We're just a few days away from Apple announcing new products. I'm excited to learn what Apple announces next week, and I hope that it has something to do with the iPhone. The announcement of the upcoming announcement was one of the biggest iPhone-related stories this week, but here is other news of note from the past week:
- If you use the next generation version of Westlaw called WestlawNext, you may have already noticed that the website has a nice interface formatted for mobile devices such as the iPhone. I'd still rather see a dedicated WestlawNext iPhone app, but the website is a nice start. However, if you use an iPad, yesterday West released WestlawNext for the iPad. The preview pictures on the West website look very nice, and I'm sure that this app will be a very useful tool for attorneys who use iPads. Click here for WestlawNext for iPad (free):
- If you get poor AT&T coverage in your home or office are are contemplating purchasing an MicroCell, you'll want to read this informative review from Wall Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal.
- Vicki Steiner, a reference librarian at the UCLA Law School Law Library, created a list of iPhone apps that may be helpful to attorneys using iPhones. (Link via Martha Sperry.)
- If you are a Netflix subscriber and you like to watch movies or TV shows on your iPhone, you are in luck. Yesterday, Netflix debuted an iPhone app that will let you stream video. The app is focused on that one task and (surprisingly) doesn't even let you manage your queue on the iPhone, but in my very limited tests it seems to work quite well. Click here for Netflix (free):
- If you would rather rent a movie from iTunes, Jessee David Hollington of iLounge points out that as of right now, if you rent a movie on your iPhone, you cannot transfer it back to your computer. However, if you rent the movie on the computer, then you can sync it to your iPhone and continue watching it there. That seems odd. If Apple announces an update to Apple TV next week (as some are speculating) perhaps Apple will remedy this.
- If you have a webcam or other security camera in your home, you can use the iCam app to monitor the video on your iPhone. According to this report from Jason Whitely of WFAA-TV, a Dallas-area couple on vacation in Connecticut got an alert from iCam that there was activity in their house, and using the iPhone they could actually see the burglars. They called the police who immediately went to the house. The intruders were gone, but perhaps that is because the police scared them away, in which case the app was a good purchase. Click here for iCam (Webcam Video Streaming) ($4.99):
- The Quickoffice app (which I reviewed here) has finally been updated for iOS 4. This means that you can now use fast app switching to switch back and forth to a document in Quickoffice and you can tap on an e-mail attachment and directly open it in Quickoffice. I've been using Quickoffice a lot more over the last few days thanks to this update.
- California family law attorney John Harding writes about how he loves his new iPhone but notes that it took him a while to get his e-mail working correctly.
- Marco Arment writes about using AA batteries to recharge an iPhone.
- Ben Worthen of the Wall Street Journal reports on businesses adopting the iPad, including the Chicago law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP.
- Debra Cassens Weiss of the ABA Journal reports on the iJuror app that allows an iPad to help a litigator during voir dire. (Link via Des Moines attorney Megan Erickson.) Click here for iJuror ($9.99):
- And finally, I always thought that I was a pretty fast iPhone typist until I saw this video. Wow. According to Dave Caolo at iLounge, this is a new world record for texting, and the text typed is "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human."
