In the news

The big iPhone news this week was the release of iPhone Software 3.1 and iTunes 9 which I discussed extensively yesterday and will discuss again next week.  But here is some of the other notable iPhone news that I ran across this week and during the prior two weeks when I was out of town.

• Engadget reports that AT&T is bringing HSPA 7.2 3G to Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami by the end of this year.  If you use an iPhone 3GS in those towns, let me know what you think of the additional speed when it gets rolled out over the next four months.  If you need a reminder on what 7.2 means, click here.
• If you are considering buying GPS turn-by-turn software for your iPhone, Wall Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal reviews the four major programs from TomTom, Navigon, AT&T and Fullpower.  He doesn't consider any of them the best; each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
• Ed Baig (USA Today) and Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus (Houston Chronicle) describe 10 great, free iPhone apps to promote their new iPhone For Dummies book.
• The new iTunes 9 includes a new layout for songs, movies and iPhone apps.  According to this article, some app developers are worried that their sales will fall because of the changes in the way that apps are being displayed.  I suppose this could happen, but it seems just as likely to me that these layout changes will help even more developers get their apps noticed by users.
• Is the Soccer Mom being replaced by the iPhone Mom?
• Would you like for your law firm or company to have its own iPhone app but don't know where to get started?  DC tax attorney Jonathan Jackel posted on his Used and Enthused blog a few weeks ago about some developers who will create an iPhone app to your specifications for a few hundred dollars.
• The competition between Quickoffice and Documents to Go to catch up with each other and leapfrog over each other continues.  Quickoffice (which I reviewed and discussed on 4/22/09, 5/5/09, 7/20/09 and 8/4/09) has always been able to view Word and Excel 2007 files, but the latest update, version 1.4.1, adds the ability to edit those Office 2007 files as well.  Virtually everyone I know still saves documents in the older format (.doc files) but if you need to edit a .docx file on your iPhone, you can now do so with either Quickoffice or Documents to Go (which I reviewed and discussed on 6/25/09, 8/4/09 and 8/17/09).
• Dvice has an amusing post on 10 iPhone apps that were downloaded with high expectations but then subsequently deleted.
• There are a lot of attorneys who, like me, were on the debate team in high school or college.  If you are not one of them, the rest of this entry will be meaningless to you so skip ahead.  (I did CX debate at Isidore Newman in New Orleans and college NDT debate at Emory, and taught at numerous summer institutes at U. Kentucky, American and Samford for any of you who debated in the 1980s and early 1990s; perhaps our paths crossed way back when.)  I was amused to learn that there is a free iPhone app for debaters called iDebate, and it looks pretty slick.  It includes profiles of hundreds of judges, a timer for all the different parts of a high school (LD or CX) or college debate, and much more.  Now I really feel like I debated in the stone ages.  Check out the app's web site to see what the app does, or since it is free, just download it yourself to check it out.  It's been a long time since I judged a debate, let alone participated in one, but if I do, I'll use this app.  Click here to get iDebate (free): 
• TechFlash has an interesting story on an IP attorney whose app was rejected because of the use of a keyword "bitwise."
• According to this Bloomberg article, Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York may be the most profitable store on Fifth Avenue.  I happened to be there on May 19, 2006 when the store opened (click here to see two panoramic pictures I took that day).  It really is an impressive and iconic store.
• And finally, Dallas personal injury attorney Todd Clement asked me a question that I wasn't sure how to answer, but my hope is that one of you will have a solution.  Todd wants a way for his paralegal to make a list of his clients and, under each client, include phone numbers for all of the relevant people (attorneys, experts, etc.)  At first he put this information in the notes field of a Contacts entry associated with each client, but unfortunately you can't tap on a phone number that is in a notes field to dial the number.  He also thought about having his paralegal borrow his iPhone and create entries in the built-in Notes app, but that is a pain to update.  Can any of you suggest an easy way for his paralegal to be able to add and update names and numbers and have that synced to his iPhone in a format that he can tap on numbers to dial?  Perhaps a tool like Evernote (which I haven't tried myself) would work for this?  If you have a good idea for Todd, please share your thoughts in a comment to this post.

Comments

[ambimb]

Mr. Clement might look at Handbase for iPhone. I'm not sure if it would do what he wants, but it's the first thing to come to mind.

The question points to the need for a good client/case management solution that syncs easily w/iPhone. I would love to have a client management app that has both a desktop and iPhone version where I store all info about client contacts and notes about progress on the case. Having those notes and contacts in my pocket at all times would make my iPhone a truly indispensable tool.

[Julie K]

Daylite has a desktop/server application and iPhone app. I have not installed the DayliteTouch app yet as I need to update the desktop to the new 3.9 server version first. This would link all contacts in a project.

[jp]

I don't know of any apps that may help, but there's a rudimentary way of accomplishing the same thing. You just create a Word document that has all the client information and email it to yourself. I don't believe you can just tap on the number to dial it, but you can cut and paste the number into the phone dialer. And what I have done in Outlook is create separate subfolders in my inbox for each case I work on, so Mr. Clement could create a separate subfolder for "client management," and then save the email that has the Word document with his client information in that subfolder (so that it doesn't just get lost in the shuffle of the inbox).

[Charles Jannace]

I can't help Todd Clement but I know who can. I use Amicus Attorney Small Firm 2008 which has all of that info in one location. I've been begging for an Amicus iPhone app almost as long as I've been screaming for a Dragon Naturally Speaking iPhone app. Perhaps if enough attorneys petition Gavel & Gown Software, the powers that be will get the idea and bring Amicus into the 21st century.

[Don]

for the client information for the PI atty-use evernote. he can dial the numbers from the evernote app on his iphone. i use it everyday.

[twitter.com/davisfoster]

Timematters has an app which includes contacts. When you search for a contact the iphone detects that this is a phone number and asks if you want to call. Since Timematters is a networked program and you are connecting with your office database as opposed to synching periodically with that database all contact information is up to date.