This past weekend, the ABA Journal sponsored its second Hackcess to Justice legal hackathon, where attorneys and programmers worked all weekend to create apps that help lawyers and increase the ability of individuals to gain access to legal services. This year the event was in my hometown of New Orleans, but unfortunately I wasn't able to go. Victor Li of ABA Journal describes the winning apps. The first prize went to an app called Legal Proof that helps an attorney or a client collect and organize evidence. Second prize went to New Orleans attorney Ernest Svenson and Massachusetts attorney William Palin for their PaperLess app. Read the ABA Journal article to find out about the other best entrants. It is great to see that there is still so much creativity in the field of law-related apps. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Fantastical is my favorite calendar app for the iPhone and iPad. This week, the company released a Mac version, and California attorney really likes it for the reasons he explained in this review of Fantastical 2 for Mac.
- Charlotte Jee of Computerworld UK reports that all 650 British Members of Parliament are all getting an iPad Air 2 and a laptop when they begin to serve in May. The program will cost £200,000 a year, but it is estimated to save £3 million a year by getting MPs and staff to read and annotate electronically instead of printing hard copies.
- Jim Schoettler of the Florida Times-Union reports that a Jacksonville attorney was arrested this week for smuggling an iPhone 6, phone charger and Bluetooth headset to his client in the Seminole County Detention Center. I'm a big fan of attorneys and their clients using iPhones, but this went a little too far.
- Adam Lashinsky of Fortune wrote an interesting profile of Apple CEO Tim Cook, in connection with Fotune naming Cook #1 on its list of the world's 50 great leaders.
- Lashinsky also wrote a short article on Apple retail head Angela Ahrendts.
- Apple recently showed off to Good Morning America its previously unseen by the public health and fitness lab, being used to improve the Apple Watch. You can watch the report here.
- And finally, do you find it annoying that every time you throw your iPhone to the ground and then drop a 50 pound safe on it, the iPhone breaks? Well then you need a rugged case made to stand up to insane abuse. Justin Johnson and Eric Beck of Wired torture-test four rugged iPhone cases and declare a clear winner in this video. Warning — do NOT try this at home:
