Local Yoke I: Be Present in Local Search

Last week's Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers E-Journal Law Practice Management Section Featured Practice Tip comes from LOMAP. Last week's Tip, the first in a three-part series on local marketing tactics, shows you how to get found in local search results.

Read the Tip here.

TECHSHOW + Tell: ABA Resurrects Popular Legal Technology Fair Every Spring

Springtime can only mean one thing. Well, that’s not entirely true. It can (nay, must!) mean more than one thing. For our Christian brothers and sisters, it’s Easter time, depending on when you date your Easter, that is . . . For our Jewish brothers and sisters, it’s Passover time . . . . aaaaand, those are all the religions I know that do stuff in April; hopefully, that is sufficient . . . Now, if you’re a lawyer, and it’s April, you’d be wise to make your pilgrimage to Chicago, for the ABA’s TECHSHOW, taking place from April 11 to 13.

Yeah, I know. If you’re intending to go to TECHSHOW, you’ve probably already registered. So, Why am I writing this post now, a little less than three weeks out from the really big show? (1) Well, I had always intended to write a post about TECHSHOW, but only recently realized it was almost April; and, (2) Not everybody’s you, okay. (Additional Question: Why do I capitalize TECHSHOW like that everytime? Because I think it’s trademarked that way, and I want to dot my i’s and cross my t’s here; Lord knows I’ve got enough potential trademark issues with this blog as it is.) So, if you’re reading this, and have before, or are now considering, attending TECHSHOW, let me SHOW you more of what you can expect to see:

Look at the complete schedule. I mean, take some time, and breathe in the real value. (What’s that? It smells like turpentine? No, just . . . just put the cover back on the turpentine, and take another whiff. Now, that . . . that’s the smell of value.) Now, What do you see? Yes, that’s correct. LOMAP’s very own Rodney Dowell will be speaking, not once, but twice, at TECHSHOW, once on document management systems, and again on open source law firm tools. Don’t you want to support Rodney?

I’ll tell you what: You go out to see Rodney, and I’ll give you a discount to TECHSHOW. Register with Massachusetts LOMAP’s discount code: ‘EP1112’, to get a reduced fare for TECHSHOW. No need to thank us now . . . just find Rodney at TECHSHOW, and offer your firm handshake . . . or a gift card to REI.

Still not convinced? It’s the 25th Anniversary of TECHSHOW.

Still? Listen to Rodney and I pimp TECHSHOW at our various podcasts: I interview 2011 TECHSHOW chair Paul Unger at mine; and, Rodney interviews the Calloway law practice management twins (not actual twins) on his.

No? Aright, the last thing I got is this amusing video. But, then, I suppose that your likelihood of going to TECHSHOW following watching this video will be inversely proportional to whether you think Reid Trautz is actually wearing underwear beneath his bathrobe, or not . . .

. . .

Liner Notes

The one thing that I’ve noticed is that the ABA TECHSOW does not have is a musical guest; if I were ever to be named ABA TECHSHOW chair, I would remedy that right quick. Of course, my chances of ever being named TECHSHOW chair are about the same as a #16 seed beating a #1 seed (not a hashtag) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. (Yes, my bracket’s shot to hell, as well . . . ‘Ceptin’ Coach K, doin’ his thing.) So, this is merely a pipedream; but, that pipedream would go something like this:

I’d get a reunion of Masassas going. “Manassas: Not Just a Civil War battle, or two.” Manassas was also a killer band that Stephen Stills put together in the early 70’s. It was mostly Stephen Stills and a bunch of tremendous session musicians assembling two seriously underheralded albums during the greatest era in music history. Yeah, that’s all. No big deal.

The thing that gets me is, despite Stephen Stills’ general popularity, and the joined popularity of some of his other bands, no one knows Manassas. (Not that people really know Civil War history anymore, either; but, I digress . . .) The albums are hard to find, too (only the debut album is available on iTunes--for shame, Apple). I only heard of Mansassas because this guy my Dad used to jam with thought they were just about the sickest band ever. He wasn’t far off.

So, my Manassas reunion show would feature, I think, the following setlist:

Band Introductions

(a) Rock & Roll Crazies/(b) Cuban Bluegrass
Isn’t It About Time
Fallen Eagle
Don’t Look At My Shadow
Pensamiento

Intermission/Marketing Break (hey, it’s still a legal conference)

Guaguanco De Vero
What To Do
Business On The Street
Lies
Jet Set (Sigh)

Encore

Johnny’s Garden
Anyway

I don’t know, maybe the band wouldn’t want to play those songs in order, though . . . Good thing I was prepared to spend the entire TECHSHOW budget in order to make this happen. So, I guess it would really be a TECHSHOW the year I was in charge. It’d just be a Manassas concert, actually. Best . . . TECHSHOW . . . ever. Kick it to ‘em again one more time, Stephen!

Drop(site) Like It's Hot: Alternatives to Drop.io

In our quest for a drop.io replacement, following its demise, I checked out quite a few options. Since drop-sites are used for different purposes, and since the alternatives offer a variety of functionalities and formats, we DO NOT have a winner. But, you wouldn't get that impression from the unfair attention I'm about to give to . . .

MediaFire!, which was quite well-suited to our needs. We wanted a repository, away from our website, to store different groups of files, where we could direct others to view them. Our Marketing Group audio file archive looks like this. Simple enough, as is MediaFire. I say simple, but this site offers a host of free features, and some awesome premium options as well. Let me start with what I think is MediaFire’s best selling point: unlimited free storage. Yup. Even more amazing: MediaFire does not delete files, as long as they were uploaded by an account that is periodically logged-into. There is no download requirement to prevent deletion. And, if an account is deemed idle, the accountholder receives no less than three email notifications prior to any file removal. Files are perfectly easy to organize into subfolders, to password protect, to make private, etc. And, the site is not generally searchable, so your files are essentially private by default. Free accounts offer a maximum individual file size of 200 MB. Upgrades to “MediaPro” Accounts offer hotlink storage, which allows others to view your shared files without having to download them. Hot storage is available in the following amounts: 100 GB for $9/mo, 250 GB for $19/month, and 1000 GB for $69/mo. These accounts also offer brandable pages, custom URLs, encrypted transfers, and a lot of other features.

File Savr is cheap, but slightly less than convenient in having no free option, at $.99/mo, which provides 5 GB storage. For $5/mo, you get 25 GB, and for $10/mo, 100 GB. The individual file size limit for all plans is 5 GB. There are no apparent exciting features like MediaFire. Sorry.

File Dropper allows for an individual upload file size of 5 GB for free. Yes, that is larger than MediaFire; but, File Dropper has no aggregation, organization, or any other feature that MediaFire offers. And, on the free version, if a file sits without being downloaded for 30 days, it is deleted. You can pay $.99/mo to avoid such deletion. And, $5/mo allows for 50 GB individual file size, and $10/mo for 250 GB individual file size.

SpiderOak requires download. Ugh. Free accounts, which require you to join, only offer 2 GB of storage. Increments of 100 GB of storage can be purchased for $10/mo. This program also offers an online backup feature; but, it doesn’t seem -- I have not tested it -- as fluid as that of SugarSync, below.

SugarSync provides 5 GB of storage for free, with an individual file size limit of 25 MB, which expires after 21 days. More advanced plans offer 30 GB storage at $4.99/mo, 60 GB at $9.99/mo, 100 GB at $14.99/mo, 250 GB at $24.99/mo, and 500 GB at $39.99/mo. These plans offer some unique features, notably the online file backup. I didn’t test it because I didn’t want to go through the hassle of disabling it, since it occurs automatically after your initial backup. Slightly more advanced features on the business version include administrative controls of other users’ viewing and editing access.

If your drop-site needs extend to collaboration, there are some fancier alternatives, too...

Dropbox requires download. I'm downloading-software-averse. In any event, if you want to know anything, or everything, about Dropbox, Nerino Petro is your man.

Box (like Dropbox, after dropping the "drop", or something...) is geared toward collaboration. The administrator can adjust settings for other users, which even reaches to password parameters and renewal requirements. Other features include reporting, group permissions, and custom branding, though whether that includes custom url is unspecified. Box's personal level is free and offers 5 GB of storage, with an individual file size of 1 GB. A huge jump to 500 GB of storage costs $15/user/month (per user!). Custom packages with unlimited storage require quotes. I didn't bother getting any quotes. Sorry.

If collaborating isn't enough, and you want to sell your files, too...

Docstoc has that feature. As such, it is publicly searchable; but, you can make documents private, at your choosing.

Scribd, like Docstoc, allows you to sell files, and is more like a public research forum. Again, a simple checkbox allows you to privatize your documents (can the word “privatize” be used like that?). Scribd, however, automatically linked to my Facebook account to recommend stuff for me to read. Creeped out. The end.

Acrobat-ic Maneuvers: Get Your Knowledge(Base) On

Last week's Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers E-Journal Law Practice Management Section Featured Practice Tip comes from LOMAP. Last week's Tip offered thoughts on product support and listed some great free resources for Adobe Acrobat.

Read the Tip here.

Mo’ Better Chrometa: Popular Time Tracking App Gets SaaSy

In our continuing quest to keep you up-to-date, not only on new technology applications, but also in the on-the-regular provision of updates respecting technology applications that we have already covered, I present to you “Product Update: Chrometa”. (Yeah, my chosen blog title is far more better than that, I agree; I do have a reputation to uphold here, after all.) Now, if you can remember that far back, I produced a review of the original Chrometa (well, 2.0 to the original version) for the ABA’s GP|Solo magazine way back in the halcyon days of June 2010, which review got linked out from the LOMAP Blog, at here. Since that time, Chrometa has undergone some number of significant changes, which are of importance to current Chrometa users, and which may be of interest to potential Chrometa users.

Chrometa is still, in essence, what it started out as: a nifty time capture program that runs in the background on your system(s). Now, that ‘running in the background’ part is the essential aspect here; that means that Chrometa has been fashioned as a passive time capture system: one in which you needn’t do anything to capture your time, but to turn it on. (Well, it’s passive for you: Chrometa, meanwhile, is working very hard behind-the-scenes. Won’t you consider making it a nice sandwich, or something, please?) If you want more on the background of the Chrometa service, check out my original review, because I hate repeating myself. Or, if you want an even simpler background instructiontroduction, visit the Chrometa homepage, which has a succinct video describing how the system works.

So, How is Chrometa different now than what it came on as before? Well, for one, the new Chrometa (that’s what I’m calling it, like new Coke, to differentiate from the previous version . . . Yikes, scratch that, Did you see what happened to new Coke?) is now a web application. Previously, Chrometa had been only available as a Windows incarnation. The new Chrometa (sorry, I’ve got nothing else; let’s just hope that the new Chrometa does not go the way of the new Coke) web app is now available wherever you have an internet connection, and, as such, is device independent. You can run it on a Mac, on your smartphone, or on your toaster oven, if you’ve rigged an internet connection through that sucker. Mac people are happy (now they can stop sending threatening letters), smartphone people are happy, the toaster oven people are happy . . . (What other advantages, aside from the shedding of device/system dependence, stem from web apps? Well, I'm glad you asked, because I’ve talked with Chrometa CEO Brett Owens about that very question at my podcast; listen here. I’ve also chatted with RocketMatter’s Larry Port, on the usefulness of SaaS generally, also at my podcast (how ‘bout that), episode here.) But, even beyond the major shift that Chrometa is now a web app versus a desktop application, there are other significant changes that have been made to the program that greatly improve its effectiveness.

Running those changes down now, then, from most important onward: (1) The new Chrometa allows users to create ‘client’ folders, with ‘projects’ subfolders. (These being separate from ‘personal’ folders, which users may also create, for more private matters.) This means that you can now tag time chunks recorded to specific client files, organizing those time elements in much the same way that you would organize information through a traditional law practice management system. This important new functionality, coupled with Chrometa’s existing export to Excel feature, and ability to push export to billing systems, means that it’s easier to bill from Chrometa than it has ever been before. (2) The Chrometa team has also worked to streamline workflow options within the new web app. The new tagging features in Chrometa are yoked to the ability to create rules for automatically organizing time chunks spent. If you can conceive of creating rules in Outlook, for email, you can conceive of the Chrometa system working in much the same way, which it does, conveniently. Chrometa even offers a simple, three-step ‘rules wizard’, which prompts you to select: search criteria, client folder and running frequency. This new functionality, coupled with the tagging option described above, is a significant improvement over Chrometa 2.0, and allows busy attorneys to create a truly automated workflow within the time capture system. (3) The new Chrometa is generally more intuitive, and easier to use, than prior versions of the system. The interface is far smoother than previous iterations; and, this is a function of three improvements: (a) new features to access (b) from more places within the application (c) which is now based in a static background at which I can easily select major tabs for quick access. (4) The new Chrometa also features a highly diggable dashboard, offering up to you a succinct, daily and illustrated representation of what you have been up to at work. That’s right: you’ve got a pie chart (for apps you use most), a graph (y-axis = minutes spent; x-axis = times of day) and quick tickers for active and away time, billable time and billings made. For those visual learners, this can be highly instructive for getting an idea of just where your time goes every day. And, beyond the continuing advantage that Chrometa represents as a time capture tool, you’ll gain something from the system the very first day you use it: by taking a look at the at-a-glance view of your device time, in order to be shown, in a very graphic way (and, yes, I mean that in both senses of the word (but not in the way that Charlie Sheen means it), how much time you spend working (psst: it’s less than you think) and how much time you spend not working (psst: it’s more than you think). (5) The final, major highlighted change within the new Chrometa is that active search is now available. What’s active search? Think instant search within Google (the results of your search are displayed as you type). If you dig instant search on Google, you’ll dig active search on Chrometa. Personally, I’m not into it. I mean, I like it when search term suggestions are made for me in the search box, but I find the early results display to be nothing more than a distraction. But, what the hell do I know? And, the kids seem to love it. Wait . . . hold the phone.

Beyond those major happenings, there is even more to like about the new Chrometa, including that: The user experience is much improved. You’ve got a background of permanent sun rays o’erspreading a green field. It’s like a dang Jimmy Dean sausage commercial! How could anyone be unhappy in that environment. (I’m telling you, in 2011, you’ve gots to have a great user experience architect . . .) In addition to the dashboard/at-a-glance feature, I very much like the addition of an available sidebar, for toggling between devices, for creating new clients and projects (including setting billing rates) and for adding personal folders. The new Chrometa’s reporting functionality allows users to quickly create reports for date ranges. Certain time intervals can be hidden, meaning that you can choose to view only those time units that meet your minimum billable standards (say, more than five minutes, fifty-nine seconds), thus saving time. Chrometa is also developing a KnowledgeBase, accessible through the ‘Help’ tab within the application.

Keep in mind, however, that, although Chrometa is now a web app, accessible at all your devices, you will still need to download Chrometa’s data collector to whatever devices you seek to use with Chrometa, in order that your time on that device will get recorded. This is a simple process; just note that you’ll have to log out of the Chrometa application for the data collector to load on your device--after that, you’re good to go.

Given that the new Chrometa represent a significant shift from the old Chrometa, pricing plans have been updated, as well, and are available here. You will see that pricing is now based on number of devices accessible, and length of data storage.

If you’re considering Chrometa, get a full view of the landscape: Chrometa offers links to product reviews and associated buzz here. And, TechnoLawyer’s Neil Squillante offers this quick and dirty review (certainly quicker and dirtier than mine) of the new Chrometa, here . . . . hhhhhmmmmm . . . Seems that TechnoLawyer was the first-ever to report on Chrometa, and was also provided an exclusive scoop on the new Chrometa. If you’re scoring at home, that’s two scoops for TechnoLawyer, and zero scoops for the LOMAP Blog. I guess Neil Squillante is just Raisin Bran, and I’m Kashi cereal, or something. I see how it is, Brett. Well, guess what: the Lakers suck. That’s right: that just happened.

Of course, I’ll make believe it’s all water under the bridge, just so long as I get the last word in: The new Chrometa represents a forward-thinking and richly-featured time tracking application for the modern practitioner. Today’s business is consummated on electronic devices, and Chrometa tracks time across all of yours. With Chrometa running wherever you’re working. you’ll spend less time worrying about capturing your billing, and more time actually billing.

. . .

Of course, my promised ‘last word’ is rarely the last word, especially since I’m now writing fewer of these long-form blog posts--I guess that just means that I have more to say within those that I do write. I’m sorry for being a filthy liar; but, if you’ve read down this far, you’ve likely already reconciled yourself to that fact, and are somewhat accepting of it, probably due to my endless store of wit and charm.

So, before I depart the Chrometa conversation, let’s just say that you’re thinking that Chrometa sounds good, but you don’t want to commit before giving it an old-fashioned, rigorous run-through. I’d say that’s a good idea. Always try before you buy, my good friends. You can get a free trial of the new Chrometa here, at the pricing page. And, if you’re a Windows user, you can access Chrometa 2.0, the final desktop version of Chrometa, for free, forever. If that’s your bag, the license is here; the street legal download is here. Of course, if you’re gonna get into that, you should know that the product is “as is”--it’s not being updated any longer; but, rather than discontinue it, the good folks at Chrometa have allowed interested persons continued access, perhaps because, as Chrometa CEO Brett Owens describes it, it is “a gateway drug to the web app”. That’s just a brilliant formulation that I had to quote directly. Nothing I can do to improve upon that as a marketing thesis.

. . .

Liner Notes

Normally, I’m marking time telling you all about songs you should listen to. I’m not often found here relaying places at which to find songs to download. (Now, I did turn Rodney on to GrooveShark the other day, but I didn’t publish on it. That was merely a generic good deed, rather than a more public service.) But, today, I want to alert you to a great site I discovered a few weeks back. (I wanted to make sure that there were no apparent illegal shenanigans before I used the service myself, or recommended it to others.)

I ran across this archive in my continued search to own the mp3 for every song that James Taylor has ever recorded. You know, once you have all the studio albums, and all the live albums, you’ve got to go to the bootleg collections . . . So, I found a bunch of songs from some very early concerts on YouTube; only thing is, I haven’t had enough time to figure out how to rip YouTube audio to mp3’s, and then to transfer those mp3s to my iTunes library. So, I moved on to finding a direct download on the web; and, in searching for just that, I came across Wolfgang’s Vault.

Wolfgang’s Vault is an aweeeeesooooome site that offers downloads of individual songs, and full show downloads of classic concerts. You can find a list of artists on the front page; however, my search led me directly to the James Taylor page, whereat I found the concert recordings I was looking for: four shows from 1970 and 1971, all downloadable directly to my iTunes library at a rate comparable to that charged in iTunes. Not only that, but, in addition to the concerts I had been looking for, there were other shows available, which are not available for download, but which are available to play. (Note: You’ll have to download the Vault player to listen to or download songs; but, I did so, and have had no issues.) In addition to songs to download and listen to, Wolfgang’s Vault also offers old-timey concert memorabilia, including t-shirts and posters.

Wolfgang’s Vault is a UK website, and appears to be legit: it seems they own all the songs they sell. So, take a look around the site; but, set aside some time (turn off Chrometa), because you’ll be lost in it for a while. I think that you’ll discover the concert selections and audio quality to be superb. At each artist’s page, you’ll find a sample tune that you can listen to directly at the website, without downloading the player; and, I encourage you to try the samples first, if you don’t believe me about the audio quality.

If you’re looking for rare and varied concert audio, Wolfgang’s is the Vault you want.

And, because I can’t help myself, here are some of the old school James Taylor cover songs you’ll be able to find there, that you won’t be able to find anywhere else (. . . except on YouTube . . . until they’re taken down . . .):

“In My Reply” by Livingston Taylor

“Okie from Muskogee” by Merle Haggard

“With a Little Help from My Friends” by The Beatles

Tube Rose Snuff Jingle + 1970 Remix by The Tube Rose Snuff People (and even more backrground)

That’s the way to play it out, I’d say: JT revising a snuff commercial jingle, with some typical humorosity.