Jeff Richardson

Attorneys frequently ask me which iPad they should get and what they should purchase once they get their first iPad.  These often-asked questions led me, back in June of 2011, to create this post to provide the answer that I would often provide in an e-mail.  I updated that post in March of 2012.  I’ve recently had several more attorneys ask for my advice on getting a first iPad, and I see that my last post is now a year old and somewhat out-of-date.  Thus, here is the early 2013 version of my advice for lawyers who are thinking of getting a first iPad.

Dear ________,

So, you are are ready to get an iPad?  You’re going to love it!  Here is my advice.

Which model?

The first thing you need to decide is whether to get a full-sized iPad or an iPad mini.  As I noted in my November 26, 2012 review of the iPad mini, this is a tough choice, and there is no one right answer for every attorney.  I find that the full-sized iPad is much better when reading and revising (or drafting) documents such pleadings, briefs and contracts because of the larger, higher-quality screen.  For the same reason, it is also better for watching movies and looking at photographs, to the extent that you plan to do that with your iPad.  The iPad mini is wonderful because it is small and light and so much easier to carry around and to hold in your hand for a longer period of time.  If you will be mainly reading emails and looking at web pages, the iPad mini screen will be more than big enough, and you’ll appreciate the size and weight.  And for the budget conscious, the iPad mini is cheaper.  I own both, and while that is not something I recommend for anyone but the truly geeky, I can tell you that I love to use both of them every single day for different tasks, so you’ll be happy with either one.

Next you need to decide which version of the model.  I used to always recommend that new iPad owners purchase the entry-level 16 G version, either Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi + 3G/4G. I still think that is the best model for many attorneys, but you won’t be disappointed if you spend an extra $100 for the 32 GB version just to have a little more space for very large documents and for syncing folders containing lots of large documents. 

Should you consider the 64 GB or 128 GB versions?  Only if you plan to carry around a large number of photos and videos (especially videos).  I have two young children, and my wife and I take lots of pictures of their adventures.  I sync the last 12 months of pictures to my iPad, plus some older photo albums that are special to me, and that takes almost 10 GB of space.  You may take fewer pictures than I do, but they can easily fill up much of a 16 GB iPad. 

And video can take up even more space.  If you rent or purchase a movie or a TV show from iTunes to watch on your iPad, a typical two hour movie in HD takes 3 to 4 GB of space; a half-hour HD TV show takes about 3/4 of a GB.  When you are done watching a movie or an episode of a TV show, you can remove it from your iPad (don’t worry, if you want
to watch it again you can re-download it for free in the future), but keeping a few on your iPad to be prepared for that next long flight is going to take up some space.  I also like to keep home movies of my kids on my iPad, and if you do the same, that takes up space as well.

Remember, though, that many apps let you stream movies and shows to your iPad.  You can stream movies and TV shows from Netflix, HBO, Showtime and the major networks.  Because you need Wi-Fi to do so, this won’t do you much good on the plane, but this is a way to watch lots of videos on your iPad either at home or in a hotel room without taking up lots of space storing them on a 16 GB version.

So my bottom line is that if you don’t think you’ll be storing photos or videos on your iPad (and frankly, most attorneys I know don’t do so), then 16 GB is fine, and get 32 GB if you want to have extra space just in case.  If you plan to carry around a ton of photos and videos, you might want the 64 GB version — which is what I use for my full-sized iPad.  (My iPad mini is the 16 GB version.)  It is hard for me to imagine any attorney needing the 128 GB version, but I suppose anything is possible.

You’ll also have to decide whether to spend an extra $129 plus a monthly service fee for a model that supports 3G and 4G LTE on AT&T or Verizon.  I mostly use my iPad at home or at work where I have Wi-Fi, so I bought the cheaper Wi-Fi only model  Having said that, I do pay AT&T an extra $20 a month to enable the hotspot feature on my iPhone so that on those occasions when I want Internet access but Wi-Fi is not available, I can share the 4G connection on my iPhone 5 with my iPad.  If it were not for that tethering to my phone, I’d probably want the 3G/4G version of the iPad.  I hear many attorneys tell me that they cannot imagine using an iPad that was Wi-Fi only, so keep that in mind.  You just need to predict how much you’ll want to use your iPad for tasks like e-mail and web browsing that require the Internet when you will be away from Wi-Fi, and then consider the extra costs.

Which accessories?

Now you have selected the iPad that is right for you.  What else do you want to buy?

For the full-sized iPad, I recommend the Apple Smart Cover to protect the iPad’s screen.  It costs either $39 or $59.  The more expensive model is leather, which I have and I really like, but both models are fine, and it mostly comes down to what color you want.  If you want the black one that I have (and which looks and feels great), you’ll need to get the more expensive model.  There is also a Smart Cover for the iPad mini, and I own one, but frankly I’m not a big fan of it.  It has a different design and doesn’t work nearly as well as the version for the full-sized iPad.  Instead, I’m currently using the DODOcase HARDcover with my iPad mini, which I like because it feels like a high-quality book.  But there are other good products out there to protect an iPad mini screen.

If you want to use your iPad to type longer documents, such as typing notes in a meeting, I encourage you to buy a Bluetooth keyboard.  My favorite is the one that Apple makes which costs $69.  You can travel with just your iPad and this small and light keyboard and leave your computer at your office.  I like the Apple keyboard because it is full-sized; indeed, this is the exact same keyboard that Apple includes with its desktop computer, the iMac. I also recommend the Origami Workstation for iPad, a $30 case for the keyboard that protects it when you are traveling and also turns into a fantastic stand to hold the keyboard and iPad when you are typing.  If your don’t have large fingers and you want a keyboard that is more compact that doubles as a case for your iPad, you might want to consider something like the the Kensington KeyFolio or the ZAGGfolio.

If you want to use your iPad as a legal pad and take notes on it just as you would with a pen and paper, you’ll need two things.  First, you’ll need a stylus.  There are hundreds of different models and they usually cost between $8 and $25.  My top recommendation for a new iPad user is the excellent Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo, which you can get for around $20 on Amazon.  Second, you’ll need an app that lets you draw on the screen, which I discuss below.

Which apps?

There are tons of great apps for the iPad and new ones come out every day.  Here are the apps that I use all the time and that I think you are likely to want as well.

Pages — This is the Microsoft Office-compatible word processor app sold by Apple.  If I want to sit down and write a new document on the iPad, such as when I am using my external keyboard to take notes in a meeting, this is the app that I use.  The app also lets you view and create redline edits using a track changes feature.

Documents to Go — If someone emails a Microsoft Word file to you, you can read it using the built-in viewer, or you can view it in an app like Pages.  But when I am not creating redline edits to a document, my favorite app for viewing Microsoft Word files is Documents to Go.  This $10 app displays the document, makes it easy to zoom the text to make it easier to read (and reflows the text so you don’t have to scroll back and forth on every line) and can show the footnotes.  You can also use this app to edit a Word file and to view or edit an Excel file.  There is also a $17 premium version of this app which adds the ability to edit PowerPoint files and use online services like Google Docs or Dropbox.  My guess is that the $10 version is all that you need.  If you also have an iPhone, the same app works on both the iPhone and iPad, which is nice.

GoodReader — If you are reading a document on an iPad and it is not a Microsoft Word document, chances are it is a PDF document. GoodReader is my favorite app for viewing and annotating PDF files on the iPad.  Better yet, it is also my favorite way to load up my iPad with PDF files, such as all of the pleadings and exhibits in a case so that they are always at my fingertips when I need to review or refer to them later.  And instead printing out a bunch of documents to fill up heavy binders to take with you on a business trip, just store the PDF files in GoodReader in a folder created for that meeting.  Be warned that the app’s interface can be confusing to use at first, but it is very powerful, and you can sync it with Dropbox to easily move documents between your computer and GoodReader.

Legal Research — It is often useful to pull up a case or a statute on your iPad. There are excellent iPad apps for Westlaw Next and Lexis Advance, so if you use one of those services, you’ll want to get the appropriate app.  I also strongly recommend that every lawyer download Fastcase; it is not as powerful as those other two apps, but it is absolutely free and it is more than adequate for pulling up a case or statute or running a simple search.

GoodNotes — If you want to use an iPad to take handwritten notes, in addition to a stylus, you need an app that makes your iPad work like a legal pad or a notebook.  There are lots of great options, but GoodNotes is my favorite because it is both powerful and easy to use.  After I take my notes, I email them to myself in PDF format and then store them with my file so that I can refer to them whenever I need them again.

Remote access — Every once in a while, you may need access to a “real” computer on your iPad.  Maybe you need to access your office’s document management system or time entry system and the system doesn’t have an app that works on the iPad.  I recommend the free LogMeIn app which you can use to access your computer (as long as you left it on) from your iPad.  This app is also helpful if there is a file on your computer’s desktop and you want to e-mail it to yourself so that you can have it on your iPad.  If your office uses Citrix, the Citrix Receiver app is a free an easy way to access a virtual computer on your iPad. 

Calculator — The iPad doesn’t come with a calculator like the iPhone does.  I like the $2 Digits app, which has big numbers and includes a virtual tape roll.

Weather — The iPad doesn’t come with a weather app like the iPhone does.  The Weather Channel app is a good, free app for checking the weather and viewing a radar map.  But if you can afford to spend $0.99 — and yes, you can — Check the Weather is my favorite weather app on both the iPhone and iPad.  It has a gorgeous, clean interface, plus it incorporates something called Dark Sky that is excellent for short-term precipitation forecasts.  (In other words, it answers the question of whether you need to take an umbrella when you leave the office for lunch.)

ESPN SportsCenterXL — This free app is great for sports scores.

WordPerfect Viewer — If you ever work with attorneys or courts who send you documents created with WordPerfect, the iPad doesn’t know how to view those files on its own.  This $6 app lets you view those documents.

Facebook — If you use Facebook, the service has a nice, free iPad app.

TranscriptPad — If you are a litigator, there are lots of ways to review deposition transcripts on your iPad.  For example, you can convert the plain text file that the court reporter sends you to a PDF and then you can annotate that PDF with an app like GoodReader.  If you want a more advanced way to review transcripts, TranscriptPad is a $50 app dedicated to the task.  You can highlight key passages, and you can apply issue codes so that later you can export a list of each passage relevant to each issue.  Yes, this app is more expensive than most any other app that you will buy for an iPad, but it is cheap compared to what you spend on software for a computer and this app is every bit as good as software that you would buy for your PC or Mac.  Reading and annotating transcripts almost becomes fun with this powerful app.  (Almost.)

Speaking of fun, there are tens of thousands of games, including old favorites such as Scrabble and newer old favorites such as Angry Birds.  Your kids can probably recommend lots of other great ones to you.  And if you have young kids and want to share your iPad with them, my five year old loves The Monster at the End of This Book by Sesame Street and Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App! by Mo Willems, published by Disney.

That will get you started, but with over 300,000 apps designed for the iPad and countless accessories, that is obviously just the tip of the iceberg.  If you want to learn more about which apps and accessories to get for your new iPad (and iPhone), well that’s what this website is all about.  If you don’t want to have to remember to come here, you can have iPhone J.D. posts delivered directly to you via e-mail for free by clicking here.  To see a list of the hundreds of iPhone and iPad apps and dozens of accessories that I have already reviewed, click the Index to Prior Posts link that is at the top of every page on iPhone J.D.  If you want to read a book to help you get started with your new iPad, two that I recommend are iPad at Work by California attorney David Sparks and iPad in One Hour for Lawyers by Texas attorney Tom Mighell.

Enjoy your new iPad.  You are going to love it!

-Jeff

Have you ever started to write an email on the iPhone or iPad only to realize half-way through that you are not quite ready to send it yet and you need to turn your attention to other emails first?  You don’t have to lose all of the typing that you have done so far because the Mail app lets you save drafts and then go back to them later.  Here is how.

The first step is to save what you have done so far as a draft.  To do so, tap the Cancel button in the top left corner.  This will give you the option to either delete the incomplete email or to Save Draft.  Tap the Save Draft button.

 

Then, whenever you are ready to resume working on your draft email, you need to use the same icon at the bottom right corner of the main Mail screen that you tap on to start a new message … but don’t tap on that button.  Instead, hold down on that button for about a second.  This will cause a window to pop up showing you a list of all of your saved draft messages.

Simply tap on the email that you want to continue to working on, and then you’ll find yourself right where you left off.  You can go through this whole process again to save a new draft, or when you finally finish your email you can send it.

If you later decide that you no longer want to continue to save a draft of a message, just hold down the compose button to see the list of draft messages and then swipe across the message.  A delete button will appear on the right.

The above images are all from an iPhone, but this works on the iPad, too.

I had not planned to review any more products that connect to the 30-pin connector that is found on the iPhone 4S and earlier models and the third generation iPad and earlier models.  The future is the Lightning connector.  But some smart folks in Los Angeles came up with a product called the ChargeCard that is so neat that I couldn’t resist trying it out when the developer sent me a free review sample of this $25 product.  Plus, a new version with a Lightning connector is supposed to come out in May.

This is one of those products for which a picture is worth a thousand words, so take a look at the following photographs and you will
understand the portability of the ChargeCard and how it works:

The ChargeCard is about the length and width of a credit card, and about as thick as three credit cards, but even though it is incredibly thin, it has a flexible rubber “tongue” in the middle with a USB connector and 30-pin connector on the side.  Thus, if you have your iPhone or iPad with you, and if you have anything that sends power to a USB port with you (such as a laptop computer), you can pull the ChargeCard out of your wallet and charge your iOS device.  No need to carry around a USB cable.  And if connected to a computer, you can sync using the ChargeCard.

In my tests, the ChargeCard worked as advertised.  It is somewhat awkward to use, and distance is limited so you have to keep your iPhone very close to the USB port, but of course those are inherent limitations of a product this small and thin.  The ChargeCard does let you charge and sync an iPhone, so it is indeed something that fits in your wallet that can take the place of a USB to 30-pin connector cable.

As noted above, the developer is working on a version with a Lightning connector that will work with the iPhone 5, the fourth generation iPad, the iPad mini — and with future iPhones and iPads, considering that I suspect that Apple will stick with the Lightning connector for many years to come.  Here is an artist rendering of the Lightning version of the ChargeCard that is still in development:

The ChargeCard is a really neat idea.  It is always a pain when you toss a USB connector cord into your briefcase, only to have it unravel and get tangled on everything.  The ChargeCard’s small size means that it is not as versatile as a USB cord, but on the other hand, it could not be any easier to carry, whether it be in your wallet or a small pocket in your briefcase.  This 30-pin version works well, and when the Lightning model comes out, I could see it being very useful to me.

Click here to order the ChargeCard from the developer ($25) [30-pin model shipping now; Lightning model shipping in May of 2013]

Comedians at Law is a group of former-attorneys who now perform comedy around the nation.  They also have a podcast in which half of the show is typically devoted to an irreverent look at the legal news of the week and the other half is an interview — sometimes with other lawyer comedians, other times with lawyers who are involved in something interesting.  I’m honored to be a guest on this week’s show, which you can listen to here, or you can subscribe to in iTunes.    And now, the news of note from the past week:

• TrialPad is an iPad app that you can use present documents at trial or in meetings.  The developer, Ian O’Flaherty, published a free e-book to help you use TrialPad, and Ian tells me that the book was just updated to include video tutorials.  As a result, the book is now over 200MB and must be downloaded over WiFi, but the tutorials will walk you through the steps for getting the most out of this app.  Click here for TrialPad Quick Start Guide (free): 
• South Carolina attorney Ben Stevens reviews STM cases for the iPad and iPad mini.
• Two months ago, I noted that Michigan plaintiff attorneys Stephen Goethel and Chad Engelhardt of Goethel Engelhardt, PLLC wrote an extensive article for the State Bar of Michigan Negligence Quarterly about using an iPad in the practice of law.  At the time, I only had a link to a PDF version of the article, but the Atkinson Baker court reporting firm obtained permission to repost it on the web.  If you missed it last time, check it out.
• I recently reviewed the dockBoss air, a gadget from CableJive that adds Bluetooth to speakers with 30-pin connectors.  Last night, I saw an announcement that if you use offer code 5OFF35 you can currently get $5 off any CableJive order of $35 or more.  The dockBoss air only costs $34.95, but if the company sells anything else that you want that costs at least a nickel, you might find this to be a good offer.
• One of my favorites iPhone apps is Fantastical (my review), an excellent replacement for the built-in Calendar on the iPhone.  This week, the app was updated to version 1.1, and my favorite improvement is the ability to tap-and-hold the date bar at the top to jump to any other date, meaning I can now use Fantastical to quickly jump to a date 10 years ago to see what I was doing then.  I find this feature very useful when I’m working on an appeal and I need to determine when something happened pre-trial.  I previously used Calvetica for this function, but I prefer the simple way that it is implemented in Fantastical.  Click here for Fantastical for iPhone ($1.99): 

  

• Lex Friedman of Macworld wrote a great article about using Siri to get things done.  I use many of these tips almost every day.  
• A few years ago, I discussed the origin of the “i” in iPhone.  Of course, that “i” also appears in iPad, and Mark Gurman of 9to5 Mac describes a presentation by Ken Segall, the guy who used to handle Apple’s advertising account, about other names that were considered for the iPad.  By the way, Segall is also half of the team responsible for Scoopertino, a site I wrote about in 2010 that remains funny today.
• One of the first public calls from an iPhone was a prank call, by none other than Steve Jobs.  When Jobs debuted the iPhone on January 9, 2007, he called a nearby Starbucks to order 4,000 lattes to go.  Austin Carr of Fast Company tracked down the woman who took that call, who still works at the same Starbucks.  It’s a cute story and worth a quick read.
• I often see people using cracked iPhones.  This week, I learned that there might be a good reason I’m seeing them here in New Orleans.  According to a report from Gazelle, a large website that purchases used gadgets, New Orleans is the second klutziest city in the country based on broken cell phones, as reported by WWL, the local CBS affiliate in New Orleans.  Indeed, I see that four of the top 10 cities are places in which my law firm (Adams and Reese) has an office:  #1 Tallahassee, #2 New Orleans, #7 Memphis, and #8 Baton Rouge.  As I think about it, perhaps it is a good business move to have law firm offices in places where people often make mistakes.
• Jason Snell of Macworld writes about reading comic books on an iPad.  Until recently, the last comic book that I purchased was probably a Richie Rich comic when I was 10 years old.  But a few months ago, I was inspired by something else that Snell wrote to check out the Comixology app on the iPad, and it is actually quite impressive.  I then started reading Saga, a (not for kids!) comic book that you can purchase through the app on the iPad.  It is billed as a cross between Star Wars and Game of Thrones, and it is a great, well-drawn publication that showed me that a comic can be just as good of a medium for telling a story as a movie, TV show or book.  If you think that this might interest you, download the free Comixology app and then purchase the first “season” of Saga (the first six issues) in a single 169 collection called Saga Vol. 1 for $9.99.  Click here for Comixology (free): 
• And finally, two nights ago, TidBITS author Joe Kissell noticed that there are lots of iPad app icons that contain a letter, and also noticed that there are 26 spots for apps on a screen.  Putting two and two together, he created the following image and posted it on Twitter … the iPad alphabet.  Don’t miss this TidBITS story with the backstory and the fantastic response.  Bravo!

Here is a quick tip that I use all the time when I am typing on my iPad's on-screen keyboard.  When you need to insert a quotation mark, the official way to do it is to tap the key that with the label .?123 and then tap the key with the quotation mark on it.  But that is two motions — first tapping the key in the corner of the left side of the screen, and then tapping the key with the quotation mark near the right side.  There is a faster way to do it that only involves one simple swipe.

To do this, press down on the key that has a question mark at the top and a period at the bottom, and then quickly move your finger up a little bit.  You will see a quotation mark appear in a pop-up window, and just slide up a tiny bit to turn that quotation mark blue to indicate that you have selected it, and then let go.  Bingo: instant quotation mark with a single swipe, and without having to press one key on one side of the keyboard and another key on another side of the keyboard.

If you want a single quote mark instead of a double quote mark, you can also use one swipe to do that.  The only difference is that you swipe up from the key just to the left, the one with the exclamation mark and the comma.  Tap down, quickly swipe up, let go, and then say hello to your newly inserted punctuation mark.

Those are the only two iPad keys that let you use that quick swipe up gesture, but keep in mind that you can hold down on many other keys for about a second and then swipe up to access additional characters.  For example, hold down the E key to get the letter E with different accents on it, useful for typing in foreign languages.

One hidden mark useful for lawyers:  the section mark.  To access it, tap the .?123 key, then hold down the ampersand key.  After a second you will see a § floating in a window just above the & key, and you can swipe up to select that section mark.

I am excited to welcome Connected Data as a new sponsor of iPhone J.D.  The company has come up with a fantastic new product — the Transporter — that attorneys are going to love.  It provides online file storage that is mirrored locally on your computers.  Sounds like Dropbox, right?  But unlike Dropbox, you own the server hardware so your files are 100% secure without your confidential documents being in the possession of a third party, and the product is designed from the ground up to make sharing and backup easy. 

The Transporter itself is a well-designed and functional piece of hardware, which comes as no surprise if you are familiar with the Drobo, a popular storage device that was developed by many people who now work for Connected Data including its CEO.  It has a unique, cone-like shape.  It is about 5 1/2 inches tall and about 4 inches in diameter, so it doesn’t take up much space.  The Transporter comes with an ethernet cord to connect it directly to your network, or you can get an optional wireless adapter.  At my house, I use an Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station to provide Wi-Fi, and so I simply plugged the Transporter into an Ethernet port.

The Transporter has a lit band surrounding it.  You can dim or turn it off if you find it distracting, but the light provides you with status information.  For example, the band is solid blue when idle, pulsating blue when transferring data, pulsating yellow if disk space is low (or red if the disk is full), flashing red to yellow if there is no Internet connection, etc.

Installing the software on either a Mac or PC is simple.  Once
installed, you will see a folder on your computer called Connected Data
to which you can drag your files.  It comes with default sub-folders
such as “Documents,” “Photos” and “Home Movies” but you can create your
own folders and rename those if you want.  Files copied to one of your
Connected Data folders are then copied over to the Transporter itself.

For example, at my office I can use my PC to create a folder called “Smith v Jones” and move over my files — correspondence, pleadings, research, etc.  A local copy of those files remains on my PC for fast access, but the files are also encrypted and then stored on the Transporter that is connected to my home network.  On my home computer, a “Smith v Jones” folder is created with all of the files copied over to it, so anything that I am working on at my office will be there at home if I need to access it later.

As I noted before, this sounds a lot like Dropbox, which is a compliment because Dropbox is great.  But the Transporter offers several advantages over Dropbox. 

First, the Transporter is secure.  I only use my Dropbox to store “public” documents such as pleadings because you just never know what is going to happen to confidential documents in the possession of a third party.  But with the Transporter, you own the hardware on which your files are stored, so you can feel comfortable putting your confidential attorney-client and work product documents there.  Documents are sent from your computer to the Transporter using industry-standard AES 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption.  You can manage your Transporter(s) via the Connected Data website, but Connected Data does not see the contents of any of your files.  Your files are not located on any of the Connected Data servers, but instead stay on your Transporter hardware.

Second, the Transporter gives you more space at less cost.  Dropbox provides you with 2GB for free, or you can pay $99 a year for 100 GB, $199 a year for 200 GB or $499 a year for 500 GB.  And you need to keep paying, month after month, year after year.  With the Transporter, you just buy the hardware once and there are no subscription fees.  You can get a Transporter with 1 TB of space for only $299, 2 TB of space for $399, or you can even get a $199 Transporter with no hard drive so that you can choose a 2.5″ SATA hard drive from whatever drive manufacturer you trust the most.

Third, the Transporter lets you easily add more storage, either by upgrading to a larger hard drive, or by buying an additional Transporter. 

Fourth, you can decide what files to store locally and what files to store on the Transporter.  With Dropbox, you have a local copy of every file in your Dropbox, which is fine if you are using a free 2GB Dropbox or perhaps the 100GB Dropbox, but if you go larger it takes up a lot of space on your local drive.  With the Transporter, you can choose to have certain folders synced locally for faster access and keep other folders only on the Transporter so that they don’t take up space on your hard drive.  The default setting is that the Transporter will keep local copies on your computer of folders that are less than 10 GB, a setting that seems reasonable to me so I haven’t changed it, but you can adjust that as you like.  And as noted, you can also explicitly state that certain folders should or should not be stored on your local drive.  If you use a computer that does not have much drive space, such as a MacBook Air or other computer with an SSD drive, you can tweak the settings as appropriate.

Fifth, you can use multiple Transporters to create backups.  You can share a folder with someone else who has a Transporter and a copy of the folder will be kept on his Transporter as well.  Or, you can buy an additional Transporter and choose to share a folder with that Transporter.  For example, you can keep one Transporter connected to the network in your main office and another Transporter connected to the network in a satellite office.  Tell the Transporter software to copy some or all of your folders to that second device, and that way even if there is a disaster at your main office and both your computer and the first Transporter are destroyed, you still have a copy of your folders on the Transporter at your satellite office.  Thus, Transporter offers you the same off-site backup security that you get by paying for an account with a company like Backblaze or Carbonite.

Many attorneys like to use Dropbox because it makes it easy to share files and folders.  The Transporter also does a great job with sharing files with others, whether they are in your office or around the world.  You can give one other person, or a team of people, access to folders on your Transporter, and they can access and work on files on that folder but they won’t have access to other folders.  Likewise, someone else can give you access to a folder on their Transporter, and the contents show up in your own Connected Data folder.  So you can either use one Transporter for your entire team (or perhaps even your entire office), or you can use multiple Transporters with different people having access to different folders.

I should note that the Transporter handles local files a little
differently than Dropbox.  With Dropbox, you see a folder on your hard
drive that contains your Dropbox files.  If you drag a file from your
desktop to your Dropbox folder, the file is moved from the desktop to
the folder.  The local Transporter folder works like a virtual external hard
drive, so if you drag a file from your desktop, the original file stays on your desktop and a copy is placed in your Transporter folder on your computer.  (And then that file is encrypted and stored on the Transporter hardware.)  For people who share a lot of folders, this is a safety feature because someone else with access to one of your Transporter folders has the ability to delete a file, and if they do so you might want to go back and get the original file.  But right now, I only have a few shared folders and I am mostly using the Transporter to sync folders between my work and home computer, so I have been moving files to the trash after I put a copy in a Transporter folder.

The Transporter is still a new product.  Last year, it was the subject of a successful Kickstarter campaign, and the company just started shipping Transporters in February of 2013.  The company sent me a free review unit so that I could try out the product in advance of this sponsorship, and I just received a second free review unit so that I can test using one Transporter to store backup copies of folders.  (One thing that every attorney in New Orleans learned during Hurricane Katrina is the importance of off-site backup.)  While the software on my PC and my Mac works great, the iPhone/iPad app is still in beta testing and should be ready in a few weeks.  Once the app is available and I have tried it out, I’ll post about my experiences.  For anyone like me who depends upon access to files on an iPad, that app is a critical part of the usefulness of the Transporter.

But even though this product is new, I am very excited about it.  In my one week of testing so far, it has worked great, and once the iOS app is released, the Transporter may well change the way that I work with files.  Transporter offers the advantages of traditional cloud storage while offering much more storage at much less cost, provides the enhanced security of an external hard drive in your locked office, and allows you to use additional Transporters to get the same protection that you would otherwise have to pay for on a monhtly basis with an off-site storage company.

Thanks again to Connected Data for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month, and kudos for coming up with such a useful product.

Click here to get Transporter from Connected Data ($199 – $399).

Click here to get Transporter from Amazon ($299 for 1TB or $399 for 2TB).

Earlier this week, I was a guest on Arizona attorney John Skiba’s JD Blogger podcast, a podcast geared at attorneys who use blogs, podcasts, or other social media to market themselves.  I talked about the history of iPhone J.D. and my blogging workflow, and even recommended a few apps that will be very familiar to many iPhone J.D. readers.  You can click here to get to the page where you can listen to the podcast episode or subscribe to the JD Blogger podcast.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• St. Louis attorney Dennis Kennedy analyzes whether lawyers should create apps to promote their law practice in an article for the ABA Journal.  The current crop of apps, he notes, “seem to fall into two categories: big-firm apps and auto-accident-firm apps.”  I think it makes more sense to create a mobile-friendly website than a dedicated app, but I certainly don’t pretend to be a marketing expert.
• I seems that I mention California attorney David Sparks every week in In the news, but he can’t seem to stop posting useful tips.  This week he recommends using Siri to quickly calculate dates on the iPhone, a great tip and something that I do all the time … although I also still like to use DaysFrom.
• This week, Apple and numerous other businesses filed amicus briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in the two same-sex marriage cases that are being argued this month.  On Wednesday, Apple and others filed a brief opposing the Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor, a case that will be argued on March 27.  On Thursday, Apple and others filed a brief opposing California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriages in Hollingsworth v. Perry, a case that will be argued on March 26.  Those two links are to the SCOTUSblog pages that provide links to briefs; as of early Friday morning, the Apple amicus briefs were not yet posted, but I imagine that they will be soon.
• Good Technology software is used by half of the Fortune 100 and many law firms to provide enhanced security for mobile devices.  This week, Good announced that 77% of all of its mobile device activations in the last quarter were iPhones and iPads, with Android accounting for nearly all of the rest.
• Fortune magazine named Apple the world’s most admired company.
• Bryan Chaffin of The Mac Observer started a series called “Meet the Board” that will profile each of the eight directors on Apple’s board.  This week was the first entry, a profile of Disney CEO Bob Iger.
• If you lose your iPhone in New York, you’ll be pleased to know that, as reported by Jamie Schram and Chuck Bennett of the New York Post, the NYPD formed a dedicated team of police officers to work with Apple and track down stolen iPhones.
• And finally, one year ago I noted that an iPhone saved the life of a man in the Netherlands when it deflected a bullet.  Lacie Grosvold of the CBS affiliate KTVA in Alaska reports that an iPhone similarly saved the life of a Joel Stubleski, a U.S. soldier stationed in Afghanistan when it was in his pocket and deflected a bullet.  Subleski says that “my iPhone saved my life” and now uses a picture of his shattered iPhone as a cover on his new iPhone to serve as a reminder.

About nine months ago, I reviewed the Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo for iPad.  It remains one of two favorite styluses for the iPad, and I use it almost every day.  (The other one that I really like is the Adonit Jot Pro.)  One of the best parts about it is the tip, the “nib” of the stylus.  It feels great against the iPad screen and is a little smaller than traditional stylus tips, which makes it a little more precise. 

About a month ago, West Virgina attorney Roger Lambert asked if I had tried out Wacom’s new firm replacement nibs, posting the following comment on this website:

Have you tried the new firm replacement nibs for the bamboo stylus? I think that they might be the perfect solution to the mushy/durability problem people have been complaining about. In my opinion, the firm nib feels more like a real pen when writing than the soft nib that comes with the bamboo. I’ve seen some reviews saying that the firm nibs are not as responsive when using the stylus to tap icons, but I have not had this problem and am, in fact, typing this post on my iPad mini with the firm nib.

On February 12, 2013, Amazon was selling them for $10.58.  (I see that the price has now dropped to $8.08.  Who knows why.)  They come in a pack of three nibs.  So I decided to buy a set of three firm replacement nibs to try them out, and over the last two weeks I’ve been going back and forth between the original nibs and the firm nibs.

The nibs look exactly the same.  You can only tell the difference by touching the top.  The original nib gives more easily.  The firm nib is more… well, more firm.  In the following pictures, the original nib is on the left, the firm nib on the right:

Lambert is correct — the firm nib is less mushy that the standard tip.  With the firm nib, you have to push down a little bit harder for the stylus to work.   When I am writing in a program like GoodNotes I find that I feel like my writing is slightly more precise as a result of my exerting more effort into writing.  However, the need to push extra hard makes my hand a little more tired when using the firm nib, and I also find that it slows down my writing.  Also, when I want to tap on a button on the screen, I often find that the button doesn’t respond when I am using the firm nib, so I have to go back and push down harder.

It may just be that I am too used to the feel of the traditional nib.  Perhaps if I had started with this firm nib I’d be used to the need to apply extra pressure.  But switching back and forth between the original nib and the firm nib, I always find myself preferring the original nib.

Lambert also mentions the “durability problem.”  I had heard about this and noted the rumors that nibs are fragile in my original Wacom stylus review.  And it must be true that nibs crack for some people because Wacom sells replacement nibs.  But in my own experience, after nine months of regular use, I’ve haven’t yet seen any problem with the original nib that came with my Wacom Stylus duo.  Indeed, I purchased replacement nibs nine months ago just in case I needed them, and now I’m not quite sure where I stored them — which means that when the time comes that I do need them, I’ll need to go hunting in my office.

If you like the Wacom Bamboo Stylus but find the tip too mushy, follow the advice of Lambert and buy the firm replacement nibs.  But I prefer the feel of the original nibs, and now that this review is written, I’m removing the firm nib and storing it in my desk.  (And, in nine months, I’ll probably forget where I put them.  Note to self:  top drawer, left side, in the back.)

Click here to get Wacom Bamboo Stylus Firm Replacement nibs from Amazon ($8.08)

In early April, I’ll be in Chicago at ABA TECHSHOW 2013, the best conference for lawyers interested in technology.  My favorite part of TECHSHOW every year is talking with other attorneys who love gadgets, and one great way to do that is to attend one of the Taste of Techshow dinners on Thursday, April 4th or Friday, April 5th to eat at great Chicago restaurants with a group of a dozen attorneys interested in a topic.  TECHSHOW opened the registrations for this year’s dinners just a few days ago.  The “bad” news is that the first such dinner to fill up is the one that I’m hosting on April 4th with Tom Mighell to talk about iPhone and iPad related topics.  The good news is that this year TECHSHOW scheduled quite a few other dinners for iPhone/iPad enthusiasts.  As of this morning you still have time to sign up for “iPad—I’ll Show You Mine if You Show Me Yours” with Victor Medina and Mark Metzger, “iPads” with Rob Dean and Britt Lorish,”App-Etizers, iEntrees and Home Button Cooking” with Brett Burney and Mark Unger, and “Presentations From a Pad or Tablet” with Diane Ebersole and Chuck Diard — or about two dozen other dinners.  Click here to sign up before the other dinners are all booked up.  And now, here is the news of note from the past week:

• Clever California attorney David Sparks explains on his MacSparky website how you can use a Satechi Bluetooth Smart Pointer Mobile Presenter to control a Keynote presentation run on an iPad with remote control.
• New York attorney and TechnoLawyer publisher Neil Squillante describes Remarks, an iPad app from Readdle for taking handwritten notes.
• New Orleans attorney Ernie Svenson discusses, and provides perspective on, the security of online services like Dropbox that are so incredibly useful on the iPhone and iPad.
• Speaking of Dropbox, the Dropbox app was recently updated to add more features for viewing PDF files as noted by Killian Bell of Cult of Mac.
• Horace Dediu of Asymco wrote an interesting article wondering why more companies don’t copy Apple’s approach as opposed to just the products that Apple sells.
• Speaking of Apple’s approach, Apple’s chief designer Jony Ive talks on a British children’s program Blue Peter about thinking outside of the (lunch) box.
• Brian Chen of the New York Times writes about the business implications of Apple’s Lightning connector.
• Office² HD is an iPad app that lets you view and edit Microsoft office documents (my review).  Rene Ritchie of iMore interviewed one of the developers of Office² HD at Macworld and has this video.
• Alan of Art of the iPhone explains that we are finally about to see cars with Siri Eyes Free, technology that makes it easier to get information from your iPhone while you are driving.
• David Carey of Hearst Magazines (publisher of titles such as Esquire,
  
  Cosmopolitan, Popular Mechanics, Good Houskeeping, Road & Track and
  
  Town & Country) discusses
  
  digital magazines on the iPad at the All Things D conference, as noted
  
  by Darren Murph of Engadget.  One interesting revelation:  men’s
  
  magazines sell better on the full size iPad, while women’s magazines
  
  sell better on the iPad mini.
• And finally, popular magazines are not the only publications on an iPad.  Firefighters in Atlantic City recently attended a promotion ceremony at which they would traditionally take an oath with a hand on the Bible, except that nobody remembered to bring a Bible.  But there was an iPad available … and you can guess the rest.  The local NBC affiliate has the story. (via Kevin Bostic of AppleInsider)

Yesterday, Apple released a new version of the iOS operating system with a minor update:  iOS 6.1.2.  This update fixes a bug that I mentioned just a few days ago for people who use Microsoft Exchange, which I suspect includes many attorneys — a bug that could occur when you respond to an exception to a recurring calendar event.  I’m happy to see that Apple addressed the bug so quickly, although as I mentioned this past Friday, there is yet another bug in iOS 6.1, one that someone could exploit to bypass a lock screen.  My guess is that it won’t be long before we see a second update to fix that bug.

For now, if you use Microsoft Exchange for your email and calendar, I recommend that you open your Settings app, tap General and then tap Software Update to install the fix.  I updated my iPhone, my iPad and my iPad mini yesterday and had no problem running the update on any of those devices.  Each took under 5 minutes to install the new version of iOS.