It’s been over a decade since I have written much about using WiFi on an airplane—essentially since 2011, when I reviewed the GoGo service on Delta. WiFi in the air has improved considerably since then. Delta Airlines made a big step forward last year when it started the move from GoGo to Viasat. I had a chance to use it last week when I was flying home from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, and it worked incredibly well. The service was fast, and the price was reasonable.
Cost
Back in 2019, Delta announced that it wanted to eventually offer fast WiFi for free on every flight. Delta isn’t quite there yet, but it is close. I’ve seen times in the past (with the GoGo service) when it would cost up to $30 for WiFi on a flight. With the new Viasat service, the cost is only $5 for the duration of the flight.
At only $5, it is easy to justify the price even if all that you plan to do is get caught up on your emails. And keep in mind that if all that you want to do is send and receive text messages, Delta also offers a free tier that works with Apple’s iMessage service, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. If you plan to travel often, you can also pay $50/month for access (or $70/month for international access).
Speed
Delta promised that speed would increase on planes that switched from GoGo to Viasat, and they were correct, at least for download speeds. I regularly saw over 60 Mbps on my plane, although upload speeds were only around 1 Mbps.
That speed is fast enough that you should have no trouble streaming video or getting work done. On my flight back to New Orleans last week, the speeds were fast enough that I could read all about Apple’s new iPad announcements, watch the video offered by Apple about the new iPads, and write a post about the new iPads, all while I was simply using my iPhone in my airline seat. It worked incredibly well.
I also like the idea of keeping up, and catching up, on email while on a flight. It is always annoying to have a plane land and then realize that you have 25 new emails to go through and decide whether anything is important, all while you are also trying to exit the plane and get to your final destination.
Summary
I understand that Delta is not the only airline using Viasat, so you may be able to see similarly good experiences on other planes. If it has been a while since you considered paying for WiFi on an airplane, you may want to reconsider. WiFi in the air can be incredibly convenient, and unlike in the past, the costs are low and the speed is impressive.
Yesterday, Apple updated all the software. We now have iPadOS 16.1, iOS 16.1, watchOS 9.1, macOS 13 Ventura, tvOS 16, and HomePod Software 16. And maybe there is more out there that I haven’t even noticed yet. It was a big update day.
What’s new? I’m sure that’ll be the topic of discussion for the next few weeks. But here are some highlights for the iPad and iPhone:
iPadOS 16.1
Remember when iOS 16 came out in early September? We saw things like the ability to edit or delete a text message in Messages, the ability to schedule an email to be sent later, a new interface in the Home app, the ability to use Siri to dictate and use the keyboard at the same time, the ability to tap an object in many photos and drag the picture of just that object to another location, and many more features. Most of the new features that came to the iPhone in iOS 16 are now available for the iPad in iOS 16.1.
The Files app is also improved in iPadOS 16.1. It is now easier to sort columns, and I’ve read that you can now change file extensions, although I haven’t found a reason to test that yet.
And then there is Stage Manager. It is the brand new interface for multitasking on the iPad. But when you first update to iPadOS 16.1, you won’t see it at all. There are two ways to turn it on. First, go to the Settings app and select Home Screen & Multitasking, and then turn on Stage Manager at the bottom. Or a second way to enable it is to pull down from the top right corner to see your Control Panel and tap the stage manager button: three dots next to a rectangle.
Should you turn on Stage Manager? I don’t know yet. It is a radical new interface that lets you see multiple windows at once. After my first few minutes of using it, it seemed pretty neat to be able to switch between two apps more quickly and easily because they are overlapping.
As the owner of a new iPhone 14 Pro with the Dynamic Island at the top, I’m excited to see apps in iOS 16.1 start to take advantage of Live Activities, which allows updates in the background. For example, a sports app could keep the current score updated in the Dynamic Island. I look forward to seeing what clever app developers come up with.
With iOS 16.1 and all of the other updates yesterday, you can now use iCloud Shared Photo Library to share some of the pictures in your library with another family member.
There are lots of other smaller features, like the ability to use Apple Fitness+ without an Apple Watch, a new Clean Energy Charging system, and more.
And of course, all of these updates for the iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, etc. include security updates. So to keep yourself safe, you will want to update at some point, even if you don’t do it within the first 24 hours.
In this week’s episode of the In the News podcast, Brett Burney and I discuss the two new iPads announced by Apple this week and make recommendations on what to get if you are in the market for a new iPad. Then we talk about the iPhone flashlight going off in your pocket by mistake, iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16.1 (due on Monday!), Apple Watch faces, and more.
In our In the Know segment, Brett has recommendations and tips for using the cellular feature of an Apple Watch. I share a tip for using the timer app on the Apple Watch: using the “favorite” feature.
Earlier this week, Apple announced new iPad models, and I already wrote about them. Apple also announced a new model of the Apple TV: the second generation Apple TV 4K. I really like my first generation Apple TV 4K, and if you don’t have an Apple TV at all, I encourage you to consider buying one. Also, if you are using an Apple TV that is older than the model Apple introduced last year, I recommend that you consider upgrading. You will get the great new remote that Apple introduced last year (except that this year’s version of the remote uses USB-C to charge instead of Lightning) plus some other features and a lower price. What’s different from last year’s model? The previous model cost $179 and had 32GB of storage. The new model is faster, cheaper ($149), and comes with 128GB of storage. Or, if you can live without Ethernet (using only WiFi) and without Thread support and are okay with 64GB of storage, you can save even more by getting the new low-end $129 model. The Apple TV will sometimes work better with Ethernet support so you might want to spend the extra $20 for the nicer model, but even the $129 model looks like a great device. It is nice seeing the overall price of the Apple TV go down. Joe Rossignol of MacRumors notes 10 new features introduced with this new model. Once people have the new models in their hands, I look forward to learning about how noticeable the speed increase is now that the Apple TV has jumped from the A12 Bionic chip (introduced in 2018 with the iPhone XS) to the A15 Bionic chip (introduced in 2021 with the iPhone 13). And now, the other news of note from the past week:
Jason Snell of Six Colors discusses the new iPads announced this week, noting that while the new models are advancements, those advancements can feel “so fitful and even contradictory that it feels almost haphazard.”
Alex Guyot of MacStories had a similar reaction. After describing the new models, Alex notes that the lineup is “super weird.”
The new 10th generation version of the iPad supports a new Magic Keyboard Folio from Apple. Hartley Charlton of MacRumors explains that it includes a kickstand, trackpad, and a keyboard with a function row. It costs $249.
Have you ever looked at your pocket only to discover that the iPhone in that pocket has the flashlight turned on? That hasn’t happened to me very often, but it’s annoying and potentially embarrassing when it does occur. Heather Kelly of the Washington Post discusses the flashlight problem and shares solutions.
The Apple Watch Ultra comes with a matte titanium finish. But as noted by Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac, a jeweler in Arizona can give it a polished finish, or they can sell you a polished version for $1,499 (almost double the normal cost). I think it looks pretty good, but since I have always used the stainless steel Apple Watch, I’ve always preferred the polished look. On the other hand, Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels laments that “[t]his poor Watch didn’t do anything to deserve such mistreatment.”
Tim Hardwick of MacRumors notes 20 new watchOS 9 features that you might have missed. Some of my favorites on this list: (1) view Activity Rings during a workout, (2) retrace your steps with Backtrack, (3) view edited Messages, and (4) designate a timer duration as a favorite.
The Apple MagSafe Battery Pack is a great product, as I noted three months ago in this review. I used it quite a bit earlier this week when I was traveling back and forth to Washington, D.C., for a federal court hearing. It normally costs $99, but I was able to get it when it was on sale on Amazon for $80. Rikka Altaland of 9to5Toys notes that you can currently get the Apple MagSafe Battery Pack from Verizon for $74.24, and that includes free shipping. This is as good of a deal as I’ve ever seen for this product. (It is currently $97.99 on Amazon.)
Joe Rossignol of MacRumors notes eight new features coming to iOS 16.1, including iCloud Shared Photo Library, live activities for third-party apps, support for Matter accessories in the Home app, and an Apple Card savings account.
iPad OS 16.1—the first version of iOS 16 for the iPad—will also be released on October 24. Roman Loyola of Macworld describes some of the key new features, including Stage Manager.
Michael Simon of Macworld notes that an original, first generation iPhone still in its original box sold in an auction for almost $40,000. It cost $599 in 2007.
And finally, here is a nine-minute video that Apple released this week to describe the new tenth generation iPad and the new 2022 models of the iPad Pro. One of the big new features in the iPad Pro, hover support for the Apple Pencil (second generation), is shown off starting around the 6:20 mark:
Yesterday, Apple announced updates to the high-end iPad Pro and the low-end iPad. The updates were announced in a simple press release, not in a keynote address, which indicates that even Apple sees these as minor updates. That’s certainly true for the iPad Pro, which adds one new feature for the Apple pencil but is otherwise just a speed bump. However, Apple did introduce a different version of the low-end iPad with an edge-to-edge screen, which is a fairly substantial change.
iPad Pro
The new iPad Pro comes in the same two sizes as before, which means that Apple introduced the 12.9" iPad Pro (6th generation) and the 11" iPad Pro (4th generation).
This new iPad Pro has two primary new features. First, it uses the M2 processor instead of the M1 processor, so it is faster. This makes certain graphics processes 35% faster. Also, the faster processor means that this iPad Pro can handle ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30 fps (1080p at 30 fps for 128GB capacity). More speed is always nice, but the M1 iPad Pro was already plenty fast for the tasks I am currently doing as a lawyer. If you are in the video or graphics fields, you probably already know if this extra speed will be useful for you. For other users, this is just a nice speed bump which is welcome, but not essential.
The second new feature involves the Apple Pencil. Apple did not release a new model of the Apple Pencil, but it did add a new feature for the current Apple Pencil (second generation): you can hover the tip of the Pencil above the iPad Pro’s screen and the iPad will know that you are hovering. What will the iPad do when it senses that you are hovering? It depends upon what app you are using.
For example, Apple says that if you are about to sketch, an app can show you where you are about to start writing for greater precision. If you are using the Scribble feature, text fields automatically expand when the Pencil gets near the screen, and handwriting converts to text even faster.
Hover sounds like an interesting new feature, especially if third party app developers come up with innovative ways to take advantage of the feature. It will be fun to watch this one.
iPad (10th generation)
The least expensive version of the iPad is simply called “iPad” and it now has a new look. Instead of a 10.2" screen with a Touch ID button on the front, it now has an edge-to-edge 10.9" screen, with Touch ID in the power button in the side. This is a great improvement, one that I have appreciated on the iPad Pro for a long time.
The quality of display is also improved, using a Liquid Retina display, which makes everything look better and brighter than on the previous low-end iPad.
My favorite feature in this iPad is that the camera is on the long side of the iPad instead of the short side. This makes so much more sense for video conferencing. I hate that I have to look to the side of my iPad Pro if I want the other person to see me looking at the camera. And I doubt that very many people do video conferences with an iPad in portrait mode. I hope to see more his feature across the entire iPad line soon, including the iPad Pro.
Like the iPad Pro, the new iPad uses a USB-C connector instead of a Lightning connector. That’s a nice improvement, but it comes with one caveat. This iPad only works with the Apple Pencil (first generation), the one that charges by sticking the end into a Lightning port. To address this, Apple is including with the new iPad a small adapter that has USB-C on one end and a Lightning port on the other end. That is an awkward solution, but plugging the Apple Pencil in to the side of an iPad to charge it was always awkward. Now I guess it is awkward x 2.
Note that this new iPad starts at $449 and is not the cheapest iPad Apple will continue to sell the iPad (ninth generation), which starts at $329.
Conclusion
The iPad Pro update is minor, and doesn’t even include my favorite new feature announced yesterday, the new placement of the front-facing camera. But if you are ready to get a new iPad Pro, you will now be able to get a faster version, and you can use the new hover feature for the Apple Pencil. I’m happy with my 2021 version of the iPad Pro and see no reason to upgrade, but at some point in the future when I do upgrade, the Hover feature will have been around long enough that hopefully there will be lots of great apps using it.
The low-end iPad improvements are more substantial. Having said that, if you plan to use an Apple Pencil with an iPad, I strongly encourage you to get the iPad Air or iPad Pro, both of which support the superior Apple Pencil (second generation), which attaches to the side. This low-end iPad is mostly aimed at students and users who don’t need to do anything sophisticated with the iPad. But for them, the new low-end iPad is better than ever, and I’m sure that the lower price will tempt some folks who previously would have only considered an iPad Air—which costs $150 more, but uses the better version of the Apple Pencil, has a faster M1 chip, and has some other minor improvements.
The new iPad models can be pre-ordered now and will be available on October 26, 2022.
I love my Apple Watch, but that is largely because of the built-in features. Notifications, text messages, emails, Fitness+, activity rings … these are all fantastic, but they all come from Apple. Although I have quite a few third-party apps on my Apple Watch, there are only a handful that are so useful to be truly excellent. For example, I love to listen to podcasts using the Overcast app, and I find Overcast’s Apple Watch app to be incredibly useful, both when my AirPods are getting the sound from my iPhone and from my Apple Watch. There are many other third party apps on my Apple Watch, but they don’t get much use.
1Password, my password manager of choice, has had an Apple Watch app for a very long time, but I rarely used it. Last week, 1Password released a new Apple Watch app (described in this post on the 1Password blog), and it contains one feature that has instantly made it one of my favorite third-party watch apps: a great display for showing your password. Here it is:
I love this new display because it makes it easy to see every character in a password for those times when you need to type a password. I’m never especially happy to type a password; 1Password is great because it can often automatically enter passwords for you. This is the way it works for most websites. But sometimes, you find yourself in a situation in which that doesn’t work. Perhaps the website doesn’t allow you to paste a password. Or perhaps you are entering a code in a program on your computer that doesn’t work with 1Password. In those situations, you need to type the password by hand. Having the password displayed in large, easy-to-see, type on the Apple Watch on your wrist works great. You can glance at the wrist to see what you need to type, and you can type it with your fingers. And because it uses 1Password’s new Large Type feature, it is incredibly easy to see what to type. Each character is placed on a grid with a number under each character so it is easy to glance away and then glance back and see, for example, what the seventh character is. Letters, numbers, and special characters have different colors, so you don’t need to worry about confusing the letter O for the number 0. If your password is 12 characters or less, you can see it all on one screen. If it is longer, just scroll the digital crown to see the rest of the password.
To take advantage of this new feature, you need the new 1Password app for Apple Watch. If you have a previous 1Password app on your watch—it may be called 1Password 7–that is the old app. You can delete it and replace it with the new app. To get the new app, update the 1Password app on your iPhone to version 8.9.6 (or later). Once you do so, you will see in the Apple Watch app on your iPhone that there is a new 1Password app that you can choose to install on your watch.
Once you have the app installed on your Apple Watch, you need to tell 1Password which information you want on the watch. This is a good feature: if you have dozens or hundreds of items in 1Password on your iPhone, you don’t want to have to scroll through all of them on your Apple Watch. Instead, simply add the tag “Apple Watch” for each item that you want to have on your Apple Watch.
Note that it doesn’t have to be a password. If you have helpful information in a secure note in 1Password, or in some other type of entry, you can sync that over as well.
After following these steps, you can simply launch the 1Password app on your Apple Watch, scroll to select the correct entry, and then see the username, password, etc. Or, if you want, there use a faster way. When you are looking at an entry on your Apple Watch, there is a switch at the bottom called Use as complication:
When you turn that on, you can add that specific entry as a complication on a watch face. The complication will simply show the 1Passsword logo, but when you tap it, it will not only launch the 1Password app but also bring you directly to that specific entry. Pretty neat.
Conclusion
If you own an Apple Watch and don’t currently use 1Password, now you have another reason to do so. 1Password has long been an essential iPhone app for me. Now, it is an essential Apple Watch app as well. The way that the app displays each character of a password in an easy-to-read manner on the Apple Watch adds a great new feature to the Apple Watch: a fantastic way to help whenever you need to manually type a password on your computer, iPad, or iPhone.
Click here to get 1Password 8 (free, but requires subscription):
In this week’s episode of the In the News podcast, Brett Burney and I begin with a deep dive on how the car crash detection feature works in the new iPhone 14 models and the newest models of the Apple Watch, including a discussion of why it is being triggered on certain roller coasters. Next, we talk about the use of AirTags on checked luggage on an airline. Other topics include better Windows compatibility for iPhone users, smart doorbells, and the Apple Watch.
In our In the Know segment, Brett recommends using the burn bar during workouts in Apple Fitness+. I recommend the new 1Password app for the Apple Watch and explain why it is such a major step forward.
At some point this month, we expect to see Apple announce new hardware and software, such as perhaps a new iPad Pro. Apple did announce something new this week, but it wasn’t what we are waiting for. Instead, Apple announced a new service for folks who use the Apple Card. You will soon be able to have your Daily Cash rewards go directly into a Goldman Sachs savings account with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements. It will all be handled in the wallet app. I only use my Apple Card for certain purchases, such as purchases from places like Apple and Walgreens where I can get 3% cash back, but even so, I see that I currently have just over $500 from Daily Cash. That amount would not earn me much interest in savings, but some interest is better than no interest. Apple has not yet announced when the program will be available, but you can get the details in this press release. And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:
Last week, I ended the In the News post with a link to a video from Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal, showing how the new crash detection feature works on an iPhone 14 or the newest models of the Apple Watch. This week, Stern reported that this feature has been triggering frequent false reports of car crashes when people are on certain roller coasters. When you are on a roller coaster, you may not even notice that your iPhone is giving you a 10-second countdown before calling 911, and so Stern describes several 911 calls from an iPhone in which you can hear the sound of a roller coaster in the background. It seems that Apple could figure out what coasters are causing this and tell the iPhone not to call 911 at specific GPS locations, or perhaps Apple has another solution.
Brian Heater of TechCrunch interviewed Apple executives to discuss the new crash detection feature, but his interview happened before the issue with roller coasters was reported.
An AP news report shows that the new iPhone can detect crashes, although this one had a tragic end. A Honda Accord ran into a tree with six people on board, and an iPhone detected the crash and called for help. Unfortunately, five passengers died on the scene and the sixth one died at the hospital. That is not the result that anyone wanted, but had it turned out differently, the iPhone could have played a critical role in getting emergency help there in time.
Juli Clover of MacRumors reported this week that Apple released iOS 16.0.3. It fixes some bugs, including one that caused low volume levels when an iPhone 14 Pro made a hands-free call in a vehicle using CarPlay.
There has been lots of back and forth this week about whether Lufthnsa Airlines allows customers to put AirTags in their checked luggage. At first, they said no, but then saner heads prevailed. Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac does a good job of describing the saga this week. It is interesting that this issue came about because I think that one of the best possible uses of an AirTag is to put it on airline luggage that you check.
Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories announces that you can now use two favorite Apple services on Microsoft systems. First, Windows 11 is adding iCloud Photos Library support. Second, you can access Apple Music on an Xbox.
Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac reports on a new survey concluding that almost a third of U.S. teens now own an Apple Watch and another 16% plan to buy one. Only Apple knows the real numbers, and I certainly won’t vouch for these survey results. But from what my two teenagers tell me (one of whom wears an Apple Watch, one of whom doesn’t) they are quite popular.
Apple TV+ released a trailer for a documentary coming out on October 28 that tells the story of New Orleans legend Louis Armstrong. The film is called Louis Amstrong’s Black & Blues, and it looks great. Red beans and ricely yours…
And finally, Apple shared a video called Chase in which an (unidentified) filmmaker uses the iPhone 14 Pro to shoot a series of action sequences that you might see in a movie. It’s a fun video, and it shows off why the iPhone does such an incredible job taking video:
Thank you to LIT SOFTWARE for sponsoring iPhone J.D. again this month. And what an exciting time it is for users of LIT SOFTWARE’s apps! As of the end of last week, the Mac versions of the three apps are now out of beta and available for everyone to download. Simply go to the App Store on your Mac and download the full and complete version of TrialPad, TranscriptPad, and DocReviewPad. The same LIT SUITE subscription that gives you access to these incredible apps on the iPad will now give you full access to these apps on your Mac—assuming that you are using the same Apple ID on both your Mac and your iPad, which should be true for virtually everyone. Your Mac needs to be running macOS Monterey, but that has been out for about a year now, so I presume that most folks have already installed that update.
As I mentioned last month, having the LIT SUITE apps on your Mac gives you more flexibility. You can use the larger screen of an iMac or the external display connected to your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air to see more as you prepare your trial demonstratives and exhibits using TrialPad. Or you can use your Mac laptop to run a TrialPad presentation in court whenever it makes more sense to use the computer instead of an iPad. You can work with transcripts using TranscriptPad on the same computer that you are using to draft a motion. You can perform a document review using DocReviewPad. And by storing your files in your iCloud account, you can easily go back and forth between the Mac and the iPad.
I’ve been such a happy use of LIT SOFTWARE’s iPad apps for so long that whenever I launch one of their apps on my Mac, it always brings a smile to my face. It’s that same surprise and delight that you get when you see an old friend in a new venue.
The introduction of the Mac versions of the apps wasn’t the only big announcement from LIT SOFTWARE last week. What do you do if you want to use one of the these apps but you think it would help to have someone work with you to get the most out of these apps? In that situation, it makes sense to use an experienced consultant, but who should you pick? LIT SOFTWARE is now teaming up with Brett Burney to provide one-on-one training via Zoom. Brett can provide advice for getting the most out of the apps for your specific needs, showing off his own iPad’s screen so that you can follow along on your device as he teaches you. Simply click here for more information and to sign up for a training session.
So who is this Brett Burney? Brett is a former lawyer, now full-time legal technology consultant, who has been working with other lawyers for decades. I’ve attended legal technology classes that Brett has taught and I’ve co-presented with Brett at numerous CLEs, so I know first-hand what a great teacher he is. The picture to the right shows me with Brett in 2015, when Brett was the chair of ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago. Brett and I also co-host the In the News podcast every Friday, so I talk to Brett every week. In the past, when I have been asked to recommend a consultant to help an attorney use an iPad in a law practice, Brett has been my #1 recommendation. It is great seeing that LIT SOFTWARE is now making the same recommendation. You can learn more about Brett and his credentials in this recent post from the LIT SOFTWARE blog.
I should emphasize that one of the things that I love about LIT SOFTWARE’s apps is that they are easy to use. You don’t need to work with a consultant to get a ton of value out of these apps. And the online help available on the LIT SOFTWARE website is very useful. On the other hand, considering how incredibly powerful these apps are, if you have been deterred from getting started because you were not sure if you could do everything on your own, now you have a safety net. Download the apps to your iPad and you will quickly see how useful they are. If you need help, you know where to go.
If you don’t yet use one of the LIT SOFTWARE apps, there is no better time to get started. The apps on the iPad have been around a for a very long time, so they are full-featured. Lawyers around the world have used these apps—and raved about them—for years. Now that the same apps are available on the Mac, you gain even more flexibility and can use the best tool for the job. And if you need some assistance, the company’s relationship with Brett Burney makes it easy to get a helping hand. Download the apps, sign up for a LIT SUITE subscription, and take your law practice to the next level.
There was a surprisingly large number of topics to address in this week’s episode of the In the News podcast, even though it has been several weeks since Apple’s big September event, and even though we are still waiting to learn what new products Apple will announce this month. Brett and I started by discussing the iPhone 14 Plus—the big version of Apple’s less-expensive iPhone—which went on sale yesterday. We then talked about lots of new features that are coming to iOS 16 in the future. We addressed lots of Apple Watch topics today, including the improved GPS in the Apple Watch Ultra, how the Apple Watch compares to a similar new product from Bose, and more. We also discussed Apple’s MagSafe Battery, crash detection in the iPhone 14 and the newest Apple Watch, and other topics.
In our In the Know segment, Brett recommends Calcbot, a calculator app that you can use on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. I recommend Now Playing Plus for the Apple Watch, which gives you a watch face complication that you can tap to see whatever is playing—a podcast, a song, etc.
