The iPad is going to be sweet. It will change the way law students learn the law, and it will be a benefit to practicing attorneys. The iPad will not do anything that another device can already do. It will simply do those things better.

I use my iPhone all the time during client meetings. I can pull up documents using Dropbox. I can access the web to lookup various things: public records, company information, etc. Sometimes we need to make recordings, which is also easily done. I would love to take notes on my iPhone instead of by hand, but it is too annoying.

The iPad can do all of that stuff, and do it better. You can pull up documents on Dropbox and read them without zooming in. You can turn your iPad around and show it to a client. You can access the web and the client can look with you at the same time. You can make recordings. I could also take notes if I wanted.

Could I use a netbook to do all this? Sure, with a smaller screen and a lame interface and operating system. When I need it, my iPhone is a nice sidekick during client meetings and the iPad will be even better.

iLove the iPad is a post from: Lawyerist

I think the iPad will be a big disappointment for Apple and its customers.

Look, this is just a giant iPod Touch, and that is about it. Kind of like a phone, but it does not fit into a pocket. And no multitasking, full-version software, USB ports, video outs, or Flash. Microsoft tried this with Windows CE, and look where that wound up.

The iPad has a processor slower than a netbook, no physical keyboard, and runs a stripped-down version of OS X. Not stripped-down like Google’s Chrome OS, which can still run a full browser and software, but stripped-down like the iPhone.

You want to browse the web and carry a lighter computer? Get a netbook. You want portable, stripped-down apps? Get a smartphone. You want to play games on something too big for your pocket? Get a Wii. Paul Miller from Engadget put it this way:

Overall, the device just doesn’t do anything I can’t already accomplish more excellently with another device: I produce content on my laptop, I consume content on my TV, and there’s no way you’re convincing me that you can have the best web surfing experience without a keyboard.

When are you really going to reach for the iPad instead of one of your other devices?

The only thing the iPad really competes with is e-book readers like the Kindle and Nook. While the iPad is undoubtedly a fuller reading experience, those e-paper screens are still easier on the eyes than the iPad’s glossy, and soon-to-be smudgy touchscreen. Besides, the Kindle is much cheaper, while the iPad is bigger, heavier, and requires a monthly internet subscription if you want the Kindle’s always-on access to a bookstore.

If you really think tablets are the wave of the future, check out the HP Slate. The Slate is closer to what I imagined a tablet should be. A decent processor running a real operating system, so that I can check my e-mail, pull up my case files for the document camera in court, and use Skype to keep in touch with my associate. It is hampered by Windows 7, which is a great OS, but not (so far, anyway) particularly small-touchscreen-friendly.

I do want a tablet/slate/pad/whatever, but the iPad is not what I am looking for. I do not think it is what American consumers are looking for, either, and I predict Apple’s first major flop in some time.

(image: unknown)

The iPad: Apple’s Newest iFlop? is a post from: Lawyerist

If you have a Mac, you probably have an iPhone. With Airlock, you can use your iPhone to automatically lock and unlock your Mac when you are away.

Airlock uses Bluetooth to tell your computer when you leave the room (or other proximity; you can change the settings). When you leave, your computer is locked by Airlock. When you return, Airlock will wirelessly tell your computer you are back, and unlock your computer.

You can also program Airlock to tell your computer to run various programs upon your return. If you lose your iPhone, or the battery dies, you can still use a manual login function, so you are not left in the lurch.

Unfortunately, Airlock can cause minor problems if you use a wireless keyboard or mouse. Because of a Bluetooth firmware issue, Airlock can cause your mouth or keyboard to disconnect. Apple is apparently working on a firmware update to correct this.

There are other ways to have your computer automatically lock, such as making a hot corner that puts your computer to sleep, or setting up your screensaver to come on after five minutes of inactivity. Airlock, however, seems to be the easiest, and quickest option.

(photo: CarbonNYC)

Use Your iPhone to Secure Your Mac is a post from: Lawyerist

The iPhone is a sweet product and incredibly useful, but the Genius Bar needs serious improvement.

A few months ago I had issues with my iPhone turning itself off unexpectedly. When I went to Genius Bar and told them my problem, I was told “well sir, I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but iPhones do not just turn themselves off and I have never heard of that.”

That was not cool. Neither was the solution—”back up your iPhone and do a full restore.” I drove to the mall to get insulted and then told to essentially wipe and iPhone and start from scratch?

Last weekend, I went to the Genius Bar with three questions. First, my iPhone has inexplicably stopped pushing new MobileMe emails to my iPhone. The Genius verified my settings were correct, and then said “well, that’s weird. It shouldn’t do that. I would back up your iPhone and do a full restore.” My eyes began to roll.

Second, my iPhone will not connect to my office’s wi-fi router. After explaining that my phone could previously connect to the network, I was told to first erase my network settings, and then do a backup and full restore if that did not work.

Third, I asked about some security issues. The “Genius” had never heard of the issue. At that point, I was not surprised.

My visit ended with, “well, try the restore, and then if things are not working, come back in.” That is not what I call productive or helpful. Apple could just email me and tell me to do that before coming into the store, rather than wasting forty-five minutes of my Saturday.

Let me save you some time. If your iPhone has a problem, do a backup and full restore. I learned that from not one, but two “Geniuses.”

Apple’s “Genius Bar” Not Exactly Living Up to Its Name is a post from: Lawyerist

Macs are born awesome, but add some of these applications and watch your productivity soar.

1. Dropbox. An online harddrive, like an IDisk/MobileMe drive, but oh so much better. Dropbox is much, much faster than IDisk. You can install it on multiple computers and sync all of your files. It does a fantastic job of updating instantly and integrates very well with OS X. 2 GB of online storage is free.
2. Things/Studiometry. Both programs are task-management/organizational programs. I tried Things for 30-days and forgot about it after two. Studiometry is getting rave reviews from a fellow Mac user, and from what I have seen, it is far superior to Things. Things retails for $49.95 and Studiometry costs $199.95.
3. BusyCal. I have not tried it yet, but it appears to be a cross between ICal and Google Calendar. In other words, a better version of ICal. One massive upside is the ability to sync with more than one device. Retails for $40.
4. Coconut Battery. If you have a laptop, this is must own, and it is free. Coconut Battery will show you how much battery life you have, and how that compares with the original capacity. Very useful to determine when you need a battery.

Macs rock, add some new applications and rock even harder.

20+ Mac Apps to Increase Your Productivity | Mashable

(photo: orcmid)

Optimize Productivity on Your Mac is a post from: Lawyerist

I love all things Mac, including the Mail App. But I use Gmail for my work e-mail—and it is great, too. But which one is better?

For the next week I am going to use Gmail and Apple’s web-based browser, me.com, and offer the pros and cons of both.

Gmail has one indisputable advantage—it is free. Apple charges $99 per year for a me.com e-mail address, but you get tons of other stuff, like online storage, website and photo hosting, iPhone locator, and more. For the purposes of this challenge, I will stick just to the e-mail systems.

Check back for my detailed comparison of the two e-mail systems.

(photo: Tancread)

Gmail vs. MobileMe is a post from: Lawyerist

I am a consumer rights attorney in Minneapolis, and I absolutely love it. I am fortunate to have a great mentor, which makes my job almost too good to be true.

I went to the University of Minnesota law school, learned a ton in class, but learned even more working for the Ramsey County Public Defender’s Office—representing clients in court twice a week. I like to think of consumer law as doing public defender work in the civil realm.

Prior to law school, I lived in Hollywood and tried to be the next Spielberg, but ended up helping produce Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “governator spots.” I was also hired by Marvel Comics because of my expertise and familiarity with all things Marvel. I am still disappointed I did not meet Spiderman.

I regularly contribute to a consumer blog, Caveat Emptor, along with another legal site, AdviceScene. I am the co-publisher of Elder Parent Help, a website that provides resources to helps individuals care for their aging parents and loved ones.

My posts on Lawyerist will deal with networking, law school survival tips, everything Apple/Mac, and everything small and solo law practice.

Lawyerist Contributor: Randall Ryder is a post from: Lawyerist

The new Apple iPhone 3G S is certainly the gadget of the moment. With a new operating system, faster processor, and video capabilities, like a lot of folks, I wanted to upgrade. One problem, however, was frequent concern about the upgrade price. Many tech blogs were reporting it would cost as much as $500 to upgrade to the 3GS. I just got one for under $15. Here is how I did it:

I was able to get this deal because I own a 2G iPhone with an expired contract. Owners of 3Gs still under contract might still be able to use this approach to save money.

Use Bing to get 35% cashback on your new iPhone 3GS purchase

To get 35% cashback on purchases at AT&T, go to Microsoft’s Bing search engine, search for “ATT Wireless” and click on the orange “Bing cashback” link (shown as the second result above).

To get the cashback, you will be sent through Bing’s cashback program to the AT&T Wireless site. Buy your iPhone 3G from AT&Ts website and you will receive a cashback confirmation email from Microsoft a few hours later (shown below). To receive your cashback, you will need to register with Bing cashback and wait a few weeks for the rebate to process.

This discount brought my subsidized $199 iPhone 3GS down to $129. (Thanks to TechCruch for the tip).

The additional amount on my receipt was for a gel skin I bought for the phone, also using the cashback discount.

Use Gazelle to sell your old Apple iPhone

Having paid $129 for the new iPhone 3GS, I then sold my used two-and-half-year-old 2G iPhone on Gazelle for $116, for a total upgrade cost of under $15!

Gazelle will purchase all kinds of used gadgets, from video games, to laptops, to smartphones. Most of their prices are nothing special. For instance, my newly replaced laptop received a Gazelle offer of under $20. But their offers for used iPhones are very reasonable. Simply go to Gazelle, search for your gadget, fill in details on its condition, and receive instructions on how to send it in and receive payment. Gazelle promises to wipe the data on your phone for you (you can choose whether to trust that promise).

My guess is that you could probably get a similar, or better, price selling your used iPhone on ebay, but it would be a little more work logistically.

(photo: renatomitra)

How I upgraded to the new iPhone 3G S for under $15.00 is a post from: Lawyerist

My old ThinkPad T43 is dead and I have been shopping for a new laptop. I value three things above all: portability, durability, and performance. I take my laptops everywhere, so they need to be thin and light. That means they also take a lot of abuse. And I like to keep my laptops for three to five years, so I prefer high performance components that will not slow me down over that time.

I have narrowed the field to three: the Apple Macbook, Lenovo ThinkPad, and Dell Precision. Two are business-class Windows PCs. The other is a Mac. I am having trouble deciding, so I decided to put together a detailed comparison. This is going to be a long post. Tune in, true believers, for a head-to-head comparison on the features I consider most important.

(Spoiler: I got the ThinkPad.)

Overview

So why these three? The Lenovo ThinkPad was an automatic contender. My old ThinkPad T43 was an awesome laptop. Not attractive, but thin, light, and tough as nails. I have always kind of wanted a Macbook, and the new aluminum ones add some serious durability to an already-nice package. The Dell Precision is more of a dark horse. The Precision line got some good press when it released, and it has some impressive features that make it a real contender.

Although I have not used any of these laptops, I have some experience with each brand, and I have been poring over their specs for a few days now. With that in mind, I wanted to compare them head-to-head.

Form factor

The Apple Macbook is clearly the best-looking of the three, and the aluminum shell bodes well for its long-term durability. The Precision is not bad-looking for a business-class laptop, but the Lenovo ThinkPad is an ugly brick. When it comes to size and weight, however, all three are pretty comparable. As measured by the manufacturers, the Apple Macbook is the thinnest (.95″) and lightest (4.5 lbs.). The Precision (1″ and 4.77 lbs.) and the Lenovo ThinkPad (1.1″ and 4.7 lbs.) are just a bit chunkier with their bigger screens.

Advantage: Apple Macbook.

Screen

Mac does not offer a 14″ screen, so the Apple Macbook is smaller right off the bat. The extra size of the Dell Precision and Lenovo ThinkPad is nice for working with documents, though, especially since the widescreen format robs the user of vertical space for editing documents as it is. An LED screen is important to me, both because they are more environmentally-friendly and because they use less power to create a brighter picture.

The Lenovo falls behind here. While it does have LED screens, they are available only in the lower-resolution WXGA. The Precision has a WXGA+ LED screen, and while it is not as bright and impressive as the Macbook, it is also available in a matte finish, which means less glare.

Advantage: Dell Precision and Apple Macbook.

Keyboard & trackpad

I hate the Apple Macbook keyboard. Typing on a Macbook is like running with my shoelaces tied together. Even basic commands like copy and paste require awkward finger contortions, and the absence of the Delete, Home, and End keys makes me feel like I am typing with only nine fingers. The Macbook trackpad, on the other hand, is big and very useful, although the button (even on the button-less aluminum Macbook) is too hard to press, and the travel is too short.

ThinkPads are famous for their amazing keyboards, and amazing they are. The key travel is perfect, and they are so good, I would rather type on a ThinkPad than on any other keyboard. The trackpad is okay, if a bit small. The buttons work well, but in my last ThinkPad, they wore down over time and I replaced that piece once (it would have needed to be replaced again if I had kept it).

I have never used the Precision, so I have to rely on anecdotal evidence. The keyboard on my Dell Inspiron was perfectly good, just not as good as the ThinkPad’s. According to NotebookReview, however, the Precision’s trackpad is ridiculously small. I believe it, but it does not look much smaller than the ThinkPad’s.

Advantage: Lenovo ThinkPad.

Battery

Battery life is important for portability, whether I want to work in the backyard or in a coffee shop with too few power outlets. While the Precision and ThinkPad are available with larger batteries, I am not interested in adding weight. 5 lbs. is enough.

Lenovo claims 4.3 hours from the 4-cell battery in the ThinkPad T400. Even allowing for some manufacturer inflation, that is impressive. Dell does not have any numbers on its website that I can find, and it seems to have sent out test units with only the larger, 9-cell battery, so I am guessing at the battery life. Let’s assume it is close to the ThinkPad, since it does have a larger battery.

Neither of the Windows PCs compares to the Macbook, however. Apple claims up to five hours, and Notebook Review found that was about right, getting 4.75 hours with average use.

FYI, the Lenovo figures on battery life are seriously inflated. My T400 shipped with the bigger, 6-cell battery, and I get less than 4 hours with regular usage.

Advantage: Apple Macbook.

Operating system

OS X is pretty nice. It has its quirks (the Dock is pretty useless, for example), but it blows Vista out of the water.

Vista is pretty awful and annoying, but since I will want to run Ubuntu Linux on my laptop, and Lenovo and Dell have an advantage. I would expect some real frustrations getting the Macbook running smoothly.

The upcoming Windows 7 is pretty sweet, too. While OS X gives the Macbook the advantage over Vista at the moment, Windows 7 will erase that advantage in the near future.

Advantage: Dell Precision and Lenovo ThinkPad.

Price

Here’s the biggie, right? Configured as closely as I can get them, here are the prices of each laptop:

• Apple Macbook: $1,599
• Dell Precision M2400: $1,547
• Lenovo ThinkPad T400: $1,482

Lenovo is having a big sale at the moment (they always are), so that price is probably a bit lower than usual. Of course, the Dell Precision and the ThinkPad have a few higher-end options not available on the Macbook, like faster processors and up to 8 GB of RAM on the ThinkPad.

More importantly, if I bought the Macbook, I would have to buy a new scanner ($446) for use at home. Plus, since using GIMP on a Mac is incredibly painful, I would need to buy Photoshop, a $700 piece of software (or $300 with my teacher’s discount). And I am sure there are a couple of other things I am missing.

Advantage: Dell Precision and Lenovo ThinkPad.

Conclusion

So the final, unweighted score is:

• Apple Macbook: 3
• Dell Precision M2400: 3
• Lenovo ThinkPad T400: 3

Not very helpful. Which leaves me where I started: unsure about which laptop I should buy. But in the end, I bought the Lenovo ThinkPad for a few reasons.

Mainly, it came down to price. When I added up the real cost of switching, the Apple Macbook was way too much. With necessary hardware and software purchases, it would have been nearly $1,000 more.

While the Dell Precision is not much more expensive than the ThinkPad, I was able to get an IBM Friends and Family discount on the ThinkPad, which allowed me to load it up with options, including a faster processor, bigger hard drive, and a four-year service plan, and still come in under $1,600 before taxes.

And I feel good about my decision when I consider the keyboard. Writing is what I do, so I need a keyboard I can write with. The Dell Precision’s keyboard would have been fine, I am sure, but the Apple Macbook’s keyboard is simply inadequate for me.

So those factors pushed the ThinkPad into the lead, and I am eagerly awaiting my ship date. The last few days of mooching computer time from my wife in the evenings have been awful!

Faceoff: Apple Macbook v. Lenovo ThinkPad T400 v. Dell Precision M2400 is a post from: Lawyerist

The internet is abuzz with news of the iPhone 3G, the most powerful feature of which seems to be a price tag that finally brings the iPhone into direct competition with other smartphones. I am not giving up my BlackBerry Pearl any time soon, though.

What I want to know is when is Apple going to update the MacBook and MacBook Pro? A 14.1″ screen option would be nice. OLED screens, maybe? Multi-touch on the MacBook?

But there are no rumors coming out. Macrumors has about thirty-five posts on the new iPhone, and seems to have forgotten about the rumors of a new MacBook pro.

iPhone 3G . . . blah blah blah is a post from: Lawyerist