I never thought of Apple's AirTags as a tool for social justice, but this occurred to Portland lawyer Michael Fuller, who runs what he calls the Underdog Law Office and also practices at OlsenDaines. Zane Sparling of the Portland Tribune reports that Fuller was trying to help the homeless who stay at a campsite in a park. Under Oregon law, when the city cleans up homeless encampments, it is required to retain for 30 days any collected property that is recognizable as belonging to a person and having an apparent use so that it can be retrieved, but according to Fuller, the city wasn't doing so. To prove this, he placed AirTags in certain property. After the sweep, he tracked the AirTags and learned that the property was brought directly to a dump. The article quotes Fuller as saying: "Due to the tracking technology, we have proof positive that Rapid Response broke the law and took property that was perfectly clean and sanitary, and belonged to homeless people, and took them to the dump." Joe English of KATU has a similar article, and he reports that Fuller had previously filed a class action against the City of Portland, and he used 16 AirTags during a subsequent sweep to gather more evidence. This is certainly a clever way to use AirTags. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories discusses the new Quick Note feature, coming in iPad OS 15 this Fall, and how it makes it easier to do research with an iPad.
- Currently, if you take a picture with your iPhone's camera and there is a light source (the sun, a street light, etc.) off to the side, you will sometimes see lens flare on the other side of the picture, sometimes in the form of a small slightly green circle. Michael Simon of Macworld reports that when iOS 15 comes out this Fall, it will use AI image processing to remove the lens flare.
- Killian Bell of Cult of Mac describes an interesting feature coming to the AirPods Pro this Fall for anyone who could use a little assistance with hearing. The new Conversation Boost feature boosts the volume of a person when they are talking in front of you, making it easier to hear and follow along in a face-to-face conversation.
- Another feature coming this Fall to AirPods as well as CarPlay is an Announce Notifications feature. Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac explains how it works.
- The Find My app is also improved in iOS 15. Juli Clover of MacRumors explains what is new.
- Jack Nicas of the New York Times reports that the iPhone will gain the ability this Fall to recognize certain child pornography uploaded to iCloud and recognize certain nude photographs shared via Messages by an iPhone user under 13 years old. Jason Cross of Macworld provides additional details on how it works. The EFF is concerned that this technology could open the door to future privacy abuses.
- Apple posted an interesting profile of Brian Mueller, the developer of CARROT Weather and other apps, on its Developer site.
- If you have been watching the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso — and you should be! — and you live in California, José Adorno of 9to5Mac reports that there is a Ted Lasso Believe Experience in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. You can get Ted Lasso merchandise, have biscuits with the boss, take pictures with photo installations, and more.
- Watching a Broadway musical on TV is not the same as being there live, but it is certainly better than not being there at all. And when done well — such as the Hamilton movie — it can be quite good. Come From Away is an excellent musical that I enjoyed when the tour came to New Orleans two years ago. It is based on a true story: after 9/11, planes were forced to land at nearby airports leaving some folks far from their homes for a long period of time. According to Greg Evans of Deadline, the show is coming to Apple TV+ this September and it will include members of the original and the current Broadway casts. I recommend that you see it, and I look forward to seeing it again.
- Tamara Palmer of Macworld offers a list of iPhone tips. Nothing new on this list, but some oldies that are goodies.
- In 2005, when podcasts were relatively new, Steve Jobs described what they were at the All Things D conference as he previewed the addition of podcasts to iTunes so that you could listen to them on an iPad. Dieter Bohn of The Verge provided this link to the video on Twitter. It was interesting to listen to his enthusiasm for podcasts, which Jobs referred to as the "Wayne's World of Radio" and "TiVo for radio for your iPod." For Brett Burney and me, I'm not sure which one of us is Wayne and which one is Garth.
- Speaking of Steve Jobs, back in 1983, someone sent him a letter to ask if he would sign something. Jobs wrote back to say that he doesn't sign autographs. Now that letter — which Jobs signed, using his distinctive all-lower case signature — is being auctioned off as an autograph. Bidding starts next week at $1,000.
- And finally, here is a fun video from Apple that shows off three techniques for creating, relatively easily, movie-quality special effects using an iPhone. All three are rather clever.
