On Computing

Joel Howell

Article by Joel Howell Newsletter Editorial Board

Posted December 2014

Apple’s latest and greatest operating system, iOS8, has made possible many new refinements. With thanks to many of the usual suspects (Law Technology News, Kim Komando, and the Internet in general), here are some new tricks.

With the new OS comes a new version of Safari, Apple’s browser. With it, you can:

Tap on Private Mode and create a window separate from the main browser that allows anonymous browsing. In this cookie-infested world, the ability to move incognito on the Internet as well as rejecting cookies and automatically erase browsing and search history is a very handy ability indeed. A Private Browsing Tab has dark gray bars at the top and bottom.

Tired of getting tracked by Google? iOS8 Safari now supports DuckDuckGo, a privacy-first search engine with a no-tracking, no-trace policy. Go to Setting->Safari->Search Engine and select it from the list to make it the default engine.

You can also scan the information on your credit card data with an IPhone or IPad camera to save that data and automatically fill in future purchases.

Not until iOS8 could you view the Desktop, as opposed to the mobile, version of a site. To make this clear, try looking at the IMHO inferior version of the Clarion Ledger in an app, then press the “Request Desktop Site” button on Safari and look at the desktop version. (If you’re a subscriber, you should log in under either view).

Finally, if you happen to close any tabs accidentally, press the tabs button at the bottom right of the Safari window, then tap and hold the plus symbol. That gives a list of recently closed tabs that you can choose to reopen.

Now for the new apps for your iPhone or iPad (these are designed for individual use and are not legal-specific)

  • Hours is a $9.99 app, useful for time tracking by allowing a visual time line, intelligent reminders, and a nifty interface to deal with all of it.
  • Timeful is an interesting, non-legal app to merge your calendar and to-do lists Thus, you can see people and places and use the app’s algorithms to suggest scheduling options.
  • PlaceUs, also a free app, lets you share with others where you are, where you are going, and what you’re doing.
  • The $0.99 app Tinker is a productivity tool centered on time-based goals. Rather than setting start and stop times for a task, it lets you choose how much time you can afford to spend toward a specific goal.
  • PackPoint is a free packing list builder for the serious traveler. With it, you can evaluate what to pack based on available storage space, length of journey, expected weather, and activities.
  • Just for kicks: Wiper is a free app stated as for finding and sharing music videos. Its best feature is a secure messaging tool which can permanently delete your message sessions, and, as a bonus, offers encrypted high-definition voice calling.

Happy holidays!

Questions or comments? Drop me an email: jwh3@mindspring.com