This is the first sponsored News Summary. Some background: I left my job as a Systems Engineer earlier this year. The plan is to focus more on writing books, freelance consulting, and some other ideas. Whether you like it or not, as a freelancer you have to spend your time on things that make money. Since I want to continue this newsletter, taking on sponsors seemed like a good solution.
I want to have sponsors whose offerings are relevant to MacAdmins and I am really grateful that SentinelOne stepped up to give it a go!
(Sponsor) eBook: macOS Threat Hunting & Incident Response
Here’s a detailed eBook from SentinelOne, covering macOS security, including real examples and step-by-step instructions. An essential read about Threat Hunting and Incident Response.
The eBook is provided for free, you can download your copy here.
Just to clarify: I am not sharing any subscriber information directly with the sponsors. But please follow the links and read their offerings carefully, so that they see the worth of sponsoring here! 😉 I think SentinelOne is starting out with an interesting eBook free offer!
I am also looking forward to more interesting sponsors in the future! (If you think your company or product is a good fit to sponsor this newsletter, please contact me!)
In other MacAdmin news this week: we got the first reviews for the M1 iMac and the iPads Pro. Apple is starting to release news ahead of WWDC. (just a bit over two weeks left.) We got an announcement for lossless and spatial audio in Apple Music and an amazing preview for new features for people with disabilities.
On the system update news: macOS 11.4 and iOS 14.6 have not been released yet, but macOS 11.5 beta and iOS 14.7 beta have been released in the beta channels.
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.)
News and Opinion
- Apple Music announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio – Apple
- Microsoft confirms Windows 10X is dead – Tom Warren, The Verge
- 24-inch M1 iMac review: She’s a rainbow – Jason Snell, Six Colors
- The 24-inch iMac is a throwback to the iMac G3 in more ways than you think – Jason Snell, MacWorld
- 2021 iPad Pro review: All systems go, but where? – Json Snell, Six Colors
- Apple previews powerful software updates designed for people with disabilities – Apple
- Apple confirms Macs get malware – Thomas Reed, Malwarebytes Labs
MacAdmins on Twitter
- ConfiantIntel: “OSX/Bundlore Loader found (0 detections in VT) compiled for ARM (targeting the new M1 MacBook!) , and notarized by Apple.” (Thread)
- Nathaniel Strauss: “MDM initiated software update on M1 MacBook Air. Failed twice during download phase. Restarted. Failed at the end of prepare phase. Restarted. Couldn’t get process to run at all. Will not be using MDM software updates in the short term.”
- Tim Perfitt: “We are pretty much feature complete for MDS 4. Here are the exciting new features.” (Image with text)
Security and Privacy
Support and HowTos
- Enabling, Restricting, and Hiding Third-Party System Preference Panes on Mac – A.P. Orlebeke
- Drastically Improve macOS System Preferences using “Sort” and “Customize” – TJ Luoma, Mac Power Users Talk
- Explainer: secure boot and boot security – Howard Oakley
- Big Sur Really Needs Real Free Space – Michael Tsai
- Demystifying macOS Big Sur updates (and Jamf Pro 10.29) – Frederick Abeloos
- Strong ARMing with MacOS: Adventures in Cross-Platform Emulation – BlackBerry ThreatVector Blog (definitely not a process for the faint of heart, but interesting to see what comes from this)
- What to do When You Have to Lay off Your Jamf Administrator – MacOS Tech
Scripting and Automation
- Event Driven Client Management – Lucas J. Hall
- BBEdit – A proprietary text and code editor with support for Mac computers with Apple silicon – ezone (BBEdit review with a nice explanation on how to ssh certificates in BBEdit at the end)
Apple Support
Updates and Releases
To Watch
- Modern Bootstrapping Presentation – Mike Solin
- MDS: Fully Automated M1 Mac Setup using MDS Automaton – Tim Perfitt, YouTube
To Listen
- Cat Self – Mac Admins Podcast
- The Ultimate Technical Debt – Command-Control-Power
- Macs and Security with Csaba Fitzl and Armin Briegel – MacDevOpsYVR
Support
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