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May the 4th is coming and, as you may know, it’s an important date for Star Wars fans. Apple teases a Behind the Mac video featuring the Skywalker Sound artists, and it will be available in a few days.

On May the 4th, go behind the Mac at Skywalker Sound to meet the artists who make the sounds of a galaxy far, far away.

In this 68 seconds teaser, Apple shows the process of creating the iconic sounds found in the Star Wars franchise.

“If you were to close your eyes, and just listen to the sounds, could you just identify the movie and where we are in the movie? Everything is just so… iconic,” says someone while we listen to sounds of R2-D2, Chewbacca, and a lightsaber.

This special Behind the Mac episode will be out next week, on May the 4th. This date became so important to Star Wars fans due to the similarity of a key phrase of the franchise: “May the Force be with you.”

In this series, Apple tries to promote creators and other professionals that use the Mac to edit movies, make music and 3D objects, and so much more.

This is another moment that highlights how amazing a Mac can be for professionals.

With the M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra available on the new MacBook Pro and Mac Studio, the company has also recently released its Studio Display, a more affordable option when compared with the 2019 Pro Display XDR.

You can watch the Behind the Mac: Skywalker Sound teaser below.

For the first time, streaming services like Apple TV+, Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime could be regulated as linear broadcasters under the United Kingdom government’s new plans due to a “White Paper” policy document.

As reported by Deadline, “the UK regulator Ofcom, which currently monitors content on network television, will be responsible for applying and enforcing guidelines on streaming services, which aren’t currently subject to the Broadcasting Code.”

To ensure that their viewers are safe from offensive or harmful material and to protect them, video on demand would be required.

The White Paper outlines possible fines for breaking the Code, with any errant VoD services liable to pay PS250,000 or a figure up to 5% of the organization’s revenue, whichever is the higher amount.

These rules will only be applicable to large streaming apps at the moment. Apple TV+, although not a huge streaming service, is owned by the largest company in the world.

“These changes will mean UK audiences will be better protected from harmful material and better able to complain to Ofcom if they see something they are concerned about. The whitepaper states that the UK’s existing regulations will still apply to respecting free speech and proportionality. However, the UK’s on-demand service providers are smaller and more risky.

The document also highlights the problem with global players such as Google, Amazon, and Apple:

These new global players – the Googles, Amazons, and Apples of this world – are successful because they provide convenience and integration. But the growing power of these players, and the data they have at their fingertips, will inevitably impact how rights of access, carriage and prominence are negotiated moving forward. While the increase in range and ownership of distribution platforms generates potential benefits around consumer choice and innovation, there is a risk that the broadcasters that we in the UK know and love are simply crowded out.

You can read the full White Paper document here.

Related:

• Apple cites a report showing third-party apps often beat built-in services amid scrutiny

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I’m not certain when password management services evolved from being a consumer concept to becoming enterprise tools. However, it is something that has made me happy. Over the years IT departments advised users not to reuse passwords. That advice didn’t come with any solutions to help people properly manage them, though. Tools that used to be aimed only at the consumer market are now available for enterprises. For IT departments looking to ensure password security, both 1Password and LastPass have strong solutions.

About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT network from 2009 to 2021. Through his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, 100s of Macs, and 100s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments.

Both of these applications help users create, manage, and use complex passwords from a high level. It is easier to create a strong superpassword password to unlock all your other passwords than remembering hundreds of accounts. As the world has moved away from Active Directory for everything, password management has been a problem. I’ve personally been using 1Password since the company launched the product. The Families plan was also launched immediately. I have a personal solution and I now use the business plan.

For years it was difficult for non-prosumer users manage their passwords. Some people would use Chrome’s built-in syncing tool, while others used Safari. These solutions may be acceptable for personal use but they are not scalable to enterprise-level users. 1Password and LastPass now have solutions aimed at everyone from home users to large businesses. Both LastPass and Password have many features that solve the problems: single sign-on, password sharing, multi-factor authentication, account recovery, audit trails, encryption of data, and multi-factor authentication.

Developer tools

1Password is building out some impressive developer tools as well. In the upcoming 1Password 8, the service/app integrates the management of passwords, SSH keys, and infrastructure secrets.

Using 1Password’s CLI functionality and dynamically injecting secrets from 1Password at runtime without manual intervention. While it might not be something every 1Password user will use, it certainly shows they’re going after complex enterprise needs.

Wrap-up: Cross-platform support drives ease of use

Employees are working across macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, so having robust apps native for each platform with effortless syncing in the background is a game-changer for security. As I mentioned before, IT folks have long chastised users for weak passwords that are then reused across services.

Unfortunately, as Apple and Google drove enterprises are from everything tied to the Active Directory model, they didn’t implement robust password management. They didn’t implement anything because there weren’t great solutions on the market. Now that 1Password and Lastpass both offer enterprise-class solutions with consumer-level ease of use, it’s something that every enterprise using Apple products should consider. Yes, Safari Keychain is good, but it’s not enterprise-level password management.