Essential Apple 213: HomePod gets the boot!

Simon Parnell Essential Apple Podcast Leave a comment

Recorded 15th March 2021

Apple axe the HomePod in a surprise move – and Guy Serle of the MyMac podcast joins Simon and Nick to talk about that, March Event rumours 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.

Listen to the show:

This and other episodes are available at:

Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Essential Apple | My Mac | Pinecast | Soundcloud | RadioPublic | PlayerFM | TuneIn | Google Play | Direct Download | RSS

On this week’s show:

GUY SERLE

  • Co-host of the MyMac Podcast (https://essentialapple.com/podcast/essential-apple-podcast-203-essential-mymac-podcast-1-christmas-mayhem/www.mymac.com)
  • @MacParrot and @VertShark on Twitter
  • Does Guy’s Daily Drive, Mac to the Future Livecast, Go!
  • Posts all his stuff to vertshark.com (https://essentialapple.com/podcast/essential-apple-podcast-203-essential-mymac-podcast-1-christmas-mayhem/www.vertshark.com)

NICK RILEY

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

APPLE

  • Apple Has Discontinued the Original HomePod – Mac Stories
  • First Apple event of the year rumored for March 23rd: AirTags, AirPods, iPad Pro, Apple TV? — 9to5Mac
  • Adobe details the transition of its apps to Apple Silicon, emphasizes performance benefits — 9to5Mac
    • Adobe Says Photoshop on M1 Runs 50% Faster Than 2019 Intel-Based MacBook – Mac Rumors
  • Man who fell through ice in Somersworth was rescued thanks to his Apple Watch – 9to5Mac
  • Asahi’s plan for Linux on Apple’s new silicon shows Cupertino has gone back to basics with iOS booting – The Register
  • Apple Now Able to Repair an iPhone 12 Pro’s Cracked Rear Glass Without Replacing the Entire Device — MacRumors
  • The Original Apple Computer is Up For Sale on eBay for $1.5 Million – [Man of Many](https://manofmany.com/tech/computers/the-original-apple-computer-is-up-for-sale-on-ebay-for-1-5-million)

TECHNOLOGY

  • Cancer research: Tiny pill cameras that can film tumours in the gut to be trialled by NHS – Sky News
  • Comment from Glenn Fleishman on the NFT story we covered Twitter
  • The Netflix password sharing apocalypse is nigh — The Week

SECURITY & PRIVACY

  • Microsoft hack: 3,000 UK email servers remain unsecured – BBC
    • White House warns organizations have ‘hours, not days’ to fix vulnerabilities as Microsoft Exchange attacks increase — CNN Politics
    • Exchange servers first compromised by Chinese hackers hit with ransomware — Ars Technica
  • Bug on iPhone app exposed thousands of call recordings – 9to5Mac
  • A Private Alternative to Google Maps: DuckDuckGo Maps – How to Geek
  • Linux community project aims to thwart dependency confusion attacks with easy code signing and verification — The Daily Swig

WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS

  • From Windrider via BTN – I did this today: Selected Internal Speakers from the dropdown list of output options from the Sound icon on my MacBook Pro’s menubar. Then opened the Audio MIDI Setup app, selected AirPlay in the left column. Followed this by clicking on the gear wheel icon at the bottom of that app & chose Use This Device For Sound Output. Upon closing the Audio MIDI app I found my HomePod Mini stereo pair was now the default sound output. This is not a permanent setting, you can create an Aggregate Device in the Audio MIDI app but choosing that in system preferences restricts you to a set volume level, nt the case with my temporary method.

JUST A SNIPPET

For things that are not worth more than a flypast

  • Scientists unlock mysteries of world’s oldest ‘computer’ – BBC

NEMO’S HARDWARE STORE (46:16)

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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