I started iPhone J.D. in November of 2008, and a few months later I realized that there was a lot of iPhone news that was worth sharing that did not deserve a long post by me — often because the article itself said everything that I could say, and usually much more. Traffic on iPhone J.D. was usually a little lighter on Fridays anyway, so on Friday, April 10, 2009 I titled my post “In the news” and collected some links of interest from the prior week. The title is a throwback to the 1970s when I was a little kid and my brother and I used to love to wake up as early as possible on Saturday mornings to go downstairs and watch cartoons. In fact, sometimes we would wake up so early that we would catch the TV that came on before the cartoons, reruns of shows like The Munsters and The Three Stooges. There was no cable TV back then so our cartoon choices were limited to the three major networks, and whenever we watched Channel 4 (WWL, the CBS affiliate in New Orleans) I used to enjoy their In The News segments, a two-minute summary of the news of the day, edited for a younger audience by CBS News. (And on ABC, of course, I loved the Schoolhouse Rock segments between cartoons.) If I close my eyes, I can still hear those distinctive tones from the In The News segment … or I can just click here to hear them again without having to imagine a thing. Two years after my first “In the news” post, here we are with the 100th edition. So with no further ado, here is the news of note from the past week.
- One of the biggest stories this week was the announcement by a security research firm that your iPhone is tracking everywhere you go, and all you need to do is download a simple free program on your computer to see a map showing everywhere that your iPhone has ever been. The initial reaction was fiercely negative. Is Apple following us? Then people realized that every cell phone company has the same data on all of its customer’s phones — not to mention all the other records that exist of where you go and what you do. Do you use a program like Quicken to keep track of your credit card expenses? That’s another record on your computer of where you have been and the places that you have visited. Perhaps the best article that I have seen on this subject is this one by David Pogue of the New York times entitled Your iPhone is Tracking You. So What? I also enjoyed this similar analysis by Dan Moren of Macworld. Having said that, if there is someone who keeps up on technology news like this who has regular access to your computer (such as your spouse) and you are trying to hide the fact that you took that trip to Las Vegas, make sure that you tell iTunes to encrypt your backup file on your computer.
- Attorney Tom Mighell discusses giving presentations on an iPad using apps like Keynote on his new site for lawyers using iPads called iPad4Lawyers.
- Jim Calloway of the Oklahoma Bar Association discusses attorneys using iPads.
- For a contrary view, Seattle attorney Venkat Balasubramani says “bah humbug” to attorneys using iPads.
- Dan Moren of Macworld discusses the security of documents stored on Dropbox.
- Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal discusses buying a laptop computer and whether you should instead get an iPad.
- Edward Albro of PC World considers whether there are any real competitors to the iPad in the tablet market.
- According to an article by Tom Huddleston of AmLaw, the 700 lawyer firm Proskauer Rose is giving iPads to its attorneys.
- Nick Bilton of the New York Times explores the question of whether you should upgrade from an iPad to an iPad 2.
- Similarly, Art of the iPhone explores the speed of the iPad 2 versus the original iPad.
- I love my iPad 2, and the Apple Smart Case is great for when I am carrying my iPad around my office or my home. But what about when I travel to and from work every day? I rarely need to take a briefcase anymore since most of my important papers are digital nowadays, but I want something small to carry my iPad and give it some protection. If you know of any good solutions for your iPad 2 (and many cases that hold the iPad will also work with an iPad 2 with a Smart Cover), please let me know.
- Here is one example that looks intriguing to me, or at least it would if I was a female. Happy Owl Studios has a product called The Clutch. When you first see it you think it is just a nice clutch purse, but it holds a first generation iPad. A version for the iPad 2 is in development. While women are the target audience for The Clutch, the amusing commercial that they produced for The Clutch seems more aimed at men, although it does certainly answer the question of what would happen if the iPad and a sexy purse got together. This one might be mildly not safe for work, so be careful before you click the link to this commercial and this follow up.
- Every time you tap the Safari icon on your iPhone, Safari opens and starts to reload the last page it displayed. Sometimes that takes a little while. If you would instead rather open Safari directly into a blank page, read this tip from Dan Frakes of Macworld.
- In addition to watching Saturday morning cartoons as a child in the 1970s, I remember loving the Sesame Street book The Monster At The End of This Book. Now in 2011, it is one of my son’s favorite apps on my iPad. Karen Freeman of AppAdvice posts a review.
- MG Siegler of TechCrunch predicts that the iPhone will soon be the most popular “camera” for photos on Flickr, and he has the charts to back up his theory.
- And finally … this is usually the part of In the news where I discuss something silly in the world of iPhone or iPad, but here is something that started silly and turned serious. On April 1, 2010, one of the April Fool’s Day products on Think Geek was a $150 device that turned an iPad into an arcade machine, and some people wondered if such a product could really be produced. The answer is yes, and a year later, Think Geek is now selling the iCade for $99. Just because it is funny doesn’t mean that it can’t come true.
As a fellow attorney, I hope you are not jumping on David Pogue’s band wagon condoning Apple’s privacy violations. It currently appears that Mr. Pogue has quit posting comments as most of them are negative toward’s him. As an attorney either practicing civil and/or criminal law, how could you recommend a client have any phone, Apple or otherwise, that tracked their every move. Then, how can you recommend an attorney have one. My home computer is at home. My travel laptop has very little on it. But, why! why! why! would I want my ipad or iphone that are easily stolen while traveling, either left in the place, restaurant or hotel room, to be tracking everywhere I’ve been. This is incredible that you, as an attorney, don’t see the horrific side of this. I’m not singling out Apple. It appears everyone, including even Blackberry now, is doing it. It has to stop.
[Jeff responds: I appreciate your position, Bart. But the reality is that all cell phones track location, not just the iPhone. Cell phone companies know this information. Police departments can get access to this information, and do so routinely. Also, it is possible to obtain this information even for people who use other phones besides the iPhone (although my understanding is that Android currently keeps only some of the data for a recent time period, whereas the iTunes backup of your iPhone keeps more data). I’m not sure that the issue here is obtaining the information from the iPhone itself (although that may be possible) but instead obtaining the information from the computer running iTunes that you use to backup your iPhone. So think about it … if a “bad guy” gets access to everything in your home, including access to your home computer, you have much bigger concerns than whether the criminal will install a program on your computer to see if he can trace some of your steps from your iPhone backup files. That’s why I noted that the bigger concern could be someone you allow to access your computer even though you know that means that they can see your financial files, your documents, etc. — you might now want to consider the fact that they can use a program like this. To step back, the big issue here, in my opinion, is that nobody really has complete privacy. There are a large number of sources of information about what you do and where you go — your credit card company, your cell phone provider, receipts that you may keep in a shoebox in your house, your personal computer, etc. This is just one more. If you want to maintain complete privacy on everywhere you go, the iPhone would probably be far down on your list of concerns. But that is just my opinion, and I appreciate your opinion on the subject. And I think that you and I can both agree that it would be nice for Apple to provide more information on this subject.]
Hi Jeff,
With regard to your question about iPad carry cases, I recommend a Waterfield iPad Wallet (sfbags.com). It’s beautifully built with quality materials, and holds an naked or encased iPad, an Apple Wireless Keyboard, and accessories in a slim padded case. They just came out with a new Travel Express model that works similarly in a different configuration. I have my iPad in a TPU case, AWK, Twelve South Compass stand, charger and MobileCloth wipe in my Wallet. You can get it with a strap. Great for traveling and looking professional.
Jeff. I understand your position that there are greater privacy concerns. My secretary knows everything about me. My cable company knows what movies I rent. My credit card company has a plethora of information about me. My neighbor knows when I come and go. My business partners know much about my financial situation. The business across the street can see who my customers are. Further, this is not about my spouse finding out I went to Vegas. She balances the checkbook at the office and home, by the way. But, I control those things, consent to those things, and know about them. That is far different than corporate America covertly obtaining my location every few seconds without my knowledge or consent. Then, keeping this information in a file on my phone I don’t know about, transferring this information to a file on my pc that I don’t know about, and transferring this information every twelve hours to themselves or others for uses I can’t imagine and don’t care about. I don’t know anyone who would not be concerned if someone were following them around in a dark van 24/7 writing down information about where the go and what they do. This is no different. I know attorneys who won’t bank with local banks because they do not want local tellers knowing their clients, won’t use email in the cloud for fear it is not secure enough, and won’t use online backup storage for fear is it not secure. Are they paranoid, crazy? Using your logic, they should have non of these concerns as their office could be broke into and any of this information discovered. The point is, this is being done without our knowledge and consent. If Apple, Google, Blackberry are willing to steal location information, what else are they stealing or willing to steal to make a buck. There should be a huge backlash against this conduct. I hope that you as an attorney see the more invasive side of this. I feel you dismissed this all to easily.
Congratulations Jeff. Munsters — incredibly creative TV show. One of the all time greats. Why do you need a carrying case? Just toss it in your back seat. I don’t understand the case industry or why people baby their gadgets. Back in the day when we lugged around 5 pound laptops we needed a case. But those days have thankfully ended — especially for those of you lucky enough to drive to work. Those of us in Manhattan can make a good case for needing a case. I bought a case for my nephew to go with his iPod touch last Christmas — but he’s 4 years old.