It's About Time

Exercise While You Work...continued

I periodically come across an innovative idea or piece of equipment that makes it easier to work and exercise at the same time.  Exercise always seems to gobble up so much time.  Time spent on the mindless, hamster-like routine of walking or running on a treadmill could be better spent in so many other ways.  Now Steelcase has come up with the Walkstation...a combination monitor, keyboard and treadmill, so now you can do it all.  

Goodbye FolderShare...Hello Dropbox

For years I used Microsoft's free product, FolderShare, which is now being replaced with Windows Live Mesh.  I was a big fan since I have computers in both Chicago and Boca Raton and like to keep the infomation identical on both computers.  When traveling back and forth between locations, there is no need to copy or transfer files.  Files were always synchronized within seconds.  It was always assumed that Microsoft would eventually start charging for this "free" service.  That hasn't happened yet.  What's worse is they replaced the FolderShare product with Windows Live Mesh, which requires Windows 7!  Because I support a number of legacy software products, it is necessary for me to keep at least one computer loaded with XP. 

I was very sad to see this happen, however  I found a great alternative...Dropbox.  Dropbox not only syncs my computers, but also stores my files "in the cloud".  It's free for up to 2GB of data.  You get 50GB for about $100 a year.  I gladly paid for the extra space.  It gives me additional peace of mind knowing that I can access all my documents on line as well.  In addition, it also keeps the deleted files and allows you to share folders.  Best of all, Dropbox doesn't care if I'm syncing with a Mac, Windows 7 or Windows XP. 

How to Compete with LegalZoom

If you are a solo or small law firm, your practice has undoubtedly been affected by LegalZoom.  How can you compete with this service? 

You might want to take a look at DirectLaw.  This service could put you back in the competition. 

Can Law Firms do Business without a File Server?

Can you move your business to the "cloud"?  I just read an interesting article written by Seth Rowland for Technolawyer.  He gives a good overview of cloud computing and how it might impact your practice.  I'm going to try to give you a synopsis of what he had to say.

File Server Costs

When you look at the total cost of ownership, you need to include ongoing operational expenses, maintenance and support agreements.  Factor in the costs of software along with the installation, configuration and training.  The average costs breakdown something like this:

• $8000.00 - Server Hardware
• $6000.00 - Server and Network Configuration
• $3000.00 to $8000.00 - Software for 5 users
• $17000.00 to $22000.00 Total initial costs

• $1000.00 - $3000.00 - Annual Software maintenance
• $2000.00 - $4000.00 - Server Maintenance

• $3000.00 - $7000.00 Annual Recurring total

These fees do not include the intangibles such as security, administration, daily backups, test restores, application of updates and patches and a host of other tasks.

Alternatives

Practice Management:  There are currently four good hosted options:  AdvologixPM, RocketMatter, Clio and HoudiniESQ.  You can try these for free and then pay a monthly fee for each user.  The prices range from $50 to $100 per user per month.

Online Backup:  You have consumer products like Carbonite, Mozy and IDrive.  Business-level software includes JungleDisk, Barracuda Backup Service, Iron Mountain and Rackspace Backup.

There are also hosted options for online document management as well as hosted Exchange server with Blackberry and SharePoint.

So what's the downside?  Security is one of the big concerns everyone has about moving to online data storage.  The reality is that most service providers provide secured encryption data transfer.  The security of a cloud provider is far greater than the network security found in most small law firms when it comes to protection from hackers and intruders.

Data ownership is the other issue.  Your agreement with your service provider specifies your rights to data ownership.  You should read this carefully.  Most provide a mechanism for local backup.

Access Risk:  What if the Internet goes down or the service provider is offline?  The reality is that if the Internet goes down, you will have difficulty conducting business, since so much is done via email.  If your server goes down you could be out of business for hours or days; if your server hard drive fails and you can't recover your backups, you've lost a lot more than just time.  It can take several days for a retrieval service to recover data from a crashed hard drive and there is no guarantee that they will restore everything.  

On the other hand, cloud service providers have up-time commitments that range from 99.9 to 99.999%.  Some even support off-line mode if you are in transit without an Internet connection.  Remote access to the cloud is generally far superior to remote server access.  

CONCLUSION

Cloud computing isn't for everyone, however there are very real benefits:  freedom of movement; pay only for the processing power and storage you need; add up to 100 users; grant secure access to clients via custom portals; there is no need for disaster recovery in the event of a fire or other natural disaster. 

I think most firms will start by trying one or two applications and gradually move more and more of their operations to the cloud.  I encourage you to try out one of the free trials that are offered. 

Lose Your Desktop and Print From the Cloud — Lawyerist

Lose Your Desktop and Print From the Cloud — Lawyerist

The Power User's Guide to the Windows 7 Taskbar - Taskbar - Lifehacker

It seems like every week we learn about a new tip to enhance the Windows 7 taskbar, and it's hard to keep them all straight. Here's the complete power user's guide to tweaking and using your taskbar like a pro.   Read more on lifehacker.com

More iPhone Apps for Lawyers (and non-lawyers as well)

If you own an iPhone, you are probably aware that there a "apps" for just about everything you can imagine.  Here are few that might interest you:

LogMeIn Ignition:  Free.  This app will allow you to access your desktop from your iPhone.  The display is small, but can be useful for quick tasks.  it will also work with the iPad.

Ilium eWallet:  You can try it for free, but it will cost $9.99 to keep it.  This neat little app stores all your passwords and credit card number.  Use it with the iPhone, iPod, or iPad.

Dragon Dictate:  With this free application you can compose email or text messages as well as update your Facebook status.

DocScanner:  For 5.99 you can scan documents to PDF or image files just by using your iPhone to snap a photo.  It has built-in OCR, which will then allow you to email the files.

Fastcase:  This free app will allow you to search case law from anywhere.  All you need is Internet access.

Upgrade Now or Wait for New Release

Almost all software manufacturers have a scheduled release of new software every year.  Some of them release software the same time every year.  Others are less predictable.  If you have owned the product for a number of years, you probably already know when the new release will be coming out.  In the case of Timeslips, the new release is almost always in the late June to early August time frame. 

So, now you are thinking about an upgrade.  Maybe you want to purchase new computers with Windows 7.  The general rule is that old software versions won't run on new operating systems.  After all, that old software was created years before the new operating system was available, so, naturally, there was no testing.  And very few software manufacturers will take the time to test old software.  They have their hands full with current versions and future releases. 

Should you upgrade your software now or wait?  First, you want to find out from a reliable software consultant when the next software release is scheduled.  Once you know that, you can determine how close you are to the end of the current version's life cycle.  You might also be able to find out what the new features are.  All this information can help you make a decision.  Here are some other factors:

• Your hard drive just crashed and you need to replace your computer...NOW.  In that case, you will probably need to order the software upgrade that is available right now, unless you want to downgrade your new computer to an XP.  If you are very close to the new release date, some software manufacturers will ship the new software at no charge when it is available.  You should always ask if this is available.  They might not offer it automatically.
• A software version that has been on the market for more than 6 months probably has all the major bugs fixed and is considered stable.  You won't spend a lot of time trying to figure out if it's you or the software that is causing the problem.
• New software releases always have a period of time after the initial release where a number of "issues" are discovered; sometimes major; most of the time just annoying. 
• New releases often have "pricing specials" that are offered just prior to the release date.  These are generally great deals.  You can take advantage of the special price and wait for a couple of Service Releases before you actually install.
• Software that has been on the market 6 months or more is generally sold at the full retail price.

Speaking of software prices....beware of some of those super-low prices that you see on the Internet....Well,  I think I will leave that for another time and topic.

Timeslips 2011 Prices and Ordering information

Create Adobe Hyperlinks

The good people at Adobe have created a nice online tutorial to help you create more sophisticated Adobe PDF documents.  In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• Combine several documents in a "binder"
• Use the bookmarks like a table of contents
• Create links within your document as well as in separate documents

Try this tutorial if you would like to sharpen your Adobe skills.

Digital Dictation for the iPhone (and other phones)

Last August, I wrote an article about digital dictation for the Blackberry.  At that time, I also mentioned Vlingo for the iPhone and Nokia.  Vlingo is now also available for the Blackberry.  The other popular product is Dragon Dictation. 

From what I have been reading, Vlingo and Dragon Dictation are similar in that they both offer hands-free dictation and relatively accurate transcription, however, sending an email using Vlingo seems much easier. You can dictate the recipient, subject and message body.  The only "hands on" operation is hitting the "Send". 

With Dragon Dictate, you are prompted what to do next.  If you select email, you have to select the recipient and then paste in the text and hit send.  You wouldn't want to do this while driving.

Vlingo's texting operation is just as simple as the email.  You can also update your Facebook and Twitter status; use Google maps and conduct an internet voice search....all hands free!