Next week, on Tuesday, we will find out what the 2017 version of the iPhone looks like. Rumors are that we will see a traditional upgrade to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, plus a third model with an edge-to-edge OLED screen and authentication by scanning your face instead of Touch ID. My prediction is that Apple will call the new model the “Pro” and will use a naming scheme like iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 8 Pro. (California attorney David Sparks is thinking the same thing.) But whatever they call it, I cannot wait to learn about the new features, especially new features that have not yet leaked or been guessed by the press. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Florida attorney Katie Floyd provides technology tips for preparing for a big storm. Good luck to everyone in Florida who is preparing for Hurricane Irma right now. As an attorney in New Orleans, I know first-hand what you are going through. Be prepared, and be safe.
- In an article for Above the Law, Washington, DC attorney Matt Kaiser gives some advice for what attorneys should do with their smartphones when they cross international borders.
- Time magazine has a fantastic series of articles called Firsts, about amazing women who were the first to do something in their field. The articles and videos are inspiring, but I mention them today because the cover photographs were shot by photographer Luisa Dörr using an iPhone. In this interview by Kira Pollack, Dörr discusses the advantages of using an iPhone to take her incredible pictures.
- If you are a member of Costco, John Levite of iMore reports on some great savings on iTunes gift cards. For example, you can get a $100 card for only $84.49, and a $200 card for only $164.99. You only get this discount on the online Costco store.
- I’m in the the process of (slowly) going through the catalog of James Bond movies with my kids. (We are currently in the Roger Moore years.) The older movies are dated, but still have some really fun moments in them. Tatiana Siegel and Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter say that both Apple and Amazon are bidding for the rights to James Bond so that they can develop future TV shows, movies, etc. based on the character — not unlike what Disney is in the process of doing with the Star Wars franchise. I look forward to seeing Q give 007 a tricked-out iPhone along with other gadgets to use to save the day.
- Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac discusses the new ElevationDock 4, an adjustable dock for iPhone and iPad that looks really nice.
- HomeKitty is a new crowdsourced website that seeks to list every accessory that supports Apple’s HomeKit protocol.
- Christian Zibreg of the iDownloadBlog discusses some nice improvements to Readdle’s apps such as Spark, PDF Expert and Scanner Pro coming with iOS 11.
- David Pierce of Wired writes about the new, more human-like Siri voice in iOS 11.
- And finally, although what Apple announces on Tuesday is sure to be interesting, where Apple is doing so is just as interesting: the new Steve Jobs Theater at the Apple Park campus. Dancan Sinfield recently took some drone footage of the Steve Jobs Theater and it is in this video. Of course, you cannot see much because only the entrance to the theater is above ground level, but it is still neat to get a peak: