The Steve Jobs movie comes out today, although it has been in limited release for a few weeks now. From everything I've read it sounds like a great movie for folks who like Aaron Sorkin's fast-talking style, and with its three acts the movie is more like a stage play than a motion picture. Having said that, I understand that the movie is so full of factual inaccuracies that it seems almost unfair to call it the "Steve Jobs" movie. Good articles by Walt Mossberg and John Gruber suggest that it would have been better if the movie had changed the name of the main character from Steve Jobs to something else so that it was clear that this is a work of fiction, much like Orson Welles made a movie loosely based on William Randolph Hearst but then called it Citizen Kane — not Citizen Hearst — to account for the artistic liberties. As California attorney David Sparks writes: "Aaron Sorkin writes some great dialogue and the story does pull you in. However, there is so little connection between the movie and actual events, that you have to wonder why they called it Steve Jobs at all." I'm sure that I'll see the movie eventually, and because I am a fan of Sorkin's work, I suspect that I will enjoy this as a movie. But if you see it, don't expect this to be anything close to a true biography. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- If you practice law in Louisiana like I do, you'll be pleased to learn that New Orleans attorney Matt Miller has updated his $4.99 Louisiana Civil Code app to contain the current law. It is a free upgrade for prior users of the app.
- Attorney Jeremy Horwitz of 9to5Mac explains why the new Apple TV that comes out next week is worth getting.
- Apple released iOS 9.1 this week. It adds new emoji characters such as a taco, rolling eyes, a middle finger, and even a fleur-de-lis (a favorite for those of us in New Orleans). Jeremy Burge of Emojipedia has a good list of the new ones. If you have an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 9.1 also does a better job creating live photos when you move your camera after taking a shot.
- Apple also released watchOS 2.0.1 this week. The update includes those new emoji characters and also fixes a lot of bugs and improves performance and battery life.
- Christina Warren of Mashable interviewed Apple's Chief Design Officer Jony Ive.
- Nate Raymond of Reuters reports that Apple told a federal court that it is impossible for Apple to access data on an iPhone running iOS 8 or iOS 9. Apple said that it is technically possible for the company to access data on the 10% of iPhones still running iOS 7 or earlier, but Apple would not do so unless ordered by a court.
- Christian Zibreg of iDownloadBlog reports on some of the highlights of Apple CEO Tim Cook's appearance this week at the Wall Street Journal Digital Live conference.
- Rene Ritchie of iMore reviews Apple's newest Magic Keyboard. I love using the prior model of Apple's Bluetooth keyboard with my iPad. I don't think it is worth spending the money to upgrade because that older keyboard still works great for me, but if you are looking to get a Bluetooth keyboard for your iPad, you'll want to consider the new Magic Keyboard.
- Jordon Kahn of 9to5Mac discusses a new report from AAA on how distracting it is to use the iPhone/Siri and other hands-free technology while driving.
- And finally, Adam Lisagor of Sandwich Video has started to produce a hilarious new series of videos called Computer Show. It is a computer-related talk show from the early 1980s that interviews folks from the technology world today — which means that the co-hosts are mighty confused as to what is going on. It is amazing how well these are done; they walk the fine line between parody and being a spot-on duplication of shows that I used to watch when I was a kid, back when the Apple II was high technology. So far, there are two videos. The first video, embedded below, is very funny. Watch that one first. But then don't miss the second one which answers the question of what someone from the early 1980s might think of an iPhone.
