FBI Director James Comey was in the news quite a bit this week. No, I'm not going to talk about him admitting felling "mildly nauseous" about how his actions affected the presidential election, but instead about his reigniting the old FBI versus Apple issue regarding the encryption of private data on Apple phones. Natasha Lomas of TechCrunch discusses Comey's desire to force Apple to put a backdoor on iPhones to give the FBI access to encrypted data. Comey claims that he isn't asking for a "backdoor," and instead just for a way for the government to bypass encryption to access secure data. Um... that's what a "backdoor" is. I'm opposed to these efforts (as is Apple) because any backdoor created for the FBI would surely be exploited by criminals as well (and I'm sure would also be requested by every other government in the world). And when that happens, the whole purpose of encryption is defeated; the bad guys get access to your confidential data. I know that every lawyer (and doctor, and priest, etc.) appreciates the value of protecting confidential communications and information. Hopefully our government will understand this too and won't do anything short-sighted. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Legal technology consultant Brett Burney shares tips for working with documents and much more in a Q and A follow-up to his recent "Top 10 Apps for Lawyers" presentation that he did for MyCase.
- Speaking of Brett Burney, New York attorney and TechnoLawyer publisher Neil Squillante discusses the Airmail app on the latest edition of the Apps in Law Podcast, hosted by Burney.
- California attorney David Sparks discusses a recent attempt to use only an iPad when traveling. Not to spoil the ending, but it worked for him until the last day when he needed to use a true computer to do track changes in Google Docs. I never take a laptop when I travel, but when I have a situation like this in which a computer is required, I use remote access software on my iPad to do the task via my Mac at home or my PC at work. The one that I use is called LogMeIn, but I know that there are less expensive alternatives that work for many folks.
- Jeff Butts of AppAdvice discusses iPhone apps that you can use to monitor your speed while you are driving, including one interesting app that projects an image onto your windshield.
- Jonny Evans of Computerworld shares a list of iPhone tips, many of which are rather useful and good to know.
- In an article for Macworld, Dan Moreen analyzes the possibility of Apple creating a system in the Messages app that would let you send (or receive) money from someone else. I hope Apple does something like this; person-to-person payments would be very useful.
- Ben Bajarin of Tech.pinons discusses a recent survey of AirPods users finding 98% customer satisfaction.
- In a wide-ranging 11 minute interview with Jim Cramer of CNBC, Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses lots of different issues — job creation, working with the Trump administration, artificial intelligence, the Apple Watch (and how it helped Tim Cook lose 30 pounds), AirPods, and more.
- Yesterday for Star Wars Day, Lory Gil of iMore shared some Star Wars-themed iPhone wallpapers. My family prepared for Star Wars Day last weekend by watching the Blu-Ray version of Rogue One, which was fun to see again, and last night my kids and I watched the new short videos in the Lego Star Wars show Freemaker Adventures. I've always been impressed by the Lego Star Wars shows; they appeal to every age, and they are fun to watch.
- Speaking of Star Wars, here is an amazing series of videos by Palette-Swap Ninja, a mash-up that tells the story of Star Wars set to the tune of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It's called Princess Leia's Stolen Death Star Plans. Bravo; very well done. (Thanks to Jeff Gamet at The Mac Observer.)
- And finally, Apple came up with a very clever way to showcase the Portrait mode feature of the iPhone 7 Plus, a mode that keeps your subject in focus but blurs the background, similar to what happens when you use an SLR camera. In the commercial, the rest of busy Shanghai disappears when a couple uses Portrait mode. Great commercial. (And nice song, too: Sing to Me by Walter Martin, with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.)
