Ernie The Attorney

Kindle update (minor problems, amazing realization)

Well, my Kindle had a small problem. The other day it ceased waking up from sleep. The only solution was to flip the little guy over on its back, remove the battery cover, and reset it with a paper clip. I had to do this every time it went into sleep mode.

Not cool, obviously.

I called Amazon support and they walked me through some steps and then concluded the device needed replacing. They sent me another one, which arrived today. After charging it I fired it up, and it took a few minutes to find the wireless connection. Then I registered it to my account. But, it had no books on it, even though I had bought a bunch already.

Turns out it was easy to get the books I had already ordered to 'come back' to my new Kindle: all I had to do was go to the "Content Manager" and select the books I wanted to re-download and, bada bing!, there they were. And the best part? When I opened each book it was exactly where I was when I was reading it before. In other words, the books you download are not only kept on Amazon (in case you need to re-download them) but Amazon also keeps track of where you were in the book the last time you were reading it.

I knew that they kept your bookmarks and highlights backed up, but I didn't realize they kept your place in the book backed up too. That means if your Kindle was ever lost or stolen, you could get a new one and replace all your books (for free) and open each one to the page where you last were. Nice.

I'm really glad my Kindle is back up and running. In the short period I've had it I've come to realize that it's not something I can easily live without. I'm reading a lot more, and more easily. The Kindle is now available for immediate shipment (i.e. no long waits anymore). If you like to read books then you should definitely get a Kindle; you'll be glad you did, especially if you read a lot while traveling.

Famous News Anchor bloggers

NBC news anchor Brian Williams has an interesting blog post about reading the Sunday New York Times. That's right: a blog post.

My law firm's new web design

A few days ago I started playing with iWeb, which is free software that comes bundled with every Mac computer. iWeb makes it easy to build stylish websites with very little effort. I learned that you can use it in conjunction with a personal domain name, and that got me to thinking. I had acquired the domain 'svensonlaw.com' awhile back with the idea of making that the domain for my law firm website, which was hosted at ernestsvenson.com. But I never got around to it, mostly because the thought of creating a website seemed daunting. Not anymore.

After messing around for a few hours I managed to create what I think is a pretty stylish website. The home page is actually a blog, which is great for posting information about upcoming speaking engagements. Managing the website will be ridiculously simple, thanks to iWeb's easy interface and its tight integration with other Mac programs. When I was at my old law firm we spent countless hours trying to get everyone to agree on a new site design (and we spent lots of money). This weekend I put up a new site for nothing more than the cost of a domain name, which goes for about $10 per year. Thank god I was able to get my marketing committee to approve my new design (ha!).

Check it out and let me know what you think! (The nice thing about websites is they're easy to edit).

Kindle - preliminary review

My Kindle arrived safely on Monday, and I've had a chance to start using it so I thought I'd post some preliminary comments.

Initial use
The device is easy to use, but it does require charging on first use. I charged it for about 2 hours and then started playing with it. The Kindle is lightweight and comfortable to hold, although the much-discussed problem of accidentally hitting either the Next Page or Last Page buttons did occur. I'm sure that Amazon will fix this in the next version, but I quickly got used to learning how to handle the device and now I rarely have the problem, which is only a minor inconvenience.

Downloading and reading
Downloading books takes about 30 seconds, max. I started by downloading some sample chapters, which is free. The ability to turn pages with a press of the finger is much better than flipping pages in a book (not something you can easily do with one hand, much less one finger). The text is easy to read, although at first it takes some getting used to. After one day I no longer noticed the 'digital page turn.' I love how easy it is to move from page to page, and the way the text looks. So, at this point I'm completely sold on using the Kindle as a way of reading that is in almost every way superior to ordinary books.

Buying books, magazines and newspapers
The wireless feature of the Kindle makes buying books ridiculously simple. I immediately went on a spree and bought a couple of books. If you've reached the end of one of the free sample chapters you are prompted to purchase if if you want. I downloaded a copy of Stephen King's On Writing after reading the sample chapter, a book I never would have bought if I hadn't gotten drawn into it.

I subscribed to two magazines and a couple of newspapers too, using the 14 day free trial option. Every day at 3 am (so I'm told) the NY Times is wirelessly delivered to the device. When I pick it up at around 7:00 am the paper is there ready to read. I had been reading the NY Times online using my laptop for free. So how is it different on the Kindle? Well, the screen is black & white so there are no fancy photos, in fact no photos at all. But, there are no ads either and reading articles is much less distracting. I find myself reading more articles, more quickly on the Kindle than on my computer. So the next question is would I pay the monthly fee ($14) for the New York Times? I don't know, but I'm tempted. Individual editions can be bought as well, so maybe I'll just buy the Sunday edition every once in awhile. I subscribed to the trial edition of The Atlantic, and since that's only $1.25 per month I may get that magazine.

Miscellaneous observations
I love the ability to bop from book to book (or newspaper or magazine) and return to find myself in the exact same place I was when I left off. I decided to renew my effort to read the Bible from time to time because of this feature. I downloaded a King James version for about $2.50. Sweet.

Because it's easy to store lots of books on the device I can see myself putting reference books on it. I also tested the feature that lets you email yourself a document that you want on the device. I had a book that was in PDF form that I wanted to move over. The Kindle doesn't read PDFs, at least not yet. So I converted the PDF to a Word document and emailed it to my special Kindle email address. About 3 minutes later it showed up in the Kindle and was formatted perfectly. Bing!

The Kindle's battery lasts for 2 days without recharging if you leave the wireless feature turned on. If you leave it unattended it goes to sleep. When the sleep mode kicks in the device generates a screensaver picture (apparently there are many stored in the device). Some of the screensavers are pretty interesting, i.e., pictures of famous artists or architectural wonders.

Traveling with the Kindle will be a joy. No longer will I struggle to decide what books or magazines I want to stuff into my backpack. I can take hundreds of books and magazines, and snag more on a whim from the invisible internet connection.

Conclusions
Overall I'm completely sold on the Kindle. From the time I was a kid I had always read a lot of books, but for some reason it became harder to do after law school. Encountering the Kindle is a lot like when I first tried an iPod. I sense that I'll be reading a lot more books, and enjoying reading a lot more because it's so convenient. I've heard some people criticize the Kindle, but most of the criticism focused on the appearance or the user-interface (which obviously can be improved). I read books for the word contained in them, and when I'm absorbed in reading I don't notice the book itself which is exactly the same experience I get with the Kindle. As more titles become available for the Kindle it will continue to find more happy customers. Since most "Kindle books" are at least 50% less expensive than their paper counterparts I predict that the device will have paid for itself in less than a year.

Here comes my Kindle

I just got word from Amazon that my Kindle is being shipped and will arrive next Monday. I'm very excited. I would have ordered this e-book reader long before now but, for some reason, I was put off by poor reviews that some bloggers offered. I keep forgetting that most product reviews are formulaic (e.g. point out the most obvious flaws in order to appear knowledgeable, when in fact the reviewer is just lazy). Blogger reviews are often no better. The exception are reviews by folks who've actually used the product for a fair amount of time, preferably a blogger who isn't an attention hound.

So called micro-celebrity Robert Scoble lambasted the Kindle because, among other things, it didn't have any social networking features. He also said the user-interface 'sucked.' As I've mentioned before, I think that Scoble's reviews are built for speed, not thoughtfulness. I don't care what the device looks like (yes, it's ugly) and don't want to use it to expand the reach of my online reputation. I just want to read text like I do when I open a book. I don't need the device to be revolutionary, just functional. Still, the Kindle represents a major shift in e-books.

Here's what's revolutionary about the Kindle: It has built-in EVDO, which is a high speed cellphone network wireless system. This means you can download books pretty much anywhere that you can get Sprint cellphone access. And why is this important? Well, if you are riding the subway and decide you wan to read a book that you just saw on the NY Times best seller list you can download it in about 30 seconds. Or let's say you want to subscribe to the New York Times paper every day. The Kindle will automatically get download it at 3 am so that when you wake up it's already on the device. No matter where you are (e.g. at home or in a hotel room). And while one would normally pay a stiff per monthly charge for EVDO access, Amazon builds that charge into the price of the Kindle.

Nice.

The device has internal storage that allows you to store about 200 books. And it remembers where you are in each book, so if you are reading more than one book at a time (which I often do) it's easy to switch back and forth. Or at least I'm assuming it's easy. Perhaps it won't, but Scoble's review didn't cover that so I don't know for sure.

If you want to store more than 200 books, you can add external memory. And if for some reason you delete a book from the device you can re-download it from Amazon. They keep track of what you buy and you can always access it again from them in the future. Apple iTunes doesn't let you do that with the .99 cent songs you buy, so I give Amazon credit for doing this.

And the books that you purchase for download are typically only $9.99. Granted the selection of Kindle books is not as vast as the ordinary selection from Amazon, but that will change over time. Can you imagine being able to carry hundreds of books on a device that only weighs 10 ounces? I can and I can't wait to experience the reality of it. I would love to pare down my library to just a few really treasured books (e.g. reference books and certain keepsake volumes). I'd love to be able to take a trip and have all my reading material on one small portable reading unit, and it would be even better if I could have travel guides loaded onto it.

No, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to like the Kindle. True, if the user-interface is cumbersome that will be disappointing. But as long as it works reasonably well then the benefits will outweigh the detriments. The only thing that would be a deal killer is if the thing was completely unreliable—like Windows Vista, for example. Otherwise, I expect to be very pleased.

Either way, I'll post my observations after I've used it for a fair amount of time.

(Incidentally, when you order the Kindle they say it may take 6 weeks. If mine arrives on Monday that will be a delay of less than 4 weeks. And they didn't charge my credit card until it shipped).

A mobile lawyer is a paperless lawyer

Whenever I talk to lawyers about switching to a digital workflow system I always get the same question: what's the best way to switch? The answer: all at once. Next question. What's the second best way?

Ah, excellent question. And the answer is: just work on becoming a mobile lawyer. The more mobile you are the less dependent on paper you'll become (after all you aren't going to be very mobile if you have to drag tons of paper around with you). I was pretty mobile before Katrina pushed me into that extreme form of mobility known as nomadism. But Katrina was good because it forced me to think more deeply about how to diminish my reliance on paper, and anything else that would keep me tethered to a specific location.

One thing that is hard to escape from is your physical mailing address. You pretty much have to have one, and that means your mail will go to that location. And then you have to figure out how to retrieve it from a distant place. Wouldn't it be nice if you could have your mail sent to a place that scanned it and sent it to you by email? Well, turns out there is such a place. It's called Earth Class Mail.

You have to choose to have mail delivered to one of 18 regional P.O. centers. For about $10 per month they'll scan up to 35 envelopes and email you the image. You then decide if you want them to shred the envelope and its contents, or open it and scan the paper. You get up to 50 pages scanned for the $10 monthly fee and then pay .25 per page after that. There is a corporate package, and soon they will be adding the ability to electronically cash checks.

Obviously, this is not worthwhile for the average person. But if you are on a long trip, or if you don't plan to spend time in any one place for very long this is the way to get your paper mail.

Demise of blogging?

Doc Searls is the co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, one of the first books to discuss the Internet's subversive de-centralizing powers. Recently, he began lamenting the demise of blogging, saying this: "I want something new. Something for which the making of money is at most a secondary or lower priority." He references Blogfather Dave Winer (who recently proclaimed "it's time to decentralize again. Head for the hills") as being sympathetic with this view .

I understand that people are using blogs in the same way as traditional media: i.e. crass appeal to people's love of gossip and conflict. This isn't something new, however; this was embedded into blogging's DNA from the beginning. Or it's been in the DNA of some of our 'blogging forefathers.'

Robert Scoble was one of the first bloggers I followed when I started out. Today he has thousands of 'followers' and has tremendous access to new products and technologies. When the Amazon Kindle came out he got one and used it for a week and then offered up a surprisingly puerile review (i.e. "Usability sucks..., UI sucks, Did they hire some out of work Microsoft employees?"). Scoble's assessment of the Kindle's value was based on what he wanted the product to do, not what Amazon's target market would want. And yet his blog post was captioned "Dear Jeff Bezos" as though his thoughts were points that Jeff Bezos (the CEO of Amazon) should have considered in creating the product.

The Amazon Kindle, user-interface aside, is by some accounts a breakthrough product. The task of making 'digital books' appealing has been daunting, and Amazon spent 3 years developing this product. Go to the Amazon product page and watch the video review given by author Michael Lewis. Mr. Lewis is a very successful author, but not someone who's particularly 'tech savvy.' He was not compensated for his review. He believes that the Kindle is a truly revolutionary product, and offers some interesting observations about why the Kindle is revolutionary.

Robert Scoble has many followers principally because he puts out information quickly. Michael Lewis offers his observations less frequently, and doesn't even have a blog. Scoble offers his thoughts for free, but Lewis generally requires remuneration. I don't follow Scoble anymore. But I still buy Michael Lewis' books. Is that observation something that portends any kind of trend? Almost certainly not.

From what I can tell blogging has always had two strong trends, one that was not-so-good and that was one more promising: 1) people making provocative, outlandish statements to attract or hold attention, and 2) people providing quick analysis based on specialized knowledge. So why are the old-time bloggers so disappointed now? If anything it seems there are now more bloggers in the second category. If I were going to be disappointed with blogging, I'd be disappointed that some of the early pioneers have turned to path #1.

Doc Searls says he is hoping that "this thing that will come after blogging" will be "more like what he valued when blogging first began." He says he's "not sure what that should be, but [is] sure, if it ever happens, it won’t be called blogging."

I don't know either, but I know it won't be called thoughtfulness—something that's been around for a very long time, but for whatever reason never seems to catch on.

(Oh, and for what it's worth, after watching Michael Lewis' review of the Kindle, I went ahead and ordered one.)

Practical creative exercise

What could you do with Google maps? If you don't know what this is click here and watch the video. Then create a map that does something practical for your business and leave a comment so we can see your handiwork. Take as much time as you like.

Rethinking business cards

Andrew Flusche asks for help with designing his business cards, which is interesting because I just redid my business cards yesterday. I decided to make them different than typical business cards. Here's why.

A few years ago, when I was still working for the large law firm, I jokingly had some 'Ernie the Attorney' cards made. Well, actually I made them myself while playing around with Photoshop Elements and then took the file to FedEx/Kinkos and had 500 made. Whenever I ran into people who knew me from this blog I gave them this card on the left (click on it to enlarge it). The black & white photo is what used to appear on the banner of this weblog, so it was sort of a 'branding' thing.

People loved the card, and always made a big deal about it. They wanted to know where the picture was taken (the Metro in Paris) and if I had taken it (yes). It seemed like the card had 'special powers' because it always created a small buzz. Soon I started giving these cards to everyone, even folks who didn't know I had a blog. Same result.

That's when I began to sense that traditional business cards are kind of lame.

When I started my solo practice, I still felt obliged to have traditional business cards. I couldn't say why exactly. I thought maybe for when I needed to give contact information to, say, a court reporter. This card here (pictured left) is the result: it had my phone number, email address, physical address, fax number and so forth. And I think we can agree that it's pretty dull.

I found that if I gave my 'Ernie the Attorney' card to one person in a group and my business card to another person, the later would feel cheated and ask me if they could have one of the 'special cards.' That's when I finally accepted the truth: no one really cares about ordinary business cards.

So the other day I updated my blog design with a cool new photo of the skyline of New Orleans. I decided to use the same photo for my firm website, and that led me to consider updating my business cards. I needed to update the cards anyway, since I had recently moved to a new address.

I decided to re-examine the whole business card concept. What exactly do I want my business card to do? First, I want it to be cool enough that people still find it interesting when I give it to them. That's the most important thing. And it would be best if I present the same 'brand image' as my websites. But a business card should let people know how they can contact you. How do people do that these days? They call or they use the internet. So my new card gives two ways to contact me—a phone number and a web address.

Frankly, if people want to find me all they have to do is google 'ernie attorney' or 'ernest svenson' and they'll find all the information they need. My physical address and so forth is up on the web, where it can be updated if it changes. My email address is on each of my weblogs. Even if I didn't have a business card, it would be easy for people to contact me if they wanted to. My business card should encourage them to contact me, and I've learned that traditional business cards don't do much in the way of 'encouraging.'

I think how we market ourselves deserves to be re-examined. Marketing is about getting noticed, in a good way. Traditional marketing is no longer effective; people rely on it only because it's familiar. Seth Godin has helped me to understand this principle, and I highly his recent books and his blog, especially the recent post entitled: Why bother having a resume?

Incidentally, if you want to order business cards I recommend a company called Printing for Less. They were recommended to me by a top notch legal marketing consultant named Ross Fishman. They are truly amazing, and very reasonably priced. Definitely better than FedEx/Kinkos.

How the tortoise beat the hare

The other day I saw a black SUV rev its engine and then zoom past a car on narrow street because the driver was impatient. As the SUV passed by I could see the driver, a soccer mom, casually talking on her cellphone. I looked back and saw that she had not made the light, so her NASCAR move was apparently for naught.

In the blog world I see people racing around trying every new gizmo/software and then offering up their immediate impressions as though this has great utility. One well-known tech blogger, whom I shall not name, seems to think that every conversation or encounter he has needs to be recorded and then served up to his many followers. What's most amazing is that hoards of people eagerly await this kind of information. He has wonderful backstage access to new technology, but his observations don't seem to have much value.

The mainstream media has been serving us 'stupid pie' for years. To keep their ratings up, they package their message for the lowest intellect. When bloggers first appeared there was hope that this would change but, alas, it appears that popular bloggers with continuous partial attention disorder are doing the same thing.

I've discovered somewhat recently that I don't enjoy, or benefit from, the hectic stream of observations made by people who would rather push the buzzer than listen to the whole question. Many of them are really nice people. But I can't let myself be part of their mad rush anymore, and so I've decided to let them pass me by.

When I was a kid I could never understand how the rabbit lost the race to the tortoise. The rabbit was much faster than the tortoise, and there was no reason why he shouldn't win. Turns out there is a reason: the rabbit has no idea where it's going.

Sadly, most of us are rabbits.

Off to speak in Wilmington, Delaware

I'm off today to Philadelphia, and then to Wilmington, Delaware where I'll speak to the Diamond State Chapter of ARMA International. ARMA is is a not-for-profit association that focuses on managing records and information, both paper and electronic. My talk will be about how professionals, such as lawyers, are struggling to adapt to digital information.

Most lawyers think this means dealing with E-Discovery (and of course it does), but the reality is that we all need to be more adept with digital information in all phases of our lives. If lawyers understood the nature of digital information better they wouldn't have so many problems with E-Discovery. That's my thumbnail view, anyway.

Rethinking libraries

Sudden and monumental change serves a purpose, or at least it should. In the aftermath of such change we shouldn't unthinkingly rebuild things back the way they were. We should pause to consider what unique advantages have surfaced. We should consider if certain foundational assumptions need to be abandoned altogether in order to create a more lasting foundation.

Last Saturday I drove my son out to St. Bernard where he and 1,000 other college kids were spending their spring break rebuilding houses at the Habitat Camp Hope project. The drive was bleak. There were a few spots of commerce, improbable little strip malls amidst miles of forsaken houses. My eyes brightened when I saw a small white trailer with a sign that proclaimed the presence of a public library. And yet it was a simple little trailer. What kind of library could be housed in such a structure?

As I drove closer I saw a large sign outside of the library: "FREE WIRELESS INTERNET". For the past few days I've been thinking about the strange implications of this simple little sign.

St. Bernard was completely inundated by floodwaters from Katrina. And the people of St. Bernard are not folks who spend a lot of money on technology. You won't see any Starbucks out there, that's for sure. Home Depot has a store the size of the Pentagon, and beyond that it's just little mom and pop stuff. The most exotic business I saw was a Planet Beach tanning salon. I guess that's why I was intrigued by the library Wi-Fi sign. It seems like if you live in St. Bernard and want to use some free wifi you have to go to the library (well Camp Hope, where my son stayed with the 1,000 college students, has free wifi too).

Today, the Times Picayune has an article about a new $650 million 'Library Master Plan' for the city. The story doesn't say anything about wireless internet. Perhaps that is an oversight by the author. Then again maybe there is a larger oversight. Maybe wireless internet isn't part of the new master plan at all. Of course, the libraries of the future aren't all about wireless internet access.

So what should they be about?

Here's how a progressive Northwest city envisioned this question:

"Seattle's public library...was designed to be a downtown hangout, with something for everyone, as if you crossed Starbucks with a mega bookstore." FN1

In other words, the idea was to use the library as a community gathering place. Wow! What a great idea. Needless to say, an idea like that isn't borne by thinking of libraries in a traditional way. It was borne by asking fundamental questions:

Why do so many people hang out in large bookstores like Borders or Barnes & Noble? Why do people go to Starbucks to hangout? What kind of architecture is conducive to hanging out in public places?

The folks who are rebuilding New Orleans' public libraries are about to spend a lot of money. I hope that they have asked these questions, and that their vision includes some novel thinking. If they haven't then I suggest they start by reading Mutating Libraries by Jenny Levine, a forward-thinking librarian who references a Slate slideshow entitled: Borrowed Time: How do you build a public library in the age of Google? Ms. Levine takes some issue with a statement by Ross Dawson that libraries will extinct by 2019, but she agrees that " libraries are about a lot more than just books or study carrels," which is why she believes that "there’s room for things like gaming in today’s library."

I wish that Jenny Levine had been in charge of our library project because then I wouldn't have to wonder whether we were acting with the proper vision. Somehow I fear we are not.

FN1: Quote is from the 7th slide in the Borrowed Time slideshow.

Microsoft Vista - lessons learned

This NY Times article illustrates that some of the people most frustrated by Vista are...well, read the article for yourself.

Thoughts about Tablet PCs and digital docs

Following my last post about being 'scooter lawyer' a friend emailed me to ask about the reference to the Tablet PC. He wrote: "I wonder about what advantages it has for a litigator. I also wonder about what program you use to keep track of your scanned documents to be able to find them by bates number and to be able to annotate them."

Here's the story. The Tablet PC was lent to me by my girlfriend. After using it for a few weeks I came to these conclusions:

(1) a Tablet has a completely different social dynamic than a traditional laptop because people don't perceive it as a computer; unless you stand behind someone using a Tablet you easily assume that they are just writing on a pad of paper; (2) the Tablet is more comfortable to use; but if you type reasonably well you will still prefer to use a keyboard; (3) the Tablet is more natural to use at a lectern or in a conference, as long as principle #2 isn't a factor; (4) even though it's a niche product I would absolutely use a Tablet in certain situations, except for one thing: (5) Tablet PCs run Windows which means they don't wake up quickly, or reliably.

Just as I was starting to use the Tablet a lot I found that it would sometimes get slow or become unresponsive; this happened once or twice at semi-critical times. I dutifully rebooted, and didn't suffer too much. But the thought lingered: I could never rely on the Tablet during a hearing or trial, or any situation where I was in front of a judge. It's one thing to reboot during a deposition, but it would be completely unacceptable to tell a judge to "hang on, your honor, while I reboot my computer."

So, I've stopped using the Tablet completely. I have several lawyer friends who have tried the Tablet, and one or two are still using it. Perhaps they haven't had the problems that I have had, so I know it's possible the Tablet could be a useful tool for a litigator. But not for me.

If I use a computer in court or in a deposition I need to know that it will work. Always. That's another reason why I prefer Apple computers. Mac laptops sleep when you close the lid and wake up instantly when you open the lid. You can do this over and over again, for months, and never have to reboot. Very few, if any, people have this experience with Windows computers.

As for the question about how I find documents quickly during a deposition, here's the scoop. I use Adobe Acrobat. A lot. Every day, in fact. I know it inside and out and I feel as comfortable with Acrobat as I do with Microsoft Word. I know to use the bookmark features without thinking about it. And I know how to insert comments quickly.

Also, when I bates-stamp documents I renumber the pages to correspond to the bates-numbers and so I can find documents by typing the bates number into the page number query field. Also, I OCR the documents so I can search by text if I need to. The 'scooter article' touches on this point briefly. But the fact is I am constantly reminded of how inefficient paper is. Whenever I watch lawyers fumble with paper I have to remind myself not to feel sorry for them. This is the way that they choose to live their lives. If they think it's better then so be it.

I know lawyers don't like change (who does?). So when they shuffle around with stacks of paper, wearily looking for information, I remind myself not to judge them—quietly offering thanks for the invisible advantage it gives me. It's one that I'll continue to enjoy for a long time.

Saving the planet one scooter ride at a time

Law Technology News just published an article that I wrote called Green Law: Scootering to Revelation. It's about how I became an 'accidental environmentalist' in my quest to use technology efficiently. Well, that and my quest to buy a scooter for no really good reason other than it seemed really cool.

Internet Speed-Reading - How to

The Internet, you may have noticed, is chock full of information. And so gathering information can sometimes be a challenge. There are lots of tricks I've learned, most of which are impossible to explain in a blog post. But here's one that is easy to explain, and it involves the New York Times.

Let's say you want to get a quick idea of all of the stories in the NY Times. Poking around on the NY Times website is not the way to go. Instead, use this link. If you like to read the NY Times online—as I do—then I recommend you bookmark this link for future reference. Here is another version of the same site. Now, go forth and efficiently gather information.

Digital workflow for lawyers

I'll be speaking to the Lawyers Computer Group on 'Digital Workflow' in a couple of weeks.  The talk is about about using scanners and Adobe Acrobat to streamline your law practice (so you don't feel like this poor guy).

The presentation is at noon on February 13th in the Pan-American Life Bldg, downtown.  To register contact Michael Goldblatt at 504-841-0900, or by email (michaelgoldblatt[at]aol.com).  The registration fee is $15.

The written materials are pretty spare; I'll be posting links relevant to the talk here.  I think you have to register by February 8th if you want a spot.  Hope to see some of you there.

Social Networking can be a drag

Time Magazine: "This is hard to say to a friend, but our relationship is starting to take up too much of my time."

Software downgrades - Windows v. Apple

Microsoft has gotten a lot of flak about their new operating system.  Vista was supposed to be a major improvement, especially by adding tighter security.  But it turns out that the enhanced security is not very user-friendly.  Vista has other problems as well.  The funny thing is Vista took a long time to come out, and people were really excited about it.  Some people even waited to buy new computers so that they could get the upgrade preloaded.  Now, some of those same people are super annoyed.  Computer manufacturers are offering customers who bought new computers loaded with Vista a free downgrade to XP.  I know a couple of people with new Vista computers who are excited about getting this downgrade.

Yesterday Apple upgraded its iTunes software.  The purpose was to force upgrades to iPhones, partly to install a few new features.  But, mostly, it was to modify the iPhone to stop hackers from circumventing the lock-in to AT&T.  Apple doesn't have the market share of Microsoft, but it's growing and so is Apple's stock price.  And, as Apple grows, it's starting to act more like Microsoft.

My iPhone was acting strange yesterday and I had to reboot continually.  For example, I'd have to reboot 4 or 5 times just to get the phone to start acting normal.  Then a few minutes later it would freeze and then I'd have to do 2 or 3 reboots to get it right.  I called AppleCare three times. 

The first time I called I found out that there was an upgrade to the iPhone.  Naturally, I assumed this would solve the problem.  It didn't.  Further problems ensued and I wound up spending about 2 hours without any phone service.  At one point I had to 'Restore' the phone, which meant having the phone wiped completely clean and reinstalling everything. During that lengthy process my phone was useless.  To me, anyway.

The new upgrade adds the iTunes Music store to the iPhone.  I didn't really want that feature, but some people might like being able to send money to Apple right from their phone.  However, I was curious about the interface for the iTunes music store and so I clicked on the icon and guess what?  My phone went into freeze mode. 

Nice job Apple!  Excellent upgrade.

Today, the phone only had be rebooted about 12 times, and I only had about 1 hour of no phone service.  I read that a lot of people are unhappy about the new software upgrade to the iPhone.  Surprise, surprise.  Perhaps they're hoping for a downgrade like Microsoft Vista users got.  That won't happen because Apple made this 'upgrade' permanent.  Why?  To keep users from doing bad things to their phones.  And by 'bad things' I mean 'things that impair Apple's revenue stream.'

I understand that Apple has locked itself into an agreement with AT&T that forces it deal with the hack-around.  Of course, in attempting to solve a problem that is tied to only small minority of iPhone owners, Apple has adversely affected at least as many iPhone owners that were not doing anything "bad."  I paid $600 for my iPhone and switched from Sprint (a company that I was perfectly happy with) to AT&T.  I stood in line the first day the iPhone was offered to do all this.  Recently, the iPhone price dropped to $400.  Fine, I can deal with that.  I don't mind 'overpaying' for a revolutionary new phone that works reliably. But, I do mind being constantly jolted by upgrades that don't improve performance, and arguably degrade it in many cases.

I don't know if my current problems are tied to the new upgrade.  I kind of doubt it because most of the problems I am having were there before the upgrade (well, the morning before I upgraded).  But the upgrade certainly didn't solve my iPhone problems.  I'm pretty sure that future upgrades will be more about preserving network lock-in than they will be about enhancing device performance. 

I won't be surprised to see Apple becoming increasingly at odds with its customers.  It's not Apple's fault, really.  It's just the way that corporations are.  They like their customers' money far more than they like their customers.

Incidentally, I only had to reboot my iPhone once during the time that I was composing this post. Oh, and if you have an iPhone and want to share your story with Apple click here.

Providing legal advice information in a humorous way

Now that someone has unlocked the iPhone there are questions about the legality of doing this.  Engadget's legal expert answers those questions, humorously.  Who knew that was even an option?

Problems with Microsoft Vista, the new operating system.

Microsoft's new operating system, Vista, apparently is not cutting it.  I've heard this from several tech-savvy friends, people who don't use Macs at all and love Microsoft.  They aren't planning on switching to Macs, but they are trying to figure out how to revert back to XP.  And now we are hearing the same thing from tech writers like Jim Louderback and James Fallows.  Maybe Microsoft will fix these problems in upcoming updates, but it sounds like they've lost a lot of good will already.

Give your business 'Google Presence'

In San Francisco I heard a high level representative of Google speak to some real estate folks.  He offered this tip: if you're a real estate agent go online and register with Google so that you show up in local search results.  This great tip applies to anyone in business, not just real estate agents.

So how you do you register?  Simple.  Go to Google's Local Business Center and put in your information and then have Google verify it.  They can verify the information by letter or by phone.  The phone call is immediate.  I just updated my information because Google had me listed with my old law firm.  Even though the verification is immediate (and I mean IMMEDIATE) it can supposedly take a few weeks for the changes to take effect. 

Not doing this (once you know about it) is like saying "I don't want to put my business listing in the yellow pages, even if it's free, because it's too much trouble."  So, now you know.  What are you waiting for?

Avoiding E-mail stress

People sometimes ask me how I'm able to keep up with the volume of email messages.  "You look so calm," they say.  "So what's the secret?"  Other people say to me "hey, how come you didn't respond to the email message I sent you the other day."   In case you hadn't guessed, these two questions are closely related.

When I talk at CLE seminars about 'Digital Workflow' I offer lots of techniques for managing email.  I even mention some great add-on programs that help with productivity.  But, if there was one great power tip that I'd offer it's this: a lot of email doesn't require a response.  If you're like most people (i.e. like me) it will take dedicated effort to figure out which emails don't require a response.  But, once you learn to identify these emails you can quickly go through your inbox.

Obviously, there are some emails that you'll have to respond to, or act upon.  But, you don't want to start with those unless you have plenty of free time.  If you have plenty of free time you don't need to read this post. Then again, you have lots of free time, so why not?

So as you go through your inbox you're categorizing emails into two groups: (1) The ones you flag for follow up, and the ones you delete.  Of course deleting emails is more satisfying.  And we're talking about lowering stress.  So this post is will be about deleting, not flagging.

What to delete?  Naturally any spam or routine notices that don't need to be kept.  Okay, fine.  Now here's the hard part: the emails from friends or acquaintances who 'innocently seek your attention.'  I hate to say it, but not all of these emails require a response.  Let's start with a minimally challenging example.

Let's say you're one of thirty people told about an upcoming social event. What to do?  If you can't make it, then say so and be done with it.  But, if you aren't sure, consider not responding until the last minute.  Remember there are going to be more emails later on to remind you to consider attending, so you might not need to respond now at all. If the person needs to have an idea of the head-count (usually the case when only a few people are invited) then it's polite to respond.  Try to make a decision.  But, if you can't, then just delete the email.  You'll get another one soon to remind you about the event.  Right?

Okay, now let's talk about the kind of emails that prompt people to say "why didn't you respond to my email the other day?"  A fair number are emails that don't specify what the person wants, and usually begin with the phrase "call me if you have a chance..." Geez, how can I simply delete these emails?  Isn't a response of some sort required?  No, not really.

I don't mind calling someone when I "have a chance," but unfortunately I don't usually have a lot of free time to make phone calls --especially if I don't know what the point of the call is going to be.  Don't get me wrong.  There are obviously people in my life whose calls I return no matter what.  Most (but not all) of them are closely related to me.  And I have distant friends who will reach out and say they just want to catch up.  They'll typically leave a nice voice mail message (or email), and say they "hope that I have the time to call them back."  I make a special effort to call them back if I can because they've told me (1) what they want, and (2) that they understand if I'm too busy to call back.  These friends at least understand the value of time.

A lot of people think that attention is valuable when it's spread around as widely as possible.   I'm learning to avoid these people. They don't understand the value of time, especially not my time.  And, as the old country western line goes: "if their phone don't ring, they'll know it's me."

Lastly, what about the people who join five social networks a week and then invite you (along with everyone in their galactic-sized contact list) to be 'their friend?'  Delete, delete, delete....

 

Unclaimed property in Louisiana

Do you have unclaimed property in Louisiana?  You might, and just not know it.  The newspapers run a list of people with unclaimed property every once in awhile, but why wait until then?  Just go to this link and search under your name.  To claim the property online you just register and then upload documents that establish your right to the property.

Just because it's a great idea...

It's kind of funny when you think about it.  "What's funny," you ask?

I'm talking about the origins of the well-known phrase: "the greatest thing since sliced bread."  Apparently, slicing bread was a watershed event.  That's why the first thing that inventor Otto Rohwedder did when he figured out how to do it was to get a patent.  And what happened next?  Did Otto make a lot of money with his amazing idea? No, apparently not. 

Why not? Well, listen to Seth Godin explain the situation. And after you listen to Seth's presentation you'll understand how this could happen. 

Marketing in the buff

There is a new buzzword percolating about: 'visible marketing.'  I heard this last week from someone named Buzz, so it has to be true.   Five years ago Buzz introduced me to a high-octane tech conference run by Bob Metcalfe and John Sculley.  There I met Shel Israel, who later met Robert Scoble which led them to co-write a book called Naked Conversations.

Naked conversations begat visible marketing, and I have decided to dub all of this naked marketing.  What's that?  It has a lot to do with blogs as this recent Wired article points out.   And if you want to learn more about naked marketing then sign up for this conference in New Orleans.  You can keep your hat on, if you want.

Cool Marketing Conference, here in New Orleans!

I can't believe I didn't hear about this until now: in mid-April the Word of Mouth Marketing Association will hold a 2 day conference at the Intercontinental Hotel here in New Orleans.  Details are available here.  David Weinberger is a keynote speaker.  Having heard David speak, I can tell you that's worth the price of admission alone.  But, you'll also get to hear web visionaries like Jory Des Jardins, Chip Heath, Anil Dash and others.  If you are interested in learning how to do low-cost, high-octane marketing then you should seriously consider attending this event.

Home Sweet (Efficiently Secure) Home

How many times a day do you use the front door to your house?  Probably a lot more than you think.  And, since fumbling with keys is a pain, you probably don't lock the door unless you absolutely have to. 

Do you have teenage kids?  Do they sometimes lose the house key?  So you either have lots of spare keys around, or you have to go out and make a new one.  Do you give a key to your maid or some other person who comes to your house regularly?  What happens when the maid quits, or you have to fire her?  Do you have a new lock installed or do you trust that she'll not use the key you gave her for an improper purpose?

These are the kinds of things I used to think about.  But not anymore.  Recently, I installed the elegant looking lock you see pictured here on the left.  It has a 5 button keypad that you can use to program your own 4 digit code.  And the center button is used to trigger the lock when you leave the house. 

Since I got my new lock (cost: $150) I haven't used my key at all.  My older daughter has a key, but has never used it, and my younger daughter doesn't have a key because she was always losing them.  The housekeeper doesn't have a key either.  But everyone is able to get into the house.  And when I take the dog for a short walk around the block I can lock the house and I don't have to remember to bring a key.  In fact, since I know I don't need a key to get in I'm super diligent about locking the front door.

When I walked into a local locksmith shop and asked about keyless locks everyone behind the counter exclaimed that they all loved them.  The guy who came to install my lock was almost more excited than I was, and told me he had one on every outer door in his house.  He showed me how the lock worked and explained that if someone tried to enter the code wrong too many times it would shut the lock down.  And then you'd definitely need a key to get in (which is why I've hidden one just in case).  He said that most criminals think the lock is really an alarm system, which would be an extra benefit if it is true. 

If you live in New Orleans and are interested in getting one of these locks I recommend H Rault on Magazine St. (504) 895-5346. They did a great job installing the lock, and they obviously believe in their product.

My faithful guide TomTom

I've long craved having a GPS device for my car.  But the prices seemed too high so I was waiting until they dropped.  I hadn't realized how far the prices had dropped until last month when I was browsing at Radio Shack and came across the TomTom series of devices.  Only $400 for a portable four-inch LCD touch screen unit pre-loaded with maps for the entire United States and Canada?  Hmmmmm.  And it comes with built-in Bluetooth and an integrated microphone to let you make or receive calls hands-free with Bluetooth-enabled cell phones. Yeah, this is starting to make sense.  What else? Oh, you can control your iPod playlists directly from the touch screen.  Okay, I'll take one.

When I got home I told my daughter Bridget that I got this device for her, since she was learning to drive and often had trouble finding her way around town.  Of course, that was true as well.  But let's face it: I had suffered a major 'impulsus purchasum' and now I was getting ready to have to face the truth that my new device might be something I rarely used, other than on road trips or out-of-town ventures.

I pulled the small device out of the package and turned it on and it was ready to go. I selected a lovely female British voice to read me my directions and set off to tool about town.  I chose a route to the local hardware store and noticed that Amanda picked a route I wouldn't normally take, but I followed it anyway since the display said that was the 'fastest route.'  It worked out fine.  After I finished shopping I got in the car and selected the big 'HOME' icon.  The proposed route was not one I wanted to follow so I decided to ignore Amanda's directions and drove to Magazine Street.  At first Amanda kept trying to steer me back to her preference.  But once I got to Magazine Street (a main artery) she immediately adapted and offered me the route that I wanted to take.

There is a lot to say about how amazing this device is.  The "points of interest" feature deserves special mention, because it turned out to be something that I use a lot around town.  Basically, you can tell the device to keep track of various kinds of POI's such as restaurants, gas stations, casinos etc.  You wouldn't think that this is a feature you would use in your familiar surroundings.  But you actually might.

I use it when I'm looking for a restaurant to go to and can't think of some place to go. Just ask to see restaurants nearby and review the list.  The only bad thing is that it lumps together fast food places with regular restaurants, but I'm sure that they'll fix that in some future edition.  And I noticed that the device didn't have some of the newer restaurants.  That required tweaking as well, but it's not a big problem to tweak the device.

You can update the mapping information by simply downloading it from the TomTom website.  The first update is free, and after thatn you pay a small fee.  You can also download maps for Europe for a fee, although the higher priced models come with European maps pre-installed.  Also, you can download 'celebrity voices' such as John Cleese's to use as your preferred voice.  Can you imagine driving around in London with John Cleese giving you directions?  Come on.  Does technology get any better than this?

The GPS devices are nice in your own city, but when you take them on the road they totally rock.  And, frankly, this is the reason I would never buy a built-in GPS for my car.  I want to be able to take my device with me wherever I go, and use it in rental cars if I want to.

This week I'm driving in the Southeast looking at colleges with my daughter Bridget, and having the GPS is a godsend.  I'm glad that I got familiar with the device before I took the trip though.  As I said, it's easy to use (you could almost just plug it in and take off on a road trip, but some things take getting used to).  The device is good at warning you ahead of time that you need to be in the right lane or left lane to make an exit, but it's nice to have a good feel for how it works so that you have a maximum level of comfort when you are in a completely unfamiliar place.

Yesterday I was on the phone with a client who happened to call just as I was reaching a critical turn point.  I had no problem listening closely to what he was saying and also following the directions given to me by the device (although I turned down the voice volume and just followed the visual cues on the display).  Having used this tool for a couple of days now I can safely say that I will never take an out of town trip without one of these devices again.  I rank GPS devices up there with cellphones and wifi technology as far as life-altering innovations go. 

I will say this, though.  If I had it to do over again, I'd probably get the Garmin Nuvi.  It's a little more expensive but it seems to be the clear preference of a lot of techies out there.  And I've noticed that my TomTom often takes too long to find the satellites when it first powers up.  So, there you have it.  If you are even remotely contemplating getting one of these devices then here are my recommendations:

• Don't get a car with this device permanently installed
• Check out the Garmin Nuvi devices
• Consider getting a device that you can use in the car or hold in your hand (so you can use it in places like New York, or Chicago where you are walking around etc.)
• Practice using it before you take it on the road.
• Bluetooth is nice, but not essential.  I don't really need to listen to my iPod through my GPS device or make hands free phone calls.  But maybe you do.

Last night I was talking to a fellow who is a pilot for the Air Force and flies, literally, all over the world.  We were talking about how cool GPS is, and yet how it does diminish your sense of 'situational awareness.'  By that he meant that he often flies across places in Eastern Europe and has almost no sense of where he is because he doesn't have to know.  I experienced that sensation as we left the University of Georgia yesterday.  The device powered up as I was lost in the middle of the Athens campus and quickly guided me out of town toward my destination of Charleston, South Carolina. 

I went from a strong awareness of being in the city of Athens, which I knew was an hour east of Atlanta, to having no idea where I was as I weaved along a lovely two lane highway.  On the other hand, I felt safe and was left free to admire the scenery.  The display constantly updated to tell me how many miles I was away from the next turn point, how long until I arrived at my destination, and what my estimated arrival time would be. 

Being on a backroad highway is heaven, but it's even more celestial when you are aided by a state-of-the art GPS display.

The Power of Linkedin

Linkedin is an online professional network that's growing by leaps and bounds.  Mike Arrington over at TechCrunch just reported that the company (which has been profitable since March of last year) has recently raised $13 million in additional financing.  I can see why because I find myself captivated by the power of this amazing social network.  For example, I check my Linkedin home page every day for updates on my 'connections' (i.e. people that I've linked up to in Linkedin).  Today I saw that Jack Vinson had posted a question about how to market effectively; several people had already provided some cogent responses.  I also saw that Enrico Shaefer, Bruce MacEwen and Marty Schwimmer had each added a new contact.   

And I saw that someone was looking for a fulltime paralegal to help them do EDGAR filings.  The law firm was in New York, but the candidate could work remotely, or as the notice put it: "This is a rare opportunity to use your experience without the hassles of a corporate environment, commuting, etc." I'll bet that several top-notch candidates have applied already.  Remember, this is a network of over 8 million people.  There are a lot of connections that can be made in a network that size. 

So what are you waiting for?

Social Networks, CRM, and Linkedin

Social networking is for teenagers and geeks, right?  Exactly.  If you limit your view of social networking to popular sites like My Space, Facebook, Friendster etc.  If you're a professional you wouldn't dream of trying to use social networking software, unless you were aware of Linkedin.  If you aren't aware of it then here are some factoids: Linkedin is an online network of more than 8.5 million professionals from around the world representing 130 industries, including all of the Fortune 500 companies. But who needs that, right?

The ideal social network for professionals has always been something CRM stuff that companies use.  Lawyers in large firms sometimes use a product called Interaction (now owned by Lexis/Nexis). And their website offers this reasonable assertion: "A law firm's most valuable assets are the relationships it nurtures with clients and contacts."  Many people believe that only the large law firms that can afford Interaction can properly take advantage of professional social networking,' a/k/a CRM.

I disagree. 

In fact, I think that Linkedin (or whatever successor service may flourish in the future to help professionals properly network) is more powerful than a product like Interaction, for several reasons:

1. Linkedin has a larger network than any single organization
2. Members only join if they believe in the goal (no one forces them to use it, like big firms have to do with their members who use Interaction). In other words Linkedin has perfect 'buy-in.'

I started using Linkedin about a year ago when many of my tech-savvy friends introduced me to it.  I didn't really explore the power of it until recently, and it looks like the network has grown and added some cool new features. 

The gist is that you set up a profile and add people that are members as your 'contacts.'  You do this by asking them to link up to you.  If you find someone in Linkedin that you don't know directly, you can ask a friend who does know them directly to link you.  In short, Linkedin is the whole 'degrees of separation' thing expressed in an online database.  Even though it's an online scheme, there is minimal likelihood of having silly requests from total strangers because to get to you they are filtered through one of your existing contacts.

Are you likely to contact anyone 'out of the blue'?  Not really, you say.  Actually once you learn now Linkedin works, you might. 

Let's say, for example, that you are asked by someone to refer them an attorney who practices franchise law in Atlanta.  You bop over to Linkedin and do an 'advanced search' for franchise attorneys in that geographic area, and you find several.  Immediately, you can see a list of likely candidates. But Linkedin also shows you how many 'degrees of separation' away you are from the prospects.  Let's say you are only one degree away from someone who is a graduate of your same law school.  You want to help an alum, and so you note the name of the mutual acquaintance and ask for an introduction.  Your fellow alum is likely to accept a contact from you (since you are potentially referring work), and you'll probably add them as a contact.

Here's another powerful feature of Linkedin. When you visit the home page (if you are signed in to Linkedin) you'll see a quick recap of the activities of your contacts. .  You can see if your friend Francine has added someone new and who that person is.  If someone from your law school joins you'll be notified. If it's someone you want to hook up with, but you don't have any people to 'connect you' you can send a direct message (if you are a 'premium member' that is). 

There are a lot of things you can do with Linkedin to enhance your professional social network. Go read Guy Kawasaki's post entitled Ten Ways to Use Linkedin.

Got questions? Get answers.

Amazon has a new service called Askville (not yet publicized) that allows you to get answers from regular people.  Pretty interesting, and possibly even useful.

This Week in Law - Podcast #2

The second podcast of TWIL is up, this one featuring TechCrunch's Mike Arrington. Mike practiced law at Wilson Sonsini before creating the popular weblog where he scooped everyone in announcing the Google acquisition of YouTube (more information about Mike is available here).  As always, comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Wanna be an Internet Media Mogul?

Steve Martin's early bit on how to be a millionaire and not pay taxes was goofy, but simple: "First, get a million dollars.  Then when the IRS comes and asks why you didn't pay taxes, repeat these two words: 'I forgot.'"  Nowadays, everyone is trying to figure out how to make money off the Internet.  YouTube got paid 1.6 Billion by Google.  How does this make sense?  Or, even if it doesn't: how can I do the same thing?

I've been wondering about this a lot, but then I came across this great blog post by Andy Kessler, which thoroughly explains the new media world.  Here's his ridiculously simple advice:

Want to be a Mogul? Think out all the free services never thought possible without lots of broadband and pieces you can pick and choose from to build it and you are on the right track.

Sound familiar?  It's good advice, but I'm not sure how valuable it really is.  Still, I have to say that Andy Kessler's blog post is a 'must-read.'  Definitely chock-full of value.

By the way, I'm also reading his excellent book, The End of Medicine: How Silicon Valley (and Naked Mice) Will Reboot Your Doctor, which explains the economics of the $1.8 Trillion dollar medical industry.  Kessler seeks the answer to a provocative question: how will the force of technological development revolutionize medicine?  Not surprisingly, he doesn't focus exclusively on the wizardry of technology, examining also the counter-vailing forces of political bureacracy and insurance-industry venality.  Here are some things I learned by reading the book:

• 70% of health care spending goes to treat chronic disease
• 5% of Medicare patients (the most ill) account for 47% of Medicare expense

I also learned that I don't really want to eat snowpeas anymore.

Modern day estate planning

Let's say you are a lawyer who is helping a client with estate planning.  You'll prepare a draft will and you'll tell your client to consider the usual things, like specifying who they want to be the executor of their estate. 

And, of course, you'll discuss what bequests will be made and to whom. After all, your client can't take stuff into the afterlife, so they have to think about who they want to bequeth their cherished items to.  You should also talk to your client important things that, heretofore, would not have been considered 'usual.'  Oh, and don't forget to consider discussing the need for a living will.

The hidden power of blogs

I like to check my referrer logs (click on the picture to the left) every once in awhile to see how people find my site.  Recently, I saw that someone googled the word 'attorney' and found my site.  So I googled it myself and saw that I'm like the 9th hit for that search term.  Then somone else googled 'katrina anniversary' and they found me because my post about the Rising Tide Conference is the 5th hit for that search term (the Times Picayune link is below mine, interestingly enough).

I mention this not to pat myself on the back (I didn't do anything special to deserve this sort of 'google stature'; I just got into the blog thing early and kept at it).  I point this phenomenon out because it's something that I constantly see, as do other bloggers who examine how people find their sites.  I like blogging, mostly because blogging continues to bring me into contact with new people and new ideas.  But I also like having some influence over how people find certain kinds of information.  I wish I had more time to exert this influence towards all the things that I think deserve to be noticed, but I don't.  So I do what I can, when I can, and hope that it makes a significant difference.

Here is an update on other search results:

#1 result for "call apple customer care" (as of: 8/23/06)

#1 result for "driving in new orleans" (as of: 8/23/06)

#3 result for "legal brief writing" (as of: 8/23/06)

#3 result for "katrina videos" (as of: 8/23/06)

VOIP telephony to make U.S. calls while in foreign country

I'm visiting my brother in Panama, a great country -- but unfortunately one in which my cellphone will not work.  But I came prepared for this situation.  Among the things I took with me was my Packet8 phone, which is an internet-based phone system (i.e. VOIP, or 'Voice over IP').  For $20/month I can make and receive unlimited calls in the U.S. and Canada. I have been using this phone for my work.  I have a New Orleans area code, and I can set the phone up so that it rings simultaneously to my cellphone (where I can take the call if I want).

But since my cellphone doesn't work here that's not useful right now (although it's very useful when I'm in New Orleans).  Anyway, I set the Packet8 phone up here by attaching it to my brother's router and --bada boom bada bing-- my 'landline' phone works like a charm.  Another thing that works like a charm is Skype, the free VOIP phone system that lets you use your computer to make and receive phone calls.  I can call anyone in the United States for free.  Skype works with Macs and PCs.

Hatching a plan with Brian

I met Brian Oberkirch yesterday for coffee.  We've met in person once before, but we've communicated many times over the past year.  He had a great weblog called the Slidell Hurricane Damage Weblog that was very helpful to people there after Katrina (his former partner took it down when they dissolved their partnership, which means that a lot of great links and historical information was lost). 

The first time I met Brian I was really impressed with him, and grateful that the cyberwinds had caused our paths to intersect.  So there we were yesterday talking like two friends who had spent their whole lives together.  I guess that's the way it is with bloggers.   Brian snapped this picture of me and his caption pretty much sums up the gist of our conversation.  We started out talking about all of the amazing things that are going on now: online video, social networking, Long Tails and niche markets etc.  Then something happened that neither one of us expected: we wound up hatching a plan. 

What kind of a plan?  You'll just have to wait to find out.  But the prospect of collaborating with Brian really has me stirred up.  Hopefully, our plan will stir others too.  We'll see.

Where are the CEO Bloggers?

NY Times article on corporate blogging talks about Sun Microsystem's CEO: "My No. 1 job is to be a communicator,” Mr. Schwartz [said] last week. “I don’t understand how a C.E.O. would not blog if committed to open communication.”  I can't believe that the author didn't interview Shel Isael or Robert Scoble, who wrote Naked Conversations.

Wikipedia - good New Yorker article

The New Yorker features an article about Wikidpedia that is very complimentary (as well it should be).  I was fond of this passage, which showcases the differences between Wikipedia and traditional encyclopedias such as Britannica:

Apparently, no traditional encyclopedia has ever suspected that someone might wonder about Sudoku or about prostitution in China. Or, for that matter, about Capgras delusion (the unnerving sensation that an impostor is sitting in for a close relative), the Boston molasses disaster, the Rhinoceros Party of Canada, Bill Gates’s house, the forty-five-minute Anglo-Zanzibar War, or Islam in Iceland. Wikipedia includes fine entries on Kafka and the War of the Spanish Succession, and also a complete guide to the ships of the U.S. Navy, a definition of Philadelphia cheesesteak, a masterly page on Scrabble, a list of historical cats (celebrity cats, a cat millionaire, the first feline to circumnavigate Australia), a survey of invented expletives in fiction (“bippie,” “cakesniffer,” “furgle”), instructions for curing hiccups, and an article that describes, with schematic diagrams, how to build a stove from a discarded soda can.

I'm pleased that the New Yorker article is online, as I have not yet been able to receive subscriptions to the three magazines that I want delivered to my home: The New Yorker, The Economist, and The Modern Drunkard.

The Net Neutrality Bill Explained

By now we've all heard about Senator Ted Stevens' comments, which were made during a committee hearing on legislation known as The Net Neutrality bill.  Many of us haven't really discussed the bill that was being considered.  Here's a great video explanation by John Hodgman, the guy who plays the PC in the latest group of Apple computer ads.

Techies come to New Orleans

Last Wednesday night I had the pleasure of being able to meet up with two of my favorite tech-friends. Toby Brown and Lincoln Mead work for the Utah State Bar Association and came to New Orleans to help the Lousiana Bar folks improve their technology strategies. Lincoln and Toby are, outwardly, laid back and easy going, always quick to laugh and see the insanity that so often pervades everyday life. Most people, upon meeting Toby and Lincoln, would never assume they were techies. The techies I know are all pretty much like that: nice people who learned about technology because they are have passionate curiosity about how things work, and then like to fix them when they don't.

I guess that's why I could never hang around with politicians. Or entertainers, or famous sports figures, or famous people in general. First, most of them have no clue how anything works outside the limited world they inhabit. They all seem to let their popularity consume them, and lose whatever perspective they had before they became famous. I would, however, love to hang out with Scott Adams.

AOL - Manual on how to annoy soon-to-be former customers

Awhile back I wrote about Vincent Ferrari's tape recorded conversation with an AOL employee who refused to let him cancel his service.  Mr. Ferrari was even interviewed by Matt Lauer on NBC's Today Show.  After the incident came to light, AOL said the employee that Mr. Ferrari spoke with was acting improperly and was terminated. 

Now, it appears that AOL may actually have a written manual that encourages the offensive behavior that Mr. Ferrari had to endure.  Do companies really believe that they can act this way and not be exposed?  Frankly, I'm hoping that this latest story about the AOL 'Retention Manual' turns out to be a hoax; I don't want to believe that executives in a major corporation like AOL could be this stupid.

YouTube - the next Napster?

If you want to share video clips with the world (or that part of it that has high-speed Internet), then you might want to know about YouTube, which has become one of the 50 top websites in just under a year.  Many people are wondering how the site can get away with hosting commercial content like Jon Stewart's segment, the one on Senator Ted Steven's foolish explanation of the Internet as just a series of tubes.

Here's a good article that discusses why YouTube's service may not be as vulnerable to claims of copyright infringement as the music sharing sites.  I don't know that I completely agree with that article, but one thing's for sure: the era of online video is just getting underway.  Google has gotten into the act, which is a sure sign of 'mainstreamedness.'  Some lawyers are even starting to use YouTube to advertise their services.  As I said, this online video thing is probably going to be a big deal, just like digital music.  But all of these nascent trends are pointing to something larger.

In the old days only factory-owning capitalists could wield large influence over society, by producing things and then figuring out how to market and distribute them.  After all, factories cost a lot of money, and so did distribution.  Now, for many desirable things (digital music, video, news), the costs of production and distribution are almost nothing (laptop computer + Internet access). When the costs of production and distribution are as low as they are now, you are bound to have a radical power shift.  Big companies will still wield a lot of influence,  but not as much as before and not in the same way.  Niche markets are sprouting up all over the place and the rate of growth in those micromarkets is amazing, and, for the most part, dimly understood.   The staggering implications of this phenomemon are the subject of a book that is now ranked #13 on Amazon (yesterday it was #16).  It's probably too late for Ted Stevens to figure this stuff out, but most of the rest of us can 'get it' if we just try.

Unless you're under, say, the age of 18, in which case you won't even have to try.

The Love Filter - Denise Howell departs big firm

When I started blogging over three years ago there weren't many lawyer-bloggers out there.  Denise Howell had started blogging about 5 or 6 months before me and so she was a major beacon for me.  I don't know how my cyber-evolution would have been different if I hadn't gotten to know Denise, but it know that it wouldn't have been as enjoyable.  So, now Denise is taking a new career path and I am really happy for her; she is going to be going in a more fulfilling direction.

I left my semi-largish (for New Orleans) law firm pretty much for the same reason that Denise articulates in this post.  I love this passage:

"my professional roadmap henceforth will involve only things that are washed through a stringent "how much do I really love that?" filter"

I think more people are starting to discover this filter.  Certainly, that's true for a lot of people in post-Katrina New Orleans.  As the Yaqui sorcerer used to remind Carlos Castendeda, "you must remember that death is stalking you."  We dont' really have time to do things that aren't supremely meaningful and enjoyable to us.  We barely have time for the things that matter most, and time is always running out.

Senator Ted Stevens - Tell me how the Internet works

Having seen Al Gore's movie on global warming (based on his digital slide show) I'm intrigued to see other members of Congress employ this approach.  Senator Ted Stevens should start working on a presentation that explains how the Internet works based on his recent comments.  His target audience will obviously be slightly different than Al Gore's.  He'd probably do well with people who've had full frontal lobotomies.

AOL = Hotel California?

We all remember the famous line from the Eagles' big hit: "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."   Apparently, that should be the slogan for AOL:

When Vincent Ferrari, 30, of the Bronx, called AOL to cancel his membership last month, it took him a total of 21 minutes, including the time spent on an automated sequence at the beginning and some initial waiting in a queue. He recorded the five minutes of interaction with the AOL customer service representative and, a week later, posted the audio file on his blog, Insignificant Thoughts .  Shortly thereafter, those five minutes became the online equivalent of a top-of-the-charts single. [N.Y. Times story]

In the Seventies the hit singles were all produced in recording studios, but not quickly and not inexpensively; today you see some being made on the fly by bloggers frustrated by corporate cluelessness.   Note to corporations: you're not the only one who might be recording calls for "quality assurance purposes."

Interestingly, the N.Y.Times article quoted above provides a link to the blogger's post.  Maybe, just maybe, the times they are a changin'.

P.S. having the N.Y. Times link to the post has apparently caused the poor Vincent's server to meltdown so you might not be able to hear the audio file if you click on that link.  Never fear, the Internet will eventually find a way to route around this problem.  Now, let's see how long it takes AOL to solve their problem, which is a huge public relations issue.  How huge?  Well, Vincent Ferrari appeared on NBC's Today show and was interviewed by Matt Lauer.  Yikes!

Power up your Powerpoints

Powerpoint is a tool. In the hands of most it's a blunt instrument yielding bloody results.  In the hands of the artisan it's an orchestral fireworks display. 

There are a couple of paths to improving your presentations.  First, hire the design team that Al Gore used in creating An Inconvenient Truth.  Second, read Presentation Zen and study the styles of Godin, Lessig, Kawasaki and