I love to play the piano, and maybe that has something to do with why I like the iPhone. This never occurred to me until I read an interesting post about Wayne Westerman by Arnold Kim of MacRumors.com. Westerman co-founded a company called FingerWorks in 1998 that developed a number of multi-touch input devices. Apple acquired FingerWorks and all of its intellectual property in 2005, Westerman now works at Apple as a Senior Engineer, and Westerman played an important role in the creation of the iPhone (and the acquisition of his company appears to be a basis for Apple’s claim that it owns the patents on multi-touch).
FingerWorks sold a product called the TouchStream. It was a touch-sensitive, flat membrane keyboard on which you could both type and use gestures with your fingers to do things like move and click the mouse pointer, copy and paste, open and save, etc. Here is a review of the keyboard from back in 2003 that contains lots of information on how it worked, and here is a New York Times article from 2002. You can also read more information on Westerman and his multi-touch inventions from the University of Delaware website, where Westerman got his Ph.D. and did post-doctoral work.
Kim’s MacRumors article links to this news story from a few months ago in UDaily, a publication of the University of Delaware’s communications and marketing department. In the article, Westerman describes how he came up with the idea for multi-touch in TouchStream keyboard, inspired in part by the piano:
Westerman talked about the role serendipity played in the invention,
from his stubborn bout with tendonitis, which hobbled his progress
until he devised the touch-sensitive technology, to his experience as a
pianist, in which his interaction with the keyboard was graceful and
natural.
“I had an ergonomic problem and I paired it with a motivation,”
Westerman said of the early inspiration. “I’d always felt that playing
the piano was so much more graceful and expressive than using a
computer keyboard, and I thought how great it would be if I pulled some
of that expression from the piano to the computer experience.”
The iPhone wouldn’t be the iPhone without multi-touch, and multi-touch might not be multi-touch without the piano. So a big thanks goes to piano player Wayne Westerman for his role in the development of the iPhone. Based on the picture on his Facebook page, he looks like a pretty fun guy:
Following up on my post from last week, I had hoped that DataViz would be announcing the availability of Documents to Go for the iPhone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week. After all, DataViz did start working on this app a year ago. Unfortunately, according to the Italian website Macitynet.it, DataViz is only showing off a very early prototype.
The app is supposed to eventually allow you to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on an iPhone, but the beta version shown this week could only handle Word files. It apparently does have copy-and-paste, plus you can e-mail an edited Word file to someone. The post on Macitynet has a number of photos of the current beta version of the app, and for those of you who (like me) don’t read Italian, you can click here for a Google translated version of that website.
I haven’t seen any update on when this product might be available, nor have I seen any other coverage of what DataViz is showing off right now other than the post on that Italian website.
UPDATE on 2/19/09: More information is starting to appear on the Internet. The iPhone Blog has more information on and pictures of the beta version of this app, including information on how the app accomplishes copy-and-paste — a feature that many of us are waiting for Apple to implement on the iPhone. And iPhone Alley has a few more details, including news that when the app is first released, it will be able to edit Word documents but probably not Excel spreadsheets. That site also says that the app is due to be released sometime between April and June of this year.
The ABA’s Law Practice Management Section recently asked me to write the “iPhone” half of an iPhone v. Blackberry series posted on their website. If you are interested, you can read my article here, and the Blackberry article by Lee Rosen is here. Lee writes about his personal experiences with both the iPhone and the Blackberry Bold; he ultimately decided that he didn’t like either one and returned to his older model Blackberry.
These articles prompted attorney Midland, TX attorney Dale Strauss to respond by writing a defense of the Blackberry Bold, featured as a guest post on the great The Mac Lawyer website. Dale believes that the Blackberry Bold outshines the iPhone 3G on battery life, e-mail, file storage, notes and tasks and he prefers using a keyboard over a multi-touch interface. Dale makes some good points, and especially for those people who think they really need a physical keyboard and for whom e-mail is really all they need to do with their smartphone, the Bold is a great choice.
Of course, it will not come as a surprise that for others, I think that the iPhone is the right choice. For those who want to take advantage of a virtually unlimited app store that lets one do almost anything one can imagine with a smartphone, use a far superior web browser, use a smartphone to easily sync and play songs, photos or videos, take advantage of a larger screen (which is only possible when a keyboard doesn’t always take up half of the face of the device), and do all of this in a device that is small and sleak with a best-in-class user interface design, then the iPhone is the clear winner. Nevertheless, I am glad to see that the iPhone prompted RIM to improve the Blackberry, prompted Microsoft to improve Windows Mobile, prompted Palm to change the direction of the company with the upcoming Pre, and prompted Google to further refine its new Android operating system. As the competition improves, Apple will have all the more reason to improve the iPhone.
[UPDATE on 3/1/09: Mike Elgan at Computerworld has an interesting post on why he switched from the Blackberry Pearl to the iPhone, and there is one overwhelming reason: third party apps.]
By the way, the Law Practice Management Section of the ABA presents the annual ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago. This year’s show is only six weeks away, and as I have previously written, if you are an attorney interested in technology, this is a great way to get your CLE hours. The “early bird” discounted registration deadline is right around the corner (February 28th).
The law library at Georgetown, where I attended law school, is named after the famous D.C. attorney Edward Bennett Williams. He was known for representing people no matter how distasteful (to some) their causes — mobster Frank Costello, Jimmy Hoffa, Hugh Hefner, spy Igore Melekh, Senator Joseph McCarthy, etc. As Williams told Mike Wallace during an interview in 1957:
Let me say this to you, no matter how socially
or politically obnoxious the ideas of an individual may be, no matter
how unorthodox his conduct or his thinking may be, no matter how
unpopular he may be, he has the right to the assistance of counsel.
I share this philosophy, and for that reason I will try to refrain from making jokes about which side you would rather represent in the lawsuit filed by Pull My Finger developer Air-O-Matic against InfoMedia’s iFart Mobile for using the phrase “pull my finger” in connection with their fart sounds app and the lawsuit in response filed by the iFart Mobile guys. iFart Mobile insists
that “pull my finger” is a generic and well-known phrase so they should
be able to use it in connection with the iFart Mobile app. The Pull My
Finger guys argue
that the use of the phrase is but a part of a long campaign by the iFart author to unfairly
capitalize on success that should have gone to Pull My Finger — including spam campaigns, fake reviews, and search optimization schemes.
The humor in fart apps may be low brow, but the dollars are high finance. iFart Mobile only costs $0.99, but it has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times — 38,927 on December 25th alone, netting its author a $27,249 Christmas present that day — and it has been discussed in venues ranging from minor blogs to the prestigious New York Times Magazine.
Putting aside the merits of who deserves the credit for a farting iPhone, I find it interesting that Air-O-Matic is asking for $50,000 in its lawsuit against InfoMedia because that is apparently what an iPhone app developer can make in a single week if his app reaches the #1 paid download spot. With around 20,000 apps in iTunes right now it is very difficult to reach the top, but for developers who do so, there is a lot of money to be made. Ethan Nicholas, developer of a tank artillery game called iShoot, quit his day job after his app hit the #1 spot and he made $600,000 in a single month.
We’ll see what legal precedent, if any, comes out of the Fart v. Fart lawsuits, but their existence reveals that developing iPhone apps can be a lucrative but cutthroat business. If you want more details, you can learn what the big stink is all about at these websites:
Total Google search results for “I love my Blackberry” — 29,900 …for “I love my Nokia” — 11,600 …for “I love my Treo” — 11,300 …for “I love my G1" — 6,540 …for “I love my Sony Ericsson” — 3,120 …for “I love my Palm” — 904 …for “I love my HTC Touch” — 534
And the total Google search results for “I love my iPhone” —93,100
Interpret this highly scientific research as you will.
I hope that you and the one that you love enjoy this Valentine’s day.
-Jeff
P.S. Amazon is offering the classic Marvin Gaye song “Let’s Get it On” for free today. Click here to download the MP3 file. Offer expires at the end of Valentine’s Day.
I recently purchased a pair of the latest model of the Apple In-Ear Headphones released by Apple in December of 2008. I have been very happy with this $79 purchase. There are four things I like about these headphones: they are comfortable, very functional thanks to a remote, they sound great, and they come with a compact carrying case.
Comfort. First, they are very comfortable in my ears. The headphones that come with the iPhone are okay, but I often feel myself adjusting them because they don’t feel completely right for my ears, plus they sometimes fall out. Thus, for a long time now (with both my iPhone and my iPod) I have used the previous model of Apple’s in-ear headphones. The soft rubbery earpieces always felt much better in my ears. I find this new version of the Apple In-Ear Headphones is even more comfortable. Like the previous model, these come with three different sized earpieces. This time, the spares are housed inside of an interesting tiny tube. I used the largest set with the prior model of the in-ear headphones, but with this latest model I prefer the feel of the middle-sized set. I can wear these for hours and my ears feel great, while the ones that came with my iPhone 3G hurt my ears if I use them for too long.
Remote and Microphone. Second, the new Apple In-Ear Headphones are very functional. Even though the headphones that came with my iPhone 3G were not as comfortable, I still frequently used them because they include a microphone and thus can be used to make calls. Also, I like the button that allows you to play / pause / FF / RW. These new Apple In-Ear Headphones have the best of both worlds — the comfort of in-ear headphones, plus the functionality of a microphone and remote.
Note that there is one feature in these headphones that does not work with the iPhone 3G, at least not right now. The remote on the headphones has + and – buttons that are supposed to let you change the volume. That feature works with the newest iPods, but is not supported on the iPhone 3G. I don’t know if that is a software issue that can be fixed in an update or a hardware issue that will not be fixed until a new model of the iPhone is released. It would be nice to have the ability to use the remote to change the volume, but I don’t consider this a big deal. I can always reach down to the iPhone and change the volume using the buttons on the side — something I can do without even looking at the iPhone. What I really appreciate is the ability to play / pause / FF / RW using physical buttons without having to take out my iPhone 3G, turn on the screen, actually look at the screen to find the virtual iPhone controls, and then tap the correct button on the screen. And the placement of the remote right on the cord is very convenient.
As a reminder of how the remote works, click once to start playing the iPod app (or if it is already playing to pause). Click twice to skip forward to the next track. Click three times to skip back to the beginning of the current track (or if you are near the beginning, to skip to the prior track). If your phone rings, click the remote to answer and click again to hang up. Note that the remote will not control apps other than the iPod or Phone. For example, if you are using your headphones while watching a YouTube video, you might instinctively click the remote to pause the video … but that won’t work. Instead, it will exit the YouTube app and start playing the iPod app.
Sound Quality. Third, these headphones sound great. I should disclose that while I like to listen to music, I am not an audiophile. I know that there are a lot of people out there who swear by their headphones from companies like Shure, Sennheiser, Etymotic, etc. that cost $300, $500 or more. I’m sure those sound wonderful, but my ears are not sophisticated enough to really appreciate the difference in price. I want something that sounds great but costs under $100. Apple points out that these headphones actually contain two drivers — a woofer to handle base and mid-range sounds and a tweeter for high-frequency audio, something that you rarely see in headphones that cost less than $100. Perhaps that is why they sound so good to me.
iLounge posted a very comprehensive review of these headphones last December. The iLounge reviewer doesn’t like the sound as much as I do because he wants more bass out of a pair of headphones. For the type of music I listen to, I think the bass sounds just fine. I still encourage you to look at the iLounge review, if for no other reason because they have some awesome close up pictures that really show you every detail of the headphones. But keep in mind that other reviewers, like me, really like the sound. For example, Ryan Block (former Editor in Chief of Engadget, now of gdgt) said “they sounded really good — way out of their price range. Having two drivers makes a big difference.”
Compact Carrying Case. Fourth, I love the carrying case. The large and boxy case that came with the former version of the in-ear headphones was nice to have but felt too large in my pocket. This new case is much smaller and more compact and I don’t hesitate to toss it in a pocket. Sometimes it is a little difficult to get the headphones to fit just right in the case so that you can close the plastic cover — it is a snug fit — but I consider this an acceptable tradeoff to have a very tiny case.
Finding the right headphone or earphone is a very personal decision. We all have different ear shapes and are impressed by different tonal qualities. Thus, it comes as no surprise that manyreviewersreallylike these headphones while othershate them. Nevertheless, if you are looking to get something better than the headphones that came with your iPhone or iPhone 3G, want to keep the functional remote and microphone, and don’t want to spend a fortune, I encourage you to consider these. Upgrading your headphones is a good investment that will help you enjoy your iPhone even more.
UPDATE on 2/18/09: Alex Watson of Bit-Tech has a review of six replacement headphones for the iPhone, including the Apple ones I review here. Alex doesn’t like the bass on the Apple headphones, but the other headphones he reviews either don’t have a microphone and remote or have them but they seem to me to be less functional then what Apple gives you — plus they are much more expensive. I respectfully disagree with parts of of Alex’s review; for example, he considers the remote too small to be functional, but it works great for me and I consider it a plus that the remote is small and unobtrusive. Nevertheless, I still recommend that you read his review to get a different perspective before you decide what to buy.
I have heard from several people who read this site but don’t yet have an iPhone. And I can’t even count the number of times that I have used an iPhone in public and someone has asked me about getting one — something that I am sure happens to all of you, too. If you or someone you know is looking to buy an iPhone now, there is a useful post on Art of the iPhone entitled Where is the Best Place to Buy an iPhone? There are currently five places to buy an iPhone in the U.S.: an Apple store, an AT&T store, Best Buy, Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club. Wal-Mart is cheaper than the others, but only $2.00 cheaper. The article explains that if saving money is critical, you can save $50 by buying a refurbished iPhone, and if you do so your best bet is to buy from Apple or Best Buy where you get a 1 year warranty. [UPDATE on 2/18/09: AT&T is now offering a $100 rebate on a refurbished iPhone.]
One thing not discussed in that article that I will add is that if you have a complicated data plan such as a split billing arrangement where your employer pays the data portion of your bill, a combined billing plan, etc., then you may be required to buy from an AT&T store. Other stores, including Apple, may not be able to add an iPhone to one of those plans.
If you are looking to buy an iPhone, should you buy one now or wait? I wrote about this last month, and I continue to believe that a new iPhone will be released by Apple this year, probably in June or July. Remember that Apple increased the memory on iPhones in February of 2008, so it is possible that they will do so again before a new model is released later this year.
Last year, the inventory of first generation iPhones started to dry up in April, two months before the iPhone 3G was announced on June 9, 2008. We might see a similar inventory decrease at some point this year, and if so, that will be a sign that a major new model of iPhone is coming and a reason to hold off on purchasing if you can. But we are not there now, so if you are looking to buy your iPhone now, check out the article.
It was just last week that I discussed updates to Cliff Maier’s legal reference apps such as FRCP (Federal Rules of Civil Procedure) and FRAP (Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure), but now they have been updated again. When comparing his apps to similar offerings from The Law Pod, I pointed out that two advantages of The Law Pod apps over Cliff’s apps were that (1) The Law Pod apps list the rules by number (instead of Title) on the home screen, making it easier to jump to a specific rule if you already know the number and (2) The Law Pod apps list the entire rule on one screen, whereas in Cliff’s apps you had to read each subsection on its own screen.
Cliff is a long-time reader of iPhone J.D. In fact, Cliff often answers questions about his apps in the Comments to posts — which I mention because I know that many of the regular readers of this site read it in an RSS reader and might not normally see the Comments. Cliff is now adding updates to many of his apps to address both of these issues, making his already useful apps even more functional.
Bookmarks. The first new feature is bookmarks. If you are like me, your paper copy of your rules has pages that are dog-eared or affixed with Post-It Flags to bookmark the rules that you turn to time and time again. Cliff is now adding a bookmarks feature to his apps. For example, let’s say that you frequently turn to FRAP 28 when you are drafting an appeal brief. Notice that in the bottom left corner there is now an open star. Tap once on that star and it becomes a closed star to indicate that you have now added a bookmark to that rule:
The Home Screen of Cliff’s apps still lists the rules by title, not by number, but there is a new bookmarks button at the top left of the Home Screen. Tap it once and you will see a list of the rules that you bookmarked:
This makes it quick and easy to jump right to the rules that you use most frequently — even faster than using the Jump button on the Home Page that was recently added to Cliff’s apps. The apps still list the Titles in on the Home Screen, useful when you are not exactly sure what rule you want. But if you know the rule number and it is one that you bookmarked, you are now just a tap away from a list of your favorite rules. Bookmarks is a great new feature that I will use all the time.
Flattening. The other issue that I mentioned last week is that in Cliff’s apps, you sometimes don’t see the entire rule on a single screen. Cliff addressed this by adding a new button to the bottom right of many of his apps that turns on and off flattening. The best way to describe this is with pictures, and I’ll do so using the FRCP app — in part because the FRAP app doesn’t yet have flattening, although this feature is coming soon. On the left is a picture of Rule 11 as it normally appears. On the right is a picture of Rule 11 once you tap the flattening button at the bottom right. Note that the icon on the flattening button even changes to indicate which view you are in:
I find it very useful to have the option to either (1) view an outline of the rule to get an overview of the rule and quickly go to the subpart you need or (2) view the entire rule on a single page when you just want to scroll through it all.
Apps to be Updated. Cliff plans to eventually add bookmarks to almost all of his legal reference apps. Flattening is really only necessary for the more complicated sets of rules that have lots of subparts; many apps just have the rules flattened by default. Here are the apps that now have these new features or will very soon:
Note also that Cliff maintains a page on his website that lists the apps available now, the apps coming soon, the apps that attorneys have requested and are under consideration, and information on what has been submitted to Apple and is just awaiting approval.
If you have other ideas for improving these apps, please post them in the Comments. I’m sure that Cliff will see them, and others can comment on your comments to perhaps improve on your idea. It wasn’t long ago that I considered legal reference apps on the iPhone just a nice way to view a rule when I was away from my desk. But with all of the new features being added, I’m increasingly finding that the iPhone version of the rules is the version that I turn to first, even if I am at my desk with a paper copy of the rules within reach.
On my prior phone, a Treo 650, I was a big fan of a product from DataViz called Documents to Go which allows one to view and edit Microsoft Office files on a portable device. Documents to Go is available for many brands of cell phones, and it is no surprise that DataViz would want to port the product to the iPhone. You can click here for a YouTube video interview of DataViz’s president from March of 2008, just after Apple announced that third parties would be able to sell apps for the iPhone, in which he says that DataViz had plans to do so. More recently, DataViz spokeswoman Jenn Figueroa said that Documents to Go for the iPhone was their top customer request. And for many months now, DataViz has had this teaser page on their website which says nothing more than this:
Thus, it has been clear for a while that something was coming, and now it finally sounds like we will learn more about this product in just a few days. A number of websites such as this one are reporting that DataViz sent out a press release a few days ago stating that the company would announce Documents to Go for the iPhone at the Mobile World Congress which begins next week on February 16, 2009.
Of course, the iPhone already includes the ability to view Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. I suspect and hope that DataViz’s iPhone app will add at least the following two features. First, I expect DataViz to give us the ability to always sync the latest version of a file on your desktop with your iPhone. You can already manually do something similar with apps like DataCase, but some sort of automatic sync would be welcome. Second, it would be nice to have the ability to edit those documents on your iPhone and then sync the changes back to a computer — although without cut-and-paste on the iPhone, DataViz’s ability to include editing will likely be limited.
DataViz has a very long history of working with Apple. I used DataViz software to translate documents created on a PC to and from the Mac back when I was in college in the 1980s. Hopefully, DataViz has used the past 11 months to work with their contacts at Apple and come up with a great product for the iPhone. We’ll find out next week.
I often find myself amazed at what the iPhone can do. For example, just the other day my wife and I heard a somewhat familiar song that we couldn’t identify during the closing credits of HBO’s Big Love. My wife suggested that we hold an iPhone up to the speaker on our TV and use the free Shazam app, just like it shows you in that iPhone commercial. I did so, and sure enough, in just a few seconds, it identified the song as “Forever Young” by Alphaville. Then I fired up the free Wikipanion app and typed in “Forever Young” and I leaned that this song was released in 1984 (so my wife and I must have remembered the song from when we were in high school), that it is now considered a staple of the 1980s pop music scene, and that it has been used in a ton of TV shows and movies. The article even lists the uses of the song, including in the very TV show that we were watching. Knowing the answer to our trivia question was neat, but having the ability to get that answer on the iPhone in less than a minute was amazing.
Arthur C. Clarke famously said in 1973 that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” That accurately describes how I often feel about my iPhone. What other word but “magic” can describe the iPhone taking just a few seconds to give me tons of details about the song I am listening to? Well, one other word is “brain” — I often find myself thinking of my iPhone an extra brain that I carry around with me.
So is it “magic” or a “brain”? How do we settle the debate? Simple: we take a look inside of the iPhone. Thanks to iPhone Alley for providing a link to Radiology Art, a site that shows you what different objects look like in a CT scan. The doll and the TV dinner scans are interesting. One of the objects that they scanned is an iPhone. Click here to go to that website and see a larger picture of the scan, but here is a preview of what the CT scan shows us:
Does anyone see a brain in there? No? Well that settles it once and for all. It must be magic.
. I purchased mine in an Apple Store at full retail price, but you can save a few dollars if you buy them from Amazon, and this link has a referral code to support iPhone J.D.
