Bradley C

Now that the dust has settled on Apple’s acquisition of Fleetsmith, I want to discuss their removal of the Fleetsmith app store and why I think Apple should bring it back in a different way (as a Mac App Library), even as a possible API for third party device management systems to tie into as well.

I consider myself a technology enthusiast, but I am not someone who wants to maintain a complicated setup. I previously wrote about the Starling Home Hub and how it turned the Nest Homebridge project into a turnkey solution. This product is my ideal type of setup. It’s a turnkey solution that accomplishes something very technical. Homebridge is a growing platform, though. There are countless other projects going to make all of your smart home products HomeKit compatible. Suppose you want to take advantage of the growing Homebridge ecosystem (2,000 plugins) without the hassle. In that case, you’ll be delighted to hear that HOOBS is available as a Homebridge in a box setup.

During Apple’s fall event, the company announced Fitness+, a new subscription service with deep integration with Apple Watch that will available later year this on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV for $9.99/month or $79.99/year.

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Sam Johnson from Jamf to discuss the 2020 virtual Jamf Nation User Conference.

One of the brands that seem to transcend to all people of all ages is LEGO. I am continually amazed by how the company continues to create unique products. LEGO Harry Potter products are some of my all-time favorites, and my kids play with LEGO products almost every day. LEGO products aren’t just for offline play, though. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been testing the LEGO Education SPIKE Prime kit

After my experience installing the OneLink Safe and Sound, I decided to expand my OneLink setup by replacing another smoke detector with OneLink’s Smoke Detector and Carbon Monoxide detector.

When I moved in 2013, I decided I was done with physical media for TV shows and movies and ripping all of my DVDs into digital format. I set up my first very Plex server running on an old MacBook Pro I had, and it worked well for several years. After that, I used an Nvidia Shield for several years and recently moved to an Intel NUC with a 14 TB external drive to house all of my media. I then have my setup rounded out with a Backblaze subscription to keep everything backed up. Plex is an essential part of my media life for TV and Movies. Earlier this year, I added a new type of media to my server: Plex audiobooks with the Prologue app.

Building an IT system entirely on campus is one challenge, as is making one for completely remote is another challenging process. Trying to come up with solutions for when some kids are off-campus, and others are on is a daunting challenge, though. As we headed into summer, we knew that some of our kids would not return for the start of school regardless of what was going on in the world, so we wanted to be ready.

My family has never used overhead lights unless we have company over. We prefer natural light and lamps. A few years ago, I swapped out all of our bulbs to LED light bulbs, and I invested in HomeKit compatible outlet switches as a way to control them from the Home app, HomePod with Siri, and HomeKit automations. As part of my outdoor lighting project I did earlier this year, I invested in a Philips Hue Hub with the Hue outdoor floodlights. After a few months of using them, I decided that I was ready to begin converting my switched outlets to Hue bulbs.

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Sunil Patro from SignEasy to talk about how the digital signature industry has evolved in the last decade.

Sponsored by iMazing: The popular iOS device manager which gives you unparalleled control over iOS and iPadOS data. Request your free trial now.

Edison announced OnMail back in April as a completely new email service to rethink a lot of the ways that we interact with email. Today, OnMail is available to purchase with free custom domain names.

Since the Files app was released with iOS 11, it’s become a staple of how I use the iPhone and iPad. I don’t think it gets enough credit for helping bridge the gap between macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. Between the ability to access all my iCloud Drive documents on top of integration with Google Drive, it’s one of the most used apps on my iPhone and iPad.

In my decade of working in IT, the one area I’ve struggled to find a great cost-effective solution is internal cameras for the enterprise. There are plenty of advanced options, but they usually break the budget. After years of searching, I finally landed on UniFi Protect from Ubiquiti with its new Network Video Recorder (NVR).

The Home app is a handy application for managing HomeKit products regardless if you’re using iPhone, iPad, or even the Mac. With tvOS 14, even Apple TV can access some HomeKit products. The Home app isn’t perfect, though. Several third-party applications can provide extended functionality or even a more focused way to access certain aspects of HomeKit. Here’s a round-up of the best third-party HomeKit apps.

The podcast industry is at a crossroads in 2020. Since 2004, we’ve enjoyed an open ecosystem with podcasting driven by RSS feeds. Once Apple released the iTunes podcast directory in iTunes 4.9, but it’s still been based on the open RSS standard. When listeners subscribe to a show, it is directly pulled from the RSS feed and, therefore, a direct download from the podcast’s server. As Spotify has made its mark on the industry with exclusive shows, it’s worth discussing the differences between free shows, the open podcast market, and paid podcasts.