The next major update to the iPhone operating system, iOS 14.5, will be released “next week,” Apple said Tuesday. The detail was slipped into new product announcements Apple made Tuesday. IOS 14.5 has a lot of new features, but the one that’s being most closely watched is called ATT, or App Tracking Transparency. Companies that rely on online advertising, especially Facebook, have said that the privacy change will reduce the effectiveness and profitability of targeted ads and potentially roil the online advertising business.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today urged Apple Inc. to activate FM radio chips installed in iPhones that would allow Americans to get access to life-saving information when a natural disaster causes wireless networks to go down. NAB CEO Gordon Smith praised bipartisan backing for activating the chips. “We urge Apple to acknowledge the public safety benefits of local broadcasting on SmartPhones and to light up the FM chip,” he said.
WFAA Reporter Works Alone With His iPhone
WFAA Dallas reporter Mike Castellucci won a Murrow Award last year for a half-hour news special he shot entirely on his iPhone. Now, in addition to covering breaking news with his phone, he’s put together another 30-minute special.Castellucci says shooting with an iPhone is mostly advantageous. “It’s less intimidating, unobtrusive and people have a tendency to not worry as much about that, because everybody has a phone and they’re used to that.”
Changes to the inner workings of a new crop of iPhones unveiled Wednesday will make a big difference to users, including camera improvements and new sensors. Old functions have been sped up, including maps and messaging. Here’s a rundown of what has improved.
WFAA Uses iPhone To Tape Half-Hour Show
WFAA Dallas Good Morning Texas host Mike Castellucci produced an entire half-hour special with only his iPhone, aptly called Phoning It In. And if he didn’t continually point out the iPhone was recording the video, you might not notice because it looks great.
Smartphones Aid Station Multiplatform News
iPhone and Androids are the primary tool for working in the multimedia world. “Technology not only allows us to deliver more stories, but also to deliver more incarnations of those stories, from one-sentence summaries on Twitter to long-form video pieces in our newscasts, and everything in between,” says Liz Haltiwanger, ND at KKTV Colorado Springs.
Exclusives
An internal memo says the devices will be given to its newspaper staffs to “meet the demands of the new news cycle, one that requires agility in real-time reporting, social media and greater emphasis on video storytelling, further increasing our competitive advantage.”
