Welcome to December. I find it hard to believe that we are already at the end of the year, but here we are. The end-of-the-year holidays make it a great time to give and receive Apple products as gifts, and I have had a large number of people ask me in person and via email what I would recommend for giving an iPad as a gift this month. This year, it is harder than ever to make a recommendation. On the one hand, and for the first time that I can remember, Apple has not updated ANY of its iPad models this year. I presume that means that iPad updates are coming in 2024, perhaps in the first half of 2024, and thus if you can wait to make a purchase you may be able to get even more for your money. On the other hand, nobody wants to give an "IOU" as a gift, and Apple does have a pretty compelling iPad lineup right now even though the models were released in 2022. Apple sells four types of iPads—the entry level model just called "iPad," the mid-level iPad Air, the high-end iPad Pro, and the iPad mini. If you want a big model with a large screen, which is perfect for lawyers who want to read and annotate documents, then the 12.9" iPad Pro is for you. If you want something small and portable like a larger phone, that's the iPad mini. The harder decision is if you want an iPad with the traditional size of around 11" because it can be tough to decide between an iPad Air and an iPad Pro. The iPad Air comes in 64GB (too small for many lawyers) and 256GB (either just right or too large for many lawyers). A 256GB iPad Air is $750, whereas an iPad Pro is either $50 more for 128GB or $150 more for 256GB. While the iPad Pro has a somewhat nicer screen, somewhat faster processor, and a few other minor improvements, is that worth $50 or $150 more? I don't know. The iPad Pro does come with Face ID, which I think is a nice advantage over Touch ID. But I could see an argument either way on iPad Air vs. iPad Pro as the 11" size. If selecting the right iPad to give someone is on your mind right now, you have my sympathy because there are lots of things to think about. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- As we continue to await the new features coming in iOS 17.2, yesterday Apple released iOS 17.1.2, a security update, and Jason Cross of Macworld explains what was fixed.
- The end of the year means end of the year lists, and Apple released quite a few this week. John Voorhees of MacStories reports that Apple named some apps the App of the Year. For example,The AllTrails app is the iPhone App of the Year, and Prêt-à-Makeup is the iPad app of the year.
- If you use Apple Music and want to see what you have been listening to this year, go to the Apple Music Replay webpage to find out.
- Apple also announced the top books and audiobooks of the year based on the Apple Books app.
- Apple also announced the most popular podcasts of 2023 based on folks who use the Apple Podcasts app. The In the News podcast that I record with Brett Burney did not make the cut this year, but all we need is for all of the listeners of the This American Life and Dateline NBC podcasts to subscribe to ours as well and then we are so there in 2024. Or maybe we'll aim for the top Apple Music list if Taylor Swift reaches out to ask to record a song with us. Hey, 2024 is a new year, and the possibilities are endless.
- Speaking of podcasts, there are a number of popular podcasts apps. Apple makes Podcasts, my favorite app is Overcast, I know that lots of people like Pocket Casts, but the Castro app has also had its fans because of its nice interface. Jason Snell of Six Colors reports that the Castro app is currently not working and may be shut down in the next two months. If you have been a Castro user and are now looking for something new, I recommend that you switch to Overcast or Apple's Podcasts app.
- A few weeks ago, Apple announced that emergency satellite access for the iPhone 14 and 15 would continue to be free for an additional year. This week, John Gruber writes that he thinks that Apple will never charge for the service. As he notes in a follow-up post, why would Apple want to be in a position of not saving someone's life just because they didn't pay some annual fee?
- You can now run Windows on an iPhone. Well, sort of. as Tom Warren of The Verge reports, you can control a remote windows machine using apps from Microsoft. The technology behind this is nothing new. I use LogMeIn on my iPad (and sometimes my iPhone) to control a computer running Windows in my office. When I am working on my iPad and I need to do something that requires Windows, I just open the LogMeIn app on my iPad and do what I need to do using my Windows computer, just as if I was sitting in my office. And you can do something similar with other remote access software. In some circumstances, remote access to a computer can be the easiest way to do something on an iPad.
- When the Workflow app was originally released in 2014, it was a groundbreaking automation app that was so useful and powerful that I was almost surprised that Apple let the app on the App Store. A few years later in 2017, Apple acquired the app, renaming it Shortcuts, and brought-in house the team that created the app including Ari Weinstein, Conrad Kramer, and Nick Frey. For many years now, Shortcuts has improved to become even more impressive. After several years at Apple, those folks have left—Weinstein left Apple only a few months ago—and Alex Heath of The Verge reports that Ari Weinstein and Conrad Kramer have teamed up with former Apple employee Kim Beverett (who has been involved with various teams including Safari, Messages, and FaceTime) to start a new company focused on using AI on desktop computers. It doesn't look like their company even has a name yet, let alone a product to show off, but it will be interesting to see what this team of smart folks comes up with. In the meantime, I'll continue to be thankful that we have Shortcuts on the iPhone and iPad.
- Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac explains how his Apple Watch helped him to deal with insomnia.
- I'm surprised to learn from Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac that a fake iPhone 15 Pro Max can look surprisingly similar to the real thing, until you dig deeper.
- And finally, with iOS 17, your iPhone can record your voice and create a digital version of it. That way, if you lose the ability to speak, your iPhone can speak for you using a voice that is similar to the one that you used to have. I've tried this out, and while not perfect, it does sort of sound like my voice. Apple released a video called The Lost Voice to show off this feature. This video, directed by Oscar-winner Taika Waititi, starts off pretty trippy, but wait until the end. For more information on the film and the narrator, Dr. Tristram Ingham, check out this article on the Apple website.
