Today marks the anniversary of D-Day, the beginning of the end of World War II and the liberation of the world from fascism. Eighty-one years later, modern technology offers us new ways to revisit and understand the events of D-Day. Jason Snell of Six Colors reports that the $5 app D-Day: The Camera Soldier is now available for the Apple Vision Pro. This interactive experience tells the story of Richard Taylor, an American who landed on the beaches of Normandy not with a weapon, but with cameras, documenting the Allied invasion on June 6, 1944. I plan to check it out this weekend. Today also marks the 25th anniversary of the National WWII Museum. Originally opened as the “National D-Day Museum” on June 6, 2000, it has since become a world-renowned destination, and I highly recommend it as a must-see and one of many reasons to visit New Orleans. The museum holds special meaning for me personally—my grandmother, Lorraine Taix McCaslin, volunteered her time at the museum from before the doors first opened until shortly before she died. When she passed away at age 93 in 2017, the museum honored her with a touching tribute that discussed that remarkable woman and highlighted my family’s connection to World War II. Recently, my son and I watched the excellent Apple TV+ series Masters of the Air and then visited the WWII Museum to see some of the very planes featured in the show, along with exhibits that bring to life the real stories that inspired the series. On this anniversary, let’s raise a glass to all those who contributed to the end of Hitler’s reign of terror—whether they were soldiers or photographers on the front lines, future grandmothers collecting scrap metal, or courageous individuals in Germany working to reclaim their country. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- There is no episode of the In the News podcast today, but Brett and I will be recording our big 200th episode one week from today, so stay tuned for that one.
- Matthew Burgess of the Australian website Lawyers Weekly describes an interesting recent decision involving an iPhone from the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Colin Laurence Peek, a wealthy property developer in Sydney, wrote a will in the Notes app on his iPhone explaining how he wanted his assets distributed after his death. He identified specific gifts for specific people, with one person getting over $10 million, and then said that “Brad Wheatley,” his friend and a solicitor, would get “the remaining balance of the accounts”—which was over $300,000. Peek died two weeks later, and Wheatley then attempted to enforce that note on the iPhone as Peek’s will. Peek’s family—which stood to inherit if the will was invalid—challenged the will. The Court held that the evidence did not establish that the iPhone note was intended to be a final will. The decision turned less on the fact that it was written in the Notes app on the iPhone and more on a number of other issues that related to the actual intent of Mr. Peek, such as Wheatley’s conflict of interest, which made his testimony about the facts suspect, and Wheatley’s refusal to release follow-up text messages between the deceased and the solicitor after the purported will was written. It is an interesting case at the intersection of technology and the law.
- On Monday, Apple kicks off its annual WWDC conference with a keynote address at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern, and we will learn lots of details about what Apple has planned for the future. Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote a great article on the importance of WWDC in general and this year’s event in particular.
- Taylor Leamey of CNet reports on research from the University of Mississippi that explains what the Apple Watch is good at measuring (things like heart rate and step count) and the things that are less precise (calories burned), although the readings can still be helpful.
- Tim Hardwick of MacRumors notes that the next version of the Qi wireless charging standard (2.2) will support up to 50W charging. Hardwick speculates that the next version of the iPhone might support this standard, making the speed of wireless charging much closer to charging with a wire.
- Speaking of MagSafe, John Gruber of Daring Fireball argues that Apple should release a new version of the now-discontinued MagSafe Battery Pack for the iPhone. I agree 100% for the reasons I noted in this post. That battery is so well-designed and easy to carry around and use that I carry it around whenever I know that I may need some extra power for my iPhone.
- The Fantastical app for the iPhone has a great new feature that is described in another post by Gruber. When you receive an email from someone discussing an upcoming event, you can simply forward that email to email@fantastical.app and then, about 20 seconds later, you will see a notice in Fantastical that there is an event that you can tap to add it to your calendar. In my tests, the AI used by Fantastical does a fantastic job of creating these events, understanding what is the important information about the event from your email and then turning that into a well-crated calendar entry. It reminds me of another service that I use and love, TripIt. You just forward an email with any travel info—the airline email, hotel reservation confirmation, etc.—and TripIt knows how to parse the message and turn that into an itinerary for your trip.
- Leila Fadel and Olivia Hampton of NPR discuss how the iPad Pro allowed the renowned concert pianist Simone Dinnerstein to overcome her stage fright panic attacks.
- Jonathan Landrum of AP wrote a great article discussing how the Apple Vision Pro releases Bono: Stories of Surrender and Metalica and the Sphere in Las Vegas are examples of a new way to experience music.
- The Theater app for the Vision Pro will offer a live immersive 3D version of the The Talk Show Live event, which will occur on Tuesday, June 10, at 7pm Pacific. I’m sure that the event will offer an interesting discussion of Apple’s WWDC announcements. But I’m particularly interested to see how the Theater app pushes the envelope on what a live immersive experience can be.
- Apple’s big summer movie, F1, debuts in theaters at the end of this month, but the early reviews are in, and according to Zack Sharf of Variety, the movie is great.
- And finally, the new show The Wild Ones, debuts on Apple TV+ on July 11, 2025. This is a nature documentary, but it looks more like an adventure series than National Geographic. And it should be pretty stunning to watch. Apple says: “By deploying over 350 custom-built remote cameras, thermal drones, wearable underwater tags and AI-powered imaging technology, the team is breaking new ground in wildlife filmmaking, capturing intimate animal behavior never seen before while supporting active conservation missions on the ground.” Here is the trailer: