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.

Related posts:

1. How to choose where files save in OS X Lion with “Save As” gone
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

Related posts:

1. Adding different highlight colors for PDF in Adobe Acrobat
2. Low Quality Faxes – When Cheap Equals Stupid
3. Tech Story Roundup

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

Related posts:

1. Power of a good logo!

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?

Related posts:

1. How to create links to Apple iTunes, App Store and Mac App Store
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.

photo credit: Codexian

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1. Inside Washington’s Money Machine

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).

Related posts:

1. Mac Tips for Lawyers: How to quickly save to PDF
2. Adding new voices to OS X Lion

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

Related posts:

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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1. Going Geek Sells!

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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2. 3 Stages of iPad Infatuation -OR- How To Justify Buying An iPad To Your Business Manager
3. Better iPad Web Browsing

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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1. Permission to do Cool Things

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.

Related posts:

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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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With Christmas around the corner, we are all looking for presents for our techie friends and family. While I enjoyed playing with the Kindle Fire from Amazon, the best techie gift for this year is the $79 Amazon e-ink Kindle. This new entry into the Amazon Kindle family is a winner!

At $79, Amazon Kindle is cheap enough to purchase for anyone.

The Amazon Kindle is finally priced right to explore the world of E ink for those of us who have been holding back on this new world of reading.

While I always thought the Amazon Kindle was an interesting device, the original $300 price point was just too high. Slowly, the price came down. However, it was still too expensive to make the jump to a device I wasn’t sure I would regularly use. And I have read plenty of books on handheld electronic devices. I have read e-books since the Palm Pilot TX, and currently read on the iPhone. One of the best features of these devices is the backlit display. Being able to read in bed without turning on the light and disturbing your partner, is a great feature.

I have tried reading on the iPad, but it is just too big. The iPad is not comfortable or light enough for long reading sessions. There is no good way to hold it.  You can hold the $79 Amazon Kindle with just 2 fingers. Try to do that with the iPad. Frankly, the only time I read on the iPad is when reading books with illustrations to my kids.

The price dropped to $79 finally allowed me to jump on the bandwagon and see what all the fuss was about.

E-ink is excellent! I have heard people extol the values of E ink for several years:

• Less eye fatigue,
• Easier reading,
• And a near paper like experience.

Plus, you can read in direct sunlight. Frankly, I never expect to be sitting at the beach, or beside a pool reading the Kindle. However, the feature is there. I was concerned about the complaints about E ink from the 1st generation of Amazon Kindles. Specifically, the slow refresh between pages. I have heard people suggest pressing the “next page” button a few lines before the end of the page, just so that by the time you reach the end, the new page would begin loading.

Fortunately, the current generation of the ink screens is quite snappy. While there is still a screen flash (where the screen, reverses from white to black) while loading a new page, the process is very quick and does not disturb your reading.

Also the contrast is excellent!  You are no longer reading on a green and gray, or a grey and darker shade of gray screen. With a good light source, reading on the Kindle really is a pleasure. You feel like you are reading from paper. It is just that sharp!

The downside is that reading in anything less than full light is considerably more difficult. You can still read a book in low light more easily than you can read an Amazon Kindle. So, you will need a light source: either a lamp, a book light, or a window behind you for the best experience.

Thin, light and pocketable with terrific battery life.

It really is amazing to have something thinner than a small notepad display super crisp text. It is hard to believe that the Amazon Kindle is a real device and not just a prop from a science fiction movie. At 5.8 ounces (my measurement), the Amazon Kindle feels like nothing at all. Throw it into your bag and it hardly adds any weight.

And since E ink only uses power when changing the screen, you can ignore the Kindle for weeks and and when you come back, still have a charged device and get right back to reading.

While the $79 Amazon Kindle has half the battery life of the Kindle Touch (1 month versus 2 months) I find the difference unimportant in day-to-day life.

Why not pay the extra $20 to get the touch Kindle?

Certainly, the touch Kindle will make any tasks which require use of the keyboard easier. Including:

• Entering Wi-Fi passwords
• Entering notes
• Searching for books

Also, highlighting text is easier on the Touch. Entering text with the four-way direction button on the bottom of the Kindle is not optimal. Fortunately, after you have your Wi-Fi passwords input, you probably will not be doing very much data entry on any Kindle device (except for maybe the Kindle Fire). Even when you are searching for books in the Amazon bookstore on your Kindle device, Amazon begins to provide you with possible search results for every key that you enter. The result is that you rarely have to enter an entire book title to find the book you are looking for.

Also, a number of reviewers have complained about the Kindle touch for various reasons including accidental page turns and not recognizing touches. For me, I know I will be using the basic Kindle just for reading. I will not be doing very much text entry. In the 3 weeks that I have used the Kindle, I have not missed a physical keyboard.

How about highlighting on the $79 no-keyboard Kindle? While highlighting is easiest on a device like an iPhone or iPad running Kindle software, it is not much more difficult on the bare-bones $79 Kindle. You use the four-way controller to select the beginning word, press the center button to highlight, then use the four-way controller to select the ending word. This may sound like a number of steps. But, in practice, it is very simple.

Will I miss the sound jack on the Kindle? I don’t think so. The Kindle Touch has a headphone jack for playing back Audible audio books. Unless I am going on vacation and only taking one electronic device (which isn’t going to be my cell phone), I am just not going to be listening to audio books on my Kindle. I simply find that downloading, and controlling audio book playback is better on a smart phone. And if I am going away on a trip, I am much more likely to bring my cell phone–so I will have audio books with me anyway. The bigger question, is whether I will also remember to take the Kindle along with me. Here again, having the smallest, lightest device will play an important role in that decision.

Don’t the ads on the Kindle get in the way? Ads appear while the device is in sleep mode and in a bottom banner on the home screen. The sleep mode ads are actually pretty neat. I like seeing what’s on my Kindle screen when I pick it up. I know that sounds weird, and I usually hate ads. But, on the Kindle, this doesn’t bother me. Plus, I have gotten some good deals like free Audible books and $5 off coupons on Amazon purchases through this. As for the bottom banner ad on the home screen, it is unobtrusive. And like ads on websites, you soon stop seeing it. So, it is worth the price break to get the “ad supported” Kindle.

How about the lack of built-in 3G connectivity on the $79 Kindle? It has never been a problem for me to download a book at home or at the office. I never feel that I am missing out by not having a constant connection on my Kindle. Yes, there is the experimental browser which only works if there is an internet connection. However, 1) if I really want to look something up, I will use my smartphone; and 2) more and more places have wi-fi anyway (from coffee shops, to my kids’ roller rink). If I was a total road warrior, away from home 40 weeks out of 52, it might be more of an issue. However, even then wi-fi is just a Starbucks or McDonalds away.

How about the weight of the Kindles? The Kindle Touch with its built-in speaker, headphone jack, and larger battery, makes for a slightly larger and heavier device. It is not so much that the Kindle touch feels uncomfortable in your hand. However, if you are looking for the lightest, thinnest, most knock-about, throw-in-your-bag-and-forget-about-it-until-you-have-5-minutes-to-read device, go for the entry-level $79 Kindle!

What’s your recommendation for a under $100 gift for the techie in your life?

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I just came across this song on Hype Machine. My wife says it’s on the alternative station a lot. But, I don’t know anything about that because I’m over 40 and haven’t listened to commercial radio in years. So I have no idea which songs are on constant rotation and which are new. I hear music when I hear music and that’s it!

Anyhow, it’s good. So plug in your hearings aids and enjoy!

Colours (Xaphoon Jones MEGA EDIT) by Xaphoon Jones

cc photo credit: Sukanto Debnath

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Yup, I’ll get right on that!

You know… just putting this into the spam box is probably not enough. Eh, Google?

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A great song about bad relationships by Kate Nash. There a certain meanness and spite which I can relate to, and regret. I guess I like country music just fine (so long as it’s British).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryH5cga0yUI

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I have been Ikea’d.

I took my first trip to the Denver Ikea last week. It’s massive. Larger than you can imagine. Two floors of parking just for one shop. It doesn’t even feel like a store — arriving at Ikea feels like arriving at an airport. You traverse the multilevel parking garage and then trek to the entrance lined with loading and unloading areas. You expect to hear “the white zone is for loading and unloading only.”

From the bottom parking lot, you take two escalators to the entrance, where you take a third to the showroom. Right as you step off, you have the choice of viewing pristine housing set pieces or checking out the cafe. Since I was traveling with my kids, I decided to grab a bite.

I had crazy cheap lox (I’m still alive and it was quite good) while the kids had chicken fingers (free). On my second cup of coffee — did I mention how much I like coffee — I realized that I could easily convince myself I was on a generational ship (perhaps it’s a Buy More ship). That was the first sign I was starting to lose it. The airport appearance and the sense of departure you feel in the store is no fluke!

First there is the egalitarian re-use oriented cafe: there are no throw away plates, utensils or cups. You only use things that can be washed and re-used. You bus your own table.

There were young people, old people, hipsters, moguls, and bargain hunters. And everyone is cleaning their own mess. There is a sense of a closed system and everyone has to work to keep together to keep it running. I know this is part of the marketing. But, it works!

You have giant elevators. What giant ship doesn’t have these?

The small but comfortable living quarters:

The truly massive ship’s hold:

It’s quite an experience. I could have staying and enjoyed the lamps and the retro futuristic themes for hours!

There are places that really strive to wow you, or at least give you a different and somewhat disorienting experience: casinos in Vegas, the perpetual store in Downtown Disney, and it seems, Ikea.

It is as if Ikea perpetually runs on Apple’s reality distortion field. It’s a great place to visit. Just make sure you go with a someone with a good head on their shoulders who can lead you back out again.

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Nuance, the manufacturers of Naturally Speaking (PC) and Dragon Dictate (Mac) have come out with a new voice recognition program for Apple: Dragon Express. Dragon Express is available through the Apple App Store for an initial price of $50.

Just 50 bucks for a voice-recognition package? Where do I sign up!

That’s what I thought anyway. Then I looked at the reviews.

While there are some glowing reviews praising Dragon Express for its recognition, there are many more saying that the program crashes repeatedly and is completely unusable. According to Nuance, the problems are related to another program installed on users’ systems: Cam Twist. Nuance has a link to an updated version of CamTwist that is supposed to solve the problem and a walk-through on how to uninstall CamTwist (as a final option).

Fortunately, I did not have the CamTwist installed, so crossing my fingers, I went ahead and purchased Dragon Express… The download took some time as the program is over a gigabyte in size. However, the installation went smoothly. Starting the program, I again held my breath.

Hooray! The program started. I selected my microphone:

And went through the 3 to 5 minute training (about 3-5 minutes)

Afterward Dragon Express walked me through a quick overview of the features of the program.

Then it was time to get down to dictation! Unfortunately, using Dragon Express with the built-in microphone on my Mac was unsatisfactory. Many words were misrecognized. You might be happy if you have to dictate 140 characters or less using the internal microphone. Anything more than that, and you’ll probably be disappointed.

I switched to an external headset microphone and went through the training again. This time, the recognition was much better!

Your last application used appears in the lower left corner of the bottom bar. For example, I am dictating this post using Dragon Express and I will be pasting the content into MarsEdit. When I’m done dictating, I simply click the MarsEdit icon and the text gets pasted into that application. Neat!

I can also click the copy button (to paste the entire text into the copy buffer), search spotlight, run a search on Google, send the text in an e-mail, post it to Facebook, or even send a tweet on twitter.

So what do I think? I like it!

Of course, that does not mean there aren’t any issues.

Problems with Dragon Express:

No ability to train. Unlike Dragon Dictate, you cannot train Dragon Express to understand you better. If Dragon Express makes a mistake once, it is likely to keep making that mistake again.

Small dictation window. If you reach the end of the window, you can keep dictating, and the Dragon Express window scrolls. You can scroll up and down to see text you dictated earlier. However, you cannot resize the Dragon Express window to see more of your dictation.

Pasting into application errors? While dictating this post, I went on and on, dictating for several Dragon Express screens. When I went to paste the entry into Mars Edit, only part of my dictation was pasted. The rest was lost to the ether.

It seems that while you can dictate any amount that you would like (although I have not try to dictate more than a couple hundred words at a time into Dragon Express), there may be an issue with pasting into the destination application. The upshot of this is, just as you formerly used command-S, to regularly save your documents (for fear of losing everything) you may find yourself hitting the paste button in Dragon Express regularly.

Transposed letters. I suppose Dragon Express would not be a Mac voice recognition program if it did not transpose letters. I have previously written about this problem in Dragon Dictate. The new wrinkle in Dragon Express moves the first character of any dictation to the very end:

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Becomes…

he quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.T

It is not the end of the world. However, it adds a layer of correction that needs to be done when you are finished dictating.

Note: this does not happen all the time. However, once it starts, I have not found a way of stopping this error except by rebooting. Even exiting the program and restarting it did not help.

What commands are in Dragon Express? What’s out?

Understandably, Dragon express has a much more limited set of commands then Dragon Dictate or NaturallySpeaking.  However, it is perfectly usable.

Other Commands:

Tips for making Dragon Express work better for you:

1. If you have Cam Twist installed, either update it or uninstall it! Save yourself the trouble of dealing with crashes which might make Dragon express unusable. Get the update, or remove CamTwist from your system.
2. Get a good-quality mic. I am using “The Boom” microphone, my go-to microphone for voice recognition applications. I am using The Boom with a VXI USB sound adapter, and recognition quality is excellent. That is, Dragon Express still makes the occasional weird mistake. However, I’m quite happy with the performance overall.
3. Change the activation hotkey. By default, Dragon Express begins listening if you press ^ ‘ (caret and apostrophe) at the same time. Perhaps I’m just stupid, but I have no idea how you are supposed to simultaneously press a shifted character and an un-shifted character.  Fortunately, you can easily remap the hotkey.

Who is Dragon Express good for?

Casual dictators. And I do not mean if you just want to run the small republic while wearing khakis. If you simply wish to quickly jot off a quick e-mail, tweet, Facebook entry, Dragon Express may be just right for you!

Curious about Dragon Dictate. If you are not sure that you want to spend the money on Dragon Dictate (the big Brother program), Dragon Express is a good way to dip your toe into the voice recognition waters, without spending a lot of money.

If you like what you see with Dragon Express, Nuance has a special offer which lets you upgrade from Dragon Express to Dragon Dictate for only $99. So, for $150, you can have Dragon Express and Dragon Dictate (a $50 savings over the regular $200 price tag on Dragon Dictate alone).

However, as of this writing, Nuance is offering both the electronic, download, version of Dragon Dictate and a boxed version for only $99 each.

Dragon Dictate is too hard! If you previously tried Dragon Dictate and were confused by all the windows, Dragon Express is much simpler. You get the essentials of voice recognition in one window without all the froo!

Go and check out Nuance’s Dragon Express in the Apple App Store.  Currently available for $49.

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2. Dragon Dictate For Mac 2.0 Review
3. Voice Recognition Review: MacSpeech Dictate and RevoLabs xTag Wireless Microphone

Here’s a quick tip from Finis Price presented at MILOfest 2011:

In Preview, hit the tilde key (~) to open a magnification loupe and you can make the loupe larger or smaller by pinching and expanding on the trackpad OR using the plus and minus (+ and -) keys.

You may not be able to just tell your computer “ENHANCE!” However, you can quickly get a nice magnifier!

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Everyone does a Michael Caine impersonation. Well, why not go directly to the source. While I’m on a British kick, here is Michael Caine doing… a Michael Caine impersonation. It’s not new, but it’s still very funny!

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX0F3kY3uxU photo credit: Monsieur Gordon

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