In February, shortly before the pandemic really started in the United States, my family took a road trip. Little did we know that would be the last traveling that we would be doing for a long time, but I look forward to the day when we will once again be able to travel with abandon. Whenever that day comes, I'll be using a new app that was reviewed this week by Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac called Weather on the Way. This app calculates a route to a destination, and then shows you the weather that you will experience along the way as you will be driving along the route. I've been on numerous road trips with my family when we have tried to do something similar by figuring out what cities were coming up and then checking the weather and radar for those places, but this process is cumbersome to do by hand. Weather on the Way is a much better alternative. Right now, the app still looks pretty simple — I'd like to see some indication of upcoming bad driving conditions — but the developer says that more features are coming soon. Whenever I start traveling again, this app will be nice to have. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- In an article for TidBITS, Glenn Fleishman explains how you can turn your iPhone into a high-quality webcam for your Mac. The built-in cameras on most Mac and PC computers are of poor quality, and it is still hard to buy a high-quality webcam because demand is far beyond supply during the pandemic, so this could be a good solution for many folks.
- Jared Newman of Fast Company recommends what he considers the 25 best new productivity apps for 2020.
- If you don't yet use a password manager, you really should do so. I recommend 1Password. If you already use 1Password and want to get more out of it, Thorin Klosowski of Wirecutter has some 1Password tips. I also discussed some of the extra features in 1Password in this post last year.
- If you currently use LastPass, Cameron Summerson of ReviewGeek explains why you might want to switch to 1Password and explains the process for doing so.
- This is the first year that Apple TV+ shows are eligible for Emmy nominations, and there were quite a few -- Apple says the most program and acting nominations for a streaming service in its first year. Chance Miller of 9to5 runs through all of the nominations.
- Nicole LaPorte says that Apple may be looking at more movies for Apple TV+ in light of the success of the Tom Hanks movie Greyhound. (Which I enjoyed watching.)
- Speaking of streaming services, if you are like me and you started a Disney+ subscription on July 3 to watch Hamilton with plans to cancel after a month, this is your last weekend, and I have a recommendation. My wife and I watched Hamilton again with the subtitles turned on, and it was a completely different experience. I love the music of Hamilton, but watching with subtitles gives you a much better appreciation for the clever lyrics. What a great show. I can also recommend The Mandalorian (and the behind-the-scenes series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian) and The Imagineering Story.
- Kristy Viers shows off in this fascinating video how she uses an iPhone even though she is visually impaired, such as braille typing on the iPhone screen.
- And finally, here is an interesting video in which Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal looks at how the Apple Watch and other wearable devices may be able to detect COVID-19 symptoms in the near future:
