In an interview this week with NPR's Robert Siegel on All Things Considered, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he believes that privacy is a fundamental human right, and explained how Apple builds privacy into the iPhone and its other products. For example, while Apple must comply with the laws of the U.S. government and other governments when ordered to produce information, Apple's approach is to not collect personal information, and to encrypt personal data kept on devices. Thus, "we design our products in such a way that privacy is designed into the product, and security is designed in." Cook also explained that Apple resists the idea of creating a back door in its products for government use because if a back door exists, then bad guys will also find a way to access it. I appreciate this dedication to privacy, not only because I have information on my iPhone and iPad protected by the attorney-client privilege, but also because of the private information that I keep on my devices relating to my finances, health, and other personal matters. It is an interesting interview, and you can listen to the eight-minute interview or read about it here. You can also read Tim Cook's privacy statement on Apple's website. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- California attorney David Sparks discusses improvements in Apple Maps.
- Speaking of security, Apple introduced a revised two-factor authentication system to maintain security on your devices in a way that is easier to deal with. With this system, it is much harder for a bad guy to access your private information even if he has your password. I've started using the new system, and it works very well. Security expert Glenn Flesighman of Macworld does a good job explaining how the new two-factor authentication system works. I recommend that you start using it.
- Do you sometimes find yourself trying to make or receive a call on your iPhone when you are in an area with poor cellular coverage but decent Wi-Fi? If so, a feature called Wi-Fi Calling lets your iPhone use Wi-Fi instead of cellular to make calls when the cellular connection is poor. AT&T just turned on the feature this week (for the iPhone 6 and later). Jeff Gamet of The Mac Observer explains in detail how to turn on Wi-Fi Calling. Once you set it up the first time, you can easily turn it on or off from Settings on your iPhone.
- Wi-Fi Calling just came to AT&T, but it was previously available for T-Mobile and Sprint. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reports that AT&T believes that those other carriers turned on the service prematurely, before they had FCC permission to do so.
- In an article for Tom's Guide, Jason Snell picks some of his favorite apps that take advantage of 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus. For those of you who have not yet upgraded, 3D Touch is one of those rare features that once you start using it, you want to use it all the time. It works great.
- The new iPhones can also record 4K video, and according to photographer Lee Morris of Fstoppers, the iPhone 6s "appears to be a far better video camera than my $3000 DSLR when there is enough light present." And while 4K video may seem like overkill considering that most of us don't even have 4K televisions, Morris also explains why there are other reasons to record in 4K.
- David Pogue of Yahoo Tech explains how the Chromecast Audio can give new life to an old speaker for only $35.
- Serenity Caldwell of iMore reviews the new Philips Hue HomeKit bridge that lets you control Hue lights with Siri. I don't have a need for colored lights in my house so the Hue lights don't appeal to me, but I love using HomeKit to control lights in my own house using Lutron devices. In fact, I just added another dimmer switch last week so that now my porch lights can automatically come on at sunset, turn off at sunrise, and be dimmed and controlled any time that I want.
- This week, Apple started to sell the Hermès versions of the Apple Watch. Prices range from $1,100 to $1,500 depending upon which type of band you get. Rene Ritchie of iMore explained some of the basic details of this product, but if you want to have a better understanding of what it means for Apple to team up with Hermès, I recommend this article by Benjamin Clymer of Hodinkee, a high-end watch website.
- Fantastical, my favorite calendar app on the iPhone and iPad, now has a new Apple Watch app. Abdel Ibrahim of Watch Aware discusses the new Fantastical app. It has been working great for me, and I now use the Fantastical complication on my watch face instead of Apple's own calendar complication.
- Katie Benner of the New York Times reports that you will soon be able to use Apple Pay at Starbucks, KFC and Chili's.
- And finally, Serenity Caldwell of iMore takes only 20 seconds to show off what is new about the iPhone 6s in this very short video:
