Summary
Overview
Linus and Luke broadcast the WAN Show live from ThreatLocker's Zero Trust World conference in Florida, discussing Apple's surprisingly compelling new budget MacBook Neo, the crisis facing testing site Ratings.com as they go behind a paywall, and Linus's continued struggles with Linux installations despite switching distros multiple times.
Apple's MacBook Neo: A Compelling Budget Option
Apple announced the MacBook Neo, a $600 laptop using the A18 Pro mobile chip with only 8GB of RAM but featuring impressive build quality. While initially skeptical, Linus makes a compelling case that this could be the perfect machine for students, family members, or anyone who primarily needs a browser. The device features a Magic Keyboard, decent trackpad, 1080p webcam, and aluminum chassis—making it a serious contender in the budget laptop space despite its limitations.
- MacBook Neo starts at $600, making it Apple's most affordable laptop in recent memory
- Uses A18 Pro mobile chip (6-core CPU, 5-core GPU) with only 8GB non-upgradable RAM
- Features aluminum chassis, Magic Keyboard, 500-nit display, and 1080p webcam
- Educational discount can bring the price down to around $500
- Only one USB-C port supports USB-3 and display output, no backlit keyboard on base model
" If you were looking for a machine for something, for someone like that, for one of those people...I think this is the one. "
" Wouldn't it be better if we saved that RAM for the precious AI data centers that need it so much more than us consumers do? "
Zero Trust World and ThreatLocker Interview
Broadcasting from ThreatLocker's Zero Trust World conference, Linus interviews Chief Product Officer Rob about two new security products. Zero Trust Cloud Access routes all cloud service traffic through ThreatLocker to prevent session hijacking and credential theft, while Zero Trust Network Access provides VPN-like functionality without exposing vulnerable endpoints to the internet. The segment explains zero trust principles as deny-by-default controls rather than good/bad detection.
- Zero trust means deny by default and assume breach, using controls rather than detection
- Zero Trust Cloud Access routes Office 365, Google, Salesforce traffic through single IP to prevent session hijacking
- System uses four redundant servers per organization to eliminate single point of failure
- Zero Trust Network Access allows remote resource access without exposing VPNs to internet
- PowerShell can be allowed to run but blocked from accessing files or internet to prevent weaponization
" UAC will not save us all. You do realize that anyone can run ransomware, don't you? "
" It sounds like I need to trust you...it's a tiny bit of trust. Zero trust means computer turned off, locked in a vault, never connected to anything. "
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