Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers the first iPad-specific word processor (see article below), an iPhone VoIP app, an online contract review platform, eDiscovery processing software, and a suite of services for enhancing and protecting your online reputation. Don't miss the next issue.
Touch the Future of Word Processing
Dominant products rarely survive paradigm shifts, and those that do tend to become also rans in the next era. Take word processing for example. WordStar got caught flat-footed with DOS, WordPerfect with Windows, and some say Microsoft Word with the Web — though the jury remains out on that last shift. But what if the Web isn't the next paradigm shift like we once thought? What if Google Docs is out of luck before it even becomes dominant?
Pages … in One Sentence
Apple's Pages is a word processing app for Apple's iPad.
The Killer Feature
Pages is the first word processor designed for a capacitive multitouch screen — a screen you use with one or more of your fingertips.
You can use Pages in portrait or landscape mode. You enter text, numbers, and symbols using the iPad's virtual keyboard or an external keyboard (Bluetooth wireless or dock-connected). What you would normally control with your mouse — formatting text, setting margins, etc. — you control via the touch interface with your finger(s).
Other Notable Features
You can access documents to work on in three ways — via iTunes, email attachments, and iWork (a Web-based workspace). Pages can open Microsoft Word files and export in PDF and Word formats.
Pages ships with 16 templates for common documents such as letters and reports. You can import into a document any images that reside on your iPad. Pages automatically saves every change you make and also provides unlimited undo even after closing a document.
What Else Should You Know?
On the Mac, Pages is part of Apple's iWork suite. For the iPad, Apple sells it alone, but its counterparts also exist — Numbers for spreadsheets and Keynote for presentations. In Numbers, the virtual keyboard contains keys for creating formulas. You can give Keynote presentations from an iPad using a VGA adapter. Pages costs $9.99 as do Numbers and Keynote. Learn more about Pages.
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So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
