Legal iPad

Law Practice Management Lessons Gleaned from Current Events

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:16:29 -0400

Yes check (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Have you ever wondered what law practice management lessons can be gleaned from the latest legal technology news? Well, wonder no more! Instead, just head on over and read my weekly posts at the MyCase blog. Peruse my musings and, if you’re up to it, add your 2 cents.

Here are my recent posts from the past few weeks:

Client Portals: The Future of Law Practice Management? Are client portals the key to competing (and winning) in the 21st century?

Google’s Project Glass: Should Lawyers be Worried About 24/7 Connectivity? What’s a busy lawyer to do when clients demand 24/7 access to information?

Instagram and the Future of the Legal Profession. Can Instagram’s unprecedented success offer lessons for better client serice?

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Vice President of Business Development and Community Relations at MyCase, a powerful and intuitive cloud-based law practice management platform. She is also a GigaOM Pro Analyst and is the author of the ABA book Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise. She is the founder of lawtechTalk.com and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. She publishes four legal blogs and can be reached at nblack@nicoleblackesq.com.

iPad Apps for the Traveling Lawyer

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:00:05 -0500

Last week I wrote a Daily Record column entitled “iPad Apps for the Traveling Lawyer.”

A pdf of the article can be found here and my past Daily Record articles can be accessed here.

*****

iPad Apps for the Traveling Lawyer

If you’re a lawyer with an iPad or an iPhone and you travel frequently, this article was written just for you. In it you’ll learn about the latest travel apps and how you can use them to make your travels more organized, pleasurable and relaxing.

First, use your mobile device (many of these apps are available for Android devices as well) to plan your trip. Download Kayak and Trip Advisor, both of which are free and available for either the iPhone or iPad. Use the Trip Advisor app to read your fellow travelers’ reviews of hotels, restaurants, and attractions at your chosen destination. You can then use that app to book a flight or hotel reservation. Or, if you want to compare prices offered by hundreds of different travel sites, use Kayak to book your flight, hotel and car reservations.

Then, download the TripIt app, a free app for both the iPhone and iPad. Forward all of your itinerary confirmation emails to TripIt, so that you’ll have all of your itineraries for your trip in one place, easily accessible via your mobile device.

Next, prepare for your trip. Get ready for the airport security checkpoint by downloading the free My TSA app. This app is issued by the Transportation Security Administration and provides quick access to everything you need to know about the airport security process, including wait times at various airports and other useful information such as TSA procedures and which items you can take through checkpoints.

If you are traveling internationally, there are three useful apps that you should consider. First, there’s the SmartTraveler app issued by the U.S. Department of State. This free app offers “updated official country information, travel alerts, travel warnings, maps, U.S. embassy locations, and more.”

Two other free apps useful for international travel are iTranslate, which provides translation for over 50 different languages via voice recognition and speech output, and the Currency app, which provides up-to-date currency exchange information.

Once you arrive at the airport, take advantage of the GateGuru, a free iPhone app. This app provides maps of major airport terminals, including restaurants and stores, along with citizen reviews of various businesses located in the terminal.

While waiting for your flight, catch up on the latest legal news using any number of free apps, including the LexisNexis Legal News app, the ABA Journal’s app or Findlaw’s legal news app.

Once you arrive at your destination, find a place to eat based on reviews from other diners using the Yelp or Urbanspoon free apps. Then, make reservations using the OpenTable app and hail a taxi using the Taxi Magic app.

For free information about other businesses, including stores, gas stations, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. near your hotel, try the Around Me app. And if you’re interested in learning about local events or excursions, the Goby app is just what you need.

Finally, make sure to have the free Fastcase app available in case you need to conduct last minute legal research and be sure to download one of the many free scanner apps as well. That way, if necessary, you can scan documents using your iPhone’s camera and then email PDFs of the documents to your office.

These days, air travel isn’t always the most pleasant experience, especially in this post-9/11 era. But at least there are mobile apps available to help streamline the process by putting all the information you need right at your fingertips. While air travel will never be perfect, these apps should help to make the process less stressful and more enjoyable.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and GigaOM Pro Analyst. She is the author of the ABA book Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise. She is the founder of lawtechTalk.com and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. She publishes four legal blogs and can be reached at nblack@nicoleblackesq.com.

This is my review of the Typi Folio iPad case with built-in...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:18:00 -0500

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

This is my review of the Typi Folio iPad case with built-in bluetooth wireless keyboard. I really like it, except for the occasionally difficulty accessing the controls on the side of the iPad. In my opinion, it’s one of the best looking built-in keyboard iPad cases out there. It retails for $79.99, which is a good price for what you get.

UPDATE: Someone commented on Google Plus that it looks like it would be difficult to use this stand on your lap. He raises a good point. That is an issue. But, there’s an easy work around. When I use it on my lap, I just pop a sturdy file folder (my go-to one is a leather folder) or a laptop lap desk under it and it works just fine.

Finis Price: He will be missed.

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:34:00 -0500

Last Thursday, I learned that Finis Price had passed away. I was shocked and saddened by the news. Finis was a wonderful person whom I’d had the pleasure of getting to know better just a few days earlier when I had the good fortune of sharing breakfast with him in Arizona.

Our breakfast came about by happenstance. Coincidentally, we were both in Arizona and when Finis saw my Facebook post about my Arizona vacation, he reached out to me and suggested that we get together. It was the first time I’d had a chance to spend an extended amount of time with him one-on-one and I’m so glad I was able to do so before his untimely passing.

You see, Finis was a great guy and was truly one-of-a-kind. He was incredibly smart and tech-savvy, but most importantly, he was kind. Throughout breakfast, he had nothing but good things to say about others in our field. More than even his tech know-how, that aspect of his personality stands out above all else. He was simply a good, kind, caring man.

Finis touched the lives of so many people, and others who knew him far better than I have written wonderful tributes to his life, including Nashville attorney Stephen Weaver, Kentucky attorney Larry Jones, Kentucky attorney Michael Stevens, Larry Port of Rocket Matter, Kevin O’Keefe of Lexblog, and South Carolina attorney Ben Stevens. There is also a Facebook page dedicated to his memory.

Finis was a good man. And, he will be missed.

Finis and his wife, Heather, poured all their resources into their business, TechnoEsq. As a result he left little in the way of savings.

The Kentucky Justice Association has set up a restricted fund to accept donations, and all proceeds will go to his wife. If you would like to contribute, please send your contributions (be sure to note “Finis Price” in the memo line) to Kentucky Justice Association, 10602 Timberwood Cir # 8, Louisville, KY 40223-5367.

Check out my review of the Stabile Pro iPad stand. All in all I...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:02:00 -0500

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

Check out my review of the Stabile Pro iPad stand. All in all I really like this stand, but it’s definitely not intended to be a portable stand. Rather, it’s a very solid, but attractive, stand that allows you to elevate your iPad and use it in one location, wether it’s your office or home. It retails for $99.99 and you can buy it here.

(The kind folks at Thought Out Company provided me with a free copy of this stand so that I could review it on this blog)

More iPad Apps for Lawyers

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:00:05 -0500

This week’s Daily Record column is entitled “More iPad Apps for Lawyers.”

A pdf of the article can be found here and my past Daily Record articles can be accessed here.

*****

More iPad Apps for Lawyers

IPad sales have exploded since this revolutionary device was released less than 2 years ago in April 2010. In the last quarter of 2011 alone, it is estimated that more than 13.5 million iPads were sold — a 166 percent increase from the same quarter one year ago — and a total of nearly 25 million iPads were sold in 2011.

This is one technology trend that lawyers are embracing, with tablets regularly making an appearance in law offices and courthouses across the country, and iPads are clearly leading the way. In fact, according to the ABA’s 2011 legal technology survey, the iPad is used by 89 percent of those lawyers who use a tablet device for work-related tasks and 15 percent of respondents used a tablet to conduct work while outside of their primary workplace. For firms with more than 500 attorneys, that number increased to 26 percent.

With more and more lawyers buying iPads, the legal field’s collective interest in iPad apps has increased dramatically and developers have been responding to this increased demand by creating apps tailored specifically for lawyers, with new ones coming out all the time.

Unfortunately, the iTunes app store does not yet have a specific category for legal apps, so it can sometimes be a challenge to locate apps created just for lawyers. To save you some time, in today’s article, I’ll describe a number of the more popular legal apps available

First, there are the apps that I wrote about in April 2011, including: 1) 3 trial presentation apps: the RLTC Evidence ($4.99), Exhibit A ($9.99) and TrialPad ($89.99); 2) an app that assists with jury selection, Jury Tracker ($4.99); and 3) 2 other useful legal apps including Lawstack (free), which includes, among others, the U.S. Constitution, the Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure, the Federal Rules of Evidence and certain state codes, including New York; and Fastcase (free), a legal research app that includes cases and statutes from all 50 states and the federal government.
Since April, there have been a slew of new legal apps released, all of which are available in the iTunes app store.

First, New York lawyers can stay on top of their ethical obligations using the New York State Bar Association’s newly released “Mobile Ethics App for New York Lawyers” (free). CaseManager for iPad ($14.99), is another new app that operates as a mobile case manager for all of your law firm’s matters.
ExhibitView ($29.99) is another new addition to the legal app family, and operates as a presentation aid for use during trials or depositions.

Another app intended to make trial preparation simpler is the Transcript Pad app ($49.99), from the makers or TrialPad. This app allows you to import multiple deposition transcripts onto your iPad so that you can review and mark up transcripts right on your iPad. Then there’s iJuror ($9.99), a jury selection app that aids lawyers in managing the voir dire process.Rulebook (free), is another app to consider. This app allows you to the download federal and state court rules specific to your jurisdiction and then makes them readily available and searchable on your iPad.

Finally, there’s the Wolfram Alpha Lawyer’s Professional Assistant app ($4.99). This app is a reference tool that pulls information useful to lawyers from Wolfram Alpha’s massive database. Using this app you can access a vast amount of data including definitions of legal terms, state-specific statute of limitation information, and investigative information, such as weather and company information. You can even perform calendar and financial calculations or utilize the blood alcohol calculator.

As you can can see, legal-specific iPad apps abound and more are sure to follow. These apps make iPads all the more useful in the 21st Century law office, allowing you the flexibility to access information relevant to your practice no matter where you are.

iPhone 4S Texting and iMessage Issues

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:47:42 -0500

Image by William Hook via Flickr

Since upgrading to the iPhone 4S, I’ve encountered a number of problems with the messaging functions of the phone. And, I’m not the only one. A number of my friends have encountered similar issues, as have many others, judging from the results of a Google search for “iPhone 4S texting issues” or “iMessage issues.”

I thought I’d post about the issues I was having and let you now what I did to address the issue, simply for posterity’s sake, if nothing else, since it seems the issue is memorialized primarily in online forums versus blogs or other mainstream sites.

The main problem that I encountered was that I simply wasn’t receiving texts that were being sent to me. After much research and confusion, I determined that it only occurred when receiving texts from other iPhone users and appeared to have something to do with the new iMessage feature.

If you’re not already aware, iMessage is the new messaging system rolled out with the new iPhone operating system IOS 5. iMessage allows IOS 5 users to send messages to other IOS 5 users across all devices, including iPods, iPhones, and iPads. Unfortunately, it’s a bit buggy at this point.

Some people, like me, have had issues receiving messages. Other have had issues with the group messaging function. I’m still unsure whether the issue is related to the IOS 5 operating system, my carrier (AT&T), or is limited to iPhone 4S users. In any event, thus far, the only solution for me is to simply turn iMessage off. Since I pay for unlimited texting and am grandfathered in to the unlimited data plan, the fact that I can’t use iMessage isn’t an issue for me.

But for others, iMessage offers a way to get around the text limit caps and data limit caps when sending multimedia messages via text. Unfortunately, that benefit is lost if iMessage can’t be used due to its inherent unreliability. Hopefully Apple fixes this annoying issue soon. Let me know over at the Legal iPad Facebook page if you’ve had similar issues and if so, if and how you fixed them.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and GigaOM Pro Analyst. She co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise, and is currently writing a book about cloud computing for lawyers that will be published by the ABA in late 2011. She is the founder of lawtechTalk.com and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. She publishes four legal blogs and can be reached at nblack@nicoleblackesq.com.

My Latest Venture: GigaOM Pro Analyst

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:23:07 -0500

Image via CrunchBase

Over the past two years, in addition to my other projects and obligations, I’ve been very busy writing two different books. First, there was “Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier,” a book I co-authored with Carolyn Elefant, which was published by the American Bar Association in June of 2010. The second book, “Cloud Computing for Lawyers,” is about to go to press and is expected to be published by the ABA within the next month.

As the publication date for my most recent book drew closer, my thoughts were drawn to the possibilities of my next major project. I had two different book concepts in mind and was considering submitting a proposal or two and seeing what came of it.

Instead, a new and exciting opportunity unexpectedly presented itself: becoming an analyst for GigaOM.

For years now, the GigaOM blog has been one of my favorites. It provides interesting, relevant content with a focus on emerging technologies, including cloud computing, mobile computing, social media, Web 2.0 collaborative tools, green technology and more. GigaOM’s focus squares perfectly with my passion for emerging technologies and for that reason, I’ve always enjoyed GigaOM’s content. I read the blog on a daily basis and frequently share links to GigaOM blogs posts with my followers.

So when I was offered the chance to become a GigaOM Pro analyst, I simply couldn’t pass it up.

For those unfamiliar, GigaOM is a cutting edge startup that recently raised another $6 million in funding, for a grand total of $14 million.

GigaOM Pro is at the heart of the company’s growth plan, as described in this MediaBeat article:

“We believe that the growth of GigaOm is going to be driven by our research platform and GigaOm Pro,” (Om Malik) said. “That does not minimize the importance of our online audience. What we write about on the blog is what brings people to read GigaOm on a daily basis.”

GigaOm now claims more than 4 million unique monthly visitors across its sites, a number that’s growing 30 percent annually. According to Walborsky, the company doubled its revenue in 2010, thanks largely to GigaOm Pro. It’s on-track to double that revenue yet again this year, and to become cash-flow positive by the end of 2011.

So, what exactly is GigaOM Pro? Well, as described at its website:

GigaOM Pro was created to address the gap that exists in real-time expert industry analysis on emerging technology markets.

All too often, insider analyst research and commentary is costly, inaccessible or ineffective to the entrepreneurs, investors and innovators who need timely insights most. We’re changing this by making high-quality expert reports, data and commentary easy to access and highly interactive for our community in key emerging technology areas…

Every GigaOM Pro subscription includes instant access to hundreds of pieces of original content, including research reports, daily and weekly updates, expert columns, and must read links.

As an analyst, I’ll be one of the people creating that content and will also participate in occasional webinars and GigaOM conferences. Needless to say, I’m very excited about this new opportunity. For now, I’ll have to shelve my book ideas and see what comes of this newfound adventure. Tune in tomorrow and see…

I decided to buy my kids a Kindle Touch for the holidays. It...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:40:00 -0500

I decided to buy my kids a Kindle Touch for the holidays. It arrived in the mail today and I just had a chance to give it a test drive. Needless to say, I’m not impressed and if the Kindle Fire is even remotely like this device in terms of its responsiveness, then it doesn’t hold a candle to the iPad.

The Kindle Touch has a number of problems. First and foremost, it doesn’t respond to touch well. It’s much, much slower to respond than my iPad is. There is an approximately 1 second delay between my initial touch and the device registering that I touched the screen. With my iPad, the response to my touch command is nearly instantaneous.

Secondly, it takes the Kindle nearly 2-3 to perform the desired function after registering my touch command. Again, in the iPad it’s a seamless interaction in most cases and you don’t even notice the delay.

This slow response time is particularly noticeable—and extremely annoying—when turning pages. I would say it takes between 1-2 seconds for the page to actually change whereas with my iPad Kindle app, again—it’s nearly instantaneous.

This device has no page turn buttons. It was designed to be navigated solely by touch. For that reason, it should be highly responsive to touch. Because it is not, in my mind, it is a failure as a device.

Finally, I just don’t like the interface. The screen is gray and dull. It’s depressing. I much prefer the iPad Kindle app’s interface with the choice to have a bright white background screen with crisp black letters. I realize that the Kindle interface is supposed to work better in bright light, but quite frankly, that just doesn’t win me over.

Bottom line: I’m glad this one’s for my kids and not me;)

Dear Verizon--Thanks for Nothing

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:14:51 -0500

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Dear Verizon,

Just a quick note to thank you for crediting my Mifi account in the amount of $267 and for terminating the 2-year extension of my Verizon contract. I am especially appreciative that you did this for me given that I never actually authorized the purchase of a Blackberry (a Blackberry, of all things—the horror!) using my Verizon account.

It would have been nice if you were able to provide me with more information about the fraudulent activity on my account aside from “We think it was an inside job.” Whatever that means. And, from the standpoint of the person who was the subject of said fraud, it was disconcerting, to say the least, when your fraud representative informed me that it would be 2-3 months until the “fraud team” would be able to advise me as to the specifics of this fraud, on the off chance that they were actually able to figure out how it occurred.

Unfortunately, “all we know right now is that it occurred via our website” isn’t very reassuring and provides me with no direction in terms of how to go about preserving my identity in the interim. Did someone provide my date of birth? My social security number? My Verizon account password? My mother’s maiden name? Where was the person located who authorized this purchase? What was the person’s name? Or did an employee simply access my account via your system and authorize the purchase internally?

It makes a difference, you know. And, apparently, you guys don’t have a clue.

So, thanks for nothing.

Oh and while I’m at it, thanks for failing to adequately train your employees regarding how individual Verizon accounts work.

Once I learned of the fraud, I requested that the ability to make purchases using my account be turned off. I was advised: 1) by Customer Service rep #1 that I would have to talk to the credit department 2) by Customer Service rep #2 that she turned it off, and then a few days later 3) by a Fraud Services rep that it wasn’t turned off and if I chose to turn it off, I would have to pay my monthly Mifi bill in in CASH at a Verizon store.

So, as it stands, despite my wishes to the contrary, equipment purchases can still be made using my account, which was recently fradulently accessed for that very purpose.

FYI, I was advised that my Mifi account contract expires next month. Guess what I’m going to do once it expires?

Thanks again Verizon. You guys rock!

Sincerely,

Niki Black

Lawyers (and millions more) love their iPads

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:13:06 -0400

This is a re-print of this week’s Daily Record column, entitled “Lawyers (and millions more) love their iPads.”

A PDF of this article can be found here and my past Daily Record articles can be accessed here.

*****

Lawyers (and millions more) love their iPads

Approximately 14.8 million iPads were sold in 2010, with 7.3 million being sold in the last quarter of 2010. According to industry estimates following Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter financial results earlier this month, 11.12 million iPads were sold during that quarter—a 166% increase from the same quarter one year ago—and nearly 25 million iPads have been sold thus far in 2011.

That means since the iPad was introduced, just 1.5 years ago in April of 2010, nearly 40 million iPads have been sold.

The bad news is that my that my prediction, made in this column in March 2011, was way off base. I had predicted that 22 million iPad2s would be sold by the end of 2011. Obviously my prediction came in far too low, especially since the holiday season is just around the corner and nearly half of all iPads sold last year were sold during the last quarter of 2010.

The good news is that another prediction made in this column in March 2010 was spot on: “The iPad won’t change life as we know it, but it will revolutionize the way that we interact with various news and social media. Undoubtedly, we will look back on 2010 as the year the iPad changed the way we obtain and consume information…The iPad will not fill an already existing niche — it will create a new one. It will be ever-present in our homes, during daily commutes and on airplanes…The iPad will be the interface of choice for Web browsing and media consumption. Soon, it will be quite common to read books, magazines and newspapers via the iPad interface.”

While it’s a great entertainment device, importantly, the iPad isn’t being used for just fun and games. As reported during Apple’s fourth quarter results call, 92% of Fortune 500 testing or deploying iPads – up from 86% last year—and iPads are now being distributed in 90 countries.

And, it’s not just private businesses that are using the iPad. As a reader recently brought to my attention, according to internal agency records available at governmentattic.org, a number of governmental agencies are considering the utility of iPads for their employees, including the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), just to name a few.

Lawyers are using the iPad, too. According to the 2011 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey, which examined the purchasing trends of law firms with 50+ Attorneys, 25% of respondents said that the iPad would be one of the major technology purchases over the next 12 months, 11% of firms had already purchased iPads for their attorneys, and 55% of surveyed firms reported providing IT support for employees who purchase and use their personal tablet devices.

But wait, there’s more! According to the 2011 ABA Legal Technology Survey, the iPad is used by 89% of those lawyers who use a tablet device for work-related tasks and 15% of respondents used a tablet to conduct work while outside of their primary workplace. For firms with over 500 attorneys, that number increased to 26%.

It’s hard to argue with statistics like that. When the iPad first debuted, naysayers wrote it off as a silly toy. What they failed to appreciate was that the utility and flexibility of this device would quickly make it an indispensable part of our personal and business lives.

In a little under 2 years, 40 million of these devices have been sold, with millions of other tablet devices in circulation as well. Such a rapid proliferation of a device that didn’t even exist prior to April 2010 is a clear indication that tablet computers aren’t a fad or a “silly toy”; they’re an indication of what’s to come.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney. She co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise, and is currently writing a book about cloud computing for lawyers that will be published by the ABA in early 2011. She is the founder of lawtechTalk.com and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. She publishes four legal blogs and can be reached at nblack@nicoleblackesq.com.

This is a video of the Keynote that I gave at the LexisNexis...

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 19:02:00 -0400

This is a video of the Keynote that I gave at the LexisNexis 2011 Practice Management Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida on September 22, 2011. It’s entitled: “Legal Technology: Change is Good.”

In it I examine the roots of the rapid technological change beginning in 1995, with a particular focus on the last 6 years. I then explore how emerging technologies, including cloud computing, mobile computing and social media, are affecting the legal field and are changing the way that business is conducted.

The video is about 41 minutes long.

Stylish, Functional Computer Bag for Women

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:26:00 -0400

I recently had to part with my trusty, tattered computer bag that my mother had given to me—one that she had received as schwag at a conference. It was just too beat up.

So, I was in the market for a new one. I wanted one that was functional, stylish, travel-friendly and reasonably priced. But, little did I know, it’s not easy finding a computer bag if you won’t settle for a basic, boring, black, luggage-like bag.

I found one though, and wanted to share my discovery, in case anyone else is looking for a nice, reasonably priced bag. (And, no, I won’t receive a commission, etc. from touting this product. It was simply a good find that I wanted to share with my readers.)

I looked around at local stores, but couldn’t find anything to my liking. The functional bags were too masculine and the stylish bags either cost an arm and a leg or were totally impractical, with minimal pockets or straps that weren’t comfortable.

I decided to broaden my prospects and look online. I started, and ended, at Amazon.com. I have an Amazon Prime account, which means that I get free shipping on many items sold at Amazon. I also get free movie streaming for a decent number of movies. For just $79 per year, it’s a great deal, assuming you shop online a lot. I do nearly all of my holiday shopping online, so that alone makes it worth it.

So, I spent a while looking at bags on Amazon and found one that I really liked. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Amazon Prime eligible, so I had to pay shipping, which was approximately $6. But it was well worth it. It arrived the other day and I really like it. For just $55.99, it’s a great bag. Stylish and functional, with flat, comfortable shoulder straps and lots of pockets and storage.

All in all a great buy and one that I was very happy about. So, if you’re in the market for a stylish womens’ computer bag, you might want to give this Kailo Laptop Tote, or one of the other bags by this company, a try.

My iPhone 4S Siri Fails and Wins

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:30:00 -0400

I brought home my iPhone 4S last week and am impressed by the Siri Assistant and the built in dictation system, which I demonstrate in a video in this earlier post.

When I tried to use Siri, I encountered an error that appeared intermittently, but seems to have subsided. Disconnecting and re-connecting to my wifi connection usually solved the issue. The Siri fail is shown in the video below:

I also figured out that I could require my phone to refer to me using something other than my name, and it now calls me “Sexy Mama,” to my endless amusement. If you’d like to do that, just tell Siri “Call me ‘X’” and voila! (If you ever send your contact info. to others from your iPhone, I would avoid this, since it adds your nickname to your contact profile.)

This particular command can result in a funny Siri Fail, as seen below:

Below are screenshots two of my more memorable interactions with Siri:

(In case you were wondering, Siri wasn’t able to perform the web search because my iPhone is password protected and I hadn’t yet unlocked the phone by entering my password. Sometimes Siri will prompt me to do so if issue a command that can’t be performed if the phone is still locked; other times, it won’t).

Demonstration of the iPhone 4S new dictation interface and why I...

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:40:53 -0400

Demonstration of the iPhone 4S new dictation interface and why I think it will make this device indispensable to lawyers and other professionals.

iPads--The Tipping Point?

Tue, 17 May 2011 08:39:00 -0400

Image via CrunchBase

I think this summer will be the tipping point for iPads. Why do I say that? Well, for a number of reasons.

First, over Easter weekend, a number of friends and family members were considering buying iPads and asked me for my opinion regarding specs, etc. These are people who are not particularly techie. To me, the fact that so many people unrelated to one another and from different walks of life were simultaneously researching and buying iPads—just a few months after the iPad 2 was released—is a definite sign that iPads are beginning to have mass appeal.

Another reason I think we’re reaching the tipping point for iPads—lots of famous people are getting them—from the President of the United States and the Queen of England, to celebrities like Kate Hudson to Justice Scalia. And all sorts of institutions are using them, from law firms and hospitals to preschools to grade schools, high schools, colleges and law schools. Soon the iPad will be ubiquitous in every setting.

They’re already showing up quite frequently in all of the places I predicted they would just over a year ago: in airports, on trains and at coffee shops. That’s because iPads are supplanting the use of other devices in those settings—smart phones, eReaders and laptops. In fact, based on a recent Nielsen study, some are asserting that, based on recent sales figures, iPads are replacing those devices.

As I’ve often said in the past, I don’t think that iPads will replace those devices in all settings—in the business setting, laptops and desktops aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Instead, iPads fill a niche that many weren’t aware of until they got their hands on one. iPads are the perfect device for content consumption—and content creation, in a pinch.

Whether iPads will rule the tablet computer market down the road remains to be seen. I think that Android-based tablets, like Android-based phones, will ultimately take at least half of the market share. But, for now, iPad sales have eclipsed the sales of all other tablet combined.

Either way, tablet computers, led by the iPad, are about to reach a tipping point. Come fall, I think that my prediction will have come to pass and it will be evident that tablet computers are undoubtedly the next stage of computing for the everyday consumer.

What do you think? Let me know at the Legal iPad Facebook page.

iPad Links Galore #11

Wed, 04 May 2011 08:38:12 -0400

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s a round up of my most recent iPad tweets and other useful iPad links:

iPad Predicted in 1994 (Video) http://feedly.com/k/mhSZ39 (ReadWriteWeb)
Yahoo! News: Most Viewed - Top Stories: Why the iPad Appeals to Older Users (U.S. News & World Report) http://6sen.se/f9BKfc
Oklahoma State students, faculty tout iPad in classroom | The Digital Home - CNET News http://t.co/lC0kgan
Amazon’s Plan to Create iPad Tablet Rival Reportedly Underway - Desktops and Notebooks - News & Reviews - eWeek.com http://t.co/xRmG8dO
iPad presents problems for Presidential Records Act - The Hill’s Hillicon Valley http://t.co/3rofqnB

iPad Links Galore #10

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:54:00 -0400

Image via CrunchBase

Here’s a round up of my recent iPad tweets:

Prepare for Depositions With the iPad Deponent App - http://tinyurl.com/3srnuwr
Lawyers and Their iPads http://feedly.com/k/gDcbhu
Lawyerist: The iPad as an Indispensable Lawyering Tool http://6sen.se/i6lRjJ
What is the “iPad for Lawyers” Crowd Smoking? http://feedly.com/k/fkTTYk
iPad Apps for Lawyers http://bit.ly/hqCdEa

iPads for Lawyers Resource Page

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:23:00 -0400

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I created a running list of blogs and books that discuss iPads for lawyers. You can find that list here. If I’ve missed any, please let me know.

iPad Apps for Lawyers Page

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:14:00 -0400

Image via CrunchBase

I just created a running list of iPad apps developed specifically for lawyers. I’ll update it as new apps come to my attention.

You can find that page here.

Aside from a few big aggregators, I didn’t include apps for federal and state codes, laws, regulations, etc. simply because there are far too many of them.

The prices of the apps are accurate on the date that the date that the app was included on the list, but may have changed since then, so be sure to check the iTunes store for the most up-to-date pricing.

If you know of an app that’s missing, feel free to contact me and I’ll be happy to consider adding the app.