Rene Ritchie of iMore explains why he believes that Apple’s September product announcement will take place on Wednesday, September 12, just over two weeks from now, and says that we could see a larger version of the iPhone X, perhaps with Apple Pencil support, an iPhone 9 with a design similar to the iPhone X but with an LCD screen, an Apple Watch Series 4 with smaller bezels so that the physical size is the same but the screen is larger, an iPad Pro 3, new Macs, and more. That’s a whole lot of new Apple products that could be just around the corner. Clear some space on your credit card. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories discusses an update to the Dark Sky app which I think greatly improves the interface of that weather app. For a long time now, CARROT Weather has been my favorite weather app, but with this update, I’ve started to use Dark Sky even more.
- Elizabeth Sullivan of PCMag reviews the Logitech Crayon — the $50 version of the Apple Pencil — and names it an Editors’ Choice. The Crayon is currently only being sold to schools, but I hope that will change in the future. In fact, it would be fantastic to have lots of different stylus choices that all work as well as the Apple Pencil.
- VPN software is used to keep your Internet use private, especially if you are using public Wi-Fi. But according to Chance Miller of 9to5Mac, Apple has asked Facebook to remove its Onavo VPN app from the App Store. While that app may keep your Internet use private from other people on the same network, apparently Facebook tracks everything that you do while using the app, making it a privacy nightmare. Kudos to Apple for continuing to make privacy a priority.
- Speaking of privacy, John Gruber of Daring Fireball links to a Digital Content Next story about a report from Vanderbilt Professor Douglas Schmidt which finds that while Google doesn’t collect any of your personal data from the Safari web browser when you are not actively using it, a dormant Android phone running the Chrome browser sends information to Google 340 times in a 24-hour period.
- Gruber also discusses the shake-to-undo feature of the iPhone, and notes that many people don’t even know that the feature is there. I don’t use it often, but when I do, I’m glad it there. Hopefully, you already know that it is there, but if not, you do now.
- Zac Hall of 9to5Mac recommends HomeKit devices that you can use to monitor the temperature at your house.
- Peter Cao of 9to5Mac shows off how 1Password is integrated into the operating system in iOS 12. Juli Clover of MacRumors also wrote a good explanation with lots of pictures. This feature looks fantastic.
- Roger Fingas of AppleInsider reports that, from today through August 31, Apple will donate $1 to the National Park Foundation for every Apple Pay purchase made at an Apple store or on the Apple website. And on September 1, there will be a special Activity Challenge on the Apple Watch.
- Steven Musil of CNet reports that you can now use Apple Pay when you shop at Costco.
- Ian Fuchs of Cult of Mac says that the free Highball app is an essential iOS app. I agree; it is what I use to store all of my cocktail recipes.
- And finally, here is an ad for Face ID on the iPhone X that Apple debuted a few weeks ago which features a game show theme. It is called Memory: