Last year at this time  I reviewed the then new Fujitsu S1100 scanner (read the full article here), which had become my weapon of choice for imaging on the road.

Nuance, the makers of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, recently released Dragon for E-mail. This application makes emailing on the road a lot easier; now you can simply open the e-mail client and start talking. It is up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard, and best of all, it’s FREE! Dragon for E-mail is available on the BlackBerry Tour, BlackBerry Storm (as well as the Storm2) on the Verizon network; as well as the BlackBerry Bold and Curve series on both the AT&T & T-Mobile networks. Nuance has also released Dragon Dictation for use on the iPhone and iPad. Dragon dictation allows you to use your voice to control the iPhone and the iPad several different ways. Copying and pasting, composing emails, and updating your status on Facebook are just a few of the things you can do with Dragon Dictation on your iPhone or iPad!

Philips has released a new version of their popular digital dictation management software, SpeechExecSR Pro. Version 6 of SpeechExecSR Pro now seamlessly connects to Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional Series Editions from Nuance. Users are now able to control the entire speech processing workflow within a single application. SpeechExecSR Pro allows for a wide variety of workflows and input devices, to suit each users’ needs and allow you to determine how and to what extent you wish to apply speech recognition within your daily work. User may select to integrate with Dragon now, or down the road and each audio file can be processed as you deem appropriate. The beauty of this for existing SpeechExec users is that no changes will be required to your existing workflow, ensuring an easy transition. The existing intuitive user interface is still in place and even improved, allowing for efficient management of audio files. Additionally, SpeechExecSR Pro allows for secretaries to edit recognized text without having a speech recognition application installed on their computer. The dictation profiles of the authors are adapted, even if the secretary edits the text, thus constantly improving the author’s speech recognition accuracy. If you are interested in learning more about what digital dictation and/or speech recognition software can do for you and the productivity of your office, contact us for more information!

Like a lot of people, I work frequently out of the office. Almost always, an internet connection is required, but many full speed laptops (including my own) are heavy and bulky and I don't need all that power for many tasks. About 6 months ago, I bought an ASUS EEE Netbook and love it! It only weighs 2.4 pounds but the keyboard is still a good size and while the screen is not large enough for some functions (such as working on a complicated Word document) - it is perfect for email, browsing the internet, simple documents and remote connections to other computers. It's also great for iTunes, watching TV on sites such as hulu, Facebook, twitter, etc and the battery life is excellent. Very few people could use a netbook as their primary computer because they are not powerful enough for many applications. But if you have a desktop already or a larger laptop, take a look at the netbooks. More recently, I received a new Dell Latitude E6500 laptop for work. It was purchased using Dell's "On the Go" deal which included an option to add a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook for $55. Yes, $55 - that's it. As of today, they are still running that special deal. The Mini 9 is great so far and my wife is also happy as she can now use the ASUS netbook. Because of the low cost, netbooks make sense for a lot of people. About the author: Brian Cluxton is the Vice President of Affinity Consulting - Columbus and manages the hardware installation and Managed Services departments. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Adriana Linares and Debbie Foster have just launched their new Podcast, called Legal 3.Oh! produced by the LegalTalk Network. It is available for download here, or you can subscribe to it in iTunes! Search Legal 3.Oh! in the iTunes store and subscribe for free! Here is the description of the podcast: In this first edition of Legal 3.Oh!, co-hosts and legal technology consultants, Adriana Linares and Debbie Foster offer their insights that can unravel some of the complexities of technology for lawyers. Hear three good reasons why practice management software might help. Adriana and Debbie welcome special guest Dan Berlin, President of Software Technology Inc. to talk about what you need to know about practice management software and how it can work in your law firm.

When you enter/pay an overhead expense in PCLaw, be sure NOT to allocate that expense to a "firm" related matter. Doing so makes PCLaw "think" that you are allocating the expense to a matter for billing and your financial reports will be wrong. Always ensure that matter related expenses are NOT allocated to a matter and, by the same token, never post an overhead expense to your client disbursment clearing account.