Al Nye The Lawyer Guy

PC World: The 100 Best Products of 2008

PC World has picked the best technology products of 2008.  Here’s the top 10:

Hulu Review

Apple iPhone Review | Check prices

Facebook Site

Microsoft Windows XP Review | Check prices

Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Review | Check prices

Flock Review | Download

Eye-Fi Review | Check prices

Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 Video review

Harmonix Rock Band Video review | Check prices

Wikipedia Site

Read the article for full reviews and discussions about them.  The Washington Post has an article about it here.

Still Looking To Buy A Computer?

Walter Mossberg gives the new Dell XPS One high marks — perhaps it’s right for you?

Any Vista Installers Out There?

Anyone brave (or foolhardy?) enough to install Microsoft’s new Vista software yet? 

If so, what version did you install and how’d it go?

Easy Blogging That's Free

Walter Mossberg tested three free blogging services and reports his findings in the Wall Street Journal today.  He tested Google’s Blogger.com, Microsoft’s MSN Spaces and Yahoo’s Yahoo 360 service (which is still in test phase).

His conclusion:  MSN Spaces was the best and easiest to to use.

CaseMap 5 Review

CaseMap 5

www.casemap.com

Free 30-day trial

$495 cost includes 90 days of technical support

It's not hard to see why CaseMap is the leading litigation software for lawyers – the product is just fabulous. No matter what type of law you practice, whether your cases are complex or simple, this program is for you. I've tried it out for the last couple of months and recommend it highly.

What is it exactly, you ask? Technically, I suppose, it's a litigation database that lists information about your case. But that description is woefully inadequate. In a nutshell, what CaseMap does is put a friendly face on the facts and issues of your case by allowing you to link them – together with the source of your facts, issues, people, documents, and the law that pertains to your case. This makes CaseMap more than just a database – it's an invaluable case analysis tool. Not only do you benefit by being able to find out anything you want about your case in seconds, CaseMap allows you to thoroughly understand every aspect of your case.

So how does it work? You begin using 3 separate spreadsheets dealing with: (1) facts, (2) objects, and (3) issues. The fact spreadsheet organizes the chronology of facts that are important to your case. Here you list when the accident occurred, the divorce was filed, the items were stolen or the home was purchased – whatever facts are important to your case. Under the objects spreadsheet, you list the people or organizations involved in your case, as well as all the documents generated during the case.

Anagram

Anagram

https://getanagram.com

Free 45-day trial

$19.95

A second copy for another computer is $6.95

 

anagram

an·a·gram (an'?-gram')

n.

1. A word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word or phrase, such as satin to stain.
2. A great software program that grabs text from nearly anywhere and inserts it into your Outlook or Palm.

All right, I confess. I added #2 to the above dictionary definition. But after you use this intelligent program for just a short time, you'll be ready to add it to the dictionary too. So what does this program do for you? Just what you'd hope for in an inexpensive, easy-to-use utility: it saves you time and makes your life easier. 

BlogJet 1.5

BlogJet 1.5

www.blogjet.com

Free Download for 30 days

$39.95 with 30–day money back guarantee

 

I’m writing this review with BlogJet.  It's blog editing software that allows you to compose and upload your blog directly from your Windows desktop without opening your browser.  I’ve been using the original version of BlogJet for awhile and am happy to say that this updated version has added lots of improvements.

ActiveWords

ActiveWords

ActiveWords Systems, Inc.

www.activewords.com
Free 60-day Trial

ActiveWords SE Version License price: $19.95 USD per computer.
ActiveWords PLUS Version License price: $49.95 USD per customer (3 installs).
ActiveWords Enterprise Annual License price: $29.95 USD per year per computer.

This difficult-to-describe program puts you in command of your computer through the use of words.  That's right, words.  ActiveWords makes your computer respond by typing in simple commands – instead of taking your hands off the keyboard over and over to use your mouse.  Want to open up Google to do a web search, just type google, click the function key (the default is "F8"), and your computer opens your browser and goes to the google homepage.  All without touching your mouse.