Starting today, you can preorder an iPhone 5c and get it as soon as a week from today. Kevin Bostic of AppleInsider has the details for doing so. But unfortunately, and unlike the last few years, Apple is not allowing preorders of its new top-of-the-line iPhone, the iPhone 5s. Thus, if you want to be one of the first to get one, you will need to find an Apple Store or a cellphone store and get in line early in the morning next Friday. I did that back in 2010 when the iPhone 4 was released and it wasn’t too much of a hassle. I haven’t yet decided what I am going to do this year. And now the news of note from the past week, most of which relates to the new iPhones:
- Indiana attorney Bill Wilson explains why he thinks that attorneys will like the iPhone 5s on his Third Apple website. His thoughts are similar to mine.
- California attorney David Sparks explains how he uses Smart Playlists in iTunes to create great mixes of songs to listen to on his iPhone.
- I am not the only one confused and annoyed by the lower case “s” in the new iPhone 5s. Adam Engst addresses the issue in this article for TidBITS. Amen!
- Danny Yadron and Ian Sherr of All Things D provide more information on the Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the new iPhone 5s. For example, your iPhone doesn’t store an image of your fingerprint.
- Mary Branscombe of CITE World also discusses the Touch ID sensor, explaining that it doesn’t read the outside lawyer of your skin but instead reads a living layer of skin under the surface of your finger and therefore cannot be used with a finger that is severed from your body. Well that make me feel better. (via Daring Fireball)
- Neil Hughes of AppleInsider reports that the new iPhones have a slightly larger battery and get two more hours of battery life. That’s good news, but isn’t enough to get me to stop thinking about that severed finger. Jeesh.
- Russel Brandom of The Verge discusses the use of online services such as Gmail and Dropbox by attorneys.
- Hari Gottipati of GigaOm wrote a fascinating article on iBeacon, a technology in iOS 7 the allows objects in the vicinity of your iPhone to transmit information to your iPhone.
- David Pogue of the New York Times discusses a new book called Cockpit Confidential that provides honest answers for just about any question you have on air travel. Even if you don’t get the book, Pogue answers many common questions in his article. For example, he debunks the suggestion that keeping an iPad or iPhone turned poses any danger to the flight.
- If you are buying a new iPhone, should you get AppleCare? Jonathan Seff of Macworld provides his thoughts. I’m on the fence. There have been times that I have purchased it and used it, but I usually don’t purchase it and those times have been lucky enough to not need it.
- Rene Ritchie of iMore runs through all of the decisions (including whether to buy AppleCare) that you will need to make if you plan to get a new iPhone.
- In light of the recent revelations about the NSA, is it safe to use password security software such as 1Password? There’s a great post on the 1Password blog that addresses this question. Another post from this past June also addresses the issue.
- Scoopertino offers a humorous, alternative take on Apple’s new iPhone announcements.
- And finally, when Apple showed off the iPhone 5s earlier this week, it selected only a single app to show off the power of the new A7 processor that provides the engine for the iPhone 5s: Infinity Blade III. That game will be available next week and will actually work on devices as old as the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2, but of course you will need an iPhone 5s to see all of the dazzling graphics. Here is the official trailer for the game. It is amazing that a device as small as the iPhone can render graphics like this in real time.