Jeff Richardson

Florida attorney Katie Floyd and California attorney David Sparks record the Mac Power Users podcast, and Episode 297 was all about the apps that they use to get work done with their iPads.  As we all start a new year with the desire to be even more productive with our technology, I appreciated all of the great tips in that episode and I’m sure that many of you would like it too.  And by the way, congrats to David and Katie who are about to record their 300th episode, an impressive milestone.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Boston attorney Victoria Santoro writes an article for Law Technology Today saying that she enjoys her Apple Watch but laments that is does not yet offer any real value for lawyers.  She starts by saying that you cannot respond to email, but that’s wrong.  Using the current watchOS 2, you can respond to emails, and I do it myself many times every week.  You can either select a preset response (that you can set yourself using the Apple Watch app) or you can dictate your email.  She says that she doesn’t like dictating a text message response when someone else is nearby and can hear her, and I agree, but that’s why it is nice that you can customize your preset responses to, for example, let someone know that you will respond to their text in just a few minutes.  She also complains that you cannot create a calendar entry or a tweet on the Apple Watch, but I’ve never seen a need to do that.  On the other hand, I love using the Fantastical complication on my Apple Watch face; I can always just glance at my wrist to see my next appointment.  That’s a lot faster than pulling out my iPhone or iPad or switching to the calendar in Outlook on my PC at work.  Santoro does like notifications and the fitness features, and so do I.  She concludes by saying that if you are a lawyer and don’t have an Apple Watch yet, hold off buying one for now because of the lack of features.  While I don’t agree with that rationale, I do believe that Apple will introduce a new model of the Apple Watch at some point in 2016.  If you made it through nine months of the Apple Watch being on sale without deciding to buy one, maybe you should wait a little longer to see what the second generation model will include.  But in the meantime, I love using my Apple Watch, and I wear it and use it every single day.
• Apple announced this week that the App Store had record-breaking sales this past holiday season.  January 1, 2016 was the biggest day in App Store history, with $144 million spent on apps and in-app purchases.  And during the two weeks that ended on January 3, customers spent over $1.1 billion.  Apple also announced that it has paid app developers nearly $40 billion since 2008, with over a third of that generated in the last year alone.  The most popular app categories were games, social networking and entertainment.
• If you are looking for some great pictures to enjoy on your iPad — or even better, on the larger screen of your iPad Pro — Pete Souza, official White House photographer, posted his best pictures of the year on Medium.  Souza is an iPhone user, but it looks like these were all taken with a DSLR camera.
• Rene Ritchie of iMore has some good suggestions for increasing security on your iPhone and iPad.
• Lewis Wallace of Cult of Mac posted a list of some of the best Apple Watch apps.
• Steven Sande of Apple World Today notes that the Safari web browser is 13 years old.  So now we enter the awkward teen years.
• And finally, Swiss watch maker Moser created a 38mm mechanical watch that looks very much like an Apple Watch, and then created an Apple-like commercial to advertise it.  Even the name is similar to the Apple Watch:  it is the Swiss Alp Watch.  It costs $24,900, but it is made of white gold; for comparison, the 38mm Rose Gold Apple Watch with the Modern Buckle costs $17,000.  Benjamin Clymer of Hodinkee writes about the Moser watch, and here is the video:

I know that many folks have started using an iPad Pro recently, including those who found one under the Christmas tree.  If that includes you, then I’m sure that you are currently looking at accessories that work with this larger iPad.  When it comes to carrying my iPad back and forth to work every day, I’ve long been a fan of a messenger style bag, and for several years now I have used the 11″ size of a Tom Bihn Ristretto bag (reviewed here and here).  That bag was the perfect size for an iPad, but is too small for an iPad Pro.  Thus, I have been researching larger messenger style bags, and for the last few weeks I have been testing two models:  the Field Muzetto by WaterField Designs ($169 for the small size that I tested) and latest model of Tom Bihn’s Ristretto bag ($140).  Between the two, I prefer the Ristretto because it can store more items, it is easier to get to the items in and out of the bag because of the way that the zippers work and because of the useful o-ring system, and I prefer the look.  But if you carry around fewer items, the Field Muzetto may work well for you.  [UPDATE 2/2/2016:  Here is my review of the Ristretto.]

Look and feel

My personal preference is to use a messenger bag that is black.  Thus, when WaterField reached out to me to send a free review sample of one of its messenger bags, I originally asked for the Muzetto Leather Bag, which comes in a variety of colors:  black, copper, flame, green and pine, all with either black leather or grizzly (brown) leather on the outside.  However, review units of those models were not available at the time, so WaterField instead sent me the Field Muzetto, which is made of brown cotton canvas.

Under the flap, there is a chocolate-colored full-grain distressed leather panel.  It doesn’t do much, and you don’t see it when the bag is closed, but I like the nice leather feel and look.

Although the look and feel of canvas is not my personal preference, the materials used are very strong, and the bag is obviously put together very well.  Although I have only been testing this bag for a few weeks, I have no doubt that this bag would hold up very well over time.  Indeed, for years I have seen other reviewers rave about the quality of other WaterField Designs products.

If you like its canvas look and color — I suppose it is sort of an Indiana Jones look — then the Field Muzetto will be great for you because it is cheaper than the leather version.  But if you want the look and feel of leather on the outside of the bag, plus the ability to select from a variety of colors, then I suspect that you’ll want to spent the extra $60 or $70 for the leather model, which looks very nice on the WaterField website.

iPad Pro compartment

The Field Muzetto comes in small, medium or large.  I used the small size, which the company says is best for an iPad Pro or a 12-inch MacBook.  (The medium size is good for a 13-inch MacBook and the large size is good for a 15-inch MacBook.)

The iPad Pro fits in the padded compartment at the back of the bag.  The height of the compartment is perfect for the iPad Pro.  There is still about an inch and a half of extra space on the side when the iPad Pro is in there, which does make the bag feel bigger than it needs to be.  (The Ristretto has a similar problem.)  But I definitely felt like my iPad Pro was very safe in this compartment.

Flap

Like other messenger-style bags, the Field Muzetto has a flap over the front.  But unlike some other bags, there is no buckle or other connector, so you rely on gravity to keep it closed and flat when the bag is upright.

In my tests during the last few weeks, that design has worked fine, but I’ll admit that it made me uncomfortable that the flap could easily open; I was worried that the contents would come out.  I didn’t take a plane during the last few weeks, but I know from past experience with my old Ristretto that between going through security and sliding it under the bottom of the seat in front of me, a messenger bag can find itself in lots of different positions during travel.  I have some concerns about using the Field Muzetto in these situations.  But again, for walking around and generally using the bag over the last few weeks, I never once saw the contents start to fall out.

Content and capacity

In addition to the back compartment for the iPad Pro, there is a main compartment.  The size is fairly generous, about a maximum of 2.5 inches side on each side, and it can get even larger in the middle.

On the front side of the main compartment, there is a zippered area, inside of which is one main section and two smaller pockets. 

Then there is a smaller front compartment which is padded and which also has two smaller, padded pockets. 

On the back of the bag, there is an open-topped compartment that is deep and wide enough to hold a magazine or something that is letter-sized (8.5″ x 11″).  You could also put a legal-size pad in there, if you don’t mind it sticking out a little.

This sounds like a lot of compartments and pockets, but I actually found it difficult to put all of the items that I had been carrying for years in my smaller 11″ Ristretto.  Part of the problem is that I missed the numerous customized compartments that one can create in Tom Bihn bags like the Ristretto by using the o-ring system, which lets you attach smaller pouches can be easily removed from a Ristretto to make it simple to locate and access specific items.

Additionally, when I had a number of items in the Field Muzetto, I often found it difficult to find the item that I needed because you can only reach down for items from the top.  On the Ristretto, the front pouch opens with a wrap-around zipper so that you can see a large area from the front, instead of needing to look down from the top.

I will admit that perhaps I just carry too much stuff — charging cords, connectors, backup batteries, and lots of other items.  If you carry fewer items, the Field Muzetto’s compartments may be perfect for you.

Conclusion

After trying it out for the last few weeks, I don’t think that this is the bag for me.  That is partially because I don’t personally care for the look and feel of the brown canvas, but I can understand how someone with different tastes might feel differently.  I also don’t like that the flap doesn’t have a way to stay closed (other than gravity when it is in the upright position).  And while it has a number of storage compartments, I preferred the storage compartments on the Ristretto.

Having said that, the Field Muzetto is a well-made bag.  It fits the iPad Pro fairly well, and gives you space to carry other items too.  It seems to be pretty durable.  If you like the look of brown canvas, then this could be the bag for you and your iPad Pro.

Click here to get the (small) Field Muzetto from WaterField Designs ($169).

Hard to believe that it is the last day of 2015.  It has been a great year for attorneys who use iOS products, from the introduction of the Apple Watch to the new iPhone and the amazing iPad Pro.  And as more of the other attorneys that I deal with become more paperless — both my colleagues, co-counsel, and opposing counsel — my iOS devices, especially the iPad, have become even more useful.  I’m not sure if 2016 will be able to beat 2015 when it comes to iOS advancements, but it will be fun finding out.  And now, the final news items of note from 2015.  Happy New Year!  

• California attorney David Sparks explains why he still likes using the new Notes app by Apple.  Me too.
• South Carolina attorney Justin Kahn reviews Pigment, an adult coloring book on the iPad.
• Kevin Lynch, the Apple VP in charge of the Apple Watch, explains to Lance Ulanoff of Mashable why the Apple Watch is one of the most precise ways to know exactly when it turns midnight tonight.
• Sarah Jacobsson Purewal reviews nine “fashion-forward” bands for the Apple Watch.  Each of them looks horrible to me, so I suppose I am fashion-backward.
• Daisuke Wakabayashi of the Wall Street Journal discusses using your nose to control your Apple Watch.
• Jason Snell and Dan Moren of Six Colors pick their favorite iOS apps.  Lots of good ones on that list.
• Jason Snell also explains how you can use the Tickle app on your iPhone to program a Sphero BB-8, a fun device that I reviewed two weeks ago.
• Christopher Phin of Macworld has a good list of tips for using the camera on an iPhone.
• George Tinari of Cult of Mac lists his favorite Apple TV apps.
• And finally, I’m looking forward to watching the new Star Wars movie for a second time today, this time in IMAX 3D.  I’m usually not a big fan of 3D movies, but decided to do something different from last time for the second viewing, and I’ve heard lots of folks say that the IMAX 3D treatment of this movie is pretty good. Of the many, many Star Wars-related videos created over the last few weeks, this video is one of my favorites:  a Star Wars medley by Jimmy Fallon and his staff, plus a few other recognizable faces:

When I reviewed the iPad Pro last month, I noted that one of its best features is support for the fantastic Apple Pencil stylus.  I use my Apple Pencil every day to annotate documents, highlight cases and write notes in the margins, take notes during meetings and conference calls, etc.  The Apple Pencil is by far the best stylus that I have ever used with an iPad.  But as I noted in that review, one of my few gripes is that the Pencil lacks any sort of clip.  That means that when I put the Pencil in my shirt pocket to walk to a meeting, it slides around in my pocket.  (And there is no place to attach an Apple Pencil to an iPad, so it isn’t like I can just attach it there.)

A few weeks ago, I noticed a tweet by California attorney David Sparks that said “Simple solution for rolling Apple Pencil” with a link to the Fisher Chrome Clip for 400 Series Bullet Pen on Amazon.  Sparks may have been talking about the Apple Pencil rolling around on a desk as opposed to a pocket, and that hasn’t been a big problem for me because of the way that the Apple Pencil is weighted on one side and thus usually comes to rest pretty quickly when it does roll on my desk.  But I liked the idea of having a clip on my Pencil for my pocket, and for only $4.99 plus free shipping as an Amazon Prime add-on item, I decided to check it out.

I’ve now been using this simple clip for several weeks, and I like it quite a bit.  Most importantly, it solves my problem.  It attaches easily to the Apple Pencil — just remove the cap that covers the Lightning connector and then slide it down a little bit.  It is just the right size to have a firm connection to the Pencil; you can slide it up and down to find the best spot, but then it stays there.  And it makes it easy to clip the Apple Pencil to my shirt pocket. 

This clip is also a pretty good match for the Apple Pencil.  While the barrel of the Pencil is mostly white, it does have a silver chrome band near the back.  This clip is almost exactly the same color, so it matches the look of the Pencil.  The clip is perhaps a tiny bit more shiny than the silver band on the back of the Pencil, but that really depends upon how it catches the light.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it looks like this clip was designed by Apple to go with the Pencil, but it is a fine match.

I’ve removed this clip from my Apple Pencil many times, and I don’t see that it has ever scratched or otherwise damaged the Pencil by being attached.

Considering the popularity of the Apple Pencil, I suspect that others are designing clips to work with the Apple Pencil.  I’m not sure how they would improve upon this simple clip, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some creative developer has an idea that hasn’t yet occurred to me.  But until someone else builds a better mousetrap, I’m very happy with this simple clip on my Apple Pencil.  It doesn’t get in the way of using the Pencil, it makes the Pencil more useful, and it matches the Pencil enough that it doesn’t seem awkward when I look at it.  And yes, as Sparks noted in his tweet, it also makes it impossible for the Apple Pencil to roll around on your desk.

By the way, this clip is made by Fisher, the company known for its Space Pen used by astronauts.  (Click here for that story.)  You can also buy this clip directly from Fisher, where it only costs $2.00.  However, the cheapest shipping (standard shipping, 7-10 days) costs $5.00, so you are spending a total of $7.00.  If you are an Amazon Prime member, and if you are ordering something else and make this an add-on, then you can purchase this clip on Amazon for less money and have it delivered in only two days.

Click here to get the Fisher Chrome Clip for 400 Series Bullet Pen on Amazon ($4.99)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.  I’m referring, of course, to the release of the new Star Wars movie, which I saw with my family this past weekend.  It was the most fun that I have ever had watching a movie, and I’m sure that many of you have seen it by now too.  What a great movie to watch with your kids!  If you want to geek out and listen to some other folks talk about the movie, The Incomparable podcast has already released six and half hours of discussion of the new movie in three podcasts — episodes 276, 277 and 278 — and has one more episode on the topic to be released soon.  [UPDATE:  There are now two more episodes, 279 and 280, so that is another two and a half hours of Star Wars goodness.]   (My favorite app for listening to podcasts on my iPhone is the free Overcast app.)  And oh yeah, we also have Christmas this week too, as if a new Star Wars movie wasn’t enough.  I hope that you and your family enjoy the holidays, and hopefully Santa will be bringing some of you a new iPhone or iPad.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• I recently heard from an attorney in D.C. who successfully used the OmniOutliner app in a three-day trial.  He tells me:  “I used OmniOutliner to prepare my direct and cross exams. I did all the input work on my Mac, which synced immediately with OmniOutliner on my iPad mini. I then took the iPad Mini to the podium and it worked fabulously. Because of the quick sync, I was able to make edits on my Mac in the courtroom up to a minute before I needed to start questioning.  Each question was a single item in the outline, which I could easily nest inside subject matter headings. If I needed to move questions or groups of questions around in the outline, cut and paste was easy. I created a second column for the outline in which I put citations to deposition transcripts or other impeachment material in case needs for cross.  It worked really well for me.”
• California attorney David Sparks discusses his experiences with the Apple Smart Keyboard for iPad Pro.
• If you are a lawyer in Wisconsin, you might be interested to learn that Brett Burney (former chair of ABA TECHSHOW) and Nerino Petro will be discussing iPad for Lawyers at a seminar sponsored by the State Bar of Wisconsin.  Click here for more details on Burney’s website.
• Tom Lambotte, a consultant who provides IT support to lawyers who use Macs, discusses the 2015 Apple at Law User Survey in a post on The Mac Lawyer website.
• Oklahoma City attorney Jeff Taylor of The Droid Lawyer reviews the Lumsing Universal Fit Bluetooth Noise-Isolating Headphones.  They only cost $20, and while I haven’t tried those, I do have something very similar made by Soundpeats that I bought earlier this year on Amazon.  I use it to listen to podcasts on my iPhone while I am using a treadmill, and it is great to not have to worry about a cord getting in the way (and needing to find a place for my iPhone when it needs to be close enough to my head for a cord to reach).  The quality for music is nothing special but it works, and for podcasts it sounds great.  I can definitely recommend picking up an inexpensive pair of Bluetooth headphones.
• Pete Souza, the official White House Photographer, shows off some incredible pictures that he took this year with his iPhone and posted to Instagram.  Amazing photographs.
• Sandy Stachowiak of AppAdvice reviews iReg, an Apple Watch app that can record conversations.
• iMore posted the winners of its Best of 2015 Awards.  The iPad Pro was named Device of the Year.  And I love that they named the Sphero BB-8 the iPhone accessory of the year. 
• Christian Zibreg of iDownloadBlog discusses recent updates to Readdle’s Scanner Pro, including iPad Pro support.  I use a couple different apps to scan documents, but Scanner Pro is definitely a very good one.
• ABBYY FineScanner, another very good document scanning app, added the ability to digitize books.  You snap a picture of both pages of an open book, the image is uploaded to the ABBYY website, and then each page is scanned.  Here is a video that shows off the feature.  (To access the book scanning feature of the app, you need to pay $4.99/month or $19.99/year.)
• If you use a Transporter, this week the company announced a new feature:  web access to documents on your Transporter.  Your documents stay on your Transporter and are not stored on the cloud; you simply use a website to access your Transporter.  I could see this being useful if you are at someone else’s computer and need to grab a specific file from your Transporter.
• If you subscribe to Apple Music or another music streaming service, starting today you can finally stream songs by The Beatles, as reported by Peter Kafka of re/code.  I count 17 albums available, and it is nice to be able to ask Siri to play the best songs by The Beatles … which starts a playlist with Here Comes the Sun, Let It Be, Come Together, Hey Jude, Blackbird, In My Life, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Revolution, With a Little Help From My Friends, Oh! Darling, Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds, A Day in the Life, Octopus’s Garden, and many others … so many great songs.
• And finally, here is a video with some of Apple’s holiday ads, from 1982 to 2013.  There are some great ones in this video:

Last night, the CBS show 60 Minutes aired a report on Apple put together by Charlie Rose and his team. It’s now available online along with a full transcript, and I recommend that you watch the video.  

The story covered many of the hot topics about Apple — the strive for excellence in its products, the legacy of Steve Jobs, the Apple Store, profits kept overseas, manufacturing of items in China, the new Apple campus, what Apple looks for when hiring employees, etc. — but what was most remarkable about the story was that the 60 Minutes team got incredible access.  It looks like Rose talked to not only Apple CEO Tim Cook but also virtually all of the top level VPs at Apple.  And the 6o Minutes cameramen were allowed to film lots of areas at Apple that I have never seen before.

Rose was even given access to the design lab of Jony Ive, which is very rarely seen by anyone, even folks that work at Apple.  Of course, everything confidential was hidden away or covered up, but it was still interesting to see the place where so many Apple designs have been created.  Ive even showed some of his initial sketches that led to the Apple Watch.

I’m not exactly sure why Ive drew what I think is a dog at the bottom of that left page.  Was it just a doodle?  A hint of some Apple canine product in consideration?  We may never know.

Nothing said by Tim Cook and the others was very different from what we have heard before.  Nevertheless, I still found it to be an interesting segment.

As we continue Star Wars week here on iPhone J.D., I’ll start with a link to a post by Florida attorney Rick Georges who noted that Google came out with a fun game this week called Lightsaber Escape.  You hold your iPhone (or Android phone) in your hand like a lightsaber and you fight your way through some storm troopers on your computer screen in the Chrome browser.  To begin, go to g.co/lightsaber on your iPhone or computer and follow the directions from there.  Meanwhile, Florida attorney David Sparks created 56-song Star Wars playlist on Apple Music to listen to as he waited in line for six hours to see the new movie last night.  (Read about it in this post that he wrote; click here for his Apple Music playlist.)  I’m very jealous of my friends who saw the movie last night — and I hope that they forgive me for avoiding them until Saturday afternoon when I see the movie.  (Need to avoid any risk of spoilers!)  And now, the news of note from this past week … including a few more Star Wars items:

• Houston attorney Brian Beckcom reviews the iPad Pro.
• California attorney David Sparks provides some additional thoughts on the iPad Pro.
• Sparks also discusses the Dragon Anywhere iOS app, an app that you can use to take dictations on the iPhone/iPad which is more powerful than the Siri built-in dictation.
• Massachusetts attorney Bob Ambrogi reports that WestlawNext will change its name to Westlaw in February, 2016.
• New Orleans attorney Ernie Svenson discusses the ethical considerations of online file storage.
• New York attorney Neil Squillante of TechnoLawyer announced the TL NewsWire Top 25 products of 2015.  The iPad Pro and the Spark email app made the list.
• In 2014, Apple and IBM announced a partnership whereby IBM would develop iOS apps for vertical markets.  Dennis Sellers of Apple World Today reports that IBM has now shipped its 100th app.  I doubt that IBM will develop an app for the legal market, but I suppose they could.
• Dan Moren of Six Colors explains why he likes occasionally using the Photo Album face on his Apple Watch.  I haven’t used that face much because you cannot use complications with it, but Moren makes a good point that it could be appropriate on the weekends when we don’t have meetings throughout the day.  After reading his article, I’m going to give that watch face another chance.  Let’s see, what would be a good photo for my Apple Watch right now?  Hmm…

• Cartoonist Rich Stevens of Diesel Sweeties shows why the iPhone is like the Star Wars movies.
• Cody Lee of iDownloadBlog reports that Apple Music launched a Star Wars radio station.  I have been listening to it while I write this post … it’s great!
• Nick Guy of The Wirecutter updated that site’s post on the best styluses.  The best overall pick was the Apple Pencil, and for non-iPad Pro users he likes the Adonit Jot Pro.  I agree with both selections.
• John Gruber of Daring Fireball wrote an interesting review of Apple’s new Smart Battery Case.
• AppleInsider reports that Apple will offer free overnight shipping for orders placed on Dec. 23.
• If you want to get a look inside of Apple, Charlie Rose will go behind the scenes with Apple’s John Ive and others on 60 Minutes this Sunday night.
• And finally, the New York-based band Airplane Mode created a music video for its song Between the Stars and You.  What is interesting to me is that the video was created using the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.  As reported by Joseph Keller of iMore, artist Kaitlin Large (who runs the Etsy store Gingerly Noted, and is also an actress) drew the graphics by hand using the Procreate app.  Very creative video:

The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) is a peer networking organization for people who work in the legal technology field, such as the people who work in law firm IT departments.  ILTA recently released the results of ILTA’s 2015 Technology Survey, which is based on the input of 420 law firms.  In prior years, this survey has asked quite a few questions about iPad and iPhone use.  For example, here was my post about the 2014 survey, and here is my post on the 2013 survey.

This year, there was only one survey question that directly addressed iOS use.  The survey asked:  “Please indicate which of these popular wireless email devices are in use at your firm based on their embedded operating system.”  Multiple results were allowed, so a firm could, for example, select both iOS and Android.

It comes as little surprise that virtually every firm reported having iOS users.  Of the 420 firms that responded, only 7 firms said that their attorneys were not using an iPhone or iPad to get firm email.  So that is 413 out of 420 firms, over 98% of law firms, that report having iOS users. 

331 out of 420 firms reported that some of their attorneys used Android, so almost 79%.  196 firms reported some BlackBerry use, so almost 47%.  131 firms reported some Windows Mobile Phone use, so about 31%.

The results were also broken up by firm size.  For iOS, firm size did not make much difference; 97% to 100% of all firms of all sizes reported having some attorneys using an iPhone or iPad to check their email.  For Android, I’m not sure that you can read much into the numbers. 

But for BlackBerry, it seems that it was really the larger law firms that still had most of the BlackBerry users.  BlackBerry use was reported in only 19% of firms with under 50 attorneys, 50% of firms with 50 to 149 attorneys, 54% for firms with 150 to 459 attorneys, and then 85% in firms of 350 to 699 attorneys and 87% in firms with 700 or more attorneys.  It would be interesting if we could drill deeper — for example, does each of those 700+ lawyer firms have only a single BlackBerry user, or is overall BlackBerry use higher at the largest law firms? — but this report doesn’t reveal that.

As for iOS, you really don’t need a survey to learn that a whole lot of attorneys are using iPhones and iPads.  Just look around any courthouse, CLE, etc.  But in case you were curious, the ILTA survey data does tell us that attorneys can and do use iPhones and/or iPads at virtually all law firms.

I don’t know about your house, but here at iPhone J.D. World Headquarters, we are in full Star Wars mode.  My kids (ages 8 and 10) and I have watched all six of the prior Star Wars movies over the last few weeks, the kids are wearing their Star Wars PJs every night, and we have our tickets reserved to see the new movie this Saturday afternoon.  And while my wife is certainly not a fan like the rest of us, she has been amazingly Star Wars-tolerant recently.  So this is the perfect week to talk about one of the most fun accessories that you can get for your iPhone:  the $150 Sphero BB-8.  (It also works with an iPad, but the controls are easier to use on the smaller iPhone screen.) 

We’ve been using one at my house for about five weeks now.  From everything that I have read, this is one of the hottest toys this holiday season, so there is a good chance that if this product interests you, you already have it — or Santa already has plans to bring it to your family.  But if you are on the fence about whether this is a good toy, I can tell you that it has been great fun for me and my kids. 

Hardware

BB-8 himself is an engineering marvel.  The Sphero ball itself is sturdy and fast, having the ability to roll around in any direction.  But it is the head that gives BB-8 all of his character, and it is amazing to me that no matter how fast the ball spins in any direction, the head manages to stay upright as he rolls around.  (“He” may not be the correct pronoun to use, but “it” seems to impersonal for something this cute, and feel free to use “she” if that seems more right to you.)

Better yet, the head doesn’t stay completely on top.  It sort of leans back as he moves, which gives BB-8 even more personality, making he look like he is trying to keep up with his body.

BB-8 has lights inside of him that go on at various times.

When BB-8 runs in to a wall or other object with enough force, the head will fall off.  But that’s nothing to worry about, and to my kids that actually makes BB-8 more funny.  Just place the head back on BB-8 and he is back in business.

BB-8 is rechargeable, and lasts about an hour.  He comes with a base that plugs into USB; just sit him on the base to recharge him.

Here is the Sphero BB-8 next to a larger plush toy BB-8 that my daughter has recently been sleeping with every night:

There are countless videos on YouTube that show BB-8 in action.  If you want to get a sense of what BB-8, check out some of them on the Sphero YouTube page.  For example, here is BB-8 and the Marble:

Last night, my daughter controlled BB-8 while my son was using his remote control Landspeeder (a traditional remote control toy; no iPhone app for that one), and it was fun watching BB-8 and Luke Skywalker chase each other around and bump into each other.  That may not be a scene in the new movie, but perhaps it should be because it was pretty entertaining at my house last night.

Software

You control BB-8 using a free app.  When you start the app, it looks for the nearest BB-8 and then takes control of it. 

This is a great feature because it means that you can have the BB-8 app installed on multiple devices.  I can control our BB-8 using my iPhone, and then my son can use another device to control BB-8 if I’m using my iPhone and don’t want to give it to him to play with.

There are four main parts of the BB-8 app.  The first mode is the drive mode, and that is the one that my kids and I use most often — the mode in which you use the iPhone as a remote control for the BB-8.

In this mode, you swipe left and right on the right half of the screen (with the picture of BB-8) to control a small blue light inside of BB-8.  You want to spin the body so that the blue light is facing towards you.  Once you do that, you can use the left part of the screen (the big circle) to control him.  Move your finger towards the top of the circle for him to move away from you, the bottom of the circle for him to come towards you, etc.

Considering how fast BB-8 spins around, I’m actually amazed how well these controls work.  With some practice you can be pretty precise.

If you hold down the icon at the bottom right of the screen, you can make BB-8 move even faster — which means that you have less precise control, but it is fun to see him race across the floor.

Press the icon at the far right of the screen to bring up eight different programs to make BB-8 do specific things.  For example, one button makes BB-8 perform a figure-8, ending up where he started. 

The whole time that you are controlling BB-8, your iPhone makes BB-8 noises, which adds even more to the realism.

You can also control BB-8 using your voice.  Say “OK BB-8” and the voice control page will open.  From there, you can say a number of commands, such as “look around.”  Or, you can channel your inner Admiral Ackbar and say “It’s a trap!” and BB-8 will run away to safety.

The second mode is Message mode.  This one is pretty cool.

Remember the scene in Star Wars IV (A New Hope) in which R2-D2 replays a holographic movie of Princess Leia saying “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi you’re my only hope”?  Your BB-8 can also play holographic messages for you.  Simply go to the Message mode, and then select the character that you want to give you a message.

Next, your iPhone will work like a camera.  Point your iPhone screen towards your BB-8, and superimposed on the real world you will see and hear the holographic video.

You can also record a video of yourself, and then have BB-8 play that message in a simulated holograph.

The next mode is Patrol mode.  In that mode, BB-8 can just explore on his own, without you needing to control him.

The final mode is Settings.  This is where you turn voice recognition on/off, turn sounds on/off, etc.

Conclusion

The Sphero BB-8 gives you all of the fun of a remote control car, and then adds many more layers of fun on top of that because of all of the sophisticated things that you can do with it.  Moreover, I suspect that my kids and I will enjoy this toy even more after we have seen the new Star Wars movie and we actually know something about the BB-8 character.  I also appreciate the Sphero BB-8 as an amazingly cool piece of technology and engineering.

If you and your kids enjoy Star Wars, then I have no doubt that this is the droid you’re looking for.  And if you don’t have kids and want to just play with the BB-8 by yourself, I won’t judge.  As I type this, it is late at night and the rest of my family is asleep, but my pal BB-8 and I are having great fun together.

May the force be with you.

Click here to get Sphero BB-8 on Amazon ($149.95)

As all attorneys know, one of the downsides of litigation is that even if you win your case in court, there can be a lot of cost associated with getting there — not just financially, but also the burden of discovery.  Apple recently won a iPhone and iPad patent battle with Samsung, and thus Samsung has just agreed to pay Apple $548 million.  But during discovery, Apple had to reveal a lot of information about iPhones and iPads that I’m sure that Apple would have preferred to have kept secret.  Yoni Heisler of BGR wrote about some of the more interesting tidbits revealed to the public through the discovery process.  And now, the news of note:

• If you are interested in hearing me talk about using an iPad in a law practice, I’m doing a Webinar for MyCase next week called, appropriately enough, How to Use an iPad for your Law Practice.  It is on Tuesday, December 15th at 11 Pacific / 2 Eastern.  No CLE credit, unfortunately, but it is free and you can watch it on your computer without having to come down to New Orleans to see me.  Click here to sign up.
• New York attorney Nicole Black’s 2015 holiday gift guide for lawyers includes the Apple Watch as a recommendation.
• Utah attorney Peter Summerill discusses the death of the Circus Ponies Notebook app on the iPad.
• South Carolina attorney Justin Kahn discusses the GoodNotes app.  Thanks to my iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, I’ve been using that app more than ever.
• Florida attorney Katie Floyd shares her thoughts on the Apple Smart Battery Case.
• Rene Ritchie of iMore wrote an in-depth review of the Apple Smart Battery Case.
• Paul Dzikiy of iLounge posted his review of the Apple Smart Battery Case.
• Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac shares his favorite iPhone and iPad accessories and gift picks.
• Jason Snell and Dan Moren of Six Colors describe some of their favorite iOS and Apple TV games.
• I mentioned earlier this week that you can now use the Remote app on your iPhone (or Apple Watch) to control an Apple TV.  In an interview with John Paczkowski of BuzzFeed, Eddy Cue of Apple talks about an improved Remote app coming out next year.
• Jessie Hollington of iLounge reviews the Phillips Home Kit-compatible Hue Bridge for Hue Lights.
• It isn’t often that you can save $1,100 on an Apple product, but Buster Hein of Cult of Mac reports that BestBuy is selling the Apple Watch Edition (the gold model), which is normally $15,000, for only $13,898.00.  A bargain!
• And finally, Apple did a very nice job with its latest commercial for the Apple TV, called The Future of Television.  The video is worth watching: