I had a weird problem with the Mail app on my iPhone over the last few days. First, I noticed that there were three emails on my iPhone that I could not delete. I would try to delete them, then get an error message that the iPhone couldn't access the mail server. (I forget the exact wording.) But I knew that wasn't right because the Mail app continued to get other messages and would let me delete other messages. Moreover, those same three emails were deleted when I looked at my Inbox on my PC (running Outlook) or on my Mac (running the Mac OS X built-in Mail program). So the messages were indeed gone, but the ghosts of those messages continued to haunt my iPhone's Mail app. Second, I noticed last night that an email that my wife had sent me was not appearing in the Inbox on my iPhone, even though it still showed up in my Inbox on both my PC and Mac.
To remedy this, I went into the Settings app on my iPhone, selected Mail, Contacts, Calendars, then selected the account that I use to sync with the Exchange server at my law firm, and then I scrolled to the bottom and selected Delete Account. My iPhone warned me that this would delete all of the email, calendars and contacts from my iPhone (all of which I sync with Exchange), and I confirmed that was OK. After less than a minute, the process was done.
I then went back to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars and selected Add Account, and then I entered all of the information needed to connect to the Exchange server at my office, such as my username and password. I placed my iPhone close to my Wi-Fi router so that it could access the Internet (and download data) at top speed, and after a few minutes, all of my emails, contacts and calendar entries were re-synced to my iPhone. And sure enough, the email from my wife was right there in my Inbox where it belonged, and the ghost emails were exterminated.
If you find that there is something strange in the neighborhood of the Mail app of your iPhone and you are similarly seeing ghosts of emails that should be deleted or missing emails, hopefully this solution works for you too.
[UPDATE: Several folks have suggested, including in a comment to this post, that another way to solve this problem of ghost emails is to go in Settings to the screen that has toggle switches for Mail, Contacts, etc. (the second picture I posted above) and turn off email. This will delete the email from your device. Then turn on email again and the email will download again. I prefer the way that I did it because it starts fresh with all of my Exchange data, just in case there is anything else wrong that I haven't noticed yet (such as a calendar or contact problem), but the downside is that I did have to re-enter my username and password. Thanks for the suggestions, and let me know if you are aware of any other solutions.]
In addition to providing details on the Apple Watch earlier this week, Apple also announced a new super-thin laptop computer called the MacBook. I normally don’t talk about Apple computers on iPhone J.D., but the new MacBook is interesting because of the possibility that it offers a glimpse into the future of the iPhone and iPad. First, it uses a new version of USB called USB C, which has a versatile and tiny connector. Daniel Howley of Yahoo Tech wrote one of the best articles that I have seen describing this new USB port. This has led many folks to wonder if Apple might bring USB C to the iPhone/iPad in place of the Lightning connector. I think that Apple likes using a proprietary connector for those devices, but who knows, maybe we will see USB C on an upcoming iOS device.
Second, the MacBook uses a new Force Touch trackpad, borrowing technology that is also part of the new Apple Watch. This new trackpad is no longer a button — you cannot physically push it down — but it does sense how much pressure you are putting on the trackpad and sends vibrations to the trackpad that make you think that you have clicked a button. Jason Snell wrote a great article for Macworld describing how well this new technology works. And then over on iMore, Serenty Caldwell thinks about what this could mean for the iPad, noting that it would let you get feedback while you touch the screen and could greatly improve drawing on an iPad. Indeed, Apple’s website now shows that you can do pressure-sensitive drawing with the new trackpad on the MacBook, noting that you can “[p]ress lightly for a thin stroke or harder for a thick one when marking up a Mail attachment or creating a signature for forms in Preview.” If Apple brings this technology to the iPad, it could greatly improve the ability to take handwritten notes on an iPad using a stylus.
Between the Apple Watch, the MacBook, and new health apps, Apple has given us a lot of cool new things to think about this week. And now, the other news of note from the past week:
Australian attorney (and upcoming TECHSHOW speaker) Philippe Doyle Gray writes about the ethics of attorneys using technology such as Dropbox and iPads. It’s a detailed and thoughtful article, and worth reading no matter where in the world you practice law.
Yesterday, I talked about some great reasons to go to ABA TECHSHOW next month. Here is one more. Lit Software, maker of the great TranscriptPad and TrialPad apps (and a current sponsor of iPhone J.D.) revealed this week that at TECHSHOW the company will be announcing “a major upgrade, and a new app!” Considering how useful TranscriptPad and TrialPad are, I’m excited to see the company’s third app for lawyers.
Suzanne Kapner of the Wall Street Journal takes a look at the value to a mall of having an Apple Store, noting: “Apple draws so many shoppers that its stores single-handedly lift sales by 10% at the malls in which they operate, according to Green Street Advisors, a real-estate research firm.”
London-based analyst Benedict Evans has some good thoughts on why Apple is releasing an expensive gold version of the Apple Watch, including this one: “You sell the $50k (or more) couture dress (which may be worn once), but you also sell a lot of lipsticks with the brand halo (and if you think Apple’s margins are high, have a look at the gross margins on perfume).”
Rob Griffiths produced a spreadsheet that shows all of the different Apple Watch combinations. What I found most interesting is that it shows the weight of each Apple Watch and band revealing, among other things, that the white sports band weighs more than the black sports band. That’s strange.
Have you noticed that in all of Apple’s images of the Apple Watch, it displays the time 10:09? Steven Twedie of Business Insider has some theories on why this is.
When I write documents using a keyboard on my iPad, I usually use Apple’s Pages app. It isn’t perfect, but it lets me get my words on paper and them export them so that I can later deal with them on my computer. But I know that many folks swear by sophisticated writing apps. I new one came out this week called Ulysses, and it is similar to the software that has been on the Mac for some time. If you are interested in cutting edge writing software, Mitch Wagner wrote a review of the Ulysses iPad app for Six Colors.
Security expert Rich Mogull has an interesting article at TidBITS analyzing the recent news that the CIA has been trying to find ways to break the security on an iPhone.
I doubt that you need a selfie stick, but if you think that you want one anyway, Nick Guy at The Wirecutter did an extensive review of the models on the market and picked his favorite selfie stick.
And finally, Jim Cramer of CNBC’s Mad Money got a surprise call yesterday from Apple CEO Tim Cook on the 10th anniversary of the show. Cook told Cramer that health-related technology on the iPhone and Apple Watch is a big part of Apple’s future, noting: “For years, people have depended on strictly somebody else to determine their health, but now these devices, in essence, empower people to manage and track their own health and fitness. And so I think that market is probably significantly underestimated.” Cook also answered several questions about Apple’s new announcements this past week. The video is short, fun and interesting to watch. Here is the video:
Two months ago, I mentioned that I will be speaking at ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago, April 16-18, 2015. This is a great CLE, where you can learn about legal technology and meet lots of great folks. If you have been thinking about attending but haven’t signed up yet, you want to do so right now. The early bird registration prices were recently extended through Friday, March 13, but after then you’ll need to spend an extra $200 to attend. There is no reason to spend $200 unnecessarily, especially right now when that would help you to pay for a shiny new Apple Watch.
I’ll be teaching three sessions at TECHSHOW this year. On Thursday April 16, I’m teaming up with Canadian attorney Bjorn Christianson for Easy and Effective Presentations from Your iPad. Right after that, I’m teaching a session on using Microsoft Word and other Office apps on the iPad. And on Saturday, April 18, I’ll be teaching 60 Apps in 60 Minutes, along with Ohio attorney Joe Bahgat, legal tech consultant Adriana Linares, and Dallas attorney Tom Mighell. Click here to see the full schedule, where you will find eight different simultaneous tracks, so there is sure to be at least one session that would appeal to you throughout the day.
At some point soon, registration will open up for the Taste of TECHSHOW dinners on Thursday and Friday nights. I’ll be co-hosting one with Florida attorney and Mac Power Users co-host Katie Floyd. Katie and I have not met in person yet, but after reading her blog, listening to her podcast, and emailing her over the years, I feel like we already know each other, and I have no doubt that we will have a really fun dinner. Our dinner will be at 7:30pm on Friday, April 17 at Rosebud on Rush, an Italian/Steak restaurant. But even if you don’t sign up for our dinner, there will be lots of other ones hosted by some of the smartest and nicest folks who spend a lot of time thinking about legal technology. Note that some of these dinners fill up very quickly, so if you want to attend the dinner with Katie and me, I encourage you to follow me on Twitter because I’ll tweet as soon as I see TECHSHOW turn on the webpage on which you can sign up for dinners. [UPDATE 3/17/15: You can now register for the dinner on this page.]
Whether you come to a session I’m teaching, come to the dinner, or bump into me on the Expo floor or between sessions, please do say hello (here is what I look like), not only because it is the neighborly thing to do, but also because John Hartigan, the President of MOBiLE CLOTH, was nice enough to send me a whole bunch of cleaning cloths with the iPhone J.D. logo on them, and I’ll be handing them out for free to anyone who asks for one (while supplies last). I’ve reviewed the MOBiLE CLOTH several times in the past (1, 2, 3) and they are the very best cloths I’ve ever used for cleaning my iPad and iPhone screens. Hartigan also gave me cloths to hand out last year, but this year they are even better. First, the company has been refining the way that it applies custom logos to the cloths so that they now have higher color saturation. The colors pop a little more. Second, the company is now offering clear boxes with custom logo cloths. They cost a little bit more ($.35 per unit) but they make the product look more premium. Here is a comparison of a custom logo cloth in a traditional plastic bag next to a clear plastic box. The first picture has the flash bouncing off of the products to better show you the box edges, but the second picture is more true to life:
If you like the idea of putting your own custom logo on MOBiLE CLOTHs to hand them out to current and potential clients, Hartigan has a special offer for all iPhone J.D. readers. For a limited time, if you use promo code iPhoneJD when you order, you will get a discount of 25%, plus a free upgrade to the new clear box packaging, plus free shipping. I’ve ordered custom logo cloths for my own firm and they look great:
I’ve had lots of clients and colleagues tell me that they love using a MOBiLE CLOTH that I give them, sometimes years after I first gave it to them. A MOBiLE CLOTH is a heck of a lot more useful than a boring coffee mug or frisbee with your firm logo on it. If you want more information on custom MOBiLE CLOTHs, click here.
Yesterday, Apple hosted an event in San Francisco to make several announcements. First, Apple announced that the new HBO NOW service — which lets you pay $15 a month to watch HBO even if you don't have a cable TV subscription — will debut exclusively on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad next month. Sounds like a good deal if you don't want to pay $100 a month for cable but you do want to watch Game of Thrones. (Apple also cut the price of the existing Apple TV from $99 to $69, but did not announce a new version of the Apple TV, which many folks expect Apple to unveil at some point this year.) Second, Apple announced new medical research initiatives that take advantage of the iPhone. Third, Apple announced a new, thin laptop computer called the MacBook.
Finally, Apple provided additional details on the Apple Watch. Here are the details that I consider most important:
Availability
You can pre-order the Apple Watch starting April 10, and you can also go to a retail Apple Store starting April 10 to try one on to help decide which one to order. The watch will ship on April 24 in the U.S. and eight other countries.
Prices and Bands
There are three types of Apple Watch: the Apple Watch Sport, the Apple Watch, and the Apple Watch Edition. Each one comes in either a 38mm size or a 42mm size. The larger size is $50 more expensive in the Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch collections.
The least expensive model is the Apple Watch Sport. It has an anodized aluminum case, a glass front (strengthened with something called Ion-X glass), and only comes with rubbery (fluoroelastomer), colorful sports bands. The price is $349 for the 38mm model, and $399 for the 42mm model.
The mid-range model is simply called the Apple Watch. It is made of polished stainless steel and has ten different bands to choose from. Instead of glass, its display is protected by sapphire crystal. The prices range from $549/$599 to $1049/$1099 depending upon which band you get. (Remember, the larger model is $50 more.) If you buy the cheapest Apple Watch for $549/$599, you get the same type of sports band that comes with the Apple Watch Sport, either black or white. For an additional $100 ($649/$699) you can get either the black classic leather buckle or the stainless steel mesh Milanese Loop. For the same $699 for the 42mm version (and not available for the 38mm version) you can get the quilted Leather Loop in a variety of colors. For $749 for the 38mm version (and not available for the 42mm version) you can get a leather buckle in a variety of colors with a magnetic closure called the Modern Buckle. If you go up to $949/$999 you can get the model with a stainless steel link bracelet with a butterfly closure. Add another $100, and for $1049/$1099 you can get space black version of both the Apple Watch and the stainless steel link bracelet.
The high end model is called the Apple Watch Edition, and if you have to ask the price, then you cannot afford it. But more specifically, it starts at $10,000 for the 38mm with a white sports band (a much fancier version than the one that you can get with the Apple Watch Sport or the Apple Watch) and $12,000 for the 42mm model with a sports band. Those two models come in either 18-karat rose gold or 18-karat yellow gold. You can then pay even more, up to $17,000, for nicer bands. The Apple Watch Edition will only be available at select retailers.
You can buy additional bands. Sports bands are available in six different colors and cost $49, so I can see that being a popular accessory for any of the more expensive models. Wear your nice band during the day, and swap to the rubbery sports band when you work out. Other bands are more expensive, such as $149 for the Milanese Loop and $449 for the stainless steel link bracelet with a butterfly closure.
Sizes
When you are deciding whether to get the 38mm or 42mm watch, and when deciding which band to get, you need to consider your wrist size and consult the Apple Sizing Guide (PDF link). For example, when you buy the sports band, you actually get two bands in two sizes. For the 38mm watch, the smaller band is made for wrists 130-180mm, and the larger band is made for wrists 150-200mm. But for the 42mm watch, the smaller sports band is made for wrists 140-185mm and the larger band is made for wrists 160-210mm. For the link bracelet, the 38mm band fits wrists 135-195mm, whereas the 42mm band fits wrists 140-205mm.
I've always known that I have a larger hand and wrist, and thanks to my wife (who sews and has ready access to a cloth measuring tape), I quickly learned last night that my wrist is about 205mm. I never really thought I would get the 38mm model, but now that I know my wrist size and have looked at the Apple Sizing Guide, I know that the larger 42mm watch is designed for me.
Battery Life
You charge the Apple Watch Sport, Apple Watch or Apple Watch Edition with an included magnetic charging cable. One end of the cord is USB (and comes with a USB wall charger) and the other end has a magnetic circle that attaches to the back of the watch. With the Apple Watch Edition, you also get a case that can charge the watch. You can also buy an additional magnetic charging cable for $29 for 1m or $39 for 2m.
Apple announced yesterday that a charge should last about 18 hours, but that depends in part on what you do with the watch. You can talk for up to three hours, or you can play music for up to 6.5 hours, or you can workout for up to 7 hours, or you can just check the time up to five times an hour for up to 48 hours. And those numbers are all on the 38mm model; the 42mm model has a larger battery and lasts slightly longer.
Suffice it to say that you are going to want to charge it every night. Apple says that you can charge the Watch from 0% to 80% in 90 minutes, and then it takes an additional hour to get up to 100%.
Water Resistant
Apple says, in the fine-print at the bottom on this page that could have been written by a lawyer, that the watch is not water proof, but it is water resistant. "Apple Watch is splash and water resistant but not waterproof. You can, for example, wear and use Apple Watch during exercise, in the rain, and while washing your hands, but submerging Apple Watch is not recommended." Apple also says that the watch has a "water resistance rating of IPX7 under IEC standard 60529." Um, yeah. Thanks to Wikipedia, I learned that this means that the watch could go under water, up to 1 meter, for up to 30 minutes. So you don't want to go swimming with the Apple Watch, especially if you are diving, but you should be fine if it gets wet while you are participating in an ice bucket challenge.
Note, however, that Apple also says that the leather bands are not water resistant.
Apple Watch iPhone App
You need an iPhone to use an Apple Watch. Yesterday, Apple released iOS 8.2, which includes a new built-in app called Apple Watch. You use this app to pair your iPhone and your Apple Watch and to load apps onto your Apple Watch from your iPhone. For all of us who do not yet have an Apple Watch, the App also provides information about the Apple Watch including videos that show off the watch.
Third Party Apps on Apple Watch
Apple now devotes a page on its website to some of the initial third party apps that will work with the Apple Watch. The SPG app lets you unlock your door in a Starwood Hotel. Airline apps let you check in for a flight and use your watch as a boarding pass. Use the Evernote app to quickly dictate a note. The eBay app can notify you when you are outbid at an auction. The Dark Sky app tells you how many minutes until it starts to rain. The ESPN app gives you the latest scores.
Using the Apple Watch
Much of what Apple said about how folks will use the Apple Watch was similar to what was said when the device first debuted last year. You can get quick access to information by just glancing at your wrist while your iPhone is still in your pocket, purse or briefcase. And with a few taps, you can interact with that information. You can even use Siri to ask questions or dictate a note, and you can place or respond to phone calls.
Looking at the Apple Watch, I'm reminded of the iPad. When it first came out in 2010, I was interested, but didn't yet understand how I would use it. I didn't even get my first iPad until later that year. Now, I use my iPad every day. Similarly, I suspect that the Apple Watch will start out as an interesting curiosity, and then will turn into a device that I use, and depend upon using, every day.
And finally, Apple started airing TV commercials for the Apple Watch last night. Here is the first commercial:
Today at 10 Pacific / Noon Central / 1 Eastern, Apple will host a special event that it is calling Spring Forward. Apple isn’t saying what it will announce, but there is little doubt that the focus will be on the Apple Watch, which I expect will go on sale next month. We got a preview of the Apple Watch on September 9, 2014, just after Apple unveiled the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but today we should learn many more details, including how much each of the different models will cost. While we are waiting for the official announcement, this post from John Gruber of Daring Fireball (plus this addendum) has some educated guesses on what we will see and the costs. But all will be revealed in just a few hours.
You can watch a live video stream of the event by using Safari on an iPhone, iPad or Mac. You can also watch the video stream on an Apple TV.
You can now start to count the hours until 10am Pacific on Monday, March 9, which is when Apple will give us all of the details on the upcoming Apple Watch. I’m very curious to find out how much the different models will cost, as well as all of the additional details that were not revealed on September 9, 2014 when Apple first announced the Apple Watch. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Lit Software, the developer of the fantastic TrialPad and TranscriptPad apps (and a sponsor of iPhone J.D.), is having a sale, but it ends today. You can get both apps for only $139.99, a $40 savings over buying each app individually. And if you already own one app, you can take advantage of the bundle to get the other app for cheaper. Click here to take advantage of the bundle.
Florida attorney Katie Floyd discusses the Sesame Smart Lock, an upcoming product that will let you unlock your from door using an iPhone app.
If you want an external battery to charge your iPhone or iPad that has a lot of power in it, Jeremy Horwitz of 9to5Mac reviews the Ankler Astro E7, which has enough power to recharge an iPad Air twice.
Julie Strietelmeir of The Gadgeteer reviews an interesting device called the iBolt Command Remote. It is a button that you can use to control certain functions on your iPhone.
And finally, Disney released an interesting iPhone app yesterday called Show Your Disney Side. The app is free, and if you have kids, you should download it. Even if you don’t have kids, you should download it because what it does is neat. You take a picture of yourself or someone else, and then the app turns that picture into a Disney character, such as Anna or Elsa from Frozen, Darth Maul from Star Wars, Captain Hook, Maleficent, etc. That in itself is neat, but what is really interesting is how the app animates the picture so that the eyes move, for some characters the picture laughs, etc. The app is a little buggy and has crashed on my iPhone 6 several times, but it is quick to restart the app and try it again. What the app does is pretty cool, so you should check it out. Click here to download the app, and here is a video showing it off:
The new 2015 version of the Adonit Jot Pro is one of the very best styluses for the iPad, and I think it is becoming my new all-time favorite stylus. It feels great in your hand, and has a unique see-through disc at the end that creates the illusion that you are using a fine point pen even though the disc is actually large enough for the iPad to sense it. If you enjoy using a stylus to takes notes or draw, this is an excellent product.
Styluses: a short history
To understand what makes this stylus so good, let’s start by talking about iPad styluses in general. The iPad is made to sense something the size of a finger tip, so if you were to try to use a stylus with a true fine tip, the iPad wouldn’t sense it at all. Thus, when the first iPad styluses came to the market soon after the iPad was introduced in 2010, they had large, rubbery tips. They worked okay, but it did often feel like you were using a crayon to write on the iPad. Over the years, traditional stylus tips got smaller, but there was a limit to how small they could get. Today, some of the best traditional styluses with those somewhat smaller tips include the third generation Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo released in 2014 (which has a 6 mm tip) and the Hand Stylus (which has a 4 mm tip).
A major innovation in the iPad stylus market occurred when Adonit released the Jot Script in late 2013. It is an active stylus, which means that it requires a battery. It has a tiny 1.9 mm tip, which normally would be too small for the iPad to sense it, but the stylus emits signals from the tip that the iPad senses. Thus, you get the precision of using a smaller tip, even though the iPad thinks you are using something larger. Many other companies followed suit with their own active styluses, and one of the best ones currently on the market is the Wacom Bamboo Stylus fineline, released in late 2014. The problem with active styluses is that you need to keep the powered — which means replacing batteries or remembering to charge them. They are also larger, so you feel more like you are holding a Sharpie than a pen. Some models have a hard tip, which makes them somewhat noisy every time the stylus tip touches the iPad. And perhaps worst of all, they sometimes have problems with diagonal lines — they come out wavy — or otherwise can have flaky performance. If you own a newer iPad (the iPad Air and the iPad Air 2), active styluses generally perform worse than they do on older iPads. As a result, while I like the idea of active styluses, I still find myself coming back to traditional styluses.
Adonit came up with a different solution when it released the first model of the Adonit Jot Pro in 2012. The distinguishing feature was the clear disc that I described above, which lets your eyes focus on a sharp pen tip and see through the disc itself but the iPad can feel the full size of the disc. Thus, you get the precision of an active stylus, but you don’t have to worry about batteries, this stylus itself is thinner, and it doesn’t have problems with diagonal lines. I had reservations about the first model of the Adonit Jot Pro because it was noisy, but Adonit released a revised version in late 2012 that added a spring to the tip so that it was much quieter when it touched the screen.
The new Adonit Jot Pro
In January of 2015, Adonit released a new version of the Adonit Jot Pro. I was intrigued to try it out, so I bought one on Amazon and I’ve been using it for the last few weeks. It has some great new features that make it better than the old version of the Jot Pro.
Carrying clip
First, this is the first model of the Jot Pro to have a clip, and the clip has an interesting design in that instead of being an external part, the clip is actually cut into the barrel of the stylus.
The clip certainly gives the new Jot Pro a unique look, but how does it work? I frequently carry a stylus in my shirt pocket (next to my iPhone), and in my daily use, it worked just fine. The stylus would sometimes slide around — more than it would with a traditional external clip that uses tension to stay in place — but that didn’t happen enough to be a problem.
I was also worried that having this clip cut out of the stylus would make it weaker, but that has not been true at all. The aluminum and steel body is very strong, even at the point where the clip is located.
One thing that I don’t like about styluses that lack clips is that the round barrel can result in the stylus rolling off of a desk. Because the Jot Pro clip is cut into the barrel itself, it can roll. It isn’t as bad as other styluses — the way that the clip is cut and how that affects the weight of the stylus causes the Jot Pro to want to rest in the same position (with the clip at the top) — but it does sometimes roll around my desk.
Improved tip
The tip on the 2015 Jot Pro is better than the tip on the prior models. It has an improved cushion on it, which means that it gives just the right amount of give when you first touch the iPad screen, which makes this the quietest Jot Pro ever. I never had a problem with the new Jot Pro being too noisy to use in court or in a quiet meeting, which sometimes happened with prior models. Yes, a traditional stylus is virtually silent and even the new Jot Pro makes some noise when you use it, but the new Jot Pro is quiet enough.
Most importantly, the disc on the tip of the 2015 Jot Pro works great. As I mentioned above, because you can see through the disc and your eyes focus on the pointed end, you can write or draw with amazing precision. The disc feels very nice gliding across the iPad screen. And while I noted in my 2012 review of the second model of the Jot Pro that I sometimes had trouble with broken lines in apps like GoodNotes, that is no longer a problem at all. The disc on the new Jot Pro pivots smoothly while maintaining contact with the screen. I took pages and pages of notes with it over the last few weeks, and annotated lots of PDF files, without any problems.
The only drawback I see to the disc is that while it works great when you are writing or drawing, if you just want to use the stylus to tap a button on the screen, or to swipe up and down on the screen, the disc sometimes seems to get in the way. For simple tapping and swiping, a traditional stylus like the Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo is better. As a result, I often found myself using the Jot Pro when I was taking notes, and then I would often turn the stylus in my hand and just use my finger to tap or swipe, and then go back to the Jot Pro to write again. This is only a minor complaint, but it was one of the few times when the Jot Pro performed worse than other styluses.
Etched grip
The front of the stylus (the part you hold while you are writing) now features an etched grip. It is a subtle change, one that you often won’t notice at all, but it does make the Jot Pro very nice to hold and keeps it steady in your hand.
Protective Cap
The disc on the Jot Pro can break off if you are not careful with the tip. Adonit has actually made the disc stronger than it was on the first generation Jot Pro, but even so, you want to protect it when you are not using the stylus. Thus, the Jot Pro comes with a protective cap that covers the disc when you are not using it. When you do use the stylus, you unscrew the cap and screw it on the other end. This works fine, and in addition to protecting the disc, it makes the Jot Pro feel more like a high-end product because it screws and unscrews so well.
Size and weight
While the disc and fine point tip is the best feature of the Jot Pro, I wouldn’t like this stylus so much if it didn’t also feel good in my hand. The 2015 Jot Pro weighs 20 grams, is 9.5 mm in diameter, and is 123 mm with the cap closed and 140 mm with the disc exposed and the cap on the back end. The result is a stylus that feels great. The weight is substantial enough to feel good without being heavy, and the length and diameter is similar to a normal pen. Here is how the length of the Jot Pro compares to other popular active and passive styluses. From top to bottom: (1) Wacom Bamboo Stylus fineline, (2) Adonit Jot Script, (3) the new Adonit Jot Pro, (4) Hand Stylus and (5) Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo.
Other
The new Jot Pro comes in either black (what I bought) or silver.
If you like the idea of the Jot Pro but want something smaller, Adonit also sells the Jot mini. It is smaller and cheaper, but doesn’t have a cushion on the tip so it is louder. I didn’t test it.
Conclusion
I still love the Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo, but the Adonit Jot Pro is at least in a tie for the very best stylus that I have ever used with an iPad, and in many ways — especially precision and the feel and weight of the stylus — it is better than the Bamboo Stylus duo. Because it provides just about all of the precision that you get with an active stylus without any of the drawbacks (size, batteries, problems with diagonal lines), I no longer see a reason to use an active stylus now that I can use the new Jot Pro. I see that Nick Guy of The Wirecutter recently tested 11 popular styluses and he similarly concluded that the new Jot Pro is the best iPad stylus on the market. This is a very high quality stylus that works well, feels great, and isn’t very expensive. If you want to use a nice stylus with your iPad, this is probably the one that you want to get.
There are countless ways that an iPhone and iPad can be useful to an attorney while in court — whether you are at counsel table or just monitoring proceedings from the cheap seats in back. I often use my iPhone to look up a statute, check my calendar, get some information from an email, or remind myself of the name of another attorney in the courtroom. I often use my iPad to look at a case cited by an opponent, review the key part of an exhibit or transcript, or take notes. But you cannot do any of this unless the court lets you use electronic devices in the courtroom. I remember a time many years ago when the Eastern District of Louisiana did not allow any cell phones, even if turned off, and if my Palm Treo was still in my pocket, I had to walk back to my office, a few blocks away, and leave it there. Many courts are now more lenient, but attorneys should not just assume that it is okay to plan to use an iPhone and iPad in court. Instead, it is wise to first determine if there is an applicable court rule on the issue.
I write about this today because Ray Ward, an appellate attorney at my law firm, has a case that is soon set for oral argument before the U.S. Fifth Circuit, and in connection with that case, yesterday he received a notice from the Fifth Circuit of a new policy on electronic devices in the courtroom. Ray wrote about the notice (and attached a copy) in this post on his Louisiana Civil Appeals blog. In short, you can now have an iPhone or iPad in the courtroom, but it must be turned off unless you are presenting argument or at counsel table. And even then, you cannot take pictures or video, nor can you use social media. Here is the text of the rule, which does not yet appear to be on the U.S. Fifth Circuit website:
POLICY ON ADMITTANCE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES INTO THE JOHN MINOR WISDOM UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS BUILDING
A. Cameras and recording devices are not permitted in the John Minor Wisdom United States Court of Appeals Building (“Building”) without the court permission. Laptops, tablets, cell phones, and other similar devices that contain cameras or recording functions are exempt from this subsection but are still subject to (B)—(D).
B. After visual inspection and x-ray by a Court Security Officer, electronic devices may be admitted into the Building.
C. Unless prior court permission is obtained, all electronic devices must be turned off (not “vibrate-only” mode or airplane mode) when inside a courtroom where a Fifth Circuit argument is being held. However, an attorney presenting argument or assisting at counsel table may use a laptop, tablet, or similar device. If the laptop, tablet, or similar device has a camera or recording device, those functions may not be used inside the courtroom. At no time may anyone use social media inside a courtroom.
D. Under no circumstances will disruptive behavior be tolerated in any courtroom where a Fifth Circuit argument is being held. Violators will be promptly removed.
Approved January 20, 2015
It is great that the rules now officially and explicitly permit some use of an iPad. It can be useful to have an iPad at the podium that contains electronic copies of all of the briefs, cases, and the record on appeal so that you can quickly access something if needed without having to lug a lot of paper. I have also seen people work from an outline on their iPad while presenting an oral argument, although I haven’t done that myself. Note, however, that if your case goes up from the Fifth Circuit to the U.S. Supreme Court, you cannot use electronic devices there. The Supreme Court’s guide for counsel (PDF link) provides: “No personal computers, cellular phones, cameras, PDAs, or other electronic devices are allowed in the Courtroom and they may not be used in the Lawyers’ Lounge. Counsel and co-counsel may leave such devices, coats, hats, and similar items in the Lawyers’ Lounge. Others can check such items in lockers located at the front of the building on the first floor (Courtroom level).”
Note that in the Fifth Circuit, if you are not presenting oral argument or at counsel table, you cannot use an iPad. This is a shame. Even putting aside the issue of whether tweeting or using social media in the courtroom ought to be banned (it doesn’t strike me as being disruptive), it is often useful for attorneys monitoring an oral argument to use an iPad to take notes, to check on something in the briefs, etc. In light of this new rule, however, do not plan to do so when you are watching an argument in the U.S. Fifth Circuit.
In my experience, trial courts are generally more lenient on the use of iPhones and iPads by attorneys in the courtroom. In some ways, they need to be. For example, selecting dates is often an issue in a trial court, and I almost always see attorneys using their iPhone or iPad to check availability — as do I.
The Eastern District of Louisiana now explicitly permits the use of an iPhone or iPad by attorneys in court. Local Rule 83.3.8 includes this language:
Any member of the Bar of this court may, subject to security screening, bring personal digital assistants, cellular telephones or computers (“Authorized Electronic Devices”) into the courthouse for that attorneys’ own use and for presenting, managing, and accessing documents and files for the presentation of evidence during trials and proceedings. Any Authorized Electronic Devices with the capability to make or record images or sounds must be off whenever the device is in any courtroom or its environs, and the use of any such device to record, transmit or photograph court proceedings is prohibited. All sound emitting capabilities (including ringtone or vibration sound) of any Authorized Electronic Device must be off in any courtroom.
In Louisiana state courts, the Uniform Rules for District Courts provides in Rule 6.1(f): “A judge may prohibit the use of electronic devices, including cellular telephones and recording devices, in a courtroom.” But in my experience, the prevailing rule for Louisiana trial court judges is that you can use iPhones and iPads in court as long as they don’t make any noise.
If you are aware of any interesting rules in the jurisdictions in which you practice on the use of iPhones and iPads in the courtroom, I’d love to hear about them. And if you don’t mind sharing with others, write about it in a comment to this post.
In late January, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the Apple Watch would start shipping in April. This week, Apple announced that it will have a special event on Monday, March 9 called “Spring Forward.” Apple isn’t saying what the event will be about, only that it will be at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco (a venue that Apple has frequently used to announce new iPhones and iPads) at 10am Pacific, but I have no doubt that the focus will be on the Apple Watch. You’ll be able to watch a live stream, and I’m sure that I’ll have a few words to say about the event in my March 10 post. And now, the news of note from the past week:
If you have been using WordPerfect on an iPad as a part of the WordPerfect X7 iPad Companion app, that app was just a beta app, you should have received an email from Corel announcing that the app will stop working today. The app is no longer available on the App Store, and its future is uncertain. If you still need to view a WordPerfect file on an iPad, I recommend that you use WordPerfect Viewer for iPad by LawBox.
There continues to be talk about Apple working on an electric car, and I very much enjoyed this analysis by Jason Snell of Six Colors on the Apple Car. Snell raises a point near the end that I have been thinking about too — when Apple first started to research what would become iOS devices, the first goal was not to create an iPhone, but instead to create an iPad. After the initial work, Apple discovered that the technology wasn’t there yet for a large touchscreen tablet, but realized that some of that same R&D could be applied to creating a phone, and thus the iPhone debuted in 2007. (The iPad was not introduced until 2010.) If Apple is researching a car, it could result in lots of different things: maybe a car, maybe just new ways of working with cars manufactured by others, or maybe something else altogether. It will be interesting to see where this research leads.
After I discussed the fantastic 1Password app earlier this month, some folks asked me how 1Password compares to LastPass. Glenn Fleishman reviewed the Mac version of LastPass (and the service in general) for Macworld and concluded that it isn’t as good as 1Password.
And finally, Apple ran a good ad during the Oscars this past Sunday, showcasing some students using iPads to create movies. If you missed it, here it is again. And according to Lance Ulanoff of Mashable, even this commercial was filmed using an iPad, which is pretty amazing considering the quality.
Thank you to Connected Data, maker of the Transporter, for sponsoring iPhone J.D. The Transporter is a hard drive that stores your files and securely shares them with all of your computers and iOS devices so that you can access your files from anywhere. But unlike Dropbox or other cloud-based services, your data is stored on a hard drive that you own, and which you keep at your office or home, so you maintain full custody of your data. Thus, you don’t need to worry about your documents being on the cloud and in the possession of a third party that hasn’t signed a confidentiality agreement with you. Also, there are no subscription fees. Just buy the hardware once.
I wrote extensively about how I use my Transporter in August of 2014, and I menioned that I use it virtually every day. That’s been true ever since I first started to use a Transporter in early 2013, when the company sent me a free unit to try out in connection with its first sponsorship of iPhone J.D., and it remains true today. But that same Transporter is even more valuable today than it was in 2013 because Connected Data frequently updates the Transporter to add new features.
For example, a new feature added just this month is a second option for sharing files. Before the update, you could right-click on a file on your computer to create a link to a file, and then you could email that link to someone else so that they can download the file. When they do so, they are downloading the file directly from your Transporter, and they need to first install a browser plug-in on their computer to communicate with your Transporter. This file transfer method is great for privacy because your file remains on your Transporter, but it does require some extra work by the file recipient to install the plug-in. The new feature is that you can now choose whether you want to create a Direct Link or a new Standard Link. When a recipient of a Standard link clicks the link, your file is sent from your Transporter to the Connected Data website, and then the recipient downloads the file from the Connected Data website without having to install any plug-ins. You lose the inherent privacy of a Transporter for that one specific file because a copy of your file exists on the Connected Data server, but it is faster and easier for the recipient, and is a perfect option if you are transferring one or more files that are stored on your Transporter and are not confidential, such as a large file that you are sharing with opposing counsel. Learn more about this new option here.
