Wednesday, April 30, 2014

How To Find Your Lost iPhone or iPad

If you are a lawyer carrying an iPhone or an iPad, it is likely that device is jammed with important and confidential information.  What happens if you misplace that devise, with all of that important information?

Fortunately Apple has thought of such an unpleasant event, and the iOS operating system has built in security measures.  You can track your lost device, or you can remotely sweep its contents clean (a super erase if you will). However, for those measures to be available to you, you have to set them up on the device, and you need to know how to utilize them.

For an education on this topic we turn to our friends at Apple Tool Box.com.  The hardworking folks at ATB have posted a step-by-step tutorial on how to program your device in anticipation of its being lost, and on what to do when it is lost.  It couldn't be simpler.  Click here to learn how.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#lostiphone #lostipad #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Monday, April 28, 2014

Contextual and Predictive Technologies

Apple's Siri is a technology that I am getting more comfortable with everyday.  It is proving to be a nice little time saver when it comes to looking up phone numbers on the internet, dialing phone numbers from my directory, etc., etc.  When Siri came out she was fairly big news.  Now apparently she is old school.  The new buzz words are contextual technology and predicitive technology.

CT and PT are software programs that allow our devices to learn about behavior and preferences so that the device can anticipate what we want or need, and get it done for us.  Want an example?  Think Radar O'Reilly from MASH.  Radar walks into Colonel Blake's office and lets Henry know that his wife is on the phone before the Colonel even asked Radar to make the call!

The opportunities are endless: phones, watches, headset, cars, televisions . . . .  Imagine the calendar on your phone synching with your car's GPS.  It's a Tuesday and you need to be at a depo in a different city.  You start the car and automatically the depo location is programmed into your GPS. . .  You are driving to court for a 9:00 a.m. appearance.  It's 8:50 and your car senses that you are still 20 minutes away.  Your phone automatically calls the courtroom clerk, bluetooth sends the call to your car's speakerphone, and you let the clerk know you are running late.  Your smartwatch senses that your heart rate and blood pressure are elevated.  It also detects unusual shaking in your body.  It sounds an alarm and tells you to get to a doctor immediately in case of heart attack or stroke.  Oh yeah, the marketers will be involved also.  You are on your laptop looking at pictures of Hawaii.  Your heart rate goes up.  Your smartwatch senses this as a good thing, and an ad for a discount vacation pops up on your laptop screen personalized with your name and an invitation to immediately book a special deal for a Hawaiian holiday.  The possibilities go on and on.

The technology is already out there, and the big boys like Google and Microsoft are investing heavily in it.  Examples would include Google's recent purchase of Nest thermostats and its evolving Google Now service, two more examples of CT and PT.

Hal is here, but it may not be a bad thing?

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#contextualtechnology #predictivetechnology #siri #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Dropbox For Lawyers

58% of law firms now use Dropbox for cloud storage of documents, files, photos, whatever.  Thanks to our friends at Lawyerist.com there is now a Dropbox user guide for Law firms.  Replete with videos and written instructions, this is a great resource for lawyers new to Dropbox, and for the veteran Dropboxers looking to expand their experience.  Great stuff!  Check it out by clicking here.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#dropbox #dropboxforlawyers #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Monday, April 21, 2014

DON'T INSTALL PROPERTIZER UPDATE

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING!!!

As most of you know, Dissomaster is now owned by Thomson Reuters -- even though the program continues to marketed through the CFLR.com  website.  Of course, with TR's ownership the quality of the software and support has gone way down.  Now it is just another fairly neglected product for sale by the legal publishing giant.  Unfortunately, there is not much any of us can do about that.

Last week and this week the Dissomaster Suite update CD is being mailing out by Thompson Reuters.  DO NOT INSTALL THE UPDATE FROM THE CD.  The Propertizer update is filled with bugs to the point of being absolutely useless.  The program does not save your work, it does not update the running totals, it does not print reports completely.  It is an absolute nightmare!

I called Dissomaster tech support Friday and was advised that they have their software engineers working overtime to fix all the problems.  I got no explanation for why they released the completely woeful upgrade in the first place?

The best thing you can do is to continue to run your old version, and then make frequent calls to tech support for updates on all the patches and fixes.  Once there is a stable update available from the CFLR.com website, go with that update.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

IAML European Chapter Meeting

As a Fellow in the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers I have the rare privilege of associating with some of the world’s preeminent family law lawyers.  Case in point, I have recently returned from the IAML’s European Chapter meeting.  Held in Bordeaux, France the conference drew roughly one hundred and fifty lawyers from around the world. Countries represented included England, Scotland, France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Israel, Australia, Austria, Netherlands, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Monaco, Turkey, Mauritius, Ukraine, Canada, and the U.S.  Topics included trends in the European handling of international child custody cases and enforcement of pre-nuptial agreements, as well as U.S. trends in litigation of Hague Treaty cases with European Union nations.

Meetings like this provide an invaluable opportunity to network with family law lawyers from other countries, and to gain exposure to the progressive family law thought and processes being created and implemented around the world. There are some real innovations in family law that are being applied in other countries, and that could be of real benefit in the handling of family law cases in the U.S.  IAML events like the Bordeaux meeting facilitate the exchange of these ideas, and foster global improvement in the practice of family law.

I want to send out a particular thank you to the host of these meeting, European Chapter President Dr. Alfred Kreigler and his wife Andrea.  This powerhouse couple from Vienna, Austria invested countless hours planning the meeting.  Their hard work paid off with a flawless event!

Cheers to all my new international friends,

John Harding

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 


#IAML #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Solo nets Supreme Court win!

I know this has nothing to do with technology, but I think it is pretty cool. Andrew Simpson is a sole practitioner in the U.S. Virgin Is...