Earlier this year, I discussed exposure notification apps that are designed to warn you if you may have been exposed to someone else with COVID-19. In an article for MIT Technology Review, Betsy Ladyzhets reports that it appears that these apps had only limited success because so few people used them, but also reports that now that we have the technology, similar apps could be useful when we have the next public health crisis. Which hopefully will not be any time soon. I think that a more useful COVID-19 app is one that you can use to show that you are fully vaccinated. For example, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg noted yesterday that wearing a mask is now optional in Apple Stores if you are fully vaccinated. As I discussed earlier this year, states like New York and Louisiana now have apps that certify that you are vaccinated. However, so far, I'm not seeing many places in the United States ask for proof of vaccination, instead relying on an honor system. Regardless of whether apps are involved, it is nice to see many communities begin to return to a more normal state as more folks get vaccinated. My wife and I are certainly relieved that both we and our teenagers are now fully vaccinated. Having said that, I know that we have it much better here in the United States than most other countries do. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- If you are reading this on Friday morning and you are looking for some CLE credits, I'm co-presenting a one-hour webinar at Noon Central today for the New Orleans Bar Association along with New Orleans attorney Sean Brady. Our topic is Preserving Error for Appellate Courts, and we will be providing advice for making the best record at the trial court level to prepare for an appeal. Louisiana CLE credit is available, including Appellate Specialization, and you may be able to get CLE credit in other states too. There is not really an iPhone/iPad angle here, except that I did prepare our slides using the Keynote app on my iPad.
- Josh Centers of TidBITS explains which models you will need this Fall to take advantage of new features in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, and more.
- Philip Michaels of Tom's Guide explains what is new in Maps in iOS 15, including an interesting AR walking directions feature where you can hold up your iPhone screen and AR-powered overlays with arrows and street names will make it very clear where you need to go next.
- Juli Clover of MacRumors explains what is new with FaceTime in iOS 15.
- In an article for Macworld, Dan Moren reports on other new features coming in iOS 15: the new Safari, improvements to Shortcuts, and the new multitasking system on the iPad.
- I'm a big fan of the HomePod mini, which I reviewed a few months ago. Joe Rossignol of MacRumors reports that the HomePod mini is now available in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.
- Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly reports that the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso received a Peabody Award for "offering the perfect counter to the enduring prevalence of toxic masculinity." That's true, but it's also very funny.
- If you are looking forward to Season 2 of Ted Lasso like I am, I've heard folks recommend that you NOT watch the new trailer because, while funny, it contains some spoilers for Season 2. For that reason, I haven't watched it. Instead, if you want to hear the wisdom of Ted Lasso now, I recommend that you watch this video in which he and Coach Beard introduce the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team for the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo.
- In an article for The Guardian, Bradford Gauthier of Worcester, Massachusetts, explains how he accidentally swallowed one of his AirPods, but a doctor was able to remove it, and it still works.
- If you are looking to get a new set of AirPods — hopefully not because you swallowed your last pair — Michael Simon of Macworld reports that they are at an all-time low price. For example, on Amazon, you can get AirPods Pro, which are normally $249, for under $200. That's a great price for a product that I love. In fact, during last week's episode of the In the News podcast, my co-host Brett Burney revealed that he took advantage of this sale and he is loving his new AirPods Pro.
- Apple announced some new features coming soon for Fitness+. First, there are new Time to Walk workouts featuring people such as Stephen Fry, Naomi Campbell, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and others. Second, there will be workouts in which the entire playlist is dedicated to a single artist, starting with Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, and Lady Gaga. Third, Apple will add a series of workouts with fitness expert Jeanette Jenkins.
- Simon Jary of Macworld recommends USB-C hubs for the iPad Pro or the newest iPad Air with a USB-C port. The first one that he recommends is the HyperDrive 6-in-1 USB-C Hub ($69.99 on Amazon), which was my pick during last week's episode of the In the News podcast. I've used that hub a couple of times this week while using my iPad Pro in my office.
- In an article for Macworld, Jason Snell explains why he thinks that Apple may be planning to add an iPad feature that lets you connect to an external monitor and then run multiple apps in different overlapping windows, similar to a computer.
- And finally, as a fan of Apple and the son of an architect, I always love it when Apple takes an abandoned historic building and restores it to become an Apple Store. Apple recently did that to the Tower Theater in Los Angeles. According to this local news report from two years ago, it was no longer possible to use the former theater for its original purpose, so it has sat abandoned. But there is a lot of history here — this was the first theater in the world to show a full-length motion picture with sound (The Jazz Singer in 1927) — and it was an interesting building. Now you can visit the site and purchase a new iPhone to create your own movies, appreciating the incredible restoration of this building as you do so. You can read about the restoration and see lots of great photos on the Apple website, and I've embedded below the video that is on that page.
