It is rare for Apple to devote space on its main Apple.com website to a specific show on Apple TV+. However, Apple is doing it right now because today is the launch of the second season of the fantastic and popular show Severance. And that is not the only thing that Apple is doing to build excitement for the show. Apple is doing traditional types of promotions, such as having the star of the show, Adam Scott, go on the talk show circuit, such as this appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. But Apple is also doing some more unusual things, like putting something very similar to the workstation cubicles from the show in the middle of the very busy Grand Central Terminal in New York City and then having the stars of the show pretend to work in there for a few hours, as reported by Juli Clover of MacRumors. Apple also created this site so that you can put your face on a blue balloon (here's mine), which apparently will be a thing in Season 2. If you haven't watched Season 1 since it first aired in 2022 (or haven't seen it yet at all), I recommend going back and watching the first season again. I started doing so last weekend, and I was amazed at how many details I had forgotten over the last three years. And I agree with this statement by John Gruber at Daring Fireball: "We started that re-watch just after New Year’s, and holy hell was I reminded how much I don’t just like but love this show. ... One true test of a great series is that it’s better on the second watch through." After you watch each episode, I also recommend that you listen to the new Severance podcast hosted by show creator Ben Stiller and star Adam Scott. They rewatched Season 1 and recorded a podcast episode for each Season 1 show episode, and then they will be doing the same thing throughout Season 2. The podcast episodes are filled with behind-the-scenes stories and information on what happens in the episode and also feature special guests, such as other stars of the show. I cannot wait to finish my Friday workday so that I can go home and watch Severance. If only there was a way that I could have another version of me do all of the lawyer stuff so that the rest of me could stay at home and watch Apple TV+. Hmm. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac reports that the excellent CARROT Weather app was updated this week to add two new features. First, you can set Live Activities to start automatically when it is about to rain, so the notification will automatically appear on your Lock Screen. This sounds great. Second, there is now a new CarPlay app that provides turn-by-turn driving directions along with a map featuring a live weather map. I tried this last night when I drove home from work, and I can see this being an especially useful feature when you are on a road trip and want to see what kind of bad weather you are about to start driving into and how long it is likely to last. Even if you don't stay in this mode all the time—for pure turn-by-turn driving directions, I think that Apple's own Maps app or an app like Google Maps is better—I love being able to quickly switch to this mode to get a sense of upcoming weather systems. You need to pay for the Premium Ultra level subscription to take advantage of these new features ($29.99/year, or $49.99/year if you want to share with your family, which is what I do), but I think that level was already worth it for the great features and now there is even more to love.
- One of the new Apple Intelligence features that was part of the recently released iOS 18.2 was summaries of news headlines. However, that feature has been criticized by many, including the BBC, because some of the headline summaries were inaccurate. I'm not surprised; when you take something that is already very short, like a headline, and then try to make that even shorter by summarizing it, chaos can ensue. Jason Snell of Six Colors discusses how Apple is responding to the criticism by changing this feature in the upcoming iOS 18.3. I will summarize Snell's take and say that Apple may not be going far enough with this inherently problematic feature.
- Joe Rossignol of MacRumors shows off a new Apple Store in China that features a combined Genius Bar and Apple Pickup station, and he wonders if this could be something that Apple will expand to other locations. I have to admit that I like the current Apple Pickup stations at the back of an Apple Store because there is often not much of a line there, so it is a quick way to get help with something simple like a pickup or a return. If it also becomes a Genius Bar, you know that it will be crowded.
- Apple CEO Tim Cook was recently a guest on the Table Manners podcast, and he answered lots of questions about his personal life that I hadn't seen him discuss before. Juli Clover of MacRumors sums up the tidbits in this post.
- Zac Hall of 9to5Mac shares the story of a man who passed out while driving, and then his car was soon upside down in a swimming pool with water rushing in, but fortunately, his Apple Watch detected the crash and helped to save his life.
- Clover also reports that the next states to let you add a driver's license to the Wallet app on the iPhone will include Illinois, Connecticut, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Utah, Montana, and West Virginia.
- After using the Apple Watch Series 10 for three months, Oliver Haslam of AppleInsider wrote this review. One of the things that he likes is the fast charging system. As he notes, a 30-minute charge is enough to get you from 0% to 80%. I really like that feature too. It means that I can wear my Apple Watch 10 while I sleep at night—which I like for sleep tracking, for silent alarms from the watch just tapping my wrist, and for easily seeing the time if I wake up in the middle of the night—and there is more than enough time to recharge the watch while I take a shower and get ready. And if my watch is starting to run low on power, even just a fast five or ten-minute charge will do a lot. When I shifted from an Apple Watch Ultra 2 to the Series 10, I was worried that I would miss the amazing battery life of the Ultra line, but thanks to fast charging, it really hasn't been an issue for me.
- Wesley Hilliard of AppleInsider reports tvOS 18.2.1 is now available to provide some bug fixes. That's not a big news item, but I'm linking to it anyway to give me an excuse to talk about tvOS 18.2, which included a new Snooper screensaver for your TV. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should do so. I find it clever and funny, and I often find myself just waiting to see what Snoopy will do next. Be warned, however, that my teenage daughter informed me that the Snoopy screensaver was boring and that she prefers the traditional aerial screensaver. So, if you are reading this post and you are a teenager, feel free to roll your eyes at my suggestion and, while you are at it, tell me that my "Dad jokes" are lame when, of course, they are actually awesome.
- Yvonne Villarreal of the Los Angeles Times interviewed Bill Lawrence in an article published on December 25, 2024. I waited until this week to read it because it has some light spoilers for the end of Season 2 of the Apple TV+ show Shrinking, which my wife and I just finished watching. (And it was so good!) The interview is great, and Lawrence also discusses the Apple TV+ shows Ted Lasso and Bad Monkey, as well as the upcoming reboot of Scrubs and a show that will soon come to HBO featuring Steve Carell.
- And finally, let's finish this post where we started. Here is a short video from Apple showing off the Severance pop-up in Grand Central Terminal: