Every year in December, the ABA publishes its list of the top 100 law blogs (blawgs) in the ABA Journal. The blawgs are divided into categories, and then people are allowed to vote for their favorite blawg. I really appreciate it that so many of you voted for iPhone J.D. in the legal technology category last year; it was a great honor to win, especially because the publicity brought more lawyers to this site and helped more lawyers make the most of their iPhones and iPads. The ABA is starting to make selections for this year's list and is asking for your help in the form of "Amici" submissions. Click on this link if you want to tell the ABA Journal editors about one or more blawgs that you enjoy, whether it be iPhone J.D. or any other blog. The deadline for submissions is September 9, 2011. And now on to the iPhone and iPad news of the week:
- First on Tuesday, and then several other times this week, Apple's market cap was ahead of ExxonMobil, making Apple the stock market's most valuable company. I'm not sure what real significance there is to being first or second, but it is interesting that only 15 years ago, Apple was seemingly on the edge of going out of business, and now it is the world's most valuable company, a point that I first saw mentioned by Nick Bilton of the New York Times on Twitter. Daniel Eran Dilger has a great chart on AppleInsider comparing Apple, ExxonMobil and Microsoft stock over the past decade.
- Do you use an iPad instead of a notebook computer? I certainly do. If you count iPads in the category of notebook computers, then Apple would easily be considered the #1 seller of notebook computers, as noted by John Paczkowski of All Things D, citing a report from Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore.
- Victoria L. Herring, an attorney in Des Moines, Iowa, discusses the use of the iPad in the practice of law in an article for GP Solo.
- Oakland, CA attorney Jeffrey Allen discusses his mobile attorney tools — including the iPad and iPhone — in another article for GP Solo.
- Dave Johnson of PC World offers tips for taking better pictures with a smartphone camera.
- Brian Chen of Wired wrote a book called Always On: How the iPhone Unlocked the Anything-Anytime-Anywhere Future--and Locked Us In. Nick Bilton of the New York Times wrote a good interview with Chen about his book.
- Attorney Bill Latham of The Hytech Lawyer discusses using GoToMeeting to give a presentation in which the PowerPoint slides appear on each person's iPad instead of on a central screen.
- Dennis O'Reilly of CNET offers advice for keeping the data on your iPad safe.
- California attorney David Sparks argues the case for plain text in an article for Macworld.
- Erica Ogg of GigaOm recommends iPhone apps to use when you travel.
- Attorney Nilay Patel of This is My Next discusses and defends the patent system, a frequent object of criticism in these days of countless lawsuits between smartphone manufacturers.
- Attorney Reid Trautz writes about seeing iPads everywhere.
- Jonathan Ezor, a professor at the Touro Law Center, reviews the HP TouchPad, HP's answer to the iPad, for Law Technology News.
- Darrell Etherington of GigaOm reviews the PadPivot, a small foldable stand that makes it easy to hold an iPad on your lap.
- Kevin Tofil of GigaOm describes a report from mobile ad company Jumptap indicating the most popular smartphone in each state. The map shows mostly iPhone use in the North and mostly Android use in the South, except that Louisiana is a southern state in which the iPhone dominates. I'll take credit for that.
- And finally, this has nothing to do with the iPhone or iPad, but if you love Apple products you probably also appreciate the work of Steve Jobs' other company, Pixar. Cimaron Neugebauer of The Salt Lake Tribune wrote about a house in Salt Lake City built to look exactly like the house that flies away with baloons in Pixar's Up movie, and the paper produced this video showing off the house. Very cute:
