One week ago, on Friday, January 5, 2024, an Alaska Airlines plane left the airport in Portland, Oregon, and shortly thereafter a panel blew off of the aircraft, causing the cabin to depressurize. It is amazing that the pilot was able to get the plane back to the airport quickly and nobody died, but according to Lauren Rosenblatt of the Seattle Times, many of the 165 passengers are claiming injuries and have filed a class action lawsuit. Minyvonne Burke and Jay Blackman of NBC News reported that the FAA issued a statement yesterday saying: "This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again." No argument there. I mention all of this because there is actually an interesting and surprising iPhone angle to this story. As reported by John Gruber of Daring Fireball (and many others), game designer Sean Bates found an iPhone on the side of the road that had apparently fallen from the plane, and it was still working after a 16,000-foot drop. He says it was "[s]till in airplane mode with half a battery and open to a baggage claim for #AlaskaAirlines ASA1282." Note that he was able to see the baggage claim information because the iPhone did not have a lock code on it. So I suppose the real lesson here is that you may not be able to do anything about the safety of the planes that you fly, but you can control whether your iPhone has a passcode so that it remains private no matter what happens—even things that should have never happened. And now, the other news of note from the past week:
- I've frequently mentioned the fantastic Field Guides created by former attorney and current guru of all things Apple David Sparks. These online guides contain high-quality videos that teach you everything that you need to know about a topic: typically an app or a service. His newest Field Guide is called the Productivity Field Guide (affiliate link), and it is full of information on how to be more productive no matter what it is that you are trying to do. I've heard David talk about productivity topics for more years than I can count, so I know that this is something that he cares deeply about and has thought a lot about. Congrats to David for finishing this new guide, and I hope that it helps tons of people to be more productive.
- This isn't an iPhone topic per se, but it is a legal technology topic that is of interest to me. Many courts have been adopting, or considering adopting, rules that require disclosures when you use AI to help create a brief. I am opposed to these rules, and rather than list my reasons here, I'm instead going to just link to this fantastic post on LinkedIn by New Orleans appellate attorney Andrew Lee, where he links to the letter that he sent to the U.S. Fifth Circuit. Kudos to Andy for researching and writing that detailed letter and for sharing it with all of us. I'll also note that I've been using the new AI legal research feature on Westlaw, and it is incredibly useful.
- Last week, I mentioned the introduction of Clicks, an iPhone case that adds a hardware keyboard. Nick Wolny of CNet was at CES in Las Vegas this week and had a chance to try it out for about 20 minutes, and his preliminary review was that the product has some real potential.
- Rikka Altland of 9to5Toys reports on lots of new chargers, power banks, and multi-device docks that were announced by Anker at CES this week.
- Although we know that Apple Vision Pro pre-sales begin in one week, there is still tons that we don't know about purchasing and using this new product. For example, what is the process if you wear glasses? As Dan Moren notes in an article for Macworld, this is a different kind of product, with a different kind of launch.
- I've noted that I'm a fan of the MagSafe Battery Pack from Apple, but I guess that Apple itself doesn't share my love since it no longer sells the product. However, Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac reports that Mophie revealed at CES that it is bringing back its Juice Pack, a somewhat similar product that attaches with magnets to the back of your iPhone and provides additional battery life.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors writes about using the Photo Shuffle feature to cause pictures of friends and family—even our furry friends—appear on the iPhone lock screen. He notes: "One of the magical things about Photo Shuffle is that those obscure photos also keep floating to the top. They’re not necessarily the best or most polished, but they’re surprising and delightful." I agree 100%, and I love this feature.
- Apple announced this week that former Vice President Al Gore and former CEO of Boeing James Bell are retiring from the Apple Board of Directors now that both are turning 75, as reported by Chance Miller of 9to5Mac. Dr. Wanda Austin, former CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, has been nominated for election to Apple's board of directors. If you are watching the current season of For All Mankind on Apple TV+, then you know why Al Gore has been on my mind for the last few weeks.
- With more and more ways to use the Find My app to track items—such as the Eufy SmartTrack Card and Rolling Square AirCard devices I reviewed earlier this week—some folks may find themselves tracking many AirTags and similar products. Wesley Hilliard of Apple Insider reports that Apple recently raised the limit on items that you can track from 16 to 32. I didn't even know that there was a limit.
- If you use an Apple Magic Keyboard—I've been using one with my iPhone and iPad since 2010—Apple has released what it calls a critical firmware update to fix a Bluetooth security flaw, as reported by Oliver Haslam of iMore.
- And finally, here is the opening title sequence for the upcoming Apple TV+ show Masters of the Air, a nine-part series that premiers on January 26. I was a big fan of Band of Brothers way back when, and I hope that this one is even better.
