Jeff Richardson

I received a lot of good feedback from my article earlier this week about using Google Scholar’s new caselaw feature to search legal opinions.  Thanks, and if you missed the article, you might want to check it out.  Other iPhone-related news from this past week:

• The Webby Awards have named the Ten Most Influential Internet Moments of the Decade and the listed events include the launch of Wikipedia, the 2008 Presidential campaign and, you guessed it, the debut of the iPhone.
• Macworld’s Dan Moren speculates on what might be included in the next version of the iPhone.
• In what almost sounds like a scene out of a heist movie, Philip Elmer-DeWitt writes for Fortune about an iPhone robbery in Belgium.  Over 3,000 iPhones were stolen when a hole was cut in a warehouse roof exactly over the spot where the iPhones were waiting, leading police to suspect an inside job.
• The end of the year must be approaching if we are getting “best of” lists.  Alex Ahlund of the website AppVee writes an article for TechCrunch about what he considers the 35 best apps of 2009.
• There are now over a dozen GPS apps that will give you turn-by-turn directions, the most recent being Magellian RoadMate.  CNET has a review of the new Magellian app, and Art of the iPhone runs through the available apps and concludes that Navigon MobileNavigator is the best although many others are almost as good, and says that MotionX GPS is the best value.  [UPDATE:  TUAW reports today that Navigon is on sale for the next 10 days; save $20 on the app itself and save $10 on the live traffic add-on.]
• If you are traveling by air instead of by car, I’ve written in the past about the possibility of using your iPhone as a boarding pass.  According to this report by Alexander Vaughn of AppAdvice, it isn’t worth the hassle and you might as well just print out your boarding pass.
• If you are going to take a flight, you might want to carry your iPhone with you in case you need to record anything.  The New York Times has an interesting article about Steve Bierfeldt, a man who was interrogated by security scanners at an airport simply because he was carrying almost $5,000 in cash.  Bierfeldt used an iPhone app to record the interrogation, and then used that recording to show that he had been treated unfairly.  (Thanks to New York attorney Jeffrey Dupler for the link.)
• You might want to avoid these travel hassles by just traveling virtually.  If so, Macworld reports that the helpful Google Earth app has been updated to version 2.0.  The big improvement is that the app now syncs any saved maps that you have with your Google account.  I find that this makes the app much more useful.  Click here to get Google Earth (free): 

  

• The DigitalArts website has an interesting interview with iPhone app developer (and former Apple employee) Dave Howell, the man who developed the successful Air Sharing app.
• I’m always excited to hear about new hardware that goes with the iPhone, although these next two items probably won’t show up on my Christmas list.  First, iPhone Alley writes about iBreath, an accessory that attaches to your iPhone and works as a breathalyzer.  Plus, it doubles as an FM radio transmitter because, well, hmm, I’m not exactly sure why, but apparently it does that too.  Second, they write about an app that allows you to connect a stethoscope to your iPhone.
• Sebastien of the iPhone Download Blog notes 10 Tips Every iPhone User Should Know.  Most of them have been reported here before, but it is always nice to see reminders of good tips.
  
• And finally, iPhone developer Qneo—developer of such memorable apps as A Rotary Telephone! and Nuke-O-Meter—has developed an app called Blower that is supposed to produce a sound so loud that it actually causes air to come out of your iPhone speaker so that you can use the iPhone to handle common chores such as blowing out birthday candles.  No word on whether the iPhone also gets to make the wish.  The reviews on the App Store say that the app produces virtually zero airflow, but the developer has produced a YouTube video showing the app in action, so decide who you want to believe.  For all of your iPhone blowing needs, click here to get Blower ($0.99): 

  

I’m a big fan of the Take Control series of electronic books, published by Adam and Tonya Engst, the folks who run the excellent and long-running Macintosh newsletter TidBITS.  Take Control books are published electronically as PDF files, which means that there is very little delay between when the book is finished and when it is published, and it also means that the books can be, and are, updated when new information comes along.  Every Take Control book has a “Check for Updates” button on the first page of the PDF.  Thus, while Take Control books are as comprehensive and informative as other good books, they are unique because they are also great sources for fresh information.

Just last week, two new iPhone-related Take Control books were
released.  I was given free copies for review purposes, and I enjoyed
reading both of them.

Take Control of iPhone OS 3 ($15) is written by Ted Landau, a noted troubleshooting guru.  (This is a new version of a book that used to be called Take Control of Your iPhone, which I reviewed earlier this year; it you bought the last edition you will be getting information on a discounted upgrade.)  This book goes into great detail on the intricacies of syncing your iPhone, using MobileMe, managing third party apps, mastering keyboard and speech input, and using Wi-Fi, Edge, 3G and Bluetooth.  Also, because this is Ted Landau, he includes a healthy dose of troubleshooting tips for when something goes wrong with your iPhone.  Click here to download a free sample PDF from the book with Table of Contents, Introduction, Quick Start, and section starts.

The other new book is Take Control of Your iPhone Apps ($10) by Jeff Carlson,
the Managing Editor of TidBITS and a columnist for the Seattle Times. 
Carlson’s book focuses on the iPhone’s built-in apps with step-by-step
instructions on how to use Calendar, Phone, Contacts, Safari, Mail,
Messages, Camera, Photos, Maps, Compass, iPod and Remote.  (Okay,
technically Remote doesn’t come built in to the iPhone, but Apple makes
this free app to control an Apple TV, so it is almost like a built-in app.)  This book also has a free sample that you can download to get a feel for the book.

Carlson’s book is aimed at beginners.  Landau’s book is great for beginners but has tips that would be appreciated by more advanced iPhone users as well.  The iPhone is so easy to use that I know that many people get by just fine without ever reading anything, but if you (or someone who you knows) could use just a little more information—even if it is just to confirm what you think you already know—these are both very useful e-books.

Because the books are electronic, you can get instant gratification.  Just download the book and in minutes or even seconds, the book will be on your computer and you can start to read it.  If you use the links below to purchase either or both books, a small percentage of the sale goes to iPhone J.D. to help offset the cost of running this site.

Click here to get Take Control of iPhone OS 3 for $15.00.

Click here to get Take Control of Your iPhone Apps for $10.00.

Yesterday, Google announced that it expanded its Google Scholar service to include free, full text legal opinions from U.S. federal and state courts.  Google is not the first to offer free caselaw research, but given Google’s search expertise, this service has the potential to be huge.  According to a post by Ernie Svenson, federal opinions (including tax and bankruptcy) go back to 1924, and state opinions go back to 1950.  Svenson got this information directly from Rick Klau, the Google employee who worked on this project as a part of the “do something interesting with 20% of your time here” policy that Google encourages for all of its employees.  (Klau is a fascinating guy; earlier this year, he gave the commencement address at the University of Richmond, where he went to law school, and the transcript of that speech is a good read.)

Lots of blawgs are discussing Google Scholar right now, but I don’t see anyone talking about how nice it is that this service lets you view or search for virtually any case at any time on your iPhone (or other smartphone).  Now, even if you are out of your office, you can quickly search for cases or pull up a specific case on your iPhone for free.

Google Scholar is not specially formatted for the iPhone screen.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see an iPhone version of Google Scholar in the future, nor would I be surprised to see a third party app that acts as an iPhone front end to Google Scholar.  But for now, here are some tips and tricks for using Google Scholar on an iPhone (many of which will also work on your computer).

The first thing that you will want to do is set a bookmark for Google Scholar in Safari on your iPhone.  You can of course just bookmark the main Google Scholar page, but I find it more efficient to bookmark a search page that is set to the state that you are most likely to search.  This allows you to avoid tapping the “Advanced Search” link, and then scrolling down, and then selecting your state, and then running the search.  For me, my default jurisdiction is Louisiana, so I have made the following address my bookmark in Safari:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_q=apple&as_sdt=4&as_sdts=19

You can change the word “apple” after the “q=” to whatever you want, but you need to have some default query.  The last number on that address is 19 for Louisiana, but you can change that to another number depending upon your preferred search jurisdiction:

With this bookmark, your starting screen will look something like this picture on the left.  Just tap in the search field at the top and you can replace “apple” with whatever it is that you want to search, which can be search terms or a specific case citation:

    

Enter your search term, press the search button, and you will see your result:

    

I’m not sure what magic Google is using to rank the search results, but in typical Google fashion, it appears to do an excellent job of putting the most relevant and important cases near the top of the search results.  I haven’t compared running a search on Google Scholar to running a search on Westlaw/Lexis, but Dan Friedlander has, and he writes
on his blog that for his sample search, the results seem similar.  Eugene Lee says that Google’s service allows him to find important cases even faster that West/Lexis.  [UPDATE:  Texas attorney Don Cruse also comments on the ranking of search results on his website The Supreme Court of Texas Blog.]  I’m
sure that others will be writing about this in the future.

Tap on a case link to see the text of a case, and you can scroll down to find your search terms highlighted.  (Each word is highlighted in a different color.)  As shown above, the search screens are not specially formatted for an iPhone screen.  However, the opinions themselves display very nicely on the iPhone screen once you double tap to zoom in on the text:

    

Sometimes I find it very helpful to see the search terms highlighted.  Other times, however, so many search terms appear in the text that highlighting just gets in the way of reading the case.  For example, I would prefer to read the version on the right instead of the version on the left:

    

Here is how I got rid of the highlighted search terms.  (And by the way, this trick works in a regular web browser on your computer; this isn’t just limited to the iPhone.)  At the top of the Safari screen, tap on the address field.  You will see a long address that looks something like this:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10058997680149974036&q=Class+predominance&hl=en&as_sdt=8000004 

Select everything after the case number—start at the end of the address and go all the way to the “&q=” that is right before your search terms—and delete that part by selecting CUT.  Then click on the GO button at the bottom right.  That leaves an address containing nothing at the end but the “case=” followed by a unique case number for the case:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10058997680149974036

    

When you hit GO, you will see a version of the case that has no search terms, and thus has no search terms highlighted.  This is similar to using the “Find” feature on Westlaw or the “Lexsee” feature on Lexis to jump directly to a specific case without using any search terms.

When you find a legal opinion that is relevant to you, you can use the helpful “How Cited” tab to find other decisions that have cited your found opinion.  This is somewhat similar to Shepards on Lexis or KeyCite on Westlaw, although Google does not currently characterize the citing authority to tell you if, for example, another case overturns or distinguishes your case.  I also wish that the service included statutes in addition to cases.  But I hate to nitpick too much right now.  This service is free and barely 24 hours old, and I’m sure that it will improve over time.

One cannot help but wonder what West and Lexis think about Google Scholar.  Their official position is essentially “no big deal.”  Monica Bay reports on these statements from them on her great blawg, The Common Scold:

West:  Google has shared with us their plans to
expand Google Scholar to include the search of publicly available
caselaw and some legal journals. We believe that government-authored
information should be accessible to the public, and Google joins
existing sites such as FindLaw, the Legal Information Institute at
Cornell University Law School and scores of others as sites that offer
this information free of charge.  Our customers rely on us for very specialized information and legal
insight, and use Westlaw to find exactly the right answer on very
specific points of law.

Lexis:  Free case law is not new to the Internet and is
included on some of our own sites like lexisONE, LexisWeb and
lawyers.com.  However, our legal customers generally require more than
raw, unfiltered content to inform their business decisions. They look
to LexisNexis to find needles in the ever-growing information haystack,
not the haystack itself.  Not only do we provide the most complete portfolio of public and
proprietary legal content, but LexisNexis enables legal professionals
to conduct their research more efficiently, effectively, and with the
assurance of accuracy.  The LexisNexis legal research service provides
critical analysis and commentary such as Mathew Bender, citation
analysis like Shepard’s, deep online linkages built over time to
relevant content, and unique functionality such as pinpoint searching
by topic or by complex legal phrases.  Our goal is to deliver relevant, reliable results that enable our customers to make informed decisions faster.

Of course they are right.  This is not the first free caselaw service on the Internet (even though it may quickly become the best), and Westlaw and Lexis/Nexis currently offer a lot that Google is not offering including summaries and headnotes, case histories, formatted downloads suitable for printing, etc.  On the other hand, let’s not forget that Google’s service is free and will improve over time.  It is always difficult to compete with free-and-good-enough.  I’m reminded of a few weeks ago when Google announced that it was bringing free turn-by-turn navigation to Android and wanted to also bring it to the iPhone, and that same day the stock price of navigation device manufacturers TomTom and Garmin plummeted as investors worried about the future of their business models. [UPDATE 11-20-09:  Randall Ryder points out on Lawyerist
that the Google service compares very well to a service like Fastcase,
even if it doesn’t currently match Westlaw or Lexis.  I agree.  In
fact, notwithstanding the “fast” in Fastcase, one thing I love about
the Google service is that searching legal opinions is MUCH MUCH faster
than Westlaw, Lexis or Fastcase.  No log-in is required to start using the Google service, and searching and displaying results is almost instantaneous.  The speed really makes up for some of the missing features that appear on Westlaw and Lexis.]

But even if Google’s legal opinion search service stays exactly where it is with no further improvements, I still love it because it allows me to easily and quickly find a case for free, no matter where I am, as long as I have my iPhone with me and some kind of data connection.  Every lawyer with an iPhone should take note of Google’s new service.

One year ago today was the debut of iPhone J.D. with the post “Why I use an iPhone.”  In the 250 posts to iPhone J.D. since then, I have reviewed 125 apps, posted countless tips and tricks on using the iPhone, analyzed lots of iPhone-related hardware including the current top-of-the-line iPhone 3GS, and written on topics as varied as cocktails, the New Yorker, and dragons and ninjas.  (The significant posts are indexed at the iPhone J.D. Index link on the right.)

A lot has happened in the world of iPhone over the past year.  We’ve gone from under 10,000 apps to over 100,000. A huge number of new features have been added to the iPhone, especially in iPhone Software 3.0.  The 8 GB Phone 3G now sells for only $99, half of what it sold for a year ago, and the iPhone 3GS is the most impressive smartphone on the market.  Over the past year, we have also seen a significant increase in the number of attorneys using iPhones, and unlike this time last year, a large number of law firms are now supporting the use of iPhones by their attorneys.

It’s been a lot of fun writing about the world of iPhone over the last twelve months, both in general and focusing on what is especially relevant to attorneys.  The most popular post on this website over the past year was actually one of the very first posts, a list of my favorite iPhone shortcuts, a page that has been viewed over 45,000 times.  (Wow!)  Other posts on iPhone shortcuts such as this one, this one and this one have been very popular.  And in what I view as a testament to the fact that iPhone users (especially lawyers) are smart folks who pay attention to the niceties of grammar and punctuation, the second most popular post on iPhone J.D. over the past year was “The em and en of iPhone 3.0,” a post about the ability to use the em dash—like this—on the iPhone keyboard.

But enough about me, let’s talk about you.  Naturally, there were not too many of you at the start, but readership started to grow after the first month and has grown steadily ever since.  Thanks to Google Analytics, a tool that provides statistical information on websites, I can see some information about the visitors over the last year.  There have been over 300,000 page views at iPhone J.D. from 130,000 different people.  Or to use a point of reference, we’ve had more different people come to iPhone J.D. than there are apps in the App Store!  (At least, so far….)

Most of the visitors to iPhone J.D. have just stopped in to read a few articles here and there.  It’s always fun to have visitors drop in for a quick visit, but I appreciate the many thousands of you who have become regular daily visitors to the site or who have added me to your RSS reader.  I especially appreciate those of you who have taken the time to send an e-mail or post a comment.  Countless articles on iPhone J.D. originated from reader feedback.

Want to know more about yourselves?  73% of you live in the U.S., followed by 5% from the UK, 4% from Canada, 3% from Germany, 2% from Australia, and the rest from 174 other countries.  The following countries have had only one person visit iPhone J.D. in the past year:  Solomon Islands, Congo, Laos, Zamba, Vanatu, Reunion, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Botswana, Martinique, Cuba, Ivory Coast, Armenia, Kyrgzstan, Palau and Togo.  Whenever iPhone J.D. gets an infusion of cash from a rich venture capitalist, I’ll know where to visit to increase site awareness.  To focus on cities instead of countries, by far the largest number of readers are in New York, which makes up about 5% of visitors.  The full top 10 list is as follows:

1. New York
2. London
3. San Francisco
4. New Orleans
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Chicago
7. Atlanta
8. Houston
9. Dallas
10. Sydney

A special thanks to all of the readers here in New Orleans.  We should all meet up for a crawfish boil or something.

And finally, what operating system are you using to view iPhone J.D.?  Half of you use Windows, a third of you use a Mac, and just about all
of the rest of you access iPhone J.D. on your iPhone.

It’s been a great year at iPhone J.D., and I look forward to the next one.  Please keep your e-mails, comments and suggestions coming!  Or if you see something interesting on Twitter, pass it along to me at @jeffrichardson.  I love hearing about how you use your iPhone and sharing your good advice with others.

When I discuss apps on iPhone J.D., I try to focus on apps that attorneys would find useful.  Today, however, I want to instead discuss an app that attorneys themselves won’t use but should know about because it is an app that provides an alternative to hiring an attorney.  The app is iNDA.

iNDA is a simple app that contains the text of a standard non-disclosure agreement (NDA).  In short, you enter the names of the two parties, the person receiving the confidential information signs on the iPhone screen, and then the app e-mails everyone an agreement.  The goal is to make it quick and easy for a person with a good idea to be able to share the idea with someone else while maintaining confidentiality.

When you first start the app, you are prompted to enter the identity of the disclosing party, something you only have to do once (although you can always change it if you need to do so).  Then, whenever you encounter someone with whom you want to have an NDA, you fire up this app and have that person enter their information.

The app will display a PDF file on the screen containing a two page NDA.  If the signee agrees with the terms of the NDA, the next screen presents a place for the signee to use a finger to enter a signature.  In the below example, I signed in portrait mode, but the app also lets you turn the iPhone on its side to that the person can sign in landscape mode.

Finally, the app displays the final NDA, including the signatures of the signee.   Tap the e-mail button at the bottom right, and the app will e-mail the signed PDF copy to both the disclosing party and the signee.  Here is what the PDF looks like, but note that I have purposely blurred the text out of respect for the work product of the author of this app.  When you use the actual app, the text is legible, and like any PDF file can be enlarged (or the iPhone can be turned to landscape mode) to make it even easier to read.

 

The app also adds a copy of this signed NDA to a list in the app so that you can easily review it or e-mail it in the future. 

The developer tells me that he tried to make an easy to use app
that takes advantage of the portable nature of the iPhone.  He said: 
“People often have informal meeting where they would like to discuss
ideas with colleagues, friends, or prospective employees. We want to
promote these meetings by giving people legal protection available to
them at all times.”  He also compared this app to the Time Machine
backup technology in Mac OS X in that it is easy to use, quick to set
up, and covers most use cases and therefore actually gets used, whereas without it, perhaps nothing would be used and there would be no protection at all.

Of course, the ease of use and simplicity has a price.  For example, it is impossible to change the terms of the NDA, so if the signee insists on any extra provisions, or if disclosing party wants to add any additional protections, this app cannot handle that.  Moreover, the app only provides for a signature from the signee, so even if the disclosing party wants to sign, that cannot be done.

The app asserts that the documents are “legally binding and are fully compliant with the 2000 U.S. Electronic Signatures in Global and Natinol Commerce Act (ESIGN) and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA).”  I have not myself analyzed whether the NDA created by this app is legally binding under the laws of any state or country.  I don’t mean to imply that it isn’t; I just don’t know and I don’t provide legal advice on this website.  The developer, who is not an attorney, tells me that he hired an attorney to draft the NDA.  

I am intrigued by iNDA because it is a preview of what is yet to come for the iPhone.  Indeed, the developer of this app told me that he hopes to create similar apps in the future that cover other types of contracts.  There are, of course, entire industries that have grown up around the idea of putting the law in the hands of consumers without needing to hire an attorney, first through books and then through software and online efforts.  For example, Nolo sells on its website forms for a will, living trust, corporation, lease, promissory note, etc.   I presume it would be easy for Nolo to convert some of these products into iPhone apps, and indeed, Nolo already has one iPhone app, the excellent Nolo’s Plain English Law Dictionary which I reviewed a few months ago.

Click here to get iNDA ($4.99): 

Apple is about to open a new store in New York City, and like the others in the Big Apple, this one is architecturally stunning.  The store, which opens tomorrow, is located in the Upper West Side on Broadway at 67th Street, and as ifo AppleStore writes, the store will be a beacon visible for several blocks at night and in the daytime will look different throughout the day and throughout the seasons because of the way that sunlight enters the store.  The store has huge walls made of marble and stainless steel, walls made of glass and a 50-foot ceiling made of glass.  At first look, it appears that the store has just one level with super high ceilings, but on closer inspection you see that there is also a spiral staircase that leads to a level below.  ifo AppleStore has pictures here.  Other iPhone-related news from this past week:

• Ron Johnson is Apple’s Senior Vice President for Retail, the guy responsible for all of the Apple Stores.  (I had a chance to chat with him once at Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in New York; that’s us in the picture at the right.)  In connection with the opening of the Upper West Side store, Johnson made some announcements yesterday about the Apple Stores in general.  First, he announced that going forward, Apple will start to open larger stores.  He also announced that about 50 more stores (over half outside of the U.S.) will be opened in 2010 (up from around 26 in 2009), including a few large, significant stores such as this Upper West Side store and the Apple Store that recently opened at The Louvre in Paris.  Apple certainly isn’t have trouble finding people to work at the stores; Johnson announced that there are over 100,000 job applications on file for Apple Stores worldwide, and for the new Upper West Side store there were 10,000 applications for 200 jobs.  Apple is also replacing the Windows Mobile-based handheld devices that they used to use for checkouts with specially modified iPod touch units.  You can get more details on these announcements at the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, ifo AppleStore and Gizmodo.
• Speaking of stores, back in February, I wrote
  
  that there are five places to buy an iPhone in the U.S.:  an Apple
  
  Store, an AT&T Store, Best Buy, Sam’s and Walmart.  We are now
  
  about to see a six retailer:  RadioShack.  iLounge reports
  
  on a RadioShack announcement that stores in Dallas and New York will
  
  offer the iPhone this month, and the iPhone will be rolled out
  
  nationwide next year.  RadioShack has sold iPods for a while now, and
  
  they sell other smartphones, so hopefully this will be a good match for
  
  both Apple and RadioShack.
• Apple is successful not because it sells the most, but because it sells premium products on which it can make a profit.  MG Siegler writes for TechCrunch that “While Rivals Jockey for Market Share, Apple Bathes in Profits.” 
• There are lots of apps that allow you to stream live radio stations, but if you want  your iPhone to truly operate as a radio and pick up local stations, iBiquity Digital has created an $80 accessory that allows an iPhone to receive HD radio.  AppleInsider has the details.
• Earlier this week, I posted some humorous ads from Verizon in which Verizon claims that its 3G network exceeds that of AT&T.  AppleInsider takes a closer look at Verizon’s claims, pointing out that AT&T’s network is faster and that its coverage reflects the concentration of the U.S. population.  The article notes, for example, that Verizon is comparing “its entire data network against just the faster portion of AT&T’s
  
  3G mobile data network while ignoring AT&T’s existing 2.5G network
  
  that approaches Verizon’s EVDO in speed.”  [UPDATE:  AT&T itself has issued a formal response, available here.]
• Whenever I include video on iPhone J.D., I always try to use YouTube because that displays so well on the iPhone.  Sometimes, however, I run across a website which uses Vimeo to host video, and you can’t view those on an iPhone.  Fortunately, in the future, this should change.  Ramu Nagappan reports for Macworld that Vimeo is starting to re-encode its content using H.264 so that it will play on an iPhone.  Only a few videos work now, but they will roll out more in the future.
• And finally, Gizmodo reports on a Japanese design house that has an idea of connecting 50 iPhones or iPod touch devices into one giant touch display.  To show how it might work, they put together a demo with 20 iPod touches, and here is a video of what that looks like:

We all know the importance of reading the fine print.  Unfortunately, as we get older, that is sometimes easier said than done.  Have you ever found yourself straining to read small, fine print on a page, on a prescription bottle, a menu, a receipt, etc.?  Your iPhone can now help you if you have the $3 app from Freeverse called Eye Glasses

The app does one thing but does it well: it acts as a magnifying glass.  You can choose 2x, 4x, 6x or 8x magnification.  Just hold your iPhone’s camera lens over the small print, and it will appear much larger on the screen.

For example, last week I was trying to use an iTunes Gift Card.  You use a coin to scratch the back of the card to reveal a number, but the number was so tiny that even with a bright light, I was having a lot of trouble reading it.  Thus, I fired up Eye Glasses, selected 4x magnification, and suddenly I could read the code with no trouble at all:

Here is an example of using the app to read the legal fine print in a software manual.  The text is about 5 point type, which is barely legible but very small.  Using the Eye Glasses app, even with just the 2x magnification, the text becomes very easy to read.

 

Although this app will run on any iPhone, you’ll likely be disappointed if you are not using an iPhone 3GS.  The 3GS has a better camera and has the ability to auto focus in a macro mode, and that combination is really what lets the Eye Glasses app do its magic on small text.

If you ever have difficulty reading small text, I think you will really like this app.  David Pogue of the New York Times raved about this app last week, noting, “As an over-40-year-old, I’ve become addicted to this app.  …[T]he 2X and 4X views have saved me more than once.”  Me too.  It was definitely worth $3.

[UPDATE 12/13/09:  Wouldn’t you know that the same day I review this app, it receives its first update.  You can read the details here, but in short, the update includes a “new, sleeker frame with capability to rotate between landscape and portrait modes.”  Thus, the app now looks slightly different than the pictures I posted above, but it still works great.]

Click here to get Eye Glasses ($2.99): 

I see a lot of people with iPhones, and it seems that most of them have some sort of protective case.  While I understand the desire to protect the iPhone, I love the small and slim size of the iPhone and have no desire to bulk it up, so I have never wanted to use one.  Of course, this means that it is possible for the iPhone to get scratched.  Small scratches on the back of the iPhone don’t bother me at all (it just adds character) but a scratch on the iPhone’s screen can be really annoying.

And I speak from experience.  The glass that Apple uses for the iPhone screen is incredible durable and many times I have felt my keys run across the surface, making me fear for the worst but relieved to discover that the screen held up just fine.  But on my prior iPhone (an iPhone 3G) I did somehow get a scratch about a inch long near the top of the screen, and it would always annoy me to see it there.  Even with this scratch, my desire to not have a bulky case still stopped me from getting protection for my iPhone 3G, and likewise my current iPhone 3GS has no protection on it. Nevertheless, I am uncertain whether I have been making the right decision.

I was recently contacted by a representative of Invisible Skinz, an authorized dealer for the Invisible Shield product made by ZAGG.  He asked if he could send me a free sample of the $25, full body version of the Invisible Shield to do a review here, and at first I politely declined, telling him about how I don’t like products that take away from the iPhone’s clean design.  He encouraged me to try it anyway, pointing out that I can always remove it and it leaves no residue on the iPhone if you do so, so I finally agreed.  I’m glad that he urged me to do so because this is a very nice product.

When you order the product, you get two very thin (.2 mm) transparent shields, one for the glass on the front of the iPhone and one for the back that wraps around to the sides.  You also get a spray bottle that you apply to the shields before placing them on your iPhone to help it stick, and a small squeegee to work out any bubbles that may occur during installation.  You can watch a video of the installation here.

 

When I first tried to apply the shield, I will admit that I was a little nervous and I’m not sure that I did it correctly.  The back looked fine, but on the front there were large bubbles under the shield that I couldn’t work out.  Here is a picture from my first attempt, which you can click to enlarge:

But Invisible Skinz has a money back guarantee and a lifetime guarantee; just send them a shield that didn’t work and they’ll send you a new one.  The second time I tried, it took me less than a minute to apply it and the result looked great.  In fact, it was so easy that I’m still not sure what I did wrong the first time.  Here is a picture from the second, successful application:

 

What do you get with the Invisible Shield on your iPhone?  First, you get a lot of protection.  Even though the shield is small, it seems to hold up very well to attempts to scratch it.  Here is what Invisible Skinz says about the protection:

Guaranteed for life, it’s a higher quality than all other transparent
Apple iPhone 3G skins because it was originally a military technology
developed to protect helicopter blades from dirt and debris. It’s the
toughest material of it’s kind, and it will keep your device in
pristine condition for life. In fact, it’s so tough that if anything
ever happens to your invisishield, just send it back to us and we’ll
send you a brand new one for free!

I admit that I didn’t want to put my iPhone through a true torture test, but this video shows what the shield can do:

Second, with the shield on the iPhone, the iPhone has more of a rubbery grip to it.  I find that this makes it even more difficult for the iPhone to slip out of my hand, which is good to prevent dropping the iPhone.

I was worried that the shield would have some impact on viewing the iPhone screen.  It really doesn’t.  The skin is truly transparent.  On the other hand, the shield does make the surface of the iPhone feel different.  Instead of the nice feel of glass, the surface has more resistance and feels slightly rubbery.  Not very much, but just enough to take some getting used to.

Do I recommend this product?  Yes, but with some reservations.  I actually installed this shield on my (old) iPhone 3G, a unit that no longer has a SIM card in it and which is now essentially an iPod touch.  I’ve been using this unit when I travel to put on some long movies that wouldn’t fit on my regular iPhone and I’ve been letting my four year old use this iPhone instead of my 3GS when he wants to play a game.  Between throwing the old iPhone in a travel bag and risking damage from my son, I feel so much more secure with the shield on it.

Now I’m trying to decide whether to buy one of these for my iPhone 3GS.  There is no question that this product would give me lots of protection and prevent me from getting a scratch on the screen of my 3GS like I did on my 3G.  On the other hand, I really like the feel of the glass iPhone screen and I love the ability to easily wipe off smudges thanks to the oleophobic coating.  The Invisible Shield actually does a very good job of resisting fingerprints and smudges and any smudges do seem to go away if you wipe the iPhone against your shirt, but it still isn’t quite the same as the glass with the oleophobic coating.  So I’m still undecided; I may buy another Invisible Shield for my 3GS, and I may even use just the back portion to give added grip to the back of my iPhone 3GS to guard against dropping it.  If I was still using a 3G without the oleophobic coating as my primary iPhone, the scales would tip in favor of getting this product.  But with the 3GS, I’m still trying to decide.

Although you can buy an Invisible Shield directly from the manufacturer, ZAGG, the unit that I used came from independent dealer Invisible Skinz.  If you want to try out the product yourself, I encourage you to order an Invisible Shield from Invisible Skinz because they have set up a discount for iPhone J.D. readers.  Just use the discount code iphonejd20 when you order and you will get a 20% discount.  The product costs $14.95 for just a shield to cover the front, or $24.95 for the full body protection of a front and back shield, so with the discount code you can save about $5.00 on the full product.

Every year the American Lawyer ranks the top 200 law firms based on revenue, a list called the Am Law 200.  Firms on the list include megafirms with thousands of lawyers such as Skadden, Baker & McKenzie, Latham & Watkins and Jones Day, relatively smaller firms with very high profits per partner such as Wachtell and Cravath, and successful regional law firms such as Lewis and Roca and my firm, Adams and Reese.

The American Lawyer conducts a technology survey of those firms every year.  The Am Law Tech Survey 2009 was just released, and I was curious how the iPhone would rank on the list.  In 2008, only 5% of the firms reported having attorneys using an iPhone.  While that percentage was low, I cannot say that it was surprising.  Although the iPhone was released back in 2007, it wasn’t until the iPhone 3G was released in mid-2008 with support for Microsoft Exchange and third party apps that most larger companies, including law firms, started to adopt the iPhone.  Thus, at the time that the Am Law Tech Survey 2008 was being conducted, successful law firms were just starting to look at iPhones.  The 2008 survey revealed that virtually all of the law firms had attorneys using a Blackberry (98%) while a good number of law firms had attorneys using Windows Mobile (30%) and Palm OS (14%).

The 2009 survey reports a huge jump in iPhone use.  Whereas 5% of the Am Law 200 law firms reported attorneys using iPhones in 2008, 55% were supporting iPhone use in 2009.  As for other smartphones, virtually all firms continued to support Blackberry (99%) and more firms reported having attorneys using either a Windows Mobile (40%) or Palm OS (26%) phone.  New to the list in 2009 were Palm webOS (3%) and Android (1%).

All of the percentages increased from 2008 to 2009, reflecting that the number of attorneys at every law firm using smartphones increased from 2008 to 2009.  The rising tide lifted all boats, with Windows Mobile and Palm OS seeing about 10% more users from 2008 to 2009.  But the iPhone’s rise from 5% of law firms reporting iPhone use to 55% of the law firms reporting iPhone use is quite dramatic. 

I’m sure that at most law firms today, the main smartphone used is a Blackberry.  Blackberry’s manufacturer RIM has done a good job of supporting law firms for many years, and for the foreseeable future, I’m sure that we will continue to see virtually 100% of Am Law 200 law firms allowing their lawyers to use Blackberries if they want to do so.  But it would be interesting to see the change in the percentage of attorneys using a Blackberry, Windows Mobile or Palm device over time, a statistic not revealed in the Am Law Tech Survey.  My guess is that you would see a lot of attorneys abandoning each of those three platforms, and that the primary beneficiary of those switchers would be the iPhone.  Indeed, I suspect that such a chart for lawyers would look very similar to this recent chart from ChangeWave Research of smartphone users in general (reported in this CNET article from late October):

 

Congratulations to Apple for making great inroads into law firms over the past twelve moths.  I look forward to seeing how the iPhone fares in the 2010 Am Law Tech survey.

Verizon has a new series of ads that assert that people should get a phone from Verizon instead of AT&T because Verizon’s 3G network provides “5X more 3G coverage.”  Small print on the ads states:  “Comparison based on square miles covered with 3G.  Voice & data services available outside 3G coverage area.”  While the ads may talk about AT&T, the ads are clearly taking on the iPhone, which is of course only offered on AT&T in the U.S. (although there have long been rumors that the iPhone will someday come to Verizon; I’ll believe it when I see it). 

AT&T isn’t pleased with the ads and has even sued Verizon in the Northern District of Georgia, alleging that the ads violate the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a), and the Georgia False Advertising Act and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.  AT&T asserts that notwithstanding the disclaimer, “Verizon is still
conveying the message that AT&T has no coverage in the white or
blank space included in the maps, and thus AT&T customers cannot
use their wireless devices in large portions of the United States.”  Of
course, you can use an iPhone even if you don’t have 3G service.  (Engadget has a copy of the Complaint available here.)

Verizon’s newest ads in this campaign have Christmas themes.  One of them (my favorite) features the Island of Misfit Toys from the classic Rankin/Bass stop motion animation movie Rudolph the Red-Noised Reindeer.  Apple itself has paid tribute to the Rankin/Bass holiday movies in many of its Get a Mac ads, and for nostalgia reasons those are actually some of my favorite ads in that long running Apple campaign; the one that Apple ran in 2007 doesn’t appear to be on its website but can be viewed on YouTube here, and the two from 2008 are available on Apple’s website here if you click on the 2008 tab.  I hope that another one is planned for this year.

I’ll leave it to the courts to decide whether the Verizon ads are fair, but they are humorous. 
All three are set forth below.