5 immediate changes you will love with iOS 18 coming this Fall
I have been playing around with the iOS 18 public betas for a while now, and without really trying to find every new feature, here are the top 5 features I have appreciated the most, and I think you will love as well:
Banning phones from schools: Is it possible?
Ben Lovejoy from 9To5Mac:
“More schools are banning students from using smartphones in classes, with calls for a federal ban rather than the current mix of state laws. Apple’s home state of California is expected to be the next state to introduce a ban.
Orlando has so far taken the toughest line, banning smartphone use during the entire day, and blocking access to social media networks on the school wifi …
Worldwide, around one in four countries has implemented bans or restrictions on the use of smartphones in schools. A 9to5Mac poll conducted a year ago found strong support for the same happening in the US, with 73% in favor and only 21% opposed.
The three arguments made for such bans are:
1. Improves learning outcomes
2. Reduces classroom disruption
3. Protects children from cyberbullying
Within the US, four states have already implemented bans, or are in the process of doing so: Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, and South Carolina.”
A federal ban would be the best option since it would be one blanket law rather than a hodgepodge of different laws. Realistically though, we will probably see a few case studies of success in a few schools across the nation.
It will be a slow process, but implementation is the real challenge.
Continuing further:
“A survey conducted by the National Parents Union revealed that 70% are in favor of a ban, though the majority think this should be restricted to class times, with students allowed to use phones at lunchtime and during official breaks.”
Giving them access during lunch hours doesn’t solve the issue because that is supposed to be a time for ACTUAL socializing with one another, but it will end up being a bunch of people on their phones trying to get the latest FOMO itch scratched. Maybe not through social media, but through games, texting, and the list goes on.
Another question, will a simple VPN app remove these protections from getting social media access on school wifi?
The Kids Online Safety Act is pointless.
Lauren Reiner from The Verge:
The Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (also known as COPPA 2.0), the first major internet bills meant to protect children to reach that milestone in two decades. A legislative vehicle that included both KOSA and COPPA 2.0 passed 91–3.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it “a momentous day” in a speech ahead of the vote, saying that “the Senate keeps its promise to every parent who’s lost a child because of the risks of social media.” He called for the House to pass the bills “as soon as they can.
How does this bill work exactly?
The bill works by creating a duty of care for online platforms that are used by minors, requiring they take “reasonable” measures in how they design their products to mitigate a list of harms, including online bullying, sexual exploitation, drug promotion, and eating disorders. It specifies that the bill doesn’t prevent platforms from letting minors search for any specific content or providing resources to mitigate any of the listed harms, “including evidence-informed information and clinical resources.”
Creating a “duty of care” and taking “reasonable” measure are such vague terms that this Act is merely just that…
an act.
The real problem isn’t trying to regulate social media and the internet for kids. The real problem is the absence of parenting. There are plenty of teachers who would love for phones to be banned during school hours, but that solution would not be pleasing to the tech giants.
Ferrari Exec Thwarts a Scammer
Nico DeMattia from TheDrive:
“According to Bloomberg, the scammer reached out to a Ferrari exec through WhatsApp pretending to be Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna. The scammer reportedly asked “Hey, did you hear about the big acquisition we’re planning? I could need your help.” While the WhatsApp number and photo were different than the real Vigna’s, the exec seemingly kept the conversation going, as the messages continued.
The scammer kicked things up a notch when they called the exec, using AI deepfake technology to mimic Vigna’s voice and even his southern Italian accent. According to the Ferrari exec, the deepfake accent was nearly perfect. However, the exec couldn’t shake the feeling that something fishy was going on, so they told the scammer that they needed to verify the caller’s identity. To do this, they asked what book Vigna recently recommended to them. The title was “Decalogue of Complexity: Acting, Learning and Adapting in the Incessant Becoming of the World” by Alberto Felice De Toni. Of course, the scammer didn’t know that—so they promptly hung up.”
That exec that was targeted did everything right.
1. He noticed the phone number was different.
2. He wanted to speak to the CEO to make sure it was from him.
3. The Deepfake sounded convincing but still the exec was not fully convinced, so he asked the deepfake a question that only the real CEO would know, which made the scammer hang up.
What happens if you buy an iPhone in one country, and want to use AppleCare+ in another country?
This would be a situation that I would be in because I live in the US and bought an iPhone from Saudi Arabia, and I wanted to know once and for all what would happen if I broke my iPhone.
I bought a phone from Saudi Arabia because I needed an iPhone with a physical SIM slot. My plan doesn’t support e-SIM yet, and I don’t think they will anytime soon since their plans are generally catered to older folks who don’t really use their phones that much.
At least that is what I think because who else offers unlimited data, talk, and text on Verizon’s network for only $10/month?!
Anyway, I went to Canada just a few weeks ago, and I went to an Apple Store to finally put the question to rest:
If I break my iPhone in the US, will Apple replace it with a US phone (without the SIM slot) or would I get the exact same phone that I purchased with the SIM slot?
The nice lady was helping out other customers, but she eventually made her way to the back and asked a specialist (or a genius?) about the situation.
She came back with the answer that I wanted to hear:
“So if you break your iPhone, Apple will replace it with the exact same iPhone. It might take an extra day or two to get it to you since it will probably come from somewhere else, but it will be the same iPhone with the SIM slot.”
That is good to hear, both for me right now, and when I inevitably sell my iPhone 15 Pro Max to buy the 16 Pro Max. I got another international trip lined up so let’s see if I can snag that come October.
The Best Apple Watch Band You Need
The Apple link bracelet is still the best premium Apple Watch band you can buy today.
There really is no comparison.
If you want the most premium Apple Watch band that money can buy, there is no other place to look.
There just so many reasons why this band always puts a smile on my face:
How to Prepare for Apple Vision Pro Pre-Orders.
The Apple Vision Pro Pre-Orders will be on January 19th, starting at 5AM PT. Here are some tips that will make sure your devices are optimized in order to avoid any hiccups on Pre-Order day.
My custom MagSafe car setup.
This car mount from an obscure company on Amazon is by far one of the best MagSafe mounts that I have tried.
Three features I would like to see with iOS 18.
With iOS18 expected to have a radical redesign and more ambitious features, I would like to see these three features added in iOS 18 to make a more personal, consistent, and professional experience.
A journey to find a physical SIM slot iPhone 15 Pro Max.
When the iPhone 15 Pro Max launched, I was ecstatic, as I was every year. I had pre-ordered 3 different colors: Blue Titanium, White Titanium, and Natural Titanium. Black was completely out of the question. I didn’t really want a dark color at the time since I had a purple 14 Pro Max for a whole year, and I really was leaning towards one of the lighter colors.
When I got the 3 phones on launch day, I was distraught between two beautiful phones, the white and the natural. I loved the back of the natural, but I really loved the sides of the white titanium.
The slightly yellow tinge of the natural titanium looked like someone pissed on the white titanium phone.
The funny thing is, if I only got the natural phone, I wouldn’t know that the white phone would have a better sheen to it, and I would just be perfectly happy with the natural color. I don’t live close to an Apple store (about an hour away from the closest one), and I didn’t feel like waiting in line, so I had to buy them for myself to make sure I picked the color that would resonate well with me. I finalized my decision to keep the white titanium and to return the other two.
I was at the time with AT&T, and have been with them forever. I have been getting a shoddy signal at work for the last 9 years, but it didn't really bother me since I would use my company’s Wi-Fi. It would be annoying at times though when I had to either make or receive phone calls from work, and I would have to stand outside to have a conversation. I could go to Verizon and pay more money, but I didn’t feel it was worth the extra cash, especially in today’s environment where everything is already going up in price.
I thought to myself, “I have this brand new iPhone 15 Pro Max, and I get the same crap reception as my iPhone SE (1st gen) in the same building. Surely there must be a way to get a better provider for at least the same price.”
My beef with watchOS 10
Ever since watchOS 3, Apple has provided us with a very useful and convenient feature: The ability to easily swipe left and right to change watch faces.
Not anymore.
With watchOS 10, that feature is long gone, and doesn’t seem to be coming back anytime soon. It was missing from the earliest of watchOS 10 betas, and I was thinking that it will eventually come back in a future update. I naively kept waiting and waiting, but it seems to be gone forever.
A key navigation technique that millions have been using for years on their watches, and not a single peep about it from the tech community. Heck, even regular people should be pissed.
WatchOS 10 officially has the slowest method available ever to change watch faces.
A barbaric touch and hold, followed by scrolling right or left in the edit screen. Even the original Apple Watch had a faster way to change watch faces with its Force Touch ability giving you almost instant access to the watch face edit screen.
If Apple had used the swipe right and left gestures for a different function, that would have been one thing, but they completely removed the gesture altogether. I find it hard to believe that the gesture was in some way not compatible with Apple’s new control interface.
Currently a swipe up from anywhere on the watch face takes you to your Smart Stack. Maybe there could be some software "collisions" in detecting a swipe up from a left or right swipe? If that were the case, the Smart Stack gesture should only work when swiping up from the bottom of the display and not anywhere on the display. With this setup, you could easily avoid issues with left and right swipes.
Quite frankly, I don’t think that it is a software issue, since there are hundreds of apps with much more complex touch controls and gestures.
Hopefully Apple will bring back this gesture once they realize how much people miss the ability to switch watch faces on a whim.
Why normal people should buy the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models.
Usually when a new Apple Watch comes out, you can find great deals on the older models that would save you a ton of money, especially if you are in the market for a stainless steel version. With the Series 9 and Ultra 2 models though, the better deal is to go for one of these two new models, even at full price.
These are the two main reasons why you should go for the new Apple Watches:
New processor
The Apple Watch is not a slow device when it comes to doing ordinary tasks, but the new S9 chip has 60% more transistors than the outgoing chip, which will make it faster and more future proof. As a matter of fact, the Apple Watch Series 6, 7, and 8 all had the same processor, so this new S9 chip could easily be the chip for the next 3 years. Now what is this new chip capable of doing? Take the new on-board Siri for example.
Normally when I use Siri on the watch, there is a significant delay between my request and the result. I will tell Siri to turn off a specific lamp in my house, and it will take her around 10 seconds or more to turn it off. This was because Siri was not running natively on the watch, but would connect to the iPhone and then fulfill the request. With the S9 chip, Siri can now run natively on the watch, making requests faster and more secure. This will be a huge time savings for those who use Siri all the time.
Not only will Siri be even better, but the new chip enables the “Double Tap” feature. By pressing your index finger with your thumb twice, you can activate certain gestures, such as answering a call, snoozing an alarm, and even scrolling through your Smart Stack. Even though the Double Tap feature existed before in accessibility mode under AssistiveTouch, it is not as user friendly and is not as accurate. Apparently the new neural engine is what makes the Double Tap feature more accurate.
Better brightness controls
With the Apple Watch Series 9, you can go all the way up to 2000 nits in brightness, which is double that of the Series 8 and equal to last year’s Apple Watch Ultra. The Ultra 2 goes from 2000 nits to 3000 nits, which is an insane level of screen brightness. It will not just be visible in the harshest of sunlight, but it will look and feel bright.
Even though brightness usually isn’t a huge deal for most people, what is a huge deal is how dim a watch can get. Both these watches can go down to as low as 1 nit, which means you won’t be bothered by the higher brightness of your watch in low-lit environments. Your wife won’t groan and complain about your annoying watch blasting her dilated pupils, and people next to you in the theater will no longer give you that scowling glare to turn off your watch.
In other words, the new Apple Watches will improve your relationship with those around you. Now can you really put a price on that?
Which watch should I pick?
That is a personal preference based on design, battery life, and oh yeah, price. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 starts at $799 and the Series 9 at $399. The Series 9 is literally half the price of the Ultra 2, but gives you 98% of the features of the Ultra 2. You don’t get the siren, extreme GPS and diving features, nor the Action Button, but are those features really worth an extra $400? Even the extra battery life might not justify the price because since they both support fast charging, you can get your watch charged from 0 to 80% in 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the watch.
The Series 9 with GPS and Cellular starts at $499, but even the $300 difference is a hard pill to swallow.
If you were eyeing the Stainless steel versions of the Series 9, which start at $699, then it would be a better buy to get the Ultra 2 since you would get all those extra perks for only $100.
Whichever one of these two watches you pick, you will be happy, up to date, and will have a watch that can easily last 5 years if not more.
Why we should (but probably won’t) get live Apple Events
It was WWDC 2019, & the tech community was excited to see the release of the new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR.
While Apple knocked it out of the park with these two new products, what came next was something they never expected…
Even though both products were expensive, they were a great deal when compared to similar competitive products. A PC with comparable specs to the base Mac Pro was over $8,000.
The Mac Pro Price? $5,999.
The audience cheers.
The Pro Display XDR was also an expensive product, but people knew that it was a great deal for the specs. Most reference monitors were in the tens of thousands of dollars, and Apple “referenced” a $43,000 monitor (see what I did there?).
If the reference monitors are $40K, how much will Apple’s display cost?
The Pro Display XDR was $4,999.
Great positioning and marketing.
The audience cheers.
What came next though stole the show. Apple announces its VESA mount for $199, and then the ProStand for $999.
NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE DOLLARS.
The shock, horror, and groans heard around the world!
I think it caught John Ternus by surprise a bit, but I love his reaction. He kept going and put a smile on his face, knowing that we would buy it anyway.
A classic moment indeed.
How the iPhone 15 Pro Action Button will Probably Work
As much as I would rather have a physical mute switch toggle on my iPhone, it looks like the action button will be taking its place. bring much more functionality since it can easily give you five different functions instead of just two. Here is how I think Apple will implement the action button.
The simplest and most effective way to implement the action button is to copy the power button. The power button currently has five different functions:
Press and hold - activates Siri
Press once - turns on/off the screen
Press twice - activates Apple Pay
Press three times - activates your accessibility shortcut options
Press five times - activates the emergency SOS screen
If Apple uses this approach, we can get five more custom functions from the action button. Might be too confusing initially, but eventually I think people will get used to it. Ergonomically speaking, the action button is in the perfect spot for left handed users. You can easily thumb press the action button with your left hand, and your index finger can easily activate the longer power button. Right handers will have to perform some gymnastics to be able to press the action button with their index finger, but it’s not a comfortable hold trying it out on the 14 Pro Max and even the smaller iPhone 13.
What would I do if I had five more extra buttons? Here is my action button setup:
Press and hold - unmute phone
Press once - mute phone
Press twice - activate camera
Press three times - activate voice recording
Press five times - call my wife
I need my phone to be on mute at certain times, and a simple press should do the trick. Even if I am not sure if my phone is on mute, I can simply press the action button once and voila! Plus, I would rather be on mute when not needed than not be on mute when needed, which is why I would rather press and hold to unmute the phone. Plus with this setup, it still allows me to mute the phone without putting my hand in my pocket.
The other 3 functions are in order of convenience and need. Quick camera access is a huge plus, and even voice recording might come in handy if you wanted to “jot down” your thoughts and ideas. Lastly, having the ability to reach my wife would be a great feature if I am in an emergency and my screen gets damaged. A lot of the times a damaged screen will hinder the ability to get help since it won’t register any touch input. Having a physical button to instantly call a loved one will definitely be handy.
iPhone 15 Pro Action Button
Steve Moser from MacRumors:
“The Action button, which could be similar to the Apple Watch Ultra's Action button but with more phone-focused options, is expected to be a new physical button on the next-generation Pro iPhone models that replaces the Ring/Silent switch. The Action button would allow users to quickly access various functions and settings without necessarily unlocking the device or navigating to an app.
According to the code found in iOS 17 beta 4, the Action button could have nine different options that users can customize and assign to different actions.”
My biggest beef with the new iPhone15 Pro action button is going to be its versatility in the pocket. The mute switch lever was an easy, stealthy way to silence your phone, but now you won't really know if it's silenced if you just try to press a button to silence it. You will have to think, "Did I just mute my phone or did I just unmute it?" The positioning of the mute switch lever just by feeling it would always be a tell tale sign with full confidence of your phone's status.
Untitled Folder Wallet - First Impressions
I was scrolling through Twitter and came across this wallet that I just had to have. I mean, what could be cooler than a wallet shaped like a Mac folder? The price was pretty steep at $60, but it truly is a unique product that you won’t find anywhere else. The FOMO in me picked it up immediately, but now you can get it for $50.
It comes in a pretty unassuming box with San Francisco font, and the wallet inside is in a plastic sleeve, nothing else. Pretty basic packaging. The wallet itself though is made very well and would make an Apple designer pleased, minus the fact that it is made of vegan leather. The surfaces have a nice even texture and the inner lining is smooth. There is no spot on this wallet where you feel a rough edge or notice any sort of poor stitching. Since this is a low volume product, I can see that careful attention to detail was a top priority.
The wallet is essentially two sleeves stitched together, but you wouldn’t notice that just from looking at it from the front or the rear. I only have six plastic cards and one paper card in my current wallet, and this wallet can handle that in each pocket with ease. Having seven cards in each pocket will probably stretch out the wallet permanently, so my seven total cards will still keep it pretty slim with room to grow. That being said, the minimalist design of this wallet makes it more suitable for those who carry less, since this wallet’s whole purpose is form over function.
One thing that confused me was the website description; it says two pockets under the description, but the image next to it says three slim pockets. Technically there is a third, vestigial pocket which is the stitching joining the two main pockets, but it isn’t very useful. It is a great place to put an emergency bill of cash for those instances where cash is king. I was able to fold up a $1 bill into a square and fit it in there.
My main concern with this wallet is to see how durable it is. Will it fall apart? Will it discolor easily? I have made it my daily driver wallet for now, so I will see how it holds up after one month. Stay tuned.
watchOS 10 - a huge mental shift for veteran Apple Watch users.
I have been a veteran Apple Watch user since its release in 2015 and after almost two weeks, I still have trouble remembering the controls in watchOS 10. It is going to be a decent learning curve for those upgrading from watchOS 9, but it will also be a fresh start for those who are new to the Apple Watch experience.
In this post, I’m going to go through every single input option on the Apple Watch, and let you know the differences to expect when you upgrade to watchOS 10. Before we get into the input options, know that watchOS 10 essentially has 3 separate layers that flow from one to another. They flow in the following order:
Testing Apple's Drug Interaction Checker - How Accurate is it?
Note: These features were tried on iOS 16.5, and on iOS 17 Developer Beta 1.
I tried to put Apple’s drug interaction checker to the test, and let me start off by saying that overall it does a good job of catching interactions. It’s not perfect though, and can even be dangerous. That is why you should always consult your care team to determine if any medications need to be stopped or changed based on your health situation.
With that being said, let me set the scenario here.
I used a bunch of drugs to test out Apple’s system, and to see how well it can track drug interactions and interaction factors.
Apple’s “One More Thing” is just not the same anymore…
When Apple revealed its Vision Pro spatial computing device, the initial sequence of events at the Keynote just weren’t as exciting as in the past. When Tim Cook mentioned that we have, 'One More Thing,' there was no usual fanfare, there was no cheering, and there was no anticipation that happens with a live event. In the live events before COVID, the camera angles change, people are shown smiling, sitting at the edge of their seats waiting for the unveiling of the next big thing. You also got to see all those tech journalists frantically typing away which gave you another reality perspective!
I know I know, Apple technically does have live events at Apple Park, but they are still just watching a screen and the reactions are not part of the keynote for everyone to enjoy.
Apple Vision Pro - What is the True Cost?
Apple revealed their Vision Pro headset on Monday, and one of the biggest concerns people have about it is the $3,499 price tag. Everyone keeps saying that it is way too expensive, but no one has really mentioned the fact that Apple stated:
“Apple Vision Pro, starts at $3,499.”
Did you catch that? That’s right, it STARTS at $3,499.
So what will be the true “out the door” price? We can only speculate, but let’s gather some numbers.