DockView Shows App Thumbnails

August 30th, 2010

Jealous of Windows 7′s ‘thumbnails’ that show up when the mouse hovers over an app on the task bar? DockView offers the same functionality, and more, for Mac OS X.  This great little app is only $7.99 and is free to try out with no limitations except an annoying and occasional ‘buy me’ window. The app plays nice with OSX’s Spaces so long as you switch to each Space and activate the app in that Space at least once.  So, if you have Preview PDFs open across three different Spaces, you can switch to them via the Dock thumbnail.  Additionally, when using Command-Tab, DockView also provides the pop-up thumbnail allowing quick switching for apps and windows. Finally, and better than Windows 7′s thumbnails, you can:

(1) alter the height and width of the pop ups; and, (2) pause, play and skip in the iTunes thumbnail. Genius and well worth the $7.99.

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How-To Custom Keyboard Shortcuts in OS X

July 30th, 2010

Quick tip on assigning keyboard shortcuts.

Mac OS 10.6 allows the user to define keyboard shortcuts for virtually any of the menu items contained within applications. A prime example of this is that with the built-in PDF viewer Preview, selecting text and then pressing the key combination control-command-h will result in highlighting of the selected text.

However, other applications such as DEVONthink and Circus Ponies Notebook use a different key combination to achieve the same result. Rather than memorize all the different keyboard shortcuts, set up your own keyboard shortcuts.

Open System Preferences, select Keyboard, select Keyboard Shortcuts, andselectApplication Shortcuts. Clicking the plus sign brings up a dialog whereby you can select the keyboard shortcut to work across the entire operating system, or be more specific to your particular application. Type the menu title in exactly as it appears within the application. Then, with the cursor in the keyboard shortcut box, press the keyboard combination you wish to use for that menu item.

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DEVONthink Pro for Case Analysis

July 8th, 2010

DEVONthink Pro: Nirvana for case analysis?

Ever since switching to MacOSX there has been an empty space left by CaseMap.  DEVONthink offers not only an adequate replacement for CaseMap, but perhaps the best software available for attorneys interested in conducting case analysis on the Mac.  If your litigation efforts involve building medical/fact chronologies, requires reviewing multiple forms of electronic information such as PDF files, deposition transcripts, JPEG photos, and video, then DEVONthink represents the best tool for working with that data.  DEVONthink also offers some very sophisticated features such as a complete concordance of all words and some unique grouping and tagging capabilities. Although there are a few quirks, such as keyboard shortcuts which differ from the standard keyboard shortcuts in MacOS X, and a steep learning curve, the rewards for using the software are well worth the effort.

Typically, demonstrating  this type of software requires a screen cast. Unfortunately, the only data currently available for display includes information that needs to be redacted. So, a series of screenshots will have to do along with highlighting a few favorite features.

PDF page specific linking

DEVONthink comes with its own built-in PDF viewer. The PDF viewer built into DEVONthink allows annotation just as you might accomplish using Preview. More importantly, the built-in PDF viewer allows copying a link to the specific page you’re viewing. So, for example, when reviewing a large multipage PDF such as medical records or depositions, the user can copy and paste selected text into a separate note. The user can then copy a page specific link for later reference back to the excerpt.

Now, with the desired text on the clipboard, a new RTF entry can be made in the chronology.

Once the new entry is created, the link to the specific PDF page can be pasted. The blue underlining indicates a clickable link to return to the specific page for the quoted text. Of course, links can also be generated for a specific entry and dropped into another entry for cross-reference or words can be made into links and WikiWords are also automatically recognized.  Tagging can also be added, or, the entry can be made to exist under multiple groups. In this screenshot, the entry initially created in the chronology group also exists under the tag “credibility” and the group Analysis.  You can also see that the entries are sorted chronologically. Clicking on either Analysis or the tag “credibility” would also reveal this particular entry as well as any others contained within that group or tag.

One of the nice things about using the RTF format is that if you are using a screen clipping software such as Skitch, Little Snapper, or, Snagit, you can drop screen clippings of particular medical records or deposition transcripts directly into the note entry. Then the original can be seen next to any annotations, a feature which can be usefule when working with handwritten notes that have been scanned into a PDF format such as a doctor’s chart.

Complete concordance

DEVONthink also provides, much like Windows case analysis software Summation or Concordance, a complete concordance of all words contained within a particular database. You can imagine as an attorney how useful it can be to find all words within deposition transcripts as well as searchable text PDF files. And, of course, in conjunction with the concordance, the entire database is completely searchable and includes fuzzy word searching. So for example misspelled words or words improperly OCR’d can still turn up in the word search. Searches can be limited to particular groups or tags within a database, or can be expanded to include even other databases.

Panel window magic

DEVONthink is one of those rare pieces of software that the more data shovedinto it, the more useful it becomes. DEVONthink’s side window offers several useful features including an immediate access to entry specific concordance, i.e. all words in the currently displayed document. Single-clicking a word allows working through that entry/document while double-clicking any one of these words will reveal the search window for the whole database, or selected portions thereof.

Another side panel is the “magic hat” side panel. This panel can be especially useful in very large databases because it will pull up other, similar, relevant documents. Additionally, it can be useful if using the inbox for the initial import of documents in order to better classify the newly imported document because DEVONthink does the thinking for you and points out the most likely groups wherein the place it.

Getting Info Into DEVONthink

The ability to shoot information into DEVONthink in a variety of ways makes it an easily accessible tool and place to stash things.  Inevitably, while researching Issue A on Case A, attorneys come across another reference that fits perfectly for Issue B on Case B.  DEVONthink provides the ability to quickly shoot that nugget off to DEVONthink, even if DEVONthink is not running, and associate with the proper case for later use. A variety of keyboard shortutcs, print to PDF services, an omnipresent but unintrusive  transparent tab at the side of the screen, and web browser bookmarklets ensure information gets filed in DEVONthink quickly and in the right place without interrupting workflow.

Hard drive folders and files can be imported into DEVONthink, leaving the original copies in their places. Or, DEVONthink can ‘index’ a folder and update the DEVONthink database when items are added or deleted.

New Case Analysis Best Bet for Mac Using Attorneys: DEVONthink Pro

DEVONthink Pro is the way to go if you’re looking for case analysis, knowledge management or research gathering in the legal environment.

DEVONthink offers far more feature than can be covered here.  However, the developers offer a free trial and, rather than being limited to 30 days, the program is free to use for a set number of hours. This is a very nice way to run the trial because DEVONthink is so deep and legal practice often harried the 30 day trial might expire before you had the opportunity to fully explore DEVONthink’s capabilities. By limiting the trial period to hours of usage, you can work into it gradually and will likely soon find it an indispensable tool, one well worth the $149 purchase price.

A highly recommended complement to DEVONthink is Joel Kissel’s “Getting Started with DEVONthink,” a $10 e-book available for download. The book is well-written and easy to read with detailed explanations for the more intricate functions of DEVONthink.

A Word About DEVONthink as a Casemap Replacement for Switchers

Casemap tracks data in four basic ‘tables.’ Facts, Persons, Documents, and Issues. Because DEVONthink lacks an initial structure, it could easily be dismissed as unworkable for replacing Casemap.  However, any apparent lack of structure falls short as criticism. A creative attorney (or any knowledge worker, for that matter) will see a huge opportunity for creating their own structure, one without artificial limits. As a starting point for migrating from using Casemap, you might wish to create Groups in DEVONthink reflecting the four tables in Casemap. Creating an ‘AllFacts’ group for dumping everything factual, an ‘Issues’ group for dumping in issues and a People group for all people in the case can ease some anxiety for the switcher.  DEVONthink already contains a smartfolder for tracking All PDF Documents, so you won’t need that group.

From this point on, your options are wide open. See an issue or item that needs to be tracked across all of these ‘tables?’ Simply add a tag for that issue in order to gather them all in one place, create a separate Group and then replicate the entry to the Group (fyi, ‘replicating’ an entry to a Group is as simple as typing the Group name in the field at the bottom of the entry), or create a new smart folder that updates automatically with the item by keyword.  For example, in a birth injury case, the fetal heart rate might be at issue and span both facts, issues and other documents. The user can simply tag each of these ‘fhr’ and have them all automatically tracked under that tag, create a separate Group and replicate those entries into that Group, or create a smart folder that tracks all instances of ‘fhr.’ Finally, because you can conduct a global search, the ability to exceed Casemap’s artificial table limits should become immediately apparent. In Casemap, one can only search within a given table. In DEVONthink, you can search across the entire case including inside pdf files. More impressive, there doesn’t appear to be anything so powerful and customizable available on the Windows side at this price point. DEVONthink Pro FTW.

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Distractions and Correcting Focus

June 13th, 2010

The internet, according to some, is destroying our ability to maintain focus.  Of course, our ability to maintain focus plays a key role in our work as lawyers. Reading a ten page memorandum dense with argument, analysis, complex factual patterns and case citation requires a good deal of focus. But, it may also require accessing the internet. Hence, the dilemma. So, here is a solution. Pomodoro Technique + Concentrate Software = Focusing.

The Problem

The New York Times is running a series “Your Brain On Computers.” The problem, for lawyers who need to focus, comes down to this:

Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes excitement — a dopamine squirt — that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored.

In sum, and contrary to most critics, lawyers are mammals and ‘ooh, look, shiny’ still applies. The Times article is a great read and a highly recommended to anyone who thinks they don’t have this focus problem.

Pomodoro

Pomodoro Technique ™creates a limited time where you focus on a single task. Knowing that this will be the time during which you focus, you key yourself to that task. For 25 minutes, you focus on nothing but the task at hand. At the end of 25 minutes, you take a five minute break. During that five minute break, get up, stretch, get a cup of coffee, check your email return a phone call. But get back to it after 5 minutes for another Pomodoro.  Lather, rinse, repeat and create a hash mark on a piece of paper for each Pomodoro you complete.

Pomodoro, for you billable types, tailors nicely with the 2/10 (or even 1/10?) billable. Complete a Pomodoro, and you’ve finished up 4/10 of a billable hour. For you contingency types, Pomodoro can stop you from running wild with research and work on a case… there truly is no end to the amount of time you can spend on a single case.

Concentrate

Now, bring a little muscle to bear. Pomodoro technique relies on a kitchen timer with a ‘ding’ to let you know when to break. Concentrate, is a handy piece of customizable software that blocks whatever you want to keep you from being bothered. It will shut off your IM, your email client and, if you tell it do so, will block designated web sites or even all access to the internet. And, it will do this for a set period of time so that you can’t sneek back, just to check and see how much more oil has spilled on that live video feed.

Maclitigator recommends three different Pomodoro ‘types’ in Concentrate. All three shut down mail apps, set chat status to ‘away’ and play a ding at the end of 25minutes. First up, PomoGoogleOK. This Concentrate pattern blocks most distraction domains (you can add whatever you want) such as flickr, groups.google.com, metafilter, facebook, twitter, video sites and mail.google.com. This Pomo allows you to search and research as needed on the broad internet without getting sucked into any of the typical distractions.

PomoNoWeb does exactly what it says… no internet access at all.

Finally, PomoWestlawOnly does just that as well. All internet access except Westlaw gets blocked. Concentrate is $29 and well worth it.

One Last Step

Find the DND (“Do Not Disturb”) button on your desk phone. Push it when you start the Pomo. Find the sleep button on your cel phone. Push that button too. Find the door to your office. Close that. If necessary, tell your staff what you are doing and that you will be available later at a set time.

The Payoff

Two things occur when using this technique. First, at the ‘ding,’ you will probably find yourself startled or feel a bit interrupted, as if you were just getting into the zone. That’s o.k. Take the break. You’ll be eager to pick up where you left off and you might even gain some additional insight while walking around.

Second, if you do this regularly, you’ll begin to notice a flow. Working Pomodoro for a few days ends up creating the habit of working in 25 minute bursts and a certain ebb and flow will develop that carries over even when not formally running the clock.

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iPad Apps – Atomic Web & pulse

June 2nd, 2010

Two new favorite iPad apps here. First, Atomic Browser solves the Westlaw blues. Second, ‘Pulse‘ tames the RSS news.

Atomic Browser
Safari on the iPad makes Westlaw virtually useless. The framed layout of Westlawsomehow confuses Safari to believe it reached the end of the page when it only reached the end of one frame. Maddening. Atomic Browser doesn’t seem to have the same hangups, letting you scroll with ease to the bottom of that 32 page opinion on Medicare subrogation and lien right recovery against your tort settlement….. Well, maybe not with ease, but at least you can read the whole case if you choose. Lite version is free and works just great, full version .99 cents and gets you unlimited tabs. Yes, another benefit is actual tabbed browsing.

UPDATE: As Larry points out in the comments, Westlaw seems to NOT be working properly under Atomic Browser either. Eeeesh. What kind of voodoo HTML is Westlaw using that causes such problems anyway? Suggestions, thoughts and rants encouraged in the comments.

UPDATE 2: After trying another browser (A1 Perfect Web Browser) and running into the same problem, a little more googling was in order.  The problem is this: when presented with a long list of cases or long case in Westlaw, the browser appears ‘stuck’ and unable to scroll to the bottom. The solution is simple, you must use TWO FINGERS to scroll when a web page has frames on it, as Westlaw does. Legal iPad pointed this tip out and you can see a video here.

As a side note, A1 Perfect Web Browser has a few smooth trick.  First, for any other rendering problems you might encounter, it ‘masks’ itself as whatever browser you choose. So, you can set it to tell the web page you are browsing that you are using Firefox, Safari (Mac), Chrome, or, even, Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8. A1 also supports tabs and, my favorite feature, has an ‘IN-PAGE Search’ function so you don’t waste time hunting for that one key word in a long text document. A1 is $2.99.

Pulse
This beautiful app pulls RSS feeds the way they should be seen and read… like a newspaper or magazine. Haven’t even looked at the Google Reader since picking up pulse for $2.99. Well worth every penny.

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iPad & OSX Apps for Appeals

May 5th, 2010

Working with the iPad at oral argument before an appellate court, trial court or other hearing cuts down on killing trees while keeping all information at your fingers. Rather than print out reams of pleadings and argument outlines, the iPad can display all the information you need, but it takes a bit of work to ditch the three ring binder.  Here are the apps, both iPad and Mac OS X, that will get you there.

OmniOutliner/Circus Ponies Notebook

Drafting argument outlines in a dedicated outliner works far better than the 1998 method of turning on outlining mode in Word. Both OmniOutliner and Circus Ponies Notebook (CPN) provide not only excellent outlining tools, but the ability to ‘attach’ your pleadings, exhibits, deposition transcripts etc. directly within the outline as a PDF file. For purposes of getting an outline onto the iPad, CPN provides the better approach until OmniGroup releases OmniFocus for iPad sometime this summer.

Circus Ponies is much deeper than a simple outliner.  Hyperlinks can jump across the entire notebook to cross reference other related items on different pages. Additionally, CPN provides a robust indexing of the entire notebook and advanced sorting and flagging features. Finally, and crucial to getting all this info onto your iPad. CPN offers two key export methods. First, the entire notebook can be exported to PDF with both page numbers and chapter-page numbers.  Second, the entire notebook, PDF attachments included can be exported as a website. That means that CPN will export your notebook as a fully hyperlinked document with PDF images, functioning expand/collapse arrows on the outline and any tabs added to the side as a self sufficient website.  From CPN choose File>Export as a Website>To Disk.  It’s easiest to do this if you create a ‘temp’ folder on your desktop and save the file there.  CPN kicks out an index.html file and a few folders.  Double click the index.html folder and you’ll open the notebook in Safari/Firefox.  Getting that notebook-as-website on your iPad and functioning is the next step.

Air Sharing HD

Air Sharing HD is the most direct method and highly recommended independent of this exercise.  Air Sharing HD creates a network connected hard drive accessible from your Mac.  Following theinstructions for the software gets you a mounted hard drive on the iPad where you can then drag and drop documents and folders through Finder.  Take the ‘temp’ folder from your desktop containing your Notebook as website and drag it to the iPad mounted hard drive. Next, from within Air Sharing HD, open that temp folder and tap on ‘index.html’ and your complete notebook opens. Tapping on any of the links, tabs or pages works just like a click.  Additionally, you get any PDFs saved inside the outline and, tapping on those PDFs opens them in full screen mode. Hit the ‘back’ button and your back to your outline.

A Second Method: iAnnotate PDF Approach

Another approach uses strictly PDFs. After composing an outline, print the file as a PDF. Then using iAnnotate, ‘import’ those documents. iAnnotate has a ‘server’ application that resides on your Mac. Designate a folder, and iAnnotate will upload all PDFs contained in that folder. This allows you to load not only your argument outline, but also related pleadings and documents. Most importantly, iAnnotate provides a tabbed interface, allowing you to switch back and forth between documents quickly. It is especially helpful that iAnnotate allows searching within a PDF if the document has been OCR’d. In testing, iAnnotate handled a 422 page record on appeal, two 40 page appellate briefs, the argument outline and a few pages of Utah Code Annotated with no problems. By contrast, using Air Sharing HD with CPN, opening the 422 page record on appeal as a PDF was noticeably laggy and slow, although it handled shorter documents just fine. Tablet Legal recently covered iAnnotate’s features in detail.

Both approaches are a bit of a kludge in terms of loading the iPad. Still, it remains much easier and more environmentally friendly than the old three ring binder approach.

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iPad at Trial

April 24th, 2010

Maclitigator just completed a four day jury trial (a.k.a. “in the Soup” as my friend Chuck might say) using the iPad as the primary means of getting information in front of the jury.  Here’s the low down on how it went.

iPad for Trial Presentation

The last post on the iPad indicated that it isn’t (yet) of too much use in the day to day affairs of a trial attorney.  However, at trial, the iPad really shines. Trial technology should be transparent. This means that it should not appear to the jury as (1) overly flashy; or, (2) a complete headache and a distraction to the attorney. Apple has created a product which facilitates presentation of evidence without getting in the way and does so in a completely unassuming fashion.

The iPad sits low and is the perfect size to place next to a legal pad or other notes while at the podium. Using Keynote, all documents to be admitted at trial were loaded in. BlankiPad_Trialslides provided a ‘tabbed’ divider set up, separating photos of the scene, x-rays, medical records, tables & summaries into their respective categories. Once the “Trial Slides” were completed, examination outlines cross referenced the appropriate slide. The slides were not ‘motion slides’ or slide incorporating transitions or other fancy Keynote stuff. Just a single page per picture/document. Photos were grouped as a single exhibit (e.g. Exhibit 5 was a series of 5 photos, or 5 slides in Keynote).  The slides were then printed out and placed in an indexed binder which referenced the Exhibit number, the slide number, and the tab within the three ring binder. In this fashion, slides could be pulled up quickly and all evidence to be admitted was contained in a single Keynote presentation.

All deposition transcripts were transferred to Keynote as separate presentations, using PDFtoKeynote, a great little application that will take a multi-page PDF and turn it into a Keynote presentation, one page per slide.  Because the iPad can switch so quickly between presentations, flipping from the Trial Slides to the deposition transcript slides during a cross examination is an effortless process. Jumping back and forth between evidentiary exhibits and impeachment transcript evidence works like a charm and is much more smooth than wandering around the courtroom looking for the paper documents. PDFtoKeynote also works great for moving over multipage medical records too.

One caveat about using Keynote. If you develop your slides on a iMac or MacBook, be aware that (1) presenter notes do not transfer; (2) some fonts/transitions/image groups do not make the cut and will be replaced or removed. There is an Apple support article detailing these issues, but realistically your slides should be single page evidentiary focused, not slick “hey look at me stuff.”

Hardware Setup

Hardware setup could not be simpler.

(1) a good high lumen projector (>2500 lumens);

(2) a high quality and long VGA cable. Don’t try your local Shack or Bust Buy, they’ll either sell you an overpriced “Monster” cable or tell you that you can’t run long VGA cables because the signal fails. We ran a 25′ thin VGA cable from the projector to the podium with no loss of signal and at a cost of about $25. Our cable came from VPI and was good quality.

(3) an iPad, of course;

(4) a VGA video adapter cable for the iPad;

(5) the silicon inCase for iPad (get the black one, obviously). The iPad itself is a bit slippery. Sweaty palms and all during trial, the inCase silicon provided a great grippy feel and prevented the hard ‘bang’ sound of aluminum on wood at the podium. One downside of the case is that the iPad VGA video adapter would not fit through the opening. This required pulling the case slightly down to plug in the video.

Only twice did a technology hiccup occur during use at trial. On opening a presentation for the first time, Keynote abruptly quit, resulting and returned to the iPad home screen. Tapping Keynote and reopening the presentation quickly cured the problem. It’s a weird little bug that will probably be remedied and can be avoided by opening the presentation in advance. But, even with the ‘crash’ of Keynote, two taps and the thing was back up and FAST. The first time it happened there’s that momentary panic, but it opened up so quickly that the second time it happened I didn’t even notice it.

The MacBook came along at trial, but sat somewhat despondent at counsel’s table. Never once was it taken to the podium. It did come in handy for a quick search, during opposing counsel’s direct exam, for cross exam references in the witness’s deposition. But, iPad then took over by pulling up the transcript for the jury to see. More about the trial itself can be read here.

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iPaid for iPad

April 7th, 2010

Putting the iPad through its paces, this post was drafted using Dragon Dictation on the iPad.  What follows, within quotes, was completely drafted and edited on the iPad.

“We keep hearing about the iPad’s “magical” experience. However, the only magical thing about the new iPad is the ability to make people pull money out of their pocket and simultaneously make them blind to the shortcomings of the device which they receive in exchange for that cold hard cash. Getting any real work done on the iPad is next to impossible. The keyboard itself makes typing documents more than difficult. But, add to that fact a complete inability to move documents easily back and forth between the desktop and the iPad a practice in frustration.

So, here is a complete review of the iPad as relevant to attorneys.

What it’s good for right now.

Right now. There are some amazing things that the iPad can do. Following is a list of applications which are necessary for attorneys.

Dragon dictate. This little application is quite amazing on the iPad. It enables you to dictate at an accuracy and ease much much greater then Macspeech/Dictate.

Nuance’s Dragon Dictate represents everything that should happen with a dictation program. I don’t need to train it, I don’t need to alter words in its dictionary, I don’t need to pay outrageous sums for special legal dictionaries. Granted using Nuance to dictate something like 790 3P third 1004 (Utah 2007) can be a bit frustrating.

GoodReader: this application allows you to “mount” an server for remote file storage such as Dropbox or local network hard drive.  Only by doing this can you readily and easily access files which are not available on the iPad. Good reader also allows youIMG_0005 to read Adobe PDFs in an easy way which restructures the text flow so that you are not scrolling all over the screen and also incorporates the ability to cut and paste text, albeit an entire page at a time.

iWork/Keynote: Keynote is going to be an application which gets used at trial very easily. Loading slides in and then scrolling to them during trial will be very easy. You can transfer keynote slideshows from your Mac to iTunes which are then transferred over to the iPad. Or, you can create slideshows directly on the iPad itself. Assuming that you have loaded all necessary images into the photo browser.

What it’s not so good for:

Right now the iWork applications simply have no usable means of transferring documents back and forth between an iPad and a desktop machine. There is no built-in file management system for the iPad. Additionally, many of the advanced features in keynote and numbers will be lost on transferring over to the iPad.

Bottom line: wait to buy the iPad. There is no specific “need” for attorneys to have this device at this time. While the future of the iPad may hold magical and amazing things in store for attorneys, the inability to do any significant work and the complete lack of applications which support the workflow of an attorney

What to look for down the line: There needs to be a more robust and easy-to-use method of transferring files back and forth between a full desktop computer and the iPad itself. Additionally, there needs to be a more legal specific applications. OmniGroup is going to crank out OmniOutliner for the iPad as well as OmniFocus.  Both of these will be welcome additions.

Additionally, if Circus Ponies were to create an iPad version of their Notebook software this would be an amazing addition to the iPad which would make it infinitely more usable for attorneys. Specifically, either OmniOutliner or Circus Ponies Notebook would make taking depositions with the iPad very very easy and enjoyable, to the extent that a deposition can be enjoyable. In effect, no more playing the who sunk my battleship while asking questions over the top of the laptop screen thrown up as a barrier between you and the deponent. Similarly, either of these applications, if they supported an external monitor/projector hookup, would greatly increase the efficiency with which direct and cross examinations could be conducted at trial while simultaneously displaying the exhibit, document, or other evidence directly on screen for the jury and judge to observe.

Finally, look for Apple to create a feasible file transfer solution. The current method of transferring files back and forth is a complete mess. Requiring users to transfer files via iTunes is simply unworkable as it not only makes things unnecessarily complicated, but the net result is two different versions of a single file.

Sent from my iPad”

A few notes: Cut and paste from Dragon Dictation into WordPress did not work. Additionally, the screenshots, although taken directly on the iPad, were also uploadedDragon Dictate Error via a MacBook. Finally, Dragon Dictate has some kind of word limit to what it can handle (see screen shot). After dictating for a while, the app gives an error message that the server is busy, but if a new dictation note is started, it works just fine.

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iPad or not to Pad

January 30th, 2010

Hype, criticism and speculation.

The iPad, Apple’s much awaited tablet platform, currently draws almost as much speculation as it did before it received a formal announcement. The hype, criticism and speculation didn’t end with the announcement. Criticisms run the gambit and, some are properly laid. A few key things might, however, make this a very useful tool for the trial attorney.

iWork Keynote will be a huge boon to conducting presentations in Court. If the video out will allow dual display the same as Macbooks, i.e. you can view a ‘presenter’ display while using the projector for the slide, it’s almost a no brainer for court room presentations.

Also, if the iPad can multi-task, this would make the remainder of the iWork suite worth exploring on the tablet platform, although questions remain the ergonomics of typing and mousing about with a cursor. Since it is a touch interface, does the user move their hand from thetypevsmouse keyboard to the screen to change the cursor location? If so, and given the awkward angle shown with the keyboard attached, it doesn’t seem like a very functional workflow.

OmniGroup, makers of OmniFocus and OmniOutliner, two of the most frequently used pieces of software by Maclitigator, announced plans to port their entire suite of applications to the iPad.  This, also, is a huge boon. OmniOutliner is a really great application for deposition outlines, including the ability to Quicklook attachments from within the outline itself. Maclitigator long ago lamented the ‘Battleship’ atmosphere a laptop creates between a deponent and the examining attorney… it’s already hard enough to conduct a meaningful deposition in the adversarial process without also erecting a physical barrier between yourself and the witness. So, taking a deposition with a tablet is finally a reality with the iPad. But, as above, this raises the question of what file system and syncing capabilities the iPad will allow. Even with the best of preparation it always seems inevitable that you dig through the file on your laptop looking for a reference mid-deposition.

Finally, Frasier Speirs column over at Macworld makes the best argument for iPad as a device which will succeed, both among professionals and neophytes. He points out that the iPad, with its simple interface and elimination of the typical ‘techie’ problems will solve the bane of all computers …

… the infantilizing effect of high technology on adults. From being in control of their world, they’re thrust back to a childish, medieval world in which gremlins appear to torment them and disappear at will and against which magic, spells, and the local witch doctor are their only refuges…..

That article sums up why the iPad confuses (and frightens0 so many ‘techie’ types… it will make technology usable, accessible and meaningful without needing to ‘think’ about using it. As soon as Dragon/Nuance port a full blown dictation system to the iPad, it may be close to over for the laptop as we have known it.

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Tinderbox In Litigation

January 21st, 2010

Tinderbox offers intriguing and very appealing features. The software provides some powerful analytical tools, accompanied by visual representation. However, a very steep learning curve, severe limitations in the type of data that can be handled, and overall difficulty in using data once entered may not make it a good fit for litigation management or case analysis… i.e. it’s your choice whether or not to follow the siren’s call of the perfect case analysis tool.

Tinderbox – Exuberance, Frustration

Exuberance- What it does: Tinderbox collects notes or text in small ‘buckets’ or ‘containers.’ The cool part, each bucket or container can, itself, contain other buckets…. think stacking Russion doll.  Further, each note/bucket can exist as an alias inside other areas.

You can view these notes/buckets through two representations: a mindmap style representation; or, a hierarchical outline style. In map view, the ability to create links amongst various note buckets also can lead to interesting analysis and can springboard a brainstorming session. The outline view can be further manipulated to display information inside each note, a kind of table with additional information displayed in columns.

Even more interesting, intriguing and useful, a bucket can also act as an ‘agent,’ think of it as a Smartfolder in Finder. The agent will collect all relevant notes and buckets and can sort them by date, name or other specified criteria. So, one can create agents which track all people in a case and sort them by name, or all facts and sort them by date, place, type etc.

Agents can also go one step further and, if certain criteria are met, actually alter the appearance or other characteristics of a bucket which meets the criteria.  For example, a case may contain many facts, some of which are just plain ole’ chronological facts and others which might be medical treatment.  In the fourth gallery image, an agent identified those ‘medical’ facts, changed their color to ‘blue’ and added a ‘blue flag’ so that they stand out in the chronology. Really, really slick.

Another slick feature is the ‘wordcloud’ view, image #5 in the gallery, called “Common Words” in the Tinderbox menu. It gives you a hyperlinked word cloud of words contained in your Tinderbox document, the more frequent the word occurs, the larger the font. Clicking on the word takes you to a list of all notes containing that word. But, clicking on the individual note doesn’t jump you to the word inside the note… which brings us to the frustrations.

Frustration- The global find function is limited to a two word boolean search. Worse, there is no global find and replace readily available.

The biggest pitfall with Tinderbox is that to sort, filter or otherwise ‘mine’ your data, you need to create an ‘agent.’ There are no on the fly filtering tools available. Imagine if, in iTunes, every time you wanted to look at just the albums by Jay-Z you had to (1) open a separate window; (2) type out the following arcane command “Artist(Jay-Z)&Prototype=album”; (3) close the separate window; and, (4) open the newly created agent so you could see just those albums by Jay-Z. Those are, at a minimum the steps required just to gather all albums by Jay-Z.

Two blogs have both attempted to demonstrate Tinderbox as a useful tool for lawyers. Attorney Steve Winnick’s blog Winvictus’s Summary Judgment describes an attempt to create a Tinderbox based case management tool called Summary Judgment.  In the most recent post, eighteen steps are required to get information into Tinderbox for case management/litigation purposes. An older blog, Tinderlaw, apparently dead ended since the last post regarding Tinderbox back occurred in September ’09.

Further frustration lies in using Tinderbox for anything other than storing text notes. There is no way for the software to efficiently include images, audio or video files. You *can* link to a file as part of a note bucket, but this step alone is often difficult, requiring a manual drill down through finder because drag and drop rarely worked. Of course, this mere linkage does not index any document which might have indexable content (e.g. Word documents or PDFs containing rendered text).

Finally, Tinderbox appears to be coded in java or some other language. In other words, it’s not written in Mac OS X’s programming language and therefore loses much of the shine you may have come to expect from Mac software. Additionally, the software employs some rather strange keyboard shortcuts. And, last but not least, the software appears to be entirely dependent on a single developer. After watching Journler go down in flames, it would be difficult to put too much data in software that depends so much on a single individual.

So, in summary, if you wanted to plan out every possible need for your data, in advance, take the time to learn what borders on an arcane scripting language, and become familiar with some rather awkward keyboard shortcuts, you might find Tinderbox useful… Tinderbox does offer some very powerful features and interesting takes on data mining. But, as a lawyer working daily with data and the need to be flexible in searching, filtering and finding information, I find it more frustrating than useful.

Tinderbox costs $249 per license although a ‘limited’ version can be downloaded for a free test drive, the limitation being only a small number of notes can be created. For what it’s worth, Maclitigator payed full price in order to put the software through its paces. Prior to publication, developer Mark Bernstein was given an opportunity to review the post and comment or suggest anything that may have been overlooked. No response was received.

Update January 22, 2010: Mark Bernstein emailed me and posted a detailed comment below. The comments address some concerns raised above, but not all.

One more positive point needs mentioning: Tinderbox is the only software that allows both data mining and a very useful mindmap style presentation. Personal Brain does present a ‘mindmap’ to some extent, but not nearly as flexible as Tinderbox because each ‘node’ ‘bucket’ or ‘thought’ can only exist in one place at a time in Personal Brain.  The Tinderbox approach is reminiscent of those big white boards/cork boards that you see used by police detectives in movies (think Sopranos, Russell Crowe in American Gangster, Dexter). For some interesting ‘task board’ layouts, look here. This aspect of Tinderbox makes it very attractive, but the other negatives outweigh any benefit of a pretty picture.

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