TechnoLawyer: Online/Cloud

Coming January 20, 2006 to Fat Friday: Gregory Deatz reviews OpenOffice in a law firm setting, Mark Sullivan reviews his experience with OnlyMyEmail, spam filtering service, Todd Hill takes a stab at explaining why legal vendors don't provide executive bios on their Web sites, Don Springmeyer provides links to a plethora of calendaring programs for the law office, and Ruth Curcuru shares her list of five essential Web sites. Don't miss this issue.

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Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Google's Web search is best of breed. But it hasn't hit a homerun with every service. In your opinion, what is Google's weakest offshoot service?

Take our TechnoPoll.

In today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, tech expert Jill Bauerle covered a free, Web-based application that enables you to collaboratively draft, edit, and compare documents, an online store (not iTunes) that sells iPod-ready videos, and a versatile iPod car connector. Don't miss the next issue.

Below you'll find one of the three articles from today's edition:

Getting it Write (Free Document Comparison Tool)
By Jill Bauerle
Sometimes hitting "Save" after editing a document is the most destructive thing you can do to your work. We've all had bad writing days, but that doesn't mean you can't salvage older versions of a file, even without document comparison software. Using Writeboard, a Web-based, document revision tool, every word you've ever deleted or changed is saved and at your disposal. Perfect for collaborating on contract clauses or editing a blog post, memo, or letter, Writeboard is easy to use and, best of all, free courtesy of 37 Signals, creators of other Web-based tools (some free, some not). After signing up, your browser takes you to a clean page. Once you compose and save a document, send it to others or, if you're working solo, leave it until your next draft. You can use a simple set of codes for bold, italics, underlining, and even adding hyperlinks. Edited versions of your Writeboard save as a list of separate links on a sidebar of the home page. Invite as many people as you'd like to collaborate. Once multiple versions exist, labeled with  the name of the editor, time and date, a special function enables you to compare them side by side. In this view, WriteBoard shows you changes in gray, additions in green, and deletions using strike-throughs. Each Writeboard has its own URL for quick access from any computer. Other functions include an RSS subscription for notification each time the document changes, a "Comments" section at the bottom of the page for users to post notes, an "Export as Text" button for saving back to your hard drive, a "Send as E-Mail' Button, and a "Delete Writeboard" button when the last edits have occurred and you've breathed a sigh of relief. Learn more about Writeboard.

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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.

Coming January 13, 2005 to Fat Friday: John Webb reviews a little-known Web-based case management system, David Caracappa revisits a previous post with some plug-in suggestions for Firefox and Opera and sounds off on vendor pricing disclosure practices, and John Harris explains how his firm's document naming system works while Daniel Eichorn offers a tip on how to simplify such file naming conventions. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming January 12, 2006 to Answers to Questions: Steven Finell explains how to construct a set of case documents with one click, Brad Jensen reviews Authentidate's Electronic Postmarks and discusses its importance for law firms, Aaron Morris reviews MyWebExPC, a remote access alternative to LogMeIn and GoToMyPC, and Stephen Bickle compares WiFi security to Powerline security while Don Springmeyer discusses his experience with Powerline networking. In addition, this issue features links to 10 additional Posts in the TechnoLawyer Archive. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published 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 December 15, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Kristy Binmore reviews pros and cons of the Ricoh Aficio 2045e multi-function copier, Christopher Dellit reviews ProjectLounge, a little-known (among lawyers at least) online collaboration service, Robert Jay Dinerstein reviews the Fujitsu ScanSnap fi-5110EOX2 (and discusses the TWAIN compatibility issue), Daniel Roberts explains why he still considers partitioning your hard drive a good practice, and Stephen Nipper serves up a free solution for Mac-to-PC remote access. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a thrice 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.

Recently, we've published a number of hands-on reviews of Stamps.com in Answers to Questions. TechnoLawyer member Grace Lidia Suarez adds her two cents: "I am a home-office-based appellate lawyer. Before Stamps.com, I wasted time adding up stamps, and then had to take the packages to the post office when they weighed more than 16 ounces. Now I print out exactly the postage I need, and I can drop the packages into the nearest mailbox or hand them to my carrier. I love it!"

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Two weeks ago, we announced free one year TechnoLawyer Archive subscriptions for all 35,000 members of the Canadian Bar Association.

Today, we're bringing this benefit home to the USA! The TechnoLawyer Archive is now free for all active members of these bar associations:

• State Bar of Texas: 75,000 lawyers
• Oklahoma Bar Association: 15,000 lawyers
• Cincinnati Bar Association: 4,000 lawyers
• Washoe County Bar Association: 1,300 lawyers

The first bar association executive I spoke to this year was Jim Calloway, Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Management Assistance Program. Thanks to Jim's enthusiasm, he won the approval of his colleagues just in time for the Oklahoma Bar Association's annual meeting this week.

Not long after I met Jim, Charles Awalt of the State Bar of Texas' GP Solo & Small Firm section and Jeffrey Lisson of the Computer & Technology Section inquired separately about free TechnoLawyer Archive access for their members. I suggested that we open it up to all Texas lawyers, and contacted John Sirman. Don't ask me how he did it, but John along with Patricia Moore, the State Bar of Texas' General Counsel, managed to secure approval in record time, which just goes to show that large bar associations can move quickly to serve their members.

Meanwhile, at this year's annual meeting for the National Association of Bar Executives, Peggy Gruenke, Director of Membership at the Cincinnati Bar Association, served on a panel about member benefits. Therefore, it's only natural that Peggy arranged for free TechnoLawyer Archive for Cincinnati Bar Association members.

Christine Cendagorta, the Executive Director of the Washoe County Bar Association, is also a big fan of member benefits. Plus, she's a power user when it comes to technology thanks to her tricked out Power Mac G5. She too jumped at the chance to secure free TechnoLawyer Archive for members of the Washoe County Bar Association.

I've truly enjoyed working with Jim, John, Patricia, Peggy, and Christine, and look forward to continuing to work with them now that the launch is officially underway!

More Announcements Soon. In The Meantime ...

If you belong to both TechnoLawyer and one of the above bar associations, just visit your bar association's Web site, and follow the link to TechnoLawyer for instructions on how to obtain your free TechnoLawyer Archive subscription.

If you would like your bar association to offer this benefit, please ask the executive in charge of member benefits to contact me (the bottom of every page on our site has a contact link).

Thanks to CBA PracticeLink Editor Mark Kuiack and his colleagues at the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), all 35,000 CBA members are now entitled to a free one year TechnoLawyer Archive subscription.

The TechnoLawyer Archive is a searchable Web-based repository of all TechnoLawyer content since September 1999. Unlike our popular newsletters, the TechnoLawyer Archive is not free. We charge $65 for a one year subscription.

When I set out to work with bar associations a few months ago, I have to admit that I was thinking solely about US bar associations (I'll have some announcements in that regard next week). Fortunately, longtime TechnoLawyer and CBA members Dan Pinnington and Christopher Pike introduced me to Mark and the rest is history — and historic!

Mark guided our proposal through approvals at the CBA's national office and we soon found ourselves signing the agreement and exchanging high-fives. (Okay, no high-fives since I signed it in New York and he signed it in Ottawa, but we exchanged exuberant email messages.)

I would like thank Mark for getting the ball rolling! He and the CBA truly are models for all bar associations seeking to procure benefits for their members.

Are You a Member of the CBA?

If you're a current CBA member, just visit the CBA PracticeLink Web site to redeem your free one year TechnoLawyer Archive subscription.

Not a Member of the CBA?

The TechnoLawyer Archive is a terrific resource that has received rave reviews from Law Office Computing and others. We'd like every lawyer in North America to have free access.

Do you belong to a bar association? Would you like this benefit? If so, I need your help.

Please contact the executive at your bar association in charge of member benefits, tell him/her about our offer (perhaps point to this blog post), and ask him/her to contact me (the bottom of every page on our site has a contact link).

Just so you know, all we're asking in return from bar associations is a plan to inform their members about the benefit. There's no point in providing a free subscription if no one knows it exists.

PS: Don't worry paralegals! We plan to work with your associations too. One step at a time.

Coming October 20, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Andrew Willinger reviews the cost and security of Windows XP Remote Desktop, Jennifer Little explains how to use Stamps.com on multiple computers, Eric Lay reviews Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (still in beta), Chris Sanne discusses an easier spyware solution than the dreaded Windows reinstall (known in TechnoLawyer as the "nuclear option"), and Thomas Daly suggests a way to use Windows Remote Desktop more securely. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a thrice 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.