Sponsor
This issue of MacAdmins.news is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, where High-Quality Apple Management & Security is made Surprisingly Accessible.
After helping thousands of organizations to migrate from other solutions to Mosyle, we've gained a unique perspective of all the concerns companies face when evaluating the migration of their Apple Management & Security solution. Based on this extensive knowledge, we've created the most comprehensive Migration Program in the Apple’s Management & Security market, addressing the most critical technical, financial, and strategic considerations involved in this pivotal decision. Check our website for more details!
New iPad mini makes you wonder what else is to come
Apple updated the iPad mini this week. This was one of the updates the rumors predicted for a possible "October Event." This likely means that Apple has more to talk about then.
Apple's historical release schedule places the release time for the dot-one updates in the last week of October. If there is to be an event to go with this release, the invitations should appear next week. I would be surprised if Apple did not make an event of the actual release of the first round of Apple Intelligence features, with the M4 Macs thrown in. Really looking forward to this one.
📰 News and Opinion
Apple introduces powerful new iPad mini built for Apple Intelligence
No big surprises, but a welcome, long overdue update for the small iPad.
LLMs don’t do formal reasoning - and that is a HUGE problem
“we found no evidence of formal reasoning in language models …. Their behavior is better explained by sophisticated pattern matching—so fragile, in fact, that changing names can alter results by ~10%!”
Software Development is an Adventure
I released DFU Blaster Pro a few weeks ago, and many key features were not planned upfront but discovered along the way. Some uses were discovered after release, and one feature was accidentally discovered when testing the software. I love the discovery process when building something new.
Traveling with Apple Vision Pro
The Vision Pro has quickly become an essential item that I take onto every flight.
You should be using an RSS reader
Switching to RSS lets you experience just the good parts of the enshitternet, but that experience is delivered in manner that the new, good internet we're all dying for.
🔐 Security and Privacy
Persist through the NVRAM - The "apple-trusted-trampoline"
This is a practically completely useless persistence, as this can be only set and enabled when SIP is actually disabled. On the other hand I still find it a pretty amazing way to persist, as we can do that by putting a binary into NVRAM and get that executed.
🔨 Support and Tutorials
macOS 15 Sequoia problems: how to fix the most common issues on your Mac
in this article, we’ve outlined the most common problems Mac users are coming up against, as well as potential cures for these ailments
Setting Safari to always prompt for download location on macOS Sequoia
set Safari to always prompt for a download location
This may be a requirement for some security benchmarks.
Using certificate public keys to create dummy MDM configuration profiles for Jamf Pro device smart group scoping
an innovative method for allowing computer and mobile device smart groups to figure out device membership based on users and groups from an identity provide
The Good, Bad and Terrible of Kandji
I have had the opportunity to use Kandji with their free 21 day trial.
♻️ Updates and Releases
📺 Watch
🎧 Listen
Fall 2024 Releases with Apple
Jeremy Butcher returns to the Mac Admins Podcast to talk about this Fall’s releases of new operating systems, a bit on Apple Intelligence, and how Mac Admins should be preparing for these latest releases.
Jamf Apple Device Management. Mac iPad iPhone TV Apple MDM
live at JNUC 2024 in Nashville. […] joined by John Stroshal (Jamf CEO), and Milind Patel (Director, Product Management) to unpack the exciting announcements from the opening keynote in further detail
AirPods Pro 2 and hearing aid technology
Brent Lucas from Envoy Medical about how they view Apple's entry into the hearing aid market with AirPods Pro 2's software update.
🎈Just for Fun
Cabel Sasser, Panic - XOXO Festival (2024)
Off topic, but excellent talk by Cabel Sasser. Stay to the very end.
🦣 Social Media
Adam Codega (Mastodon)
irrelephant.co