WestlawNext is one of the most useful law-related apps on my iPad, and I also appreciate WestlawNext being a sponsor of iPhone J.D. Whether it is on the iPad or the computer, WestlawNext is better than the former version of Westlaw in every way. Nevertheless, I still have fond memories of the old Westlaw — not to mention the old WALT terminals that I used to use in law school — so I enjoyed reading this tribute by North Carolina attorney Jim Dedmon on the great Abnormal Use blog. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- California attorney Morgan Smith has some good tips for using your iPhone 6 to give presentations.
- California attorney David Sparks reports that the iPad productivity apps OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, and OmniPlanner will soon be available for the iPhone.
- South Carolina attorney Ben Stevens explains why Scanbot Pro is his new favorite document scanner app for the iPhone.
- John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes that Siri has gotten much better over the last year or so. I’ve noticed the same thing. It does an amazing job at translation, which is so much faster than me typing on my iPhone or iPad keyboard. It also does a great job of answering simple questions or performing simple commands, such as “wake me up at 7am tomorrow” or “remind me to call David when I get to the office.”
- California attorney David Sparks also shared his thoughts on Gruber’s post about Siri.
- Google updated its useful (and neat!) Google Translate app yesterday in two significant ways. First, the app can now read signs, incorporating technology that Google acquired when it bought an app called Word Lens. Thus, you can point your iPhone at a sign that is in one language, and the sign will appear on your iPhone with the text translated to English. Second, the app adds real-time translations. I haven’t had a chance to try out all of the new features yet, but I look forward to doing so. You can get more information in this post on Google’s official blog.
- Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac has some interesting photos of a man with 94 iPhones strapped to his body as he tries to smuggle them from Hong Kong (where they are cheaper) into China. That’s a lot of iPhones.
- Joseph Keller of iMore reports that the Je Suis Charlie app was approved for the App Store in record time after a plea to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
- I don’t think that I will ever purchase a Selfie Stick (which you use to take a picture of yourself with an iPhone), but after reading this article by Joanna Stern in the Wall Street Journal, I now appreciate that these products are actually more useful than I would have guessed.
- Separation from your iPhone can lead to anxiety, according to a study by the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication as reported by Amit Chowdry of Forbes. Or, you could have just asked almost any iPhone owner to learn the same thing without an expensive study.
- And finally, as President Obama is preparing for his State of the Union speech, he is previewing some of the topics that he intends to discuss. One of them is seeking to increase affordable high-speed broadband Internet service in America. I mention this today not because of the politics, but instead because I thought it interesting to see the President in this video, casually explaining his goals while he uses an iPad as an aid. I don’t know that this is President Obama’a personal iPad (he usually keeps his in a DODOcase), but I use my iPad like this when I talk to clients and colleagues all the time. I’m always interested to see other lawyers do so too, including the most powerful lawyer in the world.