Essential Apple Podcast 221: Epic, Music, Betas and Ads...

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This week the Apple v Epic trial came to the end o the grilling stage and ended with the judge putting Tim Cook on the spot and he was surprisingly frank about Apple’s position. Rumours of a new iPod Touch surfaced, and Apple put out an ad promoting its App Tracking Transparency in an amusing (if fairly hard hitting) manner. Apple Music will get lossless audio and spatial audio (but it wont work with your AirPods (Max or not). Siimon, Nick and Steve from Geeks Corner get together to mull over all of this and more.

NOTE: In the section where we talking about spatial audio and AirPods I was not 100% correct – seems the messaging is somewhat confused and Apple seem to use “spatial audio” and Dolby Atmos almost interchangeably – however basically not all of the new features work with Bluetooth headphones.

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 23rd May 2021

Listen to the show:

This and other episodes are available at:

On this week’s show:

NICK RILEY

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

STEVE DURBIN

Runs the [Geeks Corner](www.geekscorner.co.uk (http://www.geekscorner.co.uk/)) website
Produces the Geeks Corner podcast
@GeekCorner_uk on Twitter

APPLE

Tim Cook’s Fortnite trial testimony was unexpectedly revealing – The Verge
Judge Grills Tim Cook on App Store Policies on Final Day of Epic Games v. Apple Trial – MacRumors
In the Epic vs Apple Trial, Tim Cook Made the Most Important Sales Pitch of His Career. The Judge Wasn’t Buying it – Inc.
Surprise iOS 14.7 Public Beta 1 Released Ahead Of iOS 14.6 Launch – Forbes
Also watchOS 7.6 and macOS 11.5
New Apple privacy ad highlights App Tracking Transparency – AppleInsider
Apple Rumored to Announce All-New Eighth-Gen iPod touch This Fall – iDrop News
Here’s what it looks like when someone uses an Apple AirTag to stalk you – BGR
Apple rolls out a slew of new accessibility features to iPhone, Watch, and more – Ars Technica
Apple Warning To AirPods Max Users With Critical Apple Music Update – Forbes
CCC 6 is here! Faster backups, better accountability, Dark Mode, and so much more – Carbon Copy Cloner

TECHNOLOGY

Internet Explorer Is Dead – Giant Freakin Robot
Snap debuts true AR glasses that show the potential (and limitations) of AR – Ars Technica

SECURITY & PRIVACY

How to bypass and block infuriating cookie popups – Wired UK – NB: won’t load if you have content blockers!!!
Facebook Still ‘Secretly’ Tracks Your iPhone–This Is How To Stop It – Forbes
Researcher develops tool that wipes an Android phone if someone tries to crack it: Here’s how it works – TecXite

WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

Don’t wait on hold – get a callback with WeQ4U

NEMO’S HARDWARE STORE (1:08:34)

Accell’s power solutions!
Accell Power Cutie – Mini desktop surge protector with plenty of USB and AC charging ports to cover your daily power needs – $36 US or [$20 on Amazon US](https://www.amazon.com/Accell-Power-Cutie-Protector-USB/dp/B082N8WSML/
Accell Power 3 in 1 Fast Wireless Charger – 1 cable for 3 of your daily gadgets, charging your smartphone, Apple Watch and AirPods simultaneously in a slim, stylish dock, providing easy cable management and ease of use – $45 US
Accell Power Cube – Compact cube-shaped charging station offering a total of 6 USB type A charging ports and 3 AC surge protected outlets to safeguard and charge your daily electronics – $55 US

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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