Author / Brett Burney

by Brett Burney

“Printing” a PDF From Your iPad To Dropbox

I use the iPad to read a lot of news, websites, e-mail and documents. There are many occasions when I want to convert what I’m reading into a PDF so I can annotate and preserve the information. And I want to save it into Dropbox since that’s my “virtual file cabinet.”

Printopia LogoI use the iPad to read a lot of news, websites, e-mail and documents. There are many occasions when I want to convert what I’m reading into a PDF so I can annotate and preserve the information. And I want to save it into Dropbox since that’s my “virtual file cabinet.”

Josh Barrett over on the most-excellent Tablet Legal blog has a couple of great posts on creating PDFs from your iPad, but he has a couple of reservations about the quality of the PDFs from the methods he outlines. I’m intrigued by the Save2PDF app, but I’d like to see some improvements before I commit to it.

Everyone’s been talking about AirPrint that showed up in the iOS 4.2 upgrade, but there doesn’t seem to be many people that have the compatible printers necessary to make it work out of the box. There are some workarounds but I wanted something simple and seamless.

Many people have ALSO been talking about Printopia, a new offering from the folks at Ecamm Network. I’ve been a big fan of Ecamm’s PhoneView which I don’t use all that often, but every once in a while it’s an awesome way to dig around the guts of my iPhone.

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by Brett Burney

Black Friday Weekend Deals on Mac & iOS Apps

The Interwebs are smokin’ today with Black Friday. There are a ton of deals on iOS apps and a few for Mac software. The majority of iOS apps on sale are games, but I wanted to highlight a few gems for legal professionals.

2010 Black Friday Mac & iOS Apps on SaleThe Interwebs are smokin’ today with Black Friday. There are a ton of deals on iOS apps and a few for Mac software. The majority of iOS apps on sale are games, but I wanted to highlight a few gems for legal professionals.

I’m focusing on software in this post, but there are several great deals on Mac and iHardware around the Web. Some of these deals may be over by the time you read this, but many of them last over the weekend so visit the links quick!

Two of the best sites I’ve been following for Mac & iOS software deals is “Black Friday Sales Come to iOS” from 148apps.com and “MacStories Black Friday Guide: 150 Great iOS Apps” from macstories.net. The authors must have barely had time to stuff some turkey in their mouths as they keep updating the posts.

Readdle Apps

First, if you’re using an iPhone or an iPad, you must pick up the Readdle apps. As I posted yesterday, they’ve discounted their apps up to 80% and they are a must-have on any iOS device used in a legal setting:

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by Brett Burney

Gotta Get Some Readdle Apps for 80% Off!

I’m a big fan of Readdle apps since they’re fantastic for viewing and managing documents on iOS devices. None of the Readdle apps have been very expensive, but from now until Nov. 30, they’re slashing prices to the point where you can pick up all their goodies for pennies during their Black Friday Madness Sale.

Readdle Black Friday Madness SaleI’m a big fan of Readdle apps since they’re fantastic for viewing and managing documents on iOS devices. Their namesake app, ReaddleDocs, is a must-have for every lawyer with an iPhone or iPad.

None of the Readdle apps have been very expensive, but from now until Nov. 30, they’re slashing prices to the point where you can pick up all their goodies for pennies during their Black Friday Madness Sale.

For the iPhone, you must get:

  • ReaddleDocs (was $4.99 now 99¢) – all-purpose document and file viewer that can pull files from computers, Dropbox, and more
  • PDF Expert (was $4.99 now 99¢) – PDF viewer with full text search and support for bookmarks
  • Scanner Pro (was $6.99 now 99¢) – enables the iPhone to be used as a portable document scanner
  • Flash Drive (was $4.99 now 99¢) – a Wi-Fi thumbdrive for the iPhone

For the iPad, you must get:

You can find a ton of other iPhone & iPad apps on sale from the comprehensive list on MacStories.

by Brett Burney

9 Mac Utilities That Will Boost Your Law Firm’s Productivity

TechnoLawyer published my TechnoFeature “Nine Mac Utilities That Will Boost Your Law Firm’s Productivity” yesterday (Nov. 23, 2010). I’ll post a link to the full article when I receive my reprint, but if you’re not subscribing to the FREE TechnoLawyer newsletters, you’re missing a LOT.

Nine Mac Utilities That Will Boost Your Law Firm's Productivity

TechnoLawyer published my TechnoFeature entitled “Nine Mac Utilities That Will Boost Your Law Firm’s Productivity” yesterday (Nov. 23, 2010). I’ll post a link to the full article when I receive my reprint, but if you’re not subscribing to the FREE TechnoLawyer newsletters, you’re missing a LOT.

I’ve been following TechnoLawyer for many years and have always enjoyed the news, information and free exchange of legal-tech-tips. And while the majority of information is Windows-focused, TechnoLawyer has never hesitated to cover Macs, iPhone, and iPads in the practice of law. TechnoLawyer offers a variety of e-mail newsletters that you can subscribe to from www.technolawyer.com.

UPDATE: You still need to subscribe to the FREE TechnoLawyer newsletters (including the TechnoFeature), but I’m providing a PDF reprint of my Mac Utilities TechnoFeature here for your convenience. I have plans to record some short screencasts on the products I cover in this article so stay tuned!


TechnoFeature-Nine Mac Utilities That Will Boost Your Law Firm’s Productivity –

by Brett Burney

Comments on the Results of the 2010 Apple in Law Firms Survey

The results are in from Clio’s 2010 Apple in Law Firms Survey and I wanted to highlight a few points and make a few comments. Jack Newton from Clio first presented some of the results at MILOfest and then released the full results after the conference.

The results are in from Clio’s 2010 Apple in Law Firms Survey and I wanted to highlight a few points and make a few comments. Jack Newton from Clio first presented some of the results at MILOfest and then released the full results after the conference.

My first pleasant surprise was the number of respondents to the survey. Jack reported that they received 835 responses to their survey which covered both Mac and Windows users.

The greatest majority of respondents (50%) were from small firms with between 1-10 total users. 15% of the respondents were from large firms (> 50 total users). About 10% of the respondents were law students.

Most of the survey questions were directed to the Mac-using respondents, the first being how long they had been using Macs in their office. The greatest majority have been using Macs for over 2 years:

The next question asked which “cloud-based apps” that lawyers were using on their Macs. Not surprisingly, Clio came out on top, but Jack Newton at MILOfest mentioned that the survey was a little biased since Clio was actually sponsoring the survey.

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by Brett Burney

MILOfest 2010 Wrap-Up

There’s not much more that can be said other than Victor Medina just did an incredible job of putting together an amazing, engaging, and thoroughly enjoyable conference for “Mac-lovin’ lawyers” at MILOfest 2010. Everyone I talked to was committed to coming back, even with the rumors flying around that it might be in a different location.

MILOfest 2010

There’s not much more that can be said other than Victor Medina just did an incredible job of putting together an amazing, engaging, and thoroughly enjoyable conference for “Mac-lovin’ lawyers” at MILOfest 2010. Everyone I talked to was committed to coming back, even with the rumors flying around that it might be in a different location.

I think it’s safe to assume by this point that MILOfest has become an annual event, as long as the stalwart Victor doesn’t mind carrying the torch (I honestly don’t know who else could lead the charge as well). To hear details about next year’s conference (when Victor releases them), join the MILO (Macs in Law Offices) Google Group.

Here is some other coverage of MILOfest 2010 from around the interwebs:

by Brett Burney

Day 3 of MILOfest 2010

By the third day of MILOfest, everyone had met everyone else and there was a feeling of congeniality held together by a passion for Macs. Victor Medina kept the ball rolling throughout the whole conference, making sure presenters started on time and we were all in our seats ready to listen

MILOfest 2010 Day 3

By the third day of MILOfest, everyone had met everyone else and there was a feeling of congeniality held together by a passion for Macs (coverage of Day 1 and Day 2).

Victor Medina kept the ball rolling throughout the whole conference, making sure presenters started on time and we were all in our seats ready to listen.

Responsibly Connected | Larry Port

Larry Port of Rocket Matter at MILOfest 2010

First up on Day 3 was Larry Port of Rocket Matter who established a congenial tone for the third day talking about being responsibly connected.

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by Brett Burney

Day 2 of MILOfest 2010

The second day of MILOfest started off with THE Mac Lawyer himself, Ben Stevens, providing an excellent overview of how he uses Circus Ponies Notebook, Evernote and Rocket Matter in his practice. Ben mentioned the importance of establishing a consistent file-naming convention for documents.

milofest2010-day2.jpg

Using Circus Ponies Notebook & Evernote for File Management | Ben Stevens

The second day of MILOfest started off with THE Mac Lawyer himself, Ben Stevens, providing an excellent overview of how he uses Circus Ponies Notebook, Evernote and Rocket Matter in his practice.

Ben mentioned the importance of establishing a consistent file-naming convention for documents. I appreciated Ben covering this since it is something that I preach religiously to Mac-using lawyers since we don’t have a native, legal-specific document management application for Macs (cf. Worldox used in the Windows world). Many Mac-using lawyers simply store their files in a folder structure which is perfectly fine, but having a consistent file-naming convention is absolutely critical for finding documents and staying organized.

Ben mentioned that he used to name document files with the client’s last name, first name. But this method neglected to sort files in chronological order so Ben switched to naming files with the date first, then client name (many folks use a naming convention similar to “2010-11-16-Client Name.docx” or something similar so that the files are listed chronologically).

Ben then showed us how he uses Circus Ponies Notebook as a litigation timeline as he gets closer to trial (which was a very nice contrast to how Mark Metzger detailed OmniOutliner on Day 3). Ben mentioned that they store their Notebook files in Dropbox so that the rest of the office has access to the files. But since only one person can have the Notebook file open at one time, Ben said they have mostly switched over to Evernote.

(Tomasz Stasiuk has some additional comments about Ben’s presentation on his Planet 10 Tech blog.)

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by Brett Burney

Day 1 of MILOfest 2010

The first day of MILOfest was exciting, engaging and educational. Victor Medina (@victormedina) organized a bigger and better conference this year – attendance is up, the sessions are expanded, and everyone is giddy to be talking Mac. You almost get the sense that folks have been looking forward to this for several months, and it’s sort of like a little Mac-therapy session –

MILOfest 2010-Day 1

The first day of MILOfest was exciting, engaging and educational.

Victor Medina (@victormedina) organized a bigger and better conference this year – attendance is up, the sessions are expanded, and everyone is giddy to be talking Mac.

You almost get the sense that folks have been looking forward to this for several months, and it’s sort of like a little Mac-therapy session – everyone has a glowing Apple on their laptop and there are iPhones and iPads everywhere.

The three sponsors from last year are back, but they brought extra folks to man the booths – Rocket Matter, Clio, and Marketcircle (Daylite / Billings) are good friends of MILOfest by now.

New sponsors this year are Summary Judgment and Smart Marketing and they’re getting a lot of traffic. Victor set up the conference room so that anyone that wants a snack or beverage has to pass by the vendor tables.

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by Brett Burney

Handy Keyboard Shortcuts You Didn’t Know…

Lifehacker posted an excellent tip yesterday about holding down the Command (⌘) key when you click an item in the Dock, which will open a Finder window and highlight the item that was clicked in the Dock.

Mac keyboard shortcuts command keyMac #1: Command (⌘)-Click an item in the Dock

Lifehacker posted an excellent tip yesterday about holding down the Command (⌘) key when you click an item in the Dock, which will open a Finder window and highlight the item that was clicked in the Dock.

Honestly, I don’t use the Dock much anymore since I have the fabulous LaunchBar, but the Lifehacker tip is wonderful when I need to drill down to the Applications folder or to a folder that’s docked in the Dock. It even works if you expand a Folder or Stack and Command (⌘)-click and item inside the Folder or Stack – you’ll be taken to a Finder window with the file highlited.

For example, if I download a file from the Web and the little Downloads folder on the Dock does the bouncy-bouncy dance, i can do a regular click to open the Stack, then Command (⌘)-click the item icon to go straight to a Finder window with the file highlighted.

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