In the news

At midnight Pacific this morning, pre-orders began for the new 2016 versions of the iPhone and the Apple Watch.  I ordered the iPhone 7 (256 GB, Jet Black) and a stainless steel Series 2 Apple Watch.  It is unclear to me if I’ll receive either device a week from today, Friday September 16, when the new products officially go on sale in stores (although perhaps in limited supplies); hopefully with a pre-order I’ll be near the front of the line.  [UPDATE:  Even though I ordered immediately after these went on sale, it doesn’t look like I will get them on September 16.  I ordered the new watch using the Apple Store app on my iPhone, and I received a delivery date of Sept. 26.  I ordered my new iPhone through AT&T’s website, and I received an expected delivery date of Oct. 7.]  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• In article for Above the Law, New York attorney Nicole Black talks to St. Louis medical malpractice attorney Todd Hendrickson about how he integrated technology into his law practice, such as the TrialPad app on the iPad.
• In an article for The Daily Record, Nicole Black writes that attorneys have an ethical obligation to be reasonably competent in technology.
• Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac believes that Apple delivered solid updates with the iPhone 7 and new Apple Watch, but only the AirPods seemed magical.  That seems like a pretty fair assessment to me.
• Geoffrey Fowler of the Wall Street Journal shares his initial thoughts on the iPhone 7, noting that it is a good upgrade, but nothing jaw-dropping.
• John Paczkowski of BuzzFeed interviewed Apple executives to discuss the reasons for removing the headphone jack from the iPhone 7.
• Alex Guyot of MacStories wrote a detailed, comprehensive overview of the iPhone 7.
• Guyot wrote a similar, comprehensive overview of the new Apple Watch.
• Susie Ochs of Macworld discusses the Edition (ceramic) and Hermès versions of the Apple Watch.
• Karen Freeman of WatchAware notes that the 2016 version of the Apple Watch is slightly thicker and heavier than the first version.  I’m not sure if it is enough that you can actually notice it, but that is interesting considering that Apple normally has a reputation of making its products thinner and lighter over time.
• Serenity Caldwell of iMore wrote a great article describing all of the differences between the original Apple Watch, the new Series 1, and the new Series 2.
• Apple didn’t discuss the iPad during the keynote event this week, but it announced afterwards that the 16 GB models are now 32 GB models, and the iPad Pro models are getting price cuts.  Jacob Kastrenakes of The Verge has the details on the iPad changes.  I presume that this means that we won’t see new iPads until 2017, which makes sense to me.
• Rene Ritchie and Daniel Bader of iMore discuss the future of Apple’s HomeKit smart home technology.
• If you want to give someone the gift of music, Dan DeSilva of 9to5Mac reports that you can buy a $99 Apple Music gift card, which gives someone 12 months of Apple Music.
• In an interview with Matt Peckham of Time, Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo discusses bringing the famous character he created, Mario, to the iPhone.  He also discusses meeting Apple CEO Tim Cook:  “It was actually shocking for me, because when I met with him, I didn’t realize I was older than him, and he mentioned that he’d been playing my games in college. [Laughs].”
• And finally, I’m really intrigued to try Apple’s new AirPods, but they won’t be available until next month.  Apple says that AirPods will produce “intelligent, high-efficiency playback, while delivering a consistent and reliable connection” and delivering “incredible sound.”  Sounds good to me.  Here is Apple’s introduction video for the AirPods: