073: Mac mini Late 2014 Review and Recommendations

Recorded live on October 21, 2014

Thanks to Mac Mini Vault for sponsoring this week's episode of Command Control Power. Mac Mini Vault has the most advanced data center options for Macs, with the best pricing. They run multiple data centers and have the Mac expertise to be there for you when you most need it. Visit MacMiniVault.com to sign up and use coupon code CCPsentme for 75% off the first 3 months!  When you send in your Mac mini, tweet @cmdctrlpwr #CCPsentme to support the show!

- Joe recommends AirBase from Giros Design, a great mounting option for AirPort Extreme or AirPort Time Capsule; flexible mounting options include single/dual gang wall boxes, vertical/horizontal orientation, and wall/ceiling mount; plus AirGuard to secure device in place for ceiling mount; also, AirLatch mounts Apple TV to back of TV

- we discuss the new Mac mini Late 2014, and attempt to read the handwriting in the tea leaves on the wall; see Mac Mini Vault's teardown and benchmarks

- what are the implications of soldered RAM when Apple's memory pricing is fairly competitive

- what does the lack of Quad Core processor mean in practice for Server use? depends on number of services and users, but what is the tipping point?  how close is that tipping point to Mac Pro territory?

- with small data sets stored on the internal hard drive, the PCIe-based flash storage should offer a significant benefit vs. the HDD or even SSD options of previous models, perhaps making up for the lack of Quad Core in many circumstances

- friend of the show Mark Fuccio points out the news today from Connected Data, announcing Transporter Genesis for Business  which offers private cloud service in the form of rack mountable hardware unit, plus client software to enable file sharing and syncing that users expect from services like Dropbox; see also last week's discussion

- we stumble through a discussion of Family Sharing; here's the simple explanation from Apple: "Music, movies, TV shows, and books can be downloaded on up to 10 devices per account, five of which can be computers."

- Great Firewall of China attempting MITM attack on iCloud.com?

- anyone going to MacTech Conference November 5-7, 2014?

072: One-Factor Authentication

Recorded live on October 14, 2014

Many thanks to our sponsor this week, Watchman Monitoring. We're all big fans and very happy users of Watchman Monitoring. Sign up for your free trial: watchmanmonitoring.com/cmdctrlpwr and tweet @cmdctrlpwr #CCPsentme to support the show!

- thanks again to Thomas Reed of AdwareMedic for last week's interview!

- listener questions; @myklreinhart: "I'd love to hear your annoyances about 6+ before I go buy one. For example, one handed typing— is it as tough as made out?"

- Jerry reports on his everyday use of iPhone 6 Plus; points out one-handed keyboard for iOS 8

- the future of input methods: qwerty keyboards vs. whispering into cupped hands; or T9 predictive texting vs. QuickType; or how about purely predictive (Google Now)?

- death of Macworld/iWorld Conference & Expo; Jerry's beige PowerComputing box; recent end of Macworld print magazine

- Dropbox "breach" prompts another security discussion; reminder: Dropbox offers two factor authentication

- BoxCryptor: folder-level or file-level encryption for your Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, or OneDrive

- cursory "private cloud" discussion of options including Synology CloudStation, Code42 SharePlan, Kerio SamePage, vs. Apple Snow Leopard Mavericks Server

- new Mac mini coming soon? it's been 721 days...

- Jerry gives us FLAC

071: Adware & Malware Focus with Thomas Reed of TheSafeMac and AdwareMedic

Recorded on September 30, 2014

Special thanks to Thomas Reed of TheSafeMac and AdwareMedic for joining us this week to review the current state of adware and malware on the Mac!

Topics:

- Thomas has a great post on TheSafeMac: The unchecked growth of Mac adware

- Thomas generously offers AdwareMedic as fully-functional software (donations encouraged)

- thoughts on using AppleScript because it is human-readbale and "open source" by default, which builds trust

070: Shellshock – Apple Bashing

Recorded live on September 30, 2014

This week's show has been brought to you by the good folks at Blue Mango Learning Systems, makers of Clarify.  Visit Clarify-It.com to download a free trial of Clarify, and start creating how-to's and instructional documents today – and help others be great.  Use coupon code CCPSENTME for 15% off!

Special thanks to Jon Schwenn of MacMiniVault.com for joining us this week to discuss Shellshock, and Apple's response to this Bash bug

Topics:

- see Jon's post about Shellshock for a recap of the bug, a patch for 10.6 Snow Leopard, and other helpful recommendations

- see also: Apple's purge of GPL-licensed software from OS X

- Pro-Tip: Jon suggests signing up for Apple's Security-Announce mailing list

- we discuss Advanced Camp has been postponed due to speaker cancellations

- Plus: Allen Hancock joins us to talk about Advanced Camp being postponed, and his free 2015 ACN Camp Pre-union webinar – featuring business development topics and how to succeed at Managed Services

- Kramer & DaVinci Sleep

- Jerry mentions the benefits of the Ditto command

069: Interview with Ben Greiner, Forget Computers

Recorded live on September 23, 2014

We're sponsored this week by Smile.  Visit smilesoftware.com/restart for great Mac, iPhone, and iPad software, and recommend it to your clients! Smile makes three of our favorites: TextExpander, PDFpen, and PDFpen Scan+.

Topics:

- first, we discuss our frustrations trying to navigate phone plan options

- we feature an interview with Ben Greiner of Forget Computers, discussing the new version of RobotCloud and SupportMenu

- check out the Device Scout Demo or get the Beta of Starter Kit

- Ben wrote an article explaining Best Practices for Creating Apple IDs in an organization

- Sam reports back on his recent APS gig, and reminds us that Apple Configurator is now DEP aware

- how iOS 8 is changing the game: http://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-8-changed-how-i-work-on-my-iphone-and-ipad/

- Joe offers a fix for problems with AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext and AirTrafficHost.framework; Apple called Joe to ask what fixed it

068: Motor City

Recorded live on September 16, 2014

- Sam's Detroit fast food field trip - old school McDonalds

- 1 Infinite Loop Branded Flak Jacket for those tough road trips - image

- brief discussion of iPhone 6 vs. iPhone 6 Plus; Jerry points out that iPhone 6 has similar footprint to iPhone 5 in Mophie Air case; see also this helpful on-screen size comparison

- Sam follows up about his client with an HP motherboard issue, which HP diagnosed as a bad drive; HP’s hired tech took the hard drive and “completely forgot” about it

- Jerry discusses pitching Watchman Monitoring - When signing up for Watchman, Tweet the hashtag #ccpsentme and let them know you heard about Watchman product here.

- benefit of a personalized “pitch” email written with TextExpander, vs. a generic newsletter; see also Greg Scown, co-founder of Smile, discussing the new TextExpander touch 3

- check out the 1Password App Extension for iOS 8; another example of iOS 8 changing the game for developers and users

- Mac malware/adware discussion; search Google for "Adobe Flash Player" and check out the ad at the top; claims to install Adobe Flash, but shows the Firefox logo, and actually installs Geneo; why doesn’t Google block these ads? why doesn’t Apple block the installer?

- Thomas Reed, author of TheSafeMac.com, writes about recent Mac adware and Apple’s minimal response; also maintains AdwareMedic

- Channel Camp registration is open