I mentioned earlier this week that I'm speaking today at a legal technology seminar in Shreveport, Louisiana. Unfortunately, some logistical issues have made it impossible for me to be there in person, but the fine folks at the Shreveport Bar Association have responded in flying colors. They have my PowerPoint slides and are going to show them on one screen, and we are using Skype to display my talking head on another screen. If all goes well I should even be able to see the audience to make it easier to answer questions. I am no stranger to video chats; I've used iChat on my Mac for years, I've been interviewed in the past via video conference, I've used Skype to be a guest on This Week in Law, and I frequently use FaceTime on my iPhone and iPad 2 to say goodnight to my kids when I am traveling on business. However, this is the first time I've ever tried to teach a CLE without actually being there. My fingers are crossed that Skype holds up. Feel free to make an offering to the Skype Gods on my behalf today around lunchtime. And now on to the news of note from the past week:
- Last month, Alabama attorney Clark Stewart wrote an article for SmallLaw, a weekly newsletter that is part of the TechnoLawyer family, about how he used his iPad 2 "in the field" to investigate a Wrongful Death Case. The article is a good read and is now available on the TechnoLawyer Blog.
- Earlier this week I mentioned the Lodsys v. Apple issue. Attorney David Sparks of MacSparky offers his own thoughts on this issue.
- Sparks also pointed me to a post by Gabe, aka Macdrifter, in which he reviews many different note taking apps for the iPad.
- Earlier this week I discussed the increase in iPad traffic to iPhone J.D. over the last year. Ted Brooks shares some similar statistics for his trial technology blog.
- Alan of Art of the iPhone recommends 15 apps for any new iPhone user. It's a good list.
- Alan Cohen wrote a good article for Law Technology News comparing the iPad 2 and the Motorola Xoom. Spoiler alert: the iPad is better. One issue that Cohen doesn't discuss is the screen dimensions. The iPad's 4:3 screen works well in either portrait or landscape mode. The Xoom's widescreen seems very awkward in portrait mode; it's just too skinny. Last week, I played around with a Xoom that one of my law partners owns, and I also found it to feel really heavy. Officially it weighs 1.6 pounds while the iPad 2 weighs 1.33 pounds. That doesn't seem like a big difference, but to me it was really noticeable.
- For you news junkies, Sue Megrund of App Advice discusses the new NBC Nightly News app.
- Attorney Bill Latham shares his thoughts on ethical issues arising out of attorneys using Dropbox. I wasn't familiar with Latham or his blog before I saw this article, but I see that his first computer was the Timex Sinclar 1000. He says that he bought it "around 1979" but that computer actually didn't launch until 1982. My first computer was the Sinclar ZX81, the British precursor to the TS1000 which came out in 1981 and could be purchased in the U.S. via mail order before Timex began making the TS1000. I really loved that computer and learned so much with it. If any of you also used a ZX81 or a TS1000, perhaps you have similar memories. I love this quote from Latham's website: "As I think back on the Timex Sinclair [which came with 2K of memory], I am amazed that today you can find $5.00 singing birthday cards with more than 4K of memory. Surely the 32 GB memory capacity of my contemporary iPad will be eclipsed in short order making it the latest in a long line of technological recyclable products. But until then, I will delight in the effort to make it a usable legal tool."
- Another post by Latham that you might want to read is his discussion last month of "Basic iPad Security for Lawyers."
- Marie Grady of the Connecticut Law Tribune reports on proposed new ABA rules that relate to the use of cloud storage services like Dropbox.
- Two of the higlights every year of ABA TECHSHOW are the 60 Tips in 60 Minutes and 60 Sites in 60 Minutes session. You can now view the slides from those sessions on the ABA Journal website. There are lots of good tips, including iPhone/iPad tips, in the presentations.
- Joe Kissell of Macworld discusses using and editing spreadsheets on an iPad.
- David Pogue of the New York Times provides tips for extending the battery life of an iPhone.
- David Schnurman, the president of Lawline.com (a provider of online CLEs) asked me to mention that his company recently launched a mobile site for the iPhone and iPad making it possible to watch a CLE on your iOS device. He tells me that the courses are free to watch; you just pay if you want to get CLE credit. Attorney Robert Ambrogi wrote about using Lawline on an iPhone earlier this year.
- Last week I noted that attorney Justin Kahn described some iPad keyboard shortcuts on his iPad Notebook blog. A few days ago, Kahn wrote a follow up post with additional iPad keyboard shortcuts.
- If you use Timeslips, a popular Windows product used by many law firms and other companies that bill by the hour, you may be interested in iSlips, an iOS client. I mentioned the app a year ago thanks to some helpful comments from Gary McFarlen, a computer consultant in Texas. McFarlen wrote me to follow up a year later, so I updated my post from last year.
- And finally, as much as I love the Apple Smart Cover for my iPad 2, I know that it just provides some basic protection for the screen. You wouldn't expect it to provide much protection if you drop your iPad on concrete. Or would you? Rather than testing this yourself, check out this video:
