In 2008, I took a picture of my iPhone sitting on top of a legal pad and published the first post on iPhone J.D. The topic was why I use an iPhone, and because the iPhone was relatively new at that time, that was a relevant question. Nowadays, it seems that almost everyone has an iPhone, so it is no longer necessary to answer the question of “why.” Instead, the question is what can be done to get more out of an iPhone and related Apple products such as the iPad, AirPods, Apple Watch, AirTags, etc., and that is what I try to address frequently now that this website has turned fifteen years old.

The top 10 posts. Every year on this anniversary, I take a look back at the past year. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14). Let’s do it again, first by looking at which posts over the prior 12 months were the most popular. The fact that these posts were popular sheds some light on what has been on the minds of attorneys and other folks using an iPhone or iPad. Here, in order, are the top ten most viewed posts published in about the last year:

1. AirTag battery replacement: avoid bitterant coatings. The most popular post is technically a little more than a year old and it is one that has recently become irrelevant. As I wrote just a few days ago, you can now get the best of both worlds by purchasing a battery with a bitterant coating that also works with an AirTag. Perhaps the real significance of the popularity of that post from July of 2022 is that the AirTag had been out for long enough at that point that lots of people were ready to purchase replacement batteries and wanted advice on what to get.
2. Review: Goodnotes 6 — take handwritten notes on your iPad. One of the key ways that my iPad helps me be productive is to serve as a place where I can take handwritten notes using my Apple Pencil. And my favorite app for doing so is Goodnotes. The update to version 6 a few months ago added a new interface and a ton of new features.
3. Checking in on the MagSafe Battery Pack from Apple. A few months ago, I wrote about how much I still enjoy using this external battery made by Apple. Unfortunately, when Apple released the iPhone 15 with the USB-C port this September, it also discontinued this product, presumably because of the Lightning connector. My hope (and prediction) is that Apple will introduce a similar version of this battery, with a USB-C port, in the near future.
4. StandBy mode: tips on using it, and what stands work best with it. I spent a lot of time working on this post, and for good reason: StandBy mode is one of my favorite features of iOS 17. I use it every night to turn my iPhone into a bedstand clock, and I use it every day to get useful information displayed on my iPhone while I am getting work done. To get the most out of StandBy, not only do you need to know how the software works but you also will want to have a good stand. Thus, I spent a lot of time researching everything that was available, and I still stand by (ahem) my two recommendations for the best StandBy stands: (1) the Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe and (2) the Twelve South HiRise 3 Deluxe. They both cost $150, and which one you should get just depends upon how much space you have. (The Anker product is more compact.)
5. Review: Camo — use your iPhone as a webcam. I purchased this software because I wanted a way to use my iPhone as a webcam on my computer. I still use the software for this purpose occasionally, but I’ve come to love Camo for a different reason: even when I am using my normal computer webcam, having Camo installed gives me lots of control over the camera such as the ability to crop, use backgrounds, use templates, etc.
6. The critical importance of protecting your iPhone passcode. This post described a scam being used in different parts of the country where one person would do something to convince you to enter your iPhone password while another person recorded the numbers (or letters) that you type to unlock your iPhone. The problem is that once someone knows your iPhone’s master password, they can get access to so much stuff—not only the confidential information on your iPhone but also other key information such as your bank account. Yikes.
7. In trouble — an easy and potentially life-saving shortcut. My son came up with a simple but effective shortcut that he can use if he is ever in trouble. Whether you use this exact same shortcut yourself or use it as inspiration to come up with something similar that works better for you, this is a good post to check out if you missed it originally.
8. GoodNotes adds audio recordings. Even before the app was updated to version 6, the app was updated to add a feature that I don’t use as a lawyer but which I can imagine using if I was still a student: the ability to record the audio while you are taking handwritten notes.
9. TranscriptPad update lets you sync video, edit clips, and export trial-ready videos. My favorite app for reading and annotating depositions became even more useful this year when it added support for video depositions. This is such a great feature.
10. Review: iPhone 15 Pro Max — titanium, 5x telephoto, and so much more. There is always a lot of interest when Apple releases a new version of the iPhone. This year, the 5x telephoto camera made the iPhone 15 Pro Max particularly interesting. Most of my pictures are still taken when the main lens, but on those frequent occasions when I have a reason to use a good telephoto lens (at least once a week), the 5x lens is fantastic.

Visitors to iPhone J.D. The other thing I have been doing this time every year is share some statistical information on iPhone J.D. visitors, to the extent that I can figure it out using the tools at my disposal—specifically, the Google Analytics service.

Google Analytics reports that, during the past 12 months, about 46% of iPhone J.D. readers were using an iPhone, about 24% used a Mac, and about 18% used a computer running Windows. Less than 5% used an iPad, and that number has been decreasing over the past five years. My sense is that a lot of readers own an iPad, but they use an iPhone or computer to read this site. There was a single person who accessed iPhone J.D. using a Playstation 4 in the past year, and I salute that person: who needs to play games when you could be reading iPhone J.D. instead?

About 61% of people accessing iPhone J.D. used Safari. About 33% used Chrome. Edge and Firefox were almost 2% each. Those numbers are also roughly consistent with the last few years.

Of course, the iPhone, iPad, and related Apple technologies of are interest to lawyers and others around the world. About 58% of iPhone J.D. visitors during the past year were in the U.S., which is up just a little bit from the last few years. About 7% were in the UK. The other countries with a large number of visitors were Canada, Australia, Germany, and India.

Every year, I also look at the top cities for the folks who visit iPhone J.D. In the past 14 years, London was the #1 city for three years (2015, 2020, and 2021), but every other year, New York has been #1. This year, London is back on top again:

1. London
2. New York
3. Ashburn
4. Chicago
5. Dallas
6. Los Angeles
7. Atlanta
8. Singapore
9. San Jose
10. Toronto

This is the second year in a row that Ashburn, Virginia has been in the Top 10. Ashburn is a relatively small city, but it is a major hub for internet traffic, so perhaps that explains the ranking: people who are actually reading from other locations are being considered residents of Ashburn by the Google Analytics service. Or maybe there are just lots of visitors from Loudoun County, which is in the Washington D.C. area, and they are all being counted as part of Ashburn.

This is the first year that San Jose, California has made the Top 10. Of course, San Jose is a major technology hub in California, and both San Jose and Apple’s home of Cupertino are in Santa Clara County.

Cities that just missed being in the Top 10 this year include Sydney, Seattle, Boston, Houston, Miami, and Washington, D.C. My hometown of New Orleans was #37. Kansas City was the #100 city on the list. Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania was #500. And there was just a single reader from Droitwich Spa, England, which Wikopedia tells me is an historic spa town in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. Looks like an interesting place to visit.

In this week’s episode of the In the News podcast, Brett and I discuss batteries for AirTags, text messaging with Android smartphones, and why Google and Apple are not quite the smartphone competitors that you might have thought. We also discuss whether Apple will ever charge people for its Satellite SOS service, and taking spatial video that can be viewed in 3D in the upcoming Apple Vision Pro. Finally, we discuss the upcoming iOS 17.2, a new camera that supports HomeKit Secure Video, and the App Store Awards.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Lit Software, the company behind must-have apps for many lawyers such as TrialPad and TranscriptPad. In this episode, we discuss the advantages of the LitSuite Enterprise License. Learn more at the Lit Software website.

In our In the Know segment, Brett and I provide tips for using the Overcast app to listen to podcasts.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just listen using your podcast player of choice.  You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

Today happens to be the 15th anniversary of iPhone J.D. (woo-hoo!), but let’s hold off on the fanfare for a few days; I’ll have more to say about that next week. Instead, today’s In the News post is focused on the news of the past week. Perhaps the most surprising news of this week was that Apple revealed to Chance Miller of 9to5Mac yesterday that Apple is going to support the RCS messaging standard by the end of 2024 to improve the quality of text messages between Android and iPhone devices—something that many people have been requesting for years. I know that for many people, text messaging is a top use for the iPhone, and getting all of the advantages of Apple’s proprietary iMessage network is a key reason to use the iPhone over Android: encrypted messages, stickers and effects, read receipts, the ability to send large photos and videos, live typing indications, support for long messages, group chats, etc. Plus, for some folks, there is a status associated with being a blue bubble person instead of a green bubble person. Apple’s upcoming support for RCS won’t change some of those differences. For example, the current RCS standard is not encrypted (although that could change over the next year), and when an iPhone receives an RCS message, just like a traditional SMS message, it will still come in a green bubble. But after the details get ironed out over the next 12 months, it will be nice for everyone to get at least some of the advantages of iMessage even when texting with green bubble friends. For example, I’m sure that it will finally become much easier to share large images and videos with folks using an Android device. And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:

• As we talk about iMessage versus RCS, one cannot help but think about the competition between Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating system, as if Apple and Google are polar opposites in the smartphone world. But that’s not really true. This week, during the ongoing antitrust trial between the U.S. Department of Justice and Google, it was revealed that Google gives Apple a 36% cut of search ad revenue generated through Safari, as reported by Leah Nylen of Bloomberg. (Apparently, the witness wasn’t supposed to reveal that percentage in open court, and Bloomberg reported that Williams & Connolly antitrust partner John Schmidtlein visibly cringed when the number was revealed during testimony.) As Rohan Goswami of CNBC reports, one estimate is that this 36% cut will net Apple a staggering $19 billion in revenue in 2023. That means that Google, at 64%, stands to make almost $34 billion in search revenue from people using an iPhone. So you don’t need to lose any sleep over buying an iPhone and depriving Google of money; Google is still making plenty of money off of you even if you purchase an iPhone instead of Android.
• When Apple introduced the iPhone 14 last year, one of the key new features was the ability to contact emergency services using satellites even if you don’t have a cellular connection. This feature is also in the iPhone 15 models. Apple said last year that the service would be free for the first year. Dan Moren of Six Colors reports that Apple is now extending the iPhone 14 free access for a second year. That means that between now and November of 2024, all iPhone 14 and 15 users can access the satellites in an emergency. What will Apple do after that? Will Apple charge folks to continue to have access to a service that nobody wants to have to use but that can be life-saving if you do need to use it? Tune in this time next year to find out.
• iOS 17.2 is still in beta but will come out in the next few weeks. As reported by John Gruber of Daring Fireball, if you have an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, one of the new features of iOS 17.2 will be the ability to take spatial video that you will be able to view in 3D on the Vision Pro when it comes out in early 2023. Gruber got to test it out on a prototype of the Vision Pro, and he said that it was “astonishing.” When you turn on this mode, the iPhone takes video using both the main (1x) and ultra wide (0.5x) lenses to capture the perspective from your left and right eye. You can view the video on an iPhone or a computer and it looks like normal video (in 1080p, 30 fps format). But when you view the same video on a Vision Pro, you will feel almost like you are there again. I’m not sure that iOS 17.2 will be out for Thanksgiving, but certainly for all of the December holidays, people with an iPhone 15 Pro will be able to preserve memories of times with friends and family that will come to life in a brand new way starting next year.
• Other people who were able to record spatial video with an iPhone and view it using an Apple Vision Pro include Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal, Jacob Krol of TheStreet, Lance Ulanoff of TechRadar, and Scott Stein of CNet.
• The ability to record spatial video is just one of 43 new features coming with iOS 17.2 that are identified by Justin Myers of Gadget Hacks.
• One of my biggest gripes with watchOS 10 is that I cannot simply swipe left and right to change watch faces. Juli Clover of MacRumors reports that the beta version of watchOS 10.2 includes the ability to turn that feature back on. Which I will do so immediately, assuming that the feature is included in the final version of watch OS 10.2.
• Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac reviews the Aqara E1 camera ($60 on Amazon), an indoor camera with an adjustable viewing angle that works with HomeKit Secure Video as well as storing to a local micro SD card so you don’t have to worry about video of the inside of your home ending up on a website that can be easily hacked.
• Apple announced the 2023 App Store award finalists this week. There are some great apps on the list that I know and love, and many, many more that I’ll have to check out.
• Do you like word games, like Scrabble or crosswords? (I do!) How about jazz music, like the Vincent Guaraldi soundtrack to a Peanuts movie? (Love it!) And are you OK with being a little silly? (That’s me!) Then you should check out a new game called Gubbins, which was reviewed by Brent Dirks of AppAdvice. I’ve only spent a few minutes with the game so far, so I haven’t yet figured out all of the features, but it definitely looks to have potential.
• And finally, Apple released a cute video called On with the Show to demonstrate that the iPhone 15 Pro is so powerful that it can be used to shoot a big budget Hollywood movie. There is so much going on in this video that once you watch it you’ll probably want to watch it again:

About sixteen months ago, I wrote a post warning that if you replace the CR2032  battery in an AirTag with a battery that has a bitterant coating on it, it won’t work. I learned this lesson the hard way when I traveled to Italy and discovered while abroad that I had the wrong type of battery. The bitterant coating makes the battery taste bad if you put it in your mouth, and thus it discourages kids from swallowing them, but they somehow also caused a problem with an AirTag.

I’m happy to report that you can now have the best of both worlds. The page on Apple’s website that previously warned you not to use these batteries now actually encourages you to use a battery with a bitterant coating as long as it says that it works with the AirTag:

To further discourage accidental ingestion, use a bitterant-coated CR2032 battery, like the Duracell 2032 Lithium Coin Battery with Bitter Coating. Look for packaging that states “Compatible with Apple AirTag”. Some CR2032 batteries with bitterant coatings might not work with AirTag or other battery-powered products.

I first learned about this change only recently when Schlick Jones posted a comment on my original post saying that the batteries were working great for him even though I had such trouble with them last year. That led me to check out the Apple website and find the above new language.

Thus, you can now purchase a CR2032 battery that is both child-safe and AirTag-safe, such as this pack of 9 batteries from Amazon for only $12.28. You can easily tell that you are using the right kind of battery by looking at the package. It will say at the top that it is Compatible with the Apple AirTag:

I presume that Duracell and Apple worked together on this solution, and it is great that they did so.

 

There were a few small but important software updates over the last few days, so Brett and I start this week’s episode of the In the News podcast by telling you what you need to know about that. We also discuss Barbra, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, HomeKit, Taylor Swift, and the best options for a budget iPad stylus.

In our Where Y’at segment, we discuss three examples of an Apple Watch being a lifesaver. We also talk about why you might want to get an AirTag for your car.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Lit Software, the company behind must-have apps for many lawyers such as TrialPad and TranscriptPad. I discuss a great new feature in Lit Software that lets you incorporate video with a transcript and why this can be truly game changing, a topic that I also addressed in this post. Learn more at the Lit Software website.

In our In the Know segment, Brett discusses the Veteran’s Day Challenge Badge, and I discuss using iKlear to keep all of your Apple products clean.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just listen using your podcast player of choice.  You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

I often link to news stories that share the tell of someone whose life was saved by an Apple product, such as an Apple Watch. Just this week, for example, Ambar Rodriguez of KSNV in Las Vegas shared the story of a man who credits his Apple Watch with saving his life after his blood sugar got low and he fell unconscious. And Destany Fuller of KSWO News in Oklahoma shares the story of a woman who received an Apple Watch notification that she was in AFib; she decided to go to see a doctor and learned that if she had not come in, she probably would have died within days. But only rarely is the author of the story also the subject of the story. Daniel Eran Dilger has been writing about Apple technology for decades; I first linked to one of his articles in the tenth edition of In the News back on June 12, 2009. The title of his latest article for Apple Insider is Apple’s Crash Detection saves another life: mine. He crashed while using a rental scooter and ended up knocked unconscious on the side of a bridge and losing blood. Fortunately, his Apple Watch called for help, and when he regained consciousness, he found himself in a hospital. Check out the story for more details. Reading his story makes me happy that my wife, my two kids, and I all wear an Apple Watch. And now, the other news of note from the past week:

• Paul Thurrott has been covering Microsoft and writing about Microsoft Windows since the 1990s, and he has switched back-and-forth between the iPhone and Android and other smartphone platforms over the years. This background provides him with a unique perspective for reviewing the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and sure enough, he wrote a very interesting review. I don’t agree with all of his opinions—for example, he thinks Apple should have done more with the camera, whereas I’m loving the results I have been getting with both the regular and the 5x zoom lenses—but I do agree with his conclusion: “Apple still delivers the best overall smartphone experience available today, as always. Whether you’re a convert or not, you will not be disappointed.”
• Apple released iOS 17.1.1 this week to fix a few glitches, as noted by Zac Hall of 9to5Mac.
• Apple updated other operating systems this week as well. For example, Juli Clover of MacRumors notes that watchOS 10.1.1 fixed an issue that caused some Apple Watches to drain the battery more quickly than expected.
• Clover also reports that the new HomePod 17.1.1 makes Siri more responsive.
• If 17.1.1 doesn’t solve your problems with Siri, and if you happen to be Barbra Streisand, you can always just call Tim Cook for tech support. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reports on an appearance by Barbra Streisand on the BBC in which she explains that after Siri kept mispronouncing her name, she simply called Tim Cook and had it fixed.
• Ashley Belanger of Ars Technica reports that cops in Washington, DC, are handing out free AirTags (and Tiles) so that folks can hide them in their vehicles and use the devices to try to recover the cars after they are stolen. You may recall that six months ago, I reported that New York City had done the same thing. I haven’t been keeping an AirTag in my car, but in light of this report, I’m going to start doing so.
• If you are interested in getting started with using Apple HomeKit devices in your home, or you just want to learn more about it, Paul Lamkin of The Ambient wrote a great, comprehensive guide to everything you need to know about Apple’s HomeKit smarthome technology.
• Apple announced that Taylor Swift is the 2023 Apple Music Artist of the Year. My home certainly contributed to the play count, especially after my daughter and wife recently went to the movie theater to watch The Era Tour concert.
• Andrew O’Hara of Apple Insider reviews the new Apple Pencil (USB-C).
• If you don’t want to pay $79 for the new Apple Pencil (USB-C) you can instead pay $69.99 for the Adonit Note+ 2. Both of those devices attach by magnets to an iPad for storage, and for both you need to plug-in a USB-C cord to charge them. However, as noted by Rael Hornby of Laptop, the Adonit stylus lacks the hover feature of the low-end version of the Apple Pencil, but it adds support for pressure sensitivity, comes with interchangeable nibs, and has a shortcut rocker switch for switching between tools or colors. As much as I love my Apple Pencil, I’ve also had great experiences with Adonit styluses over the years, so it seems like a decent alternative choice.
• Would you rather use a high-tech pin on your chest instead of carrying around a smartphone or Apple Watch? Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels discusses the $699 Humane AI Pin, which was announced this week, a product developed by two former Apple employees.
• Season 4 of For All Mankind starts today on Apple TV+. This is one of my absolute favorite shows on any network, and I cannot wait to start watching it. The third season ended in 1996 and the fourth season begins in 2001, so as Amber Neely of Apple Insider reports, Apple released a number of fake news clips to explain what happened in the fictional world of the series between those two years. The show did the same thing for prior seasons, and it is always interesting to see the alternative takes on significant events that did happen in the real world.
• And finally, Apple TV+ also released a trailer for the new show Hannah Waddingham: Home For Christmas, which premieres November 22. I have no idea if this show will be worth watching, but I do know that on the few occasions when Hannah Waddingham sang on the Ted Lasso show, her voice was excellent. I’m sure that other Ted Lasso cast members will show up in her holiday special, so for now at least, this is the closest that we have to a Ted Lasso spin-off show.

A few days ago, Apple released the results for its 2023 fiscal fourth quarter (which ran from July 2, 2023, to September 30, 2023) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. The fiscal fourth quarter is typically a less important quarter for Apple. It is the first fiscal quarter—the one that we are in now—that is traditionally Apple’s big revenue quarter because of holiday sales. Nevertheless, there are always a few interesting items whenever Apple announces quarterly results. This year, the revenue for the quarter was $89.5 billion, down slightly from $90.1 billion this time last year. If you want to get all of the nitty-gritty details, you can listen to the audio from the announcement conference call on the Apple website, or you can read a transcript of the call prepared by Jason Snell of Six Colors.  Apple’s official press release is here.  Here are the items that stood out to me.

iPhone

• Apple’s iPhone revenue for the quarter was $43.8 billion, which is 3% better than the $42.6 billion this time last year. This was a new record for iPhone revenue in a fiscal fourth quarter.
• Apple CFO Luca Maestri said that the number of iPhones in active use “grew to a new all-time high” and added that “fiscal 2023 was another record year for switchers,” but he didn’t provide specific numbers for either statement.
• People are ordering the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max faster than Apple can currently make them.

iPad

• Apple’s iPad revenue for the quarter was $6.4 billion, which is down 10% from $7.2 billion this time last year.
• Maestri said that the reduction in iPad sales was a “function of a difficult compare from the supply disruptions in the June quarter a year ago and the subsequent fulfillment of pent-up demand in the September quarter.” In my opinion, the fact that Apple didn’t come out with a new iPad in 2023 probably had a lot to do with it too.
• Maestri said that over half of the customers who purchased an iPad during the past quarter were purchasing their first iPad.

Other

• Cook said that the upcoming Apple Vision Pro, which will go on sale early next year, has gotten “an amazing response from developers who are currently creating truly incredible apps.”
• Services revenue for Apple set an all-time record of $22.3 billion, a 16% year-over-year increase.
• Maestri said that there are over 2 billion Apple devices in active use that can stream Apple services.
• Cook announced that since Apple TV+ launched four years ago, its shows have earned nearly 1,600 award nominations and nearly 400 wins.

Brett and I start this week’s episode of the In the News podcast by discussing Apple’s announcement from earlier this week. Yes, there were new Macs introduced, and that is of interest to some, but the most surprising announcement was that Apple shot the entire thing on an iPhone. We also discuss the 40th birthday of Microsoft Word, how to get the most out of watchOS 10 on an Apple Watch, getting information about your iPhone battery (if you have a new iPhone), the latest-and-greatest eero and whether you need it, HomeKit devices to sense motion and turn on lights, and more.

In our Where Y’at segment, Brett talks about the role that his AirTag played when someone walked off of an airplane with Brett’s luggage. It’s quite a story.

In our In the Know segment, Brett explains why you should consider getting the Bartender app if you use a Mac laptop. I discuss the long and winding road of the relationship between Apple and The Beatles, which led to the release of the band’s final song on Apple Music this week.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just listen using your podcast player of choice.  You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

“The year was 1983. Never Say Never Again was the top movie in the land. Total Eclipse of the Heart was the #1 song, and the most popular show on TV was Dallas. A gallon of gas cost 1.59 cents.” So begins this post on the Microsoft 365 Insider blog, a post announcing that Microsoft Word is now 40 years old. When first introduced in 1983, it was actually called “Multi-Tool Word” and an article in InfoWorld that you can still read on the Internet explained that the program worked with a mouse (which the article helpfully described for those unfamiliar with such a device). That article also notes that it would be a “‘see what you get’ word processor, which means text appears on the screen just as it will appear when it is printed on paper.” The original versions of Word ran on Xenix and MS-DOS, but as noted by Adam Engst of TidBITS this week, it was ported to the Mac in 1985. I started using Word on my first Mac in 1988 (a year before it was ported to Windows in 1989) and I have been using Word virtually every week, if not every day, since then. The release of Microsoft Word for the iPad on March 27, 2014, was one of the most important app releases of all time for lawyers who use an iPad. Later that year, the app was updated to work with the iPhone as well. Over the last forty years, Microsoft has certainly made some decisions about the Word app that I disagreed with (yes, I’m thinking about you, Word for Mac version 6.0 released in 1993), but I cannot deny how consistently useful this software has been for me ever since the 1980s. So happy birthday to Word, and thank you to the fine folks at Microsoft for the efforts over the last forty years. And before I leave the topic of birthdays, I’m happy to note that you are reading the 700th edition of the In the News post on iPhone J.D. If you are interested, I explained the origin of In the News back in 2011 when I published the 100th edition. Okay, enough about the past. Let’s turn to the present and the top news of note from the past week:

• I cannot say enough good things about this review of watchOS 10 by Alex Guyot of MacStories. Reading that review made me realize that there are tons of new features in watchOS 10 that I really wasn’t taking advantage of yet. Now that I have taken the time to edit my Smart Stack and remember that I can double-click on the digital crown to see and switch to recently used apps, I’m getting much more out of my Apple Watch.
• If you are interested in a leather case for your new iPhone, John Gruber of Daring Fireball recommends models from Ryan London and Bullstrap.
• Jason Cross of Macworld identifies six hidden features of the iPhone 15 line, including the ability to find out the date that your battery was manufactured and first used.
• If you are looking to upgrade the Wi-Fi in your home or office, this article from Darrell Etherington of TechCrunch makes me think that the eero Max 7 is about as good as you can get. It is expensive, so it will be more than many folks need, but combining the ease of use of eero with the advances of Wi-Fi 7 sounds pretty nice for those who already pay for super-fast Internet and want to turn that into super-fast Wi-Fi. Having said that, if $1,149.99 for a two-pack seems like too much money for you, eero is also selling cheaper models with fewer features. The eero Pro 3-pack that I reviewed in 2020 continues to work amazingly well for my home.
• Peter Cohen of Apple Insider reports that Apple’s tap to pay feature on the iPhone is coming to Ukraine for the first time now that it is being supported by PrivatBank, the country’s largest bank. I’m sure that this will be useful for many folks in that country, and it sure is nice to be able to report on good news from Ukraine.
• I’ve been using an Eve Motion sensor since I reviewed it in 2018, and it works well for me. Mine is in my TV room, and whenever I enter the room and the lights are off, the motion sensor sees me and triggers a shortcut to turn on the lights in the room. Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac explained this week why the Eve Motion is the best HomeKit motion sensor. He is using a more advanced model than the one that I reviewed in 2018, so I’m sure that the new version ($49.95 on Amazon) works even better.
• Megan Wollerton of The Verge recommends some of the best smart plugs for your smart home.
• Two years ago, Apple introduced the Apple Music Voice Plan. It provided access to Apple Music for only $5 a month, but the catch is that you could only use Siri to access music. I guess the idea is that if you only wanted music on a HomePod, you were going to use Siri anyway. The idea never made sense to me—I use my iPhone to pick music to play on a HomePod—and as noted by Roman Loyola of Macworld, Apple cancelled that plan this week.
• Derek Wise of 9to5Mac notes that you can use the new app from NASA called Spot the Station to learn about the International Space Station and get alerted when you can see it in the sky.
• And finally, this past Monday night, Apple streamed a 30-minute presentation to announce new Macs using the new M3 chip—which is similar to the A17 Pro chip used in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. The most amazing thing to me about the presentation was not the new hardware but the quality of the video. I watched it at home on my 4K HDR television by LG, the C1 model, and I was amazed at how good everything looked. And then I was truly amazed when the very end of the video said that it was shot using an iPhone 15 Pro Max, the same iPhone that I use. Obviously, Apple used sophisticated equipment to hold the iPhone and move it around, much like anyone shooting professional video would do with any camera, but even so, I thought that it was neat that the hardware being used to take that amazing video was the same hardware that I use to create home movies. We’ve come a long way from the very first edition of In the News in 2009 when I said that it would be nice if Apple would introduce an iPhone “with video recording capabilities.” Apple can check that one off of its to do list. Apple created a two-minute behind the scenes video to provide a peak at how the iPhone was used to create the video it streamed a few days ago:

Brett and I start this week’s episode of the In the News podcast discussing the technology that made it possible for The Beatles to release one last song, and then we turn our attention to the Apple event planned for Monday night. Neither of us has a good idea for why Apple made the change to an after-hours event. Maybe Apple is just trying to mix things up? We also discuss the recent release of iOS 17.1 and what is coming next in iOS 17.2. We also discuss iPhone sales, what is coming in smart home technology, Apple services price hikes, USB-C cables, and more.

In our Where Y’at segment, we share the story of a man who recovered his Apple Watch Ultra after being at the bottom of a lake for three months.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Lit Software, the company behind must-have apps for many lawyers such as TrialPad and TranscriptPad. Today, we discuss a way that a law firm can purchase 10 or more licenses at once, which can not only provide a significant discount but also makes it easier to manage all of the different licenses. Learn more at the Lit Software website.

In our In the Know segment, Brett explains what happens when you press your fingers on the end of AirPods Pro and how you can adjust that as a result of recent changes. I explain a new feature in iOS 17.1 that makes it easy to extend a picture so that it works great for wallpaper or a contact photo on the iPhone.

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