practicehacker

• @FoliumLLC I may have answered this already but yes I use 37Signals' products and recommend them without reservation. They just work. in reply to FoliumLLC #
• Am beta testing @call from @jahjah to leave short voicemails for other Twitter users. Care to test? Reply or DM to let me know. #
• RT @recessionwire: Employers interviewing 9 or 10 for each open position! Yikes! WSJ.com – New Year, New Rules http://bit.ly/7xOtrB #jobs #
• RT @nooption “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – social media policies http://bit.ly/6wu5ej #
• Vaporware 2009: Inhale the Fail | Wired.com: http://bit.ly/61BGTt #
• RT @TechCrunch: Google To Acquire DocVerse; Office War Heats Up http://j.mp/7F1mUn #
• RT @alleyinsider Google Outlines Its Display Advertising Strategy (GOOG) http://bit.ly/7qal8m #
• RT @alex: Word and Office Banned From Sale In Weeks As Microsoft Loses Patent Lawsuit http://bit.ly/6zWeTi #
• Is Twitter a presenter's nightmare or dream come true? Join Cliff Atkinson in this SlideRocket webinar and find out! http://bit.ly/74wcvl #
• I just voted for Dropbox for the Best Internet Application Crunchie! Vote here: http://is.gd/5wVRq #crunchies #
• @FoliumLLC Yes, I absolutely use these applications. They work well. in reply to FoliumLLC #
• @attorneysync Gyi, I just read 7 Google Tools for Your Law Firm on your @jdsupra account. Nice. E-mail or DM if you get a chance. Thanks. #
• @askar 11 useful websites to discover iPhone apps http://bit.ly/71WXKi … yes, Yes, YES! Sorry, lost it for a second. Okay, that's cool. #
• iPhone in an iPhone [VIDEO] -yeah, my head exploded too … http://shar.es/aOY7v #
• @avvo Nice. The science of managing search ads. #
• Hope you enjoyed @practicehacker this year. I'm out tomorrow for a week so Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night. See you in 2010. #
• RT @mashable REVEALED: Full Specs of Google Nexus One http://bit.ly/8KBAmz #
• RT @jailbate121: Citigroup to Repay $20 Billion of Government Bailout money http://short.to/10hnb #
• Gary Gygax,co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, is dead This is how his universe worked. http://yfrog.com/4i1ifg #
• RT @TheNextWeb Footprint: real-time web stats, for free http://tnw.to/9Xru #
• RT @mclaughlinchris U.S. Economy: Spending Increases, New-Home Sales Drop http://budurl.com/n7ua #
• @chrisberryesq Incidentally, I'm a +4 Palladin with a million charisma points. Buya! in reply to chrisberryesq #
• @chrisberryesq Touche. Question: Which one of us is more pathetic? You for making the reference or me for catching it? in reply to chrisberryesq #
• @cassykramer If you blog about not using social media doesn't that constitute using social media? in reply to cassykramer #
• Happy Birthday Firefox! Watch the video: 5 years of Firefox video http://bit.ly/Fx5yr6 #Firefox5 #
• Loving San Diego #

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2010 Social Media Influencers – Trend Predictions

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

If like me you still have not decided what to get your loved-ones for Christmas, may I suggest the product featured in this video? Sure it’s just a demo, but it elegantly demonstrates the future of books, magazines, and newspapers. Before you dismiss this as science fiction, remember that

+ Readers like the Kindle II were once imaginary and are now ubiquitous
+ Microsoft, Apple, TechCrunch, and others plan to release tablets in 2010
+ Cell phones are now mobile computing platforms (iPhone, Android, etc.)
+ Cloud computing means the Internet is now everywhere

Happy Holidays everyone!

Dear ABA Journal:

This is news? For the last time, I don’t care that some over-fed, arrogant, self-indulgent, preening, sycophantic law school grads may not receive the 6-figure bonus that goes with their 6-figure salary. In case you haven’t noticed, most lawyers are underemployed, and most new graduates are not employed at all – casualties of the economy and a broken system of lawyer production. Apparently law schools were competing to see who could crank out the most under-qualified graduates. It’s hard to say who won, but in the end everybody lost.

Practicehacker

And in response to another commenter’s post

Dear Mr. McLeod

Why would you make such a snide comment? Based on your use of words such as “swimmingly” and “ladies and gents;” as well as your belief that lawyers need only be likeable to secure work, I am going to guess that you started practicing law before the profession became crowded and clients treated lawyers like merchants, haggling over ever dime. That said; I wanted to congratulate you on remaining safely within your comfort zone. Trust me; it isn’t as warm and fuzzy out here as it is in there. Happy Holidays.

Sincerely,
Practicehacker

Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn

“Dig your well before you’re thirsty”
Neal Shaeffer, Author

Summary: I’ve been a member of LinkedIn since 2007. But like many people I’ve had doubts about the network’s value. In Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn entrepreneur Neal Schaeffer shares specific suggestions about growing your network. Best of all, the author never talks down to the reader – that allows me to develop my own rational and strategy.

The Good: Shaeffer explains that LinkedIn is meant to function as a virtual favor-bank so members can help one another without obsessively searching for a quid pro quo. The author then goes further by providing a step-by-step guide to: creation, maintenance, and leveraging of your brand, asking for and offering recommendations, answering questions, and other pillars of social networking.

The Bad: While he explains things in a clear manner, Schaffer probably devotes too many pages to his windmill analogy. The result is not necessary to understanding LinkedIn and can get longwinded (ha!). But while I found the windmill abstraction a little forced, it ties in with Shaeffer’s own brand.

The Ugly: Schaeffer explains why LinkedIn (not Twitter or Facebook) is THE site for professionals. But the author comes from a general business background – not a legal one – so his point of view may be slightly off for our purposes.

Evaluation: While not intended specifically for lawyers, Windmill Networking is a great primer for members of the profession interested in using LinkedIn to connect with one another, reach out to referral sources, or recruit a team of professionals to serve our own business needs. I give the book 4 hacks out of 5

The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies:
Smart Ways to Work Together

“Law practice is, has been, and will continue to be a collaborative process”
Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighelle

Summary: The Lawyer’s Guide offers a solid list of resources for lawyers seeking to collaborate. It is practically jargon-free as well, and frames its discussions with a look at the past before discussing more modern modes of collaboration. The book is also a great introduction to technology for lawyers of a certain age (i.e. Baby Boomers), although younger lawyers may find it to be a little too basic.

The Good: The authors of The Lawyer’s Guide display sensitivity to attorneys who came of age before the Internet was pervasive, and they do it without over-explaining or being too didactic.

The Bad: The authors do their best to treat the products attorneys have been using for decades, such as Microsoft Office programs, as collaboration tools. By today’s standards these programs are more likely to obstruct collaboration than to enable it. In the age of Twitter, Wikis, Zoho, SaaS, and Google Wave, they are part of the problem, not the solution.

The Ugly: As I read The Lawyer’s Guide I kept asking myself why the authors didn’t treat technology-enabled collaboration as a smart way to business instead of like the Rubic’s Cube of law practice (perplexing, complex, exasperating). It really isn’t that hard.

Evaluation: Keeping in mind what the books sets out to do, I give The Lawyer’s Guide a hearty endorsement and 4 hacks out of 5. In places it is a bit too basic but overall you can’t go wrong giving this book a read – either because you are a lawyer of a certain age or because you work for one.