Apple continues to show leadership in combating COVID-19. Using technology that it developed for its Find My app, Apple teamed up with Google to develop voluntary contact tracing technology that can alert you when you (or more specifically, your smartphone which is presumably close to your body) has spent time in close proximity to someone else who uses the software and has reported having COVID-19. The first version of the technology will be released in May. Because Apple is involved, the system has privacy protections built-in. President Trump apparently is not a fan, making the curious assertion earlier this week that the technology has constitutional problems even though it is voluntary to use. Indeed, the fact that it is voluntary enhances privacy but reduces its effectiveness; someone who had the virus and was in close contact with you may not be using the software. Nevertheless, I can still see this as being one of the many helpful tools that we can use to protect ourselves as we slowly begin to explore ways to have more people return to the outside world. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- If you are looking for a way to keep track of what TV shows you have watched and what to watch next, Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reviews TV Forecast, saying that he has used the app for almost a year and he really likes it. His review convinced me to give it a try. I’ve tried similar apps in the past and for various reasons none of them have really stuck with me, but this one looks like it has potential.
- Voorhees also reviews Highlights, a PDF annotation app for the iPad.
- San Francisco attorney Kevin Underhill of Lowering the Bar reminds us all to wear a shirt when you are on a videoconference with a judge. Sigh.
- Rene Ritchie wrote an interesting review of the new iPhone SE for iMore.
- John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains Apple’s strategy in releasing the new iPhone SE.
- I’m a big fan of using GoodNotes on my iPad to take handwritten notes. This week, GoodNotes introduced a universal app for the Mac. This means that if you already own the iPad app, you can now also use the app on a Mac for free. Of course, one is unlikely to take handwritten notes on a Mac given the lack of a touchscreen, but it is incredibly nice to be able to skim through my notes on my computer screen while I am working at home. The app is only for Mac, so if you use a PC you still need to export your notes to PDF and then review them on the PC that way. Note that when you download the app from the Mac App Store, you will at first be told that you have to pay for the app, but before you are charged Apple will realize that you already own the app and will tell you that there is no charge. See this tweet from GoodNotes for more on that.
- M.G. Siegler explains on his 500ish site why he is such a big fan of the new cursor support on iPad OS. Me too. I find myself working on my iPad with an external keyboard and an Apple Magic Mouse 2 almost every day — I was just using it a few hours ago to edit some written discovery requests — and it works very well.
- Jason Cipriani of CNet shares 15 gestures you can now do with a trackpad or mouse using the new iPad OS.
- Christian Boyce shares tips for using the Mail app on the iPhone. There are some useful ones in there.
- In addition to announcing its partnership with Google, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that Apple announced another tool that might help those studying the COVID-19 pandemic: anonymous data from Apple’s Maps app that shows how people in different parts of the world have moved around over time.
- And finally, Apple released a fantastic video this week remind us that even during these difficult times, creativity goes on: