TechnoLawyer: Laptops/Smartphones/Tablets

Coming December 15, 2006 to Fat Friday: Andrea Cannavina discusses how new technologies have changed the dictation/transcription process and compares Olympus and Sony digital recorders, Jason Havens shares how you can use your Treo 600 for more than just a phone or PDA, Michael Schley explores file naming conventions for discovery documents, Cheryl Clayton discusses her use of multiple monitors in her solo practice (and we point to a seven monitor setup), and Daniel Fennick reviews his recent Dell technical support experience. 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 December 8, 2006 to Fat Friday: Harold Burstyn discusses his law career and his experience with age discrimination, Nicholas Bettinger reviews his multiple monitor setup and two utilities that can make such an arrangement even slicker, Channing Strother discusses GPS in the car and the advantages/disadvantages of using your laptop, a portable device, or a built-in unit, Dean Birch explains why his firm's file naming convention does not include dates, and D. Paul Dalton discusses online data storage versus local media. 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 December 1, 2006 to Fat Friday: Ed Detlie reviews Dymo Stamps online postage service, Thomas Daly explains why automating documents doesn't work for his complex practice, Steven Finell discusses the importance of dates in file names (and the best way to display them), Don Winston sings the praises of a recent TechnoFeature about document management software, and David Caracappa reviews CrypInfo for password management on your desktop and handheld device. 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 28, 2006 to TechnoFeature: For many of us, preparing for a trip means buying a new bathing suit, selecting a good book, and stocking up on sunscreen. Unfortunately, preparing for a business trip requires a bit more planning and effort. In this article, legal technology consultants Pat Nemish and John "Tim" Mellitz share their top ten tips for business travel, leading to happier, more productive, and efficient executives in the field. Learn everything from how to pack your socks to where to find Wifi hotspots — and remember to always travel light and pack right!

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.

Paolo Broggi, Tip: How to Link Amicus Attorney and Your Treo 650

TechnoLawyer member Paul Landsman asks:
"Does anyone have experience with setting up the link that allows Amicus to transfer data to the Treo 650. I had it working perfectly with my old Treo 600.  I can transfer my contacts but not the calendar, event, to-do, etc.  If any one knows the proper settings, I would appreciate the assistance."

The first thing to do is to remove Palm OS from your PC as instructed by the Palm manual and then install the new Palm/Treo desktop. After synching at list once then go to the Team50\Install\PILOT folder and run the PPSetup.exe.

You will be asked to turn off the HOTSYNC manager before getting into the setup selection windows where you can choose which conduits (connections) you want enabled, e.g. Appointments, To Dos and Contacts or any combination of those.

As you finish this installation of the links select to turn on the HOTSYNC manager and now go to HotSync icon next to the clock lower right corner the blue and red arrow (in the system tray), right click on it and select Custom ...

If every thing went well (assuming that you choose all the three conduits) here you will see three new entries starting with Amicus. If you have Amicus V and you don't see the Amicus entries you will need to contact Gavel & Gown tech support to obtain a patch that will add the entries in the registry.

Double click on any of the Amicus Attorney entries to choose how you want Amicus and your Treo to exchange the information. Remember to check the default box so that the changes will apply to every HotSync you do.

Once you start the HotSync the first time with Amicus you will be asked about mapping categories for example Business with Clients, Private with Private and so on.

The first time you sync your Treo with Amicus Attorney will take sometime according to the amount of data you have in the Amicus database. After that it will take only a couple of minutes.

That should do the trick.

If you still have problems contact me directly.

Installation of Palm link on Amicus Attorney 7 is very different.

Paolo Broggi, Information System Engineer
Premier Amicus Attorney Consultant and traininer since 1997
2b1 inc.
San Francisco, CA
www.2b1inc.com

About Answers to Questions
Posts like the one above appear exclusively in Answers to Questions, 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. You can subscribe here.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, lawyer and legal technology legend Dennis Kennedy covers a gadget that enables laptop users to reap the benefits of multiple monitors, a hot new smartphone guaranteed to make lawyers drool, and a document management system with a fresh approach. Don't miss the next issue.

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

You Can Never Have Two Many Monitors
By Dennis Kennedy
You decide to replace your desktop PC with a laptop. After all, laptops can do everything desktops can do, right? They can even burn DVDs nowadays. Soon, you start hearing about all these lawyers using two or three monitors. And then you learn the ugly truth — your laptop has just one video port. Ouch. Burned by technology yet again.

Matrox feels your pain and has created two products designed to bring you into the 21st century law office — DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go. These two products enable you to respectively run two or three monitors from a single video port.

A black box measuring about the size of your hand, the DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go do not contain graphics cards. Instead, they contain patent-pending circuitry that takes the memory of your existing graphics card and redistributes it among multiple monitors. Matrox claims that you will not see any distortion or scaling, which makes sense since no interpolation occurs — you're just using the actual memory in your laptop.

The DualHead2Go can drive two monitors at resolutions up to 1280x1024 pixels. The TripleHead2Go can drive three monitors at up to 1280x1024 pixels. If that's not enough, you can alternatively use the TripleHead2Go to drive two monitors at higher resolutions, including widescreen monitors.

The DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go require a VGA output connector (easily achieved with a converter if your laptop has a DVI output), and works with Windows 2000/XP. The DualHead2Go sells for about $150 and the TripleHead2Go sells for about $300. Learn more about DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go.

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Coming October 10, 2006 to TechnoFeature: Apple's iPod has taken the world by storm. Everywhere you look, you see people wearing the signature white earbuds. But amidst this storm, Apple has inspired ever greater competition from other companies that have come up with new uses for their media players in hope of taking some of Apple's market share. In this article, trial consultant David Mykel explores several portable media players (including the iPod) and how you can put them to use as a litigation support tool when you gear up for your next trial. In short, David will show you how a portable media player can become a litigator's best friend.

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 September 28, 2006 to Answers to Questions: Jason Havens discusses using Acrobat for document collaboration and reviews the new WordPerfect Office X3 Suite, Paolo Broggi offers up detailed instructions for syncing your Treo 650 with Amicus Attorney, Daniel Mengeling explains the benefits (or lack thereof) of bar coding documents for trial presentations, Erin Baldwin reviews CaseMap for case-specific document management, and Brooks Miller reviews his experience with Brother laser printers. 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.

Picture this — you're the product manager of Samsung's new Q1 ultra-mobile tablet PC. You're feeling pretty good. After all, the Q1 does everything a laptop can do in a smaller form factor.

But then CNET UK has to go and spoil your day by publishing a 10 page (!) head-to-head review comparing the Q1 to the Apple Newton MessagePad 2000, which was released in 1997. Even worse, CNET crowns Newton the winner, especially regarding battery life, reliability, and price! Kudos to CNET UK for a truly fun read.

From the article: "It was always going to be a tough fight as the Samsung Q1 punches well above the Newton's weight," said Chris. "But the Newton has 12 times the battery life of the Q1, so ended up winning the fight with sheer stamina.  Add to this the Q1's inflated price and it's a no-brainer. They may be ten years apart, but the Newton still wipes the floor with the Origami project."

Read the article.

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 August 10, 2006 to Answers to Questions: William Kellermann discusses why there's more to metadata than meets the eye, Caren Schwartz offers advice for those looking to sync the new Treo 700 with Time Matters, D. Paul Dalton reviews his experience using LogMeIn for remotely troubleshooting computers, Andrew Simpson suggests a Google Desktop utility for searching image-only PDFs, and Shawn McKee reviews his Amicus Attorney-Outlook integration. 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.