Tom Vanderbilt of the Wall Street Journal Magazine has a very interesting interview with Jay Blahnik of Apple on the new Fitness+ service, which launches on Monday, December 14. That service costs $9.99/month, but it is also included with Apple's Apple One subscription if you get the $29.95/month Premier plan — which also includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, 2TB of iCloud storage, and Apple News+, and can be shared with up to five other family members. If you are like me and you previously subscribed to some of those services separately, the Premier plan is great because, for about the same price that you were previously paying, you get Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+ for no additional charge. (For example, you would pay $35/month for your family to get just Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 2TB of iCloud storage.) And by the way, if you have Apple News+, that includes the ability to read Wall Street Journal articles — including the one that I linked to a few sentences ago. Just open an article on the wsj.com website on your iPad or iPhone, then tap the Share button, then share it with the News app. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- The Lit Software blog shares how Atlanta attorney Elissa Haynes used the TrialPad app on the iPad in a trial.
- California attorney David Sparks wrote a review of the WaterField Hitch Bag, which he uses to carry around his iPad, MacBook Pro, and accessories.
- Apple gave a number of journalists a pair of the new AirPods Max headphones on Wednesday, and on Thursday a number of them posted their initial thoughts. Here are a few of the reviews that I thought were interesting. Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch found this product to be incredibly well-made using high-quality materials, but he did note that they are heavier than you might expect. He wasn't a big fan of the case. He found the sound impressive and found the spatial audio feature particularly impressive.
- John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes that the weight will have an impact on how people use the AirPods Max.
- Marques Brownlee created a video, noting that the AirPods Max seems very well made and its controls are easy to use. But he doesn't like the case.
- Attorney Nilay Patel of The Verge says that the sound is "crisp and bright, with a pleasingly wider soundstage than my Sony headphones, and no distortion at all, even at max volume."
- Judner Aura also showed them off in a video, and he was incredibly impressed with the noise cancellation and sound quality.
- Justine "iJustine" Ezarik was perhaps the most enthusiastic of all in her video.
- Michael Simon of Macworld reviews the iPhone 12 mini, calling it a "no-brainer purchase" for anyone wanting a small phone that is not underpowered or outdated.
- Felix Richter of Statista created an interesting chart showing the growth of film camera and digital camera sales since 1951 — and then shows that after smartphones added cameras, that wiped out 40 years of camera industry growth.
- Jeff Benjamin of 9to5Mac reviews the new Apple MagSafe Duo Charger, which can charge both an iPhone and an Apple Watch.
- Jason Cipriani of CNet has recommendations on 13 default settings to change on the iPhone 12. I myself don't recommend changing all 13 of them, but I suspect you will find quite a few of them that are worth changing.
- Doug Aamoth of Fast Company shares some tips for using Siri.
- Kenny Wassus of the Wall Street Journal writes about people wearing AirPods in the shower. Wait ... in the shower? No. No no no. Do not do that.
- And finally, here is a clever promotional video for Apple TV+ that features some of their best shows. Which reminds me ... one of my favorite Apple TV+ shows, For All Mankind, starts its second season on February 19, and it was revealed this week that the show was already picked up for a third season.
