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Free Webinar: IT Security Protections Every Law Firm Must Have in Place Now

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Did You Know?, Online Resources, Security 1 Comment

This Thursday, June 18th at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, my friend and colleague Tom Lambotte, CEO of GlobalMac IT, is presenting an invitation-only, executive webinar, during which he will share some alarming news about new cybersecurity threats that you should protect your firm against – and the best ways to protect yourself and your practice.

Chances are that you are not aware of these new threats and therefore may be a “sitting duck” and at risk of losing everything in your bank account in an instant – not to mention the potential added insult to injury of government fines and penalties for non-compliance to data breach laws.

Although Tom has limited attendance to only 50 people, I have made arrangements to reserve a block for my readers and followers readers to get a VIP seat. You can get the full details (and register) for “7 Critical IT Security Protections EVERY Law Firm Must Have In Place NOW To Avoid Cyber-Attacks, Data Breach Lawsuits, Bank Fraud and Compliance Penalties” here.

The Mac Lawyer Presenting at ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago, IL

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in iOS, Mac OS X, Mac vs. PC, Online Resources, Presentations, Switching to Macs, Technology Leave a comment

Ben Stevens (a/k/a The Mac Lawyer) will be presenting on several topics at the annual ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago, IL April 16 – 19, 2015. This marks the eighth consecutive year that Ben has been asked to speak at “the world’s largest legal technology conference.”

Ben’s presentations this year will cover the following topics:

VOIP is Ready for Prime Time (with Nerino Petro)
Moving to Mac – Putting Your PC in the Rearview Mirror (with Tom Lambotte)
Family Road Trip to Yosemite and iOS 8 (with Katie Floyd)

Because our firm understands the importance of technology, particularly for South Carolina family law attorneys, so our firm’s other attorneys, Jenny Stevens and Jonathan Lounsberry, will also be attending this conference. If you are in Chicago or at TECHSHOW, please stop us and say hello.

Macs In Law Offices (MILO) Forum Now 8 Years Old

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Online Resources Leave a comment

Though I’m a few days late, I want to publicly wish a very happy birthday to one of my babies, the Macs In Law Offices (MILO) forum. This “little idea that could” arose from a conversation Grant Griffiths and I had about our frustration with another then-prominent forum, and it was founded on February 17, 2007.

Over the last eight years, Macs in Law Offices (MILO) has become (by far) the largest legal technology forum for Mac-using attorneys. Today, its membership exceeds 4,500, and it is the premier source for lawyers who want to maximize the use of Macs in their law practices.

MILO’s membership roster reads like a virtual who’s who of legal technology, from attorneys to software developers, small firms to big firms, and everyone in between. I would like to extend a very special thanks to the following individuals who have each been instrumental in their own way to making MILO what it is today: Grant Griffiths, Randy Juip, Finis Price (RIP, my friend), Victor Medina, and Randy Singer. If you are not yet a member, you can take advantage of this free resource by clicking HERE.

See Webpages Clearly

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Chrome, Online Resources, Product Reviews Leave a comment

Let’s face it – webpages are sometimes so cluttered with banners, ads, etc. that they are just difficult to read. That’s where Clearly from Evernote comes in. This browser plug-in makes blog posts, articles, and webpages clean and easy to read by clearing away everything but the content. Clearly also provides the ability for you to highlight portions of the text, print the “clean” version, or save it to Evernote with one click for easy access later (whether you’re online or off).

Avoid Waiting on Hold via FastCustomer

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Ben Stevens Posted in Apps, Did You Know?, Office Management, Online Resources, Product Reviews Leave a comment

Do you enjoy wasting time on hold while listening to elevator music? Me neither. FastCustomer can (thankfully) make that experience a distant memory.

Simply let them know the name of the company that you would like to talk with (via call, text, or search), and they will have a customer service agent from that company call you. Voila! No time wasted and no elevator music.

FastCustomer is available via website or its iOS and Android apps. Among the thousands of companies that participate in this service are Apple, Verizon, AT&T, Bank of America, Southwest, Citibank, Mastercard, Visa, Discover, Sirius/XM, USPS, Walmart, Costco, etc.

Where to Find the Best App Deals

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Ben Stevens Posted in Apps, Online Resources Leave a comment

Santa told me that there’s a good chance that you may be receiving some iTunes gift cards for Christmas. Knowing that you will want to be a savvy shopper and get the most bang for your buck, we compiled a list of sites that are known to have regular sales. Check these out these sites for the best app deals, and let us know in the Comments if you have other favorites of your own:

AppShopper – Notifies you which apps (both iOS and Mac) are on sale each day and allows you to create wish lists containing the ones that you are most interested in.

AppSaga – Lists apps that are available for no cost, which includes Apps Gone Free (apps that are temporarily available for 100% off).

iOSnoops – Features lists of price drops, apps that are free for a short time, new apps, etc.

App Store – Apple’s old reliable offers one free app per week.

Put Items in Pocket and View When You’re Ready

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Ben Stevens Posted in Apps, Did You Know?, Offline Resources, Online Resources, Technology Leave a comment

Pocket (formerly Read It Later) enables you to save things that you find online to review later. The most common use is to save articles, videos, recipes, and other items of interest to read when it’s convenient for you, even if you don’t have internet access (like when you’re on an airplane). You can send items to Pocket through plug-ins for most web browsers, numerous apps, or even via email. Follow the lead of the over 12 million users who have saved over 1 billion items to Pocket.

2014 Black Friday Predictions for Apple Products

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Ben Stevens Posted in Online Resources Leave a comment

Contrary to what many people think, Apple items do go on sale, and Black Friday is an especially good time to snag a deal on an iDevice.

So what’s the best way to get Apple goodies on sale? Rule number one: Do not buy from Apple. Rule number two: Check out the article from DealNews before you buy.

Some of the highlights of their Black Friday predictions for 2014 include:

MacMall, Walmart, and Best Buy offer better deals on Black Friday than buying directly from Apple.
The recently debuted iPad Air 2 will likely see deep discounts on Black Friday from certain retailers, and iPad minis could see discounts of $50 as well.
Black Friday is usually the best time to buy a new MacBook Air, with retailers often shaving $200 off the latest model’s price.
Certain carriers may offer discounts of up to 50% off the subsidized cost of the new iPhone 6 with a 2-year contract, but the discounts on the iPhone 6 Plus will not be as steep or numerous.

You can learn more about what to expect at DealNews, and you should consider subscribing to the DealNews Select Newsletter to get a daily recap of all of their deals or downloading the DealNews app.

Take Control of Your Email with Boomerang

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Ben Stevens Posted in Apps, Office Management, Online Resources, Product Reviews Leave a comment

What if you could take control of your email? You determine when emails appear in your Inbox or when they were sent to your recipients. What if your email could automatically remind you if don’t hear back from a recipient?

All of this – and more – is possible thanks to Boomerang, a plug-in for Gmail and Outlook that can help you transform from email novice to email ninja in no time. This plug-in helped me reduce the average number of emails in my Inbox to less than 10 (down from a number that I’d be embarrassed to mention).

It is not an understatement to say that Boomerang is one of the best and most helpful applications that I have ever found. It enables me to control my email instead of it controlling me. Boomerang has many more features than I can cover in this article, so please visit their website to learn what all it does and to view demonstration videos. However, I have highlighted some of the best features below:

Make emails reappear. One of the best features of Boomerang is its ability to take emails from your Inbox and then make them reappear at a later time. For instance, if you receive calling instructions for a meeting next week, you can set it to return 15 minutes before the start time instead of allowing that email to clutter your Inbox in the interim. You can even add a note to the email to remind you why you wanted it to be returned.

Send emails later. You can schedule an email to be sent at the perfect time. When you finish writing the email, the “send later” button enables you to determine exactly when the email will be sent. Even better, you can specify the desired time in many different ways, whether that’s “in 10 minutes”, “tomorrow morning”, or at a specific date/time (12/03/14 at 5:34pm).

Remind you to follow up. You can tell Boomerang to return an email to your Inbox if you don’t receive a reply within a specified time, if the email is not opened within a designated time frame, or if you just need to see it again as a reminder. It also enables you to get “read receipts” and track when emails have been opened – even in Gmail, which doesn’t provide this functionality natively.