The IT Nerd

If you use a Mac, chances are that you have a copy of GarageBand on it. Whether you use it or not isn’t the point. But if you have it, and you’re running macOS Ventura or Sonoma, you should make sure that you it is updated to 10.4.11 ASAP. Why? It fixes a security issue according to this:

The quickest way to confirm that you have 10.4.11 is to go to the App Store and click on Update to see if it’s been updated. If not, search for GarageBand, and click on Update.

I have to admit that when I heard about this, my first thought that Apple was being super crafty here. What I mean by “this” is this report is this one by MacRumors where they talk about how Apple got around the pulse oximetry ban that came about via the patent lawsuit that Masimo brought against Apple:

The original January 12 order from CBP that allowed Apple to bring Apple Watch models with a disabled sensor in the United States was published recently (via ip fray), and it gives some insight into how Apple disabled pulse oximetry. While some of the order is redacted, Apple implemented a fix that turns off pulse oximetry when an Apple Watch is paired to an iPhone. Blood oxygen sensing becomes inaccessible to the user, and opening the blood oxygen app gives a warning that the feature is not available. Apple said that it hardcoded each Apple Watch at the factory with new software.

As part of the process to get approval to sell ‌Apple Watch Series 9‌ and Ultra 2 models without pulse oximetry enabled, Apple had to provide the code disabling the feature and test devices to Masimo. Masimo didn’t want Apple to have such an easy fix, so it paired the “redesigned” Apple Watches with a jailbroken ‌iPhone‌ running an older version of iOS, and was able to get pulse oximetry working.

Masimo tried to argue that activating pulse oximetry through a jailbroken phone meant Apple had not effectively removed the feature and the devices should not be allowed to be imported in to the U.S. Masimo also tried to say that jailbreaking is “permissible, common, and readily known,” but Masimo’s arguments were unsuccessful. The Exclusion Order Enforcement Branch of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol ultimately decided that disabling pulse oximetry in the ‌Apple Watch Series 9‌ and Ultra 2 was enough to avoid infringing on Masimo patents, allowing those models to be offered for sale at Apple retail stores in the U.S.

Because Masimo was able to get blood oxygen sensing working using software on a jailbroken ‌iPhone‌, Apple too would be able to reactivate the blood oxygen sensor in the models where it has been disabled through a software update. When no longer subject to an import ban, Apple will be able to reintroduce blood oxygen sensing for ‌Apple Watch Series 9‌ and ‌Apple Watch Ultra 2‌ users who are not able to access the feature.

As noted by ip fray, the patents that Apple was found to have infringed on expire in August of 2028, which means that Apple will be able to re-enable pulse oximetry in affected models at that time. Apple filed an appeal with the United States International Trade Commission to attempt to get the ruling overturned, so if the appeal is successful, Apple could be able to re-add blood oxygen sensing sooner.

That’s pretty crafty by Apple seeing as they have no interest in coming to a settlement with Masimo. Likely because everyone and every company that Apple has “Sherlocked” over the years would come out of the woodwork to get paid as well. So that makes letting the clock run out or winning on appeal the best options for the folks at Apple Park. Let’s see how well that works out for them.

If you’re Canadian and you were affected by “Battery Gate”, I have some news for you. A court in BC has approved a settlement related to this where Apple will pony up $14.4 million CAD to make this issue go away. More information on how to submit a claim will be shared on the settlement website, but here’s the TL:DR in terms of who this covers:

• You are a current or former resident of Canada (excluding Quebec)
• You have to have owned a iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and/or iPhone SE with iOS 10.2.1 or later installed or downloaded, and/or an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 11.2 or later installed or downloaded, before December 21, 2017.
• You need the serial number of said phone.

Now as usual for these sorts of things, Apple denies that it did anything wrong. And to be frank, $14.4 million CAD is a rounding error for Apple. But “Battery Gate” is done and dusted in Canada.

And I guess that it goes without saying that if you were affected by “Battery Gate”, you need to dig up that serial number and make sure you get your share of this.

On a day where Apple wanted to control the narrative by launching new MacBook Air models, the EU has decided to rain on their parade. The European Commission has fined Apple €1.8 billion which is $1.95 billion USD for anti-competitive conduct against rival music streaming services. By rival music streaming services, that would be Spotify:

The European Commission has fined Apple over €1.8 billion for abusing its dominant position on the market for the distribution of music streaming apps to iPhone and iPad users (‘iOS users’) through its App Store. In particular, the Commission found that Apple applied restrictions on app developers preventing them from informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app (‘anti-steering provisions’). This is illegal under EU antitrust rules.

I encourage you to read the full decision as I’m not sure that I buy into this reasoning. Regardless of whether you do or don’t buy into that reasoning, Apple is pretty ticked off about this decision:

Today, the European Commission announced a decision claiming the App Store has been a barrier to competition in the digital music market. The decision was reached despite the Commission’s failure to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm, and ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast.

The primary advocate for this decision — and the biggest beneficiary — is Spotify, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Spotify has the largest music streaming app in the world, and has met with the European Commission more than 65 times during this investigation.

Today, Spotify has a 56 percent share of Europe’s music streaming market — more than double their closest competitor’s — and pays Apple nothing for the services that have helped make them one of the most recognizable brands in the world. A large part of their success is due to the App Store, along with all the tools and technology that Spotify uses to build, update, and share their app with Apple users around the world.

That’s pretty much why I don’t buy into the EU’s decision. Spotify the last time I checked was the big boy on the block. So I unless I am missing something, I can’t see how Apple is the bad guy here. Yes, Apple aren’t saints and have been known to do things to take out or impair competition. But I’m honestly not seeing it here. Apple is going to appeal the decision and that appeal will be interesting to watch.

Apple hardware is expensive because of the fact that Apple makes it that way. But you can save some money with zero risk in terms of warranty and the quality of the gear. And there’s two ways to do that.

• The Apple Refurbished Store: This is the first method to save money on Apple hardware. Apple has their refurbished store at either https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished in the USA or https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/refurbished in Canada. The advantage of going this route is that the products that are sold are usually returns from customers who didn’t want the products in question. These products are refurbished by Apple back to new status, and are eligible for AppleCare. Which means there’s no risk in terms of buying these products. But the best part is that you can save a significant amount of money depending on the product. One of the only catches is that the products that are available can often change. Sometimes on a daily basis. So if there’s something that you want, you need to jump on it as soon as you see it. The only other catch is that you have to take the products as you see them. In other words, you can’t customize things like storage or RAM.
• The Amazon Apple Store: Apple maintains a store on Amazon where products which are new have a tendency to go on sale. For example, Apple AirPod Pro will often be on sale for example. Having said that, the selection can vary. And you may have to play the long game to find the product that you want at the price you want to pay. But if you’re willing to do that, this can save you some money.

Are there any other ways that people can save money on buying Apple hardware? Leave a comment and share your suggestions.

I’ve been watching the Apple versus for Masimo battle where the latter has stopped Apple from selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 with the blood oxygen monitor sensor disabled. I’ve been wondering why Apple has not been willing to pay off Masimo to make this problem go away. Well, via this AppleInsider article we have Tim Cook spelling out what his strategy is:

Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC in a statement shared on live television that Apple is focused on appeals, implying the company has no intention to license Masimo’s patents. While it seemed likely that was the case, the company hadn’t said as much publicly until now.

“We’re focused on appeal,” Cook’s statement said. “There’s lots of reasons to buy the watch even without the blood oxygen sensor.”

So what’s clear from this statement is that Apple for whatever reason is willing to die on this hill. I’m guessing that it’s like I said here:

 The cynic in me says that if you accept that Apple “Sherlocked” Masimo to get this feature into the Apple Watch, then Apple may be afraid that every other company that they’ve “Sherlocked” over the years will come out of the woodwork looking for their pay day. But that’s just speculation on my part. Though I suspect that it has an air of truth to it.

The bottom line is that this fight between the two companies will not be ending anytime soon. Though that may change if Apple loses their appeal.

Last week I served up three Mac apps that you should know about. If you missed that, here’s a link to that article. This week I have more app that you should know about.

Let’s start with draw.io which is a diagram app that works online and on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I use it for doing network diagrams. It’s simple to use and it has a ton of integrations for third party apps like Sharepoint, Google Workspace and Atlassian Confluence and Jira. Best of all, it’s free and easy to learn. If you do any sort of diagramming, you need to check this app out.

Next up is PortX which is a cross platform SSH client which has a simple but comprehensive UI. Which is handy for those who need to log into things like Cisco routers, switches and NAS appliances. This is another free utility on the App Store and it works really well and makes up for the fact that macOS doesn’t have a similar utility. I am not sure why it only has 2 stars out of 5 on the App Store, but it’s works well for me and deserves a higher rating in my mind.

Finally, let’s talk about Intego VirusBarrier scanner. Now I don’t run an “always on” virus scanner. But I do use this utility to do on demand scans for any viruses or malware. I occasionally trip over something but it’s not a common occurrence. To be honest, I run it more to have some piece of mind that I don’t have anything on my Mac that shouldn’t be there. This too is another free piece of of software from the App Store.

Are there apps that help you to customize your Mac to fit your needs? If there are, please leave a comment and feel free to share them.

This requires some explanation. So here we go.

You might recall the folks over at Beeper. These were the guys who were trying to get iMessage on Android. And their story went like this:

• They popped up in early December of last year claiming to have a way to get iMessage working on Android devices.
• Everything was fine until Apple took them out a few days later.
• Beeper then announced that they had a fix, and then rolled it out. But it turned out that it required a Mac. But then they moved to jailbroken iPhones when the platform was taken out by Apple again.
• During that time Apple attracted unwanted attention from politicians over their attempts to stop Beeper. This allowed Beeper to make themselves look like the good guy, when in reality they were not the good guy. But at the same time saying that Beeper was getting sick of the cat and mouse and announced that they wouldn’t be investing time and effort in keeping their iMessage service working.

So with that out of the way, let’s catch you up to today. Or at least the last couple of weeks. Let’s start with this Tweet:

The thing is that I have said this before and I will say it again. Android users deserve way better than this. But having said that, if Android users really want to get access to iMessage, then they should buy iPhones. Full stop. What Beeper is doing is simply creating a security issue for Apple that they are rightly closing. Because iMessage is not an open standard. It’s Apple’s standard. And they get to decide who does, and more importantly who doesn’t get to use it.

One of the features that came out with iOS 17 was Live Voicemail. This basically can be described as an old school answering machine where you can take an incoming call and punt it to voice mail. Then watch a transcription of the person leaving the voice mail on your iPhone’s screen. On top of that, you can pick up the phone and talk to the person if you feel that you need to talk to them. That all sounds great, but I’ve had a number of clients have trouble with Live Voicemail. Thus I wanted to do a story on this where I talk about the main issue that I have seen in the field, as well as answering one question that I get asked on a frequent basis.

First of all, let me frame something here so that this whole discussion makes sense. Live Voicemail is a feature that is local to your iPhone. It isn’t sitting in a phone carrier’s cloud or anything like that. Thus for it to work, your iPhone has to be turned on and connected to WiFi or a cellular network. That leads to the question that I keep getting asked. Which is since this feature came out, does that mean that I can kill off my carrier’s voice mail service and save a few bucks in the process?

The answer is that it depends on your use case. If you are going to be on the Internet 99% of the time, and your phone stays on 99% of the time, then I suppose that you could do that. But here’s the catch. Remember when I said that this feature is local to your iPhone and it needs to be connected to WiFi or a cellular network, or turned on. That means that if it isn’t turned on, or connected to a cellular network, you calls will not go to voicemail. So if you depend on being able to have calls go to voice mail 100% of the time, you should not kill your carrier’s voice mail plan.

Now over to the number one issue that many of my clients have. I’ve had a surprising number of clients report that after upgrading to iOS 17, their customized voice mail greeting is gone and been replaced by a greeting that is voiced by Siri. The reason for that can be found if you go into the phone app, and then clicking on the voicemail icon at the bottom right of the screen, followed by clicking on Greeting at the top right.

Chances are that your greeting is set to Default just like the picture above. What you likely need to do is choose Custom and then click the word Record to record your own customized greeting. Once you do that everything should work you expect it to.

The other thing that I can offer up as a troubleshooting tip is to make sure that you have Live Voicemail set up as per this Apple Support document. The most common thing that I see is that a voicemail password hasn’t been set which can break Live Voicemail for whatever reason. My guess is that even though this feature is turned on by default, there are some prerequisites that need to be present for it to work.

What do you think of Live Voicemail? Drop a comment below and share your thoughts.

For those of you that installed iOS 17.3 or macOS 14.3, there was a pretty big bug that may have been actively exploited. If you look at the security update page from Apple, you’ll see this:

There is a similar entry for macOS 14.3 as well. The fact that it appears to have been actively exploited is a huge problem.

 Appdome’s VP Security Products, Alan Bavosa had this comment:

“The Apple security vulnerability CVE-2024-23222 and its exploitation in iOS 17.3 is concerning. The recognized potential attack vectors, encompassing remote code execution, spyware, and kernel exploits, underscore the severity of this threat in the realm of mobile security as they could allow attackers to gain total control over iOS devices and compromise any unprotected apps or accounts running on the device. 

However, amidst the foreboding nature of these vulnerabilities, a ray of optimism emerges. Presently, tailored protections are at the disposal of app owners and DevOps teams, offering a means to address and pre-emptively thwart each of these threats by automating mobile app defense. This empowers them to proactively safeguard consumers. For example, Appdome itself is capable of blocking shell code, code injection, remote execution, and kernel-based attacks – effectively fortifying against the very types of attack vectors seen in CVE-2024-23222. In times of adversity, such proactive measures serve as a source of much-needed reassurance for the iOS community.” 

If you haven’t updated to macOS 14.3 and/or iOS 17.3, you should update now to protect yourself from whatever threat actors are exploiting this.