Episodes

Essential Apple Podcast 154: Tim, sort the Apple ID servers!

11/6/2019
Recorded 3rd November 2019 If you’ve downloaded this episode expecting a Ghostery special I am afraid Pete Knowlton has had to postpone for family reasons. He promises to come on soon. Never mind, it has been one hell of a week, AirPods Pro soft launched and reviewers went mad for them - even at what Simon considers an eye-watering $250 US. The earnings call was more of the usual “we made a little bit of money, I think we’ll get by” stuff. Meanwhile the Apple ID servers have been playing...

Duration:06:00:00

Essential Apple Podcast 153: We broke the internet!

10/31/2019
Recorded 27th October 2019 This show is dedicated to the memory of my friend Adrian who died unexpectedly on the 28th aged 64. RIP This week it’s Diwali (the festival of lights), there is more “not news” than news, Tim Cook talked about diversity, being gay, and more. iPod turned 18, Amiga 1200 turned 27, Google proved Quantum computing is real, and I was joined by Steve (@nibsUK) Leach from the Mac&Forth podcast to pick over these fragments... And we broke the internet... Well my...

Duration:04:15:58

Essential Apple Podcast 152: Looking forward to Luminar 4 with Alex Tsepko

10/21/2019
Recorded 20th October 2019 This week Apple said iOS 13 reached 50% adoption, Apple TV appeared on Roku, iPhoto finally reached the end of the road. Google told us why the Pixel 4 isn’t 5G, Adobe say Photoshop for iPad will appear this year, and Pebble watches are still living on due to the “Rebble Alliance”. Meanwhile the US finally gave up on 8“ floppy disks... But more important than all that stuff Simon is joined by Alex Tsepko, CEO of Skylum, to talk about what’s in store for Luminar...

Duration:00:33:06

Essential Apple Podcast 151: DTP for amateurs

10/16/2019
Recorded 13th October 2019 This week Catalina went public - kind of by night with no announcements or anything and surprisingly has bugs and traps for the unwary, who knew?. Simon moved immediately to the 15.1 beta because let’s face it Catalina is old hat to him... Apple were forced by/caved in to China over apps for Hong Kong. Some more on AR glasses and a special discussion on DTP for amateurs on a budget. GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS We have four licences for BeLight’s new vector application...

Duration:06:25:05

Essential Apple Podcast 150: Eyes and ears and hands and folding things...

10/8/2019
Recorded 6th October 2019 Aaaand we made it to 150! It’s the 8th anniversary of Steve Jobs’ passing... Uncle Tim was travelling Europe drinking beer and talking about things Apple believe in. Simon was mistaken about the Loop but still wouldn’t buy one. Microsoft announced a slew of new stuff including some expensive Surface earbuds (and Will.i.am is upset about it). Nick @spligosh Riley joins Simon and they talk about all this, Apple Arcade, and more... GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS We have four...

Duration:00:39:48

Essential Apple Podcast 149: “Let's Talk” … to Bart Busschots

10/1/2019
Recorded 22nd September 2019 After a couple of weeks or more of guests and not bothering to look at the news, Simon is joined by Bart Busschots of the Let’s Talk podcasts, Taming the Terminal, Programming by Stealth, Nosillacast and more, to poke a stick at a few things that caught their interest over the last couple of weeks. Including the Checkm8 vulnerability, and a video from the Apple archive that is an absolute gem. Also in case you missed it last time BeLight Software kindly gifted...

Duration:00:32:46

Essential Apple Podcast 148: BeLight – no need to feel sheepish

9/25/2019
Recorded 22nd September 2019 This week the news was of course dominated by the new iPhones, Apple Watch 5, and all that. As Simon doesn’t have any of those he doesn’t really have anything more to say on the matter... but fear not! This week he is joined by Tanya Vert from BeLight Software the makers of Live Home 3D, Swift Publisher, Amadine, ArtText, Letters, Image Tricks and more. They talk about the development and launch of Amadine, the future of BeLight’s applications, Beta testing,...

Duration:00:20:27

Essential Apple Podcast 147: Affinity - a ten year labour of love!

9/17/2019
Recorded 15th September 2019 Simon is still afflicted with a stuffed up nose but never mind - this week he and Donny are joined by Ashley Hewson the CEO of Serif to talk about the hit Affinity Suite, Listen carefully and I think Ashley might even have given us a little bit of a scoop! GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS Listeners of this show can claim $10 off purchases of Luminar and/or Aurora HD 2019Get Donny Yankellow's 2FunDads iMessage stickers for FREE Why not come and join the Slack community?...

Duration:00:28:04

Essential Apple Podcast Extra: Simon's event reactions

9/11/2019
Recorded 11th September 2019 So the event has been and gone. Everyone is having their say so why not get his tuppence worth in too? After a rant about the “prognosticators” he gets straight on with his first impressions of the event GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS Listeners of this show can claim $10 off purchases of Luminar and/or Aurora HD 2019Get Donny Yankellow's 2FunDads iMessage stickers for FREEDonny's drawing app offer Buy the app now at the 2 category price and 1/3 off! When the third...

Duration:00:13:59

Essential Apple Podcast 146: It’s a kind of magic

9/9/2019
Recorded 8th September 2019 Simon is struck down with a miserable sinus infection but as no one else is free he stuffs Kleenex up his nose and soldiers on because this week’s guest is Mike Bombich of Carbon Copy Cloner fame who has come to help explain some of the disk changes in Catalina, alterations to APFS and how he has re-engineered CCC to cope with those changes. Not much other news of import really as everyone is waiting for Tuesday and the column inches are all given over to...

Duration:04:14:57

Essential Apple Podcast 145: It might as well rain until September!

9/3/2019
Recorded 1st September 2019 And we are back! Did you miss us? Well despite August traditionally being a news dead zone and all round “silly season” - a moderate amount happened while we were taking a break. Simon is joined by Nick (@Spligosh) Riley to take a look at the stories that caught our attention over the last month including the By innovation only event, Siri debacle, iOS 13.1 beta, security scares and more. GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS Listeners of this show can claim $10 off purchases...

Duration:00:31:58

Essential Apple Podcast 144: School’s out for summer

7/31/2019
Recorded 28th July 2019 This week Apple spent $1Bn to acquire most of Intel’s modem business, Facebook got their $5Bn fine (but with an amnesty for everything they’ve done chucked in), an ex Facebook and CIA employee says “Facebook knows you better than the CIA ever will”, Trump says Apple won’t be exempt from tariffs, and the Flyboard guy failed to fly the channel to mark 110th anniversary of Louis Bleriot's 1909 Channel crossing. Sorry if the audio is a touch off, Mark seems to have got...

Duration:00:24:34

Essential Apple Podcast 143: Mark takes flight solo

7/25/2019
Recorded 21st July 2019 This week Simon’s son managed to break his elbow in not one, but three places on a Saturday evening, leaving Simon sleep deprived and mentally drained so Mark heroically opted to save the day and fly solo!. GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS Listeners of this show can claim $10 off purchases of Luminar and/or Aurora HD 2019Get Donny Yankellow's 2FunDads iMessage stickers for FREEDonny's drawing app offerBuy the app now at the 2 category price and 1/3 off! When the third category...

Duration:00:14:01

Essential Apple Podcast 142: An oasis in a desert of news

7/16/2019
Recorded 14th July 2019 This week Apple announced new MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros, but killed the MacBook... also they cut prices on SSD BTO upgrades (Yay) but not RAM (Boo. Rumours that they’re going to drop the butterfly keyboard are got stronger and more plausible. Tech pundits declared this year’s iPhones boring and ugly and are only interested in rumours about 2020 iPhones. And we talk about “chiplets” and why the industry is saying they are the way forward for silicon. In other...

Duration:00:36:37

Essential Apple Podcast 141: The Jony Ive Exit Strategy Edition

7/4/2019
Recorded 30th June 2019 This week the iOS 13 and Catalina Public Betas launched - Simon (of course) ignored good sense and went headlong into them, consequences be damned and it promptly bit him in the arse! Apple bought a self driving car company on the edge of collapse we wonder what that may mean? They also hired a top ARM chip architect - some are saying this means ARM Macs sooner rather than later. Nick and Donny are not convinced, and nor is Simon. Of course we have to take a look...

Duration:01:32:24

Essential Apple Podcast 140: Don't forget to press record - idiot!

6/25/2019
Recorded 23rd June 2019 After last week's debacle where I managed to not record the show (heedjit!!!) I made doubly sure this week! I am joined by “roving reporter” Mark Chappell to take a look at a few stories from the last couple of weeks and we have a Public Service Announcement courtesy of Donny! GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS Listeners of this show can claim $10 off purchases of Luminar and/or Aurora HD 2019Get Donny Yankellow's 2FunDads iMessage stickers for FREEDonny's drawing app offerBuy the...

Duration:05:26:43

Essential Apple Podcast 139: The obligatory WWDC edition!

6/12/2019
Recorded 9th June 2019 This week is of course the obligatory post WWDC edition! I am joined by Weyhan Ng our resident iOS developer and by Donny Yankellow to talk about what we felt about this year's keynote, and what it might mean for the Apple ecosystem going forward. With such a huge number of announcements we could never cover them all so we wander where the whim takes us... GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS Listeners of this show can claim $10 off purchases of Luminar and/or Aurora HD 2019Get Donny...

Duration:05:43:17

Essential Apple Podcast 138: Pre WWDC Limbo

6/6/2019
Recorded 2nd June 2019 This week I am joined by Suffolk Pete (@Hermboy) in what is an odd sort of Limbo - we are recording this the day before WWDC, but it's unlikely the show will be posted until after. So although we talk a little about WWDC we try not to make it the main point of discussion so we don't just make ourselves look silly. GIVEAWAYS & OFFERS Listeners of this show can claim $10 off purchases of Luminar and/or Aurora HD 2019Get Donny Yankellow's 2FunDads iMessage stickers for...

Duration:04:29:36

Essential Apple Podcast 137: Strange Days?

5/29/2019
Recorded 26th May 2019 This week I am joined by the semi regular co-hosts Nick (@spligosh) Riley and Donny (@rtteachr) Yankellow, to take a look at the stories of the last week or so. Of course, after the week light on news when I recorded with John Chidgey there has been a veritable deluge of news over the last 7-10 days. Including a new MacBook Pro, the WWDC19 “invitations”, the whole Huawei “blacklisting” affair, an odd little gaming device from Panic and a depressingly long list of...

Duration:05:52:26

Essential Apple Podcast 136: A Pragmatic Approach to a Lack of News (Part Two)

5/22/2019
Recorded 12th May 2019 This edition, Part Two of the show recorded with John Chidgey of Bubblesort and The Engineered Network (home of Pragmatic, Analytical, and more) and in this part we talk about a variety of technology topics including Windows 7 EOL, Graphene, Google autodeleting info on you, Facebook suing some Koreans and more.. The power of “post” has allowed me to make it sound like this was how it was intended; but I can promise you that isn't how it happened at all! GIVEAWAYS &...

Duration:00:24:43