I Heart Tech

A Laptop Must-Have: Extra Battery Power

On the road again, I've finally found some time to paste a post. I'm back in Nebraska working with some of my favorite clients at their two-attorney, one-assistant firm. It's not easy getting here, it takes four take-offs and landings; two of those on prop planes that could just make you cry. I was looking forward to the time to get some work done on the computer, which I've not had a lot of time to do. Normally, I can't do much of that because the battery life on my laptop just doesn't last long enough. Well, a couple of weeks ago I was in Williamsburg, Virginia for the spring meeting of the LPM Section of the ABA. I was there with the rest of the TECHSHOW Board for the first installment of our 2008 planning geekends. Between the likes of John Simek and Tom Mighell there can be a lot of gadgetry happening in one small room. Debbie Foster - henceforth referred to as DebStar - pulled out the next must-have in my tech arsenal. She slapped an unassuming silver slab onto the table. Naturally, I high-eyebrowed her and asked what it was. She looked at me as if I had slapped her, "it's a battery for my laptop," she replied with that duh-you-call-yourself-a-techie-look. I don't know where I've been because I've never heard about universal notebook batteries. She went on to tell me that it adds 6 hours of time to her laptop. I IMMEDIATELY hopped on the internet and ordered this APC UPB60 Universal Notebook Battery because that's the one DebStar had.

First the Tablet Lawyer...Now This

Just when I thought it couldn´t get any better, along comes the PDA Lawyer! How great is this blog!? I learned about it thru Jonathan Stein´s The Practice Blog where Grant Griffiths (aka The PDA Lawyer) posted this guest post about his love affair with a Treo650. Of course, I can totally relate. His wesbite also links to another great resource for law students and lawyers alike - the New York Law School´s JurisPDA site.

I´ll take a moment to wish you all a wonderful holiday this week.  I am still in Uruguay and yes, they do have the internet here! I´m paying 10 pesos ($.41an hour - no that is not a typo)  to log on at an internet cafe here in Minas. This afternoon I´m off to the beautiful beaches of Punta Del Este. Happy Thanksgiving!

Out-teched by the Tablet Lawyer

It's not every day that I get out-teched. And it's certainly not every day that a lawyer strikes out and does it. Here's how it all went down:

Last Saturday I initiated a standard (and now perceived lame) email to one James Province - aka the Tablet Lawyer. You might be interested to know that James and I are presenting together at next week's Technology Solutions for the Mississippi Practitioner on "The Wireless Office". I eagerly awaited his response - at the beach. (Yes, that's right. Last Saturday OCTOBER  21st I was at the beach - All Hail Florida!) Well, when his email arrived in Chattermail (the email client I use on my Treo) it displayed: <Handwritten Content>. My eyebrow went up. Eh? What's this all about? I don't see any "handwritten content" - but I sure would like to! Chattermail wouldn't open it so I tried Versamail (the email client native to the Treo) - it also displayed <Handwritten Content> but it had a GIF attachment. A-ha! So I clicked on the attached image and there it was - a friggin' handwritten note.

I was dumb. Dumb like I get when a really beautiful man talks to me and I can't talk back. I rubbed my eyeballs to make sure I hadn't gotten some sand in my eye - and yep - clear as day I could read his nice note. I turned to my friend - who is not often impressed by technology (I know. I should fire him) - and his comment was "Whoa - that's so much more personal than a regular email!". I was dumb again. Yes, he's beautiful but also because I had not even thought of that yet!

Later I had a really great chat with James about how he discovered and uses a tablet in his busy practice. He sent me another sample of a "snippet" he took of his website with MORE handwritten content. If you've  been thinking about a Tablet PC and if it fits into your practice you should check out his website or contact James. I should mention that I have a tablet. And I love it - but really because it's so small and lightweight. I haven't even explored it's tablet side (no pun intended) but I am totally inspired to do so now.

As I mentioned, I don't like getting out-teched - even by such a nice guy. I'm gearing up for a Tech Showdown next week. See you in Mississippi, Mr. Tablet Lawyer!

So Long Summer

Well, there it went. Labor Day weekend - the finish-line for summer. I'm grieving. I love summer. I hate to see it go. Summer is why I live in Florida - because we get It for a lot longer than most. Hopefully, it will still be here when I get back. I'm off to Spain for a three week training gig at a law firm going through an upgrade. I've been so busy that I've hardly had time to do any pre-travel prep - especially figuring out how I'll get connected once there. If you don’t hear from me until the end of September, you'll know why. (Either I never found the Internet OR I found myself a handsome Matador with whom to drink wine and eat tapas.) Most apropos to this trip and not too long ago I wrote a little article for TechnoLawyer title "Me and My Briefcase: The Technology I Use as a Girl on the Go.” Thought I would post it here in case you don't subscribe (and you should).