Ernie The Attorney

Oil well crisis meet filter failure (an essay on the failing of MSM)

 I spend a lot of time in online communities, more so than the average bear.  I use Twitter, RSS feeds, Google Groups and other tools to keep up with what's going on.  On a typical day not much is going on, other than Hollywood trivia.

But whenever something important happens I tap into my cyber-powered ham radio.  I did this during Katrina to some extent, but social media tools were less robust then.  Hurricane Gustav was when I realized the true power of Twitter. Instead of sitting by the radio waiting patiently for drips and drabs of real news (buried between hours of inane speculation), I followed a select group of folks who were consolidating the drips and drabs from pretty much every MSM source. More than that, however, they were adding their own first hand observations, which in most cases were more helpful than anything the MSM could compile.

I learned then that the MSM ('mainstream media' for those of you that don't know this acronym) takes too long to gather information and then spit it back out. The MSM's production cycle doesn't matter so much when they are gathering the usual fare of pablum. But a slow production cycle does matter in a time of crisis. The MSM, of course, speeds up its production in times of crisis. But they still can't go as fast as Twitter or the sources that I typically follow.

Remember the Iranian election and how Twitter did a better job of covering it than CNN (which missed the initial breaking news because it happened on a weekend)? No, well the Internet remembers.

Anyway, we've got another crisis looming here in Louisiana and in the neighboring Gulf states. The BP oil mess is threatening our coast, and many people are trying to fix the problem. Many other people are trying to understand the likelihood that BP's efforts will succeed. The MSM has cranked up its coverage, but as usual, it's hopelessly behind the curve.

If you want to know what's going on you can read the Times Picayune accounts, which sometimes have some interesting graphics but for the most part are pretty sparse and slow to appear. Or you can do something better. My friend Al Robert has a great Twitter feed he's put together and so if you don't use Twitter much that's a quick way to get more than your MDR of oilspill news. Al pointed out to me that the Mobile, Alabama paper has a great Twitter feed that's on top of the situation much better than the Times Picayune.  So I guess I should clarify that not all MSM is hopelessly lost in cyberspace.

Speaking of MSM, my friend Douglass McCollam, a freelance writer, had a great article in the Wall St. Journal last Saturday. It's called 'The Big Slick and The Big Easy.' I can't link to a full version of the article because the Wall St. Journal is not into making it easy for people to share links to their online articles. But you can find the full version if you google 'McCollam' and 'Big slick big easy' and then click on the top link that Google serves up. If that's too much trouble for you, believe me I understand. 

Maybe one day the Wall St. Journal will understand too.

Anyway, we were talking about finding better sources than the MSM. One of my treasured sources (again recommended by Al Robert) is a Google Group of local bloggers. One of the bloggers is an engineer and has been patiently explaining what is likely going on based on his review of various sources, as filtered through his much more knowledgeable brain. For example, he pointed to this article written by a "retired manager for an offshore underwater service company" that seems informative and balanced.

If you email me I'll be happy to let you know how to find that Google Group. I'm pretty sure that most people who are interested and read this blog have already found it and subscribed. And lots of folks won't care. But I'd like to have some idea of who does care, and that's why I don't want to just post it here for the world (and spammers) to see.

As Clay Shirky poignantly observed we don't have an 'information overload' problem; we have a 'filter failure' problem. The MSM used to be our trusted filters, but they abandoned their sacred duty --first by moving out of 'pure news reporting' to get into the 'infotainment' business, and, second, by falling behind in basic news gathering (mostly out of fear of embracing social media). The MSM now takes way too long to get the story out. And they cut corners by presenting extremists on two sides to argue back and forth, portraying this to their hapless audience as a 'balanced account. However, balancing one extreme with another is not 'effective news gathering.' It's laziness.  

The MSM argues that 'people just want the news to be free.'  True, but they also want it to be fast and useful. Charge too much for online content if you want, but that will just drive away readers. If you want to lure them back figure out how to do a better job of gathering and distributing information in the online world. Some amateurs have figured it out.  Why can't more so-called 'experts'?

Who knows, but it doesn't matter right now.

Look here's the most important thing you need to know: if you want truly want to be informed you're going to have to find some new filters. The old ones broke a long time ago. The BP well might be abated if they get a containment dome in place or drill a relief wall, but the MSM situation is much more difficult to remedy. Mostly because no one in charge at the major MSM institutions seems to recognize how to address their real problem.

Guitar playing: before iPad & after iPad

I've played guitar since I was about 15. These days I play an acoustic steel-string guitar—a Taylor 310-CE if you're interested in that sort of thing. Mostly, I figure out songs that I like and then sing as I play. If I really like a song then I'll spend the extra time memorizing the lyrics.  But that takes a lot of time so I don't do that much anymore.

Before I had the iPad my routine would be to Google the song name and add the word 'lyrics' or 'chords' (the latter if I was too lazy to figure the song out myself). After I found the chords/lyrics, I'd print them out and put them on my music stand and plunk away.  My music stand has a slew of paper on it, and it's hard to find songs now using the paper.

Then I discovered how to do the same thing, in a much easier way, with my iPad.

The folks at UltimateGuitar.com have an iPhone app called Ultimate Guitar Tabs (sadly not optimized for the iPad yet) that costs like $2.99.  It lets you search for songs based on artist or name, thus quickly giving you access to the lyrics or chords.  On the iPhone the display was much too small to read. But on the iPad it's perfect.

And you can bookmark songs that you like so you can come back to them later.  This is much better than shuffling through reams of paper (my long-standing tradition). But wait, there's more!  The app has an 'auto-scroll' feature that slides the lyrics up slowly so that you don't have to reach over to scroll up when you get to the middle of the song and need to see the rest of the lyrics.  You can even adjust the rate at which the music scrolls.

There are other apps for reading music such as TabToolkit (iPad optimized; $9.99) and I'm sure a whole slew more are on the way. I wish that I'd had stuff like this when I was learning to play guitar, but it probably did me good to learn how to figure things out on my own.  Now I'm older and lazier. I just want life to be simpler. And with my iPad it is.

ABA TechShow - First thoughts

Here's my main takeaway from this year's TechShow: if you're a lawyer who appreciates learning about new technology tips and tricks from a professional standpoint (as well as a personal one), then you owe it to yourself to attend a TechShow.  It's always held in Chicago at the end of March. So start planning for next year!

Why should you attend?

Well let's start with the fact that the speakers at TechShow are all first-class presenters.  With deference to the usual CLE speakers that we all encounter, this conference is in a whole other class.  People only get invited to speak at TechShow if they're really good at presenting (which makes me wonder how I snuck past the QC controls). And the presenters know their topics in depth.

The programs are probably all fantastic, but I obviously didn't attend them all.  I attended only the sessions in the "Paperless track" and the "Mac user track." I did this so that I could concentrate on learning a lot in a few areas. There are lots of areas to choose from.  If you want to learn about electronic discovery there are several sessions, and same with mobile computing.  In short, you can learn so much in 2 and half days that, if you're not careful, your head might explode.

Besides the sessions, the hallway encounters wind up being incredibly valuable as well.  The people you meet at TechShow will wind up being folks that you'll stay in touch with and bounce ideas off of in the future. Seriously, if you care about technology at all (and you know who you are) then you must go to TechShow.  If you go, you'll kick yourself for not figuring this out sooner.

I'll try to write up some of the key tips I came away with, but I'm still digesting a lot of it. For now, here's one thing I learned in a hallway meeting: a lot of folks are using Doodle.com as their go-to site for scheduling meetings where there are lots of people. TechShow is great for finding out which, among a variety of similar services or products, is the one that most knowledgeable techies prefer.

So, there's your first tip: Doodle.com.  Check it out.

Google's Chrome browser is pretty slick

I had mostly been using the Apple Safari browser up until recently, when I got tired of the constant crashing.  I started using Firefox, which seemed better. When I sent out a tweet about my decision, I got a bunch of rapid fire responses from tech-savvy folks urging me to try the Google Chrome browser.  I got the same suggestion from a few folks at TechShow.  

I finally decided to try the Google browser a whirl.  It took me awhile to get the hang of it (mostly because it's so simple) but I now find myself getting completely hooked. The only downside for me is that my favorite password manager (1Password) doesn't work yet with Chrome.  So I'll just use Firefox for sites that need a password, and hope that the 1Password developers can get their plug-in to work with Chrome.

Don't ever accuse me of being an 'Apple fanboy' because I'll happily point out when Apple fails to deliver.  If you are using Safari and experiencing excessive problems, try Chrome.  Or get a crash helmet.

The Young Turks of Information Processing

Last Saturday I taught a two hour skills course to 30 or so Loyola Law Students about Digital Lawyering. Almost every one of them had a laptop in front of them, which was good. I was hooked to the Internet and demonstrated how to find things using Internet services like Google Reader, Delicious and so forth. As I referred to these services I sensed that the students were going to those sites and reading along for themselves. As I said, I think this is a good thing.

I realize that most people in my generation would be taken aback, believing it to be disrespectful for students to be doing something else while I was talking. So, let me explain why it doesn't bother me. First, I'm happy to share whatever thoughts I have with whomever wants to listen. If, in addressing 30 students only 3 of them are actually listening, that's totally fine. I'm there for those 3 students and I appreciate the opportunity to help them. If the other ones don't care about me, then I'm not concerned about them either.

The reality, however, is that most of the students were listening. But the thing is: they weren't only listening. They were also connecting dots by doing their own online research as I talked to them. This is how students today behave. I know this mostly because I have a teenage daughter (as well as two slightly older kids) and I see how she gathers information using her computer or iPhone. It's fascinating to see how adept she is at finding information. So, my first reason for not being concerned about students using their laptops is that I understand that they're actively gathering information, as opposed to passively receiving it.

The other reason that I'm not bothered, and actually happy to see students using their computers as I talk is this. My generation is pretty lame when it comes to gathering information in the digital world. In law this manifests itself most starkly in the world of e-discovery. Discovery, in law, is all about getting the low-down on what really happened in a lawsuit. You can get the low-down by interviewing witnesses or deposing them, but that takes time, costs money and is inherently unreliable. What people say happened is not usually exactly what happened.

To really get a handle on what occurred in a case with serious factual disputes (which is most cases), you have to look at documents. And today when I say 'documents' I mostly mean 'electronic documents.' Sure, there's still a lot of paper to sift through (but you should digitize it anyway). Increasingly the bulk of written communications is in email. People who email tend to make the kind of casual comments that litigators like me really appreciate. So, these days, email is what you want to look at first and foremost.

Most lawyers have trouble with email (and digital information in general) because they don't understand how to navigate that world. Lawyers who don't search for things on Internet are the worst. They lack a fundamental skill that's needed to efficiently attack digital information. Naturally they're inept when it comes to handling electronic discovery. Some of them are committing serious malpractice. But, of course, they have no idea.

The next generation of lawyers will not have this problem, or at least it won't be a prevalent problem like it is today. The young turks coming out of law school today don't have a passive relationship to information. They attack digital information the way sharks attack wounded seals.

An example of this mindset was presented to me after my lecture to the Loyola law students. Two fellows who happened to be brothers came up to the podium to chat.  We started talking to me about iPhone applications, and wound up talking about 'Words with Friends,' which is basically a word game like Scrabble. I told them that I was playing with my daughter and that I was sure that she was cheating because she always won (and I knew that she didn't have as large a vocabulary as me). I mentioned that I was going to have to resort to using one of the online word-finder tools to keep up with what she was doing.

One of the brothers said that they don't allow cheating like that when they play Words With Friends. I said, "what do you mean don't allow cheating? How can you know if the other person is cheating?" He said that if someone he is playing against uses a word he suspects is not in their vocabulary he checks online to see what if that word was the top suggestion in an online word-finder. If it is then he knows the person is probably cheating and calls them on it. His matter-of-fact response caught me totally off-guard.

So, think about this for a second and see if you grasp the power of this statement. And by 'this' I don't mean as applied to scrabble or word games. Think about the mindset. Law students today use the web like detectives. They know how to gather information (fine), but they instinctively know how to trace back the steps that other people use to find information. This mindset and the online research skills that come with it are dangerous. At least to some people.

For starters, these students will have a huge advantage when it comes to doing electronic discovery. They haven't even started practicing law and already they're leagues ahead of lawyers who've been in the business for years.  They know how to gather digital information, and they have no resistance to adopting new ways of gathering it if that provides an instant advantage (e.g. no one is going to have to convince them of the value of concept searching). These lawyers will know how to zero in on key information quickly and inexpensively. So if I were a traditional lawyer (e.g. one with poor Internet skills or someone who has trouble with digital information), I'd be afraid of the next generation of lawyers.

The next generation will not graduate from law school and immediately surpass veteran lawyers.  But they have a skill that's already in high demand, but short supply.  Veteran lawyers can't quickly learn how to gather and process digital information. Most young lawyers will learn how to practice law fairly quickly, or at least much faster than the veteran lawyers will learn what they should be learning.

Enlighten me, but make it quick!

Most speeches are too long, which is a shame because almost every speech has some useful information. So what if you created a program that lets people present a bunch of short talks?  

How short?  

5 minutes. Period.  No more, no less.  If you want to use Powerpoint, that's cool.  But, with this ironclad rule: 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds. Period.  No more, no less.

This type of program is called 'Ignite,' and it was started in Seattle in 2006 by two geeks who wanted to create a highly charged speaking experience.  It worked big time.  And as a result 'Ignite' communities have started cropping up all over the world.  New Orleans now has an Ignite program (called IgniteNOLA), and the first event is scheduled for two weeks from now: Monday, February 1st from 8 to 10 pm (cocktail reception starts at 7pm, if you want to get there early).  

The speakers have all been selected, and so everything is set.  If you want to attend, it's free.  But you'll probably want to RSVP to assure yourself a spot at what is sure to be an lively and fascinating evening. The fun will take place at the Roosevelt Hotel (formerly known as 'The Fairmont') in downtown New Orleans.  So RSVP, and then be sure to tell your friends.  Trust me, this is not going to be like any other speaking event you've been to before.

iPhone GPS app w/ turn-by-turn voice commands

I love GPS navigation.  I have had two GPS units that I used in my car, and found them very useful.  The first one was a Tom Tom, which was easy to use and had great voice commands (even allowed you to use celebrity voices like John Cleese).  Unfortunately, it had trouble hooking up to satellites, and that made it kind of frustrating to use.  I traded it for a Garmin Nuvi, which was great at locking into satellites but the user-interface was non-intuitive and clumsy.  Nevertheless, I very much appreciated having a GPS device with me when I was driving in unfamiliar territory.

When the iPhone 3G came out I was excited about the prospect of being able to use my iPhone to handle GPS chores. This was possible by using the Google Maps application.  In practice, it was okay but not great.  While walking it was fine, but the screen was too small to really use effectively while driving.  It was something I could use to help someone else who was driving, but not very helpful if I was driving alone.

When Apple announced that Tom Tom would soon be developing a turn-by-turn application for the iPhone I was very excited.  Having the iPhone announce turn-by-turn directions would be awesome!  A few weeks ago I noticed that AT&T was offering turn-by-turn GPS on the iPhone for $10/month.  This seemed like a ripoff, so I passed on trying that out.  A friend of mine said he was using it.  I asked him how it was, and he said it was okay.  A few weeks later he told me that it was completely worthless.

Then, Navigon announced an iPhone app for $69 dollars (price goes up to $100 on August 15th). I read a great review of it so I decided to try it out.  Around the city it seemed to work fine, which was a good sign.  But last week I had a chance to take it on the road while I drove from New Orleans to Athens, GA to take my daughter back to school.  I figured it would be a good test of how well the application works, and I found that it's a great application which I can heartily endorse.

The Good

The Navigon is a good deal right now ($69), and I doubt that the Tom Tom will be as cheap when it is finally released.  It picks up the GPS signal pretty quickly and worked fine even when I kept it in the cup holder of my car (which is not optimal for picking up satellites).  It doesn't come with a manual, but it's pretty easy to figure out (use it around your home town before heading out on an important trip).  It has great graphics and works in portrait or landscape mode (also upside down in either mode).

It uses its own maps, which is good in that it doesn't require an internet connection as the Google Maps system does.  But it also takes up 1.5 Gbs of space.  It supposedly works with the iPhone 3G, as well as the 3GS (I tested it on a 3GS).  It seems to have decent Point of Interests loaded in, and also remembers recently input locations.  The best thing about it is the visual display that comes up when you reach a highway split.  In other words, it shows you the actual highway signs, which makes it easy to see which split you should take (see example below which I screen captured during my recent trip).

Also, the voice commands are issued by a pleasing female voice. Just make sure your phone is not on 'silent mode' or you won't hear the commands.  Oh, and if your phone rings you can take the call and not lose your GPS destination.  You will have to relaunch the application, though, which brings me to...

The Bad

The main thing that I didn't like was the fact that you can't keep the GPS going while you're on the phone. This means that you can't be on the phone if you are coming up on a tricky passage.  I don't think that the Tom Tom will have this feature, since this is probably an issue about how iPhone applications run (e.g. only one can use the screen at a time).

Running the GPS for a long time will, of course, suck your battery life.  So it's pretty much mandatory that you have it powered to the car charger while you're driving.  On the way to the airport in Atlanta (where I was going to drop off the rental car and then fly back to New Orleans), I accidentally knocked the power charger and failed to notice that the battery was draining.  Not good.  So, you not only have to plug it in, but also make sure that it stays plugged in!

If you are going to use this application for a long time I recommend that you get the Kensington car mount ($24) to hold the phone in place for easy viewing.  I was skeptical about whether the Kensington car mount would work well.  No doubts anymore.  It rocks!

One reviewer of the Navigon complained that, while the application allowed you to locate nearby POI's (points of interest) and their phone numbers, it wouldn't allow you to dial the place from within the application.  I'm not so dismayed by that, but I suppose it would be nice.

The last thing that annoyed me, and this is something you can tweak, is that the default was set to repeatedly ding whenever I exceeded the highway speed by 10 miles per hour.  Make sure you tweak these settings before you get on the road because trying to adjust them while you're driving will be frustrating (and unsafe).

Conclusion

The Navigon exceeded my expectations.  I love not having to carry a separate GPS unit with me when I travel (of course I will be packing the Kensington car mount).  The iPhone GPS is apparently robust enough to make this work pretty well.  I have not tested it in rural locations, so I don't know how it would work there.  But since all the maps are stored on the iPhone I presume it will work in locations where the iPhone doesn't get a signal.  Obviously, the GPS needs a signal to work, but the GPS signal is not directly dependent on the cellphone signal so it should work as well as any other GPS device would.

But remember, it takes up 1.5 GBs of space so make sure you have enough space on your iPhone before you download it. 

Navigon also offers apps for Europe and Australia.

Quicken online - 140 character bursts of annoyance (and useless support)

Last year I started using Quicken online and found it a breath of fresh air.  I have been using Quicken software on my Mac for many years but I liked the idea of having everything out in the 'cloud' so that I can get to it from any computer.  After I started using the online Quicken they added a feature that allowed you to have regular SMS messages sent to your phone.  This seemed like a good idea so I enabled it.  Every day I'd get a series of short messages with updates (there was too much information to fit into 1 text message).

Along the way I decided to make my account password very secure. I had started using a great program called 1Password that generates strong passwords.  You just have to remember one password and it will fill in all of the passwords you need for any site you visit.  Everything was going great.  Then I got a new computer and had some issues getting 1Password to work properly.  It garbled a few of the passwords, and apparently (unbeknownst to me at the time) one of those was my Quicken online password.

I didn't think about Quicken at the time because it had stopped sending me the daily messages by SMS. And I appreciated the silence.  I had started experimenting with a service called Mint, which seemed more robust than Quicken Online.  And so I basically forgot about Quicken.

One day I sent out a 'tweet' (e.g. Twitter post) about how much I liked Mint, and that I preferred it over Quicken.  I got a few responses, including one from a team member at Quicken asking what I didn't like about Quicken. I told him I just liked Mint's interface better. 

Ironically, a few days after that I started getting the flurry of SMS messages from Quicken.  This was annoying, and so I navigated to Quicken online to turn off the SMS notification. That's when I found out that I had lost my password.  I tried to get the service to send me a new password and along the way found out that I had two accounts.  One I could access, which contained no data. And the other I couldn't.  

I presume the one I can't access is the one that dutifully sends me text messages.  

Yes, the account does have a challenge question asking me for my childhood hero.  And, despite the fact that I have a routine answer for that routine security question, it seems the answer I provide is not the correct answer.  So, what does one do in this situation?  I went to the webpage and tried to find some way of contacting a live person, or even an email address to which I could report my dilemma.  I found an email address but the two times I sent in a report to that address I got no response.

Back to Twitter.  I sent out a message again complaining that I didn't like Quicken online.  Amazingly, I got a response from the same guy at Quicken who was using Twitter.  Hurrah for a company that actually 'gets' how to use social media!  That's what I thought, at first.

I exchanged a few tweets with the Quicken rep, who assured me that he could help.  I explained things to him in 140 character bursts of information, and then the 4th of July weekend came and he said he'd have to get back to me after the vacation.  I asked him to just get me a phone number or email address of someone so that I could explain my situation in detail.  He ignored that request, and simply assured me that things would get resolved eventually.

Meanwhile, his company dutifully sent me a flurry of 4 text messages per day with updates to an account that I longed to delete.  

A few moments ago I completed the last of my short burst transmissions.  The representative told me...(wait for it): that I'd need to access my account to turn off mobile updates.  So, after a bunch of tweeting back and forth, the final assessment on the part of Quicken is a self-evident statement. Meanwhile, I'm back where I started from.

I can't call anyone at Quicken, and I can't email them.  I can send Tweets to one of their representatives who is using Social Media to keep up with what people are saying about Quicken, but he can't help or direct me to anyone who can.  His job is to Tweet, not help.

Meanwhile I can't access my account.  And I can't get anyone at Quicken to access it for me (even though I can prove that it's my account because it is tied to my email address).  I'm certainly not going to switch phone numbers to avoid the annoying daily text messages.  So this blog post is about the only thing I can do.  I can't help myself, but I can perhaps warn a few other people to avoid using Quicken online.   When it works, it's great. But if it doesn't work and you need help, then you're screwed. 

If you're interested in an online financial service, then Mint works a lot better.  And, even though I had some problems with 1Password, I like their service a lot and have found their support to be excellent. Whatever you do, think long and hard about putting your trust in Quicken Online.

My new downtown office rocks!

Ever since I started my own law practice, back in early 2006, I've been working out of a home office. I wouldn't have been able to do this but for a couple of things: (1) I learned how to be totally paperless; (2) high-speed internet access is cheap; and (3) I'm pretty self-sufficient and tech-savvy (for a lawyer, at least).

When I left the firm I kept all the clients that I was working for, except one.  The rest of the clients were happy to get the same level of representation, but at a lower cost.  In fact, a couple of the clients wound up sending me more business than I would have gotten if I had stayed at my old firm.  Bottom line: I had a successful practice, without having to take on additional expense (and in fact I wound up gaining an additional deduction for having a home office).

In the past year or so I started to contemplate getting a traditional office, but my gut kept telling me that it didn't make sense.  Why take on more expense?  Why commit to a long term lease?  Why return to the bustle of downtown, and pay for parking and deal with more hassles?  Then my friend Al Robert told me about this new office set-up called LaunchPad, which was going to be run some guys who were tech-savvy and forward-thinking.

Chris Shultz was one of the guys, and I knew he'd do something interesting so I kept my antenna up.  LaunchPad wound up getting space in the old McGlinchey law firm building, and after looking at their set up I decided this was the place for me.  LaunchPad offers several types of working space: (1) a small private office, (2) a desk and phone, with a locking file cabinet, and (3) a co-working deal where you can sit at a communal desk and have no phone.  

All of the plans offer high-speed wireless internet, which is the main amenity that everyone would be interested above all else.  The internet speeds at work are much faster and more reliable than my home internet.  I opted for the #2 plan, so I have my own desk and phone (to which I forwarded my business line).  Also, I have access to several conference rooms (one of which has a flat panel TV that's set up for Powerpoint presentations).  And I have access to the work out room on the top floor, which has private showers and lockers. Parking hasn't been an issue because I usually ride my scooter and park for free. If it rains then I take a car, but that's not too often (and I can opt to work at home when that happens too).

The best thing about this situation, though, is not all the office contraptions.  It's the people. Everyone who works at LaunchPad is energetic and inquisitive.  People here love technology and social media, so I'm actually learning more by being here than I would if I stayed at home. I like that there's a mix of people who are doing all kinds of interesting things.

One of the folks I met was an 18 year old named Stanford, who is a web-designer. I was able to ask him some questions about using WordPress, and as a result I managed to quickly update my firm website.  It still needs some work, and when Stanford comes back from his vacation I'll probably get him to help me tweak it some more.  Anyway, I think you get the message: LaunchPad is a pretty cool place to work.  And, last but not least (for lawyers), the office is right next to the U.S. Fifth Circuit where I have access to a great library.  Oh, and free Westlaw.

So, come by and say hi if you are in the neighborhood. And feel free to ping me if you're interested in coming to work at LaunchPad (but, if so, you better hurry because it looks like the offices are filling up fast!)

The new iPhone 3G|s| - Voice commands rock!

I've had my new iPhone for a few days now, and so I thought I'd share my observations.  Apple touts this phone as having several new features, but some of those are simply part of the 3.0 OS upgrade (which is available to anyone with an iPhone).  The unique features of the new iPhone are: (1) faster processor, (2) directional compass for better GPS functionality (3) video and better camera, and (4) voice commands.

Most reviewers have focused on the first three features. I agree that the obvious benefits of this new phone are faster operation, and better GPS function.  The improved camera is nice, and the addition of video is good too.  But, for me, the  best new feature is the voice command function.  Most reviewers have treated this like a 'so-so' thing.  They complain that it doesn't work very well, but for the most part they think it's nice. Not great, but okay.

Voice commands are great!

I think that the voice command feature is the killer upgrade feature.  First, I have to confess I have been using speech recognition software (MacSpeech Dictate) for the past few months.  So I'm used to the idea that you have to learn how to use speech recognition software.  Once you learn it how to use it properly then you start to notice some serious productivity improvements.  Most people aren't willing to take the time to learn this kind of thing.  If the software doesn't interpret their command properly, they blame the software.  It never occurs to them that they might need to learn how to enunciate better.  I'll bet not too many TV newscasters would have this problem.

The headset matters

So, back to the iPhone. Here's the deal: if you want to fully appreciate the power of the voice command feature get a set of headphones with a controller built in.  I have the $79 Apple headset and I can't say enough good things about them.  Obviously, they're built to work with the iPhone.  On the old iPhone the volume controls couldn't be used to change the volume; you had to physically change it on the iPhone itself.  The new iPhone allows you to control volume from the Apple headset.  Bing!

The Apple headset also allows you to initiate the voice command prompt.  Simply hold the middle button down until you are prompted.  Then speak the command that you want executed.  After you issue the command you'll get a voice readback on what the software believes you said.  If it makes a mistake immediately press the middle button again and it will cancel the mistaken command.

Mistakes are okay

At first you'll make mistakes.  But don't give up.  Keep practicing and you'll quickly learn how to use the voice commands to jump quickly to the task you want to perform.  For now, those tasks are limited to phone calling and iPhone operation.  But that's still a lot.  The original raison d'être n for this device was to combine a phone with an iPod.

So here are things you can say: 

• "Call [name of person]"
• "Dial [phone number that you say, slowly] 
• "Play music" 
• "Play songs by [name of artist, spoken clearly and carefully] 
• "What is this song?" 

If you want to know what commands are available just invoke the Voice Command and look at the words scrolling by on the screen.  These are your options.  You won't have long to look before the Voice Command disappears.  But the point is that you can learn by looking as you first begin to use it. Eventually, you will learn how to use this tool to call your frequently dialed contacts.  When that happens you'll find that you are able to operate the phone without taking it out of your pocket (or your purse).

Worth learning

I've spent time learning how to operate the voice command and learning its idiosyncrasies.  As a result I have a high accuracy rate with it.  And it makes my life a lot simpler.  Dialing people while I'm driving used to be a pain in the ass (and dangerous).  Now it's dead simple.  And if I want to hear a song or activate my iPod I can do that quickly too.  You can do this too.  All you need to do is: (1) get the $79 Apple headset, and (2) be patient and learn to use the command function effectively.

If you aren't interested I understand.  But if you are tempted to take advantage of this new feature then I encourage you to make a bit of an effort. I predict that Apple will add more functionality to the voice command in the future.  I certainly hope so!

Update: 

I should have made it clear that you don't need to have the Apple headset, or any headset, to use the Voice Command function.  Just hold down the home button until the Voice Command prompt appears.  That's it!  

The advantage of the headset becomes obvious once you've used it a few times.  Before I got the new phone here's what would happen if wanted to make a call.  

1. Take phone out of pocket
2. Swipe to turn on 
3. Navigate to phone, and then to contacts within phone 
4. Slide finger carefully along right side to zero in on the contact I want to call 
5. Tap the contact's name 
6. Locate the best phone # to call for that contact 
7. Tap the desired phone # 

  Now, I do this if the phone is in my pocket and I have the headset in my ear

1. Hold down the middle button (equivalent to the 'Home button') until Voice Command announces 
2. Say "call John Appleseed [short pause] mobile'
3. Wait for confirming announcement, which if correct means I just wait for the phone to start ringing. 

If you don't a headset you still have to perform the first two actions of the old sequence.  That takes a bit of time, but it's not too bad.  But, trust me, once you get used to being able to use the Apple headphones you'll find life suddenly becoming A LOT easier. 

Update #2:

Here's a good article about using Voice Commands that lists most of the available commands and how to use them.

Update #3:

My friend Rick Klau left a comment to this post pointing out that the new iPhone comes with headphones that have a remote control that allows the voice command to work as I described with the $79 headsets. I didn't even check the headset that came with my iPhone because I had the better ones.  I still recommend those, but obviously you can use the voice command function without having to buy those separately.  Good job Apple!