No man (or woman) is an island. There is a popular myth that successful people are entirely "self-made." Balderdash! Most of us owe our success to a combination of hard work, good luck, and the loving support of those around us, such as a spouse, partner, or parents.

Several of the following articles identify technology- oriented gifts that lawyers, law firm staffers, and those who love them will find useful (or in some cases amusing).

Extending last months Green theme, we have a couple more energy or environment-saving suggestions for you.

Finally, included in this issue will be our regular selection of Amicus tips, and other useful law office technology information.

This heart shaped mouse can be purchased on-line at EC21

 

Chances are you're familiar with Netflix, the Web- based mail-order movie rental service. If you are fortunate enough to live near one of its many distribution centers, you can drop a DVD in the mail on Monday (after a weekend viewing) and receive the next DVD in your queue in Wednesday's mail. That's pretty quick. Subscriptions run $5 to $48 per month depending on how many DVD's you want to have at home at once.

But you don't have to wait for the mail to watch a movie. If you can find a broadband connection, you can instantly stream a movie to your notebook (or desktop) PC. This is great for lawyers who are on the road and are looking for entertainment options without spending a fortune.

The selection of movies available for instant viewing far narrower than the mail-order list, but it is broad enough to include some worthwhile choices (feature films, documentaries, foreign films, and television hits such as "Heroes" and "The Office"). If your Internet connection is reasonably fast and your notebook fairly new, the video and audio quality can be excellent. One of our consultants recently streamed "Super Size Me" and was very impressed with the technology employed by Netflix. Of course, it totally ruined his planned trip to the Golden Arches for a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese value meal.

Netflix will soon be expanding its instant viewing technology to permit streaming of movies directly to a subscriber's TV set. They are developing a set-top box with electronics giant LG. The service should be available later in 2008 and will likely be included as part of a standard Netflix subscription (once you buy the box at a not-yet-determined price).

 

We've written about USB flash drives as great gifts in the past. And they remain an incredibly useful and flexible tech tool. But if you've seen one USB drive, you've seen them all, right? Not quite.

The new SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus 4 GB USB flash drive automatically backs-up its contents securely over the Web when plugged into a PC with an Internet connection. If you lose or damage your USB drive, just visit the password protected backup site and retrieve your files. See an on-line demo here.

The backup service is free for six months. After that, the cost is $30 annually. If you often travel with crucial documents or data on your USB drive, this may be a small price to pay for the added security of seamless automatic on-line back-up.

The drive also includes state-of-the-art features such as a crush-resistant metal case and
ReadyBoost compatibility with Windows Vista. It retails for $60 and will be available next month.

 

Here is a great budget gift for a notebook PC- using lawyer or staff member. For a mere $10, you can give a Stash Card.

No, this isn't a flash card, but it could hold a few. It is essentially an empty PC Card chassis that serves as a secret hide-away for a variety of small objects such as SD memory cards, a spare office key, postage stamps, paper clips, an emergency $20 bill, etc. The Stash Card rests undetected in the generally unused PC Card slot of your notebook PC. When you need to put something in or take something out, just eject the Stash Card from its slot and lift the hinged lid. Drop in your treasure, close the lid, and reinsert the card. Simple, elegant, and cheap. It can be ordered on-line from Wireless Garden or purchased at your local Radio Shack or Circuit City.

For years, tech geeks who are also avid readers have anxiously awaited a truly usable ebook reader. Lawyers, being voracious readers, are a prime market for a product like this.

Unfortunately, most ebook readers available until now have been seriously flawed devices. But with the release of Amazon's $400 Kindle, we finally have an ebook reader worth owning. It isn't cheap, but for someone really special who loves to read, it is a great Valentine gift.

Kindle is a portable electronic reading device that permits wireless downloading of books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers. It has a new electronic paper screen that closely replicates the experience of reading ink on paper. It is designed to eliminate the strain and glare that results from reading on a typical computer screen. A video demo is available on the Kindle home page.

The Kindle uses a wireless network separate from the Wi-Fi connection we use with our computers. It connects via a 3G cellular network called Whispernet. You never need to locate a Wi-Fi hot spot. If you are within range of the Sprint/Nextel wireless network on which Whispernet operates, you can download new content immediately. Or if you choose, you can download books to your PC and transfer them to the Kindle by USB cable or SD memory card

Use of Whispernet is free. Books are deeply discounted (most are less than $10 each). A monthly subscription to the New York Times (downloaded automatically to the Kindle each morning) is $15 per month. The Kindle's onboard memory will hold about 100 full-length books, and the SD slot allows additional storage. You can even transfer audio books to the Kindle and listen through the built-in speaker or headphones.

The downside is that the Kindle uses a proprietary file format that can only be read on the device itself. There is no reader software for your PC. But you can transfer your own documents to the Kindle, potentially reducing the load if you need to take a case file on the road or to read on the plane. With some planning, you could even turn the Kindle into a portable personalized law library by transferring key statutes, rules, and cases to the Kindle

Each Kindle has a unique and customizable e-mail address which will convert your documents to the Kindle's proprietary format and transmit them wirelessly to the device for 10 cents. This allows you (or your assistant back at the office) to e-mail Word or PDF documents (PDF conversion remains experimental) and pictures wirelessly to your Kindle. If you are not in a wireless area or would like to avoid the 10 cent fee for wireless delivery, you can email attachments to be converted and returned to your computer via email. You then transfer the document to the Kindle via USB.

The Kindle isn't for everyone. Some readers love the tactile sensation of holding the paper between their fingers and turning pages. But for a tech-oriented book-lover, this is a top-shelf gift.

 

Online subscription music services can be a great bargain, especially if they work with your portable digital audio player. One of the best bargains is Rhapsody With a library of over 4 million songs in all genres, reasonable subscription rates, and a nice user interface, Rhapsody comes in at or near the top of streaming music service ratings. Where Rhapsody really shines in relation to its competitors is its editorial content ranging from album reviews to playlists and recommendations for new music based on your existing choices. It is easy to find new music that fits your mood or taste.

For $12.99 per month, you get unlimited streaming of music to your PC. From your PC, you can send music to your home or office audio system using a wireless media streaming device. Or use a simple audio cable to connect your PC to your home stereo.

For only $2 more ($14.99 monthly), you can upgrade to Rhapsody to Go. The Rhapsody to Go service gives you unlimited transfers of music files to your portable music player. The downside is that Rhapsody to Go is not compatible with Apple's iPod players. For better or worse, if you have an iPod, you will be using Apple's iTunes store and software. But Rhapsody to Go will work with most other portable audio players. A list is available on Rhapsody's site.

 

 

Last month, we focused on ways to save energy and the environment. Here are a couple of additional ways to Go Green.

Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) are important devices that protect our computers and peripherals from dangerous power surges while giving us time to avoid data loss if the power unexpectedly goes out. We don't usually think of a UPS as a power saving device. But it can be.

Leading UPS maker APC now offers the Back-UPS ES 750 which includes master controlled outlets into which computer peripherals can be plugged. The master outlet is designed to sense current drawn by connected equipment, typically a computer. When the computer is powered down or goes into sleep mode, the master outlet will automatically shut-down the controlled outlets, which consume power even when the computer is off. By cutting power to these unused peripherals, the APC Back-UPS ES 750 can save up to $40 per year in the cost of electricity. It sells for less than $100.

Computers also have their own built-in power saving options. In Windows XP, for example, go to Control Panel>Power Options to adjust these settings. Keep in mind that screen savers do not save energy. Instead using a screen saver, click on the Power Schemes tab and set the monitor to turn off after 5 or 10 minutes of inactivity

You could also set your computer to go into Standby mode, or even Hibernate, after 15 to 30 minutes of inactivity. Before you can set your computer to Hibernate, you must enable Hibernation on the Hibernation tab in Power Options. Hibernate uses less power than Standby because your data is saved to your hard drive before the power is completely shut down. Standby is a low-powered state that keeps your data in RAM for faster recovery to full-power.

You won't want to set your computer to Hibernate if you typically remain connected to a networked database program such as practice management or time/billing/accounting software. Hibernating without first exiting the program could result in loss or corruption of data under those circumstances.

 

 

As we have discussed with many of you in the past, cleaning up your pc regularly is important to its overall efficiency. By performing these processes regularly you improve your pc's efficiently and assist in avoiding major breakdowns.

I have attached a link below that takes you to a Microsoft article that shows how to perform the items defined. We recommend that each pc runs disk cleanup and defrag weekly. In addition, please make sure you are keeping your antivirus and antispyware updated. This is important for the overall security and protection of your systems.

• Clean up disk errors
• Remove temporary files
• Rearrange your data
• Make Internet Explorer run faster
• Automate Microsoft Update
• Install antivirus and antispyware programs

 

Optimize your computer for peak performance

 

 

If you're ready to replace, sell, or retire your old computer, it's very important to eradicate personal data stored on its hard drive before unplugging it for the last time.

You should always remember that even though you manually delete computer files, an identity thief might still be able to recover them, possibly putting you or your family at risk.

This article is also from the Microsoft newsletter. Please use the link below to access the article.
It also provides options for removing files from your computer and identifies Shared Windows disk- cleaning utilities (free of charge):

Retire that computer more safely

 

Gavel and Gown has revised their pricing on Amicus products effective 11-26-07. The prices are reflected in the following articles for Amicus Attorney 2008 and Amicus Accounting 2008.
In addition, the price for Amicus Attorney 7 has increased to $699.00 for the first user and $599.00 for additional users. For additional pricing information, please contact us.

Please contact either Carmen 513 368-0042 (crelatores@cni-incorporated.com) or Ron 513 312- 8381 (rcarter@cni-incorporated.com to order the upgrades or provide you with more information concerning the New Amicus 2008 Product Line and how it affects your existing installation.

When you listen to your voice mail messages, what do you do? If you are like most people, you write down the messages on a sheet of paper. You might have 5 different messages related to 5 different files; and all of them are written on the same sheet of paper. Now, how do you file them?

Phone messages in Amicus can be used to help you better manage the voice mail messages to which you need to respond.

Instead of hand writing the message, go to your ComCenter and create a new Phone Message to yourself. In Amicus 2008 Small Firm Edition, simply open your ComCenter and click on the pink phone message icon in the bottom right hand corner.

For each voice mail message, create a pink phone message. That way, each message can be properly filed in the appropriate Amicus file and all the messages will be organized in your ComCenter for easy management. Best of all, when you go to return the call, you will have all the information you need to return the call and to create a phone call log. And, if you still want a paper copy of the message for the file, simply click on the print icon on the bottom of the message.

At the end of the day, you can easily look at the TODAY tab in your ComCenter and make sure you have billed all of your time for the calls you made today. And, if you didn't get the call returned, the message will remain in your OUTSTANDING tab in your ComCenter. You'll never lose another voice mail message, and you'll be more likely to bill your time for the ones that you did return.

Amicus Accounting 2008 is the new version of our Accounting product. It has many enhancements over the original Amicus Accounting, including easier navigation, the ability to change the Client on an existing matter, enhancements to Accounts Receivable interest, billing and reminder statements, a new payroll add-on option and a more powerful receipt function.

Pricing for Accounting will be $349.00 for the first license and $249.00 each additional license.

 

Upgrading from Amicus Accounting to Amicus Accounting 2008 $99 / license

Amicus Attorney 2008 Small Firm Edition is the latest version of Amicus Attorney built on the popular V+ (C++) platform. It is specifically designed for the solo and small firm market. It has significant enhancements over its predecessors.
These include:
a new navigation pane similar to Amicus 7,
a new Tasks module for managing To Do's all in one place,
real time spell check,
text expansion,
email signatures,
Outlook®
email integration enhancements
and the ability to run in Client/Server mode.

This product is for firms with 10 users or less only. It is a superb upgrade for all V and V+ Advanced and Client/Server customers with 10 licenses or less.

Pricing for the Small Firm Edition will be $499 for the first license and $399 for additional licenses.

Please note that these two products are no longer bundled together.

They need to be purchased separately. Of course they still work together wonderfully.

However, it is important to understand that if you are upgrading from the old Amicus Small Firm, you will need to upgrade both the Amicus Attorney side and the Amicus Accounting side if you want to continue using both products.

Pricing for upgrades is as follows

• Upgrading to Amicus Attorney 2008 Small Firm Edition: 1st user / add'l users
• From Amicus Small Firm $249 / $199
• From Amicus Attorney V+ (Advanced or Client/Server) $249 / $199
• From Amicus Attorney V or below (Advanced of Client/Server) $299 / $249

 

Below is a list of the current versions of important law office software supported by Cooperative Network Integrators, Inc..

Amicus Attorney: Downloads

• Amicus Attorney 7: build 7.1.0.8)
• Amicus Attorney 2008 Small Firm Edition
• Amicus Attorney Advanced V+: v. 5.9.1
• Amicus Attorney C/S V+: v. 5.8.1
• Amicus Small Firm: v. 5.9.0
• Amicus Attorney V: v 5.1.1
• Amicus Attorney X: v. SP1.1

Amicus Accounting:

• Amicus Accounting 2008
• Amicus Accounting Small Firm Edition: v 5.9.0

Amicus Accounting 2008: Update from the Internet via the Check For Updates function available from your Help menu or Maintenance module. Please refer to your Amicus Accounting Online Help for details.

Microsoft Office:

• Click here and select Check for Updates.

Corel Word Perfect:

• Click here then select your version.

email: rcarter@cni-incorporated.com

phone: 513-755-1377

web: http://www.cni-incorporated.com