Author

Avatar for Bradley C

Bradley C

Bradley C

Bradley started his career in telecommunications, working for the original IP TV provider in the US, and also was part of their fiber-to-the-home rollout. From 2009-2021, Bradley worked for a private school, running the information technology department and technology integration in the classroom. He manages a network of 15 switches, 100+ access points, hundreds of Macs and iPads, and multiple phone systems across four separate campuses across the city. He’s well-versed in enterprise Wi-Fi, macOS and iOS system management, school technology, and SaaS tools. Currently, he works at Cribl, where he runs content marketing, helping companies understand how to manage observability data best. At 9to5Mac, Bradley covers HomeKit technology, enterprise software, enterprise hardware, and how Apple fits into the enterprise environment.

If you have any tips, feedback, corrections, or questions, they can be sent to Bradley@9to5mac.com.

Connect with Bradley

Connect with Bradley C

Apple @ Work: IDC report highlights how security has become Apple’s trojan horse in the enterprise

Mac shipments | M2 MacBook Pro models shown

Apple at Work is brought to you by SimpleMDM: Check out SimpleMDM and discover the limitless possibilities of SimpleMDM’s powerful API. Whether you want to automate tasks or integrate SimpleMDM into your existing infrastructure, the API offers the flexibility you need to gain full programmatic access to your account and devices.

Back in early October, IDC published a report about the perception that IT professionals had around various platforms and what keeps them up at night. The last sentence I think is a pretty good way to think about the life of an IT team. It’s, in some ways, about survival. Security threats are everywhere. Systems are always one bad configuration away from going down. It’s about ensuring that the employees you support have what they need to do their jobs. There’s one question in particular that highlights Apple’s position of strength in the enterprise, though.

How important would you say it is to have security built into a computer from the ground up —
including the silicon, the firmware, and the OS — to protect it from today’s, and in anticipation of
tomorrow’s threats?

Expand Expanding Close

HomeKit Weekly: Aqara E1 camera delivers HomeKit Secure Video in a compact package

Aqara E1

HomeKit Secure Video is either a great solution or a terrible solution, depending on who you ask and depending on the day. No, it’s not perfect, but I do trust it. It’s the only camera recording solution I’d ever allow inside my home. I’ve recently been testing Aqara’s new E1 camera, which includes HomeKit Secure Video support.

Expand Expanding Close

Apple @ Work Podcast: Found Money

Apple at work podcast

Sponsored by SimpleMDM: Check out SimpleMDM and discover the limitless possibilities of SimpleMDM’s powerful API. Whether you want to automate tasks or integrate SimpleMDM into your existing infrastructure, the API offers the flexibility you need to gain full programmatic access to your account and devices.

In this episode of Apple @ Work, I talk with Mark Rand from Second Life Mac about the current state of enterprise trade in for Apple products, Apple Silicon’s impact, and the iPad.

Expand Expanding Close

Apple @ Work: SAP achieves 83% adoption rate for macOS Sonoma in 25 days

macOS Sonoma Desktop

Apple @ Work is brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that fully integrates five different applications on a single Apple-only platform, allowing businesses to easily and automatically deploy, manage, & protect all their Apple devices. Over 38,000 organizations leverage Mosyle solutions to automate the deployment, management, and security of millions of Apple devices daily. Request a FREE account today and discover how you can put your Apple fleet on auto-pilot at a price point that is hard to believe.

One of the major shifts we’ve witnessed in recent years is the move from holding major OS releases internally as long as possible to celebrating the rapid adoption. SAP recently announced they had achieved an 83% adoption rate for Apple’s new version of macOS within an outstanding 25 days.

Expand Expanding Close

HomeKit Weekly: The benefits of HomeKit when traveling for an extended period

Back in September, my wife and I spent a few weeks traveling through Scotland and London. It was an amazing time, and I highly recommend both places. Since our home was empty for long periods outside of family visiting to check on the house (I am always paranoid about a random leak, etc.), no one was in the home. With HomeKit, I was able to create automations to simulate the appearance that we were home through lights, shades, and more.

Expand Expanding Close

Apple @ Work Podcast: Orka 3.0 comes to remote Macs everywhere

Apple at work podcast

Sponsored by SimpleMDM: Check out SimpleMDM and discover the limitless possibilities of SimpleMDM’s powerful API. Whether you want to automate tasks or integrate SimpleMDM into your existing infrastructure, the API offers the flexibility you need to gain full programmatic access to your account and devices.

In this episode of Apple @ Work, I talk with Chris Chapman from MacStadium about their new announcement from KubeCon: Orka 3.0

Expand Expanding Close

Apple @ Work: Mac Evaluation Utility shows Apple is serious about meeting IT teams where they’re at

Mac Evaluation Utility

Apple at Work is brought to you by SimpleMDM: Check out SimpleMDM and discover the limitless possibilities of SimpleMDM’s powerful API. Whether you want to automate tasks or integrate SimpleMDM into your existing infrastructure, the API offers the flexibility you need to gain full programmatic access to your account and devices.

One of the tools I’ve had on my list to write about for some time is the Mac Evaluation Utility. It’s a tool designed for Apple IT admins to determine the health of their macOS fleet – especially during OS update seasons. Read on to determine what it can do as well as how to download.

Expand Expanding Close

HomeKit Weekly: The Humelle humidifier brings Thread support and plenty of customization options

humelle humidifier

Last year, we moved into a house we’d built from the ground up. One of the things that was different from my previous house was the type of heat. Instead of a heat pump, we moved over to natural gas. It’s my second time having gas heat, and there’s one thing I had forgotten – how dry it was. Now, gas heat is certainly much warmer; especially when it gets really cold, I just prefer gas heat. Well, I do, but my nose doesn’t. The more it runs, the dryer my nose gets. The Humelle humidifier from Airversa is now my go-to solution for a HomeKit-enabled humidifier for bedrooms.

Expand Expanding Close

Apple @ Work Podcast: 2023 developer survey on AI, passkeys, and more

Apple at work podcast

Sponsored by SimpleMDM: Check out SimpleMDM and discover the limitless possibilities of SimpleMDM’s powerful API. Whether you want to automate tasks or integrate SimpleMDM into your existing infrastructure, the API offers the flexibility you need to gain full programmatic access to your account and devices.

In this episode of Apple @ Work, I talk with Gary Orenstein about the recent developer survey from Bitwarden that included key information on AI in the enterprise, passkey usage, and more.

Expand Expanding Close

HomeKit Weekly: Smart bulbs vs. smart outlet adaptors – which is best for HomeKit?

smart bulbs

Smart lighting is one of the foundational aspects of a smart home. In fact, I would argue it’s likely the most common aspect of almost every smart home. There’s something magical about having lighting turn on and off via your voice, on a schedule, or based on motion. Outside of smart shades, it’s what you’ll see in movies in the richest of mansions as well. Thanks to low-cost items, anyone can have the luxury of smart lightning. The question I often get is which is best for lamps and other types of lightning outside of overheard lights – smart bulbs vs smart outlet adaptors?

Expand Expanding Close

Apple @ Work: Safari ‘Add to Dock’ is fantastic for SaaS apps; let’s make it compatible with device management

macOS Sonoma add to dock

Apple @ Work is brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that fully integrates five different applications on a single Apple-only platform, allowing businesses to easily and automatically deploy, manage, & protect all their Apple devices. Over 38,000 organizations leverage Mosyle solutions to automate the deployment, management, and security of millions of Apple devices daily. Request a FREE account today and discover how you can put your Apple fleet on auto-pilot at a price point that is hard to believe.

In macOS Sonoma, Safari gains a new feature called “Add to Dock.” I was way too excited about this feature when it was announced because I know how transformational it can be for macOS deployments in the enterprise (with some help from Apple). Web apps reign supreme for many enterprise tools, and “Add to Dock” is going to make it a lot better.

Expand Expanding Close

HomeKit Weekly: Onvis Smart Button remote makes HomeKit products easy to use for guests and children

Onvis Smart button

Back in the summer, my family went out of town for a few days. We had a dog sitter come by a few times a day to take our dogs on walks as well as take them to the bathroom. One challenge I had was showing her how to use our smart home. For our Level Lock+, I found it easier just to give her a key because there is no easy way to share a Home Key with someone outside of your iCloud family account. While I can share access to our lights, I find it much easier to use a product like the Onvis Smart Button instead.

Expand Expanding Close
Bitwarden Survey

Bitwarden releases new developer survey on generative AI, passkeys, and more

Bitwarden, the company behind the popular password manager, has released a brand new survey aimed at uncovering how developers feel about AI, passkeys, and much more. Bitwarden worked with Propeller Insights to survey 600 developers across a wide range of industries who play a critical role in software development. The survey, conducted in Fall 2023, gathered insights from 300 in the US and 300 in the UK on cybersecurity practices.

Expand Expanding Close

Apple @ Work Podcast: Where Microsoft went wrong in the enterprise

Apple at work podcast

Apple @ Work is brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that fully integrates 5 different applications on a single Apple-only platform, allowing Businesses to easily and automatically deploy, manage & protect all their Apple devices. Over 38,000 organizations leverage Mosyle solutions to automate the deployment,  management, and security of millions of Apple devices daily. Request a FREE account today and discover how you can put your Apple fleet on auto-pilot at a price point that is hard to believe.

In this episode of Apple @ Work, I talk with Apu Pavithran from Hexnode about a variety of Apple enterprise topics including the decisions Apple has made to avoid the technical debt trap.

Expand Expanding Close

Spike adds AI functionality for composing emails, summarizing PDFs, taking notes, and more

Spike AI

2023 has been the year of AI usage and AI tools after the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022. While there are a lot of dedicated AI tools launching across the internet, I believe that the future of AI is being built into your existing tools as a feature. Spike has just launched its new “Magic AI” functionality into its email app that works with its own Spike for Teams email service as well as when you add your iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, etc. to the app.

Expand Expanding Close

HomeKit Weekly: New Onvis Smart Plug checks all the boxes with Matter and Thread

Onvis Smart Plug

There are two things I want to see in every new smart home product: Matter and Thread. Matter lets me know that I’ll have access to the product regardless of which platform I use in the future. Thread lets me know that it’s going to work extremely well in my home in terms of responsiveness. The new Onvis Smart Plug checks all those boxes, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite smart plugs.

Expand Expanding Close

Apple @ Work: Support App 2.5 continues to be a must-have tool for Apple IT admins

Support App 2.5

Apple @ Work is brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that fully integrates five different applications on a single Apple-only platform, allowing businesses to easily and automatically deploy, manage, & protect all their Apple devices. Over 38,000 organizations leverage Mosyle solutions to automate the deployment, management, and security of millions of Apple devices daily. Request a FREE account today and discover how you can put your Apple fleet on auto-pilot at a price point that is hard to believe.

For Apple IT admins who manage thousands of remote Macs, providing support for end users is not always easy. There can be a lot of variables that you must uncover when issues arise. One of the things I’ve often thought Apple should add is a simple menu bar app that can quickly allow users to copy and paste key data into a support ticket. Thankfully, one company is continuing to provide a solution: Root3’s Support App and version 2.5 recently shipped.

Expand Expanding Close

HomeKit Weekly: HOLOMARQ smart door knob brings the HomeKit experience to interior doors

HOLOMARQ Smart Door Knob

2023 has seen some exciting announcements and releases around HomeKit door locks. With Home Key, Level Lock+, and the Aqara doorbell, it’s been an exciting year. These door locks have been focused around exterior doors, though. The HOLOMARQ Smart Door Knob is a new interior door option for HomeKit that provides some unique use cases.

Expand Expanding Close

Apple @ Work Podcast: We’ve got 81 problems, but compliance isn’t one of them

Apple at work podcast

Apple @ Work is brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that fully integrates 5 different applications on a single Apple-only platform, allowing Businesses to easily and automatically deploy, manage & protect all their Apple devices. Over 38,000 organizations leverage Mosyle solutions to automate the deployment,  management, and security of millions of Apple devices daily. Request a FREE account today and discover how you can put your Apple fleet on auto-pilot at a price point that is hard to believe.

In this episode of Apple @ Work, I talk with Ben Greiner from Addigy and Tim Pearson from Creative Techs about the challenges around compliance in the Apple enterprise world.

Expand Expanding Close

HomeKit Weekly: AiDot OREiN emerges as a Matter-focused light bulb vendor for a vendor-neutral smart home

OREiN bulbs

I know some of you aren’t bullish on Matter. Is it perfect? No. Does it need more features to truly become the vendor-neutral smart home specification? Yes. I believe in it, though. I believe in it because every manufacturer wins with Matter. When customers know that your products can work across every platform, like Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant, they’re more likely to buy your products. I recently picked up the OREiN light bulbs from AiDot to put its Matter certification through the paces to see how easy it is.

Expand Expanding Close

Apple @ Work Podcast: Why Macs are becoming the preferred platform for IT professionals

Apple at work podcast

Sponsored by AddigyAddigy is a flexible and proactive MDM solution that adapts to your needs, whether you manage a fleet of 100 or 10,000 Apple devices. Learn more.

In this episode of Apple @ Work, I talk with Weldon Dodd about the recent survey of IT professionals about their opinion of Apple in the enterprise.

Expand Expanding Close