Apple announced on September 21 that iOS 9 had the fastest adoption rate ever of any version of iOS, with more than 50 percent of devices updated only five days after iOS 9 became available for download. When you think about how many iPhones and iPads are in use, that is a very impressive number. On September 23, Apple released a minor update to iOS 9, version 9.0.1, to fix a few minor bugs. Earlier this week, the iPad mini 4 went on sale, and today, the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus go on sale. Suffice it to say that there is a lot going on right now in the world of iOS. And now, the other news of note from the past week:
- Do you enjoy reading this In the news post every week, and wish that you could have more of something similar? Florida attorney Katie Floyd has started posting a Week in Review post on Sundays (9/20, 9/13, 9/6). The format is similar, although her focus is on iOS and Mac, as opposed to the focus here on iOS and attorneys. The first three installments have been excellent, and I think that most iPhone J.D. readers would enjoy reading them as much as I do. Check out her KatieFloyd.com website to read them every week.
- Do you want to vote for iPhone J.D. in a contest? The Expert Institute nominated iPhone J.D. for its list of best legal blogs, and is running a contest to see which blogs get the most votes. You can click here and then click the Vote button to vote for iPhone J.D. But for an opposing viewpoint, the 3 Geeks and a Law Blog makes its best — and funniest — argument that you should vote against iPhone J.D. and vote for that blog instead. Whoever you decide to vote for, no registration is required, so this will take you like two seconds to do.
- North Carolina attorney Brian Focht of The Cyber Advocate interviewed New York attorney Nicole Black to discuss the role that wearable technology, such as the Apple Watch, will have for attorneys.
- Attorney Jeremy Horwitz of 9to5 Mac notes that, based on the early reviews, the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus cameras give high-end DSLR cameras a run for the money.
- For a contrary view, Geoffrey Fowler of the Wall Street Journal opines that while the iPhone 6s Plus camera is the best all-around smartphone camera on the market today, it is not as big an improvement over last year's iPhone 6 Plus as he would have liked.
- Speaking of that camera, one of the reasons to get the larger iPhone 6s Plus over the iPhone 6s is that the Plus model has optical image stabilization, which can make a big difference when shooting video. John Gruber of Daring Fireball linked to this video by Giga Tech which shows side-by-side video taken by both new iPhones, and it is easy to see what a difference optical image stabilization makes. I hope that Apple eventually brings this technology to the small model of the iPhone.
- Microsoft announced on its Office Blog that it introduced a new app called Invite that makes it easier to determine the best time for a meeting that work for all of the attendees.
- Aly Keves of The Daily Dot reports that you can now use the Starbucks app to place an order before you even get to the store, and then skip the line when you get there.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors explains the new Lower Power Mode in iOS 9.
- Rene Ritchie of iMore explains 3D Touch, the new technology in the iPhone 6s that has been getting rave reviews.
- Rene Ritchie also reviews the new iPad mini 4. It is basically everything that you like about the iPad Air 2, but in a smaller and lighter size.
- Dan Moren of Six Colors discusses how he uses his Apple Watch after five months. My experience is similar to his.
- Federico Viticci of MacStories reviews Just Press Record, a simple voice recorder for the iPhone that you can be used to record and play audio on the Apple Watch.
- T-Mobile announced this week that it will start selling the Apple Watch, and will let you pay for the Apple Watch Sport in 24 monthly installments with no interest — so only about $15 or $16 a month.
- A high school football player says that his Apple Watch recently saved his life when the heart rate monitor readings prompted him to go to the hospital and discover that he had a life-threatening condition. Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook heard about this, talked to the guy, and then offered the guy an Apple internship, which is a great stepping stone to getting a job at Apple — sort of like Apple's version of a summer associate at a law firm.
- Sandy Stachowiak of AppAdvice reviews iTranslate, an app that can translate between languages on the Apple Watch.
- If you use your Apple Watch when you workout and find that you sometimes accidentally tap the screen — it has never happened to me, but I guess it does happen for others — Serenity Caldwell of iMore reports that there is a new option in watchOS 2 that you can use to lock the screen during a workout.
- Roman Loyola of Macworld reports that he temporarily lost his Apple Watch because he uses the last notch on the Sport Band to fit his wrist. But as he notes, Apple recently started selling a L/XL version of the Sport Band (although only in black or white, not the 16 colors available in the other sizes) which is perfect for larger wrists. I myself have a larger wrist and use the last notch on my M/L Sport Band, and Loyola's experience is making me wonder if I should get the larger size band.
- If you watch the Netflix show Orange is the New Black, then you should watch this video produced by Netflix to announce that you can now pay for Netflix via iTunes. Funny stuff.
- And finally, there is now a two-minute long trailer for the upcoming Steve Jobs movie, which will be in theaters next month. This is the movie written by Aaron Sorkin and based on the popular book by Walter Isaacson. The early reviews have been very positive, so my hope is that this will be a good movie. Here is the new trailer: