Podcasts are hot right now and many more people are listening to them. As shelter in place for the pandemic began, I thought less commuting might cause podcasts to be less popular but instead, the opposite seems to have occurred.

Attorney@Work posted a feature today Lawyer Tech Tips: Favorite Podcasts for Learning Something New?

Sharon Nelson and I have produced over 150 podcasts for our Digital Edge Podcast and I have guest hosted several other podcast interviews for Legal Talk Network, often at ABA TECHSHOW or ABA Annual Meetings.

Anytime you get a group to name their favorite podcasts, you will get an eclectic mix revealing each contributor’s professional and personal interests. Contributors on this favorite podcast feature are Sheila Blackford, Anne Haag, Jay Harrington, Gina Rubel, Ben Schorr, Camille Stell and Reid Trautz. You will enjoy reading about their favorites, both personal and professional. Quite a range of podcasts were mentioned. Sharon and I were pleased that a couple of the contributors mentioned our Digital Edge Podcast.

As soon as we started using USB drives and other connectors, we started plugging them in upside down. The extremely frustrating experience was trying it three or four times when there were only two options.

IT professionals learned the simple secret to avoid this quickly, but many other computer users never did. So, if you are still spinning USB drives trying to plug them in, here’s the secret:

Look at a USB plug. See that USB symbol on the plug? If you are plugging the USB cable in horizontally, the symbol faces us so you can see it. If you are plugging into a vertical USB connector, the symbol faces you. So, if you are trying to plug a USB cable or drive into a connection and you cannot see the symbol, you have it upside down.

For those who didn’t know this, you’re welcome.

Some iPhone users can’t wait to see what the new iOS update will bring. Others don’t like the changes come to their phones with software updates. I know one lawyer who refuses to let automatic updates install because “the last thing I want first thing in the morning is to learn my phone changed overnight.”

But iOS14 is worth the effort. Just look at the graphic of how you can improve your home screen to show your next two scheduled events by using the improved widgets on the home screen. Doesn’t every lawyer want to do this?

The Verge calls it a Revolution— iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 review: iPhone revolution, iPad evolution (Subtitle) It’s time to blow up your iPhone’s home screen.

C|Net’s You need to know these 9 hidden iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 features is a great starting place to learn of the possibilities.

iOS14 itself installs a widget to See What’s New in iOS14.

IPhone JD’s Jeff Richardson recently posted an In the News Item with links to his review of the features and posts from many others.

You can unlock your phone and see your next two appointments without clicking on anything (or click on the widget to open your calendar.) That’s a good starting place for customizations.

I’m a reader. Given the choice on a web page of reading the content or watching a video, I’m normally heading for the text. (How-to Videos are certainly the exception to this rule.)

An increasing number of consumers prefer videos as the preferred method to receive new information. There are certainly generational differences at play here. Lawyers may believe a twenty-page brief has to be better than a ten-page brief. But for many, the belief is that shorter reading material is superior to lengthier treatments.

So the lessons for law firm websites include having more videos and tightening the text in some of your TL;DR online content. (Here’s the TL;DR Wikipedia entry for the uninitiated.)

Here’s a simple idea for law firm videos. If you have a website, you probably have an About or Profile page for each lawyer. How about posting a short video for each lawyer on each of those pages? By short, I mean approximately two minutes with a maximum of two and one-half minutes. I strongly suggest the content be very personal to the attorney with only about 10-15 seconds on practice areas and employ a light tone. “Hi, I’m Bob K. My wife Kelly and I have four children ranging from toddler to first grade. Our hobbies are having four children ranging from toddler to first grade. [Big Smile] For our law firm, I handle mainly X, Y and Z.” Anything is fair game from hobbies to unusual past jobs to that barbecuing championship you won years ago. Focus on the personal content that would have been deemed unprofessional in the early days of law firm web sites— because when people click on the link to your video, they want to learn about you. Don’t repeat what is already on your bio page.

Videos inspire trust, which can sometimes be hard to appreciate if you are a reader first. See this lengthy post How video can inspire consumer trust in your business by Victor Blasco, founder/CEO of the video production company Yum Yum Videos. (And did the word “lengthy” make you less likely to click on the link?)

Many small firm lawyers use the free Google email service Gmail to communicate with their clients. There are often questions raised about the security of Gmail because of the ads displayed that can change based on the content of your emails. So when you email several relatives seeing who is attending the cousin’s wedding, it is a little creepy to see ads displayed for wedding planners and similar services in your email. Based on the sheer volume of Gmails sent each hour, I accept Google’s statement that the ads are automatically generated and no one there is reading your emails to choose the ads displayed.

Lawyers using Gmail for business should strongly consider doing two things: 1. Upgrading your free Gmail account to the modestly priced GSuite subscription, and 2. Customizing Gmail so it works better for you.

A GSuite subscription costs $6.00 per month for the basic account and $12.00 per month for the business account. You can review this chart of the features of both types of accounts. There are many online essays, like this one, of why paid Gmail is better than free Gmail. There is more to GSuite than just email upgrades, but the primary reasons I think GSuite is superior to free Gmail are using a more professional-sounding email address (like your law firm website domain) instead of Gmail.com, administrative controls so a staff person cannot access their Gmail account after leaving your employment and the easy-to-use GSuite Sync for Microsoft Outlook.

Today Fast Company posted This next-level hack trains Gmail to work the way you think. This excellent article outlines how customizing Gmail tabs can change your inbox and your working days.

From the article:

“Here’s a little secret, though: You don’t have to use those tabs in the way Google designed them. You can hijack them and make them work any way you want.

“And once you wrap your mind around that possibility, you’ll never look at your inbox the same way again.”

Lawyers sometimes feel that they are too busy for technology customizations. But with most customizations, the hard part is figuring out what needs to be changed. Here Fast Company has provided you a roadmap.

As I have noted in this tip series previously, if your WiFi router has been in service for several years, it is likely time for a replacement. You may be using out of date security tools without knowing it. And in many cases a wireless router, particularly a mesh system, will improve your online experience.

PC Mag just today updated some shopping guides for you if you need a new WiFi router.

The Best Wireless Routers for 2020

The Best Budget Routers for 2020

Google Street View can be intrusive, especially if you had all your windows open when the Google recording vehicle drove by your house. Of course, other people were thrilled that Google Street View preserved them for posterity sitting on their front porch or working in their yard.

Before you decide to replace the image of your house with a blur on Google Street View, you should be aware that Google says this is “permanent.” So, if you are going to be placing your house on the market in the near future, this sounds like a poor idea. (I wonder if Google Street View Blurred will become a real estate sales required disclosure some day.)

But lawyers deal with many different types of people, including some who have had issues with stalkers and some who want to do everything possible to protect their privacy. So, if someone inquires, Mashable’s How to blur your house on Google Street View (and why you should) gives you all of the details on this apparently simple process. The image will still likely be on Zillow and other areas online, but this gets the image removed from where it will most likely be seen.

Caller ID was a great tool, at least it was, until the criminals learned to fake it. Google has an interesting new idea that is being rolled out to fight phone spam—verified calls.

“Google is slowly rolling out its new “Verified Calls” service, a kind-of supercharged Caller ID that should at least let Android users know whether the number that’s blowing up your phone is a legitimate business or not. As an added bonus, businesses using the service can even list a reason for calling, which will appear right on your phone’s screen,” according to this post on Lifehacker– Enable Google’s ‘Verified Calls’ on Android With This Setting.