One of the most noticeable changes to my law practice since the COVID-19 pandemic began was the vast increase videoconferences that I have attended. Instead of driving across the city for an appellate argument or across the state for a hearing on a motion for summary judgment, I attended court via Zoom. Instead of attending a meeting with the members of the Appellate Team at my law firm, we talk to each other using Microsoft Teams. And instead of flying across the country for a client development opportunity, I have introduced myself to people via a webcam. A large number of the events on my calendar are videoconferences, and that's a big change that you may be noticing as well.
Because a calendar is so important to lawyers and other professionals, many people like to go beyond the features of the built-in Calendar app on the iPhone and iPad by using a third-party calendar app. One of the most popular choices is Fantastical, which has been my primary calendar app since I first reviewed it in 2012. This week, Fantastical was updated to version 3.1, an update that is focused on making the app more useful for folks who have videoconferences on their calendars. This is a great update that reminds me how much I appreciate this app.
Fantastical 3.1
The new version of Fantastical takes advantage of the fact that when you add a videoconference to your calendar, the calendar invite includes information for joining the videoconference. Fantastical has learned how to interpret these invitations so that it knows what kind of videoconference you will be attending. Specifically, the app now recognizes Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, RingCentral Meetings, BlueJeans, and Skype for Business. When it sees one of these videoconferences, it adds a special icon to your calendar.
For example, there were times last week when literally every other entry on my calendar was some type of videoconference. With the new version of Fantastical, things like Zoom and Teams meetings are easy to recognize thanks to the icons that Fantastical places right next to the meeting time. Here is what it looks like on an iPad:
Here is what it looks like on an iPhone:
Just having the visual indications is nice enough because it helps you to prepare for what is coming next. But when you are ready to join the meeting, if you will be doing so from your iPad or iPhone, Fantastical can help with that too. When you tap the calendar entry, Fantastical places an obvious link at the top that you can tap something like "Join Zoom Meeting" to join the meeting:
And better yet, when it is close to the time to join a meeting, Fantastical places a blue "Join" button right in the calendar so that you can click a button without having to even open the calendar entry:
I like this feature because I sometimes find it annoying to have to search through the calendar invite to locate the specific link that I need to click to join the meeting. Now, it is easy with Fantastical.
And of course, you can use services like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc. for audio conferences as well as a videoconference. Thus, these services can substitute for the conference call numbers that we have all been using for years. With this update to Fantastical, it is easier to connect to an audio conference on your iPhone.
I prefer to have Fantastical mirror the same calendar used by the built-in Calendar app on my iPhone and iPad. That way, I can easily switch between looking at my calendar in either app. But if you want to use Fantastical as a stand-alone calendar client, you can manually subscribe to calendars such as Google, Exchange, Office 465, Outlook.com, Yahoo!, etc. — and with this update, you can use Fantastical to subscribe to a Zoom calendar.
Since we are talking about videoconferences, I have two more suggestions for you.
Lampat LED Desk Lamp
First, one of the most important things that you can do to improve the way that you look on a videoconference is to adjust the lighting. I'm sure you know that you don't want to have something bright right behind your head, such as a window without a shade. But even with just the typical overhead light in your office, you won't look your best.
You can easily spend lots of money on fancy external lighting to make your face well-lit. Television studios and folks who make their living on YouTube have been doing this for years. But an inexpensive solution that I like is this $30 Lampat LED Desk Lamp that you can purchase on Amazon. I've used one for many years just as a desk lamp in my home office, but I discovered over the past few months that it also works great to light up a face during a videoconference because (1) it has a long strip of LEDs so it provides even light across your face, (2) you can tilt the lamp up so that it shines light on your face, and (3) you can adjust the brightness and the light temperature to provide more natural light on your face. When I use my iPad to join a videoconference, I turn on this lamp and adjust it so that my face looks much better.
I recently bought a second one of these lamps to keep on the desk at my office at my law firm. Overhead fluorescent lights in an office are not great sources of lighting. Now, whenever I'm at work and I have a videoconference, I can easily get much better lighting on my face.
And when you are not on a videoconference and you just want a nice lamp, this is a fine lamp. Because it is an LED lamp, it doesn't get hot. I like that you can adjust the brightness and temperature so that it provides just the right amount of light to a document or whatever else you are reading. It also has a handy USB port on the side, giving you an easily-accessible location to charge an iPhone or other device using a cord. The other day, my Apple Watch didn't charge overnight for some reason, so I used the lamp to bring my watch up to 100% while I was typing an appellate brief. And if you don't need to use the lamp, the arm folds down so that it takes up very little space.
Logitech HD Pro C922 webcam
Second, you will look better on your videoconferences if you use a nice camera. The built-in front-facing camera on the iPhone is good, but the screen is too small for me to use in a videoconference unless I have no other option. The built-in front-facing camera on most modern iPads is decent enough. But what if you are using a computer? As Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal recently reported, even if you are using a new laptop such as a MacBook Air or a Dell, all of the cameras are bad. And if you use an external monitor with your laptop — that's the setup I use in my office with my PC — there won't even be a camera on the monitor.
I recently purchased a Logitech HD Pro C922 webcam, and I've been very happy with the video quality. It is better than the built-in camera on the iMac that I use in my home office, and it is much better than the built-in camera on the Dell PC that I use for work. Sites that review webcams such as PC World, The Gadgeteer, and Wirecutter have raved about the quality of these Logitech webcams, and whenever I have been in a videoconference with someone else using this model, I've been very impressed. Best of all, this thing is light and can sit anywhere on top of a monitor, so I can select the best place to put it on top of my external monitor so that I am looking right at the camera — and thus right at the court or my clients — when I'm using it.
I will warn you that webcams have been incredibly hard to find ever since the COVID-19 pandemic started, and that is still true. Even if you try to order directly from Logitech, this model has been sold out for months. The link I'm providing is an Amazon link to a search result to give you more merchant options. As I type this, for example, one of the options is the C922x (the same model that I have but without an included, tripod, which I don't need anyway) for $150, which is about $50 more than you would normally pay for a camera like this if there were not a pandemic. But if you don't mind paying a little extra, you can get one now. I was able to get mine because a partner at my law firm placed two orders with two vendors months ago, and when the second one finally came in, he sold it to me for the $100 he paid. Hopefully, it won't be long before it is much easier to purchase these webcams.
I think that a webcam is a good purchase because even after the pandemic is over — and PLEASE LET THAT DAY BE SOON — I suspect that attorneys and other professionals will be doing a lot more videoconferencing now that we have all gotten used to it. By purchasing a light and a nice webcam, you will be prepared for the future.
To return to the main reason for this post, I love this new update to Fantastical. If you already use the app, look out for these new features. If you don't, you can use many features in the app for free, and you can upgrade to a premium subscription if you want to take advantage of additional features for $5/month or $40/year.
Click here for Fantastical (free):
Click here for the Lampat LED Desk Lamp from Amazon ($29.99)
Click here for the Logitech HD Pro C922 webcam from Amazon (price varies)