Image by William Hook via Flickr

Since upgrading to the iPhone 4S, I’ve encountered a number of problems with the messaging functions of the phone. And, I’m not the only one. A number of my friends have encountered similar issues, as have many others, judging from the results of a Google search for “iPhone 4S texting issues” or “iMessage issues.”

I thought I’d post about the issues I was having and let you now what I did to address the issue, simply for posterity’s sake, if nothing else, since it seems the issue is memorialized primarily in online forums versus blogs or other mainstream sites.

The main problem that I encountered was that I simply wasn’t receiving texts that were being sent to me. After much research and confusion, I determined that it only occurred when receiving texts from other iPhone users and appeared to have something to do with the new iMessage feature.

If you’re not already aware, iMessage is the new messaging system rolled out with the new iPhone operating system IOS 5.  iMessage allows IOS 5 users to send messages to other IOS 5 users across all devices,  including iPods, iPhones, and iPads. Unfortunately, it’s a bit buggy at this point.

Some people, like me, have had issues receiving messages. Other have had issues with the group messaging function.  I’m still unsure whether the issue is related to the IOS 5 operating system, my carrier (AT&T), or is limited to iPhone 4S users. In any event, thus far, the only solution for me is to simply turn iMessage off. Since I pay for unlimited texting and am grandfathered in to the unlimited data plan, the fact that I can’t use iMessage isn’t an issue for me.

But for others, iMessage offers a way to get around the text limit caps and data limit caps when sending multimedia messages via text. Unfortunately, that benefit is lost if iMessage can’t be used due to its inherent unreliability. Hopefully Apple fixes this annoying issue soon. Let me know over at the Legal iPad Facebook page if you’ve had similar issues and if so, if and how you fixed them.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and GigaOM Pro Analyst. She co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise, and is currently writing a book about cloud computing for lawyers that will be published by the ABA in late 2011. She is the founder of lawtechTalk.com and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. She publishes four legal blogs and can be reached at nblack@nicoleblackesq.com.

Image via CrunchBase

Over the past two years, in addition to my other projects and obligations, I’ve been very busy writing two different books. First, there was “Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier,” a book I co-authored with Carolyn Elefant, which was published by the American Bar Association in June of 2010. The second book, “Cloud Computing for Lawyers,” is about to go to press and is expected to be published by the ABA within the next month.

As the publication date for my most recent book drew closer, my thoughts were drawn to the possibilities of my next major project. I had two different book concepts in mind and was considering submitting a proposal or two and seeing what came of it.

Instead, a new and exciting opportunity unexpectedly presented itself: becoming an analyst for GigaOM.

For years now, the GigaOM blog has been one of my favorites. It provides interesting, relevant content with a focus on emerging technologies, including cloud computing, mobile computing, social media, Web 2.0 collaborative tools, green technology and more. GigaOM’s focus squares perfectly with my passion for emerging technologies and for that reason, I’ve always enjoyed GigaOM’s content. I read the blog on a daily basis and frequently share links to GigaOM blogs posts with my followers.

So when I was offered the chance to become a GigaOM Pro analyst, I simply couldn’t pass it up.

For those unfamiliar, GigaOM  is a cutting edge startup that recently raised another $6 million in funding, for a grand total of $14 million.

GigaOM Pro is at the heart of the company’s growth plan, as described in this MediaBeat article:

“We believe that the growth of GigaOm is going to be driven by our research platform and GigaOm Pro,” (Om Malik) said. “That does not minimize the importance of our online audience. What we write about on the blog is what brings people to read GigaOm on a daily basis.”

GigaOm now claims more than 4 million unique monthly visitors across its sites, a number that’s growing 30 percent annually. According to Walborsky, the company doubled its revenue in 2010, thanks largely to GigaOm Pro. It’s on-track to double that revenue yet again this year, and to become cash-flow positive by the end of 2011.

So, what exactly is GigaOM Pro? Well, as described at its website:

GigaOM Pro was created to address the gap that exists in real-time expert industry analysis on emerging technology markets.

All too often, insider analyst research and commentary is costly, inaccessible or ineffective to the entrepreneurs, investors and innovators who need timely insights most. We’re changing this by making high-quality expert reports, data and commentary easy to access and highly interactive for our community in key emerging technology areas…

Every GigaOM Pro subscription includes instant access to hundreds of pieces of original content, including research reports, daily and weekly updates, expert columns, and must read links.

As an analyst, I’ll be one of the people creating that content and will also participate in occasional webinars and GigaOM conferences. Needless to say, I’m very excited about this new opportunity. For now, I’ll have to shelve my book ideas and see what comes of this newfound adventure. Tune in tomorrow and see…

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Dear Verizon,

Just a quick note to thank you for crediting my Mifi account in the amount of $267 and for terminating the 2-year extension of my Verizon contract. I am especially appreciative that you did this for me given that I never actually authorized the purchase of a Blackberry (a Blackberry, of all things—the horror!) using my Verizon account.

It would have been nice if you were able to provide me with more information about the fraudulent activity on my account aside from “We think it was an inside job.” Whatever that means. And, from the standpoint of the person who was the subject of said fraud, it was disconcerting, to say the least, when your fraud representative informed me that it would be 2-3 months until the “fraud team” would be able to advise me as to the specifics of this fraud, on the off chance that they were actually able to figure out how it occurred. 

Unfortunately, “all we know right now is that it occurred via our website” isn’t very reassuring and provides me with no direction in terms of how to go about preserving my identity in the interim. Did someone provide my date of birth? My social security number? My Verizon account password? My mother’s maiden name? Where was the person located who authorized this purchase? What was the person’s name? Or did an employee simply access my account via your system and authorize the purchase internally? 

It makes a difference, you know. And, apparently, you guys don’t have a clue.

So, thanks for nothing.

Oh and while I’m at it, thanks for failing to adequately train your employees regarding how individual Verizon accounts work. 

Once I learned of the fraud, I requested that the ability to make purchases using my account be turned off. I was advised: 1) by Customer Service rep #1 that I would have to talk to the credit department 2) by Customer Service rep #2 that she turned it off, and then a few days later 3) by a Fraud Services rep that it wasn’t turned off and if I chose to turn it off, I would have to pay my monthly Mifi bill in in CASH at a Verizon store.

So, as it stands, despite my wishes to the contrary, equipment purchases can still be made using my account, which was recently fradulently accessed for that very purpose.

FYI, I was advised that my Mifi account contract expires next month. Guess what I’m going to do once it expires? 

Thanks again Verizon. You guys rock!

Sincerely, 

Niki Black

This is a re-print of this week’s Daily Record column, entitled “Lawyers (and millions more) love their iPads.”

A PDF of this article can be found here and my past Daily Record articles can be accessed here.

*****

Lawyers (and millions more) love their iPads

Approximately 14.8 million iPads were sold in 2010, with 7.3 million being sold in the last quarter of 2010. According to industry estimates following Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter financial results earlier this month, 11.12 million iPads were sold during that quarter—a 166% increase from the same quarter one year ago—and nearly 25 million iPads have been sold thus far in 2011.

That means since the iPad was introduced, just 1.5 years ago in April of 2010, nearly 40 million iPads have been sold.

The bad news is that my that my prediction, made in this column in March 2011, was way off base. I had predicted that 22 million iPad2s would be sold by the end of 2011. Obviously my prediction came in far too low, especially since the holiday season is just around the corner and nearly half of all iPads sold last year were sold during the last quarter of 2010.

The good news is that another prediction made in this column in March 2010 was spot on: “The iPad won’t change life as we know it, but it will revolutionize the way that we interact with various news and social media. Undoubtedly, we will look back on 2010 as the year the iPad changed the way we obtain and consume information…The iPad will not fill an already existing niche — it will create a new one. It will be ever-present in our homes, during daily commutes and on airplanes…The iPad will be the interface of choice for Web browsing and media consumption. Soon, it will be quite common to read books, magazines and newspapers via the iPad interface.”

While it’s a great entertainment device, importantly, the iPad isn’t being used for just fun and games. As reported during Apple’s fourth quarter results call,  92% of Fortune 500 testing or deploying iPads – up from 86% last year—and  iPads are now being distributed in 90 countries.

And, it’s not just private businesses that are using the iPad. As a reader recently brought to my attention, according to internal agency records available at governmentattic.org, a number of governmental agencies are considering the utility of iPads for their employees, including the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA),  Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), just to name a few.

Lawyers are using the iPad, too. According to the  2011 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey, which examined the purchasing trends of law firms with 50+ Attorneys, 25% of respondents said that the iPad would be one of the major technology purchases over the next 12 months, 11% of firms had already purchased iPads for their attorneys, and 55% of surveyed firms reported providing IT support for employees who purchase and use their personal tablet devices.

But wait, there’s more! According to the  2011 ABA Legal Technology Survey, the iPad is used by 89% of those lawyers who use a tablet device for work-related tasks and 15% of respondents used a tablet to conduct work while outside of their primary workplace. For firms with over 500 attorneys, that number increased to 26%.

It’s hard to argue with statistics like that. When the iPad first debuted, naysayers wrote it off as a silly toy. What they failed to appreciate was that the utility and flexibility of this device would quickly make it an indispensable part of our personal and business lives.

In a little under 2 years, 40 million of these devices have been sold, with millions of other tablet devices in circulation as well. Such a rapid proliferation of a device that didn’t even exist prior to April 2010 is a clear indication that tablet computers aren’t a fad or a “silly toy”; they’re an indication of what’s to come.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney. She co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise, and is currently writing a book about cloud computing for lawyers that will be published by the ABA in early 2011. She is the founder of lawtechTalk.com and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. She publishes four legal blogs and can be reached at nblack@nicoleblackesq.com.

I recently had to part with my trusty, tattered computer bag that my mother had given to me—one that she had received as schwag at a conference. It was just too beat up.

So, I was in the market for a new one. I wanted one that was functional, stylish, travel-friendly and reasonably priced. But, little did I know, it’s not easy finding a computer bag if you won’t settle for a basic, boring, black, luggage-like bag.

I found one though, and wanted to share my discovery, in case anyone else is looking for a nice, reasonably priced bag. (And, no, I won’t receive a commission, etc. from touting this product. It was simply a good find that I wanted to share with my readers.)

I looked around at local stores, but couldn’t find anything to my liking. The functional bags were too masculine and the stylish bags either cost an arm and a leg or were totally impractical, with minimal pockets or straps that weren’t comfortable.

I decided to broaden my prospects and look online. I started, and ended, at Amazon.com. I have an Amazon Prime account, which means that I get free shipping on many items sold at Amazon. I also get free movie streaming for a decent number of movies. For just $79 per year, it’s a great deal, assuming you shop online a lot. I do nearly all of my holiday shopping online, so that alone makes it worth it.

So, I spent a while looking at bags on Amazon and found one that I really liked. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Amazon Prime eligible, so I had to pay shipping, which was approximately $6. But it was well worth it. It arrived the other day and I really like it. For just $55.99, it’s a great bag. Stylish and functional, with flat, comfortable shoulder straps and lots of pockets and storage. 

All in all a great buy and one that I was very happy about. So, if you’re in the market for a stylish womens’ computer bag, you might want to give this Kailo Laptop Tote, or one of the other bags by this company, a try.

I brought home my iPhone 4S last week and am impressed by the Siri Assistant and the built in dictation system, which I demonstrate in a video in this earlier post.

When I tried to use Siri, I encountered an error that appeared intermittently, but seems to have subsided. Disconnecting and re-connecting to my wifi connection usually solved the issue. The Siri fail is shown in the video below:

I also figured out that I could require my phone to refer to me using something other than my name, and it now calls me “Sexy Mama,” to my endless amusement. If you’d like to do that, just tell Siri “Call me ‘X’” and voila! (If you ever send your contact info. to others from your iPhone, I would avoid this, since it adds your nickname to your contact profile.)

This particular command can result in a funny Siri Fail, as seen below:

Below are screenshots two of my more memorable interactions with Siri:

(In case you were wondering, Siri wasn’t able to perform the web search because my iPhone is password protected and I hadn’t yet unlocked the phone by entering my password. Sometimes Siri will prompt me to do so if issue a command that can’t be performed if the phone is still locked; other times, it won’t).

Image via CrunchBase

     I think this summer will be the tipping point for iPads. Why do I say that? Well, for a number of reasons.

     First, over Easter weekend, a number of friends and family members were considering buying iPads and asked me for my opinion regarding specs, etc. These are people who are not particularly techie. To me, the fact that so many people unrelated to one another and from different walks of life were simultaneously researching and buying iPads—just a few months after the iPad 2 was released—is a definite sign that iPads are beginning to have mass appeal.

     Another reason I think we’re reaching the tipping point for iPads—lots of famous people are getting them—from the President of the United States and the Queen of England, to celebrities like Kate Hudson to Justice Scalia. And all sorts of institutions are using them, from law firms  and hospitals to preschools to grade schools, high schools, colleges and law schools. Soon the iPad will be ubiquitous in every setting.

     They’re already showing up quite frequently in all of the places I predicted they would just over a year ago: in airports, on trains and at coffee shops. That’s because iPads are supplanting the use of other devices in those settings—smart phones, eReaders and laptops. In fact, based on a recent Nielsen study, some are asserting that, based on recent sales figures, iPads are replacing those devices.

     As I’ve often said in the past, I don’t think that iPads will replace those devices in all settings—in the business setting, laptops and desktops aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Instead, iPads fill a niche that many weren’t aware of until they got their hands on one. iPads are the perfect device for content consumption—and content creation, in a pinch.

     Whether iPads will rule the tablet computer market down the road remains to be seen. I think that Android-based tablets, like Android-based phones, will ultimately take at least half of the market share. But, for now, iPad sales have eclipsed the sales of all other tablet combined.

     Either way, tablet computers, led by the iPad, are about to reach a tipping point. Come fall, I think that my prediction will have come to pass and it will be evident that tablet computers are undoubtedly the next stage of computing for the everyday consumer.

     What do you think? Let me know at the Legal iPad Facebook page.