TechnoLawyer

Nearly every day, the mainstream media reports that the amount of spam sent continues to increase. To which I say: So what? The amount of spam sent is irrelevant. What matters is the amount of spam received by end users like me and you. Thanks to a shift from content filters (which tend to block legitimate e-mail) to more sophisticated methods (such as sender authentication) at large ISPs, the amount of spam received has steadily declined. Thankfully, one mainstream publication — TechNewsWorld — is reporting on this important development. Read more.

Update: I may have to change the title of this Post. AdWeek has published an article about the decline of spam. According to the article, "Microsoft said Hotmail users are receiving 60 percent less spam than a year ago, and AOL said user spam complaints in March were down 85 percent from a year earlier." Read more (abstract available for free; full article requires paid subscription).

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.

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

Adobe Acrobat on Steroids
By Brett Burney
Adobe sells several different versions of Acrobat, but even the most powerful version lacks features that lawyers need. As a result, a vibrant after-market of plug-ins exists. One such product, ARTS PDF's Aerialist, bills itself as "the ultimate plug-in for Adobe Acrobat." What does it do? Perhaps it's better to ask what it doesn't do. Among its many lawyer-friendly features, Aerialist can insert bates numbers, page numbers, dates, author information, and more into PDF documents, and generate bookmarks based on headings and font styles. Aerialist also features advanced document assembly and disassembly tools. For example, you can merge or split PDF files in any fashion — by pages, page ranges, bookmarks, page marks, etc. — while retaining cross-document linking. You can also use Aerialist to convert and merge different file types (.doc, .pdf, .xls, etc.) on the fly. Instead of applying each of these functions manually, you can take advantage of Aerialist's batch processing tools. You can even sequence the tasks performed on your files. Need even more power? Check out ARTS PDF's Aerialist Professional, which includes Aerialist's feature set plus even more advanced tools. For example, Aerialist Professional is the only plug-in that supports the creation of document layers. You can also use Aerialist Professional to edit and fix images within a PDF file, automatically build a table of contents for individual documents or collections of documents, and automatically link keywords within your documents. Best of all, you can batch process files by simply dropping them into "watched folders." Aerialist is available in both Windows and Mac versions. Aerialist Professional is currently available for Windows with a Mac version en route. Pricing starts at $379 for Aerialist and $699 for Aerialist Professional with volume discounts available. You can download a 30-day free demo. Learn more about Aerialist.

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.

In response to the recent reviews of digital dictation recorders in Answers to Questions, TechnoLawyer member Stan Burton writes: "Look at StartStop for great solution using the Olympus DS-330, real footpedals that connect USB, and simple to use software."

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.

On the topic of paper shredders, which we recently discussed in Fat Friday, TechnoLawyer member Martin Oppenheimer adds his two cents: "I'm not tied to a specific brand, I have a Fellowes at home and a GBC at work and they both seem fine. But, based on some chopping, I suggest you buy a cross-cut model, it is apparently more secure."

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.

Regarding the recent discussion in Fat Friday about bans on smartphones in courthouses, TechnoLawyer member Steve Minor reports that at least one court — the Eastern District of Tennessee — is "willing to make a deal with you." What about the courts in your jurisdiction?

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.

In Fat Friday, we recently discussed devices banned by courts around the country. Regarding the reasoning behind these bans, TechnoLawyer member Jon Calhoun posits: "I think the cell phone ban is addressed not so much to deter carrying in explosives, but to prevent a cell phone from being used as a remote triggering device to set off explosives. I know this sounds like something out of Mission Impossible, but I believe cell phones were used as triggering devices in the bombings in Spain recently."

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.

We've distributed several in-depth reviews of the Fujitsu ScanSnap in our Answers to Questions newsletter. TechnoLawyer member Grace Lidia Suarez offers this quick take: "I'm a huge fan of the Fujitsu ScanSnap. Comes with the full Adobe Acrobat, and does a great job of one-button scanning."

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.

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

This Cleaner Does Windows, and You Need Not Even Ask
By Brett Burney
Don't you wish smart appliances existed that would automatically clean our floors, do our laundry, wash our dishes, and more without requiring any input from us? Although automated home cleaning does not yet exist, automated document cleaning has arrived in the form of Workshare Protect 4. This new utility doesn't just remove metadata from Microsoft Office documents, it does so automatically and transparently. Workshare Protect enables you to set firmwide parameters for metadata removal and other security measures. You can even decide what to strip from a document depending on the nature of the activity. For example, you might treat internally e-mailed documents differently from externally e-mailed documents. In addition to removing metadata, Workshare Protect can also convert e-mail attachments to PDF format and even compress attachments into .zip format when they reach a specified size. Best of all, Workshare Protect does all of its work behind the scenes automatically, which eliminates the need to train your staff. That said, your power users can view reports showing the risk rating of their documents and what Workshare Protect will remove. You can even grant special privileges to such users so that they can tweak Workshare Protect's actions on a document by document basis — even within the same e-mail message. Workshare Protect works with GroupWise, Lotus Notes, and Outlook, and with Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP/2003. You can download a free trial. Learn more about Workshare Protect.

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.

Regarding our coverage of the FlipStart in our TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter, TechnoLawyer member E. Thomas Kemp retorts: "My Palm based Kyocera has nearly zero boot uptime. How long does FlipStart take to boot up Windows XP? Integrated camera? I'd never get the thing into the courtroom. In truth, I do not need "full-fledged" applications in a portable. What I need is light, quick, visible, and flexible, and I have not seen it yet."

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.

Martin Dean's complaint about legal technology in a recent Fat Friday newsletter continues to spark debate. TechnoLawyer member Michael Hanlon writes: "Martin Dean got it right. Most of us are practicing law, our chosen profession. Technology is supposed to be a tool to more efficiently and effectively practice law. It is not an end unto itself, as many who have taken technology as their full time profession or avocation seem to believe."

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.