With the recent updates to the iPad and iPad mini,
the two devices are now arguably peers, which can make it hard to decide — if you are looking to upgrade your iPad,
which one should you get? California attorney David Sparks gives his perspective on his MacSparky website, and ultimately he is thinking of getting both of them. New York attorney and TechnoLawyer publisher Neil Squillante describes the new iPads and offers this good advice: get an iPad Air if you prefer to type in landscape orientation, and get the iPad mini if you prefer to type in portrait orientation. MG Siegler of TechCrunch had a chance to try out the new iPads, and offers this perspective on them. I've decided to get an iPad Air when it comes out on November 1st, and in a way I'm glad that Apple won't start selling the new iPad mini until late November because that way I won't be tempted to buy both when I am in the store.
- Miami attorney Al Saikali discusses on his Data Security Law Journal website a $3 million settlement of a lawsuit filed against a defendant after two unencrypted laptops containing personal information of 1.2 million customers were stolen from the defendant's office. An extreme example, but a healthy reminder of the need to keep an eye on your mobile devices — and to use passwords on them.
- Rulebook is a great app for downloading and viewing bodies of law and other legal resources so that you always have them with you. For example I use The Bluebook in Rulebook several times a month. Starting today, Rulebook is offering Free Rule Book Friday. Follow the Rulebook @rulebookapp Twitter account to learn each Friday morning which book is free.
- Last month, I wrote an article for the TechnoLawyer SmallLaw newsletter on helpful but hidden iOS 7 features. Hopefully, you already subscribe to that free newsletter — even lawyers at large law firms will find some great articles in that newsletter — but just in case you missed it, you can now read my article on the TechnoLawyer website.
- Tampa attorney Katie Floyd discusses the new 2.0 version of the Transporter app.
- Marlisse Silver Sweeney of Law Technology News discusses Li-Fi, a new wireless protocol that uses light bulbs. Interesting.
- Apple released iOS 7.0.3 on October 22. Serenity Caldwell of Macworld describes what is new, including fixes to some annoying bugs.
- Horace Dediu of Asymco did some interesting number crunching. If you count computers, tablets and smartphones all as "computing devices," then Microsoft's share of computing devices went from 90% in 2008 to 32% in 2013. The change has more to do with Android than iOS, but it is still an interesting perspective.
- If I receive a text message while I am driving, I will often ask Siri to read it to me, and then I will sometimes dictate a short reply. But according to a recent study discussed by David Pogue for Scientific American, hands-free texting can be just as dangerous as picking up your iPhone to write a text. It is just one study with only 43 subjects, but it does make you think. Let's be careful out there.
- I really liked iAnnotate version 2 when I reviewed it a few months ago. This week, the app was updated to version 3.0. It has a new look for iOS 7 and adds a few new features such as the ability to copy and paste annotations, share using AirDrop and speak the text in a document. I recommended the app when it cost $9.99, but from now until October 30, 2013, the app is on sale for only $2.99. If you want to annotate PDF files on your iPad, this is a good one. Click here to get iAnnotate:
- If you want to communicate with people using the BlackBerry BBM system, you can now do so. This week, BlackBerry released a free BBM app for the iPhone.
- If you like the new ringtones in iOS 7, you likely have musician Adam Young to thank, according to an article by Scott Buscemi of 9to5Mac.
- Before every Apple event, I can't help but spend some time trying to determine if there is anything to decipher in the picture on the invitation. Jacob Kastrenakes of The Verge has an interesting look at the last ten years of Apple invitations and what they meant.
- Apple has a great new commercial for the iPad Air. When I first watched it, I knew that the voice was familiar but I couldn't place it. John Browlee of Cult of Mac reveals that it is Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad.
- Tweetbot is my favorite iPhone and iPad client for Twitter. It was updated to version yesterday. It's a new app, $2.99 for now and will eventually cost $4.99. It has an entirely new look for iOS 7 that is attractive and fun, but retains all of the cool features of the prior app and adds some new ones like background tweet refreshes. Click here for Tweetbot 3 ($2.99):
- Nathan Ingraham of The Verge reports that Microsoft released a Remote Desktop app for iOS that lets you control a Windows PC from an iPhone or iPad.
- Scoopertino reveals the iPhone 5p.
- And finally, app developers David McKinney and Stuart Hall came up with a clever and free app called Flipcase that works with the new iPhone 5c and the case sold by Apple for the iPhone 5c. The below video shows how it works, and now I can't stop thinking "pretty sneaky, sis."
