This week saw the Apple update its iOS Configurator to version 1.0.1. Available to Mac OS X Lion users, it makes it easy for anyone to deploy numbers of iPhone, iPad devices across their business or office with ease. Apple Configurator can be used to quickly configure large numbers of iOS devices with defined settings, apps and data you specify for your employees and staff with a certainty that the same configuration will be applied across all of the devices with efficiency and with ease.

 

The 1.0.1 update brings a host of minor tweaks like erasing iBooks and iTunes U bookmarks upon the return of a device, as well as fixes for displaying information and importing .ipa enterprise apps.

 

Originally released in March, Apple Configurator was created as an answer to the iPad and iPhone's success as enterprise solutions and helps organisations prepare, supervise and assign a multitude of devices from one point.

 

Apple Configurator can be used in several different ways to make configuration profiles and assist in the deployment of iOS devices across your organisation:-

 

• You can prepare a set of new iOS devices that are configured only once and then deploy to users. Additionally, you can update devices to the latest version of iOS, install configuration profiles and apps, then hand them out.
• You can supervise a set of iOS devices that you want to control and configure on an ongoing basis. Apply a configuration to each device, and then reapply it after each use simply by reconnecting the device back to Apple Configurator (potential use for clients?)
• You can assign supervised devices to specific users in your organisation. Check out a device to a user and restore the user’s backup (including all their data) to that device; then check the device back in and back up the user’s data for later use, possibly on a completely different device.

 

Redemption codes for multi-use licenses has received a major overhaul to reflect Apple's app recycling policies. In the updated version, redemption codes can be reused if the device that originally downloaded the app is erased by Apple Configurator. 

 

Apple Configurator 1.0.1 can be downloaded through iTunes App Store, more information can be found on Apple's Support Pages.

 

Adobe has just updated Adobe Reader app for iOS to version 10.2 this week. Best news of all, the app is still free and is now an improved good PDF reader and now has some excellent tools to annotate and the digitally sign PDF documents. 

 

This latest version of Adobe Reader for iOS has several new tools for mark-up and annotation of PDF documents including a freehand drawing tool, highlighter, strikethrough, and underline abilities. Using PDF documents and these tools to comment and highlight important text, mark sections for deletion this has moved this App forward. If you need to add a longer corrections or comments, then you can even attach a sticky note just like the desktop versions of Adobe Reader X.

 

Besides annotation, there's a new form feature that lets you toggle radio buttons or select a text field and start typing in text. A new signature feature also lets you add your signature and place it anywhere in a document. This works particularly well for structured PDF forms like the Legal Aid CDS14.

 

Overall, Adobe Reader iOS is an excellent free tool for the legal professional who only need to mark-up or add a quick signature to a PDF file, then you can't go wrong with this Adobe's Reader software.

 

Adobe Reader is available on the iTunes App Store

Hello and welcome, introductions first .... Having taken over the www.ipadlawyer.co.uk domain and this blog from Jon, I would like the thank him for taking the time to create the quality content which has proved to be a really good resource to the legal community and the help and assistance he have given me in making the transfer. I can only hope to add the same quality of information to the resource to help and assist anyone who takes a passing interest.

My name is Mark Barrington and I am currently a Programme and Project Managment Consultant for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and currently working on the Criminal Justice System Efficiency Programme, which for those of you who are unfamiliar with this change, this is the digitisation of the criminal legal system in England and Wales.

I hope to be able to offer advice and support on general use of iPads and Apps across the legal system, whether in the mediation room, Magistrate Court or Crown Court hearing (and everything between), so please keep dropping in for new postings and advice over the coming weeks.

Please feel free to contribute with questions or suggestions on subjects or Apps to review, I will certainly see what I can do.

Around four months ago I wrote that I was [putting the iPad Lawyer blog on hold](http://ipadlawyer.co.uk/ipad-lawyer-on-hold).

As of today, I'm pleased to announce that the blog will be springing back to life with a new proprietor and editor-in-chief in the guise of Mark Barrington.

I will leave it for Mark to tell you about himself, but I am really excited that there will be some new posts on the site, and I'm looking forward to being a reader rather than the author!

All that remains is to thank everyone for reading and for your support over the last couple of years… I am looking forward to seeing Mark take the blog on to bigger and better things.

 

Jon Bloor

For a variety of reasons I have struggled to find time to write much on iPad Lawyer recently.

For the time being I have decided that it doesn't make sense to try and focus on two different blogs, so I will be writing any iPad related articles on my main Peninsulawyer site.

I may still post here from time to time and I will be leaving the site up as a resource for the iPad acquiring lawyer.

Thanks for reading and commenting... hopefully see some of you over on Peninsulawyer.

A quick explanation for the lack of iOS5 and iCloud material on iPad Lawyer. As well these exciting developments there was another new arrival over the last couple of weeks which has been keeping me otherwise occupied (a new baby!). There have been great reviews and comment from the usual suspects anyway and not much I could add to these. I have been making heavy use of iOS5 and iCloud though and normal service will be resumed shortly with some more specific posts about how these are relevant to iPad using lawyers.

The hottest topic on iPad Lawyer over the last year or so has been the issue of transferring documents to the iPad.

To summarise the options:–

1. Use iTunes and a USB lead for file transfer (urgh!)
2. Transfer files using a USB lead and Diskaid (secure and fairly quick and easy)
3. Sync files with specific apps like iAnnotate using WiFi (convenient, but requires both devices to be on the same network which can be a problem in the office)
4. using DropBox (easy, widely supported across most platforms and apps, but not appropriate for client data)
5. (as from 12 October) using Apple’s iCloud (seamless integration, but data security status isn’t yet clear. Also limited to Apple devices)

For those who are tied to a PC in the office, DropBox is the easiest solution, but as I pointed out in the post linked above it isn’t an enterprise grade solution for client information or personal data. Once again, I’m not picking on DropBox; the same issues apply with most consumer level cloud services.

Not everyone agrees with me on this last point (although I still stand by it!). The September / October 2011 edition of the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers includes an article from a UK law firm who use DropBox to share files with expert witnesses and others.

What the iPad Lawyer needs is an enterprise grade solution which syncs as smoothly as DropBox, but:–

• has terms and conditions which comply with the 7th Data Protection Principle
• guarantees that data will be stored in the EEA or is a member of the US Safe Harbour Scheme (to avoid 8th Data Protection Principle issues).

For the last few months I have been testing a system called ProjectFusion which satisfies both of these criteria. Disclosure:– I have been trialling it for free up to now.

ProjectFusion is primarily an online deal room service (i.e. a secure extranet which can be used to share due diligence and other documentation with people outside your firm).

The servers are located in the EU and their terms and conditions contain the necessary provisons in relation to data protection and security.

What is interesting for iPad users is that the deal rooms themselves are accessible via the WebDAV protocol.

Various iPad apps (including Apple’s iWork suite) have the ability to save documents to WebDAV servers. More importantly so does GoodReader which allows you to view pretty much any document on the iPad (and also annotate PDF documents).

This makes the iPad an ideal tool for reviewing data room documents.

However, it is also straightforward to create an iPad deal room folder in ProjectFusion and then set this up to sync with GoodReader. Once set up a press of the sync button on your iPad will synchronise the local folder on the iPad with the ProjectFusion folder.

To complete the loop you can install GoodSync on your PC, Mac or both, which will automatically keep a local folder on your machine in sync with ProjectFusion.

Imagine you have a contract on your desktop machine which you want to review on your iPad. All you need to do is save it into the ProjectFusion folder on your desktop machine. Goodsync then syncs it with your iPad folder on ProjectFusion.

When you want to read the document on your iPad you simply hit the sync button in GoodReader and it pulls the document from ProjectFusion to your iPad. If you annotate a PDF then any changes can be synced back in exactly the same way.

This is just as easy as using DropBox to access documents on the iPad, but without the security or data protection concerns.

IOS5 and the iCloud may be game changers in terms of seamlessly syncing your data, but unless you only use Apple products the iCloud won’t be a complete solution.

It also remains to be seen what the Data Protection Act implications of using the iCloud for personal data are. Apple are registered with the Safe Harbour scheme, but I doubt that the terms and conditions for iCloud will impose any binding obligations on Apple in terms of data protection and security.

Project Fusion’s iPad sync functionality is a real bonus if you are looking for an online data room service. No matter how slick the iCloud turns out to be, this type of secure sync is still a must-have for lawyers (especially those who are tied into a mixed PC and Apple ecosystem).

I am typing this post on my iPad using Elements by Second Gear Software, which is a plain text editor.

Elements links with DropBox so if I need to tweak the post later on my Mac I will open it in ByWord, which is another plain text editing app.

Windows users don’t seem to have access to anything as elegant as these two apps, but can easily open and edit plain text docs in WordPad or (my personal choice) Notepad++ (which is very functional and also boasts green credentials – apparently due to using less CPU capacity than Microsoft Word!).

For formatting, links and lists I use Markdown, which is a very basic text formatting language. For example to add emphasis to a phrase in Markdown you just use an asterisk symbol like *this*.

Most blogging platforms allow you to post in Markdown and will automatically convert the Markdown document into HTML. This means that you have total control over the formatting of your text (rather than relying on a WYSIWYG editor, but without having to learn the detailed HTML tags (or equally important on the iPad, without having to type them).

The process is even easier if you use TextExpander to automatically add in Markdown syntax for links. For example, to add a link I have copied from Safari I simply type “mdl” and hit the spacebar and TextExpander adds in the full Markdown link including the URL from the clipboard. All I have to do is add in the anchor text.

All of this means that I don’t have to worry about using or finding an iPad app for the blogging platforms I use or needing an Internet connection so that I can log in and compose a post online. It is by far the best workflow I have found for iPad blogging.

However, there are a few other advantages to the plain text approach.

If I decide that I want to use a different editor on one or more platforms then there are no concerns about my data being tied into one platform. Any text editor can open the files on any platform. This should also avoid any problems in the future as I am not tied to any proprietary platform.

Forgetting about styles and formatting really allows you to focus on the important part: what you are actually writing. Some documents do require the formatting options which are built into MS Word (legal contracts for one), but for notes, articles and blog posts the formatting can be an unnecessary distraction.

You can always use Markdown to add some formatting or let someone else deal with it in Word at a later stage, but plain text is a great way of just getting the content onto the page.

It is easy to see plain text writing as a compromise which is forced on you as a result of using the iPad (and to extent this was the driver for me). However, I have found myself using it more and more across different platforms and embracing the distinction between the writing process and the formatting / typesetting operation.

This isn’t an iPad post as such, but I wrote over on my Peninsulawyer blog about terms and conditions for iOS apps.

If you are interested in iPad apps from this perspective it might be worth a look.

What are the most interesting parts of Monday’s Apple WDDC announcement of IOS5 and iCloud for lawyers?

There isn’t much I can add to the general reports and posts on the keynote and TabletLegal’s US perspective on the iCloud. However, there are a couple of specific points which are very relevant to UK lawyers.

Data Security

I have posted before about Data Protection and DropBox on the iPad and one of the most important aspects of the iCloud for lawyers is how (or if) it will address these issues.

One of the mysteries which the iCloud announcment cleared up for me was why Apple haven’t developed a decent file management system for the iPad. Clearly, they don’t see USB transfer of files onto iDevices as the future.

Instead, all your data will be pushed into the cloud and accessible across all your Apple devices.

I presume that all apps will have access to your iCloud documents so that changes you make in one app will be synced back to the iCloud.

In theory this sounds great, but will this work for lawyers from a Data Protection and client confidentiality perspective?

Apple are at least signed up to the US Safe Harbor scheme (explained concisely here by Out-Law) so it may be that transfers of data to their iCloud servers will be allowed under the 8th data protection principle. However, I’m not sure the iCloud terms and conditions are likely to fulfill the 7th data protection principle requirement that there is a written contract with the data processor which requires the data processor to:

“take the same security measures you would have to take if you were processing the data yourself”

For the iCloud to be of use for UK-based lawyers this is essential; however, I suspect that the reality is that the terms will just include the usual raft of “no warranty” and “provided as is” exclusion clauses (see for example the MobileMe Terms of Service).

NewsStand and the FT web app

The other interesting feature is the NewsStand which will debut in iOS 5 (which seems to be a Flipboard style feature to aggregate content from all your news subscriptions in one place).

This is particularly interesting in the light of the FT’s recent launch of an HTML5 based web app which is intended to avoid the need for a download from Apple’s iTunes store (and also avoid the 30% cut taken by Apple from subscriptions sold through the store).

The app looks and works spectacularly well (the first week’s subscription is free so definitely check it out on your iPad) and seems to have been well received by the tech blogging community. The TechCrunch article is a good primer for anyone who has managed to miss the PR blitz.

However, a very canny move by the FT seems to have been out-flanked by the launch of the NewsStand (at least so far as iOS devices are concerned).

Once you have all your news subscriptions in one app which is built into iOS 5, will it really still be attractive to have to access a separate web app for your FT content?

Time will tell if I am right or the FT is, but I would be interested to know if they were aware of the launch of NewsStand whilst they were developing the web app model.

How long until Autumn?

iOS 5 and the iCloud are coming “in the fall” so there is plenty of time for speculation in advance of the general release, but I am really hoping there will be enterprise grade data security built into iCloud (and its terms and conditions) or at least a premium enterprise version available.

Apple’s vision clearly involves the cloud more than the USB lead and lawyers really need to be able to get into the iCloud if they are going to get the full value from the iPad.