Episode 17 of the In the News podcast is now available.  We spent much of the time talking about Hurricane Ida, and more generally how you can use technology to plan for and manage a disaster such as a hurricane.  For example, I credit an immediate alert from the TripIt app with my catching a plan just in time to make it home to my family before the hurricane.  We also talk about an upcoming feature in the Wallet app that will let you carry a digital version of your driver’s license and upcoming changes to the App Store.  

In this week’s In the News segment, Brett shares a great tip for accessing the Notes that you create on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac on a Windows computer using iCloud.  I recommend the Midland ER310 Emergency Crank Weather AM/FM Radio, which was critical for me after Hurricane Ida when there was no power and no cell service.  This is a great device to have on hand just in case you are ever in an emergency situation.

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

After causing incredible destruction in Louisiana, Hurricane Ida has moved across the country and caused death and destruction all the way up to New York.  In the Greater New Orleans area, the lack of power and brutal heat has made it difficult to begin the rebuilding process.  My family has now relocated to Alabama, and who knows how long it will be before we can get home.  I see a report that it will take 21 days to get power to 90% of the people in Jefferson Parish, which is next door to New Orleans.  I have no idea if that is faster or slower than what it will take in New Orleans.  I went through something similar once before, after Hurricane Katrina.  I remember at that time, people were just learning how to use text messaging, using non-smart phones with numbers that you would have to press multiple times to spell out letters.  Technology, especially mobile technology from Apple such as the iPhone and iPad, has made it so much easier to represent my legal clients, communicate with friends and family, keep up with the news, etc.  So as frustrating as it is right now for folks from southeast Louisiana — and believe me, it is incredibly frustrating — there are also many things to be thankful for.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• The ABA recently released its 2021 Profile of the Legal Profession report.  Page 94 of the report states that 79% of lawyers use an iPhone and 18% of lawyers use Android.  However, as far as I can tell, it looks like this information comes from a 2019 survey that I described in this post, so this does not appear to be a new statistic.
• I’ve previously discussed how useful it is to have your driver’s license on your iPhone.  Soon, this ability will be built-in to the Wallet app on the iPhone, and it looks like Apple has come up with a fantastic implementation.  Apple announced this week the first eight states that will support this feature (Arizona and Georgia at first, and then Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah).  John Gruber of Daring Fireball has a great post explaining how it works and why the way that Apple implemented this feature is so impressive from a security, usability, and privacy standpoint.  
• In another post, Gruber explains that Apple will allow certain subscription apps to provide a link on the opening page directing someone to a website so that they can purchase or manage the subscription.
• This is just a rumor, but Rolfe Winkler of the Wall Street Journal asserts that Apple plans to make an Apple Watch that can check your blood pressure and that can check your temperature (to assist with fertility planning).
• And since I mentioned that rumor, I guess I should also mention another one.  Mark Gurman of Bloomberg asserts that Apple plans to introduce an iPhone that can communicate with satellites so that you can send an emergency text to a first responder even without cellular coverage.
• Let’s leave the world of rumors and return to what we know that Apple will do.  Apple announced this week that it acquired the classical music streaming service Primephonic.  Not only will this improve listening to classical music on Apple Music with better music quality, but Apple also plans to introduce a new music app that focuses on listening to classical music.
• As reported by Brent Dirks of AppAdvice, Tweetbot app was updated this week to add a new customization menu that lets you remove some features that many people, like me, did not like.  For example, you can remove the feature that when you tap at the top of the screen you scroll up to the most recent tweet, a feature which I only ever activate by accident. Also, you can remove the feature that when you swipe with two fingers you change the theme, another feature that I have accidentally triggered numerous times.
• Geoffrey Fowler of the Wall Street Journal explains how Facebook can gather information about you from apps on an iPhone even if you don’t use the Facebook app.
• Juli Clover of MacRumors provides a preview of what will be new in the Notes and Reminders apps when iOS 15 comes out.  Which could be as soon as this month.
• And finally, two months ago, Apple TV+ released a video called The Lasso Way.  I avoided watching it at the time because I thought it might have spoilers for Season 2 of Ted Lasso.  It does not, and this cute video captures some of the spirit of what makes Ted Lasso such a great show, including the importance placed on helping others.  With everything going on in the world, I really needed this message right now, and perhaps you do too.  For all fans of Ted Lasso, this one is worth watching:

Just a few days ago, on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ida came through New Orleans and other areas in Louisiana.  Hurricane Katrina was a major hurricane, but the real story came after the hurricane when the levees broke and flooded the city.  Hurricane Ida was also a major hurricane, but once again, a major issue has been what has come after the storm passed.  This time, it has been a lack of power and AT&T cell phone service.  I expected to lose power during a hurricane, but normally the power is restored in just a few days, if not sooner.  This time, there is a chance that it may take much longer, perhaps even a few weeks.  I hope it isn’t that long, but we’ll see.

We lost power at my house at Noon on Sunday, and for most of Sunday afternoon, my iPhone was an essential tool for monitoring the news and keeping in touch with others.  But for folks like me who use AT&T, a problem started late in the day on Sunday:  it become virtually impossible to get a signal.  And this remained the case until early Tuesday morning, with a few minor exceptions where service was available for a few minutes.  Thus, during the very time that folks were trying to call or text loved ones to ensure that they were safe, they were unable to do so.  And folks trying to access news and other information on the emergency could not do so.  Even 911 service was interrupted in many areas.  Thank goodness I purchased a very good emergency radio very recently so that we could get information from the local radio stations when there was no other way to know what was going on.  In fact, I suspect that some of you outside of New Orleans know more about Hurricane Ida than I do.

Besides that radio, I also used every portable battery in my possession to maintain charges on my iPhone and my wife’s iPhone to use them before the storm and to keep them charged afterwards so that we would be ready whenever we could finally use our iPhones again.  It seems like you can never have enough portable batteries.  The Anker PowerCore 10000 (my review) was a particularly good one because it is small and packs a lot of power.

I’ll share one last tidbit.  As cell service slowly started to become available, it would often work for only a few minutes.  I found that I could sometimes get it working again, for a few minutes, if I turned on airplane mode, waited a few seconds, and then turned off airplane mode to force my iPhone to make a new connection to a cell tower.  I did this so often that I finally paused and created a very simple shortcut that did these steps for me:

I then pressed the three dots at the top right and selected Add to Home Screen.  That created an icon on my home screen.  I could tap the icon and the iPhone would enter airplane mode, wait, then turn off airplane mode for me and I could see in the top corner whether I got a connection.  By using this trick, I was finally able to start to communicate with at least a few folks on Monday afternoon and evening.

If there was a silver lining to the last few days, it was that disasters like this often bring out the best in people. Everywhere you looked, people were helping other people to get back on their feet.  I certainly received countless messages and offers of help from new and old friends, clients, and even a large number of iPhone J.D. readers., and I know that countless others did too.  It is nice to have a reminder that there is a lot of good in the world and that we all do better when we help out each other.

Episode 16 of the In the News podcast is now available.  Our main topic is that this week marked the 10-year anniversary of Steve Jobs stepping down from Apple, a bittersweet moment, and Tim Cook taking over, which has been an incredible success.  We also speculate on what product might eventually replace the iPhone and then discuss ways to improve the Wi-Fi in your home. 

In this week’s In the News segment, Brett shares some tips for making it easier to use the Shazam app on your iPhone to identify a song when you hear it playing.  I recommend a tip for using Apple’s HomeKit technology to improve the security of device in your home connected to the Internet so that you don’t find yourself in a similar situation as this casino, which was compromised after hackers exploited a security vulnerability in a fish tank to gain access to casino’s entire network.

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

August 24, 2021, was the 10-year anniversary of Steve Jobs announcing that he was stepping down as CEO of Apple due to his health issues.  In that announcement (which I posted in full in this post), Jobs recommended that Tim Cook take over as CEO, which is of course what happened.  (Jobs passed away a few months later, on October 5, 2011.)  Parker Ortolani of 9to5Mac wrote a very good article looking back at that announcement 10 years ago and the reaction from the Apple community.  At the time, it was well known that Jobs was having health problems, but I remember that it was still a shock to learn that the person that we all associated with Apple was stepping down.  That anniversary means that Tim Cook has now been the CEO of Apple for 10 years.  Austin Carr and Mark Gurman of Bloomberg Businessweek wrote a good article about the incredible financial success that Apple has seen with Cook as CEO and also discuss how Cook’s “unflappable temperament makes him well suited to the polarized political climate” in the United States.  And Matthew Drummond of the Australian Financial Review interviews Apple CEO Tim Cook.  For those who do not subscribe to that publication, Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac provides some of the highlights.  For example, Cook explains that he likes to start his workday at 4am because the early morning is the one time of the day that he can control, before things start to happen that “blow you off course.”  Folks might disagree with Cook on some specific decisions that he has made over the past decade.  For example, I know that some people were upset about his frequent meetings with President Trump, but Cook decided that it was more important to work with the leader of the government even though Cook openly disagreed with many of Trump’s policies.  And just a few days ago, Cook attended a cybersecurity summit to meet with President Biden.  But what I think that everyone would agree with is that Cook helped Apple to become the most successful company in the world.  At the same time, much more than the Apple run by Jobs, the Apple run by Cook has promoted important values like diversity and privacy.  It is hard to imagine that anyone else would have done as good of a job over the past decade as Tim Cook.  Tim Cook and Steve Jobs are very different types of people, but Apple was lucky to have the opportunity to transition to Cook after Jobs.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• The Windows 365 Cloud PC is a virtual PC that you can access and run from pretty much any device, including an iPad or a Mac, if you pay a monthly fee.  If you want to use Apple devices but you have one or two things that need to run on a PC, this is a possible solution.  California attorney David Sparks tested Windows 365, and while he hasn’t yet written about the experience on his MacSparky website, he did talk about it during the most recent episode of the Mac Power User podcast, starting around the 39-minute mark.
• Last week, on Episode 15 of the In the News podcast, Brett Burney recommended a new recipe app called Mela based on a review by Illinois attorney John Voorhees on MacStories.  I’m mentioning it today just so that you have the link handy.  It looks like a good app.
• As noted above, President Biden met with Tim Cook and other CEOs at a cybersecurity summit on Wednesday.  Cat Zakrzewski, Joseph Marks, and Jay Greene of the Washington Post reported on the meeting, noting that several companies used the meeting as an opportunity to announce new cybersecurity initiatives.  For example, “Apple said it would start a new program to ensure the security of its supply chain, by requiring its more than 9,000 U.S. suppliers to adopt practices such as security training.”
• In many parts of the country (including New Orleans, where I live), you can currently dial a local number using seven digits, such as 555-5555.  Adam Engst of TidBITS reports that in many parts of the United States you will soon need to use all ten digits — 504-555-5555 – even when making local calls.  This change goes into effect on October 24, 2021, because 988 will become a nationwide 3-digit suicide prevention number next year, but that wouldnt’t work in areas with phone numbers beginning with 988 unless everyone uses all ten digits to dial.  Note that this means that if you have contacts in your iPhone for which you have only stored a seven-digit number, you need to change that to a ten digit number before October 24, 2021.
• If you are a fan of musicals, especially the classics, then you should watch Schmigadoon! on Apple TV+.  It’s a fun, silly show with fantastic music.  Every song leaves you thinking “wait, that reminds me of another song from that famous musical,” and Chris Murphy of Vanity Fair explains all of the musical references in all six episodes of the first season of this series.
• If you are thinking of subscribing to Apple TV+, Jason Cross of Macworld has a good article with all of the key information about the Apple TV+ service.  For example, I didn’t realize before reading this article that Apple TV+ has the best 4K streaming quality of any streaming service.
• If you are looking to improve the Wi-Fi in your home, Glenn Fleishman wrote an article for TidBITS to explain all of your options.  I’m a huge fan of the eero Pro 3-pack that I reviewed last year, and I subsequently updated that article to address the newer eero Pro 6, which can provide even better Wi-Fi in certain situations.  Improving Wi-Fi makes your iPhone, iPad, and computers much more useful, so if you are still using the Wi-Fi system that you installed many years ago, consider an upgrade.
• Alex Birch of The Gadgeteer reviews the Kensington StudioCaddy, an iPad stand that also features a dual Qi charger.
• There was a time before the iPhone, and there will, eventually, be a time after the iPhone.  What will be the hot Apple product when that day comes?  In an article for Macworld, Dan Moren has three predictions.
• Wirecutter put together an impressive list of recommended smart home products for people with disabilities or mobility needs — and frankly, it is a good list for anyone, not just that audience.  I recently purchased one of the recommendations, the eufyCam 2 Pro wireless outdoor security cameras, and I’ll be writing a full review after I have put the system through its paces.
• Zac Hall of 9to5Mac says that the $549 AirPods Max is expensive but worth it.  I tried out a pair the last time I was in an Apple Store, and they felt and worked great.  I could definitely see myself enjoying them, but I don’t see how I could justify that price, especially considering that I already have, and love, my pair of AirPods Pro.
• Eric Griffith of PC Mag recommends some useful iPad tips.
• Hiwatha Bray of the Boston Globe tells the tale of Dan Pfau, a man whose life has been saved not once, but twice, because he was wearing an Apple Watch.  Two years ago, he fell off of a bike and was knocked unconscious, but his watch called 911 and he was brought to the ER.  Last month, he fainted, hit his head, and started bleeding, but fortunately he was conscious enough to use his Apple Watch to text his wife to call for help.
• I presume that in just a few weeks, iOS 15 will be available.  When it comes out, I’ll be circling back to articles like this one from Jason Cross of Macworld in which he identifies some useful but less obvious features of iOS 15.
• Juli Clover of MacRumors discusses the improvements to Apple’s HomeKit and the Home app coming in iOS 15.
• And finally, here is a new video from Apple providing tips on using an iPhone to take really good pictures of pets.  The video shares some good tips for using the Camera app.  But frankly, you may just enjoy watching it just to see lots of great pictures of dogs and cats.

Episode 15 of the In the News podcast is now available.  After a short public service announcement (a warning to T-Mobile customers about a recent large data breach), Brett and I begin by discussing the use of the Find My app, AirTags, and the Apple Watch to protect yourself from thieves and burglars, as well as a recent case in New York in which the thieves themselves used this technology to steal from other criminals.  Next, we discussed using Spatial Audio with videos to create a more immersive experience.  After briefly discussing a new Apple Arcade game called Wurdweb, we then discuss the excellent PDF Expert app, including the update that I described a few days ago, and we also discuss a recipe app called Mela.

In this week’s In the Know segment, we provide tips related to photos and videos.  Brett shares a tip for using shared albums on an iPhone so that multiple friends and family members can easily share pictures or videos that they take during a shared experience like a vacation.  I recommend a product sold by Studio Neat, the Glif ($28 on Amazon), along with the excellent Hand Grip + Wrist Strap attachment (my review).  When you want to record a video for more than a minute or two — such as when filming your child in a school performance, an athletic event, etc. — the Hand Grip with the Glif makes it so much easier to record with an iPhone for an extended period of time.

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

I often mention stories of folks using the Find My app to catch a thief.  For example, here is a story from AppleInsider this week about a man in Washington using Find My and an AirTag to find his stolen motorcycle.  But Find My can also be used by thieves.  Ben Feuerherd of the New York Post reports that a group of robbers in New York attached an Apple Watch to the bumper of a drug dealer’s car so that they could use Find My to follow him to a stash of $500,000.  But just as technology was essential to their heist, it also led to their downfall.  The robbers were subsequently captured, and the prosecutor stated that his criminal charges were “supported by detailed cellsite location data, including [from] his Apple Watch and the phones of the defendant.”  Click here for more details, including a picture of the robbers striking a pose in front of all of the money that they stole, taken not long before they were caught.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• If you use T-Mobile in the United States, you should know that this week T-Mobile confirmed a major data breach.  Hackers were able to access full names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and more, and this information is now showing up online.  Ugh.  Chris Velazco of the Washington Post has information on the breach and what you can do now to protect yourself.
• Two months ago, I described a large number of new features coming to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15.  But one feature that I chose not to mention is SharePlay, a new technology that lets different people in different locations watch media at the same time.  For example, two people in different cities can watch a movie and have the movie synced so that they can see the movie simultaneously, almost like they are in the same room.  It’s an interesting idea, especially during a pandemic, but I didn’t find it as compelling as the other new features coming this Fall.  I mention it now only because Apple is now delaying this feature, and as Jason Snell explains in an article for Macworld, that is a good thing because it is far worse when Apple ships a feature prematurely.
• A feature coming to iOS 15 that I am very much looking forward to is Live Text, which allows the iPhone to read text in a photo.  Dan Moren of Six Colors discusses this new feature.
• Apple has been able to develop some impressive new hardware and software even though almost all of its employees (outside of the Apple Stores) have been working from home during the pandemic.  And I’m glad that there is such a good track record because, as reported by Zoe Schiffer of The Verge, the recent COVID-19 surge caused Apple to announce yesterday that its employees will continue to work from home until at least January 2022.
• Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal posted an excellent video interview with Apple software chief Craig Federighi to discuss Apple’s upcoming child protection features.
• Nicholas Katzban of NorthJersey.com reports that after a burglar handcuffed a 20-year-old woman to her bed, she was able to use her Apple Watch to call for help.
• A user on Reddit posted over 100 iOS tips and tricks, and there are some great ones on that list.
• If you use the HBO Max app on an Apple TV or other device, you know that it doesn’t always work very well.  Fortunately, relief should be coming in the next few months.  Josef Adalian of Vulture reports that WarnerMedia has been working on a brand new version of the app and it is coming out soon.  The new Roku and PlayStation apps will be out first, the Apple TV app will be out by the end of 2021, a new mobile and web-based apps will be out in early 2022.
• I love watching a movie or TV show on my iPad when a service supports spatial audio.  The sound seems fuller and seems to come from the direction of the iPad — so much so that I am often tricked into thinking that my AirPods are not working and the sound is actually coming from the iPad.  John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes that, as reported by Juli Clover, Spatial Audio is coming to the Netflix app.  I agree with Gruber that Spatial Audio can be “a game changer for degree of immersiveness.”
• If you like word games and you subscribe to Apple Arcade, Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac recommends that you play the new Wurdweb app.  I tried it, and so far, I like it.
• An upcoming series on Showtime called Super Pumped focuses on the rise in popularity of Uber.  Rob Latour of Variety reports that Hank Azaria will play Apple CEO Tim Cook on the show.
• And finally, there is a fantastic new movie on Apple TV+ called CODA, and I strongly recommend that you watch it.  It is a story about a teenager who wants to sing, but everyone else in her family is deaf so they have trouble understanding her passion.  It is funny, touching, and features incredible acting.  And it won all of the top awards at Sundance.  Here is a video released by Apple that features part of one of the songs:

PDF Expert, my go-to app for working with PDF files on my iPad, was updated to add what the developer Readdle is calling construction tools.  And while I'm sure that these tools would be useful for contractors and architects, I can see lots of uses for these tools whenever an attorney works with floor plans, schematics, designs, aerial photographs, and many other exhibits.  You need to pay for a PDF Expert PRO subscription to get access to these tools ($50/year), but I already considered that a bargain for my law practice for reasons that I have previously described, and now the subscription is even more valuable.

Measurement tools

The first new set of tools are useful for determining rough measurements.  Any time that you are working with a drawing that has a scale, PDF Expert can now perform measurements.  Start by finding two points in the drawing for which you already know the distance.  Perhaps the drawing already tells you in feet and inches the length of a wall or something like that.  Or perhaps the drawing has a scale at the bottom.  Use the new Calibrate tool to put a point at both ends and then tell the app what that distance represents.  And for some images for there is a scale, PDF Expert will intelligently detect the scale.

Once you have set the scale, you can then use the distance tool to measure the distance between any two points.  For example, here is a public domain floor plan of the U.S. Capitol, which has a scale at the bottom.  Using the measure tool, the app estimates that the diameter of the Great Rotunda is 96" 1.5" — and according to the U.S. Capitol visitor center, the actual diameter is 96" so that is a pretty good guess just based on this image.

You can also calculate the area by selecting three or more points.  For example, in the following image, I compare the area of the floor portion of the Senate Chamber to the Hall of the House of Representatives. 

Obviously, you cannot count on these measurements to be exact, although I suspect that with high-resolution PDF files that are drawn exactly to scale, you might be able to get pretty close.  But I've had many times during litigation when I needed to estimate the length of a wall or the area of a room or a warehouse or a parking lot and this is a tool that help to perform some quick-and-dirty calculations.

Create shapes

PDF Expert already had tools that you could use to create rectangles, circles, lines, and arrows.  This update adds many new tools.  With the new polygon and polyline tools, you can create countless different shapes with straight edges.  You can fill your shapes with colors or hash patterns and you can change the border type and size.  And you can even create a cloud shape to draw more attention to an area.

Callout tool

Often, when I'm working with an exhibit, I will want to draw a line to something important and then say something in the margins about what it is or why it is important.  This is easy to do with the new callout tool.  Just tap a point on the image, keep your finger on the screen as you drag, and then release your finger where you want the callout text to go.  The keyboard pops up for you to type something, and then you are done.  The process is quick and easy.

And just like any other shape, once you place a callout, you can adjust the color, size, etc.

Conclusion

I've worked on cases where I have spent thousands of dollars on graphics professionals to help me to create demonstrative exhibits.  The good ones have lots of tools, experience, and creativity.  But often, tools like these in PDF Expert may be all that you need.  Take a satellite image, design plan, etc., add some shapes and callouts on it, and then you may have the perfect demonstrative exhibit to get your point across.  I love that my PRO subscription is even more valuable thanks to these new features.  And if you haven't yet made the jump from the free version of PDF Expert to the PRO subscription version, now you have another reason to consider doing so.

Finally, a couldn't help but notice that in the blog post announcing these new features, Readdle states:  "This update is our first step towards creating unique experiences and tools tailored for professional segments like lawyers, teachers, doctors, and more."  I look forward to seeing more useful tools in PDF Expert in the future, including tools specifically designed for lawyers.

Click here to get PDF Expert by Readdle (free): 

Episode 14 of the In the News podcast is now available. Brett and I begin by discussing issues related to privacy and protection, which are sometimes competing interests, such as Apple’s new child protection initiatives, AirTags, and COVID passport apps that you can use to prove that you are vaccinated.  Next, we discuss why we disagree with those who suggest that the Apple TV is pointless.  Then, we discuss the excellent review of the Apple MagSafe battery pack written by California attorney David Sparks. 

In this week’s In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for quickly selecting multiple items in a list on an iPhone or iPad, such as selecting a bunch of emails at once.  I recommend the fastest ways to launch the Camera app on the iPhone so that you can quickly take a picture to preserve a memory of a moment before it is gone.

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

Last week, I discussed iPhone apps that you can use to prove that you are vaccinated, such as the LA Wallet app in Louisiana.  If you plan to come to New Orleans, make sure that you have one of those apps on your iPhone or some other proof of vaccination.  As reported by Ben Myers of the Times-Picayune, starting this Monday, you will need to show proof of vaccination (or a very recent negative COVID-19 test) to stay inside at numerous establishments including restaurants, bars, the Superdome, gyms, music halls, casinos, pool halls, arcades, etc.  This follows the recent news that Jazz Fest 2021, which had been rescheduled for October, is now canceled due to COVID.  I hate that it has come to this, especially since things were looking better before the Delta variant, and the vaccination rates for folks who live in New Orleans is much better than many places.  But vaccination rates in the rest of Louisiana are dismal, local hospitals are at their limits with “no plateau in sight,” and New Orleans Mayor Cantrell reported yesterday that “most of the people hospitalized in New Orleans with COVID-19 are from outside the city.”  New Orleans has always been a fantastic city for tourists, and showing off the Crescent City to friends who are visiting has long been one of my favorite activities.  But given the current state, I recommend that you wait until next year to do that.  In the meantime, there is an urgent need to convince everyone to get vaccinated so that we can all have a better 2022.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• The TranscriptPad app was updated this week to add the ability to speak.  The app has long had a function where you can press a button and have the transcript automatically scroll as you review it, a mode that I have used quite a bit.  You can now have the app read the transcript out loud as it does so, with different voices for the questions and answers.  I tried it out, and it works very well.  I don’t see myself using this feature often, but I can imagine a circumstance in which I decide to review the key portions of a transcript by having my iPad read to me from a deposition transcript as I am doing something else around my house.  Click here for more information on this new feature.
• California attorney David Sparks of MacSparky reviews the Apple MagSafe Battery Pack.  He explains why the device is worth using, even though it is more expensive than alternatives, because it works better.
• Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories describes the improvements coming to the built-in Maps app on the iPhone and iPad this Fall.  There is a new interface, detailed 3D models of certain landmarks, augmented reality walking directions, weather alerts, tips for when to leave to account for traffic conditions, and more.
• This week, I wrote about Apple’s upcoming new features to protect children by looking out for child sexual abuse material, features that have caused some to worry about privacy.  Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch interviews Erik Neuenschwander, the head of privacy at Apple, to discuss this.
• Dan Guido is the CEO of a cybersecurity company in New York City.  He uses an electric scooter, and to try to find it if it was ever stolen, he hid two AirTags inside of it.  Sure enough, the scooter was stolen this week, but he was able to recover it with the aid of the police.  He wrote a fascinating description of the entire experience in this series of tweets.  This is great reading, and great advice, for anyone who owns AirTags or is considering owning them because he made numerous smart decisions at different points in the process.
• John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains some of the reasons that an Apple TV is a better device than the much cheaper alternatives that offer similar functions.  I agree with all of this.
• If you are thinking of using an Apple TV to stream all of your TV channels instead of paying for cable or satellite TV, Jason Snell of Six Colors recommends Suppose.  You tell the website where you live and what channels you want to have included, and the website recommends the best packages for you.
• Speaking of streaming video, you know how sometimes you are watching a show and the characters in a show find themselves watching a fake TV show or movie — for example, the show 30 Rock had a bit about a movie called The Rural Juror, and The Simpsons has featured an action movie called McBain?  The website Nestflix.fun collects tons of these shows-within-a-show and demonstrates what it would look like if all of these fake shows were available on a streaming service.  A lot of work went into this website, and I found it great fun to browse.  Perhaps you will too.
• Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reports that you can now download a free Ted Lasso sticker pack for iMessage and the Clips app.
• Jason Cipriani of CNet compiled a useful list of iPhone tips. 
• Filipe Espósito of 9to5Mac notes that you can now save hundreds of dollars on the 2020 models of the iPad Pro by purchasing from Apple’s Refurbished Store.  These models are not quite as fast as the 2021 iPad Pro models, and the 2020 12.9" model doesn’t feature the new mini-LED screen that I described in this review, but the 2020 models are still excellent devices, especially at these prices.
• Last month, I discussed the Pegasus software sold by NSO Group by governments that can be used to hack into an iPhone — software designed to be used against criminals, but some governments used them against others including reporters and human rights activists.  Were you targeted by the Pegasus software?  The odds of that happening are quite low, but if you want to find out, Jason Cipriani of CNet explains how you can run a test using the iMazing software on a Mac or PC — software that can also be used to create more sophisticated backups of an iPhone.
• And finally, to promote the new Spatial Audio feature in Apple Music, Apple teamed up with Billie Eilish to produce this short video.  Put on your headphones while you watch this video, which uses multiple reflections in mirrors to simulate visually the surround sound that you are hearing: