Podcast episode 85: Security iKeys, Ivory Bling, and Average Privacy

We begin this week's episode of the In the News podcast by discussing why I'm very happy to have security cameras installed at my house.  We then talk about additional security that you can obtain with iOS 16.3 thanks to the support of Security Keys.  We also discuss checking the temperature in a room using a HomePod, the new Ivory and timing.is apps, the updated Things app, iPhone privacy, and more. 

In our In the Know segment, Brett discusses creating signatures with images on the iPhone or iPad, and I explain how to designate a single HomePod in a stereo pair as the one that should speak to you when you talk to Siri.

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

       

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In the News

This time last week, I noted how upset I was that Twitter had banned third-party apps such as the excellent Tweetbot app, one of my favorite apps for many years.  Fortunately, the folks behind Tweetbot released a new app this week called Ivory.  Ivory looks very similar to Tweetbot but works with the Twitter alternative Mastodon—which has become the new home for many folks who left Twitter over the last few months.  I've been using Ivory for the last few days, and it is a fantastic app already, plus the developer has plans to make it better than Tweetbot ever was.  Here is a good review of the Ivory app by Federico Viticci of MacStories.  If you have used Twitter in the past, I encourage you to check out Mastodon and the Ivory app in particular.  For a great explainer of what Mastodon is all about, I recommend this article by Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch.  If you want to follow me on Mastodon, you can do so at @jeffrichardson@mastodon.social.  If you want to follow iPhone J.D. on Mastodo to receive a new post on Mastodon whenever there is a new post on iPhone J.D., you can do so at @iPhoneJD@mstdn.social.  And now, the other news of note from the past week:

• iOS 16.3 came out this week.  Juli Clover of MacRumors discusses some of what is new.  For example, Advanced Data Protection, which I discussed in this post, is now available to all users around the world.
• iOS 16.3 also adds support for Security Key—a small physical device that you carry around to confirm your identity instead of using digital two-factor authentication.  Andrew Orr of AppleInsider identifies some of the best Security Key products.
• If you have a HomePod mini, or the new version of the HomePod, you can now find out the temperature of the area around that device as a result of a software update Apple made available this week.  Tim Hardwick of MacRumors explains how to install the update and to see the temperature readings in the Home app on an iPhone or iPad.
• Why did Apple stop making the HomePod only to come back almost two years later to re-introduce the product?  That's rare for a company like Apple.  I always assumed that the original HomePod was discontinued because not enough people bought them, but the flaw with that theory is that I always heard people talk about how much they enjoyed the big HomePod, quickly buying old units on eBay when they become unavailable from Apple.  John Gruber of Daring Fireball has a different theory: the original model had some sort of design flaw that made them unreliable.  Thus, Apple went back to the drawing board, took what it knew about the HomePod mini (which apparently avoided that flaw), and eventually Apple came out with the HomePod 2.0.  Nobody but Apple knows for sure, but Gruber's theory does explain a lot, so I think he is on to something.
• David Neld of The Ambient lists 30 things that you can do with a HomePod or HomePod mini.
• Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac provides additional details on using these temperature sensors, including an explanation of how you can create an automation to make something else happen whenever the temperature reaches a certain point.
• Chance Miller of 9to5Mac notes that iOS 16.3 fixes a bug in CarPlay that made it difficult to locate someone using the Find My service.
• I use the Things app to keep track of certain items that I need to do, and the app works well for me.  But unlike some of the software that I use, when it comes to Things, I'm the opposite of a power user.  I just keep a single list of items and I check things off as I go.  If you are—or you want to be—a more sophisticated user of the Things app, attorney John Voorhees of Macstories explains how you can take advantage of the latest feature added to Things: expanded support for Shortcuts.  His post includes some examples that you can download and try for yourself.
• If you are looking for something else new in the world of to-do apps, timing.ts is a new iPhone app that combines your calendar and your to-do items with an interesting interface that is supposed to help you focus on or plan activities.  I prefer a more traditional approach to calendars, but I suspect that this app will appeal to lots of people.
• Justin Meyers of Gadget Hacks reminds us that, in a pinch, you can use an iPad to recharge an iPhone and certain other devices.
• And finally, tomorrow is Data Privacy Day, so hopefully you have something special planned to celebrate the occasion.  One way to do so is to watch an amusing video released by Apple this week called A Day in the Life of an Average Person’s Data, in which Nick Mohammed (the actor who plays "Nate the Great" on Ted Lasso) teams up with an Apple Store Specialist to show you how to enable features on your Apple devices to keep your data private.

       

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Review: Camo -- use your iPhone as a video camera

In yesterday's post, I explained the advantages (and disadvantages) of using an iPhone as a web cam, and I also explained how you can use the Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe to mount your iPhone so that it has a secure spot atop a monitor.  In today's follow-up post, I am reviewing Camo, software that lets your iPhone act as a web cam on a Mac or a PC.  I'll also compare Camo to a free alternative on the Mac: the Continuity Camera feature.

Starting Camo

Camo consists of two sets of software that work together.  On your iPhone, you simply launch the Camo app and then put your iPhone on the Belkin mount or in another location so that the camera on the back of the iPhone is looking at whatever you want on your web cam. 

Note that when you are using Camo, you won't actually see the screen on your iPhone because you will almost certainly be looking at the superior battery on the back of the iPhone.  (I say "almost certainly" because Camo gives you the option of selecting which camera to use, so you could opt to use the front-facing camera if that made sense for some specific use, but I suspect that use would be rare.)

On your Mac or PC, launch the Camo Studio software.  The very first time that you use Camo with a computer, you need to follow the on-screen instructions to pair your iPhone with the computer.  It is very simple, and basically involves scanning a QR code.  After that, if your iPhone is connected to a Mac with a cable, the Camo Studio software will automatically see the iPhone.  If your iPhone is connected to a PC with a cable, and if you are running iTunes on the PC, then the Camo Studio software should work the same way, although I didn't test that configuration.

In the alternative, you can skip the cable and just have your iPhone and your Mac or PC communicate via the same Wi-Fi network.  For this configuration, start the Camo app on the iPhone.  Then start the Camo Studio software on  your Mac or PC and click the button in the middle of the screen that says Connect a device.  Camo Studio will find your previously-paired iPhone in just a second or two.

The developer of Camo says that a cable connection can be better, but I've been using Wi-Fi for most of my video conferences for several weeks, and it has worked great.  The only downside I've experienced is that, very rarely, the video will pause for a second or two.  But I only notice that once out of dozens of uses, and it fixed itself quickly.  Having said that, I suppose if you don't have a good Wi-Fi connection, you may see worse results, so using the cable might be a superior option.

Using Camo Studio

Once the Camo Studio software is running and communicating with your iPhone, the software will take the video that it is capturing from your iPhone's camera and announce itself to other programs (such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams) as another camera called Camo Camera. In the following screenshot, Camo Studio is running on my PC, but the interface is virtually identical on the Mac.  There are lots of settings that you can change if you want to (more on that below), but you don't have to do so.

Now that Camo Studio is running on your computer, start your video conference software of choice—I've tested Camo Studio using both Zoom and Microsoft Teams—and select Camo Camera as your camera.  For example, in Microsoft Teams on my iMac, I see the following list.  Besides Camo Camera, my other choices include FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in), which is the camera that is part of my iMac, and Jeff iPhone 14 Pro Camera, which is the Continuity Camera feature that I will discuss below.

If Camo Camera was the camera that you used when you last used your video conferencing software, it should default to Camo Camera again the next time that you use the software.

Here is a screenshot from a video conference that I was attending in my office.  In this first picture, I was using a Logitech HD Pro C922 webcam.  I have pale skin in real life, but as you can see from my thumbnail photo in the top right, my skin seems to be even more pale with the Logitech camera.

Next, I clicked the three dots that say "More" in Microsoft Teams and I switched my camera to Camo Camera.  Thanks to the iPhone, my skin tone looked more natural, and the iPhone automatically slightly blurred items in my background, which also made the picture look better.

For more comparison photos, check out my review from yesterday of the Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe.

Why use Camo?

If you want to use your iPhone as a web cam on a PC, you need to use software like Camo.  I say "software like Camo" because I know that there are alternatives on the PC, but I have yet to come across one that gets great reviews.  Camo, on the other hand, gets very favorable reviews, and it has worked incredibly well for me.

If you want to use your iPhone as a web cam on a Mac, you don't need Camo.  You can instead use Continuity Camera.  Continuity Camera is better than Camo in some ways: it is free, and it starts automatically without having to first open a special program like Camo Studio.

But after using both for a few weeks, I prefer using Camo on a Mac.  First, I prefer to initially launch the Camo Studio software because that way I can see how I look on camera before I even start Zoom or Teams.

Second, there are lots of settings that you can adjust in Camo to adjust how you look.  For me, there is only one of them I typically change, but it is a nice one.  In the bottom left of Camo Studio, you can Zoom the camera.  I prefer having my face take up a little more space on the screen so that it is easier for other people to see me, so I keep it at 125%.  An advantage of zooming is that you can drag the rectangle at the bottom left of Camo Studio to determine which cropped area of the screen to use.  This makes it super easy to center your face within the image.

If you have a built-in camera on your display, or if you have a web cam sitting on your monitor that never moves, you probably already know exactly where you need to sit to remain in the center of the screen.  But when I put my iPhone in the Belkin mount to place it on top of my display, it always seems to be in a slightly different position than the last time.  But by taking about two seconds in Camo Studio to adjust the position of the crop area, I can quickly get my face in the best spot without having to fiddle with either the iPhone or Belkin mount.  This is quick and easy, and a bit advantage over Continuity Camera.

Other options available in Camo Studio, but not Continuity Camera, include the ability to apply templates to the image.  If you want your name and company logo below your face, or if you want to display your phone number or some other information, you can quickly create a template and then toggle that on or off.

You can also turn on or off the light used by a flash for the iPhone and you can adjust the percentage of the flash level.  It's much better to use natural light, of course, but it is nice to have the option to use the flashlight in a pinch if necessary.

I mentioned above that the iPhone automatically adds a nice, slight background blur.  If you want even more background blur, Camo Studio has a portrait mode feature that can make the background blur more pronounced.

You can make lots of adjustments to the picture quality: exposure, white balance, hue, saturation, etc. In my tests in lots of different lighting conditions, the iPhone did a great job adjusting this manually, so I saw no need to change anything.

Finally, Camo has lots of features that, to me, are just silly, but perhaps they would appeal to others.  For example, you can change your face to an Emoji face.  Or to a Jaguar.  Or you can put a moving virtual cat on your head.  My video conference use is just about 100% for professional purposes, and I don't need to be the next lawyer cat, but if you want to be more creative, you can do that with Camo Studio.

So in short, if you use a Mac, the advantage of Camo over Continuity Camera is that you have a lot more options.  Even though I only find a few of those options useful, I miss them quite a bit when I use Continuity Camera.

Pricing

You can use Camo for free and take advantage of most of its features.  To take advantage of all features, you need to pay either $5/month, $40/year, or $80 for a lifetime license.  Some of the key advantages of the paid version are:

• Use on more than one computer.
• Use 1080p instead of just 720p
• Use the Zoom, pan, and crop feature that I find very useful

You can see all of the differences described on this page.

Conclusion

Apple's Continuity Camera feature is great, in part because it is so simple.  Plus, it is free.  But if you use a PC or if you want more precise control, you should check out the free version of the Camo app to see if you prefer it.  It didn't take me long to figure out that I really like the Camo software, so I paid $40 to use the Pro features for a year.  If I don't see a better option this time next year, I will either pay for another year or just buy the lifetime version.

Click here to get the Camo app on the iPhone (free).

       

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In the News

What are the four apps that are so important to you that you put them in one of the four spots on your iPhone's dock?  For well over a decade, the dock on my iPhone has contained Calendar (mainly because I like seeing the date on the icon), Safari, Mail, and a Twitter app.  Note that I say a "Twitter app" and not "Twitter" because for a long time, there was no official Twitter app for the iPhone, but even after it was released, I have always vastly preferred the third-party apps.  Back in 2009, I wrote that the TwitterFon app was my favorite, but I noted that there were 23 other apps.  Some apps were better than others, but it was great seeing the variety of features and approaches.  I then switched to Twitterific for a long time (I considered it such an important app by 2014 that I called it one of the apps that has stood the test of time), and then switched to TweetBot, which became my all-time favorite.  Those apps stayed on the most prominent position on my iPhone's Dock (the far right) because I loved using those apps to keep up with news, technology, entertainment, and more so I wanted to have easy access.  For the past decade, I've read reports about Twitter being a great product that was poorly run, so when Elon Musk bought the company a few months ago, I was one of the few people who were optimistic that this might be a good thing that would result in lots of needed improvements.  To the contrary, his chaotic stewardship of the company has made it far worse than ever before.  It all culminated last week when Twitter made third-party clients stop working without even explaining what they were doing.  At first, there was no logical explanation for what happened other than a vague reference to violating API rules—which makes no sense because these apps have been around forever.  Yesterday, a week later, Twitter finally updated its developer agreement to ban third-party apps, as noted by Karissa Bell of Engadget.  I agree with what Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote about how clueless, classless, and cowardly Twitter's actions were.  The whole thing has really soured me on sticking with Twitter, which I find frustrating; for example, Twitter's own app doesn't operate the way that I want a Twitter client to work.  I've started using Mastodon (I'm at @jeffrichardson@mastodon.social if you want to follow me), but that service currently isn't nearly as good as the old Twitter for a number of reasons.  It's all very disappointing for the countless users of the great Twitter third-party clients like TweetBot and Twitterific.  Losing an app—heck, an entire category of apps—that you have loved to use for such a long time is depressing, and I'm just not sure that Twitter can ever come back from this.  And now, let's talk about the other news of note from the past week, which fortunately is far less depressing:

• I love the HomePod mini devices that I have in my house.  I and the other members of my family talk to it to trigger HomeKit actions, ask simple questions, and use it to share music with each other.  If other folks are around me, I typically use my AirPods Pro for music, but if I have the living room to myself, I prefer using my HopePod minis as a stereo pair.  But I know that lots of folks preferred the larger HomePod that Apple launched in 2018 and discontinued in 2021 because the larger one does a better job of filling an entire room with sound.  To the surprise of many, Apple resurrected the HomePod this week with a brand new model.  The full-size HomePod cost $299 when Apple discontinued it.  The new model also costs $299.  Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac does a good job of comparing the specs of the original HomePod, the new HomePod, and the HomePod mini.
• Chris Welch of The Verge got to hear a demo of the new HomePod and he concluded that it sounds very close to the original, but has some additional new features.
• In addition to unveiling the brand new HomePod this week, next week Apple will update all HomePod mini models to activate sensors that up until now had gone unused: an integrated temperature and humidity sensor, as Chance Miller of 9to5Mac explains.  I'll be interested to see how this works.
• Tim Hardwick of MacRumors explains one use: you can use the temperature and humidity sensor to trigger other HomeKit actions.
• iOS 16.3 will be released next week.  Sami Faihi of MacRumors provides a preview of what is coming.
• Apple's relatively new Advanced Data Protection feature ensures that data that you upload to iCloud stays secure from everyone, even Apple.  It takes a little time to activate, but once you have it running, it just works.  This feature rolled out with iOS 16.2 in the United States, but next week in iOS 16.3, it will work in all countries, as reported by Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac.
• If you ever have a need for a large amount of external storage for an iPad, Ankur Thakur of iDownloadBlog explains how to connect a flash drive, hard disk, SSD, or SD card.
• I know from personal experience that when you are in a hotel room, it can be difficult to use an Apple TV or HomePod in the room.  Malcolm Owen of Apple Insider offers advice for doing so.
• J.D. Biersdorfer of the New York Times offers tips for using the RAW mode on the iPhone to take better pictures—better in large part because you have more options for editing them later.
• Justin Meyers of Gadget Hacks provides tips for using the Contacts app on the iPhone, including taking advantage of new features.
• In a similar article, Meyers identifies iMessage features that you might not have known about.
• Thorin Klosowski of Wirecutter does a good job of explaining how passkeys will soon replace passwords and how you can take advantage of passkeys on an iPhone.
• Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal discusses 5G as a network technology.
• Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac discusses the shows coming to Apple TV+ this Spring.
• And finally, Apple created a somewhat humorous video to show off the Action Mode feature on the iPhone 14 and how it can make video seem smooth even if you are shaking your hand a lot as you are taking video:

       

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Podcast episode 83: Highway Nightmares, Ultra Bullets, and Snowmobile Smash-Ups - Scary Friday the 13th Episode!

What should you do when you are driving on the Interstate and Apple Maps or Google Maps suddenly suggests that you exit the highway to take some small, local roads?  Brett Burney begins today's episode of the In the News podcast by explaining why he should have taken the road less traveled.  We then talk about getting up-to-date sports scores on your iPhone, using an Apple Watch Ultra to track bullets, and situations in which you should consider turning off crash detection on your iPhone and Apple Watch.  We also talk about using Apple Maps to find a parking spot and updating business information on Apple Maps. 

In our In the Know segment, Brett and I share some 1Password tips.  Brett explains how you can get 1Password to pay off what you owe on your current password manager if you switch to 1Passsword, and I provide tips for making it faster to get the information that you need out of 1Password.

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

       

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In the News

I hope that you have been having a Happy New Year so far this week.  One thing that we may start to see more of in the coming years is MagSafe wireless charging.  I saw that because, as Jason Cross of Macworld reports, Apple is sharing its Magsafe wireless charging technology with the Wireless Power Consortium, which maintains the Qi wireless charging standard.  The implication is that MagSafe will be used across the industry for future generations of Qi charging. I'm sure it will take some time to develop, but down the road, ths has the potential to make MagSafe-style charging more common and less expensive.  Hopefully, this will result in more, better charging options for iPhone owners.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• In an article on Law.com, Isha Marathe analyze how Apple's new Advanced Data Protection option for iCloud might complicate some e-discovery efforts in litigation.
• When the iPhone 14 Pro uses its always-on display, how much battery power does it drain?  Michael Potuck of 9to5 Mac reports on a study finding that it drains less than 1% of the battery per hour.  It's great to learn that it really doesn't make much of a difference on battery life.
• Amber Neely of AppleInsider reports on a story that went viral over the holidays. United Airlines lost a woman's luggage, but she was able to track it and locate it using an AirTag, which revealed that the luggage was not at a distribution center but instead, bizarrely, at an apartment complex.
• If you want a refresher on all things HomeKit, Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac wrote a beginner's guide to HomeKit.
• Eli Blumenthall of CNet reports that, starting February 1, everyone who is a Delta SkyMiles member will get free Wi-Fi on Delta flights thanks to T-Mobile—even if T-Mobile is not your cellphone carrier.
• Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reports that one of the changes in the new Apple Watch models (Ultra, Series 8, and SE 2) is that they use their own internal GPS to determine their location, even when an iPhone is nearby.  Older models use the iPhone's GPS when possible to save battery life.
• Tom Goodwyn of iMore lists eight interesting new shows coming to Apple TV+ in 2023.
• Speaking of the future, will Apple release an AR/VR (augmented reality/virtual reality) headset in 2023?  All we have are rumors for now, but Wayne Ma of The Information provided a detailed report on what he thinks Apple has planned.  If you don't subscribe to The Information, you can read a summary of the article by Hartley Charlton of MacRumors.
• One of the newest iPhone accessories is an oven.  Mitchel Clark of The Verge reports that Samsung has a new oven called the Bespoke AI Oven that uses an internal camera to recognize certain foods and help you cook them.  You can also use your iPhone to watch a live stream of what is inside of your oven on your iPhone, set timers, and preheat the oven.
• Jennifer Tschida of AppAdvice picks the top 10 games that you can play on your Apple Watch.  In other news, there are apparently at least 10 games that you can play on your Apple Watch.
• During last week's episode of the In the News podcast, my co-host Brett revealed that his favorite Christmas present was an Ember Mug2 that his daughter got him—a coffee mug that keeps your beverage at a precise temperature, which you can set with your iPhone, for a very long time.  Andrew Orr of AppleInsider reports that Ember has unveiled an updated model of the travel version of that mug, the Ember Travel Mug 2+, which works with Apple's Find My app so that you can locate your mug and even make it play a noise so that you can find it.  I'd love to see more products with built-in Find My support.
• And finally, I just finished watching the second season of the show Slow Horses on Apple TV+ and it was excellent.  I loved the first season as well, and I think that the second season was even better.  Here is a very short video showing a short discussion about the show between two of the stars—Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden—which doesn't contain any spoilers for season 2 or season 1, but does give you a little of a sense of the show.  If you haven't watched this one yet, I recommend that you put it on your list.

       

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