TechnoLawyer: Business Productivity/Word Processing

Below you'll find one of the five articles from today's edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire:

Way Beyond PDF
By Jill Bauerle
Before you can begin the process of analyzing your case with litigation support tools, you must first transform paper into bits. The same goes for creating a paperless office via your document management system. DATAssimilate's DATAssimilator 4.0 facilitates this first step and exports to a wide variety of tools commonly used by law firms. Talk about a product that lives up to its name — DATAssimilator enables you to scan, code, PDF, OCR, bates stamp, search, print, and much more. Used by litigation support firms, DATAssimilator can process thousand of documents in real-time. Its friendly interface makes it accessible for any law firm that wishes to handle smaller cases internally or create a paperless office. DATAssimilator's scanning component supports virtually all scanners (including duplex), and enables you to scan individually or in batches in black and white, grayscale, or color at any dpi setting. The branding component enables you to add Bates stamps and endorse captions. The PDF component converts to PDF image only or with embedded searchable text thanks to the built-in OCR component. The reporting component tracks all your work, and enables you to assign time or dollar values for each task you've performed. Although you can export the documents you process to other programs, DATAssimilator has its own robust search tools, which support Boolean, pick lists, phrases, wild cards, and sorting. You can even search within searches, and save your searches. The coding component enables you to not just code documents fast, but track who coded what and find documents with incomplete coding. Each component of DATAssimilator sells for $495; the entire suite sells for $2,995. Learn more about DATAssimilator.

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 November 21, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Daniel Schultz reviews the Dell Inspiron 600m laptop as well as his experience with Dell's tech support, Joanne Frasca explains how she dealt with e-mail instability issues in Time Matters, Clint Pullin discusses how to prevent unauthorized use of your firm's PCs and laptops, Sandy Hagman explains how to use Word for document comparison, and Stephen Hayes offers an essential tip to those about to Bates stamp PDF documents. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a thrice 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 November 17, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Stephen C. Carpenter shares the results of his recent research on computer accessories for disabled lawyers (and others), Michael Eubanks reminisces about his experiences with Dell's products and tech support, Veronica Hurless reviews Kyocera multi-function copiers, Stephen Miller suggests a program for automated filing of scanned documents, and Frederic Wolfram explains why you should OCR PDFs before Bates stamping. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a thrice 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.

Regarding my Post Maximize Your Google Searches, TechnoLawyer member Vusumzi Msi writes: "The post on Google was absolutely bloody marvellous! I'm already using both the maps and news service." Regarding my Post on Hurricane Katrina, TechnoLawyer member Carroll Straus writes: "Your general statement [about the long-standing ability to hold back massive amounts of water] is true ... but how much do you really know about the reasons humans make the decisions about risk that they do? We let thousands of children die of lack of prenatal care or hunger every day ... that too, is preventable. But preventing it is not "sexy" and gets no rants, no press, no attention, no money. It's not good politics. Better to ask why we don't understand OURSELVES well enough to make wise choices. And BTW — does the term hubris seem at all applicable here, to you? Cuz it does to me." On a more mundane note, TechnoLawyer member Jason Howie writes: "There is only one way I can avoid a major catastrophe like Katrina. I have my system and my 2 legal assistants' systems backed up by an Internet based recovery system weekly. It is inexpensive, off-site (a few hundred miles away), and done automatically in the middle of the night. When I look at the victims of Katrina, I think, But for the grace of God go I."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Coming November 14, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Thomas Parker reviews two Toshiba laptops (Tecra M2 and the Portege R200), Stephen Seldin reviews the Plantronics DSP-100 headset as well as Dragon Dictate, Jim Slayton reviews the Xerox DocuMate 252 scanner, Maria Smith explains how to create custom labels in Word, and JP Fernandes discusses why his firm stopped using instant messaging. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a thrice 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 November 9, 2005 to Answers to Questions: David Outtrim reviews AbacusLaw, including the recently released Silver version for solos and small firms, Ernest Marquez reviews the lightweight Averatec 3300 laptop, Joseph Booth reviews Dragon NaturallySpeaking and how to enhance its performance, Clint Pullin explains how to print comments in PDF files, and Jenny Jolinski offers her two cents on instant messaging at work. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a thrice 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.

About 100 legal vendors recently participated in a survey of ours. In one of the questions, we asked them to rank TechnoLawyer and 4 other legal technology publications with regard to power and influence. Although Law Technology News received a few more first place votes than TechnoLawyer, we ended up with a higher overall rank. This got me to thinking — if we're now the first or second most influential legal technology publication, why is it that Microsoft never reaches out to us as it does to Law Technology News?

Sure enough, a few days later, I received a call from Weber Shandwick, Microsoft's public relations firm. From my conversation, I learned that Microsoft wants to get the word out among lawyers about OneNote, its outlining/notetaking application. During the course of our conversation, I learned some interesting information.

First and foremost, I had always assumed that OneNote works only on a Tablet PC, but in fact it works on all PCs. My assumption stemmed from the digital ink feature, but it turns out that you can use any pen-input device, not just those that come with Tablet PCs. You can also use OneNote without digital ink.

I also learned some other interesting tidbits. With OneNote, you can start by just entering freeform ideas, and then later convert those ideas into an outline within OneNote or into any other Office document (Word document, PowerPoint presentation, etc.). Also, OneNote accommodates real-time collaboration through simple file sharing (or via SharePoint). And OneNote supports drag and drop from other applications, such as your browser. Thus, you could use it to organize legal research.

Finally, David Allen fans will like the fact that you can designate items in your OneNote documents to show up as tasks in Outlook. Well, I guess public relations works. OneNote sells for $99. Learn more.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Coming November 7, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Jason Havens reviews must-have plug-ins for Google Desktop Search, Erik Gellatly suggests some tips for those having trouble with Hummingbird DM 5, Robert Johnson reviews a cordless headset and microphone combination by Shure (especially for voice recognition), Douglas Gibran offers electronic discovery advice when confronted with GroupWise e-mail, and Gibson Gahan discusses the ethics (and legality) of using an open WiFi network for Internet access. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a thrice 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 November 3, 2005 to Answers to Questions: William Brown discuss how to create a variety of different PDF files (everything from letterhead to discovery documents), Frank Roberts reviews Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0, Tom Trigg reviews Dragon NaturallySpeaking and essential add-ons, Tara Harwood reviews a free remote access tool, and Helen Cordell reviews an inexpensive alternative to Windows Explorer for document management. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a thrice 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 November 2, 2005 to TechnoLawyer NewsWire: In this issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about a service that synchronizes deposition videos with their accompanying transcripts, software that efficiently handles metadata and document security issues, a handy device that routes your calls over your landline or broadband connection depending on the circumstances, an e-mail backup service that kicks in when your mail server kicks the bucket, and an amazing gadget that scans text and translates it into the language of your choice.

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.