Need some last-minute gift ideas for an iPhone user? Florida attorney Katie Floyd recommends some tech-related gifts, most of which work with the iPhone. And CarPlay Life recommends gifts for folks who use Apple CarPlay. Here are my own recommendations for folks who use CarPlay: (1) I really like the Anker PowerLine+ USB to Lightning cord that I reviewed last month; (2) To keep your CarPlay screen nice and clean, without the dust, keep a MobileCloth in your car. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Attorney John Voorhees reports on MacStories that app developers can now make their new apps available for pre-order on the App Store.
- Voorhees also notes that Apple purchased Shazam this week, the service that can identify a song that is playing. Apple has incorporated Shazam technology into iOS for a while now and didn’t need to acquire the company to do that, so I’m curious what bigger plans Apple has for Shazam its technology.
- Speaking of Voorhees, in the latest episode of the Free Agents podcast of California attorney David Sparks and Jason Snell interviews John Voorhees. He explains why he quit his job as a bankruptcy attorney at a large Chicago law firm to be an app developer and to cover Apple-related stories at MacStories.
- LitSoftware, the maker of apps like TrialPad and TranscriptPad, explains why it is likely to shift to a subscription model for its apps.
- Maps in iOS supports not only the great outdoors, but also some indoor areas including airports and shopping malls. Chance Miller of 9to5Mac has a list of all of the locations currently supporting this feature.
- Rene Ritchie of iMore shows some examples of the Maps app working inside of New York LaGuardia Airport.
- Mikey Campbell of AppleInsider discusses an interview with Lisa Jackson, Apple’s VP for Environment, in which she discusses how Apple designed the iPhone 8 and iPhone X to be more environmentally friendly.
- Dan Grabham of the UK website T3 interviewed Apple’s VP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, to discuss the iPhone X and other Apple topics.
- Zac Hall of 9to5Mac discusses how he used his Apple Watch and Apple AirPods to run his first half marathon.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors explains how you can use Homebridge to make HomeKit support a device that is not HomeKit compatible.
- And finally, here is a short video featuring magician Simon Pierro, who incorporates an iPad into his act as a stand-in for a glove. You can keep the audio muted (unless you speak German). The slight-of-hand techniques are impressive: