In the news

Here in New Orleans, Jazz Fest started yesterday.  It is one of my favorite traditions in New Orleans, and it is celebrating its 50th birthday this year.  (I’m right there with you, Jazz Fest.)  The music, food, and art are always fantastic, and I do so much walking around that my Apple Watch typically records some of my highest step counts of the year.  I’m looking forward to seeing the Indigo Girls on Sunday, a group I’ve been following since I was in college at Emory in the late 1980s and used to see them perform on campus, but most of the best music at Jazz Fest comes from local artists.  And now, the recent news of note:

• I’ve been using the second-generation AirPods for a month now, and they continue to be fantastic.  The speed increase as I switch the connection between my iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, and iMac is noticeable, and it has everything that I loved about my first-generation AirPods (before the batteries started to wear out after two years of very heavy use).  If you are interested in getting AirPods but want to save $20, Amazon is currently selling the new AirPods for $140 instead of the normal $160.  That’s the same model without the charging case that I use, which I reviewed earlier this month.  
• Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times discusses an app called RecUp and another app called Descript.  Using these apps and his AirPods he is able to dictate an article as he walks around.  I’m not sure that I ever see myself dictating a brief as I fold the laundry, but it is interesting that I could do so.
• Brian X. Chen of the New York Times compares Uber and Lyft.
• If you like the idea of AirPods but don’t want something sticking in your ear, Patrick Lucas Austin of Time reviews new sunglasses from Bose with built-in Bluetooth-enabled speakers pointed at your ears
• A post on the TripIt blog by Angela Feher describes how the TripIt app for Apple Watch now has updated complications that can tell you information such as the gate you need to go to without having to even open up the TripIt app.
• Lief Johnson of Macworld discusses why you should get an Apple Pencil even if you don’t draw.  I almost never draw with my Apple Pencil (especially if you don’t count doodling in the margins), but I use it extensively for taking notes, highlighting cases, and annotating briefs filed by my opponent.
• Mark Linsangan of AppleInsider discusses the reasons that you might consider getting the Logitech Crayon instead of the second generation Apple Pencil.
• One reason not mentioned in that article is that the Logitech Crayon won’t stop you from unlocking your car.  Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports that if you are charging a second-generation Apple Pencil on an iPad Pro, it might interfere with using a key fob to unlock your car.  When I read this article, my first thought was that this had never happened to me, but then I realized that I always store my Apple Pencil in a separate compartment of my Tom Bihn Ristretto messenger bag and not connected to my iPad Pro, so the Pencil is never charging when I apporach my car with my messenger bag on my shoulder.
• Jason Cross of Macworld notes that the Apple Maps app will let you know whether a retailer accepts ApplePay.
• And finally, Apple released an amazing one-minute film called Don’t Mess with Mother, which includes some truly phenomenal video of animals and nature taken on an iPhone XS.  I can’t imagine taking a video this good with any device, let alone an iPhone.  There is also a behind-the-scenes video which features a shark biting the iPhone as the photographer is taking the video.  Here is the film: