Futurelawyer

Why You Need A Verizon Wireless Tablet

Samsung Galaxy Tab%u2122 10.1 16GB - 4G LTE Tablet | Verizon Wireless. I was sitting next to a couple of fellow lawyers in the seminar this morning, and, while waiting for the speaker to begin, was casually browsing my local hometown rag, the TampaBay Times, on my Galaxy Tab, with the PressReader software. The fellow to my left had an iPad, and he was grousing because the hotel charges an exorbitant amount for WiFi access and the reception wasn't very good anyway. So, there he sat, with an essentially non-functioning tablet. He was also intrigued with my PressReader application, and complained about not being able to get his hometown paper while traveling. The friend in front of me was complaining that he was a T-Mobile subscriber and he couldn't get a signal inside the auditorium at all. In case you are wondering, this is a true story. I could not make this stuff up. Anyway, I calmly loaded the Android HotSpot app that came with the tablet, and asked both parties to pass me their devices. I looked for my private WiFi network, typed in the password I had assigned to the WPA encrypted signal, and, in a couple of minutes they were both computing away. The iPad user actually loaded the PressReader iPad app and was trying it out. He will be subscribing when he gets back home. The moral of this story is the Scout Motto: "Be Prepared". Bring your own Internet with you. Adapt and Overcome.

Traveling With The FutureLawyer

I don't travel much any more. So much can be done virtually these days. But, I still have to travel on occasion, and this week I am in Orlando for seminars at the Attorney's Title Insurance Fund Assembly. However, I don't have to lose touch with the office or clients or the Internet. Here is a photo of my in room setup. I use my Asus notebook for blogging, document assembly and general productivity. I am using the tablet on the left to keep up with home cable TV via Slingbox, and the tablet doubles as an in seminar connection with the Internet world. The notebook is tethered to the Internet connection on my Droid Bionic 4G LTE phone, which is my backup and which also serves as an in car navigation device, using Google Android navigation. The tablet has its own Internet connection to the great Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network. If I decide to check out the sights, my Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone comes with me in my pocket, also with its own 4G LTE connection to the world. I can pretty much do it all on all 4 devices, depending on which one is handy. All my calls to any number get forwarded to my Google Voice number, so I never miss a call, whichever device I carry. Welcome to the future of lawyering, in which you can do your thing wherever you are, as long as you are all Android all the time, of course. My only concession to old school requires someone back at the office to Efax my snail mail to me. Oh, well, you can't have everything.

EverNote - Why Didn't Zuckerman Buy It?

Is Evernote the next billion-dollar company? | Bootstrap - CNET News. It is nice that Facebook's Mark Zuckerman made Instagram a Billion Dollar Company. But, by any measure, EverNote has a bigger business upside, and is certainly used more productively. Of course, trying to figure out why billionaires pay billions for toys is like trying to make sense of multi-million salaries for sports and entertainment figures. However, I use EverNote to make notes about cases, personal matters, and just about anything that can benefit from a note, a photo, a link, or a memo. It is like a digital folder for the brain. Communicating with photos is a new paradigm that I think just may dumb down the Internet discourse. Photos are great, and I post them all the time. But, whatever happened to making sense, with words, of what we see around us? A recent discussion on TWIT (This Week In Tech) brought forth one man's opinion that we are moving to a photo-centric Internet, in which people will communicate by posting photos to a visual timeline like Instagram. Ugh. What ever happened to talking to each other?

Google Updates Chrome For Android

Google updates Chrome for Android with added language support, home screen bookmarks -- Engadget. I love Google Chrome. I use it exclusively on my desktop/notebook computer at home and at the office. It is fast, secure, and the best web browser I have ever used. I have all my bookmarks tabbed for quick and easy browsing. I cannot understand why it has taken so long for Google to adapt Chrome for the Android OS. However, I have been using the Android Chrome beta as my phone browser for a while now (note: you must have an Ice Cream Sandwich phone or tablet to do this), and will install it to my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 when I get ICS for it. (Patiently waiting, Verizon). Now, however, you can access your Chrome bookmarks from the phone version of the browser, and all of the bookmarks you have so religiously stored over the past couple of years are instantly available. Very nice.

Google+ MakeOver - What It's All About, Sergey?

Armed with 170 million users, Google gets an extreme makeover | Android and Me. I have been using Google+ and Facebook side by side for a while now. The new Google+ makeover that appeared yesterday is decidedly Facebook looking. Clean white page, with columns of options and updates, and suggested activities and follows on the right. I can take it or leave it; but, some thoughts about the two sites: First, I have found the dialogue on Google+ decidedly more professional and thought provoking. My followers and follows on Google+ are more in the realm of professionals, and others who share my passions. Facebook has become a family and friend centered place to keep up with the social and the mundane, with a healthy spattering of updates about crises and graduations and new babies and awards, and all the stuff we share with family and friends. I am okay with the division. I spend a few minutes a day with each, and I come away with information I need to know and can use. The people who said that the Internet would isolate us were just plain wrong. We are getting a taste of what Alvin Toffler called "Future Shock", as the number of our contacts and interactions increases exponentially. Our capacity for increased contact has, however, not followed the Toffler curve. Instead of increased stress, I have found the increased knowledge and contact inspirational. Am I alone in this feeling?

Good Luck With That, Iran

Iran Hopes to Be Rid of Meddlesome Internet by August. Iran is one of the most repressive regimes on the planet. And, after its nuclear ambitions were set back a couple of years by the Stuxnet virus (you go, hackers), Iran has decided that the Internet is not a desirable medium for its citizens. Of course, Saddam Hussein also wanted weapons of mass destruction, and we saw how that worked out. I do not make light of the fact that Iran and other repressive Governments want to stifle the free exchange of ideas and information. Filters and restrictions are part of the Governments attempt to stifle freedom of expression in Iran and other countries. However, as the Arab Spring proves, the Internet is tough to stop. Once technology puts power into the hands of the people, it won't be taken away easily. Nonetheless, the stated desire of Iran is to replace the Internet with an information ecosystem that is Government controlled, and to which its citizens must register. Supporters of freedom everywhere should be shouting from the rooftops that we will not allow the citizens of any country to be suppressed in this way. Power to the people. Information must flow freely. 

Google TV And Roku - Fun In The Cloud

Google TV with Logitech Revue - Video Review. I could have chosen any one of a number of comparison pieces about Internet TV; but, I chose this one from India in order to show that this technology is becoming ubiquitous across the planet. The choice of the $99 Logitech Revue gives access to the Android universe and its many applications. However, the tiny Roku boxes, deliver wired access to the Internet, for $48, and both wired and wireless for $98. The Rokus also, however, give access to games and some very strange and unusual channels. I often get questions from lawyers who want to become more tech literate about what to do. My advice these days is to get Google TV or a Roku, and subscribe to the TWIT channels of Leo LaPorte. Just watching and listening for a couple of weeks will increase your tech intelligence. 

In The Days Before Apple Became The "Man"

Rebecca McKinnon is an activist fighting the battle for those of us who use the Internet, and wants us to take it back, before Governments and big Corporations get complete control. This TED speech is a powerful call to arms; especially in the way that it follows the history of Apple's beginnings as a small company seeking empowerment of the computer user to its attempts to control every bit and byte of information that a user views, writes, or sees on a computer or device. Today marks the launch of Apple's latest and greatest information delivery device, the "NEW" iPad, and it is as locked down and controlled as any before it. What kind of world do you want to live in? One controlled by information dictators or one in which information is freely accessible to all? Spend 15 minutes with Ms. McKinnon before you answer. She has a new book out, Consent of the Networked that postulates a revolutionary concept. Government and Corporations shouldn't control information without the informed consent of the people. Sounds like true democracy to me.

Yahoo! Yet Another Patent Litigation Bonanza!

Yahoo sues Facebook for infringing 10 patents | Reuters.

Okay, now it is getting out of hand. Yahoo, once the leading light of Internet social intercourse, is a company looking up at the upstarts like Google, Facebook, and others. However, it has survived, and has a new Sheriff who used to run PayPal. It sued Google when it did its IPO, and got a licensing deal for its many patents in the Internet space. Now, it has sued Facebook; and, well, it couldn't have happened to a more appealing target. What do you want to bet that Facebook gives Yahoo some of its new IPO stock in exchange for licensing some of the advertising patents? 

Is Google Becoming Apple?

Google To Devs: Use Our Payment System Or Be Dropped - Slashdot.

Google is in danger of violating its cardinal precept: "Don't Be Evil". There have been problems with Google Wallet, and it has not been adopted with the speed that Google would like. In fact, app developers for "Google Play", formerly known as "Android Market", are being told that their apps will be removed if they don't adopt the payment system, instead of using the ever popular PayPal, and other systems. Ouch. Google, are you becoming the "man"? First, you imitate Microsoft with a boneheaded name change to the Market. I really hate buying productivity apps from a site named "Google Play". Then, you imitate Apple with a draconian demand to "use our payment system" or "no soup for you". What is it about success that spoils?