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This weekend I’m headed to Chicago for ABA TECHSHOW 2011, and I look forward to meeting and catching up with lots of iPhone J.D. readers.  I first attended in 2008 when I spoke about preparing a law firm for disasters (something near and dear to those of us in New Orleans who lived through Hurricane Katrina) and about using a Mac to practice law when your law firm uses PCs.  In the Spring of 2008, there were very few people using iPhones; they had only been on the market a few months, there were no third party apps, there was no support for Microsoft Exchange e-mail, and the memory on the device was limited.  When I next attended TECHSHOW in the Spring of 2010, I was amazed at how many iPhones I saw.  To be clear, it seemed that more people were using BlackBerries and other phones, but those with iPhones seemed to use them more often during the conference.  This year I expect to see even more people using iPhones.

I’m curious how many iPads there will be.  At last year’s TECHSHOW, the iPad had been announced but we were a few days away from them going on sale.  Since last year’s TECHSHOW, not only has the iPad been released but now the iPad 2 is for sale.

You can learn so much about technology at TECHSHOW, but frankly I’ve most enjoyed TECHSHOW as a way to interact with other attorneys who appreciate technology.  If you are going and you see me this year, please say hello.  But there are lots of places that one can be during TECHSHOW with up to seven sessions taking place at the same time, not to mention that large Expo floor and the numerous conversations taking place in the halls and around the Concierge Desk.  Here are some of my initial thoughts on where I will be during the conference. 

Sunday, April 10:

6:30 – 8:00 pm:  Welcome Reception. 

Monday, April 11:

8:30 – 9:30 am:  Technology Adoption: Is Your Firm Ahead of the Curve? by Todd Corham and Josh Poje.  There are lots of good sessions to start the conference but this one looks good for people like me who work at large law firms.

9:30 – 10:30 am:  This is a break in the schedule, so probably a good time to get a first look at the booths on the Expo floor.

10:30 – 11:30 am:  A tough one.  I’m curious to go to the Meet the Author session with Tom Mighell to hear about his new book iPad for Lawyers in One Hour.  But I’m also think I could get a lot from the Insourcing or Outsourcing E-Discovery session by Dominic Jaar and Browning Marean and the PowerPersuasion session by Craig Ball.  So who knows where I’ll end up.

12:00 – 1:15 pm:  There are several Lunch ‘N Learn sessions. LexisNexis is hosting one, and from the schedule it doesn’t look like they are planning to show off their Lexis Advance for Associates product that comes out later this year, but if they are, I’ll attend that one.  Otherwise, I’ll probably attend the WestlawNext session.

1:30 – 2:30 pm:  Keynote Address: “Code is Law” by Professor Larry Lessig

2:30 – 4:30pm:  I’ll be “working” at the Concierge Desk.  If prior years are any indication, that means that I’ll spend a little time helping people find things at the conference, but most of the time will be devoted to talking about iPhones and iPads with anyone who stops by to chat.  It’s usually the most social spot at the conference.

4:30 – 5:30pm:  Mac Power Users by Brett Burney, Finis Price and Ben Stevens.  I use a PC at my office, but I use a Mac at home and always enjoy learning more tips and tricks.

5:30 – 7:30 pm:  Silver Jubilee Reception.  Because this is the 25th year of TECHSHOW, this reception will feature 25 Years of Legal Technology in 25 Minutes, billed as a “fun and interesting retrospective of technology in the legal profession and ABA TECHSHOW.”

8:15 – ???:  Taste of ABA TECHSHOW dinner.  Josh Barrett of the great Tablet Legal site and I are hosting a dinner at Tutto Italiano restaurant to chat about iPhone and iPad topics.  Our dinner was one of the first to fill up this year, so hopefully you made your reservation early and can join us! 

Tuesday, April 12:

8:00 – 9:00 am:  Lots of good sessions, but I think that Define Paperless! by Andy Adkins, Ernie Svenson appeals to me the most.  Thanks to the iPhone and iPad, I really have gone mostly paperless in my practice.

9:00 – 10:00 am:  Another break time, which might mean I’ll be on the Expo floor, or perhaps I’ll hang around the Concierge Desk.

10:00 – 11:00 am:  I’m leaning towards either Popular Cloud Services for Lawyers by Stephanie Kimbro and Tom Mighell or Logistics of Going Paperless by Debbie Foster and Dave Maxfield.

11:00 am – 1:00 pm:  It appears that there will be an Expo break followed by a luncheon of some sort.

1:15 – 2:15 pm:  I’ll probably attend Safe Flying in the Clouds by Brett Burney, Sharon Nelson and Dan Siegel

2:15 – 3:15 pm:  Expo break

3:15 – 4:15 pm:  I’m trying to decide between Effective Preparation for Rule 26(f) Conference by Craig Ball, David Chaumette and Hon. David Waxse or Getting the Most Out of PDF Software by Larry Smith and Ernie Svensen.

4:30 – 5:30:  60 Tips in 60 Minutes

5:30 – 6:30:  I hear a rumor that Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog will be hosting one of his famous Beer for Bloggers events.

7:15 – ???:  Taste of ABA TECHSHOW dinner.  I signed up for the Mac dinner hosted by David Sparks and Victor Medina.  Sparks runs the great MacSparky blog and co-hosts the amazing Mac Power Users podcast along with attorney Katie Floyd.  I don’t know Victor Medina personally, but I look forward to talking with him.

Wednesday, April 13

Both of my presentations are back-to-back Wednesday morning.

8:30 – 9:30:  I will be presenting the session 2011 Smartphone Shootout along with Michael Morse and Alex MacDonald.  We will compare and contrast iPhone, BlackBerry and Android and talk about how to get the most out of your smartphone.

9:45 – 10:45:  Josh Barrett, Reid Trautz and I will present the fast-paced session 60 iPhone and iPad Apps in 60 minutes.  We have an amazing group of apps to talk about this year, almost all of which are apps that we did not even mention last year.  Last year this session was standing room only and a lot of fun, and we have an even better presentation this year.

11:00 – Noon:   60 Sites in 60 Minutes.  Like the 60 Apps session that I am doing just before it, the 60 Sites session is always fast-paced and a lot of fun, usually one of the highlights of TECHSHOW.

For those of you going to TECHSHOW, it looks to be a great show this year.  For everyone else, the above should give you a taste of what you can get at this conference if you attend next year, March 29-31, 2012.

Are you the sort of person who loves movie trailers, who watches the Super Bowl for the commercials, and who loves looking at the advertisements in a magazine just as much as the content?  Well then Apple has the app for you, the new iAd Gallery app that was released yesterday.

On April 8, 2010, Apple announced a form of mobile advertising called iAds, and they started to appear on June 21, 2010 when Apple released iOS 4.  You may have seen an iAd in an app that you downloaded, especially a free app; they show up as small banners that, when tapped, take over the screen and provide an interactive advertising experience.  They tend to be well produced, in part because Apple exercises strict control over what can be in an iAd to keep the quality high.

The iAd Gallery app allows you to view all of the ads that are currently in rotation on the iAd Network.  The “New” button at the bottom allow you to view just the latest iAds, and if you really like an iAd you can tap a heart to indicate that you “love” it and it shows up in a list of Loved apps.

You can also browse a list of all of the apps in two different ways.  Tap the Search button and you will see an alphabetical list of apps that you can search.  Or more fun, tap the Browse button and you will see a carousel of ads that you can spin to select one.

Tapping an ad gives you some basic information about the ad (such as the advertising agency that produced it) and the iAd itself which you can tap to launch.

There have been times when I have heard about an interesting iAd that was available but had trouble viewing it because when I launched an app containing iAds, another iAd would be displayed.  Using the iAd Gallery is certainly easier than opening and closing an app over an over again trying to get the right one to launch.  Otherwise, I’m not sure how useful it is to have a dedicated app that just lets you view advertisements, although it is interesting that Apple considers its iAds so compelling that it made an app to allow you to do nothing more than view the ads.  The app is free, so if you want to check it out, I’m sure that Apple — and its advertising partners — will be glad that you did so.

Click here to get iAd Gallery (free): 

One problem with trying to pick out the “best” case for an iPad is that you can do so many useful things with an iPad.  Sometimes you want an easy way to prop it up to watch a movie.  Sometimes you want to hold it in your hands.  Sometimes you want to use it in the kitchen.  Sometimes you want to type.  For the last few weeks I have been trying out an iPad case called the modulR that tries to solve all of these problems at once, and I’m very impressed with the review unit that the company sent me.  (I’ve been using the original iPad to test out modulR, but I’m told that a version for the iPad 2 is in the works.)

The main part of the modulR is a $49 case (with cover) that fits around the back of your iPad.  The case is a flexible rubbery plastic that is very easy to put on and to take off of the iPad. It is very thin and adds very little weight, but it does give some added protection to the back of the iPad.

If you want to protect the front, there is a cover that easily snaps on.  When attached your iPad is protected from scratches by a hard, thin case. 

But the real magic of the modulR is that on the bottom there are four rubbery feet:

With these feet on the iPad you can do all sorts of useful things.  If you want to hold the iPad in your hand without fear of it slipping out, you can get the $15 hand strap.  You can either attach the strap to two feet on one side, or adjust the strap to go diagonally across the iPad (which is what I find works even better):

There is also a $15 shoulder strap that you attach to two of the feet.  With it, you can carry the iPad in its modulR case much like you might carry a small messenger bag.  In all candor, when I used the shoulder strap to go home from work one night, I feared that I looked a little silly with an iPad on a strap around my shoulder.  But hey, that’s just me.  Maybe you can pull of the look better than I can.

If you want to prop up your iPad, you can use the $19 Quick Stand, which comes in black, orange, pearl or white.  It works in two positions.  in one position, the iPad is slightly elevated in the back to make it easier to type.  When you flip over the Quick Stand, you can prop up the iPad like this:

I have used lots of different iPad cases to prop up an iPad, and sometimes they are not very sturdy.  Just touching the screen can cause the iPad to slip down.  The modulR Quick Stand is made of metal and is very strong.  Thus, an iPad in a Quick Stand is very sturdy.  Note, however, that you can only prop up your iPad in the landscape position; the Quick Stand doesn’t give you a way to prop up in the portrait mode.

If you want to place your iPad on a wall like a small flat screen TV, you can purchase the $29 Slim Mount, which also comes in black, orange, pearl or white.  This is a strong metal mount that attaches to a wall with four (included) screws.  Once the Slim Mount is mounted, you can easily slip your iPad into the Slim Mount using the feet on the back of the modulR and easily slip it back out again.  I can imagine someone putting a Slim Mount in their kitchen so that the iPad is on the wall to show recipes or even play a movie or music while the person is cooking.

You can purchase all of these modulR accessories that I’ve described a la carte, or you can select from several packages such as the Starter Kit 3 for $99 which includes everything that I described above (except that you have a choice of strap; I strongly recommend the hand strap, which I found very useful).

The company plans to add more to the modulR line.  As mentioned above, they plan to come out with a new version of the case for the iPad 2.  I understand that many people have asked the company to consider a case with a cover attached, instead of the two parts that I reviewed, and the company is considering doing so — perhaps for the iPad 2 case?  We’ll see.  They are also working on a Headrest strap so that you can put the iPad behind your seat for the kids to watch something while you are on a road trip.  The company is also working on a swing arm.  You can see many of these future products on the modulR website.

If you have a first generation iPad and you are looking for a case with a lot of versatility, I was very impressed with the modulR.  You get all of the protection of a standard hard case, plus with the accessories that work with the knob feet you can do a whole lot more.  I’m looking forward to seeing what the company comes up with for the iPad 2.

Click here to get the modulR case and related products from the manufacturer’s website.

One year ago yesterday, April 3, 2010, the original iPad went on sale.  It was a difficult device to define.  Was it just a big iPhone?  Was it a tablet computer?  A netbook competitor?  One of the TV commercials that Apple aired in connection with the original iPad was called “What is iPad” and it sought to answer the question of what one might do with an iPad.  Here is that commercial, which was narrated by Peter Coyote, a prolific actor with an amazing voice who has been in tons of movies (including E.T.) and television shows (most recently the new Law & Order: Los Angeles):

Now that the iPad has been out for a year, we have a better understanding of what the iPad is.  It is a new type of device, a tabula rasa than can do a countless number of different things.  In light of the blockbuster iPad sales, other companies are trying to compete by coming out with tablets with different specs.  One has a better camera, one has more memory, one has a different size screen, etc.  But Apple realizes that the most important aspect of the iPad is to get the hardware out of the way, to be that blank slate on which you can do almost anything.  And since Apple has a knack for producing impressive commercials, over this past weekend Apple unveiled a commercial for the iPad 2, again narrated by Peter Coyote, that explains what the iPad is really about:

The videography in the commercial is really beautiful and makes the iPad 2 seem very personal and intimate.  When I saw the person playing the virtual guitar in GarageBand, I almost swore that I was watching strings on a real guitar being plucked.  But the words are really the star of the commercial.  The script is:

This is what we believe.
Technology alone is not enough.
Faster, thinner, lighter … those are all good things. 
But when technology gets out of the way, everything becomes more delightful.
Even magical. 
That’s when you leap forward. 
That’s when end up with something like this.
iPad 2

I don’t think that this is just commercial hype; I think that this ia how the engineers at Apple really think of the iPad, and this is what makes the iPad such a very special device.  This is especially true for the iPad 2.  It is noticeably faster than my original iPad, but I notice it not in that particular tasks occur more quickly, but instead in that the entire iPad seems so much responsive to my touch.  The technology gets out of the way, and I feel even more like I am directly interacting with the app.

I got an iPad 2 last night (Black, 32GB, Wi-Fi only).  They sure are hard to get right now; you have to be lucky to catch an Apple Store when they have one or two in stock.  I knew it was going to be thinner and lighter, but I wasn’t expecting it to make such a big difference.  That is partly because I used a case with my original iPad, and carrying around my original iPad in a case was like carrying a hard cover book.  Carrying around the iPad 2 with a Smart Cover is like carrying around a magazine.  It is a night and day difference.  I’ll post more after I have used the iPad 2 for more than just these last few hours, but my inital impression is:  wow.  Here is the iPhone and iPad news of note from the last week:

• I consider my iPhone and my iPad to be an important part of my law practice.  I use them both every day.  Apparently many doctors are starting to feel the same way, according to a CNBC report that is described by David Winograd of TUAW.  I like the article’s title:  “iPads are becoming as important to doctors as their stethoscopes.”  
• This is really more of a Fourth Amendment issue than an iPhone issue, but Denver attorney Bill Kelly passed along this interesting report by Anita Thompson on the Huffington Post Denver about the Colorado Supreme Court’s recent decision that police improperly invaded a man’s privacy when they read through the text messages on his lost iPhone and used what they found to get search warrants and ultimately get felony drug charges.
• The Paul, Hastings law firm unveiled its iPhone app this week.  It is a typical law firm iPhone app with firm bios and news and other information that you would find on its website, but it is nicely done.  Click here to download the Paul, Hastings app (free): 

  

• On the Lawyer2Laywer podcast that I linked to yesterday, attorney Rick Georges bragged that an advantage of Android is that it is an “open” platform.  While I question what difference that really makes for attorneys using smartphones, there was some truth to that when Android debuted.  However, Ashlee Vance of Businessweek reports that Google is now retreating from its prior policies of openness.
• Also on that podcast, Rick Georges talked about how much he loves his new HTC ThunderBolt phone, especially the fast 4G LTE speeds.  If you are interested in learning more about that phone, Jonathan Geller of BGR has a comprehensive review.  He concludes that “the sheer thickness and weight” and “the poor battery performance makes it a tough sell,” and while the LTE speed is fantastic, “that means nothing if my battery dies after just a few hours of usage.”
• Tim Chaten of AppAdvice reports on his research into insurance policies that you can purchase for your iPhone and iPad.
• David Pogue of the New York Times reports on Amazon’s new Cloud Player service.  It doesn’t work with the iPhone or iPad yet (there are work-arounds, but they are clunky), but many have speculated that Apple is planning to offer a similar service, so it is interesting to see Amazon’s approach.
• Litigation consultant Ken Broda-Bahm discusses two iPad apps that can help with jury selection, iJuror and Jury Duty.
• Attorney Finis Price recently gave a presentation on the use of iPads by lawyers including recommended apps.  Ben Stevens of The Mac Lawyer reports on that presentation.
• If you would like to read a comprehensive review of the iPad 2, Daniel Eran Dilger wrote one such article for AppleInsider.
• I much prefer magazines on the iPad than to reading them on paper.  Electronista notes that Popular Science recently announced that it now has over 10,000 iPad subscribers, which sounds like a lot until you realize that they have 1.2 million print subscribers.  But hey, you have to start somewhere.
• Tom Kaneshige of CIO writes about the use of iPads in large companies.
• Debra Cassens Weiss of ABA Journal reports that some federal courts are banning smartphones because of fear that they could be used as bombs.  This is unfortunate; I consider my iPhone a critical tool when I am in federal or state court.
• Nick Bilton of the New York Times reports that the smartphone market is poised to explode in 2011.  Wait… no, he said “soar.”  Not “explode.”  Don’t tell the federal courts I said “explode.”
• Last week, I mentioned that Sylvia Hsieh of Lawyers USA interviewed me and other attorneys for her great article on the iPad 2.  You can now read that article even if you don’t subscribe to Lawyers USA because it was republished by the Wisconsin Law Journal.
• Legal consultant (and fellow New Orleanian) Craig Bayer tells me that he is very impressed with miniLaw, a time and expense tracking app for the iPhone that works with the PCLaw accounting software.
• The most famous BlackBerry-using attorney in the world — President Obama — confirmed that he owns and uses an iPad, as reported by MacNN.  Now that he is using the iPad, can the iPhone be far behind?
• If you would like to process credit card payments on your iPhone, you should look into Square.  Attorney Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge posts a comprehensive review of the app and hardware accessory.
• Attorney Tom Mighell discusses iPads replacing PCs for attorneys on the Attorney at Work blog.
• Atorney David Sparks of the MacSparky blog and the MacPowerUsers podcasts discloses the apps on his iPad’s home screen in this post at Tablet Legal.
• And finally, if you want to keep your iPhone close to you — really close to you — how about underwear that can hold an iPhone?  The folks at SCOTTEVEST (the company that makes coats and other apparel with a million pockets to store all of your gadgets) created boxer shorts with a pocket for your iPhone.  Get more info here on the company’s website, or watch the company’s founder and CEO extol the virtues of the product in this video:

Because you are reading this website, chances are you have already decided to make the iPhone your smartphone of choice, but many attorneys are currently trying to decide whether to get an iPhone or some other device running operating systems such as Android, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Windows Mobile 7.  BlackBerry was long the traditional platform of choice for attorneys, but those looking to upgrade seem to be largely moving to the iPhone or Android.  Why choose one over the other?

That is the topic of the latest Lawyer2Lawyer podcast, the excellent, flagship podcast on the Legal Talk Network.  The hosts are attorneys Bob Ambrogi (a Boston attorney who publishes the LawSites blog) and J. Craig Williams (an attorney in the Irvine, CA office of the Sedgwick law firm who publishes the May it Please the Court blog).  Ambrogi and Williams invited me to “defend” the iPhone and St. Petersburg, FL attorney Rick Georges of the great FutureLawyer blog to “defend” the Android operating system.  Georges and I are passionate about our platforms of choice so the podcast got a little heated (and I fear that Ambrogi and Williams had trouble getting a word in at times!), but it was a great discussion.  Unfortunately, we only scratched the surface; there was so much more that we could have mentioned with more time, but this is just a 30 minute podcast.

Even if you are not trying to decide between iPhone and Android, you will enjoy listening to this podcast.  It is always interesting to learn about the technology that other attorneys love to use. For example, Georges brags about the fast, new LTE network on his Android phone — although he doesn’t like how much it reduces battery life.  Tim Cook of Apple has suggested that the first generation LTE chips are not desirable because they consume too much battery life and require a very large phone to fit a large antenna.  But better chips will come along, and I look forward to seeing LTE come to the iPhone when the technology is ready.

If you want to listen to the podcast using your web browser (including Safari on the iPad), you can click here for the page on the Lawyer2Lawyer website devoted to the episode entitled Battle of the Smartphones: iPhone v. Android.  Or you can download this episode of Lawyer2Lawyer (and subscribe to Lawyer2Lawyer) for free on iTunes by clicking here: 

By the way, if this topic interests you, then I would love to see you at the ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago in a few weeks.  On April 13th, I’ll be on the panel for the presentation entitled 2001 Smartphone Shootout, where we will discuss the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.

If you have an iPad, a stylus is a useful and inexpensive accessory.  It makes it easier to highlight documents, sign your name and draw, and even with normal apps that are controlled by tapping, it sometimes feels more precise to use a stylus.  (You can also use a stylus with an iPhone, but I consider that useful only in rare circumstances, such as when trying to use an iPhone with gloves on in cold weather.)  Last year I reviewed the BoxWave Capacitive Stylus and the Ten One Design Pogo Sketch Stylus.  They are both great producs, but I preferred the tip on the BoxWave device.  For the last few weeks, I have been trying out review units of two other styluses, the Boxwave Capacitive Styra Pen and the Kensington Virtuoso Touch Screen Stylus and Pen. Both of these are great products that I like better than the two styluses that I reviewed last year.

These products offer two advantages over the styluses that I reviewed last year.  First, you can remove the cap on both devices to reveal a pen.  There have been times in the past when I have had a stylus in my shirt pocket and needed a pen (or someone asked me for one) and it was annoying to not have one.  If you are carrying around the Virtuoso or the Styra, you have a pen for when you need it.  Although the Virtuoso is slightly longer than the Styra with the caps attached, with the caps removed they are exactly the same size.  Note that unlike some pens, you cannot attach the cap to the back of the pen (over the capacitive tip) when you are writing.

In terms of writing quality, the pens are identical.  Both use a standard Parker refill so it should be cheap and easy to replace the ink cartridge when one runs dry.

The second advantage of the Virtuoso and the Styra over the styluses that I reviewed last year is the length.  The standard BoxWave stylus and the Pogo Sketch Stylus are quite small, not that much longer than a golf pencil.  They are just long enough to feel fine in your hand when in use, but now that I have tried the Virutoso and the Styra, I find that the longer length really feels much better in my hand.  Even if you never use the pen function, I would still recommend either of these for the additional length.  The Kensington Virtuoso is slightly longer than the BoxWave Styra, but frankly I found either length sufficient.  To show the lengths, here are (from top to bottom) a Sanford Uniball pen, a Mont Blanc pen, the Kensington Virtuoso, the BoxWave Styra and the BoxWave Capacative Stylus that I reviewed last year:

One other advantage of the Virtuoso and the Styra is that they do not contain that metal loop at the top for attaching a string; I found the string useless and the loop at the top of the normal BoxWave stylus just got in the way.  The BoxWave Styra and the Kensington Virtuoso have a smooth top which is much better.

Comparing the Virtuoso to the Styra is difficult because both are great.  The rubber stylus tips on these two products feel identical.  The Virtuoso is slightly longer, but as I said above, in my testing that hasn’t proved to be any real advantage. Having said that, the slightly longer clip on the Virtuoso made it slightly easier to use than the clip on the Styra.

Another difference is the finish.  The Virtuoso has a matte finish whereas the Styra has a shiny gloss finish (like my Mont Blanc pen).  I suppose the matte finish gives you a slightly better grip, but it is not a huge difference. You can get the Styra in black or white, but the Virtuoso only comes in black.

There is a slight difference in price.  The list price of the BoxWave Styra ($32.95) is higher than the Kensington Virtuoso ($24.95) but if you buy from Amazon, the Styra is $22.95 and the Virtuoso is $19.95, not much of a difference.

If I had to choose, I might give the slight edge to the Kensington Virtuoso because I slightly (but only slightly) prefer the matte finish, the longer length, and the somewhat cheaper price, but all of these differences are very minor and I frankly am happy using either stylus.  Now that I have both of them, I just reach for whichever one is closer to me.

If you own an iPad or an iPad 2, I recommend that you get either the Kensington Virtuoso or the BoxWave Capacitive Styra.  Both are well-made, useful products.  They are more expensive than the $15 BoxWave and $8 Pogo Sketch styluses that I reviewed last year, so if you are not sure how much you really will use a stylus you might want to get one of those because they are less expensive.  But having used them all, I think that most people would be much happier with the Virtuoso or the Styra.

One final note:  is it possible that there is an even better iPad stylus out there, either on the market now or coming soon?  I find it hard to imagine improving very much on the Virtuoso or the Styra, but that is why I am a lawyer and not an inventor.  Earlier this week, two inventors in New York unveiled an idea called the Cosmonaut, essentially a stylus that is the size of a marker instead of a pen.  If you click here, you can see their Kickstarter page on which they explain their invention, arguing that an iPad is more like a white board and thus something that feels like a marker works better.  If and when their idea becomes a shipping product, I’ll be curious to find out if they are right.  One concern that I have is that the Cosmonaut looks far too big to put into my shirt pocket, whereas the thin Virtuoso and Styra with their clips do that job quite well.

Click here to get the Kensington Virtuoso on Amazon ($19.95).

Click here to get the BoxWave Capactivie Styra on Amazon ($22.95).

The iPhone has very few physical buttons.  Simplicity is often a virtue, but not when you want to control an iPhone without looking at the screen.  For example, I listen to podcasts and music when I drive in my car, and while I used to use the Kensington LiquidAUX in my car which includes a handy remote control with physical buttons that you can easily reach and use while you are driving, a few months ago I switched over to the Kensington AssistOne.  I prefer the AssistOne to the LiquidAUX in every way except for one; I miss those easy to use physical buttons on the remote for when I want to pause/play music and skip to the next track while keeping my eye on the road.

The other day, on the MacSparky blog run by David Sparks, I read his “home screen” interview with writer, director, and actor David Wain.  One of the apps Wain keeps on his home screen is FlickTunes, and after reading about the app I decided to buy it myself to try it out.  After just a few days of use, I can see that this is a really useful app.  It makes it vastly easier to control my iPhone when I don’t want to look at the screen to find the tiny virtual button to press, such as when I am driving and my iPhone is docked in the AssistOne or when my iPhone is docked in my Bose SoundDock Portable.

If music (or a podcast, audiobook, etc.) is already playing when you launch FlickTunes, FlickTunes will take over control of that music.  The artist and song and album titles are clearly displayed in large type at the top.  (If too long to fit the screen, the line with the words automatically scrolls to reveal what is missing.)  There are several different display options so you can place the words, album art, etc. in several different positions.  The displays work in either portrait or landscape mode.  You can also configure FlickTunes to automatically start playing a playlist that you specify whenever it launches, which saves you the multiple steps of opening up the iPod app and then tapping the play button.

By default, you can simply swipe left or right on the screen to switch to the next or last song.  That is so much easier to do than looking for the small next or previous track button in the iPod app and then tapping it.  There are also two finger and three finger swipe controls, which gives you 12 different command that you can give the app without having to look at the screen.  Frankly, just four commands is enough for me so I rarely use anything but a one finger swipe.  I have mine set up so that if I swipe down the music will pause/play.  If I swipe up, I have mind set so that the the music will skip back 30 seconds, useful when I have a podcast playing and I want to quickly repeat what I just heard because I stopped paying attention to the podcast for a short while.

Take a look at the following screens to see all of the different commands that you can assign to any one, two or three finger swipe:

Note that for FlickTunes to work, your iPhone does not go to sleep and therefore it uses more power.  I usually use FlickTunes when my iPhone is connected to my AssistOne or my Bose where it is being charged anyway so that is not an issue for me, but keep in mind that you will use more power with FlickTunes than with the normal iPod app.  There is a setting to dim the screeen when FlickTunes is running, which I suppose decreases some of the power use.

If you ever find yourself wishing that you could control the iPod function of your iPhone without having to look at the screen and find the little virtual button to tap, FlickTunes is well worth a buck.  The app has earned a place on my first home screen.

Click here for FlickTunes ($0.99): 

 

I realize that there are still some portable music players on the market made by companies other than Apple, but no one can dispute that Apple owns this market with its iPod.  And for good reason; the iPod is a very high quality product that comes at multiple price points.  You can start with an iPod shuffle for only $49, get an iPod nano for $149, get an iPod touch for $229, or if you have a ton of files that you want to always have with you, get the iPod classic with 160GB for $249.  The only real competition to the iPod comes from Apple itself; instead of getting a dedicated music player, why not get an iPhone so that you can combine your phone and iPod into a single device?

We are only on the second generation of the iPad, and much like the early days of the iPod, there are lots of other companies just now starting to sell competitors.  And these are substantial companies, like HP soon selling the TouchPad, RIM soon selling the PlayBook, Motorola now selling the Xoom, and Samsung recently unveiling new Galaxy Tabs.  I hope that these products do well — competition is a good thing — but from all of the reviews I’ve read, I cannot think of a good reason to recommend any of them over the iPad. 

With other companies struggling to match the quality that Apple offers, price becomes a possible way to undercut the iPad.  The cheapest iPad 2 costs $499, so a strong competitor would have to cost less than that — substantially less to make it really worth it, such as under $400.

Which leads me to yesterday, when I was shopping at a Sam’s and saw this display:

Sam’s is selling the first generation iPad, and the entry level 16GB model sells for only $388.  Only a year ago, when that device was unveiled, many had predicted that Apple would sell a product like the iPad for $1,000.  As much as I am looking forward to upgrading to an iPad 2, the original iPad is still an amazing device, and the thought of getting it with a price tag that starts with the number “3" is simply amazing to me.

Of course, there is nothing unusual about selling a discontinued product at a substantial discount, but I wonder how long it will be before we will see many different tiers of iPads, including some in that same price range.  Apple continues to sell the iPhone 3GS at the same time that it sells the iPhone 4, and you can get an 8GB version of the iPhone 3GS for only $49.  The iPhone 4 is a much better phone, but from what I hear that $49 3GS still sells quite well, as it should considering how much value you get for that very low price.  I wonder whether the iPad 2 will continue to be sold even after Apple releases an iPad 3 (in 2012?) just so that Apple can sell a compelling product for far less than $500.  Whenever this happens, I suspect that the iPads will, like iPods, be everwhere.

The iPhone and iPad news of this past week includes apps for using an iOS device for both business and pleasure, some great stories on finding lost iPhones, and Homer Simpson.

• For the fifth consecutive year, Apple has ranked #1 in J.D. Power and Associate’s smartphone customer satisfaction rankings, and this year the gap between Apple and other smartphone manufacturers widened even more.  Gregg Keizer of Computerworld has more details.
• Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal recommends apps for using your iPad at work such as Documents to Go, Quickoffice, and GoodReader as well as services such as Dropbox.  I use these apps on my iPad virtually every day.
• Attorney Dan Friedlander also talks about the useful GoodReader app in an article for the BigLaw newsletter.
• Dave Caolo of TUAW has relates the story of a person retrieving a stolen iPhone using the Find My iPhone feature, this time a student in Manchester, England.
• Charles Starrett of iLounge relates the story of a very different use of Find my iPhone.  Ron Walker, a parachute jumper in the Air Force, accidentally dropped his iPhone 1,000 feet from an airplane.  He figured that the iPhone was gone forever, but amazingly he was able to recover it using the Find My iPhone feature.  Wow.
• David Pogue of the New York Times reviews portable Bluetooth speakers that work with the iPhone.
• Speaking of the New York Times, the paper is about to start charging for use of its website.  John Gruber writes a good critique of the new pricing structure.
• Rich Mogull wrote an article for TidBITS in which provides some tips for making sure that your iPhone is encrypted if you are using an older iPhone that you upgraded to run iOS 4.
• Rob Waugh of The Daily Mail profiles Jonathan Ive, the main in charge of designing Apple’s products.
• Tyler Tschida of AppAdvice reviews the latest update to QuickOffice which provides additional sharing options and AirPrint support.
• Attorney Slyvia Hsieh wrote about lawyers getting the new iPad 2 for the website Lawyers USA.  I was one of the attorneys she interviewed for the article.  If you are a subscriber, click here to read the article. 
• One of my favorite arcade games in the 1980s was Tapper, and now there is a version for the iPhone and iPad featuring the great graphics of Don Bluth, known for animating the famous Dragon’s Lair arcade game.  I bought the iPad version and it is a lot of fun.  Unlike many old arcade games brought to the iPhone or iPad, this game actually works better with touch controls.  Click here for Tapper World Tour for iPhone ($0.99): 

  

  and click here for Tapper World Tour HD for iPad ($1.99): 

  

• Is there a connection between Steve Jobs and Homer Simpson?  Well actually, there is.  John Brownlee of Cult of Mac explains.
• Attorney Robert Gitelman illustrates landmark cases and sells his drawings on T-shirts at his site HypoJustice.  He also has a part of his site where he recommends several iPhone apps.
• Ted Brooks reviews Court Days Pro.  He likes it, as did I when I reviewed the app last month.
• I love this story.  A husband bought an iPad 2, but then returned it to Apple with a note on it that said “Wife said no.”  Click here to see Apple’s response, as reported by Arnold Kim of MacRumors.com.
• And finally, the Angry Birds craze continues.  Not only was Angry Birds Seasons recently updated for St. Patrick’s Day, but there is a new version called Angry Birds Rio which is nicely done.  Both my son (who is 5) and I have been enjoying playing it on my iPad.  Click here for Angry Birds Rio for iPhone ($0.99): 

  

  and click here for Angry Birds Rio HD for iPad ($2.99):

  

  .  But apparently we are not the only father and son who get a kick out of Angry Birds, as shown in this great birthday video: