I’m currently in Chicago at the ABA TECHSHOW conference. That means that I spent yesterday talking to lots of companies in the legal technology world and attending sessions focused on getting the most out of technology while staying safe amid the risks posed by cybercriminals. Today, I’m teaching two sessions: one called Practical Tips & Tools for Today’s Mobile Lawyer and another one called Wired for Justice: Wearable and Augmented Tech for a Law Practice. I’ve also talked to lots of interesting attorneys at the conference who read iPhone J.D. and/or listen to the In the News podcast, and it is incredible how much we all have to learn from each other. Speaking of the podcast, Brett Burney and I are working on a special edition of the podcast this week; it won’t be out until this weekend, but I promise it will be worth the wait! And now, the news of note from the past week:
- This week, Apple released iOS 26.4 and similar updates for other devices. As noted by Juli Clover of MacRumors, the major changes are: (1) new emoji, (2) the new Playlist Playground feature in Apple Music (which uses AI to generate playlists based on your prompts), (3) a change to payment methods for shared purchases in a family group, (4) a Concerts feature in Apple Music to help you discovery nearby shows, (5) improved keyboard accuracy when typing quickly, and more.
- Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac notes that iOS 26.4 includes changes to CarPlay: support for AI voice assistant apps and a new ambient music widget.
- The new visionOS 26.4 adds support for something called foveated streaming. As Christoffel explains, it allows a developer to stream the highest quality content for the area where you are currently looking, with lower quality video in the parts that are in the corner of your eye (which doesn’t matter because you are not looking there anyway). The net result is a higher quality video stream that takes up less bandwidth.
- Zac Hall of 9to5Mac notes that another improvement in visionOS 26.4 is better spatial audio performance. With this update, your Vision Pro starts Spatial Audio even faster when you are in a room that it recognizes because the device remembers the acoustic properties of the room. Fascinating.
- iOS 26.4 may be the new kid on the block, but what is next? The next big update will presumably be called iOS 27, and Apple typically releases major updates in September and provides a preview of the major update at its WWDC developer conference in June. This week, Apple announced that WWDC 2026 will start on June 8. I presume that means that Apple will stream a keynote address at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern that day. Mark your calendar now!
- The MSRP for Apple’s fantastic AirPods Pro 3 is $249, but you can occasionally get it on sale from Amazon. Amazon is having one of those sales right now, with a great price of only $199.
- Another great deal: with Apple now selling the second generation of the AirTag (my review), you can get the first-generation model for an all-time record low price of only $59.99 on Amazon. Only $15 for an AirTag is a tremendous deal, and you don’t lose much by getting the original version of the AirTag.
- At some point this year, Apple is going to start showing ads in its Maps app. My initial reaction to that was: BOO! However, Wesley Hillard makes the argument on his HilliTech blog that this might not be a bad thing if Apple does ads in a good and responsible manner. As he points out, in the old days, when we used to use the Yellow Pages to find a business, the ads were actually a useful way to learn about businesses. Plus, Apple is not going to use ads to invade your privacy the way that other companies do. He makes some interesting points, and I hope he is right.
- As we near Apple’s 50th anniversary, Harry McCracken of Fast Company compiled a great oral history of the earliest days of Apple.
- AirDrop is a very useful way to transfer files from one Apple device to another Apple device. Google recently figured out a way to reverse-engineer this so that its Android phones could support AirDrop, and John Gruber of Daring Fireball reports that Samsung announced that it is similarly bringing AirDrop support to its Android phones. I’m in favor of this becuase AirDrop is so useful.
- Ivan Mehta of TechCrunch describes a new feature in the latest version of the Flighty app called Airport Intelligence. It uses AI to analyze lots of information about different airports to provide real-time information on the conditions at different airports, giving you more information on what could disrupt your flight. It can also forecast airport delays.
- I typically use my Apple Card when I shop at Walgreens because it is one of the few stores that gives you 3% Daily Cash. Joe Rossignol of MacRumors reports that, now through May 20, you can get 5% Daily Cash when you use your Apple Card at Walgreens and Duane Reade (up to $500 / $25 cash back).
- Jason Snell of Six Colors reviews the Aqara UWB Smart Lock U400. It looks like it has all of the latest and greatest features.
- Today is the start of Season 5 of the fantastic Apple TV show For All Mankind. Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reports that Apple has renewed the show for its sixth and final season.
- And finally, here is an interesting video that Apple debuted when it recently unveiled the MacBook Neo. It shows this process of creating a MacBook Neo—not the realistic version, but instead, an artistic version. Fun video.