Command Control Power: Apple Tech Support & Business Talk

In this episode of Command, Control, Power, Jerry recounts attending Boston's Head of the Charles, where his freshman daughter coxed a women's varsity eight and finished despite the boat losing its skeg mid-race. Joe shares a road trip to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite, plus rainy stops in Zion and Utah's Valley of the Gods, using a Starlink Mini powered via USB-C to work remotely and navigating flash-flood warnings and a wash crossing. The hosts discuss balancing tech work with nature travel and national park crowds. They then shift to tech: impressions of Apple's first-gen foldable "Duo," iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max experiences, ongoing iOS 27 issues (weather alerts, copy/paste), and worsening Siri responsiveness. They touch on macOS "Golden Gate," Apple Mail's Exchange/EWS situation, and reactions to new Apple TV pricing and the HomeView product, including limited third-party integrations versus UniFi Protect.
 
00:00 Show Kickoff
00:11 Head of the Charles Recap
00:50 Racing Without a Skeg
02:26 Yosemite and Tahoe Highlights
03:42 Starlink Van Life Setup
05:15 Flash Floods and Wash Crossing
09:26 Remote Work Reality Check
11:36 Traveling With Other People
14:04 Crowds and Park Etiquette
18:29 Tech Transition to Apple Duo
18:43 Foldable iPhone First Impressions
23:34 iOS Glitches and Alert Bugs
25:31 Siri Beta Disappointment
27:18 iPhone 18 Pro Max Letdown
28:21 Case Free Durability Talk
29:45 Siri Workout Failures
32:52 AllTrails And Fitness Bugs
35:09 Golden Gate Upgrade Check
36:45 Apple Mail Exchange Trouble
40:59 Outlook Versus Mail Debate
43:47 New Apple TV Sticker Shock
46:55 HomeView Use Cases
50:03 HomeKit Versus UniFi Reality
53:35 Wrap Up And Community

Joe and Jerry discuss Apple's October 28, 2026 product event, focusing on the new "MacBook Pro with Pro LED XDR display," Apple's first touchscreen Mac; it uses existing M5 Pro/M5 Max chips, adds a tandem OLED touch display, and debuts a thinner, significantly lighter chassis with improved audio, while the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro and iMac get the new M6. They note confusing lineup naming, incremental performance changes, and pricing/upgrade math (RAM and storage), including frustration that the iMac still caps at 2TB. They cover speculation about supply constraints and unlikely price drops, Apple shipping AI-ready hardware before software (Siri), and mixed enthusiasm about AI marketing. They find the updated iPad Mini compelling for its A20 Pro, Wi‑Fi 7/Bluetooth 6, OLED, and nano-texture option. They also address reports of Apple Store subscription opt-ins, briefly mention Duo device issues and ergonomics, and end with an eBay-worthy vintage Apple director's chair.
 
00:00 Apple Event Setup
00:41 MacBook Pro Naming Mess
03:08 Touchscreen Arrives
04:17 New Chassis Breakdown
06:16 Touch UX and Hybrids
09:11 Screen Specs Reality Check
11:20 Pricing Creep and iMac Limits
14:06 Supply Constraints Debate
19:17 MacBook Air vs Pro Pricing
21:16 Thermals and Wi-Fi 7
24:20 AI Hardware and Siri Promises
27:07 Siri vs ChatGPT in Practice
29:21 Home View Expectations
30:09 Fixing Productivity Systems
32:55 iPad Mini Temptation
35:56 Incremental Apple Updates
38:53 Store Subscription Opt Ins
43:36 Managing Subscriptions Easily
47:44 Duo Defects And Buttons
51:03 Software Update Impressions
52:01 Apple Directors Chair Outro

Sam Valencia, Jerry Zigmont and Joe Saponare discuss working with Apple technology and clients. Drawn from their combined experience of over 20 years in the Apple Consultants Network, thaey discuss technical support issues both with the technology and working with clients.

Sam and Jerry record an episode of Command and Control Power without Joe, briefly discussing hiking safety, then focus on Microsoft Exchange Web Services (EWS) deprecation affecting Apple Mail on macOS and the ethical question of proactively extending EWS via PowerShell for former clients; they extended it for a few Apple Mail–using customers but wouldn't change settings for non-clients. They describe difficult troubleshooting when business addresses were previously used for personal Microsoft 365 accounts, requiring Keychain resets and, for Apple Calendar sync issues, removing Apple Internet Accounts data. Sam notes quirks with Microsoft passkey QR logins leaving the phone camera active, shares an embarrassing "good Samaritan" story at JNUC, highlights Jamf's AI governance tool, and recounts fixing his own Jamf enrollment by disabling SIP and repairing configuration profile folders before re-enrolling. They also discuss syncing the macOS Downloads folder via iCloud, cautious AI permissions, and AI's usefulness and risks.
 
00:00 Recording Setup
00:40 Welcome And Missing Joe
01:22 Bear Safety Talk
04:13 EWS Deprecation Ethics
08:37 PowerShell Fixes And WhatIf
11:28 Microsoft Credential Hell
17:05 Apple Calendar Exchange Bugs
20:23 Passkeys QR Camera Quirk
21:33 JNUC Trip And Water Bottle
25:43 Jamf Keynote And AI Governance
26:43 Jamf Cloud And Roles
27:38 Jamf Life Updates
28:29 JNUC Meetup Talk
29:10 Patch And Bird Suit
30:51 Mascot Movie Tangent
32:19 MDM Profile Meltdown
37:33 Remote Support And Sync
40:57 Syncing Downloads Hack
44:21 Finder Mail Power Tips
45:29 AI Permissions And Risks
52:08 Wrap Up And Rental Car
54:15 Credits And Goodbye

Joe and Jerry discuss using iPhone built-in Background Sounds (rain/white noise) and Joe's reliable Shortcuts automation: when power connects, if the time is after 9:55 PM or before 6:15 AM and audio isn't already playing (checked via the third-party Actions app), set rain sound and volume and enable it; Siri's shortcut generation was buggy, while Gemini helped produce working logic. They swap notes on using white noise at home and while traveling, and Joe recounts encountering a bear at night and ideas for a "bear alert" automation. They note Apple Notes lacks version history/rollback and mention the Note Export app as a workaround. Jerry describes using Claude to guide PowerShell incident response for a Microsoft 365 phishing compromise, generating reports and adding an admin-enforced outbound wire-fraud notice. They also compare Gemini/Claude/ChatGPT (including an annoying ChatGPT "pet" hotkey conflict) and praise Duolingo's habit features. Finally, Joe explains Verizon's AI chat helped clarify phone unlocking and trade-in financing rules versus AT&T's device-locking and poor chat results, influencing his upgrade decision.