Along with lots of operating system updates including iOS 16.4, Apple released a new app this week: Apple Music Classical. If you already subscribe to Apple Music, you can use this app for no extra charge. I suspect that most folks don't listen to classical music very often, and that's true for me as well. But there is a lot to like about this app. First, it does a nice job of providing the additional metadata about a song that is especially relevant to classical music, such as composers, periods, soloists, conductors, etc. Second, there is a lot of music in there that is not in the traditional Apple Music app. For example, my favorite Mezzo-Soprano is Stephanie Blythe. She appears on five albums in Apple Music but nine albums in Apple Music Classical. Apple calls Apple Music Classical "the world's largest classical music catalog." Third, there is lots of rich information in here, including tons of playlists for longtime fans of classical music and beginning steps for those of us who are, for the most part, novices. I've particularly enjoyed a nine-part series featured in the Listen Now section called The Story of Classical in which host Guy Jones explains what to listen for, provides stories behind the music, and of course provides lots of great examples of the music. It's like a crash course in classical music. There are curious omissions—why is there no iPad or Mac app? where is CarPlay support?—but what Apple has provided seems quite good. Click here for a 30-second video from Apple with a fun introduction to the app. And click here for an excellent review of Apple Music by Kirk McElhearn for TidBITS, in which he does a great job of explaining and showing what Apple got right and what needs more work. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Apple announced this week that its developer conference, WWDC, will take place June 5 to 9, 2023. For those of us who are not developers, that means two things. First, we can expect to see the first previews of iOS 17 (and iPadOS 17, etc.) that week. Second, we can expect some Apple announcements during a keynote presentation on June 5, and all of the buzz is that Apple will preview its new AR/VR goggles. After all of the rumors for years, it is interesting to think that we will finally have some ideas of what Apple plans to do in this space in just over two months.
- iOS 16.4 came out this week, and if you haven't updated yet, you should do so soon—if for no other reason, for the security updates. But lots of new features are in there. For example, Chance Miller of 9to5Mac points out the changes in the Apple Music app.
- Tim Hardwick of 9to5Mac points out that Apple's new smart home architecture is also available in this update, and he explains what to do in the Home app to update your devices.
- Justin Meyers of Gadget Hacks put together the best comprehensive list of changes in iOS 16.4 that I have seen, complete with pictures and animations to make it clear what is new.
- John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes that to take advantage of the new Voice Isolation feature for cellphone calls, you need to turn it on via the Control Center during a call. That is a bizarre way to enable this feature, and I suspect it means that most folks will never discover it.
- Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac reviews the new version of an app that I had never heard of before called Hello There. It is a greeting card scanner and organizer. Someone sends you a greeting card and you enjoy it, but then what do you do with it? With this app, you scan it and organize it so that you can look at it again in the future but you don't have to keep the physical card. It's an interesting idea for an app.
- There are lots of fascinating Apple Stores around the world. One of the particularly interesting ones is the one in Grand Central Terminal in New York. If you haven't seen it before, Nathanial Pangaro of AppleInsider provides a walk through.
- Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac reports that Apple is beginning to roll out its new Apple Pay Later service, which gives you six weeks to pay-off interest-free loans for online items that you purchase.
- Filipe Espósito of 9to5Mac shares the story of a man who lost his Apple Watch at sea near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But thanks to Find My and a nice swimmer who discovered his watch, he was able to get it back.
- If you use the OverDrive app to borrow digital books from the library, Sarah Perez of TechCrunch reports that the app is shutting down on May 1, to be replaced by the Libby app.
- If you have been enjoying watching Season of Ted Lasso, as I have, then you'll also enjoy this short inside-look video with some short cast interviews. If you haven't been watching Ted Lasso ... well, I certainly hope that you have some good reason for that decision. Maybe you want to binge them all at the end of the season?
- Speaking of good Apple TV+ shows, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Shrinking, a show created by many of the people behind Ted Lasso. Funny, heart warming, and excellent.
- If you want to try Apple TV+ without paying for it, Andrew Orr of AppleInsider reports that because Apple TV+ will premiere the movie "Tetris" this weekend, you can now play the game Tetris and earn points to get a free one-month trial of Apple TV+. He says it only took him five games to earn enough points to get the free trial.
- If you want to track upcoming TV shows or movies to watch, video games to play, and books to read, attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reviews an app called Sequel that looks really nice. The review led me to download it to try it out.
- Oliver Haslam of iMore reports that if you are in a long-distance relationship, you and your partner can purchase a kissing machine accessory for the iPhone so that the two of you can share a kiss. This would normally be the sentence in which I comment upon the product, but frankly, I find myself at a loss for words.
- And finally, here is an amusing video from Apple for the AirPods Pro called Quiet the Noise. It shows off the noise cancellation features in a fun way:
0 comments:
Post a Comment