In the News

Apple has now been working with PRODUCT(RED) for 15 years, making special versions of its products that are red.  When you buy these products, a portion of what you pay goes to fight AIDS.  According to this page, Apple has raised nearly $270 million for (RED) during the past 15 years.  A new short video celebrates that partnership and notes that part of fighting AIDS today is fighting COVID, which I suppose makes perfect sense when you are trying to treat people around the world.  And now, the news of note from the past week

  • Mobile, Alabama attorney Carter Hale wrote an excellent article on using technology to give presentations at trial in the Winter 2021 edition of the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association Journal, and his article is packed with tips for using TrialPad on an iPad.  You can click here to see an electronic version of the issue, and the article starts on page 8.
  • I often link to articles written by California attorney David Sparks of the MacSparky website.  In this post, David explains that he has decided to stop practicing law so that he can devote 100% of his time to helping people use technology, through his MacSparky site, his video field guides, etc.  That should mean that there are even more interesting articles written by David for me to mention here on iPhone J.D.  Good luck to David as he begins this new chapter of his life.
  • Federico Viticci of MacStories reviews Remind Me Faster, an app that helps you to very quickly add an entry to the built-in Reminders app.
  • At the CES convention this week, Belkin announced that its upcoming smart home products would work with Matter and the Thread mesh protocol, a new smart home standard that Apple created with Amazon, Google, and Samsung to eventually replace Apple’s HomeKit and other technologies.  Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac shares some of the details.
  • I’m typically a big fan of Apple’s Memories feature.  It almost always shows me pictures and videos that bring a smile to my face, and thanks to the Photos widget, I don’t even have to open the Photos app to know that there is something new to see.  But as Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels notes, sometimes Memories can be less desirable, such as when it resurfaces a painful event such as January 6, 2021, or when it shows pictures of someone who you no longer want to see.
  • I’ve heard of some people placing an Apple AirTag in a wallet to find it if you lose it.  I understand the desire to do that, but the AirTag is rather large for that purpose.  Chance Miller of 9to5Mac discusses the new Chipolo Card Spot, a thin card that works like an AirTag (including Find My compatibility) but is easier to fit in a wallet.
  • Speaking of Find My, Glenn Fleishman explains in an article for Macworld that if Find My indicates that a device is in one location but that seems wrong, it may be because a Wi-Fi router was relocated.
  • Patrick McGee of Ars Technica notes that this past week, Apple became the first company to ever hit a market capitalization of $3 trillion (the price of a stock multiplied by the number of outstanding shares).  Just as impressive, Apple’s value rose by $1 trillion in less than 16 months.  Even if you don’t own Apple stock (I don’t), this matters to users of Apple products because it helps Apple to retain its best employees, who receive a significant portion of their income through stock options that vest over time.  Thus, this milestone is indirectly responsible for us getting even better products from Apple.
  • Dave Mark of The Loop shares a video from Apple with advice for finding lost AirPods.  As he notes, there are lots of details in that video that you probably didn’t know about.
  • Benjamin Mayo shares very short reviews of every show that has ever been on Apple TV+ in a 5-minute video. Whether or not you agree with his opinions (I agree with most, but not all), this short video is a great way to remind yourself of what else you might want to watch on Apple TV+.
  • William Gallagher of AppleInsider reports that, according to a new survey, 87% of U.S. teenagers use an iPhone.  In my house, 100% of them do so.
  • I did not know that the Apple Watch Hermès bands come in a fancy microfiber pouch, but Matt Fuller shows that they do.
  • And finally, here is a powerful ad produced by Apple called 911 about three people who were able to get critical help during an emergency because they called 911 using their Apple Watch.  Federico Viticci’s tongue-in-cheek proposed title for this video is “you’re gonna die if you don’t buy an Apple Watch.”  Of course, we all hope that none of us ever need to call 911, but the reality is that if you do, there are circumstances in which having an Apple Watch makes that much easier.

Review: Weather on the Way — weather forecasts for a road trip

Weather apps are great when you want to know the forecast, but only if you will remain in the same location.  What if you are driving across the country on a road trip?  To find out what the weather will be like in a few hours, you need to know where you will be in a few hours.  And while you could do all of this manually—guessing at the city where you will be and then looking up the forecast for the hour that you think you will be there—that is a lot of work.  The Weather on the Way app does all of this work for you.

I mentioned this app about 18 months ago in an In the News post, noting that I would use the app the next time that my family takes a road trip.  Because of COVID and a number of other reasons, my wife and I decided to drive from New Orleans to New York to visit family for Christmas instead of flying, and it was a perfect reason to use this app because of the dramatic change in temperature along the way. 

When you start using the app, it works like a map app.  Your current location is listed in “A” (change that if you want) and then you place an ending location in “B”.  The app shows the most direct path from A to B along with the weather at selected locations along the map and the approximate time you will be in each location. 

You can tap an icon to choose whether the map shows you the temperature, amount of precipitation, wind speed, or wind gusts at each location.

What if you have multiple stops?  That works too.  Just enter another stop as “C,” “D,” etc., and that will be added to your route.

If you want more details about the weather on the way, tap the Show Timeline button.

 

An icon at the top left of the map lets you update the radar so you can see where the bad weather is located in relation to your route.

If you have flexibility on when you leave, you can use this app to plan the best time/day to leave to get the best weather along the way, up to seven days in advance.  Simply tap the departure time just above the map and then a slider appears at the bottom of the screen.  Slide to adjust your departure time and you can see what impact that has on the weather at the different locations on the route.


The Weather on the Way app is free to download, and for your first five trips, you get all of the PRO features of the app for free—features like changing the departure time and alternate routes.  After that, you pay either $2.99/month or $16.99/year for the PRO features.  This generous pricing model makes it easy for you to try out the app for a number of different road trips before paying anything at all.  And then when you do want to use the app, you only need to pay $3 for each of the months in which you will be on a road trip, or $17 for a full year if you plan to take lots of trips.  You can also pay $39.99 for a lifetime subscription.

I’m very impressed by the Weather on the Way app and I found it useful during my recent road trip.  I’ve tried out lots of different weather apps on my iPhone, but I haven’t seen any other app that does with this app does.  The next time that you take a road trip, I encourage you to try this one out.

Click here to get Weather on the Way (free):  app

Podcast episode 32: AirPods, BlackBerrys, and Auld Lang Syne – Happy New Year!

To help ring in the new year, Brett Burney and I released a new episode of the In the News podcast, one in which we look back and look forward.  We look back 25 years to when Apple first acquired NeXT … although in retrospect, it was almost like NeXT acquired Apple.  We also discuss the rise and fall of BlackBerry.  Looking forward, we talk about what might be coming to AirPods in the future, improvements to Apple Maps, and issues related to COVID.

In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for the Microsoft To Do app that you can probably use with any task manager.  I provide tips for using the text replacement feature of the iPhone and iPad.

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

In the News

Just about 25 years ago, on December 20, 1996, Apple purchased NeXT, a company that made computer hardware and software.  In retrospect, Apple didn’t get NeXT as much as it got the founder of NeXT, Steve Jobs.  As the headline for an article by Dawn Kawamoto of CNet accurately stated at the time:  “Apple acquires Next, Jobs.”  Joe Rossignol of MacRumors recently discussed the significance of that acquisition with the benefit of hindsight.  It is no exaggeration to say that this acquisition saved Apple from bankruptcy and led to the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and the iOS, iPadOS, and MacOS operating systems.  Who knows what kind of smartphones and other portable technology we would be using today if things had turned out differently 25 years ago.  And now, the news of note for the end of 2021:

  • And finally (for this past year), Apple TV+ created a new Peanuts holiday special, this one for New Year’s Eve.  And to celebrate that new movie, you can now have a For Auld Lang Syne sing-along with your favorite Peanuts characters:

Podcast episode 31: Fifteen Point Two and Photo Erasers Too

As we start to get deep into the holiday season, it is time to gather your family around the fire and listen to the latest episode of the In the News podcast.  Brett and I start with a deep dive on iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2.  There is more in there than you might think.  Then we discuss the new Pixelmator Photo app for the iPhone and why you should strongly considering using it, along with some other topics.

In our In the Know segment, we both have photo-related tips.  Brett recommends an app called Stitch It! to create very long screenshot pictures, such as a string of text messages.  I discuss the ML Super Resolution feature on Pixelmator Photo.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast.  Or you can watch the episode on YouTube:

In the News

With the holidays approaching, many of us will be using an iPhone to take a lot more pictures of friends and family.  And if you need to touch up some of those pictures, I have good news.  This week, the fabulous Pixelmator Photo app came to the iPhone.  I’ve been using this app on the iPad for a while now, and it is great.  John Voorhees of MacStories shows off how the app works on the iPhone.  And despite the small screen, it works quite well.  For example, as Jason Snell of Six Colors points out, Pixelmator Photo has a particularly good retouch tool, a tool that doesn’t exist in the Photos app on the iPhone (although it does exist in the Photos app on the Mac).  If you need to quickly fix a blemish on a face or remove a distracting object from the background, Pixelmator Photo’s eraser feature is what you need.  The app is currently on sale for $4 (50% off the normal price), and if you already own the iPad app, you won’t get charged for the iPhone app.  If you use your iPhone to take photos, I highly recommend the new iPhone version of Pixelmator Photo.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

iOS update adds Legacy Contacts and more

Apple updated many of its operating systems yesterday, including iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2.  There are some nice new features in this update.  I’ll start with the one that wll be the most significant for some people:  Legacy Contacts.

If you pass away and a family member or close friend knows your iCloud username and password, then they can access lots of information from your account such as photos, notes, email, and more.  But what if they don’t?  With the new Legacy Contacts feature, you can identify up to five people as your Legacy Contacts.  When you die, once they establish that fact to Apple by providing a death certificate, then the person you designate will be able to access your iCloud data.  Apple explains on this webpage what can be accessed.

To use this feature, both you and the other person must update to iOS 15.2 (or later).  Then, in the Settings app on your iPhone, tap your name (very top of the Settings app) and then Password & Security.  Then tap Legacy Contact.  On the next screen, tap Add Legacy Contact.

 

You will need to provide that person with an access key that they will use, along with your death certificate, to get access.  You can print that out, useful if you want to place it in a secure place like a safe.  Or you can send it via text message, in which case your iPhone automatically drafts the message for you.

That’s just one of the new features added yesterday.  Some of the others:

  • Apple Music Voice Plan.  If you don’t want to pay for a full Apple Music subscription for $9.99/month, you can now purchase a $4.99/month plan that only works when you ask Siri to play songs.  For most folks, I think that the full plan is well worth the extra money, but I guess it is nice to have options.
  • Communication Safety in Messages.  For children in your family, you can optionally turn on a feature that blurs incoming text messages containing nudity and provides a warning, although the child can decide to view the picture anyway.  When Apple originally announced this feature, it said that parents could also be notified if the child is under 13, but Apple decided against adding that in favor of privacy.
  • App Privacy Report.  In Settings, go to Privacy, then App Privacy Report to see how apps are accessing private information such as your location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts.
  • Track the Trackers.  In the Find My app, tap Items.  If there are nearby items (like AirTags) belonging to someone else that could be used to track you, you’ll see an option called Items That Can Track Me.  Tap that to learn more.
  • Five More Hours to Find.  If you lose your iPhone and the battery runs down to zero, the iPhone will go into Power Reserve mode.  In iOS 15.2, even when in that mode, you can still use Find My on another device to find your iPhone for up to five hours.
  • Security Improvements.  Every time Apple releases an update, they always enhance security, and I presume they have done the same this time.
  • And More.  Click here to see a page on the Apple website listing all of the new features.

This is a nice set of new features for a .x release.  Update your device to take advantage of everything.

Podcast episode 30: Foam, Fire, and Fans!

The latest episode of the In the News podcast is now available.  This is a really fun episode because Brett Burney and I discuss lots of interesting topics.  First, we discuss the lawsuit between Epic and Apple and the impact of the stay that was just granted by the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.  Next, we talk about using your iPhone or Apple Watch as a hotel key.  We then discuss the great pictures and information in this article by Jonathan Bell of Wallpaper, with photos by Jason Schmidt, regarding how Apple designs new products at its Apple Park campus. 

Next, we discuss third-party tips for the Apple AirPods Pro, a new stylus from Adonit that works for the iPad and iPhone, putting a digital fireplace on your Apple TV, and the unexpected Razer Phone Cooler Chroma ($59.99 on Amazon). 

In our In the Know segment, we focus on the web browser.  Brett shares a tip for hiding your IP address when using the Safari browser on the iPhone and iPad.  I discuss the first stand-alone web browser for the Apple Watch:  the µBrowser (“Micro Browser”).

Click here to listen to the audio podcast.  Or you can watch the episode on YouTube:

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In the News

If you are looking for a present idea for anyone who has an Apple Watch (a growing population), I recommend finding a way to give someone an Apple Watch band—or, perhaps an Apple gift card so that they can pick out a specific color.  Which band should you give?  I recommend the Solo Loop, which I reviewed earlier this year.  At $50, it is one of the least-expensive bands made by Apple, but it is also one of the best.  I love wearing my Milanese Loop band at work and when I want to dress up, but after work and on the weekends, the Solo Loop is my go-to band because it is so comfortable.  This week, Eric Brain of Hypebeast released an article based on his interview of Stan Ng (Apple’s VP of Product Marketing) and Evans Hankey (Apple’s VP of Industrial Design) to discuss Apple Watch bands.  Hankey specifically praises the Solo Loop, saying that it is “without a doubt the most simple and most ambitious watch band we have made” because “[f]or possibly the first time in the history of watchmaking, we have eliminated all buckles, clasps, and the excess material necessary for size adjustment” and thus it is “the most comfortable band we’ve made.”  I agree with this 100%.  I love how comfortable this band is, and because there is no clasp, it feels incredibly secure on my arm.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

  • Although Apple has been winning most aspects of the lawsuit filed against it by Epic arising out of Epic’s bait-and-switch (the company secretly added in-app payment options in violation of Apple’s rules), there was one aspect on which Epic prevailed, and because the trial court declined to grant a stay, there was a risk that Apple was going to have to change certain aspects of its in-app payment system this month.  But as John Gruber of Daring Fireball reports, the federal Ninth Circuit granted a stay until the merits of that part of the trial court’s ruling are reviewed on appeal.  if you haven’t been following this lawsuit closely, all that you need to know is that, for now, nothing is changing.
  • This one is really just for the appellate lawyer nerds like me, and this one has nothing to do with the iPhone (except that I learned the news while reading this tweet by Prof. David Ziff in the Tweetbot app), but Ziff reports in that tweet that the West publication Federal Appendix ceased publication this year after a 20-year run, with 861 being the final volume.  Whether you cited it as F. App’x or Fed. Appx., it was nice to have a short and official-looking citation for those unpublished federal opinions.  On well, now we have to use the long WL and LEXIS cites.  (As Ziff also tweets, it doesn’t appear that West published an official announcement of this.  So yes, that means that the decision to end the F. App’x is, ahem, unpublished.)
  • Speaking of Twitter and appellate nerds, I can’t stop laughing at this video by Alexis Gay praising the em dash.
  • OK, let’s get back to the iPhone.  One of the features that Apple announced for iOS 15 is the ability to use your iPhone or Apple Watch as a room key at a hotel.  Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reports that the feature is now starting to rollout at a few Hyatt Hotels.  This reminds me of the early days of Apple Pay, and I look forward to this feature being widely available.
  • Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone picks the 20 best TV shows of 2021, and it made me smile to see For All Mankind Season 2 grab the #1 slot.  Ted Lasso gets all of the (well-deserved) acclaim on Apple TV+, but For All Mankind is truly excellent.  There are lots of other good shows on his list, plus quite a few that were not previously on my radar screen.
  • Juli Clover of MacRumors reports that Apple has updated the maps for Australia in the Apple Maps app.  It looks like a nice improvement.
  • Jonathan Bell of Wallpaper wrote an interesting article—featuring great photographs by Jason Schmidt—of the inside of Apple Park and some of the design folks who work there.
  • Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac reviews the Adonit Dash 4, a stylus that works with both the iPad and the iPhone.
  • Nicole Nguyen of the Wall Street Journal (Apple News link) compares the Apple Watch to other wearable devices to track your body’s trends over time.
  • Zac Hall of 9to5Mac shares tips for using an Apple TV to create a digital fireplace.
  • The iPhone J.D. award for the craziest MagSafe-compatible accessory goes to the Razer Phone Cooler Chroma ($59.99 on Amazon), which adds a 7-blade fan to the back of your iPhone to keep it cooler even as you push the iPhone’s processor to the limits, plus 12 colorful LED lights to give your iPhone some bling.  Thanks to Michael Simon of Macworld for noticing this critical product.
  • And finally, I love using asking Siri to perform certain functions in my house, such as turning on the lights on my Christmas tree.  But I never expected to see Siri control a VCR.  However, Siri can do that too, as this video from the Will It Work? channel demonstrates.

Review: COMPLY Foam Apple AirPods Pro 2.0 Earbud Tips

I love my AirPods Pro, and I use them every day.  They work great for conference calls in my office (connected to my PC or my iPad), phone calls, listening to music, listening to podcasts, watching videos, and more.  The noise cancellation feature is fantastic, as is the Transparency Mode for when I want to hear the outside world.  Nevertheless, my one complaint has always been that the tips are not as comfortable as I would like for my ears.  They work fine when I first put them in, but then they tend to move around and feel like they are going to fall out.  Thus, over the years, I’ve tried many alternative eartips including adding memory foam to the Apple eartips and purchasing Foam Masters Hybrid Silicone-Memory Foam Ear Tips.  The Foam Masters tips have been a good choice for me, but they no longer appear to be for sale on Amazon, and I’ve always been curious about other options. 

One option I had heard good things about is COMPLY’s memory foam replacement tips.  Unlike the prior replacement tips I had been using, which put memory foam inside of silicone, these tips are just memory foam.  I’ve been using them for about six weeks now, and I like them about the same as the Foam Masters tips, which I say because they are both a little bit better and a little bit worse.

When you purchase the “assorted” version of this product, you get three different tip sizes, just like you do with Apple’s tips.  That’s nice so that you can pick what feels the best for you.  

These tips connect to the AirPods Pro the same way that Apple’s tips connect.  They just snap on.

Because the COMPLY tips are virtually all memory foam, you need to use them in a special way.  You cannot simply put them in your ears.  Well, you can do that, but you won’t get the full effect.  The correct way to put these in your ears is to squeeze them between your fingers so that the foam compresses.  Then you put one in your ear and hold it there for a few seconds as the memory foam expands to fill your ear.  Then you do the same thing with the second one. 

This process of inserting them in an ear is my big complaint about this this product — this entire class of products, not just the ones made by COMPLY.  A few seconds may not seem like much, but I often find that I want to put my AirPods Pro in my ears quickly.  For example, when someone calls my iPhone and I want to wear them for the conversation, I don’t have time to pinch ear tips.  And even if I am just listening to music, I don’t want to wait.  I’ve gotten more use to this process over time, but it is still annoying.

On the other hand, the advantage if that once the foam expands to fill your ears, these tips work better than the tips that come with the AirPods Pro.  First, I find them to be more comfortable.  Second, the foam improves the noise cancellation ability of the AirPods Pro.  And for what it is worth, my AirPods Pro pass the iPhone’s Ear Tip Fit test when I use these tips.

These replacement tips are about the same size as Apple’s tips.  Thus, you can use these tips and you won’t have trouble fitting your AirPods Pro into the charging case.

[UPDATE 5-22-2022: After using a set of these ear tips daily for about seven months, they started to fall apart.  Thus, I ordered a replacement pair, and they are working great.  When I ordered my original set, I ordered the version with a small, medium, and large size so that I could figure out which size worked best.  The large size worked best for me, so when I ordered the replacement, I made all three of the tips large.  Hopefully, these three will last me another year and a half or so.  The fact that I ordered replacements should tell you the most important thing:  I really like this product, and I gave it a high recommendation.  Everyone has different ears, but for my ears, these are wonderful.]

Conclusion

Everyone has different ears, so no one product will work best for everyone.  Nevertheless, if you are looking for replacement tips for the AirPods Pro that provide a better fit, I consider these to be an improvement, and hopefully you will as well.  And if you are looking for replacement tips to provide better noise cancellation, this is definitely a good product.  Unfortunately, to get these benefits, you have to get used to spending a little more time putting your AirPods Pro into your ears.

Click here to get COMPLY Foam Apple AirPods Pro 2.0 Earbud Tips from Amazon ($24.99)