If you read my review of Microsoft Word for iPad Thursday morning, then you missed an update that I posted in the afternoon after I had a somewhat critical crash when using the app in a deposition. I'm still thrilled to have the Word for iPad app, but the next time that I just want to take notes in a meeting and don't need all of the bells and whistles of Word, I might just stick with Pages. And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week.
- Speaking of Word for iPad, the folks who make the Niblstand — a useful iPad stand that also holds an Apple Wireless Keyboard (my review) — are producing a series of videos with iPad shortcuts. The first episode covers the basics and is pretty good (and only 50 seconds long). If you use an external keyboard with Word for iPad, I recommend that you check it out, and I look forward to future episodes.
- Microsoft has a series of short videos that show you how to use Word for iPad, how to use Excel for iPad and how to use PowerPoint for iPad.
- Tampa attorney Katie Floyd talks about her favorite iPhone apps on The Sweet Setup.
- Boston attorney Julie Tolek explains what she liked about ABA TECHSHOW in an article for Law Technology Today.
- I know that a lot of people think that closing apps saves battery life on an iPhone and iPad. It turns out that is wrong, according to Scott Loveless, a former Apple Store Genius who wrote an informative and extensive post on solving iPhone and iPad battery drain. If you ever feel that your iOS device is losing battery power faster than it should, you'll want to read this article.
- There has been a lot of discussion of the Heartbleed lately, and for good reason. If you want a good description of what it means, Adam Engst and Rich Mogull of TidBITS wrote a good article: The Normal Person's Guide to the Heartbleed Vulnerability.
- Jeff Gamet of the Mac Observer reminds us that you can switch Siri's voice to a male if you want. I'm so used to Siri having a female voice that it seems wrong to have a male voice, but to each his own.
- And finally, speaking of Siri, Microsoft recently announced its answer to Siri, a technology called Cortana that will be on Windows 8.1 devices. Arsenio Hall interviewed Siri and Cortana in a comedy sketch for his show. (Warning: the language is likely not safe for work.) It's basically just one joke, but is somewhat amusing. Video is below, or click here.
