If you want to order a new device from Apple such as an iPhone 5s, an iPad Air or a Retina iPad mini, I recommend that you wait a few days. A week from today — Black Friday — is typically the only day each year that Apple discounts its products in the U.S. The discounts are not that huge, we're not talking 50% off an iPad or anything crazy like that, but you can typically save a few bucks when you order from the online Apple Store or visit one of the retail Apple Stores. The new iPad Air and Retina iPad Mini are so new and in such high demand that Apple may not even discount them, but we'll see. By the way, if you are still trying to decide between a new Retina iPad mini and an iPad Air, and you are wondering how much easier it is to read documents on the larger screen of the iPad Air, I suggest that you look at this post from Rene Ritchie of iMore. He shows a comparison of reading a comic book on the two devices, and that gives you a good sense of how documents look on the different screen sizes. And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week.
- D.C. attorney Reid Trautz created his 9th Annual Holiday Gift Guide for Lawyers. The new iPad Air is on the list, as are lots of other interesting products.
- Philadelphia attorney Jennifer Ellis reviews Dictamus, a new dictation app.
- Anand Lal Shimpi of AnandTech wrote an extensive and interesting review of the new Retina iPad mini.
- Here is David Pogue's review of the iPad mini.
- Rene Ritchie of iMore reports that AT&T online is offering $100 off the price of a 16GB iPhone 5s.
- Katie Fehrenbacher of GigaOm has an interesting report on the solar panels and other clean energy used by Apple to power its new data centers. Nice to know that my Siri request is being processed with help by the Sun.
- Kyle Vanhemert of Wired reviews Pencil, an interesting new stylus from the makes of the great Paper drawing app that I reviewed last year.
- If you are looking for something small to prop up your iPad, TwoHands looks like an interesting, and very portable, solution for only $25.
- The Birth of the iPhone is an interesting excerpt from the new book Jony Ive by Leander Kahney.
- If you use an external keyboard with your iPad, iOS 7 introduced some new keyboard shortcuts, such as Command-N to create a new message in the Mail app. Federico Vitici of Macstories wrote about all the new shortcuts.
- Do you work better when you have background noise, such as the background noise in a coffee shop? The new app Coffitivity provides you with exactly that background noise. If you go to the Coffitivity website you can hear the ambiance that the app gives you.
- According to Alan Farnham and Mark Mooney of ABC News, the Apple Store in Christiana, Delaware sells more iPhones than any other store in the country, largely because Delaware lacks sales tax.
- And finally, Apple has a new page on its website that shows the interesting ways that different professionals are using the iPad including Broadway dancers, wind power industry technicians and doctors. What, no lawyers? Apple, whenever you want to tell the world about the fascinating ways that I use my iPad to draft discovery responses, just let me know.
