Month: September 2013

Yesterday, Apple introduced two new iPhones, the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c.  The iPhone 5s is the flagship model.  It will be available starting September 20, 2013, and it costs the same as the iPhone 5 that it replaces:  $199 for 16 GB, $299 for 32 GB and $399 for 64 GB.  The iPhone 5s includes some great new features, and the more I read about this device, the more I am sure that lawyers are going to love it.

Before I get to the phone itself, I have to be a technical lawyer and comment upon the typography of the name.  To my eyes, it looks wrong for the “s” to be lowercase.  Apple used an uppercase letter for the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 3GS; why is it different this year?  Back in 2009 when Apple introduced the iPhone 3GS, some parts of Apple’s website called it the “iPhone 3G S” but then Apple realized that the space before the S was silly and removed it.  The chance of a change this year seems smaller, especially since there seems to be an argument for using a lower case “s” in the Helvitica family font used by Apple, but I’m still holding out hope that the anti-e.e. cummings crowd at Apple prevails.

On to the phone itself.  For many years now, Apple has had a “tick tock” cycle in which they introduce a bold new design for the iPhone one year, and then the next year they use the same design with improvements.  Thus, we had the iPhone 3G, followed by the iPhone 3GS that used the same form factor; the iPhone 4 followed by the identical-from-the-outside iPhone 4S.  In 2012 we had the new design of the iPhone 5, and this year, the iPhone 5s looks almost exactly the same, and has the same dimensions, weight and battery life.  If the iPhone 5 was the “tick” what is the difference in this “tock”?  The changes include a speedy new processor, a fingerprint sensor, a better camera and a few more features such as new colors.

 

1. New Processor

The iPhone 5 used an A6 processor.  The iPhone 5s uses an A7 processor with a 64-bit architecture.  The A7 is twice as fast as last year’s A6 and is 40 times faster than the original iPhone introduced in 2007.  This will make the iPhone itself seem more responsive, reducing the friction between you and getting things done.  More importantly, apps can use the faster processor to include features that were previously impossible.  Yesterday, Apple showed off a game — Infinity Blade 3 — that looked incredible thanks to the A7 processor.  I’m not a big gamer (although I did play and enjoy Infinity Blade 1 and 2, so I suspect I’ll buy the sequel), but I look forward to seeing what app developers can do with this new processor to make more powerful apps.

2. Touch ID

Apple is combining the power of the A7 chip with some new hardware inside of the home button on the iPhone 5s to add a fingerprint scanner, technology that Apple calls Touch ID.  If you are an attorney using an iPhone, then I certainly hope you are using the passcode lock feature so that someone cannot simply pick up your iPhone and start reading your email and other confidential information.  But of course, it is a pain to have to type in that passcode every time you go to use your iPhone.  With the iPhone 5s, you won’t have to type in that passcode.  Simply place your finger on the home button and the iPhone will scan your finger, confirm that you are really you, and then unlock the phone.  Similarly, you can use your fingerprint instead of typing your Apple ID every time you download a new app.

Touch ID can store up to five fingerprints, so you can choose your thumb, your index finger, fingers on left and right hands, etc.  And they can be from different people, useful if you want your spouse to be able to easily unlock your iPhone while you are driving.

At first I assumed that the iPhone 5s is taking a picture of your finger, but that’s not how it works.  Security expert Rich Mogull explains in an article at Macworld that it uses a “capacitance fingerprint
reader [that] leverages a handy property of your skin: The outer layer of your
skin (your dermis), where your fingerprint is, is non-conductive, while
the subdermal layer behind it is conductive. When you touch the
iPhone’s fingerprint sensor, it measures the minuscule differences in
conductivity caused by the raised parts of your fingerprint, and it uses
those measurements to form an image.”

According to folks who tried it out yesterday, it works really well.  For example, John Gruber of Daring Fireball wrote:  “It’s fairly quick to train, and once trained, it is really fast, and in
my brief hands-on testing, very accurate. The optimal way to use it to
unlock your phone seems to be to tap the home button once to wake the
phone, and then just keep your thumb or finger on the button for just
another moment. Boom, unlocked. It’s very impressive technology. I
already feel silly tapping in my passcode to unlock my iPhone.”  David Pogue of the New York Times wrote:  “I got a few minutes with the 5S at Apple’s event introducing the phone. I
trained it to recognize my finger, then used it to unlock the phone a
couple of times. It worked perfectly, which is a welcome advance. And
the placement on the Home button is ingenious.”  By the way, I see that Pogue and the Times seem to agree with my opinion that “5S” looks better than “5s”.

For now, third party apps cannot use Touch ID, but I’m sure (or at least I hope) that will change in the future.  For example, I’d love to be able to simply use my fingerprint to unlock the 1Password app on my iPhone.

Security is incredibly important to lawyers — especially in this age of mobile devices — but it always involves a trade-off between protection and ease of use.  Using a password of “1234” is easy to remember and easy to enter, but provides horrible protection.  Complex passwords provide more protection at the cost of convenience.  Touch ID has the potential to provide both high security and high convenience at the same time, a juxtaposition that was previously impossible.  I’m very excited to try it myself and see future enhancements to Touch ID.

3. Better camera

Every year, Apple finds a way to improve the camera in the iPhone 5, and I’m incredibly glad that they do so.  Since your iPhone is always with you, it is the camera that you are most likely to use, whether you are taking pictures of your kids or photographing a document to scan it.

The iPhone 5s combines the A7 with new camera hardware — a larger sensor and an improved flash — to take even better pictures.  And the faster processor lets the camera do things like take 10 photos a second in a burst mode, provide auto image stabilization, and improve the color balance.  The camera also supports slow motion video, something that I don’t think that I’ll use in my law practice but will be fun while taking videos of the kids.

4. And that’s not all

Colors.  The iPhone 5 came in black and white.  The iPhone 5s has a white-and-silver model, a black-and-gray model (Apple calls it “space gray” whatever that means) and a new white-and-gold model.  There have been rumors of a gold iPhone for a while now and I feared that it would be tacky and gaudy, but this is Apple after all so it is no surprise that their version of gold looks tasteful and rather nice, even if it is a bit too much bling for me.

Free apps.  When you buy a new iPhone, you now get some great apps designed by Apple — Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iPhoto and iMovie — for free.  The first three cost $10 each while iPhoto and iMovie cost $5 each, so that’s $40 in free apps, all of which I use on my iPhone and recommend.  (I use them even more on my iPad, so hopefully they will also be included with the 2013 version of the iPad that I expect Apple to introduce next month.)

Motion data.  The iPhone 5s comes with a new M7 motion data processor that measures data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass much more efficiently, using less power, than prior iPhones that used the main processor for that task.  As a result, the iPhone can monitor your motion all the time and react accordingly.  Apple explains on its website:  “Since M7 can tell when you’re in a moving vehicle, iPhone 5s won’t ask you to join Wi-Fi
networks you pass by. And if your phone hasn’t moved for a while, like
when you’re asleep, M7 reduces network pinging to spare your battery.”  Fitness apps such as the Nike+ Move app will be able to take advantage of the M7 to better monitor your exercise.

Improved LTE coverage.  If you travel internationally with your iPhone 5s, the improved LTE coverage will give you faster speeds on more networks around the world.  This isn’t something that I plan to use because international roaming charges are expensive, but if your job takes you around the world, you might appreciate this feature.

Conclusion

The iPhone 5s only adds a few more things to the iPhone 5, but they look like features that most any lawyer would appreciate.  The security and ease-of-use improvements of the Touch ID would be enough of a reason for me to upgrade, and when you add the faster A7 processor, the better camera and all of the other improvements, there is no doubt that I will be getting one — and that would be true even if I didn’t publish this website.  If you currently use an iPhone 5, the upgrade to an iPhone 5s is certainly not essential, but it will make your constant companion even more useful.  (If you are not eligible to pay the subsidized price because you bought an iPhone 5 within the past year, you might be able to use a subsidized upgrade available to someone else on your wireless plan such as a spouse; that’s what I did last year.)  If you currently use an iPhone 4S or older model of the iPhone, then you get all of the improvements noted above plus the improvements of the iPhone 5 such as the larger screen and the thin, light design — so you are in for a treat.  And if the iPhone 5s will be your first iPhone, then welcome to iPhone J.D., and I hope that you stick around.

A few words about the iPhone 5c

Yesterday, Apple also announced the iPhone 5c.  It is $100 cheaper than the iPhone 5s, but you lose almost all of the advantages of the iPhone 5s.  For the most part, the iPhone 5c is just last year’s iPhone 5 with some bright colors added to the back.  If you are trying to get a less expensive iPhone for your teenager who wants a cool color anyway, the iPhone 5c is a fine choice.  But I think that most attorneys would be wise to spend the extra $100 to get a much more powerful device with better security and an improved camera.

Today at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern, Apple will introduce the 2013
version(s) of the iPhone.  I add the possible “s” to “version” because the rumor is that Apple will announce both a flagship iPhone 5S and a lower cost iPhone 5C.  I also expect to get more details on iOS 7. 

A year ago, Apple held this event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco.  This year, Apple is holding the event at a smaller venue on its own campus — the Town Hall auditorium at 4 Infinite Loop — which may indicate a more focused event.  Or it could have no significance at all; who knows.

The event will be attended by select members of the press, many of whom will
live-blog the announcements as they occur.  Here are direct links to the live
coverage at some of the sites that have in the past provided the best live
coverage:

• Macworld.  Jason Snell and Dan Moren are perhaps the best live-bloggers in the world for Apple announcements.
• The Verge. 
  
  Joshua Topolsky typically live blogs Apple announcements for The Verge.  UPDATE: Dieter Bohn is doing the live blog, and is doing a fantastic job.
• Engadget.  I’m not sure who will do this one.  Tim Stevens recently left Engadget, and Ryan Block says he is sitting this one out. UPDATE: Brad Molen and Myriam Joire will cover.
• Ars Technica.  In past years, Jacqui Cheng has done a great job with this live blog, but she says that this year it will be handled by Andrew Cunnigham.

Sometimes Apple provides a live video stream of the event.  If one is announced, I’ll update this post and provide a link.  But whether or not a live video stream is offered, Apple always posts a video of the event later on in the day, so you
should be able to watch it on Tuesday night.

We are just a few days away from Apple’s introduction of the next model of the iPhone, plus I expect we’ll see more information and a release date (and perhaps a few surprises) on iOS 7, the next version of the iPhone and iPad operating system with a radical new interface and lots of improvements.  If you plan to upgrade to a new iPhone, Apple has a new iPhone trade-in program whereby Apple will give you some cash for your old iPhone if you get the new one at an Apple Store.  As Joseph Keller of iMore notes, you can get $250 for a 16 GB iPhone 5.  It’s a pretty exciting time of the year for iPhone lovers.  And now, the rest of the news items of note from the past week:

• Should your law firm create an iPhone app for publicity purposes?  While a few law firms have had success doing so, for the most part I don’t think that this is a good use of your time and money, and I instead encourage you to make your law firm website iPhone-friendly.  Erik Mazzonne, the director of the Center for Practice Management at the North Carolina Bar Association, feels the same way, as he explained in this article for Law Practice Magazine.
• Your iPhone (and iPad) can be made more useful with the right accessories.  John Edwards of Law Technology News identifies some of the best smartphone accessories.
• What external battery do you get if you want to get the most extra battery life?  Alan of the website Art of the iPhone explored that question and decided that the Turcom 33,600 gives you the most.  He says you can recharge an iPhone around 15 times, so I’m sure you could recharge an iPad many times over.  You can get it on Amazon for $129.99.
• Earlier this year, I reviewed ABBYY TextGrabber + Translate, an excellent iPhone app that can perform OCR on the device itself.  The app is about to be updated to version 4.0 to add support for the iPad as well, and the update may be available by the time that you read this.  You can get more info here.
• Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times reviews KeyMe, an app that lets you scan a key so that if you lose it, you can provide a blueprint to a locksmith to recreate the key.
• Marco Tabini of Macworld discusses Apple’s improvements in iOS app security.
• And finally, what do you do when it’s time to pop open an ice cold bottle of beer but you don’t have a bottle opener handy?  According to a bunch of folks including Michael Rose at TUAW, you can just use your iPad charger.  The below picture comes from Susie Ochs of TechHive.  I absolutely, positively, do not in any way condone doing this … but you have to admit, it is tempting to try.

One of the most common tasks that I do on my iPhone and iPad is review a Microsoft Word document that I receive via email.  While it is possible to tap the document once and read it using the iOS built-in document viewer, I far prefer to instead open the document in Documents to Go.  In Documents to Go I can see redline track changes, comments and footnotes, none of which appear when you use the built-in viewer, and I like being able to pinch to make the text size larger or smaller to make it easier to read the document, something that you cannot do using the built-in document viewer.  Documents to Go is also useful for editing documents, but I suspect that 90% of the time that I use Documents to Go I am using it as a superior document viewer.

This week, Documents to Go was updated to version 5.0.  I’m always happy to see any update to Documents to Go on iOS, especially a significant update, because three years ago, much of the assets of DataViz were purchased by RIM, the company that makes (and subsequently changed its name to) BlackBerry.  I’ve never seen a full explanation of the details of that transaction, and when it occurred I was worried about the future of Documents to Go on iOS, but after three years of continued updates, hopefully there is no longer any reason to be concerned.

This update does a few things.  First, it changes the interface to better match iOS 7, which I expect Apple to release this month.  It’s just a cosmetic change, but it does have a fresh new look.  Here is what the main document screen looked like in the previous version of Documents to Go on an iPad, followed by the  main document screen in version 5:

Version 5 also adds support for iCloud if you are using Documents to Go Premium.  You can now backup and save your documents to iCloud and use iCloud to sync documents between multiple devices.

The update also improves viewing of PowerPoint slides (and the editing of PowerPoint slides if you use Documents to Go Premium), but that is not a feature that I ever use so I cannot comment on the changes.

The final change is to the way that you view documents, and while it is a minor change, I like it quite a bit.  As noted above, viewing Word documents is the primary thing that I do with this app, so I always appreciate an improvement.  In the prior version of Documents to Go, you always viewed a document in an edit mode.  There was always a bar at the top with the document name and some other buttons, and there was always a bar at the bottom with formatting buttons.  Here is what it looked like:

In version 5.0, when you first open up a document, a bar briefly appears at the top with the document name but then it goes away and the app goes into a view only mode with no bars at the top or bottom.  Thus, you can see more of the document on the screen (typically 1-2 more lines) plus there are fewer distractions because essentially your entire screen is devoted to the document, except for the standard iOS bar at the top:

Not only does the initial View Only mode remove the bars, it also removes something I will call the Annoying Keyboard Problem.  You see, in the prior version of Documents to Go, sometimes when you touch the screen to scroll through a document or simply accidentally tap on the screen, the app thought that you were trying to edit the document so a cursor would appear and the keyboard would pop up, taking over the bottom half of the iPhone or iPad screen.  This always proved to be a major distraction for me.  But in the new View Only mode, the keyboard never pops up.  If you are like me and spend 90% of your time in this app viewing documents, you’ll love this one, small change.

When you are ready to edit a document, simply tap once on the screen and a blue bar will come down from the top.  Tap the pencil button at the far right and Documents to Go switches to the edit mode, which works the same way that the prior version of Documents to Go always worked — you’ll see menu bars at the top and the bottom.  Tap the three dots at the top right for more options such as word count, find and replace, save the document to your Documents to Go file list and email the document.

All of the above images show the app on an iPad, but you see the same improvements on the iPhone.  This first picture shows the old version of Documents to Go, and the second pictures is the new version in View Only mode:

 

I wish that this update offered more.  For example, it is great that Documents to Go can show you redline track changes in a document, but I wish that DataViz would add the ability to create your own redline track changes in a document.  Nevertheless, the updates in version 5 of Documents to Go are nice improvements that I will appreciate every time that I use the app. 

If you are still using the iPhone or iPad’s built-in viewer to read Microsoft Word documents, I strongly encourage you to consider purchasing Documents to Go.  For many years now, it has been one of the most useful apps on my iPhone and iPad.  The $10 standard version might be all that you need, or for $17 you can get the Premium version that adds the ability to use cloud services (Google
Docs, Box.com, DropBox, SugarSync and now iCloud) and adds more features for editing PowerPoint slides.  If you buy the standard version but then decide you want more features, you can pay $7.99 within the app to add all of the features of Documents to Go Premium.  Both versions of are universal apps, so you can buy the app once and use the app on both your iPhone and your iPad.

Click here to get Documents to Go Standard ($9.99): 

Click here to get Documents to Go Premium ($16.99): 

Yesterday,
Apple announced that it will make an announcement on September 10th. 
Apple didn’t actually say what the announcement is for — the invitation
to select journalists simply states “This should brighten everyone’s day” —  but we all
know that it will be the new iPhone.  According to Jim Dalrymple of The Loop, the invitation includes this
picture:

The pictures and/or messages that accompany invitations to new iPhone announcements typically include a clue to a new feature of the iPhone.  In September of 2011, the invitation said “Let’s talk iPhone” and the new feature of the iPhone 4S was Siri, giving us the ability to talk to an iPhone.  In September of 2012, the picture on the invitation showed the number 12 with a shadow, but the shadow was not of the number 12 but instead a 5, indicating that the next iPhone would be called the iPhone 5.

There are rumors that the next iPhone — the iPhone 5S? — will also come in gold in addition to the black and white models.  There is also a rumor that Apple will simultaneously release a lower-priced iPhone that will come in many different colors, perhaps called the iPhone 5C.  So perhaps circles with different colors are a nod to the new colors.  The message about brightening our day could also be a reference to bright colors, or it could be a reference to lower-cost iPhones, or it could be a reference to iOS 7, the new operating system that I expect to debut along with the new iPhone(s) which has a brighter appearance.

There are also rumors that the next iPhone will incorporate a fingerprint scanner for additional security.  I suspect it will also be faster and have a better camera, but we’ll see.

I also expect that Apple will announce new iPads at some point before the holiday buying season, but as to whether new iPads will be announced on September 10, I have no idea.  Many other websites predict that the new iPad announcement will be later athis year.

The announcement will be at 10 Pacific / 1 Eastern and will occur at Apple’s campus in Cupertino, CA.  Sometimes Apple provides a live video stream of events like this, or you can probably just put your ears or eyes close to any part of the Internet on September 10 and you’ll learn what Apple is announcing.

Scott Grossberg is a California attorney, motivational speaker and even a magician, but I know of him because he frequently writes and speaks about lawyers using iPads.  In early 2013, he released a Kindle ebook called The iPad Lawyer with tips for using an iPad in the practice of law.  More recently, he released a Kindle ebook called The Million Dollar iPad with tips for using an iPad in any business.  That book is normally $9.99, but thanks to Grossberg, if you download it today (Tuesday, September 3, 2013) it is free.  It is a Kindle ebook so you can either read it on a Kindle hardware device if you have one, or you can read it on your iPad or iPhone using Amazon’s free Kindle app.

The ebook starts by covering the basics of how to use an iPad, then
provides a great set of iPad shortcuts and tips, then recommends some of
the most valuable iPad accessories (covers, styluses, chargers,
keyboards, etc.), and then recommends apps to accomplish lots of
different tasks.

Grossberg’s writing style is sometimes a little aggressive — I am not surprised to see that he is also a motivational speaker — but it is never boring.  My favorite part of the book is the discussion of iPad tips.  He includes tips that you might already know but are always worth reading again such as keyboard shortcuts and tips on maximizing battery life.  I also liked his discussion of inserting a document into an email reply — something that the iPad doesn’t really support except for pictures/videos, but he explains some good workarounds.

A large portion of the book is devoted to recommending apps.  This part of the book is helpful if you want to find an app to do something and don’t now where to start looking.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t offer explanations of the apps or describe why you might want to pick one app over another.  For example, his section on Word Processing apps simply identifies eight apps.  He includes some great ones, but doesn’t explain that there are huge differences between using an remote access-based app like CloudOn and OnLive Desktop versus native apps that keep your document on your iPad such as Documents to Go or Pages.

The book also omits many apps that I would include — for example, he describes seven apps for taking handwritten notes with the iPad but excludes my current favorite, GoodNotes — but to be fair, I recognize that app recommendations are necessarily subjective and different people recommend different apps.

If you have that nagging feeling that you could be more productive with your iPad but you just don’t know how to do it, I’m sure you will learn something from this book.  I strongly encourage you to get this book today while it is free. 

When the price returns to $9.99, I suppose it is more debatable whether the book is worth it.  I can’t help but think of another California attorney publishing ebooks, David Sparks, and his $9.99 book on going paperless is not only full of great information but also is a beautiful book that takes full advantage of all of the bells and whistles that an Apple iBookstore book can offer such as lots of video, audio and animation.  Any simple Kindle book is going to pale by comparision.  On the other hand, $9.99 is not going to break the bank for anyone, and fortunately you can use the helpful Amazon “Look Inside” feature to get a feel this book.  The Look Inside feature provides you with the entire index and overview of all of the chapters, which should help you decide how helpful the book will be for you, plus it even includes Grossberg’s valuable checklist at the beginning of the book where he describes the apps and accessories that he says that he cannot live without — valuable information whether you buy the book or not.

If you are reading this post on September 3, 2013, get the book right away while you can.  Otherwise, take a look at the Amazon Look Inside preview to decide if the valuable information in this book would be helpful to you.  I feel like I know a lot about the iPad, and even so, reading this book taught me a few new things.

Click here to get The Million Dollar iPad ebook for Kindle ($9.99, but free today).