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Guest Post :: Life in “The Cloud” (DropBox)

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Online Resources, Software 1 Comment

Dropbox, completely free for 2 GB of space, a pay service if you need more space ($10/month for 50 GB), appears just like any other folder on your local computer. However, the folder is actually a live, shared folder on the dropbox servers. With the help of an integrated menu bar application, you can give read only or read/write access to anything that’s in the box, be it folders or individual files. You can access your own dropbox through the web, iPhone, desktop or laptop, via Mac or PC. Others can access it in the same way if you’ve given them access.

Think of it as file sharing without having to set up the server. Working on a collaborative project? Share out that folder with people and give granular access to files and folders in the project. The folder automatically checks to see what’s been updated locally and updates the folder accordingly. Need to get someone changes to a document or a series of documents? Don’t email them—just work out of the drop box and everyone will see your changes immediately after you save the file.

Paul Meyerson has been a Macintosh consultant in the NYC area for more years than he wants to admit. His new company, www.macsupport.com, aims to take care of any and all Macintosh issues for the home or small business users. Using a combination of telephone support and remote control software, Macsupport.com is able to deal with a variety of home users’ issues quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively.

Guest Post :: Life in “The Cloud” (Introduction)

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Online Resources, Software 2 Comments

The typical model of how people store and access documents is changing as “cloud computing” makes its way to the Mac environment. Basically, cloud computing means that software is stored not on the user’s desktop, but on a server or many servers somewhere on the Internet (hence, “cloud.”)

Alternately referred to as SaaS (“Software as a Service”), the basic concept is the same—you don’t buy your software, you subscribe to it. In many cases, this is a paid service. In some cases, most notably through Google, it’s free. In all cases of Cloud Computing, though, it’s using the tools we’ve taken for granted on the desktop and moved them onto the Internet.

Economically, this makes good sense. Why spend big chunks of money on databases or word processors when the same software is available online for a nominal monthly fee (or, for free!)? Perhaps more importantly, why deal with the headaches that come with locally stored applications, including installation and upgrades when you could just open your browser and do about 98% of what you normally do?

However, with all of these good reasons for using cloud computing, I’d like to discuss a different one: Functionality that is ONLY available in a “cloud.” Three applications specifically exemplify this: Dropbox, Evernote and Google Docs, and each will be addressed in a series of posts over the next week. Stay tuned…

Guest Post :: Wireless Microphones for Use with MacSpeech Dictate Legal

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Hardware, Product Reviews 5 Comments

The following Guest Post was written by one of my readers, Michael Yurkanin, and it reviews several wireless microphones to address their use with MacSpeech Dictate Legal:

I. Introduction

There have been many articles written about the latest version of dictation software by MacSpeech, MacSpeech Dictate Legal. To use the software requires a microphone. The majority of the microphones recommended by MacSpeech are wired and plug directly into a USB port. MacSpeech, however, now endorses two wireless microphones which they sell on their website, the Samson AirLine 77 Wireless USB and the Revolabs xTag USB Wireless Microphone.

These microphones eliminate another set of wires crossing your desk and are also convenient if you have to step away for a moment since you do not have to remove a headset. On the negative side, both of these microphones are quite expensive compared to a wired microphone. Aside from the cost consideration, the two microphones are significantly different from each other. This review will provide you with information to consider before purchasing so that you will choose the wireless microphone best suited for you.

(MacSpeech recently added the Plantronics Calisto Headset + Bluetooth USB Adaptor which is not included in this review. This headset was originally designed by Plantronics for use with the Plantronics Calisto Pro Home Office Phone which is sold online and at office supply stores. I have used the Home Office Phone Bluetooth headset and it works well as a phone. The modified Calisto Headset for dictation will be reviewed in a forthcoming article. One item to note is that the Plantronics Calisto Headset uses Bluetooth technology and will have a much smaller range than the other two units.)

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Guest Post :: Being Seduced by a Server

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Hardware 2 Comments

Technology and Business seem to have a rite of passage. When the business starts, a few computers are purchased and the firm makes sure they can access the internet. The assumption is to become a real business requires purchasing your own server. Everybody needs one, right? And thanks to Apple and Microsoft, they are so affordable!

There was a recent blog entry about the new Apple Mac Mini Server. This is a good little product, but I felt it was important to discuss the benefits, costs, and risks of owning such a device. If a server makes sense, I think it can be a great solution. Just don’t be seduced by the apparent “low cost deal” without considering other factors.

There are good reasons to own an in-house server:

Apple’s Server product includes a simple Wiki and Blog engine for teams. Perhaps you have a team performing some research. Perhaps you need to develop a corporate knowledge base. The Wiki makes this simple. No programming required.
It provides simple file sharing. Do you have a document you want to save so others can access it? Put it on the server. A Mac or PC can easily share files.
iCalServer. This provides a shared calendar location for all employees. iCalServer has its quirks, but it has definitely improved in this version.
The Mac Mini Server has two 500 GB hard drives inside. That would allow you to create a RAID-1 (mirror) to protect your data. This only prevents downtime in case one hard drive fails in the middle of your workday. It is not a substitute for a good backup strategy.

The challenge is that many will fail to consider these additional factors:

Apple’s Server product (and Microsoft’s) include a built-in email server. Don’t use it. Just Say No! If you’ve got a technology consultant talking you into it, find another one. They are trying to make money on regular maintenance! Email is a very complex, always changing beast. Would you try to run your own telephone service?
Now that you’ve saved all your data to your server’s disk, how are you going to protect it? What is your backup strategy? What is your off-site backup strategy? I’ve had clients experience office fires, theft, and employee stupidity. Data without an off-site backup plan will be gone someday. Factor that expense into your solution.
Servers are computers that work many hours of the day. They never get turned off. The two most common failure points in any computer (Mac or PC) are the hard disks and the power supply. Many large servers have built-in dual power supplies because this is such a common issue. That is also why most servers utilize redundant disks (RAID-1). The Apple Mac Mini Server can handle the disk issue, but perhaps you should consider an additional extra Mac Mini power supply. Plan for the day something fails, because it will.
On-Going Monitoring and support is another cost factor to running your own in-house server. Who will make sure that one of the disks hasn’t failed? Who will guarantee that the backups were successful? These are not complex tasks, it is just important to not assume everything is OK.
The server itself may have some other hardware failure at a most inappropriate time. This is one of the primary reasons to never run your own email server. Email is too critical a communications medium to have any downtime.

There are many great solutions today that provide “Software as a Service” or SaaS. Some refer to this as “cloud-computing”. There are many factors in choosing a software partner. Several vendors have written guest columns for this site. Solutions exist for Practice Management, Calendaring, Email, Data Sharing, and Electronic Whiteboard. The list is endless. These may ultimately be more secure and cost effective solutions for your firm.

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Guest Post :: The Case for Internet Faxing

Posted on October 1, 2009 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Online Resources 6 Comments

Faxes are a fact of life for lawyers, and that’s something that’s unlikely to change in the near future. As long as contracts require amendments and signatures, forms need to be filled out, required documents still exist solely in paper form, etc. lawyers will need a way to send and receive them quickly.

If you’re still using a fax machine, you’ve probably noticed that faxes throw a bit of a monkey wrench into your plans for greening the office. There is another alternative, though: an Internet fax service. These services allow you to send and receive faxes either through your email account or a secure online server. Here are some of the reasons you may want to make the switch now.

Paperless. When you receive a fax through an Internet fax service, it arrives as an attachment in your email or the online user interface. Most lawyers use PDFs, although better services will give you a choice of file formats. Once you receive it you can save the attachment to any location you want on your hard drive or network (most likely an individual client folder). That way it’s always available to you without the need to carry around a stack of papers. And you never have to worry about losing or misplacing a fax. On the other side, sending a fax is as easy as sending an email. If it already exists electronically you don’t have to print it first and then run it through a fax machine.
Greater mobility. An Internet fax service allows you to send and receive faxes anywhere you can get an Internet connection. That’s a feature Andy Ullucci of Ullucci Law Associates in Rumford, Rhode Island felt was essential in starting his practice. His vision from the beginning was to run the entire business off his laptop instead of having a formal office. With MyFax, Ullucci says he can send and receive faxes from a client’s office, a local coffee shop, a hotel lobby or dozens of other locations. It’s essential in keeping things moving forward while he’s out of his home office – which is most of the time.
Lower cost. There are a lot of additional costs associated with a fax machine. There’s the machine itself, which you generally have to replace once every year or two. There’s the second phone line needed to have a dedicated fax number. Then there’s the paper and toner, not to mention the electricity to run the machine 24/7 in case you need to send or receive a fax. With an Internet fax service you eliminate the cost of the machine, second phone line, toner and electricity to run it. You also seriously reduce your paper costs because you choose which pages you print – and use your regular printer to do it. Finally, you don’t need extra filing cabinets and space as you do with paper faxes; all the pages are stored electronically.
Always available. Fax can machines jam, grab two pages at once, run out of paper or toner, lose power, get busy signals or suffer other issues that prevent faxes from being sent or received efficiently. Internet fax services don’t have any of those issues. If you’re sending a fax through an Internet fax service and it gets a busy signal, it will keep trying, usually for 24 hours. If a fax fails to go through for any reason, you receive an email notice so you can remedy the situation right away. Since there’s no paper or toner involved you’ll never run out. And if you have a power loss you can simply go anywhere there’s an Internet connection; if you have your faxes coming in to your smart phone you may not even have to move.

When you look at that list, it really makes you wonder why you’re using that old fax machine at all!

Luc Vezina is product marketing manager for MyFax, a provider of Internet faxing services for individual home users, small businesses, and large corporations. MyFax has won a number of awards in head-to-head competitions for ease of use, reliability, and best overall value. He can be reached at lvezina@protus.com.

Guest Post :: Thoughts About Microsoft’s Current Ad Campaign

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Mac vs. PC 2 Comments

The following Guest Post is from one of my readers and fellow attorney, Kurt Gibson, in response to the current "anti-Mac" ads being run by Microsoft:

I just saw the Microsoft ad (for the hundredth time) where the announcer states that the buyer gets a budget to purchase a laptop. The buyer looks at the Macs and says they are too much money, or too small, or not enough memory, or she is not cool enough to be a mac person, etc. The buyer purchases the PC with the announcer’s money. I am sure you have seen the commercials.

I suppose everyone would purchase a windoze computer if Microsoft gave it to them free. I would do the same thing, but the following day I would put the brand new computer on eBay and use the money toward the purchase of a Mac.

Apple should run a knock-off ad where the buyer takes the announcer’s money, adds a few hundred from his or her pocket, and buys the better laptop — the Mac.

Kurt Gibson opened his practice in Anderson, SC in 1995, and he focuses on bankruptcy and litigation. His law practice uses Macs exclusively, although he must use Parallels and Windows XP for one bankruptcy program that does not have a Mac flavor.

Guest Post :: How to Control Your Mac Remotely

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, How Do I ...?, Software 1 Comment

The following Guest Post is from Joey Heape, Director of Media & Tech for the South Carolina Bar:

At South Carolina Bar, I normally work in a Windows environment and use Remote Desktop that comes as a part of Windows XP Pro to access workstations, administer our local servers and our web server. While I use a PC at the office I use a MacBook Pro or a Mac Pro when I’m at home or on the road. So how do I do this? Well, I use Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection for the Mac. Microsoft has had this product for a number of years and it works quite well. It’s a free download and works great if you are using a Mac to control a PC.

South Carolina Bar is mostly a Windows environment. However, we have eight Mac workstations and three Mac laptops in our environment too. Those that work from home using Macs have to be able to access their Mac workstations with a Mac from home. There are many companies that offer remote control products like GoToMyPC , MobileMe or some subscription based model where you access your destination computer through a third-party. While these are easy to do they cost you a monthly subscription.

Enter Apple Remote Desktop. Since I’m the system administrator at South Carolina Bar, we have purchased Apple’s Remote Desktop product to manage the Macs on our network. We can update software and do many administrative tasks with this program. But did you know there is a scaled down version of Apple Remote Desktop that comes with Mac OS X? It’s called Screen Sharing.

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How and Why a Lawyer Should Implement a Getting Things Done System

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, How Do I ...? 6 Comments

Today, I am pleased to present another Guest Post from Larry Port, "How and Why a Lawyer Should Implement a Getting Things Done System":

Yesterday, as part of our weeklong Legal efficiency-fest, we introduced the Getting Things Done productivity system at a high level, including its advantages and general ideas. Each day, from here to the end of the week, we’ll write guest posts at prominent legal blogs exploring the system in more detail.

In a profession such as law, where time is quite literally money and losing track of tasks and events incurs significant penalties, an organizational system such as GTD is key. The current economic downturn places even more emphasis on streamlining operations and gaining efficiencies.

Granted, you may have your own system that works wonders. But if “the art of stress-free productivity”, as the GTD book is subtitled, seems compelling, and you’re wondering what exactly GTD is, take a look at my first post here. But let’s say you’re ready to take the plunge. How do you start?

The good news is, you don’t need your entire firm’s buy-in. You can come up with your own GTD system just fine.

Start Capturing

For stress-free productivity, you need a capture device. Get all of the noise out of your head out and into a system that can be reviewed. This means capturing anything you have to do, whether it’s prepare a motion, send a fax, call a client, or lookup a case on Westlaw.

The whole trick is to organize your to-do’s as a series of “next action” items. They can’t be vague or unclear. According to GTD, you want to write down the next possible step you can take to execute the task. It’s not enough to write “Do Research”. Instead, write “Research related case precedent for relevance to bankruptcy case”, a specific and concrete action you can perform.

Organize

Next action items need to be categorized for easy reference. This sounds obvious, but here’s the interesting twist: you might not want to label them as you have in the past. Instead of organizing your tasks by what they are, organize them by where you can perform them. If you have a list for “Courthouse”, “Phone”, or “Computer”, then you can always know what to work on based on where you find yourself.

Schedule a Weekly Review

Getting organized is one thing, but staying organized is another. It’s easy and invigorating to roll up one’s sleeves every once in a while and organize the office and write up a to-do list. The hard part is maintaining that level of focus on a day to day basis.

The GTD weekly review is designed to keep practitioners on course. Once a week, block off a an hour or so on the calendar. Make sure all lists are updated and reviewed. Like most things in the system, the weekly review is a simple yet powerful technique.

Tickler Files

Law firms, whether they realize it or not, use tickler files as a matter of necessity. They constantly calendar ahead court appointments and deadlines. But usually, that’s as far as their advance calendaring goes. GTD is a big proponent of maintaining tickler reminders, which is a very powerful technique for following up with prospective customers or referring attorneys.

What Organizational Tool Should I Use?

One of the cool things about GTD is it’s more of an idea that anything, and is “platform agnostic” as we say in technology circles. You could invest in technology, 3 x 5 index cards, Moleskine notebooks, or any other organization tool.

We designed Rocket Matter, with its new task functionality, for attorneys to leverage a full-blown GTD system. Tasks are quickly added and organized, can be associated with matters, and funneled into invoices.

On the other end of the technology spectrum is the Hipster PDA, a 3 x 5 index card system. Take a look at DIYPlanner.com for some cool templates to get you started, and Levenger sells a great leather index card holder to give it a little class.

The David Allen Company, in addition to providing educational material, offers their own paper-based organizers here.

Stay Tuned

We’ll be delving into these topics in further detail throughout the week. So stay tuned for tomorrow, where we’ll explore how to turn your “stuff” on the horizon into Next Action items.

Purchase “Getting Things Done” at Amazon.com.

Larry Port is a Founding Partner and Chief Software Architect for Rocket Matter, LLC. You can follow him on Twitter here.

Guest Post :: How to Backup Commercial DVDs on Your Mac for Free

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, How Do I ...?, Product Reviews, Software Leave a comment

The following Guest Post is from one of my readers, Marissa Clake, who is an International Business Management major at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China:

Watching movies is an essential part of my leisure life on weekends. Having tons of DVDs, I had been using DVD Hunter to organize them on my Mac. Unfortunately, this program required me to insert each DVD disc every time I wanted to watch it.

Fortunately, I discovered a terrific program called DVD-Library for Mac which enables me to backup my commercial DVDs. It is a beta version, so it is not perfectly stable, but its main functions work quite well and it is free.

I use it to make ISO file for all my encrypted DVDs, and because it doesn’t remove the protection, I don’t worry about breaking the law. With only a few clicks, I can watch the backup movies on my Mac conveniently, and the quality of the ISO image is as good as the original DVDs.

This software has enabled me to built a virtual library for my DVDs on my Mac. Because it records the information about each movie, I can easily find the movie I want to watch. It’s really cool software. You can find out more about it and/or download it for yourself by clicking HERE.

Below is a quick tutorial for this software, but you can find a more detailed tutorial at the developer’s website.

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Guest Post :: Review of Easy Time

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Product Reviews, Software Leave a comment

EasyTime [ + & – ] by Mark K. Funke

About two months ago I entered PC hell. My four year old XP machine started giving me random memory access error messages that just didn’t sound good, most of the attachments coming into my email inbox ended up corrupted, and to top it all off, the server no longer recognized any of the tape drives. That was it. I needed a new system. My office-mate had updgraded all his machines to Vista with the usual horror stories. I instead blew $4,000 at the Apple Store, and I was up and running fairly quickly.

Unfortunately, I had not researched the question of billing software for Macs. With my XP machines dead or dying, I really didn’t have much time to think about it. I did about 4 hours of research and concluded that EasyTime from Bright Light Software looked the best for me. I downloaded it, spent perhaps 30 minutes with it, and immediately paid the $99.00 registration fee. I didn’t have much of a choice, as billable work was stacking up.

After one month of using EasyTime, I have listed my current thoughts below, mostly in comparison to Billings from Marketcircle, which I also briefly thought about purchasing.

Positives about Easytime:

I love the simple interface. It’s easy and fast to enter time and a description. One of my complaints with Billings is that it seems cumbersome to quickly add new billed time and new lengthy descriptions in your slips. With Billings there are too many “clicks” required to finalize the slip – not so with Easytime. This was probably my biggest selling point. I have a habit of meticulously and quickly tracking my time.
Similarly, the setup with new cases, and clients and the general layout of the program is easy to use, and IMHO better than Billings. I like the idea of the color coded invoice tracking.
As a law specific application, the Retainer billing function makes more sense than Billings.
The developer is extremely responsive and helpful in fixing any problems you may have. That’s just absolutely awesome!
I like the report function and the simplicity of many of the reports; similarly I like the way it saves PDFs of your past invoices in the support directory.

Negatives about Easytime:

Starting with the website where you download the program and all the way through the general interface of the program – it’s not as, shall we say “refined” as Billings or as pretty. Mac users like pretty; I want pretty.
Some of the program functions, such as postage tracking, organizing files for individual clients, etc. appear useless to me. They aren’t well-refined enough to use. For example, I doubt anyone uses the “schedule phone call” function. I believe that it’s way easier just to use iCal. I suppose those functions are slightly beta, and I am waiting for a more comprehensive approach in version 2.0.
The the simple and the standard invoice form is just fine, but the customization is somewhat lacking. It would be nice to have 5-10 sample invoice forms that come with the program. In general, I like the concept of “pretty invoices” as Billings has, but the Billings invoices are a little too childlike for me. I would like better designed invoices, but with a professional look. Perhaps it would make sense for the developer to hire a graphic designer to design a few invoices.
The user manual is not complete. The program is very intuitive, which is good. It’s easy to use, but the user manual could be more specific. There are several buttons and functions that I have no idea what they do or where to even look up that info.

If you are a current or past EasyTime user I would love to hear your thoughts on the software. I can be reached at mark@funkelaw.com.

Mark K. Funke is an attorney in Seattle, Washington, whose practice emphasizes commercial real estate transactions.