The Register: Japan joins ranks of nations plotting smackdown for Apple, Google. “Japan’s competition regulator has recommended big changes to local laws to reform the ‘oligopoly’ it’s assessed Google and Apple enjoy in the markets for mobile operating systems and the apps that run on them.”
New York Times: ‘My Watch Thinks I’m Dead’. “Winter has brought a decent amount of snowfall to the region’s ski resorts, and with it an avalanche of false emergency calls. Virtually all of them have been placed by Apple Watches or iPhone 14s under the mistaken impression that their owners have been debilitated in collisions.”
Lifehacker: You Can Add Face ID Lock to iPhone Apps That Don’t Support It. “Face ID is great for locking and unlocking your iPhone, but it’s even better for authenticating apps that contain sensitive data. While many apps now support Face ID log in, there are still plenty that don’t—but there’s a hack that can lock any app behind Face ID, thanks to an interesting quirk of iOS.”
Lifehacker: Your iPhone Can Scan and Copy Any Text Into a Note. “‘Scan Text’ can scan any text from any document you point your camera to, which means you have a one-click option to copy someone’s homework, a contract, or a grocery list that’s hanging on the fridge. And, once it’s scanned, you are can format or share it any way you want.”
Lifehacker: Explore the World of Custom iPhone Widgets. “You’ve probably seen iPhone Home Screens that just look cool, sporting dynamic text, fun images, and custom icons…but even with iOS 16’s new Lock Screen editor, there’s no way to use Apple’s built-in tools to make them. For that, you’ll need to look outward. Fortunately, there’s a simple way to turn a boring iPhone Home Screen into something interesting and fun, without getting into the whole ‘Home Screen aesthetic’ thing. All you need is a custom widget app like Widgy.”
Lifehacker: This Setting Turns Your iPhone Into a Professional Video Camera. “Normally, iPhones shoot in either HEVC or H.264 video formats. HEVC files are smaller and more compressed, while H.264 are larger but supported by more apps and platforms. However, in your iPhone’s camera settings menu, there’s a third format called ‘Apple ProRes,’ which offers better color and less compression for a crisper, more professional look. The catch is Apple ProRes videos can be up to 30 times larger than HEVC files, so they take up large portions of your phone and iCloud storage space.”
MakeUseOf: 7 iPhone Scanner Apps to Track Receipts, Solve Math Problems, and More . “While scanning documents was a chore back in the day, smartphones have turned it into a relatively easy task. However, there are scanner apps out there that can do much more than just scan a few random documents here and there.”
Lifehacker: 45 of Lifehacker’s Favorite iPhone Hacks of 2022. “From iOS 16 to the iPhone 14, the iPhone had a big year. We started 2022 with iOS 15.2, which gave us features like Apple Music Voice and legacy contacts, and end the year appropriately with iOS 16.2, with Apple Music Sing and end-to-end encryption for iCloud backups. In between, we discovered a lot of hacks that make life with an iPhone even easier. Here are 45 of our favorites.” Slideshow.
Lifehacker: This Is the Best Free Scanning App on iPhone. “There’s a pretty nifty document scanner built into your iPhone’s Notes app. It’s great at automatically figuring out the edges of your doc, and it will even detect text for you. But the problem is, the scanned text will save to the note itself as a PDF, meaning you have to then manually export the document to do something actually useful with it. You can significantly improve this workflow by using the completely free QuickScan app.”
WIRED: How to Make Autocorrect Work the Way You Want. “If autocorrect isn’t behaving the way you want it to, or you want to make it better or turn it off altogether, these are the settings and the screens you need to know about.”
The Verge: Apple confirms the iPhone is getting USB-C. “Apple has given its most direct confirmation yet that a USB-C-equipped iPhone will happen now that the European Union is mandating that all phones sold in its member countries use the connector if they have a physical charger.”
Google Blog: Add these new Google widgets to your iPhone. “Our Lock Screen widgets for iOS 16 are officially available, so you can access features from your favorite Google apps with a quick tap or even just a glance at your iPhone Lock Screen. Between these and our Home Screen widgets, we’ve got you covered across all your favorite Google apps. Let’s take a closer look at ways you can use all these new widgets.”
Lifehacker: You Should Be Filtering Your iMessages. “iOS 16 is filled with plenty of major features, but there are smaller changes as well—like the return of your battery percentage, and an option to enable haptic feedback on the stock iPhone keyboard for the first time. But one thing lost in all the news is the addition to Messages’ Filters feature.”
Mainichi: Unique 2-in-1 calculator app adds up to surprise hit for retired engineer in Japan . “The double calculator app allows users to move the computation results of one calculator onto the other by tapping arrow keys displayed on the middle of the screen. For example, if a user calculates ’89 x 15 = 1335′ on one calculator and taps the arrow key, the result ‘1335’ will be displayed on the other calculator, allowing the user to continue a problem while the previous equations are still shown on the screen. This makes it easy to notice errors. It is also possible to perform different computations on each calculator.”
Slashgear: How To Copy And Paste On iPhone. “Whether you want to save important information or don’t want to type something out many times over, the copy and paste function on the iPhone is useful. It may seem like a simple task, but how it can be done may not be immediately obvious. There are a few different ways it can be done, depending on what it is you’re trying to copy and paste. If it’s words, for example, the process is different on the iPhone than copying and pasting pictures.”
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