By Sara Skiff | Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Coming today to TechnoFeature: Clients giveth and your employees and the government taketh away every payroll. And that's assuming you can figure out how to run a payroll. After all, you have a JD, not a CPA. In this TechnoFeature article, Technolawyer of the Year Bryan Sims reviews Pensoft Payroll 2010 Professional Edition, Windows software for handling this necessary chore. Bryan started with the free trial, moved to the Lite edition, and then to the Professional edition. Given Bryan's extensive experience with the product, who better to tell you about its pros and cons. Don't miss Bryan's review of Pensoft Payroll 2010 Professional Edition.
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Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Neil Squillante | Thursday, July 1, 2010
Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an online billing application (see article below), a new Android-based smartphone, an address book synchronization service, a time capture app for iPhone, and a free online storage service. Don't miss the next issue.
Easy Does It
Have you ever heard the expression "hopelessly complex." There's no such thing really. It just means someone is not trying hard enough. Take billing software. Much of it looks hopelessly complex, but perhaps a different approach could make it laughably simple — or at least relatively straightforward. That's the goal of an increasing number of companies building online financial applications.
Syncd … in One Sentence
Cerebris' Syncd is an online application for time and expense tracking and billing.
The Killer Feature
In The Spy Who Shagged Me, Dr. Evil clones himself — in miniature. We could all benefit from a clone of ourselves. A Mini Me might even prove more useful.
At least that's the case with Syncd. You can switch between Mini and Standard modes. Mini enables you to run timers unobtrusively while you work. Standard mode provides you with full access to all of Syncd's features.
In either mode, you can select and even create a new client and matter from the timer. In the Standard mode, you can adjust entries, and also enter time in bulk. You can also use Syncd with the companion iPhone app.
Other Notable Features
Syncd also tracks expenses. It stores vendors so that you need enter them only once. You can correlate expenses with a client and matter for cost recovery purposes.
If you need to track more details for billing or expenses than the standard template offers, you can customize Syncd. You can also assign billing rates, create access rights for various users, and more.
You create bills, expense reimbursement forms, etc. on Syncd's reports screen. Syncd remembers every report you run so that you can quickly recreate it.
What Else Should You Know?
Syncd costs $5 per user per month. The iPhone app is free. Learn more about Syncd.
How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
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.
By Sara Skiff | Thursday, June 24, 2010
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Karl Rowe discusses everything you need to know about tables in WordPerfect, Sam Craig shares an Excel tip for time billing, Bob Leonard reviews iPhone dictation apps Dictamus, HT Professional Recorder, and iTalk, Bruce Berls sets the record straight on Window's Vista network map, and Andrew Weltchek shares a file naming tip for document management. Don't miss this issue.
How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Neil Squillante | Thursday, June 17, 2010
Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an online accounting application (see article below), a mobile dictation app, a mobile scanning app, a wireless charger, and an online billing solution. Don't miss the next issue.
Simpler Accounting and Billing
"Less is more" should apply to cliches. But this overused saying is appropriate for software. What explains the success of mobile apps these days? They're a throwback to the simple yet functional applications of the early PC era. Developers of PC applications should take heed — not only when developing software, but Web applications (SaaS) too. For example, early accounting and billing SaaS products were often just as complex as their desktop counterparts. But some developers have heard the call.
Less Accounting … in One Sentence
Less Everything's Less Accounting is an online accounting system.
The Killer Feature
Many law firms dislike their accounting systems. But accounting systems have superglue-like lock-in — it's difficult to transfer your data to other accounting systems. Unless you use QuickBooks.
The downside of being king of the hill is that everyone has a target on your back. Less Accounting claims that it can import your QuickBooks data in two minutes. It also integrates with several popular online applications such as HighRise and PayPal.
Other Notable Features
Less Accounting's personalized Dashboard lists bank balances, unpaid bills, pending proposals, and how your firm spends its money. You can import bank statements every month. You can also adjust a number of business settings, including bill templates, bank accounts, users and privileges, and more.
Less Accounting tracks expenses using standard IRS categories, which you can modify. You can create and send bills within the body of an HTML email message or as a PDF attachment. Like every application nowadays it seems, Less Accounting has an accompanying iPhone app, primarily for viewing information and entering expenses.
What Else Should You Know?
Less Accounting offers four plans ranging in price from $12/month to $300/month. The plans differ not by number of users, but by feature set. Learn more about Less Accounting.
How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
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.
By Sara Skiff | Thursday, June 17, 2010
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Legal software developer Andy Satori lays down the law on Macs and exposes some myths in the process, Michael Schley reviews ISYS:Desktop 9 for desktop searching, Nicholas Bettinger shares a tip for using multiple monitors, Jerry Gonzalez compares the Xerox Documate 252 scanner to the Fujitsu ScanSnap, and Michael Jones explains why the size of your exercise ball matters. Don't miss this issue.
How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Sara Skiff | Friday, June 11, 2010
Coming today to
Fat Friday: Tom Trottier reviews open source TitleLog for time capture, Robert Rice re-reviews Casemaker, Michael Jones reviews Worldox for document searching, Richard Ure discusses the differences between American and Australian public health care, and Theo Rand shares his cloud computing concerns. Don't miss this issue.
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Our most serendipitous offering, Fat Friday consists of unsolicited contributions by TechnoLawyer members. You'll no doubt enjoy it because of its mix of interesting topics and genuinely useful knowledge, including brutally honest product reviews and informative how-tos. The Fat Friday newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Sara Skiff | Thursday, June 10, 2010
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Karl M. Rowe shares tips for converting WordPerfect documents to Word format, Andrew Weltchek offers some advanced PDF bookmark tips, Bob Leonard discusses the importance of refreshing retainer fees, Howard Raab reviews the iPhone's note taking abilities, and Rick Cloud shares an important tip for naming files. Don't miss this issue.
How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Sara Skiff | Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Coming today to TechnoFeature: To accurately track all your time, you could hire someone to sit in your office and watch you work. But do you want someone staring at the back of your head all day? In this TechnoFeature article, Bryan Sims reviews an alternative solution — Chrometa, which tracks what you do on your PC. In his review, Bryan discusses how he uses Chrometa as well as an alternative method. Did Chrometa help Bryan capture more billable time? Read his review to find out.
How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Sara Skiff | Thursday, June 3, 2010
Coming today to Answers to Questions: Bryan Conway explains how to use Adobe Acrobat for archiving and filing email, David Grabill reviews Google Voice, Edward Kionka offers some money-saving and other tips for law firms that switch from PC to Mac, Marilyn Herrera explains how she buys postage, and Paul Purdue suggests a program for split fee billing. Don't miss this issue.
How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
By Sara Skiff | Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Coming today to TechnoFeature: Do you use Outlook? Do you use Outlook to manage your law firm? Do you find it inadequate because it organizes information by contact rather than by client/matter? Gavel & Gown's Credenza is an Outlook add-on that gives Outlook the features of a practice management system, including organization of your documents and email by client/matter. It also handle billing chores, including posting of time entries to accounting systems. But how does it stack up against dedicated case management systems? We asked practice management expert Diane Ebersole to use Credenza for a few months and report back. In this TechnoFeature article, she reviews Credenza top to bottom.
How to Receive TechnoFeature
Our flagship newsletter never disappoints thanks to its in-depth reporting by leading legal technology and practice management experts, many of whom have become "household names" in the legal profession. It's in TechnoFeature that you'll find our oft-quoted formal product reviews and accompanying TechnoScore ratings. The TechnoFeature newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
