
Because I take my iPad with me when I travel or do business out of the office, my computer never leaves my desk. For almost all of the tasks that I do out of the office (such as email, reviewing and annotating documents, giving presentations and working with my calendar) native iPad apps do everything that I need. But sometimes I need to use a tool that is only available on a "real" computer, and when that happens I use a remote desktop app to connect to my PC. There are quite a few good ones on the market, and for many years now
my favorite has been LogMeIn. This week, a new app called
Parallels Access was released that offers remote access to a PC or Mac with a twist: the twist is that the software you are using on your PC or Mac behaves, in many respects, almost like a native iPad app. Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal/All Things D
likes it, as
does David Pogue of the New York Times. I can't remember the last time that the WSJ and the NYT both talked about a new iPad app on the same day, which tells you something about the appeal of this app — plus, many iPhone J.D. readers sent me emails this week to make sure that I heard about the app. Suffice it to say that this product has buzz. For a legal perspective, New York attorney and TechnoLawyer publisher Neil Squillante
provides this overview. For an early negative review, Andy Ihnatko
writes for ChicagoGrid that he had problems when using a Bluetooth keyboard. I've only used Parallels Access for 24 hours so it is too early
for me to write a review, but so far, I'm impressed. It is more expensive than other remote access apps — $79 a year per computer — but you can use it with a PC for free for the next 90 days while they finalize the PC software (which has worked fine for me so far). You only get 14 free days to control a Mac. Stay tuned for my full review, but if you are ready to check it out during the free trial period,
click here to download the free iPad app. And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:
- Dallas attorney James Gourley created the pi Mount,
an innovative and inexpensive ($9.00) product that elevates your iPhone
above a power adapter. It's a neat idea, and since Gourley is a patent
attorney, it won't surprise you that he has a patent on it.
- California attorney Scott Grossberg explains how to handle your snail mail from the U.S. Post Office on your iPad.
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In addition to reviewing Parallels Access, this week David Pogue of the New York Times also offered travel tips including using travel apps such as the excellent Delta and FlightTrack Pro apps. I agree with almost every one of his suggestions, except that I wonder how he has avoided taking off his belt in all of those TSA millimeter-wave scanning booths; the agents always instruct me that I need to remove my belt, and I've never gotten the impression that this issue is open for discussion. Do I look like that much more of a terrorist than David Pogue?
- I like to listen to audiobooks when I workout, and while I prefer to use my 6th generation iPod nano to do so because I like the way you can clip it on a shirt sleeve, I know that many people prefer using an iPhone. Susie Ochs of Macworld reviews six iPhone apps that you can use when running. I haven't tried any of them, but the one that makes you think that you are running away from Zombies is an intriguing way to add encouragement to your run.
- Mike Wehner of TUAW reports that, according to the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, 79% of mobile malware is written for Android versus only 0.7% written for iPhone.
- And finally, actress Charlene deGuzman wrote and stared in this short film "I Forgot My Phone" which provides a sobering perspective on excessive iPhone use. She explains the film in this post on her Tumblr page.