macOS Big Sur and More

On the 10th of July we held an online meeting where the main topic was Apple’s introduction of macOS Big Sur at WWDC.

macOS Big Sur

We talked about the new features in macOS Big Sur which will be released in the Autumn. The main features we discussed:

  • Updated design with a simplified look, new glyphs and icons. Robert recommended this interesting visual comparison between Catalina and Big Sur.
  • Control Centre now available on Mac.
  • Updated Notification Centre which uses the same new widgets as iOS 14.
  • Many Safari changes including a privacy report, built in translation, improved tabs and faster performance.

Apple has a detailed macOS Big Sur preview.

Password Study

DavidB mentioned a discussion about passwords on This Week in Tech’s “Security Now” show, which highlighted a study on 1 Billion leaked usernames and passwords. The study found the common use of simple insecure passwords (with 123456 being the most common) and made some suggestions for stronger passwords. You can watch the episode on the TWiT website, the password talk starts at 1:39. This is the web page for the study they are referencing.

Ennio Morricone

DaveK mentioned that Apple has published an Apple Music playlist of tracks inspired by Ennio Morricone, the famous Italian film composer who died recently.