Apple has issued January 2019 security patches for the following:
Check your software. If you have a brand-new Apple device, or have upgraded an older device, check to see you have the latest software:
Be sure and update your devices to tvOS 12, watchOS 5, iOS 12, and macOS 10.14 Mojave.
Older devices which can't update to the current operating should, at a minimum, update to Safari 12, available for macOS 10.12.6 and later.
The Washington Apple Pi Board of Directors has certified the 2018 election.
Apple has a permanent security update page located at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222
Recent updates of note include: an update to Safari for OS X 10.11 though 10.13, Security Update 2018-001 for macOS 10.13, and iOS 11.3.1 for iPhones and iPads.
While Apple has a strong reputation for robust security, users are strongly encouraged to install all security updates as soon as they become available, for every device they have that connects to the Internet. In addition to Macs and iOS devices, this includes Apple TVs, HomePods, Apple Watches -- if it connects to the Internet, update it.
The January update to the Washington Apple Pi By-laws was approved at the January 2018 General Meeting, and is now posted. Additionally, we've posted a copy of the original Pi By-laws from 1979.
Apple released security updates for the widely-publicized Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities in January. Many users have not installed the updates. Please do yourself a favor: install the updates. Here is Apple's background information on the patches. Patches are available for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.
Pi Notice of Proposed ByLaw Change
At our January General Meeting, before an exciting session about curation of photos, we will ask the Pi membership to approve a small ByLaws amendment to improve our Pi operations. This notice is posted in compliance with Article XV of the Bylaws (about publication of proposed Bylaw amendments).
Our Bylaws have long provided for 15 Directors. In recent years, we have had trouble filling these seats. Most nonprofits like ours use a range of number of Directors in their bylaws to be able to more flexibly expand or contract the number to changed circumstances. Accordingly, we propose to amend this bylaw provision as follows (where bold shows the area of change, brackets indicate omission and underline shows addition).
Article VII – Board of Directors
Section 1. Powers
SECTION 2. COMPOSITION. The Board of Directors shall be comprised of 9-15 [15] Directors elected by the membership pursuant to Article IX hereof. An officer does not cease to be a Director if removed or replaced as an officer.
Apple has published a technical note on how to avoid phishing attempts (fake email messages), fake virus and malware alerts, and other attempts to compromise your computer or mobile device, or your online resources.
These scams range from messages claiming to be from Apple, to phone calls claiming to have discovered problems on your computer, to text messages sent to your mobile devices. The Apple technical note has practical advice on how to protect your computer, mobile device, credentials, and online information.
Please read Apple's technical note on speculative execution vulnerabilities in ARM-based and Intel CPUs used in Apple products.
These newly-discovered vulnerabilities have received a massive amount of attention, and pose problems for virtually every modern microcomputer-based device, desktop, mobile, or cloud-based, from almost every manufacturer. Apple's note explains the issue in plain language, and outlines their efforts to mitigate the problem.
From this great The Verge story,
"Our friend Walt Mossberg may have retired, but that doesn’t mean he’s out of things to say: he’s signed a deal with St. Martin’s Press to write a book about the incredible rise of tech over the past 40 years, and what’s to come in the next decade. Tim Bartlett will be the editor.
The book is scheduled to come out in the early fall of 2019. “I’m going to take about a year to write it,” Walt tells me, suggesting his final column, https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/25/15686870/walt-mossberg-final-column-the-disappearing-computer, ; is “not a bad outline.”
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/16/16480894/walt-mossberg-book-deal-personal-tech-revolution
Aaron Davis will visit the George Mason University at the Pi General Meeting on July 22 and talk about the World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), including (maybe) the new MacBooks, the new iMacs, the new iPads, the new macOS High Sierra, the new iOS 11, the new -- we really have no idea what he will talk about, but he has a long list of potential subjects.
Joe Kissell, prolific article of Take Control books and, for a few weeks now, the publisher of Take Control Books, speaks to us live from Paris, France (where is Wite-Out when you need it) San Diego, California.
Don't forget the 2017 Photo Contest, which offers a vastly expanded set of categories and a vaster range of eligible dates (Jan. 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2017). Head over to the Photo Contest page now to read up on the details.
Many thanks to Jon Thomason for the great Pi election module - Pi members, log in to your Member Entrance at https://connect.wap.org/, and choose "Election" along the left navigation pane.
At the January General Meeting the Pi will demonstrate Parallels a suite of software that allows you to run non-Mac operating systems side-by-side with your Mac programs. There will also be a demonstration of Parallels Toolbox, a program from the same company that has not a thing to do with Parallels Desktop for Macintosh.