Month: March 2023

Along with lots of operating system updates including iOS 16.4, Apple released a new app this week: Apple Music Classical. If you already subscribe to Apple Music, you can use this app for no extra charge. I suspect that most folks don’t listen to classical music very often, and that’s true for me as well.  But there is a lot to like about this app.  First, it does a nice job of providing the additional metadata about a song that is especially relevant to classical music, such as composers, periods, soloists, conductors, etc.  Second, there is a lot of music in there that is not in the traditional Apple Music app.  For example, my favorite Mezzo-Soprano is Stephanie Blythe.  She appears on five albums in Apple Music but nine albums in Apple Music Classical.  Apple calls Apple Music Classical “the world’s largest classical music catalog.”  Third, there is lots of rich information in here, including tons of playlists for longtime fans of classical music and beginning steps for those of us who are, for the most part, novices.  I’ve particularly enjoyed a nine-part series featured in the Listen Now section called The Story of Classical in which host Guy Jones explains what to listen for, provides stories behind the music, and of course provides lots of great examples of the music.  It’s like a crash course in classical music.  There are curious omissions—why is there no iPad or Mac app? where is CarPlay support?—but what Apple has provided seems quite good.  Click here for a 30-second video from Apple with a fun introduction to the app.  And click here for an excellent review of Apple Music by Kirk McElhearn for TidBITS, in which he does a great job of explaining and showing what Apple got right and what needs more work.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Apple announced this week that its developer conference, WWDC, will take place June 5 to 9, 2023.  For those of us who are not developers, that means two things.  First, we can expect to see the first previews of iOS 17 (and iPadOS 17, etc.) that week.  Second, we can expect some Apple announcements during a keynote presentation on June 5, and all of the buzz is that Apple will preview its new AR/VR goggles.  After all of the rumors for years, it is interesting to think that we will finally have some ideas of what Apple plans to do in this space in just over two months.
• iOS 16.4 came out this week, and if you haven’t updated yet, you should do so soon—if for no other reason, for the security updates.  But lots of new features are in there. For example, Chance Miller of 9to5Mac points out the changes in the Apple Music app.
• Tim Hardwick of 9to5Mac points out that Apple’s new smart home architecture is also available in this update, and he explains what to do in the Home app to update your devices.
• Justin Meyers of Gadget Hacks put together the best comprehensive list of changes in iOS 16.4 that I have seen, complete with pictures and animations to make it clear what is new.
• John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes that to take advantage of the new Voice Isolation feature for cellphone calls, you need to turn it on via the Control Center during a call.  That is a bizarre way to enable this feature, and I suspect it means that most folks will never discover it.
• Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac reviews the new version of an app that I had never heard of before called Hello There.  It is a greeting card scanner and organizer.  Someone sends you a greeting card and you enjoy it, but then what do you do with it?  With this app, you scan it and organize it so that you can look at it again in the future but you don’t have to keep the physical card.  It’s an interesting idea for an app.
• There are lots of fascinating Apple Stores around the world. One of the particularly interesting ones is the one in Grand Central Terminal in New York. If you haven’t seen it before, Nathanial Pangaro of AppleInsider provides a walk through.
• Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac reports that Apple is beginning to roll out its new Apple Pay Later service, which gives you six weeks to pay-off interest-free loans for online items that you purchase.
• Filipe Espósito of 9to5Mac shares the story of a man who lost his Apple Watch at sea near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But thanks to Find My and a nice swimmer who discovered his watch, he was able to get it back.
• If you use the OverDrive app to borrow digital books from the library, Sarah Perez of TechCrunch reports that the app is shutting down on May 1, to be replaced by the Libby app.
• If you have been enjoying watching Season of Ted Lasso, as I have, then you’ll also enjoy this short inside-look video with some short cast interviews.  If you haven’t been watching Ted Lasso … well, I certainly hope that you have some good reason for that decision.  Maybe you want to binge them all at the end of the season?
• Speaking of good Apple TV+ shows, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Shrinking, a show created by many of the people behind Ted Lasso.  Funny, heart warming, and excellent.
• If you want to try Apple TV+ without paying for it, Andrew Orr of AppleInsider reports that because Apple TV+ will premiere the movie “Tetris” this weekend, you can now play the game Tetris and earn points to get a free one-month trial of Apple TV+.  He says it only took him five games to earn enough points to get the free trial.
• If you want to track upcoming TV shows or movies to watch, video games to play, and books to read, attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reviews an app called Sequel that looks really nice.  The review led me to download it to try it out.
• Oliver Haslam of iMore reports that if you are in a long-distance relationship, you and your partner can purchase a kissing machine accessory for the iPhone so that the two of you can share a kiss.  This would normally be the sentence in which I comment upon the product, but frankly, I find myself at a loss for words.
• And finally, here is an amusing video from Apple for the AirPods Pro called Quiet the Noise.  It shows off the noise cancellation features in a fun way:

Apple updated the operating systems on just about all of its products yesterday.  There are too many changes to discuss them all, but here are the more significant changes that jumped out at me for the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.  Also, remember that Apple always improves security with every update, so even if none of the changes seem relevant to you, you should still upgrade soon to get a safer iPhone, iPad, etc.

iPhone: iOS 16.4

• If you add a website to your home screen—which lets you tap an icon to launch a website just like you would launch an app—the website can take advantage of push notifications, much like a regular app can receive notifications.
• In the top right corner of the Music app, there is a circle containing a picture of your face (or a generic person icon). You can tap it to access your profile and change certain settings.
• It is now easier to get information on AppleCare coverage. Go to Settings -> General -> About -> Coverage. You will see whether you have AppleCare coverage on your iPhone and other devices paired to your iPhone.
• The Apple Books app reintroduced a page turning animation.
• Emergency SOS via Satellite comes to Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal.
• The Wallet app now has an order tracking widget. On the main screen of the Wallet app, at the top right, there is a circle with an icon of a cardboard box. Tap that icon to see purchases that you made using ApplePay and you can track the delivery.
• If you send a link to a Mastodon post, the Messages app now treats it like a link to a Twitter post because it displays a preview of the content that was shared.
• Voice isolation for cellular calls. This feature, previously available for VoIP services like FaceTime, lets you cut down on background noise and boost the volume of the person speaking.
• Lots of new Shortcuts actions. Juli Clover of MacRumors has a good list.
• 21 new Emoji characters:

iPad: iPadOS 16.4

• Just about all of the new features in iOS 16.4 also come to iPadOS 16.4.  In addition:
• If you have the latest version of the iPad Pro introduced in late 2022—the 12.9” iPad Pro (6th generation) or the 11” iPad Pro (4th generation)—your iPad has hover support when you hover an Apple Pencil over the screen without touching the screen, as I explained in this post.  Now, the feature gains tilt and azimuth support, which will mainly be useful for graphic artists.  Brian Heater of TechCrunch interviewed some Apple executives and has lots of information about this new feature.

Apple Watch: watchOS 9.4

• Support for the 21 new Emoji.
• If you set a wake-up alarm, you cannot turn it off by covering up the face of your Apple Watch with a hand. People used to do that without realizing that they were turning off the alarm.

When Brett Burney told me that he would be in a car with his family at the time that we record this week’s podcast, I thought that would mean that the recording would be a disaster.  To my complete surprise, the final recording is great, and this week’s podcast sounds about the same as every other episode. Kudos to Brett on all of the behind-the-scenes final editing that he did on this episode.  We start this episode by talking about the new features coming to iOS 16.4, which we expect to be released this upcoming week—perhaps mid-day on Tuesday.  We next talk about how frequently you should purchase a new Wi-Fi router, AirTags, a HomeKit doorbell, and what happens to your old iPhone when you trade it in for a new one.

In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for two different modes of volume control on the iPhone: one for media volume, and one for ringer volume. I share a tip for grabbing the scroll bar on the iPhone or iPad to scroll through a long list more quickly.

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

Deep fake technology is getting ever more realistic, and as California attorney David Sparks pointed out, “computers are so good at duplicating your voice at this point that a determined jackass could ‘produce’ a tape of you saying anything.” Sparks linked to a post by John Gruber in which Gruber discusses and links to a Twitter thread from John Meyer who had ChatGPT generate sentences and then used Deep Fake technology while playing it so that it sounds like Steve Jobs speaking.  The end result sounds exactly like the real Steve Jobs, except that he is talking about the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred many years after he died.  Attorneys have long had to deal with authenticating evidence: proving that a document really is what it purports to be.  We are at the point where even incredibly realistic audio and video may not be what it seems to be. Worse yet, as Gruber points out, as this technology becomes more widespread, politicians and others will be able to deny accurate recordings, and the public will not know who to believe. I’m a big fan of technology and there are so many good things that it can do. But there is undoubtedly a dark side as well.  And now, on that happy note, here is the rest of the note of note from the past week:

• This week, Apple released a “Release Candidate” of the beta version of iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4.  I suspect that means that we will see the final versions come out next week, so keep an eye out for it. As Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports, new features include 21 new Emoji, new Apple Pencil features on the newest iPads (the ones that support hover), notifications for web apps that you add to your Home Screen, and more.  He also notes that, in iOS 16.4, state health authorities will be able to end their support for Apple’s COVID-19 exposure notifications.
• Filipe Espósito of 9to5Mac says that another feature of iOS 16.4 will be that the phone app will be able to isolate your voice and block out certain background noise, a feature already supported by FaceTime.
• I cannot imagine using my iPad Pro without an Apple Pencil.  I use it every day.  The Apple Pencil (second generation—the current one) is normally $129, but all this week, it has been on sale on Amazon for about $89.99.  That’s a great price for a great product.  Note that if you follow me on Mastodon, then you learned of this sale many days ago.
• Jason Fitzpatrick of How-To Geek provides the argument for updating your Wi-Fi router every three to five years.  I’ve been using an eero Pro 3-pack at my house for almost three years and it continues to work incredibly well.  I find it hard to believe that I’ll be ready for an upgrade only two years from now, but we’ll see.
• I’ve linked to other stories in which someone used an AirTag to catch a thief, but this report by CWBChicago is different and somewhat amusing.  A would-be car thief was caught not only because the owner had an AirTag on her keys because also because the thief didn’t know how to drive stick.
• Almost all of the smart home technology that I use is HomeKit-compatible.  One exception is my video doorbell because I need to use a battery-powered version and, up until now, there wasn’t a good one on the market.  (Instead, I use this Eufy device, which works well.)  Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac reports that Aqara has introduced the G4 video doorbell, a wireless, battery-powered doorbell that works with HomeKit, and he says that it works really well.  It is $119.99 on Amazon.
• Arlette Saenz of CNN reports that the cast of the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso met with the President and others at the White House this week to discuss mental health.  ABC News has a video highlight on YouTube of comments made in the White House press room.
• And finally, if you trade in your current iPhone when you purchase a new one, what happens to the iPhone that you turn in? Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal produced a great video showing how an iPhone gets refurbished.

If you do not regularly listen to the In the News podcast, this is a good week to do so because there are some really interesting topics discussed. And if you normally listen to the audio version of the podcast, you might want to check out at least the beginning part of the video of this one on YouTube because of some things that I show off.  Topics discussed include my home computer upgrade to a Mac mini with an M2 Pro processor, useful and fun uses of the ChatGPT technology that everyone seems to be talking about nowadays, a brief discussion on fonts, a discussion of the new features that might show up on the 2023 version of the iPhone later this year, the Apple headset that might show up later this year, and astronauts.  

In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for adjusting your screen settings.  I explain how you can see and control an Apple Watch screen on your iPhone—which is very cool, even if I have only come up with a few reasons to do so.

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

When Apple introduced the original Macintosh in 1984, it stood out from other computers by its use of fonts.  Apple has continued to pay close attention to fonts over the decades.  Although Apple stopped using the Apple Garamond font about two decades ago, I still cannot help but associate that font with Apple.  Apple now uses its San Francisco font—no, definitely not the same “San Francisco” font that came out with the original Macintosh—with virtually all of its products and the Apple website.  I know many lawyers who pay close attention to fonts as well.  I selected Times New Roman for the banner at the top of iPhone J.D. because I associate it with the law: many courts require it, and even more lawyers use it all the time. When I have a choice, I often use a different font in my briefs, such as Cambria, a nice serif font that is available to everyone who uses Microsoft Word.  This week, a long-time reader of this website alerted me to an interesting article by Katie Deighton in the Wall Street Journal titled Font Wars Spread After State Department Replaces Times New Roman With Calibri.  If you have any interest in fonts, I recommend that you read that article.  I am opposed to using a sans-serif font like Calibri for the text of legal documents (although I do sometimes use a sans-serif font like Helvetica for headers) because I think that the lack of the serifs makes the text harder to read.  But I also recognize that when it comes to fonts, some people have no preference and barely notice them whereas others have deep personal feelings about them.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• If you can sense the smile on my face as I type today’s post, it is because I upgraded my home computer this week, replacing my iMac 5K with an Intel 8-Core i9 with a Mac mini with an Apple M2 Pro processor and a 4 TB SSD drive, along with an Apple Studio Display and an Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and a Numeric Keypad.  The new computer is much faster, which is really nice.  The display is working well, and I love having Touch ID on my computer’s keyboard for the first time—something that Mac laptop owners have had for a long time.
• What might Apple include in the 2023 version of the iPhone, which I presume will be called the iPhone 15?  Dan Moren of Six Colors offers his thoughts.
• Chris Smith of BGR explains how to record a phone call on an iPhone.  Remember that laws vary from state-to-state on whether you need to let the other people on the phone know that you are recording, and even in states where a statute does not require consent, the ethical rules applicable to lawyers may require consent.
• If you want help from Apple when purchasing an iPhone, David Snow of Cult of Mac reports that you can now have a video call with an Apple Specialist who will assist you during the buying process.  Folks who read iPhone J.D. may not need this type of assistance, but I’m sure that you know people for whom this would be perfect.
• It is widely-rumored that Apple is working on some sort of a VR/AR headset. An article by Patrick McGee and Tim Bradshaw of The Financial Times made the rounds this past week because they interviewed (presumably former) members of the Apple design team who are opposed to releasing something now because it could be better if released later. John Gruber of Daring Fireball did a nice job discussing this article and the flaws with the analysis.  The Apple Watch, the iPhone, the iPad, and every other Apple product has come a long way from the first version, but you still need to ship something at the beginning so that you can start to improve future generations. 
• I’m not a fan of iPad screen protectors that add more friction when you are writing on the screen, but I know that some people like them because it feels more like you are writing on paper.  Dan Seifert of The Verge provides his arguments for using an iPad screen protector.
• Earlier this year, I reviewed Camo, a great app that lets you use your iPhone as a webcam.  I’ve been using it just about every day at work.  Jason Snell reports that Camo was updated to version 2 with a ton of new features.  It now works with any camera, not just the iPhone, and adds a bunch of other new features. 
• Congratulations to Apple TV+ for winning the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse.
• In an interesting case of life imitating art, Esther Marquis, a costume designer for the Apple TV+ show For All Mankind, has designed the next-generation astronaut space suit. Seth Kurkowski of Space Explored has the details.
• There was a fun update to CARROT Weather this week. Thanks to the integration of ChatGPT, you can now have a text message conversation with CARROT Weather.  It is funny and an impressive demo of the new AI technology that seems to be all the rage right now.  Jess Weatherbed of The Verge explains what is new.
• And finally, I mentioned last week that Apple released a yellow version of the iPhone 14. This week, Apple released an ad for it, and it is fun to watch, especially if you are a fan of the graphics associated with Yellow Submarine by The Beatles, and artists like Robert Crumb, Peter Max, and others from the late 1960s:

I did not expect to have new Apple announcements to discuss this week, but here we are. First, we have Apple’s announcement of the new Apple Music Classical app, coming out in a few weeks. Second, we have a new color of the iPhone 14: yellow. Third, we have new colors and styles for Apple Watch bands. Brett Burney and I start this week’s episode of the In the News podcast by discussing the new news from Apple. After that, we discuss the popularity of the iPhone, using the Google Photos app on an iPhone, setting your Apple Watch ahead to make sure that you stay on time, the evolution of ringtones on the iPhone (and why we may be due for a new default ringtone), and more.

In our In the Know segment, Brett and I both discuss advanced features of the Overcast app—a popular app for listening to podcasts. Brett explains how you can share an entire podcast, or better yet, a specific part of a podcast with others. I explain how you can use the Overcast app to listen to audio that you download from just about any other source. I used it earlier this week to listen to a recording of a U.S. Fifth Circuit oral argument, and it made the listening experience far better than it would have been without the Overcast 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:

If you enjoy listening to classical music, you are going to love being an Apple Music subscriber in just a few weeks. Back in 2021, Apple acquired a classical music streaming service called Primephonic that had a large collection of classical music and had search features customized for that genre of music—such as searching music not just by artist (like Bach) but by composer, conductor, soloist, etc. On March 28, Apple will launch Apple Music Classical, a service provided at no additional charge to Apple Music subscribers.  To use the service, you will use a special Apple Musical Classical app.  Hartley Charlton of MacRumors created a good list of the features and limitations.  For example, while an Android app is promised, there is no iPad app—which seems odd.  But if you have an iPhone and you use Apple Music, you can prepare to get Hooked on Classics in just a few weeks.  And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:

• Hello, yellow! This week, Apple introduced a new color for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus: yellow.  You can see some high-quality pictures of the yellow iPhone in the official Apple press release, and you can watch a video of Jason Snell of Six Colors with the new yellow iPhone.
• New color is not reserved for just the iPhone. Oliver Haslam of iMore reports that Apple has also released new colors and styles for Apple Watch bands and iPhone cases to complete the new Spring collection.  Apple Watch bands from Apple can be tricky because, as I’ve learned in the past, if you find a color that you like and then you need to replace it a year or two later, you are likely to find that the color you purchased is no longer available. Or to look at it from a more glass-half-full angle, if the currently available Apple Watch band colors don’t appeal to you, give it a few months and you’ll likely have more options.
• What were the best smartphones in 2022?  Pretty much just the iPhone, assuming that you want something nice.  Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports on research by Counterpart Research that concludes that the best selling smartphones in 2022 were: (1) iPhone 13, (2) iPhone 13 Pro Max, (3) iPhone 14 Pro Max, (4) Samsung Galaxy A13, (5) iPhone 13 Pro, (6) iPhone 12, (7) iPhone 14, (8) iPhone 14 Pro, (9) iPhone 13, and (10) Samsung Galaxy A03.  It is interesting that there are no high-end Android phones on that list.  The Galaxy A13 is only $249, and Allison Johnson of The Verge calls it a “fine budget device that makes sense for those who are more concerned with day-to-day performance and long battery life than a high-quality screen or a versatile camera.”  The Galaxy A03 is only $160; Melanie Pinola of Consumer Reports says that it “ranks near the bottom of CR’s smartphone ratings” and it is “the least expensive phone in Samsung’s Galaxy series, so you can expect some compromises.”
• José Adorno of BGR reports that the iPhone 14 Emergency SOS via Satellite feature is expanding this month to Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and Portugal.  The service already works in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK.
• Philip Michaels of Tom’s Guide explains that you can now use the Google Magic Eraser feature to delete unwanted people and objects from photos by just tapping them.  I’ve heard that this feature works well, so I downloaded the Google Photos app to try it out, but I haven’t yet seen the Magic Eraser feature as an option.  Apparently, it is supposed to show up if you tap the edit icon and then tap tools.  Maybe it needs time to analyze my library first? Well anyway, this feature is supposed to be out now, or soon, I guess.
• I’ve always known of a small number of people who like to set a watch or an alarm clock ahead by a few minutes to help them stay on time. I didn’t realize that you could do that with an Apple Watch, but Ankur Thakur of iDownloadBlog explains that it is pretty easy to do.
• Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac explains why the Level Lock+ may be the best smart lock that works with Apple’s HomeKit technology.
• A little show called Ted Lasso—perhaps you have heard something about it?—returns to Apple TV+ for its third and last season on Wednesday, March 15.  New episodes will come out every Wednesday through May 31, a total of 12 episodes. To celebrate, Apple announced that you can come to an Apple Store and participate in a Today at Apple program in which you make your own Ted Lasso poster using an Apple Pencil and an iPad.  Seems like a quick project since you only need to write one word.
• Rosy Cordero of Deadline interviews Jason Sudeikis to discuss the final season of Ted Lasso.
• And finally, as much as I’ve loved using an iPhone since 2008, the piano is one of my first loves.  Thus, I was thrilled to see that Canadian pianist Tony Ann turned the Apple ringtone called “Opening”—trust me, you know it—into a short piano ballad.  Take it away, Tony…

Brett Burney joined me from Chicago, where he is presenting at ABA TECHSHOW, to record the latest episode of the In the News podcast. The major topics we discuss this week include iPhone security, Steve Jobs in New Orleans, whether it makes sense to try to use iMessage on Windows, AirPods tips, a new and interesting iPad dock, and the recent investigative journalism by Reuters using AirTags in old shoes.

In our In the Know segment, Brett discusses scanning QR codes, and I discuss gestures to quickly switch apps on the iPad.

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

A great picture of Steve Jobs has been circulating the Internet this week after it was released by The Steve Jobs Archive in a newsletter.  (You can see the picture here.)  It was taken in February 1984 when Steve Jobs was in New Orleans on O’Keefe Avenue, just a few blocks from my law office, and the picture shows Jobs peering into a store window to try to figure out what a woman was doing as she worked on a Macintosh computer.  The Macintosh was brand new at the time.  As Apple’s famous Super Bowl commercial announced, it was introduced on January 24, 1984.  What was Steve Jobs doing in New Orleans just weeks after the Mac was introduced?  Despite all of the coverage of that photo over the past week, I haven’t seen anyone else report on that, but I think I have it figured out.  According to an old issue of Inc., there was a software convention at the Superdome in New Orleans on February 21-23, 1984, that featured “more than 1,000 exhibits of software products for home, school, and office computers, as well as seminars and workshops on new software techniques, emerging trends, and hot topics in the industry.” And apparently, this was the first computer convention at which the Macintosh was shown off, according to a fantastic story that I located on a blog written by Tom Evslin, a pioneer in the computer industry. His short story is full of great nuggets and I don’t want to spoil it for you, so instead I just encourage you to read the three-part story yourself (1, 2, and 3) to learn about how Tom and his wife Mary ended up doing work for Dow Jones on the first Macintosh.  It’s a fantastic read.  While all of this was going on in the Superdome, I was just a few miles away, being a Ninth Grade student at the same school where my daughter is currently in Ninth Grade.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• You would think that at some point during the recording of 88 episodes of a tech podcast with Brett Burney I would have learned that he has two folders on his iPhone home screen with clever icons, but no, he doesn’t tell me about that, and instead Brett saves that for California attorney David Sparks, who reports on Burney’s home screen in this post that is worth reading. I also see that Brett shared with that guy in California—not yours truly, who lives in New Orleans—that Brett has a nice picture of the French Quarter on his home screen, even though the picture shows the actual New Orleans French Quarter, not the pretend version in Disneyland close to where David lives.
• Earlier this week, I discussed critical security issues and recommended that folks consider using 1Password.  Later this week, I came across this article in PC World that picks Dashlane as the best password manager.  While I still prefer 1Password, especially on the iPhone/iPad, if you are currently picking a password manager, you should look at Dashlane too to see if it seems like a better fit for you.  For example, while Wirecutter picks 1Password as its favorite password manager, the authors say that Dashlane is “as polished as 1Password” so that is something.
• Earlier this year, I reviewed Belkin’s iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Mac Desktops and Displays, and I really like it. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac wrote this review of the Belkin mount.
• One thing I like about the Apple Watch is that it does a good job of encouraging you to be more active.  While that alone is unlikely to translate into losing weight, Kristen Rogers of CNN reports on a new study that finds that 11 minutes of aerobic activity per day could lower your risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and premature death.
• If you were a paying subscriber of the Tweetbot or Twitterific apps, you are about to get a partial refund because Twitter abruptly banned those apps. But most of the refund is coming not from Apple but from the small indie developers. Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories encourages you to take a simple step to show some support for all that those developers did over the years by declining the refund, and I second his recommendation.
• There have been reports this week—such as this one by D. Griffin Jones of Cult of Mac—that Microsoft is coming out with a way that you can use Apple’s iMessage text messaging system on a Windows computer. But the limitations are severe: no pictures, no videos, no file attachments, no group chats, and you can only see messages sent and received while special software is running on the Windows computer, so you don’t see earlier messages in the conversation. Nevertheless, if you are just awaiting a notification and want to do so on a Windows computer instead of an Apple device, I guess this could work.
• Lance Whitney of PC Magazine has tips for getting the most out of AirPods Pro.
• If you have a HomePod or HomePod mini, you know that different lights are sometimes displayed on the top of the product. Until this week, I didn’t know exactly what the different lights meant, but Zac Hall of 9to5Mac wrote a great post that shows off and explains the different status lights.
• Fernando Silva of 9to5Mac reviewed an interesting dock for the iPad made by Plugable.  It holds your iPad in various angles, provides lots of different ports (USB-A, headphone jack, HDMI, USB-C, SD card slot, MicroSD card slot), and looks nice.
• Reuters conducted an investigation of whether a program that was supposed to turn old sneakers into playgrounds was actually doing what was advertised.  To do the investigation, Reuters put AirTags into sneakers and then contributed the sneakers to the recycling bin so that it could track where they ended up months later.  Spoiler alert: the sneakers did not end up where they were supposed to go.  It’s an interesting use of AirTags to do a journalist investigation.
• And finally, in less than two weeks, one of my favorite Apple TV+ shows returns: Ted Lasso.  A trailer was released this week, and it looks like this season—which is likely to be the last for the series—is going to be a lot of fun.