Did you know about the Medical ID feature on the iPhone? Florida attorney Katie Floyd and California attorney David Sparks discuss it on a recent episode of the Mac Power Users podcast. Just launch the Health app on your iPhone, tap Medical ID at the lower right, and you select which information should appear in your Medical ID, such as your name, birthday, a person to contact in case of emergency, your medical conditions, allergies, blood type, etc. If there is an emergency and a professional cannot talk to you but sees that you have an iPhone, hopefully they will know that — without unlocking your phone — they can tap Emergency and then see the info that you choose to put in your Medical ID. Obviously this system only works if (1) iPhone owners know to put info in the Medical ID and (2) EMS and other emergency professionals know to look there. But now you know, and hopefully over time the right professionals will learn about this too. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- In a follow up to that Mac Power Users episode in which Medical ID is described, Florida attorney Katie Floyd wrote a blog post that discusses another app that does something similar on the iPhone and Apple Watch. It's an interesting idea, but I think you can only count on emergency professionals knowing about the Medical ID that is built-in to the iPhone.
- New York attorney Nicole Black discuses in an article for The Daily Record how wearable tech such as the Apple Watch may result in critical evidence in a trial.
- California attorney David Sparks explains what he thinks about the Apple Watch now that he has been using it for three months.
- South Carolina attorney Justin Kahn explains how to update books purchased with iBooks.
- There is an interesting article in Wired focusing on Jimmy Iovine, including how he and Dr. Dre helped to create what is now Apple Music.
- Jem Aswas of Billboard interviews Zane Lowe to talk about the Beats 1 radio station on Apple Music.
- Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal reviews Apple's CarPlay, a technology built-in to many new cars. You can also watch a video associated with the article on YouTube.
- According to an AP story, a man in Waterhill, TN became trapped under a truck that he was trying to repair, but Siri somehow activated, so he managed to tell Siri to call 911, and 911 was able to track his location and get someone to save him. Good job, Siri.
- As we get ready for iOS 9 — which will probably be released in just a few weeks — Rene Ritchie of iMore wrote a good FAQ on what you need to know about iOS 9.
- Tangerine is a movie that has been getting some very good reviews (94% on Rotten Tomatoes), but I mention it today because it was shot entirely on iPhones. Caitlin McGarry of Macworld interviews the director, Sean Baker, who explains how he used some adds-ons, such as a $175 device that fits over the iPhone lens to let it shoot in a wide-screen anamorphic mode, but the process was infinitely cheaper than using traditional movie cameras. Here is a link to the red band movie trailer (not safe for work) that lets you get a sense of how the end product looks. Amazing that it was shot on an iPhone.
- You may have seen a video on YouTube from Alton Brown last year showing you how to open a champagne bottle using a sword. If that's not crazy enough for you, Justin Gmoser of Business Insider shows you how to saber a bottle of champagne with an iPhone. It is sure to make you a hit at the next party — at least for all of the guests who you didn't injure in the process.
- And finally, are you looking for an iPhone and iPad charger that will look at home in your kitchen? Then you might need the upcoming Foaster, a toaster for your phones, as shown in this video:
