Coming January 20, 2006 to Fat Friday: Gregory Deatz reviews OpenOffice in a law firm setting, Mark Sullivan reviews his experience with OnlyMyEmail, spam filtering service, Todd Hill takes a stab at explaining why legal vendors don't provide executive bios on their Web sites, Don Springmeyer provides links to a plethora of calendaring programs for the law office, and Ruth Curcuru shares her list of five essential Web sites. 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.
Chris Pirillo has the most dramatic predictions, including Google's stock crashing, exclusive iTunes video deals that lock out the competition, a terrorist attack on the Internet, and much 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 January 13, 2005 to Fat Friday: John Webb reviews a little-known Web-based case management system, David Caracappa revisits a previous post with some plug-in suggestions for Firefox and Opera and sounds off on vendor pricing disclosure practices, and John Harris explains how his firm's document naming system works while Daniel Eichorn offers a tip on how to simplify such file naming conventions. 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.
Supposedly, 2004 was the year of the blog and 2005 was the year of the podcast. I believe that 2006 will be the year of mobile video.
Online video has existed for years, but only recently has it gone mobile thanks to Apple's video iPod. As usual with the iPod, Apple wasn't the first to market, but it was the first to create a user experience likely to attract a mass audience.
Never underestimate mobility. What the BlackBerry did for email and previous iPods did for audio, the new iPod will do for video.
Many people have already discussed one important development of the iPod — portable, space shifted television shows. I'd like to discuss another — small business videos.
The stage is now set for law firms and other small businesses to take advantage of video. Thanks to a confluence of software, hardware, and online venues, virtually any business can create and distribute engaging videos with decent production values at almost no cost.
I don't know exactly how this development will play out in the legal sector, but it would not surprise me to see the following:
Law firm Web sites and blogs with videos. How about video lawyer bios featuring interviews, footage of speeches, television appearances, courtroom performances, etc. Stream the videos on the site, and offer iPod-compatible downloads as well.
Engaging CLE videos that finally make use of the medium as opposed to the recorded lectures of old. Forget streaming and sell downloads instead so that lawyers can watch them anywhere.
Deposition videos for your clients to download so that they can see you in action rather than read a dry transcript.
To demonstrate why I believe we're about to witness an explosion of portable video content in 2006, I've put together an iPod-compatible video for you.
Below you'll find a link to Victoria's Secret Kitchen — a short cooking show I produced featuring my grandmother's secret recipe for Eggplant Frittata (despite its name, it does not contain eggs).
I filmed all the footage (34 different clips) on a still camera (no joke), and edited it using iMovie HD on a Mac. In other words, it cost me nothing to produce a coherent video with unique content (you won't find this recipe on the Food Network).
Just imagine what your firm could do with one or two camcorders, quality microphones, and Final Cut Express (Mac) or Adobe Premiere (Windows) — less than $2,000 in equipment and software.
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.
Earlier this year, I participated in a roundtable discussion on e-mail marketing. The article summarizing this discussion as well as the transcript and recording require a paid MarketingProfs membership (worth every penny in my opinion if your job involves marketing).
Fortunately, NetConcepts CEO Stephan Spencer, who moderated the roundtable, has posted a few snippets from our discussion about RSS feeds to his blog, Stephan Spencer's Scatterings.
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.
It looks like the iPod will once again reign as the hottest gift this year. Fortunately for you, this week's edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire will feature five of the best iPod accessories, each of which serves a different function (iPod in your bedroom, iPod in your car, etc.). Don't miss this last issue of 2005.
In the meantime, below you'll find four non-iPod holiday gift suggestions, none which require dealing with the dark side of holiday consumerism on display at your local mall.
Gloves By Bruno: Leather gloves come in two varieties — cheap gloves that don't fit well and feature a cashmere blend rather than 100% cashmere, and expensive gloves that do fit well. Gloves By Bruno falls between these two extremes — well-constructed gloves in a variety of sizes sold directly from a Naples manufacturer by way of its New York-based sales office and Web site. Prices range from $80-$400 with most under $100.
Ecco: I recently learned that my waterproof shoes were no match for a 4 inch New York City slush puddle so I set out to find a waterproof boot for the winter. Surprisingly, few fashion companies have decent Web sites and even fewer sell directly. Sure, I know about Zappos, but it doesn't carry many of the styles that fashion companies reserve for their own stores. Fortunately, Ecco, a Danish shoemaker renowned for boots that are not only waterproof but stylish and lightweight, happens to have one of the best online stores I've ever used. The store carries limited editions that you won't find elsewhere (such as the boots I bought).
Forzieri: The Italians lost their empire, but ended up conquering the world again with their food and fashion. Notwithstanding the success of Armani and Prada, many Italian fashion companies do not export their goods to the United States. At Forzieri, you'll find products from these obscure (to us anyway) companies as well as offerings from the usual suspects.
Semsons: When I bought my Powershot SD500, I was disappointed with Canon's cases for the US market. Canon's offerings in Japan were much hipper. Fortunately, the gray market is now just a click away thanks to Semsons, an online store that imports electronics gear and accessories (like my Japanese camera case) from overseas OEMs. The store also specializes in defunct product lines no longer available elsewhere such as iPod cases for older models.
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 December 14, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Jerry Thompson explains how to assess your individual needs when choosing from the many versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Stephen Seldin reviews his experience with Dell's tech support (and shares an interesting tidbit about founder Michael Dell), Scott Bassett explains how to integrate your digital camera with your office network, Ed Walters reviews a legal research service as well as some free resources, and Mark Payne suggests a simple solution for removing ready-made folders in Windows XP. Don't miss this issue.
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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 December 13, 2005 to TechnoFeature: Did you ever think that once indispensable tools like the typewriter would become obsolete? A growing portion of our personal and professional lives have become electronic and automated, but at what price? In this article, Judge Nancy Gertner of the United States District Court of Massachusetts addresses the effects of technology in the courtroom — her courtroom. Don't miss this inside look at the advantages and disadvantages of today's courtroom technology from the most important person in every courtroom — the judge. High tech courtrooms — efficient or excessive? You decide.
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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 December 6, 2005 to TechnoFeature: It's easy to get wrapped up in all that technology has to offer — the difficulty lies in exercising restraint and making informed, calculated decisions. In this article, management consultant and lawyer coach Ed Poll discusses some of the most common technology traps and how to avoid them — especially when time and money is at stake.
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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 December 6, 2005 to IP Memes: You'll learn about an interesting new relationship forged between the MPAA and a peer-to-peer file sharing enterprise, why you may need to check your computer if you've played any Sony-distributed CDs lately, why using Wikipedia, the ever-evolving free online encyclopedia, may become part of your prior art arsenal, and how our very real intellectual property laws may come into play in the very unreal world of video games.
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Published on Mondays, IP Memes is a biweekly newsletter that explores emerging technology-related intellectual property issues — or "memes" as we call them. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.
