Most of the news of note this week relates to Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Some if it relates to the announcements in the Keynote address, but other tidbits have been coming out during the week as folks have started to get a close look at the early beta of the new operating systems for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. So without further ado, the news of note from the past week:
- Sarah Perez of TechCrunch reports on the interesting tale of Fixed, an iPhone app that helped you with traffic citations. The idea is that you would scan the ticket and then the app would check for common errors and craft a customized letter on your behalf to challenge the ticket. But local governments hated the app and came up with ways to block it, which led to some changes in the app. The latest in the story is that a law firm recently acquired the app and hopes to make the technology work again. It's an interesting story about the intersection of law and mobile technology.
- California attorney David Sparks discusses the issue of service versus privacy in the context of the WWDC keynote announcements.
- One more nice bit of news from Sparks. The big news about watchOS 3 is that it is supposed to be so much faster, even on current Apple Watch models. I've wondered if the reality would match the hype, but Sparks has been hanging out with folks running the beta of watchOS 3 on their Apple Watches, and he says: "I'm relieved to report that the watch improvements are for real. Apps do launch fast and the watch is significantly snappier." The only remaining question is, why did Sparks, who is an even bigger Star Wars fan than I am, not title this post: "Crazy thing is, it's true. ... All of it. It's all true."
- Slide to Unlock has been one of the iPhone's trademark features since the very first iPhone, but it is going away in iOS 10. Susie Ochs of Macworld explains.
- Billboard magazine interviewed four Apple executives to discuss Apple Music: Eddy Cue, Jimmy Iovine, Trent Reznor and Robert Kondrk, as reported by Shirley Halperin. It's an interesting interview that addresses the intersection of music and technology.
- Bryan Wolfe at AppAdvice recommends inexpensive wireless headphones that you can use with your iPhone and/or Apple Watch.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors discusses the upcoming changes in watchOS 3.
- Mikah Sargent of iMore similarly discusses what is new in watchOS 3.
- Joe Rossignol of MacRumors discusses some of the interesting but more minor tidbits of watchOS 3.
- Jason Snell also explains, an an article for Macworld, how Apple's latest software updates embrace third party app developers.
- Rene Ritchie of iMore explains how the Photos app in iOS 10 can detect object in your photos.
- Katie Notopoulos of BuzzFeed believes that the Apple's upcoming software updates show that Apple is paying more attention to female users.
- Daniel Bader of iMore explains that, thanks to greater features available to third party VOIP apps, iOS 10 makes your phone carrier less relevant than ever.
- Michael Gartenberg of iMore provides his big picture impressions of the WWDC Keynote announcements.
- Neil Hughes notes that in iOS 10, your iPhone can remember where you parked your car.
- Zac Hall of 9to5Mac lists some of the updates in iOS 10 that were not detailed during the WWDC Keynote.
- Security expert Glenn Felishman recommends adding a PIN to your carrier account so that your cell phone number isn't hijacked.
- Last month I explained that, if you have an iPhone 6s, you can create a PDF of an email (or anything else that you can print) using 3D Touch. According to Jordan Kahn of 9to5Mac, iOS 10 will bring to all devices the ability to create a PDF file from the Print screen. Great news.
- If you use HomeKit devices in your home, the new Home app in iOS 10 will be very useful. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac shows off the new Home app.
- And finally, during the Keynote address earlier this week, there was actually an amusing lawyer-related joke that was easy to miss if you were not paying attention. Apple's vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, showed off a new feature in iOS 10 where you can 3D Touch on the Mail app icon to see who your unread messages are from, before the app itself even opens. In Federighi's example, there were hundreds of unread messages. When he 3D Touched the mail icon, there were images of the top mail senders: Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple vice presidents Angela Ahrendts and Lisa Jackson, and Bruce Sewell, who has been Apple's General Counsel since 2009. If you look close enough, you can see that every single one of the unread messages to Federighi were from Bruce Sewell. You can watch the video on Apple's website, or I have embedded it below. Jump to the 54 minute mark to see the joke. Hopefully your own clients are a little more responsive to your own emails.
