Monday morning will be the start of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The Keynote address will be at 10am, and unlike the rest of the conference which includes many confidential sessions, the Keynote will be public. I expect Apple to announce some of the new features of the next version of iOS, which will most likely be available this Fall when new iPhones come out. There was also a rumor that Apple was going to debut a new version of Apple TV, but Brian Chen of the New York Times reported this week that sources told him that the new Apple TV was not ready yet. Whatever Apple announces next week, hopefully it will be interesting. And if nothing else, perhaps it will give us something related to the iPhone and iPad to talk about for the next few months, instead of the Apple Watch continuing to dominate the iOS news cycle. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- I use a clock face on my Apple Watch that shows my next calendar appointment right in the middle of the screen, and I love that I can just glance at my wrist and see what’s next — especially on those busy days with lots of meetings and calls. On my iPhone, I find that Fantastical does a much better job handling my calendar than the built-in Calendar app, so I was thrilled to see that Fantastical came to the Apple Watch this week. It’s got a few nice features, such as emphasizing how much time you have until the next event (similar to a feature that I praised earlier this week in my review of the Delta Apple Watch app). California attorney David Sparks shares my enthusiasm and he runs down the new features in this post. I also enjoyed the reviews by Susie Ochs of Macworld and the review by Federico Viticci of MacStories. I’m sure that this app will be even more useful when Apple lets third parties create native Apple Watch apps later this year, but for now Fantastical on the Apple Watch is already useful, not to mention being a good sign of things to come.
- The Joy of Tech offers one theory on why the Apple TV won’t be ready on Monday.
- This week, the Chase app was updated to support Touch ID, as noted by Joseph Keller of iMore. I use Chase for my banking, and I’m a big fan of this app. You can use the app to deposit a check just by taking a picture of it, saving you a trip to the bank, and now that the app supports Touch ID, you can securely log in to the app without having to even type in your long password.
- Sharon Noguchi of the San Jose Mercury News reports that, after her husband died, a woman dropped off boxes of old electronics at a recycling center. It turns out that one of the things that she discarded was an original Apple I computer, which the center sold for $200,000. The center is now trying to find the woman to split the proceeds with her. If any iPhone J.D. readers want to recycle an Apple I, feel free to send it to me.
- John Arlidge of the London Evening Standard interviewed Marc Newson, who helped Jony Ive design the Apple Watch.
- Apple announced this week that, starting June 26, the Apple Watch will go on sale in Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan. It is interesting to see the Apple Watch go on sale in Switzerland since that country has long been synonymous with traditional watches. The same press release also announces that you will be able to buy certain Apple Watch models in the Apple Stores in about two weeks.
- Speaking of traditional versus new watches, the New York Times reported on July 9, 1916 that some people were starting to use the new “strap watches” instead of the traditional pocket watch. The article notes: “Until recently, the bracelet watch has been looked upon by Americans as more or less of a joke. Vaudeville artists and moving-picture actors have utilized it as a funmaker, as a ‘silly ass’ fad.” Something to keep in mind the next time you see someone roll their eyes at an Apple Watch while they are simultaneously determining the time by reaching for a device in their pocket … i.e. a smartphone. (via M.G. Siegler)
- Adam Engst of TidBITS wrote a good article about exercising with the Apple Watch.
- One of the things that the Apple Watch encourages you to do is to spend more time being active and less time sitting down for many hours at a time. Brigid Schulte of the Washington Post explains why this is a good thing.
- Christopher Meinck of everythingCafe writes about 12 ways that you can use Force Touch on an Apple Watch.
- And finally, have you ever wondered what it might have been like if Steve Jobs had been around to debut the Apple Watch? Here is a video that shows us what that might have been like, created by mashing together clips of old Steve Jobs keynotes: