In the news

The October issue of the ABA Journal includes the article “70 Sizzling
Apps” identifying useful apps for the iPhone, other smartphones and
even the computer.  [UPDATE 10/6/09:  I just received my print edition, and the article starts on page 80.]  The author, Chicago attorney Gabriella Filisko, included some of my
thoughts in the article.  Like most ABA Journal articles, it is well done, and I think you will enjoy reading it.  Having said that, this
article reminds me of the problems of a print publication in today’s fast-paced digital world.  Filisko and
I spoke on May 21, 2009, which means it took four months for the article to be
published.  Wow!  Although the apps mentioned in that article are all
great ones, if I had to do the interview again today, I would have
mentioned some different apps.  (For example, I wouldn’t have mentioned
Quickoffice without also mentioning Documents to Go; see here for more on both apps.)   I love the fact that if there is something interesting in the world of iPhone that I think you should know about, I can post to my Twitter account and (if you follow me) you will know about it instantly, or I can make it a daily post on iPhone J.D. and you can know about it in the morning, or at the very least I can include it in my Friday weekly round-up and you’ll hear about it a few days later.  I would never wait four months to bring you the news!  I still subscribe to many monthly print magazines, but more and more often I find that articles which used to be considered “news” are now more like “history.”

Speaking of which, here are some of the iPhone-related news items that I ran across this past week:

• Starting today, you will be able to download a new carrier profile through iTunes which will allow you to use MMS multimedia messages with the iPhone.  This has generated a lot of publicity because MMS has been available for other cell phones for a long time and has been conspicuously absent from the iPhone.  However, I, for one, don’t care much about this.  Do people really use MMS that much anymore?  If I want to send someone a picture, I just use e-mail, or maybe I upload the picture to MobilMe, Flickr, etc.  But for those to whom this matters, the updated carrier profile will be available for download around late morning for those on the West Coast and this afternoon for those on the East Coast.
• If you use Google’s Gmail for your email, calendar, etc., you can now have your new messages pushed directly to your iPhone just like you have been able to do with Yahoo! Mail and Microsoft Exchange for a long time.  You get push Gmail by setting up a new Gmail account on your iPhone but acting like it is an Exchange account.  For more information, see this article from Macworld and these instructions from Google.
• 
  
  Netflix is coming to the iPhone, just not any time soon.  In response to a recent question from Reuters about the possibility of streaming Netflix movies to the iPhone, iPhone Alley reports that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings responded:  “It’s something that’s likely to come over time.
  
  But nothing in the short term. (With) movie watching, we are not
  
  focused on mobile yet, but (instead) on the TV, on Blu-ray and on the
  
  video game consoles. We will get to mobile eventually, including the
  
  iPhone.”
• Galen Gruman writes an article for InfoWorld about the use of the iPhone with Microsoft Exchange.  Gruman is not a fan, but the article has some interesting information.
• John Brandon provides advice in Macworld for getting the best video from your iPhone 3GS.
• 
  
  The always entertaining Michelle Slatalla used to write the Online Shopper column for the New York Times, and she then wrote the great but short lived column on raising a family in the digital age called Cyberfamilias.  Her current Times column is called Wife/Mother/Worker/Spy, and in this week’s article Does This Pencil Skirt Have an App? she discusses the iPhone weight loss app Lose It!.
  
• For the law students who read this website:  I got word from the BARBRI division of Thomson Reuters that the free BARBRI Mobile Bar Review Application is now available in the App Store.  According to the press release:  “BARBRI
  
  Mobile gives students with an iPhone or iPod touch the ability to
  
  answer thousands of StudySmart MBE questions as well as study BARBRI’s
  
  Conviser Mini-Review. The BARBRI app closely tracks each student’s
  
  progress, compares the student’s performance to thousands of bar exam
  
  takers nationwide and provides individual feedback throughout the study
  
  process.  The app also helps law students prepare for final exams.
  
   Enrolled students can watch exam review lectures, work multiple choice
  
  questions or review outlines on their iPhone or iPod touch. Students
  
  who are taking the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination
  
  (MPRE) can access the MPRE lecture, StudySmart questions and
  
  mini-review content.”  It appears that the app includes some free information, but is most powerful if you are enrolled in a BARBRI course.  Click here to get BARBRI (free): 

  

• The latest version of the Black’s Law Dictionary app, version 1.1,
  
  now brings you back to the page you were looking at when you last used
  
  the app.  My review is here.
• 
  
  Do you often find yourself trying to charge your iPhone at an
  
  airport, only to find that someone else is already using the only
  
  convenient outlet?  Divorce attorney Lee Rosen has a great solution: carry a mini surge protector with you and ask to share the outlet.  Smart idea.  You can get the Belkin Mini Surge Protector

  

  
  
  for only $15.22 at Amazon.
• And finally, for all of you Starbucks addicts out there, Starbucks now has two free iPhone apps.  The first one is called myStarbucks, and it can tell you the location of the closest Starbucks, includes an interactive menu to help you plan your drink (or food), and lets you save your favorite drinks, get nutritional information, etc.  You can even pinch to zoom to change your drink from a tall to a grande to a venti.  It’s nicely done, and helpful for those of us who can never remember the difference between a Vivanno and a Macchiato.  Click here to get myStarbucks (free): 

  

• The second Starbucks app is called Starbucks Card Mobile, and it lets you check the balance on your Starbucks Card, reload your card, view your transactions, and even pay using the iPhone app.  The pay feature is currently only active in 16 test locations in Silicon Valley and Seattle, but it may be a sign of what is to come on the iPhone from other companies.  Click here to get Starbucks Card Mobile (free):