By Geri Dreiling

I use Skype regularly for video meetings. Occasionally, I want to share my computer screen as I go over a project with my clients or project coworkers. Screen sharing used to be a free feature on Skype but now it requires a premium membership. The cost starts at $4.99 a month. While it may not seem like much, those seemingly little expenses can quickly add up to a bloated business overhead.

I decided to give Google Hangouts, a free service, a try. It is essentially Google’s response to Skype and is available to set up if you have a Google Plus profile. You can conduct video meetings with one or multiple users. You can share computer screens with Hangout participants. You can even live stream the conference and save it to YouTube.

To access Google Hangouts go to your Google Plus page and in the left margin select the “more” category.

Then select the Hangouts option

A window will open that will allow you to start the hangout.

You can invite friends to your Hangout by typing in their names, email addresses or even telephone numbers. Calls are free for U.S. and Canadian phone numbers.

Check the box and you can broadcast your chat live. Conversely, if you don’t want to broadcast it live, be sure that box is not checked!

After testing Google Hangouts and comparing it to Skype, here are the pros and cons.

It is free

This is obviously positive. Not only can you share screens for free but you can also carry on a conversation with multiple users in one Hangout without an added cost. The free version of Skype is limited to two users per call. And as an added bonus, if you choose to add someone to a Hangout using their telephone number rather than a Google Plus profile, it is free for U.S. and Canadian telephone numbers.

Screen sharing

When you’re reviewing documents with someone, the ability use your cursor to point to specific provisions and discuss the text is critical. It is easier to clear up questions and even make edits in real time.

Call quality

When I tested Google Hangouts, the quality of the connection wasn’t as good as what I was used to while using Skype. The sound was not as clear. Sharing screens was extremely slow. In spite of having a slider for adjusting the bandwidth usage, the quality didn’t seem to be great even while using full bandwidth. I eventually got tired of the sound quality and re-connected via Skype. The sound quality improved immediately.

Live streaming

Live streaming is fantastic or worrisome depending on your fret-ometer. It would be great for conducting public question-and-answer interviews on legal topics that could be uploaded to YouTube and added to the law firm’s website.

But no one wants to accidentally live stream attorney-client conferences or any meetings with confidentiality concerns. I worried that I was accidentally streaming my conversation live even though I had not checked the option. As anyone who has ever misfired an email knows, operator error is always a risk.  For users like me who fret, Google allows you to disable Hangouts on Air. Here is the guide for administrators.

Security

When it comes to security, the frequently asked questions section of Google Hangouts says:

All hangout video and audio streams are encrypted, so when users are off site, they can still join hangouts securely from outside of your company without VPN. In addition, all other features of hangouts (such as chat and integrated Google Drive files) are served over https, with the exception of YouTube content.

Google also states it does not store the data.

An online search of security flaws uncovered one developer’s post who claimed he was able to exploit a security issue that allowed him to listen in Hangout chats.

Skype’s disclosure states that it uses the Advanced Encryption Standard which is also used the by U.S. government to protect sensitive information. However, Skype also notes that if one of the users is on a mobile or landline, that part of the call is not encrypted.

As with all things digital, Skype users still need to be alert for malware and fake apps.

The Verdict

From a sound quality standpoint, I still prefer Skype. However, if you want to create marketing videos using a question and answer format, Hangouts might be one option to consider.

Have you used Google Hangouts? Do you prefer Google Hangouts to Skype?

Related posts:

1. How to Use Skype in Your Law Practice
2. Google Voice Search and Voice Actions Review
3. Are public WiFi networks really safe?

By Geri L. Dreiling, Esq.

A few weeks ago, my Outlook died. Technically, it didn’t die, it just wouldn’t open. Errors were detected in a file and I needed to run an inbox repair tool. Unfortunately, the repair tool was difficult to find.

In the interim, I still needed to respond to work emails. My firm email is through Go Daddy and I could log into Web mail to review my emails. I could also retrieve my emails using my Samsung Galaxy SIII and on my iPad. But I was having a hard time organizing the incoming messages.

That’s when I decided to use Gmail as a temporary fix. I already have a Gmail account but I haven’t used it for work. I didn’t want my clients to receive an email from a gmail.com address. But Google offers a way around the issue. Gmail subscribers who own other email addresses may add them to Gmail and send an email using that outside address.

When you send from Gmail, your clients aren’t likely to notice. The “from” line has your work email address listed. There might be a “mailed by Gmail” header appearing after your work email address but it is not intrusive.

Adding an Outside Email Address to Gmail

If you want the flexibility of using a Gmail account but you don’t want to respond to clients using a Gmail address, here are the steps to follow for adding an outside email address to Gmail:

1. Navigate to settings.
   

   Gmail settings

2. Click on the “Accounts and Import” tab.
3. Scroll down to “Send mail as” and select “Add another email address you own.”
4. Add the email address when prompted by the pop-up window and hit next.
5. You can choose whether to send your email through Gmail or the SMTP server of the email address you are adding. I chose the send through Gmail which activated an email to my law firm website account with an approval link. I clicked on the link by accessing my email account via Go Daddy’s Web mail.
6. I then navigated back to the accounts and import tab and selected the option that allows me to automatically reply from the same email address as the message was sent.

I did eventually fix my Outlook. (For more, read here.) However, I haven’t made the switch back to the Microsoft program. Instead, I’m still relying on Gmail as my central email dashboard.

Organizing Emails in Gmail

I’m still experimenting with creating an organizing system in Gmail that is intuitive for me but here are a few quick tips.

• If an email involves an action item that cannot be resolved with a quick response, I click the star option so I don’t lose track of the item.
• I use Gmail labels as folders. For emails that contain information I might need to refer back to while working on a project, I attach the label and move them out of the inbox to reduce the clutter. You can even color-code labels by hovering the cursor over the label listing in the left margin of the page.
• If you use keyboard shortcuts, try pressing the “?” key when your cursor is on the screen but not in any of the input fields. A Gmail shortcut reference card will appear on the screen. You can also check the full Gmail shortcut list here.
• Use the search box at the top of the screen to track down emails. The search can be micro-targeted to specific tags.

Filter Emails

Finally, to reduce the clutter in your email inbox, you can create filters by following these steps:

• Perform a search in the search box for an email address (from:address@example.com).
• If you are given the search results you desired, click the drop-down arrow at the right edge of the search box and the advanced search options appear. You can even refine your search using these options.
• At the bottom right there’s a link with the text: “Create filter with this search.” Click it.
• The next square that appearing is intuitive. You can select “Apply the label” to file the email as well as “Never send it to spam” to prevent missing an important email from your trusted contacts. Then click “create filter” and apply to all previous matching conversations.
• Another option to create, edit or disable filters is to select Gear icon > Settings > Filters.

For more tips on advanced search features in Gmail, Google has prepared this chart. And recently, Google announced that it has launched a field trial to preview improvements to Gmail search features.

Have you used Gmail for work? Do you have any tips you’d like to share? If so, we welcome your ideas and suggestions in the comments section below this post.

Related posts:

1. Microsoft Outlook in the Law Firm: Three Oft-Overlooked Productivity Tips
2. Outlook distribution lists, calendars and printing tips
3. How to Find Your Bookmarks Across Computers and Sync with Browsers

By Enrique Serrano and Geri L. Dreiling, Esq.

Technology is moving at a breakneck pace. With the release of the 4th generation iPad and the iPad Mini, accompanied by the discontinuation of the so-called “new iPad,” it is easy to get lost among all the different iPad models. What are their names? What are their most distinctive features? Are they worth the upgrade?

To answer these questions — and shed light on the latest improvements — we plugged the key information into the following time-saving chart.

What Are the Main Improvements of the 4th Generation iPad?

These are the key improvements and features of the newest iPad, the “iPad with Retina display”:

• The A6 processor on the new iPad was a good step forward when compared to the Dual-core A5 processor of the iPad 2. However, the newest iPad 4 comes with an Apple A6X dual-core processor with an enhanced quad-core graphics processing unit. According to Apple, the processor performance of the iPad 4 is double the performance of the previous “new iPad.”
• The enhanced processor doesn’t imply less battery life, which should still last around 10 hours, as stated by Apple.
• In spite of being the only iPad officially named “with Retina display,“ the high resolution screen of the 4th generation iPad is the same Retina screen that came with the 3rd generation “new iPad,” offering a 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution at 264 ppi.
• The size and weight of this latest model remain unchanged from the previous version, and they aren’t very different from the dimensions and weight of the iPad 2.
• The 4th iPad comes with a so-called Lightning connector that replaces the 30-pin dock connector of the previous iPad versions. That means that if you owned docks, cables and peripherals for other previous iPad versions, they will be incompatible with the new iPad models released from now on.

Is It Worth Upgrading to a 4th Generation iPad?

The main question, though, is whether the iPad 4 (officially dubbed “iPad with Retina Display”) is worth purchasing as an upgrade of your previous iPad. It depends. Chances are that you can safely skip that upgrade without missing much if you already owned a “new iPad.” However, each one of the previous upgrades made sense under specific circumstances:

• The iPad 2 introduced a noticeable difference in size and weight when compared to the iPad 1. If you liked the portability of the iPad, the weight difference made the upgrade worthwhile. The new version also came with a welcome processor upgrade.
• The “new iPad” 3 first introduced the high-resolution Retina screen which is its most distinctive feature. However, the screen of the iPad 2 was already easy-to-read, so an upgrade was not mandatory. That said, images and texts look stunningly crisp and clean on the Retina screen.
• The 4th generation iPad with Retina display doesn’t improve the display when compared to the previous (and now discontinued) 3rd generation “new iPad”. Its most noticeable improvement is the upgrade of its processor, with two times more performance according to Apple.

Therefore, if you already own a 3rd generation iPad and you feel it works slow, then upgrading to the 4th generation “iPad with Retina display“ could be a good idea. And there will be apps in the future that take advantage (or even require) that enhanced processing power.

But until that moment arrives, chances are that a 3rd generation iPad would work well for you: it has a great screen, it usually works fast enough, and it won’t make your previous dock obsolete. If you are on a budget and care more about functionality over screen resolution, an iPad 2 can still be a good choice for you.

Key Facts about the Apple Mini iPad

• The iPad Mini is the smallest and lightest iPad. You can hold its 7.87 x 5.3 inches in one hand and it approximately weighs half an iPad 2 (0.68 pounds.)
• The A5 dual core processor is the same processor used on the iPad 2.
• The display has the same screen resolution as the iPad 2 (1024 x 768 pixels) but it only measures 7.9 inches in diagonal (vs. the 9.7 inches on the screen of the iPad 2.) That means that your old apps will still work perfectly on this iPad Mini, but you will see them inside a smaller screen, with a higher density of points per inch (163 vs. 432 ppi.)
• The camera on the iPad Mini is the same as the camera on the iPad 4 – a 5 MP iSight camera capable of 1080p HD video recording, better than the camera of the iPad 2 (which has a more basic 960 x 720 camera.)

Is the iPad Mini Good for You?

If your smartphone falls short for some tasks, while you still find the standard iPad too bulky, then the bigger and more powerful iPad Mini might be a good option for you. However, we don’t see the iPad Mini as a replacement for a smartphone (as you would still have to carry that gadget with you to pick up your calls) and, according to our experience with smaller tablets, the bigger size of the display in the other iPad versions is useful and welcome when reading, browsing or working with professional apps, specially with continued usage.

The iPad Mini is a compact tablet that is good for casual browsing and reading on the go. Although it is a more expensive tablet than its competitors (starting at $329 USD at the time of this writing,) it is still the cheapest iPad currently available, and has a screen slightly bigger than the new $159 Amazon Kindle Fire and the recently confirmed $199 Google Nexus 7 tablets.

There are competitive alternatives with an edge over the iPad mini. The 7″ Amazon Kindle Fire HD, sold at $199, is cheaper than the $329 iPad Mini and has a higher resolution display (at 216 ppi vs. the 163 ppi on the iPad Mini). Indeed, Amazon claimed achieving record Kindle Fire HD sales the day after the iPad Mini was introduced. Even the 8.9″ Kindle Fire HD, with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels at 254 ppi, is less expensive than the iPad Mini, retailing at $299.

If you prefer bigger, high-resolution screens, apart from the other obvious Apple iPad alternatives, the recently announced $399 Google Nexus 10 with 2560 x 1600 pixels at 300 ppi is another good option to take into account. It has even a bigger size and resolution than the iPad with Retina display.

Related posts:

1. New iPad vs. iPad 2 – Comparison Infographic
2. Amazon Kindle Fire Specs & iPad 2 Tablet Comparison (Infographics)
3. HP TouchPad and iPad Comparison – Infographic

By Jimmy Wentz

As a lawyer, you will no doubt be aware of just how important it is to make sure that you are extremely organized. When you’re working on multiple cases, traveling and still trying to manage your personal life, it can be hectic. Luckily, there a number of apps that can make staying organized much easier. Here are three apps to help you stay organized professionally and personally.

TripIt

(Web / iPad / iPhone / Android / Blackberry / Windows Phone)

image courtesy of tripit.com

If you are often required to fly to different cities, then TripIt is the perfect way to organize each trip. This free, useful app allows you to build itineraries and schedules, as well as providing maps and weather forecasts for any given location. You can even use it to make restaurant reservations or book theater tickets – should you have any time to yourself!

Get it here:

iTunes Store / Google Play Market/ Blackberry App World / Windows Phone 7

reQall

(iPhone / Android / Blackberry)

image courtesy of reqall.com

reQall is the digital to-do list with a difference. Email, text, IM, or call reQall with any upcoming tasks or appointments which you may have, and the app will analyze this information to act as a helpful reminder service. But that’s not all – when you are in a particular neighborhood it will remind you of the things which you need to do locally, and group together tasks and meetings which take place in nearby locations for your convenience. reQall is a free app available for free and premium account users.

Get it here:

iTunes Store / Google Play / Blackberry Download

Cozi

(iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch / Android / Blackberry)

image courtesy of cozi.com

Ever find yourself struggling to organize your home life to fit in with your work commitments? Cozi is a free shared calendar app designed to help families do just that. Not only can you keep track of your family’s plans, but you can even send to-do lists to others – perfect for when you need to stay a little later at the office.

Get it here:

iTunes Store / Google Play / Blackberry

Related posts:

1. Fastcase for Android
2. App Friday: K. Nykoel Dinardo
3. 5 Top Android Legal Apps for 2012

By Geri L. Dreiling, Esq.

Lawyers spend a lot of time writing. There are mediation briefs, appellate briefs, and summary judgment memorandums. There are pleadings to draft, articles to create and blog posts to publish.

The will to write exists. The challenge is blocking out the focused, uninterrupted time needed to get it done. For the past few weeks, I have been using focus booster, a free app for my computer, to help me complete writing tasks and meaty projects that require undivided attention.

Pomodoro Technique

Focus booster is a simple tool based on the Pomodoro Technique. Developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s, this time management technique divides time into work intervals of 25 minutes. Cirillo referred to those 25-minute intervals as pomodoros (“tomatoes” in Italian.) At the end of each interval is a 5-minute break.

As focus booster explains on its site, there are a few straightforward steps involved:

• Decide on the task
• Start the timer
• Work on the task until the timer rings
• Record the task status or tasks completed
• Take a 5-minute break
• Every 4 pomodoros, extend the break to 15 or 20 minutes

Cirillo used a mechanical timer. Focus Booster is a digital, preset version that includes both the 25-minute work interval and the 5-minute break. You simply hit focus booster’s play button and the 25-minute timer begins. At the end, an alarm will sound and the 5-minute break begins.

Downloadable Productivity App or Live Version

There are two ways to use focus booster, either download the computer app or use the live version on the Internet. I prefer to open a tab in Chrome and use it live.

It is straightforward and effective.

My goal is to complete at least seven pomodoros each day. At a total of 3.5 hours it may not sound like much but, in reality, carving out seven chunks of uninterrupted time lasting 25 minutes is no small feat. No emails, no phone calls, no meetings, no Web surfing, no tweeting, no LinkedIn status updates — just writing and handling meaty project work.

To achieve my goal, I typically start my Focus Booster count at 6:30 in the morning so that I can get four done before the distractions of the workday hit in full force. For others, it might be the peak concentration time begins after 5 pm.

Related posts:

1. Nozbe App Review: Productivity App to Get Things Done
2. TouchPal Keyboard App for Android Phones – Review

By Enrique Serrano and Geri L. Dreiling, Esq.

Online security and data privacy are big concerns for lawyers. Client confidentiality and safeguarding privileged information were always an integral part of the law practice but now, in the age of computers, apps and the Internet, compliance is even more important — and difficult.

One question that we often receive is whether public WiFi networks are safe.

The online community is split on the answer to that question but, in this article, we provide a basic explanation of public WiFi networks, discuss some of the hazards, provide safety tips and discuss alternatives.

What Is the Difference Between a Public WiFi Hotspot and a Secure WiFi Connection?

At your office or at home, you either connect through a wire or through a secure WiFi network that requires a WEP or WPA key. It is the first part of a pipe that channels all your messages to their destination.

In an encrypted WiFi network your data are sent through a protected wireless communications channel

If anyone wants to see what you are sending via your wired connection, he or she would need to physically tap your wire. Another option would be to intercept your data at another point such as at your Internet Service Provider or carrier router but it is not easy. And while cracking a secured WiFi network is not impossible — there are several software tools designed for that purpose — a hacker still needs to crack this initial defense barrier, which takes time and effort, and he or she would need to be physically near your WiFi signal. These two factors can be strong deterrents to random attacks.

But the situation is different when a public WiFi hotspot is involved. A crowded, popular place is a key target for hackers seeking sensitive data. Moreover, since there is no encryption, or the password is public, other users already have access to your channel. With access to that unsecured, public channel, it is not difficult to access data traveling through it.

In a public WiFi network all users share the same, insecure communications channel

Encrypt your Connection With HTTPS for Extra Security

If you use a public channel, you can add extra security by sending sensitive data encrypted using HTTPS connections. Using the analogy of a channel, a hacker who cracks the channel would not be able to easily read the messages flowing through the channel because they would no longer be written in plain text.

Most popular Internet services and social networks, like Facebook and Gmail, offer the option to use secure HTTPS connections. This video explains how to better protect your personal accounts by activating the https connection security measure.

HTTPS connections add an additional security layer by encrypting the transmitted data

The HTTPS Everywhere plug-in for the Firefox or Chrome web browsers is a useful tool for securing your connection. It has some compatibility limitations but it will make sure you keep using HTTPS links throughout a list of popular sites.

Many cloud-based apps, like Evernote or Dropbox, already include this extra layer of protection in their communications by using secure HTTPS connections. However, remember that protecting the privacy of the channel isn’t the same as protecting the privacy of your data stored in the cloud, as we explained when analyzing privacy in cloud-based environments.

Are You Giving your Email Away on a Public WiFi?

It is vitally important to make sure you are using a secure connection when you access your email. Otherwise, you could be giving away your email password every time you check your email on a public network – and new email checks are usually automated tasks that happen often unnoticed in the background.

If you don’t encrypt your data on public WiFi networks, you would be giving away your email password

Configuring encryption for your email is easy. You need to enable SSL on both, incoming and outgoing email on your laptop, tablet or smartphone in your email settings. Once configured, an HTTPS connection will be used any time you sent or retrieved emails from the server.

If your email server supports SSL and uses standard connection ports, and if you are an iPhone user, you can use GoDaddy’s instructions to configure SSL for your email. If you are an Android phone user, the steps to follow would be very similar: open your Mail app, press the menu button, select “More > Settings” and choose the “Account Settings” option. The following menus are pretty much the same on both platforms – just make sure you select SSL under the “Security Type” options.

Connect to legitimate WiFi hotspots

Another security threat associated with public networks is the hazard of connecting to a rogue, fake WiFi network. Once you send information through a channel that a hacker controls, there is a good chance that your data could be compromised. This video explains the likelihood of that happening – and how easily a rogue WiFi network could be configured.

Rogue WiFi Access Points mimic real or common public WiFi names. Connecting to a rogue WiFi means sending your data through a hacker-controlled connection.

A sound security suggestion is to double check the name of the access point of the WiFi network. If you are in a dangerous location, if the name doesn’t match with the expected name of the free WiFi network, or if you fear that a fake rogue network could be replacing your chosen network, then do not connect.

This is a real problem because many mobile devices have an option enabled by default to automatically connect to networks without asking. If a hacker configures a WiFi network, even mimicking a known network’s name, your phone could be connecting to that network on its own, without you even noticing the data leak, in what is known as a rogue access point attack. Still, it is possible to defend yourself from such an attack. Chema Alonso has some great articles about this (in Spanish) whose key points are summarized as follows:

• Configure your device to “ask before connect” to new WiFi networks.
• Some iOS devices keep accessing to known networks without asking, which can be fixed by selecting “forget this network” and updating to the latest iOS versions, as they fix some issues about telling known networks from new ones.

In any case, it is essential to be extremely careful in public environments because a common network name could have been replaced by a rogue WiFi access point.

There’s No True Security in Public WiFi Hotspots

So, can you connect to a free WiFi with no risk following all the aforementioned basic tips? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Just as no driver is ever 100 percent safe from being involved in a car accident, no network is one hundred percent safe: there’s always some way to hack into your system. The chances of an attack increase considerably in public networks. Richard Rushing, CSO of AirDefense notes in this article at Wired, “Hotspots are great for browsing, but for personal stuff, be very wary.”

A good rule of thumb is not connecting to the Internet in unsafe environments prone to network attacks. Unfortunately, public WiFi in crowded areas like airports, hotels and convention centers are some of the most dangerous places to work with sensitive information online.

The Safest Alternative to Connect to the Internet on the Go

If it seems that the risk of using public WiFi networks is just too high, there are safer alternatives. One of the most common is to use your mobile network (GSM, 3G, LTE.)

When compared to public WiFi networks, mobile networks offer several security advantages. The channel that your mobile device uses to communicate with the base station is encrypted, and no other cell phone user should be able to access it. If you add HTTPS encryption to the transmitted data you will have some strong security barriers in place to protect your communication.

In mobile networks every phone uses its own, secured communications data channel

But like any network, mobile networks aren’t immune to hacking. However, cracking a mobile network is much more complicated than exploiting a WiFi network. For example, hacking into a mobile network would usually require the creation of a fake access point and the use of a fake base station, as depicted in this scenario, where installation is much more complex (and thus, improbable) than using an average laptop and a common piece of software to create a rogue WiFi access point.

From a practical standpoint, a public WiFi network is a free, fast Internet connection. Mobile networks are usually the opposite. First, your mobile network will be much slower. Second, the Internet fees of your mobile carrier are usually expensive. Because of this, mobile connections would make sense used to transmit sensitive, lightweight data, like checking your email on the go.

Conclusions

We’ve just scratched the surface in terms of public network security, but the quick answer is that public WiFi networks aren’t safe enough for sensitive tasks. Avoid risky environments, double-check the network you are connecting to and use secure HTTPS connections to minimize some of the risks. But public WiFi is best avoided for activities involving sensitive information. Instead, if you need to connect on the go, a mobile carrier data plan is a much safer, prudent approach.

By Geri L. Dreiling, Esq.

Rob Sullivan is a trial lawyer and president of Kansas City-based Sullivan, Morgan & Chronic LLC. The law firm represents personal injury victims and their families in product liability matters, railroad crossing accidents, trucking accidents, heavy equipment accidents and wrongful death cases.

Sullivan is also the principal writer and editor of Lawyerology.com, a blog that covers current events, legal developments, legal marketing and advertising, trial advocacy and other general legal issues. He tweets from @rsullivanlaw.

This week, Sullivan shares some of his favorite iPhone and iPad apps with Lawyer Tech Review. (Affiliate links below.)

Devices

iPhone, iPad

App for work

“If I could only have one app, it would be Evernote,” Sullivan says. “Evernote is what Microsoft OneNote wishes it could be.”

The app is available for just about every computer and mobile device, including the iPhone and iPad. Evernote allows users to clip Web pages and emails, write notes, take photos and grab screenshots. The information can be organized, tagged and then stored in the cloud.

Sullivan explains, “It syncs across all devices seamlessly. Whether you are drafting legal documents, blog posts, emails, or just notes, Evernote provides the platform and connectivity to get the job done.”

• Download the free Evernote app.

App for fun

“Hands down, my favorite outside-of-work app is Around Me,” Sullivan says. “Just type what you are looking for and Around Me will list the nearest locations.”

Around Me is a free app that allows users to find the nearest bank, gas station, grocery store, taxi and many other types of businesses. Users can select from a generic list of business categories or create a custom search. Just click for directions and you’re on your way.

• Download the free AroundMe app.

Would you like to be featured on App Friday? Contact us to share your favorite iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry apps.

Related posts:

1. App Friday: Rob Dean
2. App Friday: Steve Kuncewicz
3. App Friday: Dan Pepper

By Geri L. Dreiling, Esq.

K. Nykoel Dinardo is a lawyer and program planner at the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education where she produces live, online and telephone-based CLE programming.  The CLE provider also sponsors the IICLE Happenings blog.

Licensed in both New York and Illinois, Dinardo volunteers with community organizations such as the Central Illinois Women’s Bar Association and the NAACP Legal Redress Committee.

This week, Dinardo shares some of her favorite iPhone apps and Android-based apps for Nook with Lawyer Tech Review. (Affiliate links below.)

Devices

iPhone, Nook

App for work

As a continuing legal education program planner, Dinardo meets a lot of people and receives numerous business cards. With the free CardMunch app, Dinardo has turned her iPhone into an indispensable tool for organizing information.

With CardMunch, Dinardo simply takes a picture of the business card and the information is then manually transcribed and sent back to her phone. The transcribed data can be incorporated as an address book contact. She also has the option of adding the individual as a contact on LinkedIn.

Dinardo says, “Thanks to CardMunch, I never find myself asking, ‘Who was the person I was talking to last week? I wonder what I did with their business card?’”

CardMunch only works on devices running iOS4 and later and requires that the user have a LinkedIn profile. Lawyers with an iPhone 3GS or later, iPad 2 or 4^th generation iTouch can download the app in the iTunes store.

App for fun

For Dinardo, keeping track of her finances has gone from a chore to a fun activity with the Mint app. Using her Nook, which is not only an eReader but an Android tablet, Dinardo says Mint “helps me keep my finances organized, avoid missed payments and tracks my expenses.”

The free Mint app uses 128-bit SSL encryption to pull all your financial accounts into one place. It allows you to set a budget and track your goals. Mint is available for download in Android’s Play Store as well as in Apple iTunes.

Related posts:

1. App Friday: Merrilyn Astin Tarlton
2. App Friday: Steve Kuncewicz
3. App Friday: David Flint

By Geri L. Dreiling, Esq.

When I am asked to speak at conferences about technology for lawyers, I begin by taking a brief informal survey of the audience. I like to know how many people use an iPhone, Android, Blackberry or an iPad. In my experience, the Apple products are some of the most popular among lawyers.

However, some lawyers are becoming more receptive to Android. A lawyer and friend of mine who was a longtime devotee of the iPhone – and who often spoke at legal conferences about the device – made the switch to an Android smartphone about six months ago. For the past three months, I have been testing an older Samsung Galaxy S as I try to decide whether I want to replace my iPhone 3 with a newer iPhone model or an Android phone like the latest offering from Samsung Galaxy S III.

I must admit I’m enjoying the Android. And while Google’s Play Store does not always have the law or productivity apps that I want, like CardMunch, the selection is growing.

For proof, one has to look no further than Fastcase.

We have written in the past about the Fastcase app for the iPhone. Some of the guests profiled in our App Friday feature cite Fastcase app as an indispensable productivity tool when they are in the courtroom and need access to quick legal research. Unfortunately, Fastcase has been limited to iOS devices.

However, on June 5, Fastcase for Android was launched. Fastcase acknowledges that since it released Fastcase for the iPhone, the Android platform has grown by leaps and bounds. Like Fastcase for iPhone, the Android app is free but requires a registered account to use it.

Although there are other legal research sites that are optimized for mobile use, Fastcase notes that it is the first native app for legal research on Android. Let’s hope that developers of other iPhone apps that are popular with lawyers will take a cue from Fastcase and add Android as a platform.

Related posts:

1. Zillow App for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile Devices
2. TouchPal Keyboard App for Android Phones – Review
3. 5 Top Android Legal Apps for 2012

By Enrique Serrano.

Writing faster is a productive person’s dream. The quicker you can write down your thoughts on your screen, the sooner you can complete your work. This is the main goal of any speech recognition software. Unfortunately, most professional speech-to-text alternatives are expensive and don’t offer free trials. However, if you are a Windows 7 user, then you have a free, quality voice recognition app available in your computer: enter Windows 7 Speech Recognition, available inside the Ease of Access tools menu.

Basic configuration of Windows Speech Recognition

One of the advantages of Speech Recognition in Windows is that its basic setup is extremely easy to complete. Go to Control Panel » Ease of Access » Speech Recognition, click Set up microphone, select the right kind of sound setting, read the test phrase aloud, and you’re ready.

Windows Speech Recognition options inside Ease of Access

After the basic microphone setup, you need to configure the actual voice recognition features. First, click Start Speech Recognition to initialize the program, and then, select the option Train your computer to better understand you. Reading the additional training set offered is advised – and it takes less than ten minutes. The more you train your computer, the better it will understand you.

Voice training in Windows Speech Recognition

Take note that the training is performed for the user currently logged in, with the chosen microphone, at a fixed distance. If someone else wants to use the voice recognition app on the same computer, he or she would need to close the current Windows session, log in with his or her own account, and re-calibrate the system again.

Dictating in Windows

The widget of the speech recognition app. Right click to see additional options.

Using Speech Recognition to dictate in Windows is intuitive. After starting speech recognition, right click the app and select Options » Enable dictation scratchpad. The dictated texts will initially appear in a small window where they can be corrected. Once your dictated text is ready, you would just need to say "Insert" to embed it on the final text.

The dictation scratchpad in Windows Speech Recognition

Even when the accuracy of the software is acceptable, it improves over time, and correcting your dictation is an essential step – especially in the beginning. When you are still dictating inside the scratchpad, you would need to say "Correct [word to correct]" to open the correction menu. Replacing the word by the right one from the list is a simple as reading its number aloud, and then saying "OK." If the right word doesn’t appear on the list, you can try speaking the desired word again.

Correcting the dictation in Windows Speech Recognition

Correcting a word that appears several times on your dictation is easy, as you would be prompted to pick the right repetition of such word: just speak the number of the chosen occurrence of the word and then say "OK."

Selecting the right dictated element to correct

If you are experiencing problems trying to get the software to recognize a specific word (like a name or a technical term,) you can also say "Spell It" on the correction menu. After spelling unrecognized words, these new words can be added to your personal dictionary. Spelling is quite easy, and if you are familiar with the NATO phonetic alphabet, rest assured that you will be perfectly understood even when speaking fast on noisy environments.

Correction spelling the right word

Multilingual features in Enterprise and Ultimate versions

If you want to dictate in different languages, Windows Speech Recognition will do the trick. You just need to open Control Panel and select Region and Language » Keyboards and Languages, and set the desired display language, as this is the language used for speech-to-text functions (or install the desired language pack by clicking Install / uninstall languages.) However, you can only install and switch language packs if you either have Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows 7 Enterprise Edition – if you are a Windows 7 Home Premium user, you will have to stick to the original language of your operating system.

Changing the speech recognition language

Once a new display language is chosen, you will need to re-open your user session for the changes to take effect. You also need to make sure to train your computer if you use Speech Recognition in a new language for the very first time. Once trained, the results seem to be acceptable: we have tested Windows Speech Recognition in both, English and Spanish, and the accuracy of the results was satisfactory in both languages.

Voice commands beyond dictation

While speech-to-text is one of the strongest points of Windows Speech Recognition, it is actually more than a dictation app. It also allows you to control your computer with your voice. The speech recognition features were designed as an ease-of-access tool, and so, they are capable of opening programs, managing windows, traversing documents, positioning your mouse cursor or expanding menu elements.

To launch applications without navigating a crowded desktop full of icons – just say "Open [application name]" and that’s all. Whisper "Copy" or "Paste" to your computer to avoid releasing your mouse, as there wouldn’t be any need to press key combinations. You can even say "Undo" to undo your last action without moving your hands. However, you may find it is faster to simply use your mouse and familiar keyboard shortcuts.

If you want to experiment with the different voice commands available in Windows Speech Recognition, you can check (and even print) the complete reference card provided with Windows, inside Ease of Access » Speech Recognition » Open the Speech Reference Card.

Reference card of Windows Speech Recognition

Windows Speech Recognition vs. Dragon NaturallySpeaking

It makes sense to ask how Windows Speech Recognition compares to other professional software for speech-to-text conversion. The most serious contender is Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

Even though Windows Speech Recognition is free for Windows 7 users, it isn’t an installation headache, and it works quite well, Dragon still beats Windows in several different areas:

• Windows seems to be more sensitive to noise, and the accuracy of Dragon seems to be higher.
• Trying to transcribe pre-recorded voice from a digital recorder didn’t work well in Windows.
• Only a couple of sentences fit into Windows scratchpad (beyond that point, the dictated words would be discarded) which forces you to say "Insert" every couple of lines even when no mistakes were found, and blocking you from correcting previously inserted texts. This makes dictating long chunks in Windows more complicated than in Dragon.

If you are a lawyer, there’s a more complete – and expensive – Legal Version of Dragon with specific advantages for attorneys that are lightyears ahead of what Windows Speech Recognition offers such as a complete pre-loaded set of legal terms, a solid custom commands system and automatic transcription from digital recorders.

Closing Comments

At no extra cost for a Windows 7 user, Windows Speech recognition is a useful application to give your hands a short break, to solve an inspiration block by dictating instead of typing, or to try some dictation software to see if it fits nicely in your practice and work environment.

However, even when Windows Speech Recognition is a good start (and we are all looking forward to its evolved version in the upcoming Windows 8,) Dragon NaturallySpeaking is still a more professional alternative. If you like Windows Speech Recognition and find it useful, Dragon NaturallySpeaking is likely to take you to the next level in time-saving speech-to-text processes.

Have you ever used Windows Speech Recognition? Share your experience and your tips with us in the comments.

Related posts:

1. Tips and Tricks for Using Dragon Speech Recognition Software
2. Advantages of Dragon Naturally Speaking Legal Version 11
3. How to Use Dragon Dictation on Your iPhone