Since 1967 (yes, that date is correct), Computerworld has been reporting on the use of technology in business. In an article this week for Computerworld, Jonny Evans explains why the Apple Vision Pro is a great product for many different types of businesses. But he also notes that Apple views this as the next big trend in consumer electronics. One feature that I think will appeal to many consumers is the ability to experience live sports. Yes, the Vision Pro is expensive, but future models will be cheaper, and people already pay top dollar for premium seats at just a single live sporting event. Apple announced this week that, starting tonight, people will be able to watch a live basketball game, sitting in seats that they could never afford. If you live in the Lakers’ regional broadcast territory—Southern California, Hawaii, and parts of southern Nevada, including Las Vegas—you will be able to watch live, in spatial video, tonight’s game in which the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Milwaukee Bucks. If (like me) you are outside of that market, you won’t be able to watch live, but you will be able to watch a full-game replay using the NBA app. This type of broadcast has the potential to be the future of live sports, live theater, live concerts, and more. I’m excited for it, and I’m glad that Apple technology is involved. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- As we think about what kind of folding iPhone Apple might introduce later this year, Jason Snell of Six Colors explains why he thinks that it is more likely to work primarily as an iPad that you can fold in half rather than an iPhone that you can open up.
- Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports that once you update to iOS 26.2 and similar updates for the other Apple platforms, you can take advantage of Wi-Fi 6E on most modern Apple devices. This means channel bandwidth of up to 160MHz (up from 80 MHz), which can help with large file transfers and large uploads and downloads.
- Many companies announced upcoming products at CES in Las Vegas this week. Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac reports on product announcements from Belkin. One product that caught my eye is a wireless HDMI display adapter, which would eliminate the need to run a long HDMI cord from the TV/projector to wherever your iPad or Mac is located.
- Lewis Wallace of Cult of Mac reports on CES announcements from Anker, including some interesting new chargers and a power strip that clamps to the edge of a table.
- Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports on a CES announcement from Twelve South: a tray where you can drop your keys, wallet, and iPhone, and which includes a wireless charger for your iPhone. It is called the Valet. For certain homes, this could be quite useful.
- Kalley Huang and Tripp Mickle of the New York Times wrote a profile of John Ternus, who is widely expected to become Apple’s CEO when Tim Cook steps down.
- I love my Apple Pencil Pro, and I use it almost every day with my iPad. The retail price is $129, the lowest price that I have ever seen it is $89.99, and it is currently very close to that low price on Amazon: only $92.97.
- If you use an Apple Card credit card—which is great for purchases from Apple and some other vendors, where you can get 3% back—it is currently issued by Goldman Sachs. As reported by Chance Miller of 9to5Mac, Chase will take over for Goldman Sachs in the next 24 months. But all of the key details will remain the same for customers: still Mastercard, still 3% cash back for many vendors, still pay your balance the same way, still have access to a savings account, continue to use the existing physical card, etc. Hopefully, the transition will be invisible.
- This time last week, I reported that Apple was teasing an update to the Fitness+ app. Here is the official announcement from Apple. The new features are not as impressive as I had hoped for, but there are some nice improvements. I’ve been using Fitness+ to work out with weights, and I see that starting on Monday, January 12, Apple will debut a three-week program called Strength Basics that will consist of three workouts per week and will teach strength moves. I plan to check that one out.
- When my daughter turned 13, her big birthday present was her first iPhone. She teared up with excitement when she unwrapped it because she had been asking for one for a while. Ariana Eunjung Cha and Sabrina Malhi of the Washington Post report on a new study that provides evidence of health risks associated with a child receiving an iPhone at age 12 rather than waiting until age 13. For parents who want a way to track and communicate with a younger child but don’t want to give them access to an iPhone screen, I know many people who have given their child an Apple Watch.
- John Voorhees of MacStories reports that Season 3 of the show Tehran debuts tonight on Apple TV. I enjoyed the first two seasons, and I’m happy that I can finally watch Season 3. Season 3 was released 13 months ago on Kan 11, a TV channel in Israel. Apple has already renewed the show for a fourth season.
- And finally, I’m a big fan of the AirPods Pro 3, but my wife finds that they don’t stay in her ears. Thus, she instead uses the Apple Powerbeats Pro 2 ($199.95 on Amazon), which stay put because of the earhooks. This video, called iShowSpeeed, is a silly send-up of old kung fu movies, but it does show how these devices stay on your ears even during extreme movement.