News and tech sites around the 'net are buzzing with Apple news after CEO Steve Jobs announced a number of new products at his MacWorld 2008 keynote yesterday. The announcements included the diminutive MacBook Air, a revamped Apple TV, and a new wireless backup device called Time Capsule. As impressive as these new devices are, however, a less trumpeted announcement from a much smaller company may be of more interest to Mac-based lawyers: MacSpeech has launched Dragon NaturallySpeaking for the Mac.

MacSpeech, developer of the popular Mac voice recognition software iListen, licensed Dragon NaturallySpeaking from its Windows developer Nuance Communications and ported it over to the Mac. NaturallySpeaking is the top selling Windows speech recognition software and by far the most popular voice recognition software in use by respondents to the 2007 ABA Legal Technology Resource Center Technology Survey.

MacSpeech will be selling the Mac version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking for $199, but registered users of iListen can get it for $99 (or just $29 if they purchased iListen in 2008).

Good news for Mac-using lawyers: Microsoft has finally set a release date for Office 2008 for Mac. The ubiquitous productivity software, which Microsoft announced would be delayed last month, is now set to begin distribution in the United States on January 15, 2008 -- the first day of MacWorld Expo San Francisco.

Office 2008 for Mac, the first major update to Office on the Mac since 2004, will include many of the features seen in Office 2007 for Windows including support for the Open XML file format. It will run on both PowerPC and Intel based Macs and will be priced at $400 for the basic edition or $240 as an upgrade from Office 2004. Can't wait until January to make your purchase? No problem: customers who buy Office 2004 between today and January 15th will be able to purchase the 2008 upgrade for just the cost of shipping.

Also from the LTRC: Microsoft Office 2007 - Things to consider before making the switch, FYI: MacIntel.

• The 2008 survey observed a significant migration of respondents’ use of desktop computers to laptops.  Use of laptop computers jumped to 83% in the 2008 survey from 69% in the 2007 survey for solo respondents and to 73% from 59% for respondents from firms of 2 to 9 attorneys.

• The availability of Smartphones/BlackBerrys has increased considerably. In 2008 76% of respondents reported the availability of smartphones or BlackBerries at their firms, up from 55% in the 2007 survey and 49% in the 2006 survey. 

1. File Server availability has increased in this year’s survey to 85% from 73% in 2007.  This figure was nearly doubled for solo respondents, to 51% from 28%. Dell (59%) and HP/Compaq (17%) were the most-named brands, with 19% using custom servers. 

• Proceed with caution!  While only eight percent of respondents report that their firms have experienced a security breach, 47% report that their law firm technology has been infected with a virus, spyware or malware.  However, no significant business disruption or loss resulted from the infection for 53% perhaps due to diligent backup practices; more than four-fifths (82%) of respondents report that their firm has a backup strategy.

Building a Web Site That Works
The LTRC announced a new, detailed guide for law firms and legal organizations looking to get a website. Topics include developing content, picking a domain, finding a web host, and actually building the site.

It’s Just a Phone with Cool Features, Right?
Security is essential in legal computing, and Smartphones – as “extensions of the modern office” – are no exception. Read the LTRC’s guide to security on the go.

Safeguarding Attorney/Client Privilege
Encryption is a valuable tool in securing your sensitive legal documents and files. Take a look at our FYI: Playing it Safe – Using Encryption.

Electronic Document Redaction and the FTC
How sure are you that the sensitive information in your electronic documents has been properly redacted? The LTRC brings the story of an FTC redaction slip-up and provides some guidance on avoiding a similar embarrassment in your practice.

NetSnippets is dead, long live NetSnippets. As of March 2007 a great tool to capture web content has been put out of commission. While they will still support existing customers, the application is no longer available to new customers. Why was NetShippets a great tool? One of the dangers of the Internet is finding great information – and losing it. Bookmarks and favorites are great for noting that you found the perfect site, article, or download but the Internet tends to be transient and many of us have experienced the horror of link rot – a link that no longer works. The information contained in that link has been moved, deleted, or is now only accessible for a fee. The trick is to capture the content. Fortunately, though NetSnippets is gone, in its wake there are a number of Web 2.0 applications that have similar functionality. For instance, Google Notebook. Google Notebook allows you to capture a webpage – the link or copied text from a page, organized it, annotate it, share it. and even publish the Notebooks. A browser plugin allows users to add pages to Notebook with a single click. And, since it is Google, users can search across Notebook to find saved content. Other options include Onfolio, Evernote, and esnips. All of these programs help busy lawyers keep up with content as they find it and then retrieve it when they need it.  The sharing capabilities allow work groups to collaborate on research projects or for current awareness.

From paper towels to pickup trucks, it seems that most products these days are striving to go "green" -- that is, to be more environmentally friendly. The green movement is driven in part by concern for the environment, but also by dollars and cents: green products are often reusable or energy efficient, translating into significant savings for individuals and businesses. Unfortunately, "green" is ambiguous at best, and some companies have been accused of "greenwashing" -- using misleading marketing to portray harmful or wasteful products as beneficial to the environment.

Thankfully, several rating systems -- such as Energy Star and LEED -- have been developed to identify truly green products. If a new computer is in your future, one such rating system might be of use: the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool ("EPEAT"). EPEAT, which was recently adopted by executive order of the White House for all federal agencies, rates desktops, laptops, monitors, and integrated systems (e.g. the iMac) as bronze, silver, or gold based on their compliance with 23 mandatory criteria and 28 optional criteria. You can use their convenient search tool to check your current equipment or to look for something new that fits your needs.

If you'd like to learn more about taking your law firm green, check out our FYI: Going Green.

• Desktops lost some ground as primary computers in favor of laptops—64% of all respondents report desktops as their primary computers in this year’s survey versus 70% in the 2007 survey; 35% of all respondents report laptops as their primary computer this year versus 29% in the 2007 survey.

• Case/practice management software is available at 55% of respondents' firms… Overall, 37% of respondents report using case/practice management software.  Half (50%) of respondents from firms of 2-9 attorneys and 40% of solo respondents use the software, in comparison to 33% of respondents from firms of 10-49 attorneys and 24% of large firm respondents. 

• Overall, 72% of respondents report that they or their staff file court documents electronically, up from 55% in the 2007 survey.

• Respondents are asked how they collaborate on documents.  The methods reported most often are e-mail attachments (92%, up from 80% in the 2007 survey), fax (65%), Microsoft Word track changes or equivalent (64%), and in person (58%). 

• RSS feeds are still used relatively infrequently by respondents for current awareness: 5% report using RSS feeds daily, and 5% one or more times a week.   Twenty-five percent of respondents report using RSS feeds with any one of the listed frequencies for current awareness purposes, up from 17% in the 2007 survey and 12% in the 2006 survey. 

• Nearly all respondents report the ability to check work e-mail while away from the office (98%).  The method reported most often by respondents as used to check e-mail while away from the office is via Smartphone/BlackBerry (59%).

• FYI: Electronic Discovery
  
• The Uniform Law Commission Approves the Uniform Rules Relating to Discovery of Electronically Stored Information
  
• Free E-mail Accounts and Electronic Discovery
  
• FRCP changed re: Electronic Discovery
  

One of the features that has made YouTube so successful is the ability to spread videos virally by embedding them in web sites, blogs, and intranet pages. This embedding requires little more than a few clicks or cutting and pasting a snippet of code, and the resulting videos are viewable by nearly all users without the need for special software.

Now Google (which happens to own YouTube) is bringing the same feature to Google Docs, allowing users to embed their Google Presentations exactly as one would embed a YouTube video. This feature may be an attractive alternative for attorneys who are used to sharing clumsy PowerPoint slides by email or converting their presentations to PDF to upload to the web.

For more information - and a demonstration of an embedded presentation - visit the Official Google Docs Blog.

Last January, Sarah Palmer wrote about the web application Gabbly. Gabbly allows multiple users to view the same web page, each from their own computer, and chat about the content in a specialized instant message ("IM") style window. In a profession that increasingly relies on collaboration over the web, social apps like Gabbly (as well as stand-alone apps like AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger) can prove to be valuable--if unexpected--resources.

Read Sarah's original post here: ABA Site-tation: Gabbly - everyone's on the same page (01/29/07)

Apple made headlines again last week by announcing a significant price cut to its newly debuted iPhone. The price cut of $200 -- more than 30% off the original $599 price tag -- came just nine weeks after the the device first hit the market and appears to have been made despite strong sales.

While frustrating for the Apple fans who eagerly waited in line to purchase the iPhone immediately after its release, their experience is far from unique at the bleeding edge of the technology market. As noted in a recent New York Times article on the price cuts, average prices for 42" high definition televisions have already dropped by 18% this year and are expected to fall by 25% by the end of the year, while Motorola dropped the price of its popular Razr phone from $499 to $99 within its first year on the market in 2005. Indeed, independent telecom analyst Jeff Kagan was quoted in MacWorld saying: "The price cut was not a surprise ... This is the way the cell business works - it's the way it has always worked. I don't understand where all the complaining is coming from."

So how do you stay on top of the newest and most helpful technology trends without becoming a victim to the Early Adopter Tax of price cuts and product revisions? The simple answer is to wait. Wait until the technology has been around long enough to be thoroughly tested and reviewed, for prices to be slashed, and perhaps for the first revision of the product to be released. If you can't bring yourself to wait, try to be selective about the new technology you choose to purchase. Stephen Manes, contributing editor of PCWorld, suggests focusing on new technologies that offer significant--not incremental--improvements, and avoiding technology "with serious, basically uncorrectable omissions."

(As for those early iPhone adopters, don't feel too bad for them: Apple has promised a $100 Apple Store credit as recompense.)

See also: Apple's iPhone: Proceed with Caution

Earlier this week, the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling in United States v. Arnold that the Fourth Amendment’s “reasonable suspicion” requirement does not apply to the search of a laptop during an international border crossing. The court rejected Arnold’s argument that a laptop should be treated similarly to a home or office for privacy purposes, holding instead that a laptop was akin to a traveler’s luggage. George Washington University Law School Professor Orin Kerr discusses the holding in more detail at the Volokh Conspiracy blog.

Arnold presents an interesting challenge for attorneys who travel internationally: how do you safeguard the sensitive client and firm data on your laptop when a security person, sans any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, can investigate your files? The easiest and best solution is simply to avoid placing sensitive or confidential information on your laptop. Such information can be stored on secure servers at an attorney’s main office and accessed remotely via VPN, or encrypted and stored remotely with an online backup vendor. If internet access will be unavailable on your trip or you otherwise require local copies of your sensitive information, consider encrypting the data and perhaps also relocating it to a storage device such as a USB thumb drive or CD-R. While such methods won’t guarantee you privacy, they may reduce the likelihood that your client’s confidential information will be revealed in a casual search of your laptop.

The International Consumer Electronics Show ("CES") is less than a week away. Running from January 7th through January 10th in Las Vegas, the convention will feature 2,700 exhibitors filling 1.7 million square feet of exhibit space. Many companies use CES as an opportunity to unveil new products or to showcase emerging technologies. Keynote speakers include Microsoft's Bill Gates, Comcast's Brian Roberts, Intel's Paul Otellini, and General Motors' Rick Wagoner.

For a more detailed preview of this year's convention, check out Forbes.com's CES Preview.

Signed into law on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA") may be the most significant piece of civil rights legislation enacted since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The ADA has led to new fields of practice within the American legal profession and to broad accessibility initiatives that have transformed the American landscape. As we move towards an increasingly technology-based society and workplace, however, questions have arisen as to the applicability of the ADA to various technologies -- particularly web sites.

In a recent article published on Law.com's Legal Technology, Sherry Karabin explores the issue of accessible web sites and the legal battles being waged over ADA compliance. Karabin focuses particular attention on the ongoing litigation between Target and the National Federation of the Blind, as well as some of the out-of-court settlements with companies ranging from RadioShack to Priceline.com. While the controversy thus far has revolved around major retailers, it is an issue that may ultimately impact all businesses and organizations -- including law firms -- with a presence on the web.

In light of these concerns and in an effort to promote further integration of the legal profession, the American Bar Association's House of Delegates recently passed a resolution urging that "websites intended for lawyers, judges, law students, and other individuals or entities associated with the legal profession ... be created and maintained in an accessible manner." Click here to read the full text of the resolution.

Interested in learning more about web site accessibility? Check out these resources:

• Web Accessibility Initiative ("WAI")
  An ongoing effort by the World Wide Web Consortium to develop and promote standards for accessibility in web site design.
  
  
• Wikipedia: Web Accessibility
  A good overview of accessibility efforts in the United States and abroad.
  
  
• United States Access Board
  The USAB is a Federal Agency dedicated to promoting accessible design in architecture, vehicles, telecommunications, and more.

It may not have quite the media cachet of the Oscars or Emmys, but the annual Webby Awards are no less prestigious for those who create or follow Internet-based technology. Now in their 12th year, the Webby Awards recognize excellence in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobility. The awards are judged by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-member body that includes a range of leading Web experts, business figures, and celebrities from David Bowie to Anil Dash to Matt Groening. In addition, a People’s Voice Award is also determined for each category based on a public vote via the web.

Nominees are broken down into nearly 70 categories with websites representing the majority of nominees. Some of this year’s nominees include Eyes on Darfur (Activism Category), HowStuffWorks (Best Copy/Writing), Apple (Best Use of Video or Moving Image), Yahoo! Sports (Sports Category), and the ABA Journal website (Law Category).

The Webby Awards’ website offers a full list of nominees (as well as nominees and winners from the past 11 years). As a research and reference tool, the list of former winners and nominees offers a great directory of high quality websites by category. If you’d like to vote for your favorite Webby Award nominee, you can visit the public voting page now.

The ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services is holding hearings on the use of technology to provide personal, civil legal services over the Internet and the policies that govern that use. Specifically, the Committee will examine:

- The range of providers who are using technology to provide legal services through the Internet and the scope of those services.

- The benefits and detriments that have resulted from the use of technology to provide legal services over the Internet.

- Emerging trends and possible future directions of technology providing legal services via the Internet; and 

- The policies and authorities (rules, statutes, case law, ethics opinions, etc.) that have emerged to govern the use of technology for the delivery of legal services and whether those policies are consistent with the need to balance consumer protection with access to affordable legal services and justice.

The hearings will be held as follows:

- May 9, 2008, Noon to 3:00 PM, in conjunction with the Equal Justice Conference, Hilton Minneapolis, 1001 Marquette Ave South, Minneapolis, MN 55403;

- Friday, August 8, 2008, hotel TBD, in conjunction with the ABA Annual Meeting in New York. 

- Virtual Hearing, Date to be announced.

Those interested in appearing and/or submitting materials should contact Janice Jones at 312/988-5787, janicejones@staff.abanet.org. Further details and on-going hearing archives are posted at http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/delivery/techhearings.html