I’ve become a big fan of the TripIt app combined with TripIt Pro (which I reviewed earlier this year) whenever I travel. It is nice to have all of my travel info in one spot, and the TripIt Pro service has saved my bacon in the past by altering me immediately when flights are cancelled are delayed. This week, the app was updated this week to add searchable airport maps. The feature looks quite useful. The airport maps are detailed, and make it easy to see what is around you. I don’t think you can get a full list of restaurants at a terminal, like you can in the Gate Guru app I reviewed way back in 2010, but Gate Guru doesn’t seem to be as up-to-date as it used to be so I’m glad to see that TripIt is adding this feature. Not only can you look around the map to see what is at a terminal, you can also search for just about anything at an airport such as “restaurant” or “burger”. And the app can give you step-by-step walking directions in an airport. I’m sure that I will be using this the next time that I travel. Click here for more information from the TriptIt website. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- In the latest episode of the Apps in Law podcast, Brett Burney interviews Columbus attorney Sean Harris to discuss the Notability app for the iPad.
- Burney also released a video with three tips for using an iPad in a law practice.
- California attorney David Sparks discusses changes to the Timeline 3D app, an app which creates exactly what its name says. I know of many attorneys who have used this app to create 3D timelines used at trial.
- I always use Microsoft Word when I draft anything in my law practice, but I know that some attorneys have various reasons for preferring to draft in a plain text editor. If that describes you, Jason Snell of Six Colors explains why Editorial is his favorite iPad app for writing text.
- David Pierce has tips on improving the Wi-Fi at your home or office in an article for Wired.
- I recently discussed how the Apple Watch is in some ways a successor to the iPod nano. Jason Snell had a similar thought this week, and wrote about it in an article for Macworld.
- Marco Arment, developer of the great Overcast podcast app, explains why he is removing the feature to send a podcast to an Apple Watch to allow you to listen to a podcast even if your iPhone isn’t around. This feature didn’t always work for me, but when it did work, it was incredibly useful. I hope that the feature returns in the future.
- Dropbox now lets you use the Dropbox app on your iPhone for two-step verification. More details are available on the Dropbox blog.
- Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac reports that the Uber app is being updated so that if a driver needs to contract you, there is a chat function within the app. Thus, you and the driver don’t have to use text messages to communicate.
- If you subscribe to Apple Music, you can now watch the first episode of Apple’s new “TV” series, Carpool Karaoke. It features James Corden and Will Smith. Sonia Saraiya of Variety wasn’t very impressed with the episode, but I thought it was pretty good, and it made me want to watch other episodes that feature folks I’m interested in. I believe that there are 20 episodes in the first season, and starting next week there will be two episodes released each week.
- And finally, I didn’t run across any interesting Apple-related videos this week, so instead I’ll share this teaser trailer for Ready Player One, a Steven Spielberg movie coming out March 30, 2018. I absolutely loved the book by Ernest Cline, which I listened to in audiobook format (read by Wil Wheaton). It is a futuristic sci-fi thriller involving virtual reality and a huge number of references to the 1980s, which is a lot of fun if you are around my age and were also a teenager in the 1980s. I hope that this movie is as good as the book, and based on this video, maybe it will be: