Update season has started. After the event on Tuesday, where Apple announced new Watches and iPads, iOS 14 shipped on Wednesday, giving developers and admins less than 24 hours advance warning and probably the shortest lived GM ever.
We also got macOS Big Sur beta 7 and new betas for iOS 14.2 and siblings.
The future releases of hardware and software this year should remain interesting. I expect at least two more events like this, one focussing on the new iPhones and the other for a new Apple Silicon Mac (or more). I would also guess that we will get the “missing” iOS 14.1 with the new iPhones, and 14.2 shortly after.
The reason this newsletter is a bit later than usual, is that I was finishing recording and editing my presentation for MacSysAdmin Online to submit it today, just in time for the deadline. This is the second presentation for a major MacAdmin conference that I recorded and finished this month. It feels strange that neither of these presentations will be streamed until October, but I am very much looking forward to when you get to see them and all the other presentations from both conferences.
Virtual JNUC 2020 is happening September 29 through October 1. My session will be on “Scripting Jamf Pro: Best Practices” on Oct 1 at 11am CDT (18:00 Central European). There will be a live Q&A during and after the session. You can still register for free.
The MacSysAdmin Online will be later in October. Participation will be free, but you can support the team by buying the MacSysAdmin Online T-Shirt, which will also enroll you in an exclusive giveaway raffle.
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.)
Apple Event: Time Flies
- Apple’s September 2020 Event: All The Little Things – John Voorhees, MacStories
- Apple Releases iOS 14, iPadOS 14, WatchOS 7 – Tom Bridge
- The reluctant debut of the A14 processor – Jason Snell, Six Colors
News and Opinion
- Extending our Microsoft partnership with iOS Device Compliance – Jamf
- In-App Purchase Rules – Marco Arment
- Jack of All Trades… – Johnn C. Welch
macOS 11 Big Sur and iOS 14
- iOS 14 is available today – Apple
- iOS 14’s App Library: The FAQ – Josh Centers, TidBITS
- What could go wrong with apps on Big Sur and Apple Silicon? – Howard Oakley
- Microsoft 365 is ready for Apple’s new systems – Microsoft Tech Community
- iOS Version History Chart – Will Hains (this visualizes how unusual the 14.0 schedule is, compared to previous major releases, via Federico Viticci)
- Why is Apple acting like an A**hole? – Jesse Squires (I approve of the language in this post, but am censoring the title to not run afoul of the various email filters…)
- What’s New in macOS Big Sur 11 Beta 7 (20A5374g) – Mr. Macintosh
- Should you upgrade to Big Sur early, or wait? – Howard Oakley
MacAdmins on Twitter
- Mr. Macintosh: “I’m hearing that the Jamf Pro 10.24 beta Big Sur fixes are in 10.24.1. Official support will be listed in the patch notes of 10.25 (not sure on 10.25 version numbering). 10.24.1 = Big Sur compatible. 10.25 = Big Sur official supported version.”
- Andreas Schenk: “Using an iPad as an additional screen for macOS with sidecar seems to still deliver notifications from iPadOS, even if macOS is in DND mode. So if you happen to run a presentation using sidecar, first set the iPad to do not disturb, then use sidecar.”
Bugs and Security
- When you browse Instagram and find former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s passport number – Mango PDF (I wasn’t sure if this belonged in “just for fun” or “security.” Worth the read on both levels.)
Support and HowTos
- Microsoft ending support for Office 2016 for Mac – Darren Wallace
- Thunderbolt Xsan: Set up a T-SAN – DAM SAN
- Firmware fundamentals – Howard Oakley
- Boot volume layout – Howard Oakley
- Apple Business Manager and School Manager Terms Updates – Ben Toms
- If Jamf recon is launching a du process that causes a CPU spike – Alan Siu
Scripting and Automation
Apple Support
- What’s new in iOS 14
- About iOS 14
- What’s new in iPadOS 14
- About iPadOS 14
- What’s new in watchOS 7
- About watchOS 7
- About the security content of iOS 14.0 and iPadOS 14.0
- About the security content of watchOS 7.0
- About the security content of tvOS 14.0
- About the security content of Safari 14.0
- What’s new in mobile device management for Apple devices
- Complete MDM payload list for Apple devices
- MDM overview for Apple devices
Updates and Releases
- VMware Fusion 12
- Jamf Pro 10.24.1
- Swift 5.3
- GitHub CLI 1.0
- Kandji – New Features in iOS 14, iPadOS 14, & tvOS 14
To Listen
- DetectX With Phil Stokes – Mac Admins Podcast
- Off the Grid with Mat X & JD – MacDevOpsYVR
- Boxers Or Briefs? — Command-Control-Power
- Jamf goes virtual for JNUC 2020 – Apple @ Work Podcast, 9to5Mac
- Safely using Google Chrome Extensions with Pieter Arntz – Lock and Code, Malwarebytes Labs
Support
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