In the news

California attorney David Sparks discusses getting work done with an iPad instead of a computer, noting that Microsoft Word on the iPad is really just one feature short of giving attorneys all that they need to give up using the computer for word processing:  proper support for Styles.  I agree 100%, and every time Microsoft updates its iOS app, this is the first thing I look for in the list of what is new.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• On the latest edition of Brett Burney’s Apps in Law podcast, Kentucky attorney Jeff Alford discusses using TextExpander on the iPhone and iPad.
• Security expert Rich Mogull wrote a fascinating article in TidBITS explaining why Face ID on the iPhone X is a major step forward in mobile device security.
• Tim Bradshaw of Financial Times discusses iPhone security, including how Face ID improves security.
• If you ever find that Face ID doesn’t work, Yoni Heisler of BGR explains that rather than try again, you should enter your passcode.  That way, the iPhone X will learn to adjust and will do a better job in the future recognizing your face.
• Jared Newman of TechHive reivews the Apple TV 4K.
• The iPhone 8 and iPhone X support fast charging, much like the iPad Pro.  I previously reviewed the combination of Apple’s 29W USB-C Power Adapter and USB-C to Lightning Cable, a great pair for getting the fastest possible charging.  But it costs $75.  Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal ran some tests and concluded that while Apple’s USB-C combo is the fastest, using a $20 Apple 12W charger (which comes with the iPad) or using an $11 Anker 24W charger is almost as fast for the iPhone 8 / iPhone X.  I still like having Apple’s USB-C combo because I have an iPad Pro which takes much better advantage of USB-C, but if you are only looking for fast charging on an iPad, it looks like Apple’s USB-C combo is overkill.
• According to Neil Hughes of AppleInsider, you can save a tremendous amount of battery life on the iPhone X by using mostly dark screens, because black on an OLED display uses substantially less power.  I recently switched to an all-black backgrounds for the home screen on my iPhone X, not to save power,  but instead because I love the contrast on that OLED screen between a true black and the icon colors.
• I didn’t expect to see an iPhone X review on Android Central, but the editor of that site, Daniel Bader, wrote an interesting review of the iPhone X from the perspective of an Android fan.
• Mark Prigg of the Daily Mail reports that a kitesurfer off the coast of California found himself stranded in shark-infested waters and used the cellular function of his Apple Watch 3 to call for help.
• CarPlay Life offers some good advice for using Siri with Apple CarPlay.  One tip I learned from that article is that asking Siri for directions to X will just show you the directions on the screen, but asking Siri to take me to X will not only find the directions but also start providing directions advice, saving you the step of tapping the “Go” button on the CarPlay screen.
• Roger Fingas of AppleInsider reviews the August Smart Lock Pro + Connect bundle, a Home Kit-compatible smart lock.
• And finally, here is the cute video released by Apple this week showing a teenager using an iPad Pro for so many things that she forgets what a computer is; this is the video referenced in David Spark’s post that I linked to above: