TechnoLawyer: Email/Messaging/Telephony

Coming December 21, 2007 to Fat Friday: Robert Bass reviews the BlackBerry 8830, Tom Rowe discusses the importance of upselling legal services, Michael Schwartz shares his thoughts on the future of lawyer advertising in the Yellow Pages, Suzanne Turner explains how she beat wrist pain without paying a cent on new equipment, and Ted Boxer shares why he switched to an iMac even though he prefers Windows plus his experience installing Parallels. 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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an email and instant messaging security and archiving service, an online spreadsheet (see article below), and a simple billing program for Mac users. Don't miss the next issue.

Context Is King
By Taeho Lim

Why use an online spreadsheet when you have a perfectly good one in your Office suite? Context, my friends, context. Being online means you can share your spreadsheet with just about anyone or anything.

For example, Team and Concepts' online spreadsheet EditGrid enables you to create a spreadsheet, access it from any Web browser, collaborate with colleagues, send the data to other applications and databases, publish the spreadsheet on your Web site, etc.

Team and Concepts claims that EditGrid has a short learning curve because it looks and feels just like Excel. Familiar features include cut and paste, charts, auto-fill, number and cell formatting, and more than 50 keyboard shortcuts. EditGrid works with all major Web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Netscape. The iPhone Edition, currently in beta, enables you to use it on Apple's popular smartphone.

With EditGrid, you can collaborate on spreadsheets in real-time with anyone else. For example, you might create a firmwide expense report. When someone makes an edit, it flashes in red so you always stay up-to-date on the latest version. You can control access levels and privileges, and prevent others from editing specific parts of the spreadsheet. EditGrid even offers an in-application chat feature for communicating with your co-editors.

In addition to its familiar feel and real-time editing, EditGrid provides an API that connects your spreadsheets to your existing databases and legacy applications. The API is bidirectional so you can both send and receive data. Other spreadsheet features include Web publication, auto-save, revision history on a cell by cell basis, versioning and rollback, and integration with any public data source such as Yahoo! Finance.

EditGrid comes in two versions — Personal and Organization. The Personal edition is free whereas the latter costs $5/user/month and provides SSL security, shared workspaces (which can contain several spreadsheets), technical support, a custom login page, and administrative tools. If you prefer, you can run EditGrid internally on your own server, thus enabling you to integrate LDAP. Learn more about EditGrid.

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 December 4, 2007 to TechnoFeature: Learning new software is like learning to cook — you need to practice and can always benefit from experts. In this article, attorney and experienced Acrobat user Roy Greenberg shares his top ten tips for Acrobat 8 Professional. If you think you know Acrobat, think again. Roy has purposely focused on ten little-known features with an emphasis on sending PDF documents to people unfamiliar with the program. Although this article won't help you make better lasagna, it will enable you to cook up better PDF files. Plus, Roy's tips have no calories.

How to Receive this Newsletter
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.

Coming November 27, 2007 to TechnoFeature: t's 4:30. You need to fax a 40-page document to one person and email it in PDF format to another person ASAP before the close of business. Sound familiar? In this article, attorney David Hiersekorn reviews Zetafax Duo 2007, which combines PDF automation and desktop faxing, and integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Exchange. David shares how he has integrated Zetafax Duo 2007 into his practice as well as his likes and dislikes.

How to Receive this Newsletter
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.

Coming November 30, 2007 to Fat Friday: Ted Brooks explains how to manage your trial exhibits with TrialDirector, Wandal Winn explains how he digitized 3,000 family slides, Time Matters CIC Thomas Caffrey discusses why he won't join the Time Matters-Clarion discussion, Thomas RuBane offers a clever way to create strong passwords for free, and James Keuning reviews Best Skins Ever's iPhone skin. 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 November 19, 2007 to Answers to Questions: Barry Hubbard reports on how he uses Linux in his small practice, William Elias explains how to use your Treo 700p to provide wireless Internet access for your laptop, Susan Zachos provides a helpful tip for improving Time Matters' performance, Brian McCollum reviews RoboForm, and Gerri Martin points to some resources to help you choose your time-billing software (and we add to her list of resources with some our own recommendations). 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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a deposition transcript and video management program (see below), automated document scanning software, and an Outlook add-on for sending email newsletters and email greeting cards. Don't miss the next issue.

The Next Best Thing to Live Testimony
By Taeho Lim

A long time ago, filmmaker George Lucas wrote the following in his screenplay for a movie called "Star Wars": "Luke pushes off and they swing across the treacherous abyss to the corresponding hatchway on the opposite side." As thrilling as it reads, it doesn't compare to the actual visual of Luke and Princess Leia's famous jump in the finished film.

Litigators understand the impact of visuals as well as any Hollywood filmmaker. As a result, video depositions have exploded in popularity. But there's a downside to video — the myriad of of providers, camera types, codecs, encoding formats, etc. Fortunately, inData Corporation's new DepoView 5.1 addresses this issue by providing a standardized, easy-to-use format. Just ask your court reporter or videographer to deliver your next video deposition in DepoView format, along with the synchronized video.

So what exactly does DepoView do? The primary screen displays the video on the right side and corresponding portion of the synchronized transcript on the left side. A Search box enables you to find keywords and watch that portion of the testimony. You can also use the hyperlinked index to jump to a relevant portion of the transcript.

When you find a section you'd like to "clip," simply select the testimony and click the "Make Clip" button. You can then export these clips and use them in inData's TrialDirector trial presentation software as well as in other programs such as LiveNote, PowerPoint, CT Summation, etc. You can also display your clips in full screen mode using DepoView itself.

DepoView also enables you to work with the transcript text and and view accompanying exhibits. You can print full or condensed transcripts and exhibits.

The new version of DepoView 5.1 features an updated interface and enhanced compatibility with popular litigation support tools such as the ability to export true Summation .sbf files. DepoView users also now have the option to send transcript text with or without video when creating a new PowerPoint presentation. Rendering of condensed transcript printing has also been improved in the latest version.

DepoView is usually offered at little or no charge from your local videographer or court reporter, as part of their video syncing services. Learn more about DepoView 5.1.

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.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a deposition transcript and video management program, automated document scanning software, and an Outlook add-on for sending email newsletters and email greeting cards (see below). Don't miss the next issue.

Use Outlook to Give Your Clients Steak and Sizzle
By Taeho Lim

In a perfect world, you would take every client out to a steak dinner every week. But that's not feasible even if you have only one client so your next best bet for staying in touch is an email newsletter. Or at least an annual holiday email greeting this time of year.

Just one wrinkle exists — how to email your clients en masse. Sending email to a group of people nowadays is fraught with risk because of spam filters. Outlook4Lawyers believes the answer lies right under your nose — use Microsoft Outlook in conjunction with its eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO, which adds email newsletter and email greeting card functionality to Outlook.

eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO uses a wizard to walk you through the process of creating and sending a newsletter or greeting card. It also adds a button to your Outlook toolbar so that you can easily get started. Because it resides in Outlook, you can access your address book, send attachments, and send your newsletter from any of your addresses. You can manage your mailing list in Outlook or in Access or Excel.

Among the notable features, you can personalize your newsletter to increase the open rate. For example, you can greet each recipient by name and list their company name in the subject line.

eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO can send plain text, rich text, or HTML email. The ability to use HTML means you can design and send visually-rich holiday greetings, thank you notes, invitations, and other communications.

To avoid spam filters, eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO sends each recipient a separate email message. In other words, it does not send bulk mail. Also, the Delayed Batch Sending feature sends the messages one at a time rather than all at once to further avoid traps.

eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO sells for $69.95. There is no limit on usage. It works with Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2007.  Learn more about eMailMerge 4Outlook PRO.

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 16, 2007 to Fat Friday: Paul Easton reviews his Treo 680 and how it compares to BlackBerry and iPhone, Stephen Seldin discusses what he deems the fundamental problem with software, Paul Stanley reviews Password Keeper for BlackBerry Curve, Barry Weintraub has a tip for inexpensively automating estate planning documents, and George Wisely has a bone to pick with a recent TechnoRelease that contained a job opportunity for a lawyer to help build online applications for consumers seeking inexpensive legal services. 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 November 15, 2007 to Answers to Questions: David Hudgens discusses the key to managing case-related email, Kerry Hubick explains how he uses Microsoft Access for managing his intellectual property documents, Paul Purdue explains the shipping fees and training options associated with Tabs3, James Crowley recalls how he erased data from numerous hard drives while at CVS Inc., and Sonja Knauft shares her experience switching to a Mac, including practice management software. 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.