Las Vegas attorney Michael Lowry of Wilson Elser publishes the Compelling Discovery website, a blog devoted to discovery in civil litigation. He recently researched and wrote about an issue that I had never thought about before: can an attorney save the cost of hiring a deposition videographer and just use an iPhone or iPad to create a video of a witness in a deposition? Perhaps this is something that you want to consider doing. But this is definitely something that any civil litigator should think about now, so that if opposing counsel tries to do it, you will have thought about the proper response.
You’ll want to read Lowry’s six-part blog entry to get the full answer, but in short, it seems that most courts won’t allow the practice because the attorney creating the video doesn’t constitute a “an officer appointed or designated under Rule 28” pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(5)(A). But reading the rule, I’m not sure that the issue is quite that clear, and Lowry notes other courts that have allowed the practice, especially if the objecting party cannot show that there is anything wrong with the video recording.
If you want to use an iPhone or iPad to record a deposition, make sure that you notice the deposition as a video deposition, and I would be upfront in the notice about what you plan to do. Better yet, consider reaching an agreement with the other counsel in the case that the deposition will be recorded this way with everyone’s consent and with everyone having access to the video when the deposition is finished. If everyone agrees to the practice, this would definitely reduce the cost of a video deposition. On the other hand, if something goes wrong with the recording, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
If opposing counsel tries to do this and you do not agree, make sure that you object as soon as possible — perhaps even in response to the notice itself, if it is clear from the notice that this is what is being contemplated. And this might be one of those rare instances in which you need to get a federal magistrate judge or state judge on the phone before the deposition begins.
It’s an interesting issue. As iPhones and iPads become even better at taking videos, I can see more people opting to go this route. And who knows, as Siri and similar technology gets better, how long will it be before your iPhone can create a real-time transcript of your deposition, replacing the need for a court reporter?
Yesterday, Apple had one of its largest Keynote addresses ever, announcing a ton of software improvements and new hardware. With iOS 11, the iPhone will be more fun and satisfying to use than ever. The new HomePod speaker due later this year is Apple’s answer to both the Sonos and Amazon Echo devices. New iPads will be available next week, boasting faster speed, better screens, improved support for the Apple Pencil, and a new 10.5″ size that is very close to the size of a traditional 9.7″ iPad but features a much larger screen thanks to a smaller bezel.
But today, I want to focus on one set of new features in iOS 11 (available for free this Fall) which will be incredibly useful for attorneys who use an iPad in their law practice, whether it be an existing iPad or one of the newest models due next week. In short, iOS 11 adds more professional iPad features than we have ever seen before, and the gap between an iPad and a “real” computer is getting thinner than the bezel on the new 10.5″ iPad. Here are the new features that were announced yesterday.
New dock
The current dock on the iPad can hold just six app icons. In iOS 11, the dock can hold many more icons. I’m not sure of the limit, but in the demo yesterday I saw as many as 14 apps in there at a time. And the last app on the right wasn’t even something that the user added; it is a predictive spot in which the iPad shows an app that it thinks you might use because, for example, you recently used it on your iPad or iPhone.
You can see the dock in any app by swiping up from the bottom. And with so many apps in the dock, you can quickly switch from app to app without having to go back to the home screen first. This allows you to be even more productive as you switch between apps on your iPad. I am constantly switching between Microsoft Word, GoodReader, Mail, Safari, and many other apps as I get work done on my iPad, so it will be great to be able to work even faster.
But having so many app icons on the dock is even more useful because of the next major improvement…
Improved split screen
Apple introduced some basic multitasking features in iOS 9, such as the ability to have two apps on the screen at the same time. I often find it useful to look at an exhibit on one side of the screen while I am typing on the other side of the screen.
Multitasking in iOS 11 is far more impressive. First, you can drag any app from the dock to see it on the side of the screen in slide over mode, where it hovers in a window over your main app so that you can quickly see or do something. And you can snap that app into place to have a split screen view similar to what was added in iOS 9.
App Switcher with Spaces
Swiping up from the bottom of the iPad screen in iOS 11 brings up the Dock. But if you keep swiping up, you see the new App Switcher. The App Switcher shows a new and improved control panel (more on that in a minute) but also shows other running apps so that you can switch to one of them.
Or, you can switch to more than one of them. With iOS 11, the iPad remembers if you have a space in which you have one app on the left and one app on the right, so you can switch to a space with both of those apps where they are supposed to be. So you might have one space in which Microsoft Word is on the left and GoodReader is in the right showing an exhibit. You might have another space in which Mail is on the left and Safari is on the right so that you can write an email while reading information on a website. The new App Switcher shows each of these spaces so that you can quickly select the pairing for the work that you are doing.
Drag and Drop
In iOS 9, it is frustrating to see something on the left side of your screen that you want to put on the right side of the screen and not be able to just drag from one side to the other — such as dragging a picture or text from Safari into a Microsoft Word document. Or dragging a URL from Safari into an email. iOS 11 adds this ability.
But that is just the beginning. You can select one object and then tap additional objects to select more than one object to drag at one time, such as multiple pictures.
You can also drag and drop to an app that isn’t currently on the screen — dragging across spaces. Apple showed an example yesterday of selecting multiple pictures in the photos app, then using your other hand to drag up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the App Switcher, and then dragging those photos into another app that wasn’t even on the screen when you started.
We’ve all been using Drag and Drop on computers for a very long time, so I knew that Drag and Drop would come to the iPad one day, but I wasn’t sure how Apple would make this work on a touch-based interface. The system that Apple previewed yesterday seems to work incredibly well, making very complicated steps look simple. This is a new feature that I expect to be using frequently.
QuickType Keyboard
With the iOS 10 on-screen keyboard, you tap a key to type the letter on that key. iOS 11 adds a new QuickType Keyboard which shows at the top of many keys an alternate character that you can type, such as punctuation, by swiping down on a key instead of taping the key. This saves you time because you don’t have to first tap the ?123 to switch to the alternative keyboard with punctuation symbols.
Files
One of the stumbling blocks for getting work done on an iPad has been the lack of a file system. I feel like this is especially true for attorneys — our job constantly involves working with multiple documents, whether you are a transactional attorney or a litigator. Many of us get around the lack of a file system in iOS 10 by using a service like Dropbox, and perhaps even an app like GoodReader to sync multiple folders from Dropbox to the iPad so that they are always on the iPad. But this was always an imperfect solution because items in those folders are not always easy to access in other apps.
In iOS 11, Apple is introducing the new Files app. It supports folders, folders within folders, a grid view or a list view, the ability to designate folders as favorites for easy access, the ability to search for files, the ability to tag files with a color and label, and the ability to sort by name, file size, date or tags. It has a Recents view to show all of the files you accessed most recently. It can work with files stored on the iPad itself or files stored in iCloud, Dropbox, Box, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, and the Adobe Creative Cloud. You can either start in the Files app by selecting a file to work with, or you can start in some other app and end up in Files. For example, you might have an email attachment that you want to drag into the Files app to put it into a folder.
You can also swipe up from the bottom of the screen so that the Dock appears and then tap and hold on the icon for the Files app to see recent documents. If one of those recent documents is the one that you want, you can drag the document directly from the Dock into an app.
Create PDF
I recently showed you how, in iOS 10, you can use the Print function to turn an email or other document into a PDF file on the iPad. In iOS 11, you can do this more directly with a new Create PDF button in the menu that appears when you tap the share button (the box with the arrow coming out of it).
Create Screenshot
You have long been able to create a screenshot of whatever is on an iPad (or iPhone) screen by pressing the home button and the power button at the same time. In iOS 11, when you create a screenshot, you’ll see a small thumbnail preview at the bottom left corner of the screen. Tap that preview to bring up the new screenshot editor, where you can crop and annotate the image.
The new cropping feature is a big improvement over iOS 10, where you would have to take the screenshot, then switch into the Photos app, then locate and open the image, then switch to the editor mode, then select the crop tool and then crop the image. In iOS 11, when you see something on part of your screen that you want to quickly send to someone else, it will be much faster. If you see something on a website that you want to show to a colleague, you can take a screenshot, quickly crop to the important part, and then email that cropped image.
Apple Pencil integration
In iOS 10, the Apple Pencil is the best way to draw on an iPad, whether you are taking notes, circling and underlining a document, or just doodling a picture. In iOS 11, you can do even more with the Apple Pencil. Just about anywhere that you can work with a PDF file or a screenshot, you can use the Pencil to annotate in iOS 11’s expanded Markup option. Apple calls this Instant Markup because as soon as your Pencil starts to draw on a document, you are instantly annotating the document.
You can also use the Pencil in the Mail app so that you can easily put a sketch in the middle of an email. In the demo that Apple showed yesterday, the sketch appears inline with the message. I’m not yet sure if other mail software, such as Microsoft Outlook, keeps the sketch inline with the message or just adds the sketch as an attached image file.
When you write notes using the Pencil in Apple’s Notes app, the Notes app now automatically converts your handwriting into text so that you can search for the text. And if you use a Pencil to tap on your iPad’s lock screen, it automatically opens the Notes app for you. (Speaking of the Notes app, it now also features a document scanner, but for those of us who have been using apps like Scanner Pro or ScanBot for many years, this isn’t all that impressive.)
Control Center
In iOS 11, the Control Center on the iPad (and iPhone) is much improved. I mentioned above that if you swipe up from the bottom of the screen you will first see the Dock, and then as you continue swiping you will see the new App Switcher. On the right side of that same screen, you will see the Control Center. Unlike iOS 10 where Control Center functions were spread across several screens so you have to swipe left and right to get to the one you want, in iOS 11 all of the main Control Center functions are visible at once. If you 3D touch on a set of features on the iPhone or long press on the iPad, you can open up a set of controls to see even more features.
This design makes it faster to access the Control Center features that you want. This design also lets Apple put even more power into Control Center, such as the ability to toggle on or off cellular data, AirDrop receiving, and Personal Hotspot. You can even customize the Control Center to add the buttons that you want. The improved Control Center can save you from having to open the Settings app and hunt down a feature, and thus can save you time.
Conclusion
These new features in iOS 11 will let attorneys and others be much more productive with an iPad. Most of these functions will also work on an iPhone, but you do even more with them on the large iPad screen. With iOS 11, you can more easily work with multiple apps at one time, more easily move information between apps, more easily access and share files, and more easily annotate with the Apple Pencil. I am incredibly excited to try out these new features, and it will be fantastic to have these features available to iPad users this Fall.
Today, Apple begins its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, CA. At 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern, Apple executives will give a Keynote address that will likely include a preview of the next version of the iPhone/iPad operating system, perhaps also a preview of the next watchOS, and perhaps also new hardware products — maybe a new iPad, or a new stand-alone Siri device? Infinite speculation is possible between now and 10am Pacific. Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote about what he hopes to see at WWDC, and I found myself nodding at every paragraph of that article; in an article for Macworld, Snell wrote about what he actually expects to see announced today.
If you want to watch the two hour presentation as it happens, you can watch a live stream here. I won’t be able to do so because I have an oral argument before the U.S. Fifth Circuit this morning However, when my argument is over, I’m glad that there will be lots of iPhone-related news to think about to distract me from obsessing over every question that was asked by the panel of judges.
The big news of this week was that it is almost next week. On Monday, Apple kicks off its annual conference for developers called WWDC. And at 10am Pacific on Monday, Apple will hold a Keynote address to kick off the conference. This is the time when Apple previews upcoming versions of its operating systems, so I’m sure that the Keynote address will reveal new features to be added to iOS 11, which will presumably be released around September of this year. I also hope to learn about the next version of watchOS. Apple sometimes announces new hardware at WWDC, and this year there are rumors of a possible new iPad Pro and maybe even a new stand-alone Siri device similar to the Amazon Echo. Anything is possible, and it will be fun to see what Apple announces. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac reports that a child abuse suspect was jailed for six months after being held in contempt of court for failing to give police his iPhone passcode.
Apple announced yesterday that developers have earned over $70 billion since the App Store launched in 2008.
Mike Allen of Axios reports that President Trump has an iPhone with only a single app installed: Twitter. That just sounds covfefe to me.
And finally, Apple released a few more of its videos urging Android users to switch to iPhones. My favorite of the new crop is this one called Security:
I am thrilled to welcome a new sponsor to iPhone J.D.: AgileBits, the developer of 1Password. I have been using 1Password for over four years, and it is unquestionably one of my most important apps. When attorneys ask me what apps to add to an iPhone or iPad, 1Password is always on my shortlist of must-have apps. I simply cannot imagine using an iPhone, iPad, or computer without a password manager, and I have long considered 1Password the best-of-breed for users of Apple products because of its incredible features and ease of use. If you don't use 1Password yet, you are in luck because AgileBits has a special offer for iPhone J.D. readers.
Why is 1Password so essential for everyone, and especially attorneys, to use? You need to use sophisticated, unique passwords for every service to protect yourself, and — for services related to the practice of law — to protect your clients. We are constantly hearing about hackers getting access to systems, and if you don't have a strong password, you may be the next victim. And if your passwords are not different for each website and service, then hackers who exploit a security flaw on one website might be able to get your password from one website and use it on other websites. This is not a theoretical concern; it has actually happened, many times, and surely you have read news articles about incidents like this. But there is no way to remember all of those strong, unique passwords without keeping them somewhere, and because we are talking about passwords that somewhere needs to be a secure location. Not only does 1Password create secure passwords for you and store all of your passwords in a secure app, it can also automatically enter your username and password on your PC, Mac, iPhone and iPad. Thus you get both security and ease of use.
Here is the pitch for 1Password that AbileBits asked me to share with iPhone J.D. readers:
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1Password is more than just passwords. You can store all sorts of confidential information in the app, and even if a third party has access to your iPhone, they cannot access that information. The app has built-in forms for credit cards, driver licenses, memberships, passports, Social Security numbers, software licenses and wireless routers.
The app can also store Secure Notes — similar to what you can do with Apple's built-in Notes app, except Secure Notes are safely stored within the 1Password app. Only you can access the app, either by typing in your master password, or by using your fingerprint. So if a client gives you some confidential information that you want to jot down, Secure Notes is the perfect place to put it.
And 1Password is always improving. Just a few weeks ago, 1Password added a Travel Mode function, which lets you erase all passwords and other information, except for a few items that you designate to keep in 1Password, when you leave the country. That way, even if someone gets access to your device, whether it be a criminal in another country or a TSA agent as you are coming home, all of that confidential information cannot possibly be accessed on your iPhone because it simply isn't there. Once you cross the border to return home, you can turn off Travel Mode and all of your confidential information is restored. This feature is smart and, given recent news, incredibly timely. It is a perfect example of how AgileBits is always taking additional steps to improve your security.
AgileBits knows how important security is for lawyers, so AgileBits is currently offering a special deal for iPhone J.D. readers. If you sign up for 1Password Families or 1Password Teams, you can now get unlimited and free use of the app for three months. That is more than enough time for you to kick the tires and see how the app works on your iPhone, iPad, Mac and/or PC and decide what you think about the product before you pay anything. Click this special link to take advantage of this offer.
Thanks again to AgileBits for creating and constantly updating 1Password, and also for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month. With the special free three month offer, now is the perfect time to discover for yourself how 1Password works. My guess is that long before the end of the three month trial, you'll understand why I have been such a big fan of 1Password for so many years.
Walt Mossberg has been writing about personal technology since 1991, mostly for the Wall Street Journal, but more recently for Recode. In his final column before he retires, Mossberg considers the future of personal technology. For many years, it was all about computers. Lately, the focus in personal technology has been the iPhone. Mossberg thinks that ambient computing may be the next big thing, the idea that the environment around us is intelligent and responsive, sort of like Siri or the Amazon Echo, with more features, always aware of what you are doing or saying. It is a fascinating piece that makes me think about what may be coming in the near future. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Florida attorney Katie Floyd and California attorney David Sparks released a great episode of their Mac Power Users podcast devoted to hidden iOS features. They are joined by Clayton Morris, and the episode is full of great tips. Worth a listen.
South Carolina attorney Justin Kahn notes that NotesPlus, a note taking app, was updated to version 5.0. Notably, the update adds iPhone support.
Mike Schmitz of The Sweet Setup explains how to remove the GPS info from an iPhone picture so that you can share a picture with someone else without also sharing the location data for the picture.
If you read my CarPlay review, then you know that I’m a big fan of the technology. In the past, many Ford cars did not support CarPlay because Ford promoted its own Sync software. Surprisingly, Ford announced this week that it is updating 2016 model Ford vehicles to support CarPlay, as reported by Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac. It is rare for any car manufacturer to add new features to old cars, especially something like CarPlay. This is great news for owners of those vehicles who have an iPhone.
David Pogue of Yahoo discusses the features in the new Samsung Galaxy 8 that are not on the iPhone 7, and indicates which ones are actually useful and might be nice to have on the iPhone.
Buster Hein of Cult of Mac reports that a new FCC filing by Apple reveals that Apple has started testing 5G network technology with the iPhone, technology that could provide speeds up to 1Gpbs. Wow. And it seems like just yesterday I was excited to upgrade my Mac’s modem from 28K to 56K.
For Global Accessibility Awareness Day on May 18, Apple released seven videos showing how people with disabilities take advantage of Apple products. Jim Dalrymple of The Loop shows off all seven videos on this page.
And finally, Apple unveiled a new part of its website devoted to convincing Android users to switch to iPhone. The primary message is let folks know that the switch won’t be complicated; Apple even has an Android app which moves everything over. But the webpage, and associated short videos, also explain why life is better on iPhone. Here is one example, which points out that Apple does more to protect privacy on the iPhone than Google does on Android:
Five years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about Microsoft’s decision to merge laptop and tablet computers into one device. Cook said that he thought it was better to keep the iPad and the MacBook different devices, explaining: “Anything can be forced to converge. But the problem is that the products are about tradeoffs. You begin to make tradeoffs to the point that what you have left at the end of the day doesn’t please anyone. You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but you know those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.” Sometimes convergence is great, like peanut butter and jelly. Sometimes not so much, like Cook’s theoretical toaster fridge. One cannot help thinking about convergence when viewing the E.LUMEN, a multi-function flashlight made by Renogy.
Renogy was founded a few years ago by Yi Li while she was getting a Ph.D. in physics at Louisiana State University. The company was created to sell solar products, first as a part of LSU’s Technology Center, then it was based in Southern California, and now the company operates out of Ontario, Canada. Renogy makes many different types of solar products, but one of its smallest products is the E.LUMEN. The company sent me a free review unit, and I have been using it for the past week (as have my kids).
Solar power
The primary function of the E.LUMEN is to serve as a solar-powered flashlight. Expose the solar panel on the side of the E.LUMEN to sunlight during the day, and you can use the flashlight at night, without having to worry about batteries. The E.LUMEN rests on a side (it isn’t completely round like most other flashlights) so the solar panel will stay pointing up towards the sun.
Renogy says that if the E.LUMEN is at 0%, it takes about 29 hours of sunlight to get back to 100%. Renogy also says that the main flashlight mode of the flashlight can last 3-4 hours, but it lasted much longer than that in my tests. I turned on the flashlight at 9pm one night, and it was still going at 7am in the morning, although it was much dimmer. It took a few more hours for the E.LUMEN to be completely dead. I then left it outside for two days, and it charged up again. Unfortunately, there is no indication on the E.LUMEN of how much charge the device has, so I don’t know how close I got to a full charge after two days outside.
Three Lighting Modes
The main flashlight has three modes, and each of those modes has multiple settings.
The headlight mode functions like a normal flashlight. There are four settings within that mode, and you switch between them by pressing the main button on the flashlight. The bright setting uses 3W of LED light to emits 200 lumens of light for 200 meters. Press the button again to switch to a dimmer setting, press the button a third time to switch to a strobe mode (perfect for attracting attention, blinding an intruder, or hosting a disco party), and press the button a fourth time to turn off the headlight.
I’m not in the business of reviewing flashlights, but the E.LUMEN headlight mode seems very bright to me, and based on some research I did on the Internet, this output seems similar to other flashlights in its class. The light beam is brighter in the center (and unlike some other nice flashlights, you cannot twist to adjust the size of the bright center of the beam). It is bright enough that you will hurt your eyes if you look directly at it. Unless you are leading a search party or exploring a cave, I suspect that you will find this to be a sufficiently bright flashlight. It’s certainly brighter than the others that I have in my house.
If you hold down the button for three seconds, you switch to the second mode, the white floodlight mode. This mode illuminates 10 small lights on the side of the flashlight (around the solar panels) at 2W, 150 lumens. This mode is nice because it gives you a wide range of light, which could be useful if you want to shine light over a wide area to get some work done, or if you want to light up the inside of a tent. Press the button a second time to switch to a dim setting, and a third time to switch it off.
The final mode is the red strobe light mode, which I’m sure is useful for attracting attention in an emergency. Presh the button a second time for a dim red strobe light, and a third time to turn if off.
iPhone charger
A solar-powered flashlight contains a rechargeable battery, and people use rechargeable batteries to charge an iPhone, so why not combine those two functions? If you twist off the bottom of the E.LUMEN, two ports are revealed. One is a standard USB port. Plug in your USB-to-Lightning cable and you can charge your iPhone.
The battery is a 2,000 mAh Lithium ion battery with a 1 Amp output. That should be enough power to almost fully charge an iPhone 7 once, or enough to charge an iPhone 7 Plus around 50%.
Charging an iPhone from a flashlight might seem a little goofy at first, but if you are camping or if there is an extended power outage, being able to use solar power to charge the battery and then charge an iPhone could be incredibly useful.
Next to the USB port is a Micro USB port, which is used only for input. If you need to charge the E.LUMEN and either don’t have access to solar power or want to charge it more quickly, just use any standard Micro USB cable (one is included with the E.LUMEN). Unlike the 29 hours of solar power required to fully recharge an E.LUMEN, you can recharge via Micro USB in only 6 hours.
But wait, there’s more!
Just in case a solar-powered battery/flashlight/strobe light/iPhone charger isn’t enough convergence for you, the E.LUMEN has many more tricks up its sleeve. One side of the top of the flashlight has a seatbelt cutter. The other side has a high-strength, alloy glass-shattering hammer. With those two tools, the E.LUMEN seems like a useful device to keep in your car’s glove compartment.
Also, the side of the E.LUMEN has a small magnet. If you have something metallic and flat, like the side of a filing cabinet, the magnet is strong enough to hold up the flashlight. So the magnet makes it easier to store the E.LUMEN.
Finally, the very bottom of the E.LUMEN has a compass. It is on the part that you remove to expose the USB ports, so you could hold and use the compass without having to hold the entire flashlight. I haven’t had a need for a compass since I was a Boy Scout, and of course the iPhone itself has a compass app, but if you have a need for a small compass, the E.LUMEN has you covered.
Putting it all together
If you get trapped in your car in the middle of nowhere, you can use the E.LUMEN to cut your seatbelt off and shatter the glass window to escape from the car. Then you can use the compass to get your bearings, use the red strobe light to draw attention to yourself and seek help, and if nightfall comes you have two types of flashlights to look around. And if you haven’t drained the battery by using the flashlight, you can recharge your iPhone to call for help. Although perhaps using the phone to call someone for help should have been the first thing that you did.
Sure, that scenario is farfetched, but I have to admit that it does seem nice to have a flashlight with so many other functions — even if you never to use all of those functions at one time. Best of all, the E.LUMEN feels like a nice flashlight in your hand. It weighs 0.68 lbs, which is not too heavy but sturdy. It is made of strong aluminum (remember, this thing is strong enough to work as a glass-shattering hammer) and looks like it can stand up to a lot of abuse. The feel is somewhat similar to the feel of a Maglite flashlight if you have used one of those. It has an IP54 rating, which means that it has reasonably good protection against dust, and it is OK for water to splash on it (e.g. rain), but you shouldn’t direct a jet of water at it and you shouldn’t let it go underwater.
If you are looking to get a flashlight for camping or for your car, or even a flashlight that could be used during emergency situations in your house, the E.LUMEN seems like a great option to me. You get all of the features that you expect from a traditional flashlight, plus lots of extra features such as an iPhone charger that could turn out to be quite useful in certain situations. Using solar power on a flashlight can be good or bad depending upon the circumstances; you cannot quickly swap out batteries like you can with a standard flashlight, but you also don’t need to worry about keeping (and carrying around) those extra batteries because you can use the sun to recharge. In short, I was worried that the E.LUMEN would be a toaster fridge, but after using it and thinking about it for a week, I like the product and it seems more like a yummy PB&J.
New York attorney Nicole Black discusses a new ABA Opinion (Formal Opinion 477) on legal ethics issues surrounding email and other methods of communicating with clients. The bottom line is that you need to determine what is the right method of communication depending upon the sensitivity of the information, the risks of disclosure, etc., all of which requires a case-by-case analysis. The lack of a black letter rule makes it harder for attorneys. For example, you can’t just say that unencrypted email is always appropriate, becomes sometimes it isn’t. So essentially, before you send any email or text, before you use Dropbox to share a file, and before you decide whether to meet in person or just use your iPhone, you need to pause and analyze what approach is reasonable for a specific communication with your client regarding a specific topic. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Things is a powerful app for tracking your to do items (my wife uses the app every day), and this week it was updated to version 3. Lory Gil of iMore discusses what is new in Things 3.
Christina Farr of CNBC reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook has been seen wearing a device that tracks blood sugar connected to his Apple Watch, a suggestion that Apple may be developing a glucose tracker for folks with diabetes.
This one is really neat. Charlie Sorrel of Cult of Mac walks through the steps to use the Photos app on an iPhone or iPad (this works better with a big iPad screen) to see a 3D view of a city with flags indicating photos that you took in different areas of the city. I had no idea you could do that. Very cool.
Jonny Evans of ComputerWorld shares 15 Apple Watch tricks. One on the list that I didn’t know about was the ability to turn the digital crown to gently illuminate the watch face, useful if you want to be discreet and/or are in a dark room.
Rene Ritchie of iMore tells the story of a man who was saved by Siri. He was burned in an explosion and couldn’t use his fingers to dial 911, but he was able to ask Siri to call 911 for him.
Last week, I noted that Apple released three videos with tips on using an iPhone to take photographs. There are actually many more videos, and they are all collected on this page on the Apple website entitled “How to shoot on iPhone 7.”
And finally, this week Apple released a new ad to show off the portrait mode feature of the iPhone 7 Plus. The commercial was filmed at a barbershop right here in New Orleans. It’s a cute commercial. One minor thing I noted — at the start of the commercial, you see a lawyer’s office on the left side of the screen next to the barbershop. I know where this commercial was shot (the Family Barber Shop at 8112 Oak Street), and while I haven’t yet driven over there to confirm, I think that Apple digitally added the law firm sign over what is actually a yoga studio. Indeed, according to the Louisiana State Bar Association website, there is no “Donald M. Taylor” practicing in Louisiana. Interesting that Apple thought that the ad would look better if the barbershop was next to a law firm. I guess it just shows you that everyone loves lawyers and wants to be near lawyers. Here is the ad, which Apple calls Barbers:
Earlier this week, Apple released iOS 10.3.2 for iPhone and iPad. Any X.X.1, X.X.2, etc. update is typically considered a minor update which adds no new features and just addresses some bugs and/or security issues. Sure enough, the release notes for iOS 10.3.2 say that it “includes bug fixes and improves the security of your iPhone or iPad.” You can get more details on the security improvements on the Apple website; where you will learn that iOS 10.3.2 fixes things like memory leaks that could allow an app to get kernel privileges, a flaw that could let an app execute arbitrary code, and a memory issue that could allow an app to cause a denial of service. But the concept of “security updates” may seem so unexciting that I’m sure that many folks conclude that they don’t want to waste the time installing the update.
This week we learned, once again, that security patches are important. As noted in numerous news stories such as this one from the Washington Post, a few years ago the NSA developed something it called EternalBlue, a hacking tool that the NSA could use to access computers to help U.S. interests. But the tool was stolen by hackers, and after the NSA discovered that, the NSA revealed the tool to Microsoft so that Microsoft could patch the flaw in Windows that the tool exploited. Microsoft released that patch in March of 2017, but many computers had not yet been updated, and as a result … well, I presume you heard about all of the computers around the world that were the victim of ransomware a few days ago, including a number of hospitals in London. As the Post article notes: “The malicious code at the heart of the WannaCry virus that hit computer systems globally late last week was apparently stolen from the NSA, repackaged by cybercriminals and unleashed on the world for a cyberattack that now ranks as among the most disruptive in history.”
From a worldwide perspective, WannaCry may be one of the most disruptive cyberattacks. But for Rhode Island law firm Moses Afonso Ryan, the most disruptive cyberattack was last year when a hacker took control of its computers and the firm had to pay a $25,000 ransom to get access to its systems again after three months. Even worse, as reported this month by Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal, the law firm lost $700,000 in billings due to the attack, and its business interruption insurer is denying coverage.
It is unfortunate, although perhaps unsurprising, for a law firm to be a victim of hackers. I’m more amazed that the NSA — which must be one of the most security-conscious organizations in the world — could even be the victim of hackers. If the NSA is vulnerable, anyone is vulnerable. And as a side note, this is the sort of thing I was thinking of when I noted in the past during the FBI vs. Apple litigation that it was foolhardy for the FBI to ask Apple to create a backdoor for the government to access iPhones. Even if a special key was created only for the government, and even if the government honestly tried to keep that key secret, the risk of it being accessed by bad guys is simply too great to ignore.
However, my goal today is not to reignite the FBI vs. Apple debate, but instead to point out that virtually all software and hardware can have bugs and flaws. Fortunately, when these problems are discovered, they can typically be patched. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an iOS update that doesn’t include at least some security patches. Hopefully, iOS 10.3.2 wasn’t patching anything as dangerous as the Windows flaw used by EternalBlue and the WannaCry virus, but you never know. What I do know is that when Apple (or Microsoft or any trusted vendor) releases a security update, you should install the update. Maybe you don’t want to install it immediately, just in case the update itself has a flaw. That happened in 2013 with iOS 6.1, in 2014 with iOS 8.0.1, in 2016 with iOS 10.0, and other times as well. But Apple typically discovers those bugs very quickly, and then pulls the update until the issue is fixed. Once an update has been out for a day or two, you can feel safe installing the update. Of course it is always best to backup your iPhone or iPad before installing any update. (I usually practice what I preach, but to be honest sometimes I just install the update and cross my fingers.)
If you haven’t yet updated to iOS 10.3.2, it is time to do so now. Open the Settings app, tap General, and tap Software Update.
One of the most useful apps in my law practice is GoodReader, the primary app that I use to read and annotate PDF files. The last major update was GoodReader 4, released in 2014. Since then, the developer of the app, Yuri Selukoff (whose mother was a patent attorney), obtained a difficult-to-receive EB-1 Visa (reserved for foreign nationals with extraordinary abilities) and moved from Moscow to San Francisco, as described in this interesting profile of Selukoff from last year on the Inside BlackBerry blog. I was pleased to see a recent confirmation on the GoodReader Facebook page that Selukoff is hard at work on GoodReader 5. There is no release date yet, but hopefully the reason for Selukoff’s recent post is that the release date is coming soon. Selukoff says in that post: “It’s a huge update with a completely new design and new features, some you may not even know you’ll want until you’ve seen them! So fear not, and get ready (or for those of you who’ve been ready, stay ready) – GoodReader 5.0 is on the way!” For all of us who use GoodReader in our law practices – and I know from the feedback I receive from iPhone J.D. readers that there are many of us – it will be great to see a major update to this essential app. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Speaking of PDF apps, legal tech consultant Brett Burney discusses on his Apps in Law website what is new in PDF Expert version 6, a major update to one of the best apps for working with PDF files.
If you have ever used Gogo in-flight WiFi, you know that it can be incredibly useful, but it can also be incredibly frustrating, depending upon how fast the speed is. Gogo realizes this and is about to unroll a new 2Ku system that offers much higher speeds, and can even stream video. Caitlin McGarry of Macworld had a chance to try out the new service, and it seems to work well.
Kunal Dua of Gadgets360 (a tech website in India) interviewed Apple’s Phil Schiller while he was in teh country, and they discussed a variety of topics.
