In the news

The new iPads were the big news this week.  The iPad mini with Retina Display made a surprise appearance on Tuesday, and people continue to talk about the new iPad Air.  I hear from many attorneys who are struggling with the decision of which one to get.  Both are powerful and light, so you need to decide whether you prefer a bigger screen — great for reading documents — or a smaller and even lighter design that makes it even more portable.  I understand the appeal of the new iPad mini, especially if you already carry around a laptop like the MacBook Air that you can use when you want a larger screen.  But my laptop never leaves my office desk, so the iPad Air is the best choice for me.

• Most folks read iPhone J.D. using a computer or an iPad, but if you read the website from an iPhone, you may have noticed that the site now has new, clean mobile design.  A big thanks to Vincent DePalma, a recent graduate of University of San Diego School of Law, for doing all of the hard work and being patient with me as I tweaked it.  Hopefully, the project gave Vincent something else to focus his mind on while he waits for bar results to come back next week — a feeling that I can still recall as if it was yesterday.  By the way, some of you may have noticed that, for a short time Wednesday night, some of the words on iPhone J.D. were about 10 feet tall.  That was my fault, and Vincent helped me to fix my error.  If you have any web design needs for your own law firm or personal website, Vincent’s company is Invincible Creative, and I recommend that you get in touch with him.
• New York attorney and TechnoLawyer publisher Neil Squillante reviews the new Livescribe 3, a pen that records what you write and also doubles as an iPad stylus.
• Indiana attorney Bill Wilson, publisher of the Third Apple website, reviews the new Adonit Jot Script Evernote Edition stylus, a stylus that uses Bluetooth so that it can have a tiny tip unlike most traditional styluses.
• Phil Schiller, the head of Apple marketing, is currently testifying in a trial between Apple and Samsung.  He started his testimony yesterday, but according to Shara Tibken of CNet only went for 11 minutes.  I suspect he’ll have some interesting things to say about the iPhone when he returns to the stand.  Yesterday, he noted that Apple took “huge risks” when it started working on the iPhone and that it was viewed as a “bet-the-company product.”  He also noted that Apple was already working on the iPad when it started on the iPhone, even though the iPhone hit the market in 2007 and the iPad didn’t go on sale until 2010.
• South Carolina attorney Justin Kahn, publisher of the website iPad Notebook, reviews the latest version of Notes Plus, a powerful app that you can use to take notes on an iPad.
• California attorney David Sparks provides his first impressions of the new iPad mini.
• Jason Snell of Macworld wrote a great review of the new Retina iPad mini.
• Damon Darlin of the New York Times compares the iPad Air and the new iPad mini.
• Jim Dalrymple of The Loop provides his thoughts on the new iPad mini.
• If you are trying to find a new iPad mini, supplies are very limited right now.  Richard Padilla of MacRumors links to a website that shows the current inventory of every iPad mini model at every U.S. Apple Store.  Apple typically frowns on websites like these so it may not last long before Apple shuts this one down, but even if you just look at the graphic in the MacRumors article you can see that it is relatively easy to find a WiFI-only model of the new iPad mini, but if you want a model with built-in cellular, they are much harder to find right now.
• John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes that it was because iPad mini supplies are so limited that Apple was relatively quiet when it started to sell the new iPad mini this week.
• Rene Ritchie of iMore published a good review of the iPad Air.
• MobileCloth recently became an advertiser on iPhone J.D., but for a long time now, the company has made my favorite cloths for cleaning smudges off of the screens of my iPads and iPhones.  This week, the company debuted a new Z5 pack consisting of 5 cloths with colors on the edges for $17.95.  Looks like a great Christmas gift for anyone who uses an iOS device.
• Dana Wollman of Endgadget reports that Gogo is working on a service that will let you send and receive text messages while you are in flight.  Of course you can already send and receive iMessages using the Gogo WiFi service, but this service will work with a regular text message sent to your mobile phone number.
• Apple released iOS 7.0.4 yesterday to fix some bugs.
• I enjoyed watching this video of Steve Jobs being posthumously inducted into the Bay Area Council Business Hall of Fame.  The ceremony includes a nice video compilation of the accomplishments of Steve Jobs.
• And finally, if you are wondering why the new iPad Air doesn’t come in gold like the new iPhone 5s does, you can wonder no longer.  The folks at Goldgenie are are happy to sell you an iPad Air covered in 24 ct. gold for around $2000.   Cue the James Bond Goldfinger song.  (via iMore)