Welcome to guest blogger, Ari Morse.  Ari is a licensed private investigator (www.bestpi.com) and forensic genealogist (www.findanheir.com), based in Central Florida.  He is the fourth generation in a family business that specializes in locating missing heirs to estates and conduct international genealogical research. He is often hired to handle complex genealogical matters, prepare comprehensive Affidavits and testify in Court.   He is a Past President of the Florida Association of Private Investigators, former board member of the Better Business Bureau of Central Florida, and serves as a board member of several civic and professional organizations. His email is: ari@findanheir.com,

Review: Lenovo Thinkpad Twist

As a private investigator and forensic genealogist, my electronic tools are an important to my getting the job done as efficiently as possible as we rely heavily on email, imaging of vital records, large documents and spreadsheets.  We were in the market to replace some three year old netbooks with some ultrabooks, and while reading the ABA’s Solosez listserve there was a post by Ross Kodner about his interest in the Lenovo Thinkpad Twist.  We value what Ross has to say, especially about technology and spent over twenty hours researching, going to stores to actually test drive the machine.  We also compared the Twist with the Lenovo Yoga, several Sony Ultrabooks, the Lenovo X1 Carbon, and the Dell XPS 12.  Our research proved one thing, that for the price, and flexibility of options, Ross was right, the Twist could not be beat.

We were initially going to order the Twist from Lenovo directly through their shareholder program, however, their shipping time was several weeks out, so we opted to reach out to Carrie Waller at MacMall, who had the computer we were looking for, in stock, and ready to be shipped that day.

We ordered the Twist with an i7 processor, 500 gigabyte standard hard drive (7200rpm) together with a 24 gig micro solid state drive, and 8 gigs of ram.  We chose the regular hard drive over both solid state drive options because of the extra space, as we often open large files that contain thousands of images of vital records, and family history items.

Once the computer arrived at our office, we charged them for about one hour before we began setting them up.  The only things in the box were the computer and the charger.  Even though we had tested out the Twist at several big box office stores, we were surprised at how light it was, and even more at how well the weight was distributed.  The weight was distributed fairly evenly and there were no areas that felt heavier than others, which is nice when using the computer.  The appearance was nice, as it the computer is a matte black, with a texture of a very soft and smooth plastic or rubber.  The outside edge of the screen has a metallic finish which is only visible when the screen is closed or in tablet mode, and does not interfere with any images on the screen.

When we first booted up the laptop, it took about sixteen seconds from pressing the power button to the screen where you must enter your windows password, and it seems to vary between fourteen and eighteen seconds usually.  Having come from a Windows XP machine where this takes no less than sixty to ninety seconds, we were in awe.   The many reviews that we read complained that the screen was not a HD 1080p resolution, however, the screen is vibrant and has crisp images, handling everything without any pixilation or problems.  Given that we review many older documents and images, there are always quality issues, but this screen was very clear and allowed us to figure out the writing in a pre-1900 census record that we were previously unable to discern.

Using the Twist in the usual laptop setup where the keyboard is perpendicular to the screen is simply great.  The keyboard has keys that are curved slightly so that if you are someone who types rather quickly, it helps your fingers from slipping to the next key, which happened all the time on my older computer.  The keyboard also has the red trackpoint that is nice and comfortable.  The touchpad is a good size and very responsive to touch, although there are no buttons on the bottom, instead, Lenovo placed them above for use with the trackpoint.  There are only two negatives that I have discovered with the keyboard, the first being that it is not backlit, which would have been a nice feature, and the second is more of a personal preference in that the bottom left corner does not have the control key (the bottom left corner has the Fn key, and the CTRL is the second key in).

There are plenty of ports for peripherals, including two USB 3.0 (one on each side), a mini HDMI (left), headphone jack (left), ethernet (left), 4 in 1 card reader (left), and a mini display port (right).  This was definitely an advantage the Twist had on several of the other computers.

One nice aspect of using the Twist in different directions is that it will automatically change the view so that your screen is always facing the right way.  Given that the computer relies on one hinge, it feels strong and sturdy when lifting the screen or twisting.  There is a screen lock button just above the power button, if you would rather lock the screen so the computer could be passed or moved without fear of the display changing.

Most of our time so far has been using the Twist in the usual laptop setup, but it was also nice when using it as a tablet.  One thing we found interesting is how much heavier the Twist feels when using it as a tablet, and it could be because we are comparing it to the iPad, although the screen is significantly larger than the iPad.

This computer will definitely not replace my iPad in form or function but I do like that I can use the tablet feature while editing and reviewing a Microsoft Word Document, or while scrolling through a spreadsheet, or marking up a pdf.  I was also able to enlarge a document to show a client an image while the twist was in tablet mode, which was very neat.  So far as I have been able to tell, Lenovo does not make a stylus or recommend one for this laptop.

Setting the computer with the screen inverted, into tent mode is nice because the keyboard is hidden, not exposed like the Yoga.  This is perfect for watching movies, or simply showing a presentation to a small group.  While this may not be something I would envision using often, it is a nice option to be able to utilize when the need arises.

So far the battery has lasted between four and five hours of pretty heavy office related use.  Turning the monitor to the side slightly is nice, especially to avoid any potential glare or bad angles with lighting.

The Twist would never replace the ease of use or the simplicity of an iPad, nor is it meant to do so.  It is a powerful, robust computer with lots of bells and whistles, for a very reasonable price.  Now that Windows 8 has become the norm, a touch screen is becoming more necessary, and in that case, there is nothing I would rather have in my bag than the Twist, as it gives me the best of all worlds for form, productivity, and pleasure, in a compact and lightweight design.

I’m constantly asked by clients, colleagues, friends, Romans, countrymen (countrypeople?), “what do you have in your laptop bag?” Or “can you tell me what’s in your mobile office bag?”

So here’ goes – a deconstruction, item-by-item, of what’s in my mobile bag.

Mobile office equipment has many personal elements so there are many “right” approaches. My cred is that I’m about to hit 1,000,000 Delta flight miles (which might not sound like a big deal for overseas regulars, but this is made up almost exclusively of MANY short-haul segments over the years). In other words, I travel ALOT. My mobile kit evolves constantly (in part because of my obsessive infatuation with mobile gear and the search for the “perfect” complement of mobility tools/gizmos/gadgets/accoutrements, etc.).

From the “knows enough to be genuinely dangerous” category of DIY PC tuneups came a post on a Bar listserve I frequent. The poster observed that he/she had just disabled all the “Services” from their Windows system (via editing MSCONFIG or going into Computer Administration via the Control Panel) to improve it’s overall startup time and speed.

My reaction? W – H – O – A     N – E – L – L – Y ! ! !

Disabling all services is NOT a good idea unless you know with absolute certainty what you are disabling. Often programs like anti-malware products and firewalls use several services from different sources, making it much less than obvious what is safe or desirable to disable v. those that will have a crippling effect.

Lately, the MicroLaw team has been very busy helping law practices of all shapes and sizes with projects like:

• Helping many firms achieve their own iteration of our Paper LESS Office process
• Helping select and deploy the Worldox document/email management system
• Helping select and deploy practice and financial management systems including Tabs 3 and Tabs PracticeMaster, among others
• Providing better usage-focused legal-specific training on Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint
• Training on Adobe Acrobat and PDFing in their practices as part of our “PDF First” approach
• Helping firms with security and protection of confidential client information via security audits and deployment of Metadata Assistant
• Helping firms portabilize and remotely access their practice info via iPads, Android tablets, iPhones and Android phones – securely, and yes, with Macs as well
• Evaluating their overall use of technology and finding ways to be more profitable and more productive
• Making sure your practice is protected by multiple layer backup systems that actually work
• Helping firms find their way into the “cloud,” often by building their private, secure cloud
• Providing internal CLE for practices on tech and practice management topics
• Teaching law school courses around the country on legal technology for 2Ls and 3Ls
• And as always, traveling the country educating legal professionals in live CLE programs on tech and practice management topics
• Building virtual practices that extend your client reach across state and even international borders without the cost of office space

We’re happy to help your practice as well – just email me and I’ll be happy to chat about it to see if we’re the right folks to assist. MicroLaw has been caring for the tech and practice management needs of law practices and legal organizations for more than 28 years – we’re the originals and we’re ready to help you best help your own practice. It starts with a call to 414-540-9433 or an email to rkodner@microlaw.com – it’s that simple. And it’s far more cost effective than you might imagine.

This entire situation seems ridiculous. Apparently the previous policy allowed people to work at home full-time and NEVER come into the office. It would seem that some kind of middle ground makes much more sense.

Periodically I have clients who ask about paper feeding issues with their printers or scanners. I’m sure you’ve experienced this from time to time. Your scanner likes to grab several sheets of paper at a time or the paper skews when being pulled into your printer. The cause, often, is dirty feed rollers. The silicone or rubber rollers, being somewhat sticky by their nature, pick up paper dust. This build-up lowers the friction against the paper and causes slippage. There you go – a royal pain.

The answer is cleaning the rollers, but not the way you might think of doing it. What I hear usually is a DIY approach involving Q-Tips and rubbing alcohol. And then a note of pleased self-satisfaction at a small personal victory over recalcitrant technology. Good! Oh wait . . . NOT so good (the alcohol part, that is).

I don’t know if anyone really remembers the typewriter days but there was something called “typewriter platen fluid.” This was used to clean the roller inside of the carriage. Over time, paper dust would build up and it  would lose its grippiness. Platen fluid would clean it without damaging the rubber.

In case you don’t get the ABA LPM e-zine, “Law Practice Today,” here’s my article from the February 2013 issue (also online here):

Title: Buying Smart: The Right Technology Makes More Than it Costs

Are you “buying smart” when it comes to tech in your practice, or just “saving a buck?”

There’s nothing more expensive than buying the wrong technology for your practice. Except, perhaps, buying the “right stuff” and implementing it poorly. Sometimes, the lowest-cost technology over the long haul isn’t necessarily the least expensive to purchase. Unfortunately, the old proverb “penny wise and pound foolish” traps even tech-savvy lawyers and dooms them to ineffective technology, or worse, more chaos with new tools than they experienced previously with the “obsolete” stuff.

Buying smart and buying right can turn even a single technology addition, such as a desktop scanner or new document management system, into a profit center – generating more profit in many situations than a new leveraged billable person.

Here’s an example, based on feedback from one of my clients. A 65-year-old small-firm lawyer was concerned that he was forgetting to enter many small time entries; he said he remembered the half-day blocks for contract drafting or a client meeting, but that he routinely forgot to enter the myriad 1/10 or 2/10 of an hour timeslips for things like responding to emails or taking a phone call. He estimated that on an average day he forgot two or three 1/10 hour time entries.

I asked him, “so how much do you think forgetting those little time entries every single day costs you?” He said, “I don’t even want to think about it.” I suggested we do some basic legal business math and asked for a legal pad. We took his average net hourly rate of $200 and for the sake of math simplicity, we presumed he failed to record 15 minutes per day (he shook his head at this point and said “And a lot more on some days . . . “). Here’s the calculation:

• .25 hours X $200/hour = $50 X 5 days per week = $250 X 50 working weeks per year = $12,500

$12,500.

That’s real money, and it shocked him to see that the little 1/10 or 2/10 timeslips he was losing daily, which seemed like a “cost of doing business” as he described it, added up over time. He reminded me that it was actually probably double that because he was underestimating the lost time.

So keep that number in your mind – $12,500 (he was thinking “more like $20,000 in reality”).

My advice was to implement his firm’s first fully integrated financial and practice management system. In his case, it was Tabs 3 and Tabs PracticeMaster Premier, the venerable and widely-used system from Software Technology, Inc. (www.tabs3.com). We also recommended he integrate these systems with the Worldox legal document/email management system and Microsoft Outlook. Together, the four systems tightly connect to form a unified law practice management system.

One of the key characteristics of the Tabs PracticeMaster practice management system, as some others do as well, is to allow many entries in the system that would normally be made in the course of a normal workday, to be turned into time entries without having to remember to separately create a time-entry. Examples include electronically jotting down the notes from a phone call with co-counsel, or posting a time for a call with the court in the calendaring system, or saving a document to a client’s electronic matter file.

So the idea is simple – you get off the phone with co-counsel on a case (or during the call if you’re using a microphone or headset) and you jot down your notes and save them to the matter’s file in the practice management system. Now in the old world my client once lived in, he had to then remember to find his PAPER multi-part timesheet (I’m serious – and this was in 2011) and write down the timeslip, hopefully remembering the right codes. More often than not, he told himself “I’ll remember to enter that at the end of the day because I have to take this call that’s waiting for me.” As 5 PM rolled around and he struggled to recall all his “little” time entries (while trying to dash out the door to pick up his wife for dinner), his mind inevitably went blank and the entries disappeared forever into the “financial ether.”

But now, Tabs PracticeMaster pops up and pre-fills a timeslip for him for a pre-determined amount of time (decided during the pre-implementation setup process for the program) – 2/10 of an hour in his case. All he has to do is click to “OK” it, and he has a time entry recorded, where one would have otherwise been lost.

Tabs 3 (the billing module) and Tabs PracticeMaster Premier (the practice management module) cost his firm around $2000 fully implemented for four people, including software costs, training and professional services. After the first 12 months of use I asked him how it was going and he said, “This program you put in front of me made me an extra $21,000 this year!” I reminded him that it wasn’t, in fact, “extra,” but had been his money all along; it just wasn’t being captured.

So about $2000 of initial expense, plus a couple of hundred dollars per year for ongoing software maintenance works out as follows:

• Cost per year – first year = $2000 startup cost including first year of software maintenance. Subsequent years = approximately $300 in software maintenance. Five-year cost = $2000 + $1200 = $3200
• Return on $3200 = $21,000 per year in “extra” captured time X 5 years = $105,000
• Net return after costs = $105,000 – $3200 = $101,800 more top-line revenue

That was a clear example of buying smart – the right software, implemented properly, measured well and generating a proportionately enormous return on the dollars spent.

So the essence of buying smart really has little to do with “getting the best deal,” whatever that might actually mean. A lawyer who proudly and perhaps smugly suggests that the DIY Excel spreadsheet she created 15 years earlier to track all her time and boasts that it “cost me nothing and works great” is deluding herself. If she’s not capturing the three of four 1/10 of an hour entries she admitted to forgetting, and her technology tools don’t help her to remember or act as a financial safety net to help her capture that time somehow, the cost is enormous. Here’s what I explained to her, again, asking for a yellow pad to do the legal business math neither she (nor I) had learned in law school:

• Cost of not entering three 1/10 hour time entries at her net realized hourly rate of $175/hour = $52.50 per day X 5 days per week = $262.50 X 50 working weeks per year = $13,125
• $13,125 per year is the cost of not spending about $1500 for a fully implemented financial/practice management system to help automate the capture of that time.

The “bargain” Excel spreadsheet was put out to pasture the following week and she wondered why she hadn’t done this years ago.

So what are some ways you can “buy smart” in your practice? The following tips will help ensure that you spend just the right amount – not too much, not too little – and generate a provable, measurable profit on the money you spend on your technology:

• Look for areas where you waste otherwise billable time. Examples include time spent looking for information you can only find in a paper file, or being honest with yourself about how many “little” time entries you forget to enter on a typical day, or how often you “reinvent the wheel” and redraft language in a flat-fee matter (like estate planning) that you know you wrote before and could’ve leveraged, if only you had been able to find it.
• Assign amounts of time you spend subsidizing those activities.
• Take out a legal pad and do the “legal business math” – multiply the amount of otherwise billable time wasted by your approximate average hourly or realized hourly rate.
• That figure is your RRT (Revenue Recapture Target) – in other words, what you can expect to additionally bill if you can find a way to recapture that time,
• Then whether you decided to represent yourself pro se on your tech matters, seek out the advice of your state bar’s practice management advisor, or retain a professional legal technology consultant, find the technology tools that will specifically address each area of waste. Perhaps a financial/practice management system that automates timeslip entry or a tool like Chrometa (www.chrometa.com) that captures all your time spent on your computer systems to be imported into your billing system, or a desktop scanner such as the popular Fujitsu ScanSnap in its latest ix500 iteration (www.scansnap.com), and document manager like Worldox GX3 (www.worldox.com) or NetDocuments (www.netdocuments.com) that turns physical paper into electronic paper – in real-time as soon as it hits your desk, and then makes it all instantly searchable so the wheel never has to be reinvented again. In other words, plug the gaps and recapture YOUR otherwise wasted time and get it billed out and collected. Or use an iPad or Android tablet (or iPhone or Android smartphone) with Chrometa to capture time when it’s not convenient to fire up your Windows or Mac laptop, and then review the time captured, import it and bill it (http://www.chrometa.com/mobile.html).
• Of course, spending as little as possible is still smart business. For commodity tech items like printers, scanners, mainstream software like Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Office, use internet pricing engines like Pricegrabber.com or Google Product Search (www.google.com/products) to get the very best pricing.

Then, mostly importantly, always work to “spot the issues” – something we lawyers all were taught to do by every law school. Work to root out the areas where otherwise billable or productive time is wasted, and then assume the answer to the question “is there technology that can put an end to that and turn most or all of it into billable time” is going to be some version of “yes.”

Well by now everyone is well aware of the leveraged buyout of Dell Computer by a group led by founder and Chairman Michael Dell, along with a consortium of venture partners include Silver Lake Investors and Microsoft. I’ll leave the financial analysis and LBO breakdown to the quantitative numbers wonks out there. What I’m more interested in is what this means for the legions of law practice consumers of Dell computers and support services.

The Big Questions You’re Undoubtedly Wondering About:

1. Are you SOL in the wake of the privatization efforts that seem to be focused on turning off the public light of scrutiny on the remaking of Dell, a la IBM post-shedding its PC division to Lenovo, into an IBM-like service-focused profit machine?
2. What will happen to that shiny new Dell PowerEdge Server you just installed next month, next year, or three years from now?
3. Should we continue to purchase Dell computer products at all?

The answers to these three big questions is yet to be determined. The ink on the deal isn’t really dry yet – there are hurdles still to be jumped apparently. But presuming the deal is done, this is likely going to be a positive change for Dell product consumers. With the ability to avoid the criticism of shareholders, the company can clean house any way it sees fit. That is likely to lead to an improvement in the range of, and quality of services. After all, one of the prime motivators behind this acquisition is the ability to pull down a curtain so we don’t have to see all the dirty work that goes from shifting the company’s core emphasis from being a hardware purveyor into a powerhouse services shop. Getting services right is bound to be part of the equation.

Will Dell peddle its PC business, the same way IBM did? Perhaps. It IS a massive business unit, responsible for billions of dollars in sales every year, even in a shrinking PC market. Lenovo has made a significant success out of IBM’s former PC business, although admittedly under the lessened regulatory environment known as China.

Will we stop recommending Dell systems in favor of HP or Lenovo or Apple? No. Dell systems, particularly their servers, still offer a very sound value and are likely to continue to power our clients’ practices for years to come. If Dell does spin off the PC business, in all likelihood, it will translate to better service, continued low pricing and more product variety under the stewardship of a new owner whose focus isn’t diluted like Dell’s is now.

So . . . I think this is near term good news for small law practices who either recently acquired or were planning on purchasing Dell’s systems. And if you happen to have been a Dell shareholder, you just got yourself about a 37% premium on your share value – not a bad day’s work.

A company called Rapid7 has uncovered a really danger security hole that exists in most wireless routers. A setting that activates a function called Universal Plug and Play (usually referred to as “UPnP”) can expose the internal network to intrusion and relatively easy exploit.

For the more technically inclined, read this description of the issue or read this one.

For the rest of us, Andy Greenberg from Forbes magazines explains it in plain language here.

The point is that whether this applies to a router in your law firm or your home router, you need to disable UPnP. Odds are nearly 100% you won’t notice it at all. Do this now – this one is a serious risk to your firm’s and clients’ information and all your personal information at home.

Please take this seriously. If you don’t know how to access your router’s control panel, find the manual for it online and read how to turn off UPnP (or have your IT folks do it for you).

Well, maybe not ANYthing. Like, you couldn’t actually use the tip for today to convert from Catholicism to Judaism or from being a raging narcissist to an altruistly humble saint. Or from a total technopesant to an AJAX-oriented HTML5 script jockey. Or . . . well . . . you get it.

What I’m talking about is converting from one file format to another. Zamzar is a website offering free online file conversions. For example, I just converted a PDF file to a JPG and had it email it to, which allowed me to receive the converted JPG as an attachment and then immediately organize it in Outlook to Worldox to my case file. 15 seconds at most. I’m impressed – this is SO much easier than more traditional file organization tools.

For free, you can convert files of up to 100 Mb in size. You can upgrade paid plans starting at $7/month which allow larger file sizes to be converted (helpful for bigger video files – like AVI to WMV, for example) – info on the various upgraded plans is here.

Check out the myriad of document, image, video and other file formats that can be converted here.

Zamzar is my new best friend after quickly and easily handlng a Flash to Windows Movie File format from me. It should be part of every law firm’s technology tools arsenal, especially for managing all the oddball files one might have to deal with in a discovery situation.

Is there anyone who hasn’t repeatedly sworn under their breath about their cell carrier’s voicemail? Been there, done that, got the ugly t-shirt (as my techno.pal Susan Ross used to say). What I always wondered was my I simply couldn’t get my cellular voicemail via email. Since I live and die via email everyday, that just seemed logical, obvious, rational and a poster child for the concept of a foregone conclusion. But no such thing existed, at least not from my current and prior carriers: Verizon and Sprint, respectively.

And then by accident, I stumbled across YouMail.com and it was as if someone hacked my brainwaves and stole my never actually elucidated idea. YouMail is a free web service that can send you all your cellular voicemail via email. For free. Did I mention, it’s free? There’s really no catch. It works with all cell carriers and all types of cell phones that have a voicemail plan – how’s that for inclusivity?

For an additional fee, you can buy various editions of their Read-It add-on which will transcribe your voicemails as well (with reasonably good accuracy – with transcription done by actual humans). Costs start at $4.99/month to transcribe the first 20 seconds of 20 voicemails to $39.99/month for unlimited messages with the first 60 seconds of each transcribed – and various pricing/message permutations in between (click here for the details).

In addition to receiving YouMail via email, you can also use their free Android, iPad and BlackBerry apps. They also offer a couple of “Pro” plans which increase voicemail storage and eliminate the ads that appear on the web interface – it’s currently only $19.99 per year and probably worth it if you want to save a ton of voicemail for later access – you can get it here.

Interestingly, there’s a $29.99 per month Read-It Extended Length plan – adding transcription of up to 4 minutes of every message – again, by actual human transcriptionists who seem to do a pretty impressive job – this would be ideal for basic dictation from the road via your cell.

The bottom line is that it costs nothing to try – and I’m guessing you’ll find YouMail as addictive and useful as I do. And then then try out at least the Basic Read-It transcription plan – it’s pretty cheap and really rocks.

I had an idea. I just finished a new “60 Tips” CLE. Instead of just posting these on the popular MicroLaw CLE download page, I”ve decided to start a new series here at Ross Ipsa Loquitur called “60 Tips Deconstructed.” This will be a new tip-a-day series, direct from the CLE materials. They’ll be posted every weekday (and maybe some weekend days too when I feel tipspired :-)).

Without further adieu, here’s my first tip:

The Next Biggest Frightening Frontier – Smartphone Security and Backup

• As smartphones get smarter and we rely on them more, expect security exploitation to explode – viruses, Bluetooth exploitation, and general security issues including what happens when you misplace your iPhone or Android phone (or it gets stolen)?
• And what about smartphone data as we can do more and more on them? Think of the growing amounts of confidential client and firm data on your smartphone now? After all, that’s the point of a smartphone – syncing with your office and home systems.
• Lookout is a free backup and security service for iPhone and Android phones. There is also a Premium edition for Android users for $2.99/month or $29.99 per year. Sorry Blackberry and Windows Phone folks, you’re out of luck.
• The Premium edition adds remote lock/wipe, photo and call history backup and premium support on the Android edition.
• It includes anti-virus protection, security, location service (if missing or stolen with remote “kill” capability) and also data/settings backup functions.
• I’ve been using it for almost two years and “feel” safer because of it.
• Now supports iPad and Android tablets as well as iPhone and Android phones
• Android Download is here
• iPhone/iPad Download is here

The bottom line: it’s crazy not to use at least the free edition of Lookout on any iPad, iPhone, Android phone or tablet. Would you use your computer without protection? Of course not. So why would you ignore your other computer and leave it unprotected (a/k/a that smartphone in your pocket or tablet on your lap)? Just do this now – seriously! No downside, only upside.

Um . . . yawn . . . oh, sorry, nodded off for a moment.

What was I saying? Oh, yeah, Google just released its first branded tablet model (made for it by Asus). It’s called the Nexus 7 – c|Net offers its first impressions here today.

Okay, maybe it’s not as much of a snoozer as it might seem. There are some noteworthy things about it, as follows:

• First 7″ tablet to have the 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core CPU, which includes a 12-core GPU – translation: it should be really speedy.
• Priced like the Kindle Fire but more physically capable – $199 for the version with 8 GB RAM or $249 for the 16 GB version, each with a $25 credit from Google Play to download apps.
• First Android tablet to market with Google’s latest Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean” edition.
• Long projected battery life – Google claims 9 hours running 720p video (impressive if true).

It does now seem to be the best 7″ Android choice by far.  Here’s the purchase link from Google Play (showing shipping in 2-3 weeks).

Personally, in addition to my iPad 1 (that “1″ is hard to admit to these days :-)). I’m using a 7″ Acer Tab A100 tablet and love the smaller form factor. So a 7″ model might be the ideal lawyer’s portable tablet – small enough to literally stick in your pocket, big enough to be very visible and lighter than the 10″ models so easier to balance on your palm while you type onscreen.

A tech update from Renee at MicroLaw on an important project planning point for our clients and other firms considering the terrific Worldox GX3 document/email management system. Worldox GX3 works great on either 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 systems (Pro or Ultimate generally preferred when choosing Windows 7 versions, of course).

BUT, to integrate with Microsoft Office, you need the 32-bit version of Office. Worldox GX3 will NOT integrate with the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office (found this out the hard way on one of my laptops today). For most users this isn’t a problem, because even on 64-bit Windows systems, Microsoft Office will install in its 32-bit version (which is what Microsoft recommends anyway here).

So just a cautionary point . . . you heard it here!

First, what’s “SSSS?” It’s MicroLaw’s Summer Sale on Software and Services – something we’ve done every year. But this year, there’s more to celebrate than just long warm days here in the Northern Hemisphere. There’s also MicroLaw’s 27th anniversary which we’re celebrating this month (yep, we started helping lawyers with technology way back in ’85) *AND* we’re celebrating the opening of our new Madison, Wisconsin office.

So what does mean for you? Simple. Saving a ton of money on your summer tech and practice management projects. This applies to all new projects (including those currently proposed but not yet closed) from June 27th to July 31st. Here’s what you get:

• 5% off of some software that’s never otherwise discounted: Autobahn PDF searchable conversion tool and of course, Worldox GX3 (and ask about possible discounts on our other recommended software products for billing and practice management). Software discounts are only available with related MicroLaw professional services, just to be clear.
• 20% off of our MicroLaw Legal SmartMacros for Word. We’ve been automating Word for clients for years with these indispensable layout and formatting tools.
• 25% off of all professional services – technology audits/reviews (our MicroLaw CARES review – “Computer and Resources Evaluation & Study – checking the health of your system and processes), training, tech support, review of existing locally-provided proposals before you pull the trigger, how to fit iPads and Android tablets into your practice, moving to Macs and more.
• 25% off all live or online in-house CLE programming for your lawyers.  Over 30 tech and practice management sessions to choose from – ranging from just one hour to full day programs (and 50% off if you happen to be a law school!)
• 35% off of all technology audits for existing MicroLaw clients as updates to your original audit – if 3-4 years have passed, a lot changes including all the impact of cloud technology, so it’s time to take a look and save a bundle while in process.

Our new office is located at 6601 Grand Teton Plaza, Suite 8 in Madison, WI. I’m personally staffing that office while Renee and Abe hold down the company headquarters back in Milwaukee.

GRAND OPENING SPECIAL! Just for greater Dane County area clients, take an extra 5% off all professional services until July 31st!

Ask Ross here about any questions and/or to talk about your firm’s, legal department or Bar association’s needs. We’re ready to help and also help you save!

So you’d think “Gadget of the Year” should be an accolade going to something traditionally “digisexy” like the new Retina MacBook Pro or the Samsung Galaxy S III or maybe some svelte aluminum Ultrabook? Yeah, well maybe if you’re just a techno.poser. But for real geeks, read on . . .

Let’s all admit something really digitally fundamental – you never seem to have enough USB ports. Well, Thinkgeek.com has the answer with the MondoHub USB hub. Great, another USB hub. Why is he even bothering, for goodness sakes . . .

BECAUSE IT HAS 28 FREAKIN’ USB PORTS!

Let me spell that out so we’re completely clear: t-w-e-n-t-y  e-i-g-h-t ports. 28. Really. Holy crap! Check out this pic - it’s a thing of beauty. You can buy it here from Thinkgeek or here from Cyberguys. Even better, 4 of the ports are faster USB 3.0 ports. Also, if all that weren’t already so overwhelming that any real geek would be either quivering, drooling or both, each port has a switch to turn it on/off and also the port numbers are backlit for night-time plugging/unplugging action.

$89. Now you might be saying, “But Ross, I only have 11 USB devices. Why would I need 17 more ports?” Answer? DUH – so you can buy and plug in up to 17 more devices (OR . . . <cue Dr. Evil laugh>, string another MondoHub for 54 usable ports!!!).

So if port crunch was your problem, problem solved.

Just saw these two and thought some of you might be interested:

Many of you apparently downloaded and are enjoying the MicroLaw Word 2010 QuickTask Bar I wrote about and made available earlier this month (click here for download info). Enough readers asked for our Word 2007 version so I decided to make it available as well. It is identical to the Word 2010 QuickTask Bar, but the installation process is completely different – it’s described in the README FIRST document you’ll find in the Dropbox folder which you can access here. As with the Word 2010 version, it’s free, but on the honor system, I’ll ask that if you use it, please send $1.99 via Paypal to rkodner@microlaw.com to encourage its further refinement and future development. So it’s kind of a conscience-based pricing system :-). Anyway, download away and hope you enjoy the higher level of one-click productivity it brings to Word 2007.

Folks, a bunch of you asked for the MicroLaw QuickTask Toolbar for Word 2010 so we’ve made it available. Absolutely, positively read the READ ME FIRST file in the folder. Especially the parts about us not being responsible for your system, backing up, etc. etc. There is NO tech support available on this so please don’t ask. Either it will work or it won’t. Did I mention the need to follow the instructions PRECISELY and take the backup cautions seriously?? With that said, here’s the link and remember, it’s for Word 2010 only. Hope you find it useful – it’s been tested on two of my own systems and works great (your results may vary of course . . . once again, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS and take heed on the cautionary points . . . in case that wasn’t clear :-)). Thanks to Abe at MicroLaw for helping out with this and with the backup batch file.

The only thing I ask – and it’s an honor system policy – is that if you like it, send a Paypal payment to MicroLaw for $1.99 to rkodner@microlaw.com. You don’t have to, but it’s the right thing to do. If you don’t feel it was worth it, obviously don’t.

Enjoy!

Back by popular request, any client interested in new MicroLaw professional services (including those already quoted) of $4000 or more in value on a project will receive a 10% discount if booked between June 1st and June 30th! (or 5% for new professional services up to $3999, or 15% for new professional services over $10,000). Just ask Ross for details – every little bit helps, right?