Around the year 2000, I started using my first MP3 player — a popular Diamond Rio device that Apple was providing for free when you purchased an iBook laptop computer. I think it was the Rio 600. It could only hold about 10 songs, so I'd have to listen to the same songs every time I used it, or I had to take the time to update the songs on the Rio by connecting it to my computer before starting a workout or other activity I wanted to do while listening to music. Twenty years ago (specifically, October 23, 2001), Apple introduced the original iPod. Because I used the Rio and other music devices going back to the Walkman in the 1980s, I instantly understood the allure of a device that could hold 1,000 songs — 1,000 songs! — but still fit in a pocket. As Dan Moren wrote in Macworld a few days ago, the iPod changed everything for Apple. That first model caught everyone's attention, and the success of subsequent models brought a wave of new customers to Apple and made plenty of money for Apple — a company that was on the brink of bankruptcy just a few years earlier. I owned and loved numerous models of the iPod over the years. And fortunately, none of them looked like this prototype model that Cabel Sasser of Panic shared this week. Of course, the iPod is no longer necessary now that we have the iPhone, but the iPod's touch interface (the innovative scroll wheel) and small size made it the forefather of the iPhone. You can make a strong argument that without the iPod, Apple would have never invented the iPhone. So happy 20th to the iPod, and thanks for everything that you did. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories shares over 250 of the new Apple Music mood and activity playlists.
- I've written before about the Pegasus software sold by NSO Group to governments, which can be used to hack into smartphones including the iPhone. Ben Hubbard, a New York Times correspondent covering the Middle East, has evidence indicating that Saudi Arabia may have hacked his iPhone four times over the last few years using Pegasus. Unless you are a high-profile target, you are probably safe, and Apple is always working to patch security holes exploited by black hat and white hat hackers to hack into devices. But a risk always remains, and this article is a fascinating read. (I'm using the "gift" feature of the New York Times, so you can use this link to read this article even if you don't pay for a subscription.)
- Google's new high-end smartphone is called the Pixel 6 Pro. It contains a custom chip to produce high-quality photographs, and Juli Clover of MacRumors shared some pictures comparing the this newest Pixel phone to the newest iPhone.
- Julian Chokkattu of Wired explains some of the top new features of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15.
- iOS 15.1 came out this week, and Chance Miller of 9to5Mac explains what is new.
- One new feature in iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1 is SharePlay. Lewis Wallace of Cult of Mac explains the new Apple Fitness+ feature that lets you use SharePlay to talk to one or more other people while you do a Fitness+ exercise program together.
- Parker Ortolani of 9to5Mac describes some other apps that can take advantage of SharePlay.
- Adobe had its Adobe Max conference this week, and during that conference, Adobe announced updates to many of its products. Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac explains some of the new features added to Photoshop and Illustrator for iPad.
- Scott Stein of CNet interviews Alan Dye, Apple's vice president of interface design, and Stan Ng, Apple's vice president of product marketing, to discuss Apple's thought process behind the larger screen on the Apple Watch Series 7.
- Even though the new Apple Watch Series 7 is still in short supply, you can already purchase select models at a discount through Amazon. For example, I see that the stainless steel model that I ordered is $30 cheaper on Amazon, although it doesn't come with the watch band that I selected. But if you are lucky and the model and band that you want are currently being sold on Amazon, you can save some money.
- Chris Welch of The Verge reviews the new AirPods (third generation).
- Brian Heater of TechCrunch also reviews the new AirPods (third generation).
- Currently, when I purchase home automation devices, I virtually always select devices that work with Apple's HomeKit technology. That makes it easier because I can manage devices from different vendors using the Home app and because different devices that support HomeKit can often work with each other. But at some point in the coming years, a new smart home standard called Matter should become widespread. Apple, Google, and Amazon will all support Matter, so the hope is that this will be the first truly cross-platform home automation standard. I mention all of this today because Jeff Butts of The Mac Observer notes that many different eero devices – including the eero Pro (Wi-Fi 5) that I reviewed last year and the newer eero 6 and eero Pro 6 — will support Matter in the future.
- Mike Schmitz of The Sweet Setup has been using the new iPad mini for a month and he explains why he really likes it.
- And finally, for the last few years, Apple has commissioned a series of YouTube videos created by Donghoon Jun and James Thornton called Experiments in which these smart guys create fascinating videos using relatively simple materials filmed with an iPhone. It's a way to show off the incredible videos that an iPhone can capture. The latest installment is Experiments VI: Movie Magic, and it is really cool. In this installment, they recreate special effects that you might see in a movie, and while you might assume that computer graphics were used, these were actually created using practical objects:
