As many of us are focusing today on the vast differences between the Obama and Trump administrations, one thing that I don't expect to change is the belief that fighting crime is far more important that privacy. Thus, I expect government surveillance efforts, confiscation of cell phones, etc. to only increase in the future. If this concerns you, there is an excellent episode of the Macworld podcast this week in which Glenn Fleishman interviews security expert Jonathan Zdziarski. They give lots of great advice on protecting the confidentiality of your communications. Similarly, I enjoyed reading an article by Molly Olmstead of Slate with tips for how to use a cellphone if you plan to protest. Don't let the specific subject turn you away just because you have no interest in protesting; the article has good tips the anyone can use to protect the privacy of information on a cellphone. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- California attorney David Sparks recommends that you check out the Apple News app. I use it occasionally but haven't really gotten into it yet. But I did recently make iPhone J.D. available on Apple News (click here), so if you prefer to read it there, you can do so.
- Lit Software has a new video showing how to backup or share your case from the TrialPad app.
- Melissa Holt of The Mac Observer has some tips for using the iPhone Activity app to keep track of your workouts with the Apple Watch.
- Caitlin McGarry of Macworld loves her Apple AirPods, but still has a few ideas for making them better.
- Rob Griffiths shares a tip for seeing the actual strength of your iPhone's cellular connection.
- Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac reviews Prynt, an accessory for your iPhone that lets you instantly print photos (think Polaroid). Better yet, if someone uses an app on their iPhone to look at a picture, they can see the Live Photo animation (think Harry Potter). I'm not sure if this will take off, but it is an interesting idea.
- Bill Henderson of The Gadgeteer reviews the Adonit Pixel Stylus, a stylus that works with most iPhones and iPads.
- It is an open secret that Apple has plans to produce original TV content that will be available to Apple Music subscribers, much like Amazon has its Prime Video service with original content available for Amazon Prime subscribers. In an article for Macworld, Dan Moren explores why Apple is doing this.
- Brendan Kinkenberg of Complex interviews Apple executives Zane Lowe, Bozoma Saint John and Larry Jackson to discuss Apple Music.
- If you subscribe to Netflix streaming, have an Apple TV or other device connected to your TV, and you have kids, I'd like to make a strong recommendation that you check out the new show A Series of Unfortunate Events. It is much better than the 2004 movie, is completely bizarre, but is a lot of fun. Neal Patrick Harris is great as the bad guy (and reminds me of his bad guy role in Dr. Horrible), Patrick Warbuton is perfect as the narrator Lemony Snicket, and the rest of the cast is also fantastic. Kaitlyn Tiffany wrote a good article for The Verge about how the project came to Netflix.
- Luke Dormehl of Cult of Mac reports that, according to a new report by MBLM, Apple is the "most intimate" brand in the U.S., ahead of Disney, Amazon, Harley Davidson and Netflix, because of the emotional connection that people have with the Apple brand.
- And finally, a tweet went around last night showing the White House lit up with rainbow colors. It turns out that the picture wasn't actually from last night, but instead from June of 2015, as explained in this article by Madison Alder of the Arizona Republic. Even so, it reminded me of another old tweet from Chicago Sun technology columnist Andy Ihnatko from September of 2015 in which he displayed the rainbows that have been part of four corporate logos over the years. Can you identify the company for each of the four rainbows? I hope that you at least get the top one. After making your best guess, scroll down for the answers:
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ANSWERS:
North: Apple
East: Google
South: Microsoft
West: Polaroid
