TechnoLawyer: Email/Messaging/Telephony

Coming July 25, 2008 to Fat Friday: Robert Bass reviews Jott for BlackBerry (and we report on other Jott reviews), Director of CLE for the Nebraska State Bar Kathryn Bellman discusses the challenges CLE providers face, Ron Murphy explains why he thinks multiple calendars are a big mistake (and we explain why we agree and disagree), Jeff Wyatt reviews the Virtual Training Company's online training programs for Microsoft Word 2007, and Tom Trottier rants about Apple fanboys (and we rush to their defense). 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 17, 2008 to Answers to Questions: John Ahern reviews his firm's Xerox DocuMate 252 scanner as well as PaperPort and Snappy Fax, Aaron Craft reviews Cisco's Unified Communications 520 system for VoIP at the office, Gerard Stubbert discusses the technical issues lawyers face when dealing with native files during discovery, Jim Grennan reviews Trumba for case docketing, and William Lloyd reviews Eudora and discusses alternatives Penelope and Thunderbird. Don't miss this issue.

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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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a practice management application for Windows Mobile devices (see article below), software that enables law firms to offer financing to their clients, and a Web-based billing application. Don't miss the next issue.

Your Practice in Your Pocket
By Peter R. Olson

The problem with being out of your office is being out of your office. Despite significant advances in smartphones and PDAs, their bundled applications lack the legal-specific functions of case management software. Gavel & Gown has responded to this problem with Amicus Mobile, an add-on to Amicus Attorney 2008 Premium Edition, its desktop case management software.

Amicus Mobile runs on Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs. It offers two significant innovations — push synchronization and time capture.

It's hard to believe that synchronizing your smartphone with your PC using a cable once seemed revolutionary. Nowadays, it's a chore right up there with taking out the trash and doing laundry. Amicus Mobile eliminates the need for you to manually sync. Instead, it synchronizes automatically, instantaneously, and wirelessly over your carrier's cell phone network with your Amicus Attorney 2008 server.

For example, as soon as you record a time entry, enter a contact, write a note, create an appointment, etc. that same information appears in Amicus Attorney back in your office. Similarly, any changes made back in the office such as a corrected phone number appears instantly in Amicus Mobile on your Windows Mobile device.

Amicus Mobile also addresses another chore — time entry. Instead of making a phone call and then manually entering the time afterwards, Amicus Mobile asks you after each call if you would like to create a record of the call and optionally a time entry. Just click Yes or No, add a note if you wish, and you're done. Amicus Mobile already knows its duration and enters that information. You can exclude personal contacts such as your kids from these prompts, and all captured call records can later be reviewed and converted into time entries.

Amicus Mobile pretty much mirrors its desktop counterpart. You can access, modify, and create contacts, appointments, notes, tasks, call records, stickies, and time entries. You can even access your file index and basic file details. With stickies, you can exchange text messages with your staff and bypass the charges associated with SMS. Because Amicus Mobile uses ActiveSync, it also synchronizes with Outlook if you use that program (and who doesn't these days).

In addition to Amicus Attorney 2008 Premium Edition, Amicus Mobile requires Windows Mobile 5 or higher and Microsoft ActiveSync 4.5 or higher. Amicus Mobile costs $149 per license. Learn more about Amicus Mobile.

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 July 11, 2008 to Fat Friday: Ross Kodner responds to Martin Dean's recent rebuttal regarding email confidentiality, Bruce Vermeychuk provides a brief history of WordPerfect and points to a free eBook about the early days of the company by one of WordPerfect's founding fathers, Andrew Weltchek discusses spam and challenge response software, Paul Lepine points to a unique mouse and shares two tips for more comfortable mousing, and Thomas Fitzpatrick comes to Apple's defense regarding its cinema displays and the elusive built-in iSight camera. 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 July 10, 2008 to Answers to Questions: Bob Moss reviews Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Professional and how it compares to the other versions available, Todd Taylor explains how to create a free document management system with Windows Explorer, Kerry Carroll discusses the pdfDocs Desktop suite as an alternative to Nuance's PaperPort, PDF Converter, and OmniPage, Ralph Oser points to a timely article about pasting unformatted text in Word and Outlook, and Sandy Bautch reviews QuickFile4Outlook — Lawyers Edition. 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.

In Servers Become Dell's Comeback Weapon, Business Week profiles a resurgent Dell, clawing its way back to the top by focusing on high-margin servers. We bought two Dell servers seven months ago that have performed well so far. What's your take?

With Bill Gates about to step down (though he will remain chairman so I fail to see his "retirement" as a major event), Computerworld has published its take on his five smartest moves  and his five dumbest moves. Among the dumbest moves, "bungling the antitrust case." What's your take on Bill Gates' career?

Talk about flying under the radar, while many corporate types have bemoaned the lack of voice dialing on the iPhone, Nuance recently demonstrated a prototype application for the iPhone in which you can search Google by voice. The idea is that someday soon you'll search the Web, write email, place calls, etc. on your smartphone with your voice. Take a look at the demos and then weigh in with your take on voice recognition for mobile devices.

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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers redaction software (see article below), an online backup and file sharing service, and an online conference call service. Don't miss the next issue.

For Your Eyes Only
By Peter R. Olson

From the Bay of Pigs to Watergate to Valerie Plame, we've always had a fascination with our nation's clandestine service. But if you've ever bothered to make a FOIA request, you'll often find page after page of supposedly declassified information redacted. Annoying. But certainly understandable since you often use this same tool in your own practice to protect confidential client information — but hopefully not with white tape.

Redact-It Desktop 1.0 from Informative Graphics provides a number of automated redaction tools designed for computer files. You can use Redact-It Desktop to remove sensitive contents from briefs, exhibits, and more before sharing them with courts, government agencies, or another party.

Redact-It Desktop includes predefined macros that automatically redact names, social security and credit card numbers, and other such items. You can also create customized macros to search for and redact words, phrases, and images. You can review recommended redactions, modify them if necessary, and produce a new redacted file for distribution.

To further simplify the redaction process, Redact-It Desktop includes easy-to-use pop-up lists to select standard search items. Redact-It Desktop highlights the terms you want to redact for easy review. Best of all, it does not alter your original file. Redact-It Desktop can add Bates stamps and watermarks too.

In addition to redacting documents, Redact-It Desktop also removes metadata (hidden information such as authors and revisions). Redact-It Desktop outputs your redacted document in PDF or TIFF format, or in Informative Graphics' Content Sealed Format (CSF), which provides additional security as they cannot be altered. Recipients can download the free Brava viewer to open CSF files.

Informative Graphics offers a free trial version of Redact-It Desktop. Pricing starts at $195 for a single-user license. Learn more about Redact-It Desktop.

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 27, 2008 to Fat Friday: Martin Dean responds to Ross Kodner's recent TechnoGuide Post about email confidentiality, Carol Bratt provides some line and page numbering tips for Word and has a few words about so-called power users who are anything but, Philip Franckel provides two Yellow Pages advertising tips, Dwight Corrin suggests three more rules for modern day email etiquette (and we join the debate with tips of our own), and Fredric Gruder draws from 30 years legal experience to offer insight into why general counsel don't hire small firms. 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 20, 2008 to Fat Friday: Charles Stokes explains why his law firm remains a Dell customer, Tom Trottier reviews the Treo 680 and lists his favorite Treo apps, Kerry Hubick shares a tip about about line numbering in Microsoft Word, Thomas RuBane reviews Apple's Spaces (and we debate the use of virtual desktops versus multiple monitors), and Mark Adams reviews pdfDocs Desktop, including concrete examples of how it can solve ten common problems. 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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a video email service, and Outlook plug-in that makes your email messages more useful and easier to find (see article below), and a Web-based suite of tools to help you assess and improve the document review process. Don't miss the next issue.

Fall in Love With Email All Over Again
By Peter R. Olson

Email. You can't live without it, but living with it has become a challenge because email today doesn't look a whole lot different than email a decade ago. But you use it differently. And because it has become much more important, the volume of messages you need to process has ballooned. Time for an upgrade don't you think?

Xobni ("inbox" spelled backwards) is an Outlook plug-in that analyzes your email messages to supply you with the information you need. For example, Xobni offers "lightning fast search." Xobni begins to display results as you type and separates contacts, messages, and attachments. Xobni also groups your messages into threaded conversations — even if the subject of a related message has changed.

Xobni doesn't just search and group, however. It also transforms Outlook into a Facebook-like social network except with no setup required and no annoying email alerts informing you that a friend just ate a lightly-buttered English muffin.

Select a message and instantly see useful data such as past sent and received email involving that contact along with an email frequency ranking, and a time of day chart that tracks when the contact typically sends email. Xobni also provides a detailed view of all past document exchanges for each contact. You can even discover shared friends.

Tired of copying and pasting information from email signatures? Xobni extracts telephone numbers from messages and automatically displays them for each contact. With one click you can add phone numbers to your address book. Xobni also facilitates the scheduling of meetings. One click creates an email message listing your available times based on your Outlook calendar. You can of course edit the message before sending it out.

Xobni currently works with Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007. The company plans to integrate Xobni with other email clients in the future. For now, Xobni is free. Learn more about Xobni.

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.