Law Office Technology

Questions and Answers about Spotify

 

Do I need and Invite?

No if you want to fork over $4.99 you can join right now.  Spotify has been available in Europe, it just became available in the US. 

How much does it cost?

Premium is $9.99,  Unlimited is $4.99.  I got the Premium because it allows offline syncing to the iPhone and PC and has better bit rates. 

What sort of Music is available on Spotify?

Almost everything I could want.  They have Trombone Shorty but no Kermit Ruffins.  I just downloaded the new Foo Fighters,  Mumford and Sons and Muse.

Does Spotify Suck as much as ITunes?

No,  it uses less memory and plays songs faster.  It did crash a couple of times when I first starting using it, but I was importing a large amount of data into ITunes and on my Iphone.  I also made sure to exclude it from Virus Scanning.

Will Spotify Replace Pandora?

I don’t think so.  I will still use Pandora to find new music. 

Can Spotify play Music that has DRM?

No, You will need to un-drm it.  You can either burn to a CD and reimport or use ITunes Plus to un-drm it.  In the Itunes Store, it is under Quick Links.  It cost $0.30 a song to un-drm it and gives you a better bit quality.  This would only come up if you had bought music that is not is Spotify’s catalogue.

Will Spotify Wirelessly Sync music that you have that it does not have?

Yes, it will, unless the music has DRM.  If it does see the question above.  This has got to be one of the best features.  No more wired Sync and no need to open up Itunes to Sync

Will Spotify work in iPhone Apps like Nike Plus, Alarm Clock, ect?

No, Spotify does not use the internal Iphone Music, therefore you can not use spotify tracks with apps  Hopefully Spotify becomes really popular and this changes.

Will Spotify work with an FM modulator for your car, or a dock to a stereo system?

Yes

Are the Beatles on Spotify?

No, but the Beatles are the most money grubbing, corporate, greedy, establishment, fascist band in the entire world.  Imagine a world that when ever you mention the Beatles in conversation, you would have to pay them Royalties.  It is easy if you try.  

How does Spotify make any money?

No clue, it does seem to good to be true. 

Can I completely Replace Itunes?

Almost.  I wont use Itunes anymore to listen to music on my computer, instead I will use Spotify.  I will still need to sync some songs, like my DJay Playlists and Running Playlists to use with Apps on my Iphone. 

Can I stream it to my Apple TV or Roku?

Not yet, but I jail broke my apple tv and there seems to be some convoluted way of getting it to work.  I am hoping that Roku adds something official. 

The Commando 450 Stand Up Desk

This past week there was a lot of news about how sitting down all day is not good for you.  Most of it was generated by the Mashable infograph: Just How Dangerous Is Sitting All Day?  It is posted at the bottom of this article.

Well, I was pretty sold and spend the next day researching Standing Desks.  In the end I decided to build my own instead of buying.  On a trip to Office Depot, I noticed this laptop stand. 

 

 

Height-Adjustable Mobile Laptop Cart, 33 1/16"H x 23 5/8"W x 15 3/4"D, Black/Silver

At the cost of $39.99 I decided to purchase two of them and elevate my desk.  The advantages of the laptop stand are:

• Cheap
• Adjustable Height
• Has Wheels

I disconnected one side of my glass desk, put the stands together and elevated my desk.  I also got a boom stand for my snowball mike so I can easily skype. 

Monday Night I had my desk built.  Tuesday through Thursday were rough.  I run about 15-20 miles a week, plus biking and swimming.  It was still extremely hard to stand up all day.  Wednesday I went to sleep at 7pm.  By the following Monday I hit a groove and was able to stand up all day without and noticeable pain in my legs. 

Besides the health advantages,  I find that I am much more focused.  It is much harder to get distracted when you are standing up.  I also prefer to stand when on the phone and find I much more attentive when talking to people.  After Wednesday,  I stopped using my other sit-down desk.

In honor of Seinfeld, I have decided to name my standup desk, the Commando 450.

 

 

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

Free Transcribed Voicemail for iPhone and Droid

http://yapinc.com/voicemail.html

One of the worst feelings in the world is to walk out of a 12-15 hour day of work and see that you have 20 voicemails on your phone.  Quite demoralizing, but years ago I found a product called phonetag which transcribed all of my voicemails for me and sent them to me as an email.  It worked extremely well and it allowed my assistant to check my messages and put out fires while I was working with clients.

I have discovered a similar service called Yap which basically does the same thing, but is free.  When I get a Voice Mail,  it is transcribed and sent to me as an email with an audio attachment of the vm in case the transcription had problems. 

There is also an app on the iphone which shows all your messages as well.  I like this because I can see how many people have left voice messages without having to go through all my email.  After using this product I can say the transcription is about as good as phonetag’s and again the service is free.  Hard to beat that.  For now it works on the iPhone and the Droid. 

Overload – A Process to Intake Information for the Web

I have streamlined the system that I use to gather and process information.  It meets the following criteria: 

• Cross Platform – I want to be able to use a Windows, Mac, iPhone, Droid, iPad and have everything synced.  If I read an article on one device, it should be marked read on all of them.  If I add a source to one device,  it should be added to all.   
  
• Cloud – It has to be backed up online.  It also needs to be viewable through a browser but have the option of downloading to go offline. 
  
• Cheap or Free.
  
• No new Programs to install on my PC.
  
• Easy to add articles to Twitter and Facebook. (So people think I am smart)

 

RSS

Most blogs and websites have an RSS Feed.  You take that feed and plug it into an RSS Reader and it tells you when the site has been updated.  So instead of going to 25 different sites a day and hoping there is new content, the RSS Reader will display all this information on one page. 

Google Reader

I chose Google Reader as my RSS Platform because it’s the industry standard and most apps syncs to it.  It is also free and easy to use.

Outlook

 

I found a great article on Life Hacker on how to hook your google reader account to Outlook.  Therefore, no new software on my PC. 

 http://lifehacker.com/#!5187172/use-google-reader-from-within-outlook

iPad / iPhone

There is an app called Reeder available for the iPad and iPhone which syncs with google reader.  It also allows you to download content to view when you are not connected to the internet.  The iPad version is $4.99 and the iPhone is $2.99.  As soon as I add something into google reader, it automatically updates the app.  It also links to Facebook, Twitter and Instapaper. 

Flipboard

After using RSS Readers for a couple of years I have determined that they are best for sites that update once or twice a week.  Sources that update hourly tend to  drowning out everyone else. 

For those sites,  I use an app on my Ipad called Flipboard.  Apple named Flipboard its app of the year,  and I have to agree.    I don’t have the words to describe it, but its rendering of articles is beautiful and simplistic.  Its also free, but it only works on the iPad and nothing else. 

Flipboard also makes it very easy to post articles to twitter and facebook, plus lets you look at your google reader account.  It also links to Instapaper. 

Instapaper

The last piece of the puzzle is the ability to save articles to be viewed at a future time period.  There are many times that I am looking at something on my iPhone and want to be able to file it away for future reference.  To get this accomplished, I use a program called Instapaper which hooks into Flipboard and Reeder as well as the browsers on my pc and iPhone/iPad.  When I see something interesting,  I just tag it to Read Later.  The service is free. 

 

Conclusion

Besides Dandy Don, the LSU sports website that had no RSS Feed, I process all other information through this method.  Before I put this system in place,  I was kind of lost in the stream of information.  In the end,  the web should make your life more efficient, not waste your time in a puddle of mass confusion. 

Tech Tip: Software Training Online

The Weekly Email Newsletter Of The Mississippi Bar
March 29, 2010

There are some great options for software training online.  Lynda.com  is the best and offers a 1 month subscription for $25 a month.  Topics include Adobe Acrobat,  Excel, Facebook,  Google App, Google Docs,  InfoPath,  Internet Explorer, iTunes, Office 2003, Office 2007, Office 2010,  Office for Mac,  OneNote 2007, Outlook, PowerPoint, QuickBooks,  SharePoint,  Twitter,  WordPerfect,  Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and many others.  Acrolaw has a lot of free training videos on Adobe Acrobat on their site  http://acrolaw.host.adobe.com/.  Microsoft also has a some pretty useful online training programs on all their office products: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/default.aspx?ofcresset=1. This TechTips are provided courtesy of Craig Bayer, Law Office Technology http://www.lawot.com/

Law Office Technology's New Digs

Two weeks ago, I went with my friend Tom O’Connor to visit Ernie Svenson’s new office.  After Lunch at Lucy’s I was chopping at the bit to move Lawot into the technology equivalent of El Dorado.  We are now located in Launchpad which is in the The IP Building, right next to the US Fifth Circuit and a stone’s throw away from the Louisiana State Bar Association.  Launchpad is basically a collaborative office space full of technology minded people.  Ernie’s desk is right next to me,  Tom and Techy Becky, works in front of me and  another brilliant tech attorney, Al Robert, is ten feet away to the right.  We now have access to state of the art conference rooms,  training centers, VOIP Phones, and super fast internet.

This is the future and Law Office Technology is proud and humbled to be part of it.  Gone are the days of googling for a couple of hours to find an answer.  I just take off my head phones and ask aloud if anyone knows how to “Insert Obscure Legal Tech Question” and I get an answer.  I am surrounded by people that work very long hours and love every minute of it.

Obviously Launchpad is no secret as the following articles from the New York Times, New Orleans City Business, and WWL can attest. 

FYI, I still have more monitors then anyone there. 

Synergy – The Virtual KVM Switch

Besides using dual monitors, I also use dual laptops, a dell latitude and IBM Tablet X60.  The problem I have whether at home, on the road, or the office is that I just want to use one keyboard/mouse for both computers.  I finally found the solution in Synergy which is basically a virtual KVM Switch.  I installed Synergy on both laptops and when the laptops are connected to the same network, I only need need one keyboard and mouse.  It works across platforms so if you have a Mac and a PC you could share it on both computers. 

This article will help you set it up: http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/09/how-to-share-your-keyboard-and-mouse-in-realtime-with-synergy/

ThompsonWest Webinar Series

 Tom O’Conner, Browning.Marean and I have been doing some Webinar’s on legal technology for ThompsonWest.  We did one on Basic Law Firm Technology yesterday and we are doing one on 1/21/2008 on disaster recovery.  Certain states will give CLE Credit. 

Here is the description:

Disasters come in many forms -- hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, power outages even terrorist attacks.  The best disaster recovery plan is a disaster preparation plan so that your practice can be back in business as soon as possible. Technology can assist this process but there are other important business decisions to consider as well: availability of equipment, access to data, staffing issues .....all these are supported by technology in today's law firm and this session will show you how to put the the right technology system in place before disaster strikes.

http://westlegaledcenter.com/program_guide/course_detail.jsf?videoCourseId=18196558

 

 

CLE Speaking in Baton Rouge

I will be speaking in Baton Rouge next Thursday for the CURRENT TRENDS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT PRACTICE III CLE for East Baton Rouge Parish.

Here is a description:

Government & Public Law is a specialized practice area which presents unique challenges. This two-day seminar is designed for all attorneys, administrators, city, parish and municipal officials to provide information on the current and relevant law, trends, and practical information to help perform your job more effectively.

My Topic will be “Law Office Technology: Use of Technology to Modernize Your Law Practice” @  3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. in the Baton Rouge Court Building.

ISPs in Louisiana and Mississippi Do Not CHOOSE AT&T

I am currently setting up email hosting for a client of mine.  They have a Small Business Server and want to host their own email.  Not to get too technical but when you do this, you call up the ISP (Internet Service Provider) and make sure that their Reverse DNS Points to your server.  Every time I have to deal BellSouth, now AT&T, this is a nightmare.  As I write this, I have been transferred for the 10 times (1 Hour) and no one could help me.  When I call Cox Tech support to do this, it takes 1 call.