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.

Recorded 29th March 2020

Listen to the show:

This and other episodes are available at:

On this week’s show:

NICK RILEY

@spligosh on Twitter very occasionally.
Sometimes appears on Bart Busschots’ Let’s Talk Apple

JAMES ORMISTON

MacJim in the Slack
In charge of the Essential Apple Flickr
Also on Flickr as thesrpspaintshop

DONNY YANKELLOW

AarcadeReviews.com for apple arcade reviews and more
@rtteachr on Twitter
Find his work at hedgehogalley.com
Find his stuff in iBooks, a load of sticker packs in the App Store under Donny Yankellow and DesignBundles.net as Skrbly
Skrbly Studio on YouTube
Skrbly Store
Skrbly Studio (Anyone can Draw) – App Store
Kiddims on Graphite Comics
Life is Random on Graphite Comics
Search for Yankellow on the App Store/Books for Stickers and other work

RONNIE LUTES

@Nevadicus on Twitter
Co-host on shows from the Bubblesort Empire with John Chidgey, Clay Daly, Vic Hudson and Scott Willsey
Avid Golden Knights fan… (Las Vegas Ice Hockey Team)

APPLE

Apple planning Face ID for MacBook Pro and iMac — plus a notch – Apple Insider
- Apple’s going to put a notch on your MacBook? Is nothing sacred? – ZDNet
Apple admits MacBook Air anti-reflective coating can exhibit ‘issues’ – Cult of Mac
Apple releases coronavirus screening app and website in partnership with CDC – CNN
Apple updates Siri with new CDC questionnaire for queries about coronavirus – 9to5 Mac
Darkroom photo editor updated with full mouse and trackpad support on iPadOS – 9to5 Mac
Apple makes its pro video and audio editing software free to use for 90 days – Engadget
Pro Apps Bundle for Education – Apple
Kuo Hath Said the ARM is Nigh – Gizmodo

TECHNOLOGY

This is the most convincing Apple iMac clone we’ve seen yet – Tech Radar
Sony Spins Off Camera Business Into Separate Company – PetaPixel
Polaroid’s new Now instant film camera delivers a classic, punishing experience – The Verge

SECURITY & PRIVACY

Bug in iOS 13.3.1 and later keeps VPNs from encrypting traffic, but there’s a simple workaround – 9to5 Mac
Zoom iOS update removes ‘feature’ that sent user data to Facebook – Apple Insider

WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

Darkroom photo editor updated with full mouse and trackpad support on iPadOS – 9to5 Mac
Skylum donate EUR 5 from any purchase to fight COVID-19 and help victims of the coronavirus pandemic – Skylum

NEMO’S HARDWARE STORE

Nemo will be back as soon as the trucks can get to him…

Essential Apple Recommended Services:

Pixel Privacy – a fabulous resource full of excellent articles and advice on how to protect yourself online
Ghostery – protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing.
33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
Sudo – get up to 9 “avatars” with email addresses, phone numbers and more to mask your online identity. Free for the first year and priced from $0.99 US / £2.50 UK per month thereafter…
ProtonMail – end to end encrypted, open source, based in Switzerland. Prices start from FREE… what more can you ask?
ProtonVPN – a VPN to go with it perhaps? Prices also starting from nothing!
Comparitech DNS Leak Test – simple to use and understand VPN leak test.
Fake Name Generator – so much more than names! Create whole identities (for free) with all the information you could ever need.
Wire – free for personal use, open source and end to end encryted messenger and VoIP.
Pinecast – a fabulous podcast hosting service with costs that start from nothing.

Essential Apple is not affiliated with or paid to promote any of these services… We recommend services that we use ourselves and feel are either unique or outstanding in their field, or in some cases are just the best value for money in our opinion.

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