Criminal Defense Law With An Apple

Not Apple related at all. But I wanted to share with my readers. Leave your request for an invite in the comments. Please specify whether you want voice or wave. I will take folks in order. I have only three Google Voice invites and about twenty Google Wave Invites. When the invites are gone, the invites are gone.

Update: Voice invites are gone.

My Time Capsule has been on the blink for the last few days. Not sure why. I spent hours combing through forums and banging my head against the wall trying to fix this. This was reminding me of exercises I engaged in when I was a PC user. Then, a lightbulb went off. Apple Care. I have it. Why not use it?

To be honest, I have mixed feeling about Apple Care. We have been through some good times, some bad. But I do pay for the service. They should be the first place I go. So I called. After some diagnostics, plugging, unplugging and restarts, it was settled: hardware failure. Apple is overnighting me a new one tomorrow. Hours wasted on something I had no hope of fixing in the first place.

I know from reading forums and list-serves that some of you have lost faith in Apple Care. It is insurance, and a choice. But this year, my experiences with this coverage has been great. So thanks Apple Care, that is the fourth time in a row you have either solved or delivered a solution to a problem I couldn’t fix. Next time, I will save some time and call you first.

Most folks agree this is fake. Here is hoping that when (of if) the tablet does come out, it is this cool.

Hooray! Google finally released Chrome for the Mac. It is beta. But that doesn’t mean much. I think gmail was beta until just recently. Check it out here.

Well things have been quiet at Law With an Apple. We have been clicking along without much to say but I thought I would give a quick update on what’s new (or the same).

I have been very happy with Dropbox and have nothing to report except smooth sailing. We still love our Scan Snap and Adobe tools. I was also given a nice workaround for my gripes with the Scan Snap courtesy of Finis Price. Thanks Finis. Check out his blog, Techno Esquire.

I ordered the new Magic Mouse. I love it. But mostly because I don’t have to worry about that track ball from getting all mucked up. As many others have reported, the left to right swiping leaves a lot to be desired.

We are still waiting to see when Houdini Esq. drops. We have made a few attempts to get an early look at this cloud based solution but, alas, nothing but the video.

I have also been trying to carve out some time to get another look at Rocket Matter with Larry Port. I know they have added a lot to the software that would have made the difference for me (including doc management and advanced calendaring).

I was a bit of a curmudgeon about iPhone apps when I first purchased my iPhone. I loved the phone. It kept everything in iCal, Mail, and Address Book in perfect sync. Other than that, I saw a lot of time wasting tools (and those are important) but nothing for my law practice. Well, since then, quite a few handy apps have popped. In particular, the entire Revised Code of Washington (check to see if they have your State). Go here for Federal. Dropbox cogged the iPhone has been great. And don’t forget DayFrom which is handy for counting from a particular date. Head over to Mac Lawyer for a few more handy apps.

Came across the blog Law On My Phone. The blog covers a iPhone hardware/software and shows a lot of promise. Most recent post was on Google Wave. Although I think Google Wave’s applications to Criminal Defense Lawyers is far more limited, I am still looking forward to checking out this new product from Google and seeing what tools can be integrated into our firm.

Today I was going to upgrade my OS to Snow Leopard. Literally minutes before I was going to shove the Snow Leopard disk into my iMac, I got an email from my friend Jonathan, a Lynnwood DUI Lawyer. Jonathan asked whether ScanSnap was compatible with Snow Leopard.

I thought to myself, why wouldn’t it be? I typed in ScanSnap and Snow Leopard into Google and…boo. I have posted numerous times on my love affair with the Fujitsu ScanSnap. But this is really sad. The fact that it has still not been address by Fujitsu, even worse. There is a universal praise from Mac users everywhere for ScanSnap. I hope Fujitsu realize how quickly that tide can turn. In the meantime, Snow Leopard sits in my drawer, waiting for a fix.

You can read about the compatibility issues here.

Microsoft got taken to task for airbrushing out a black guy in an advertisement. The best part, the ad pictures a Mac. Who buys these stock photos? You can read the full story here.

Meaningful relationships?

PC World article looks at how the tide is turning:

Some lawyers still prefer the BlackBerry for its keyboard and longer battery life. But the iPhone’s big screen, slick interface and easy-to-use touchpad makes it an enticing device. The touchscreen makes it a snap to switch between browser windows and zoom in and out of documents.

The full article in PC World can be read here.