Consider It Fixed

Google Web Search Tools

More than any other web search site, people flock to www.google.com by the millions daily.  However, most google users don’t know about the host of search tools that google provides to its users.  Following is a rather exhaustive list of many of the things that you can do on google.

Weather

To see the weather for many U.S. and worldwide cities, type "weather" followed by the city and state, U.S. zip code, or city and country.

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Stock Quotes

To see current market data for a given company or fund, type the ticker symbol into the search box. On the results page, you can click the link to see more data from Google Finance.

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Time

To see the time in many cities around the world, type in "time" and the name of the city.

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Sports Scores

To see scores and schedules for sports teams type the team name or league name into the search box. This is enabled for many leagues including the National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball.

All sports data provided by STATS, Inc.

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Reference Tools

Calculator

To use Google's built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you'd like done into the search box.

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Book Search

If you’re looking for results from Google Book Search, you can enter the name of the author or book title into the search box and we’ll return any book content we have as part of your normal web results. You can click through on the record to view more detailed info about that author or title.

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Earthquakes

To see information about recent earthquakes in a specific area type "earthquake" followed by the city and state or U.S. zip code. For recent earthquake activity around the world simply type "earthquake" in the search box.

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Unit Conversion

You can use Google to convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, and volume among many others. Just enter your desired conversion into the search box and we’ll do the rest.

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Public Data

To see trends for population and unemployment rates of U.S. states and counties, type "population" or "unemployment rate" followed by a state or county. You can click through to a page that lets you compare different locations.

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People Profiles

If you're looking for someone you just met or a long-lost friend, enter the name of that person plus some identifying words about him or her to see a list of people with that name.

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Choosing Keywords

Synonym Search

If you want to search not only for your search term but also for its synonyms, place the tilde sign (~) immediately in front of your search term.

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Dictionary Definitions

To see a definition for a word or phrase, simply type the word "define" then a space, then the word(s) you want defined. To see a list of different definitions from various online sources, you can type "define:" followed by a word or phrase. Note that the results will define the entire phrase.

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Spell Checker

Google’s spell checking software automatically checks whether your query uses the most common spelling of a given word. If it thinks you’re likely to generate better results with an alternative spelling, it will ask “Did you mean: (more common spelling)?”. Click the suggested spelling to launch a Google search for that term.

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Local

Search

If you’re looking for a store, restaurant, or other local business you can search for the category of business and the location and we’ll return results right on the page, along with a map, reviews, and contact information.

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Movie Showtimes

To find reviews and showtimes for movies playing near you, type "movies" or the name of a current film into the Google search box. If you've already saved your location on a previous search, the top search result will display showtimes for nearby theaters for the movie you've chosen.

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Health Search

Health Conditions

To see information about a common disease or symptom, enter it into the search box and we'll return the beginning of an expert summary. You can click through to read the entire article in Google Health.

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Poison Control

You can quickly find the U.S. poison control hotline (1-800-222-1222) by entering "poison control" or similar phrases into the search box.

"Mr. Yuk" icon courtesy of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

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Flu Shot Search

During flu season, search for "flu" to find tips on how to stay healthy from U.S. Health and Human Services and a flu shot locator which uses Google Maps to show you nearby locations offering seasonal and/or H1N1 flu vaccine.

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Trip Planning

Airline Travel Info

To see flight status for arriving and departing U.S. flights, type in the name of the airline and the flight number into the search box. You can also see delays at a specific airport by typing in the name of the city or three-letter airport code followed by the word "airport".

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Currency Conversion

To use our built-in currency converter, simply enter the conversion you’d like done into the Google search box and we’ll provide your answer directly on the results page.

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Maps

Looking for a map? Type in the name or U.S. zip code of a location and the word "map" and we’ll return a map of that location. Clicking on the map will take you to a larger version on Google Maps.

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Query Refinements

Plus (+) Operator

Google ignores common words and characters such as where, the, how, and other digits and letters that slow down your search without improving the results. If a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can make sure we pay attention to it by putting a "+" sign in front of it.

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Related Search

To search for web pages that have similar content to a given site, type "related:" followed by the website address into the Google search box.

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Fill in the Blank

Sometimes the best way to ask a question is to get Google to ‘fill in the blank’ by adding an asterisk (*) at the part of the sentence or question that you want finished into the Google search box.

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Search by Number

Package Tracking

You can track packages by typing the tracking number for your UPS, Fedex or USPS package directly into the search box. We’ll return results that include quick links to easily track the status of your shipment.

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Patent Numbers

To search for U.S. patents, enter the word "patent" followed by the patent number into the Google search box and hit the Enter key or click the Google Search button.

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Area Code

To see the geographical location for any U.S. telephone area code, just type the three-digit area code into the Google search box and hit the Enter key or click the Google Search button.

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Rethinking the Role of the Desktop PC in a Law Firm

As a technology company supporting law firms, I dread some of the phone calls that I receive early in the morning.  You see, it’s often a lawyer with a problematic PC.  Like most lawyers, they have become extremely dependent on the PCs.  Some would say more than their legal assistants.  Usually, they are hoping that I can drop everything and get them back to work as the thought of a day without a working PC is just too unfathomable.

Most firms, put either a desktop PC, or more recently, a laptop PC on each attorney’s desk.  Typically, they purchase business class computers.  I often see laptops with docking stations, large monitors, full-sized keyboards and mice.  These are great configurations, but they come typically with a high price.  When these machines malfunction, the lawyer is ‘dead in the water’, unable to work until the machine is fixed.

The typical repair strategy is to troubleshoot, and if necessary, repair with some parts that are quickly available or utilize a backup PC.  For example, if the hard drive is defective, the repair time can be several hours.  If the machine is under warranty with a service agreement, parts can be available within 24 hours.  But, in real life the actual downtime is often longer.  A simple hard drive replacement can take a long times since the entire desktop needs to be reinstalled and configured.  So, until recently, there has never been an ideal approach to provide zero downtime to the lawyer with technical trouble.

Recent changes in the PC and software industry have made me rethink my strategy to help avoid this from happening.  The price of computers has drop precipitously over the last year.  Very capable desktop computers are now available for $500 to $800.  Additionally, the price of laptop computers has fallen dramatically where they are available in a similar price range providing that you don't need a laptop that is docking station capable.  It’s important to note that these lower cost systems are not anemic systems, but very capable and powerful machines.  As well, the advent of netbook computers has added a very capable low end to the options as well.

Another important factor in this strategy is using software that allows for easy, reliable, and automatic synchronization across multiple PCs.  My personal favorites include:

• Microsoft Exchange Server for messaging, calendar, and contacts 
• Dropbox for file synchronization
• Xmarks for browser favorite/bookmark synchronization
• LastPass for login information synchronization

If you do a cost analysis, it isn’t hard to make the argument that 2 PCs – a desktop PC and a laptop PC – in every attorney’s office makes a great deal of sense.  By doing this, they have 2 working computers with identical information.  They literally can pickup either PC and be productive.  If one PC has a problem, they simply move to the other PC, and off to work they go.  An added benefit, is that they have a light weight laptop to take with them when they leave the office. I like this approach so much, that it’s become my standard approach to enabling my users to as productive as possible.

Cost Analysis

If you are interested in learning more about how this new approach can benefit your firm, please contact Consider It Fixed.

Contact Info: info@consideritfixed.com
 ................. 860-985-7300

LassPass, Microsoft Exchange Server, DropBox, Xmark, Xmarks, Netbook, Docking Station

Cloud Computing: A Law firm in the Clouds

The law firm, Seiger Gfeller Laurie LLP of West Hartford, Connecticut had a huge challenge.  They decided to depart from their parent firm that provided their information technology infrastructure, and they needed to get on their own systems as quickly as possible.  The current systems were “state of the art” IT solutions for the legal world.  No expense had been spared in selecting server, communications, and office hardware; and the software choices were modern and considered among the best.

 

In my interviews with the partners, I found that while they had these great systems in place, they often referenced their limitations, not their capabilities.  Slow was often used in describing email, and remote access was often described as painful.  Quite a shame since these attorneys spend a good deal of time on the road traveling both domestically and internationally.

Background

Seiger Gfeller Laurie LLP (SGL) is a law firm founded on the principle of doing things differently and better.  In contrast to the traditional law firm model, focused on billable house and staffing matters based on a hierarchical pyramid, SGL’s focus is on obtaining results for its clients in the most efficient ways possible.  Today, SGL is comprised of 8 experienced and tenacious litigators from some of the largest international law firms in the world. 

Its existing IT solutions consisted of Microsoft Exchange Server, Hummingbird DM, Time Matters, Equitracs, and Blackberry phones.  Their branch office was connected to the main office via a T1 and the applications were hosted either in the main office or on a local server.  For example, the Exchange Server was hosted at the main office.  Remote access was provided by connecting to the local server and then routing over the internal network from the office in West Hartford, Connecticut, to the main office several states away.  Other applications resided in the local office.  So, the users always had to connect via the local office.  As well, since they were accessing their network via a virtual private network (VPN), they couldn’t easily access Exchange via Outlook Web Access nor run Outlook on more than one machine outside the office.  Every application had to pass through the VPN.

SGL needed to deploy their new IT solutions rapidly, manage costs, and have excellent remote access.  A traditional approach would work, but also reproduce the limitations that they had with their current IT infrastructure.  It was time for a different approach and an opportunity to get out of the business of leasing and managing servers, communications hardware, and several complex software licenses and upgrade programs.

I talked to the partners about the multiple benefits of using the Internet and Internet-based solutions for their business.  These type of modern solutions are called Software as Services or SaaS.  The category as a whole is often referred to as cloud computing where the cloud is the Internet.  Cloud computing, according to the Wikipedia, is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet.  Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the "cloud" that supports them.  My job was to identify, test, select, and implement applications that would solve SGL’s IT requirements.

In the world of technology, major advancements occur that enable newer, and often times, better approaches to solving the same problem.  Things that we now take for granted, were once recognized as major advances.  In the 1980s, most business computers were large and complex.  They were called mainframe and mini computers.  Users accessed business applications via character-based terminals.  These computers cost thousands of dollars, and were very complex to operate and support.  In the 1990’s, these computers were replaced by lower cost PC-based servers and clients running graphical operating systems.  This drove down the cost of business computing and made it much more accessible.  But is still had a fair amount of complexity in that the systems required specialized software running on the client as well as the server.  Today, while this model of computing is still in broad use, the client/server model is being replaced by a newer model which doesn’t require specialize software on the client, and the server is maintained by a 3rd party on a fee per use basis.  The client accesses the business application through an Internet browser.  This simplifies the configuration significantly as the business no longer needs to maintain complex servers and the client configuration is dramatically simpler.  In truth, the clients still needs to run applications like Microsoft Office and utilities like virus protection software.  But these are off the shelf applications.  As a testament to the validity of this approach to computing, millions of people are already using Internet hosted applications in the form of Gmail, Amazon, Google, E*TRADE, and the list goes on and on.

Application Selection

Calendar and Messaging.  The first application that we selected for SGL was Microsoft Exchange Server.  But rather than purchasing hardware and software licenses, we selected a vendor that provides what is called hosted Microsoft Exchange Server.  To setup the service, we pointed SGL’s MX record to the right DNS, setup accounts, and configured Outlook on each workstation.  Even better, our hosting vendor offers full support for Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and iPhone synchronization as well as modern SPAM and virus protection.  Deployment was rapid and without fault.  Each employee had access to Outlook on all of their PCs, Outlook Web Access, and an iPhones with full support for mail, calendar, and contacts.

Cost: $12.95 per user a month including unlimited mailbox size, SPAM and virus protection, and smartphone synchronization.

Document Management.  Good document management is a key ingredient in any successful law practice.  SGL had been using Hummingbird DM.  It provided excellent document storage and retrieval, with integration into Microsoft Office and Outlook.  They had it setup on their local server and replicated over their internal network to headquarters.  As a client/server application, Hummingbird had to be installed and setup on all PCs that access the system.  It was a good solution, yet it required constant supervision and maintenance.  Considering that this application is the ‘bread and butter’ of the firm, a move into the clouds had to meet with extremely stringent criteria.  It had to be secure, reliable, and offer very similar capabilities to what the firm was used to – easy access, robust search, and Office and Outlook integration.  SGL choose a solution that they immediately were able to use.  The vendor provided free migration support which went flawlessly - users, client numbers, matter numbers were setup, their document library imported, and they were up and running.  To use the product, all you need to do is open a web browser and login. Additional, the product has the ability to create restricted access so that others outside the organization can access documents in the library if needed.  So, now they have the ability to dynamically virtualize their organization with external resources.  SGL now has all of this combined with the peace of mind knowing that their most important data is maintained and backed up in a secure, world-class data center.

Cost: $30 per user per month.

Time and Billing.  The next application we selected for SGL was time and billing.  In the past, SGL had used a powerful system that required a server and individual user licenses.  The cost of purchase combining hardware and software licenses was very high.  As well, remote access into the system required a VPN connection.  This can be extremely complicated when 3rd party book keeping and accounting staff need access into the system.  SGL looked at a number of solutions and quickly settled on a product that met their requirements.  It is available from a web browser so they and their designees, can easily access the system from any place, and their data is safely stored in a state of the art data center. 

Cost: $19.95 per user a month.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

1. Ease of deployment.  Cloud computing is the next evolution in modern computing.  Deployment is simplified in that you don’t need a local server, software licenses, and server support and maintenance.  Furthermore, applications are accessed through a browser and data is securely maintained and backed up in a state of the art data center.  So, client-side configuration is simplified.
2. Pay as you go.  Fees are typically paid monthly calculated by the number of users.  There is no capital expense nor depreciation of expensive server and communications hardware.  You are out of the business of software maintenance programs, and installing upgrades and patches.
3. Automatic backup.  Your data resides in state of the art data centers where is it secure and backed up.  Often times, these data centers are in multiple locations and regularly audited by security experts.
4. Technical Support.  Technical support is provided as part of the business application.  There is no special fee for support.  Support is part of the product and typically available 7/24/36.
5. No software updates.  All application improvements are managed by the application hosting company and added in when available.  You are no longer in the businesses of patches, hot fixed, and updates.
6. Rapid deployment.  New application deployment is rapid and can often happen as soon as an account is setup with the application vendor.  Users typically have access to an administrative portal where they can add, manage, and delete users.  Deployment for new users is typically a simple add user function.
7. High availability.  Users can access their business applications from anywhere using nearly any computer.  When a computer fails, the user can simply move to another computer and get busy without installing and configuring new software.

A Testimonial

The senior partner at SGL recently traveled to the UK.  He took a brand new netbook, an ASUS 1008HA.  To setup the new PC, I installed virus protection, Microsoft Office, Skype, configured Outlook, and setup Office integration software for the document management system.  That’s it, nothing else, nothing more.  The senior partner was able to connect to the Internet from his hotel in London and access all of his critical applications and data just as if he were in the Office.  He’s never been able to do this before.  Now, he can simply work anywhere as productively as if he were in the office.

If you are interested in learning more about how cloud computing can integrate and benefit your business, please contact Consider It Fixed.

Contact Info: info@consideritfixed.com
                   860-985-7300

Clouding Computer, Legal, Law, Software as Services Saas, NetDocuments, TimeSolv, AppRiver Mailstreet,  Legal software, Law Firm software, Law software, document management, time and billing, host Microsoft Exchange Server, Mark Seiger, Charles Gfeller, Robert Laurie, Seiger Gfeller Laurie LLP