the padded courtroom

This site is meant to serve as a repository of our collective knowledge and experience. We solicit your questions, answers and tips about using iPads and other technology in the courts. Instructions on posting may be found by clicking HOW TO POST in the navigation bar. When displayed on an iPad, the blog is best viewed in landscape mode. BTW, the Search function is not operational. Tumblr is working on it. In the meantime, you can click the TAGS LIST in the navigation bar, then click a tag to find corresponding posts. NOTE: Neither this site nor its posts are intended to endorse the purchase or use of any product, program or app, and no such endorsement should be inferred.

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iPad 3 Launch: The Padded Courtroom called it.

Last week, The Padded Courtroom predicted that the iPad 3 would be launched on Wednesday, March 7.

Today, Apple sent invitations for an upcoming product announcement at an event in San Francisco. The invite was accompanied by this photo:

The date of the event? Wednesday, March 7, at 1pm Eastern Time.

Hah! Nailed it.

[paddedcourtroom]

Tres Cool: The iPad 3 Rumor Compendium

For months, the blogosphere has been atwitter ("atwitter," get it?) over myriad reports by those who are familiar with anonymous sources who have knowledge of unattributed information from unnamed insiders about Apple's likely plans for the third generation iPad.

The Padded Courtroom has carefully studied this information, vetted it against known evidence of rumored production orders possibly given to Apple’s Asian suppliers, and measured it against the apparent conclusions of knowledgeable experts who are said to have extrapolated from hidden code detected deep within the iOS 5 operating system by persons who prefer not to be named.

Here is what we've gleaned so far:

The iPad 3 will launch on Wednesday, March 7, and be available for purchase on Friday, March 9, or Saturday, March 10. Or it will be available mid-March. Or late March. Unless, that is, it launches sometime later this month, in which case it might be available in early March. Or April.

It will have a faster chip than its predecessors, the A6. The chip will be quad-core. Or dual-core. But faster.

It will have a retina display at double the screen resolution of the iPad 1 and 2. But Apple will also offer a lesser-priced version with the same resolution as that of the iPad 1 and 2. Maybe.

The iPad 3 will be 4G/LTE capable. Or not.

It will have a larger battery to accommodate the power demands of the retina display and 4G radio.

Therefore, it will be slightly thicker than the iPad 2, but it might turn out to be slightly thinner.

The new iPad will have an HD front camera. (Which one is the front?) No, it will have an improved rear camera. (Which one is the rear?)

Apple will still offer the iPad 2, at a discounted price. The discount will be steep. Or slight. 

The iPad 3 will have Siri, if she's not too busy.

There you have it. Now you know what we know.

[paddedcourtroom]

For the masochist.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                If you like searching and reading the Congressional Record (no offense, but... seriously?), there's an app for that. Free               from the Library of Congress here.

[paddedcourtroom]

Magic fingers: the split keyboard's hidden keys

Remember our post about the iOS 5 split keyboard feature? It looks like this:

(Check out the full post here.)

Splitting the keyboard is helpful when typing on the iPad while holding it. It permits you to grip the device with both hands and "thumb type." But the center keys can be problematic if a particular key is located on the side opposite the hand you customarily use when striking it. For example, when typing on a full keyboard I strike the b with my left index finger--but in the iPad's split keyboard mode, the b is on the right side. This invariably slows me down while I try to locate the key and override my muscle memory.

What we didn't know when we wrote the first post on this topic was that Apple already had this issue figured out (though apparently it didn't perceive a need tell anyone). It programmed invisible keys into the split keyboard feature, hidden just off the edges of the two keyboard halves, so that the user can strike the middle keys with either thumb. Thus, on the top row there is a y hidden next to the t, and vice versa, and so forth. Here are the hidden keys revealed:

These hidden keys work just like the regular ones, the only difference being that you can't see them. There are hidden keys in the alternate keyboards, as well, e.g., there is a 6 hidden next to the 5, a # next to the &, and so on.

Enjot! --I mean, Enjoy!

[paddedcourtroom]

iAnnotate Tip: Highlighting Scanned PDFs

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Most iAnnotate annotation tools work fine on scanned PDFs. One can bookmark, insert comment boxes, stamp, and even typewrite. But highlighting doesn't work. The highlighter is the tool I use the most, so this can be pretty frustrating. Fortunately, there's a pretty good work-around.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The trick is to use the iAnnotate pencil                                     tool. Simply line through the text you want                               to highlight.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                               When you are finished marking the text, open                          the Color menu, and use the sliders to reduce the                  pencil mark's opacity and increase its size.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                  Voila!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Here's an even better tip:

Make a permanent "highlighter" for scanned PDFs by adding a "pencil of a specific color" to your toolbar. When you do, the Color menu will open and you can permanently adjust the pencil line's opacity and size to give it the appearance of a highlighter.

[paddedcourtroom]

Access PACER on the go.

If you've got a federal court PACER account, you can access it from your iPad or iPhone. All you need is the FedCtRecords app. Ten bucks, here.

[paddedcourtroom]

All new iAnnotate!

  iAnnotate 2.0, a major revamp, was released last night. Its developers describe the new version as its "biggest update ever." It sports a completely revised user interface, reworked tool bars, connectivity improvements and, the developers say, "so much more!"

We'll be putting version 2.0 through its paces in the next few days and will let you know what we find. As always with a major update of any app, it's a good idea to back up your content before installing it.

[paddedcourtroom]

We just can't resist a good office rumor.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          According to the iPad publication The Daily, Microsoft will launch an iPad version of its Office Suite in 2012. Read the article here.

[paddedcourtroom]

Leading the way...

Today the Court Technology Bulletin, a blog hosted by the National Center for State Courts, featured the Florida Twelfth Judicial Circuit's prototype e-filing system that has been operating there since 2009.  Kudos to Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Court Chips Shore and Twelfth Circuit Chief Judge Lee Haworth for their efforts to put Florida in the forefront of court technology. Check out the article here.

[paddedcourtroom]

Printing with wires is so 20th Century.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               You’re walking around holding one of the niftiest gadgets to grace humankind since the automatic transmission, and you’re still uploading to a computer for printing?

In the iEra, you’re just not hip if you’re not printing straight from the ‘Pad. You might as well be gelling your hair, or drinking store brand coffee from a percolator. Here’s how to get with the program:

AirPrint

The easiest way to print from an iPad is, of course, the most expensive. AirPrint has been included in Apple's mobile operating system since the release of iOS 4.2 in the fall of 2010. The free program permits AirPrint-enabled apps to find and print to AirPrint-enabled wireless printers sharing a wifi network with the iPad.

"AirPrint-enabled wireless printers" is the kicker. To use AirPrint, you've got to have the right kind of printer. When the program was first released, only HP's ePrint line of printers was supported. SInce then, the list of AirPrint-enabled printers has grown considerably, to include printers by HP, Canon, Epson and Lexmark. See the current list here.

I have no experience with AirPrint because I don't yet need a new printer and I'm not inclined to shell out bucks to buy one simply in order to test the program. But as far as I can tell from the online discussions, it seems to work well. 

If you're in the market for a printer, check out the list of AirPrint-enabled ones, or look for the AirPrint logo (pictured at left) somewhere on the printer or documentation.

Third Party Apps

These come in two variations, both of which permit the iPad to reach a printer through a computer connected to the same wifi network. The first type is actually not an iPad app at all. Rather, it's a program that resides in the computer that controls the printer. One such is Printopia. The program is highly regarded, but here are the rubs: it costs twenty bucks (although there is a free demo), and it only works on Macs. Given this blog's piddling budget (I work for the state, after all) and Printopia's lack of a Windows version (as I was saying...), I haven't tried it.

I did try FingerPrint. It, too, is strictly a computer program. It comes in Mac and Windows versions at $9.99 each, but you can download full featured seven-day trials of both programs. The FingerPrint website claims that the program "discovers all the printers that your computer knows about," and my experiments bore this out. But there was a problem. Although FingerPrint quickly discovered and printed to the printer cabled to my Mac, and it easily discovered the printer associated with my Windows PC at work, it would not print to the latter. The issue, I think, is that the workplace printer is networked to the computer, not plugged into it. I haven't yet found the solution, but I'll post it when I do. And when I do, FingerPrint likely will be my choice for printing from my iPad.

Until then, I'll be printing with true iPad-resident apps. I have tried three of them--Print Sharing, PrintCentral Pro, and Printer Pro. All have received solid customer ratings in the iTunes App Store. They range in price from 99 cents (Print Sharing) to $9.99 (PrintCentral Pro). Each has its pluses and minuses. Print Sharing is inexpensive, but it won't print through a Windows computer, and its user interface (or UI, as we technophiles like to say) is so simple that it's disconcerting, almost creepily so. On the other hand, it shows up on the "Open In" list in my Documents to Go app, as well as in my favorite note-taking apps. (PrintCentral Pro does, as well; Printer Pro does not).

PrintCentral Pro is the most complex of the three, and in my thinking that is its drawback. The app involves more set-up than the others, and it takes awhile to get the hang of the app. Also, to work on a Windows-based network, it required me to download a server program that I could never get to work properly. But of these three apps, it is the only one that will print emails--not just the attachments--or print from the iPad's calendar.

Last but not least is Printer Pro. This is the printing app that I find most useful. It is the only one of the three that shows up on the "Open In" lists in my favorite PDF readers, and its user interface is easy to follow. Most important, it works flawlessly with the network printer associated with my workplace Windows computer. Printer Pro is priced between the other two apps, at $6.99. There is a free version, Printer Pro Lite, that can be downloaded for testing on your printer-computer combination.

As you can see, there isn't yet a perfect solution for wireless printing from an iPad. But that shouldn't hold you back. With a small investment, you can put together a combination of apps that will pretty much cover all of your needs. So get to it. It's the 21st Century, for goodness sakes. This isn't your father's iPad.

[paddedcourtroom]

"Is it possible to simplify the highlighters in iAnnotate so the app doesn’t give you the blue dots for resizing the highlighted area? I would prefer the highlighters to work just like real highlighters and nothing more. Thanks!"

The short answer to your question is "no." So far, I haven't found a way to turn that function off. If those blue dots bother you that much, you might consider switching to another PDF reader.

One good choice would be PDF Expert, in which the highlighting behaves just like a physical highlighter (to the point that the highlighting isn't automatically straight, as in iAnnotate). PDF Expert doesn't have nearly as many annotation options as iAnnotate, but it has plenty. And it is well integrated with Dropbox and Sharepoint servers. You can find more info here.

Another option, if you're a Gator fan, is to set your iAnnotate highlighting color to orange. Then you might even find the blue dots pleasing.

UPDATE: I've found another approach that you can use if you're not interested in trying another app--use the iAnnotate pen tool instead of the highlighter. Simply line through your text with the pen, then open the "color" control box. From there, you can use the sliders to increase the width of the line and reduce its opacity. Voila! The pen line will look just like highlighting.

[paddedcourtroom]

Latest Hi-Tech Innovation: Opposable Thumbs

Typing on the iPad's pop-up keyboard takes some getting used to in the best of circumstances. But doing so while standing--holding the iPad in one hand while poking at the keys with a single finger--can be downright humbling, or at least undignified. Fortunately, a relatively unheralded feature of Apple's new mobile operating system holds a solution: thumb typing.

iOS 5 lets you split your iPad's keyboard into two parts, one for each thumb. This allows you to use two hands both to grip the iPad and to type. Splitting the keyboard is easy. Simply use thumb gestures to pull the keyboard apart. Or hold the keyboard button on the bottom right corner of the screen, then select "split." You can restore the keyboard to its natural state by thumbing it back together or by holding the keyboard button and selecting "merge."

A related feature that can come in handy lets you undock the keyboard (either split or merged) from the bottom of the screen. This, too, is accomplished by holding the keyboard button, then selecting "undock." To re-anchor the keyboard to the bottom of the screen, hold the keyboard button and select "dock."

Yet another way in which it is cool to have opposable thumbs. What next?

[paddedcourtroom]

Sync your Windows PC with iCloud.

As a devout Macolyte, I would prefer to live sublimely cloistered from the Windows world. But I've got bills to pay, so on weekdays I tap out my living at the keyboard of a workplace PC. Thankfully, Apple has not completely forsaken me during those long, dark hours. With iCloud Control Panel for Windows, I can stay connected to my iCloud account and thus to my beloved Macs and i-devices.

A free download from Apple, the program syncs Microsoft Outlook contacts and calendars, Photo Stream, and browser bookmarks with iCloud. It requires Outlook 2007 or later, and Windows 7 or Vista (Service Pack 2). This mix of profane and divine can be a little scary, so it's worth checking out some YouTube demonstration videos before trying it yourself.

Download the program here.

[paddedcourtroom]

Scan on the go.

    With Scanner Pro you can scan documents with your iPhone or iPad 2 camera and convert the images to PDF files. The app is integrated with a number of other apps, including Dropbox and Evernote. The scanned files can be emailed or uploaded to storage services and to WebDAV sites such as Sharepoint. The app can even be mounted as a shared drive in a wifi network in order to transfer files directly to a Mac or PC. But wait! There's more! Scanned documents can be uploaded to Google Docs for conversion to editable text files.

You can get it for seven bucks here.                                              

[paddedcourtroom]

Convert ANYTHING to PDF!

Well, that’s an overstatement. But Convert to PDF Pro is a versatile iPad and iPhone app for creating PDF files from a variety of sources, including Word, Pages, Excel, Powerpoint, Numbers and Keynote files, web pages, and photos.

I like using it to save important emails to subject folders containing other PDF files that I can then bundle for viewing in a PDF reader. I just take a screenshot of the email, save it as a JPG photo file, then convert it with this app.

It can be had for $5.99 here.

[paddedcourtroom]

iOS 5 Update

Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 5, has been updated. iOS 5.0.1 is meant to fix some bugs that Apple identified as the cause of battery-life issues that have drawn complaints since iOS 5 was released in October. The update also brings multitasking gestures to the original iPad, solves a security issue involving the iPad 2 Smart Cover, and improves the performance of Siri, the iPhone 4s voice recognition feature, for Australian users.

In a first, this iOS update may be accomplished over the air, without syncing with the iTunes program on a computer. The update can be downloaded and installed by clicking Settings, then General, then Software Update. The iPad or iPhone must be connected to wifi; the update won't download over 3G.

It isn't clear that the update completely accomplishes its intended battery-life fix. Blogs and online technology sites continue to report problems. But if you're an Australian Siri user, you've got to get this update, mate.

[paddedcourtroom]

Federal law apps

United States Code, free here.

United States Constitution, free here.

Manual for the United States of America, $4.99 here.