap giveaway… Why not pop on over and enter and get the chance to win an AppleWatch strap of your choice?
  • I didn’t mention this on the show but Serif have made all their Affinity apps on Mac/PC and iOS available on a 3 MONTH free trial and reduced the priced by 50%… If you were even remotely interested now is the time to try and buy!

Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!

Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.

Continue reading → Essential Apple Podcast 168: Working from home special

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GDPR In Simple Words – Finally Understand What Is GDPR

A Guest Post From NameEstate.com

From an original post by: Daren here

 

There are over four billion internet users in the world. This means that each day, billions of people log onto sites, download apps, or use other online resources that collect data about them simply by clicking their links. Cookies, IP addresses, locations, and much more can be collected without users even realizing they’ve provided this information.

When companies can store and utilize user data at their leisure, there is potential for misuse. To mitigate the risks associated with using the internet, the European Union has developed GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulations, to protect its citizens and keep companies honest about how they use consumer data.

The following is a thorough breakdown of GDPR, the history of data protection, who GDPR applies to, and how GDPR affects internet users and businesses. By better understanding GDPR, it will be easier to navigate registering domains, set up new websites, and adhere to all legal obligations that apply to business sites.

Continue reading → GDPR In Simple Words – Finally Understand What Is GDPR

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Essential Apple Podcast 167: Zoom & Enhance? Pixelmator says “Yes you can!”

WWDC goes virtual (no surprise there), people are already making predictions based on the image, iOS14 leaks predict homescreen list view. Microsoft take down a zombie botnet and Bill Gates steps down from the board. But more important than all of that for this show we are joined but Andrius Gailiunas of Pixelmator to update us on what they’re up to. Also Andrius and I talk a bit about COVID-19 in the “Not the show” section at the end.

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

  • Get Donny Yankellow’s 2FunDads iMessage stickers for FREE

Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!

Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.

Continue reading → Essential Apple Podcast 167: Zoom & Enhance? Pixelmator says “Yes you can!”

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Some Thoughts on iPadOS

A personal view
by James “MacJim” Ormiston

Back then:

Ten years ago, Steve Jobs cast his spell over an enthralled audience when he announced the iPad on stage, a device that previously had been the work of science fiction in shows such as Star Trek, The Next Generation; where tablet devices abound. Granted, Apple wasn’t the first to attempt bringing tablet devices to market but they were the first to make a success of it killing off almost all of the competition over time. 

Back then, there was no iPadOS, just plain old iOS developed for the iPhone and its small screen. Back then; it was all we needed as the iPad was in its infancy; being a simple consumer device aimed more at dealing with email, web browsing and rudimentary photo editing. Remember, the internet was nothing like what we have now. The ‘future’ iPad in the form of the Pro versions was still far away in the future; the future we are now living in, and that is where today’s problems lie. 

Now:

With multitasking, more than one window open at any time, copy and paste, drag and drop and access to external storage that Apple is now trying to add to emulate the way a computer works, iOS is starting to show limitations due to its early beginnings. With each iteration of iOS more and more features and complexities are added in. Ever more powerful processors have helped, but it really hasn’t taken into count the way the interface would ultimately get ‘bogged down’ due to the awkward way these new features have to work in a restricted OS, which in the end slows the user down. 

Continue reading → Some Thoughts on iPadOS

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Essential Apple Podcast 166: A show with no notes?

Not a great deal of Apple News, except the growing expectation Apple might not be able to do WWDC in the same way as previous years, and a free fix for owners of iPad Air 3s with troublesome screens. Meanwhile Intel reveal that there is a dangerous flaw in their chip management module that can’t be fixed, Virgin Media might be in hot water with the GDPR, Microsoft say 99.9% of hacked accounts make the same mistake, and TCL showed off an interesting “rollable extendable phone concept”. Simon and Nick consider these and wander off into a few other bits and pieces as well (as they often do).

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

  • Get Donny Yankellow’s 2FunDads iMessage stickers for FREE

Why not come and join the Slack community? You can now just click on this Slackroom Link to sign up and join in the chatter!

Slacker @MacJim has a family friendly Flickr group for listeners to share photos because the Darkroom channel in the Slack has become so popular – if you’re interested head over to to the Essential Apple Flickr and request an invitation.

Continue reading → Essential Apple Podcast 166: A show with no notes?