One year ago today, the iPhone 4 was released. The Internet is full of rumors about when the next generation iPhone will be released this year (maybe September?). If you bought your iPhone 4 soon after it came out in 2010, you are about to hit the end of your 1 year warranty. You can see how much time you have left on that warranty by going to this page on Apple's website and entering your serial number, which you can find on your iPhone by going to Settings --> General --> About. If you want to add a second year to your warranty, that same page will let you do so for $69, but you can only extend the warranty if you are still within your first year. And now, on to the news of note from the past week:
- I've always assumed that, with only rare exceptions, iPhone users in the U.S. use either AT&T or Verizon. However, Lex Friedman of Macworld reports that T-Mobile has confirmed that it has more than one million iPhones on its network. Keep in mind that to do this (until very recently) this meant that you had to get an AT&T iPhone with a two year contract (or find an old iPhone that is out of contract), jailbreak it (voiding its warranty), pay for a new contract from T-Mobile, and then replace the SIM, and even then you are left with a phone that can only use the slow EDGE network, not 3G. T-Mobile users who went through this hassle must really want an iPhone — and must really not want to be on AT&T.
- Christina DesMarais of Inc. recommends apps that make your iPad work like a laptop.
- On the other hand, Randall Ryder argues that lawyers cannot completely ditch the laptop for an iPad. I agree, but what I do think that many lawyers can do is leave that laptop in the office for your day-to-day work, and rely on the iPad whenever you have to leave the office.
- Lawyers are not the only ones who can benefit from using an iPad. John Browlee of Cult of Mac reports that American Airlines is saving big bucks by switching its pilots to iPads for their charts.
- John Cleaves of Law Technology News writes about idocument REVIEW, a new document review app fo the iPad that you can use to tag, highlight and redact documents. I worked on several document review projects in the past, and they have always been rather boring. At least with the iPad you can find a more comfortable position to do your work. Click here for idocument REVIEW ($29.99):
- If you use Dropbox to store documents online, make sure you read this article by attorney David Sparks of Macsparky. A few days ago, there was a four hour period in which Dropbox documents could be accessed without a password. If there was any suspicious activity on your account, Dropbox should have already contacted you.
- John Paczkowksi of The Wall Steet Journal's All Things D writes that consumers don't want tablets, they want iPads.
- Harry McCracken of Technologizer analyzes 13 ways that an Apple competitor might be able to produce a tablet that people would want instead of an iPad.
- Jay Yarrow of Business Insider writes that people are spending more time in mobile apps than they are on the web.
- Mark Gerow of the Fenwick & West law firm writes for Law Technology News about ways that IT departments can help their attorneys go mobile with law firm content.
- And finally, do you love jelly beans as much as you love your iPhone? Then you will be thrilled to learn that ESI Cases and Accessories has teamed up with Jelly Belly to offer iPhone cases with both the color AND THE SCENT of the Jelly Belly flavors Strawberry Cheesecake, Very Cherry, Blueberry, Licorice and Berry Blue. According to the press release on Engadget, you will be able to find them in fine retailers across the country including F.Y.E, Hudson News and ShopKo. I was able to find them online on Rakuten, a site that allows people to import items from Japan. You'll be the envy of every attorney in your office when you show off your smelly iPhone. It's a shame that they don't have even more flavors so that you could buy six iPhones with these cases, follow this recipe on the Jelly Belly website, and combine Top Banana, Chocolate Pudding, Crushed Pineapple, Strawberry Jam, Very Cherry and French Vanilla iPhone cases to get ... Banana Split!
