This past week, many people have asked me about the Apple Watch and whether lawyers will want to get one. I think it is premature to talk about that because we don't yet know all that the Apple Watch will do. We will have to at least wait until the Spring of 2015 when version 1.0 of the Apple Watch is introduced. I remember that when the iPad came out in early 2010, many lawyers were not sure if it would be useful, and there were certainly no legal-specific apps. Obviously, a lot has changed since then in the world of iPad. While it is far too early to know everything that the Apple Watch will do, here is a scenario I've been thinking about. Imagine being in a trial wearing an Apple Watch. Your associate is sitting in the back of the room and is also wearing one. Suddenly, he needs to send you a message — perhaps your opponent is about to put up a demonstrative that you need to object to before the jury sees it. The associate taps out a pattern on his Apple Watch, and without anyone else in the courtroom realizing it, you feel the taps on your arm and understand what it means. You object in time, the judge sustains your objection, and the jury isn't prejudiced by the improper demonstrative. With possibilities like this, I'm definitely intrigued. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Indiana University health law professor Nicolas Terry sent me a tip this week on integrating the Wunderlist app into Safari in iOS 8 to save links, and gave me permission to share it with iPhone J.D. readers. He explains: "I blog, I tweet, I write boring law review articles. For all I use links. Many of these I discover while on my iPad or iPhone. For years I have emailed these to myself. Then, when back at a Mac I add to a blog draft or to a folder, etc., and delete the email. Sometimes I accidentally erase the email or let it sink down my inbox... And it's cumbersome. Enter iOS 8. I already use a great list/reminder app called Wunderlist (which I recommend highly even without the following tweak). It syncs between all my iOS and Mac devices and has a really nice interface. Open Safari, find a link you want to keep and click on the Send To (arrow in a box) command. You'll see the usual array of cloud, print, mail, etc. Click on More..., and you will see a list of other apps that could be used. Click the Wunderlist slider to green (this is the only time you will need to). Now, create some list buckets in Wunderlist, like Blog later, Tweet later, potential wife gifts, etc. Now from your browser you can simply add a reference to the bucket of your choice."
- Dallas attorney Tom Mighell discusses the new Rocket Matter app for iPad in a post on the Attorney at Work blog.
- If you are still trying to decide whether to upgrade to an iPhone 6, Rene Ritchie of iMore wrote a great, comprehensive review.
- Derek Walter of Macworld provides some tips for using Safari on the iPhone and iPad.
- Robert Sullivan wrote a profile of Apple's Jony Ive for Vogue.
- 1Password is one of my favorite apps, and it is especially useful for attorneys because it provides a secure way to keep private information on your devices. Ellis Hamburger of The Verge interviewed two of 1Password's developers, Jeff Shiner and David Chartier.
- Glenn Flesihman of TidBITS wrote a comprehensive review of the new features 1Password that take advantage of iOS 8.
- Joanna Stern has been the personal technology columnist at the Wall Street Journal since December of 2013, and I find myself enjoying her reviews more and more. Her articles are well-written, and they are frequently accompanied by a clever video. This week, Stern reviewed some of the new software keyboards for the iPhone, and it is an informative and entertaining review.
- Josh Centers wrote an even more in-depth look at third party keyboards in an article for TidBITS.
- Apple's iconic flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York opened on May 19, 2006. I was in New York at the time so I was there that day. And I can prove it; I appear in this photo taken by one of Apple's cameras, photographing the crowd every minute. I also took this picture of the crowd inside the store that day. I take this trip down memory lane because Vicky Ward wrote an interesting article in New York magazine about how the store came to be, with lots of details that I had net heard before.
- Dave Mark of The Loop explains why predictive text in iOS 8 is so useful. I really like this new feature.
- Dan Provost of Studio Neat wrote an interesting article explaining iOS 8's new time-lapse video feature.
- And finally, here is a really fun music video by Brunettes Shoot Blonds of their song Knock Knock which uses a whole bunch of iPhones and iPads in a fascinating way. Worth watching. (via David Sparks)
