S1E290 - Essential Apple Podcast 290: Spats, Hacks & A.I.

On the show this time, Nick got hacked! Apple and Epic get into another spat, in which they both came off looking stupid, and childish... Simon and Nick have been playing with A.I. image tools. Apple made modifications to its new EU rules, a man has recovered over 200 Apple Watches from lakes in Illinois and Donny is disappointed in his Zagg pencils for iPads, and of course some other stuff too! MISSION TO SEAFARERS APPEAL The Mission to Seafarers is looking for donations of old, but working, smartphones and internet capable tablets to give seafarers far from home a way to talk to friends and family If you have any old smartphones or tablets cluttering your cupboard and drawers why not donate them to this worthy cause? If you are in the UK contact Rev. Andrew Dotchin [email protected] or your nearest Mission to Seafarers Centre, or if you live outside the UK and would like to help, simply visit missiontoseafarers.org and make a donation. 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! Recorded 10th March 2024 On this week's show NICK RILEY Spligosh in the Slack Sutton Park Circuit church worship on YouTube Nick’s church stream videos on You Tube APPLE Apple reverses course and clears way for Epic Games to set up rival iPhone app store in Europe – The Independent M3 MacBook Air has this one major upgrade Apple didn't advertise – Tom's Guide Apple confirms the MacBook Air M3 won't be a fingerprint magnet – TechRadar Apple releases MacOS Sonoma 14.4 with a whopping 64 bug fixes – ZDNet Apple could be planning a giant, foldable MacBook that doubles as your iPad – TechRadar Apple's Box Office Misfires: Are Napoleon, Flower Moon, Argylle Worth it? – Variety Apple’s last-minute App Store changes come with a catch – The Verge What’s the most popular Mac in the US? Here’s what one study says – 9to5Mac HomePod 17.4 Lets Siri Learn Your Default Music Service – iDrop News There is no excuse for failing to action Spotify HomePod support – 9to5Mac Alternative iOS App Stores Only Work for 'Grace Period' When Traveling – MacRumors Apple removes big barrier for rival iPhone app stores – Cult of Mac TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE Google is following Apple's lead by adding new developer fees in the EU – Engadget Why the hell would Google promise seven years of updates? – Android Central WORTH A CHIRP / ESSENTIAL TIPS This Simple Trick Helps Stop Your iPhone Apps Tracking You – Living Etc I review laptops for a living and this is now the MacBook I recommend – Tom’s Guide Zagg Pencil wears out in a day – Donny in the Slackroom JUST A SNIPPET For things that are not worth more than a flypast Over 200 Apple Watches recovered from Illinois lakes by metal detectorist – 9to5Mac Colorware delivers a retro makeover with limited edition 'Apple Number 2 Pencil' – 9to5Mac Essential Apple Recommended Services: All Things Secured – Online security made simple by Josh Summers. 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 and on the App Stores – 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. Social Media and Slack <h4>You can follow us on:</h4> Twitter / Slack / EssentialApple.com / Soundcloud / Spotify / Facebook / Pinecast Also a big SHOUT OUT to the members of the Slack room without whom we wouldn't have half the stories we actually do – we thank you all for your contributions and engagement. You can always help us out with a few pennies by using our Amazon Affiliate Link so we get a tiny kickback on anything you buy after using it. 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