As we look back on the year 2022, I realize that I have been incredibly impressed by the content on Apple TV+ this year. It may have even been my favorite of all of the streaming services because it was where I watched my two favorite shows in 2022: Severance and the third season of For All Mankind. And while the pitch for Apple TV+ has always been quality over quantity because it did not start with a back catalog, the number of shows that I have enjoyed watching on Apple TV+ this year is huge. In addition to Severance and For All Mankind, I enjoyed watching (roughing in the order of how much I enjoyed them) Slow Horses Seasons 1 and 2, Shining Girls, Tehran Season 2, Causeway, Spirited, Trying Season 3, Five Days at Memorial, The Afterparty, Black Bird, WeCrashed, Mythic Quest Season 3, Loot, Physical Season 2, See, and Suspicion. I watched the movie Palmer in 2022, although it came out in 2021, and I enjoyed it. I was so-so on the anthology Roar, but there were some specific episodes that I particularly enjoyed including The Woman Who Was Kept on a Shelf and The Woman Who Disappeared. If you have been focused on other services like Netflix in 2022 and haven't signed up for Apple TV+, Sami Fathi of MacRumors reports that you can now watch the first season of a number of Apple TV+ shows for free until January 3, 2022. The list includes four shows that I enjoyed: Ted Lasso, Trying, Mythic Quest, and The Morning Show. Kudos to Apple for doing such a great job with the programs on Apple TV+. I look forward to seeing what new content we see in 2023. And now, the news of note from the past two weeks:
- Let's start with something serious and important. I believe that anyone comfortable enough with technology to be reading iPhone J.D. should be using a password manager to protect themselves from the bad guys looking to take advantage of you. For a decade, my password manager of choice has been 1Password because it seems to do just about everything right and performs especially well on the iPhone and iPad. Full disclosure: 1Password was a monthly sponsor of this website a few years ago, but I was a fan long before that. A major competitor to 1Password is LastPass, but LastPass has had issues over the years, including a major security breach this year. We first found out about it months ago, and then more recently we found out that the breach was even worse than many had suspected. As Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac reports, 1Password has now addressed the issue and has pointed out that as a result of LastPass's recent breach, a hacker would only have to spend about $100 on password-cracking tools to start decrypting passwords. Now obviously, 1Password is a competitor of LastPass so you don't expect them to say something nice about a rival, but 1Password fully explains its reasoning and also points out why 1Password is designed differently to avoid the problems of LastPass. I realize that some people will read the news about LastPass, assume that all password managers are the same and thus all are equally vulnerable, and use this as a justification to not use any password manager at all. I hope that folks reading this are smarter than that. Password managers are essential for anyone who takes their security seriously, and in this day and age, you need to do that. If you are ready to start using a password manager now, I recommend that you start with 1Password because there is nothing else out there that offers the same features and security. It is not just me saying that; in the Wirecutter review of password managers that was written by Andrew Cunningham and Thorin Klosowski a few months ago, 1Password was their recommendation as well. Moreover, if you have been using LastPass, and you used it to store passwords that you created yourself instead of passwords with random letters and numbers created by LastPass, in light of the recent news I recommend that you change your passwords.
- Password security is not the only technological concern in the news. After recent admissions by the Chinese parent company of TikTok that some of its employees were spying on users, including spying on journalists who were reporting on TikTok, many folks have concluded that the Chinese government itself is collecting data on folks around the world who use TikTok. Is this true? I don't know, but the threat is serious enough that the federal government and many states are now banning the use of TikTok on government-issued phones, as reported by Mike Pearl of Mashable. Virtually every teenager that I know uses TikTok, and John Hanna of the Associated Press reports that the actual number is about two-thirds of American teenagers. I sometimes use it as well; it doesn't take long for the impressive algorithm to start showing you just the types of videos that interest you—which for me largely consists of jokes from stand-up comedians and people playing music (including amateurs who are incredibly talented)—so it is easy to understand why the service is attractive. Unlike password managers, I currently don't have any recommendations for TikTok. I see some smart folks like John Gruber arguing that TikTok should be banned in the United States, and while I'm not there yet, I am keeping an eye on this one.
- After those two heavy stories, let's turn to some happier news. Yang Jie of the Wall Street Journal reports that iPhone 14 Pro supply is improving and starting to catch up with demand. If your Christmas or Hanukkah present was a picture of an iPhone 14 Pro to be delivered in the future, it may be in your hands soon.
- When you get that new iPhone 14 Pro, Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac has good recommendations on iPhone 14 Pro features that you might want to customize.
- Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories analyzes why the Apple Arcade service has been successful so far and what it needs to do to remain desirable.
- Voorhees also posted a short review of the Belkin Mount with MagSafe that works with monitors, so that you can use the superior iPhone camera instead of the built-in webcam on an iMac or other monitor.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors also wrote an excellent review that does a great job of showing how that new Belkin product works. To my knowledge, this product isn't shipping yet (except for review units given to folks like Voorhees and Snell). I ordered one from the online Apple Store, and it is scheduled for delivery between January 20 and February 3, 2023. I don't yet see it available on Amazon.
- Dan Moren of Six Colors reminds us all that while the Camera Remote app on the Apple Watch may not be something that you use often, it is incredibly useful when you want to be included in a photo with friends or family members. I agree 100%.
- I'm a big fan of Apple's AirTags. For example, I had to check a bag on a flight home to New Orleans this week, and it was nice to be able to confirm that my luggage had also arrived in New Orleans before I even exited my plane. But there are times when I get alerts about an AirTag or other item using the FindMy service being left behind when no alert was necessary. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac came up with some good ideas for how the FindMy system could get even smarter when you leave an item in your car.
- And finally, if you are trying to decide whether the Apple Watch Ultra is right for you, a number of folks at The Verge created a fantastic 23-minute video showing that watch being used in all sorts of situations: on a hike, when skiing, when running, when scuba diving, and more. The production value for this video is excellent:
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