Here’s an amazing presentation from Rory Sutherland at TEDxAthens on perspective being the key to happiness.

This is not only about personal happiness, but also about the totally unexpected and cheap (even free!) methods of keeping clients and customers happy.

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1. Grace vs Duty of Happiness
2. Money can buy happiness!
3. Back from OpenCamp 2010!

One of my favorite artists is Zoe Keating, a very modern cellist who uses a Mac (see the tech angle) to loop music live on stage. The results are fascinating, haunting and often highly emotional pieces.

It takes a bit to get going. If you are the impatient sort, skip to around the three minute mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLKOgTG8RMs

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I really enjoyed watching Michael Norton’s TED prevention on How to Buy Happiness (aka if money can’t buy happiness, you’re spending it wrong). It’s a light hearted and fun, yet empirical, talk on how spending your money in different ways can greatly improve your sex life (or at least your overall happiness). Give it a watch:

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1. And if you want to hear some pornography
2. Grace vs Duty of Happiness
3. Inside Washington’s Money Machine

It’s easy to see the economic problems of another country: Greece, Italy. You can look at the economic trends and see what is going to make things worse. However, it is a lot harder to even spot the mistakes in your own fishbowl.

This Planet Money episode on “We’re Headed For A Fiscal Cliff. Should We Jump?” has stuck with me for laying out in stark terms the hard choices we have to make. Give it a listen.

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I don’t usually do movie reviews. I tend to have quite contrarian tastes and I don’t care how good or important a film is. A cheap but entertaining movies rates higher with me than a technically perfect but heartless Oscar winner (e.g. Hugo). Plus, who really cares what I think. Still, every once in a while a movie is so big, so praised, so awesome, that I spend the big bucks to see it on the big screen and … it totally fails to impress me. And that sums up Joss Whedon’s “Avengers.”

Part of the reason I’m writing this is to memorialize my first impressions. There are a number of movies I initially found seriously flawed but ended up liking. JJ Abram’s Star Trek is one example: what the hell was with all those pipes in engineering? The Fifth Element is another movie I criticized up and down, but has become one of my favorites.

I have learned initial impression are based on your expectations and where the film could go. However, lasting opinions are based on what is actually on the screen and not what you hoped or wanted to see.

*Spoiler warning* I discuss some of the characters and scenes. It’s pretty general, but still… you have been warned.

The Avengers – What’s Bad:

1. My biggest gripe is that the first hour and forty minutes feels like exposition – long, boring, drawn out exposition.
2. Iron Man/Tony Stark is still the only interesting character. This is fine in an Iron Man movie; not so much in a purported ensemble piece.
3. Scarlet Johansson was /gasp! boring. This is unforgivable!!! Remember when Scarlet wasn’t a big name and every role was different? Yeah, those days are gone. She’s now an action hero. Sadly, she isn’t even put to good use.
4. The Hulk still doesn’t look believable. In fact I’d say he looks worse in this film. Yes, he has some good scenes and one of the best comedic moments. However, having this unbelievable CG character is still too “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
5. The attacking army is… space bikers! /sigh. The generic silver armored look is straight out of Power Rangers (without entertainment value). Can you remember anything about the how the army looked other than “silver” and “armored?” Considering the amount of screen time devoted to the big battle, you never get any idea of what the bad guys even look like. Both the troops and their vehicles are nearly constantly blurred. It is as if the designers just didn’t care!
6. Space turtle! See above.
7. More space turtles! Oh for Pete’s sake. Ok, there is one space turtle: Gamera! All the others are just pale imitators.
8. Failure to learn the lesson of the “Transformers” movies (or “Showgirls” for that matter) that spectacle does not equal entertainment.

The Avengers – What’s good:

1. The six or so laugh lines are very funny.
2. The scene between Loki and Tony Stark in Start Tower is the very best scene in the film.
3. The finale (of the finale), and the comedic denouement with the Hulk, is thrilling and fun. “The Avengers” is one of the few movies that actually gets better toward the end. Many movies start with an intriguing first act and dissolve into a clichéd ending. While the big battle in Avengers is a given, the movie starts to work in the final 10 minutes or so. And the movie ends on a high note. I have to give it credit for ending very well and enjoyably.
4. Shawarma sales will get a nice bump — stay to the very end.

Overall, there are some very enjoyable minutes in the Avengers. If you spliced them together, you would have a totally kick-ass trailer. Unfortunately, they are stuck in an overly long movie.

One final thing, early in the film when Peper is leaving with Agent Coulson, she delivers a throw away line asking about seeing a chalice. Anyone know what that was about?

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I love it when people ask me to write up their new business. I mean, when they actually ask me – which means figuring out who I am, what I do, why their business might be of interest to me and my readers, and then actually talking to me while using my name.

Of course, I also get a kick when marketers do the opposite and ask me for a personalized recommendation via an email blast, such as the below:

Hi,

My name is Paul and I’m a startup blogger. About three months ago I started a do it yourself marketing service for bloggers because agencies cost too much. The service is called [LamerMarketing] and I need your help promoting it.

http://www.[lamermarketing].com

Will you write an article about the newly launched [lamermarketing]?

Regards,
Paul K

So, here is my response to Paul:

Thank you for your personalized contact which I can tell was completely not generated through a mail blast system or service.

I appreciate your request to promote your new advertising venture by personally writing it up on my site despite never having heard of you before.

I can tell you know all about the art of modern promotion since you eschew all those out of date methods like figuring out the name of the person you are contacting.

I also see you recognize the importance of working efficiently: you send out hundreds if not thousands of emails with one click requesting a personalized promotion at no cost or further effort from you! Genius!

I think I shall take you up on your offer to discuss your business publicly and often.

I may even use it as a case study!

There you go Paul, an article about your business. Please let me know if you would like me to include your real URL.

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1. MILOfest 2010 Influence and Legal Marketing

Image via Nicole Black: http://legal-ipad.com/post/18011665087/finis-price-he-will-be-missed

I just learned that one of my legal colleagues, serious Mac fan, and tech presenter, Finis Price died in February. I’ve been out of the loop so I missed it when the news came out. Finis was a personal injury attorney in Kentucky, a very gregarious and über exuberant person who was often the center of attention. I only met him a few times through the Maclaw conferences, but once you met Finis, you couldn’t forget him. Finis was always eager to share his knowledge and his passions: from the coolest iPad app for lawyers, to the latest X-men movie, to his correspondence and great love for author Douglas Adams. If you were ever in the same room with him, even if it was a massive auditorium, you would likely hear his voice ringing out in laughter at some point. Although we only met on a few occasions, here’s to you buddy!

Finis and his wife, Heather, poured all their resources into their business, TechnoEsq. As a result he left little in the way of savings.
The Kentucky Justice Association has set up a restricted fund to accept donations, and all proceeds will go to his wife. If you would like to contribute, please send your contributions (be sure to note “Finis Price” in the memo line) to Kentucky Justice Association, 10602 Timberwood Cir # 8, Louisville, KY 40223-5367.

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1. MacTip: Built in Magnifying Loupe in OSX Lion

How cool is that!

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I like to keep a separate desktop window (“space” in Apple parlance) for blogging (and the screenshot shot and editing apps I use). However, when I launch an app, it defaults to the main desktop. I remember that in OSX 10.6, you could set which space an application opening in System Preferences. However that has gone the way of the dodo in OSX 10.7 Lion.  So, how do you select where apps should open or even keep them visible on all desktops?

Easy enough:

1. Right click (CMD-click) icon in the application dock.
2. Go to Options.
3. Select which desktop you want the app to launch in (or if you want it in all desktops).

Yay! Thanks to MacLife for providing a list of Mac Spaces tips. I would love to link directly to the article but the URL produces a 404 error each time. It looks like MacLife doesn’t like deep linking.

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2. How to encrypt hard drive with Mac Lion OSX 10.7
3. Niall Ferguson: 6 killer apps of prosperity

What makes us do bad things? More importantly, what people do the worst things imaginable. Radiolab covers the subject of evil this week in “The Bad Show.”

• A fresh interpretation of Stanley Milgrim’s electroshock experiment. It’s not just people’s willingness to follow instructions from a person in a position in authority that allows them to intentionally inflict harm on others. Individuals will act, and continue to act, contrary to their own beliefs, and in a way that is abhorrent even to themselves, because of an intellectual buy-in to the greater good.
• Saint or sinner: Fritz Haber, the man who saved the world from starvation also developed and personally implemented (on the front lines) one of the most terrible weapons in history.
• And last, interview with a killer.

Give it a listen:

 photo credit: Greencolander

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You probably already know how to create and use an electronic signature in Adobe Acrobat (if not, don’t worry it’s the first tip in Ernie Svenson’s video below). However, you may be wondering “how do I ‘flatten’ the signature image, so someone can’t simply lift my signature off a document.”

I figured that Adobe must have a way of doing this. It is the premier app for managing electronic documents in business after all. However, apparently not. Also, I could not find the answer by googling, either. After several dead ends, I was able to find the information. Everything you need is covered in Add a Flatten Document Menu Item to Acrobat on the Acrobat for Legal Professionals blog. WARNING: this has worked fine for me (Adobe Acrobat Pro 9), but I make no warranty.

1. Download the flatten.txt file from the blog. You need to click the link, either from here or the Adobe blog. This will take you to Adobe where you can download the file.
2. Rename the extension to “.js”.
3. Follow the instructions on the Adobe blog for installing the javascript file.

On a Mac, you paste the javascript file into the following directory (replace USERNAME with your username):

/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Acrobat/9.0_x86/JavaScripts

Of course, you cannot see the Library directory on OSX 10.7 Lion. So, you need to launch Terminal and type in the following. Thanks to OSXDaily for the tip!

chflags nohidden ~/Library/

To hide the Library when you are finished, type in the following in Terminal:

chflags hidden ~/Library

You then get a new option under the Documents pull-down menu to either “Flatten current page” or “Flatten all pages.”

Check out the full article with screenshots and instructions for Windows PC users at Add a Flatten Document Menu Item to Acrobat. Also, watch the video on how to create an electronic signature for Adobe Acrobat and use the flatten commend:

How to create a digital signature stamp in Acrobat from Digital Workflow CLE on Vimeo.

photo credit: Viernest

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Watching the Sunday “talking head” shows is truly an exercise in frustration. Big name politicos repeatedly hit their talking points and the hosts wont ask tough questions for fear that the politico wont come back on. I contrast that with this discussion of the shift of global power from a single pole (the United States) to a multi-polar world in the new century and from nations to transnational groups.

I don’t agree with everything in this discussion. I do not share Ashdown’s faith that transnational treaties can to bring law and curb the power of transnational groups. WIPO being one example where the proposed treaties seem designed to promote large rights-holder interests, exclude critics, and short-circuit democratic involvement via secret discussion. However, compared to the fare on Sunday morning news shows, the piece is still a breath of fresh and frank discussion.

photo credit: Satoru Kikuchi

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I saw this mentioned on BoingBoing last week: it is a discussion from the 2011 Vancouver Human Rights Lecture series discussion the importance of mainstream internet venues in democratic movements: unlike small networks (whose shutdown may be invisible to the mainstream), use of popular networks like Flickr, Facebook and Youtube means that heavy-handed shut-downs will likely make more people aware that something is going on. A very Freakonomics bit of analysis!

CBC.ca | Cute Cats and The Arab Spring. Via BoingBoing

photo credit: Dr. Hemmert

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I currently use the $79 Kindle, which doesn’t have a headphone jack (so no text-to-speech possible there). Also, a number of Kindle books do not have text to speech enabled, anyway.

So, I found myself wondering if there was any way to use Apple’s built-in text to speech to read Kindle books?

The answer was a surprisingly simple “Yes!” “Yes, but only for a while — see update below”

1. Download the Kindle for Mac desktop app.
2. Load up your favorite book (even if it has Kindle’s own text-to-speech disabled).
3. Reduce the font to the smallest setting. This lets you select more text in the next step.
4. Highlight all the text.
5. Press the text-to-speech hotkey in you selected in System Preferences > Speech > Text to Speech.

Enjoy your favorite Apple text-to-speech voice read your book to you!

UPDATE: This works until you reach the copy limit for the ebook. The process described above acts as “copying.” Then, you get a warning, and then you can’t use the process anymore. Have I mentioned how much DRM sucks?

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2. Kindle Fire Review
3. Adding new voices to OS X Lion

This week’s This American Life showcases Mike Daisey’s amazing journey into the heart of Apple’s (and many other’s) manufacturing at Foxconn. Daisey’s plan started simply enough: going up to the gates of Foxconn and seeing if any workers want to talk. Other journalists with whom Daisey shared his plan with, thought this would be … a very bad idea. Undeterred, Daisey went ahead. Then he saw the armed guards.

Surviving that first encounter, Daisey decided to get bold.

Check out Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory | This American Life.

UPDATE 03/16/12: This American Life has retracted (pdf link) the episode for “numerous fabrications.” Now, of course, any company that installs anti-suicide nets on roofs and whose workers have died after 60 hour shifts, probably has some issues. This American Life is to air a special episode concerning the retraction and corrections tonight at 8pm. Via Gawker, BusinessInsider & This American Life.

UPDATE 03/18/12: The retraction episode of This American Life if available here. Or, listen to it below:

photo credit: Codexian

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One of my favorite tools in Adobe Acrobat is the highlighter. However, when I am commenting and marking up PDF documents , I was frustrated with not being able to select different highlighter colors other than YELLOW!

There’s got to be a way to highlight PDF documents in red, green, blue or any different color, doesn’t there?

There is a way!  With the Highlight tool selected, click CMD+E. A new tool bar pops up letting you select a different highlight color.

Now, go have fun highlighting your PDFs in ANY color!

And here’s how to add highlight colors in Adobe Acrobat on PC (Windows).

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Personally, I feel that a cover letter is more important that resume. First of all, you can change a cover letter. There is not much you can do to a resume except make cosmetic changes. You can’t go back and work an extra summer or add an internship that did not happen.

However, you can make substantive changes to your cover letter.

One common mistake and one tip about resumes:

Most people stop after a recitation of the duties of the job performed. Yes, that gives me some idea about your skills. However, it also screams, “I did the job I was given!” Well, I certainly hope so. That just says, “I wasn’t fired for being incompetent.” Again, I certainly hope not.

What I am getting at is a recitation of duties is setting the bar at about,  oh,  shin level.

I recommend splitting up the description into for every job in the “Experience” section into “Duties” (this is where your recitation goes) and “Noteworthy.” Here is where you add how you reorganized the office categorization process to reduce processing by 20%. Think 6 Million Dollar Man (is that too dated a reference?): how did you make things better, stronger, faster? Yes, I know you did the job. What did you accomplish that is noteworthy? Did you exceed expectations? Did you go beyond your duties?

Ok, cover letters. How do you pick out a cake? Imagine going into Whole Foods and going to bakery section. They have fruit topped cases, ones with multi-colored chocolate shavings. It’s like an amazing party right-there-on-the-cake! What kind of cake it is, is a consideration, but come-on, you’re picking the pretty one.

Your cover letter is the decoration on the cake. It’s that important in getting selected.

The resume, that’s the cake underneath. Now I’m going to mix up the metaphors. I am asked to review a quite a few resumes. Well, a resume is a tool like a screwdriver. You’re asking to me to tell you is it a good enough screwdriver? Well, I don’t know! What do you want to use it for? That’s where the cover letter comes in! A cover letter says what you to do with your screwdriver.

• What kind of job do you want?
• What do you like about the firm your are contacting?
• Why you feel you could do for the firm?
• What sets you apart?
• What are your passions and goals and how those fit in with working at the firm.

Passions? Goals? I just want to be the perfect drone!

Yeah… that’s how a lot of interviews come across. Let me tell you, if you want a job. You have to be someone. You have to want things, you have to be interested in and passionate about things. Everyone is the hero of their own narrative. Yes, I know you are. But what you miss is that the person interviewing you for the firm is also the hero of his/her story too. Part of their story is are the heroic things their firm is going to do (while hopefully make a nice amount of money).

Pitfall: what they don’t want is someone who tells them, “personal injury is my passion, even when I was little I went up to the parks office after my brother scraped his knee on the playground and shouted ‘I’ll sue!’ ” Actually, that’s pretty good. Usually, though, sucking up is pretty transparent because it is inauthentic.

The person you are interviewing with is looking for heroes. Not necessarily another Superman. But you may be able to show them that they really need an Aquaman on their team. That takes passion and believing in things. You can’t just be the person who scrubs tanks at the aquarium.

So, cakes, screwdrivers and superheroes: stand out using your cover letter, tell the employer why you choose them and what you can do, and show them why you are a hero!

photo credit: Waponi

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1. Legal job search mistake: hiding behind your resume
2. YoungBlood – Naked and Famous (cover)
3. Legal Technology: Go Paperless! Presentation

It’s a new year and it is time to make good on that resolution to strengthen your law firm’s backup strategy (or to get one started)!

How to get your back-up plan in order, in case of a hard drive failure, theft or fire, is one of the most important things a solo attorney and small law firm can do — especially once you go paperless. Then it is all just bits. And you do not want them to go away. Fortunately, it is much easier to copy bits than it is paper documents, allowing you to have multiple up to date and versioned copies in multiple locations.

Goals of a successful backup strategy:

• Automatic. You already know that if something is a hassle, it is not going to get done. You want something that works in the background whether you remember to use it or not.
• Multiple locations. One of the worst backup strategies is to have your backup sitting next to your computer. You want to make sure you have offsite back-up. And having a backup in a completely different regions is even better.
• Multiple copies. One backup is good, but several are better. You never know when a perfect storm will hit and take out your one backup.or
• Multiple services. If something happens with your backup provider, even a temporary problem with connectivity, you could be left out in the cold. It is a good idea to put your eggs in several different baskets just in case.

Great, you say. You could read pabulum like this on any number of law blogs. So let me give you a quick and dirty guide to backing up. Some of this is Mac specific, but I am including PC alternatives for the Morlocks among you ;)

Automatic local backup

You want at least one layer that continuously runs in the background and just takes care of things for you. One of the easiest backup solutions is to use Time Machine (on the Mac) or Windows Home Server (on PC).

On the Apple side, Time Machine is built in service which automatically backs up your data to an external hard drive. Not only is the data backed up, you also have versioning. So, if you need to go back to a prior version of document (say… from last week, before the temp trashed your files), you can get those old versions back!

The system automatically backs up your files whenever a drive your designate as your Time Machine is plugged in. You can use any external drive for this. However, you still need to remember to plug the drive in.

An easier way is to plug a drive (or a Drobo) into an Airport Extreme wi-fi hub. Or just pick up a Time Capsule (which is a wi-fi hub with a built in hard drive). Whenever your computer is on the same wi-fi network as the Time Machine drive, your system will back up automatically.

There is a caveat though. Would I trust a Time Machine as my only layer of backup? Absolutely not! While I have not had problems lately, I have personally experienced instances of the back up not working or becoming corrupted. Why do I still use it? Because it is automatic, local and a layer of my backup strategy. There is no reason to avoid it when it may be the fastest and easiest way to get to my data.

On the PC side, a Windows Home Server appliance does the same thing, automatically keeping your data backed up.

While you can build your own box and install Windows Home Server on it. It is a lot easier to buy a Windows Home Server appliance. There are a number of different models.

Of course there are some differences between the Mac and PC options. However, the main thing is that they automatically back up your data.

Full disk image

The automatic back up section above dealt with protecting your data: your documents, PDF records, etc. However, if your system dies or is stolen, your data is only part of what you need to get back. There is also all applications and settings, not to mention the operating system that need to be re-installed.

It is so much easier to have a full system image of your main computer. A system image is a snapshot of all the data on your computer at a particular point in time. If you make an image on Saturday, and your system crashes on Wednesday, you can restore your computer exactly as it was as of the Saturday image.

What about all the data from Sunday through Wednesday? That’s the next layer of the backup. The benefit of a a full disk image gets you back up and running with a clone of your system as quickly as possible.

On the Mac side, I recommend SuperDuper! (yes the exclamation point is in the name). There is a free version, but pay the $28 to get the version which lets you set unattended backups.

If you want a totally free solutions (ya cheap skate!) take a look at Carbon Copy Cloner.

On the PC side, Windows 7 comes with a Backup and Restore utility. You can watch a video at the link or read Paul Thurrott’s walk through on how to get an image running on the SuperSite for Windows.

Sync to back up machines

One of the easiest and more underused back up strategies is to just have a back up machine. You don’t have to have two top of the line machines. Even an older system (from a few upgrades back) can often be used in a pinch. Remember: it’s better to have a slow machine with all your data on it, than no machine at all!

There are a number of services which synchronize your data among different computers: Dropbox, SugarSync, SpiderOak. Of course, these services also keep a copy on the web (which can be another layer in your backup strategy). If you are concerned about trusting a third party service, just add SecretSync.

Personally, I have two laptops. They are not identical images. I simply keep the data (files, records, etc) automatically synchronized between them. All the data is synchronized as of the last save.

If one machine died or was stolen, I can simply pick up the next machine and keep working. All the data is automatically kept current. So, moving to a different computer is a simple as picking up a second phone line in your house and continuing a conversation. Everything is there and current.

Actually, I also synchronize the data to two other machines which are always in separate locations. These are cheapy boxes and all they do is just keep a synced copy of my information. Why do I do this? Because nothing beats a local copy if you have to restore data. If you keep a copy in the cloud (the next layer of your backup strategy), it may take you days or weeks to pull down all those files. Ask yourself, how long would it take to download 20gb or 50gb?

I have had hard drive failures. When it happens, I switch to a back up machine and order a replacement drive. When it arrives, I restore from the image backup. This puts the system, apps, setting and old version of files onto the new drive. This takes a couple of hours. Then I enable the synchronization with the online service. Since the service has newer versions of the files than the ones on the image. Any changes since the image get automatically updated on my machine, and I have a completely up to date version of all the files. This takes care of the problem of having a full image of my hard drive on Saturday and the drive dying on Wednesday.

If you can afford to have a second machine, a sync service is still an important layer of your back up strategy. While you will not be able to pick up a back up machine and keep working, you can still hit a local Best Buy, Costco, or Sams to pick up a drive or overnight a replacement drive from Newegg or Amazon. Replace the bad drive, restore from your image, and again let the sync service bring your files up to date as of the last save.

Yes, it is that crazy amazing, and you should be doing this!

Cloud backup

Despite already having the data in the cloud through a sync service, I recommend also using  separate cloud provider for redundancy. I am talking about something like Crashplan or Carbonite. Both services have Mac & PC versions. I can choose from having everything on my system backed up to just certain files and directories. I use Crashplan which also offers free backup in their software to another computer (which is a nifty feature).

You may think, “Ugh! Another cost!” But, this really is a very cheap!  I bought 4 years of backup upfront for $139. That’s $2.91 a month. Sally Struthers will admit that less than the price of a cup of coffee!

You may wonder why I don’t mentions Amazon’s S3 with something like JungleDisk. I previously used S3 with JungleDisk as the front end and it was just too expensive.

Backup Review

Automatic local backup at your home or office: TimeMachine or Windows Home Server.

Full disk image (in case of hard drive failure): SuperDuper! / Carbon Copy Cloner (Mac) or Windows 7 Back up and Restore (PC)

Sync Service (to get you up to date as of the last saved version): Dropbox (with SecretSync), SugarSync, SpiderOak.

Cloud based backup: Crashplan.

There you go: four layers of backup and all automatic. Well, imaging may require you to plug in a usb cable if you use a laptop, but even here you can set it up to be automatic over your network if you are technically savvy enough.

Does this make you bulletproof? Of course not. But, how many copies of paper files did you keep? Did you keep any offsite copies? How about in geographically diverse areas? Probably none! You just locked the single copy of a file in a filing cabinet or file room.

Are these the only solutions? No! There are lots of different way a small firm (and a solo attorney) can protect him/herself. It isn’t that hard. Just get to it and get your data backed up!

What are you using? What do you like, what do you hate. Leave a comment describing your back up strategy.

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1. Solo and Small Firm Section Presentation
2. Making Dropbox secure for lawyers and law offices
3. WordCast Conversations: Tomasz Stasiuk, Blogging, Social Media and Online Strategies for Lawyers

I saw this at my kid’s school parking lot. That’s one supportive wife that guy’s got!

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Just as in my firm, many solo and small firm attorneys are blazing their own path; trying to find their way to building a profitable business. However, most of us, never went to business school. So, we are just finding our way in the dark.

We have a lot of advantages: we are small, lean, and can turn on a dime. This gives us agility.

• We can drop things that are not working.
• We can quickly respond to changes.
• We to make continuous improvements without the approval of a board of directors.

However, it still helps to have a model in place. Personally, I think a great place to look is tech industry startups. They are also not shackled with low barriers to entry and low costs. I also think their notions of rapid iterations apply in a law firm setting.

Here is a great discussion on the TWiT network with Eric Ries, author of the Lean Startup, discussing what works for startups. Give it a watch.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Ic9GODcaE

You can also download a podcast version here.

What do you think? What’s the best startup advice you have to lawyers going out on their own?

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I spent the better part of a Saturday trying to figure out why iPhoto 11 won’t play old videos. I know I recorded them on an iPhone. Yet, whenever I try to play a video, I get a the gray exclamation point triangle sign.

I pulled up the information inspector (Cmd-I), and I see that these older videos are in RAW format (compared to H.264 for more recent videos).

Installing Quicktime Player 7 — Strike 1!

After scrounging around on some forums, I see that the problem may be that Apple didn’t ship with the necessary codecs to play videos recorded, oh… IN THE LAST YEAR!

Apple: It Just Works — Until It Doesn’t… Because We Took a Part Out

Anyhow, download Quicktime Player 7 for the current version of OSX (currently Lion).

Install it, and then relaunch iPhoto. I also hear using VLC also works for playing back these “old” videos.

Did that work for me? No, it did not. The videos still would not play, dagnabit! But, what the hey! It was worth a shot. Maybe it will work for you.

Cmd + Alt rebuild of iPhoto – Strike 2!

I was able to find the videos on the disk though and they were able to play there. So, it looks like iPhoto just needed to be rebuilt. I had already done the trick of restarting iPhoto while holding down the Cmd and Alt keys. This brings up the following window:

You would think that running all of these would rebuild iPhoto. But, no. Even that did not work!

iPhoto Library Manager — Strike 3!

Finally, I tried iPhoto Library Manager from FatCat Software.

iPhoto Library Manager (ILM) has some nice features, including iPhoto library first aid.

Oh, yeah, that’s the stuff!!! I started iPhoto Library Manager, selected my current iPhoto Library and selected the Rebuild Library option (File > Rebuild Library or Cmd-R). Then it was time to go get a cup of coffee… from the nearest contiguous state. Depending on the size of your library, this process can take quite some time. Like… on the order of 10 hours.

And I got a very clean library with all of the those videos that wouldn’t play…. gone! Well, that’s one solution but not what I was really looking for.

Was I ever able to get my videos back?

Yes! Finally, I just went into finder and searched for “.mov” files. Then all the ones listed as being in my old “iPhoto library > Master” I moved to a new folder and then dragged them into iPhoto again.  After being re-imported the files are again playable. I am not sure what to say about this. The files were in the old iPhoto package, but three separate techniques for rebuilding the iPhoto database failed to find and do whatever mojo was needed to get them viewable and playable under iPhoto. This is not exactly a ringing endorsement for iPhoto.

Can anyone recommend another Mac app for videos? Would I be likely to have fewer problems with Aperture?

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With the iPad 3 expected  to arrive in 2012 (fingers crossed), Apple will have three iPads in the market. So, the question becomes, what will Apple do with the original iPad 1?

Apple could, of course, simply drop the iPad 1. As a single core machine, it will be lag even further behind the iPad 2 and the iPad 3. However, Apple has historically liked to have three price points in the marketplace: a high, middle, and low.

I would not be surprised to see Apple offer the iPad 1 in 2012 for $299. Of course, Apple might simply come out with a low-end iPad 2 at the same similar price point.

This would effectively suck the remaining oxygen in the market. The only tablet left at a lower price would be the Kindle Fire. However, with only a $99 price difference, the vastly increased functionality of an iPad would make it an easy step up for tablet purchasers.

Of course, price and processor speed are not the only issues. The deciding factor in who wins mind and market share is functionality and ecosystem. At the present time, Apple has a definite lead. However, both Amazon and Google are making interesting bids for the tablet crown.

• Amazon has already built up a strong marketplace for books, videos, and music. Plus, Amazon has made itself the default player for self-publishing with the Kindle platform.
• Google already has video. The new Google Music platform makes a very attractive offer for music publishers and independents to publish and share music. Plus, the tie-ins with YouTube make for a very strong marketing combination. It would be surprising if Google did not follow-up with a book publishing and sales option.
• Google is positioning itself to make publishing, profiting and sharing music, books, and videos easy.

These competitor pressures may drive Apple to release a low-priced iPad in 2012.

What do you think? Will we get an iPad for $299 (or less) in 2012?

photo credit: Håkan Dahlström

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I recently came across this post titled “The best editing advice anyone accidentally gave me.” It is pretty darned good advice whether you are writing a book, a blog post, or anything else:

Sometimes a story has pieces to it that are interesting or well-written or the result of hours of thought and work, but simply — if an editor is being completely honest — don’t belong in that story. Like puppies, those pieces are good things, and you’d never want to part with them, but if they are unnecessary, they have to go. Chop the piece, kill the puppy.

This is spot on! Certainly, I know that my writing could use more editing. However, I am usually so pleased with myself that I have any ideas at all, that I do not want to start cutting out ideas — let alone good ones — just because they did not fit with the piece I am writing.

Via House of Figs

photo credit: carterse

No related posts. WAH!!!

How do you make home-made marshmallows? The Cali Lewis way, of course!

Ever since Cali showed her recipe for marshmallows on the late lamented Geekbrief.tv (I know, I know. It’s Geekbeat.tv now), making marshmallows “the Cali way” has been a holiday tradition at my house. There’s a legacy for you: hundreds of episodes, and what sticks? Marshmallows!

Sadly, Cali Lewis’ recipe for marshmallows did not make the transfer to her new home at Geekbeat.tv. This means that while the original video is still floating around the interwebs (like the links below), the written recipe has disappeared into the ether. So, let’s rectify that right now! Note: I’m not trying to steal content from Cali. The written recipe has dropped off the radar, so I am just trying to make it available again. I hope Cali approves.

Part 1

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxorjBxbBas

Part 2

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36SjzDw4NkI

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 packets of unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups of sugar
• Powdered sugar

Tools:

• 13x9x2 inch pan
• A BIG bowl & a couple of small/medium bowls
• Sifter
• Electric mixer
• Spatula
• Knife or pizza cutter
• Candy thermometer (optional)

Directions:

1. Pour the 1/2 cup cold water into the large bowl and add in 3 1/2 packets of unflavored gelatin. Let sit.
2. In medium sized saucepan, put in the two cups of sugar, half cup of hot water, half cup corn syrup, 1/4 tsp salt.
3. Put saucepan on low heat and let boil (240 degrees on a candy thermometer). Do not stir (Cali is emphatic on this). Note: boiled sugar is hot. Really hot. Molten burn-massive-layers-of-your-skin-off-don’t-sue-me-it’s-your-own-damn-fault-if-you-burn-yourself-or-your-loved-ones hot! This is the trip-to-the-emergency-room dangerous! You have been warned. Also anything you put into the molten sure will get a pretty much permanent coat of candied sugar and most plastic utensils will melt. So be careful.
4. Oil up the 13x9x2 inch pan. Then sift a small amount of powdered sugar into the pan. This is to coat the pan so the marshmallows release. Note: this makes BIG difference in how easy or hard the recipe ends up being. So go ahead and use a bit extra powdered sugar.
5. Separate the egg yolks and egg whites. Put the whites into a larger bowl & beat until they hold a stiff peak. You won’t need the yolks for this recipe. Discard them, make an omelet, put them into a sock drawer, whatever.
6. Add the sugar mixture to the bowl with the dissolved water and gelatin (not the egg white bowl) and stir to dissolve.
7. With a mixer, beat the sugar and gelatin mixture until tripled in size.
8. Add in the beaten egg whites and 1 tsp vanilla and mix just until mixed. Do not over-mixing.
9. Pour the mixture the oiled and powdered sugar-coated 9x13x2 inch pan & coat top lightly with sifted powdered sugar (about 1/4 cup).
10. Put pan into refrigerator until firm (about 3 hours).
11. With a spatula, go around the sides of the pan to help the marshmallows release. Flip the pan and release the marshmallow onto a cutting board. You may need to continue to use the spatula to help the marshmallows release from the bottom of the pan. Sift some more powdered sugar on the now upside down marshmallows.
12. Using a knife or a pizza cutter, cut the marshmallows into 1 inch cubes (or bigger or smaller depending on your preference).
13. Sift 1/4 to 1/2 cup of powdered sugar into a large bowl.
14. Place the cut marshmallows into the bowl and toss. You want to make sure marshmallows are completed coated with powdered sugar. The powdered sugar is what keeps the marshmallows from sticking together.

Have some with hot chocolate, make smores, or just enjoy them by themselves!

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I was recently asked to review a new lawyer’s resume. I wrote back to the new attorney and offered to set up a meeting at my office to go over the resume and the lawyer’s cover letter. The timing of the meeting did not work out. However, instead of trying to reschedule, here is the response I got back:

Thank you for agreeing to review my resume. I am working full time for another week at a seasonal position, and then will be out of town for several weeks. Also I see that your office is on Colorado Springs, and I am in Denver. Despite these scheduling problems, I would still like to have your feedback on my resume. Is there a way we could review it electronically? For example, you could use the Word “track changes” feature to show your edits. Old fashioned paper and pen would be fine as well. Please let me know your thoughts.

I get the importance of making your current employment a priority. It shows loyalty which is a trait all employers want. And sure, I don’t expect you to change your travel plans. But, “send me your revisions”? I am not reviewing your resume to see if your spelling is correct or if you are using active verbs. Your law school career services office can do that.

I want to do a meeting to see if the resume, and even more importantly, your cover letter, conveys your strengths and individuality. Does it capture who you are and why you should be at the top of your prospective employers pile of applicants? Your resume is not is applying for a job, you are.

I consider trying to suss out what makes a person valuable and original to an employer, something worth showing up for. As someone out of law school for more than a decade, and who looks at resumes from an employer’s perspective, I can provide insight.

Also, I prefer to do an in person meeting because we can communicate faster and, hell, we can do revisions during the meeting. I like techie stuff as much as the next uber-geeky lawyer. However, I do not feel we can get as much done, or done as well, by swapping revisions.

Plus, you’re looking for a job and you don’t want to make another connection in the legal community? Really? Even you if you are only looking for work in the city you live in, you never know where a job lead, or introduction, will come from.

So, the next time you want help with your job search and someone wants to meet with you, JUMP AT THE CHANCE!

What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

 photo credit: nasrulekram

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Here’s a funny video to put you in the mood for Christmas. That is, if Christmas is all about competition and unrealized desires. Which, after all, is the true meaning of Christmas. Right?

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HIGCgpHYB4

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdO85Qf4Poc

Here’s a good slower cover by Birdy:
Young Blood (The Naked & Famous Cover) — Birdy by hesallears

photo credit: Wonderlane

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This is a fabulous story from Andrew Solomon about his trip to find musicians in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. I haven’t heard anything this beautiful in quite a long time. It’s like a real life “Yellow Submarine.”

Give it a listen (mp3 link).

Note: I’m having trouble with the link, and The Moth page doesn’t show this podcast at all (!) as of this writing. Here is a link to the feeds where the podcast shows up. Look for “Andrew Solomon A Time of Hope.”

UPDATE 01/25/12: The MP3 link above seems to be working. However, it’s been pointed out to me that after a while, older episodes of The Moth podcast drop off the feed. Here are some other sources for this episode:

• Flumecast
• WeHearUs
• Podcaster
• Tumblr
• MeFeedia

photo credit: elitatt

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I was doing interviews at MILOfest (Macs in Law Offices) conference. I had FinalCut X installed on my late 2010 Macbook Air and, over the course of the afternoon sessions, I got to watch the progress meter slowly churn on an 8 minute clip and still not finish. Previewing and editing lower thirds was positively painful. Everything might have been ok if I had not tried to re-render the clip (even using the proxy media setting).

I know, I know, I’m trying to use a heavy-duty app on an underpowered machine. So, despite the much greater editing, titles, audio, controls, I found myself going back to my iPhone for some rapid-fire, gonzo, video editing.

Here are tips for splitting clips, tricks with titles, and making video editing on the iPhone with iMovie doable.

Pinch and Zoom the timeline

Touch interfaces have a lot of gee whizz! However, fine editing on a small screen isn’t ideal; especially when you are dealing with small clips. Well, don’t sweat it! If you need finer control, use the two finger expand gesture to expand the clip.

Now, it is easier to find the right spot for edits, sound cues, etc.

How to undo in iMovie on iOS (iPhone and iPad):

Did you know iMovie has undo? I didn’t! There is no undo button.

However, if you shake the iPhone or iPad, you get an undo dialog:

There are even multiple levels of undo. However, if you split a clip, (discussed below), in my experience, the undo only works if you undo immediately.

Titles in iMovie (on iPhone and iPad) that DON’T take up the entire clip:

One of the biggest head scratchers about iOS iMovie is that you can’t make titles that build in and build out. If you put a title on a video clip, it stays on the entire clip! Want lower thirds when introducing someone? Want to add a website, twitter account or location? TOO BAD! You can’t do 5 second titles in iMovie for iOS!

Except that you CAN! All you need is a bit of jiggery-pokery. The secret is to split a video, and insert the title only on the portion you want. All the viewer sees is the title building in and then building out. Here’s how to do it:

Tap the clip in the timeline. The clip will be outlined in yellow. Put the red play head line where you want the title to END.

Swipe down across the video clip.

The clip splits into two with a transition block with a “|” noting “no transition.” If you have a different transition icon, tap the transition to select it, then double-tap to get a selection wheel. Select “None” and touch the “Done” button.

Now tap the clip you want the title on. A yellow outline appears around the clip.

Double tap the clip to access clip settings, and then tap “Title Style”.

Select the title style (Opening, Middle, Ending), then tap the “Done” button.

Double tap the title in the preview window to edit the text.

Note: if you don’t want a location added to the tile, double tap the clip again and then tap “Location”

You then have three buttons (current location, the “locate me” cross-hair, and “Other”). Tap the top button to edit the current location. Then just back-space or cut the location. Tap “Done,” and then “Done” again. Now the title no longer lists a location.

Here’s the final clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve2H1ElArcY

The title flies in and then flies out and the clip continues with no visible edit.

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ShiftJelly, the makers of my favorite podcatcher for iOS devices, Pocket Casts, recently updated their software… And had a bit of fun with the description of the changes. Nice!

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