Don’t worry though, I will still post here about the iPad in general and maybe one or two apps which I think every lawyer should know about. Who knows, maybe if you see some of the really amazing apps for the iPad you will decide to buy one for yourself. Didn’t I mention I call the iPad the “gateway drug” to Mac products?

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There are 18 different educational tracks for lawyers, so you will have a diverse selection of sessions concerning attorneys and law firms using technology.  Be sure to visit the amazing exhibit hall where my favorite case management software Rocket Matter will have a booth along with many, many other amazing products.  You can download the conference guide here.

Needless to say, I am extremely honored to be asked to speak at such a prestigious conference and am looking forward to sharing the knowledge I’ve gained in using my iPad and iPhone in my practice. While I have been asked recently by individual practitioners what iPad apps can assist them in their practice, this will be the first time I speak on the iPad since it’s debut and I cannot wait to share my insights.

If you are going to be in Vegas or can make it on August 23, 2010, please come by and say hello.

This episode… we talk about the new iPhone, the iPad and our guest Randy Juip’s conversion of his law firm to Mac

In this episode “iPad, New iPhone and Randy Juip” your hosts Ben Stevens, Finis Price, and our guest, Randy Juip, not only discuss Randy’s conversion of his office to Mac’s, but the upcoming iPhone as well as the iPad.

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We will give a review of FastCase in a few days on our branch-off site, MacEsq.com, in the next few days but U.S. Code doesn’t really need that much explanation as it simply provides the U.S. Code in its entirety. It provides full offline access to the entire U.S. Code so you can search all federal statutes by keyword or citation even when offline. You can even bookmark cites for future reference which is handy given the shear breadth of the information available in this app. This isn’t the most up to date version of the U.S. Code, but is still well worth the price…FREE.

MILO Chat – Episode 17 – “iPhone Security Revisited”
This episode… iPhone Security Revisited

Our format has been streamlined, and we hope that our listeners enjoy the improvements. Please let us know your thoughts on the new format. In this episode “iPhone Security Revisited” your hosts Ben Stevens, Finis Price, and our guest, Grant Griffiths, not only discuss that issue, but also examines the updates to the MacBook Pros and our first-hand impressions of the iPad.

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It looks like the lid has been blown on the new iPhone HD (it own’t be called the 4G because that’s the name of the successor network to 3G which won’t be released until late 2010-2011). I saw these photos on Saturday and quite honestly didn’t take them as real given the phone was “found” in a bar with a case to make it look like an iPhone 3GS. What changed my mind? Well, first Gizmodo got hold of it and then they took it apart to find Apple components which fit precisely inside with no extra room. This would therefore make it highly unlikely it is a knock-off when there are so many Apple components inside. Of course, this may not be the final design of the new iPhone, but I have to say I like it. The curved back of the iPhone 3GS always irked me and this new design fits more in line with the iPad and iMac line of products. I’ve posted the entire article below and included some screenshots and a video of the device to save for posterity since the Cease and Desist letter from Apple is surely being drafted as I type.

While Apple may tinker with the final packaging and design of the final phone, it’s clear that the features in this lost-and-found next-generation iPhone are drastically new and drastically different from what came before. Here’s the detailed list of our findings:

What’s new

• Front-facing video chat camera
• Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS)
• Camera flash
• Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display. It’s unclear if it’s the 960×460 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the “Connect to iTunes” screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic
What’s changed

• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound
• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)
• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier
• 16% Larger battery
• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery

Why we think it’s definitely real

We’re as skeptical—if not more—than all of you. We get false tips all the time. But after playing with it for about a week—the overall quality feels exactly like a finished final Apple phone—and disassembling this unit, there is so much evidence stacked in its favor, that there’s very little possibility that it’s a fake. In fact, the possibility is almost none. Imagine someone having to use Apple components to design a functioning phone, from scratch, and then disseminating it to people around the world. Pretty much impossible. Here are the reasons, one by one.

It has been reported lost

Apple-connected John Gruber—from Daring Fireball—says that Apple has indeed lost a prototype iPhone and they want it back:

So I called around, and I now believe this is an actual unit from Apple — a unit Apple is very interested in getting back.

Obviously someone found it, and here it is.

The screen

While we couldn’t get it past the connect to iTunes screen for the reasons listed earlier, the USB cable on that screen was so high quality that it was impossible to discern individual pixels. We can’t tell you the exact resolution of this next-generation iPhone, but it’s much higher than the current iPhone 3GS.

The operating system

According to the person who found it, this iPhone was running iPhone OS 4.0 before the iPhone 4.0 announcement. The person was able to play with it and see the iPhone 4.0 features. Then, Apple remotely killed the phone before we got access to it. We were unable to restore because each firmware is device specific—3GS firmware only loads on 3GS devices—and the there are no firmwares available for this unreleased phone. Which is another clue to its authenticity.

It is recognized as an iPhone

This iPhone behaves exactly like an iPhone does when connected to a computer, with the proper boot sequence and “connect to iTunes” restore functionality. Xcode and iTunes both see this as an iPhone. Mac OS X’s System Profiler also reports this as an iPhone in restore mode, which is a natural consequence of remotely wiping the phone, but report different product identifiers (both CPID and CPRV) than either the 3G or the 3GS.

It uses micro-sim

The fact that it uses a micro-sim is a clear indicator that this is a next-generation iPhone. No other cellphone uses this standard at this point in the US.

The camouflage case

The case it came inside was a fully developed plastic case to house this phone to disguise it like a 3GS. This wasn’t just a normal case; it had all the proper new holes cut out for the new switches and ports and camera holes and camera flash. But it looks like something from Belkin or Case-Mate. It’s a perfect disguise.

The fact that it’s in the wild right now

Logic can also narrow down why this phone is this year’s iPhone, rather than next year’s model or one from the previous year’s, just because it was found in the wild right now. It makes no sense for Apple to be testing 2011′s model right now, in super finished form—they wouldn’t be nearly finished with it. The phone also can’t be last year’s test model, because last year’s model (based on the iPhone 3GS teardowns) components were way different. No micro-sim, much bigger logic board, no flash, no front camera, smaller battery and an inferior camera. That only leaves the 2010 model.

The guts, the definitive proof

And finally, when we opened it up, we saw multiple components that were clearly labeled APPLE. And, because the components were fit extremely well and extremely conformed inside the case (obvious that it was designed FOR this case), it was evident that it was not just a 3G or a 3GS transplanted into another body. That probably wouldn’t even be possible, with the size constraints of the thinner device and larger battery.

The New Industrial Design

At first sight, this new iPhone’s industrial design seems so different from the previous two generations that it could be discarded as just a provisional case. Even while the finish is so perfect that it feels right out of the factory, some of the design language elements that are common to all Apple products are not there. Gone is the flushed screen glass against the metal rim. Gone is the single volume button, replaced by two separate ones. Gone is the seamless rim, and gone are the tapered, curved surfaces.

Despite that, however, this design is not a departure. Not when you frame it with the rest of the Apple product line. It’s all the contrary: This new iPhone gets back to the simplicity of the iMac and the iPad. In fact, you can argue that the current iPhone 3GS—with its shiny chrome rim and excessively curved back—is out of place compared to the hard edges and Dieter-Ramish utilitarianism of the iMac and the iPad. Next to the iPad, for example, the new iPhone makes sense. It has the same feeling, the same functional simplicity.

But why the black plastic back, instead of going with an unibody aluminum design? Why the two audio volume buttons? Why the seams? And why doesn’t the back have any curvature at all?

Why the plastic back?

The plastic back is the most obvious of the design choices. The iPad, with its all aluminum back, has seen its Wi-Fi reception radius reduced. The 3G version comes with a large patch on the top, probably big enough to provide with good reception. But the new tiny iPhone doesn’t have the luxury of space: It needs to provide with as much signal as possible using a very small surface. I’m sure Jon Ive is dying to get rid of the plastic back, and go iPad-style all the way, but the wireless reception is the most important thing in a cellphone. A necessary aesthetical-functional trade-off.

Why separate volume buttons?

This new iPhone uses separate buttons for the volume instead of the single button that you can find in the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. It’s one of the factors that may indicate that this is a provisional case, until you think about one of the most requested features for Apple’s phone: A physical button for the camera. The new iPhone has a bigger sensor and a flash, which means that the camera function keeps gaining more weight. It’s only logical to think that Apple may have implemented this two-button approach to provide with a physical shutter button. It makes sense.

Why the seams?

The seams are perhaps the most surprising aspect of the new design. They don’t seem to respond to any aesthetic criteria and, in terms of function, we can’t adventure any explanation. But they don’t look bad. In fact, the whole effect seems good, like something you will find in a Braun product from the 70s.

It’s doubtful that the seams are arbitrary, however. Either they will disappear from the final product, or they have a function we can’t foresee at this time.

Why no tapering or curves?

As you will see in a future article, the new iPhone is so miniaturized and packed that there’s no room for the tapered, curved surfaces. Everything is as tight as it could get, with no space for anything but electronics.

The hardware specs

The phone measures 4.50 by 2.31 by 0.37 inches. It weighs 140 grams. The 3GS weighs 137 grams on a postal scale (and 135 on Apple’s official measurements). So, in comparison, it’s 3 grams heavier. The battery is 5.25 WHr at 3.7V, compared to the 3GS battery, which is 4.51 WHr at 3.7V. On the back of the phone, it said it was XX GB, but since we were unable to get the phone to a running state, we couldn’t see exactly how large it was.

How it feels

Freaking amazing. As a person who never really liked the round mound of a back in the 3GS, the sleeker, flatter, squarer design is super welcome. It feels sturdier than the 3GS, and much less plasticky. The metal buttons give it a heftier feel—less of a toy—than all previous generations. The closest analog to it would be the original iPhone, which is more square and heavy than its newer brothers.

It feels completely natural up to your face, and the fact that both the front and the back are glossy makes no difference on how well you can hold it without the phone slipping. And because it’s thinner, it feels even nicer in your pants.

What all this means

Apple has updated the exterior drastically different from the 3G and 3GS. That design is old, it felt out of place compared to the rest of their products and needed desperately to be killed. Now you have a thinner body, a much more pleasant form factor with no wasted space and lots of hard lines. But the design isn’t the most important part that’s changed.

They’ve delivered many of the features people have been waiting for—that damn front camera!—while at the same time upgrading everything else. Flash, better back camera, better battery life and another microphone for better voice clarity. People who bought the 3G two years ago and are now in the perfect position to upgrade and get a dramatically different, and better, phone. If confirmed this summer, and if it performs as we expect, this next-generation iPhone looks like a winner.

Much additional reporting and design analysis by Jesus Diaz. Rosa Golijan also contributed.

GREAT work by Gizmodo in tracking this story down and getting a hold of this prototype iPhoneHD. They have really outdone themselves this time.

During our visit to Techshow, my good friend Ben Stevens (The Mac Lawyer) and I had the opportunity to hear a number of absolutely ridiculous and absurd comments made by IT consultants as to why attorneys should not use the iPhone for their legal practice.  What was implied was that security on mobile phones is a tricky business and that for a nominal fee those very same consultants could come in and ‘fix your problems’.  After my heated comments on Twitter during the 60 Tips in 60 Minutes, Ben and I decided to post an official response to these baseless assaults on the iPhone on behalf of all Mac using lawyers around the world.

Is the iPhone secure? That question has been hotly debated in legal circles since its release. To date, the loudest replies have been by those shouting “No” (see here, here, and here) but does that make that answer true? Ben Stevens of The Mac Lawyer and Finis Price of TechnoEsq now enter the fray to try to set the record straight.

The anti-iPhone crowd makes the following three types of claims to support their position that the iPhone is the “the most insecure phone we’ve ever seen” and that “the words iPhone and security do not belong in the same sentence”: (1) it’s too easy to jailbreak; (2) there are encryption weaknesses; and (3) it stores screenshots.

Finis is both a practicing lawyer and computer forensics expert, and he recently participated in the Droid v. iPhone debate in the ABA Journal. With these impressive credentials, he responds to each of those allegations as follows:

The fact is that many so called “smart”phones can be cracked and the data stolen. Of course, the same can be said of laptops, and how many lawyers have theirs encrypted? One key difference with the iPhone is that it allows you to remotely wipe the email in the event that is ever lost. Starting back with the iPhone 2.1, it is possible to have the iPhone wipe its data after ten invalid tries, with each attempt being longer and longer. How many attorneys can do that with their laptops? Further, if your corporate email is set up correctly, your mail disappears if your password expires. While this can be annoying, it is more secure than the BlackBerry, which stores the email on the device itself. Also, the iPhone holds only 150 emails at most, which while annoying is more secure than the BlackBerry, which stores much more. Therefore, even if you use POP email, you are only risking 150 emails.

The allegation that the iPhone has encryption weaknesses rings hollow. There are about 100 security apps in the App Store which allow you to encrypt the iPhone to protect it in case it is lost or stolen. You can even add biometric security to the iPhone through apps if you so desire. The fact is that since the 3G-S version was introduced two years ago, the iPhone has been as secure, if not more secure, than any laptop – period.

I believe that the argument about storing screenshots is outright silly. Yes, the iPhone gives you the ability to store screenshots in your photo album, but you have to work a little by pressing a couple of buttons every time to make one. Despite the clamoring made by some, this is not done automatically. Moreover, the only way you would not know about this happening was if you never looked at your photos. I will acknowledge that I have accidentally done this on my home page, but I have never done in by accident within an app.

Is anything 100% secure? Of course not. Law offices are subject to being broken into and/or having wandering eyes (such as cleaning crews) access client information. Legal pads and paper files get lost or misplaced, and how secure is a briefcase to someone who wants to get inside of it? One could argue that even the information stored inside the lawyers’ brains is not secure. Give Jack Bauer ten minutes and I guarantee that he would get information out of the most ethical, security conscious attorney in the world.

All of this might make one wonder why iPhones are being targeted and unfairly branded as being “unsafe.” A skilled forensic expert gets physical access to a laptop computer, he can extract all sorts of information, even that which was thought to have been deleted. Yet we find it odd that we don’t hear anyone claiming that it is unethical for an attorney to use a laptop, as some have stated about the iPhone. One cannot help but wonder whether those are merely the ramblings of fear-mongering PC-centric dinosaurs or those interested in selling us something?

Just as you would verify information a used car salesman tells you about the history of a car before you buy it, attorneys should equally question IT consultants making sweeping statements – ESPECIALLY when those IT consultants have every vested interest in making you believe what they are telling you.  I am not saying this was the case at TechShow but it can’t hurt to explore the REAL facts behind what you are being told.

UPDATE- Be sure to check out the comments to this post as Tom Mighell has made some great points.

This episode… Apple iPad Special – Part 2

Hosted by: Victor Medina, Finis Price, and Ben Stevens. We discuss the iPad right after orders were allowed.

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