MacUpdater is an effortless way to ensure that all the software on your Mac is always up-to-date with the latest version. With a single click, the app scans your system for installed software and provides you with a comprehensive list of everything that is outdated in one simple, clear interface. It’s the perfect tool to keep your Mac’s software running smoothly and securely.

MacUpdater has an enormous built-in database of version information for over 60,000 apps and can update 6,000 of the most popular of those with a single click. What's more, MacUpdater is actively maintained all the way back to version 1, so no matter which version you're using, you know you can rely on MacUpdater to get the job done.

With version 2, MacUpdater added the ability to update multiple apps simultaneously, the ability to update non-app software you've installed, password-free updates for non-admin accounts, support for Big Sur and Apple silicon Macs, faster system scans, and much more. The recent 2.3 update already brings support for new technologies in macOS 13 'Ventura' and enables transparent handling of updates delivered in packages (.pkg).

MacUpdater is available as a one-time purchase. There's no subscription, other recurring fees, or hidden costs, and for a limited time, readers of MacStories can get a 10% discount when they use the coupon code MACSTORIESQ4 at checkout. So visit MacUpdater's website today to learn more about this terrific utility and to take control of updates on your Mac.

Our thanks to MacUpdater for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Device security is a lot like Mount Everest: it’s tough to scale.

When you’re a small company dominated by engineers, you can keep up with fleet management with nothing more than trust and a spreadsheet. But once you start to hire marketers, designers, and the rest, the number of laptops balloons and the line between “work” and “personal” devices gets fuzzy. 

But fuzzy isn’t going to cut it. You have to prove you’ve got device security under control to close deals with customers, pass a third-party audit, and prove you’re ready for acquisition or an IPO. 

At this point, you start looking for a tool that will give you visibility across all these devices. And you have two options. 

Option one is an MDM, which acts as the puppet master for your whole fleet, forcing compliance through intrusive agents. But for all an MDM’s power, it still can’t answer your most nuanced questions. And when it comes to Linux devices? Good luck with that.

Your other option is Kolide. 

Kolide is an endpoint security solution that gives IT teams a single dashboard for all devices, regardless of their operating system.

Kolide can answer questions MDMs can’t. Questions like:

• Do you have production data being stored on devices?
• Are all your developers’ SSH keys encrypted?
• And a host of other data points you’d otherwise have to write a custom shell script to learn about.

Want to see how it works for yourself? Click here for a free trial, no credit card required, and let us show you what we’re all about.

Our thanks to Kolide for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Kosmik is a dashboard for your creativity. Built for designers, researchers, and writers, Kosmik’s infinite canvas for the iPad and Mac lets you bring together notes, your writing, images, websites, PDFs, and more on a single canvas called a Universe, so you can stop switching between apps and focus on what you’re creating.

Everything in a Kosmik Universe is a card, and cards from one canvas can be incorporated into another, making the first canvas app with the sort of transclusion found in note-taking apps like Roam Research and Obsidian. It’s a powerful yet simple architecture that reduces friction, so you can focus on your work.

The flexibility of Kosmik’s canvas means you can take notes, browse the web, collect PDFs, images and other resources, and write all in one place. That encourages spatial thinking, making new connections and links between materials, and reduces distractions all at once in a single easy-to-use interface.

Kosmik is a completely native, peer-to-peer solution that syncs your data between devices with no central server. Everything is encrypted end-to-end too.

You can publish your Kosmik canvases and cards to the web for sharing with colleagues, with even more collaboration features coming later this year. Kosmik is available on the web now, too, making it accessible in more places and to more users than ever before.

If you’re looking for a new way to organize your thoughts, writing, and, really, anything else, sign up for Kosmik today. MacStories readers can enjoy a free year of access just by following this link. From ideation to production, Kosmik lets you think better and more freely to uncover insights and have some fun too!

Kosmik is available to download on the App Store and also offers great resources for new users like its Substack newsletter and Discord community.

Our thanks to Kosmik for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Do you know the old thought experiment about the AI designed to make paper clips that quickly decides that it will have to eliminate all the humans to maximize paper clips?

Many security teams have a similar idea when meeting compliance goals: it would be much simpler if it weren’t for all the pesky users.

That way of thinking has brought us to the current state of endpoint security, dominated by MDMs that hamper device performance and turn every laptop into Big Brother. This approach to security is bad for culture and morale; moreover, it doesn’t actually work. If it did, no company with an MDM and annual security training would have a data breach.

Kolide is endpoint security and fleet management that takes a different approach. They help their customers meet their compliance goals–whether for auditors, customers, or leadership–by enlisting the support of end users.

Kolide works by notifying your employees of security issues via Slack, educating them on why they’re important, and giving them step-by-step instructions to resolve them themselves.

For IT admins, Kolide helps you prove compliance via a single dashboard. From there, you can monitor the security of your entire fleet, whether they’re running on Mac, Windows, or Linux. (You read that right; Kolide can finally provide visibility into your Linux users.)

If you’ve read this far, it’s because you’re intrigued by an approach to endpoint security that gets end users involved. Click here to learn more about how it works. If you like what you see, you can sign up for a free trial; no credit card required.

Our thanks to Kolide for sponsoring MacStories this week.

For small businesses, acquiring new business often means juggling multiple priorities at the same time, as each deal has its own time frame and different client requirements. That’s why you need a tool that will help better manage your sales pipeline, so you’re making the most of every sales opportunity that comes your way.

Meet the Daylite Opportunities Board

The Daylite Opportunities Board lets you visually track your deals’ progress at every stage and helps you prioritize sales opportunities. This powerful feature gives you a holistic view of your sales pipelines, allowing you to track where each Opportunity is in the process, so you and your team can focus on the most valuable ones. The drag-and-drop functionality allows you to move opportunities from one stage to the next, and you can easily classify deals as “won” or “lost” by dragging them to the respective status categories. Learn more about how this powerful Daylite feature has become a game-changer for Apple-savvy small businesses. 

About Daylite

Daylite is an award-winning CRM and productivity business app that empowers small businesses to get more done throughout the full customer lifecycle. Daylite is a native app built exclusively for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. From meeting prospects and taking control of your sales to managing the moving pieces on projects, all the way through to winning more repeat business, it’s all done in Daylite. 

And now, with the Daylite Opportunities Board, you can finally better manage your sales process and unlock your sales potential. 

Are you ready to close more deals with Daylite? Start your free trial here.

Our thanks to Daylite for sponsoring MacStories this week.

If you build a dystopian and cynical security program born out of fear, mistrust, and suspicion, then you will inevitably make your fellow employees your enemies.

That’s a quote from Honest Security, Kolide’s mission statement, and North Star. It was written by their CEO, Jason Meller, who spent his career in cybersecurity before founding Kolide. 

He was troubled by the widely-accepted idea among cybersecurity professionals that end users should be treated, first and foremost, as threats. This way of thinking informs the traditional approach to device management, which relies on MDMs that take control of devices and come with surveillance capabilities that most companies don’t need or even really want.

Kolide works by notifying your employees of security issues via Slack, educating them on why they’re important, and giving them step-by-step instructions to resolve them themselves.

Kolide’s open-source agent collects data across 43 categories on Mac, Windows, and Linux devices. It can answer questions like:

• Do any of my developers have unsecured SSH keys floating around?
• Does everyone have disk encryption, screen lock, and password managers set up?
• Are there any Macs in my fleet in need of a new battery?

And while Kolide can provide insights that MDMs can’t, it’s Kolide’s commitment to transparency really sets them apart. Employees can visit the User Privacy Center for an explanation of precisely what data is being collected, by whom, and for what purpose.

Want to see how it works for yourself? Click here for a free trial, no credit card required, and let us show you what we’re all about.

Our thanks to Kolide for sponsoring MacStories this week.

Kosmik is a dashboard for your creativity. Built for designers, researchers, and writers, Kosmik’s infinite canvas for the iPad and Mac lets you bring together notes, your writing, images, websites, PDFs, and more on a single canvas called a Universe, so you can stop switching between apps and focus on what you’re creating.

Everything in a Kosmik Universe is a card, and cards from one canvas can be incorporated into another, making the first canvas app with the sort of transclusion found in note-taking apps like Roam Research and Obsidian. It’s a powerful yet simple architecture that reduces friction, so you can focus on your work.

The flexibility of Kosmik’s canvas means you can take notes, browse the web, collect PDFs, images and other resources, and write all in one place. That encourages spatial thinking, making new connections and links between materials, and reduces distractions all at once in a single easy-to-use interface.

Kosmik is a completely native, peer-to-peer solution that respects your privacy. The app syncs your data between devices with no central server. Everything is encrypted end-to-end too.

You can publish your Kosmik canvases and cards to the web for sharing with colleagues, and even more collaboration features are coming later this year. Kosmik is available on the web now, too, making it accessible in more places and to more users than ever before.

If you’re looking for a new way to organize your thoughts, writing, and, really, anything else, sign up for Kosmik today. MacStories readers can enjoy a free year of access just by following this link. From ideation to production, Kosmik lets you think better and more freely to uncover insights and have some fun too!

Kosmik is available to download on the App Store and also offers great resources for new users like its Substack newsletter and Discord community.

Our thanks to Kosmik for sponsoring MacStories this week.

We are now well into the two-year transition window Apple began with the release of their M1 chip. In fact, the second generation of Apple Silicon processors – the M2 – is now available.

Apple will continue to support Intel-based Macs, but the power found with Apple Silicon is proving to be worth the jump for users and developers. Forward-thinking technology companies seek to release software that leverages the new features released by Apple each year.

In order to use new features possible with Apple Silicon, dev teams will first need to incorporate the latest hardware and software available from Apple. This includes M1/M2 machines and the latest versions of macOS and Xcode. This will enable them to build and test for these new machines.

The need to replace development machines themselves can be costly, but the prospect of replacing an entire data center worth of Macs that run on-premise can be downright cost prohibitive. This presents a challenge for macOS development teams that use continuous integration (CI) to safely make changes to their existing codebases – a generally accepted best practice throughout the industry.

In addition, introducing new hardware architecture may call for a change in the software approach. Does the current orchestration software support Apple Silicon? It’s not likely.

MacStadium is here to help.

Orka, MacStadium’s macOS-based orchestration software, supports both Apple Silicon and Intel in a mixed cluster. Rather than retooling an entire in-house data center, macOS-focused development companies can simply migrate their CI processes to the cloud and build for all current Mac users. MacStadium provides the private Mac cloud and a skilled team to help you securely scale to your needs.

Reach out to a MacStadium sales engineer to learn more about Orka and how it can accelerate your iOS and macOS Development workflows.

Our thanks to MacStadium for their support of MacStories this week.

In 2021, Kolide went through the SOC 2 Type 1 audit, and they found out just how challenging it can be to prove compliance to a third-party auditor. They also learned firsthand something their customers had been telling them for a while: that they couldn’t have gotten their SOC certification without using their own product.

That product is Kolide, an endpoint security solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux devices. Kolide gives IT admins a single dashboard, through which you can prove that your fleet has the security measures that auditors care about.

With Kolide, you can instantly see whether:

• Firewalls and screen lock are enabled
• Operating systems are up-to-date
• Password managers are installed

Kolide also provides visibility into nuanced issues that MDMs can’t address, like whether developers have unencrypted SSH keys or plaintext 2FA backup codes.

Moreover, Kolide balances this visibility with respect for user privacy and autonomy. Users can visit the Privacy Center to see what device data is being collected and why. And when Kolide detects a vulnerability on a user’s device, it reaches out via Slack to notify them of the problem and provides step-by-step instructions on how to solve it. 

Kolide has helped hundreds of customers achieve compliance–for SOC 2, ISO27001, or their own internal security goals. And they’ve done so in ways that go beyond “checking the boxes” and actually increase transparency and collaboration between IT and end users.

If you want to know how you can get compliant without compromising your values, then we want to talk to you.

Try Kolide for 14 days free; no credit card required.

Our thanks to Kolide for its support of MacStories this week.