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How to Make Your Mac Talk to You

Posted on September 19, 2006 by Ben Stevens Posted in Mac OS X 2 Comments
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You may not know that Macs have the built in capability to talk to you. Picture_1_2 This nifty feature is built in to Mac OS X. You simply highlight the desired text, follow the easy steps below, and away you go. You can also set up a key combination in Speech preferences to hear the text spoken.

This feature is handy not only for the visually impaired, but it can also be used when you’d rather listen to something rather than read it. For instance, you can have your Mac assist with proofreading documents such as Wills or Deeds. I find it helpful sometimes to close my eyes when listening to something to get a different, unimpeded “view” of it.

Here’s how you can make your Mac speak selected text :

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences and click Speech
  2. Click “Text to Speech”
  3. Select the “Speak selected text when the key is pressed”checkbox
  4. Type one or more modifier keys (Command, Shift, Option, or Control) and another key to set the keys you’ll use to hear selected text
  5. Click OK when the key combination you typed appears in the text field

You can learn more about Apple’s Accessibility and Text-to-Speeach features by clicking HERE.

Mac-Using Home Office Lawyer

Posted on September 18, 2006 by Ben Stevens Posted in Hardware Leave a comment
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Mac-using lawyer Ed Siebel has written an article, “Tech Counsel: Solo on a Mac,” which explains how he integrates techology into his home-based practice. Mr. Siebel details how his network is set up and also what hardware and software he uses in his practice. His article was recently published in Law Technology News, and it’s worth checking out.

Some highlights from his article:

  • I’ve stayed with Macs for a single reason — they just work. Simply, consistently and at a high quality. They help me work solo or in a small office without worrying about my computer, essentially without the need for tech support.
  • The server in my office is a 12-year-old 120 MHz PowerMac with 80MB of RAM and a 500MB hard disk running server software… I would venture to guess that not many law offices could survive with a 12-year-old server at the center their operations.
  • I haven’t had a system crash in perhaps a year on my desktop machine. Oh, occasionally one of the applications will crash, but it doesn’t affect the others.
  • Any document from any application can be saved into Adobe’s PDF format. You print to a PDF file, instead of a printer, using a drop-down menu — just like selecting different paper trays. Makes electronic filing or eliminating metadata a snap.
  • Because Apple controls both the hardware and the software, all applications use the same conventions. For instance, access to the Print dialog window is always in the File menu of every application, which is always the second menu from the left edge of the menu bar at the top of the screen. The same keystrokes bring up the Print dialog in all applications. So when you learn one application, you already know the basic functions in every other program.
  • One of the best advantages of using Apple is that you can just about forget about viruses, because there aren’t many that can penetrate Macs.

Thanks to Grant Griffiths of the Home Office Lawyer blog for his post about this article.

Free Manual for Using Apple Mail

Posted on September 15, 2006 by Ben Stevens Posted in Software Leave a comment
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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has published “Introduction to Apple Mail with IMAP,” Picture_4 which is also called “Apple Mail Quick Start Guide v2.” This free download is available to everyone, and it covers all the basics of this program, including screenshots and a listing of keyboard shortcuts. Whether you are new to Apple Mail or you just want a refresher course, this resource is worth downloading and reading. You can download this Guide by clicking HERE.

Source: “MIT’s Apple Mail Manual” published by Tim Gaden at his excellent Hawk Wings blog.

Software I Use :: Circus Ponies Notebook

Posted on September 14, 2006 by Ben Stevens Posted in Software Leave a comment
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If there is one product that can best demonstrate the creative possibilities the Mac allows, it is without a doubt Circus Ponies Notebook. Yes, it is a strange name, but it is a fantastic program. Picture_4_5 Its website describes it as “a combination outliner and free-form database that lets you clip, annotate, and share unstructured information.” Notebook takes advantage of the Mac’s simplicity and intuitiveness. When you open the program, it looks like a blank notebook. You can organize and use this program any way you want to, and the best part is that it is so easy that anyone can use it.

Notebooks can contain outline pages, free-form pages, or any combination. Its pages can contain text, graphics, audio, video, imported data — virtually anything you can imagine. You can copy and paste items into the pages, type information in directly, or even use “clipping services,” which allow you to automatically insert data into a specified notebook page, even if you are not using Notebook at the time.

One of the best features of Notebook is its automatic indexing of all information. Yes, all information placed into a Notebook Picture_5_3 is automatically placed into 14 indexes for easy location and retrieval later. These indices include: text, capitalized words, numbers, web addresses, highlighting, keywords, creation date, due date, etc. There is even a “Super Find” feature, which lets you search using multiple criteria at once.

Notebook can be used to organize information in the office or for use at trial. All of a file’s documents can be attached to a specified page, such as correspondence, pleadings, orders, etc. Witness outlines can include links to other pages or items (both within and outside Notebook). For instance, your notes on a given topic can include images, charts, audio clips, video deposition snippets, and other items for quick and easy retrieval. “NoteBook makes it easy to concentrate on what you need to present, rather than on how you should present it.”

Text Clipping Made Easy

Posted on September 12, 2006 by Ben Stevens Posted in Mac OS X Leave a comment
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Working on a Mac is soooo much easier than using a PC. Using a PC is generally slow and cumbersome, whereas Macs are quick and easy. For a great, useful example, let’s take a quick look at text clipping on a PC vs. Mac:

On a PC:
Select the text, right click, and select copy. Then, go to your desktop, right click, and select New / Text file, give the file a name, and click away. Now, double click the file to open it, paste the text in there, and save it. Whew, that was a lot of work, wasn’t it?

On a Mac:
Simply select the desired text, click it, and drag it to your desktop. Done. If you want to include this text clipping somewhere else, such as a Word document or an email, you simply drag the file from your desktop into the desired target, and your clipped text is automatically inserted. What could be easier?

Source: “Quick Text Clipping on a Mac” published at LifeHacker.com.

Google Services for Macs

Posted on September 11, 2006 by Ben Stevens Posted in Online Resources Leave a comment
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Internet search maestro Google has many services and software available for Macs, including the following which I believe may be useful to attorneys: Picture_3_1

  • Mac-Only Search :: allows you to search for Apple/Macintosh-related sites using Google
  • Google Notifier :: shows alerts in your menu bar so you can see when you have new Gmail messages or upcoming Google Calendar events without having to open a web browser
  • Google Earth :: view maps and locations using satellite technology, now in 3-D
  • Search History Widget :: keeps a log of your search history and allows you to search it as well
  • Google Toolbar for Firefox :: gives you many useful functions, including a Google Suggest powered search box, Gmail integration, phishing protection, translation, spell check, form auto-fill features, and a lot more
  • Google Send to Phone :: allows you to send text messages to any mobile phone

Source: “Everything Google for the Mac” by Devanshu Mehta published at the AppleMatters blog.

Nifty Creative Software

Posted on September 5, 2006 by Ben Stevens Posted in Software Leave a comment
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I recently came across the following useful (and free) software:

  • GIMP – This is an open source photo editing tool that is comparable to Photoshop, but without the cost.
  • iClip – This program gives MacOSX multiple clipboards for copying and pasting.
  • Carbon Copy Cloner – Invest in an external hard drive and use this to back up your entire hard drive. As the name implies it makes an exact copy of your hard drive onto a target drive.
  • MacTheRipper – Enables you to get around most encryption and rip a copy of any DVD onto your harddrive, from which it can be inserted into presentations or backed up onto another DVD.

Source: “Crucial Mac Software: College Edition” plublished by Willie Morris at his blog, More Willie.

Self-Presenting Presentations

Posted on August 30, 2006 by Ben Stevens Posted in Software Leave a comment
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The Self-Presenting Presentation combines three great Apple software functions to automatically present and narrate each slide of a Keynote slideshows adapted for its use. Specifically, this application uses AppleScript, Keynote, and Text-to-Speech to begin playback of the presentation; initiate the transitions, build-ins, and build-outs of the slides; and speak the contents each slide’s notes field.

How can this software be incorporated into your practice?

  • Create demonstrative presentations to give to insurance adjusters in personal injury cases to get more favorable settlement offers;
  • Produce informational slideshow to display in your lobby to tell potential clients about yourself and/or your practice; or
  • Design a case summary to give a mediator prior to mediation to provide him/her with an overview of your case.

You can download and view the Self-Presenting Presentation application from Nyhthawk Productions, which uses itself to give an eight-minute tutorial which outlines how the application works. Basically, you create your Keynote presentation, install the Install Test Script script, and add tags to your notes to “direct” the application.

Thanks to “The Self-Presenting Presentation” by Christopher Breen, published at Macworld.com, for his article about this application.

Using iDVD in the Courtroom

Posted on August 29, 2006 by Ben Stevens Posted in Software, Technology Leave a comment
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Apple’s website contains a case study which discusses how one lawyer organized video testimony into a concise digital presentation using Apple’s iMovie 2 and iDVD 2, and then presented the video clips in court using his Mac laptop computer. If you have a trial practice, you should read this case study, Using iDVD in the Courtroom, to find out how these programs can work for you too.

Living Life, Virus Free

Posted on August 25, 2006 by Ben Stevens Posted in Mac OS X Leave a comment
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You have probably seen Apple’s commerical touting the fact that although there were 114,000 known viruses for PC’s last year, there were none for the Mac. If you know someone who is still using a PC, odds are that you know someone who has been exposed to a virus.Viruseslock20060630_1

The simple fact is that PC’s are susceptible to having its operating system modified by a virus, often without the operator even knowing it is happening. On the other hand, Macs require you to type in your password before it allows any significant changes to be made.

PC users are compelled to purchase virus protection software to minimize the risk of attack. Even worse, this software is expensive, and it must be constantly updated. Many Mac users (myself included) have no separate virus protection software. I have never had any virus issues with my Mac.

I understand the need for security, but I believe that OS X’s security features are more than sufficient for my needs. Macs allow you to save money and have peace of mind. To find out more about Macs and viruses, read “114,000 viruses? Not on a Mac” at Apple’s website.

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Ben Stevens | 349 East Main Street, Suite 200, Spartanburg, SC 29302 | P: (864) 598-9172 | F: (864) 598-9264 | info@scfamilylaw.com
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