Yesterday, there were several announcements from Apple, including a new line of MacBook Pro computers, a preview of the next Mac OS, and the 1.0 version of FaceTime for the Mac. The Mac version of FaceTime is a useful way to use an iPhone 4 to conduct a videochat with someone who has a Mac; I used it when I was on the road last week to say good night to my kids from hundreds of miles away. But what struck me the most about yesterday’s announcements is that a brand new MacBook Pro — the best-selling computer that Apple makes — is nothing more than news that Apple wants to get out of the way before the iPad announcement next week. As John Gruber remarked: “new developer preview of Lion, new FaceTime app for Mac, and an all-new lineup of MacBook Pros — and none of these things warranted a spot in next week’s event.” I suspect that next Wednesday’s iPad announcement will include some big news. But before we get too excited about the news of next week, let’s look at some of the iPhone-related news of note from this past week:
- Legal consultant Ed Scanlan of Total Attorneys was recently the victim of a mugging. The thieves took his money and his iPhone, but then Scanlan used the Find my iPhone feature to trace the criminals for the cops. Frank Main of the Chicago Sun Times tells the rest of the story.
- David Martin of Cult of Mac shares a similar story from Texas. A woman’s iPhone was stolen, so she used her iPad to track down the criminals.
- John Marellaro of The Mac Observer writes that once you have an iPad, you find that you no longer want to use certain apps on the iPhone because they work so much better on the iPad. I’ve noticed this myself.
- Peter Ha explains in an article in The Daily why he is giving up his BlackBerry for an iPhone.
- John Edwards writes an article for Law Technology News in which he predicts better input solutions for mobile devices in the future. We’ll see.
- David Pogue of the New York Times wrote an interesting article about whether it is okay to let your child (in his case, a six year old) use your iPad.
- College Humor has a funny Angry Birds Public Service Announcement (PSA) to encourage you to save the birds and pigs. Worth watching.
- And finally, if you cannot wait until next week to see what Apple has in store for the new iPad, here’s a guy who is ready to show you now: