A few weeks ago, I discussed how much I have enjoyed watching lots of different TV shows and movies on Apple TV+. But that is just one of Apple's services, and there have been a lot of good things to say about all sorts of services offered by Apple. Apple Vice President Eddy Cue, who is in charge of many of these services, wrote an interesting article on the Apple website about the past year of entertainment services at Apple. He's the boss, so you expect him to say good things, but I was still impressed by the sheer volume of high quality offerings that he was able to mention from 2022. I encourage you to check out his article because you might be surprised too. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- I wasn't able to read this article because it is beyond a paywall, but the title sounds interesting: Exemplary Evidence: Proving distracted driving using iPhone forensics, by John J. Carney for The Minnesota Lawyer. The iPhone can keep people safe while they are driving, but if a driver gets into an accident, that driver's iPhone could contain evidence that could be used against him in court.
- Michael Simon of Macworld explains how to use the Live Activities feature of iOS 16 and the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro to see live sports scores from NBA and MLB games.
- Here's an advantage of the Apple Watch Ultra that I didn't anticipate: it works great for detecting gunshots when strapped to a drone. Oliver Haslam of iMore explains that a Norwegian company is using the Apple Watch Ultra, because of its longer battery life and better built-in microphones, to detect gunshots for security services and law enforcement.
- If you are using a snowmobile, skiing, or doing some other activity that has a lot of sudden stops, quick turns, or jumping or traveling over rough terrain, consider disabling your iPhone and Apple Watch's crash detection features. As Dan Kraker of MPR News from Minnesota warns, keeping crash detection turned on while doing these sorts of activities can trigger unintentional calls to emergency services. On the iPhone, open the Settings app, go to Emergency SOS, and turn off Call After Severe Crash. To turn off crash detection on the Apple Watch you need to open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, then go to the My Watch tab, tap Emergency SOS, and turn off Call After Severe Crash.
- Chance Miller of 9to5Mac writes that Apple Maps is rolling out a partnership with SpotHero to help you find available parking spots from within the Maps app.
- Joe Rossignol of MacRumors reports that businesses can now customize their location card in the Apple Maps app by using a free Business Connect tool.
- And finally, Apple created a funny, 30-second video to show off the new unsend message feature of the Messages app. It is called R.I.P. Leon. Just keep in mind that this feature only works if both you and the person you are messaging are using iOS 16 or later, iPadOS 16.1 or later, or macOS Ventura or later. If the other person is using an Android phone, then you will have some explaining to do about Leon.
