Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, who used to practice law in Spain and is now journalist in New York covering security and hacking, explains in an article for Motherboard that even though in general he far prefers Android to the iPhone, he has decided to switch to the iPhone because of all of the security problems with Android. One of his complaints is that even when Google patches the security exploits that are perhaps inevitable on any operating system, it then takes forever for manufacturers and carriers to pass them along to users. Apple has often been much faster in pushing out any necessary security patches, and doesn't have to wait on anyone else to get the patches to its users. Truth be told, there have been several security concerns on the iPhone that Apple didn't fix as fast as many would have liked. Nevertheless, because Apple controls the phone and the operating system, it has all of the incentive and the ability to push out necessary fixes quickly, and is typically good at doing so. For this reason and others, I have always felt that I am more secure on an iPhone than on an Android phone. And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:
- Do you have one or more law-related blogs that you love to read? If so, nominate them for this year's ABA Journal Blawg 100 by clicking here to submit your Blawg 100 Amici. iPhone J.D. was added last year to the Blawg 100 Hall of Fame and thus is no longer eligible for the annual list, but there are lots of other great blogs out there, and I know that the blog authors would appreciate it if you share the love.
- Massachusetts attorney Heidi Alexander, a Law Practice Management Advisor at the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, explains what she likes about the Apple Watch in an article on Law Technology Today.
- California attorney David Sparks explains why he is a big fan of Apple Music, and so is his family.
- Serenity Caldwell of iMore is not a lawyer, but she wrote an interesting article about music licensing for songs on Apple Music, explaining why some songs played on Beats 1 or available for sale on iTunes cannot be streamed on Apple Music.
- Abdel Ibrahim of Watch Aware writes that, according to a new study by Wristly, Apple Watch users are becoming more healthy.
- Jason Snell explains why the Apple Watch will get a lot better this Fall, when watchOS 2 is released, in this week's More Color column on Macworld. As he notes: "Apple needed the Apple Watch hardware to be rock solid on the launch date, because once that watch hardware is out in the world, it’s never going to get any better. But the software, that’s a continuing story."
- Which reminds me, I've been asked by several readers to write an updated review of my Apple Watch, now that I've been using it for three months. What has held me back from writing something like that is that I know that the watch will change substantially once watchOS 2 comes out in just a few months. The new software for the watch will not only itself include huge improvements, but will also open the door for developers to release much more useful native apps and handy plug-in "complications" for the watch face. I love my Apple Watch today, but I also know that what I love most about it is likely to change substantially in just a few months.
- T-Mobile announced two changes this week that make it much more appealing to use T-Mobile if you use an iPhone, as Jeff Byrnes of AppAdvice explains. First, you can now stream music from Apple Music (and other music services) without using up your monthly data allowance. Second, if you buy an iPhone 6 from T-Mobile now, once Apple comes out with new iPhone models later this year you can swap the iPhone 6 for the newer iPhone at no cost. It's a neat idea, giving you the ability to get a new iPhone without worrying about buyer's remorse when a new model comes up in six weeks or so.
- Right now, you can only buy an Apple Watch at an Apple Store, but as Rene Ritchie of iMore notes, starting a week from today, you'll be able to buy an Apple Watch at over 300 Best Buy stores in the U.S. And as Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports, the following week it will come to Best Buy in Canada. It is good to see that Apple has finally been able to keep up with demand enough to make the watch available in more locations.
- James Stewart wrote an interesting article in the New York Times analyzing Microsoft's disastrous decision to purchase Nokia's phone unit.
- Bradley Chambers of The Sweet Setup shares a useful tip about using Dropbox to take documents that you run across while using your iPhone in a place where you can deal with them on your desktop computer.
- And finally, there is a new trailer for an upcoming documentary about Steve Jobs called Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. The trailer makes the film look pretty interesting to me. However, when an early cut of the documentary was shown at South by Southwest earlier this year, Apple VP Eddy Cue complained on Twitter: "Very disappointed in SJ:Man in the Machine. An inaccurate and mean-spirited view of my friend. It's not a reflection of the Steve I knew." We can all judge for ourselves on September 4, when the documentary will debut in select theaters and on demand. Here is the new trailer:
