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Technology eReport
Technology eReport Newsletter | ABA General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Division
http://www.abanet.org/genpractice/ereport/2010/vol9/num4/index.html[11/4/2010 11:10:30 AM]

Image courtesy of Apple, Inc.

The iPad comes with a high-resolution, 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS (in-plane switching) display. Apple designed the iPad to display content in portrait or landscape orientation. The IPS display technology has a wide, 178-degree viewing angle. The iPad weighs in at about a pound and a half and measures 9.56” x 7.47” x 0.5”. Apple claims up to a ten-hour battery life for the iPad.  Apple has made the battery inaccessible, as has become its custom, so you cannot simply pop in a new battery and must rely on an external power supply for recharging or operating an iPad with a discharged battery.  Fortunately, my experience with the iPad to date supports the claim of long battery life.  I have not tried to push the ten hour limit, but I have used my iPad for several hours at a time without exhausting as much as 50% of its power.

Apple offers two basic versions of the iPad: WiFi only and WiFi plus 3G. Each version also gives you the choice of 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB of memory. I encourage you to opt for the higher memory units, as the iPad has no provision for additional memory.  I chose the 64GB WiFi+3G version for myself.  I have already maxed out the memory and find myself moving apps, books, movies and music on and off the unit far more often than I would like in order to accommodate different circumstances.

The iPad has the same docking connector as the iPhone and iPod. Like the iPhone, it has no other ports for data or charging.  Apple offers a number of accessories: The list includes a dock, a keyboard dock, a case that folds up to make a stand for you to use the iPad with its virtual keyboard, a VGA adapter that will let you connect the iPad to a projector or other VGA device, and a camera connection kit that will allow you to transfer pictures directly to your iPad. You can also use the Apple Wireless Keyboard and other Bluetooth accessories with the iPad.

The WiFi iPad requires a hotspot to give you Internet access. The WiFi plus 3G version works through accessible hotspots and also gives you the option of a 3G cellular connection. Apple set up an arrangement with AT&T, which changed the plan very shortly after the iPad came to market and started selling with amazing rapidity.  The revised plans do away with the “all you can eat” data module and offer you the choice of 250 MB of data per month for $14.99 or XXGB for $YY.  AT&T’s programs come with cancellable monthly renewable terms, allowing you to cancel the plan or reinstate it whenever you want or need to do so.

The iPad’s larger screen offers a much better Internet experience than the iPhone or the iPod Touch.  It also provides better viewing for movies and pictures.  The iPad has a wide viewing angle, which enhances your viewing experience, but also means that people sitting on your side on an airplane or next to you at a lunch counter can easily read your screen. Available third party privacy screens can restrict the ability of others to see your screen, protect your privacy your clients’ confidentiality.  Consider a privacy screen a necessary accoutrement to the iPad if you desire to use it in a public place and have any semblance of privacy for your content.

Among its many talents, the iPad also functions as an eReader.  I find the iPad’s backlit clarity, high resolution and color technology far more pleasing than e-ink technology employed by the more traditional eReaders, such as the Kindle or the Nook.  Apple’s iBook App lets you buy books from Apple’s iTunes Store, organize them on your iPad, synch them between your iPad and your computer with the assistance of iTunes and read them very comfortably.  The chameleon-like iPad, also does a pretty decent Kindle and Nook imitation as well.  Amazon has made a free Kindle App available and Barnes & Noble has made its own reader app available at no charge.  The installation of these Apps gives you the ability to access the entire Barnes & Noble and Amazon collections of electronic reading materials, acquire them, coordinate them, read them and use them with features substantially the same as the Kindle or the Nook.

Apple says that almost all the Apps in its store will run on the iPad.  While that has proven technically accurate, many Apps require modification to take advantage of the iPad’s screen size and features

If you use Apple’s Calendar and Address Book, your calendar and contacts will look better (and appear larger and easier to read) on the iPad than on the iPod or the iPhone.  Apple also tuned up its Mail program, creating a unified in-box that allows you to see all your unread mail at one time, without having to go back and forth between accounts.   The iOS 4 operating system Apple released with the iPhone 4 also includes a number of additional features that will come to the iPad when Apple makes the iOS4 available for the iPad.  Apple has announced that it will make the iOS4 available for the iPad sometime this fall.

You can find out more about the iPad at (www.apple.com/ipad). You can buy the iPad online at (http://store.apple.com/us) or arrange to pick one up at your local Apple Store.

What’s Missing?

The ability to expand the iPad’s memory through the addition of memory cards would make it much easier to use the iPad as a picture album, a movie viewer, a music player, an eReader, and a storage device for a variety of other information. It would, for example, allow you to get a media card to store books or movies that you don’t need on a daily basis but want to have with you when you travel.  As Apple has not allowed the use of memory cards in the iPod or the iPhone, the odds favor Apple’s not making this feature available in the iPad.  Perhaps, future iterations of the iPad will increase the offered memory to 128 or even 256 GB when the price of such memory comes down.

A built-in webcam for use in videoconferencing would also have made the iPad much more useful.  I anticipate seeing Apple add this to a future iteration of the iPad, much as it has now done with the newest generation of its iPod Touch.

Conclusion.

The iPad is useful as an e-mail device, or as an Internet appliance, or as an eReader, or as a . . . pick a function, any function. While not as useful as a laptop, the iPad will enable me to travel to many meetings without a laptop. Its weight and size make it an easy fit for a briefcase or a large purse. I will likely carry it with me most of the time as it will do for me most of what I expect my laptop and my Kindle to do.

As a tool in a law office, I consider the iPad helpful (but pricey).  Nevertheless, I could not call it as essential.  It does offer conveniences, largely due to its size, weight and flexibility.  As a personal Internet appliance, however, it excels and will change the way many of us interact with the Internet at home and particularly on the road.  I have found sufficient uses for the iPad at work that I can justify the acquisition and I am certainly glad that I have one.

Copyright, 2010 by Jeffrey Allen.  All rights reserved.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Droid is a slider style phone and has a physical keyboard.  The physical keyboard is, perhaps, its weakest link.  The keyboard has small level keys.  They do not have raised ridges, such as RIM uses with some of the Blackberry models.  I prefer the raised ridges as they make it easier to use.  Raised ridges on a slider phone, however, could pose a problem as they would either require extra space making the phone cumbersome or interfere with the sliding process.  In truth, I prefer the virtual keyboard option and rarely use the physical keyboard.

The Droid has a 5mp camera, complete with a flash unit. It takes very decent pictures.  It also takes high quality movies.  As with most smart phones, you can play movies and music on it.  The Droid comes with 16GB of internal memory, but you can add more through the use of micro SD cards.  The phone came with a 16GB micro SD card installed and supports up to 32GB micro SD cards.

The Droid uses the current iteration of Google’s Android operating system.  I have worked with the Android system since shortly after it came out and I like it.  It works smoothly and easily, bringing substantial power to the smart phone without burning up the battery.  Like the iPhone’s OS, the Android system allows for the use of Apps or applications.  In fact a number of Apps available on the iPhone also have Android versions.  The variety of Apps for the Android system does not approach that available for the iPhone yet; but you can get a lot of usable Apps for the Android phones.

Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Allen.

The good news is that the Juice Pack Air, which comes in white, black or (of all colors) purple, will add considerable life between charges to your iPhone 3G.  It adds some bulk (size and weight), but not so much as to make you unhappy to trade that off against the additional usage time between charges.  While Mophie could have produced it with a bit more care to ensuring that the top and bottom matched up more closely, that too comes within reasonable levels of tolerance.

The bad news is that the case appears to impair signal transmission and reception as, when I had the case on the phone dropped calls that it should not have.  I dropped far more calls with the case on than with the case off.

The case charges through a micro USB port.  I have no issue with that as many devices charge using micro USB ports these days and it synched up just fine with iTunes using the micro USB connection.  Unfortunately, rather than mounting the charging port flush with the surface of the case, Mophie’s designers chose to carve a notch out of the case and recess the port. They made the notch relatively small.   As a result many (maybe most) micro USB plugs will not fit into the notch.  Accordingly, you need to carry the micro USB plug that comes with it (or another equally slim-housed plug), which kind of defeats the purpose of the use of a common port that should allow for one cord to charge many devices.

My experience with the Juice Pack Air prove short-lived, however.  About a week after I got it, the recessed micro-USB port broke and prevented me from charging the device.  I do not know if it was because of the recessed port or some other reason.  I do know that I have a number of devices that use the micro USB port connection and have not had any of them break except this one.  All the others have the port mounted flush to the surface of the device.

The worst news, however, is that my efforts to contact customer service to follow up on getting this repaired and on other matters have proven fruitless.  I tried telephoning, making sure to call during their work ours and got voice mail each time.  While their machine took my messages, I have not receive any return phone calls or emails (I left phone number and email information in the message).  I also tried contacting the company for warranty service/customer service through their web site.  Shortly after the posts I received confirmation of the receipt and a notice that they assigned a case number.  The email said someone would get in touch with me soon.  So far, however, I have heard nothing further.

I am not sure what caused the failure of the USB port, but I noticed on the Apple web site that I was not the only one to experience that problem.  I also notice in other reviews of the Juice Pack Air on the Apple web site that others noticed the drop off in handling of calls with the case on the phone.

Normally, I do not like to write negative reviews and generally choose only things I like to write about.  This device promises to be so useful that I thought I should share my experience with others contemplating acquiring one, so that they could make an informed decision.

Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Allen.  All rights reserved.

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I have my hot little hands (OK, big hands) on three new smart phones/PDAs/Cameras/whatevers that look very impressive so far.  I will report on each of them in more detail in the near future.  The three I am playing with:  Palm’s new  Treo Pro (sleek, slim, light and running on Windows Mobile 6.1, unlocked GSM);  the Blackberry Bold (for about a week the hottest Blackberry around, amazingly better visual presentation and a very nice physical thumb board, currently available from AT&T); and the very impressive (already my favorite Blackberry, the Storm (no physical keyboard, but multiple virtual keyboards, excellent graphics, and a touch screen you have to try to believe.  It actually gives you a physical click response to a key press).  Anyway, I will keep you posted on how they do as I test them in various situations and put them through their paces. tonalin cla gnc chitosan performance enhancer Dirty Sanchez: The Movie hd

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Version 9 also shows a substantial improvement in the performance of the OCR function, which now works much faster than its predecessor.

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With the release of Acrobat 9, Adobe also opened access to Adobe.com, a site it created to facilitate collaboration and collaborative efforts.

The bottom line:  If you do not have Acrobat 8, go directly to Acrobat 9 Professional.  If you have Acrobat 8, the improvements justify the cost of upgrading to Acrobat 9 Professional.  If you use Windows computers and have an interest in the presentation features, consider the Extended version.

Copyright 2008, Jeffrey Allen.  All rights reserved. bayer levitra samples

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So many people have said so much about the new iPhone, that I won’t take a lot of time to describe it or even to talk about it. Blood Work move It qualifies as the hottest, slickest and best phone currently on the market. I really enjoy mine. Everyone in my family now has an iPhone and they all love their iPhones. My wife even learned to text message on it and she loves to use it to check her email and look things up on the Internet while she is out and about.

I love all the apps that I can add to it. Some of them have proven very useful. The ATT 3G network provides much faster Internet access speeds than its Edge network. The call quality appears to have improved as well.

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The new software released with the 3G iPhone (version 2) greatly improves the iPhone’s eMail abilities.  Although I have been partial to the Blackberry for eMail for some time, Apple has added some new features that the Blackberry does not have and, in some ways I now prefer the iPhone to the Blackberry for eMail.  I find the iPhone’s ability to handle email completely satisfactory.

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You can easily add apps from the App Store, a division of the iTunes Store on the Apple website.  You have the choice of adding the apps through your computer and then synching them into the iPhone through iTunes or add them directly to your iPhone.  As some of the apps are fairly large, you will find that it works best to download them to your computer or to have your iPhone connected via WiFi when you download them.  Visit the Apple website at www.apple.com for more information or go directly to the App Store in the iTunes store and browse for apps.

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My favorite non game apps include: Mobile News (a solid news aggregator), Tap Forms (a password protectable storage vault for your personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc.), Stocks (continuous reports on the Dow Jones, Nasdaq, S&P and other individual stocks of your choosing), Google (instant access for searching), ABA Journal (highlights of legal news), Now Playing (movies and times wherever you are in the US), Jott (notes you can leave yourself from any phone and recover on your iPhone in text), Yahoo One Connect (instant Yahoo), Evernote (grab it and store it), iWant (helps you locate restaurants, shops, etc. in your immediate vicinity) and TV.nu (what’s on TV). Surviving the Game ipod If you have trouble sleeping at night or just want some background noise when you relax, you might also take a look at Tranquility. It generates the sound of rain, waves crashing, a babbling brook, a forest at night and a few other sounds to help sooth your frazzled nerves or bore you to sleep.

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Copyright 2008, Jeffrey Allen.  All rights reserved.

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You can get an Amazon Kindle in any color you want……..as long as you want off-white. The Kindle is slightly larger and a little heavier than Sony’s Reader (7.5” x 5.3” x 0.7” and 10.3 ounces). Amazon sells the Kindle for $359. The Kindle runs off of a rechargeable battery or power from an electrical outlet. Amazon has set up a special ”Kindle“ store as part of its massive website structure (www.amazon.com/kindle will get you to the Kindle store. In the Kindle Store, you will find a variety of media to add to your Kindle library. Stargate: Continuum ipod Contemporary books will cost about $9.99 in electronic format, although you may find some for less. Just like in a bricks and mortar bookstore, you will find that less recent books will generally cost less. While at the Kindle Store, you can also subscribe to magazines, newspapers, and blogs or buy single issues of magazines and newspapers and have them added to your Kindle. You can and add your own documents and pictures to the Kindle as well. nutrabiotics calcium coral

You can connect the Kindle to a computer to add content, it requires no computer connection to purchase or receive books or periodical/blog subscription deliveries.

Amazon’s Whisper network allows you to access the Kindle store and purchase new materials and then download them directly to your Kindle, without using a computer. While Amazon has not set up a free Kindle library, you can find a number of Kindle compatible books available for download at little or no cost. Waking the Dead video If you want current best sellers, however, you will have to pay for them.

The Kindle’s built-in keyboard facilitates making notes. It also has a click-wheel for navigation and menu selections. You turn pages on the Kindle by pressing a panel on either the right or left side of the screen. The right side has a long panel button for the next page and a very short one for turning back to the previous page.

On your left hand side of the book, you will find a medium-sized panel for the next page and a longer panel for the previous page. Those page-turners represent one of the Kindle’s lesser features. Holding the Kindle without inadvertently turning pages takes some practice. The Kindle has a book cover style case to protect the device and its screen when you are not using it. Killer Nurse move

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The Lady Vanishes release The Kindle’s plastic case feels somewhat flimsy to me by comparison to the solidity of the Sony Reader. I prefer the navigational features of the Sony as well.

All things being otherwise equal, I would pick the Sony Reader over the Kindle. All things, however, are not equal. Amazon’s creation of the Whisper network and its ability to allow the Kindle to access and load new material as well as the breadth of the materials Amazon offers for the Kindle push it ahead of Sony’s Reader in my book.

Copyright 2008, Jeffrey Allen.  All rights reserved.

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The ABA GPSolo Division has released the latest issue of its Technology eReport.  

You can view it on line or download a PDF copy from the GPSolo web site at http://www.abanet.org/genpractice/ereport/vol7/num4/.  The issue includes:

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