Tom Merritt was on Chit Chat Across the Pond to talk net neutrality. I confess that after all my “I have made fire” talk about writing a script for chapter marks, it didn’t actually work. Learn how to make Holiday Card Address Labels using plain old Apple Contacts. Rush Sherman asks our first ever video Dumb Question – why do I use Downcast when I clearly said I used Pocket Casts before? Patreon did a major shift in how they charge patrons and pay creators, and I wanted to tell you how I feel about it and what hopefully will be changing. In a rare moment of music enjoyment, I suggest you buy If Every Day Were Christmas from Slau Halatyn. Bart Busschots brings us Security Bits about the macOS Root Bug, a HomeKit Bug, and changes to iOS Backup Encryption.
Hi, this is Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Apple Podcast, hosted at Podfeet.com, a technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Apple bias. Today is Sunday, December 10, 2017, and this is show number 657.
Chit Chat Across the Pond
Tom Merritt of Daily Tech News Show joins us this week on Chit Chat Across the Pond to talk about net neutrality. This is a rather complex topic, but it was a timely discussion since, in the United State, there’s a vote by the Federal Communications Commission this week on how to treat Internet traffic. Our discussion is not political, but rather looks at the history of other services and how complicated it is to try and cram the Internet into any of the existing regulations. As you might expect if you know him at all, Tom is very well versed in the subject and makes a prince of an effort to untangle it for us.
I did pull a fast one on you by sneaking Tom in this week. Don’t be worried, Bart’s next installment of Programming By Stealth will be coming out tomorrow. In fact, it’s probably out by the time you’re hearing this.
Confessions of a Coder
I debated whether to to confess something to you. As you remember from our 434 part discussion of chapter markers, I had written a script to add the chapter markers to Auphonic, and with Michael from German’s help I’d figured out how to do the chapter markers automatically inside Auphonic. I told you that just to prove things out, last week I would use my script and from then on I’d use the fully automated process.
Well, guess what? My script failed last week! I was so bummed. Luckily I had a fallback with the much better-automated process, but I couldn’t understand why it failed. My hero, Helma jumped on Skype with me a few days later to diagnose the problem.
Turns out that my script did not take into account a file path name with spaces in it. All of my tests were in a folder on my desktop with no spaces. When I ran the real file, it was inside a folder in iCloud, and the path from Apple is sprinkled with spaces along the way.
A bit of time with Helma guiding me on how to fix it (putting a few things inside quotes) and now it works. Don’t know if I’ll try it or not this week but I feel better having confessed to you!
Oh, and I forgot to bookmark Bart’s second review last week. I blame the live chat room for not reminding me.
Blog Posts
Make Holiday Card Address Labels with macOS Contacts
Pocket Casts vs Downcast
Changes to Patreon
If Every Day Were Christmas
Before we get stuck in with Security Bits, I’d like to tell you about my favorite Christmas song. It’s called “If Every Day Were Christmas” by Slau Halatyn. He’s a dear friend but I wouldn’t tell you about his music if I didn’t love it. Steve and I had the great pleasure of watching him working on it in his studio in Queens, New York. I asked his permission to give you a taste of the song at the end of the show and he graciously agreed. If you like it, search for it in your music service of choice. It’s a dollar. So go buy it.
Security Bits – 08 December 2017 – macOS Root Bug, HomeKit Bug, iOS Backup Encryption
That’s going to wind this up for this week. Don’t forget to send in your Dumb Questions, comments and suggestions by emailing me at [email protected], follow me on twitter @podfeet. Remember, everything good starts with podfeet.com/. podfeet.com/patreon, podfeet.com/facebook, podfeet.com/googleplus, podfeet.com/amazon! And if you want to join in the fun of the live show, head on over to podfeet.com/live on Sunday nights at 5pm Pacific Time and join the friendly and enthusiastic NosillaCastaways. Thanks for listening, and stay subscribed.