In this week’s special episode of the In the News podcast, Brett Burney and I ignore our normal podcast format, in which we discuss the news of note from the past week, and instead Brett and I look into the future. With a brand new year right around the corner, this is the prefect time to think about what new products we may see from Apple in 2025!
We start by discussing the new Apple Intelligence features that we expect to see in 2025. Then we move on to hardware and discuss a rumored new Apple product for your home that acts as a home hub, what Apple might add to the next iPhone (and maybe even the one after that), what we might see in 2025 iPads, the future of the Apple Vision Pro, and a potential new upgrade to the the AirTag. Then we finish up by discussing how the AirPods and Apple Watch might be improved.
I hope that your holiday season is going well and that all of the tech-themed gifts that you plan to give or hope to receive are now delivered and ready for Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever you celebrate. Brett Burney and I are taking this week off for the In the News podcast, but we will be back next week with a special podcast episode focused on the new Apple products we might see in 2025. This is likely to be the last post on iPhone J.D. in 2024, so I will tell you now that I hope the rest of your year is filled with joy and lots of great time spent with family and friends. Happy Holidays, and see you next year!
Julie Clover of MacRumors reports that the new iOS 18.2 Find My location-sharing feature now works with 14 airlines, including Delta and United. With this feature, the airline can track the AirTag on your luggage to—hopefully—locate your lost luggage more quickly.
Federico Viticci explains how he uses an iPad Pro for all his work. Some of his methods are extreme and would be too cumbersome for others, but his descriptions of what he is doing are fascinating.
Ian Carlos Campbell of Engadget reports that Blackmagic is now taking orders for its $30,000 camera that can record immersive video similar to the videos Apple has released for the Vision Pro. There is also an excellent and extensive discussion of this camera on this week’s episode of Mac Break Weekly. Hopefully, this camera will lead to dramatically more fully immersive content for the Apple Vision Pro.
Joe Otterson of Variety reports that Bad Monkey—the excellent Apple TV+ show developed by Bill Lawrence and starring Vince Vaughn—is coming back for a second season, but it will not be based on the sequel to the book on which the first season was based.
Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed on Twitter that Silo on Apple TV+, now in its second season, will have a third and fourth season.
Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac lists some of the shows coming to Apple TV+ in 2025. It looks like a great mix of returning favorites and new shows.
And finally, I’ve been having fun playing with the new Image Playground and Genmoji features in iOS 18.2. Here is a video from Apple to get you thinking about interesting things that you can do with Genmoji:
Thank you to SaneBox for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month. SaneBox is a service that focuses your Inbox so that you mainly see the important emails that matter and then return to work. Less important emails, such as newsletters, are moved to subfolders so that you can deal with them when you have time, and it is often faster to deal with all of those at once. If that sounds familiar, it should. Apple is now doing something sort of similar in iOS 18.2, where it tries to manage your mailbox by sorting messages. With Apple doing something similar, it is clear that the method used by SaneBox is smart.
However, the way that SaneBox does this is infinitely better than what you get in iOS 18.2—just like many other third-party apps for things like calendars, podcasts, reminders, passwords, etc., are much more sophisticated than Apple’s built-in apps. First, the mail sorting feature in iOS 18.2 only applies to the iPhone, so when you use a Mac or an iPad, you don’t see it at all. SaneBox works at the mail server level so it works no matter what you use to read your email—iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, Apple Watch, etc. Second, SaneBox gives you complete control over how the sorting takes place, and as I’ve explained in the past, that makes all of the difference. For example, if SaneBox moves a newsletter into its @SaneLater folder, but you know that this one particular newsletter is important to you and that you want it to always stay in the Inbox so that you see it right away, simply drag an email containing the newsletter from @SaneLater to your Inbox. That’s it. That teaches SaneBox that you want future issues of that newsletter to go to your Inbox.
The end result is that SaneBox lets you avoid the distraction of dozens of non-essential emails in your Inbox. Instead, your Inbox just contains the few messages that really matter, the ones that you want to know about and/or need to act upon. When you have more time, you can click the sub-folder in your Inbox into which SaneBox stores items like email newsletters—things that you want to see at some point, but there is no urgency to read them right away. Or you can click the sub-folder in your Inbox into which SaneBox filters items to be read later—for me, these items are mostly junk messages missed by my email’s built-in spam filter. For unwanted items, you can drag them over into your @SaneBlackHole folder, which teaches SaneBox’s brain that you never want to see items from that sender ever again.
SaneBox offers much more than what I’ve just described. For example, it can remind you when you haven’t received a response to an email, and it can filter emails in countless other ways. But those core features make the process of reading your email so much faster and so much less annoying.
I’ve been paying for and using SaneBox for over two years, and I find the service well worth it. For my iPhone J.D. emails, when I look at the Inbox, I can quickly focus on the messages that matter the most to me, such as a reader sending in a suggestion with a news story for my Friday In the News post or interactions with someone who matters to me. From time to time, I look at the other folders used by SaneBox, and I can quickly deal with those emails, but they are virtually always the emails that don’t really matter to me. For my Gmail account, SaneBox has been a lifesaver. I use Gmail when I make purchases from websites, stores, services, etc., and as a result, there is so much in there that I don’t really care about. But I don’t want to miss my Gmail emails that do matter. Before I started using SaneBox, I would open up Gmail and see over a hundred messages, most of which didn’t really matter to me. Now, I often see less than 10 messages in my Inbox. Every few days, I’ll take the time to look at the folders used by SaneBox, and I can easily read things that I want to see or quickly delete all of them that I don’t care about. It has made a huge difference in my life, and it saves me so much time.
If you want to try out SaneBox to see what a huge difference it can make in your life, click here to get a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. If you don’t like having a clean and tidy Inbox and decide to return back to how you had it before, no sweat. But if you appreciate having a better way of working with email, using the link in this post will give you a generous $25 credit for when you pick a plan—and there are lots of different plans offered so that you can choose the one that gives you just what you want.
Thanks again to SaneBox for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month and for giving all of us a more efficient way to work with email.
Ho Ho Ho! With Santa Claus, lighting the menorah, and other holiday highlights just around the corner, Brett Burney and I just released the last regular episode of the In the News podcast for 2024. We are taking off next week, and on December 27, we will wrap up the year with a special episode focused on predictions for 2025. This week’s episode is a big one because there was so much to discuss. With the release of iOS 18.2 and similar updates for Apple’s other products, we discussed all the new features. Yes, the latest Apple Intelligence features are a big part of this update, but there is so much more. (Just a few hours ago, I was chuckling at the Snoopy screensaver, which is a part of the latest update to Apple TV.) We also talk about the acclaim besowed on Apple for its fabulous performance this past year, using an iPhone with a Windows computer, the MacStories selections for best apps of the year, smart home devices, the latest song from Michael Buble created using an iPhone, and much more.
In our In the Show segment, we discuss the Apple TV+ shows nominated for the Golden Globes and other great shows that are now on, or coming soon to, Apple TV+.
In our In the Know segment, Brett raves about a new AirTag feature, and I rave about a new Mail feature on the iPhone.
In 2007, Time magazine ran an article on former Vice President Al Gore that included a photo of him working. That article doesn’t seem to be available anymore on Time’s website, but you can see the picture in this Reddit post. Even after all these years, that photo has stuck with me for two reasons. First, it is hard to forget his incredibly messy and cluttered desk. Second, and more importantly, ever since I first saw that photo, I have been in awe of his three huge side-by-side Apple monitors. At the time, each of those 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays cost $3,299 each, although I’m sure he got a nice discount as an Apple board member. This week, thanks to visionOS 2.2 and macOS 15.2, I have something even better. I’m typing today’s post while sitting in front of my Mac mini, but my normal display (a fantastic 5K 27" Apple Studio Display) automatically turned off when I told my Apple Vision Pro to enable Mac Virtual Display mode in Ultrawide mode. This virtual display that I see in the Vision Pro is the equivalent of having two 5K monitors side by side, but there are no bezels. It is just a single, continuous, massive, curved display. I don’t need to worry about using keystrokes like Command-Tab to switch between windows that are stacked on top of each other. There is more than enough space for every window I use to have its spot on the enormous screen. I just glance left to see an article while I look in front of me to type about that article, and I still have lots of space to the right for other windows. It would be awesome to use this setup at my office when I am writing legal briefs, but alas, my law firm uses PCs, not Macs. I know that the Vision Pro is crazy expensive at $3500—although I guess it is cheaper than $10,000 for the Al Gore setup back in 2008—but I’m telling you, this is the future. We will one day soon be at the point where the flat screen monitors that we use with computers today will seem as outdated as those big and heavy CRT monitors that we used to use in the past. Instead, we’ll simply put on our AR glasses and use huge and beautiful virtual monitors with our computers. And now, the other news of note from the past week:
Microsoft announced this week that it is rolling out a feature that lets you share files between your iPhone and a Windows computer. It sounds similar to using AirDrop to easily transfer files between an iPhone and a Mac.
Justin Meyers of Gadget Hacks lists everything that is new for the iPhone in iOS 18.2. There is quite a lot, and he includes lots of screenshots in this list to make it easier to see what has changed.
I know that iOS 18.2 can do more when you enable ChatGPT, especially if you have a paid account, so I decided to start once again paying $20/month for ChatGPT Plus just so that I can try out the full experience. We’ll see whether I decide it is worth paying for. Federico Viticci of MacStories discusses what you can do with Siri and ChatGPT in iOS 18.2.
Juli Clover of MacRumors notes that HomePod Software 18.2 adds natural language search for Apple Music. Just describe the type of music you want to listen to, and the HomePod plays it.
Ray Smith of the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple was named the best-managed company of 2024.
Popular Science named the Apple Vision Pro the Innovation of the Year. The magazine notes: “While AR headsets have existed before, this one gets our award because of how much potential it shows.”
Speaking of the Vision Pro, earlier this week, I reviewed the Belkin Head Strap for Apple Vision Pro, a strap that helps distribute the Vision Pro’s weight on one’s head. There may now be an even better solution for those who want it. Juli Clover of MacRumors discusses the Kontor Head Strap, a company with a history of making medical devices worn on the head like CPAP machines. The accessory costs $120, and the claim is that it is even more comfortable and does a better job of distributing weight. I’ll be curious to see the reviews of this product.
One of the best smart home devices is a smart plug that allows you to easily control lamps and other electronic fixtures. Especially this time of year. I currently have one Lutron Caseta Smart Lighting Lamp Dimmer ($45 on Amazon) and another one that I bought just a few days ago to control lights on the garland on the second-floor balcony in front of my house. Lutron products are great because they use a propriety method of talking to each other that virtually never fails. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by Tim Hardwick’s discussion of a new TP-Link Smart In-Wall Outlet in MacRumors. It lets you have what looks like a standard outlet on a wall, except that Matter support is built-in, so you can control the outlets using HomeKit without needing a small box like the Caseta dimmer plugged into the outlet.
MacStories announced its list of the best apps of 2024, and there are some really fantastic apps on that list.
If you are trying to decide which Apple Watch to get yourself or someone else this holiday season, David Sparks of MacSparky published a buyer’s guide, and I agree with his recommendations.
Juli Clover of MacRumors reviews a passport wallet by Satechi that has Find My built-in. It is $59.99 on Amazon.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball writes about a new app called Mozi that lets you know when people you know (i.e., you have each other’s phone numbers in your Contacts on the iPhone) are in the same city you are in. The idea is to make it easier for friends to get together in real life. It’s an interesting idea for an app.
Apple notes this week that four Apple TV+ series received Golden Globe nominations: Slow Horses, Disclaimer, Shrinking, and Presumed Innocent.
With Ted Lasso and Shrinking, Brett Goldstein is already responsible for some of the best content on Apple TV+. How about some more? This week, Apple announced that a movie called All of You, starring and co-written by Brett Goldstein, will debut on Apple TV+ next year.
Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac discusses a new movie coming to AppleTV+ on Valentine’s Day called The Gorge. It is part thriller, part horror. It stars Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) and Miles Teller (Top Gun: Maverick), and based on the trailer, it looks like it could be good.
One of the most significant changes to my law practice that came out of the pandemic in 2020 was the tremendous increase in the use of videoconferencing. Indeed, it was in April 2020 that I started to use Microsoft Teams on my iPad for videoconferencing. Since then, Microsoft Teams has become a regular part of my law practice. I work in a law firm with 20 offices across 11 states, and I regularly have meetings with my colleagues using Microsoft Teams, which is great because it doesn’t matter where in the country everyone is located. I also use Microsoft Teams frequently when talking to my clients. I occasionally videoconference with a court, and those tend to be on Zoom or another platform, but Microsoft Teams is the videoconference platform that I use the most.
Although I have occasionally used Microsoft Teams on an iPad for videoconferencing since 2020, I don’t use it very often because I don’t like using the built-in camera on the iPad. First, it is located to the left of the screen, which is awkward because it often looks to others like you are looking to the side. Second, the camera is zoomed in a little too much; my face appears too big in the window. Third, because my iPad is typically at an angle on a dedicated stand like my Stabile PRO or using my iPad’s Smart Folio cover, people look up at me a little and see the ceiling behind me. It just isn’t a look that I like very much. Fourth, the quality of the front-facing camera on the iPad is just okay. Here is an example:
When Apple released iPadOS 17 on September 18, 2023, one of the new features was iPad support for external cameras. You could plug a webcam into the iPad’s USB-C port and then use that external camera for FaceTime calls instead of the built-in camera. However, the feature hasn’t been supported by third-party videoconferencing apps.
Yesterday, Microsoft announced that it added external camera support to the Microsoft Teams app on the iPad. If the cord on your webcam has a USB-C connector, simply plug the webcam into the iPad. The camera used by Teams will automatically change from the iPad’s built-in camera to the external camera. The webcam that I use in my office, a Logitech HD Pro C922 webcam, has a USB connector on its cord, so I simply attached my HyperDrive 6-in-1 USB-C Hub to my iPad (which gives you lots of different ports) and then plugged in the camera to the USB port on that hub. Instantly, the camera used in the Teams app changed to my Logitech webcam, and I vastly prefer how I look:
Screenshot
Although you could put your webcam on top of your iPad, I think it looks better to have the webcam up a little higher, at your eye level. In the above picture, my webcam was sitting on top of my computer monitor. However, I always carry a small portable tripod in my Tom Bihn bag, which I have with me all the time, and I can use it with my webcam to give it more height. The next time that I am traveling and I want to use my iPad for a videoconference, that is the solution that I will use.
I don’t know why it took Microsoft so long to add this feature, but I’m glad it is here now. Hopefully, Zoom will add support soon. I virtually never use the Webex app on my iPad, but I see that the Webex app also recently added support for an external camera.
For a few weeks, I’ve been using a new accessory for the Apple Vision Pro from Belkin. It is called the Belkin Head Strap, and it provides a strap across the top of your head at the same time that you use Apple’s Solo Knit Band as a strap around the back of your head. I really like this device, which is currently only sold by Apple and costs $50. It would make a good present for someone who uses an Apple Vision Pro, or a good present for yourself.
When Apple first introduced the Vision Pro to the world on June 5, 2023, Apple let select members of the press try out pre-release versions of the device. Many of them were offered the opportunity to wear the device using both the Solo Knit Band around the back of their head and, at the same time, a second strap across the top of their head. But when Apple started selling the Vision Pro this past February, that top strap was not included. Instead, Apple included a Dual Loop Band as an alternative to the Solo Knit Band. The Dual Loop Band has a simple strap around the back of your head and a simple strap for the top of your head.
I’m not a fan of the Dual Loop Band because it is not nearly as comfortable as the very nice Solo Knit Band. Moreover, I guess I have a good head shape for the Solo Knit Band because I’ve been using it for most of this year, and I’ve never found the Apple Vision Pro uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I have heard complaints from others who say that the Vision Pro with just the Solo Knit Band seems too heavy and needs more support. To address that concern, I know that many folks use the SoloTop, a $30 device sold on Etsy that allows you to wear a second Solo Knit Band (which you must purchase from Apple for another $100) across the top of your head. That seemed like overkill for me since I’m really fine with just the Solo Knit Band, but I have remained curious whether an alternative band arrangement would be an improvement.
A few months ago, I purchased the ANNAPRO Head Strap for Apple Vision Pro for $36 on Amazon. I haven’t yet posted a review of that product because I have mixed feelings about it, but I will try to post something soon. Nevertheless, using that product made me continue to wonder if there was a better band solution for the Vision Pro.
Belkin announced the Belkin Head Strap on November 7, 2024. Here is how Belkin described the product:
The Head Strap enhances comfort and stability for Apple Vision Pro users with its ergonomic and adjustable design. It is thoughtfully engineered with reinforced seams, a secure locking mechanism, and additional stabilization points to keep Vision Pro firmly in place on the user with weight evenly distributed. The easily adjustable strap ensures a precise fit for a wide range of head sizes.
It seems that Apple worked closely with Belkin to create the Belkin Head Strap. For example, Jason Snell of Six Colors—one of those people I referred to earlier as a member of the press who got to try a pre-release version of the Vision Pro in 2023—says that “during Apple’s initial Vision Pro demos in June 2023, the devices were equipped with a combination of a Solo Knit Band and an over-the-head band that was extremely similar to the experience with the Belkin Head Strap.” And I’ve also noticed that the Belkin Head Strap is currently only sold in Apple Stores, further evidence of a special arrangement between the two companies. The product has been “out of stock” since Day 1 on Belkin’s own website, and I haven’t seen it sold on Amazon or anywhere else yet. Regardless of whether Apple, Belkin, or both designed this product, it is excellent, and it looks like the type of product that Apple would make.
Here is what the two sides of the Belkin strap look like before you extend the strap to make it longer:
Attaching the Belkin Head Strap to an Apple Vision Pro is easy. You do have to disconnect the power cord to do so, but once that is done, you simply pull the tabs on the Solo Knit Band to disconnect it, slide on the Belkin Head Strap, reconnect the Solo Knit Band, and then reconnect the power cord. The instructions that come with the Belkin product don’t even need to include words:
When the strap is on your head, you can adjust the strap to fit the size of your head. The strap stays in place because of a hook-and-loop system that reminds me of Apple’s Sport Loop Band for the Apple Watch. This makes it easy to get the right fit.
Once you determine the best size, you won’t need to adjust the strap again unless you want to change how it fits.
The Belkin Head Strap works really well. First, it better distributes the weight of the Vision Pro by putting some of the weight on top of your head. Second, the soft, stretchy nylon fabric is comfortable, so it feels good on your head. I may not mind using only the Solo Knit Band with my Vision Pro, but I prefer also using the Belkin Head Strap.
Third, the strap is a good color and fabric match for the Apple Vision Pro. I hesitate to emphasize that advantage too much because you always look somewhat goofy when you wear a Vision Pro, but at least this strap won’t make you look any worse.
Finally, Belkin is a reputable company that has been making accessories for Apple products for a long time. Consistent with that reputation, this strap seems durable and well-made.
Unlike the ANNAPRO Head Strap that I plan to review in the future, the Belkin Head Strap will not help you use a Vision Pro without the light shield on. And while I don’t use Apple’s Developer Strap—a $299 accessory that adds a USB-C port to a Vision Pro and is only sold to registered Apple developers—my understanding is that you cannot use the Belkin Head Strap at the same time that you use Apple’s Developer Strap.
Apple obviously considered including a strap like this with the Vision Pro. I do not know why they decided against including it with the device and then (presumably) reconsidered and chose to work with Belkin to ensure that this product was available. But I’m very glad that this product is now available, and I now plan to use it whenever I use the Solo Loop Band.
Head shapes are different, so what is comfortable for one person won’t be for another. Thus, it would be silly for me to say that this is the right product for everyone who uses a Vision Pro. But I suspect that most people would like the Belkin Head Strap. If you feel like you need better support for the weight of the Vision Pro, this might be the perfect product for you. Even if you are like me and don’t mind using just the Solo Knit Band, this product is still worth considering as a potential improvement.
Hackers from China are listening to our phone calls and reading our text messages. Do you need to be concerned about this specific threat, and what should you always be doing to protect your privacy? That’s the topic for the beginning of this week’s episode of the podcast. Brett Burney and I next discuss the recent interview with Tim Cook for the cover story of this month’s Wired magazine, adjusting what you see when you look at your Apple Watch, how the Photos app on your iPhone and iPad will improve in a few days, using the Find My app to its fullest, additional details on this year’s holiday commercial from Apple, Apple’s holiday display in London, and more.
In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for seeing your Wi-Fi passwords and the Wi-Fi networks you have connected to in the past, and I provide a tip to improve your writing.
This week, the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned citizens that a threat actor associated with China had compromised the networks of major global telecommunications providers to spy on customers. Jeff Greene, the CISA Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity, warned that this “cyber activity poses a serious threat to critical infrastructure, government agencies, and businesses.” The hackers are part of a group called Salt Typhoon. According to reporting by Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post, the Chinese government is behind the attack, and it has been going on for more than a year. The same report quotes Sen. Mark R. Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, as saying that it is the “worst telecom hack in our nation’s history—by far.” The federal agencies provided information to telecommunication companies such as AT&T and Verizon on what they could do to try to mitigate the threat, but the networks are still compromised because the fix involves replacing “literally thousands and thousands and thousands of pieces of equipment across the country,” according to Sen. Warner. In the meantime, what can you as a smartphone user do? The CISA says that you need to ensure that your communications are “end-to-end encrypted to the maximum extent possible.” For iPhone users, this is relatively easy to do. The Messages app and FaceTime app use end-to-end encryption, so as long as you have been communicating with another iPhone user—a blue bubble person—using the default apps, you have been safe. But as John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes, Android users need to jump through a bunch of hoops to use end-to-end encryption, and text messages between Android phones and iPhones are not end-to-end encrypted, even if you are using the RCS standard added to the iPhone a few months ago. Apple isn’t perfect, but the company’s focus on security and privacy for its customers is comforting when we learn about attacks like this. And now, the other news of note from the past week:
Longtime tech reporter Steven Levy interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook for the cover story of this month’s Wired magazine. It is an interesting and wide-ranging interview, and I encourage you to read it. You can read it on the Wired website, or if you have an app that lets you read magazines from your local library, you can read a digital version of the issue. (I used the Flipster app on my iPad).
The interview started by discussing AI, and Levy pointed out in the introduction that while some say that Apple is behind other companies on AI, Apple is rarely the first company to make something—others made MP3 players before the iPod; others made smartphones before the iPhone—but Apple often introduces the most significant product. Cook resisted the idea that if you use AI to help you do something like write it means that you are not the author. He likened it to a musician using software like Logic Pro to create music but the artist is still the author.
When asked in that interview why the Apple Vision Pro hasn’t sold as many units as some had predicted, Cook responded that it is an “early adopted product, for people who want tomorrow’s technology today.” He also said that the key is to have developers start to develop apps to improve the ecosystem, and that is happening. He agreed that over time, this product is likely to evolve into mixed-reality glasses that people will wear continually, like eyeglasses.
Cook also discussed with Levy Apple’s contribution to the field of medical technology, such as the health features of the Apple Watch and the new hearing aid feature for the AirPods Pro. Cook said: “It’s clear to me that if you zoom out way into the future, and you look back and ask what Apple’s biggest contribution was, it will be in the health area.” Cook also admitted that researchers were analyzing the possibility that Apple technology could use AI to diagnose medical conditions long before a doctor could.
Finally, when Levy asked Cook if the iPhone would still be around years from now—such as a potential “iPhone 30" instead of today’s iPhone 16—Cook said that while the product will change due to innovation, he sees the iPhone “lasting a very long time.”
In an article for Forbes, accessibility technology expert Steven Aquino interviewed Sarah Herrlinger of Apple to talk about the new AirPods Pro hearing aid feature. She noted that this feature grew out of three efforts at Apple: the focus on acoustic technology, “the company’s institutional ethos on prioritizing accessibility,” and Apple’s “ever-burgeoning ambitions in healthcare.” She also noted that Apple designs products with accessibility in mind right from the start.
Speaking of using the AirPods Pro as a hearing aid, last week I linked to a moving Apple commercial showing a father using AirPods so that he could hear his daughter play music. An article by Brett Williams of Men’s Health reveals that the ad is based on a true story. The protagnist in the commercial is not an actor but a real person—John Pelletreau of Chicago.
In another article about the ad by Tim Nudd of Ad Age, Pelletreau says: “My wife and I watch TV at two entirely different volumes. That’s been our struggle forever. … Her level is, like, 4. I’m at like a 10. I have to have the volume way up to understand what they’re saying. After getting the AirPods Pro set up with Hearing Aid, well, I’ll just say she’s a fan. We haven’t had a single conversation about the TV volume this week.” Pelletreau also explained that in the past “my brain was doing all this ‘predictive text’—trying to get the gist even if I couldn’t follow all the words. My brain would try to fill in gaps, and I would just nod and give a more generic answer.” But with the AirPods Pro, “I’m not having to actively put effort into understanding what people are saying. I can just hear it.” The article also reveals that while the daughter playing the guitar in the commercial is an actress, the home videos of the daughter when she was younger are real home videos.
In the current version of watchOS, a live activity can show up on your Apple Watch, and when it does, it is what you see when you lift your wrist. So you might see playback controls if media is playing on an Apple TV. Or if the New Orleans Saints are playing football, when I lift my wrist, I see the score. I think it is is a neat feature, but if you want to turn it off and just see your normal watch face, Tim Hardwick of MacRumors explains how to do that.
Jackie Snow of the Wall Street Journal explains the ultra-secure Lockdown Mode feature and explains who might want to turn it on. (Apple News link.)
Very soon—perhaps next week?—Apple will release iOS 18.2. Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac discusses some of the upcoming changes to the Photos app. For example, if you don’t like the way that all videos automatically loop in iOS 18.1 (I’m not a fan), you will be able to disable that in settings in iOS 18.2.
A few days ago, I couldn’t find my keys. Fortunately, the have an AirTag on them, so I was able to find them in my house—in a location where I had already looked but I somehow missed them the first time. Sigh. But it was yet another example of how much I like Apple’s Find My technology. Chance Miller of 9to5Mac recommends some Find My accessories that you might consider buying this holiday season.
And finally, Apple’s headquarters in the United Kingdom is in a building called Battersea Power Station, which Wikipedia notes is a decommissioned coal-fired power station on the River Thames in London that is one of the largest brick buildings in the world. To celebrate Christmas, Apple hired the animation studio Aardman to use the iPhone to create stop-motion Wallace & Gromit animations that are projected onto the side of the building including two large wash towers. It looks like it would be impressive to see in person. Here is a page on the Apple website about the project, here is a short video showing how you can make your own stop-motion video using Aardman’s app, and here is a fun making-of video:
