Panel:

• Bart Busschots (host) - @bbusschots
• Adam Christianson from The Mac Cast - @maccast
• Mark Chappell from the Essential Apple Podcast - @oceanspeed
• Allison Sheridan from the NosillaCast Podcast - @podfeet

Because it’s the so-called silly-season in news the show has a bit of an unusual format. The show starts off with the usual followups, a few notable numbers, and then some Apple HR News. The first main story is not a single story, but a medley of medium-sized stories. The second main story is Apple’s censorship of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars publication, and the final main story is the end of Back to My Mac. The show finishes with a quick roundup of some other smaller stories that made the news in August.

You'll find detailed show notes below the fold, and if you enjoy this free show, please consider clicking on the donate button at the top of the left side bar - the show is free for you to listen to, but not for Bart to Produce!

[audio mp3=”http://www.mymac.com/podcast/lta/LetsTalkApple-EP60-August2018.mp3”]

Followup

• After many years and a protracted legal battle, the failed GT Advanced Technologies factory in Mesa Arizona that was supposed to supply Apple with sapphire for its lenses and sensors has been transformed into an Apple Data Centre — tidbits.com/…
• Regulatory filing show Apple have already paid about two-thirds of the €13Bn the EU insist they own in back-taxes — www.cultofmac.com/…
• Ship or Slip: Apple Delays Group FaceTime until “Later This Fall” — tidbits.com/…

Notable Numbers

• Numbers from Counterpoint show the nascent Smart Watch market growing by 37% year-on-year. Apple’s sales grew 17% year-on-year, so their share of the market dropped from 48% last year to 41% this year. The numbers also show that by far the most popular model remains the Series 1, accounting for 9 our of 10 Apple Watches sold — www.counterpointresearch.com/…
• Gene Munster’s latest survey suggests pent-up demand for iPhones this cycle, specifically 48% of current iPhone owners intend to upgrade this cycle compared to 25% last year, and 19% of Android users surveyed are planning to switch to an iPhone (compared to 12% last year) — loupventures.com/…

Apple HR News

• Music industry PR veteran Brian Bumbery joins Apple as Director of Apple Music Publicity — www.macobserver.com/…
• Doug Field Returns to Apple After Leaving Tesla — daringfireball.net/…
• Apple hired scores of ex-Tesla employees this year, and not just for its car project — www.loopinsight.com/…

Main Stories

1. Medley of Medium-sized stories:
   • Apple Adds AirPlay 2 Support to AirPort Express with Firmware Update — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Apple have joined the Thread Group, an industry group working on mesh networking for IoT devices — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Consumer Reports finds that ApplePay is the best P2P mobile payment platform in the US with a score of 76% (Venmo is second with 69% and Square’s Cash App third with 64) — www.consumerreports.org/…
   • Business Insider report on a secret meeting Apple held with select developers last year to discuss subscriptions in the App Store — tidbits.com/…
   • Apple expanding pilot program allowing repairs of select vintage Macs — www.loopinsight.com/…
2. Apple leads other tech companies in removing some content by incendiary US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his group Infowars from their platforms:
   • Facebook removes Infowars pages, following Apple and Spotify — www.marketwatch.com/…
   • Alex Jones hit with bans from Facebook and Apple — arstechnica.com
   • Alex Jones Infowars App Still on App Store Even After Podcasts Were Blocked — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Apple Defends Its Decision To Allow Infowars In The App Store — www.buzzfeednews.com/…
   • Twitter suspends Alex Jones for urging people to keep “battle rifles” ready — arstechnica.com
3. Apple have announced that macOS Mojave will not support Back to my Mac, and suggest some alternative Apple technologies for users to use in its place — www.macobserver.com/…
   • Apple’s support document on the end of Back to My Mac — support.apple.com/…
   • Alternatives to Back to My Mac — www.imore.com/…
   • Edovia’s Screens as a Replacement for Back to My Mac — daringfireball.net/…
   • Allison recommends Jump Desktop as a replacement — www.podfeet.com/…

Quick Stories

• Apple have improved their GiveBack recycling program so you can get instant credit by trading in old devices when purchasing new ones — www.macobserver.com/…
• iPhone 8 logic board replacement program: What you need to know — www.imore.com/…
• The first excerpts of Small Fry, Lisa Brennan-Jobs’ memoir, have been published, and the book was released on September 4 — tidbits.com/…

Save the Date — Gather Round Apple Event

• Apple have invited the press to an event with the tag-line gather round on 12 September — www.loopinsight.com/…
• The event will be live-streamed — www.apple.com/…