After doing the same thing at your house, day after day, week after week, it’s time for something different that will cheer you up. Use your iPhone to download the WWOZ app. Or go to this page from the WWOZ website on your browser. Or, if you live in New Orleans, tune your radio to 90.7 FM. Why? Because every year, the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May means that it is time for Jazz Fest. Because of COVID-19, the traditional festival — always one of my favorite times of the year in New Orleans — had to be canceled for the first time in its 50-year history. But fortunately, the non-profit radio station owned by Jazz Fest, WWOZ, has stepped up to present Jazz Festing in Place. On April 23-26 and April 30-May 3, from 11am to 7pm Central (the same days and times as the normal Jazz Fest), WWOZ is playing some of the best live performances from the history of Jazz Fest. Yesterday, while I was working, I listened to a 1977 performance by Ella Fitzgerald, including the part where Stevie Wonder gets up on stage and they sing a duet of You Are the Sunshine of My Life. Later, as my wife and I prepared dinner, we listened to a fantastic 2001 performance by Fats Domino. Today, you can hear Aaron Neville and Irma Thomas. This weekend, you can hear Dr. John, Trombone Shorty, Henry Butler, Alvin Batiste, and many, many, many more. I guarantee you that it will make you tap your toes and smile. After all, if you can’t live in New Orleans, let New Orleans live in you. And now, the news of note from the past week:
There is a great episode of the Apps in Law Podcast this week in which host Brett Burney interviews Commander Ben Robinson, a military judge who describes how use makes extensive use of his iPad in his practice.
One of the big stories of this week is that you can now get the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro. There are lots of reviews, and here are the ones that I recommend. Attorney Jeremy Horwitz of VentureBeat does a good job outlining the pros and cons.
Scott Stein of CNet notes that the Magic Keyboard turns your iPad into something different, a tool for getting work done with the keyboard and trackpad. He suggests leaving it on a desk so that you magnetically attach your iPad to get work done somewhat like a computer, and then you lift up the iPad to return to a traditional tablet mode.
In an article for Macworld, Jason Snell notes that the Magic Keyboard makes your iPad weigh as much as a laptop — except that you can easily remove the iPad from the Magic Keyboard.
John Guber of Daring Fireball says that the Magic Keyboard is “utterly brilliant” and gives you an “altogether new experience” using an iPad.
Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch says: “If you work seriously with the iPad and that work is based on typing, the Magic Keyboard is essentially mandatory.”
The new iPhone SE is being released today. A number of reporters had a chance to try it out and write some reviews. Here are the ones that I recommend. John Gruber of Daring Fireball points out how powerful the iPhone SE is, even though it lacks many of the fantastic features on more expensive iPhones.
Five years ago today, on April 24, 2015, the original Apple Watch became available. I started using mine on that day, and a version of the Apple Watch has been on my wrist every single day since then. Hokinkee, a website devoted to high-end watches, takes a look at the impact that the Apple Watch has had on the industry for the past five years.
And finally, I recently noted that Apple and Google have teamed up to create a contact tracing system that also preserves your privacy. In this video, David Pogue of CBS Sunday Morning explains what is great about the effort and interviews Bud Tribble, the VP of Software Technology for Apple, and Dave Burke, the VP of Engineering for Android:
Appellate litigation is a major part of my law practice, and I am currently one of only 11 lawyers certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization as an Appellate Practice Specialist. My iPad Pro is an integral part of everything that I do when I work on an appeal. In this episode, I talk with Todd and Jody about how I use my iPad as an appellate attorney, including working with trial counsel on complex and case-dispositive motions, reviewing the record on appeal, writing an appellate brief, and preparing for and giving an oral argument. We also talk about the 2020 version of the iPad Pro and the new Apple Magic Keyboard, which started shipping this week.
I love the idea of a podcast focused on appellate litigation in a state. We don’t have a podcast like that in Louisiana, but another member of the appellate team at my law firm — Ray Ward — publishes a fantastic blog devoted to Louisiana appellate litigation. I’ve been relying on Ray’s blog more than ever over the last few weeks to get the latest information on how the appellate courts in which I practice are dealing with COVID-19.
Thanks to Todd and Jody for inviting me to their podcast, and be sure to check out this episode if you ever work on appeals in your own law practice.
Apple continues to show leadership in combating COVID-19. Using technology that it developed for its Find My app, Apple teamed up with Google to develop voluntary contact tracing technology that can alert you when you (or more specifically, your smartphone which is presumably close to your body) has spent time in close proximity to someone else who uses the software and has reported having COVID-19. The first version of the technology will be released in May. Because Apple is involved, the system has privacy protections built-in. President Trump apparently is not a fan, making the curious assertion earlier this week that the technology has constitutional problems even though it is voluntary to use. Indeed, the fact that it is voluntary enhances privacy but reduces its effectiveness; someone who had the virus and was in close contact with you may not be using the software. Nevertheless, I can still see this as being one of the many helpful tools that we can use to protect ourselves as we slowly begin to explore ways to have more people return to the outside world. And now, the news of note from the past week:
If you are looking for a way to keep track of what TV shows you have watched and what to watch next, Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reviews TV Forecast, saying that he has used the app for almost a year and he really likes it. His review convinced me to give it a try. I’ve tried similar apps in the past and for various reasons none of them have really stuck with me, but this one looks like it has potential.
I’m a big fan of using GoodNotes on my iPad to take handwritten notes. This week, GoodNotes introduced a universal app for the Mac. This means that if you already own the iPad app, you can now also use the app on a Mac for free. Of course, one is unlikely to take handwritten notes on a Mac given the lack of a touchscreen, but it is incredibly nice to be able to skim through my notes on my computer screen while I am working at home. The app is only for Mac, so if you use a PC you still need to export your notes to PDF and then review them on the PC that way. Note that when you download the app from the Mac App Store, you will at first be told that you have to pay for the app, but before you are charged Apple will realize that you already own the app and will tell you that there is no charge. See this tweet from GoodNotes for more on that.
M.G. Siegler explains on his 500ish site why he is such a big fan of the new cursor support on iPad OS. Me too. I find myself working on my iPad with an external keyboard and an Apple Magic Mouse 2 almost every day — I was just using it a few hours ago to edit some written discovery requests — and it works very well.
Jason Cipriani of CNet shares 15 gestures you can now do with a trackpad or mouse using the new iPad OS.
In addition to announcing its partnership with Google, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that Apple announced another tool that might help those studying the COVID-19 pandemic: anonymous data from Apple’s Maps app that shows how people in different parts of the world have moved around over time.
And finally, Apple released a fantastic video this week remind us that even during these difficult times, creativity goes on:
Apple announced a new iPhone yesterday called the iPhone SE. If you have avoided purchasing an iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, or iPhone 11 because you prefer having a button on your iPhone that uses Touch ID (fingerprint recognition) instead of an iPhone with Face ID (facial recognition), then this is the iPhone for you. The second generation of the iPhone SE gives you most of what you get with an iPhone 11 and puts it in the body of an iPhone 8. Moreover, if you have avoided purchasing the iPhone 11 and similar devices because they are too expensive, the new iPhone SE is the iPhone for you. The new iPhone SE is available starting April 24, 2020, and it starts at only $399 for the 64GB model.
The button
The single button at the bottom of the screen was the iconic feature of the original iPhone in 2007, and that button remained on all models of the iPhone until the iPhone X was announced in 2017. As much as I loved using that button, I prefer the new design that was first introduced with the iPhone X. By eliminating the button, there is space for a larger screen. Thus, you can get the biggest screen possible in the smallest amount of space — a feature that I prefer on both the iPhone and the iPad (and hence my love of the iPad Pro).
But I know that not everyone feels that way. My wife has been using an iPhone 7 for years. Even as I upgraded from an iPhone X to and iPhone XS to an iPhone 11 Pro and thus had an extra one-year-old model in the house that she could use at no cost, she declined to upgrade. (My son was delighted by my wife’s decision and quickly took advantage of the situation.) Something about Face ID has never appealed to her, and she prefers using the button to unlock the phone or go to the home screen. And my wife is not alone. I’ve talked to many attorneys at my own law firm who have told me that they prefer having a button, so I’m sure that there are countless others out there.
And recently, even I joined that club — at least for a short period of time. A few days ago, I made a temporary exit from my exile at home to go to the grocery store … which, as you know is a very different activity because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I wore a cloth mask while I was in the store, and I quickly noticed that it severely interfered with my using the Notes app on my iPhone as a grocery list because you cannot use Face ID with a cloth mask. Every time I looked at my iPhone and it was locked, it would not unlock automatically, so I needed to type in my passcode. And because I use a passcode with more than 10 characters, it was incredibly inconvenient to enter that passcode many, many times while I was shopping. Ugh. As I left the store, I found myself longing for an iPhone with Touch ID instead of Face ID for the first time in many years.
If you prefer having a button and Touch ID on your iPhone, the new iPhone SE is the only new iPhone being sold by Apple that still has a button. This is the iPhone for you.
Size
The new iPhone SE is pretty much the same size as the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, and iPhone 8. In fact, it is almost exactly the same size as the iPhone 8, and cases that work on the iPhone 8 should also work on the iPhone SE. Thus, if you are upgrading from one of those models, the new iPhone SE will feel like it is the right size.
If you used one of the “Plus” models of those phones, the iPhone SE is smaller. Perhaps Apple will announce an iPhone SE Plus at some point, but for now, that is not an option. For now, if you want a larger screen, you will have to give up the button and get the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, or iPhone 11 Max, all of which are larger than the iPhone SE and all of which cost much more.
If you are upgrading from the first-generation iPhone SE or an iPhone 5s or an older model, then the second-generation iPhone SE is going to feel like a larger phone to you. But it is also such a better phone than those older models that hopefully you won’t mind.
Colors
The iPhone SE comes in black, white, and red.
Speed and other features
Even though the new iPhone SE has a button and thus shares a trait with the 2007 version of the iPhone, this is still a very modern iPhone. It uses the same A13 chip as the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Pro, both of which were just released a few months ago. The iPhone SE only has a single camera, but it is the same excellent camera that is on the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. The iPhone SE simply lacks the additional wide-angle camera and the telephoto camera that you can get on those more expensive models.
The new iPhone SE also has a dual-SIM, which can be especially useful if you do a lot of international travel. Not that you are likely to do much of that in the next few months, but when the world starts to get back to normal, your iPhone SE will be ready.
The screen is not quite as nice as what you get on the other iPhones that Apple is now selling as new, but the screen on the iPhone SE is still very nice. And my guess is that the iPhone SE is at least as good and probably much better than whatever older iPhone you are upgrading from.
Put it all together, and you have all of the features that most lawyers need in an iPhone. It is fast enough to be super-responsive as you are working with emails and attachments. It will work great for phone calls and video conferences. It runs the latest operating system, and it has the power necessary to continue to be a great iPhone for many years to come. And it will run all of the latest apps that you use to manage your tasks, calendar, contacts, etc.
Price
The iPhone 11 starts at $699 and the iPhone 11 Pro starts at $999. In contrast, the new iPhone SE starts at only $399. I love my iPhone 11 Pro, but unless you are a power user, I suspect that you won’t find the iPhone 11 Pro to be worth an extra $600. And if you don’t care about the larger screen and second camera, you may consider the additional $300 for an iPhone 11 to be wasted money. Starting at $399 is a great price for many people.
Having said that, I strongly encourage you to spend an extra $50 to get the 128GB model instead of the 64GB model. As you take pictures and video and as you store documents and other files, you will definitely appreciate the extra space. For $549 you can get the 256GB model of the iPhone SE.
Conclusion
When Apple introduced the iPhone 11 last year but didn’t update the iPhone 8, I was afraid that Apple was giving up on iPhone with a button and Touch ID. I’m glad to see that Apple didn’t do so. The second-generation version of the iPhone SE is going to be the perfect iPhone for many attorneys and many others. If you want to have a powerful iPhone but don’t want to spend a lot of money, and/or if you want to use a button with a fingerprint sensor instead of a buttonless phone that uses facial recognition, this is the iPhone for you.
Apple has shown incredible leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. It started by donating masks to medical professionals that Apple already had in its possession (presumably accumulated during the California fires). Apple then found a company to make more masks that Apple could give away, and a few days ago Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple would be obtaining and giving away over 20 million masks to medical workers. Cook also announced that Apple designed and was producing face shields for medical workers. You can see how the face shield works in this support document on Apple’s website. And then Cook announced that Apple was contributing $10 million to Lady Gaga’s effort to raise money for the World Health Organization, which will put on a concert on April 18 called One World Together At Home. It will be broadcast by Apple and by all three U.S. networks, it will be hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert, and the list of participating artists is impressive including Paul McCartney, Elton John, Keith Urban, Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder, Alanis Morissette, and many more. As so many of us are using Apple devices to stay connected while we practice social distancing, kudos to Apple for inspiring us all by doing what it can to help. And now, the news of note from the past week:
California attorney David Sparks explains why he is a fan of Watchsmith, an interesting app that lets you create your own complications for the Apple Watch.
Apple’s upcoming Magic Keyboard incorporates a keyboard and a trackpad into an iPad case. It looks fantastic and starts at $299. Jason Snell of Six Colors reviewed the Brydge Pro+ keyboard, which is about $100 cheaper. Unfortunately, Snell reports that the trackpad doesn’t work well so this isn’t a good alternative.
Matt Webb Mitovich of TV Line reports that everyone can now watch many of the best shows on Apple TV+ for free. Not all of the shows are available — for example, The Morning Show and See are missing — but of what is available, I can recommend For All Mankind and Dickinson.
If you are following the latest guidelines and wearing a mask to prevent COVID-19, FaceID on an iPhone no longer works while a mask covers your mouth and nose. Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal discusses possible work-arounds.
GoodNotes updated an older post on Medium in which it selects the best styluses to use with an iPad. Unsurprisingly, the Apple Pencil comes up on top, but they also like what they call the Adonit Jot Pro. I believe that stylus is now called the Adonit Pro 4 and costs only $29.99 on Amazon. For many years, the Adonit Jot Pro was my favorite stylus (here is my review of the 2015 model), because of its fine tip attached to a clear disk. One nice thing about the Adonit Pro 4 is that it works with any device, even the iPhone. If you want a stylus but don’t want to pay over $50 and/or want to use it on an iPhone, I think that the Pro 4 would be a great pick. Having said that, once you start using an Apple Pencil, everything else pales in comparison.
And finally, here is an interesting drone video by Duncan Sinfield showing what Apple Park looks like when virtually everyone is working at home:
With so many of us staying at home and practicing safe social-distancing, videoconferencing has replaced in-person meetings. There are many different platforms that you can use for videoconferencing, but lately I have been spending a lot of time using Microsoft Teams. If you primarily use Teams on your computer, I hope that this post will encourage you to try out Teams on your iPad and iPhone for videoconferences.
This is not a full review of Microsoft Teams, which is a sophisticated product that has many features I haven’t even begun to explore. Also, if you are trying to decide what videoconferencing platform to use in your law practice, I have not tried them all and I cannot tell you what is best for you. Having said that, you may have seen some of the recent critiques of Zoom in the news. For example, The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto recently issued an extensive report identifying security and privacy issues with Zoom, ultimately concluding: “As a result of these troubling security issues, we discourage the use of Zoom at this time for use cases that require strong privacy and confidentiality, including … [h]ealthcare providers handling sensitive patient information … lawyers, and journalists working on sensitive topics.” In light of these reports, Zoom has announced that it is going to place more focus on security, and that is good news. However, as security expert Bruce Schneier noted at the end of his extensive analysis of Zoom, only time will tell whether Zoom makes real progress.
In this post, I’ll start by describing how Teams works on the iPad and iPhone when you are participating in a videoconference. Then, I’ll explain why the iPad is my favorite way to use Teams in a videoconference.
Teams on the iPad
The main screen of the Microsoft Teams app for the iPad has multiple tabs at the bottom. When you tap Calendar, you see all of the events that are on your calendar — the same events that you would see using the calendar feature of Microsoft Outlook on your computer or the Calendar app on your iPad or iPhone. When you tap on a meeting on the left that is scheduled as a Teams meeting, you have an option to click a button to join the meeting.
Before you enter the meeting, you have a chance to see if your video is turned on (and if so, see how you look), see if your microphone is turned on, and see if your speaker is turned on. When you are ready to join the meeting, tap the button that says Join now.
Once you join the meeting, you will start to see other participants as they join.
In the current version of Microsoft Teams for iPad, you will never see more than four people on the screen at one time, and the one in the bottom right corner is always you. The other three parts of the screen show the three people who spoke most recently. Of course, you will only see the face of a participant if they have their camera turned on, but you will always see their first name and the initial of their last name, if Teams can identify that. If someone is participating in the Teams conference via telephone, you will see an icon instead of a face and their phone number instead of their name.
There are other videoconferencing apps that show a larger number of people on a single screen at one time, or that at least give you the option to tap a button or swipe to see additional participants in the videoconference. But Teams only shows four people, with a small circle in the corner to indicate how many people are off-screen. Indeed, on the iPad, it is perhaps more accurate to say that you see only three people because your own camera is always shown at the bottom right; on a computer, Teams shows the four people who have spoken most recently along with a small fifth window showing your own camera.
I’ve heard some folks say that they like seeing only a few people at a time because with only four faces on the screen, it is easier to see each person. But I think that Microsoft should at least give you the option to see more faces on a screen at one time. In Zoom, you can see nine faces on an iPad screen at one time — which may remind you of The Brady Bunch or The Hollywood Squares — and I find that works well, plus you can swipe left or right to see additional people. According to a post by a Microsoft engineer on the official Microsoft Teams User Feedback Forum, Microsoft is working on adding a similar feature: “Based on recent feedback, we are accelerating our work to increase the number of participants shown in the main meeting window.” But who knows if that feature is coming next month or next year.
[UPDATE 4-13-2020: Today, Microsoft announced on Twitter that before the end of April, Teams will add the ability to view nine participants simultaneously. No word yet on whether the iPad will get this new feature at the time as the computer. And Microsoft is also working to increase that number even more.]
If you tap on the screen, you will see additional options.
There is an arrow at the top left that you can tap to go back to the main screen of the Teams app. When you do so, a small window will float on the right side of the screen that you can tap to return to the conference. The middle of the top of the screen shows the conference title and elapsed time. Buttons at the top right let you see the Chat window associated with the screen (more on that in a moment) or a list of the participants who are either in the meeting or who were invited to join the meeting. (From that screen, you can add additional people to the conference.)
A bar at the bottom of the screen shows various options including buttons to turn the camera, microphone, and speaker on or off. As I’m sure you have heard before, if you are not speaking it is often a good idea to tap the mute button — especially if you are not using a headset — so that others do not hear pets, children, and other potential sources of noise around you.
I’ve been using my AirPods Pro for all of my Teams videoconferences using my iPad (and iPhone), and they work great. Unlike larger headsets, they don’t block any part of my face, and the audio quality has been great.
Tap the three dots on the bar for additional options. There are two interesting options in there that I have not used much except to see that the work. One option allows you to share a PowerPoint, photo, video, or your entire screen so that everyone else in the meeting can see it.
Another option is to turn on live captions, which allows you to see a transcript at the bottom of your screen of what people are saying as they are speaking. The transcript is far from perfect, but it is designed to make meetings more accessible to individuals who are deaf or have difficulties hearing. This is a new feature, added just a few weeks ago, and I don’t yet know all of the details on how it works, including how the transcript is created and whether it is retained.
Another option is to record a video of the meeting. If anyone in a meeting starts a recording, then everyone in the meeting will be able to view that recording in the chat channel associated with the meeting. And when there is a live captions transcript associated with the meeting, you can search for a word in the transcript to jump to a part of a recording.
Note that many of these options — including sharing, live captions, and the ability to record video — can be disabled at the administrator level. So if your law firm decides to prohibit screen sharing or recording video, you may not see this option in your Teams app.
What if you don’t want other participants to see what is in your background? On a computer, Teams provides the option to blur your background. This option is not yet in the iPad version of the app, but on March 19, 2020, Microsoft announced that “[y]ou can expect to see this feature appear on your iPhones and iPads in the coming weeks.”
What if you want to use a picture for your background, almost like you were in front of a green screen? A recent post on Microsoft’s official forum says that Microsoft engineers are “working on this feature and are hoping to release within a quarter.” That post doesn’t say if the feature will come to the iPad at the same time that it comes to the computer.
Teams on the iPhone
As far as I can tell, everything that you can do with Teams on an iPad also works on an iPhone. Of course, the larger iPad screen is better for seeking four people at one time, but for a one-on-one videoconference, the iPhone works well and is very convenient.
While the iPhone screen is too small to be ideal for a large conference, I find that it is a perfect way to use the chat function during a videoconference. Teams allows you to chat with participants while a conference is going on (or even before or after the conference), which can be a nice way to have a public side conversation that doesn’t distract from the speakers. You can see that chat area on the iPad, but not at the same time that you are looking at the faces. But while you are using an iPad to see faces, you can also use the Teams app on the iPhone to participate in the chat. And the iPhone size is perfect for chatting, much like the iPhone works great for text messages.
The focus of this post is videoconferencing, but I’ll note that the chat feature in Teams is a useful way to have a back-and-forth conversation with someone in your organization even if you are not having a videoconference. A single chat session can often replace dozens of emails. Sure, you could also use your iPhone’s Messages app to text with someone, but Teams makes it easy to chat with everyone in your organization, even if you don’t have their cellphone number.
One word of warning: if you are using Teams on your iPhone just for the chat function, don’t tap the Join button by accident. If you do, your active camera will switch from your iPad to your iPhone. Having said that, there may be times when you find it a useful feature to switch between using the camera on your computer, iPad, and iPhone.
Putting it all together
The main reason that I love using my iPad and iPhone in a videoconference is that it gives me easy access to all of the tools that I want. On my iPad screen, I can watch and participate in the video portion of the videoconference. On my iPhone, I can use the Teams chat feature. And then I typically have my computer right next to me on my desk as well, making it easy to pull up a document, email, something on the Internet, etc. that I want to refer to during the meeting. I could accomplish something similar using Teams on my computer by having two monitors connected to my computer, but that’s not a luxury that I have at my home.
I also like that the iPad is so portable, making it easy to participate in a videoconference from anywhere in my house. I even tried attending a conference from my backyard, but my Wi-Fi signal was mediocre and it degraded the video quality enough that I quickly decided to go back inside. But if it works for you, go for it.
I’m sure that I will still attend some calls using Teams on my computer. But so far, the iPad has been the better option for almost all of my calls. If you currently only use Teams on your computer, I strongly encourage you to download the Teams app on your iPad and iPhone so that you have the best tool for any situation.
Ten years ago today — April 3, 2010 — Apple started selling the original iPad. The iPad had been introduced by Steve Jobs on January 27, 2010 (as I noted the next day), but 10 years ago today was the day that folks could start to buy one. Although often I am eager to be one of the first people to purchase new mobile technology from Apple, I didn’t start using an iPad until later in 2010. The first iPad seemed very interesting to me, but I wasn’t sure how I might use it either in my law practice or at home. But it didn’t take long for some attorneys to see the value of the iPad. For example, just a few weeks after the iPad was introduced, Utah attorney Peter Summeril was using Keynote on his iPad to win a jury trial, as he explained at the time in this post. And soon after the iPad was announced, Oregon attorney Josh Barrett, who is now a lawyer with Matchstick, started a great website called Tablet Legal. Unfortunately, that website is now long gone, but for a period of time it was a great resource with tips for making the most of an iPad in a law practice.
As the iPad became an even more useful tool for attorneys, more attorneys started using an iPad. A year after the iPad was introduced, almost 15% of all lawyers were using an iPad. That rose to around 30% in 2012, and for every year since around 2013, somewhere around 40% of all attorneys have reported that they use an iPad. (These numbers come from the annual ABA Tech Survey; see this post for more details.)
The iPad is now a key part of my own law practice, and I know that is true for many of you too. Apple now has an operating system dedicated to the iPad — iPadOS — and thanks to great new features such as the mouse and trackpad support added recently in iPadOS 13.4, the future of the iPad for lawyers looks fantastic. I love the iPad and I look forward to seeing what is coming in its second decade. And now, the news of note from the past week.
If you are like me, you are attending far more video conferences as a result of COVID-19. One of the most popular video conferencing products is Zoom. In an article for Attorney at Work, Virginia lawyer Sharon Nelson and her husband, security expert John Simek, provide tips for being more secure when you use Zoom.
If the folks you want to have a video conference with all use an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, group FaceTime calls is a good solution. Leif Johnson of Macworld reminds everyone how to do group FaceTime calls on an iPhone or iPad.
Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports that Fantastical now has enhanced support for the new iPadOS 13.4 cursor feature. I look forward to more apps adding this support, and I’m especially looking forward to seeing it on Microsoft Word for iPad.
If you need to connect to the Internet on an iPad and you don’t have Wi-Fi, you can instead connect to an Ethernet cord if you have the right adapter. Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac explains how to use Ethernet with an iPad.
One of the best weather apps for the iPhone (and iPad) is Dark Sky, which I first discussed on this website in 2012. And many great third-party weather apps, like Carrot Weather, use Dark Sky for their weather data. This week, Apple announced that it is buying Dark Sky. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac offers some thoughts on what this could mean.
The MacStories website has had lots of stories this week devoted to the 1oth anniversary of the iPad, with more coming today and tomorrow. For example, one post looks at some of the most important iPad apps of the past decade. There are some great apps discussed in that article, such as Fantastical, Workflow, Things, GoodNotes, and Photoshop.
Ryan Christoffel of MacStories interviewed iPad app developers to discuss the past and future of iPad.
Zac Hall of 9to5Mac discusses an adapter that turns standard CarPlay into Wireless CarPlay, although it has some hiccups. Wireless CarPlay sounds like an interesting idea, but I like charging my iPhone when I drive so I don’t consider it inconvenient to use the wired version of CarPlay.
And finally, the new 2020 version of the iPad Pro uses LiDAR to get a 3D view of the world. Faruk of iPhonedo prepared an interesting 10-minute video on the new iPad, but even if you don’t watch the whole thing, you should jump to the 4 minute mark where he uses an infrared camera to show how LiDAR works. I suspect that LiDAR will be coming to the iPhone later this year, and if so, we will be hearing a lot more about this technology in the future.
As we begin the month of April today, we all know that this is going to be a bizarre month. Everyone is subject to a stay-at-home directive for all of this month, and surely this is just the beginning. And the COVID-19 statistics are rising at an alarming rate, especially in New York, but also in other places such as New Orleans, where I live. It can all get quite overwhelming.
Apple recently released an app to give you some practical advice. The app has a nice and simple interface to just give you the facts — what you should know and what you should be doing based upon your personal situation, including when it makes sense to speak to a medical professional. It was developed in coordination with the CDC, FEMA, and the White House. All of the information in the app can be found elsewhere, but the free app is so nicely done that I recommend that you download it.
From the main screen, there is a button at the top to start screening, and below that you can tap to get information on ways to protect yourself.
When you start the screening, the app asks you a series of questions about your personal situation, risk factors, recent exposures, and symptoms. You can answer for yourself or provide answers for someone else. Apple emphasizes that all of the information you provide is kept private, stating: “The tools do not require a sign-in or association with a user’s Apple ID, and users’ individual responses will not be sent to Apple or any government organization.”
At the end, the app makes a recommendation on what you should do, including whether you should be tested.
This is a straightforward app with a clean interface and clear information presented in a very easy to use format. Kudos to Apple for doing a nice job with this one.
