Futurelawyer

Linksys WRT54GX Wireless-G Broadband Router with SRX > Photo Gallery

Link: Linksys WRT54GX Wireless-G Broadband Router with SRX
Is it time to upgrade your home or office wireless network? If you are like the FutureLawyer, you had to install multiple access points or WiFi extenders to get the signal throughout your home or office. 802.11G Routers with an alleged range of 100 feet only go 30 feet through walls and related obstructions at my home and office. The new N standard routers use MIMO technology to extend that range and speed ten fold. MIMO stands for Multiple In Multiple Out, and it uses several antennas. These new routers are more expensive (think $122 street), or about what G routers cost when they first came out a couple of years ago. However, you shouldn't need an extender or extra access point in the house, and early adopters are saying that you don't need to update the wifi cards in your other computers to gain speed and distance. Of course, a new Pre-N card in your notebook will help, but is not necessary. I am a fan of the LinkSys products, both for reliability and ease of use, and I will be trying one of these "Pre-N" routers in the near future. I will let you know what I think when I actually install one.

Bringing consumer fraud, class action and whistleblower cases nationwide from its Tampa, Florida headquarters - James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich PA

Link: Bringing consumer fraud, class action and whistleblower cases nationwide from its Tampa, Florida headquarters - James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich PA. I just spent a great lunch hour looking at the home-grown paperless office and law firm management system at James Hoyer in Tampa. John Newcomer showed the system to me, and it is wonderful. Every document coming in to the firm is scanned into the database, and every phone message, pleading, email and time slip is accessible from a web based intranet, using the Novell Groupwise browser interface. It also works in Microsoft Outlook. They call it Flat Rock, and are planning to bring it to market in the future. Lawyers designing software for lawyers - what a concept!

E-Mail Addiction Is Good! - Forbes.com

Link: E-Mail Addiction Is Good! - Forbes.com. Are you addicted to email? As I ask the question, I think about how many times a day I check my email , either on the computer at home or at the office, or on the Treo during the day. What is addiction anyway? We all have addictive behaviors; some of these are socially acceptable and some are not. Some are healthy and some are not. The experts tell us that addiction is an excessive activity, and beyond normal behavior. But, what is normal? As Arik Hesseldahl postulates in this article, email addicted people are generally productive people. I remember the discussions in the 80s about "Type A" personalities; you know, the people who bang the elevator door button. Are they addictive personalities? Sometimes, we all get a little too wrapped up in being productive. Maybe we need to relax a little. Enjoy life. Do things we enjoy. Like checking our email every 10 minutes.

Valence - NCharge Li-Ion battery for computers

Link: Valence - Li-Ion battery for computers. One of the disadvantages of having a two year old notebook computer (my trusty Dell X200 limps along with an 800 mhz Pentium III chip) is that the battery life is old-school. It never went more than two hours on a charge, and that was before the Verizon EV-DO wireless broadband PC card. Nowadays, I only get about an hour and fifteen minutes per battery, and I carry two spares with me. Fortunately, I never need more than an hour of battery life, and it is rare that I have to go to one of the spares. However, the occasion does arise, as on my recent Chicago trip, and the NCharge from Valence really fits the bill. This slice style battery carries a 10 hour life and plugs right into the Dell. It has adapters for just about any electronic device you can imagine, and charges up in about 2 hours. Very cool. I am writing this post on the Dell using the NCharge battery slice, and uploading it with the Verizon broadband card. We are mobile, dude.

Solutions from PC Magazine: Securing Bluetooth Devices

Link: Solutions from PC Magazine: Securing Bluetooth Devices. More and more of us are walking around with little gadgets in our ears, ostensibly talking to ourselves. I have written in this space about a couple of blue tooth cell phone ear sets, the Jabra BT200 and the Motorola version. However, just like WiFi, except over a shorter 30 foot range, bluetooth devices are sending a radio signal from the device to our cell phone or computer or whatever computer appliance we happen to have paired it with. That signal can be intercepted, and blue tooth hackers have started sending viruses to unprotected blue tooth devices. Make certain that you use 8 character PIN codes when you pair your bluetooth devices, don't automatically accept incoming pairing requests, and make your device invisible by choosing the "non-discoverable" option during pairing. And, remember, don't ever say anything on a cell phone or a blue tooth headset you wouldn't want your mother to hear. Be careful out there.

Gyronix - Turning ideas into action

Link: Gyronix - Turning ideas into action. Well, the recent Blawgthink conference I attended was very productive. One of the tools used at the conference was the add-on for MindManager by MindJet, ResultsManager, by Gyronix. I consider MindManager a knowledge analysis tool, and ResultsManager allows the combination of projects, analyses and brainstorms about a problem or task. While CaseMap, TimeMap, and similar software helps manage and present current knowledge about a case, ResultsManager streamlines and makes graphic the idea and thinking processes that get us to conclusions about tasks or problems. It is easily suited to thinking about a case, but can be used for any problem. Think of it as organizing your thought processes into graphic flowcharts. The FutureLawyer remains unconvinced, but I haven't spent a lot of time with the software yet. Most lawyers make lists: laundry lists, task lists, things to do in a case; but, we seldom create relationships between lists. ResultsManager takes all the flotsam and jetsam from our brains, and attempts to organize it so that we think about those relationships. At least , that is what I think it does. I will keep you posted. Right now, I have to make a list of things to do today. Let's see, eat leftover turkey, relax, watch football, eat turkey...

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all. We have much to be thankful for. Here's hoping that you and your family are healthy and together. I am using my new Skype In account to call relatives spread out over the country. The little MVox speaker phone and earphone work great, and Skype allows the calling of any phone in the world over the net for about $36 a year. See, even on Turkey Day, we can find productive uses for our technology! Check out Skype  or MVox at their websites.

Nokia 770 handheld tablet PC

The Linux based handheld PC from Nokia , the 770, looks like an innovative product. It is tiny, has an 800 x 400 screen, uses rock-solid Linux Tablet PC as an operating system, and allows WiFi Internet browsing in the palm of your hand. VoIP telephony support won't be coming until next year, however, with the arrival of the next iteration of the operating system, and I have really gotten spoiled by my EV-DO card in my Dell notebook, which makes the old search for WiFi hotspots a thing of the past. However, if you want to be mobile, and you are secure that you will be able to find a hotspot wherever you go, then this little guy has a lot going for it. You can use it to listen to music and Internet radio, and check your email. Except that you need to have access to a WiFi hotspot. Oh, well.

Seidio Portable Charger for PDAs

If you intend to be the mobile lawyer or paralegal, you will, someday, run out of battery power at an inopportune time. While most PDA batteries will last a full day, I carry a spare battery for my Treo 650 just in case. But, what if you don't have a spare battery with you? I can't remember a time when I left the umbrella at home that it didn't rain. Enter Seidio and other gadget makers with a great idea. This little key ring charger plugs in to the bottom of your PDA or SmartPhone (you have to buy one with the connector for your device), and then plugs in to a standard 9 Volt battery available anywhere. It provides immediate power to the device, or , left alone, will charge the device to about 40% strength in an hour. That will give you half a day of use until you can get to a car battery or power source. Pretty neat, and cheap insurance. These little guys run about $20 street. Check Ebay out, and use your device name and emergency 9-Volt adapter as key words.

St. Petersburg Times Online- How patent suit became judge's nightmare

Link: St. Petersburg Times Online. If you have a BlackBerry, and rely on the BlackBerry network for your messages and email, you need to read this article from the AP's business writer, Stephanie Stoughton. It contains a really good explanation of the current status of the RIM patent infringement action, and the stakes involved. According to Stoughton, RIM is prepared to pay NTP, the tiny holder of the email patents RIM was found by a jury, three years ago, to have infringed, up to One Billion Dollars to make the case go away. If, like my wife, your BlackBerry is glued to your ear, you are hearing music now. I find BlackBerrys annoying, but to each his or her own, right?