Both iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma bring new features to FaceTime and other video apps: 3D reactions. If you do a thumbs up or thumbs down, you will see a similar bubble on the screen. If you do a double thumbs up, fireworks appear behind your head. If you do a double thumbs down, rain appears. If you use two hands to make a heart, floating red hearts appear to come from the center of your hands. A peace sign from one hand results in balloons around you, and from both hands results in confetti. And finally, if you use both hands, palm forward, and fold down your third and fourth fingers to make the Sign of the Horns, lasers go off behind you. It’s cute, but you can turn it off if it is not for you. However, by default, it is turned on, and Jay Peters of The Verge reports that it is surprising some people. Sometimes that is a pleasant, amusing surprise. But in other situations, like a business meeting, you may be embarrassed if you create special effects by mistake. Even worse, some folks have reported being in a remote video therapy session when a hand gesture made during a difficult moment can result in special effects that are exactly the opposite of how you are feeling, interrupting the therapy. Yikes. Jason Snell of Six Colors suggests that Apple should provide more warnings to prevent this. If you want to turn these special effects off, you need to first be in a video call, then activate the Control Center, tap Video Effects, and tap Reactions to toggle the feature off. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- iOS 17.1 is expected to be introduced next week. Chance Miller of 9to5Mac explains what will be new.
- A few days ago, I mentioned the new entry-level Apple Pencil (USB-C). Jason Snell of Six Colors shares some theories on what this new product might indicate about the upcoming changes to the iPad line.
- For many years, Apple and other tech companies have been asking the FCC to let them use the 6GHz band for wireless devices, and Wes Davis of The Verge reports that the FCC granted the request this week. These signals will not go far, but they are high speed, and this spectrum could be perfect for inside of a car or for augmented reality devices. I look forward to seeing what Apple does with this.
- I recently recommended two fantastic 3-in-1 chargers that work great for StandBy mode: (1) the Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe, which is $149.95 on Amazon and (2) the Twelve South HiRise 3 Deluxe, which is $149.99. Twelve South recently came out with another interesting product: a wall-mounted organizer for your Apple Watch bands called the TimePorter, an interesting idea for folks who have lots of different watch bands that costs $29.99.
- Stephen Hackett recommends using Generative AI photography to change your photos so that they work well for wallpaper. This also works for assigning full-screen photos to contacts.
- Speaking of which, Jovana Naumovski of Gadget Hacks shares tips for setting a custom contact poster that others will see when you call them.
- Dan Moren of Six Colors discusses some of the recent problems that Apple has been having with the iCloud service.
- Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac recommends an inexpensive ($20) Onvis Smart Plug.
- In an article on MacStories, Niléane discusses some of the new features of Apple’s Translate app.
- In another article on MacStories, John Voorhees discusses the fantastic widgets from the Fantastical app.
- And finally, we are three weeks away from Season 4 of For All Mankind, one of my all-time favorite shows on Apple TV+. Here is the Season 4 trailer. If you haven’t started watching the show yet, I recommend that you watch a season each week for the next three weeks so that you are ready on November 10: