Yesterday, Apple announced that it will hold an product announcement event on its campus in Cupertino, California on Wednesday, September 12 at 10 Pacific. Jason Snell of Six Colors posted a picture of the invitation. If you don’t mind spoiling the surprise of learning all of the details on September 12, Guilherme Rambo and Zac Hall of 9to5Mac seem to have obtained some marketing images from Apple showing off the new iPhone and the new Apple Watch. John Gruber of Daring Fireball speculates that those images may have been posted to a public Apple server by mistake, leading to the leak. If that’s true, there are some very unhappy people in Cupertino today. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Two factor authentication is a fantastic security method which I think will become even more prevalent in the future. At my law firm, we use Microsoft Authenticator as a second authentication method for many of our firm’s resources, such as remote access. It works really well; using either an iPhone app — or easier still, a notification on my Apple Watch — I can confirm that yes, it really is me logging in. This week, Alex Simons, Vice President of Program Management, Microsoft Identity Division, announced that Microsoft is rolling out Microsoft Authenticator as an Apple Watch app. This means that even if you receive a push notification which requires a PIN or biometric, you can approve access with an Apple Watch.
- Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reviews the new version 3.0 0f Due, a task manager app.
- Lisa Vaas of Naked Security reports that a U.S. citizen who is Muslim is suing US Customs and Border Protection for seizing her iPhone in an airport, copying all of the data on it, and keeping the iPhone for 130 days. (via Ride the Lightning).
- Zac Hall of 9to5Mac discusses using the HomeKit-compatible Lutron Serena Motorized Shades.
- Michael Rockwell of The Sweet Setup explains how to use your iPhone and HomeKit devices to turn on the lights in your home whenever you or your spouse come home at night.
- Jonny Evans of Computerworld has some productivity tips for the iPhone.
- Kaitlyn Wells of Wirecutter recommends the best bag organizers to store all of your USB-to-Lightning cords, power adapters, and everything else you might want to carry around in a bag.
- And finally, tomorrow, September 1, Apple is celebrating national parks around the world by giving you the opportunity to earn an award in the Activity app. The graphic that you can earn was inspired by Redwood National Park’s 50th anniversary. If you do a walk, run, or wheelchair workout of 50 minutes or more, you get to add the below award to your digital collection. I like these awards because they serve as motivators, even though we all know it is just a simple image. If you own an Apple Watch, try to find an hour to walk tomorrow!
