Welcome to In The News for April the 18th, 2025.

I am Brett Burney from appinlaw.com.

>> This is Jeff Richardson from iPhone JD.

Hello, Brett.

Happy Good Friday today.

>> Hi.

It's a very good day to be recording, Jeff.

It's always fun to talk with you.

Just real quick before we jump in and get started, we want to send a very nice thank you to Lit Software.

This is a company that you and I have known for a long time.

They develop apps specifically for the iPad, which by the way also work on Mac computers now, including the apps called Trialpad, Transcriptpad, Dock Reviewpad, Timelinepad is a brand new one.

We're not going to talk about that one today, but we'll get back and talk a little bit about Trialpad a little bit later.

But thank you, Lit Software at LitSoftware.com for sponsoring us today.

Jeff, another week, another quick little update.

That's a pretty important one.

I feel like anytime that you see a story from one of the Apple news coverage sites that have a skull and crossbones, you know that this has got to be an important iOS update, which is 18.4.1.

I feel like I just upgraded to 18.4 last week, or maybe a week and a half ago, Jeff.

Now they have an 18.4.1, which addresses two actively exploited vulnerabilities.

Get that updated today.

Yeah.

I usually keep track of the versions of the software updates that Apple is working on, because they go through the beta process.

Even though I don't install them, I read about them and stuff.

Then sometimes I hear like, "Wait a minute, there's an update."

I didn't even know that that was in beta, but that's why when they discover these security flaws, especially like these that are actively being exploited, Apple pushes out updates very quickly.

Again, this one came out Monday, Tuesday this week, I forget.

But if you have not yet updated your iPhone, your iPad, your Mac, your Vision Pro, whatever you have, there's an exploit out there.

So you might as well update it.

I had no trouble with the update on any of my devices, so I encourage people to update.

Yeah.

Along with that, you reported today that this is part of, what is this called here?

Common vulnerabilities and exposure database.

So in other words, these exploits, or the software update, the .4.1 addresses some vulnerabilities that were exposed in this CVE.

But then you have a couple of stories today that I wasn't quite fully understanding.

So here's the story.

This is a program.

Yeah, please, please go right ahead.

So here's the story here.

For 25 years now, when software exploits are discovered for anything, it doesn't have to be iPhone stuff.

For any computer or anything.

They are logged by this nonprofit organization.

And this is very helpful because it means that when security researchers are talking about vulnerabilities, they have a common number and they can all refer to it the same way.

And so whether it's a hacker that's doing something or maybe it's just a flaw that's discovered, it's just a common way to identify things.

So I mean, this is definitely in the interest of the public good.

And it's become critical for security.

The funding for this organization, which is a non-...

The organization itself has actually been around since the 1950s, but the US funding for it's been a long time.

It comes through the Department of Homeland Security, but the US federal government provides the funding.

And it's not a lot of funding, Brett.

I mean, I want to say it's like, I don't know, $30 million or every couple of years, which in the scope of our federal government is nothing.

It was in the news this week because the Trump administration has been cutting all sorts of stuff with Doge.

Some people think that it's a little indiscriminate.

And in this case, they suddenly didn't renew funding.

And the community is that the security community is like, "What?

Why would you not?"

I mean, this is not a political issue.

Everybody wants to fix bugs unless you are, you know, beholden to criminals.

And this is worldwide.

Yeah, well, they keep track of it for the entire world.

Yeah, I mean, the only argument I could think of is, well, maybe the US government shouldn't be cared about security because it's everybody in the world.

But that's just silly because it obviously affects people in the US tremendously.

So fortunately, when it was discovered and when the story came up in places like the...

This was all over the news.

You know, literally at the very 11th hour, the Trump administration reversed course and said, "Oh, yeah, we shouldn't have done that."

And this really is important.

And we're so happy that this is out there.

So I'm hoping that it wasn't intentionally done, that it was just because they're not really paying attention to things.

But regardless, it was, if nothing else, it served to be a good education to me and you and everybody else that this is out there and that the CVE, the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure Program, plays an important role in security.

So I'm glad that it will continue to be out there and hopefully it will be going for the next 25 years, if not more.

So it's just a good thing.

You know, Jeff, when we started this podcast, we had no intention to delve into political issues.

But I just feel frustrated over the last several weeks.

It's like, we can't help it.

It's like, everything is clashing, I feel like, in some aspects.

And I appreciate it.

In fact, going to this next story about Tim Cook and some of the more fun stuff, it's not political, in the sense that they're looking at maybe different iterations of the Vision Pro.

Did maybe you link to the story?

Maybe I saw it somewhere.

I did.

Yeah.

We talked about last week where Apple, I guess, apparently airlifted a bunch of iPhones out of China because they wanted to avoid any potential tariffs.

And again, I don't know anything in the back.

Maybe you know a little bit on the background story where.

But it makes sense to me that not just Apple, but other companies, I'm positive.

We're probably doing some wheeling and dealing on the back end, some lobbying on the back end to kind of help because all of a sudden we got to reprieve on some electronics, right?

I don't want to go too deep into that, but just wanted to mention this.

Because it's like colliding with what we want to talk about and the politics that it's almost like we can't avoid it now.

Yeah, you and I didn't have this on our show list, but it was an article I linked to yesterday.

There was an article in the Washington Post yesterday that that talked about.

They had talked to a lot of people off the books to get the behind the scenes story of how Tim Cook, Apple CEO, has he talks directly to President Trump and has for a long time.

And on the one hand, you know, some people are like, oh, well, why is Tim Cook, you know, the most just to pick one aspect, the most prominent, you know, gay man in business?

You know, why would he be working with President Trump, who has done so many things about discrimination policies?

But, you know, I think Tim Cook is a smart cookie and he recognizes that you need to work with the government, whether it's the US government, the Chinese government.

I mean, Apple is a worldwide company and he is nothing, if not, you know, calm, collected, what do you need to get things done?

And so he has kept this open line of communication.

And the Washington Post article says that although you're right, Brett, that when the government back down, at least for now, and hopefully we'll see how long it lasts on some of these tariffs that were going to affect things like the iPhone, they on the one hand, they do affect the industry broadly.

But on the other hand, they are really tailored to Apple.

I mean, there were seven things.

The Washington Post article says that we're changed and six of them directly affect Apple's business in the seventh one, maybe indirectly.

So there is no question that, you know, Tim Cook was smart enough to to speak.

And, you know, my understanding of what the Washington Post article reports.

And again, this is all behind the scenes conversations is Tim Cook was not saying, "Whoa is us.

We need help."

You know, he was being very practical.

He was explaining to President Trump, look, this will be the consequence.

You know, just so that you know the consequence of your actions is going to be that other companies that are based in other countries, not the United States, are going to have these advantages.

And, you know, is that the world that you wanted?

So it was a very practical explanation.

Now, I'm sure that there are many, many other industries that are also being hurt by tariffs that wish they had somebody of the caliber of Tim Cook to plead their case and they don't.

And so you can say it's unfair, because, I mean, there are so many tariffs on things that the United States is never going to make.

And the Washington Post article even talks about this a little bit, and yet they don't have a spokesman.

So but, you know, in the Apple world and in the broader tech world, at least we have the one person that that knows how to how to get through.

So anyway, it's an interesting follow up to the tariff story we had from last week.

So but that brings into the.

Yeah, I was just going to quickly say that reminds me when you talk about Tim Cook being wise, I didn't mean to get too much deeper into this.

But there was a story it was a couple of years ago now, or maybe several years ago, when he was talking about the fact that Apple has offices in Ireland, taking advantage of some of the tax breaks and stuff there.

Right.

And I remember there was one interview or two interviews where he explains it because a lot of people throw a lot of, hey, at Apple, you know, like, hey, you're taking too much advantage.

But the way Tim Cook just explained it, he's like, we are taking full advantage of it.

But it's not because we're doing something devious.

We are completely out in the open.

It is the tax laws on the books right now that we are just following.

He goes, if the tax laws change because Congress changes them, then we'll follow those rules.

And just the way he had explained that, and I'm paraphrasing, obviously, that just that that that really softened him to my heart from that wise business perspective on there.

It's like, we're just doing what we are allowed to do.

Nothing more, nothing less necessarily.

But we're not, you know, taking it to you.

We're not taking advantage of it in that way.

If some of that makes sense.

Anyway, just wanted to underscore that.

And yeah, first word, first.

But something else that he's very excited about is the Apple Vision Pro.

Let's get back to some technology here.

So there was some rumors, I think, German, you linked to a story on Bloomberg.

Mark German, where he was talking about what we have been suspecting that Apple is working on some other devices that may not be the Apple Vision Pro.

I liked how you suggested the Apple Vision Air.

Maybe something else coming out.

We don't know yet.

Maybe we'll get some inkling this summer at the developers conference.

I don't know, probably not.

But we're excited to see what's coming up next.

Yeah, I don't talk about rumors a lot on iPhone J.D.

Because there's so many of them out there.

But if I am going to talk about rumors, you know, Mark German has got the best track record of anybody when it comes to Apple rumors.

And in this particular case, I wanted to talk about it because it just makes good sense.

So I mean, the two things that he said they're in development is one, a cheaper and lighter version of the Apple Vision Pro.

I mean, we've always known that.

It's called Apple Vision Pro, which makes you think that there's going to be a non-pro version that's going to be cheaper and more accessible.

And so, you know, it just seems obvious.

So of course, Apple is working on this.

And although it was interesting to hear this report, it certainly was not surprising.

It's just a question of when, not if, in my mind.

The other thing that you talked about, though, was particularly interesting, which is that maybe Apple is making another version of its vision line that will essentially just be an external monitor.

You know, Apple currently sells the Apple Studio display, which is a fantastic monitor for using with like a Mac mini or with your Mac Book Pro.

But what if Apple sold something that was similar to the Apple Vision Pro?

But it doesn't have any guts inside of it.

It doesn't have the processor.

It doesn't have everything else.

It doesn't have the operating system.

All it basically is is the screen.

And then you you tether it to a computer and the computer would have like a program on it that basically simulates everything about an Apple Vision Pro in the computer program, and there would be a cord between the computer and the vision pro acting like a display.

It would mean that the vision pro or whatever it's called, it'd be the vision something could be substantially less expensive, you would think.

Right.

Now, the downside would be you're like, oh, who wants to walk around with a computer?

And that's true.

But, you know, the reality is as an Apple Vision Pro user and you use mine a couple weeks ago at Chicago, a tech show, you're mostly just sort of sitting down in one place every every once in a blue moon, I will walk around my house with the vision pro and it does work for that.

But usually I'm just sitting there on my couch.

And if I had, I mean, I already have the external battery right there next to me on the couch, if I had it plugged into my laptop, I probably wouldn't notice it that much.

Right.

Or if I'm working in front of my computer, like the picture you're showing on the screen right now.

And I know that you didn't get a chance to experience this two weeks ago.

But like I love working on my computer.

But instead of using my studio display, I have my vision pro so that I have this this huge ultra wide monitor in front of me.

So I might as well be plugged into the computer.

And so I think a lot of people would say, you know, I I.

I lose that portability aspect, but it's a much cheaper device.

And in fact, there's some advantages because if it's tethered to the computer, it could send the signal much, much faster.

And one of the articles, I think, German himself says for things like medical applications and games like flight simulators that you want it to be like a very, very fast refresh rate.

It actually it's actually better to be tethered with a cord as opposed to the current situation, which is where it's wireless.

So I think this just everything about this makes perfect sense to me.

It's an especially in sort of a, you know, evolution type thing.

Of course, of course, we're going to one day get to the point where the device is completely independent.

But, you know, much like the Apple Watch, I love my Apple Watch.

And when it first came out, you really couldn't do anything on the Apple Watch without having an iPhone close by.

And over the last Apple Watch has been around for what, 15 years now, it has gotten more powerful and there's more that you can do.

Now we have an app store right there on the watch.

Now you can listen to things right, you know, you can independently use your Apple Watch, especially if it's got cellular.

But that took time.

And so I I'm all in favor of having a period of time where the Vision Pro or the division line, I guess it wouldn't be the pro, is can be connected to a computer as an option to be cheaper.

I just think this makes perfect sense.

How much would it cost?

I don't know.

I mean, I'd love it.

Wouldn't it be great if it could be really like a thousand dollars?

Now, the problem is my understanding, Brett, is that the most expensive part of the Vision Pro are the two screens that are in your eyes.

Those Sony displays.

And so since that's the most important part, if you had to have that point, if you if you took off every just about everything else, but left that, it would probably still be expensive.

But then again, over time, you know, everything, everything in the electronics industry, the more you make it, the cheaper it becomes, right?

And so maybe those Sony displays will cost less a year from now than they did a year ago.

And so, you know, so anyway, this is a really, really interesting rumor.

I hope that this does come to play out.

So exciting.

I like it.

The end of this story here, the link to his German reports.

Tim Cook is very excited about whatever's happening with Vision Pro.

He goes, Tim cares about nothing else.

A source told him, quote, it's the only thing he's really spending his time on from a product development standpoint.

That gets me excited.

If Tim Cook is excited about it, just like when Steve Jobs was excited about something, that's when it got done.

And that's pretty exactly.

Yeah.

And you know, Tim Cook, it's, you know, the iPhone started before Tim.

I mean, Tim Cook was at the company, but he wasn't the head like Steve Jobs.

When the iPhone came out, Tim Cook was around when the Apple Watch came out.

And I heard some people say, you know, this would be his legacy, the Apple Watch.

But now people are saying the same thing that, you know, who knows how much longer Tim Cook will be at Apple five years, 10 years, one year.

We don't know.

But maybe, you know, I could see him saying this is his project, his legacy to the extent that he thinks about things like that.

So again, does German nobody's talking about when he says that Tim Cook cares about nothing else?

I don't know.

But, you know, maybe who knows?

Next Tuesday, April 22nd is Earth Day.

Whether or not you celebrate Earth Day.

If you have an Apple Watch, you get I don't particularly do anything different for Earth Day, but I'm sure going to make sure that I am active on Earth Day, Jeff, because on April 24th, actually, is when this is happening.

You can have a global close your rings day.

And I love it.

I love it.

Love it when Apple puts these out and they have these little special, silly, tiny, little awards, Jeff.

And I do everything I can to get every single one of them.

I love these things.

I know.

It's all it is.

It's like when you close your rings on that particular day, which apparently is going to be the 24th, then you get this little limited edition award and I love collecting them.

I have like my whole trophy, my collection in my Apple Watch app or my fitness app here.

But this is just really cool that they do such an emphasis on this every time.

I mean, you know, I share my activity rings.

I think I share them still with you, with family.

It's just so fun because even now my wife gets out and we go walking and the kids like doing it.

I just like the fact that Apple continues to have these little special things that you can focus on.

And I'm such a huge fan of any time that they do something special like this.

So that's the 24th.

Get active with Apple Watch.

Whoever at Apple came up with the idea of having these little special awards for certain activities on certain days.

I love it because it's nothing.

It's just a little digital thing in here.

I mean, nobody knows about it.

Nobody sees them.

It's not like I display.

It's not a physical object you display in your office.

Nobody knows that you and yet I will sometimes look at them and it makes me smile because I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember that was, you know, Arbor Day and I walked through a park and got at the Arbor Day award or whatever was.

And, you know, I'm going to do it on Tuesday.

You know, I don't close my rings every day.

Yeah, in theory, I try to.

I don't make it every day.

But I do try and I promise you I'm going to be on my treadmill on Tuesday.

And in fact, it's not just this award.

They're doing something different this year, which is if you get it, apparently you're going to also get these little animated things.

And you were showing one of them in the screen here that you can use them in your text messages.

And so, Brett, I will just tell you between you and me, nobody else.

Listen to this.

We're doing it when I get my award.

I'm going to be texting you one of these animation things.

And that would be that's how you will know that that is the word.

Yes, I'm going to send it to you.

So I just love the artistry.

Look at this.

They have you have somebody in a wheelchair.

I know the rings and of course, the rings are the Apple Fitness.

It's very nicely done.

Very nice stuff on there.

That's not all for Earth Day.

There is a twenty twenty five Earth Day promotion that Apple is giving.

They let's say at a qualifying location, you receive 10 percent off the retail price of an eligible accessory, which apparently are only a few things.

Well, I don't know.

It's got to go out here, AirPods, Apple TV.

It says computers.

So I guess that's all.

Well, actually, hold on.

You're looking at the wrong list.

Yeah, there's two lists.

Oh, I'm sorry.

OK.

The first list is eligible devices to turn in for recycling.

And that's a bigger list.

And in fact, it doesn't even have to be Apple.

I mean, if you've got a Windows PC, you want to recycle, bring it to Apple.

They'll be happy to take it.

I see.

And this is it's it's already started.

It's now through May 16 or something like that.

So you can bring in any of these eligible devices to recycle them, which is a good idea anyway, and saves you the trouble of finding somewhere else to recycle things.

Because, you know, traditionally, Apple takes its own devices for recycling.

But like, I don't think you can bring a Dell laptop to Apple to recycle normally, but they are taking them during this promotion.

And so then once they take it, then the next list that you have on the screen, the eligible accessories, these are the things you can get.

And it's not everything.

There's no iPhones.

There's no Macs on there.

It's things that cost a little bit less money, you know, air tags, the trackpad, things like that.

It's it's just the AirPods for not the AirPods Pro.

But hey, if you are in the market for one of these things, you can get a 10 percent discount.

Now, between you and me, Brett, a 10 percent discount on Apple.

First of all, it's always nice because Apple does not discount things very often, right?

Black Friday is one of the rare times they do it.

But you can sometimes get discounts on Apple products, especially AirPods on Amazon and places like that.

And those discounts may also be 10 percent.

So I'm not saying that these are going to be, you know, barn break or whatever that for you, you know, like the best discount of all time.

But hey, anytime you can get a discount on an Apple product, that's nice.

And you're recycling anyway.

So it's just a good thing.

So if you were in the market for one of these things, I might not go out of your way.

But if you were thinking about getting an Apple pencil, if you were thinking about getting, you know, a watch band, why not get a 10 percent discount on it?

Do some recycling at the same time.

And so anyway, that's that's going on right now.

That should have made sense to me since the eligible devices for recycling includes the airport, the airport.

You cannot buy an airport.

An airport in my closet.

And I'm sure many of us do, Jeff.

And I was like, OK, well, now I can take that airport.

It has to be at an actual physical Apple location.

It looks like right now.

If you can do it, yeah, it's like an order store.

Brick and mortar Apple stores, what they say here.

I could bring my airport.

Recycling for 10 percent off and then get an Apple eligible accessory, which apparently has to be Apple branded.

I can tell you two other accessories that you cannot get or not included.

Are going to be the Beats cables, which look fantastic.

Now, it's funny because Beats is owned by Apple, but you had a nice story here.

From Malcolm Owen and Apple Insider, where if you really want some other Apple cables that are not white or black, if you get a MacBook, a black MacBook, which I did, by the way, and I like that that cord, which is black.

But of course, the power brick is not.

It's white.

I don't understand that anyway.

But you can get some Beats cables, which come in some fun colors here.

Bolt black, surge stone, Nitro Navy and rapid red.

These are these are looking really nice, actually.

Yeah, it's a legitimate option for color.

And, you know, I traditionally recommend anchor cables if you want to get something colorful here, right?

But these look like nice colors, too.

And they're they're braided cables, which is nice because they're a little bit more durable and they don't tangle and stuff.

I like braided cables.

Apple has a lot of a lot of Apple's own white cables or braided cables.

And like you say, because Beats is part of the Apple brand, I think that there's a certain degree of quality that like if you get a no name brand on on, you know, from China or something, you never know if they're good.

So I think that these are probably legitimately good cable.

So if you need some cables, at least look at these and see how they compare to other ones that are like anchor and stuff like that.

And that might be might be a good one to get.

I like Nitro Navy.

That's fun.

Another accessory you're not going to get.

But boy, Heidi, I really want this.

Apple Pencil Pro can now look like a crayon.

This is actually from a company that we've talked about before called Colorware.

Because I think they've like colored, I remember AirPods, right?

They'll do some AirPods and they'll make it red.

If you want it red or some of the color.

But look how cute these things look, Jeff.

I mean, I would just want to.

I mean, it's not going to be very professional, but it would be fun to show up with an Apple Pencil Pro that looks like a crayon.

It is.

It is awesome.

I don't know if the company still exists.

I should look them up.

But years ago, there was a company called Griffin that made a stylus just for anything.

And I bought one.

It's the Griffin number two stylus that looks like a number two pencil.

And it's just a simple stylus head.

This was back in the day before Apple made the Apple Pencil.

And so third party styluses were a big deal.

And they weren't nearly as as precise and as good as the Apple Pencil was.

But at the time, there were so many companies making them.

And I love this little thing because it totally looks like a number two pencil.

And it makes me smile to use it.

But as much as this one makes me smile and I still keep it right here in front of me on my desk at work, this thing, it totally looks like a crayon.

It just says crayon, not crayola.

But otherwise it told me.

To the point of maybe infringing on some IP, I don't know if the crayola corporation has something to say about it, but it looks so, so, so cute.

I do not need this at all.

But I do want one.

I have to admit for no reason other than just to make me smile.

So if you are if you don't have an apple, I mean, these are these are actual Apple pencils, pencil pros that they are purchasing.

And then they put the colors on it.

And I think the upcharge is like an additional eighty five bucks or something like that and they sell it to you.

But if you don't mind spending a little bit more money to get something that looks cute, I think it's definitely something to consider.

They look really cool to your point.

They are not using crayola colors.

You can get this in seven colors, black, mint, pink, purple, red, white and yellow.

I feel like for yellow, I would want like what was the yellow color like hay market or hay canary yellow.

But I think that means it's a crayola crayon color.

I don't know.

But anyway, it could be.

But there I know my point is these are like a little bit more generic, where I always enjoy the red sometimes when they put some things on.

If you're into colors a whole lot, you might recognize the hex code 242424.

Oh, of course, you do.

Then you know that that is the actual color of the dark mode background on the iPhone.

Why are we talking about this?

Max Sparky had a great article this past week.

I remember looking at this when he showed it.

If you're a little bored with how your home screen looks, man, I'm going to make this link.

I'm going to put this link in the show notes for you.

David Sparks over at MaxSparky.com has generated something that is amazing.

Now, he does it with a little bit of magic with an app called Widget Smith.

We've talked about Widget Smith before, Jeff.

I love it.

And there are several other things that he has done to make his home screen look amazingly into.

I mean, this is so unique in what you could do.

You would look at this and be like, is that an iPhone?

What is that?

Right.

Right.

Right.

Right.

Yeah.

I mean, it's and you have to look at the picture because it tells a thousand words.

But first of all, he's using Widget Pro to basically put widgets on his screen.

Now, some of these are widgets that when you tap, it will launch something like Safari, for example, or a phone app or whatever else.

And some of these are widgets that when you tap, he's got something going on behind the screen that will bring up a menu that you could choose an app.

But it's a very subtle sort of gray on black background.

But he's replaced all the regular icons with these widget pro icons.

And then again, the the hex code 242424, that is the color of black of the dock on your iPhone.

And so by making the background color, the same color as the dock color, it means that when you look at the face of his iPhone, you don't see the dock.

You just see the places where the icons are and he's changed the app.

So it's it's a very clever way to do it.

In fact, I'm going to talk about something a little similar when we get to our tips the week at the end of the show today.

OK.

But I just think that, you know, if you want your iPhone to stand out, you've got to take a look at this because he has some it's some very interesting ideas that David Sparks has come up with.

So big thumbs up to him.

You know, Bravo, this is a very cool idea.

Once you get your new home screen, you can go to this story from New York Times, the wire cutter.

You link to 18 things you didn't know your iPhone could do.

We always enjoy these lists.

And I think there may have been one on here.

You and I usually talk about this in the in the context of like, I think I knew all of these.

I just had forgotten about them.

And so I love looking at these lists.

Yeah, I'll give you an example of one of them.

And again, this is one that I knew, but I really haven't used as much as I perhaps should.

One of the number four on the list is to schedule a text to send later.

And as this article reminds you, so here's the deal.

I send a text late last night, Brett, I sent you a text that like one in the morning.

I knew you were asleep.

And what I should have done is instead of sending it to you at one in the morning with the risk of waking you up, I should have scheduled it to show up in the morning when you would get it.

And the way that you do that is you type something, but then instead of hitting send, the little button on the right, you hit the plus sign on the left.

Now, when you hit that plus sign, that brings up all sorts of things like photos and stickers and stuff like that.

But one of the things in that list that you see after you hit the plus sign is the words send later.

And when you tap that, you will get like a little dial that you can pick the date and the time and whatever.

And then you can schedule your text to be sent at a date that a time that makes more sense.

And you know, you can anybody can come up with a million reasons besides not bothering people in the middle of the night.

Again, I apologize on that last night, but it's a nice idea.

You know, maybe you want it to come out like, you know, now is the time to come meet me at such and such.

Just as a reminder, you know, there's a million reasons you might want to send a text later, and that's just one of the many good tips on here.

There's another one, Brett, that I did not know you could do this.

In fact, you happen to be showing it on the screen.

Number six, did you know this one?

It says, actually, I don't know that I did.

I was looking at that one too, Jeff.

Yes.

I haven't tried it yet.

But what they say is, you know, the iPhone has all of these accessibility features that are useful for people that have an issue that needed, but it's also anyone can use them.

And the way that this one works is if you go to accessibility, you can create a command that's an action.

It's like a gesture.

And the way it's described in this post is that you can map out a series of actions that you do manually, such as entering information, moving through screens, having something appear, that give the example of like drawing your signature, and you can essentially record it.

And then when you say a trigger with your voice, like, you know, you give it a name, like, you know, sign my name.

When you say it, your iPhone will then recreate like a macro.

Those commands.

Now, I haven't tried this.

I should have done it before we started recording today.

But like, I'm very curious about this.

Now, they point out that it will it's got a voice control and anyone could say it.

So like, if I set this up on my phone and you walk up to my phone and you say, sign my name, it will actually sign the Jeff Richardson name.

So just keep that in mind that whatever you use this for, if anyone says the phrase, it will apparently work.

But I'm very curious to explore this.

Again, I've never even heard of this before, so I'll have to explore it further.

But really interesting.

So it's a great list.

Yeah, that was the one that I looked at.

I'm like, OK, you know, I don't remember that I knew that, but I definitely want to try it now.

And I saw that little note at the very end there and I'm like, OK, well, then I got to come up with a unique phrase.

Instead of sign my name, it's like chew bubblegum on the subway or something like that.

Right.

You know, that only you would know if that's going to be something interesting there.

Let's talk about maps.

A few I feel like several weeks ago, maybe several months ago.

Now, we talked about the fact that Apple was bringing the maps app.

Basically online as a website.

I got to tell you throughout the day, when I'm looking for directions that I'm at my computer, I will go to maps.google.com because I want to get to an online version of the Google Maps.

Now, previously, we were not allowed to go to maps.apple.com, but now we can.

I think you even made a comment in your post today, like, why would you?

You have the Apple Maps app and that is much more functional.

Completely agree with that.

But there are times when I'm at my computer and it's on my Windows computer, for example, I don't have the ability to open up the Apple Maps app.

I don't think there's a Windows version of that, right?

It's just on the Mac side.

And so now I can go to maps.apple.com.

And then you had some interesting New Orleans focused improvements that Apple is also providing to the Apple Maps.

Yeah.

So these are two different things because the New Orleans improvements I want to get to in a second.

Those are not available on.

So the Apple Maps online is not a hundred percent the same as the Apple Maps app, which is why if you're using a Mac, which has an Apple Apple Maps app, or if you're using an iPhone or an iPad, then you should just use the app.

But it's nice to know that if you share with somebody that uses Android or if you share a location from Apple Maps with someone that uses Windows because there's now a web browser version of it, they can do it.

And again, in a pinch, you know, there may be reasons that I that I can't think of right now where it may actually be useful to you to have a web version version.

So anyway, Apple Maps launched a couple of months ago, as you said, the online version is now out of beta for computers.

I think it's still in beta because now it's on mobile devices for like Android users or even the iPhone.

So anyway, that's just sort of an interesting thing.

But I think that more interesting story today on Apple Maps is, you know, I talked about it in the context of New Orleans because New Orleans, where I live, recently got some of the more advanced Apple Maps features.

One of them is the Apple Maps version of the Google Maps feature called Street View, which Apple calls it Look Around.

And this is the one where you can basically pick a location.

You're showing it on screen right now.

And then you will actually see from a camera that was in that location.

And you can hit those two arrows that point, you know, one left and one right.

And you can make it full screen.

And then so like right now, you are standing in front of Preservation Hall, which is a fantastic, fantastic jazz place in the French Quarter, right around the corner from Jackson Square.

And you're looking around.

Now, again, people may be saying Google Maps has this too.

And it's true.

Google Maps has had it for a long time.

But now Apple does have it in some cities.

New Orleans is a new one that's added.

Sometimes I feel that the picture that Apple has is a little bit higher quality.

But not all the time.

I will say that Apple does a nice job if you are in one location and then you click down the road to transition to another location.

I actually think that Apple has a smoother transition graphic than Google does in Google Maps.

So that's just one minor thing.

But again, it's just nice that in many ways, this is just sort of catching up to Google Maps.

Apple does not have nearly nearly the coverage that Google does around the world.

They're they're slowly adding to it.

New Orleans was just added.

Now, right now, these New Orleans images, you can tell, we're taken in 2013, 2014.

In fact, there's a couple of images I was looking at last night where I can see the Mardi Gras decorations.

I'm like, OK, so this was taken in the early part of the year before Mardi Gras.

Whereas the last time that Google Maps came to New Orleans was, I think, in 2022.

So it just so happens that right now the Apple Maps are more recent.

But, you know, I'm sure next year, Google will come back and they'll be the most recent ones.

I will say that and I mentioned this in my post.

One thing I like about Google Maps images like this versus Apple Maps is when you're using Google Maps, there's a thing at the bottom that will tell you the date that the Apple Maps will tell you the date that this was taken to.

Really?

OK.

I didn't see it on your screen just there, Brett, on your computer screen.

But on your phone, if you're using the iPhone app, you just swipe up from the bottom and you can see this is when Apple took the picture of this location, which is sometimes.

OK.

Because it's so new for Apple, they just have one date.

But Google Maps has been doing this for what?

Like almost 20 years.

And so I have sometimes found it useful for some of my cases.

Like I have a lawsuit.

It was an accident that happened at a location six years ago.

I want to see what that location looked like.

Not today.

I want to see what it looked like six years ago.

And so I can do that with Google Maps.

Apple doesn't currently have the years of pictures to do that.

I'm sure that five, ten years in the future, they will.

I'm laughing right now because you're walking around the French border.

It's so funny.

I'm barely listening to you now because I am having so much fun going down Decatur Street.

There's one.

So that's one part of it.

There's another part of it that's interesting, too.

And it's this feature that they have called.

Detailed city experience.

Sometimes I hear people abbreviate that as DCE.

But detailed cities experience is when Apple takes a city.

The first one that they did was, I think, in 2022 in San Francisco.

And they take that, you know, you know how when you look at maps, sometimes you have like a satellite view.

But oftentimes it's just sort of like a navigation view where it's just like, you know, like blues and greens and stuff like that.

And with the detailed city experience, the buildings are in 3D.

But some buildings are incredibly in 3D.

And so I gave a link last night or in my post to go to see like the St.

Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square in New Orleans that this is truly an impressive 3D model that looks with it's got all the detail.

It's got the color.

It's really, really interesting.

And so it's neat that you can actually see some of these buildings with a whole lot of detail.

And, you know, these are often like landmarks that you might want to visit if you're a tourist or something.

But it really makes it nice that you can sort of go around and you can see these things and they're they're really sort of cool.

So I'm glad that we now have this in New Orleans.

There's other aspects, too, that come along with the detailed experience.

Like I haven't tried this yet, but I think that you can actually hold your like if you're walking around a city that you don't know.

And if you are doing Apple Maps for, you know, giving you walking directions, if you hold up your iPhone like this, I think it switches into an A.R. mode that will give you like arrows at which way to go and stuff like that.

I haven't tried that yet.

But this is something that often goes along with it.

So it's great that Apple has this.

It vastly, vastly improves Apple Maps.

My only knock is that I wish it was everywhere.

And instead, it's I think what I'd say.

There's currently 27 cities listed on the website that have it.

Now, that list is Apple hasn't updated their list because it doesn't have New Orleans, which has been there since, I think, January 31st.

It doesn't have Amsterdam, which was added last year.

And I know I noticed when I was doing some research last night, Brett, that when Amsterdam was updated in October of 2024, it was the first new city to get the detailed city experience in a year.

So Apple is not updating this very quickly.

One, you know, it occurred to me in the back of my head, you know, we all know that Apple had been working on a car, right?

You know, that they then stopped doing that.

But I wonder if like maybe they were being more aggressive with having these really good maps when Apple thought they were making a car.

And then once they decided not to make a car, they're like, I don't know, that's just me making that up.

I don't know if there's anything to that or not.

That's a fun conspiracy, though.

So anyway, New Orleans is a great tourist town.

So if anyone out there is going to be visiting New Orleans soon and you want to preview it, of course, you can do it in Google Maps.

But now you can also do it in Apple Maps on this on the the detailed, you know, look around experience.

And additionally, you can take advantage of the detailed city experience to see some of the buildings with a whole lot of detail.

That's really cool.

I have to say just real quick, because I probably am more of a Google Maps user.

Still, even on my phone, by the way, and everyone else is we've talked about before.

But this immersive experience is a lot more smoother, I think, on the Apple Maps, even on online.

And just just the way that I'm zooming through, I don't know, it just feels a little more natural.

It almost feels almost more like a like like if I was just kind of flying through like a little drone.

Asked, it's a very nicely done transition.

Yeah, they did the graphic spokes did a nice job with it.

Yeah.

In the show, let's talk about the studio, which we got to get back to.

I told my wife last night, like we were in depth watching something else.

But I'm like, we only have the first two shows, the episodes of the studio with what is Seth Rogen, which was excellent.

And I'm like, we need to get back to watch the rest of it.

And it sounds like there may not be that much of a rush because there might be multiple more seasons coming after this.

It hasn't been renewed yet.

But the at least the showrunner here wants wants it to keep going as long as it can.

Yeah, Alex Gregory is one of the showrunners, as long with him, one of the co-creators along with Seth Rogen.

And he was interviewed in this article by the Direct, which is a publication that I was not even familiar with, Ross Millhelm.

And he says, you know, we have no end in plan in sight.

We would love to keep doing this forever.

And since it's currently a hit show, I would hope that Apple would certainly renew it for at least a few more seasons.

You know, Apple has, you know, a lot of good shows on it, but you would think that their hit shows, they're going to continue to renew.

So hopefully if you like the studio, we have a lot more of it coming.

And what I like about the studio and the interview points out is it's a fun show to watch, but you can tell that it's it's made with a lot of care.

Alex Gregory says that they try to make every episode as if it's a movie.

You know, they really, you know, the same care that would go into the lighting and the direction and the the costumes and everything else to make something just really high quality.

They try to do it with every episode of this TV show.

And I think it shows.

Now, I will tell you, I like the show and I've watched the first two episodes with my wife and she told me, you know, I don't think it's for me, so you go ahead and watch this one on your own.

So, you know, if you're listening to this, maybe it's for you, maybe it's not for you.

I do personally think it's really good.

And I'm I would thrilled to be see Alex up to see Apple continue to do this show for many, many years.

So do you watch Mythic Quest by yourself as well?

Or does your wife?

I do know this one's made.

Do you watch it at all, Brett?

Have you?

Do you watch Mythic Quest?

I haven't started it.

No, OK, maybe one day.

So, you know, it's so it just finished its fourth season.

And the the last episode of the fourth season absolutely made you think there was going to be a fifth season.

And then in that episode just came out a few weeks ago.

And now Apple has announced, you know what, we're done with it, which is unfortunate.

And when I first heard the news, I'm like, well, that would be a shame because they sort of ended on it's not really a cliffhanger, but it definitely it's a little bit of a cliffhanger.

And yet apparently when they filmed the show, they were smart enough to film two versions of the last episode for season four.

And one of them is sort of an episode that supposedly brings the entire series to a conclusion.

And so Apple has I think it's actually now available.

I haven't watched it yet.

I'm going to try to watch it tonight.

OK, sort of an alternative version that sort of brings closure to everything.

So it's not, you know, you don't all can get that, you know, it's frustrating when you have a show that you love that ends and then it's canceled.

And you're like, oh, like it's sort of give you that incomplete feeling.

So at least there is now four complete seasons.

And I will tell you, Mythic Quest, it's silly.

It's over the top humor.

But I have actually grown to love this show.

It's really, really good.

And one thing that I like about Mythic Quest, and I think I've mentioned this in our podcast before, every season, there would be one episode that would be a standalone episode, often with completely different characters that is sort of loosely related to the underlying series.

And it is a gem.

I mean, these episodes have been amazing.

Is that the side quest?

Is that what?

So this season, what they did is instead of having just one of those is the middle episode, which is what they did in seasons one, two and three.

By the way, during covid, Mythic Quest had a covid episode where all of the characters are in like the little zoom, you know, Brady Bunch boxes and stuff.

And it was beautiful.

I should still go back and watch an episode again.

It was just a very funny episode with actors on in their little zoom boxes.

It was fantastic.

But anyway, for the fourth season, they instead of making one of those special episodes, they made four of them and they released them under a separate title called what is it called?

Epic Quest or whatever.

Side quest, side quest.

Yeah.

And there are four standalone stories that are within the universe of Mythic Quest.

Some of them have the Mythic Quest actors in it, but some of them don't.

And each one of them is actually really, really good.

They're nice little standalone episodes.

And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So at least the show is ending on a high note because I enjoyed the last season.

Again, is it my favorite show on Apple TV Plus?

No, but it's a really good show and it makes me laugh.

And these the side quest was particularly good.

And so sometimes people like, oh, do I want to watch this show?

Because if they're not making it anymore, there's four good seasons.

If you like laughing, this is a good one to watch.

And hopefully it's got a good ending.

I'll find out tonight when I watch it.

Another good thing to watch is a video you put at the bottom of your post.

This is called Bronzed, which I don't want to give anything away, but it is basically touting the nano texture display that Apple came out with.

What, I'm not quite a year ago, maybe six or seven, eight months ago to where you could select this for the screen of your MacBook Pro.

And I just got a new MacBook Pro.

I did not select this nano texture because I just felt like it was too matte.

But watching this video, this little commercial today from Apple, I was like, well, OK, if I worked out on the beach, you know, all the time, then that would be the way I would go.

This was a funny little commercial.

The nano texture display was something that I first thought about many years ago when Apple's high end monitor, the one that's thousands and thousands of dollars.

I forget the title of it, but it's the one that's made for like, you know, people that are seriously into like perfection of color and stuff like that.

That display came in a nano texture option so that if you were in a work environment and you're doing, you know, critical work, you lay out magazines or whatever and you don't want to have the overlight, the overhead light reflecting or the window, it would just take away those reflections because of the the nano texture screen.

And then they brought it to the iPad and I had never I think it's an extra hundred bucks on the iPad.

And in my mind, if I'm using my iPad, first of all, I don't use it outside in the sunlight very often.

And if I do, if I'm using it inside, I mean, as I turn it right now, right now I have my iPad turned in a way that my light I can see it on my screen.

But you know what?

I just moved my hand like a quarter of an inch and now it's not reflecting on anymore.

So for me, avoiding reflection is not a huge deal.

But if you think it is important, if you're going to be outside, if you can have a lens flare like the one that you have to decide for those folks watching on YouTube, you're showing us all what a lens flare looks like behind you right now, Brett.

Exactly.

Thank you.

These screens do do it.

And I have talked to people that have spent the extra money for their iPad to get the nano texture and to a fault, Brett, there have maybe been five people I've encountered in real life that have this.

But they have all told me, oh, my gosh, I love it.

Your screen looks so much nicer with the nano texture.

And I guess like if you're going to spend the money to buy it, then you know that it's someone that interests you.

So, you know, again, it's it's never interest in interested me to be worth spending extra money on.

But people do love it.

And now it's on the max as well.

That picture that you're showing on the screen has a good sort of example of why you might want it side by side.

Hardware.

Yeah.

He they loved it.

They just like you said, he goes, I didn't think it was going to be this good.

This the sun is essentially kryptonite for the laptop with the regular non nano texture display.

But you can see now because I do this.

That's a stunning.

Get outside.

Yeah.

And then you show the nano texture.

Now I'm almost regretting that I didn't get the nano texture on that.

That's an amazing side by side right there.

Very cool.

So even if you never get this feature, the commercial is worth watching because it's got to watch it.

I got to tell you, though, I was watching this and I was like, wow, Apple got Jeff Bridges.

I had the same thought.

It totally looks like.

OK, totally looks like.

Because I'm like, Jeff Bridges, dude, the dude.

He's sitting exactly.

He's the dude sitting in a sun chair.

Anyway, it's a funny thing you got to see with with nothing on the glare.

It's about the glare.

Let's talk about Lit Software, who we are proud to say are sponsoring this show.

We've known this company for many years.

Lit Software.

We've known the developers Ian and Tara, who started this company in 2010.

And we know that because that's when the iPad was first introduced and not just a few months after the iPad was introduced.

Jeff and I both were introduced to this suite of apps.

I guess at the time they started with an app called Trialpad.

So Lit Software at Lit Software dot com is a software company and they started out developing apps just for the iPad.

Now, by through the magic of Apple and programming languages over the years, these apps will also now run on a Mac laptop, although you don't have to have a Mac to do that.

You can still use a Windows and use use your iPad on this.

But the Lit Suite is what they call it now because it's not just one app anymore.

It is a series of at least four apps.

And there's a fifth one there that's that's just kind of minor for the exhibits pad.

But Trialpad, Transcript Pad, Doc Review Pad and now Timeline Pad, which is brand new.

But today we're going to talk about the Trialpad app because both you and I, Jeff, have talked about this app.

We have both used it from a professional standpoint.

I have trained many, many people on using the Trialpad.

So you can probably tell by the name Trialpad that this is an app that is designed for trial.

So it's mostly legal professionals, lawyers that need a way to present information exhibits in a courtroom or a trial or a hearing.

Although, Jeff, I always tell people, don't get hung up on the trial part of Trialpad, because both you and I have used this app in a variety of scenarios.

Any time that you may even want to show an image or a document, but then immediately you want to zoom in on a specific paragraph or you want to highlight some text in real time, or you want to take a pen and draw an arrow or circle around something that's on the screen, you can do that with this Trialpad app.

So the Trialpad app is part of the lit suite to get all of the apps together.

But specifically on this Trialpad, it it's what I call it.

It's a little magic in the way that it happens, because many people may not know this.

When you connect your iPad to an external display, whether you do it through AirPlay or in some cases, you can even get an adapter so you can do an HDMI cable into it.

When you connect your iPad to an external display, immediately it will do a mirroring.

It'll mirror exactly what's on your iPad screen to that external display.

But when you use an app like Trialpad, and the same goes for Keynote and for PowerPoint, when you go into the presentation mode, then your external display is basically just showing the audience what you want it to see, like the document.

Whereas on your on your iPad, you have the ability to like jump to different documents and you have all the tools on your iPad.

This picture I've got on the screen right now shows you that here is all the tools you have available on your iPad.

And then on the external display, you can see where it's done, what we call a call out, which is basically like zooming into a section of a document.

Then you could do some highlights, you can underline some text, etc. on there.

This app I have used in many, many scenarios, not just in the presentations when I've gone to conferences and presentations and speaking to people.

But I have also used this, not just in those real life scenarios, Jeff.

I have used Trialpad many times for remote presentations or even on Zoom calls where I may have my iPad in my hand here, but I'm using AirPlay to present through my computer, a Windows computer, a Mac computer, and I can then present the information from my iPad and use in this Trialpad app.

And it works out really, really well.

Yeah, let me say a few things about Trialpad.

First of all, I am not a trial attorney.

I'm an appellate attorney.

So I am usually not the person standing up in front of the jury saying, ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

But as an appellate attorney, I'm involved in many cases where I'm there at the trial, you know, preserving the record for appeal and working with the trial attorneys.

And I have seen so many cases, big cases and small cases, where the attorneys spend money to hire somebody to be their graphics professional.

And that's somebody that will sit in the courtroom with you.

They will show the graphics on the screen.

And now don't get me wrong, some graphics professionals are amazing.

But there's always a little bit of attention of the lawyer telling the person, I want you to bring up exhibit four and then there's delay.

And it can get a little awkward when you use Trialpad.

And I've seen attorneys do this.

You yourself are just holding your iPad in front of the jury.

It's just seamless.

You can you can have it on a podium or you can just hold it in your hand.

And you yourself are like when you say something, you're circling as you're talking and it's just so much more persuasive and interactive and exciting for the jury because you yourself are controlling it.

And again, you do all this beforehand.

You set up your key docs so like you get yourself ready.

So you're going to be prepared.

But it just comes across looking so much more slick and professional.

That, you know, when you're trying to persuade a jury or a judge to your side of the case, you just look better.

And so that is fantastic.

But I also want to mention that even if you're not so, you know, Jeff, Jeff Richardson is not a trial attorney.

Why does he use Trialpad?

You can use it for so many different things.

I do a lot of mediations where there's often this beginning part of the mediation where everybody's together in one room and you're sort of showing the other side, including the other side's clients.

It's the one time you get a chance to sort of talk to them without violating, you know, attorney ethics, because normally you have to talk to the other side's attorney, not their client.

But like I will put on, I will say, you know, here's the document.

And then I will show a call up, a call out, you know, this, this, this part of it.

And you'll highlight things.

And this is just fantastic for that.

I'll give you another example, too.

Let's say you're doing a deposition.

In fact, here's an even better example, a remote deposition.

So many times you have witnesses that are located in different parts of the country.

And so all the attorneys will get on like a zoom call.

And then the witness is on the zoom call and you talk to it.

And when you want to present a document to the witness, the way that many people do it is they share their screen, like they'll share, you know, Adobe Acrobat or whatever your Acrobat, your PDF program is, and they'll show it to the witness.

But then it can be a little awkward to like zoom in and the the witness can't see something.

What you can do is you can use trial pad for that so that you have one exhibit in trial pad and you're sharing trial pad to the screen.

And trial pad has got like the exhibit, right?

And then you have another one that is like what you're showing on your screen right now, it's the key part, the key paragraph blown up and highlighted.

So you are directing the witness precisely where you want the witness to look there and only there.

And then you can say, isn't it true, Mr.

So-and-so, that on the night of such and such, you know, this is, you know, these sorts of things.

And then, of course, this can be the exhibit, you know, you have the main part is exhibit one, but this demonstrative can be exhibit two.

And so if you ever have to replay this video, if it's being this depot, if it's being videoed, you got it there.

You know, so just keep in mind that if you're a trial attorney and you use the iPad, of course, you need to use trial pad.

But even if you're not, you can use it in so many other ways and so many other contexts.

I mean, heck, I gave a presentation to Tech Show two weeks ago, Brett, where I just wanted to have something blown up and I just opened up my trial pad app.

I did the little blow up and then I made that one of my keynote slides.

I mean, it's so useful.

So again, I cannot sing the praises of trial pad enough.

It alone is a reason to pay for the lit sweet.

But of course, there's all the other apps which we're going to talk about in future weeks.

Yes.

Lit Software also offers the Lit Sweet Academy.

So you can jump on.

It's completely free.

You can actually get to the Lit Sweet Academy from inside one of the apps.

And so just wanted to highlight that.

I actually provide training for some of the Lit Software apps as well.

And then just in case people are wondering, there is a subscription fee for access to all of these apps.

So you have the Lit Sweet subscription, which is $600 a year.

So that's what only $50 per month, I think, if my calculation is correct.

But you get access to all of these apps.

Now, that said, I would also like to point out that they give you a seven day free trial with no limitations, no restrictions.

And so I always tell people, if you think that this is something you might want to look at, like you can go and download the apps.

You can use all of them without any restrictions for seven days, completely free of charge, maybe jump into that Lit Sweet Academy as well and check that out and see if it's something for you.

And then you can stop the subscription if you don't think it's going to be something you're going to be using.

But I'm pretty confident between the trial pad out alone is just amazing.

But the other apps that we're going to talk about in the next couple of weeks as well are just amazing that you can have all of that in the palm of your hands in the iPad.

So we thank you Lit Software.

You can go to Lit Software.com.

I'll have the link in the show notes so you can learn a little bit more about it.

Let's go to In the Know.

In the Know.

So we keep talking about the ABA Tech Show because we were together a couple of weeks ago, which was fun.

We had a nice fun recording of our podcast.

But one of the other things we like about Tech Show is we get to see a lot of the people that we call friends.

And sometimes that's the only time of the year that I get to say hello to them, including one of my good friends, Ivan Hemmins.

And I'm pointing him out because after one of my presentations, he came up and he showed me this trick that I feel like I should have known Jeff.

But when he showed it to me, I was like, that is so amazing.

Thank you.

I'm going to feature that in an upcoming episode of our podcast.

So we have talked about the focus modes on the iPhone.

And I use this quite a bit now when like if I'm going out exercising, I don't want all of the notifications popping up.

But if my wife texts me or the kids or if I get a phone call from certain people at work, I do want that to pop to pop through.

So I let those so I can go in and customize that focus option on which apps are allowed or who can disturb me at certain times when I turn this on.

But one of the things that I did not know about is you can select a custom lock screen for a specific focus mode.

And not only that, you can select a custom home screen for a focus mode.

So what Ivan was showing me is that he had, I think it was like a conference focus mode that he had.

And he had like four apps that he only wanted to have access to on a home screen when he was in that specific focus mode and he wanted this specific lock screen turned on.

So in other words, when you're in this focus mode, instead of trying to go to find, you know, those four apps that you might want while you're exercising or something like that, just turn on the focus mode and boom, you can select a specific home screen to just show during that focus mode.

And I just the way he set that up was just really nifty to me.

And I was thinking to myself, that's true because every time I go maybe on exercising, I want to go to my fitness app.

I want to go to my all trails app.

I want to go to my maps app, but that's it.

I don't want to have to like scroll through different screens.

And I just thought that that was really cool.

Couple of ways you can get to this, you can go and just long tap on your lock screen.

And then at the bottom, at the very bottom of the screen, you'll see a customized button.

But right above that, there is a focus button.

And you can go in and say, I want to show this lock screen in this particular focus mode, and then you can actually go into other customizations from that screen.

Or just go to your settings app, go to, I think this is the focus apps.

Yeah, go into the focus mode in your settings.

And then you can go and add a home page.

It's all very intuitive.

It's just kind of buried under there.

And I think that that's one of the reasons that I didn't kind of know that it was actually there.

But now I'm going to set some of these up, Jeff.

It's just really handy that you can customize even a little bit more within the focus mode.

So that's my tip today.

And by the way, just real quick, I'm going to say Ivan has a really excellent YouTube channel.

I'm going to make sure that we put a link in our show notes for that.

So this is Ivan Hevins and his YouTube channel is Hey Ivan.

And he does a really good job and some interesting tips about using the iPhone, even like photos mode.

Anyway, great stuff from Ivan.

And I just really appreciated that he came to Tech Show and saw and said hello a couple of weeks ago.

And thanks for the great tip.

Ivan, appreciate it.

Yeah, in fact, folks, I forget which firm, but Ivan is I think I have this correct, Brett.

He is the he does technology at one of the big, big law firms in the country.

Do you know which firm is it?

Do you remember which one?

I want to say, I'm an Elvin and Myers, I believe.

Yeah, that's one of the major ones.

Yeah, but he really knows his stuff.

I would love to have someone like we have we have a great person in our firm, Bill Vance, but I wish we had someone like Ivan at our firm too, because he's just amazing.

So that's a great tip.

Thank you, Brett and thank you, Ivan.

And that's a good tip.

It's something that I don't do, but now you're making me think that I should do it.

I have a related tip, which is something similar that I do.

You were discussing just now that in different focus modes, one of the many things you can have is you can have different home screens.

And so I want to get into that a little bit more.

OK, there's a feature on both the iPhone and the iPad that, you know, it used to be that you just had, you know, regular screens.

You would just swipe back and forth to your different screens.

But for a couple of years now, you've had the ability to turn on or off specific screens of your home screen.

So if you just hold down on the dots at the bottom of your screen for a few seconds, you'll then get into this mode where you see like the different home screens on your iPhone or your iPad, and there's checkmarks under them.

And you can control which ones come on or off.

And so that you can set up a couple of different home screens.

Like maybe you have five of them set up, but normally you only have two of them enabled, but then in special circumstances, you might want to enable a different one.

And I'll give you an example.

Whenever I give a presentation, such as a tech show, the week, I don't necessarily want to have my own personal home screen there because for one thing, my iPad home screen has the things app, which I use for all my to-do lists.

And that's like confidential what I'm working on.

Right.

That's a turning client privilege.

So I don't want anyone to see that.

So I turn off my regular home screen.

And the one that I turn on instead is I'll just hold it up to my camera.

This is my iPad screen that it's just a blue background.

Yeah.

But and you might think, oh, this is just a screensaver.

But you see, I actually have the time on at the clock, which I sort of like displaying, it's sort of cool to have the clock.

And the way that I'm doing this is I'm using the app that we talked about before with David Sparks called Widgetsmith.

And I'm saying I have a completely blue background and then I have an icon that's the same completely blue background color, but it shows the time.

And then I have another I say icon, it's a widget.

And I have another widget that has my law firm logo.

We have a new logo now, Adam's Race.

It's very pretty.

Very nice.

And right and red, the red amber sand.

And so that's that is the background that I use when I'm giving presentation so that if I go between Keynote and like showing something off to the general public, you know, they're just going to see that blank background.

But you can do it for other reasons too.

So for example, you can have a screen on your iPhone, as you were describing, that just has the apps that you use for like a particular task, right?

And maybe you'll normally have that screen turned off, but then turn it on either using the focus mode or just, you know, holding down the buttons and you can have just the apps that you want.

And one thing to keep in mind is this may not seem obvious at first.

You can have the same app on different screens.

So like you may have your regular screen that's got all the apps that you have on it.

But then on your very special screen that only has like four apps.

If you also want to put the app there, because the apps, the icons are just shortcuts to the underlying app.

So like you can have your photos app on your home on your main home screen.

And then you can have a separate screen that's just my photography related apps.

And you can have the photos up in there too, along with Photoshop and, you know, a pixel meter and all your different apps that you have just on your special photo screen that normally you don't even have enabled.

But on those times where you're doing like a lot of photo work, you just want to focus on those.

And so this is a cool tip that you can turn home screens on and off.

And it's just one of those little things that you forget see for there.

But then if you actually use it, you're like, wow, good on you, Apple.

This is really useful.

I like it.

If you could take the time to do the customization, that's what I like about that.

Yeah, because sometimes that's why I don't do some of this customization or do like even the focus settings, because I'm like, OK, I got to sit down like, what app do I want there?

And what app do I want there?

I feel like it takes time sometimes.

But so worth it because it saves me time in the in the future, which is really nice.

And you know, Brett, it doesn't take that much time because you can create a home screen that's blank in one second and then just drag the apps that you want on there.

And how long did that take you?

Fifteen seconds.

And now you have a custom home screen for those apps that you can use whenever you turn on or off as you want.

I like it.

I like it.

Well done.

Lots of good stuff this week.

Appreciate it.

We want to also say thanks again to Lit Software, who is sponsoring us this week.

And for the next, I think, three weeks, which is great.

Thanks again, Lit Software.

And wow, lots of good stuff.

We'll get some glare, get some sunshine, because man, it's getting about that time.

And Jeff, we'll talk with you next week.

Yeah, everybody have a great Easter weekend.

Talk to you soon, Brett.

Bye bye, everybody.