Author Archives: pete

Switch Resources

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If you are one of the lucky folks making the switch to Mac by way of a gift this year, you might want to check out these two really great resources. First, The Unauthorized Apple Weblog has a great line of posts on switching.  They cover everything in their Mac 101 series from Address Book to booting from a USB drive.

Then, of course, Apple has their own resource for switchers, Switch 101. It is a bit more basic, but much more organized the TUAW’s Mac 101 series. Finally, don’t forget that you can get your data migrated over from a PC with the help of a genius at an Apple Store Genius Bar… just remember to make an appointment before you go.

Finally, when all else fails, hit Google. The venerable search behemoth can probably point you in the right direction, especially if you use site focused searching. For example, don’t just hammer search terms in, but search a specific site (or even subsite) like this: 

site:http://www.apple.com/support/ itunes deauthorize

Typing the above will pull all references out of the support pages at Apple on deauthorizing computers from iTunes.

Happy Holidays!

End of a Love AffAir.

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I am writing to tell you that this relationship just isn’t working out for me, even though we’ve been together almost one year. I need to be happy and I’m just not happy anymore. When it all started, the sparks and super sexy attitude filled my eyes so much that I could not accept that you just did not complete me. And, I must confess, I have been seeing someone else. Yes, they are a little thicker around the middle, but they really fulfill all my needs. Plus, no offense, you’re smart, skinny super thin sexy, but you just lack the processing power I sometimes desire. Also, you are a little uptight, not enough ports and slots.  And don’t get me started on the way you hide your battery and memory.  I can see why you hide the memory part, it being so small and all.  But your battery too? Finally, that hard drive…. so shallow and slow and scant on space. A bulimic supermodel, always a binge and purge of information and data just so you could fit into that thin aluminum shell.  I know you’ll find someone who truly loves you for what you are, a white hot, super thin model of aesthetic perfection. They might even tolerate your diva like demands of a high price for low output. But me, I’m moving on. The new MacBook has all I need, even if a little bit heavier, I can live with the weight gain. So, goodbye Air, we’ll always have the memories.

If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, never make a laptop a paper thin slice. Take my advice and here’s what you do, get a fatter laptop to carry round with you.

Legal Recession Survey.

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The ABA Journal is surveying lawyers to find out if they feel the pinch of the recession (yes, I said the ‘R’ word and would have said it last January too). My thinking: If you’ve got the time to screw around with surveys, you’re probably feeling the pinch, so results are probably going to be skewed.  On the other hand, you can justify your participation as a busy attorney in the name of providing a fair and balanced survey result. Hit the link to take the survey and I’ll be sure to post results once they come back.

“The ABA Journal is surveying lawyers about the job market and the current state of the economy.“

Lowly Little TextEdit.

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Two things combined to bring TextEdit into my life. First, switching to a paperless office workflow and,second, getting a Stressless chair with laptop holder. Suddenly, pens and paper became not only difficult to locate, but also difficult to use in the absence of a solid writing surface. Checking my voicemail led to panic…. “Hi, this is Mr. X adjustor and we wanted to let you know we would be willing to settle the case, please call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX and reference our file number XY79HG when calling. Click.” All of this spit out before I can even locate a pen, let alone find a place to write it down. 

 

Now, the lowly little TextEdit replaces the scratch pad and pen. Whenever you get a phone call or retrieve voice mail you need somewhere to jot down that little bit of info which cannot be (and perhaps should not be) filed away for later reference. Using Command-Space, TextEdit gets opened and you can hammer out those few little bits of info being fed to you and then later dispose or file and retain as needed.

iPhone File Transfer and Viewing

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There are at least two programs out there handling that situation where you just gotta get and view files on your iPhone. 

Briefcase (Lite = free & Pro = $4.99) promises to connect, download, view and upload files. Reviews on the AppStore are overwhelmingly positive with most users upgrading to the Pro version shortly after testing out Lite. Briefcase works without installing anything on the Mac side, but is only Mac/Linux compatible. And, it works very very well. Connecting to my MacBook Pro over the wireless took practically no effort (just be sure that you allow remote login SSH connections in System Preferences). Briefcase supports many file types, including iWork, MS Word, .MP3 and PDF. Testing reveals that loading PDF works extremely well and fast, with the iPhone allowing rotation of the screen for landscape viewing.

FileMagnet

Offers much of the same as Briefcase. No word from developer regarding .MP3 or video files. In order to transfer files, software must be installed on the host computer. But, on the other hand, FileMagnet offers Windows XP and Vista support. Further, FileMagnet incorporates an intriguing ’tilt to scroll’ documents by using the iPhone’s accelerometer. Because Briefcase fits the bill, and because FileMagnet requires installation of host software, I chose not to test out FileMagnet. FileMagnet has no ‘free’ version and runs a flat $4.99 in the AppStore.

One last note: Either FileMagnet or Briefcase completely eliminate the hack work-around for emailing PDF’s as tipped for loading Flashcards onto your iPhone in this post.

Dropbox… Increased Storage Purchase Now Available.

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Finally…. after repeatedly checking and checking, the pay for 50 gig option is now available on Dropbox. With Dropbox and the Workflow series, you can now duplicate your files to an offsite location, have a secure ‘anywhere access’ in the cloud and begin that long and arduous carpet commute to the home office knowing all the fresh files at the office will transfer your direction too. Dropbox paid plan $99/year for 50GB.

Circus Ponies Notebook 3.0 Released

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Just received word that Circus Ponies’ Notebook 3.0 is released. Some of the new features include stickies,sticky flags, the ability to ‘tear out’ a page, shapes/drawing tools and a revamped interface. Stay tuned for a review as part of the Workflow series here. The home page for Circus Ponies still shows version 2.1, but if you go the Downloads page, you can get v. 3.0. Upgrades cost $19.95, while a full license runs $49.95.

Adobe Acrobat Alternative, OCR Included.

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Smile on My Mac just released version 4.0 of PDF Pen. Perhaps the most needed of the new features is the capability to OCR, something sorely missing from Leopard’s built in Preview application.  Other features include the ability to sign documents and apply stamps. Right now Smile on My Mac is offering PDF Pen 4.0 at a 20% discount off the regular $49.95 price. If anyone has experience with the OCR component, let us know in the comments.

Workflow… Channel the river, even the flood.

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In the first of this series, we explored the document intake process and, unfortunatley, left out email. The failure to include email directly reflects my personal approach to filing and tracking email, none that involves any ‘hands on’ work. All email gets filtered through Gmail and passed on to Mail.  Gmail is fully searchable and Mail is indexed by Spotlight, ’nuff said.

So, on to another step in the workflow.

A Sieve, A Filter, A Strainer… 

The second part of the workflow involves my favorite Mac app, Journler.  Reading through medicalrecords, web pages, doing legal and/or medical research, whatever, it all gets dumped into the bucket called Journler where it gets tagged as appropriate and necessary for later reference. Journler doesn’t get used as a ‘Trial Notebook’ (Circus Ponies Notebook gets that nod and more on that later). Journler doesn’t get the nod as a GTD or project management app. It simply acts as a place to drop all miscellaneous stuff, but stuff gets tagged in a way that when it comes time to put together a Trial Notebook, the filtering, tagging and searching power of Journler all get brought to bear in a way that makes the Trial Notebook a cinch. So, go read the prior Journler posts here and here to get a feel for how to implement Journler into your daily workflow, and then later appreciate the ability to sift, strain, sort and channel the endless river of information collected therein. The beauty of Journler and this method … the more you use it, the more useful it becomes. All that prior legal research becomes useable work product… Journler truly acts as knowledge management for everything. Oh, and check out Journler’s feature tips for a quick overview of what this little app can do beyond the mundane suggestions above and pay special attention to Journler’s dropbox, a nice little folder that lets you drop anything onto it and assign it tags as you work during the day… you know, so when you’re researching some arcane civil procedure question and come across that perfect case authority to support your damages argument on an entirely different file, you just drop the PDF in there without getting sidetracked, impossible as it may sound, from that thrilling civil procedure research.

Dropbox Goes Live for All, Surge of Telecommuters Causes Drop in Gas Prices!

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Finally out of beta and into the world, Dropbox can now let us all get away from the flakey M$ Foldershare and the oh so slow Sugarsync.  Pricing is pretty good and considering how much better the interface is with Dropbox over Sugarsync, and the ability to authorize/deauthorize access via the web – I’ll be completely switching over next week.  $99/year for 50GB

Thanks to Daniel Nguyen for the heads up on this.