Next week, Apple is going to have an exciting week of announcements. In addition to revealing new Macs, Apple will release iOS 18.1, which will include the first examples of Apple Intelligence. For example, you will be able to use Photos search to find photos and videos simply by describing what you are looking for. It will also let you use your AirPods Pro 2 as a hearing aid (in the U.S. and Canada, at launch). Perhaps more interesting is what Apple will include a few months later in iOS 18.2. John Gruber of Daring Fireball says that 18.2 will include “categorization and priority inbox sorting in Mail, Genmoji, Image Playgrounds (including Image Wand, where a rough sketch in Notes can be transformed into a detailed image), and ChatGPT’s integration for more complex “world knowledge” requests. And, for iPhone 16 users, Visual Intelligence.” If you have a new iPhone that can support Apple Intelligence, your device is about to become much more interesting. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Federico Viticci of MacStoriews reviews the new iPad mini, concluding that it is a great additional device for those special tasks that are not handled quite as well on other devices.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors reviews the new iPad mini, and he says that it is “great for kids, for people who prioritize reading over productivity, and generally for anyone who can fit an iPad into their lives—but there’s not a whole lot of space to fit into.”
- Good Morning America got a first look at how Apple used its audio labs to turn the AirPods Pro into a hearing aid.
- Chris Welch of The Verge tested the new hearing aid features in the AirPods Pro 2 and is very impressed.
- Nicole Nguyen of the Wall Street Journal also tested the hearing aid feature and calls it a potential life changer.
- Ben Cohen has an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal Magazine based on his interview of Apple CEO Tim Cook. There are lots of interesting little details in here such as Cook’s favorite beverage, all of the devices that Cook uses—and I do mean “all”—his view of the Apple Vision Pro, and more.
- In a post on 9to5Mac, Zac Hall explains why the Apple Vision Pro is the ultimate nastalgia machine thanks to the way that it lets you look at your photos. I couldn’t agree more. Here is one example: my teenage son often has limited tolerance for looking at my old photos. However, because panorama photos are so incredibly immersive on the Vision Pro, he was interested in seeing one of my recent ones the other day. Then he started swiping back to see earlier panorama photos. And then again. And next thing you know, he had looked at every single one that I have, going all the way back to my oldest panorama photo from 2005 (created by stitching together pictures using Photoshop). As he looked around in each immersive panorama, I followed along (in 2D) on my iPad, we talked about where each picture was taken and what the experience was like there. It was a fantastic father-son bonding time that would not have been possible without the Vision Pro and its impressive ability to show off these types of photos.
- As impressive as a panorama photo is on a Vision Pro, spatial videos are even more impressive. For a while, it was pretty much only Apple offering spatial videos, and every time I watch a new one I find myself wanting more. I recently discovered a Vision Pro app called Immersive India by Parjanya Creative Solutions. This app features incredible high-quality spatial videos of numerous locations in India. There is no narration, but the views of places like Mumbai, Varanasi, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Odisha are impressive. And the app is free.
- Hopefully, we will soon see even more impressive spatial videos that don’t come from Apple because Zac Hall also reports at 9to5Mac that Vimeo now has a visionOS app that allows spatial video sharing. I tried it out last night, and it is neat to see 360º videos where you are in the middle of the action. Unfortunately, the definition of these videos, for now, is far less than the 8K per eye that you get with Apple’s videos (and that Immersive India app) so while the videos are immersive, they can be a little blurry. I’m sure that this will improve in time for 360º videos on both Vimeo and YouTube. And hopefully, we will soon have a native YouTube app for the Vision Pro.
- Azad Balabanian has published what is truly the definitive post on using a Vision Pro while you travel.
- You can use an iPhone as a book reader but it might not be very comfortable holding it in your hands for a long time, plus your hands can cover the text. Juli Clover of MacRumors reports on a new $40 product called Bookcase from Astropad that makes it easier to hold your iPhone when you are using it as an e-reader.
- Clover also reports that the newest state to add a state driver’s license to the Wallet app on the iPhone is the Hawkeye State: Iowa.
- AirTags can be used to track stolen items. And with the election in the United States so close, that can unfortunately include stolen campaign signs. Lucas Ropek of Gizmodo reports on a woman in Missouri who had grown tired of her Kamala Harris signs being stolen so she placed an AirTag on one of them and was able to find the criminal and report him to the authorities. (I posted a similar story in July about a candidate running for a county position in Florida.)
- When people need help, the iPhone is often the tool that delivers that help. But Juli Clover of MacRumors reports on a woman in Australia whose iPhone led to her problems: she dropped it between some rocks, and then when trying to recover it, she “slipped and fell three meters and became stuck between two large boulders, hanging upside down by her feet.” Yikes. It took hours to free her. Yikes again.
- And finally, Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal interviewed Apple Vice President Craig Federighi to discuss Apple Intelligence. It’s a good interview that describes Apple’s cautious approach to the exciting world of AI.