Futurelawyer

Google Duo - One On One Communication Gets The Group Treatment

Google Duo Update. Before Zoom, Google Meet, and all the other video conferencing apps that everyone is now using, I was using Google Duo to communicate with my spouse, Diane. Since both of us use Samsung Galaxy phones, with the latest Android OS, just installing Duo gave us instant connection by video call anytime we wanted. We didn't need to add others to our one on one expressions of love and kisses. I know, yuck. TMI. But, there it is. Now, however, Google is updating the app to permit group conferencing with a decidedly fun direction. Call me, maybe?

 

Lock Your Screen...Take Your Brain

Smart Lock Is Android's Best Kept Secret. Now that you are working from home a lot, you aren't tethered to a desk at work. So, your Android phone isn't safely ensconced next to you on your desk all the time. Kids, deliveries, distractions, kitchen, etc all conspire for your attention, and the interruptions can play havoc with your mobile devices. Leave the room and have to log back in when you come back? Not feasible. Android solved the problem a while ago, with SmartLock. SmartLock keeps your device unlocked and ready to go when in the presence of a trusted device, like your earbuds or earphones, Smartwatch, or other bluetooth device on your person. So, come back to your home office, and it's like you never left. Now, get back to work.

Best Fifty Dollars Any Florida Trial Lawyer Will Spend This Year

Florida Litigation Guide. One of the most useful online tools I have found for my practice in recent years has been the Florida Litigation Guide. This wonderful site brings together every conceivable cause of action that might come up in a Florida lawyer's practice and highlights the elements of the action, gives case citations about the cause of action, and a blueprint for drafting pleadings in a specific case. This is truly the Florida litigator's Bible. For $49 a year, it is a no brainer purchase for the active, practicing lawyer. What's on your computer?

Can't Be There For Grandma? Use Remote Desktop For Windows 10

How To Use Remote Desktop In Windows 10. There is a lot of remote computing going on these days. Lawyers, staff, clients, and others are communicating with each other over remote video conferencing software connected to the Internet. But, there is a whole class of persons who don't need to connect that way with their offices and clients. I am speaking of that vastly ignored percentage of our population that has a computer, and access to the Internet; but, who thinks the DVD tray is a cupholder. When someone tells them to press any key, they look around the keyboard for a key marked: "any". You know who they are. You might be them. What happens to them? Who will help them? Some of us are the designated family tech guy. If a computer isn't working properly, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters? No, you are going to call the FutureLawyer, or some other unfortunate soul who is unlucky enough to know more about your computer than you do. So, who is looking out for us? Who is looking out for Grandma? Well, I am happy to report that Microsoft Windows 10 has a solution. It is called Remote Desktop, and allows tech gurus to access a computer over the Internet as if they were there. Oh joy. Oh, happy day. Now, I can provide tech support to the entire extended family. Can you guess how happy that makes me?

If WFH Is The New Normal, It Has To Be Work

I am seeing more and more posts about working from home. Will it become the new normal? I hate that phrase, by the way. It implies that whatever happens is the same for everyone. It suggests that we all have to do the same thing in order to be accepted as "normal". Whatever that means. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not "normal". I love being an outlier, and challenging expectations, whether it be how a 72 year old should act, or whether I should use so much tech, or whatever else. In any event, I have been doing the WFH thing half time for many years, and I have learned some things. One of the biggies is that this photo is NOT the way to work at home. First, the couch is for sleeping or watching TV, not working. Second, I can't begin to describe the pain to the joints and arms by balancing a computer on your lap like that. Third, one false move and that $2,000 computer is on the floor. Need I go on? So, Ms. Lawyer, get a room. Get a table and chair, and sit upright in front of the computer. Limit interruptions. Use a standing desk, if that is your preference. Get an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. Keep your documents and files close at hand. Now, take a nap and get your strength up. You're going to need it.

Traveling With The FutureLawyer - In The Deep, Dark Past

So, lawyer, you think you are cool because you are working remotely during the pandemic. Here is the FutureLawyer in action 8 years ago.

 

8 Years Ago

 

 

Richard Georges

May 4, 2012 · 

 

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 L network. If I decide to check out the sights, my Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone comes 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.

 

Remote Lawyering Before It Was Fashionable

It seems like longer than 7 years ago, and this RV is a memory; but, I was practicing remote lawyering even then. Rock on.

7 Years Ago

 

Richard Georges

April 28, 2013 · 

 

Sunday Morning Fun. I am always looking for ways to show my readers the benefits of new technology. So, when I got my RV back after having the engine rebuilt (long story), I parked it in front of the house this weekend to work on it. It cost $98 to fill the gas tank (I think gas was $1.50 a gallon when I had it last), and $150 to update the Registration; but I am willing to go the extra mile for my readers. Photo One shows the ancient beast sitting in my front yard. It occurred to me that the old road warrior still had some life in her. Nobody in my family will set foot in it, since they are afraid it will break down again. Oh, they of little faith. But, it occurred to me that that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I had dreams of solitary weekends in the great outdoors, with a comfortable bed and air conditioning waiting for me at night, and listening to the birds and the animals all night long, and fishing or swimming all day. But, I digress. How could I survive without Internet access? How could I show my readers what it is like to be in the wild? Then, I discovered the old 32 inch LCD TV I had left in the coach. Eureka! As you know, I just bought a small, light Chromebook last week, and the Acer model C7 has an HDMI out port. So, just for fun, I plugged the Chromebook into the TV, and found that my front yard has access to my home DSL router. Internet! This post is being written on the RV desk, while I am in the front yard communing with nature through the RV window. Photo Two shows what it looks like to camp out in the FutureLawyer universe.
Hey! I could park this thing in the Courthouse parking lot, and practice law out of it? This reminds me of the Seventies TV series, Petrocelli. If you are too young to remember it, look it up. Or, when we thought a great adventure was camping out in the back yard! Oh, youth. Oh, happy days. I think I feel a solo road trip coming on.

Hey, Facebook Users...Get A Room!

Facebook Messenger Rooms. Enter a third major player in the burgeoning video teleconferencing app field. Zoom and Google Meet have been jockeying for control of the new normal way of group communication for weeks now; but, the 800 pound gorilla, Facebook, has entered the fray. With an installed base that dwarfs Zoom and Google, the billions of Facebook users who already use Facebook Messenger to communicate, now can create bigger groups for conferencing within the app they are already using all day long. It is now available for installation on your desktop, and I predict that it will be a popular option to keep in touch with family and friends, without the additional complications of learning a new app. Most of us use Facebook Messenger to send and receive private text based messages; but, now that more of us are using the video camera and microphone combinations on our computers, I expect that video calling will become much more popular among Facebook users. With all of its faults, Facebook has many positive impacts on many of us, and I have gone back and forth about it over the years. Now, an easy way to get facetime with our loved ones and friends and colleagues is more than convenient. It is a necessity to stay connected. Call me, maybe?

Zoom Increases Privacy And Security With Update

Zoom Update Boosts Privacy And Security. Let us begin with this: Nothing on the Internet is secure. Just get over it. Some Internet apps are more secure in different ways. Suck it up. Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about the subject de jour, video conferencing. Yes, Virginia, we are doing more of it. No, Virginia, none of the video conferencing apps is immune from hackers and script kiddies who want to photo bomb you. But, as with all things Internet, security mostly lies between your ears. Educate yourself. Use the tools. Use passwords. Limit the persons you invite to your conferences, and don't publish the links on public sites. This isn't brain surgery. Now, if you want to extend encryption, there are improvements that can be made. Zoom, the most popular choice, has updated its software to meet this need. But, even lawyers talking to clients aren't required to have 100% security. The word "reasonable" is used for a reason. Jeez.

Something Else My Galaxy Watch Will Do That Your Rolex Won't

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active Blood Pressure. I have written before about why I prefer my Galaxy Watch to expensive luxury watches. The average Rolex costs over $5,000 and does two things, keep time and date. Wow. But, my $400 Galaxy Watch does texts, emails, steps, heart rate, music, telephone calls, games, and much more. I have gotten used to checking my heart rate and counting steps. Now, by the end of the year, I will be able to check my blood pressure. I will still need my cuff for calibration; but, that's it. The typical Smartwatch is hundreds of times more useful than a luxury watch. What's on your wrist?