Guest Post :: Daylite Is Like Origami
Today, I am pleased to present the following Guest Post from Marnï "The MacAngel" Melrose, which she discusses Marketcircle's outstanding productivity suite, Daylite:
I've been teaching Lawyers and their staff how to use Daylite for seven years, and it just keeps getting better and better. I teach my clients to make Daylite their steel trap. Everything goes into Daylite, including their own personal lives, and their entire business is coordinated and conducted out of Daylite.
I really don't know of anything out there that can tie in everything like Daylite does in a multi-user environment at Daylite's price point on the Mac platform. Trust me, I have looked; I suffer from NGA (next greatest app disease) myself. And of course, Apple's App store in iTunes isn't helping me any with that. But as hard as I've searched, I still haven't found anything that can compete with Daylite. I've even found a way to follow David Allen's GTD "Getting Things Done" in Daylite.
Daylite is like origami.
What I do know is that Daylite is daunting for some folks, and I completely understand. Think of a blank piece of paper. What do you do with it? Well, it depends who you give it to. If you give it to most people they won't know what to do with it, they will "draw a blank". If you give it to someone who makes Origami, you are going to get a beautiful piece of art back. It's the same sheet of paper. You just have to know where to make the folds. Daylite is a lot like that. If you give it to me or another Daylite Partner, we know where to put the data so that you can get it out again in a useful manner.
Of course, I'll be the first to admit that I am completely biased. In addition to teaching people how to use Daylite, I've actually been using Daylite in my own business for seven years. It is because of Daylite that my business has changed to what it is today. I used to go out and do general Mac tech support onsite with clients. Daylite helped me to see where most of my income was coming from and so in January of last year I started to shift my business focus to nothing but Daylite.
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The Legal Mac :: Why Macs and Why Now?
The following is the premier The Legal Mac monthly column in the ABA Law Practice Management Section's Law Practice Today webzine:
Macs are everywhere these days, including in an ever-growing number of law offices. In recognition of this trend, Law Practice Today is pleased to announce this monthly column, The Legal Mac, which we hope will be helpful to Mac-using attorneys. These articles will be not only from me, but also from other Mac legal experts, and we hope that you enjoy them.
You’ve seen the commercials. “I’m a Mac ... and I’m a PC.” The Mac guy is calm, cool, and in control, whereas the PC guy is bungling, insecure, and in trouble. The commercials are not only humorous, but they offer a good insight into these two types of computers. Consider the following and decide which one you are (or which one you should be):
- Macs are famous for their reliability. As the saying goes, it “just works” whenever you are ready to do so. Virtually all PC users have experienced “freeze-ups” and/or the “blue screen of death.” For some, the infamous control-alt-delete keystroke is almost second nature. With a Mac, you can put those days behind you forever and get more work done with less headaches.
- You can use your existing peripherals. Macs will work with your existing monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards, and other peripherals. Therefore, you won’t need to start from scratch when you decide to make the switch. Of course, when you see how beautiful and functional Apple’s peripherals are, you may want to replace your existing peripherals anyway.
- If you want a little help, Apple’s support is second to none. AppleCare provides outstanding warranty protection if you encounter any hardware issues, and it also provides answers to any software questions for Apple’s programs. Help is also available in person at all of the Apple Stores through their Geniuses, workshops, and One to One training.
- Macs are a smart investment. In today’s economy, it is more important than ever to make smart purchases. Whereas many PCs are obsolete after a year or so, the lifespan of most Macs typically runs three or more years. Also, Macs hold their value much better than their PC counterparts. If you want proof, go to eBay and see what used Macs are selling for today. Also, you will save most, if not all, of the money that you have budgeted for your computer support/repair. My firm went from seeing our tech guy in our firm on a monthly basis to occasionally bumping into him at the grocery store.
- Sleep easier because Macs are more secure than PCs. Lawyers keep secrets for a living, and security is always a primary concern. Macs are built on a UNIX foundation that provides rock solid security. Viruses, trojan horses, and other malware that plague PCs are simply not concerns for Mac users because of the security features built in to OS X.
- Macs work the way you do. The Mac operating system, OS X, is very intuitive and easy to learn. In fact, most programs are intuitive and do things the way that users would expect them to, without having to waste time searching through manuals. This is just one of the many reasons that Mac users view their computer as a pleasure to use instead of just another necessary tool.
- Only Macs can run both Windows and OS X. Perhaps there is a program that you need that only runs on Windows or perhaps the rest of your office is still using PCs. No problem, because Macs can run all of the Windows operating systems (including XP and even Vista) using one of the several virtualization options available. Also, Macs can be integrated into Windows networks quickly and seamlessly. You can have the best of both worlds!
Source: "Why Macs and Why Now?" by Ben Stevens, published in Law Practice Today.
iPhone J.D. Now Online
I have read the first several posts at Jeff's new blog, and they are excellent. His initial post, "Why I Use an iPhone", is well worth a read, whether you are considering getting an iPhone or if currently use one. I am thrilled to welcome Jeff to the blawgosphere, and I hope that you will join me in adding iPhone J.D. to your newsreader today.
MILO Chat Podcast, Vol. 8
The MILO Chat Podcast for the week of November 24th was released earlier today. On this week's episode, "We Just Took A Turn Towards Geeksville", we discuss the new MacBooks, matte vs. glossy screens, and the rising fame of Ben Stevens (The Mac Lawyer).
Your loyal hosts (Victor Medina, Finis Price, Grant Griffiths, and Ben Stevens) are now aiming for a regular, bi-weekly schedule going forward (and we really mean it this time). You can enjoy this week's episode, Volume 8, right now, as follows:
If you are an advertiser and are interested in sponsoring the MILO Chat Podcast or if you have any questions or comments, you are welcome to submit them below or send an email to milochat@macsinthelawoffice.com.
ABA Law Practice Today Now Features "The Legal Mac" Column
Law Practice Today, the monthly webzine published by the ABA Law Practice Management Section, has undergone a bit of a facelift, starting with the just released November issue. Among the new monthly columns are Your Practice Management Advisor, Flying Solo, and The Legal Mac.
As part of my responsibilities as a member of the Board of Editors, I have been given the responsibility for producing The Legal Mac column each month, which will include articles from me and other Mac legal experts from across the country. This column will focus on the use of Apple computers in the legal workplace, offer information about Macs and their use, and champion their suitability for the legal profession.
The Legal Mac's initial column is from yours truly, and it's titled "Why Macs and Why Now?" You can read it by clicking HERE. I hope that you enjoy reading this column in the coming months and that it is useful to you in your practice. If you have suggestions for future topics or if you are interested in submitting a column for consideration, please feel free to contact me by simply clicking HERE.
Isn't MILO (a) Grand?
The Macs In Law Offices (MILO) forum had now surpassed 1,000 members, including over 100 that have joined in the three weeks since my last post. MILO is widely believed to be the premier online forum for attorneys who want to maximize the use of Macs in their law practices. My co-founder Grant Griffiths and I are thrilled that our membership continues to grow so quickly, and we are thankful to have such a diverse, experienced group of users. If you want to find out more about MILO and/or wish to join (it's free), click HERE.
Apple Releases iPhone 2.2 Software Update
Yesterday, Apple released an update to its iPhone operating system (now v. 2.2). This update includes the following new and improved features:
- Google Street View :: Street View takes you on a virtual walking tour: Navigate street-level photographs of places you've located in Maps.
- Public Transit and Walking Directions :: Get walking directions, find public transit schedules, check fares, and estimate your travel time.
- Podcasts :: Get access to millions of free podcasts on the iTunes Store via Wi-Fi or your cellular network.
- Safari Improvements :: A new search-friendly user interface, better performance, and more stability make Safari even easier to use.
- Home Screen Shortcut :: Take a shortcut from any Home screen back to your first Home screen by pressing the Home button.
- Other :: Decrease in call setup failures and dropped calls. Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard Settings. Improved sound quality of Visual Voicemail messages.
Ross Kodner Gets Taken to Task for Anti-Mac Article
In his recent SmallLaw post entitled "Why Macs Don't Make Sense Once You Look Past the Cool Factor", Ross Kodner concludes that Macs are just not cut-out for the legal marketplace. I, and thousands of other Mac-using attorneys, couldn't disagree more. I will respond to the various points Mr. Kodner makes in a moment, but first, a little background.
My computing experience started in the mid-1980s with an Apple ][c. I was in grade school and was the first kid on the block to whose family had a personal computer at home. That was followed quickly by am IBM clone runing Windows, and by 1990 I was well-entrenched into the anti-Mac crowd. I went through high school, college, and law school completely on Windows machines.
Then in 2002 I started to hear about this new device call an iPod. After playing with and drooling over my computer-geek brother-in-law's iPod and iBook, I was hooked. I was struck by the way that they just simply worked together, and I would purchase my first iBook in 2004. I write this now on MacBook, my third Apple computer.
However, even though I a Mac for personal use at home, my life in a relatively large law firm meant that I was using a PC at work. My house is still home to two Windows machines (although both have been relegated to nothing more than file servers). In June of this year, I swiched to a small firm where my computing choices were not made for me -- and I've made the switch to a Mac-based pratice. The bottom line is that I know the pluses and minuses to both systems.
Back to Mr. Kodner's conclusion that Macs don't make sense for the law office. Aside from the fact that this conclusion is directly contrary his his prior opinion on the subject (see his earlier article, "The Legal Mac: A Practical Option for All Lawyers"), it is clear that this post was nothing more than an attempt to get people talking about him. (There is no such thing as negative publicity, right?)
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Recent Apple Rumors
There has been a flurry of Apple rumors over the last week or so, and I thought that I'd list a few of the more interesting ones here for my readers:
- iPhone OS 2.2 :: Gizmodo reports that the iPhone operating system will be updated to v. 2.2 on November 21st. While no one is sure exactly what this update will include, some of the "hoped for" features include copy and paste, walking directions, public transit route information, and direct downloading of podcasts.
- New MacBook Air Casing :: AppleInsider reports that Apple may update the MacBook Air's casing, to replace some of the aluminum components with carbon fiber, in an effort to make the MB Air even lighter. Specifically, the prediction is that in the not too distant future, the bottom case will be made of carbon fiber.
- Snow Leopard :: MacRumors reports that Apple may begin shipping its updated operating system, OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), in the first quarter of 2009. However, it should be noted that Snow Leopard is expected to be a "smaller" update than OS X 10.5 (Leopard) was, with fewer new features.
Guest Post :: The Benefits of a Mac-Driven Practice
MY PRACTICE I handle catastrophic injury cases. My case volume is low, but each case demands a lot of attention and detail work. Every deposition I take is a video deposition. Video depos are an indispensible tool throughout the litigation process as I am continually re-framing my case in anticipation of trial. I am fortunate to have an outstanding videographer, Lisa Williams, who works with me. She is Mac-based. About five years ago she inspired me to take the leap from PC to Mac, and I am forever grateful. I am now all Mac all the time. I offer here a specific instance in which the MacBook Pro (MBP) helped turn a difficult case into a complete success. But before I get to the details of that case, I should point out that in my pre-Mac days, I would hire local video studios to edit my video depos - and it cost me a FORTUNE!!! I paid out tens of thousands of dollars over the years for others to do what I can now do - from start to finish - on my MBP. I am a Mac evangelist. CASE SPECIFICS The case involved a tragic intersection collision in which my client, a 17-year passenger in a Honda Civic, incurred fatal injuries upon being ejected from the Civic when it collided with a Heavy Duty GMC truck owned by a regional corporation and driven by an entrusted employee. The young plaintiff never went home. He died in his hospital bed 31 days after the wreck. The accident report placed all blame on the driver of the Civic - who had minimal coverage limits. I was retained several months after the collision. I looked at the photos, the news clip and talked to a police officer that worked the scene. The accident report notwithstanding, my review of the photos convinced me that the GMC truck was traveling at an excessive speed - far above the posted 45 mph limit. I brought in a top-notch PE PhD engineering expert - one that I have trusted many times before - who concurred. I filed suit and requested the EDR. Click here and you will see for yourself whether our hunch was correct. THE ROLE OF THE MBP The MBP played a huge role in this case. As always, I used it to edit the many video depos. I also used Garage Band to record a few witness statements. But hands down, the most effective use of the MBP was using Photo Booth to take video statements of witnesses. In the video clip you will see two Photo Booth generated excerpts, one of a retired judge (he was in no way associated with the instant case) and the other of an on-site witness. They both contradicted the defendant driver of the GMC. Their video statements literally turned the case around.
The following Guest Post is from noted Nashville trial attorney, Eddie Davidson, in which he explains his thoughts on a some of the benefits of having a Mac-driven practice - especially the flexibility of his MacBook Pro.
Google Makes Voice and Video Chats Available to Everyone in Gmail
This technology can make it easier for more attorneys to communicate with each other and also for tech-savvy clients can also utilize this technology to have face-to-face meetings with their attorneys from their homes or offices. The process is literally as simple as setting up a (free) Gmail account, clicking on the Chat drop-down list, and then selecting who you want to talk to. If you want to learn more about Google's video and voice chats, you can read more in the following articles:
As mentioned today over at my South Carolina Family Law Blog, Google has just added video and voice chat capability to Gmail, making a great product that much better. Now, anyone with a Gmail account can chat with virtually anyone else -- for free. Of course, Mac users have had the benefit of iChat for quite some time, but Google has really opened the floodgates with this technology to bring it to the masses.
Guest Post :: Should You Employ Technology at Trial?
Since the advent and rise in popularity of the internet, the general public has changed the way we all gather our news, research and general information. This electronic age has trickled it's way into the courtroom. Many major cities in the United States are adding courtroom A/V expenses into their budgets. Newly constructed courthouses are almost guaranteed to at least include a projector, screen, and sometimes individual monitors for the Judge and Jury to view. Have you found yourself wondering how you can take advantage of these visual tools?
As the technology has become more popular so has the usage of Trial Technologists. When I started helping present evidence in trial 8 years ago, the major fear of most attorneys was they would look "too flashy". Other attorneys in the courtroom would joke saying, "Are you going to show us movies? Do we get to watch you play games? What is all of this for?" I would sit back and smile as they didn't understand how powerful it is to explain the issues of a case visually to the Jury. Now those same attorneys are trying their hardest to incorporate audio visual presentations into their case.
I talk to many attorneys that are having trouble justifying the added expense of hiring a Trial Technologist, and while I'm an strong advocate of the usage of technology in the courtroom, some cases do, and some don't, justify that expense. When trying to help them answer this question I tell them to think about these different options, each has their pro's and con's:
Continue Reading...Obama :: The First Mac President?
Back in February, I wrote an article explaining how the Obama family were Mac-users. TUAW reported last Friday that on election night, the winning ticket was seen using Apple products. Specifically, Vice President-Elect Joe Biden was pictured looking at information on a MacBook Air while holding a 3G iPhone, while President-Elect looked on.
TUAW's article "Obama Team Chose Apple on Election Night" predicts that "the Obama administration could become the most technologically-savvy presidency so far." I believe that goes without saying, as evidenced by his groundbreaking, innovative use of technology during his campaign. It is encouraging to hear that President-Elect Obama plans to have a Chief Technology Officer, another first. (And yes, I would gladly serve if asked.)
Since other world leaders, including Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, use Macs, I am glad that soon-to-be President Obama will be using one too. I would hate for the fate of the free world to be dependent upon a Windows machine. I mean, a world war breaking out because our leader had to deal with a "blue screen of death" would be tough to swallow, wouldn't it?
Report Indicates iPhone Tethering Coming Soon
The President / CEO of AT&T Mobility said yesterday that his company has been working with Apple to enable "tethering" on the iPhone. This process would allow the iPhone to be used as a wireless modem for laptop and/or desktop computers. The best news is that he said that this option will be available "soon." This would be quite a change, because there is no authorized method for tethering an iPhone at this time.
Follow The Mac Lawyer on Twitter
After listening to many people, including my friends and tech gurus Kevin O'Keefe and Grant Griffith, preach the virtues of Twitter for a long, long time, I finally decided to open an account for myself to see what the buzz is all about. My username is @TheMacLawyer (fittingly enough), and you can follow me at twitter.com/themaclawyer.
Twitter is one of those things that is a little hard to describe to others. The short definition is that it is a micro-blogging service, but that doesn't tell you much. Twitter describes itself as "a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?"
To this point, I am still experimenting with how to best utilize Twitter, and the jury is still out. I have posted some personal views/opinions there, and I will post some blog/tech related items in the future. If any of my readers are on Twitter, please let me know and we can "follow" each other (in Twiiter-speak). I'll try to post here from time to time to let you know what I think about Twitter going forward.
Update 11-9-08: In the three or so days that I've been on Twitter, I've managed to pick up almost a hundred followers. So far, I think Twitter is pretty cool, and I'm enjoying the connections and interactions that I am having with everyone there. If you haven't done so, check me out HERE.
Guest Post :: How to Create Pleading Templates in Apple's Pages
One question that I get fairly often is how to create a pleading template in Pages. One of my readers, Thomas K. Brown, emailed me a few months ago and shared his template with me. I asked Tom to write this Guest Post to explain the steps he used to create this template, which he was kind enough to do.
Tom explained that even though he was a novice Pages user, he was able to create this template in just 30 minutes. He found Pages' design to be intuitive and not overburdened with features 99% of users don't need -- an assessment with which I heartily agree. Without further adieu, I am pleased to share Tom's Guest Post with you:
Like many jurisdictions, my state has specific rules covering the form of pleadings and other documents filed with the courts. Nothing too onerous (margins, font size, contents of captions, etc.), but I thought having a generic pleading template standing by would keep me from reinventing the wheel every time I needed to file something.
I've done most of my work in MS Office 2004 - I never did the 2008 upgrade despite the sluggish performance of the old PowerPC code running on my Intel-based MacBook (which has grown decidedly less sexy after the recent "Spotlight on Notebooks" event). One must give props to Apple for pulling something like Rosetta off in the first place. When the pokiness of the old Office really started getting to me not long ago, I thought I'd give iWork a shot. After all, at $79 it's not like a huge risk to take if things didn't work out. Fortunately, they worked out rather well.
My first task was to do the pleading template. I could have loaded other documents that I had done previously in Word and work from there. Pages does a pretty good job with conversions and warns you if it's unsure of anything. To test how intuitive the application was, though, I thought I'd start from scratch and see how long it took to get the basic document together. It took about 30 minutes. Here's what I did, step by step. For the Pages pros out there I'm sure there are more sophisticated techniques, but for a novice like me this worked, and worked quickly.
- Margins. My jurisdiction requires left and top margins of 1.5", which is easy enough. Open the Inspector (the i button in the tool bar, or View -> Show Inspector), and in the Document Inspector (the icon that looks like a blank page at the left), choose the Document tab. Adjust the margins accordingly. It's helpful to keep the Inspector open.
- Heading. The court must be identified in the heading of any pleading. I like to define styles to make formatting easier to edit and apply down the road. Open the Styles Drawer (View -> Show Styles Drawer) and you'll notice there's already a Heading style defined (though likely not formatted as you want). Type in the court's name and manually format it to your specifications. In my case, I bold and center the text and switch the font to Times New Roman. With your cursor still in the line you just typed, hold your mouse over the Heading style in the Styles Drawer. A little down arrow will appear immediately to the right. Click it and choose Redefine Style from Selection. This will allow you to apply an identical style in other areas of the document if needed, and if you ever need to change its format, you need only do it in one place and the updated style will automatically apply to every occurrence.
- Caption. Captions in my jurisdiction are the typical two column format with the parties listed on the left and the case number on the right. I've seen pleadings divided with a single column of colons or right parentheses. Sometimes I've seen attempts at lines drawn out of pipes (|) and equals (=) making a curious form of ASCII art. When I see two columns I naturally think of a table.
Click Table in the tool bar. If you've left the Inspector open, it will automatically switch to the table formatting tab. Uncheck the Header Row box and reduce the number of rows to one and the columns to two. Next, grab the handle in the middle of the right column and drag it all the way to the right side of the page. You may have to first click outside of the table and the somewhere inside of the table to get this to appear. The columns should remain equal widths.
To make the inverted T style of caption, turn off the borders on the top and left of the left column and the top and right of the right column. Do this by double clicking inside of the cell, then select the appropriate border in the Cell Borders section in the Inspector and set the style to None. Do this for each of the four sides you want to remove. When you're done, it will look like the familiar upside-down T.
Inside of each cell you can format the text to suit your needs. I like to left justify the party names, right justify their posture in the case, and center the "vs.". I also like to both horizontally and vertically center the case number in the right column. You'll notice that when you click in a table the formatting options in the tool bar changes. To vertically center something, use the button with the two arrows pointing from above and below a line. - Body. My pleadings generally have some introductory text and then a list of numbered paragraphs. Type some text and make it look as you'd like your body text to look, then redefine the Body style as shown above. For the numbered paragraphs, simply click the list button in the tool bar. I chose the legal style of course.
- Signature Block. Some filings require multiple signatures, such as a Consent Order or Joint Motion for Something-or-other. Similar to the caption above, I use a table with two columns and two rows but again with the Header Row unchecked. I format each cell accordingly, and simply use the underline character to draw out a signature line. I'm sure there's a niftier way of doing this but remember -- this exercise took like 30 minutes for a total Pages newbie.
And that's it. With no prior experience in Pages I was able to do up a pleading without breaking a sweat. Like most Apple products, Pages is intuitive and powerful enough for my needs. And at $79 it's a great deal. You can download a copy of my sample template by clicking HERE.
Thomas K. Brown is an immigration and family law attorney who practices in Rockville, Maryland.
