February 2012
2 posts
1 tag
Coming soon from 37signals: Basecamp Next -... →
January 2012
6 posts
"No" is the New "Yes": Four Practices to... →
Good article this week from the HBR Blog:
I was sitting with the CEO and senior team of a well-respected organization. One at a time, they told me they spend their long days either in back-to-back meetings, responding to email, or putting out fires. They also readily acknowledged this way of working wasn’t serving them well — personally or professionally.
It’s a conundrum they...
The Rise of the New Groupthink →
New York Times - SOLITUDE is out of fashion. Our companies, our schools and our culture are in thrall to an idea I call the New Groupthink, which holds that creativity and achievement come from an oddly gregarious place. Most of us now work in teams, in offices without walls, for managers who prize people skills above all. Lone geniuses are out. Collaboration is in.
But there’s a problem with...
How To Talk To Your Boss And Fix Your Job →
It’s all too easy to spend long stretches simmering at your desk instead of having a straight-ahead talk with your boss. Click through for a few strategies to help you start the conversation.
From Fast Company Magazine.
1 tag
The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals →
For some reason I like diary-type articles discussing what different people so on a day-to-day basis. Inc. Magazine has done a series of these.
Click through the link to read the work-day diary article re Jason Fried, creator of 37Signals - a web development company that runs a cloud project management system I am fond of.
1 tag
The 10 best gadgets and tech at CES 2012 →
At one end of the scale, CES is about big, high-end product announcements - the world’s biggest TV, the smallest pico projector, hi-fi speakers that cost more than your car.
At the other end it’s about companies you’ve never (or barely) heard of trying to catch the tired eye of a wandering blogger with head-mounted displays, portable scanners and USB penknives.
Filter out the...
1 tag
Tip for Getting More Organized: Don't →
How much time do you spend each day getting better organized? Cut it in half.
When it comes to investing time, thought and effort into productively organizing oneself, less is more. In fact, not only is less more, research suggests it may be faster, better and cheaper.
Click Through to Read the Harvard Business Review Article.
November 2011
2 posts
4 tags
There's No Such Thing As Writer's Block
Tech writer Andy Ihnatko has an excellent post up this week on writer’s block. Or, more accurately, on the fact that it doesn’t really exist.
No magic solutions or quick tricks here. Andy is just calling BS on the phenomenon. And I think he is right.
If you put “writer’s block” into your browser’s search bar get back a save distance from your screen. It’s liable to explode. Everything from...
Four Destructive Myths Most Companies Still Live... →
Myth #1: Multitasking is critical in a world of infinite demand.
Myth #2: A little bit of anxiety helps us perform better.
Myth #3: Creativity is genetically inherited, and it’s impossible to teach. And my personal favorite …
Myth #4: The best way to get more work done is to work longer hours.
October 2011
4 posts
WatchSteve Jobs’ Approach to Building a Business - Build a Great Team. The total is greater than the sum of its parts.
August 2011
2 posts
5 tags
“Passion is required. There are two kinds of successful entrepreneurs. There...”
– CJM
July 2011
1 post
Reading "The NYT misses the point about law... →
June 2011
5 posts
Microsoft Office Goes Cloud
Microsoft has rolled out its new cloud product: Office365. Office 365 purports to be thecompany’s familiar Microsoft Office collaboration and productivity tools delivered through the cloud.
It includes Web-based email, shared documents, shared calendars, instant messaging, video conferencing and Web meetings, and websites. Customers can pick and choose which apps they want and pay a monthly...
Cloud Computing Lawyer: Dropbox Drops Ball -...
DropBox Drops All Security
DropBox - the darling of many cloud lawyers - admitted this week that it accidentally left all of its customers’ data open and completely insecure for approximately 4 hours. Here is what Dropbox has to say about the event:
Yesterday we made a code update at 1:54pm Pacific time that introduced a bug affecting our authentication mechanism. We discovered this...
“Joining a Facebook group about creative productivity is like buying a chair...”
– Merlin Mann, 2009
New Apple iOS 5 Features for the Trial Lawyer
Apple’s WWDC conference is this week and yesterday, Steve Jobs and the gang held their opening keynote presentation. Among other things, the company introduced iOS 5 for iPad and iPhone devices. New features such as Twitter integration, camera improvements and the task list (yes…thats right…an actual task list on a smart phone…go figure) are getting quite a lot of...
7 tags
Is Basecamp Less Secure than Other SaaS Project...
Had to respond today to an article on the Legal Typist Blog declaring that no lawyer should use the Basecamp project management system from 37Signals b/c (1) she thinks it sucks; (2) it wasn’t designed specifically for lawyers; and (3) it is not as secure as other SaaS services (she names Clio and RocketMatter as her examples).
The article is a year old (but new to me) and ordinarily I...
May 2011
2 posts
Reading "Cranking" - 43 Folders →
Nothing wrecks your living room decor quite like a giant, rented hospital bed.
Watchmerlin:
Check out TextExpander’s new “Fill” functionality. In. Sane.
My love for TextExpander knows no bounds.
Pasties for the three snippets I mentioned (which need to be tweaked for your own setup):
youtube embed
mp3 embed
flickr link with credit
Also mentioned: Make Link is an indispensable Firefox extension that lets you grab a customized, marked-up, “one-click” pasteboard of the...
March 2011
1 post
WatchGary Vaynerchuk discusses the “Thank You” economy.
January 2011
10 posts
Reading: "How and Why I Use Evernote" →
Like so many great tools without a system and logical way to bring them into your everyday reality, they can become just another distraction. So, I want to give you a little of the logic of how I use Evernote.
Reading: My 2010 Ultimate Developer and Power... →
Learn from Chipotle: Keep it simple and focus on... →
Read the article here.
The 2011 iOS To-Do App Awards →
Have you been leaving your tasks unmanaged on your mobile because you’ve been holding out for the very best to-do app? Wait no longer as the 2011 iOS To-Do App Awards are here. Come in and meet the winners.
Organizing from the Inside Out: Form a Plan of... →
“You’ve got lots of stuff, you’ve got limited time, and those two factors conspire against you to turn your home, car, and office into a pit of disorganization. Today we’re taking a look at tips from Julie Morgenstern’s New York Time’s best selling book Organizing from the Inside Out. Let’s get our spaces in order.”
Why Law Firms Should Embrace Cycles: Getting... →
“So my suggestion to stay organized in 2011 is to embrace cycles. Here’s a good gauge of activities which will keep your mind crisp and uncluttered, ready to handle to barrage of insanity that invades the small law office on a daily basis:”
Ask "Who owns my mortgage?" and BoA may lower your... →
Interesting article on retaliation against consumers who are not behind in their mortgage payments b/c they had the audacity to ask BoA to identify the owner of their note.
Shameful practice and, if show to be intentional, probably an illegal practice as well.
Reading: "Life 2.0: The personal work styles of... →
These interviews from Fortune Magazine look at the working styles of 12 leaders and gives good insight into their approach to leadership. There’s a vast difference in approach here and I’m not going to pass judgement on what I think is good or bad - one man’s meat is another’s poison. It’s interesting though to see how the creative use of technology is applied -...
December 2010
4 posts
Obama FCC throws open internet & net neutrality... →
On Tuesday FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave AT&T a decision that was gift-wrapped for the holiday season. By a 3-to-2 vote, the FCC passed a rule that, in the chairman’s words, “protects Internet freedom.” If only that were true. After a year of promises to deliver on President Obama’s pledge to protect Net Neutrality, this chairman has pushed through a rule that favors the very...
Reading Time Magazine: "Are women less competitive... →
This is a quote so please send your letters to Time and not to me: ”When it comes to competitiveness, women just don’t stack up.”
Pretty amazing that this “philosophy” is published with no counter-point in such a mainstream magazine. What century is this again?
Reading "Senator Dodd's Lasting Legacy to... →
It’s a testament to Sen. Dodd that he helped to craft a law that ultimately helped both employers AND employees.
November 2010
7 posts
Reading: "Older but Not Wiser? The Psychology... →
Older adults aren’t as upset by possible financial losses as young people are, psychological research has shown, and Stanford University researchers found in a recent brain-imaging study that seniors’ brains don’t anticipate a loss as much as younger ones do. That might be leading them to make less rational—and therefore less profitable—choices. But the news isn’t all bad;...
Reblog: Save Newsweek.com: A Defense of... →
Personally - I think they would do better to shut down the print version of Newsweek to focus on their internet product. Print is where they are losing all their money. What a waste.
savenewsweekdotcom:
It’s always nice to wake up and find out in the Times that your job is doomed. As they put it on Saturday morning, quoting the new CEO of the so-called Newsweek Daily Beast Company, Stephen...
Reading: "Facebook account protected from... →
Unlike some recent cases such as Romano v. Steelcase, which seem to give the impression that the information in a person’s social networking account is always fair game for discovery in litigation, one New York court has come down on the side of protecting the privacy of a Facebook user’s content….
Reading "Opt Out of a Body Scan? Then Brace... →
Earlier in the year, scientists warned that the machines constitute a potential health risk, noting that the radiation given off by the devices has been dangerously underestimated and could lead to an increased risk of skin cancer. But if you choose to opt our of the “naked body scan” look out!
How is this not a fourth amendment problem?
Reading: "To The Whining Online Marketers: You... →
Article discussing “ABA Ethics Study of Client Development Tools Alarms Marketers”
October 2010
6 posts
Reading "The No-Fly List: It's Not Just For... →
Did you know you can get on the TSA’s “No Fly” list just for being a jerk or using your iPad?
Hey wait a minute - I have an iPad.
Reading: "Simple Justice: Hank Skinner's Long and... →