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Spring Update Musings
The next "minor" Apple system updates are usually published in March or April — also known as 'Spring Updates,' demonstrating Northern hemisphere bias — commonly contain more features relevant of education and business management. Usually the Spring Updates are expected with some apprehension, or at the very least some extra attention by Mac Admins.
This year Apple has been rolling out new features (mostly Apple Intelligence) with new management options (which allow managing, i.e. turning off said Apple Intelligence features) with all minor updates so far. Apple has also already stated that iOS and iPadOS in the EU countries will receive (some?) Apple Intelligence features in the Spring Updates, which have so far been missing/disabled for user in that region because of DMA rules. Some more features, such as enhanced Siri, are also expected.
So, the spring updates promise to be interesting this year which makes me even more curious about the betas.
📰 News and Opinion
Apple in 2024: The Six Colors report card
It’s time for our annual look back on Apple’s performance during the past year, as seen through the eyes of writers, editors, developers, podcasters, and other people who spend an awful lot of time thinking about Apple.
Apple’s macOS UNIX certification is a lie
Apologies for the click-baity headline, but quite interesting analysis.
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a someone mentioning macOS is a UNIX approaches 1.
🔐 Security and Privacy
Banshee Rust Rewrite?
Recently, the Objective-C source code for the infostealer "Banshee" was leaked, offering insight into its inner workings. On January 15, 2025, our team identified a new infostealer written in Rust on VirusTotal.
macOS FlexibleFerret: Further Variants of DPRK Malware Family Unearthed
describing newly discovered samples that we have labelled ‘FlexibleFerret’ and which remain undetected by XProtect at the time of writing.
🔨 Support and Tutorials
Jamf Pro Organization
Rob J Schroeder on Jamf Tech Thoughts
I was asked last week to think of some practices as a Jamf Admin that I’ve adopted into my environments that have really helped me out. One of the first things that came to mind was organization practices.
Customize your onboarding experience with Jamf Setup Manager
discover how to use Jamf Setup Manager to supercharge your [Jamf School] onboarding experience through customization.
The second part to last week's introduction to the new enrollment packages in Jamf School.
Mac App Store Broken on macOS 10.14 and Earlier
I really hope you don’t have to manage macOS 10.14 or earlier any more…
Details button not working in Jamf Pro policy logs
Starting with the 11.13 update Jamf Pro administrators have reported that the details button in policy logs isn’t working as intended.
🤖 Scripting and Automation
Getting Warranty Info on your Mac with PowerShell
John C Welch on Bynkiidotocm
This was a feature someone asked for with Get-MacInfo, and now that I have it, I can work on integrating it.
macos_lid_and_plug_powersettings
Script for Jamf Pro to easily help modify the behavior of macOS startup when opening the lid of a Mac or plugging the power
UI and process for preventing a Mac from turning on
To help address these requirements and provide a user interface, I wrote a swiftDialog script.
🎧 Listen
App Installers and Jamf Pro
Adam Derrick from Jamf, and Dave Goldberg from Horizon BCBS about using Jamf App Installers in production
What's coming in 2025 for IT admins?
John Bennett, CEO, and Fred Rivain, Chief Technology Officer from Dashlane about what they think is going to be impactful for IT admins in 2025.
Navigating Modern Hardware Challenges and NDAA Compliance: A Conversation with John Moder Of Creative Tech
John Moder joins the hosts to discuss a variety of topics ranging from hardware issues with the latest generation of MacBooks to the intricacies of NDAA compliance concerning network hardware