Digital Samurai

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS SOFTWARE: A MUST HAVE FOR ANY FIRM

It always amazes us when we see so many law firms without any sort of practice management or case management system. How can you expect to run an efficient practice, especially in these tough economic times? Confused about where to start? Not sure what practice management software can do for you? With the right system in place, you and your staff will have the ability to automatically route items, tasks, documents, and events to certain people based on their role in the case or matter, as well as manage deadlines, improve responsiveness to clients, reduce malpractice insurance rates, and boost overall productivity.

Fortunately for you, our good friend and colleague, Andy Adkins, has just published the second edition of The Lawyer’s Guide to Practice Management Systems Software. You can order it directly from the ABA or come to TECHSHOW in Chicago next week, where Andy and John will be presenting, and get Andy to sign your copy.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

NETWORK SHARE USB DEVICES

Finally, a device that allows the sharing of USB devices without using a peer-to-peer network. IOGEAR has just announced its 4-Port USB Net Share Station (Part #GUIP204), which allows all network users to access shared USB devices such as USB printers, external USB hard drives, USB flash drives, USB scanner and even USB speakers. You can share up to four USB devices per Net Share Station.

Why is this such a neat little device? In the past, you would typically share devices by hanging them off a central server or enabling ‘Print and File Sharing’ in a Microsoft Windows world. Print and File Sharing presents some security issues since at least one computer has to be on so others can use its resources in a peer-to-peer fashion. This is a great device for solo and small firm lawyers that need to share USB devices and may not have a central server. Each computer installs software provided by IOGEAR that makes the USB device appear to be directly connected to your computer. You can even use the Net Share Station in a wireless network if needed.

The Net Share Station is available for a street price of around $65.

- John and Mike
 
(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

IE 8 SHOWING SIGNS OF BEING VISTA-LIKE

Only a week out of the gate, Internet Explorer 8 is already experiencing a downturn in users. IE 8 initially held roughly a 3% share of the browser market but those numbers have since dropped to about half of the early adoption figures.

Part of the problem lies with the fact that there have been reported compatibility problems with web pages designed specifically for IE7, causing problems when users attempt to view these web sites. A Compatibility View icon is provided in the toolbar, that allows users to toggle the mode on or off, when visiting a broken page, that should render the page within the browser correctly.

There have been other grumblings in regard to the installation size of the program, with some users reporting IE 8 taking upwards of 4 GB to install. However, this is not the case and the installation footprint is not that large.

IE 8 needs to be a hit for Microsoft, as users continue to switch to using other browsers such as FireFox and Safari. Current estimates have Internet Explorer’s share of the browser market falling to roughly two-thirds, with both FireFox and Safari continuing to gain in popularity. If things continue in this direction, it might be only a matter of time before FireFox takes the lead. As FireFox fans, we would be pleased.

Does IE 8 work with your web site? To find out, you can download IE 8 here. Good luck.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

TEENY, TINY USB FLASH DRIVE

It’s the smallest flash drive we’ve ever seen and it’s BIG in capacity. Check out the Pico series of flash drives from Super Talent. Probably the most impressive device is the 200X 16GB Pico C USB Flash Drive, which you can get online for around $40. 16GB for $40 is a bargain, but make sure you keep the tether attached and by all means, encrypt the data. This sucker is only 1.5”x0.5” in size and can easily be lost. This is one case where size is both an advantage and a disadvantage.

- John and Mike

(703)359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

A BLACKBERRY TOUCHSCREEN DEVICE? WE MUST BE DREAMING…

BlackBerry devices have long been known for their scroll wheel, that little wheel a user operates with their thumb. You know the one? Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, has long neglected the inclusion of a touchscreen on its devices, and for years users have gotten by. Well, it appears now that BlackBerry is going to mix things up a bit with their upcoming release of the BlackBerry Bold.

Set for release in Canada sometime this summer, and the U.S. soon thereafter, the BlackBerry Bold (99xx series) will contain both a QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen, and will lack a trackball or scroll wheel. The addition of the touchscreen should make this device more attractive to Windows Mobile users looking for alternatives, as the lack of one previously prevented them from being a true competitor.

Now, if RIM could only do something about the need to send our data through Canada, then we might pay more attention.

- John and Mike

(703)359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

ZERO DAY FIX FOR ADOBE

Adobe has posted a fix for version 9 of Acrobat and Reader, which corrects a critical vulnerability where an attacker could take control of the affected system. The update is available here and should be applied immediately. We checked if you could apply the update directly from the product, but it appears as if the patch is only available from the download area. Adobe announced that they plan to have a fix for versions 7 and 8 by March 18th.

As we all know, PDF is used extensively in the legal profession and particularly for electronic filing. This is a serious vulnerability for the Adobe products and should be patched immediately. If you are still using the older versions of Acrobat or the Reader, check Adobe’s site every day to get the announced fix for versions 7 and 8.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

VISTA SP2 and SERVER 2008 SP2 AVAILABLE

Microsoft has released the Release Candidate version of SP2 for Vista and Server 2008. If you are unfortunate enough to be currently running Vista, then you probably want to consider downloading this Service Pack, which is available at the Microsoft download site. The download is an ISO for a DVD so you’ll need a DVD burner and some patience as it may take several hours to download.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

THE 2009 SOLO AND SMALL FIRM LEGAL TECHNOLOGY GUIDE HAS ARRIVED!

We just wanted to announce that our most recent book, John’s fourth and Mike’s third, has just been published by the American Bar Association. The 2009 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide: Critical Decisions Made Simple provides honest and unbiased recommendations for both solo and small firm lawyers when it comes to making tough and critical technology purchasing decisions.

This annual guide contains the most current and up-to-date information to help solo and small firm attorneys find the best technology for their dollar. The topics covered include computers, monitors, peripherals, printers, scanners, smartphones, servers, networking hardware, wireless networking, productivity software, security software, remote access, high-speed Internet, utilities, billing software, document management, document assembly, collaboration, unified messaging and more.

The book also features an introduction by noted legal technologist/writer/speaker Ross Kodner, who also kindly contributed a chapter entitled "Paperless or Paper LESS: The Quest to Sanely Manage Paper in Practice."

To everyone who submitted recommendations on new topics to include in this version, we thank you for your input. We hope that you will continue to send us your recommendations as we strive to make each version better.

Hopefully, all solo and small firm lawyers will find this book an invaluable resource that will save you time and money when it comes to selecting the right technology for your practice.

The book may be ordered from the ABA here.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

MICROSOFT’S BACK AT IT WITH WINDOWS 7

After the ferocious criticism that Microsoft received following the release of all the different versions of Vista, they’ve announced that they’ll be doing the exact same thing with Windows 7.  The next-gen operating system will be made available in just as many flavors as Vista, including Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions. It’s estimated that 80% of all Windows 7 sales will consist of both Home Premium and Professional editions. So we ask ourselves, why all of the editions? 

Microsoft has stated that each of the versions is necessary given all of the locations Windows software is sold throughout the world. This statement may be partly true, with Microsoft offering “stripped” down versions of the operating software like Home Basic just to emerging markets, and not here in the U.S. However, the majority of users feel that it’s just another marketing ploy to increase their licensing revenues and to cause users more headaches.

Our heads already hurt and we still have a long time to wait. Anyone got any Advil?

It’s déjà-vu all over again.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com