In light of the ongoing litigation in multiple cases between Apple and the FBI regarding iPhone security, many folks are wondering about the most secure way to communicate with clients and others, via text or a telephone, on the iPhone. Currently, two good options are the iPhone’s built-in Facetime and Messages technology and the third party WhatsApp app. Glenn Fleishman of Macworld explains why you might get slightly more security with WhatsApp right now because of a few features that Apple might soon adopt but which are currently limited to WhatsApp. Having said that, using either technology, you will get much more security than normal SMS text messaging and traditional telephone conversations. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Back when I used a PalmPilot in the early 2000s, I used a stylus to enter text in my mobile device. California attorney David Sparks shows off MyScript Stylus, a keyboard replacement for the iPad that lets you convert handwriting to text instead of typing on a keyboard.
- North Carolina attorney Brian Focht of The Cyber Advocate writes about some of the best parts of this year’s ABA TECHSHOW Expo Hall.
- Jesse Hollington of iLounge reviews Lutron’s Caséta wireless devices, including the in-wall dimmer and plug-in lamp dimmer units, and concludes that it is “the system to go with at this point.” I use a number of Lutron devices in my home, including three dimmers and a plug-in unit, and they work really well for me. (My review is here.) If you are thinking of taking advantage of Apple’s HomeKit technology to turn your home into a smart home, you’ll want to take a look at the Lutron units.
- Greg Barbosa of 9to5Mac discusses the new Hub Keyboard from Microsoft, an alternative to the normal iOS keyboard that integrates with Office 365.
- Christian Zibreg of iDownloadBlog reports that Siri is getting excited for the new season of Game of Thrones. You can ask Siri questions such as “Is Jon Snow dead?” and “Is Winter coming?”
- I enjoy using my Apple Watch and iPhone for fitness purposes, but for those who really want to take it to the next level, Dennis Sellers of Apple World Today discusses the upcoming Naked 3D Scanning Mirror, a scale from Naked Labs that spins you around in front of a full-length mirror and uses an app to take a 3D scan of your naked body, used to compute body measurements, fat percentage and weight, and to monitor changes in your body over time.
- And finally, if you watched TV this week, you may have seen some of Apple’s new 15 second Apple Watch commercials. I think that they are all pretty good. Abdel Ibrahim of WatchAware has a post where you can watch all of them, but my favorite is the one featuring Jon Batiste of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert — and I’m not just saying that because Batiste is from New Orleans and I’ve enjoyed seeing him live many times. (He is incredibly talented on the piano.) Here is the Jon Batiste video in the new Apple campaign: