On Monday, June 3, Apple begins its WWDC developer conference in San Jose, CA. It all kicks off with a keynote presentation at 10am Pacific on Monday, and Apple is expected to make lots of hardware and software announcements. I'll be particularly interested to see what Apple has to say about iOS 13, the next version of the iPhone and iPad operating system. The rumors are there that will be major improvements for the iPad, and I certainly hope that is true. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- John Voorhees of MacStories is no longer practicing law so he doesn't have to record his time to bill clients, but he still keeps track of his time to ensure productivity. He recently reviewed the Timery app as a front-end for the Toggl service as a way to track time.
- Mark Gurman of Bloomberg interviewed Phillip Shoemaker, Apple's former head of App Store approvals to discuss the app review process.
- Andrew Griffin of The Independent wrote an in-depth article about the steps taken by Apple to promote privacy on the iPhone.
- Geoffrey Fowler of the Washington Post wrote a fascinating story about how, when your iPhone is plugged in and charging overnight, it can share your personal information with marketing companies and others as a result of third party apps on your iPhone. In a companion article, he offers some suggestions for limiting this activity.
- Will Oremus of OneZero discusses what to do with AirPods after they die.
- The iPod touch has long been the device for those who want an iPhone with the phone part of it, making it perfect for younger kids and also for some businesses using lots of devices as tools when there is no need for cellular connections. But the iPod touch had not been updated in four years until this week, when Apple introduced a new iPod touch with an A10 processor starting at $199. That's the same processor that was used in the iPhone 7 released in 2016, which means that it's far from the latest technology but still good enough to get the job done for many tasks. Of course, an old iPhone that isn't being used and doesn't have a cellular plan may work just as well as a new iPod touch, but it is nice to see Apple still paying some attention to this device — which I imagine is not a big seller for Apple.
- If you use smart light bulbs such as the Phillips Hue series, you know that the light switch on the wall needs to be left in the on position if you want to control the bulb. Michael Brown of TechHive reviews the Lutron Aurora, a $40 cover for the switch that prevents someone from turning off the light at the switch. But more than that, it lets you control the smart light bulb from the switch. Looks like a good solution for many smart homes.
- Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports that you will be able to use Apple Pay at all Publix grocery stores within a few weeks.
- And finally, here is a new video from Apple encouraging folks to use the Apple Trade In program so that an iPhone that one person is no longer using can be refurbished for someone else to use, and so that the parts can be recycled when an iPhone reaches the end of its life:
