The Department of Homeland Security recently clarified its position to restate that if you cross the border, any of your digital information devices can be seized and searched without the government giving you any reason whatsoever. They did promise to try to return them in a more timely manner. This incldues everything from a laptop to…

Did you know that mobile phone service providers typically charge around $2.00 for every 411 directory assistance call you make? The ABA Legal Technology Resource Center points out three options for services to get directory assistance for free. Two (Google and Bing) involve speech recognition so you have to speak slowly and clearly and only include business listings.

Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell have a really great podcast series on technology trends called the Kennedy-Mighell Report. The latest edition caught my attention because they decided to expand on my recent post on online reputation managment. Dennnis noted: "It used to be that you were mainly concerned with getting yourself into search engines…

As readers know, I am a big fan of dual monitors and like another commentator experience an irrational pleasure when someone else discovers how greal dual monitors are for productivity. So, breaking news this morning of a prototype dual-screen laptop (and pictures) really caught my eye and inspired a round of techno-lust. Surely, they need…

Bryan Sims, who writes the Connected Lawyer blog, was interviewed by the Illinois Lawyer magazine. In the yet-to-be published article, he is quoted as saying there are four "must-have tools" for solo practitioners: a smart phone, a laptop, a scanner, and a good backup system. I really like his list! A prepublication Illinois Lawyer blog…

Seth Godin has a blog post Fidelity vs. Convenience discussing the concepts in Kevin Maney's upcoming book. The book's premise is that there is a trade off "between delivering extraordinary experiences (which he calls fidelity) and doing it in a way that's cheap and easy (convenience)."

Godin says,"In the words of Bill Gross, in order…

With the school year beginning, I'm hearing more people talk about netbooks, those low cost laptops that are gaining in popularity. In fact the OBA Executive Director just bought one for his home use. But can a netbook work for a practicing lawyer and what are its limits? I'm not really set up to do hardware…

A lawyer I know told me she had to complete her "semi" work before going on vacation. She continued , "you know, in case I get hit by a semi while on vacation, I wouldn't want people to find a mess here." Unfortunately, life is unpredictable and be it a semi mishap or just not…