The iPhone can hear you, swim and entertain monkeys, and the iPad can help you protect your client even more than you might think. It’s Friday, so that means that it is time for another edition of In the news:
On several different occasions over the last decade, I have tried Dragon dictation software on my computer. I has never been a good match for me, but I know that many other attorneys swear by the software. If you are one such attorney, note that Dragon Dictate version 2.5 for the Mac now lets you use your iPhone as a microphone. Just talk to your iPhone and the words appear on your Mac. California attorney David Sparks of the MacSparky blog has more information.
By the way, New Orleans attorney Ernie Svenson tells me that he has also found that Dragon Dictate for Mac works great with his iPhone.
Virginia attorney Rob Dean interviewed Malcolm Collingwood of the Proskauer firm to get more information on that firm’s use of iPads.
I wrote in 2009 and then again a few weeks ago about using the Gogo service with my iPhone and iPad to access the internet on an airplane. Ina Fried of All Things D reports that about two-thirds of all mobile devices using Gogo are iPhones.
If you would rather use your iPhone at sea level rather than 30,000 feet, Bryan Wolfe of AppReviews mentions the Aqua Phone Case, a waterproof iPhone case.
If you use ProLaw for document management as your law firm, you might be interested in iDocExplorer, an iPad app from Bellefield that allows you to use the iPad to access documents on your document management server.
Guy Clapperton of BizGene provides tips for using your iPhone for e-mail.
I am always interested to learn about unique ways that lawyers are using their iPads, but it never occurred to me that one such use is protecting your client from a cream pie until I read this story by Graham Bowley of the New York Times.
Timothy Williams of the New York Times interviews the town manager of Cornelius, NC, where the local government is using iPads for town commissioners instead of printing meeting agendas and distributing binders with paper. Makes sense to me.
Charles Arthur of The Guardian reports that according to a new report, “for every thousand page views by a tablet, 965 … come from an iPad, 19 from a Galaxy Tab, 12 from a Xoom and 3 from a PlayBook.”
Ever since Apple announced its new MacBook Air computers last week, I’ve heard several attorneys tell me that they cannot decide whether to get a MacBook Air or an iPad to use when they travel. That is a tough choice; they are different, but in some ways address the same need. I was thinking about that when I read this review of the new MacBook Air from Tim Stevens of Engadget. I love this part of his conclusion of his review: “It’s a supermodel with a law degree from Columbia, a hunky motorcycle racer who looks good in leathers yet is also a concert pianist — whatever your passion it won’t disappoint, all while making a lot more room in your bag.”
What would happen if Apple bought Twitter? The funny folks at Scoopertino (which I reviewed here) think it would look like this.
Many people predicted that once the iPhone came to Verizon, tons of people would abandon AT&T. Jenna Wortham of the New York Times reports that, so far, that has not happened. But as John Gruber of Daring Fireball noted yesterday, a lot of people will be out of contract and ready to get the next iPhone model when it comes out (presumably this September) and it will be interesting to see how many switch.
If you practice in Los Angeles, you might want to take a look at iLitigate, an app by attorney Pete Carr that provides information on several county superior courts in California, especially Los Angeles now that the app is free for a limited time. Click here for iLitigate (free):
And finally, while I like to focus on how you can use your iPad in the office, that doesn’t mean that you can’t also be creative with it while having fun. One app that I love to use just to play around is GarageBand on the iPad, and this video does a great job of showing how you can create some pretty good music using this app:
Yesterday, I teamed up with Reid Trautz and Josh Barrett to present 60 iPhone and iPad Apps in 60 Minutes, a CLE sponsored by ALI-ABA. Tom Mighell was the moderator. We had a great time, and ALI-ABA tells us that it was their best attended webinar ever. It was possible for participants to submit questions online, but the session was so fast-paced that we had little time to answer then, so instead we promised that we would create a follow-up post to answer the questions. Here are the audience questions and our answers.
Dropbox
Question #1 from: K.M. in Charleston, WV: We are attempting to use Dropbox to save exhibits (PDF documents) in the Deponent App. I would like to be able to have my paralegal put the exhibits into MY Dropbox account so that I can later move them into deponent app and attach them to a deposition outline. However, my paralegal has her own Dropbox app already saved to her desktop computer and has been unable to move documents from our server onto MY Dropbox account. Is there a way to have two Dropbox accounts on my paralegal’s desktop? Or, is there a way to drop documents into Dropbox without having it on your desktop?
Answer: You don’t need to have two separate Dropbox accounts. Because you both have accounts, transferring documents is simple. You can share any folder in your Dropbox with any other Dropbox user. To do this, just highlight the folder you want to share, right-click on it, and select Dropbox and then Share this Folder. Type in the email address of your paralegal, and she will now have access to that folder. You can also share folders via the web version of Dropbox, by clicking the drop-down menu next to the folder you want to share. Once you are sharing folders, your paralegal can easily move the PDF files into the shared folder, and you can then load them into Deponent.
Black’s Law Dictionary
Question #2 from: J.H. in Baltimore: After looking at the materials, I purchased Black’s Law Dictionary. It is uploaded into my Dropbox as a zip file, but my iPad can not open it. How can I open it?
Answer: After you purchase the Black’s Law Dictionary app from the App Store, you can use it on both your iPhone and iPad. In other words, it is a “universal” app; buy it once, use it on all iOS devices that you own. Did you purchase the file on your computer using iTunes? If so, just sync your iPad with that computer and the file will transfer over. Or just go to the App Store on your iPad and tap the button to download the app; as long as you are signed in with the same account that you used on iTunes, the App Store will recognize that you have paid for the app in the past and let you download it again to another device for free. We’re confused by your reference to a .zip file. Did you create that file yourself using another version of Black’s Law Dictionary, something other than the iOS version? If so, you will need to spend another $55 to get the iOS app to use it on your iPad.
Keynote and a projector
Question #3 from: F.P. in Alexandria, LA: Keynote will output to a projector — have to have a physical connector, right?
Answer: To do this today, you need to purchase Apple’s VGA Adaptor, which costs $29 in the Apple Store. In some apps, the output mode remains hidden until you plug it in to the projector. But in the next version of the iOS operating system (iOS 5, which we will probably see in September), you will be able to use the AirPlay feature to display virtually anything on your iPad 2’s screen — including your Keynote slides — on any TV that has an Apple TV ($99) attached. The Apple TV is a very small device so you can easily take it with you to your next meeting, hook it up to a TV, and then display your slides without connecting your iPhone or iPad to the TV. Note, however, that the Apple TV requires an HDMI or Component input, so if you only have access to a projector with VGA input, you’ll need to use a physical connection.
Android
Question #4 from: W.P. in Washington, DC: I am sure you have also had exposure to iPhone/Pad apps that are also found on the Android system. So in your opinion, what are the best 3 apps for us Android users to snag?
Answer: Many popular iPhone apps also exist for other platforms. For example, Documents to Go will work on BlackBerry, Android, Palm OS, Symbian (S60) and Nokia (Maemo Select). Having said that, because Apple’s App Store is so popular — and so profitable for developers — you often see apps appear first for the iPhone / iPad, and only later for other platforms. A notable exception: the great apps from Google. Because Google is behind the Android system, the Android version of apps (such as Google Voice and Google Translate, which we discussed yesterday) often appear first on Android and have more features on Android.
Court dockets
Question #5 from: M.C. in Philadelphia: Any Apps for checking court dockets?
Answer: Not to our knowledge, but some court dockets and online and can be accessed using Safari on the iPhone or iPad.
Two Microsoft Exchange (Outlook e-mail) questions
Question #6 from: A.S. in Miami: Are there any mail apps that allow you to access the .pst or exchange outlook folders so you can organize emails from your device as you review them? If not, do you know of plans in iOS5 to make this feature available?
Answer: If you use your computer to create an Outlook folder that is on the server, it should also appear on your iPhone or iPad if you sync with your company’s Exchange server. To access those folders, just tap the “Mailboxes” or “Inbox” button at the top of the screen to see all other online Exchange folders associated with your account. If you create a local folder using Outlook on your computer, that folder is only on your computer and cannot be accessed by the iPhone or iPad.
Question #7 from: P.C. in Verona, NY: My office has Outlook with Exchange server, so I cannot access my office e-mails, calendar and contacts directly on the iPad mail feature. We have to use Good Technologies to access our e-mail, calendar and contacts. It is cumbersome because we never know if I have an e-mail unless we log into Good to check. Is there a better program which integrates Outlook into the iPad’s existing e-mail function?
Answer: The iPhone and iPad can indeed work with an Exchange server, but only if your firm turns on that feature. Some companies are more security conscious and require the use of third party products with extra security to access e-mail, such as Good Technologies or Citrix. Unfortunately, this limits the usefulness of your iOS device because, for example, third party apps that integrate with the built-in Mail app will not work with your e-mail. Each company needs to weigh the advantages and tradeoffs — increased security vs. decreased usability. The Apple iPhone Configuration Utility can be engaged to find a happy medium to satisfy your reluctant IT staff.
Adobe Flash on the iPad or iPhone
Question #8 from: S.M. in Scottsdale, AZ: Does Atomic Browser allow you to access Flash websites?
Answer: No, but there are other, third-party web browsers for the iPhone and iPad that allow you to use Flash to a limited extent. For example, Skyfire will let you view some Flash videos on your iPhone or iPad. In general, though, Flash websites do not display very well on the iPhone or iPad. Fortunately, many companies realize this and provide an iOS-friendly version of their website when access with an iPhone or iPad.
Antivirus and spyware apps
Question #9 from: D.B. in Winter Park, FL: Do I need to install antispyware and antivirus software on my iPhone? if I log on to my Lexis and/or Westlaw or email account, do i need to worry about spyware?
Answer: No. There are currently no viruses or spyware on the iPhone or iPad, and because of the way that these devices and third party apps work, the risk that they will exist in the future is very small. Having said that, it is possible that they will exist in the future, but the risk is currently so remote that we do not think that it is worth spending money on iPhone security software.
iBooks as a PDF reader
Question #10 from: T.F. in Hallowell, ME: What was the name of the Apple i-reader app you recommended?
Answer: iBooks. Although Apple promotes the iBooks app as a way to purchase and read books on your iPad or iPhone (similar to Amazon’s Kindle app), iBooks also does a good job of reading PDF files. In fact, it is currently the fastest PDF viewer on the iPhone. On the iPad, it is nice to have a full-featured app that you can use to annotate a PDF file, but if you just want to view a PDF file quickly on the iPhone, iBooks is a great (and free) option.
VMWare
Question #11 from: M.G. in Atlanta: My firm does not use Citrix. We do everything via VMWare. Is there a compatible app with Visual Machines that allows the user to access their office desktop on their iPhone/iPad?
Answer: Yes. The app is called VMWare View and it is free. We haven’t tried it, but the reviews on the App Store are positive.
Stylus options
Question #12 from: D.V. in Indianapolis: Penultimate — what can you use besides your finger to type?
Answer: For any of the iPad apps that allow you to draw on your iPad — yesterday, we discussed Penultimate, Note Taker HD and Notes Plus— the apps work much better if you use a stylus to write on your iPad screen. There are many different brands available such as the Kensington Virtuoso (with or without a real pen), the BoxWave Capacitive Styra (with pen) and Stylus (without pen), and the Ten One Design Pogo Sketch Stylus. If you go to the iPhone J.D. website and do a search at the top right for “stylus” you will find lots of reviews pointing out the advantages and shortcomings of each.
List of apps
Most of the apps that we discussed yesterday are the same apps that we included in our 60 Apps in 60 Minutes presentation at ABA TECHSHOW a few months ago, but there were some differences. Here is a list of the apps that we discussed according to my notes, although I think that a few more were mentioned by Reid, Josh or Tom during the presentation that I missed:
TrialPad – display and mark up exhibits on external display ($89.99):
Snapseed for iPad – photo editor ($4.99):
Minimal Folio – presentations ($2.99):
If you want to learn more about these great apps and you missed the CLE yesterday, ALI-ABA will soon publish the session online so that you can view it at your leisure and get CLE credit. I believe it will be available here.
Hipmunk is a free service that gives you a list of available flights between locations on a particular date so that you can find the flight that works best for your trip. But unlike other similar websites that can be hard to navigate and are so full of advertisements that they make you want to scream, the Hipmunk interface is clear and full of useful tools. Ever since Hipmunk launched in August of 2010, it has been one of my favorite websites to use on my computer.
Earlier this year, Hipmunk released an iPhone app. It is very useful, but because the main advantage of Hipmunk is its great layout, I still preferred using Hipmunk on the larger screen of a computer. A few weeks ago, Hipmunk released an iPad app, and it is a joy to use.
When you launch the app you simply enter where you are going to and from (which is quick after you have used the app a few times because you can just tap from a list of recent cities) and the dates (which is also simple, just tap dates on a pop-up calendar).
After a few moments, you then see details on the first leg of the flight. By default, the app (like the website) uses the “Agony” option to list what are likely to be the most pleasant options (direct flights, no tight connections, good price). The site seems to include all airlines except for Southwest (which has restrictions on using third party websites), and thus gives you a good overview of your travel options on different airlines.
The best feature of Hipmunk is the colorful bars, which allows you to easily see the overall length of the flight and, for non-direct flights, the amount of time for the layover and the place of the layover.
I like that the app starts with the Agony option so I can get a sense of the best options, but I usually next sort by departure time to find the flight that best fits my schedule. If you don’t want to see flights before or after a certain time, just slide the tabs at the top. You can also sort by price and by total length of the flight.
To get additional information, just tap on a flight. A pop-up window will give you all of the key information about the flight.
If you select an outgoing leg for your trip, then when you tap the tab at the top to see options for the return you will only see options on the same airline. If you don’t select an outgoing leg, then all possible return options will be displayed.
Once you have both legs selected, the app gives you several ways to book the trip. If you want to book on your iPad, just tap a button to launch the airline website. You can also send yourself the details in an e-mail. Or if you want to book on your computer, the app provides you an address to type in to your browser and a phrase to recreate the travel itinerary you created on the iPad.
If you book a flight on an airline website, the airline gives Hipmunk a few bucks as a commission, but it doesn’t cost you anything extra. And of course, if you don’t want to help out the fine folks at Hipmunk, nothing stops you from just booking the flight from scratch, taking advantage of what you learned from Hipmunk without using their links.
The iPhone app works in much the same way, although it is somewhat less useful because of the limited screen size. You can turn your iPhone to landscape mode to see even more information on each row, although I still find the bars a little tight to give you a good overview of flight time like you get on the iPad app or the website.
When you tap a flight once, you get expanded information, and then you can tap the button on the right to get the pop-up window with more information, just like the pop-up window in the iPad app.
I love seeing information on lots of different flights at the same time along a timeline. Presenting the information this way is so much more useful than what you see on a typical airline site. If you haven’t tried Hipmunk before, check it out. I suspect that you will quickly become hooked.
The iPhone can be very useful when you travel, especially when your airline has an iPhone app. Following up on my reviews of the Fly Delta and Continental Airlines apps, here is a look at the American Airlines app.
The home page of the app gives you access to the key information that you need, such as viewing your upcoming reservations, the ability to check in, the ability to check flight status and flight schedules and the ability to book a flight. On the home page, and just about every other page of the app, you can use your finger to pull down the screen to quickly refresh the contents — an important function for an airline app considering that departure/arrival times and gates can change while you are traveling.
For some options, such the book a flight option, the app simply redirects you to the mobile version of the aa.com website. It’s a good mobile website, but you lose the improved interface and other advantages of a native app
When you look at a page for one of your upcoming flights, all of the key information is clearly presented at one time, minimizing the need to tap several buttons to get at what you need. On one page, you see the flight number, departure and arrival gates, your seat, whether it is on time or delayed, estimated time of arrival, and the option to check in or see a boarding pass (in airports that support American Airlines electronic boarding passes). There are two different layouts for this information depending upon what button you press to get there, but both are nicely done:
One feature that I haven’t seen on any other airline apps is the ability to give a name to your reservation. For example, if you have multiple meetings in Miami but one is to meet with client ABC and another is to meet with client DEF, you may find it more helpful to identify the flight with a client name instead of just the location.
The American Airlines app also has the ability to show you the seats on your flight, allowing you to see, for example, that there is nobody in the middle seat in your row so that you can keep your fingers crossed that the seat remains open. (On this flight, mine did. Yeah!)
Like other airline apps, the American Airlines app makes it easy to e-mail your itinerary to someone and store a reminder of where you parked your car. Like the Continental app, the American Airlines app also includes a built-in Sudoku app. I honestly don’t understand why you would want to play Sudoku from within an airline app instead of using any of the many free or cheap stand-alone apps, but there must be something appealing about this feature that I don’t understand for multiple airlines to include it.
If you use an iPad, there is a separate app called American Airlines HD. It only works in portrait mode (which makes sense on an iPhone but seems arbitrarily restrictive on the iPad) and includes all of the features of the iPhone app with a few more tweaks. First, the graphics are updated for the larger iPad screen. Seconds, for the parts of the app that send you to the aa.com website, you see the full website instead of the mobile website. Third, when you use the app to create an electronic boarding pass, the app gives you four versions of the boarding pass, one in each corner of the iPad, so that you can just put the most convenient corner under the scanner.
The American Airlines app is full of useful features. You should definitely download this free app before your next American flight.
Click here for American Airlines for iPhone (free):
Click here for American Airlines HD for iPad (free):
Other than the Apple earnings call earlier this week that was mostly about the iPhone and iPad, the major Apple news of the week was several new Macs and Lion, the latest version of the Mac operating system. As a result, I didn’t run across much iOS news of note from the past week, except for the following:
I know of several law firms and other companies that maximize security on the iPad by using Good software instead of the built-in Mail client on the iPad. Good has been around for a long time and provides products for many platforms, but according to John Paczkowski of All Things D, over 95% of Good’s tablet customers use the iPad. The core base of Good customers are big businesses, so this statistic demonstrates the dominance of the iPad in law firms and other large companies.
Yesterday I reviewed a product that can protect your iPad even if it falls a great distance. John Sutter of CNN writes about an iPhone without that protection that someone dropped while he was skydiving from 13,500, and amazingly the iPhone survived (with cracks) and the owner was able to track it down using Find My iPhone and keep using it. Wow.
Bryan Wolfe of AppAddvice writes about some of the apps that you can use to watch TV episodes on your iPad.
Eric Slivka of MacRumors notes that according to a Financial Times article (subscription required) Apple has passed Nokia to become the world’s top smartphone vendor.
And finally, here is an interesting video taken by an iPhone of guitar strings oscillating as a result of the way that the iPhone’s camera takes a video (using a rolling shutter). The video runs a little long, but even if you watch just a few seconds of it you’ll get the idea. Mesmerizing. (via 9to5 Mac)
Normally, I find that Apple’s Smart Cover provides all of the protection that I need for my iPad. It protects the glass on the front of the iPad, and I don’t much care if the back of my iPad gets any scratches (although so far, it hasn’t). When I’m carrying my iPad to and from work, court, a meeting, etc. I put the iPad with Smart Cover inside of my briefcase or a bag such as the Tom Bihn Ristretto. But sometimes you need more protection for your iPad. For example, my family took a trip to San Francisco earlier this month, and I knew that I would be carrying my iPad and a ton of other items in a backpack. The Smart Cover alone wasn’t going to be enough protection from other items in the backpack. Just before my trip, G-Form sent me a free review unit of their $60 iPad Extreme Sleeve, so I decided to try out the product on my trip. It worked really well, with one exception noted below.
The G-Form iPad Extreme Sleeve comes in either black or yellow. It is easy to use. Just slip your iPad into the case and zip it up.
The case doesn’t take up very much extra space over the iPad itself. It is about 9″ by 11″ and about an inch thick. The case is soft inside and contains PORON foam with a flexible, rubber-feeling exterior and a unique design with shapes and ridges on the outside. The aim is to provide protection from even extreme impacts to the case so that the iPad remains protected even if the case itself is hit really hard.
And I do mean really hard. G-Form has posted videos to YouTube showing the case with an iPad inside being dropped from an airplane 500 feet in the air and with a bowling ball dropped on it. Obviously, I did not even attempt to try these tests myself, but they are impressive. I can say, however, that after a week of having lots of other objects in my backpack bumping into the G-Form case, my iPad 2 held up great, without a scratch.
The only issue that I had with the G-Form iPad Extreme Sleeve is that I wanted to put my iPad 2 in it with the Smart Cover on. It fit, but was very tight and a little difficult to get in and out. My iPad 2 without the case also fit, but it seemed a little loose inside. G-Form advertises that the original case will work with both the iPad and iPad 2, but I see that the company has just released the iPad Extreme Sleeve 2, which appears to be essentially the same as the unit that I tested except that it is $10 more and has a slightly larger interior to better accommodate the iPad 2 with a Smart Cover.
I also see on the G-Form website that there will soon be a similar product called the Extreme Portfolio. It opens like a folder and has even more space inside to hold documents in addition to the iPad. Here is a YouTube video showing the Extreme Portfolio with an iPad inside being dropped 60 feet onto pavement without any damage at all. Amazing.
If you want to put your iPad in a full body case, I’m sure that you are doing it because you want to provide maximum protection in case you drop the iPad or something bumps into it. The G-Form Extreme Sleeve that I reviewed — and I’m sure the same is true for the new products that they are about to release — provides you with incredible protection in a product that is not very bulky and is easy to use. If you have an iPad 2, you’ll probably want to get the new version and not the one that I used.
Yesterday, Apple released the results for its 2011 fiscal third quarter (which ran from March 27, 2011 to June 25, 2011) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. It was a record-setting quarter for Apple, with sales of $28.57 billion and net profit of $7.31 billion. If you want to hear the full call yourself, you can download it from iTunes or you can read the transcript provided by Seeking Alpha. Apple’s official press release is here. Here are the highlights of the call that I think would be of interest to attorneys who use an iPhone or iPad:
Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones this past quarter, more than ever before, even though Apple has yet to even introduce the 2011 model of the iPhone. $13.3 billion of Apple’s profit came from the iPhone last quarter.
Apple sold 9.25 million iPads, more than ever before. The iPad 2 went for sale in the fiscal second quarter, but it was hard to find. This past quarter was the first full quarter in which the iPad 2 was for sale and relatively easy to find. Apple sells as many iPads as it can make right now, and Apple now makes more money on iPads than on Macs, even though the first iPad was introduced last year and Apple has been making Macs since 1984.
If you combine iPhone, iPad and iPod touch sales, Apple sold over 33 million iOS devices last quarter, and to date has sold 220 million iOS devices.
There are more than 425,000 apps on the App Store right now. The App Store passed the 15 billion download mark last week.
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that there is a “future product transition” coming this quarter. Presumably he is referring to the 2011 model of the iPhone, which I believe will be announced in September. Considering how many iPhones Apple sold last quarter, of a model that is essentially over a year old, I imagine that Apple is going to sell an insane number of iPhones this quarter when the new model comes out.
iPads are increasingly popular in businesses. 86% of the Fortune 500 companies are using iPads, as are 47% of the top 500 companies in the world. As Apple COO Tim Cook said yesterday: “I think if you really looked at it fairly, to be this far into the enterprise, with a product that’s only been shipping for 15 months in the case of the iPad, is absolutely incredible because the enterprise is typically much more conservative and takes a long time to evaluate products. And in this case, people are moving at a speed I haven’t seen.”
At the 2011 ABA TECHSHOW, I teamed up with Reid Trautz and Josh Barrett to teach a session called 60 Apps in 60 Minutes, a fast-paced survey of some of the most useful iPhone and iPad apps for lawyers. You can see a list of the apps we discussed here. ALI-ABA, the non-profit CLE organization formed by the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association, has asked us to get the band back together again and present that session as an online CLE co-sponsored by the ABA Law Practice Management Section. We’ve updated our presentation to add some of the latest and greatest apps, and the session will be on July 27 at 1pm Eastern. You participate in the session by calling in and watching the slides on your computer.
One nice thing about this CLE is the course materials. Instead of some boring PDF file that you will never read, all participants get a copy of Tom Mighell’s book, iPad in One Hour for Lawyers (a $34.95 value). If you register by July 21, you should receive the book in time for the program, although I don’t think we will refer to the book during the program itself. Tom Mighell will serve as the moderator for our discussion. By the way, Mighell also runs the site iPad4Lawyers.
If you cannot attend on July 27, ALI-ABA usually posts these online after the session, so I presume you’ll be able to take the course later.
The very first app that I reviewed on iPhone J.D. when I started this website in 2008 was Google Mobile. That app is now called Google Search, and it remains useful today because you can simply speak search terms to your iPhone and the app understands what you are saying and then runs a search on Google. If you turn on a setting called “Just Talk” you can even just launch the Google Search app, hold up your iPhone to your face, and the Google Search app automatically waits for you to say your search terms without needing to press any buttons.
Google does a great job with voice recognition, but Nuance is the king of voice recognition with its Dragon line of products. Dragon Dictation, for example, is a very useful iPhone and iPad app that is a favorite of mine and many other lawyers. A few days ago, Nuance released a new free app called Dragon Go. The app works like Dragon Dictation in that you start the app, press a button, and then say something to your iPhone. But instead of just converting your voice to text like the Dragon Dictation app, Drago Go examines that text and then runs a search based on the text at some of the most popular website on the Internet. For some searches, Dragon Go will guess that Google can provide the most relevant answers, and the app provides search results in Google. In this way, the Dragon Go app works the same way as the Google Search app. But unlike Google Search, Dragon Go also shows a carousel of icons at the top of the screen with alternative places to search. Just tap another icon to show the results in a different engine such as Wikipedia, Yelp, Twitter, Bing Maps, or many other sites depending upon your search terms.
For example, if I tap the microphone button and then say “24th Judicial District Court,” the app knows that I am in New Orleans, Louisiana (because it uses the iPhone’s Location Services feature) and runs a search in Google with the first result being the 24th J.D.C. in Gretna, Louisiana. But using the icon carousel at the top, I can quickly select the map icon and see a search run in Bing Maps that shows me the location of the 24th J.D.C. (just across the Mississippi River from New Orleans).
Another example: if I say “Mad Men episodes” the Dragon Go app defaults to the tab that gives me link to get episodes of Mad Men from iTunes, but I can also tap the Wikipedia tab to see the full entry there with descriptions of every episode of that TV series.
Adding the phrase “near me” is very useful. You can say “pizza near me” and find a listing on Yelp of restaurants selling pizza close to your current location. You can say “shoes near me” and find product listings from Milo, a website that acts as a front end for local stores.
For many popular websites with content such as newspaper websites, you can even tell the app where to run the search. For example, you can say “iPhone on CNN” and the app will run a search for “iPhone” on the CNN website and display the results. You can say “Harry Potter showtimes” and the app will know to run your search on the Fandango website. Food and restaurant related searches bring up results in Yelp. Click here to see a YouTube video promoting the app, but note that this is a slightly exaggerated commercial, not real life demo of the app. When you find something that you want, you can tap a button export the search results to e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, a text message, etc.
By directing you to lots of different sites that might contain relevant information, Dragon Go attempts to be the one voice-based search engine for all of your needs. I’ll have to use this app for a while to decide whether I find it more useful than just using the Google Search app, but on a first look this looks like a very useful app. And since it is free, you’ll definitely want to check it out and give the app — and carousel at the top of the app — a spin for yourself.
Earlier this week, I wrote about the ABA’s new survey on lawyer smartphone use. In connection with that report, California attorney Monica Bay — who is editor-in-chief of Law Technology News — writes about how Apple was unable to infiltrate law firms with its Macintosh computers but is now doing so with the iPhone and iPad. I agree with her on this. When I started at my law firm in 1994, we were a large law firm that used only Macs, something that was rare at the time and is unheard of today. But by the early 2000s, my firm wanted to use software that was PC only such as document management software, client relationship management software, etc. As a longtime fan of Apple products I was sad to see the Macs and PowerBooks leave, but 10 years later I don’t care as much thanks to the iPhone and iPad. Sure, I still use my computer every day in the office, but the real excitement in technology today is in the smartphone and tablet space, and I enjoy being able to use Apple’s great products. And looking around my office, I see that there are iOS devices everywhere, so I’m clearly not alone. And now, on to the recent iPhone and iPad news of note:
Jahna Berry of The Arizona Republic writes about Phoenix attorneys Marc Lamber and James Goodnow of the Fennemore Craig firm who loaned iPads to 20 of their top personal injury clients to make it easier for the attorneys to communicate with their clients, including Skype video chats.
Apple is involved in lots of high-stakes IP litigation relating to the iPhone, so it needs good lawyers. Dan Levine and Poornima Gupta of Reuters report that B.J. Watrous (formerly deputy general counsel with Hewlett Packard and before that an attorney at DLA Piper) is Apple’s new chief intellectual property counsel, taking over for Richard “Chip” Lutton Jr., who is leaving Apple after 10 years.
People often ask me whether they should get an iPhone from AT&T or Verizon. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, and it largely depends on what part of the country you are in. In many areas, you get better coverage with Verizon, but 3G data can be faster on AT&T (plus you can talk on the phone and use data at the same time). Another point of comparison is the price of the data plans, and Art of the iPhone compares the two. Unless you want to use a lot of 3G data, AT&T tends to be cheaper.
Rob Dean of WalkingOffice writes about remote desktop apps for the iPad. I currently use LogMeIn Ignition, and it is one of the most useful apps on my iPad, making it easy for me to travel without my laptop, but I suspect that many of these apps would work just as well. For example, a few days ago, I got an e-mail from an attorney in Scottsdale, Arizona with a strong recommendation for Splashtap Remote, one of the apps mentioned in Dean’s post which is a fraction of the cost of LogMeIn ($2.99 versus $29.99).
How much money have you spent on content for your iPhone or iPad? Neil Hughes of AppleInsider reports that according to analyst Chris Whitmore with Deutsche Bank, the average iPhone or iPad owner has $100 worth of content.
Pete Mortensen of Cult of Mac is an iPhone user who spent some time with Android and Windows Phone 7 phones. He writes about how the competition stacks up.
Zach Honig of Engadget reviews the Kingston Wi-Drive, an external hard drive that talks to your iPhone or iPad using Wi-Fi and provides external storage for movies, photos, etc. He says that the product works well, but says that instead of spending $130 (16GB version) or $175 (32GB version), some people may prefer to spend an extra $100 when they get their next iPhone or iPad to get more built-in storage.
Attorney and consultant Paul Ungar reviews the Worldox iPad app on Brett Burney’s Macs in Law website.
Anne Tergesen of the Wall Street Journal writes that many hotels now offer a service where they will take the guest’s iPhone and other electronic devices and in exchange provide books and board games, something that the hotels call “digital detox” packages for people who need to take a break from their screens. I can’t tell you much more about the article because I stopped reading it in the middle so that I could get back to my Twitter, Facebook, email…
Philadelphia attorney Michael Payne reviews LeapDoc, an app that allows to to “print” a file on your computer and have it show up as a PDF on your iPhone or iPad. I have the full version of Adobe Acrobat on my computer which includes a virtual PDF printer so I can print any file to that Adobe virtual printer to create a PDF, which I can then transfer to GoodReader on my iPad. But LeapDoc looks like an interesting, alternative solution. Click here for LeapDoc ($4.99):
And finally, here is a heartwarming story from the Land Down Under. Evonne Barry of the Herald Sun reports that nine-year old Holly Bligh has albinism and nystagmus, conditions which impair her eyesight. She used to have to carry a heavy magnifying glass to class, but thanks to the iPad she can instead now have her teachers scan documents and then she can use the iPad’s pinch-to-zoom feature to enlarge text so that she can read it. The article discusses correspondence between Holly’s mother and Steve Jobs praising the iPad. I actually suffer from the same two eye conditions (although it sounds like Holly’s eyesight is far worse than mine) and I also find that it is often much easier to read documents on an iPad where I can easily zoom in on text. Indeed, I suspect that many of you don’t see as well as you did when you were younger, and so perhaps you too can take some inspiration from Holly. Here is a picture of Holly and her iPad taken by Ben Seinnerton of the Herald Sun:
