TechnoLawyer: Entertainment/Hobbies/Recreation

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a network appliance that writes briefs, a Web app that recreates the document review rooms of old for eDiscovery, a specialized email filter that deletes ad hominem arguments, a tool for boosting your billable hours, and an iPhone social networking app for meeting up with people who can help you when you need a day off. Don't miss the next issue.

Briefs That Write Themselves (Associate Not Included)

Most automation tools are limited to documents such as wills that have the same basic components and structure each time. That's helpful, but many lawyers create unique documents that require analysis and creativity as opposed to just filling in the blanks — briefs, letters, memos, layoff notices, etc. These documents keep many a lawyer trapped in their office until late at night. So how about some automation technology that enables you not only to spend less time at the office but less time thinking?

BrainDump … in One Sentence
Hoodathunk's BrainDump is a network appliance that automates the drafting of briefs, obviating the need for critical thought.

The Killer Feature
BrainDump's "Brief Brief" feature ensures that you never miss a tee time (or teatime or whatever you enjoy). However, it works best when you have a junior associate at your disposal. If you don't have one, you can usually find them near fancy skyscrapers around lunchtime after the law firms in these buildings announce their latest round of layoffs.

Once you have an associate, give them an overview of your case and ask them to find supporting opinions for all the points you want to make in your brief. If your associate used to work in a large firm, give him the assignment on a Friday afternoon and ask for the research to be on your desk the next morning even though you don't plan to get back to the office until Tuesday. That way, you'll put him in his comfort zone.

When you return to the office (on Wednesday), review the headnotes of the cases. If the cases look good, simply dump them into BrainDump's 5,000-page automatic document feeder and press the "Brief Brief" button. After just a few minutes, BrainDump will print out your brief and all supporting documents, as well as email a copy to you, your client, and opposing counsel, and even file it with the court if it offers e-filing.

Other Notable Features
BrainDump can produce virtually any legal document and has 50 programmable buttons. If you run out of buttons, you can create button-pressing sequences for documents that you create less frequently. For example, while you might want to press a button only once for a nasty letter to opposing counsel, you could program BrainDump so that pressing the same button 112 times produces a friendly letter to opposing counsel.

BrainDump is not Energy Star compliant given its heavy processing requirements. However, it compensates with its built-in shredder. After scanning the raw material you feed it, BrainDump shreds it into subatomic particles. Even an electron microscope cannot detect any remnants. For this reason, Hoodathunk recommends feeding only copies to BrainDump, not originals.

While BrainDump might sound a bit dangerous, it has a highly intelligent sensor that can detect human skin. Therefore, if you accidentally insert your hand too far while feeding it some deposition transcripts, you'll be pleasantly surprised by what happens — BrainDump will trim your fingernails if needed and then turn off. The company is reportedly working on a manicure add-on by popular demand.

What Else Should You Know?
In addition to paper, BrainDump can handle CDs, DVDs, hard drives, USB drives, and your voice — just shout into the ADF. BrainDump comes in two pieces — a five pound 5 x 5 x 5 inch base and a 500 pound 5 x 5 x 5 foot ADF. Assembly requires four or five able-bodied people. Hoodathunk provides a list of CBCs (certified brawny consultants) on its site should you require assistance. The price of BrainDump depends on its opinion of your intelligence.

TLN Roundup: Pardon the Dust Plus Much More

Litinoodle's EDDWorld (Web) is a Web-based document review tool that mimics the paper-based systems of the past. The Killer Feature: You review discovery documents in a virtual document review room using an avatar. You can adjust various elements such as the amount of dust, the number of blown ballasts in the fluorescent lights, and the color of your Redwelds and Bates Stamper. The pricing of EDDWorld depends on the size of your document collection.

Redonkulous Technologies' Wordundant (Windows) is a utility that automatically deletes TechnoLawyer newsletters and other email in which someone praises or criticizes word processing software. The Killer Feature: Instead of having these newsletters deleted sight unseen, hundreds of clever animations such as "walk the plank" make it fun to delete these ad hominem arguments.

Rounding Error's Billable Bully (Web) helps persuade you to bill for time that you're unsure about. The Killer Feature: Billable Bully asks you a series of questions after which it builds a case as to why you're entitled to bill the time. In fact, lawyers who use Billable Bully end up billing twice as much time on average as what they originally enter. Billable Bully also provides lengthy descriptions for your bills. You pay Billable Bully 20% of the fees you collect on the time it persuades you to bill.

Beer Gut Software's DayOff (iPhone) is a social networking app that uses GPS to locate people nearby who have a bad cold so that you can infect yourself and get a day off. The Killer Feature: Thanks to built-in chat software, you can ask those in your vicinity about their symptoms. Thus, if you prefer sneezing to coughing, etc., you can wait until you find the perfect mix of symptoms before meeting up and shaking hands.

Publisher's Note: In case you haven't guessed by now, none of the five products described above actually exist (I hope). April Fool's! We'll resume covering real products next week.

How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Walk one block west from our office and you'll arrive at Ground Zero. Walk two blocks east and you might see Ben Bernanke entering the Federal Reserve. These two sites remind me every day about the challenges we face.

However, even closer to our office — right in our building in fact — resides Century 21, an outlet department store that remains as mobbed as ever. Notwithstanding the credit crisis and recession, it would seem that the holidays will not be canceled. Therefore, I thought I'd share with you five techno-gift suggestions that I consider a good bargain.

Make Someone's Smartphone Smarter ...

Apple and RIM devote virtually all their engineering resources to their respective smartphones. As a result, the earphones that ship with BlackBerrys and iPhones don't sound good and don't block external noise, encouraging people to crank the volume to dangerous levels.

Show someone you care by giving them quality in-ear earphones that block external noise.

A few weeks ago, I reviewed the Ultimate Ears triple.fi 10 vi, which I use with my iPhone. With a list price of $420, I wouldn't dare recommend them this year — not even at the $371 price I paid.

However, Ultimate Ears just shipped a less expensive model with the same feature set — the super.fi 5 vi. These earphones enable you to control music playback and answer and talk on the phone without having to fish your BlackBerry or iPhone out of your pocket. They sell for $190.

Enlighten Someone About Espresso Economics ...

If all espresso drinkers brewed their own coffee and invested the money they would save by doing so, we could eliminate the credit crisis without a bailout.

You think I'm joking?

A single shot of espresso at home using a capsule-based machine costs about 50 cents per cup versus $1.90 at Starbucks and other cafes. That's a $1.40 difference for the most basic espresso drink. Get fancier and the gap widens.

So why don't people make their own espresso?

Some people don't think they can make as good a cup at home when in fact the opposite is true. While a professional barista can certainly best a home machine, how many of these people do you think work at Starbucks? Yet Starbucks still uses machines that require skill. By contrast, capsule-based home machines eliminate all the guesswork.

Others balk at the up front price of buying a machine. Clearly, they have never crunched the numbers. Assuming two espressos per day, even a $1,000 machine would pay for itself in about one year (357 days to be exact).

By purchasing a machine for your favorite espresso lover, you could make these savings immediate. And you need not spend $1,000.

The Nespresso Essenza C100 and D100, which sell for $250, make the exact same cup of espresso as much more expensive Nespresso models, but lack the ability to make milk-based espresso drinks. If the person you have in mind likes cappuccinos or lattes, Nespresso will sell you a milk frother for $50 if you order it with a C100 (the frother sells for $100 if purchased separately).

How good is a Nespresso espresso? Very good. Here in Manhattan we have the only Nespresso cafe in the country. Despite charging $3.50 for a shot of espresso, the place is always packed. And the baristas use the C100.

Encourage Someone to Not Run With the Pack ...

Convergence is good when it solves a problem. Otherwise, not so much.

You may have heard about Nike+iPod, which enables you to capture the distance, pace, calories, and time of your runs and walks. You place a sensor in your Nike+ sneakers (or fasten it to your non-Nike sneakers), and use your iPod nano or iPod touch (2008 model only) to view your progress, pause your workout, etc. You then upload each workout to your Nike+ Web account so that you can view your statistics by day, week, month, etc.

It's all very cool and makes workouts addictive or at least more fun.

However, even if you use one of those armbands to hold your iPod, fiddling with it during your workout will slow you down. Plus, not everyone has an iPod. Some have iPhones and others have iPod alternatives or simply don't play music.

Realizing that Nike+iPod doesn't suit everyone, Nike recently released Nike+SportBand, which offers the same functionality in a wristwatch with just two buttons. Press the large button to check your distance, pace, calories, and elapsed time, and the small button to pause. It sells for $59.

A Good Time to Give Someone a Plasma TV ...

Timing is everything, especially when buying technology. Take TVs for example. Every January at the Consumer Electronics Show, companies unveil their new models for the year. As a result, you'll find discounts galore on this year's models right about now.

No doubt you've heard about the debate between LCD TVs and plasma TVs. Even though LCD TVs outsell plasma TVs, the latter offer a better picture. While I wouldn't place a plasma TV in a kitchen or an office, I prefer them for a typical den or living room except perhaps if the room has skylights.

Those in the know will tell you that Pioneer makes the best plasma TVs — with prices to match.

Panasonic offers a good alternative at recession-friendly prices. For a house, I like the 46 inch TH-46PZ80U, which originally sold for $1,700, but now sells for as little as $1,200. For an apartment, the smaller 42 inch TH-42PZ80U might make more sense. It now sells for about $900, reduced from its original $1,300 price.

Give an Apple to the Apple of Your Eye ...

In the introduction, I mentioned Century 21, an outlet store that sells irregular and overstocked designer clothes.

Outlet stores also exist in the technology world, including one operated by Apple, a company not known for discounting.

Apple offers both clearance items and refurbished products. Many good deals exist, but beware — Apple lists the original price of the product. In some cases, the newer version of a product sells for less than the old version did.

Of the iPod deals, I like two in particular — the 2007 8 GB nano, which sells for $99 and the 2007 160 GB iPod Classic, which sells for $249. The so-called "fat nano" sports the same screen as the new 8 GB 2008 model ($149), but in an orientation that seems more logical to me. Meanwhile, the old iPod Classic provides 33% more storage space than the current iPod Classic for the same price.

I also like two Mac deals — the previous generation 15 inch MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz laptop, which sells for $1,600 (new) or $1,349 (refurbished), and the 1 TB Time Capsule, which sells for $419 (refurbished). If you know someone like me who does not like glossy screens, the previous generation MacBook Pro is the last one with a matte screen.

On Second Thought ...

You know, maybe instead of exchanging gifts this year we should save our money and just enjoy each other's company.... Wait a second. For a moment there, I forgot that we Americans never save money. We would just end up spending more on ourselves. Never mind. Happy shopping!

Photo of Nike+ Sportband by Richard Roberson. All rights reserved.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: David Hudgens discusses his firm's switch from Time Matters to PCLaw, Andrea Phelps reviews the Herman Miller Aeron chair and her HON modular desk system, Carol Bratt reviews Timeslips tech support and the program's learning curve (and Timeslips responds), Brian Cluxton reviews Dell's on-site warranty and service, and Susan Billeaud explains how to tame iTunes on a PC. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: Doug Rice reviews Microsoft OneNote 2007, Evernote, and HTTrack, Robert Bass reviews the Eurotech Ergohuman leather high back desk chair, Steven McNichols discusses the dark side of adhesion contracts (citing a few personal examples), Fred Brock suggests a fix for those having trouble with iTunes and their CD/DVD drives, and Victoria Herring provides more information on creating a unique password based on a personal algorithm. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

TechnoScore: 4.6
1 = Lowest Possible Score; 5 = Highest Possible Score

Everyone likes extravagances, but not everyone agrees on which ones merit the cost and which ones don't. I consider high-end earphones critical whereas most people do not. You've been warned.

I favor so-called in-ear earphones because they're portable and block external noise (sound isolation), enabling you to protect your hearing by playing your music at low volume. If you don't like earplugs, you won't like in-ear earphones because they operate on the same principle.

(Yes, I know about the Bose Quiet Comfort headphones, which many lawyers like, but they are not portable. I define portability as weighing less than 1 ounce and fitting in your pocket.)

Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 pro: An Overdue Apology

I initially purchased the Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 pro in 2006 and complained about them in a blog post. I regret writing that post because the hum I complained about was caused by my iPod, not by the earphones.

Furthermore, given what lay ahead of me, I didn't realize how good I had it. I now believe Ultimate Ears makes the best in-ear earphones.

A Shure Thing?

The super.fi 5 pro served me well, but when I switched from an iPod to an iPhone in 2007, I began searching for a replacement so that I could take advantage of the iPhone's features — answering calls and changing tracks without having to fish the iPhone out of my pocket. iPhone-compatible earphones have a microphone and clicker in the cord to handle these functions.

My search lasted one year!

During that time, I continued to use the super.fi 5 pro, which proved remarkably durable. I wore them in the rain and snow. I wore them in 95 degree heat and in near-zero wind chills. I never used the protective case, but instead just stuffed them in my jacket or shirt pocket. Nothing fazed them. They are the Energizer Bunny of earphones.

When I purchased my iPhone, I also purchased the Shure SE210 earphones and Music Phone Adapter. I was excited because Shure makes the best foam eartips. They're incredibly comfortable.

But as I quickly learned, Shure also has a manufacturing problem. On two sets of these earphones, the eartips were fused onto the post and would not come off without shredding, leaving half the material on the post. The eartips are supposed to have a plastic sleeve inside that glides off, but these did not.

A Shure executive acknoledged the problem, apologized, and sent me a third pair as well as a pair of higher-end SE420 earphones. I just couldn't stomach the possibility of another return so I sold both pairs on eBay and continued using my trusty super.fi 5 pro.

I let eight months pass, thinking that Shure would iron out its manufacturing problems. This time, I bought the SE530, Shure's top-of-the-line model.

Same defective eartips! I couldn't believe it. You know what they say about being twice burned. I returned them for a refund.

Back to the super.fi 5 pro.

007, Do Be Careful With These q-JAYS

I then delved into some research. Most earphones use only a single armature to produce the sound. Because the super.fi 5 pro uses two armatures, I felt I had to find a model with at least two. That ruled out most earphones, including the stylish Klipsch Image X10 (which I hope to try someday).

After reading countless reviews, I settled on Jays' q-JAYS. Though they didn't have an iPhone-compatible microphone and clicker, they addressed another drawback of the super.fi 5 pro — size. The super.fi 5 pro are among the larger in-ear earphones. They make you look like Frankenstein. The q-JAYS are tiny and virtually disappear into your ears. If it weren't for the cable, they could serve as one of Q's cool gizmos in a James Bond film.

But I quickly discovered that the q-JAYS have a drawback of their own. They use filters — as do a growing number of in-ear earphones. The filters protect the earphone mechanism by blocking earwax. But they also exist to separate you from more of your cash since you have to keep replacing them. I found it more difficult to replace filters than to clean my super.fi 5 pro.

I never really got a chance to audition the q-JAYS because they arrived with a defective left channel. At first it was weak and then it went completely silent.

While I awaited my replacement from Sweden, I returned to the super.fi 5 pro. Again.

The Triple Was the Charm

A few weeks ago, I received an email advertisement from Earphone Solutions with a special offer for the Ultimate Ears triple.fi 10 vi.

The what?

Lo and behold — Ultimate Ears had just shipped its high-end triple.fi model in a special iPhone version. I pounced on the special offer and bought them for $371 (they usually sell for $419).

This was no impulse purchase. Remember, I had been searching for a year. The right product finally hit the market and I knew it immediately thanks to my previous experiences.

I finally put my super.fi 5 pro out to pasture.

My Review of the triple.fi 10 vi

The triple.fi 10 vi are even larger than the super.fi 5 pro, but I don't mind for two reasons. First, although they use the same eartips as the super.fi 5 pro, they seem to fit better because the housing is more ergonomic. The sound isolation is very good thanks to the fit. You have a choice of three silicone eartips (small, medium, large) or a foam eartip.

Second, as the name suggests, they have three armatures. I can best describe them with one word — wow! With good recordings, they sound much better than the super.fi 5 pro. They have noticeably better imaging and more punch. One day after listening to some music with the triple.fi 10 vi, I switched to the super.fi 5 pro. I couldn't believe how lifeless they sounded by comparison. Be warned — there's no going back. Do not try them unless you plan to buy them.

Back to the size issue, do I wish Ultimate Ears could package three armatures into a smaller package? Yes. But thanks to engineering hurdles, I don't think that's possible in 2008. Ask me again in 2011.

What else do I like? The cable. The length is perfect for those of us who carry our iPhone in a jacket or pants pocket. At the end of the cable you'll find a straight connector, which I prefer over the super.fi 5 pro's angled connector. And on an odd note, the triple.fi 10 vi cable behaves as you would expect a cable to behave. For example, if you wrap the cable to store the earphones, you don't have to straighten the cable when you use them again. By contrast, the super.fi 5 pro use a strange cable that retains its shape, often requiring re-straightening.

The build quality of the triple.fi 10 vi looks good, but I've had them for just a few weeks. We'll see how they hold up this winter. The clicker works like a charm to skip to the next or previous song or answer a call. Also, no filters!

If you have an iPhone, consider high-end earphones a worthy extravagance, want to take your earphones everywhere you go without weighing you down, and don't mind looking a little dorky, I highly recommend the triple.fi 10 vi.

That said, I'm keeping my super.fi 5 pro earphones as a backup.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a document grouping application to expedite the early stages of discovery (see article below), a service that enables law firms to accept credit cards, and an online store that can digitize your old photos, film, records, video tapes, and more. Don't miss the next issue.

Group Therapy for Discovery Documents
By Peter R. Olson

Let's face it — having your most junior paralegal handle the first cut of documents in your cases is probably not a good idea. But who else higher up in your firm would volunteer for this critical but grueling chore? No one is the likely answer. You need someone like Mikey — that kid who hated everything except Life cereal or in your case document review. Good luck.

Instead of searching for someone who doesn't exist, Clustify from Hot Neuron can help you with this task. Clustify groups similar documents into groups or clusters, providing quick insight into the contents of each document set. These clusters enable you to make decisions one cluster at a time instead of one document at a time, streamlining the document review that you and your experienced personnel conduct after the initial cut.

Whether used in Clustify's own user interface or within your preferred document review platform, Clustify identifies document keywords and then groups documents by keyword sets. You can sort by specific keywords, phrases, or even long passages. Clustify labels a "representative document" for each cluster.

Clustify offers a number of review tools. For example, you can compare specific documents side-by-side with Clustify's document comparison tool. Clustify highlights the changes for you. Clustify also offers custom tagging to categorize documents as you review them. Apply a tag to a single document, all documents in a cluster, or all clusters containing a certain combination of keywords. You can tag hundreds of documents with a single mouse click and link documents to other documents. This automated categorization improves the quality of document review because you can assign related documents to a single reviewer instead of having reviewers skip from one topic to another.

Clustify supports most document formats you're likely to encounter, including PDF, Microsoft Office, WordPerfect and HTML. Clustify runs on Windows and Linux. Learn more about Clustify.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

In fifth grade I often threw out the lunch my mother prepared for me, snuck out of school, and bought a chicken parmigiana hero at the pizzeria across the street. Truancy has its virtues.

Nowadays, if you gave me that hero I would throw it out.

An Italian-American Classic Reborn for the Whole Foods Generation

The chicken parmigiana (some call it chicken parmesan) hero exemplifies one of America's greatest talents — take something unhealthy (chicken milanese) and make it even more unhealthy — but tastier too!

This Italian American classic tastes better at home than out because what matters most is ingredient quality, not technique. Most pizzerias use cheap ingredients, and the number of higher end Italian restaurants that serve chicken parmigiana in a hero or even plated without the bread grows smaller with each passing year.

But fear not. After four years of testing, I've finally perfected this dish. Tony Soprano would approve.

Below you'll find my recipe. One warning — this sandwich has an insane number of calories — 1,100 (about the same as two Big Macs or a pint of ice cream).

Ingredients For Chicken Parmigiana Hero

Chicken Breast Cutlets (about 6 ounces per hero)
Home preparation means you can buy quality chicken and cut out any fat and veins. I stopped eating these heroes in pizzerias because I would inevitably bite into something unpleasant.

Buffalo Mozzarella in Water
Again, no pizzeria uses high-quality mozzarella. Most grocery stores sell buffalo mozzarella nowadays.

Sclafani Pizza Sauce
Herein lies the not-so-secret secret to great chicken parmigiana. You need a thick puree sauce. Just as you don't want sauce rolling off your pizza, you don't want it rolling off your chicken. Pasta sauce won't cut it. You need pizza sauce. That's why pizzerias use their pizza sauce for these sandwiches. The best I've found is Sclafani. Though not technically pizza sauce, Vincent's Original Sauce works in a pinch.

Progresso Italian Bread Crumbs

Eggs
You need about 1 egg for every 12 ounces of chicken cutlets.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese (optional)
Despite its name, don't use parmigiano-reggiano. It'll overwhelm the other ingredients.

Seedless Italian Hero Roll
About 9 inches in length, you might have a difficult time finding these rolls if you don't live near an Italian community. That's okay because you really can't go wrong with any Italian bread with a soft or medium texture. French bread and snootier Italian breads such as ciabatta won't work because they're too brittle for a second trip into an oven. You want old school Italian bread for this hero.

Preparation of Chicken Parmigiana Hero

After trimming away the fat and veins, pound the cutlets very thin. Sprinkle some salt onto the chicken. Whisk the eggs. Dunk each cutlet in the eggs and coat both sides well with the bread crumbs.

Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan and heat it up. Fry the chicken cutlets on both sides until golden brown. Set aside on a paper towel.

Dice 2-3 ounces of mozzarella per hero. Set aside.

Heat up some pizza sauce in the microwave. Set aside.

Preheat the broiler to about 500 degrees.

Slice the hero roll lengthwise and place it open-faced in a broiler pan.

Depending on their size, place 1, 1.5, or 2 chicken cutlets in the bottom half of the hero roll. You want just one layer of chicken so trim the cutlets if necessary to make them fit.

Spread the sauce on top of the chicken and also on the inside of the top half of the hero roll to prevent it from burning. If you wish, sprinkle some grated romano cheese on top of the chicken. Place the diced mozzarella on top of the chicken. It'll spread as it melts so leave some gaps.

Place the hero under the broiler and watch it carefully. Adjust the flame as needed. The bread should crisp just as the cheese develops a few golden streaks. Remove the hero from the broiler.

Slice the hero in half or in thirds and enjoy it with an ice cold lager or pilsner or an orange soda. Buon appetito!

Coming April 8, 2008 to TechnoFeature: Apple's iPod has infiltrated so many aspects of our lives (music, videos, movies, television), so it comes as no surprise that it has recently crept into litigation practices nationwide. In this article, litigation consultant David Mykel walks you through the various ways in which you can turn an iPod into an effective ally in your litigation practice. He'll teach you how you can view exhibits, watch video deposition testimony, record voice notes, and even transfer files. If you've always wondered how you could write off an iPod as a business expense, this TechnoFeature article has the answer.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Tuesdays, TechnoFeature is a weekly newsletter that contains in-depth articles written by leading legal technology and practice management experts. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers an email archiving and disaster recovery solution (see article below), a turnkey hardware/software paperless office system that works with any scanner or MFP, and a new 46 inch plasma TV for movie buffs and gamers alike. Don't miss the next issue.

Hold Everything
By Neil J. Squillante

Have you ever rummaged through a shoe box of old photos trying to decide which ones to have scanned and which ones to discard only to realize making case by case decisions is incredibly slow and inefficient? Chance are you'll just send the entire shoe box off for scanning.

Email archiving is similar. While most email archiving solutions encourage you to develop policies as to what to keep and what to discard, Forensic and Compliance System takes a different approach with its Cryoserver email archiving appliance — keep everything.

As a result, the company claims that Cryoserver is the only solution that has a complete record of all your email and attachments, including metadata. And because Cryoserver consists of a software-hardware combination, the company further claims that your data is collected in a forensically-sound and tamper-proof manner. The need for a litigation hold doesn't exist in a Cryoserver world because you're always holding everything.

When you first install Cryoserver, it can transparently offload email from Microsoft Exchange servers. Because of the volume of data Cryoserver stores, it provides robust tools for finding what you need in seconds for eDiscovery purposes or simply because you mistakenly deleted a message. You can access Cryoserver through your email program or a Web browser, both of which offer a familiar interface to reduce the learning curve.

Cryoserver offers protection against disasters through it's replication technology, which requires one or more Cryoserver appliances in other locations. Also, Cryoserver can scale from just a handful of email accounts at a small firm to more than one hundred thousand accounts at large corporations. Learn more about Cryoserver.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

The holiday shopping season has officially begun! I can't wait to worm my way through the crowds at the mall or better yet on Fifth Avenue. Yippee!

On second thought, I think I'll once again do all my Christmas shopping online. Below I've compiled some online shopping ideas for the lawyers in your life. Please reply to share your own tips.

The Billable Hour: This online store sells "clever gifts and greeting cards for legal professionals."

Carbolic Smoke Ball: This online store features kitschy merchandise with a legal theme. If you have any accountants, dentists, doctors, and/or politicians on your list, you'll find gifts for them as well.

LawGallery: In this online store, you'll find fine art depicting courtroom and other legal-oriented subjects. (LawGallery is featured on pages 273-274 of TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide.)

Law School in a Box: Though too late for you, this $15 item could save your kids from the financial burdens of law school.

Lawyer Cookie Arrangement: A cute collection of cookies shaped like books, briefcases, and gavels (see above photo).

2007 Holiday Gift Guide for Lawyers: BlawgWorld blogger Reid Trautz has published his third consecutive list of gift ideas for lawyers. Among his suggestions, you'll find Office Pillows, SoundView Executive Book Summaries, and my favorite, the Dough-Nu-Matic.

Holiday Gift Guide for Librarians: Let's not forget your favorite law librarian. In this guide, BlawgWorld blogger Bonnie Shucha unearths some great finds, including librarian action figures and Secret Storage Books.

A tip of the blog to Legal Underground for inspiring this article.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.