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 We will one day soon be at the point where the flat screen monitors that we use with computers today will seem as outdated as those big and heavy CRT monitors that we used to use in the past.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.
- Chance Miller of 9to5Mac also created a helpful list of all of the changes in iOS 18.2.
- Jason Snell and Dan Moren of Six Colors discuss the new AI features in iOS 18.2 and macOS 15.2
- Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels discusses the Apple Intelligence image creation tools in iOS 18.2, such as Image Playgrounds and Genmoji.
- Niléane of MacStories discusses the key new features in iOS 18.2 other than Apple Intelligence.
- 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.
- Clover also notes that tvOS 18.2 adds Snopy screen savers.
- 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.
- And finally, iOS 18.2 added a new feature to the Voice Memos app. I see that the last time that I used that app was on May 16, 2021, when I recorded about 10 seconds of me playing the piano to create the intro theme song to the In the News podcast. But that's because I write legal briefs, not songs. I've heard that artists use this app frequently when they have an idea for a song and want to record something quickly while it is still in their head. In iOS 18.2, the Voice Memos app now lets you layer recordings on top of each other while playing sound through the iPhone's speaker. For example, I can play back the music I previously recorded on the piano while I sing and record a new voice track, with the tracks remaining distinct (so the sound of my piano doesn't bleed through to the voice track). No, I will not be releasing a new In the News theme song with lyrics any time soon, but with this app, I could. Thanks to this update, all you need is the iPhone that you already own plus the voice of Michael Bublé (which, of course, we all have), and then you can use this new feature to create a song like this:
