I was supposed to be in trial on Monday, but my trial was continued, which means that I won’t be stuck in a courtroom when the solar eclipse happens between Noon and 3pm Central. Unfortunately, I didn’t buy solar eclipse glasses, and it now seems impossible to buy them for a reasonable price — although the current weather report in New Orleans is cloudy on Monday anyway, so perhaps it won’t make a difference for me. If you plan to take a picture of the eclipse with your iPhone, Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac has some helpful tips for doing so. My law firm actually has offices in two of the cities that will be lucky enough to experience a total eclipse (Nashville, TN and Columbia, SC), and thus for about three minutes on Monday, I’ll be jealous of my partners in those offices. But of course, in only 61 years, they will all be jealous of me when the May 11, 2078 total solar eclipse occurs in New Orleans — and I suspect that the 2078 version of the iPhone is going to have a really awesome camera. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- New York attorney Nicole Black explains why the Apple Watch is perfect for female attorneys in an article for Above the Law.
- California attorney David Sparks writes about the future of the Workflow app, a great automation app for the iPhone/iPad which was recently acquired by Apple. David sees signs that Apple may enhance automation in iOS. I hope he is right because it would allow iPads and iPhones to become even more powerful.
- I recently mentioned that you might want to turn off your iPhone before crossing an international border so that a customs agent cannot make you use your finger to unlock the device and instead will need a passcode. Killian Bell of Cult of Mac reports that in iOS 11 — which I expect to be released next month — you will be able to press the home button five times to quickly disable using Touch ID to unlock a device.
- Speaking of crossing the border with an iPhone, Debra Cassens Weiss wonders in an article for ABA Journal if it makes sense to just use a burner device when traveling internationally.
- Andrew Hayward of Macworld has some tips for using Google Cardboard on an iPhone.
- Speaking of Google and the iPhone, Todd Haselton of CNBC reports that Google will pay Apple an estimated $3 billion in 2017 to remain the default search engine on iOS devices.
- John Gruber of Daring Fireball discusses a report on the Wall Street Journal that Apple is preparing to spend $1 billion on acquiring and creating video content, which is about half of what HBO spent last year.
- I recently reviewed the Glif tripod mount from Studio Neat, and I really liked it. Serenity Caldwell of iMore just posted a review of the Glif, and she really likes it too.
- In another post at iMore, various staff members share their favorite Apple Watch bands. My favorite bands are the Milanese Loop (which I wear at work) and XL version of the Sport Band (which I wear at night, on weekends, and when working out). But the Woven Nylon band is also nice.
- Dieter Bohn of The Verge says that the iPad is the best tablet you can buy.
- Jared Newman of Fast Company examines why the iPad Pro smart connector isn’t very popular for third party accessory manufacturers. I’m now on my second iPad Pro, and I don’t think that I have ever used that connector.
- And finally, here is a video describing the Bios Incube, a device that lets you take the ashes of a deceased person and turn them into a plant that can communicate with you via your iPhone. I don’t think that I’m interested in having dead people send me text messages through a plant, but I will give credit for originality. I can honestly say that I have never thought of this as a use for my iPhone:
Jeff, you can stop by a safety or welding supply store and get welders glass for a couple of dollars. Either make your own glasses or just looks through the glass itself to watch the eclipse.
Welders glass is cheap and plentiful.