Much quieter week after the last two newsletters were loaded with many posts on Big Sur and the Apple silicon Macs. This week is Thanksgiving week in the US and many companies, including Apple, close offices for this holiday.
So, whether you are currently in a food-induced stupor, getting ready for some Black Friday shopping, or you are merely enjoying the peace and quiet because the Americans are distracted for a few days: Happy Thanksgiving!
At Thanksgving, it is traditional to state what you are grateful for. I am very grateful for all the readers. And also, for all the people who share their knowledge and experiences in posts and articles, so that I have intersting links to share!
Thank you, all! Stay Safe.
If you would rather get the weekly newsletter by email, you can subscribe to the Scripting OS X Weekly Newsletter here!! (Same content, delivered to your Inbox once a week.)
On Scripting OS X
News and Opinion
- “We are giddy”—interviewing Apple about its Mac silicon revolution – Samuel Axon, Ars Technica
- No Jedi – Brent Simmons
Apple Silicon M1 Macs
- Is Apple silicon ready ? (also: Does it ARM)
- Exploring Apple Silicon on MacBookAir– Thomas Kaiser (very detailed analysis of power usage)
- Identifying Universal 2 apps on macOS Mojave and later – Rich Trouton (Note:
liporequires Developer Tools) - $799 M1 MacBook Air With 128GB Storage for Education Institutions Spotted Online – Hartley Charlton, MacRumors
macOS 11 Big Sur and iOS 14
MacAdmins on Twitter
- Hannes Juutilainen: “When you don’t know if you should write your log file into
/Library/Logsor/var/log, you should definitely create a third dir and call it/var/logs“ - William Smith:
“Today, JamfSoftware releases Jamf Pro 10.26. My favorite new feature is a revamped Application & Custom Settings payload for macOS Configuration Profiles. It now supports editable plists within the GUI! And it makes uploaded plists editable too.”
Bugs and Security
- Installing ACE on M chip-based Macs – Rogue Amoeba Support (The workflow required to approve this system extension is insane. Apple should be ashamed and improve this user experience.)
- Apple security hampers detection of unwanted programs – Malwarebytes Labs | Malwarebytes Labs
Support and HowTos
- macOS Big Sur VMs with Metal – Mike Roy
- How big is Xcode? – Howard Oakley
- Removing deadname email addresses from an Apple ID – Esther Weidauer
- Creative Cloud Support Policy: Long Term Supported version (LTS)
- What macOS version did I just download? (Big Sur edition) – Paul Galow
- How to check the Carbon Black version installed – Alan Siu
- App Deployment for macOS – Kandji Blog
- Managed Apps on macOS Big Sur – Kandji Blog
Scripting and Automation
- How to Get Started with AppleScript –Rohan Bhushan
- Safer singletons with property wrappers – Alexis Bridoux
Apple Support
- Enterprise management of legacy system extensions in macOS Big Sur
- If you get a personalization error when reinstalling macOS on your Mac with Apple M1 chip (I am glad Apple makes these instructions available, but involve opening Terminal in Recovery and copying and pasted several lines of commands. I do hope this makes Apple re-evaluate their “recovery” workflows.)
- About system extensions and macOS
Updates and Releases
To Listen
- Mondada and Jamf – Mac Admins Podcast
- Apple Silicon, EveryWorld, Oh My – MacDevOpsYVR
- Being Happle at EveryWorld 2020 – Mac Admins Podcast
- Tracking the charities that track you online with Chris Boyd – Lock and Code S1Ep20, Malwarebytes Labs
- Apple in the courtroom with David Sparks – Apple @ Work Podcast, 9to5Mac
- Adam Engst of TidBITS Content Network Discusses Apple’s M1 Silicon — Command-Control-Power
Support
If you are enjoying what you are reading here, please spread the word and recommend it to another Mac Admin!
- Weblog
- Weekly Email Newsletter (TinyLetter)
- Apple News
- Micro.blog
- Mastodon.social
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