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    Bryan Sims

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    Damn You Buzz Bruggeman!

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    Recently I had a self imposed (or maybe a wife imposed) moratorium on purchasing new software. Some days I think I like to collect software as much as I do other gadgets. To that end, I download a lot of free trial software, play with it for a while, and then discard it when the trial period expires.

    A little more than 60 days ago, I decided to download a free trial of ActiveWords, which was developed by Buzz Bruggeman. The principal behind ActiveWords is simple. You type in a few letters or a word and ActiveWords replaces what you typed either with other text, or by navigating to a website, or by launching a program, or by performing a set of actions.

    I have heard of ActiveWords for years, but I had never tried it before, figuring that I don’t really do that many things that it would be useful for. Oh how I was wrong.

    When I downloaded it, it took me a while to get things started. I quickly realized, however, that this program was designed for me. I am a minimalist when it comes to my desktop, my menus and my quick launch bar. I keep very few icons on my desktop and only my used programs on my quick launch bar. Additionally, I keep my menu very organized with folders and subfolders. This means that for programs I have to navigate through several submenus to launch a program I use infrequently.

    With ActiveWords, however, I simply assign an active word to the program. So, for example, when I type CM, ActiveWords launches CaseMap for me. If I type GM, ActiveWords launches Firefox and navigates to my GMail account. Similarly, Lit, navigates to my Litigation folder in My Computer.

    The program is easy to use. Adding new active words is easy and takes only a few seconds. Another great feature is that you can assign as many different words to perform the same function. For example, with the My Documents folder, depending on the day, I may think of it as mydocuments, docs, or mydocs. With ActiveWords I can associate each of these with the action of opening the My Documents folder. Thus, regardless of which word I type, the My Documents folder opens.

    In a very sneaky move, ActiveWords gives you a 60 day free trial of the program. This means that it gives you plenty of time to learn to use the program and get hooked on it. Once you start using ActiveWords, my guess is that you will not give it up easily. On day 61 I tried to perform an ActiveWords function and it did not work. After checking a few things, quickly realized that my free trial had expired. I briefly considered bravely computing without ActiveWords. After about 15 seconds, I had shelved that idea and was on ActiveWords’ website buying a copy of the program.

    Download this program and give it a whirl. If you start using, you will wonder how you lived without it. On day 61, I predict that you too will be taking Buzz’s name in vain and pulling out your credit card.

    One of the goals I have with this blog is to discuss the ways in which we can leverage technology to practice law more effectively. I know of no other utility that allows you to do this more efficiently and effectively than ActiveWords.

    Update: I wanted to add a couple of updates to this post. First, as alluded to in the comments below, ActiveWords installs a monitor bar that stretches across the top of you monitor. This bar allows easy access to ActiveWords and its features. It also shows when you are entering an active word. Personally, I hate when programs install monitor bars like this. I want to control my own desktop. Fortunately, the monitor bar is easily disabled. Had I not been able to disable the monitor bar, I would have uninstalled the program.

    Second, I do have one minor quibble with the program that I forgot to mention. When you are adding a command to navigate to a website or to open a particular folder, ActiveWords has a “Use Current” button that allows you to designate the open folder or website as the location to navigate to. My problem is that I use Firefox for web browsing and the Use Current button does not pull the address from the Firefox window.

    Update #2: The scripts that Buzz refers to below (that would not show up in the comments) are:

    To add an internet site:

    <alt>d</alt><ctrl>c</ctrl><ADD WIZARD:INTERNET><wait for window:title=Add New ActiveWord><ctrl>v</ctrl><tab><alt>n</alt>

    To toggle the Monitor Bar:

    <HIDE SHOW AWMONITOR>

    Thanks to Buzz for sharing these.

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    Acrobat & Mobiliti Problem

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    I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro 8 and Mobiliti Basic 7.1. I presume that most people are familiar with Acrobat. Mobiliti is a program that creates a virtual network on your laptop that allows you to access designated folders when you are disconnected from your network. I love this program. It allows me to keep my files synchronized. Plus, it preserves all of my file paths. I recommend it to anyone who uses a laptop.

    I have a problem that has been vexing me for a while, however. When I am disconnected from the network and running on the virtual network, Acrobat operates very slowly when trying to access the virtual network (either to save or open a file within Acrobat). When I click on a folder on the virtual network, it takes about 20 seconds for Acrobat to open that folder (yes, I counted).

    This can become very frustrating quite quickly.

    Has anyone else encountered this problem?

    Does anyone have any suggestions?

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    Fake Fax Signatures

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    Bruce Schneier has a great post on the apparent insecurity of fax signatures. Bruce is right of course in his assertion that fax signatures can be easily forged, especially if you have a copy of your signature on your computer.

    However, as Bruce points out, fax signatures are accepted because they are typically only one small part of a transaction and that there are other circumstances within a transaction that provide security that the fax signature is a valid binding signature.

    I loved his observation that:

    Signatures themselves are poorly defined. Sometimes a document is valid even if not signed: A person with both hands in a cast can still buy a house. Sometimes a document is invalid even if signed: The signer might be drunk, or have a gun pointed at his head. Or he might be a minor. Sometimes a valid signature isn’t enough; in the United States there is an entire infrastructure of “notary publics” who officially witness signed documents. When I started filing my tax returns electronically, I had to sign a document stating that I wouldn’t be signing my income tax documents. And banks don’t even bother verifying signatures on checks less than $30,000; it’s cheaper to deal with fraud after the fact than prevent it.

    Check out the entire post. It’s a great read.

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    Another Word Tip: Squeezing Text on a Page

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    I love tips that help us use MS Word more effectively. Nerino Petro at Compujurist has a great little post detailing how to take the last bit of text that appears by itself on the last page and squeeze it into the previous page. Not only does Nerino share this tip, but he also tells us how to do it in both Word 2003 and Word 2007.

    I would note that you should be wary of trying this on briefs that are filed with courts that enforce strict page limits and font sizes. Word adjusts the font sizes to repaginate the document.

    If you need to solve this problem, jump over to the post and see the details. I will give you a hint. The Print Preview feature plays an important role.

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    Favorite: Shrinkify

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    I have written before that TinyURL Creator is one of my favorite Firefox extensions. That is no more. I have a new favorite: Shrinkify. Both of these extensions do the same thing. Namely, they take a really long web address and convert it into something that is short and easily used.

    For example, if you search for Shrinkify on Google, the search results web address is: http://www.google.com/search?q=shrinkify&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

    That same address shrinkified is http://shrinkify.com/837. Similarly, the same address in a TinyURL is http://tinyurl.com/6ao2m4.

    Given that both of these do the same thing and both are accessed in the same manner (right click on the web page), one may wonder why I prefer Shrinkify over TinyURL Creator. That answer is simple. When I shrinkify a web address, I temporarily get a black band across the top of my screen telling me what the URL is. When I use TinyURL Creator, I get a box that tells me the URL. With TinyURL Creator, however, I have to click the box closed to make it go away. With Shrinkify, the information goes away automatically. Thus, Shrinkify saves me an entirely unnecessary mouse click.

    If you aren’t using anything to shrink your URLs, I encourage you to try one or both of these services. Both work fine and will make your URL life much more simple.

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    A Great Hard Drive Solution

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    HDD Dock

    If you have ever complained about having to swap a hard drive out of an external hard drive enclosure, I have found the perfect solution for you: The SATA HDD Multi-Function Dock.

    According to the website,

    This SATA HDD Dock allows you to plug any 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA Harddisk to your computer via USB or ESATA port, a powerful tool for data transfer, backup and cloning. It functions as a 2-port USB hub and card reader as well. The device is compatible with both PCs and Macs.

    Hat tip to Wired for bringing this to my attention.

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    Backups, An Interesting Contrast

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    As I was perusing my RSS reader this morning, I came across two blog posts that provided an interesting contrast. First was from the Illinois Trial Practice Weblog. There, Evan Schaeffer points us toward an article from PC World about why you should back up online.

    In contrast, I found a post from Futurelawyer pointing us toward an article from Lifehacker warning of some of the dangers of online backups.

    At first blush, these articles appear to contradict each other. A closer review reveals, however, that the concerns raised by Lifehacker are slightly different from what PC World is talking about. The PC World article gives a nice overview of some of the online backup services available. The Lifehacker post cautions people about using the unused disk space on their web server as a backup option.

    As PC World points out, one of the drawbacks to online backups is the expense. Recognizing this, Lifehacker had previously suggested putting unused disk space on your web server to use. In their latest post, however, they reveal that some web hosts are deleting the backup files as violations of the terms of service. Thus, if you are going to consider using this space for a backup, make sure you read your terms of service.

    That, of course, leaves unanswered the question of how you should backup. I believe that a multipronged approach is best. First I suggest a “local” backup of your computer on an external hard drive. I know that there are other media available. However, I think the hard drive is the easiest most convenient way to go. If you are in love with DVDs, so be it. You will need multiple hard drives because you will always need to keep at least one of these off site. This is to ensure that you have a copy of your data somewhere other than the same location your computer is.

    If your computer crashes, it’s of no concern that your backup drive was sitting by your CPU. If your building, floods, burns down, is swept off to Oz, etc., then you will certainly regret the fact that your backup drive was destroyed along with your regular drive. Thus, it is essential that you keep at least one copy of the backup off site at all times.

    If you have office that is separate from your house, this is fairly easy to do. Simply carry the backup drive from the office to your house and return the next morning with the next drive from your house to the office. This becomes more difficult if your office is in your house. If this is the case, you really need to find a location away from your house to regularly take your backups. This location, should be easy for you to access and it should be located somewhere that you can conveniently visit frequently.

    In addition to using backup drives and keeping them offsite, I also recommend that you find an online backup service and backup those critical data files (such as client files) with the online service. This gives you added protection in the event that a natural disaster hits both your office and your off site storage location. This is certainly possible with events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, tornadoes, etc. The online site gives you an additional location (hopefully in another part of the country) where your data can safely weather the storm.

    I know this seems like overkill. However, if you ever lose your data because of a hard drive crash or a natural disaster, you won’t think that it is overkill at all.

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    A Step in the Right Direction

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    The Illinois Supreme Court released a press release today announcing a plan for a unified efiling system throughout the state.

    Chief Justice Robert R. Thomas and the Illinois Supreme Court announced Friday a
    wide-ranging plan to build a technological infrastructure that would link electronically all the
    courts in the state’s 23 judicial circuits and 102 counties.

    Once completed, the plan would provide, among several features, a uniform system for
    the electronic filing of cases and case documents in all of the state’s trial courts. It also would
    bring together, under a uniform structure, other electronic business initiatives which the Court
    has allowed previously.

    The press release goes on to explain:

    At the heart of the plan is the development of an Illinois Judicial Branch portal using web-based technologies. Just as a portal like Yahoo or Google provides access to a myriad of information, the Illinois judicial portal would provide a single point for access to a broad scope of case information collected from cases filed in all 102 Illinois counties. The initiative would not relieve judicial circuits of their record-keeping responsibility, but the portal would provide a central point of access to trial court information and a single system to distribute trial court data to federal and state entities.

    “A critical component to the success of this project is the establishment of statewide technology standards that will allow the integration of the 23 judicial circuits’ information systems into a common link,” said Ms. Cobbs, the AOIC director. “The use of a central judicial branch portal, and the establishment of standards will ensure that Illinois’ use of technology to assist in the work of the courts is secure, uniform, and cohesive, rather than a patchwork of independent services.”

    The AOIC has been working with several national vendors to identify technologies that would implement a database platform, a statewide network and associated standards to support the e-business initiative. Director Cobbs and her staff also will be working with the Chief Judges of the 23 circuits, as well as with county officials to plan and implement the initiative as seamlessly as possible.

    This press release says all of the right things, however, I am troubled by the comment that:

    Unlike the federal court system, in the Illinois trial courts, there is no uniform case management system and thus, implementing an e-filing system like the one that is utilized in the federal courts is not possible.

    So, can they implement one unified system or not?

    With respect to timing, the Court announced:

    A time frame for full implementation of uniform statewide e-filing and other e-business is uncertain, but it is expected to be phased in over a period of three to five years. The cost of development will be funded through judicial branch resources, and other sources of funding will have to be identified as needed.

    You can download a copy of the press release here.

    This seems to be a step in the right direction. However, it appears a little sparse on the details. I am curious to see what their actual plans are. I know that I have been clamoring for efiling in Illinois. As much as I want to see it arrive, I also want to see it arrive in a form that benefits the practitioner.

    For now, I will accept this announcement for the good news it appears to be.

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    SaaS and Support Options

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    Web-Tones recently posted an entry titled Darkside of SaaS. In the post, the author explains:

    As we move more and more of our computing to the cloud one thing will become painfully obvious. It is not the service provider with the coolest interface or lowest cost that will win. It is the provider that can deliver 24/7 world class support.

    He then asserts:

    Here is a dirty little secret about SaaS: a major screw up on the provider’s part can bring your online world tumbling down in a NY second. Try to find a number that you can call and ask a question like WTF just happened? Nope, can’t do it. Just have to submit a ticket to the cloud and hope that someone responds in time to save that major deal you are working on.

    I think he is right, as far as he goes, but the problems he highlights are not limited to SaaS applications. You have these same problems with the company that provides your internet service, or fixes your computer when it breaks, or, for that matter, services process for you.

    Anytime that you are about to enter into agreements with providers, you need to ask yourself what happens if something goes drastically wrong. If you lose your connection to your SaaS provider, do you have another way to access the information? If your internet connection goes down, does your provider guarantee to have it back up in a certain period of time? Do you have an alternate connection you can use? When your computer crashes, does your service contract provide for on site service within 24 hours or do you have to send the computer off site to be fixed? When you must have someone served immediately, can you reach your process server and will she get the person served for you?

    You should be asking the same type of questions with all of these service providers. Of course the answers you want may not be the same. For some people, it is vitally important that they be able to reach their service provider 24/7/365. For others, they may need to reach someone only between 7 am and 10 pm.

    The important thing is that before you sign a contract for any of these services, you need to decide what is important to you. Then find a provider that will meet your requirements. If you must be able to speak with someone in support at 3 am on Saturdays, make sure you can do this. If you need guaranteed uptime of of a certain amount, find someone who will give you that guarantee and who actually has penalties that give the guarantee teeth.

    As Web-Tones emphasized, depending on your requirements, cost may be the lowest factor in consideration when shopping for a SaaS or any other provider.

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    My Social Media Presence

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    I am not sure why, but it feels strange to say that. However, I do have one a presence and I might as well make it easy to find.

    My LinkedIn page can be found here.

    I have also recently started using Twitter. My Twitter page is here. Cleverly, my Twitter name is Bryan_Sims. Please note the underscore. Although I suppose you can follow the other BryanSims (note, no underscore). His life is probably more interesting than mine, given that he is the CEO of brass Media.

    If you are not familiar with Twitter, I urge you to check it out. Twitter allows you to broadcast what you are doing 140 characters at a time. I avoided Twitter for a long time, fearing that I might like it. That prophecy has proven true. The reality is that no one can really explain the Twitter experience to you. You must check it out for yourself to truly understand it.

    If you want a good guide to getting started with Twitter, I recommend this blog post from Michael Hyatt. He gives a step by step introduction to getting started with Twitter. What are you waiting for? Start tweeting.

    Once you get started, you will probably want to add some Twitter Tools to your arsenal. My favorite is probably Twitbin, which is an extension for Firefox. I have been having problems with Twitbin lately, however, and have switched to twhirl, which I like a lot.

    If you use a Palm device, you can use MoTwit to tweet from the road.