iPhone J.D.

Podcast episode 49: Knotty Words, Watch Cameras, and a Porta Potty Phone

Brett Burney and I start off this week’s episode by explaining how cellphone companies are selling your personal information—what websites you visit, who you call, where you are located, etc.—and what you can do about it.  Then we talk about DIY iPhone repair and repurposing an old iPad or iPhone to give it a new purpose in life.  We talk about videoconferences on an Apple Watch, a new word game, and the last place you want your iPhone to end up.

In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for adding travel time to entries on your calendar.  I recommend the Speedtest app from Ookla for troubleshooting network issues on your iPhone, iPad, computer, etc.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just use your podcast player of choice.  You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

In the News

Another weekend is just hours away.  If you enjoy relaxing on the weekend (or any other time) with word games like crossword puzzles and Wordle, and/or puzzle games like Sudoku, you should check out a fun new game for the iPhone and iPad called Knotwords.  The app is free, but you can also pay to unlock additional puzzles.  It comes from the makers of Good Sodoku (an excellent app for playing Sodoku and learning how to become a better player).  Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories explains how the game works, and Jason Snell of Six Colors interviews one of the developers, Zach Gage.  Click here to download the app and try it out for yourself.  I've only played a few games so far, but I like it, although I do wish it could sync games between the iPhone and iPad.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Yesterday, Apple opened a new store: an online self-service repair store.  Or more accurately, Apple hired someone else to do so.  As reported by Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels, you can purchase all of the tools and parts that you need to replace an iPhone display, battery, camera, etc.  If you are just repairing one device, the amount that you need to pay to buy everything is likely more than it would cost you to have Apple repair your iPhone, plus you run the risk of damaging something and voiding your warranty.  On the other hand, if you don't mind running that risk and paying more just to have a do-it-yourself project, go to selfservicerepair.com to see what you can buy.
• Tatum Hunter of the Washington Post (gift link so anyone can read the article) explained that your cellphone carrier uses your web history to target you with ads and explains the somewhat complicated steps that you can go through to turn off this feature.  I see that AT&T had this turned on for me by default, so I turned it off.
• Emma Roth of The Verge reports that Apple has alerted app developers that apps that have not been updated in a significant (but unspecified) amount of time will be removed from the App Store within 30 days.  I've certainly become frustrated with some apps that haven't been updated in forever.  On the other hand, sometimes I have a use for an old app and it doesn't much matter to me if the app is getting long in the tooth.  Overall, I support Apple's plan to spruce up the App Store, but as Matt Deatherage of MDJ explains, updating an app to comply with Apple's requirements to work with the latest operating system can take a lot of work, and for some developers, that work is just not worth it.
• Jason Cross of Macworld wrote an article for Macworld with the click-bait title 10 little-known iPhone features that will blow your mind.  My mind was not blown and I didn't learn anything new, but I'll admit that he mentions some good tips, so it is worth you checking to see if any of them are new to you.
• Jason Snell wrote a great article on Six Colors with his take on why Apple decided to start showing live MLB baseball games on Apple TV+.  His analysis seems very solid to me.
• If you have an extra iPad that you are not using, Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac recommends using a wall mount to turn it into a HomeKit controller.
• If you have an extra iPhone that you are not using, Jason Snell of Six Colors recommends using the Camo app to turn it into a webcam for your computer, and he recommends another tip to make the iPhone act as nothing but a webcam.
• Rikka Altland of 9to5Toys reports that Anker has a new Nano II 100W GaN USB-C charger that is 30% smaller than Apple's 96W charger.  Altland says that it is available for $76 but as I am typing this the product page on Amazon doesn't seem to be ready yet.  That's about the same price that you would pay for Apple's 96W charger, but you can charge up to three devices with the Anker charger.
• Eric Slivka of MacRumors reports that you can now purchase Belkin's Wemo Smart Video Doorbell, which works with Apple's HomeKit Secure Video.  It is $259.99 on Amazon.  There are not many good video doorbells that work with HomeKit, and as a result when I bought one for my house last year, I purchased a eufy wireless doorbell that works well, but I would like it even more if it worked with HomeKit so that I could use the Home app to manage it, view the camera, etc.
• Evan Selleck of the iDownloadBlog reports that the Wristcam—an Apple Watch band with a built-in camera—has updated software that lets you make videocalls using an Apple Watch.
• Allison Sheridan of Podfeet Podcasts explains why she likes using the Apple Card credit card.  I have an Apple Card and I like it too.  I always use it when I can get 3% cashback—the Apple Store, Exxon gas stations, Walgreens, etc.—and I use it for some other purchases too.
• Nathan Pilling of the Kistap Sun (from the state of Washington) shares the story of a woman who tried to retrieve her phone after she mistakenly dropped it in a vault toilet (an outhouse structure) and ... well let's just say that it did not turn out very well for her.  She did recover the phone, but had to use it to call the fire department to rescue her.  The article doesn't say if it was an iPhone or an Android, but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and imagine that it was a brand new top-of-the-line iPhone, although I'm not sure even that would justify the experience.
• And finally, Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal published a great video this week in which she interviews Ken Kocienda, who invented the original autocorrect system on the iPhone, to talk about common autocorrect fails and what you can do about this, ahem, duckin' problem.  Definitely worth watching:

My favorite iPad keyboard shortcuts

At the end of every episode of the In the News podcast that I record every Friday with Brett Burney, Brett and I each share a tip in a segment called “In the Know.”  In the most recent episode, I shared a large number of my favorite iPad keyboard shortcuts.  If you listened to that episode the way that I usually listen to podcasts, then you probably heard it when you were in your car, doing errands around the house, or in some other place where you were not directly in front of your iPad.  Thus, I thought it would be helpful to share the full list of shortcuts in a post.  Of course, you can always read the podcast show notes in your podcast player of choice for more information on the tips that we share, or you can go to the website for the In the News podcast and read the show notes there.

Here are the shortcuts that I find most useful when I am using an external keyboard with my iPad.  If there are one or more on this list that you are not currently using, I encourage you to try them out to determine if they make sense for you.

• Command-Tab: Switch apps.  Most people use a similar keyboard shortcut on a computer, so this is one that you probably know.  On the iPad, it works the same way as on the Mac because it shifts to a different app.  On the PC, the Control-Tab shortcut is a little different than the iPad/Mac because it switches between each open window, and there can be multiple open windows from the same program.
• Command-Space: Show (or hide) the Search field.  The #1 way that I use this is to search for and launch a specific app without lifting my hands from the keyboard.  I can do Command-Space, then type a few letters (such as the “wo” in “Word”) and then I will see matching apps, such as the Microsoft Word app.  I can then hit return to launch that app.  If the first app listed is not the one that you want, use the arrow keys to highlight the app that you want.  This Search feature doesn’t just work for finding apps; it also works for finding information within an app.  You can control which apps share their existence or their data with Search by going to Settings -> Siri & Search -> [app name] -> Show App in Search / Show Content in Search.  So for example, if you often type “wo” to search for the Word app and the first option suggested is a different app that you never want such as the Wowowo app, you can tap on the Wowowo app in Settings and tell your iPad never to show that app (or its contents) when you use the Search feature.
• Command-F: Unlike the Command-Space shortcut, which searches across multiple apps, Command-F will typically perform the Find function in the app that you are currently using.  
• Command Key: If you hold down the Command key without pressing any other key for a few seconds, you will see a list of all of the keyboard shortcuts in that particular app. That is useful for learning new shortcuts.  It is also a useful way to find out what an app can do, with different functions often organized into sections like File, Edit, Format, View, etc.—not unlike the “File” and “Edit” menus at the top of a window on a computer.
• Command-H:  Hide the current app and bring you to the Home Screen.  You can remember this one either by thinking of the “H” as representing “Hide” or as representing “Home”.
• Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot.
• Shift-Left-Arrow or Shift-Right-Arrow: Highlight text one character at a time, in the direction you press the arrow key.
• Shift-Option-Left-Arrow or Shift-Option-Right-Arrow: Highlight text one word at a time, in the direction you press the arrow key.

There are also some useful keyboard shortcuts that use the Globe Key.  Only certain keyboards have a Globe key, such as the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad or the keyboard that Apple includes with some of the newest Macs.  If your keyboard doesn’t have that key and you want to use one of these shortcuts, you can tell your iPad to pretend that another key on the keyboard is the Globe key.  For example, if you don’t use the Caps Lock key on your keyboard very often, you can go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Hardware Keyboard -> Modifier Keys and tell the iPad to map the Caps Lock key to the Globe key.

• Emoji picker.  The Globe key can help you to select Emoji more quickly.  This is helpful because one of the disadvantages of using an external keyboard is that it typically takes some extra steps to select Emoji. First, you can tap the keyboard button at the bottom of the screen and then tap Show Emoji.  Second, you can use the shortcut Control-Spacebar, which brings up a menu to switch between keyboards, and then you can continue to tap Control-Spacebar until the Emoji keyboard is selected.  The Globe key gives you a faster way to select Emoji: just press the Globe key and go directly to the Emjoi picker.  To enable this shortcut, you need to go to  Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Hardware Keyboard -> Press GLOBE for Emoji.  If you prefer using Emoji more than you prefer using other Globe key shortcuts, then this setting is perfect.
  
• UPDATE:  In a comment to this post, John Whitley pointed out another easy way to bring up the Emoji picker: Control-Command-Spacebar.  I knew about that one in the past, but I forget about it over time.  Thanks for the reminder, John!
• Globe Key-A: Open/Close Dock.  If you have a keyboard close to the bottom of your screen, the keyboard might make it more awkward to swipe up from the bottom to display the Dock.  Thanks to this keyboard shortcut, you can show the dock without your hands leaving the keyboard.
• Globe Key-C: Show the Control Center.  Thus, this saves you the trouble of swiping down from the top right of the screen.  However, you will still need to touch the screen to select an item from the Control Center.

Of course, there are many other keyboard shortcuts that you can use on the iPad, and your favorites may be different from mine. For example, I shared a very large number of text selection keyboard shortcuts in this post from 2016.  My advice is to find some that seem useful and then use them frequently for a period of time so that they become second nature to you. Once you get to that point, you will be much more efficient when using an external keyboard with your iPad.

Podcast episode 48: Muted Warning, Mucho MagSafe, and a Five Letter Word for VP

Brett Burney and I discussed lots of interesting topics in this week's episode of the In the News podcast.  We start by sharing a warning that a mute button in a videoconference app might not give you the privacy that you expect.  Then we discuss Brett's new iPad Pro and how Apple could update the operating system to improve the iPad for when you want to be productive.  We also discuss improvements to the Apple MagSafe Battery, efforts to circumvent Apple's privacy protection efforts, Wordle, and much more.

In our In the Know segment, we talk about using an external keyboard with the iPad.  Brett shares a tip for using the trackpad Apple's Magic Keyboard.  I share iPad keyboard shortcut tips.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just use your podcast player of choice.  You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

In the News

The iPad operating system has come a long way from when the iPad was introduced in 2010.  And every once in a while, we get advanced features, such as multitasking and the ability to use an external mouse with an interface even better than the one on a Mac.  Nevertheless, I often find myself wishing that the iPad's operating system was more powerful, and I'm not alone.  This week, José Adorno of 9to5Mac explains why he wishes that the iPad operating system was more sophisticated, especially on the iPad Pro.  I heard a similar and even better argument for the same thing by Federico Vitticci on the latest episode of the Connected podcast, starting around the 62 minute mark.  The processor in the iPad Pro is incredibly powerful, better than most computers, but there are still many times when the iPad cannot do what a computer can do simply because of the limitations in the operating system.  Hopefully, Apple will address this in the next update to the iPad operating system, and we should get a sneak peek when Apple has its WWDC conference in about six weeks.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Last year, California attorney David Sparks reviewed the Apple MagSafe Battery Pack.  He started his longer review of this $99 battery ($89.95 on Amazon) that connects magnetically to the back of an iPhone with a one-sentence review:  "The MagSafe Battery Pack is overpriced but super convenient."  As of this week, it is even more convenient.  The original version of that product charged an iPhone using 15W of power (if connected with a cable to a 20W or higher source), but that's not the way that one would normally use that product.  Normally, you would be out-and-about and then you would connect the battery, and in that mode, it provided a slow 5W charge.  Apple updated a support document this week to note that if you update the firmware on the MagSafe Battery Pack, it can now charge on-the-go with 7.5W.  It's nice to see that 50% improvement.  For many months now, my plan has been to buy a MagSafe Battery Pack whenever I saw a need for it.  But so far, the battery on my iPhone 13 Pro has been working so well that I don't see a need for convenient and portable charging.  Nevertheless, if you own this product or have been thinking about buying it, now it is better.
• Sparks also provides a tip that I didn't know: if you type * # 0 6 # * on your iPhone, you will immediately see a screen containing your iPhone's EID, IMEI, IMEI2, and MEID numbers, just in case a tech support person ever asks you for those.
• In an article for Attorney at Work, Joan Feldman and Joy White ask a number of legal technology experts—Catherine Tang, Brett Burney, Camille Steel, Catherine Sanders, Juda Strawcyznski, Tom Lambotte, and Neerino Petro—to share some of their favorite apps.
• Dan Goodin of Ars Technica reports that while Apple's App Tracing Transparency (ATT) feature—the one that requires apps to ask for your permission before tracking certain activity—is slowly become less useful as companies find ways to circumvent ATT.
• Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac reports on a class action lawsuit filed in Russia against Apple by iPhone users who are upset about Apple's withdrawal of Apple Pay as a result of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. 
• Apple's Maps app can provide cycling directions, but only for parts of the United States.  Justin O'Beirne, who tracks updates to Apple Maps, notes that this month Apple added cycling directions for some additional areas in the Midwest (including Chicago, Columbus) and the Northeast.  He speculates that Texas and the Gulf Coast might see cycling directions next.
• If you use an Apple Card (credit card), Mike Peterson of AppleInsider reports that you can now earn 3% Daily Cash at Ace Hardware.
• You can currently get the silver version of AirPods Max—the over-the-head version of AirPods—for $100 off on Amazon.
• Meanwhile, Apple's HomePod—which it no longer sells—is now being sold for more than the original $299 price because there is nothing else quite like it on the market according to Sean Hollister of The Verge.
• In an article for Macworld, Glenn Fleishman explains how you can search for photos on your iPhone or iPad that contain a picture of text—but unfortunately, you cannot do this in the most natural place to perform such a search: the Photos app itself.  Apple needs to fix this.
• Tim Higgins of the Wall Street Journal reports on Apple's efforts to design its own chips, first on the iPhone/iPad and then for the Mac.
• Every day, I play Wordle on my iPad.  Vice President Harris also plays Wordle every day, and she describes her Wordle passion to Claire McNear of The Ringer.  In that article, Harris also reveals that security concerns prevent her from being able to text anyone.
• Speaking of security, Tristan Green of The New Web reports on not-yet-published research that reveals that many video conferencing apps still capture your voice data even if you have the mute button turned on.  We need to wait for publication to find out which apps on which platforms do this.
• And finally, if you take advantage of Apple's trade-in service when you purchase a new iPhone, what happens to your old iPhone?  Some of them are refurbished and resold, but others are taken apart and recycled.  The robot that Apple uses to take apart iPhones for recycling is called Daisy, and YouTuber Sara Dietschy created a video of Apple's facility in Texas to show how it works.  Pretty neat stuff.

Podcast episode 47: Minding Your Apps, QR Code Cautions, and iMacro Photography

This week's episode of the In the News podcast is now available.  Brett Burney and I discuss the recent update to iMovie, apps that assist with mental health, AirPods, QR Codes, macro photography, and much more. 

In our In the Know segment, we focus on the home screen.  Brett explains how to change the size of icons on an iPad home screen.  I explain why you should use the quick action menus on apps.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just use your podcast player of choice.  You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

In the News

This week, David McAfee of Bloomberg Law reports on a new legal ethics opinion from the New York State Bar Association, Opinion 1240 (4/8/2022) (PDF download link).  The opinion addresses smartphone apps that ask for permission to access Contacts on a lawyer's smartphone.  Contacts will often include entries for clients of the lawyer, and these entries can sometimes be confidential.  For example, the fact that a client has even sought the advice of the lawyer is sometimes confidential information, and that confidential information could be exposed to a third party by virtue of giving an app access to all Contacts.  The opinion recommends considering whether entries in Contacts are "identified as clients, as friends, as something else, or as nothing at all," and also recommends considering whether the entry includes addresses, phone numbers, financial data, or any other non-public information.  The conclusion of the opinion is:  "If 'contacts' on a lawyer's smartphone include any client whose identity or other information is confidential under Rule 1.6, then the lawyer may not consent to share contacts with a smartphone app unless the lawyer concludes that no human being will view that confidential information, and that the information will not be sold or transferred to additional third parties, without the client’s consent."  This is an interesting opinion that is worth considering.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reports on a speech that Apple CEO Tim Cook gave this week to an international organization for privacy professionals.
• Christina Caron of the New York Times notes (gift link) that there are thousands of apps that claim to improve your mental health, and she provides advice for determining which apps may be the best for you.
• Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reminds us all that if you give away or sell a pair of AirPods without first unpairing them from your own iPhone, the subsequent user will get all sorts of error messages from Apple's Find My technology.  This is exactly what you would want to happen if the AirPods were stolen.  But if you intended to transfer ownership, it can be a real pain, especially for companies that specialize in refurbishing AirPods.
• Cade Metz and Adam Satariano of the New York Times report (gift link) that as many as 100,000 tech workers have fled from Russia in light of Putin's invasion of Ukraine.  The article notes that these tend to be "young, educated, forward-looking people" and thus their exodus could have economic ramifications for the future of Russia.
• Sheena Vasani of The Verge reports on a new free iPad app called Staybl.  It is designed for people who have Parkinson's or other health issues that cause hand tremors.  The app features a web browser, and when the app senses through the accelerator that you are shaking your iPad, it moves the web browser in the opposite direction so that the web page appears to stay in the same place.
• I've long been a fan of the Deliveries app; here is an updated review that I wrote in 2017.  I like having a central place to store tracking information for different delivery services.  Unfortunately, a recent post by the developer notes that, in the future, the app will no longer be able to show tracking information directly in the app because of changes being made by shipping companies.  The app will continue to work, but it will have fewer features—although the developer notes that "we’ll do our best to keep making it as useful as we’re able to."
• My wife and I recently dined at a restaurant where there were no menus.  Instead, there was a QR code at the table that you scanned with a smartphone to bring up the menu page of the restaurant's website.  This is just one example, but I've noticed that QR codes are on the rise recently.  They are convenient, often saving you the trouble of typing a website address, but there is a security risk as well.  What if a criminal covers up a QR code with a sticker containing a different QR code that directs you to a malicious website that tricks you into providing your personal information?  Stacey Harris does a good job of explaining all of the risks of QR codes in a post on the 1Password blog.
• For All Mankind and Ted Lasso are two of my favorite shows on Apple TV+.  Nellie Andreeva of DEADLINE reports that actress Jodi Balfour, who plays Ellen Wilson on For All Mankind, will have a major recurring role in the next season of Ted Lasso. 
• Speaking of For All Mankind, the show returns to Apple TV+ for Season 3 on June 10, as reported by A. Khalid of Engadget.  Season 3 takes place on Mars in the year 1995.  (That's the same year that, as a first-year associate, I helped my law firm create its first website.  You can still see it, in all of its glory, using this link thanks to Archive.org, including my original bio page.  Yikes!)
• Speaking of Apple TV+, last week the service aired the season finale of Severance.  That show got better with each episode and the season finale was great—but also frustrating because it ends with a cliffhanger.  If you haven't watched Severance yet, half of me recommends that you do so now because it is such a good show.  The other half of me recommends that you wait until the week before Season 2 comes out to soften the blow of a cliffhanger followed by presumably a year or more before we can see what happens next.  After you do watch the first season, Ben Travers of IndieWire has a good wrap-up, which includes interviews with show creator Dan Erickson and director/executive producer Ben Stiller.  Severance is one of those rare TV shows that I want to watch a second time, but I may wait to do so until the second season is approaching.
• And finally, if you want to see some really interesting pictures, I urge you to check out this page on the Apple website devoted to the winners of Apple's recent iPhone macro photography challenge.  Folks used the macro lens on an iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max and submitted their best pictures to an international panel of judges.  The winning entries are fantastic.  Here are two of my favorites, but go to that page where you can not only see the picture, but you can also read what the photographer had to say about each picture and what the judges had to say about why they liked each picture.

iMovie update makes it easier and faster to create videos that look great

Apple introduced the first iMac in 1998, and the first model that I purchased was the iMac DV in 1999.  The "DV" indicated that this computer was designed to work with digital video, and along with the iMac DV, Apple introduced its iMovie software so that folks like me who were not video professionals could create home movies that looked like they were made by a professional.  In 2010, the same year that the first iPad was sold, Apple released a version of iMovie for iOS.  For the past 12 years, I've done most of my video creation on a Mac, not an iPhone or iPad, and a number of years ago I moved up from iMovie to Apple's Final Cut Pro software to give me more flexibility.  But I've always enjoyed having the ability to use iMovie on an iPad or even my iPhone whenever I wanted to spend a short-to-medium amount of time creating a nice video.  For example, I remember taking an overnight train ride with my kids many years ago when they were younger (and cuter).  After taking some fun videos of the kids during the day, I used my iPhone one night, in the tight bed of an Amtrak train's sleeper car, to put the best clips into a movie to share with the grandparents.  I had fun making the video in iMovie, and the grandparents got to wake up to a fun video.  Since the train we were taking from New Orleans to Chicago is called the City of New Orleans, you can probably guess what song I used in that movie.

Yesterday, Apple updated iMovie for the iPad and iPhone to version 3.0.  You can still use iMovie to create your own videos from scratch, but Apple added two new ways to create movies: Magic Movie and Storyboard.

Magic Movie

The idea behind Magic Movie is simple: select some videos or photos, give them to iMovie, and let it create a movie for you.  For videos, iMovie will select just the best parts of the video.  For photos, iMovie will select just the best photos.  Then it puts them into a movie for you.  That's about as easy as it gets.

Fortunately, you don't have to limit yourself to the decisions made by iMovie.  You can edit the parts of the video in the movie.  You can decide whether you want individual photos to appear in the movie for more or less time.  You can select additional photos and videos and delete one or more selected by iMovie.  You can add titles, change the overall look of the movie by selecting a style, change the music that plays along with the movie, add a voiceover (to act as the narrator of your video), change the order of photos or videos, and much more.

The Magic Movie feature is clearly based on the Memories feature of the Photos app.  At their core, these are two very different features.  Magic Movie in iMovie is for when you want to select the media to start with and have more control over the final movie that is created.  Memories works automatically in the background, surprising you by picking a movie topic that may not have ever occurred to you, such as a movie based on a trip you took to the wine country 12 years ago or a movie that combines all of the pictures and videos of waterfalls that you have taken over the last 20 years. 

However, there is a version of Memories that has a lot in common with Magic Movie: a memory based on a specific album.  In the Photos app on an iPad or iPhone, you can select an album of Photos, tap on the three dots at the top right, and then select Play Memory Video.  Photos will then use the Memories technology to create and play a movie with all of the pictures/videos in the album.  In some ways, Photos can create a better video: (1) it will automatically use all of the photos/videos in the album, although you can manually deselect some of them; (2) if you took the picture with an iPhone and have the Live Photos feature turned on, you will sometimes see a very short video clip instead of the photo, which is often much more fun; (3) you can pause the movie and even swipe back to see previous photos and the soundtrack will keep playing.  But in other ways, the movie that you create using the Magic Movie feature of iMovie is more powerful: (1) you can rearrange photos and videos to control the order in which they appear in the movie; (2) you can add photos/videos from your entire Photos library without being limited to the contents of a specific album; (3) you can add titles to pictures; and (4) you can adjust the speed of a video clip to make it faster or slower.

Overall iMovie is more powerful than Photos when it comes to creating and editing a movie.  And my guess it that some of the differences I noted above will come to iMovie in a future update.  For example, it seems obvious to add to iMovie the ability to use either the still photo or the Live Photos video, and I'd be shocked if that wasn't added in a future update since that already works when you create a movie using Memories.  There are also some features that have long been in iMovie but are not currently in the Magic Movie part of the app.  For example, if you create a movie from scratch in iMovie, you can control what transitions are used between photos or videos, such as a fade, a wipe, etc.  When you edit a movie created using Magic Movie, you will sometimes see different types of transitions between photos or videos but you cannot change them.  Again, I suspect that this will come in a future update.

If I want to take my time editing a movie, Final Cut Pro on my iMac is always going to offer more options and power.  (And I hope that one day we see Final Cut Pro on the iPad.)  But for putting something together more quickly while still maintaining some control over the final product, I'm impressed by the new Magic Movie feature of iMovie.

Storyboard

Most of the home movies that I create are strictly chronological.  I start with the video that I took first, and I end with the video that I took last.  The primary editing that I do is to cut out all of the boring stuff in the middle.  A professional movie takes a more sophisticated approach.  It may start with a wide view of a location, then cut to a close-in view, then switch to a different camera angle, etc.  I'm a lawyer, not Steven Spielberg, so I have virtually no experience making those sorts of movies.  But with the new Storyboard feature in iMovie 3, I might be able to fake it pretty convincingly.

When you select the Storyboard feature, you are asked to select the type of movie that you are creating.  Is this a cooking video?  A top five video?  A makeover video?  A trip video?  A book report?  For now, there are 21 types of storyboards to choose from, and I presume that even more will come later.

After you select a storyboard, iMovie will tell you what type of clips that you need for the movie.  For example, let's say you are creating a Celebration a movie with clips from someone's birthday party.  Tap Celebration and then look on the left for the types of videos that you will need.

iMovie suggests that you start with a sneak peak video — a memorable moment from the celebration (perhaps the person blowing out candles).  Then move on to the Staging part of the video, first with a wide shot of where the event is taking place, then with a close up on something special, then with a medium shot such as people getting ready.  Next, you have the Build Up, again with three different types of shots.  Then you have the Main Event with another three shots.  Then the Highlights, where iMovie suggests three medium shots followed by a close up.  Then in the Wrap up, iMovie suggests a wide shot, followed by a medium shot, followed by a lower third shot where you might, for example, thank your guests for coming.

Each storyboard type has different storyboard elements that are specific to that type of video.  You don't have to follow each of the recommended steps, and you can always rearrange and add video clips later.  But if you use a storyboard as a template—looking at it before you even start taking videos so that you know what types of shots you will want and then applying video clip to those template elements afterwards—you will end up with a movie that is likely to be much more interesting than a simple chronological list of videos in the order that they occurred.

The Storyboard feature looks like a nice guide for creating much more entertaining videos.  I look forward to trying it out.

Conclusion

It has been a long time since Apple added major new features to iMovie.  Indeed, this is version 3, and version 2 came out eight years ago.  But these two features look like great additions.  Magic Movie looks great for when you want to quickly create a movie.  Storyboard looks great for when you want to take your time, plan your shots, and then assemble something that is likely to hold the interest of your audience.  The iPhone has long been capable of taking high-quality photos and videos.  Now, we have new ways to put it all together into a movie using Apple's free iMovie app.

Click here to get iMovie (free): 

Podcast episode 46: Calling SOS, Writing GoodNotes, and Two Decimal Points

This week's episode of the In the News podcast is now available for you to listen and/or watch.  Brett and I talk in more detail about the copy-and-paste trick that was my "In the Know" tip last week, updates to Apple's productivity apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote), the GoodNotes app, the latest news on Apple TV+ and other streaming services, using your iPhone to call emergency services, and more.

In our In the Know segment, we discuss the Files app on the iPhone and iPad.  Brett explains how you can use Files to merge PDF files.  I explain how you can use Files to rename a photo before you send it to someone else, something that (surprisingly) you cannot do in the Photos app.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just use your podcast player of choice.  You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

In the News

This week, we learned about some ways that Apple technology has a role to play in opposing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  First, here is an interesting report from David Snow of Cult of Mac.  Apparently, when Russian soldiers invaded many Ukrainian towns, they stole items from Ukrainian homes.  This included stealing Apple products, such as AirPods.  Because of Apple's Find My technology, Ukrainians have been able to track the Russian troops who stole these devices.  Second, Joseph Menn and Greg Miller of the Washington Post report (gift article link) that Apple is once again allowing iPhone users in Russia to download an app run by supporters of Alexei Navalny—the opposition leader who Putin tried to kill and who is now in jail.  The article notes that, in the past, law enforcement agents in Russia had threatened to arrest top Apple and Google officials if the app was not removed.  I'm glad that Apple is doing this, but I do wonder if one of Apple's reasons for doing so is to justify the continued operation of the App Store in Russia when so many other companies are leaving the country.  Don't get me wrong, I actually support this.  I know that iPhones are being used by many folks in Russia as a way to send messages and get accurate news as an alternative to the propaganda on the "news" stations operated by the government.  I hope that folks in Russia will continue to be able to use their iPhones and other technology to learn the truth and perhaps even bring about changes.  And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:

• I've previously discussed the reasons that the new iPad Air is a better value for most attorneys than the iPad Pro.  California attorney David Sparks came to the same conclusion, as he explains in this post on his MacSparky website.
• GoodNotes has been my favorite app for taking handwritten notes on my iPad since I first reviewed the app a decade ago.  At only $7.99, I have long considered the app to be a bargain.  But starting this week, it is an even better bargain.  As noted on the GoodNotes blog, the app is now free to download and you can use it to create three different notebooks.  That is a great way to kick the tires on the app and see if it is for you.  If you like it, then you can pay the same $7.99 to get the full version of the app.  If you own an iPad and any kind of stylus, such as the Apple Pencil, you should download this app right now.
• On last week's episode of the In the News podcast, my "In the Know" tip at the end was using your fingers to pinch a picture off of an iPhone and then drop it on to an iPad, as shown by a video that went viral.  Dan Moren of Six Colors shares that video and explains how and why it works.  If you haven't seen this one yet, check it out.  It's very cool and very useful—I was just using it this afternoon to drop a picture into some notes that I was taking using the GoodNotes app as I was preparing for a trial.
• Moren also notes that Apple announced the dates for its WWDC developer conference: June 6 through 10.  That means that we can expect an Apple keynote presentation on June 6, which is sure to include a preview of iOS 16 and perhaps some new product announcements.  Mark your calendars.
• Apple updated its Keynote, Pages, and Numbers apps.  José Adorno of 9to5Mac reports on what is new.  For example, in Keynote, you can now adjust the font size more precisely with up to two decimal places.  If you care about the details of your Keynote slides so much that two decimal places in a font size is going to improve your life, then you are spending far more time working on your Keynote slides than I am.
• Today, the season finale of Season 1 of Severance is streaming on Apple TV+.  I am very much looking forward to watching it tonight; this show has been fantastic.  Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reports that—to the surprise of nobody—Apple has picked up the show for a second season.  If you enjoy shows with a lot of mystery and intrigue (such as the first season of Lost) and you haven't started watching Severance yet, you are in for a treat.
• Tonight is also the first night of Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+.  The first game is the New York Mets at the Washington Nationals at 7 Eastern, and the second game is the Houston Astros at the Los Angeles Angels at 9:30 Eastern.  For now, you can watch for free even if you don't subscribe to Apple TV+, but I suspect that will change after a few weeks.  Jason Snell of Six Colors provides details on how Apple is working with MLB to bring some new features to the baseball broadcast.
• Sarah Perez of TechCrunch reports that the Hulu app now supports SharePlay.  That means that you and up to 31 other people can watch a show on Hulu at the same time during a FaceTime call.
• Todd Spangler of Variety reports that a new HBO Max app is coming to Apple TV.  It is based on a new platform, which means that it is more stable and has more features.
• When there is a new version of iOS available, I often post about it here so that you can manually update your iPhone.  If you don't do so, eventually your iPhone will tell you about the update, but it may not be right away.  Stephen Warwick of iMore reports that Apple's Craig Federighi explained the update process to a Reddit user:  "We incrementally rollout new iOS updates by first making them available for those that explicitly seek them out in Settings, and then 1-4 weeks later (after we've received feedback on the update) ramp up to rolling out to devices with auto-update enabled."  I didn't realize that it can take up to four weeks to receive notice of an iOS update.
• Tim Blakely, a 41-year-old personal trainer who lives in the UK, has been snowboarding for the past 17 years, so he figured that he would be fine when he went snowboarding a few weeks ago, by himself, in the Swiss Alps.  But then he fell into a crevasse so deep that he was unable to climb out of it.  Fortunately, he had his iPhone, so he was able to click the side button five times to call emergency services.  Swiss Rescue services found him and saved him.  You can see pictures and the rest of the story on his Instagram page, and additional information and pictures are in this article by Neil Sears and Alexandria Williams of the Daily Mail.  One of the pictures was taken by Blakely when he was stuck in the crevasse looking straight up, and every time I look at that picture and think about being stuck there, it gives me goosebumps.  That settles it; no more snowboarding in the Swiss Alps for me.
• By the way, calling Emergency SOS (such as 9-1-1 in the U.S.) works a little differently depending upon what kind of iPhone you have.  Blakely's story is a good reminder that you should review this page of the Apple website to learn how to call Emergency SOS on an iPhone.  Here is a similar page with instructions for doing the same thing using an Apple Watch.
• And finally, I enjoyed watching the trailer for a new show called Prehistoric Planet, coming to Apple TV+ next month.  It starts off like any other nature documentary narrated by David Attenborough.  But then you realize that this is going to be something very different.

Podcast episode 45: Braille in 5G, Overcast in Color, Plus Apple TV+

Due to some schedule conflicts, this week's episode of the In the News podcast was recorded and released over the weekend instead of Friday.  Nevertheless, this was a good one that addresses lots of interesting topics.  We start by discussing Apple's recent security updates to address a zero-day exploit.  Next, we talk about the new version of the Overcast app, which has a great new interface.  We also discuss AirTags and other tracking devices, the introduction of the first iPad 12 years ago, using 5G for your home internet, and a new braille scanner.

In our In the Know segment, Brett explains how Apple's Podcasts app does a good job of recommending additional podcasts that you might want to check out.  And I share a tip for quickly sharing photos between an iPhone and an iPad: pinch the photo on one device, then reverse-pinch your fingers where you want to drop the picture on the other device — a simple set of gestures that seems like magic when you do it.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just use your podcast player of choice.  You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

In the News

As Jason Cross of Macworld reports, iOS 15.4.1 was released yesterday.  It contains bug fixes and security patches, but what caught my eye is that it fixes a security flaw that, according to Apple, "may have been actively exploited."  Thus, if you have not yet updated your devices, you may well be vulnerable right now.  You should update your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, and anything else sold by Apple that has the ability to install an update.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories discusses a major new update to Overcast, my favorite app for listening to podcasts.  There are new features (such as a great In Progress list), but my favorite part is the improved interface, which looks fantastic and works great.  It also looks better in CarPlay.  For more on the new version of Overcast, the developer of the app, Marco Arment, wrote this blog post.
• Speaking of podcasts, the next episode of the In the News podcast that I co-host with Brett Burney will come out this weekend instead of today.
• John Voorhees discusses the new features added to CARROT Weather this week.
• Geoffrey Fowler of the Washington Post tested how his baby stroller could be tracked by a stalker using an Apple AirTag, the Tile, and the Samsung SmartTag.  Only the AirTag resulted in Fowler receiving a privacy alert, and only on his iPhone.  For the other trackers on an iPhone, and for all three trackers for someone using an Android phone, the person must manually launch an app to check and see if the person is being tracked.
• It has been a dozen years since the iPad was first introduced, and 12 years ago yesterday, the first reviews were released, according to Luke Dormehl of Cult of Mac.  Time flies.
• Jason Snell of Six Colors reports that Apple has launched its Business Essential Service.  When a business signs up, Apple provides device management tools, support for technical issues, repair for Apple products, and expanded iCloud storage.  Snell says that the service seems particularly valuable for businesses that have limited or no in-house IT staff.
• I haven't seen this yet myself (perhaps because my iPhone uses AT&T), but John Gruber of Daring Fireball reports that many Verizon customers are now seeing spam text messages that appear to come from your own phone.  That's both annoying and creepy.
• CODA, the Apple TV+ movie that won the Oscar for Best Picture, is now back in 600 U.S. theaters starting today, according to Brent Lang of Variety.  Although I enjoyed watching the movie at home, I can imagine that some of the funny moments might be even more enjoyable if you are with a crowd.
• Troy Kotsur, who played the father in CODA and also won an Oscar, is interviewed by Clayton Davis of Variety, and the article is a good read.
• Apple TV+ has a reputation for having a small number of offerings.  That was certainly true when the service started in 2019, and the service will always have fewer offerings than Netflix since it emphasizes quality over quantity.  But that doesn't mean that there still just a few shows.  I see a tweet from the company stating that the new episodes airing today are (1) the premier of Slow Horses, a spy series starring Gary Oldman, (2) episode 4 of Pachinko, a show about a family of Korean immigrants that has received good reviews and is based on a New York Times bestseller, (3) episode 8 of Severance, a show that I have been loving, (4) episode 5 of WeCrashed, a show about the rise and fall of WeWork, (5) episode 5 of The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, which stars Samuel L. Jackson, and (6) season 2 episode 15 of Central Park, an animated show with lots of songs.  That's not bad for a Friday, and demonstrates the growing variety of shows on Apple TV+.  Indeed, Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac says that Apple TV+ has debuted a new series or film every Friday of 2022.
• Shane Ryan of Paste reviews Slow Horses, and says that "Apple TV+ has a hit on its hands" because it is a "genuinely funny comedy, and above all, a terrific spy saga."  And I see that Mick Jagger wrote the theme song.  I look forward to watching it this weekend.
• A week from today, Friday Night Baseball begins on Apple TV+.  Jason Snell of Six Colors explains what we know and don't yet know about the broadcast.
• Chuong Nguyen of Digital Trends reviews the new Eero Pro 6E.
• In an article for TidBITS, Julio Ojeda-Zapata discusses using a 5G service for home internet instead of a wired interest service provider.
• Justin Meyers of Gadget Hacks recommends using Spotlight Search on an iPad as a calculator.  That did not occur to me.
• Braille Scanner is a new app by Aaron Stephenson that lets you take a picture of a document containing braille and have it translated to text.  Click here to download the app for free.
• I play Wordle on my iPad every day.  If you do too, you may be interested in this article by Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica, which shares what the game's creator, Josh Wardle, had to say about the development of the game and sale to the New York Times during a presentation at a game conference.
• If you have been using Apple products for a long time, as I have, you'll appreciate this Easter Egg in the Messages app that is discussed in this tweet from Jason Robinson.
• And finally, here is an inside look at the Slow Horses series that debuts today on Apple TV+: