When Brett and I started this week’s episode of the In the News podcast by talking about fonts—a discussion prompted by Microsoft’s recent decision to change the default font in its apps like Microsoft Word—I didn’t expect to spend much time on that topic. But once we got talking, there was quite a bit to nerd out about on the topic of fonts, and not just the best way to pronounce “sans serif.” After that, we talk about lots of new details on the StandBy mode of iOS 17, stands for the HomePod mini, the Eve Flare, the new Beats Studio Pro, and more.
In this week’s Where Y’at? segment, we discuss a magician who caused his lost luggage to reappear thanks to AirTags and Apple’s new video from The Underdogs.
In our In the Know segment, we both share tips for using Apple Maps (and Google Maps). Brett explains how to get a route that avoids toll roads, and I explain how to plan a route for a trip that you will be taking in the future.
As an appellate lawyer, I spend a lot of time typing in Microsoft Word. And I’ve been using Microsoft Word for a very long time—starting in the 1980s, where I used it on a Mac long before Word for Windows even existed. If you have also been using Word for a long time, then you remember a long period of time when Times New Roman was the default font. In 2007, Microsoft changed the default font to Calibri. Andrew Cunningham of Ars Technica reports that Microsoft is ready to change the default font again, and Microsoft has picked the sans-serif font Aptos (formerly known as Bierstadt) to replace Calibri as the default font in apps like Microsoft Word. According to that article, the developer of Aptos says that the font is similar to Helvetica but with a bit of a human touch. I still use Times New Roman in most of legal briefs because it is required by many courts, and that’s why the iPhone J.D. banner uses the Times New Roman font. When I have a choice of font to use in a brief, lately I’ve been a fan of Cambria, a font commissioned by Microsoft and designed in 2004. If you have a favorite font for when you write documents, feel free to leave a comment to this post and let me know what you like to use. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Of all of the new features coming to the iPhone this Fall with iOS 17—and there are so many of them—it appears that one of the most beloved new features is StandBy mode. John Voorhees of MacStories wrote a great in-depth review about how the StandBy feature works. Equally valuable, at the end of the article, both John and Federico Viticci recommend charging stands that work with StandBy mode. I suspect that lots of folks will be purchasing these items for a desk, a nightstand, a kitchen, etc.
To try out StandBy mode now, you need to install beta software on your iPhone. Should you do so? Jason Snell of Six Colors encourages people to try out the public betas. He has some interesting arguments, although stability and battery life are too important to me to do so.
Howard Sneider of The Gadgeteer reviews the Eve Flare, a battery-powered ambient lighting sphere ($99 on Amazon) that you can control using your iPhone.
Kelsey Vlamis of Insider tells the tale of Danny Orleans, a magician who flew to Newark to perform a magic show in New York only to be told that his bag with all of his sound equipment didn’t make the flight. And yet, thanks to an AirTag, he could tell that his bag was just sitting on the tarmac, and he was finally able to convince someone with United to help him to recover his bag. If you travel frequently and you don’t use an AirTag for your checked luggage … you should.
And finally, Apple released another video from The Underdogs this week. I linked to the first of these funny videos in 2019, and the pandemic version released in 2020 was also very cute. It’s been three years since the last one, and the third video in the series is now out and is very funny—even if it does the one thing that folks should probably never do when in this situation:
After missing a chance to record an episode of the podcast last week—COVID finally caught up to me after dodging it for three years—Brett and I had twice as many things to talk about in this week’s episode of the In the News podcast. We discuss Apple’s perhaps-too-rapid Rapid Security Response, the 15th anniversary of the App Store, and the once groundbreaking Evernote app. Then we turn our attention to new features coming out this Fall for the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and more. We then discuss a cool tip for changing the iPhone volume and a non-so-obscrue new app called Threads.
In this week’s Where Y’at? segment, we discuss a woman who recovered her stolen bag thanks to an AirTag, and we also talk about how GPS works.
In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a great tip for when you want to share a specific item of text from a website. And I explain how to share a URL for a website when all you want to share is the address, not a preview of the website, in an email message.
As Apple’s Phil Schiller recently noted on Mastodon, the App Store is now 15 years old. The App Store debuted with 500 apps and grew quickly. Just a few months later, I reported in one of the earliest posts on iPhone J.D. that there were 10,000 apps on the App Store. When the App Store first opened, some of the most popular apps included games like Super Monkey Ball and Bejeweled 2, social media apps like Facebook, Twitterific, AIM, and MySpace Mobile, the New York Times, OmniFocus, and MLB.com At Bat. Some of those apps are long gone, but others are very much thriving today. Between reading the news, doing crossword puzzles, and doing Wordle, some version of the New York Times is still open on my iPad or iPhone every day. And now, the recent news of note:
Speaking of beloved apps from the past, I remember when it seemed that everyone loved Evernote, one of the first products to introduce folks to the idea of accessing your information from anywhere. As David Sparks of MacSparky notes, the current owner of Evernote is now laying off most of its employees. I haven’t used Evernote in a long time, but as David notes, it is an “an ignominious end.” For an interesting look at Evernote from about a decade ago when things were very different, check out this article by Harry McCracken.
The public beta of iOS 17 is now available, so lots of folks are talking about the new features. The headline of this article by Allison Johnson of The Verge says it all: iOS 17 is a lot of little updates that make a big impact.
Federico Viticci of MacStories says that the improvements in iPadOS 17 are especially nice, especially the Stage Manager improvements, and he also likes the improved widget on the iPhone and iPad.
The public beta of watchOS 10 is also now available, so Dan Moren takes a first look at it. He says that the new emphasis on widgets is a fantastic use of the Digital Crown. He also notes that the new Snoopy watch face is truly excellent.
Alex Guyot of MacStories previews some of the best new features of watchOS 10. Alex notes that you can still access the Dock, but now you do it with a double-click of the Digital Crown. And if you are using one of the few watch faces that could traditionally be changed by spinning the Digital Crown (like the Metropolitan face), in watchOS 10 you first need to touch the watch face and then spin the Digital Crown to change things.
If you are using the beta version of iOS 17 and tvOS 17, you can try out using FaceTime on an Apple TV. Filipe Espósito of 9to5Mac says that the beta version of the feature is still a little buggy, but the idea is implemented incredibly well.
One of the nice features of the current iPhone running iOS 16 is that if Apple sees an urgent need to push out a security update, it can now release a Rapid Security Response: a quick update that is far short of a full software update. Apple released iOS Security Response 16.5.1(a) earlier this week, and I installed it and it seemed to work fine. But Apple quickly pulled back that release because it was causing problems with certain websites. As Juli Clover of MacRumors notes, Apple subsequently released a revised version, 16.5.1(c), a version that addresses the security issue without messing up certain websites. It’s nice to see that Apple can issue rapid responses to Rapid Security Responses.
There is a new social media app on the iPhone, but I suspect that you don’t need me to tell you that. John Gruber wrote on July 5 that he liked Thread’s chances, and Jay Peters and Jon Porter reported earlier this week that Threads now has over 100 million users. And that is without Threads being available yet in Europe. You can find me on Threads at @iphonejd.
Oliver Haslam of iMore reports that a burglar in the UK stole a woman’s bag from her home, but her bag contained an AirTag, and as a result, the burglar was traced to and arrested at a nearby hotel.
Yesterday was World Emoji Day, so we saw a preview of some of the new Emoji that are likely to come to the iPhone in 2024. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac runs down what is new, including a head shaking vertically or horizontally, although the new Emoji are not yet set in stone.
A key reason that many iPhone apps are so useful is that the iPhone has GPS. We all know that GPS works by using satellites in the sky, but most of us don’t know much more than that. Bartosz Ciechanowski wrote a truly amazing blog post last year that I just learned about. It explains how GPS works in a way that almost anyone can understand. And he doesn’t just explain it, he shows it using fantastic and easy-to-understand animations. If you are interested to learn more about GPS, or if you just enjoy learning how things work from a fantastic teacher, I highly recommend that you check out this incredible post.
And finally, to highlight the extended battery life of the iPhone 14 Plus, Apple released a funny video this week called Battery for Miles:
In this week’s edition of the In the News podcast, Brett and I celebrate his birthday by discussing technology that we both love. We start with the iPad, which continues to gain the ability to perform even more sophisticated tasks. We then discuss how NFC is not a new technology but it is getting a new lease on life thanks to Apple. We provide tips for using the built-in Notes app, discuss Fitness circles on the Apple Watch, smart home technology, the upcoming Apple Vision Pro, and more.
In this week’s Where Y’at? segment, we discuss a woman who broke her leg while hiking but fortunately was airlifted to safety by helicopter thanks to her iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS via Satellite feature.
In our In the Know segment, Brett talks about sleep tracking on an Apple Watch. I provide tips for cleaning up your home screens on your iPhone or iPad by focusing on just your most important apps.
Next generation AI is the most exciting new development in all of technology, including legal technology. For the last few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to try CoCounsel, a service from Casetext that uses the power of ChatGPT 4 but applies it to cases and statutes so that, among other things, you can ask a legal research question and get a legal memorandum in just a few minutes. Sometimes the memos are great; other times, they look like something that even a first-year associate would not be proud of. But all technology is simple when it starts—heck, how long did we have to wait for the iPhone to gain copy-and-paste?—and it is obvious that this technology will improve over time. Given this vast potential, I’m was not surprised to learn that Thomson Reuters, which of course owns Westlaw, purchased Casetext this week. Attorney Bob Ambrogi of LawSites interviewed Casetext CEO Jake Heller to discuss the acquisition. As someone who does a lot of legal research in my appellate law practice, I have to admit that I’m incredibly excited. Taking the AI in CoCounsel and adding to that the headnotes from Westlaw cases plus the fantastic articles in PracticalLaw has the potential to be an incredible legal research tool as this technology develops. And it is not just the lawyers (and their clients) who stand to benefit from next-generation AI. As Apple incorporates this same technology into its products, devices like the iPhone can become even more helpful. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Thanks to the improvements to iPadOS over the years and the power of the iPad Pro, the gap between an iPad Pro and a computer gets smaller every year. Fernando Silva of 9to5Mac points out some iPadOS 17 features like improved Stage Manager, external webcam support, and other improvements that will let you get even more work done with an iPad.
Every iPhone since the iPhone 6 comes with an NFC chip that can be used to communicate with other devices and even NFC stickers that are within close range, but until now, there hasn’t been much you could do with this feature. Dan Moren explains in an article for Macworld how this will change in iOS 17.
Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reviews the Belkin BoostCharge Pro, a 10,000 mAh battery that has a built-in spot to recharge an Apple Watch. I own an Anker device that is about the same size, and I love this form factor. It is big enough to give you some impressive additional battery life while being small enough that it is easy to carry around in a purse or briefcase. Or sometimes even a pocket, but for that I prefer the smaller Apple MagSafe Battery Pack—a device that I just used last night when I needed some extra power for my iPhone but I was out and about and couldn’t plug in my iPhone.
For a very long time, I tried to close all of my Apple Watch circles every day. Due to an injury to my Achilles’ heel that required a recent surgery, a cast, and then a boot (which I am still not quite done wearing), those days are on hold for me right now. Nevertheless, when I did pursue this goal, I thought it was a major flaw that Apple didn’t give you a way to take a day off without ending your streak. Continuing a long streak was often the very thing that often gave me the encouragement to work out when otherwise I was hearing a compelling argument from my couch about watching TV. According to Dan Moren in an article at Six Colors, I’m not the only one with this idea.
If you have ever used one of the headset devices currently on the market, you know that you have no sense of the world around you, making it very easy to bump into people, pets, furniture, sliding glass doors, etc. Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac explains how Apple seeks to prevent this with the Vision Pro: when you are in an immersive VR experience, the safe area is limited to five feet in each direction—i.e., a 10×10 feet area. Go beyond that and you will once again start to see your surroundings in the Vision Pro. His post also includes a YouTube video with lots of “fail” examples of people using a headset, just in case you want to see why this is an important consideration.
I’ve always been someone who thought that 3D movies were a good idea in theory, but in practice they rarely made sense. I hate how a 3D movie is darker than a non-3D movie, and the home experience on even a large TV never quite worked for me. But with the Apple Vision Pro, 3D movies may make sense for the first time ever. Joe Rosensteel wrote a fascinating article for Six Colors about how 3D movies are made and some of the considerations in this process.
Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac reports that a woman in the Los Angeles area who broke her leg while hiking was airlifted to safety by helicopter thanks to her iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS via Satellite feature.
And finally, there is a new show on Apple TV+ starring the always great Idris Elba called Hijack. It is getting great reviews, and I cannot wait to check it out—right after I catch up on the great show Silo (I missed last week’s episode and the season finale is out this weekend). Hijack takes place in real time over seven hours, similar to the old 24 TV show. Here is an Inside Look about the show that doesn’t seem to include any real spoilers but does provide some interesting information on how the series was filmed:
In this week’s edition of the In the News podcast, Brett and I talk about even more goodies coming in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. For example, there is buzz that the improvements to Stage Manager for the iPad may make the feature appealing to many more people. We also discuss upcoming improvements to the AirPods Pro, the future of the Apple Watch, and lots of improvements to Apple services coming later this year.
In this week’s Where Y’at? segment, we discuss a woman who was encouraged by her Apple Watch to move from her bed at home to the hospital, and thank goodness that she did so.
In our In the Know segment, we both share accessibility features that many folks might want to use. Brett explains how your iPhone can read to you what is on the screen. I discuss disabling auto-play on certain videos.
Apple first introduced the concept of Spatial Audio in 2020, and on May 17, 2021, Apple announced that it was bringing Spatial Audio to Apple Music so that music mixed in this format could sound like it was in 3D, not just stereo, even if you are only using headphones. Spatial Audio is just Apple’s name for Dolby Atmos, but Apple Music has been a leader in supporting this new music format. How much I notice and enjoy songs remixed in Dolby Atmos versus just stereo depends upon the song and how it is mixed, but in some cases, the improvement is really spectacular. Bob Mehr of the New York Times wrote an incredibly detailed and fascinating article about Dolby Atmos, and if you have any interest in Spatial Audio, I recommend that you read it. And now, the news of note from the past week:
This week, Apple released iOS 16.5.1 and other operating system updates to fix two security flaws. As Jason Cross of Macworld notes, there is a report that both of these flaws have been actively exploited. So let’s all be safe and install the updates.
Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reports on an interview in a Swiss newspaper with Apple VPs Kevin Lynch and Deidre Caldbeck to discuss the Apple Watch, including the reasons that Apple does not allow third-party watch faces.
Paige Barnes of WKRP WKRC in Cincinnati reports that a woman was sleeping when her Apple Watch woke her up to tell her that her heart rate had spiked to 178 beats per minute. Fortunately, she got to the hospital quickly and learned that she had a deadly blood clot that the doctors were able to address.
Julie Vincent of Variety reports on an inspirational speech by Jason Sudeikis on the last day of shooting of Ted Lasso and the rumors of a spin-off series.
And finally, here is a crazy and fun video from Turkey promoting the iPhone 14 Pro’s video capabilities. It must have been interesting to film this one.
Almost two years ago, Apple released the MagSafe Battery Pack, a small device that attaches to the back of any iPhone that supports MagSafe to provide a battery boost. I thought about buying the device during the entire first year that the product was for sale, and then I finally made the plunge almost exactly one year ago. After using the product for six weeks, I wrote this review. Today, I am checking in on this device after one year of use.
The reason that I hesitated before buying the device for almost a year was that the device costs $99.99 (although you can sometimes find it on sale) and I wasn’t sure that it would be worth it. If you, too, have been on the fence about this product, I love this product and have zero regrets purchasing it.
First, it is a fantastic security blanket for your iPhone’s battery. I keep my MagSafe Battery Pack in the bag that I take to work every day, so it is always nearby. My iPhone 14 Pro does a decent job with battery life and I often charge it during the day, but you never know when you are going to have one of those times when you grab the iPhone, often near the end of the day, and you realize that the battery is quite low. Perhaps you are going out with friends and you want to be able to take lots of pictures and videos. Or for me, it often happens when I am heading out to watch my daughter play basketball, where I often take lots of 4K videos. Whenever I grab my iPhone and realize that it wasn’t charged close to 100% like it should have been, I simply grab the MagSafe Battery Pack and go. Thanks to this device, I virtually always have a few more hours of use, which is what I need. How often does this happen to me? Maybe once a month or so, but I love that I never have to worry about it.
Second, it is a great device to keep with you even if your iPhone already has a good charge when you start. You never know when something might happen to make your iPhone battery drain more quickly than normal when you are using it. Maybe you are in an area with poor cell tower coverage and your iPhone has to work harder than normal to get a signal. Maybe you are taking lots of 4K videos with your iPhone, which can run down the battery quickly. Or maybe you are traveling, when you may be so busy that you don’t think to take the time to charge your iPhone even though you are using your iPhone more than normal.
Third, I love that the device is so small and light. And this is really key because otherwise I would think twice about putting it in my pocket.
Fourth, I love that the device is so easy to use. Just attach it to the back of the iPhone, and the magnets put it in the right orientation. It is easy to see how much power you have both on the iPhone and in the MagSafe Battery Pack just by looking at a widget.
I’ve made plenty of purchases over the years that turned out to be unnecessary splurges, and I was afraid that this would be one too. To the contrary, I’ve found this product to be incredibly useful and I love having it. In retrospect, I wish that I had purchased it when it first came out, but I’m certainly glad that I purchased it last year. If you are on the fence about this one, I encourage you to get it. It’s a great product, and if you are like me, you will frequently find that you are happy to have it.
Although I do not recommend that you run a beta version of iOS 17 or iPadOS 17—either the currently-available version for developers or the upcoming version for the public—on any iPhone or iPad that you use to be productive, and I don’t do so myself, a lot of other folks are starting to kick the tires on the beta versions which means that we have lots of folks trying out the big new features and finding cool small new features. On this week’s episode of the In the News podcast, Brett Burney and I talk about many of these new features, and we like what we see. We also talk about the Apple Vision Pro, upcoming changes to the Apple TV, a neat new feature added to Readdle’s Scanner Pro, and great shows on Apple TV+.
In our In the Know segment, Brett recommends the AirPods Max, the over-the-ears version of AirPods. They are expensive, but very nice—which reminds us of the upcoming Apple Vision Pro. I provide a tip for resetting AirPods when they start to act wonky.
