Every week I hear more stories about attorneys successfully using an iPad at trial or in mediation or some other conference. It is nice to store all of your documents on a computer, but it can be even nicer to have those documents on an iPad, which you can hold while walking around more naturally and which doesn’t take as much space as a laptop computer.
I was recently contacted by the developers of two iPad apps that can be used to display and annotate documents and then display them during a trial, mediation, or just a conference. To display anything from an iPad on an external monitor, you need to buy the Apple iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter which costs around $35. Of course, if you make such a connection, your iPad must remain in one spot and you lose the advantage of walking around with your iPad, although you gain the ability to display documents from a device that is smaller and easier to carry around than a laptop with a screen that is a natural for using your fingers or a stylus to circle, underline, etc. The two apps are Evidence from Rosen Litigation Technology Consulting and TrialPad from Lit Software.
Although these apps are designed to perform a similar function, there is a vast difference in price. The Evidence app is $9.99, whereas the TrialPad app is $89.99.
I was provided free review copies of both apps, but I have not yet been in trial or any other meeting where I have had an opportunity to try out these two apps, even though they look very interesting. But I see that legal technology consultant Ted Brooks has written an extensive review comparing both apps. Brooks used to work at the very large Brobeck law firm based on San Francisco, and then after that firm famously imploded eight years ago, he started Litigation-Tech, a company specializing in trial presentation and legal technology. Brooks has extensive experience displaying documents at trial, so he seems to be a good person to provide an educated opinion on both apps.
I don’t see any reviews of Evidence yet on the App Store, but the few reviews for TrialPad are very favorable.
If you like to stay on the cutting edge, and if you don’t mind (or for that matter, seek out) the extra attention that you will get using an iPad to display and annotate documents, you should give these apps a look. Make sure that you read Brooks’ review first to get a sense of what these apps can do. I will try to post my own review after I have had an opportunity to kick the tires on these apps.
The wait for many is finally over. Yesterday, Verizon announced at an event in New York City that it will be carrying the iPhone 4 starting next month. There are still many unanswered questions, but here is the key information that we now know about the Verizon iPhone.
Available in February. Verizon is providing iPhones to Verizon employees this week so that they can begin to learn how to use them. On February 3, existing Verizon customers can preorder a Verizon iPhone 4. On February 10, the Veizon iPhone 4 will be available for purchase to current or new Verizon customers.
Cost. The iPhone 4 itself will cost the same as it does on AT&T, which is $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB version, both with a two year contract. Verizon has not yet made an official statement on the montly plans, but if it uses the current Verizon plans, you will be able to get unlimited data for $30, or spend $15 or $25 for limited data. AT&T no longer offers an unlimited data plan for the iPhone, although if you had one from before you can continue to use it, and instead now offers a 200MB plan for $15 or a 2GB plan for $25.
If you are currently an AT&T customer and you want to switch to Verizon for the Verizon iPhone, and if you are still in contract, you’ll want to determine the cancellation fee, which may make it prohibitively expensive to jump ship. Macworld has an article to help you do the math. Note that the AT&T iPhone 4 uses the GSM network and thus will not work on the Verizon network; if you switch, you’ll have to purchase a Verizon iPhone 4 which uses the CDMA network. [UPDATE: Diesel Mcfadden points out in a comment to this post that you can sell your AT&T iPhone 4 and that would help to offset the early termination charges, which is a good point that I had not considered.]
Personal Hotspot. Verizon announced that you can pair a Verizon iPhone with up to 5 devices and use it as a mobile hotspot using either Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or a USB cable. Thus, you can share the Verizon iPhone’s 3G access with an iPad, a computer, etc. Verizon did not not announce how much extra this feature would cost. It looks like this is not a Verizon-specific feature, but instead a feature of iOS 4.2.5 which is installed on the Verizon iPhone. (The AT&T iPhone 4 currently uses iOS 4.2.1.)
Thus, it appears that the Personal Hotspot feature could technically work on AT&T’s network. The only wireless tethering that AT&T currently offers is over Bluetooth, and AT&T charges an extra $20 for it. However, an AT&T representative told Business Insider that AT&T is evaluating the new mobile hotspot feature. It appears that the Personal Hospot feature will allow you to share your iPhone’s data plan, over Wi-Fi, with an iPad, eliminating the need to purchase a montly data plan for your iPad (assuming that you even have a 3G iPad). I suspect that even if AT&T enables Personal Hotspot, AT&T will not let people grandfathered into an old $30 unlimited data plan use the Personal Hotspot feature. But we’ll see.
Design changes. At first blush, the Verizon iPhone 4 looks exactly like the AT&T iPhone 4, but there are small differences. Around the edge of the AT&T iPhone (which is of course an antenna) you can see 3 black lines. On the Verizon model, there are four lines, and unlike the AT&T model which has one line at the top (next to the headphone jack) the lines on the Verizon model are on the two sides. Look at these Engadget pictures to see what I mean. Was this change made to improve the antenna over the AT&T model, or because the CDMA antenna simply works differently than the AT&T GSM antenna? I don’t know.
Also, because there is now a black line just above the ringer on/off switch, that switch and the volume buttons are moved down slightly [UPDATE 1/21/11: it looks like just the switch moved, not the volume buttons], which means that the Verizon iPhone 4 may not work with the currently available cases, which assume a different position for the buttons. Apple has announced that it will release a new bumper case to accommodate the change. I suppose that third party case manufacturers will need to follow suit.
Finally, there is no SIM tray on the side of the Verizon iPhone, because you don’t use SIM cards for CDMA.
Can you hear me now? Verizon has a reputation for having a better network than AT&T. If you live in an area where AT&T coverage is inferior to Verizon coverage, than this should be an advantage over the AT&T version of the iPhone. I’ll be curious to see real world reports on this. On the other hand, AT&T’s 3G network is supposed to be faster than Verizon’s 3G network in most places, and I’m sure that in February we will also see many comparative reports on how quickly files can be downloaded on an AT&T iPhone 4 versus a Verizon iPhone 4.
No voice and data at the same time. The CDMA 3G network used by Verizon does not support a voice and data connection at the same time. For example, if you are talking on the phone, you cannot look up some information on Google at the same time (unless you have access to Wi-Fi). If you are using data and then someone tries to call you, your use of data pauses so that the phone can ring. This is likely to be an issue that AT&T emphasizes to argue that its iPhone 4 is superior to the Verizon iPhone 4.
Limited international use. Another limitation of the Verizon network is that few places outside of the U.S. use CDMA. Thus, if you travel internationally, your Verizon iPhone may not work. Of course, AT&T’s international rates are so expensive that Verizon might argue that this is a feature! Ahem.
Unique Verizon apps. No unique Verizon apps will be installed on the iPhone 4. However, Verizon says that you will be able to download its VZ Navigator and V Cast Media Manager from the App Store.
iPads, too. You can currently buy a Wi-Fi iPad from Verizon, but Verizon said yesterday that in the future it would also offer an iPad with integrated support for the Verizon network. My guess is that this will not happen for the current iPad but instead for the 2011 edition of the iPad, which I imagine will be announced in the coming weeks.
Should you get a Verizon iPhone 4? If you are a Verizon customer who has been waiting for the iPhone to come to Verizon, you can finally make the plunge … but is now the right time? Here are the dates on which Apple has previously made available new iPhones: June 24, 2010; June 19, 2009; July 11, 2008; June 29, 2007. See a pattern? Yep, Apple likes to start selling new iPhones in June or July, so you can bet that in June or July of 2011, we’ll see the, umm, iPhone 4+? iPhone 4GS? iPhone 5? Well, I don’t know what it will be called, but I’m sure that it will be out. Anyone who has waited this long to get a Verizon iPhone needs to decide whether they should wait five or six more months to get the next model. It’s not an easy decision.
Keep in mind also that it appears that the iPhone is no longer exclusive to any carrier in the U.S. on any network. If you love Sprint or T-Mobile, we may well see an iPhone on those networks too, perhaps this June or July.
The best news is really twofold: iPhone customers now have a choice, which is nice. Also, the carriers will be forced to compete for those customers, which could work to the benefit of customers. For example, maybe AT&T would not have enabled the Wi-Fi Personal Hospot feature, but now will feel compelled to offer it because Verizon is. We’ll see how this all plays out, but I suspect that the availability of the iPhone on Verizon will be a very good thing for many people.
I hate smudges. They always seem to show up on my eyeglasses, so I usually try to keep nearby one of those microfiber lens cloths that you can pick up at any store that sells eyeglasses, and more often than not you’ll find one in my pocket or briefcase. I also hate smudges on my iPhone and iPad, and that is one of the reasons that I love the oleophobic coating on those devices that makes it fairly easy to swipe the face on your shirt to clean off most of the smudges and dust — although frankly that is harder to do with the iPad because it is so much larger than an iPhone. I doubt that John Hartigan knew about my smudge-phobia when he sent me a free sample of a product that he sells called the MOBiLE CLOTH, but it made me very curious to check out this product.
The MOBiLE CLOTH is a 9 inch by 9 inch cloth made of microfiber. When you touch the cloth it instantly sticks to your fingers because of the large number of tightly woven microfiber nubs. It feels a little strange at first, almost like you are touching something that is sticky as if you are touching cotton candy. But the stickiness is simply the result of the way that the microfibers are woven, and it makes this cloth much more powerful at picking up dust than those lens cloths that I have used for years with my eyeglasses.
Does it work? Yes, amazingly well. For example, the other day I had been typing on my iPad screen using the virtual keyboard, and when I was done my screen was covered with smudges, dust, etc. It would have taken a lot of rubbing on a shirt to try to clean it off, and even using a normal lens cloth it would take a short while to get this clean. But with simply a few quick swipes of the MOBiLE CLOTH, the screen looked amazing.
I decided to really put the MOBiLE CLOTH to the test by using it to clean the screen of my big screen TV, a screen that was covered with countless smudges and quite a few sticky substances of unknown origin from my 3 and 5 year old kids. It did an amazing job, and the screen looks as good as new. Afterwards, I washed the cloth in water (I didn’t use any soap, but I understand that you can use a mild cleaning agent as long as you don’t use bleach or fabric softener) and let it dry, and the cloth itself cleaned up very well.
I recognize that my desire to keep my iPhone and iPad screen clean is partly because, as noted, I am a little neurotic in this area. I like a clean screen. But with my iPad, I feel that there is an important need to keep the screen clean because I find that I am often using it to show something to a client or colleague such as a PDF file, a photograph, or even just a website. It is nice to have a great looking screen when you are showing off the iPad to another person, so it is great to be able to quickly swipe my iPad with a MOBiLE CLOTH.
The website for MOBiLE CLOTH claims that it doesn’t just make your iPhone and iPad look good, it also removes up to 98% of germs. I have no way of testing that, and frankly I don’t know how much of an iPhone germ problem there really is, but if this is important to you than perhaps this is an additional reason that you will like the MOBiLE CLOTH.
Best of all, the product is cheap. You can buy one (either blue or white) for only $2.99, or you can pay even less if you buy in quantity (2 for $4.99, 6 for $12.99, all the way up to 100 for $189.99). I see on the website that if you buy a 4 or 6 pack right now, you get an extra one for free. John Hartigan, the owner of the company, sent me two and I like having one at my desk at work and one in my study at home.
My only wish is that it also came in a smaller version that had a carrying case so that I could more easily carry one around with me. The size and thickness of the MOBiLE CLOTH make it a little too large to toss into a pocket, plus it seems that you would want to cover the cloth in some sort of case to keep it clean. The next time I travel, I’ll probably place one into a Ziploc bag and put it in my briefcase. [UPDATE: John Hartigan tells me that a smaller version is in the works for later this year.]
This is by far the best cleaning cloth that I have ever used. It keeps my iPhone and iPad clean, and also works great with my eyeglasses, computer screen, and other similar surfaces. If keeping your iPhone or iPad looking great is a priority for you, I think that you’ll really like MOBiLE CLOTH. You can purchase this item directly from the manufacturer at the MOBiLE CLOTH website.
Following up on the firsttwo installments, here are even more new hardware accessories for the iPhone and iPad announced last week at CES that struck me as interesting.
SPOT Connect
Don’t you hate it when you can’t get a cell signal on your iPhone? SPOT Connect is a device that connects to a global satellite network so you can get a signal even if you are in the middle of nowhere. Connect your iPhone to the SPOT Connect using Bluetooth, and then you can send e-mails or text messages, although what you can send is rather limited. The device costs $170 plus you have to pay for service, which starts at $100 a year.
iRig Mic
The iRig Mic adds a high quality microphone to your iPhone. It will cost $60.
WowWee Cinemin Silce projector
This iPhone and iPad dock doubles as a projector, so you can show a movie on your device on a wall or the ceiling. You can preorder the Cinemin Slice for $429.
Neosonic’s LifePower Battery for iPad
This iPad case includes a battery that doubles the life of the iPad, plus a strap to make it easier to hold the iPad when you are walking around. Is it possible that this would make the iPad more useful in the courtroom? Attorney Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge has a bunch of pictures of the Neosonic LifePower Battery.
FreeOneHand case for iPad
If you just want something to help you hold our iPad (in court or elsewhere) but don’t need to also add battery life, the FreeOneHand case might be a good solution for you. It costs $40.
ZAGGmate
ZAGGmate is a $100 hard cover protector for the front of the iPad that matches the look of the back of the iPad. Take your iPad out, and the unit contains a keyboard and a stand that works in portrait or landscape mode. I know a lot of people who are using an iPad as a laptop replacement when they travel, and while a lot of people (like me) use an Apple Bluetooth keyboard, this looks like an interesting alternative. The website for the product includes some videos showing it in action.
Vyne
Does your hand get tired when you are holding up your iPhone to watch something on it? Then you might need the Vyne iPhone holder. The website doesn’t say anything about the price or the release date.
iBottle opener
And finally, if your two greatest desires are protecting your iPhone and drinking beer, then boy do I have the iPhone case for you. I’ll let the picture speak for itself. Available from Baron Bob for $19.95.
There are two things that I try not to do on iPhone J.D.: (1) post rumors. (2) post anything on Saturday. But I’m breaking both of those rules because of the importance of this rumor and the reputation of the sources. The respected Wall Street Journal and other sources are unequivocally reporting that on Tuesday, January 11 at 11:00 Eastern, Verizon will announce that it is starting to carry the iPhone. Get more info here:
John Paczkowski of All Things D claims that Steve Jobs will appear at the event on Tuesday
Paul Miller of Engadget’s “everything you need to know” post
BGR claims to have confirmed that Apple Store employees are not being allowed to take vacations from February 3 to February 6. Perhaps that is when the Verizon iPhone will be available?
Alan of Art of the iPhone posts a picture of the invitation to the Verizon event
John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains why the event will be hosted by Verizon, not Apple
I suspect that all of us know people who say that the only reason that they haven’t purchased an iPhone is that they want to stay with Verizon. We’ll find out in a few days if these rumors are true, and if so, Verizon customers will have a tough choice: do you get a Verizon iPhone 4 now, or do you wait for the 2011 version of the iPhone, which presumably will be introduced in June or July, as has been the case in prior years. That’s a really tough choice.
Even more interesting hardware attachments for the iPhone and iPad were announced or reviewed yesterday, but after two days in a row of discussing other new items, I’ll take a break from new hardware today. Next week I’ll discuss some of the other interesting products from the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. For now, let’s turn to the other recent iPhone news of note. (This is an extra long “In the news” because I haven’t published one since December 22, 2009.)
Apple released the App Store for the Macintosh yesterday. It is obviously modeled on the iPhone App Store, and it seems to work great. Macworld put together one of its famous “what you need to know” articles to discuss all of the features of the App Store.
Like (it seems) everyone else, I purchased Angry Birds on the Mac App Store to see what a game that started on a small iPhone screen would look like on my iMac’s large 27″ monitor. The Angry Birds and Egg-Stealing Pigs look pretty amazing on the large screen, although I prefer the touch controls on the iPhone and iPad versus using a mouse. I mention the Angry Birds game because it is one of many iPhone/iPad apps that has been ported to the Macintosh, proof that the underlying system is very similar in Mac OS X and the iOS. Indeed, Christopher Breen of Macworld wrote an article on how you can transfer the game data file from your iPhone/iPad to the Mac and suddenly the Mac version of the game knows all of the levels that you have completed, has all of your high scores, etc. For now, doing so requires you to run some special software, but in the future it would be nice to see app developers with cross-platform apps offering an easier to use mechanism for accomplishing the same task. When the iPhone first debuted, I sometimes thought of it as a portable Mac. It’s funny that I now have a reason to view my Mac as a super large iPhone.
If you have an iPad and you have a child, I’m sure that you have downloaded one of the free or paid book apps, which kids really enjoy. Brad Cook of The Mac Observer reported on Disney’s announcement yesterday that it has sold one million iPad app books so far. Wow. By the way, the Disney apps are quite good; if you want to see an example, check out the free Toy Story app. Click here for Toy Story Read-Along (free):
Massachusetts lawyer Robert Ambrogi reviews iPleading, an iPhone app that is supposed to aid in the creation of pleadings. He notes problems with the current version, but includes a response from the developer that a fix is coming soon.
Garmin is a big name in GPS devices but did not have an app for the iPhone until this week. Mel Martin of TUAW reviews the app and finds a few drawbacks, but overall this looks like a nice app. Click here for Garmin StreetPilot ($39.99):
If you have an iPhone 4, you can use FaceTime for videochat, but Skype and Qik are two competitors. Well, now they are about to be one competitor; as reported by Donald Melanson of Engadget, Skype announced yesterday at CES that it is acquiring Qik.
Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun-Times reviews the new videochat feature of the Skype app. One big advantage over FaceTime: you can use it over 3G, whereas FaceTime requires Wi-Fi. Another advantage: there are a lot more people out there using Skype for video chat.
If you want to get an iPhone 3GS, starting today you can get one from AT&T for only $50, as reported by just about everyone including Joseph Flatley of Engadget.
Kevin O’Keefe writes on his LexBlog about the iPad business model for legal publishers and law firms.
Brian Chen of Wired compiles a list of the “19 most wired iPhone and iPad apps of 2010.”
Similarly, the staff of Ars Technica complied a list of their 10 favorite apps of 2010.
To take a different approach, Killian Bell of Cult of Mac compiles a list of the 15 best iOS app icons in 2010.
Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times discusses wine shopping apps for the iPhone.
Tedeschi also writes about apps to help you make a cocktail.
Bryan Wolfe of AppAdvice reports that the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is now a free app for the iPhone. Click here for the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (free):
Laura Sydell of the NPR show All Things Considered reports on the relationship between Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Apple’s head designer Jonathan Ive.
Texas attorney D. Todd Smith writes for Texas Lawyer about practicing law with the iPad.
Back in 2009, I reviewed the Texas Child Support Calculator app. The developer, Texas attorney Jimmy Verner, wrote to tell me that there is now a 2011 version with lots of new features, and notes that it is a universal app so it works well on both the iPhone and iPad. Click here for Texas Child Support Calculator 2011 ($7.99):
Also in 2009, I reviewed the Louisiana Civil Code app for the iPhone. The developer, Louisiana attorney Matt Miller, wrote to tell me that his app is now $2.00 cheaper and has new features, including AirPrint support. I use this great app all the time, so if you practice law in Louisiana, get it now. Click here for Louisiana Civil Code ($4.99):
Daniel Eran Dilger of AppleInsider writes that Apple is working with Verizon to target the iPad at corporate buyers.
I was honored when the ABA Journal named iPhone J.D. one of the top 100 blawgs in 2010, but I was really thrilled to see so many of you readers vote for iPhone J.D. that it won in the category of Best Legal Technology Blawg for 2010. Thanks! Y’all are awesome!
Every year, Missouri attorney and technology law expert Dennis Kennedy publishes what he calls the Blawggies, his list of the best law-related blawgs for the year. In this year’s list, I was honored to see that he named iPhone J.D. the Best Legal Technology Blog for 2010. Be sure to read his description of that award; it has a funny back story. Thanks, Dennis!
By the way, let’s pick on Dennis a little bit. He writes that he is a “regular reader” of iPhone J.D. even though he doesn’t have an iPhone. That’s a nice thing to say, but let’s be honest: how can anyone read iPhone J.D. regularly and not run to the nearest Apple Store to buy an iPhone? The last time that I heard Dennis talk on the subject — the June 21, 2010 episode of the podcast that he does with Tom Mighell — he said that he wouldn’t get an iPhone until it came to Verizon. If you believe the rumors, that is coming any day now, and when it does, I’m asking everyone else in St. Louis to clear the way for Dennis so that he can be first in line. (Dennis, you’ll thank me once you get your iPhone.) By the way, you can click here to listen or subscribe to the great Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast:
And finally, if you appreciate the top-notch design of the iPhone, I suspect that you also appreciate the top-notch work of the other company that Steve Jobs runs, Pixar. The following video was created by Brazillian law student and Pixar fan Leandro Copperfield, and it is totally awesome. I encourage you change the settings to 720p and watch this video full screen with your volume turned up:
Even more new hardware products to that add features to your iPhone and iPad dominate the news today with a whole bunch of other products announced or reviewed yesterday and this morning. Here are a few of those items that struck me as interesting.
Withings Smart BabyMonitor
Withings, the company that announced one of the blood pressure devices I discussed yesterday, announced another new product yesterday, the Smart BabyMonitor. The device (due in March) will let you watch your baby from your iPhone, can monitor sound and motion, has an infrared LED that gives you night vision, and lets you measure the temperature and humidity in the room. No price announced.
The Glif
The Glif is a device that was announced a while back, and received a ton of publicity back in November of 2010 because of the way that the manufacture of the device was funded. (For example, here is an article in The Economist.) The product is now available for sale and Beau Colburn of Macworld posted a review yesterday. It is a tiny device that can prop up your iPhone 4 in a number of different ways — perfect for placing your iPhone on a table while you watch a movie or have a FaceTime call — and can also screw into a tripod base, so you can keep the iPhone steady while you take a video. It costs $20.
Kensington PowerLift
If you want to prop up your iPhone but charge it at the same time, you’ll want to check out the PowerLift, one of several new products being announced this morning by Kensington. The 1200 mAh battery adds up to 20 hours of music, 5 hours of video, 3.5 hours of talk, and 1.5 hours of FaceTime, and has a LED battery indicator to tell you how much power you have left. It costs $49.99. iLounge has more pictures.
Kensington BlackBelt
The BlackBelt is a rubberized band that wraps around the iPad to allow for a secure grip, and can also cushion the iPad against an accident drop. Might be a good way to make sure that your iPad doesn’t slip out of your hands while you are holding it in court. It costs $39.99. iLounge has more pictures.
Kensington Dual USB Wall Charger
If you travel with both your iPhone and iPad, or if you and your spouse both need to charge an iPad at the same time, it can be useful to have a way to charge both at once with a single plug. The Kensington Dual USB Wall Charger addresses this need. One of the USB cables is detachable so you don’t need to carry an extra cable to sync with your computer. It will cost $34.99.
Kensington Virtuoso stylus
Kensington also announced an iPad and iPhone stylus that has a ballpoint pen on one side. The tip looks similar to the BoxWave stylus that I really liked when I reviewed it last month. It will cost $24.99.
BoxWave Keyboard Buddy iPhone case
Speaking of BoxWave, that company makes a case for the iPhone that contains a keyboard called the Keyboard Buddy, and Jacob Schulman of Engadget reviewed it yesterday. He says that it has some flaws, but is probably the best of the small number of similar products that try to do the same thing. It sells for $70.
Moshi Moshi 03i
Native Union announced a device that looks like a full size telephone called the Moshi Moshi 03i. It comes in black or white and connects to your iPhone via Bluetooth, so you can hold this handset up to your face and make calls on your iPhone. It costs $150.
I am always interested to learn about interesting hardware accessories for the iPhone and iPad, and a lot of companies announce those products this week in connection with the large Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that starts today in Las Vegas. Here are some of the products announcements that I have seen so far and which seem interesting:
CarTrip
Griffin announced a device called CarTrip that allows your iPhone to interface with your car’s engine. Any car built after 1996 has an on-board computer that can be accessed to obtain diagnostic and performance information. The CarTrip plugs in to your car’s OBD-II port to record and analyze data from your car’s computer.
On your iPhone you run a free app called CleanDrive that analyzes data such as fuel consumption, acceleration, top speed and engine diagnostics. Griffin says that “in addition, CleanDrive will display and reset the diagnostic codes sent by your car’s on-board computer, so you can know what the ‘Check Engine’ light is really saying.” The device is coming soon and will cost $89.99.
Crayola iMarker
Griffin also teamed up with Crayola to develop an iPad stylus for kids that works with an app called Crayola ColorStuideio HD. Griffin describes the product as follows:
Together with iMarker, the ColorStudio HD App allows young artists to color and interact with special “live” animated coloring book pages that move and react as they color, combining custom-produced pictures, animations, music, sound effects, and high quality special effects. For example, in one setting fish swim, doors open to reveal surprises, and mermaids serenade the young artist. The iMarker digital stylus brings the app to life. Like a marker, crayon, pen, and paintbrush in one, iMarker creates favorite Crayola colors within the ColorStudio HD App. iMarker safely interacts with iPad’s Multi-Touch display, allowing the ColorStudio HD app to differentiate between the child’s input (fingers, swipes, etc.) and the iMarker automatically. This allows intuitive, creative play that brings the accuracy and ease of a stylus but, for the first time, allows the user to both manipulate the creative space and color, without having to toggle the app between modes.
Blood pressure monitors
Michael Rose of TUAW reports that two companies announced iPhone-connected blood pressure monitors. iHealth introduced its BP3 blood pressure monitoring system which will cost $99.95. It can check, track, chart and share your blood pressure.
Another company called Withings introduced a similar product called the Withings monitor that will sell for $130.
Fling game controller
Ten One Design introduced a product called Fling that attaches to your iPad screen with suction cups and gives you a tactile game controller for games that use a virtual joystick. It comes in a 2-pack (so it even works in games that have a joystick on both sides of the screen) and will cost $38.
Direct mode on the Eye-Fi
The Eye-Fi is not a new product, but a new feature was announced for the iPhone. The Eye-Fi is an SD card that includes Wi-Fi so that you can take a picture with your digital camera and then automatically have the picture uploaded to a computer and/or sharing site — as long as you are in a Wi-Fi zone. The new announcement is that with the upcoming Direct Mode feature, the Eye-Fi can send pictures directly to your iPhone, and you can then use the 3G on your iPhone to send the picture along. This sounds like a neat feature. There have been many times in the past when I have taken a nice picture with my digital camera (I use a Nikon SLR) and I wanted to immediately send it to someone but I didn’t have a way to connect the SD card in my camera with my iPhone. Direct Mode will work with all of the X2 Eye-Fi cards including the standard $50 Connect X2 (4 GB), the $70 Geo X2 (which adds geotagging), the $100 Explore X2 (which has twice as much memory, 8GB, and handles video) and the $150 Pro X2 (which adds Class 6 read/write speeds).
And more…?
CES is just starting, so we may see even more interesting accessory announcements this week. Plus Macworld Expo is at the end of the month, so expect to see more announcements then.
In November of 2009, I reviewed MotionX GPS Drive, an app that gives you turn-by-turn directions. Although I don’t use GPS apps like this very often, whenever I do find myself in need of directions in my car, I find myself using this app. Unlike other GPS direction apps that are expensive to buy, this one is very cheap — only $0.99 — although that only gets you voice navigation for 30 days. To get another 30 days, you need to pay another $2.99. This works well for me — in 2010, I only had to purchase it a few times to cover all of my needs during the year — but if you use the app more often you can get a full year of service for $20 (it used to cost $25, but the price recently dropped).
I am writing about the app today to note that my biggest gripe about this app when I reviewed it in 2009 was fixed a few days ago. Version 8 of MotionX GPS Drive adds a text-to-speech voice that can speak street names. The voice (called “Heather”) sounds like a computer generated voice, so it doesn’t sound quite as nice as the normal voice (called “Karen”) which is a recording of a natural voice. But the advantage is clearly worth it: when you need to turn on Jackson Ave., the app now tells you “turn right on Jackson Avenue” instead of saying “prepare to turn right” with you left wondering whether the app is talking about the street that you are just now passing or the one coming up. This is a great improvement to the app. Not only is the app more useful, but you no longer have to glance at the iPhone screen to see the street name, which allows you keep your eyes on the road and be a safer driver.
Another gripe I noted in my 2009 review was that when traveling in areas where 3G or Edge coverage is flaky, the app may have trouble getting the data that it needs to keep working. MotionX GPS Drive does not include built-in maps, but instead it downloads them as necessary. I consider this a feature not a flaw because it means that the app takes up much less space on your iPhone and you know that you are getting the most up-to-date maps. A feature added in a prior update to the app is the ability to pre-load maps when you are using Wi-Fi before you start your trip. This way, you have the maps already loaded even when the cellular data signal is weak, plus you reduce the need to download as much over your cellular connection. On my iPhone, I am still grandfathered into an unlimited data plan, but if you pay for only a certain amount of data on your iPhone or iPad, it is useful to load the maps over Wi-Fi before you start your trip to save yourself from eating up a bunch of the data to download maps while you are driving:
MotionX also has an iPad version of this app available for $2.99. It includes all of the features of the iPhone app, but takes advantage of the much larger screen. I haven’t yet seen a way to mount an iPad in a car, although it would be awesome to have a screen that large. (I currently mount my iPhone in my car using a Kensington AssistOne, which I reviewed two months ago and still love.) Thus, I’m not sure how much more useful the iPad version is when you are driving. However, I have found that when you are the copilot, it is much nicer to use the large screen of an iPad to navigate and see what is ahead. For example, this past weekend, my family drove to the beach in Gulfshores, Alabama for New Year’s, and while my wife was driving, I used the MotionX app on my iPad to easily find out what food options we had along the route so that we could figure out where to stop. I could have done the same thing with the iPhone version of the app, but it was a lot easier to use the large iPad screen. (Note that I have the 3G version of the iPad; I suppose you couldn’t do ths with the Wi-Fi only version of the iPad, unless you happen to have Wi-Fi in your car.)
One nice thing about having both the iPhone and iPad versions of MotionX GPS Drive is that you can use the same user account on both devices, although not at the same time. In other words, you can purchase a 30 day package on your iPhone, then the next week use the same package on your iPad for a few days, then go back to using it on your iPhone. When you have the package activated on one device and try to use it on another device, the app usually asks if you want to switch to make the new device the one on which the account is active. Just tap yes, and you are on your way. I say “usually” because on occasion I’ve actually been able to use the app simultaneously on my iPhone and my iPad, at least for a short while.
As is true with any GPS guidance device, you still need to use your common sense. I often find that the route picked by the app is not the app that makes the most sense to me. Fortunately, as you drive, the app sees that you have strayed from the original route and calculates a new one.
MotionX GPS Drive is a great app with tons of features. I’ve only skimmed the surface here and in my original review, but you read about all that the app can do on the developer’s website. I recommend that you give it a look if you are thinking about using your iPhone or iPad to help you navigate.
Click here for MotionX GPS Drive for iPhone ($0.99):
Click here for MotionX GPS Drive HD for iPad ($2.99):
It was just two months ago that I noted that there was a bug in the iPhone’s Clock app that resulted in alarms going off at the wrong time after Daylight Saving Time ended. This past weekend, you may have noticed that the alarm in the Clock app was once again having problems after a significant date event, this time after the shift from 2010 to 2011. As I noticed when my alarm did not go off on Sunday morning (fortunately I was already awake), any nonrepeating alarm simply would not work. Several iPhone J.D. readers wrote me to report similar problems.
Apple told the New York Times that the alarm function is supposed to start working again starting today. That’s great to hear, but for the countless people who (like me) depend upon an iPhone as an alarm clock, these two problems within only two months raise doubts about whether the Clock app can be trusted in the future. As John Gruber of Daring Fireball stated (noting the obvious): “the alarm system in iOS is in need of a good code auditing.”
I suspect that I’ll continue to use the Clock app and give the alarm function one more chance, but the next time that we have a significant date event, you can be sure that I’ll set a backup alarm. The problem is guessing when that next event might be. Groundhog Day on February 2? Chinese New Year on February 3? Mardi Gras on March 8? March 13 when Daylight Saving Time starts again? Flag Day on June 14? I might need to set a lot of backup alarms.
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