Voting continues in the ABA Journal Blawg 100, but at a very slow pace. There have only been a few dozen votes in the Tech category, so if you are reading this, consider taking a minute to vote. I know, you have to register, and nobody likes to register, but I promise you it is painless. You just provide an e-mail address, the website sends you an e-mail to confirm that it is a real e-mail account, and then you can vote. The ABA won’t ask you for any personal information and the whole process is quick. If you enjoy reading iPhone J.D., I’d really appreciate your support! And now on to the news of the week.
- Want a free iPad? According to Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune, today through Sunday if spend over $1,500 on Y.E.S. clothing at Bloomingdale’s in New York, you get a free iPad.
- What a free iPhone? According to Sean Hollister of Engadget, Best Buy is offering the iPhone 3GS for free today only if you sign up for a new contract.
- Wan an iPhone 4 for only $25? According to Darren Murph of Engadget, if you go to a Radio Shack before tomorrow, you can get $50 off the cost of an iPhone, plus you can get $125 for trading in an iPhone 3GS. So if you give Radio Shack your iPhone 3GS and $25, the store will give you an iPhone 4.
- Want an iPad for only $429? According to Joe White of App Advice, Apple is selling refurbished iPads with a $70 discount on the $499 model and a $100 discount on the $500 model.
- On Wednesday, I wrote about your kids being able to spend money without your authorization on your iPhone if you typed in your password within the previous 15 minutes. Yesterday, the AP wrote about the same problem, quoting one person who said that his child spent $140 on smurfberries in the Smurfs’ Village app even though he claims that he waited more than 15 minutes before letting his son play with his iPad. Very naughty, Papa Smurf!
- David Sarno of the L.A. Times writes about corporate America moving from the BlackBerry to the iPhone.
- Vlad Savov of Engadget writes about a $149 device that lets your iPhone control a Nikon SLR camera.
- Attorney Dan Friedlander of LawOnMyPhone writes about taking notes on a computer, iPhone and iPad and keeping them all in sync.
- Lex Friedman of Macworld writes that many songs on the iTunes Store now have 90 second previews. I really like this change, which makes it much easier to decide whether to buy a song. It is also useful to click the “Preview All” button for an album; after spending a while listening to 90 seconds of a dozen or more songs, you really get a sense of whether the entire album is worth buying.
- Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times recommends 10 favorite apps for the iPad.
- Jason O’Grady of ZDNet writes about how he lost his iPhone at Disney Hollywood Studios but was able to recover it with Find My iPhone.
- Galen Gruman of Infoworld recommends iPad apps to use in the office for tasks such as word processing and spreadsheets.
- Michael Gray of TUAW writes about Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas using his iPad in Congress.
- David Pogue of the New York Times writes about Gorilla Glass, the scratch-resistant glass made by Corning and used on iPhones.
- Martin Kaste of NPR warns that if your iPhone is connected to the Exchange server at your office, this means that your office can remotely wipe the iPhone (either on purpose or by accident), even though you were the one who purchased the iPhone, not your employer. I actually consider this a feature, letting your office help you if you lose your iPhone and don’t have Find My iPhone configured to do this yourself, but I understand how this could be a problem in some situations.
- Apple has announced the top apps of 2010, and Bryan Wolfe of App Advice posts the list. Some of my favorite on the list: Angry Birds for iPhone and iPad, Facebook, Skype, GoodReader for iPad, Star Walk for iPad, Netflix, Google Mobile App, LogMeIn Ignition, Scrabble for iPad and Documents to Go Premium.
- Roy Furchgott of the New York Times discusses the Skyfire app, a web browser for the iPhone that is supposed to let you see Flash animation. I’ve had mixed experiences with the app myself; most of the time, it tells me that it cannot play the video.
- Roger Cheng of the Wall Street Journal reviews some interesting photography apps for the iPhone.
- And finally, Reid Greven and his friends at the North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia used iPhones and iPads as instruments to perform three Christmas songs. This is just too much fun, and is worth watching all of the way through. In a post on Greven’s website, he identifies all of the apps that they used. Check it out and prepare to smile: