In the news

One of the reason that I encourage folks to consider taking handwritten notes with an Apple Pencil and an iPad Pro instead of typing notes on a computer is that studies show that it is better to take handwritten notes because you understand and remember more.  James Doubek of NPR reports on one of the latest such studies involving college students.  If this study convinces you and you are ready to take the plunge, which app should you use?  Serenity Caldwell of iMore considered that question and selected the best apps for handwriting with the Apple Pencil.  She describes my favorite, GoodNotes, as the “high-powered sports car” of handwriting apps.  And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:

• California attorney David Sparks discusses typing on the 12.9″ iPad Pro’s glass screen.  His conclusion is similar to mine — typing on glass is not ideal, but it works much better on that device because of the large screen with a full-size keyboard.
• Larry Port of Rocket Matter compares the iPad Pro with the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 in a post for Law Technology Today.
• Tison Rhine of the State Bar of Wisconsin discusses iPhone mail apps.
• Apple’s General Counsel, Bruce Sewell, testified before Congress this week.  Chance Miller of 9to5Mac describes the testimony and links to a video of it.
• I previously reviewed Cloak, a VPN service that works really well and that I still use myself.  Russell Brandom of The Verge reports that the company is currently facing a ransom demand and a potential DDoS attack.  iPhone J.D. and other sites that use TypePad went through a similar attack two years ago, and it isn’t fun.  But I think Cloak is taking the right approach to this criminal attack, being open and honest about it with customers.
• Serenity Caldwell of iMore lost her iPad Pro in the middle of the night at a rest stop (oh no!) but she recovered it (yea!) and lived to tell the tale.
• Rene Ritchie of iMore shows off all of Apple’s new bands for the Apple Watch.
• Keir Thomas of Mac Kung FU provides tips for talking to Siri on an iPhone.
• Daniel Bader of iMore reviews the iPhone SE.
• Apple has struck gold!  Well, almost.  Kif Leswing of Business Insider UK reports that as a result of Apple’s iPhone recycling efforts, the company recovered 2,204 pounds of gold — over a ton, about $40 million work.
• And finally, Tesla has been in the news this week because of its newly announced Model 3 sedan, which already has almost 400,000 pre-orders.  That reminded me of this video, in which someone uses an Apple Watch to to instruct their Tesla Model S to get out of the garage automatically: