In the Fall of of 2005, I was living in New York City for a few months after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina and I was using a Palm Treo 650. The device slipped out of my pocket when I was in a taxicab, and—no surprise—I never saw it again. Although I ultimately bought a replacement, I hesitated to do so because at the time I thought that there was a chance that Apple might have been working on a smartphone. The first iPhone wasn’t introduced until 2007, but I was right that Apple was working on it in 2005. John Gruber of Daring Fireball wrote an interesting account of the origins of the iPhone, including a timeline of its development. One of the sources he cites in that article is Ken Kocienda, who developed the original touchscreen keyboard for the iPhone, and Kocienda also talks to Gruber on the latest episode of The Talk Show podcast. If you have any interest in the early history of the iPhone, I recommend both Gruber’s article and that podcast episode. I especially enjoy hearing about the past when we are just a few days away from the future, considering that Apple will announce new products next week. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Jason Snell of Six Colors discusses what Apple might announce on March 8.
- I mentioned a few days ago that Apple has halted all exports into the sales channel in Russia because of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and I wondered what effect this might have on re:Store, the largest seller of Apple products in Russia. Now we know the answer. Steven Warwick of iMore reports that, according to the website iPhones.ru, reStore announced that it is temporarily closing all of its stores in Russia.
- Readdle, one of the leading developers of iPhone and iPad apps, was founded in Ukraine. This week, Readdle thanked all of its users for their support and provided a number of links that you can use to support Ukraine right now.
- In a post for Macworld, Jason Snell explains why it is so much easier for Apple to take a stand against Russia than against China.
- Twelve South previously introduced an interesting product called PowerPic, which works like a picture frame but doubles as a wireless charger for an iPhone. The company introduced a similar product called PowerPic mod, and Adam Oram of iMore posted a review. It seems like an interesting product that would look good and work well on many desks. The PowerPic mod costs $59.52 on Amazon.
- Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac reviews another interesting wireless charger, the BaseOne charger from Nomad, which features a glass and aluminum design and costs $130.
- Andrew O’Hara of AppleInsider calls the BaseOne charger “the most luxurious MagSafe charger to hit the market yet.”
- Josh Centers of TidBITS discusses the pros and cons of getting a version of the Apple Watch that has cellular.
- In the year 2000, the album “1” by The Beatles was released, a collection of every song released by The Beatles that reached the top of the charts. It was one of the last CDs that I ever purchased; not long after that, I started using an iPod and purchasing my songs from iTunes. Igor Bonifacic of Engadget noted that the album is now remastered for Apple Music spatial audio. Unlike some songs remastered for spatial audio, in this case, it doesn’t mean that instruments surround you in a 3D space. Instead, it means that the music appears to be coming from your iPhone, most noticeable as you move your head back and forth. I’ve been listening to it as I write today’s post, and it sounds great.
- While I’m discussing The Beatles, I’ll mention that I watched the Get Back documentary on Disney+ back in December, and it was amazing. I don’t watch documentaries very often, especially if they are almost eight hours long, but I was memorized by Get Back. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes music.
- Speaking of music, if you like the idea of an HomePod mini but want it to be portable, one option is to use it with a portable charger, as I explained in my review. Another option is to get a portable speaker that works with AirPlay. Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac discusses the new Roam SL from Sonos, a $159 device that does just that.
- Last week, I linked to a review of Chipolo Card Spot, a tracker that fits in a wallet and works with Apple’s Find My service. Glenn Fleishman wrote an even more comprehensive review of this device for Macworld, worth checking out if you are interested in it specifically or this technology in general.
- One of the unfortunate results of COVID is that Apple stopped doing its excellent “Today at Apple” demonstrations in its retail stores for two years. Killian Bell of Cult of Mac reports that Apple is now bringing them back.
- Have you ever found yourself wanting to post a picture on social media, but then you stop yourself because the picture shows the faces of one or more people who should remain private, such as children, protestors, etc.? One solution is to cover the face with something, like a yellow emoji face. MaskerAid is a new app by Casey Liss that does this one task very well. It’s a clever idea for an app.
- Apple gets patents on many ideas that never see the light of day, so I don’t report on them very often. But Tim Hardwick of MacRumors discusses an Apple patent for a computer that is built-in to a keyboard, and as someone who used the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX81 back in the 1980s, this one makes a lot of sense to me.
- Federico Viticci of MacStories discusses the new Tweetbot version 7.1, which adds background notifications for follows, quotes, and user tweets.
- Filipe Espósito of 9to5Mac discusses the new Smart Door Lock A100 from Aqara. Not only does it work with Apple’s HomeKit, but it also provides Home Key support (which is something very few developers currently support).
- Thomas Hobbs of Time Out London reports that the area in Richmond where Ted Lasso films outdoor scenes (Ted Lasso’s home and the nearby pub) has seen lots of tourists thanks to the success of the show. The pub that is called The Crown & Anchor in the show is actually called The Prince’s Head.
- Abigail Wilson of the U.S. version of The Sun shares the tale of Maryland resident Becki Beckmann, who lost her iPhone in 2012 on the night of Halloween. Ten years later, she heard a banging sound when she flushed her toilet and … you guessed it … her husband plunged the toilet and up came the iPhone 4S. Read the story for more details and pictures (which, fortunately, are not gross, unless you start thinking about what that iPhone has been through for the past decade).
- And finally, while I still remember the early days of Apple TV+ when it only had a few shows, Apple now has a very large number of shows being released and in development. One that looks interesting to me is Slow Horses, a TV show that tells the tale of British intelligence agents who are stuck in a dumping ground department of MI5. It looks like a spy thriller with comedic elements. The show is based on the well-reviewed series of Slough House novels by Mick Herron, and it stars Gary Oldman. It debuts on April 1, and I’m looking forward to this one because it looks like it could be quite good. Here is the trailer: