By Sara Skiff | Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 94 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:
The Ultimate Guide to Gmail (PDF)
Eversheds Eschews BlackBerry in Favor of iPad
The BigLaw Bucket List
Brace Yourself for Social Media Marketing Backlash
This issue also contains links to every article in the August 2010 issue of Law Practice Today. Don't miss this issue or future issues.
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Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of legal technology, practice management, and law firm marketing, but not the only coverage. To stay on top of all the noteworthy articles published in blogs and other online publications you could either hire a research assistant or simply subscribe to BlawgWorld. The BlawgWorld newsletter has received rave reviews and is free. Please subscribe now.
By Neil Squillante | Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a task management tool for multiple users (see article below), a trackpad that supports gestures, a utility for splitting PDF files by size for e-filing purposes, eDiscovery processing and review software, and an iOS app for a popular eDiscovery review platform. Don't miss the next issue.
Just Do It
Many lawyers complain that task management tools often require more time than the tasks themselves. It's like having to build a hammer before you can drive a nail. Lawyers just want a hammer, preferably one that doesn't require much training. "Hold it here and aim for the nail." Does such a task management tool exist?
Stacks … in One Sentence
Imulus' Stacks is a Web-based group task management system.
The Killer Feature
Many task managers live in isolation, but lawyers don't. Stacks is designed for use by everyone in your firm. You tag each task with a project (matter) and assign it to yourself or someone else. You can use the filters to view your tasks or check on the tasks you've assigned to others. Stacks gives you a good idea of who among your staff is busy and who has free time. You can organize employees into groups (e.g., paralegals) so that you assign tasks to several people with one click such as attending training sessions.
Other Notable Features
A graph at the top of the dashboard provides a visual time line of tasks, including overdue tasks. You can click on a day or the overdue stack to see only those tasks. The table listing tasks has a number of headers that you can click to sort — client, project, task, urgency, actionable, due date, assigned to, and status.
When creating tasks, you can attach files and create alerts. You can also write notes to provide more detail about the status. If someone has a conflict or cannot otherwise complete an assigned task, they can respond through tasks. Each task has a history log that shows you all associated activity, including who viewed it and when.
What Else Should You Know?
You can choose from four plans for Stacks — Small ($20/month), Medium ($40/month), Large ($60/month), and Ginormous ($80/month). The plans differ by number of users and storage. Every plan offers unlimited clients and projects. Learn more about Stacks.
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 | Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 72 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:
Basic Legal Research on the Internet
Smartphone Owners Rejoice: HP, Google Offer Cloud Printing
Revenge of the Laid Off Associate
The Top Law Firm Marketing Instinct to Ignore
Don't miss this issue or future issues.
How to Receive BlawgWorld
Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of legal technology, practice management, and law firm marketing, but not the only coverage. To stay on top of all the noteworthy articles published in blogs and other online publications you could either hire a research assistant or simply subscribe to BlawgWorld. The BlawgWorld newsletter has received rave reviews and is free. Please subscribe now.
By Neil Squillante | Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a remote control app for smartphones and tablets (see article below), an inkjet printer that circumvents traditional drivers, an online research service, an iOS calendar and task management app, and a multi-platform eBook reader and store. Don't miss the next issue.
Mobile Remote Control
Physicists have conducted teleportation experiments with photons, but we remain a long way off from instantly beaming down to Paris from New York for a croissant. Fortunately, when everything resides in the electronic realm, teleportation actually exists — and it's not expensive. In the world of PCs, we refer to teleportation as "remote control." The latest breakthrough in this area? Smartphones and tablets.
LogMeIn Ignition … in One Sentence
LogMeIn Ignition for iPad and iPhone enables you to control any PC from any Apple iOS device.
The Killer Feature
Traditionally, remote control has required a computer. In certain situations, even a laptop can prove cumbersome so there's a demand for remote control for more portable devices.
LogMeIn has answered the call with Ignition, its new universal app for iOS devices — namely, Apple's iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. The company added iPad support in April.
"Whether it's accessing an important file back in the office while you are camping in the woods, or showing off the latest picture of the kids you have at home, the iPad with LogMeIn Ignition is the perfect combination for keeping you productive at work and at play," said Andrew Burton, Vice President, Access and Management.
Other Notable Features
The app securely stores your login information so you need not remember your password. You can control an unlimited number of Macs and PCs. Ignition supports a number of common computer functions, including moving the mouse, clicking, scrolling, and dragging, zooming in and out, keyboard combinations, and switching between multiple monitors.
The new version of Ignition features improved rendering of the screens of the computers you access. It also takes advantage of the higher-resolution display of the iPad. You should also notice better performance over both 3G and WiFi networks.
What Else Should You Know?
LogMeIn Ignition costs $29.99 on the iTunes App Store. You can use it with either a LogMeIn Free or Pro account. Learn more about LogMeIn Ignition.
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 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 | Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 95 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:
Avoiding Ethical Pitfalls With Electronic Documents
Attorneys Choose the iPhone in Growing Numbers?
The Five Jerks You Meet in Law Firms
Using Social Networking as a Legal Tool
This issue also contains links to every article in the June 2010 issue of Law Practice Today. Don't miss this issue or future issues.
How to Receive BlawgWorld
Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of legal technology, practice management, and law firm marketing, but not the only coverage. To stay on top of all the noteworthy articles published in blogs and other online publications you could either hire a research assistant or simply subscribe to BlawgWorld. The BlawgWorld newsletter has received rave reviews and is free. 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.
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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.
