It’s always sad when a TV show that you enjoy is cancelled too early. For me and many other fans of Sci-Fi, a good example of that was the show Firefly, which was cancelled in 2002 after only 11 episodes. Much more recently, I enjoyed the Apple TV show Schmigadoon!, which had two solid seasons full of very memorable musical numbers. A third season was written (including 25 new songs), but unfortunately, Apple pulled the plug on this unique show. However, the show was then turned into a Broadway musical, and as reported by Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac, it earned 12 Tony nominations this week, including Best Musical. Christoffel wonders if the success on Broadway might result in Apple creating a third season after all. I hope so. It also occurs to me that if the show does win a Tony, that will be the last award Apple needs to earn an EGOT. And now, the news of note from the past week:

• This week, John Gruber of Daring Fireball linked to a story written by David Gelphman back in 2013 called 2 Letters from Steve. It’s a great read.
• This time every year, Apple introduces a new version of its Pride Band for the Apple Watch. Joe Rossignol of MacRumors shows off this year’s version. I think the 2017 version is my all-time favorite because it not only symbolizes diversity, but it also reminds me of the Apple six-color logo.
• This time every year, Jason Snell of Six Colors posts a report card on the use of Apple products in enterprise, based on survey responses from about 100 people who use Apple products to get work done. I was part of the survey again this year, so I guess I’m about 1% responsible for this year’s report.
• Wesley Hilliard of AppeInsider does a good job explaining in depth how HomePods can be used throughout a home.
• Last week, I explained why I disagreed with the report by Juli Clover in MacRumors that Apple is giving up on the Vision Pro. This week, I saw a LinkedIn post by Brenton Henry—the CEO of Front Row, a company that streams concerts—that does a much better job than I did. Not only did he explain why this story is wrong, but he also put it in historical context, noting that it is an example of Mark Gurman’s repeated clickbait that MacRumors frequently reprints. As a fan of what the Vision Pro does today and someone who looks forward to future products in this line, I found myself nodding repeatedly as I read this.
• I’ve always had good experiences with Apple’s woven USB-C cables. Apple created colorful versions of those cables to go with the iMac, and you can now get those cables on Woot! for as little as $11 each.
• David Brown of The Times reports on the arrest of a man who stole 62,000 iPhones to ship them abroad. The report says that he may have been responsible for about 40% of all mobile phones stolen in London.
• Dan Moren of Six Colors recently traveled to London and, after his trip, wrote about how he used technology to enhance the experience.
• There is an interesting article by Peter Robison and Vernon Silver of Bloomberg about the incredible popularity of iPhone games that encourage you to spend in-app money for virtual coins. They note that these are essentially casinos, but because they don’t provide players with the opportunity to win real money, only the opportunity to play even more, they are not regulated. It is an $11 billion market, and Apple receives a significant percentage of those payments. The article raises valid points about how these games can seem addictive for some, but I also think that people have a right to spend their entertainment money as they wish, whether it is on games, music, comic books or other collectibles, etc.
• Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac reports on what is coming to Apple TV this summer: Cape Fear, Sugar (Season 2), Silo (Season 3), Trying (Season 5), Lucky, The Dink, Ted Lasso (Season 4), Women in Blue (Season 2), and Dark Matter (Season 2). Looks like I need to find some time to watch TV over the next few months.
• And finally, I’m not a fan of horror movies, so I never saw Martin Scorsese’s 1991 movie Cape Fear. But this week, Apple released the trailer for the TV version that premieres June 5 on Apple TV, and I have to admit that I am intrigued. It stars Javier Bardem, Amy Adams, and Patrick Wilson, and based on the trailer, it looks like it could be good—but definitely scary.

A few days ago, Apple released the results for its 2026 fiscal second quarter (which ran from December 28, 2025, to March 28, 2026) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. Unlike Apple’s Q1, which contains all of the holiday sales, Apple’s Q2 is usually not a particularly interesting quarter. But this year was different: Apple saw revenue of over $100 billion in the quarter, the first time that has ever happened in any quarter besides a Q1. Those are impressive numbers, but as always, what interests me about these conference calls is not the revenue itself as much as what we learn about Apple’s products. If you want to get all of the nitty-gritty details, you can listen to the audio from the conference call on this page of Apple’s website, or you can read a transcript of the call prepared by Jason Snell of Six Colors. Apple’s official press release is here. Here are the items that stood out to me.

iPhone

• iPhone revenue for the quarter was just shy of $57 billion, up an astonishing 22% from this time last year. That is the all-time high for iPhone revenue in a Q2, easily beating the record of $51.3 billion in 2023 Q2.
• Cook said that Apple saw all of that revenue even though it couldn’t make iPhones fast enough. When asked if the constraint was the high price of memory right now, Cook said no; it is the limited supply of the advanced chips that Apple uses. Apparently, Apple should have ordered even more. However, Cook suggested that the current high cost of memory is going to have more impact on Apple in the future. It will be interesting to see if Apple is required to raise iPhone prices later this year.
• Cook mentioned that the current top-of-the-line iPhone—the iPhone 17 Pro Max—was used by astronauts during the Artemis II mission.

iPad

• iPad revenue for the quarter was $6.9 billion, up 8% from this time last year. (The all-time high iPad revenue in a Q2 was 2021 Q2, when revenue was $7.8 billion. The all-time high iPad revenue in any quarter was 2023 Q1, when revenue was $9.4 billion.)

Other

• Tim Cook has been attending these calls for well over 20 years, starting even before he was CEO. But in light of the fact that he has announced that he will be retiring as CEO later this year, he had the next CEO, John Ternus, join him for this call. It will be interesting to see in the future if Ternus participates in these calls every quarter, like Cook has done, or if he will only participate from time-to-time, like Steve Jobs did.
• One analyst asked Cook what advice he gave Ternus about being CEO. Cook responded that “one of the most important decisions he’ll make is where to spend his time. And I would spend it where the greatest benefit to the company and the users are, and never forget the north star for the company,” which is “making the best products in the world that really enrich other people’s lives.”
• So far, the AI that is built-in to Apple devices, which Apple calls Apple Intelligence, is limited in what it can do. But Cook said that what makes Apple Intelligence special is that it is “woven into the core of our platforms” and not a “standalone feature.” I mention this because I personally think that this is the future of AI: something that is just built-in to everything that we do. Apple is not yet as far along as I would like, but I like what they are trying to do, and apparently Cook does as well since he chose to emphasis this aspect of it.
• One might argue—especially in a quarter like this one—that the most impressive thing that Apple makes is money. Since 2018, Apple has pursued a net cash neutral position where it didn’t try to build up a pile of cash and instead would use it on investments and on buying up stock. But Apple CFO Kevan Parekh announced that Apple is no longer pursuing a net cash neutral position. Parekh didn’t clarify what that means other than saying that it gives Apple “flexibility while also being very efficient and disciplined,” but it seems obvious to me that it means that Apple is now going to stockpile some of its massive revenue so that it has lots of cash on hand the next time that it wants to make a big acquisition—such as buying an AI company. Apple may soon go on a bit of a buying spree. We’ll see.
• Apple’s services revenue continues to increase every quarter, and it is now up to a record $31 billion, which is 16% higher than this time last year.
• There are 2.5 billion Apple devices currently in active use around the world, an all-time record.
• Cook said that demand for the new Mac Neo has been “off the charts” with “higher than expected demand.” As a result, there is more demand than supply.
• Cook stated that Apple will apply for a tariff refund from the U.S. government, but he promised that Apple would use that money to invest in “U.S. innovation and advanced manufacturing.” And this carefully worded statement is a perfect example of why Cook is the right person to continue to deal with Trump and other world leaders, even after Ternus becomes CEO.

There is more to say about the recent executive changes at Apple, so that is where we start this week’s episode of the podcast. Next, we discuss the future of the Apple Vision Pro and visionOS, the Apple Watch, the fifth anniversary of AirTags, autocorrect on the iPhone, telescopes, my recent review of the Rode Wireless PRO, Ted Lasso, and more.

In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for adjusting the volume on your iPhone, and I share a tip for using Eufy cameras.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just listen using your podcast player of choice. You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

Jazz Fest is happening right now in New Orleans, and it is an amazing opportunity to see fantastic artists perform live in front of thousands of people. My wife and I attended last week to see (among other performances) Jon Batiste, and his show was phenomenal. (He is so talented!) But it is also nice to see artists in a more intimate venue where you are close to the musicians. Blue Frog Studios, a music club in a Vancouver suburb, has been recording live performances and releasing them on YouTube for 15 years. This week, Blue Frog released an app for the Vision Pro that gives you a front-row seat at the club. The quality of the immersive video and audio is astounding, and the musicians are very talented. This app is a perfect example of why I love my Apple Vision Pro so much and why I am convinced that spatial computing is the future. In light of that, I was alarmed by Juli Clover’s assertion in MacRumors this week that Apple is giving up on the Vision Pro. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this didn’t seem right. Indeed, just two weeks ago, I linked to a video in which Apple’s next CEO, John Termus, said that we are “very much in the early innings of spatial computing” and that he was “super excited about it.” Dan Moren of Six Colors also doubted Clover’s assertion for the reasons he explained in this article. Horace Dediu of Asymco pointed out that the Vision Products Group at Apple is currently hiring 14 more people for senior roles, which suggests to me that the product has a future. Similarly, John Gruber of Daring Fireball provides numerous reasons that Clover’s article must be wrong, concluding: “It’s a strange thing for MacRumors to state so categorically something I believe has no truth to it whatsoever.” In just a few weeks at WWDC, Apple will preview the new operating systems coming later this year, and my hope and expectation is that Apple will confirm that great things are coming to visionOS 27. And now, the other news of note from the past week:

• David Sparks of MacSparky says that one reason he is excited about Apple’s new CEO is that, while Tim Cook loved the business, his successor, John Ternus, loves products.
• Virtually all of the recent news about Apple executives has focused on Cook and Ternus. But there is another story worth noting: the promotion of Johny Srouji to Chief Hardware Officer. In an article for Six Colors and Macworld, Jason Snell explains why Srouji is so important to Apple and why it appears that he was promoted.
• David Pogue discusses in his Substack column all of the different things that he does with an Apple Watch. It’s a good list, even though I am surprised he doesn’t use Apple Pay—one of my favorite uses.
• The app Pedometer++ was updated this week. The iPhone app is great, and the Apple Watch app received a significant update this week with a beautiful interface and lots of features, as John Voorhees of MacStories explains in his review.
• Five years ago this week, Apple introduced the first AirTag (my review). Rajat Saini of The Mac Observer notes that five years later, the product “continues to dominate the item tracker market.”
• While I love the AirTag, I also love that third-party products can work with the Find My app. Glenn Fleishman of Six Colors discusses devices that are compatible with Apple’s Find My service.
• Dominic Preston of The Verge discusses two areas in which other smartphones may be better than the iPhone: cameras and batteries.
• On her new website called, appropriately enough, New Things, Joanna Stern explains why she hopes that Apple improves autocorrect on the iPhone.
• Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac reviews the Dwarf Mini, a smart telescope that is small but powerful and works with your iPhone to help you take some pretty great pictures. It is $399 on Amazon.
• Mahmoud Itani of Macworld recommends tips for getting more out of the FaceTime app.
• D. Griffin Jones of Cult of Mac says that the Apple News+ game Emoji Game is “infuriating” and “extremely annoying.” I could not disagree more. It is fun, often clever, and I look forward to playing it every single day.
• Speaking of games, I’ve mentioned in the past how impressed I am with the Retrocade game on the Apple Vision Pro, which allows you to play classic arcade games in a 3D environment with perfectly rendered arcade cabinets. Amber Neely of AppleInsider notes that the game was updated yet again this week, now adding a new environment (an incredible arcade in Japan) and more. The list of games currently available in Retrocade is: Asteroids, Bubble Bobble, Breakout, Centipede, Dig Dug, Frogger, Galaga, Haunted Castle, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Tempest, Tetris, and Track & Field. Note that Retrocade, which is free with an Apple Arcade subscription, works on other platforms including the iPhone and iPad, but it really shines on the Vision Pro because it feels so much more like real arcade games in a real arcade.
• Marko Zivovic of AppleInsider discusses how doctors have used the Apple Vision Pro to perform hundreds of cataract surgeries since the first was performed in October 2025 by Dr. Eric Rosenberg. I like this quote from Dr. Rosenberg: “What we accomplished in that operating room is something that has never been done before anywhere in the world. … This isn’t just about a new device, it’s about reimagining what the operating room of the future looks like.”
• The new Apple TV show Widow’s Bay premiered this week. It is a horror comedy starring Matthew Rhys, and, as Marcus Mendes of 9to5Mac notes, the critical reception has been very positive. I look forward to watching it tonight.
• And finally, I believe in hope, I believe in believe … and I believe I’m ready for another season of one of my all-time favorite shows, Ted Lasso. This week, Apple TV released the trailer for Season 4 and announced that it will start on August 5, 2026. Until then: be curious, not judgmental.

The quality of video taken with an iPhone is truly remarkable. The built-in microphone can be okay in certain situations, but its quality deteriorates quickly as you move the iPhone farther from the speaker. To get the best-quality audio to match your video, you will want to use an external microphone. The easiest solution is to use a wireless microphone, eliminating the need for bulky cords. My law firm owns a Rode Wireless PRO, which has long been regarded as one of the best wireless microphones for use with an iPhone. I’ve used it a few times, including last month at ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago. It worked great—as you can see and hear for yourself, below—and I highly recommend this product, especially if you want to use your iPhone to record an interview.

What you get

There are three key parts to the Rode Wireless PRO. First, there is a receiver that plugs into the USB-C port on the bottom of your iPhone. Second, there are two transmitters—the microphones. All three of these devices are small squares.

You also get a charging case that safely stores the device and charges the receiver and the two transmitters.

You also get lots of accessories, including lavalier microphones that plug in to the transmitters, magnetic clips for the receiver (put one inside your shirt, and it holds the transmitter securely to the outside of your shirt), furry windshields to reduce the sound of wind hitting the microphone, cords, and more. And you also get a case to hold the accessories that looks similar to the charging case.

Using the Wireless PRO

Using this device could not be easier. Plug the receiver into your iPhone, and it will pair with each microphone/transmitter. Then start recording. The iPhone’s cameras do their usual great job of capturing video, and the transmitters send high-quality audio directly to your iPhone. The audio quality is vastly superior to what you get on the iPhone.

I tested using the transmitter on its own (which has a microphone on top) versus plugging the lavalier into the transmitter. The audio quality seemed the same to me, so I saw no need to use the lavalier, but if you are looking for a less obvious microphone, you will like the lavalier. Even though I was in the Windy City at ABA TECHSHOW, I didn’t do any outdoor recording where wind was an issue, so I never used the furry windshields except for testing.

I encourage you to listen for yourself to see how good everything sounds. When Brett Burney and I recorded Episode 238 of the In the News podcast, we each had a transmitter attached to our shirts. You can hear that quality starting at the beginning of the episode. When I interviewed people at the conference, I had one transmitter clipped to my shirt and typically had the interviewee simply hold the transmitter. Those interviews start at 20:26 and run through 34:07. Some of these videos took place in a busy conference expo hall, and others took place in a restaurant, and as the video below shows, there is no problem hearing any of the voices:

After I recorded all the videos, I opened the clips in Final Cut Pro on my iPad, trimmed them, added subtitles and other graphics, and then we had a full video podcast. If you have an iPhone, iPad, and the Rode Wireless PRO, you can do the same thing, and the end result will be very professional.

Other details

Rode says the devices last about seven hours when fully charged. And remember, just like AirPods, every time you put them back in their case, they recharge. (The case can store more than two full recharges.)

In addition to sending audio to the receiver, the transmitters have an on-board recording function that can record over 40 hours of 32-bit float audio. That way, even if the wireless signal were to drop momentarily, you would still have clean backup audio available. I never needed to use this backup, but it made me feel more secure knowing that it was available.

If you are an AV professional, there are tons of other features and configurations. I didn’t have a need to take advantage of any of them. My needs were simple—I just wanted excellent wireless audio—and I got that.

Conclusion

I am incredibly impressed by this product. It is super easy to use, and it works great. Because there are two transmitters, this product works especially well for interviews.

The price is $299 on the Rode website. It is also available on Amazon, but at the time of this review, it is more expensive on Amazon ($419.95). It also appears to be $255.56 at B&H.

The announcement that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO of Apple provides the perfect opportunity to take a look back at his 15 years. The company and its products are better than ever, but that doesn’t mean that his tenure hasn’t been without controversy. Brett and I start this week’s episode of the podcast discussing Tim Cook’s legacy. Next, we take a look at John Ternus, Apple’s next CEO. What changes might we see at the company when it is led by someone who has spent the last 25 years focusing on Apple hardware? We discuss all of this and more in this week’s episode.

In our In the Know segment, Brett and I share tips for taking handwritten notes on an iPad using either the Notability or GoodNotes apps. Brett discusses the Apple Pencil’s squeeze feature. I discuss locking objects on a screen.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just listen using your podcast player of choice. You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

The biggest Apple story this week (and this month, and perhaps this year) was the announcement that Tim Cook is ending his 15 years as Apple CEO, with John Ternus to become the new CEO on September 1, 2026. Cook has had incredible success as Apple’s CEO. Under his leadership, Apple has introduced major new products such as the Apple Watch, AirPods, and Apple Vision Pro, and substantially improved existing products like the iPhone and the Mac. Apple’s services offerings—Apple Pay, Apple TV, etc.—have also substantially improved under Cook. His focus on the environment, employee gift matching, accessibility (“I don’t consider the bloody ROI“), LGBTQ rights, user privacy, diversity, and more has made Apple a better member of the community. And if you are an Apple shareholder, the 1,000% increase in market capitalization has been astounding. He is leaving the CEO position at the top of his game. So let’s dig deeper into this story as we discuss the news of note from this past week:

• I recommend that you read Tim Cook’s letter to the Apple community about his transition to a new role, which he posted on the Apple website.
• Reflecting on one of his proudest moments at Apple, Cook mentioned this week that it was the first time he received an email from an Apple Watch owner saying that the device had saved his life. And as noted by Marcus Mendes of 9to5Mac, Cook says that he now receives those kinds of messages every single day.
• John Gruber notes that the transition from Cook to Ternus is being handled with a lot of thought, and it is far less chaotic than the transition from Steve Jobs to Cook, when Jobs passed away sooner than many had expected. “It’s hard to imagine a more orderly, confidence-inspiring, exciting-but-not-at-all-surprising, this-feels-right way to do this.”
• Tim Cook won’t be leaving Apple. He will become executive chairman of the board and will be the primary person at Apple engaging with policymakers around the world. In other words, Cook will deal with Trump, China, the EU, etc. These are skills that Cook is very good at—diplomacy—and this approach also takes those difficult tasks off the plate of Ternus, allowing Ternus to focus on Apple itself. As Jason Snell of Six Colors remarks: “Not only does Cook have the personal connections there, but it’s a messy business that perhaps Ternus is best insulated from—for now.”
• Cook’s skill as a diplomat has not been without criticism. For example, so many of us cringed when Cook presented Trump with a gold plaque. But as Wesley Hilliard of HilliTech notes, the real blame here lies with an administration that forces a focus on adoration rather than what is best for the country. I agree with Hilliard that Cook did what he needed to do: “Trump gained one cheap plaque and some publicity while Apple saved itself and its customers countless billions in illegal tariffs. Also, the company still celebrates Pride month, utilizes DEI in its hiring, and leans into progressive opportunity and investment.”
• In an article for the New York Times, Patrick McGee—author of the excellent book Apple in China—argues that one of the problems with Tim Cook’s leadership of Apple is that he focused so much on manufacturing in China that he boosted the Chinese economy and therefore helped China’s authoritarian leaders. I think that McGee has a point, but what was the alternative? The iPhone would not be the excellent device that it is today without Chinese manufacturing. The issue is not that it is cheaper to make the iPhone in China; the iPhones that we know and love could not have been made in the United States because we don’t have the infrastructure. In an alternate universe where the iPhone was always made in America, it would be far more expensive and have far fewer features. We live in an interconnected world where it makes sense for different things to happen in different countries. That doesn’t mean I like China’s leadership. (To be fair, I’m not the biggest fan of the leadership in the United States right now, either.) My point is simply that Cook had many difficult choices to make, each with its upsides and downsides. Focusing on the downsides of the choices that Cook made is a little unfair if you don’t set forth and weigh the downsides that would have come from a different choice. Big decisions have big consequences, and I believe that Cook was earnest in doing what he thought was best for Apple and its users.
• Cook stepping down means that John Ternus is stepping up. Ternus is an Apple executive who has spent 25 years—half of his life—working at Apple. Apple is unlike any other company, and Ternus has a deep understanding of the Apple Way. He is also an engineer, and as the Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, he has been responsible for the incredible hardware that has come out of Apple for so long now. With a hardware guy in charge at Apple, many speculate that this could pave the way for even better hardware from Apple in the future. For example, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of the Verge predicts that smart home hardware could be some of the first new products that we see under Ternus.
• In a presentation to Apple employees this week, Ternus stated that Apple is “about to change the world once again” thanks to an “incredible road map ahead, and I’m not exaggerating when I say this is the most exciting time to be building products and services at Apple in my entire career,” as noted by Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac. I suspect that many of the Apple employees he was addressing knew exactly what he was referring to, but for the rest of us, this is a big tease.
• William Gallagher of AppleInsider notes that when Ternus spoke at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, in 2024, Ternus joked that “I really appreciate you inviting me back to campus after I nearly destroyed Penn’s first and, at the time, only CNC milling machine my senior year.” But Ternus noted that every new challenge taught him to “approach problems from different angles.”
• Kalley Huang and Tripp Mickle of the New York Times updated a story they published a few months ago about Ternus and his background. He was born in California, was a member of his college swim team, and, in the 1990s, one of his first jobs after college was working for a company developing an early VR headset.
• David Sparks of MacSparky says that choosing for the next CEO the person responsible for the part of the business that is working best is a tried and true approach.
• Max Eddy of Wirecutter explains why he believes the Authy app is the best app to use for two-factor authentication. I prefer to store my 2FA in 1Password, my password manager. Eddy says that it is slightly safer to use a 2FA app that is different from your password manager app. I agree that there is a slight theoretical increase in security, but I’m not aware of any circumstance in which that slight increase, achieved by using two different apps (a password manager and a 2FA app) on the same device, has ever made a difference to anyone in the real world. Moreover, Eddy acknowledges that to maximize security, you should use a 2FA method on a device separate from your iPhone, such as a YubiKey. But of course, that is inconvenient. Security is incredibly important, especially for lawyers, so whether you use only a very strong password manager such as 1Password or you use both a password manager and an authentication app, the key is to use something that is really good.
• Zac Hall of 9to5Mac recommends adjusting the settings for the Apple Watch sleep score feature to make that feature more valuable.
• Where do baby iPhones come from? No, not a high-tech stork. Marko Zivkovic of AppleInsider explains where Apple products are assembled and where the parts come from.
• Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac reports that Apple released iOS 26.4.2 this week to fix bugs and provide security updates, including a bug that could allow a deleted message to remain on the iPhone. (I discussed that bug last week when I noted that the FBI discovered and exploited it.)
• If you like getting sports scores on your iPhone, Philip Michaels compares the Apple Sports app and the ESPN app in an article for Six Colors.
• Christoffel also notes that you can now use an Apple Sports widget in CarPlay to keep tabs on the current score of a game while you are driving.
• Here is a video taken using an iPhone 17 Pro Max on Artemis II that shows the Earth setting behind the moon. Wow. I often enjoy watching the sunset when I am on vacation at the beach. Watching the Earth set is a new one for me.
• I recently wrote a very favorable review of the Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station (on sale for $119.99 on Amazon). This week, Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac reviewed it and liked it as well; his only negative was the MSRP of $149.99, which is a good reason to get it while it is on sale.
• At the end of last year, Apple abruptly pulled the Apple TV series The Savant just days before the first episode was scheduled to air because the series explores extremism, and Charlie Kirk was assassinated just before the series was to begin. Marc Malkin of Variety reports that the series will finally air in July. After all of that commotion, hopefully it is a good show.
• And finally, here is a fun video from Paul McCartney showing his recent appearance at Apple’s campus to perform for Apple’s 50th anniversary. People who were lucky enough to be there in person have reported that it was an amazing show:

After a week off for vacation, the podcast is back, and there is so much to talk about! We begin by discussing the product Apple is reportedly developing to compete with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. What may it look like, how many versions should there be, how could it work, and how might Apple make the product useful without being too creepy from a privacy perspective? We also talk about Apple’s vision product of today—the Apple Vision Pro—and the tragic story that occurred while filming an immersive video, as well as the new episode of Elevated that features New York. (After we recorded the podcast, I had a chance to watch that new video, and it is one of Apple’s very best!) We also talk about satellite and iPhones, iPhones in space, the new Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station, why it sometimes seems like your iPhone is listening to you and providing that information to advertisers, and more.

In our In the Show segment, we talk about the worst shows ever released for Apple TV and some of the best. We also mention the brand new show Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and I’ll mention that after we recorded the episode, I had a chance to watch the first three episodes (all of which Apple released this week), and they are excellent.

In our In the Know segment, we both discuss the Apple Pencil. Brett shares a tip for adding the Apple Pencil to Find My, and I discuss using the hover feature to navigate menus.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just listen using your podcast player of choice. You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

There was no In the News post or podcast episode last week because I was on a family vacation in Houston. While there, my son and I visited the Johnson Space Center. I used my iPhone 17 Pro Max to take pictures of the (nicely restored) historic Mission Control Center at the same time that, one floor below us, NASA was communicating with astronauts in space on the Artemis II crewed lunar flyby mission, who were using an iPhone 17 Pro Max to take their own pictures. As Kalley Huang of the New York Times reports, it was the first time an iPhone had been fully qualified by NASA for extended use in orbit and beyond. Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac reports that every spacesuit featured a pocket to hold the iPhone, although Malcolm Owen of AppleInsider reports that sometimes the iPhones were mounted to the ship using Velcro. The iPhones could be used to take pictures and videos, but all connectivity was turned off. As a result, the astronauts had to download pictures to a computer to share them with those of us on Earth while they were in space, and so far, I’ve only seen eight pictures shared, although they are great ones: Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch looking at Earth, all four crew members wearing eclipse glasses, and more (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). It is interesting to see a picture of Earth taken with an iPhone because a picture of Earth was one of the very first wallpaper images included with the iPhone, as I explained in this post from 2010. But we know there were more pictures taken with the iPhones; as Marcus Mendes of 9to5Mac notes, we also got a sneak peek at a great photo of the lunar service taken with an iPhone. Hopefully, now that the iPhones are back home and no longer in airplane mode—um, spaceship mode?—NASA will soon release many more photos along with videos taken in space with iPhones. And by the way, if you ever find yourself in Houston, I recommend visiting Space Center Houston. And now, the news of note from the past two weeks:

• The Overcast app is my favorite app for listening to podcasts, and as noted by Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac, the app was recently updated to add a feature that was recently added to Apple’s own Podcasts app: transcripts for every podcast. The feature works really well, and I’ve already found it to be very useful.
• It is widely believed that Apple will introduce a new version of the iPhone, perhaps as soon as this Fall, which can fold in half. A new rumor is that this device will be called the iPhone Ultra, and in two posts, John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains why he thinks that would be a good name.
• In a post on the education section of Apple’s website, Apple explains how a student who suddenly lost 95% of his eyesight due to a rare disease uses accessibility features on Apple devices to enlarge text so he can read it. Although my vision is far better than that, it is also far from perfect, and like many others, I depend upon my glasses to see the world clearly. I often use Apple technology to see things more clearly, whether I am pinching to zoom on my iPad or using the camera on my iPhone to zoom in on a distant sign.
• If you use Express Transit Mode on your iPhone (which makes it much faster to pay for mass transit) and you use a Visa card to make that payment, you may want to change that. As John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains, there is currently a bug in the Visa system that a criminal can exploit to steal money from you.
• All of us have watched videos of people performing incredible feats. This genre of video is even more stunning when it is an immersive video on the Apple Vision Pro because you feel like you are there. As I note on this webpage, there are currently five episodes in Apple’s Adventure series for the Vision Pro that put you right in the middle of awe-inspiring experiences. This week, it was reported that there were plans to have a sixth one by now. Apple took immersive video of paraplegic Claire Lomas as she took a microlight over the Jordan desert. Tragically, she crashed after landing and died from her injuries five weeks later, as reported by William Gallagher of AppleInsider. As Gallagher notes, nobody is saying that Apple’s cameras played any role in the tragedy. Nevertheless, it is a haunting reminder that the risks people take in videos like this are very real. The immersive video of Faith Dickey walking a tightrope 3,000 feet above Norway’s fjords was one of the first immersive videos released for the Apple Vision Pro, but it remains one of the most breathtaking videos that I’ve ever seen.
• Stephen Johnson of Lifehacker shares some good Apple Vision Pro tips.
• Apple released a new immersive video for the Apple Vision Pro today, the latest episode of its Elevated series. This one is focused on New York. “Glide above the Big Apple’s shimmering spires and down its iconic streets. From the neon sizzle of Times Square to the Statue of Liberty’s beacon of hope, let the voices of New York-and songs celebrating the city’s magic-be your guide.”
• After an article by Mark Gurman at Bloomberg about Apple’s upcoming smart glasses product, there has been a lot of speculation about what Apple may be working on, such as this article by Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac.
• If Apple is indeed working on smart glasses, I’m sure that Apple is working to make them better than the ones currently being sold by Meta. Based on this article by Sam Anderson of the New York Times, that’s a low bar.
• John Voorhees of MacStories reviews Hour by Hour, an app that can help you to plan your day.
• Earlier this week, I reviewed the Review: Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station and concluded that it is the best 3-in-1 charger that you can buy. Andrew O’Hara of AppleInsider recently reviewed the product as well, and he agrees with me, concluding that this product “stands out in a crowded market as a premium device.” You can get it for $119.99 on Amazon.
• Jason Cross of Macworld compares the Apple Watch to a Whoop band.
• I mentioned a few weeks ago that this might occur, but now it has. As Dan Moren of Six Colors reports, Amazon acquired Globalstar, the company that Apple uses for its satellite features on the iPhone and Apple Watch. Moren reports that Apple played a role in the purchase to ensure that Amazon will continue to support what Apple is doing now and will work with Apple on future developments.
• What will those future satellite-related features be? Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac has some ideas.
• If you have noticed that the Netflix app on the Apple TV device doesn’t work as well as it used to, it’s not just your imagination. As Chance Miller of 9to5Mac explains, Netflix changed its app to make it much less useful. Ugh.
• The newest show on Apple TV is Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and it is getting good reviews, such as this review by James Poniewozik of the New York Times. I plan to check it out this weekend.
• Denise Petski of Deadline reports that later this month, Apple will host an interactive fan experience in Los Angeles for 28 shows, including Pluribus, For All Mankind, Slow Horses, Shrinking, and Your Friends & Neighbors.
• I often talk about the best shows on Apple TV streaming service, but they are not all winners. David Snow of Cult of Mac lists the worst-rated shows on Apple TV.
• Snow also shares great tips for using Siri to tell your CarPlay what to do.
• Aisha Malik of TechCrunch recommends iPad apps to use for productivity.
• The Signal app can be used to send private messages on an iPhone, but there may still be a way to see them. Marcus Mendes of 9to5Mac reports that the FBI recovered deleted Signal messages using iPhone notification data.
• Apple’s 50th anniversary is now behind us, but Mark Spoonauer of Tom’s Guide just posted a fantastic video from his interview with Apple executives Greg ‘Joz’ Joswiak and John Ternus. They talk about specific products, like the new MacBook Neo and the Vision Pro, but also about what made Apple so special over the last fifty years and what we can expect in the future. Worth watching.
• And finally, how many times have you talked about a product, a place, a show, etc., and then not that long later, you see an advertisement for it on your iPhone? Many people are convinced that an iPhone or Android device must be passively listening to what they say and sharing that with advertisers. David Pogue of CBS Sunday Morning investigated this and talked to the experts, and as he explains in this video, it simply isn’t true. The video explains what is really going on, and this follow-up article by Pogue on his Substack has a lot more information.

One of the best accessories that you can get for an iPhone is a wireless charger that supports MagSafe or Qi2 charging. The obvious reason is that it provides an easy way to charge your iPhone without having to connect a USB-C cable to the bottom of the device. But perhaps even more importantly, it means you can use StandBy mode, turning your iPhone into a screen that displays useful information (such as the time or upcoming calendar events) and/or enjoyable content (such as pictures). It is nice to have a wireless charger on your desk where you work and on a nightstand next to where you sleep. Better yet, if you use a portable charger, you can take it with you when you travel. Better than that, if you use a 3-in-1 wireless charger, the same device can charge your iPhone, your Apple Watch, and your AirPods. Last year, I reviewed the UGREEN 3-in-1 Foldable MagFlow Wireless Charger, which does all of this. I use that product almost every day. But now, I have found something better: the Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station (currently $119.99 on Amazon).

The Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station charges an iPhone using 25W MagSafe, which is the fastest MagSafe charging speed. And because it is a 3-in-1 charger, it can do more. It also features a spot for wireless charging AirPods or Powerbeats Pro. Plus, there is a spot to charge an Apple Watch.

When you don’t need to charge an Apple Watch, you can fold back the Apple Watch charger, and it clicks securely into place.

Push it again to pop it up.

Heat is produced when you charge a device wirelessly. As a result, most wireless chargers can sense when they are getting too hot and, if this happens, reduce the charging rate to compensate. This device does that as well, but it also has another trick up its sleeve: an internal fan. It is incredibly quiet, so you cannot hear it unless you really try. (Anker says it is 19 decibels.) The fan keeps the device even cooler while charging an iPhone, maximizing the charge delivered to the iPhone.

There are small rubber feet on the bottom to keep it in place on a surface.

This device works great if you leave it in one place. Just use the (included) USB-C cord and power adapter. And of course, you can use your own longer USB-C cord if necessary. Better yet, when it is time to travel, just close the Apple Watch charger and fold it down, and the device becomes small and portable.

With the exception of the fan, this device functions much like the UGREEN 3-in-1 device that I reviewed last year. But I vastly prefer the look and feel of this Anker device, especially when traveling, because it is shorter and has curved edges. And while the Apple Watch charger on the UGREEN device can also lift up or fold down, it doesn’t stay securely in place when raised. In contrast, the Apple Watch charger on this Anker device stays securely in either the open or the closed position.

The Anker device also has the feel of a more premium product than the UGREEN device. It just feels more sturdy and not as cheaply made. I’ve used the UGREEN device for many months without having a problem with the fit and finish, but after using the Anker device, I instantly noticed the difference.

The only reason I can think of to pick the UGREEN device over this Anker device is the price. The MSRP of the UGREEN device is $139.99, but it regularly sells on Amazon for $99.99. The MSRP of the Anker device is $149.99, but it is currently selling on Amazon for $119.99.

Having used both devices, I definitely recommend paying for the Anker device. It is better.

Conclusion

The only negative thing that I have to say about the Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station is that it makes me jealous. I say that because I purchased this device for my wife, who wanted a 3-in-1 charger for her nightstand. She was kind enough to let me use it for the first two weeks so I could learn about the product and prepare this review. Now that I’m back to using the UGREEN device, I miss this Anker device. Sure, my UGREEN device still works just fine, but the Anker device was better.

If you own an iPhone, I strongly recommend purchasing a wireless charger. While there are countless MagSafe chargers for sale, a portable 3-in-1 charger is ideal for its versatility. And the best portable 3-in-1 charger that you can purchase today is the Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station. This is a fantastic product.

Click here to get the Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station on Amazon ($119.99).