This week, Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog tweeted a link to a court in Nevada that established the first virtual traffic court in Nevada. You can “appear” in court by using the Zoom teleconference app, which means that a defendant can use his iPhone to “go” to court no matter where he is actually located. Even if you don’t have a traffic ticket, you can use the app to be an observer of the proceedings. Details are available on this page. I’ve heard of other courts using a teleconference system so that a defendant could appear in court from another fixed location, but this is the first I’ve heard of a court letting folks use their own mobile device to appear in court. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- In a post on the MyCase blog, New York attorney Nicole Black reports on some of the mobile lawyer trends in the latest ABA Tech Report.
- If you are a fan of Apple Music and want to spread the joy, this week Apple released Apple Music for Business, which lets you purchase a license to play Apple Music throughout a commercial establishment, as reported by Anne Steele of the Wall Street Journal. Hello, Apple Music; goodbye, Muzak.
- In an article for MacStories, Rosemary Orchard reviews the new Cycle Tracking feature on the Apple Watch and the iPhone’s Health app, which can be used to track a menstrual cycle (including optional fertility tracking and predictions). As she notes, there are many third-party apps that have similar features but have questionable privacy protection, so it is nice that Apple itself now offers this capability.
- Adam Engst of TidBITS discusses using the Delta Airlines app and Apple Business Chat during a snowstorm.
- Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac reports that Apple is having an event in New York City on December 2 to honor some of the best apps and games of 2019.
- As reported by Jason Cross of Macworld, this week Apple released iOS 13.2.3. It fixes a number of bugs, but for me the biggest improvement is that the Mail app is now working much better, including doing a better job of fetching new messages. I believe that makes eight versions of iOS 13 that Apple has released in two months, which seems like a record.
- Taylor Tepper of Wirecutter says that while he wasn’t originally impressed by Apple’s credit card, after using it for a while now he understands the value of Apple Card.
- Kaitlin Serio of PurseBlog reports on designer cases for the AirPods, including a $350 Dior case and a $560 Bottega case.
- Lory Gil of iMore reports on options for changing the colors of your AirPods.
- Jack Nicas of the New York Times reports on a somewhat surreal meeting between Apple CEO Tim Cook and President Trump at a factory in Austin, TX being used by Apple to manufacture the new Mac Pro.
- And finally, I’ve been really enjoying the shows on Apple TV+, but my favorite is For All Mankind. Apple posted a video this week showing how the world of the show was created — the wardrobe, the set design, etc. It must be a lot of work, and a lot of fun, putting together these sets to look exactly like the late 1960s and early 1970s: