TechnoLawyer: Business Productivity/Word Processing

Coming July 13, 2007 to Fat Friday: David Canton offers up a nine step process lawyers should follow before sending a demand letter (especially in the age of blogs), Thomas Daly responds to a thread he started about legal software integration, Merwyn J. Miller explains how his law firm's paperless transition decreased labor costs, Gregory Harper reviews Amicus Attorney 7 and his experience with tech support, and John Sens shares his thoughts on Microsoft Word after reading a recent TechnoFeature on hidden features of WordPerfect. Don't miss this issue.

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Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming July 12, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Steven Schwaber reviews his experience setting up and using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9, Brett Burney discusses the ins and outs of a multiple monitor setup (including how-to videos), Brian Frabl adds his two cents to the Word v. WordPerfect debate, Paul Billings reviews Microsoft Office Document Imaging and PaperPort 11 for TIFF manipulation, and Gil Marquez offers a solution for anyone having trouble printing a large PDF file. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 22, 2007 to Fat Friday: Mazyar Hedayat defends his recent Post on making the legal profession more efficient, Miriam Jacobson explains how she has gone nearly paperless for under $500 and no additional staff, Scott Bassett discusses what he sees as the real problem with Dell, Richard Wills shares his experience with age discrimination, and Kerry Hubick provides a cheap way to save email to PDF. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 21, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Christel Burris throws down the gauntlet in the everlasting Word v. WordPerfect debate, William Lloyd explains how a multiple monitor setup works, Philip Franckel reviews Dragon NaturallySpeaking and discusses the headsets that its creators use, Deborah Schneider reviews her experience using GoDaddy for email, and Roe Frazer offers a solution for easily finding gaps in Bates-stamped documents. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 19, 2007 to TechnoFeature: Microsoft Word 2007 was released with much fanfare a few months ago — but should you upgrade to Word 2007 or switch from WordPerfect or another word processor? In this article, attorney and programmer Seth Rowland takes a close look at many of the new features (such as the "ribbon" and the new .docx format) as well as some important considerations for law firms before making the jump.

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Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers a consumer-friendly hard drive array, an online service for managing medical information used in litigation, and document comparison software that can compare anything to anything. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Drobo Arigato Mr. Roboto
By Dennis Kennedy

What's the second most annoying aspect of hard drives after disk failure? Running out of disk space! With our office computers bulging from our own documents not to mention the documents of our clients, and our home computers experiencing a similarly expanding digital waistline thanks to music, movies, and photos, the traditional hard drive just doesn't cut it anymore.

But the world of storage beyond the hard drive is filled with acronyms like RAID, SAN, NAS, and other terms that are too complex for the average lawyer, leaving us between a rock and a hard drive.

Enter Data Robotics and its new consumer-friendly Drobo automated storage robot that manages data storage for you. It's designed to ensure that your data is protected and expandable. And it minimizes your need to understand the intricacies of data storage management.

Drobo is a USB 2.0 enclosure that houses up to four 3.5 inch SATA hard drives of any size and make you wish. You need not use all four drive slots initially. LEDs display the status of drives and their remaining capacity. If the lights are green, all is good. Red lights tell you to add or replace a drive. Yellow lights let you know that you are at 85% of capacity and it's time to add another drive or replace an existing drive with a larger one.

On your PC or Mac, Drobo shows up as one very large hard drive — up to 2 TB at which point it shows up as two hard drives. You use this space like a regular hard drive, but behind the scenes it mirrors, protects, and manages your data to provide redundancy in case one hard drive fails.

You don't have to select RAID levels, match hard drive sizes, or delve into network storage esoterica. Drobo's approach to data management speeds up data migration, switches you to other drives if a drive fails, and gives you quick access to new capacity when needed. Drives slide into Drobo without the need for special tools.

Drobo currently works with both PCs and Macs. Expect a Linux-compatible version later this year as well as a version with an eSATA interface. Drobo sells for $499. Learn more about Drobo.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 15, 2007 to Fat Friday: David O'Connell reviews the Treo and the three features that really "bug" him (plus our publisher discusses iPhone synchronization with case management software), John Sens discusses the problem with CLE (at least in Iowa and Minnesota), Celia Elwell explains which of the two word processors is easier to learn on the job, Aaron Morris reviews IntelliPoint 6.1  mouse software for its window-switching capabilities, and Daniel Schultz reviews his experience with Mozy online backup service. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 14, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Yvonne Renfrew provides several PDF and TIFF Bates stamping options, Simon Laurent reviews Amicus Accounting, Carolyn Thornlow reviews Tabs3 and PracticeMaster, Kirby Knight explains how to use dual monitors with two computers, and Hugh Tedder advises a soon-to-be law student on which word processor to use. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 7, 2007 to Answers to Questions: E. M. Osborne provides a wealth of information for those contemplating multiple monitors (plus we point you to additional resources), Mike Bruce lays down WordPerfect's four main advantages over Word, Jeff Scott Olson reviews what he likes and doesn't like about Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9, Gerardo Balboni reviews his experience using Worldox at his small law firm, and Godfrey Leighton reviews his super-light LG T1 Express Dual laptop. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming June 1, 2007 to Fat Friday: Sarah Laracy reviews the redaction capabilities of Acrobat 8 Professional, Don Angus shares his experience with Apple's Mighty Mouse plus a tip to keep wrist pain at bay, William Kelly compares the Treo 650 to the BlackBerry 8700, Charles Tievsky reviews Canon's DR-2580C scanner, and David Amkraut weighs in on New York's Lawyer Advertising Rules. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.