So I might as well begin with the topic that we are all thinking about this week. The elephant in the room. Or should I say, the cat in the court. On Tuesday, Rod Ponton, an attorney representing Presidio County, Texas, appeared via Zoom for a hearing in a civil forfeiture case and had to use his secretary's computer. But to his surprise, a webcam filter was enabled that made him look like a cat. Nevertheless, he soldiered on, telling Judge Roy Ferguson of the 394th Judicial District Court that he was "prepared to go forward" while emphasizing "I'm here live. I'm not a cat." This video showed up in my Twitter feed countless times this week in countless variations of the video. I recommend watching this short version from The Star because, after the now-famous clip, you then get to see and hear Rod Ponton and Judge Ferguson provide their insight on what happened. Technology reporter Geoffrey Fowler of the Washington Post figured out that the cat filter used is one that came with Dell computers back in 2009 and is no longer available. Although after this week, maybe Dell will bring it back. I should note that the incident also prompted a story about Ponton's past for which I don't know all of the details. But what I do know is that any of us could have been the talking cat in that viral video. Appearing in court via a webcam may seem easy, but there are a million things that can go wrong. All attorneys need to try hard to prevent the technology snafus that we can control to minimize the risks in the event that there are hiccups that are beyond our control. And if something happens anyway, hopefully we will see the patience and kindness exhibited by Judge Ferguson. And now, the other news of note from the past week:
- I enjoyed the latest episode of the Apps in Law podcast, in which Brett Burney interviews Illinois attorney Bryan Sims to discuss the TranscriptPad and Notability apps.
- Burney also posted a review this week, including a fantastic video review, of the Cardhop app that you can use to manage your contacts.
- Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reviews the new version of Home+, and HomeKit app that is much more powerful than Apple's Home app.
- Austin Carr and Mark Gurman of Bloomberg Businessweek report on how Tim Cook has been running Apple as CEO.
- Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reports on new studies showing that an Apple Watch can detect changes in heart rate that can be indicative of early signs of COVID-19.
- If you like to use MagSafe wireless charging for your iPhone, the Elago MS1 stand, reviewed by Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac, looks interesting.
- Speaking of wireless charging, Hardy also discusses the new Satechi USB-C Watch Airpods Charger, which is $39 on Amazon. Plug this small device into a USB-C port and it creates a tray where you can place an Apple Watch to charge it. Flip it over, and it creates a tray where you can charge an AirPods case. I love the design of this small device, which works on an iPad or a computer with a USB-C port. As a practical matter, though, I have some questions. It seems like it would only work with an iPad when it is flat on a table, and I usually keep mine propped up. Also, the Apple Watch and AirPods case are not items that I need to charge very often during the day, so I suspect many folks wouldn't use this very often. Even so, there is something about the design, with different wireless charging on each side, that I find very clever.
- Michael Simon of Macworld explains how Dolly Parton can help you get five months of Apple Music for free.
- I've heard of people who go to sleep wearing AirPods, and that always seemed dangerous to me because it seems like you can lose an AirPod in or behind a bed during the night. But it never occurred to me that you might wake up like Bradford Gauthier did, experiencing a sore throat and then discovering that you swallowed an AirPod while you were sleeping. As Gaby Moreno of WWLP reports, an X-Ray confirmed that the AirPod was lodged in his esophagus, resulting in an emergency endoscopy.
- And finally, the Korean acappela group MAYTREE did a fantastic job reproducing iPhone sound effects in this video: