There was no In the News post or podcast episode last week because I was on a family vacation in Houston. While there, my son and I visited the Johnson Space Center. I used my iPhone 17 Pro Max to take pictures of the (nicely restored) historic Mission Control Center at the same time that, one floor below us, NASA was communicating with astronauts in space on the Artemis II crewed lunar flyby mission, who were using an iPhone 17 Pro Max to take their own pictures. As Kalley Huang of the New York Times reports, it was the first time an iPhone had been fully qualified by NASA for extended use in orbit and beyond. Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac reports that every spacesuit featured a pocket to hold the iPhone, although Malcolm Owen of AppleInsider reports that sometimes the iPhones were mounted to the ship using Velcro. The iPhones could be used to take pictures and videos, but all connectivity was turned off. As a result, the astronauts had to download pictures to a computer to share them with those of us on Earth while they were in space, and so far, I’ve only seen eight pictures shared, although they are great ones: Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch looking at Earth, all four crew members wearing eclipse glasses, and more (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). It is interesting to see a picture of Earth taken with an iPhone because a picture of Earth was one of the very first wallpaper images included with the iPhone, as I explained in this post from 2010. But we know there were more pictures taken with the iPhones; as Marcus Mendes of 9to5Mac notes, we also got a sneak peek at a great photo of the lunar service taken with an iPhone. Hopefully, now that the iPhones are back home and no longer in airplane mode—um, spaceship mode?—NASA will soon release many more photos along with videos taken in space with iPhones. And by the way, if you ever find yourself in Houston, I recommend visiting Space Center Houston. And now, the news of note from the past two weeks:
- The Overcast app is my favorite app for listening to podcasts, and as noted by Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac, the app was recently updated to add a feature that was recently added to Apple’s own Podcasts app: transcripts for every podcast. The feature works really well, and I’ve already found it to be very useful.
- It is widely believed that Apple will introduce a new version of the iPhone, perhaps as soon as this Fall, which can fold in half. A new rumor is that this device will be called the iPhone Ultra, and in two posts, John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains why he thinks that would be a good name.
- In a post on the education section of Apple’s website, Apple explains how a student who suddenly lost 95% of his eyesight due to a rare disease uses accessibility features on Apple devices to enlarge text so he can read it. Although my vision is far better than that, it is also far from perfect, and like many others, I depend upon my glasses to see the world clearly. I often use Apple technology to see things more clearly, whether I am pinching to zoom on my iPad or using the camera on my iPhone to zoom in on a distant sign.
- If you use Express Transit Mode on your iPhone (which makes it much faster to pay for mass transit) and you use a Visa card to make that payment, you may want to change that. As John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains, there is currently a bug in the Visa system that a criminal can exploit to steal money from you.
- All of us have watched videos of people performing incredible feats. This genre of video is even more stunning when it is an immersive video on the Apple Vision Pro because you feel like you are there. As I note on this webpage, there are currently five episodes in Apple’s Adventure series for the Vision Pro that put you right in the middle of awe-inspiring experiences. This week, it was reported that there were plans to have a sixth one by now. Apple took immersive video of paraplegic Claire Lomas as she took a microlight over the Jordan desert. Tragically, she crashed after landing and died from her injuries five weeks later, as reported by William Gallagher of AppleInsider. As Gallagher notes, nobody is saying that Apple’s cameras played any role in the tragedy. Nevertheless, it is a haunting reminder that the risks people take in videos like this are very real. The immersive video of Faith Dickey walking a tightrope 3,000 feet above Norway’s fjords was one of the first immersive videos released for the Apple Vision Pro, but it remains one of the most breathtaking videos that I’ve ever seen.
- Stephen Johnson of Lifehacker shares some good Apple Vision Pro tips.
- Apple released a new immersive video for the Apple Vision Pro today, the latest episode of its Elevated series. This one is focused on New York. “Glide above the Big Apple’s shimmering spires and down its iconic streets. From the neon sizzle of Times Square to the Statue of Liberty’s beacon of hope, let the voices of New York-and songs celebrating the city’s magic-be your guide.”
- After an article by Mark Gurman at Bloomberg about Apple’s upcoming smart glasses product, there has been a lot of speculation about what Apple may be working on, such as this article by Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac.
- If Apple is indeed working on smart glasses, I’m sure that Apple is working to make them better than the ones currently being sold by Meta. Based on this article by Sam Anderson of the New York Times, that’s a low bar.
- John Voorhees of MacStories reviews Hour by Hour, an app that can help you to plan your day.
- Earlier this week, I reviewed the Review: Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station and concluded that it is the best 3-in-1 charger that you can buy. Andrew O’Hara of AppleInsider recently reviewed the product as well, and he agrees with me, concluding that this product “stands out in a crowded market as a premium device.” You can get it for $119.99 on Amazon.
- Jason Cross of Macworld compares the Apple Watch to a Whoop band.
- I mentioned a few weeks ago that this might occur, but now it has. As Dan Moren of Six Colors reports, Amazon acquired Globalstar, the company that Apple uses for its satellite features on the iPhone and Apple Watch. Moren reports that Apple played a role in the purchase to ensure that Amazon will continue to support what Apple is doing now and will work with Apple on future developments.
- What will those future satellite-related features be? Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac has some ideas.
- If you have noticed that the Netflix app on the Apple TV device doesn’t work as well as it used to, it’s not just your imagination. As Chance Miller of 9to5Mac explains, Netflix changed its app to make it much less useful. Ugh.
- The newest show on Apple TV is Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and it is getting good reviews, such as this review by James Poniewozik of the New York Times. I plan to check it out this weekend.
- Denise Petski of Deadline reports that later this month, Apple will host an interactive fan experience in Los Angeles for 28 shows, including Pluribus, For All Mankind, Slow Horses, Shrinking, and Your Friends & Neighbors.
- I often talk about the best shows on Apple TV streaming service, but they are not all winners. David Snow of Cult of Mac lists the worst-rated shows on Apple TV.
- Snow also shares great tips for using Siri to tell your CarPlay what to do.
- Aisha Malik of TechCrunch recommends iPad apps to use for productivity.
- The Signal app can be used to send private messages on an iPhone, but there may still be a way to see them. Marcus Mendes of 9to5Mac reports that the FBI recovered deleted Signal messages using iPhone notification data.
- Apple’s 50th anniversary is now behind us, but Mark Spoonauer of Tom’s Guide just posted a fantastic video from his interview with Apple executives Greg ‘Joz’ Joswiak and John Ternus. They talk about specific products, like the new MacBook Neo and the Vision Pro, but also about what made Apple so special over the last fifty years and what we can expect in the future. Worth watching.
- And finally, how many times have you talked about a product, a place, a show, etc., and then not that long later, you see an advertisement for it on your iPhone? Many people are convinced that an iPhone or Android device must be passively listening to what they say and sharing that with advertisers. David Pogue of CBS Sunday Morning investigated this and talked to the experts, and as he explains in this video, it simply isn’t true. The video explains what is really going on, and this follow-up article by Pogue on his Substack has a lot more information.