The Apple Vision Pro remains by far the big topic in the world of Apple. I've now seen perhaps all of the reviews. Many of them conclude, as I did, that this is such a new device that it is premature to give it a full review. But others have done their best anyway, and I think that the best review that I have seen so far is this one by Jason Snell of Six Colors. Not only does he do a great job of describing the product, he also puts it in historical context and sets the stage for what the future could be for this device. I definitely recommend that you check out that article. And now, the other news of note from the past week:
- Although we know that iOS 17.4 will be released in March, yesterday Apple released iOS 17.3.1. to fix a problem where text may unexpectedly duplicate or overlap while typing.
- A while back, I went on a quest to improve the quality of the video for all of the Zoom and Teams teleconferences that I was on. For a while, I thought that I needed a better camera, and for a while, I even used software called Camo so that I could use the excellent lens on my iPhone to serve as my webcam. But ultimately, I discovered that the best solution was just to have better lighting, which made a world of difference. The item that I selected was a 2-pack of the Lume Cube Edge 2.0 LED Desk Lamp, which costs $239.99 on Amazon. I have those two lights set up on both sides of my monitor in my office, and whether I am participating in a videoconference with a court, a meeting with partners at my firm, or recording the In the News podcast, the video quality is so much better thanks to the lights. I mention all of this because I saw an article this week called You Don't Need A New Webcam, You Need a Light by Corbin Davenport of How-To Geek, and it reminded me of how happy I have been with those lights that I purchased a year ago. A big advantage of the two-camera setup that I have is that it solves having weird reflections off of my glasses and having half of my face look much better lit than the other half. If you want to upgrade how you look on camera, I have been extremely happy with the Lume Cube for the last year.
- On May 30, 2007, when Steve Jobs was being interviewed at the D conference, he mentioned how popular iTunes was on Windows computers by saying "We've got cards and letters from lots of people that say that iTunes is their favorite app on Windows. It's like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in Hell." I thought about that quip this week when I saw Juli Clover of MacRumors announce that Apple has officially launched its new Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices apps for the PC, which means that just like iTunes is long dead on the Mac, it is now dead on the PC as well. Hopefully, PC users will be happy that they now get three small glasses of ice water instead of one the one big Stanley water bottle that was iTunes.
- If you are in the market for AirTags, you can get them at a big discount on Amazon right now. A few days ago, they were down to $79.99 for a 4-pack (list price is $99.99), so I bought a set. As I type this, they are even cheaper at $78.99.
- Speaking of finding things, Jason Cross of Macworld provides some initial thoughts on the Apple Vision Pro including a good question: why doesn't this device support Find My like so many other Apple devices? Strange.
- The folks at iFixIt have been taking apart a Vision Pro and posting some amazing pictures along with an explanation of what everything does. This firs post explains the EyeSight feature. The second post discusses the dual displays, noting for example that you can "fit more than 50 Vision Pro pixels into the space of a single iPhone 15 Pro pixel. Yes, you read that right." Wow.
- If you are curious about the security of using your eye to unlock an Apple Vision Pro using Optic ID, Apple has posted this page to describe the process. Apple says: "The probability that a random person in the population could unlock your Apple Vision Pro using Optic ID is less than 1 in 1,000,000." That is similar to what Apple says about Face ID.
- Pei-Ru Keh of Wallpaper interviewed the design team behind the Apple Vision Pro.
- How much storage space do you need on an Apple Vision Pro? It depends upon how much you want downloaded to the device—the same thing that you need to think about for an iPhone or iPad. But to give you an example, I downloaded five 3D movies from Disney+ so that I can watch them when I am traveling and they take up a total of about 50 GB. Specifically: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (6.86 GB), Avatar: The Way of Water (23.63 GB), Elemental (9.91 GB), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (7.3 GB), and The Marvels (4.92 GB).
- Jason Cross of Macworld explains what all of the buttons do on the Apple Vision Pro.
- We don't yet have a YouTube app for the Apple Vision Pro (although Google is working on one), but in the means time, John Voorhees of MacStories recommends Juno, a Vision Pro native app that provides a front end for YouTube.
- Ben Thompson of Stratechery wrote an interesting review of the Apple Vision Pro.
- Wesley Hilliard of Apple Insider wrote a detailed review of the Apple Vision Pro that has tons of great pictures.
- Raymond Wong of Inverse says that for the Vision Pro, Apple Has Put Computer First, Gaming Second.
- The day after I published my "initial review" of the Apple Vision Pro, I went back and updated the first paragraph to note that Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reports that MDM support is coming in the next software update. I hope that the means that the specific MDM software that my law firm uses it updated quickly, which should mean that I can get my email, contacts, and calendar information on my Vision Pro.
- Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reports that the Apple Vision Pro holds up well in a durability test.
- As expected, different companies are starting to come out with cases for the Apple Vision Pro as an alternative to the $199 case sold by Apple. For example, WaterField Designs has a good reputation for building nice products, and they recently released the Vision Pro Shield Case. It's a little cheaper at $159 (or $179 for a model that includes leather) and it looks like it is much more compact than Apple's case.
- As you can tell from last week's video episode of the In the News podcast, the current version of digital Personas, used in conference calls on the Vision Pro, leaves a lot to be desired. But Apple is already making significant improvements. Dan Barbera of MacRumors shows off his current Version 1.0.2 Persona versus his Version 1.1 Persona (1.1 is still in beta) and it really is noticeably better. If Apple can improve Personas this much in a small update like this, perhaps they will get substantially better when Apple has even more time.
- Trevor Sochocki of the NBC affiliate in Sarasota, Florida, reports that an Apple Watch alert helped to save the life of a deputy sheriff when it warned him of a heart issue that the hospital determined was dangerous blood clots in his lungs.
- And finally, Apple Music is sponsoring the Super Bowl Halftime Show this weekend, with a performance by Usher. As a teaser for that performance, Apple released a video starring rappers Ludacris and Lil Jon, actress Taraji P. Henson, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, wearing a T-shirt that I've never seen him wear during an Apple product announcement. I guess we will get the conclusion to the story set for in this video on Sunday:
