I have been trying to get Boxcryptor to play nice with Spotlight but it has been a no go.

There is a way to turn it on. However, it has not worked for me. 

I have found a work around with using the out-of-beta version 1 of Quicksilver. By putting the Boxcryptor volume into the Quicksilver catalog, I get an index of the Boxcryptor volume. 

It is not a perfect solution. Searching for a folder when saving still requires Spotlight (which still won’t work even if you have Quicksilver installed). However, this work around does the job if you are just looking for files on your hard drive.

I set up the new Fujitsu Scansnap iX500 desktop scanner today. Is it faster? Take a look:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=56IsO_pnn4g

I’m not going to review it. There are plenty of those online. Here’s a quick run down:

• Is it faster? Hells yeah! The s1500 is now officially s   l   o   w.
• Is the Wifi anything to write home about? Not for me. Scanning to an iPhone or iPad seems like a gimmick.
• Does the USB3 matter? I thought it would make a huge difference, but I tested the iX500 with a ~2008 era mac mini and USB doesn’t seem to be the bottleneck.
• Is the built in processor noticeably faster. YES! I ran one test with the “old” s1500m plugged in to the 2008 mac mini and pressing the blue start button at the same time, it took the mini about 5 seconds to start. The video above is with the new iX500 attached to the mac mini and the old s1500 attached to a speedy retina macbook. It looks like the faster chip in the iX500 makes up for slow machine.

A hidden gem is the ability to do background OCR with a new option in the Scansnap Manager software. Here is a video on how to do this:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCPssmYMTk

Caveat: while the iX500 is wireless, it is not a stand alone scanner. It still needs to be “attached” to a computer system either by wifi or the USB3 cable. In practice this means you can have the scanner in your mail room and your computer in another room. However, you cannot use the iX500 without a computer.

Do I like and recommend it? Yes. Yes I do.

I started listening to Andrea Seabrook’s Decode DC podcast. Episode 2 is a real scorcher! Listen the neuroscience behind the language used in Washington to try to get you to think certain ways on issues.

I recently had the chance to present on how to take a law office paperless and cover the ethical issues involved with a digital scanning and cloud technology for the Colorado Family Law conference.

Here are the materials from the presentation: Paperless & cloud materials.

For more information about the issues of going paperless, using cloud technology, SaaS, and virtual law offices, take a look at Nicole Black’s “Cloud Computing for Lawyers” from the ABA (Amazon link). Psst: one of my articles is in it, so… SQUEE! However, I’m not getting paid. So you can buy it without worrying that you are enriching me in the process.

• Final Notice
• Intellectual property notification
• False descriptions and dilution of trademarks…
• Use of a domain name in bad faith…

Why that looks like I may be in violation of someone’s intellectual property! Am I about to be sued? Oh, noes!

However, as best as I can tell, this is sales letter trying to get me to register ColoradoDisability (dot) us because my disability firm already has a similar domain registered. Anyone care to guess how much they would like to charge to sell the domain to me?

But here’s the thing: would any reasonable person think this is a sales letter on first reading? Hell no! Take a look at the letter for yourself:  usnameregistrar fax.

One of the best presentations at MILOfest was Brett Burney’s guide to using TextExpander like a BOSS!

Here is part one covering the basics:

Viewing tip: bump up the youtube video resolution to see what Brett is typing!

Part 2 is UP! (Even with an i7 and seeing 8 cores light up, processing video takes so looooooong!)

Part 3: “From Milan to Minsk” is UP at long last:

After Brett Burney‘s presentation on how to be a Text Expander ninja (videos coming soon) at the 2012 MILOfest, Scott Palmer showed me one of the most useful Text Expander snippets I ever saw. And it is also one of the easiest to set up.

Here it is:

What does it do? It pastes whatever text you have in the clipboard as unformatted text. That’s it. However, how many times have you copied text from a website or another file and tried to paste it into Word or another program and still got formatting — even if you used cmd-shift-v!

This works! Type “ptp” and the text appears with no formatting. Three simple clicks (or select your own abbreviation). Give it a try!

Larry Port is presenting on “Hacking Your Mind” at MILOfest. He mentioned a some of things I’ve written about before as well as new items. This provides a good chance to review some of the things that make us happy in our lives.

First up is Martin Seligman’s TED talk revealing the importance of meaning, engagement and having pleasure in one’s life.

Next up is Simon Sinek’s presentation on the importance of “Why” – the need to have purpose and how it inspires others.

Finally, is Teresa Amabile’s presentation on how doing one very simple thing, keeping a journal, can keep you happy.

At MILOfest, Larry Port revealed a new feature coming out Rocket Matter: email integration.

Instead if requiring you to forward emails to a gobblegook email address, you just file the email into a matter folder in your own email program.

Using IMAP, each email in the matter folder is automagically associated with the matter in RocketMatter.

Larry says the new email integration is rolling out to users next week.

More from MILOfest: Jack Newton of Clio is presenting “Behind the Genius Bar” on how to provide great customer service. 

I love the above image from his presentation. Love it.

Doug Rice is presenting about Markdown at Milofest. One of the great tips was using the Copy as Markdown extension in Google Chrome.

Copy as Markdown not only lets you copy a link and page title as Markdown, but also lets you copy ALL OPEN TABS as Markdown. Ever wanted to publish a list of sites? For example when you are out of ideas for what to blog about. So you decide to do a “rundown” of other people’s articles and blog posts, just open up the sites. Click the plug in and you have just copied all urls and titles in markdown format. Then click paste in your editor….

• Markdown for Lawyers
• Faster Markdown with TextExpander
• Chrome Web Store – markdown
• Chrome Web Store – Copy as Markdown

… and BAM, you got a blog post!

I’ve made my annual pilgrimage to Orlando Florida for the Macs in Law Offices conference (MILOfest for short).

Brett Burney, technology consultant extraordinare, has some great Keynote tips that even old hands might not know about:

• You can apply a theme just to one slide (not just to the entire deck).
• Tear off inspector windows with ALT + click.
• “Cmd +” and “cmd -” increases and decreases text size. Great when experiment with the text size.
• You are not limited to “text” bullets. Go to inspector, text, bullets, and select “image bullets” from the pull down menu.
• “Cmd P” plays from the start of the presentation. BUT more importantly, “alt cmd P” plays from the selected slide! This is great when you are testing you build in and outs in your keynote presentation.
• Did you know you that you do not have to use a square or rectangle when masking an image?In “Format – Mask with Image” lets you select different shapes. Here is a call out –>

However, you don’t want to click the “close” button! Think about it: how many times have you clicked on a background window to switch to it and accidentally closed it, or launched a new email, or switched the view in that window — when all you wanted to do was to get to that app?

Apple, I know you have ways to get to the program…. but they suck:

• Alt-tab is too slow unless the app is the next app in the list. And if I pass the icon, I either have to go all the way around or play finger twister with shift-alt-tab!
• Mission Control is fine, but invoking it on a mouse is doesn’t feel right: the mouse jitters, trying to two finger tap twice, but not click is like a little game of DDR for your right hand. The three finger swipe works well, but it means moving the hands off the keyboard mouse combo.
• Dock? Come on! I don’t want to have to try to find the icon. I just want to get to the program that’s right there (without closing it)!

And sometimes, you aren’t sure which app is sticking out beneath your active app: is that bar for Mail or Finder?

So, how about this Apple: you already allow scrolling in apps that don’t have focus, how about when the mouse is over a background window, you have that window slide out a bit, or have a little tab appear (that doesn’t close, or do anything in that app) to let you select that app? Or both:

It would be a bit like the group photos in Harry Potter where people rearrange themselves so you can see who is in the back row. If I move over the cursor over an bottom app, it moves out from under the top app to provide a better view. If I want the app, I click the tab (or some other “white space”), that doesn’t close the app, or launch an email, or anything else, other than letting me select the app. How about it?

I’ve been working on a “how-to” book providing a walk-through of the Social Security online disability application. This was meant to be a “brief interlude” between working on the BIG Social Security Disability book which I’ve started several times, but was always a bigger project than I could satisfactorily complete. The Application book was meant to be a smaller project and chance to learn iBooks Author app.

It is now about a year later and I am finally done with the writing. The book is not done by any means. However, it is now goes on to technical editing and proof reading. Which means it is largely in other people’s’ hands for a while. This also puts me in the position of having to figure out publishing, finalizing a title, and hiring someone to design a book cover.

I am trying to break this down into segments.

• Technical edit and cover design.
• Final art.
• Proofing and final edits.
• And finally publication.

I have no idea if this is a good plan or not, since I have never done this before. However, it keeps me from being overwhelmed.

After this is done will come the conversion of the manuscript into something that will work on the much more widely used Kindle format. At present the book is heavy on screenshots. Considering Amazon’s $0.15 per megabyte “delivery charges,” under the 70% payment option, and I could easily image myself out making any money at all from this project. I could take the 35% payment with no delivery costs, but it sticks in my craw. Still, I may need to be bite the bullet and take the lower percentage to avoid the delivery fee.

Another thing that stops me in my tracks is the fear that no one may be interested in putting down cold hard cash for the book. So, I am trying to stay busy and have started a second book, which is a return to the Social Security hearing tips idea. Over the last few days, I have been working through an outline of the book. Having a skeleton in place makes me feel much more confident that I will be able to get a second book written. And, since it will not require screenshots, it will be a lot easier to distribute through a variety of channels.

My law office is located in Colorado Springs Colorado – the location of the 2012 Waldo Canyon fire. On June 26, 2012, the fire broke over the ridge and started to come down the mountain quickly rushing into Colorado Springs. Foothill neighborhoods burst into flames. And no one knew how far the fire would go. Would the fire rush through all of Colorado Springs?

We quickly packed “go bags” with three days of clothes along with water, food and supplies, in case we had to evacuate.

But what about the office? We are paperless, so everything is digital. A couple of hard drives and we have everything. Smart, right? Well, there’s nothing like a disaster to put your finest plans to the test. The local backups are all on the full-size hard drives. They require their own power supply. This means a separate cable, power-brick, and of course, power. Three full-size drives and cables (one for the server, one for the laptops, and one for the Time Machine). Once you add in padding, you are looking at a carry-on sized bag. You think you have room for everything, until you actually start loading the car. You quickly find yourself running out of space. The trunk sags, and you need to make some hard choices about what you’re going to bring and what you will leave behind. Survival gear takes the priority: food, clothes, water, sleeping bags, medicine. However, with your “digital” office, you still have your laptops, and backups requiring the same space as a gym bag. It’s not big, but what do you leave behind so you can bring this?

In case you are wondering, I do use cloud backups. However, in a disaster, I am not counting on good conductivity. If I have to leave, I have no idea when I will be coming back, or even if I will be back. I need to be able to keep the office running and plan for contingencies, in case something happens during the evacuation. I need my first data location (on the laptop), and a backup.

Fortunately, we did not have to evacuate that night and I won an extra day. The next morning, I went out and bought two 1 terabyte bus powered hard drives, wiped them, reformatted for the Mac, and did a full image.

Two drives. Now I’m down to backing up the office onto something smaller than two paperback books. No long cables. No separate power supplies. Just a short USB cable. I slipped them into the pockets of my go bag.

Now, it is Friday, June 29, 2012. Three days since the fire came down the mountain. The weather has been favorable. The winds are blowing fire back into hills. There has been no growth in the fire and the firefighters are starting to gain containment. However, the fire still isn’t out. So, we stay ready. The car remains packed. I keep backing up: local, off-site, in the cloud, and onto the USB bus drives that come with me.

Remember, good backup strategy is about layers. You may have things backed up. However, if you have to leave in a hurry, give some consideration to how much space and weight those backups take compared to everything else you will need to take for yourself and your family. Add some bus powered drives – your business may depend on it someday.

Here are some of my favorite presentation and commencement addresses. I watch them about once a year to help me remember doing good art, having fun trying new thing, and doing something new is important (even if you cannot connect how it will translate to paying the mortgage).

Neil Gaiman at the University of the Arts Class of 2012

TEDxUW – Larry Smith – Why you will fail to have a great career

J.K. Rowling at Harvard

Here’s an amazing presentation from Rory Sutherland at TEDxAthens on perspective being the key to happiness.

This is not only about personal happiness, but also about the totally unexpected and cheap (even free!) methods of keeping clients and customers happy.

One of my favorite artists is Zoe Keating, a very modern cellist who uses a Mac (see the tech angle) to loop music live on stage. The results are fascinating, haunting and often highly emotional pieces.

It takes a bit to get going. If you are the impatient sort, skip to around the three minute mark.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLKOgTG8RMs

I really enjoyed watching Michael Norton’s TED prevention on How to Buy Happiness (aka if money can’t buy happiness, you’re spending it wrong). It’s a light hearted and fun, yet empirical, talk on how spending your money in different ways can greatly improve your sex life (or at least your overall happiness). Give it a watch:

It’s easy to see the economic problems of another country: Greece, Italy. You can look at the economic trends and see what is going to make things worse. However, it is a lot harder to even spot the mistakes in your own fishbowl.

This Planet Money episode on “We’re Headed For A Fiscal Cliff. Should We Jump?” has stuck with me for laying out in stark terms the hard choices we have to make. Give it a listen.

I don’t usually do movie reviews. I tend to have quite contrarian tastes and I don’t care how good or important a film is. A cheap but entertaining movies rates higher with me than a technically perfect but heartless Oscar winner (e.g. Hugo). Plus, who really cares what I think. Still, every once in a while a movie is so big, so praised, so awesome, that I spend the big bucks to see it on the big screen and … it totally fails to impress me. And that sums up Joss Whedon’s “Avengers.”

Part of the reason I’m writing this is to memorialize my first impressions. There are a number of movies I initially found seriously flawed but ended up liking. JJ Abram’s Star Trek is one example: what the hell was with all those pipes in engineering? The Fifth Element is another movie I criticized up and down, but has become one of my favorites.

I have learned initial impression are based on your expectations and where the film could go. However, lasting opinions are based on what is actually on the screen and not what you hoped or wanted to see.

*Spoiler warning* I discuss some of the characters and scenes. It’s pretty general, but still… you have been warned.

The Avengers – What’s Bad:

1. My biggest gripe is that the first hour and forty minutes feels like exposition – long, boring, drawn out exposition.
2. Iron Man/Tony Stark is still the only interesting character. This is fine in an Iron Man movie; not so much in a purported ensemble piece.
3. Scarlet Johansson was /gasp! boring. This is unforgivable!!! Remember when Scarlet wasn’t a big name and every role was different? Yeah, those days are gone. She’s now an action hero. Sadly, she isn’t even put to good use.
4. The Hulk still doesn’t look believable. In fact I’d say he looks worse in this film. Yes, he has some good scenes and one of the best comedic moments. However, having this unbelievable CG character is still too “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
5. The attacking army is… space bikers! /sigh. The generic silver armored look is straight out of Power Rangers (without entertainment value). Can you remember anything about the how the army looked other than “silver” and “armored?” Considering the amount of screen time devoted to the big battle, you never get any idea of what the bad guys even look like. Both the troops and their vehicles are nearly constantly blurred. It is as if the designers just didn’t care!
6. Space turtle! See above.
7. More space turtles! Oh for Pete’s sake. Ok, there is one space turtle: Gamera! All the others are just pale imitators.
8. Failure to learn the lesson of the “Transformers” movies (or “Showgirls” for that matter) that spectacle does not equal entertainment.

The Avengers – What’s good:

1. The six or so laugh lines are very funny.
2. The scene between Loki and Tony Stark in Start Tower is the very best scene in the film.
3. The finale (of the finale), and the comedic denouement with the Hulk, is thrilling and fun. “The Avengers” is one of the few movies that actually gets better toward the end. Many movies start with an intriguing first act and dissolve into a clichéd ending. While the big battle in Avengers is a given, the movie starts to work in the final 10 minutes or so. And the movie ends on a high note. I have to give it credit for ending very well and enjoyably.
4. Shawarma sales will get a nice bump — stay to the very end.

Overall, there are some very enjoyable minutes in the Avengers. If you spliced them together, you would have a totally kick-ass trailer. Unfortunately, they are stuck in an overly long movie.

One final thing, early in the film when Peper is leaving with Agent Coulson, she delivers a throw away line asking about seeing a chalice. Anyone know what that was about?

I love it when people ask me to write up their new business. I mean, when they actually ask me – which means figuring out who I am, what I do, why their business might be of interest to me and my readers, and then actually talking to me while using my name.

Of course, I also get a kick when marketers do the opposite and ask me for a personalized recommendation via an email blast, such as the below:

Hi,

My name is Paul and I’m a startup blogger. About three months ago I started a do it yourself marketing service for bloggers because agencies cost too much. The service is called [LamerMarketing] and I need your help promoting it.

http://www.[lamermarketing].com

Will you write an article about the newly launched [lamermarketing]?

Regards,
Paul K

So, here is my response to Paul:

Thank you for your personalized contact which I can tell was completely not generated through a mail blast system or service.

I appreciate your request to promote your new advertising venture by personally writing it up on my site despite never having heard of you before.

I can tell you know all about the art of modern promotion since you eschew all those out of date methods like figuring out the name of the person you are contacting.

I also see you recognize the importance of working efficiently: you send out hundreds if not thousands of emails with one click requesting a personalized promotion at no cost or further effort from you! Genius!

I think I shall take you up on your offer to discuss your business publicly and often.

I may even use it as a case study!

There you go Paul, an article about your business. Please let me know if you would like me to include your real URL.

Image via Nicole Black: http://legal-ipad.com/post/18011665087/finis-price-he-will-be-missed

I just learned that one of my legal colleagues, serious Mac fan, and tech presenter, Finis Price died in February. I’ve been out of the loop so I missed it when the news came out. Finis was a personal injury attorney in Kentucky, a very gregarious and über exuberant person who was often the center of attention. I only met him a few times through the Maclaw conferences, but once you met Finis, you couldn’t forget him. Finis was always eager to share his knowledge and his passions: from the coolest iPad app for lawyers, to the latest X-men movie, to his correspondence and great love for author Douglas Adams. If you were ever in the same room with him, even if it was a massive auditorium, you would likely hear his voice ringing out in laughter at some point. Although we only met on a few occasions, here’s to you buddy!

Finis and his wife, Heather, poured all their resources into their business, TechnoEsq. As a result he left little in the way of savings.
The Kentucky Justice Association has set up a restricted fund to accept donations, and all proceeds will go to his wife. If you would like to contribute, please send your contributions (be sure to note “Finis Price” in the memo line) to Kentucky Justice Association, 10602 Timberwood Cir # 8, Louisville, KY 40223-5367.

How cool is that!

I like to keep a separate desktop window (“space” in Apple parlance) for blogging (and the screenshot shot and editing apps I use). However, when I launch an app, it defaults to the main desktop. I remember that in OSX 10.6, you could set which space an application opening in System Preferences. However that has gone the way of the dodo in OSX 10.7 Lion.  So, how do you select where apps should open or even keep them visible on all desktops?

Easy enough:

1. Right click (CMD-click) icon in the application dock.
2. Go to Options.
3. Select which desktop you want the app to launch in (or if you want it in all desktops).

Yay! Thanks to MacLife for providing a list of Mac Spaces tips. I would love to link directly to the article but the URL produces a 404 error each time. It looks like MacLife doesn’t like deep linking.

What makes us do bad things? More importantly, what people do the worst things imaginable. Radiolab covers the subject of evil this week in “The Bad Show.”

• A fresh interpretation of Stanley Milgrim’s electroshock experiment. It’s not just people’s willingness to follow instructions from a person in a position in authority that allows them to intentionally inflict harm on others. Individuals will act, and continue to act, contrary to their own beliefs, and in a way that is abhorrent even to themselves, because of an intellectual buy-in to the greater good.
• Saint or sinner: Fritz Haber, the man who saved the world from starvation also developed and personally implemented (on the front lines) one of the most terrible weapons in history.
• And last, interview with a killer.

Give it a listen:

 photo credit: Greencolander

You probably already know how to create and use an electronic signature in Adobe Acrobat (if not, don’t worry it’s the first tip in Ernie Svenson’s video below). However, you may be wondering “how do I ‘flatten’ the signature image, so someone can’t simply lift my signature off a document.”

I figured that Adobe must have a way of doing this. It is the premier app for managing electronic documents in business after all. However, apparently not. Also, I could not find the answer by googling, either. After several dead ends, I was able to find the information. Everything you need is covered in Add a Flatten Document Menu Item to Acrobat on the Acrobat for Legal Professionals blog. WARNING: this has worked fine for me (Adobe Acrobat Pro 9), but I make no warranty.

1. Download the flatten.txt file from the blog. You need to click the link, either from here or the Adobe blog. This will take you to Adobe where you can download the file.
2. Rename the extension to “.js”.
3. Follow the instructions on the Adobe blog for installing the javascript file.

On a Mac, you paste the javascript file into the following directory (replace USERNAME with your username):

/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Acrobat/9.0_x86/JavaScripts

Of course, you cannot see the Library directory on OSX 10.7 Lion. So, you need to launch Terminal and type in the following. Thanks to OSXDaily for the tip!

chflags nohidden ~/Library/

To hide the Library when you are finished, type in the following in Terminal:

chflags hidden ~/Library

You then get a new option under the Documents pull-down menu to either “Flatten current page” or “Flatten all pages.”

Check out the full article with screenshots and instructions for Windows PC users at Add a Flatten Document Menu Item to Acrobat. Also, watch the video on how to create a digital signature stamp in Acrobat and use the flatten command on Vimeo.

photo credit: Viernest

Watching the Sunday “talking head” shows is truly an exercise in frustration. Big name politicos repeatedly hit their talking points and the hosts wont ask tough questions for fear that the politico wont come back on. I contrast that with this discussion of the shift of global power from a single pole (the United States) to a multi-polar world in the new century and from nations to transnational groups.

I don’t agree with everything in this discussion. I do not share Ashdown’s faith that transnational treaties can to bring law and curb the power of transnational groups. WIPO being one example where the proposed treaties seem designed to promote large rights-holder interests, exclude critics, and short-circuit democratic involvement via secret discussion. However, compared to the fare on Sunday morning news shows, the piece is still a breath of fresh and frank discussion.

photo credit: Satoru Kikuchi

I saw this mentioned on BoingBoing last week: it is a discussion from the 2011 Vancouver Human Rights Lecture series discussion the importance of mainstream internet venues in democratic movements: unlike small networks (whose shutdown may be invisible to the mainstream), use of popular networks like Flickr, Facebook and Youtube means that heavy-handed shut-downs will likely make more people aware that something is going on. A very Freakonomics bit of analysis!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkDFVz_VL_I

CBC.ca | Cute Cats and The Arab Spring. Via BoingBoing

photo credit: Dr. Hemmert