Essential Apple Podcast 217: When Siri Sprung Spring Loaded

This week Siri sprung their Spring Loaded event announcement before they sent out the invites, the inventor of PDF passed away, we talk hacks and scams and of course Nick and Simon talk to guest Jeff Gamet about all of that, Jeff’s new MacVoices string “Up to Speed with Jeff Gamet” and more.

GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS

Glenn Fleishman’s book Take Control of Securing Your Mac can be found at takecontrolbooks.com along with many other titles by him, Joe Kissell, Jeff Carlson and others.
Steve at Geeks Corner has a podcast which is usually a 5-15 min show of his thoughts on tech. Also keep an eye on his site or follow him on Twitter @GeekCorner_uk to watch for regular giveaways.

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 18th April 2021

Listen to the show:

This and other episodes are available at:

On this week’s show:

JEFF GAMET

@jgamet on Twitter and Instagram
Regular on the Mac Show and Big Show on the British Tech Network
MacVoices Live and Up to Speed on MacVoices
Guests on a lot of Mac Observer Podcasts

NICK RILEY

@spligosh on Twitter very occasionally.
Sometimes appears on Bart Busschots’ Let’s Talk Apple
Sutton Park Circuit church worship on YouTube

JAMES ORMISTON

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

APPLE

Siri leaks April 20 date planned for Apple’s next special event – Cult of Mac
Apple’s ‘Spring Loaded’ Event Officially Announced for Tuesday, April 20 – MacRumors
Colors in Apple’s spring event invitation hint at a lot of things – Apple Insider
The First ‘Up To Speed’ with Jeff Gamet – MacVoices #21065
We finally know how the FBI unlocked the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone – TNW
Apple trade-in partner under fire amid ‘alarming uptick’ in complaints – 9to5Mac
Apple brings its 24-hour music video channel to the UK and Canada – 9to5Mac
This new Apple tech could be the best thing to happen to iPhones in years – BGR
23 useful Mac settings hiding in plain sight – Popular Science

TECHNOLOGY

Dr. Chuck Geschke, Co-Founder Of Adobe And Inventor Of PDF, Dies Aged 81 – UNILAD
Exclusive: Breakthrough COVID-19 Red Light Treatment in Canada Kills Coronavirus in Nasal Passages – Showbiz 411

SECURITY & PRIVACY

Backdoored developer tool that stole credentials escaped notice for 3 months – Ars Technica
Nasty MacBook Pro pop-up scam preys on unsuspecting victims – don’t be fooled – Laptop Mag
Can an iPhone be hacked? A breakdown of common hacks and cyber hygiene best practices – Business Insider

WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

DxO PureRAW
Use This Well-Hidden IOS Feature To Correct Your Apple Screens’ Colors – Fstoppers
Mixam Print Online Printing Services – The UK’s Best Price & Quality

JUST A SNIPPET

For things that are not worth more than a flypast

Bevvi – Find out when & where your friends are having a drink

NEMO’S HARDWARE STORE (1:20:00)

Special report on the iPhone 12 Mini with Sheba, and the link she mentions is shebadoeshair

Essential Apple Recommended Services:

Pixel Privacy – a fabulous resource full of excellent articles and advice on how to protect yourself online.
Doug.ee Blog for Andy J’s security tips.
Ghostery – protect yourself from trackers, scripts and ads while browsing.
Simple Login – Email anonymisation and disposable emails for login/registering with
33mail.com – Never give out your real email address online again.
AnonAddy – Disposable email addresses
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… You get to keep 2 free avatars though.
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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