Many of us let our kids play with our iPads, and it is always amazing to see how quickly young kids figure out how to use these devices. When used in moderation, I consider using the iPad a good thing for kids, but I do sometimes wonder how using an iPad might influence a child's development. Hanna Rosin wrote a great feature for The Atlantic entitled The Touch-Screen Generation to explore this topic. It's a great read. I'm not surprised to see that Rosin has a way with words. When I was a high school debater, Rosin and her partner David Coleman debated for Stuyvesant High School in New York. They were one of the smartest and best teams in the country and one of the toughest opponents that my partner and I ever faced. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- St. Louis attorney Dennis Kennedy and Larry Port, CEO of Rocket Matter, gave a presentation on iPhone apps at the ABA's 2013 Spring Law Practice Management Section meeting. The presentation was titled "Planet of the Apps" and the amusing slides that went along with their presentation are available here.
- Jim Calloway of the Oklahoma Bar Association told me that iPhone J.D. readers might appreciate this list of 40 "secret" iPhone tips and shortcuts from Kevin Whipps of AppStorm. The list is over a year old, but there are some good tips that might be new to you.
- South Carolina attorney Ben Stevens of The Mac Lawyer reviews the Lynktec TruGlide Pro Precision Stylus.
- Karl Burnett of TouchArcade reviews Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright Trilogy HD, a free iPad/iPhone game in which you play the role of an attorney.
- Florida attorney Mitch Robiner created Stick Texting, an app that lets you add funny animations to your text messages. He recently released a new, rated 17+ version called Stick Texting - The College Series. This YouTube video shows off some of the new animations. Click here to get Stick Texting - The College Series ($0.99):
- South Carolina attorney Justin Kahn reviews PDFpen for iPad.
- That reminds me: Jean MacDonald of Smile — maker of the PDFpen apps for iPhone and iPad — founded App Camp For Girls, a summer camp for girls age 12 to 14 to teach them how to write iPhone apps. The goal is to try to do something about the small number of women who write software; this year there is just one camp, but in the future they hope to expand around the country. Sounds great to me, and you can support the effort by making a tax-deductible donation on the App Camp For Girls page on Indiegogo.
- The iMore website recently started a Hall of Fame section honoring apps that are more than 5 years old and have earned their place in iPhone history.
- Joanna Stern of ABC News previews August, a device due out later this year that will let you lock and unlock your door using an iPhone. You can even send someone a virtual key that stops working whenever you want, making it unnecessary to leave a spare key under the door mat.
- If you travel in your car a lot, Christopher Null of PC World has tips for using your iPhone and other devices to be a mobile road warrior.
- And finally, if you are worried that using an iPhone to make phone calls makes you too modern, Pyle Audio offers the PRT55I, the Authentic Classical Themed Home Telephone System. The device resembles an old-fashioned rotary phone with a wood base and brushed copper parts and can be used with both your landline and an iPhone. The list price is $164.99, but you can get it for only $68.26 on Amazon.
