In the news

Last year, Apple announced the iPhone 5S on September 10, during the second week in September.  The year before, Apple announced the iPhone 5 on September 12, again during the second week of September.  John Paczkowski of re/code reports that sources tell him that this year, the iPhone 6 will be announced on September 9.  Paczkowski’s sources are usually pretty good on things like this, but frankly, he could have asked me and even I would have predicted a new iPhone announcement this year during the second week in September.  The big rumor this year is that the iPhone 6 will be larger than all of the prior iPhones.  That wouldn’t surprise me, and we’ll find out for sure around this time next month.  And now, the news of note from the last week:

• Tampa attorney Katie Floyd describes how she went from paying Verizon $10 a month for cellular data on her iPad to free 200MB of data a month using T-Mobile.
• California attorney David Sparks posted a really interesting interview with an airline pilot about the apps he uses on his iPad.
• If there is a desk or other location at your home or office that has an outlet nearby and you want to have lots of USB ports to charge your devices, one solution is to buy a USB charging station.  Oklahoma City attorney Jeffrey Taylor, who publishes The Droid Lawyer, recently reviewed the Inatech 5 Port USB Charging Station, a device that costs only $20 on Amazon which provides two 2.1 Amp ports for iPads and three 1 Amp ports for iPhones and other lower-power devices.
• Today is the last day to tell the ABA Journal which law blogs you think should be included in the 2014 Blawg 100.   Click on this link if you want to tell the ABA Journal editors about your favorite blog, whether it be iPhone J.D. or any other blog.
• If you are in the New Orleans area and you want to earn an hour of CLE over lunch while you learn more about using an iPad, I’m teaching iPad for Lawyers on Friday, August 22 from Noon to 1:00 at a CLE sponsored by the New Orleans Bar Association.  It is free for NOBA members.  Click here for more information and to sign up.  I hope to see you there.
• Documents to Go has long been an excellent app for viewing Word and other Microsoft Office documents on an iPhone or iPad.  Until recently, there were two versions:  a $9.99 standard version and a $16.99 premium version.  Yesterday, DataViz changed the name of its entry app to Documents to Go Free, and as the name implies, the app is now free.  If you just want to view and edit files, the Free version might give you all that you need.  There are three in-app purchases in the new free version to add additional features:  (1) cloud service support, (2) desktop file sync and (3) password protected file support.  Each of those features costs $6.99 to unlock, or you can unlock all three for $16.99 — which essentially turns the free app into the premium app.  On my iPad, I prefer to use the Microsoft Word and other Office apps to work with Office files, but on my iPhone, I still usually read Word documents using Documents to Go.  If you don’t already have a copy of Documents to Go on your iPhone, it is a great app, I recommend that you get it now that it is free.  Click here to get Documents to Go Free (free): 

  

• I noted last week that the Microsoft Word for iPad app now lets you export a Word document as a PDF file when you email the file to someone else.  The app doesn’t give you the option to export to Google Drive, but Alex Campbell of Macworld figured out a workaround; it’s a little complicated, but might be of interest to some of you.
• Alyssa Bereznak of Yahoo Tech provides tips for using Pages, Numbers and Keynote on a Mac, iPad and iPhone.  (Warning: video starts playing when the page loads.)
• GoodReader 4 is my favorite app for managing PDF documents on my iPad, and I also like to use it on my iPhone.  I reviewed GoodReader 4 a few months ago, and this week, Jeff Merron reviews the app for Macworld.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted this week that last month, Apple had its highest App Store sales ever.
• 9to5Mac notes that Apple is advertising a sale on productivity apps, and you can get great apps like Scanner Pro, Fantasical, Launch Center Pro and PDF Expert for a fraction of their normal prices right now.  Also, the amazing 1Password app is on sale right now.
• There is a guy named Sam Sung who used to work in an Apple Store in Canada.  “Sam Sung” in an Apple Store is sort of funny, and so the guy decided to auction off his badge and other items on eBay to raise money for charity.  As of last night, the bids were over $80,000.  Way to go, Sam!
• And finally, here is an interesting video to advertise Navdy, a $299 device shipping early next year that will provide a heads up display in your car that you control with your voice or hand gestures.  It looks sort of neat, and the video does a good job of showing it off: