Adobe SendNow offers a reliable tool for distributing large files

Back in November 2010, Adobe unveiled cloud services of note to legal professionals, including Adobe SendNow and Adobe CreatePDF.  See this prior post.  Since then, I have been putting SendNow in particular through its paces.  If I had shame, I would at this point confess shame at having experimented on decent defense counsel.  "Tell me about your impressions of the file delivery process provided by SendNow."  "Did you have any problems retrieving the files I sent?"  "Was anything unclear to you?"  I experimented on more than one, so know that you are not alone.

A quick recap is probably necessary.  SendNow is a service that delivers large files (in the case of my testing, VERY large files) to one or more recipients.  In my case, I sent files larger than 100MB through the service.  I wanted to see if I could make it choke.  They were retrieved without a hitch.  I sent them from different computers to different recipients.  They were retrieved without a hitch.  I received e-mail reports advising me when each file was retrieved.  And my interviews of unsuspecting counsel confirmed that the process appeared as simple on the recipient's end as it did on mine.  In all, an elegant and trouble-free cloud service that lawyers should appreciate.  Do you really want to burn another CD of pdfs for a document production when you receive a call that the last CD you sent had bad files on it?

The interface is clean and simple:

In the interface you can:  

  • upload multiple files in one step
  • designate one or more recipients
  • include a customized message in the delivery e-mail
  • specify whether a log-in is required
  • request delivery receipts, and,
  • set a lifespan for the files

Of additional value is the history function, which lets you examine the contents and retrieval status of prior transmissions.  If you convince others to use the service when sending to you, you can also monitor a list of files that you have received.

I give Adobe SendNow The Complex Litigator's badge of approval.  Or stamp.  I haven't made a good graphic for this yet, but you get the idea.

Coming soon:  A 10,000 mile review of Adobe Acrobat X (which happens to integrate quite seemlessly with Adobe's cloud services, like...SendNow and Acrobat.com).

Windows Phone 7 powered phones now available to U.S. consumers

I have next to me one of the first crop of Windows Phone 7 handsets available to United States consumers (clarification: Windows Phone 7 launched internationally before it launched in the U.S.  2nd clarification: you could have purchased a European Windows Phone 7 handset from a supplier of unlocked handsets and had a phone prior to November 8th.)  The handset is the Samsung Focus.

First, a few comments about the Windows Phone 7 OS.  It is premium operating system; that much is beyond dispute.  Microsoft deserves credit for that.  It makes iOS look a bit stale by comparison.  There are elegant choices around every corner as you move through the phone's menus.  In fact, there are too many for me to even attempt to describe them, so I won't do what others have done.  Here is a detailed review by Paul Thurrott, who was provided early access to the development phones while writing a book about the new smartphone OS.

Almost everything I have encountered is very polished.  The glaring failure in my view is that the browser on Widows Phone 7 doesn't render this blog quite right.  Some buggy rounding error or css margin/padding handling screws up the alignment of the banner.  Shameful.

Will this phone prove useful to legal professionals?  I think so.  There are a few features not yet in the phone, like cut & paste, but that should be remedied with a pair of updates expected in the next few months.  The application store is sparse compared to the iTunes App store, but the top tier developers are, almost without exception, preparing their applications for Windows Phone 7.  And the secret sauce that most phone users would never know is that the development tools for Windows Phone 7 are reported to be far better than what Apple currently offers.  When you add in the fact that WP7's development platform tools are similar to those available for desktop Windows programming, it is much more efficient to port existing applications onto WP7.  If Microsoft continues to support its developers, the applications should follow.

As for the Samsung Focus itself, I will say this for it.  It has an amazing screen in all its bright, 4" AMOLED goodness.  Compared to my prior, personal-use phone, the iPhone 3GS, it blows it away.  The current iPhone 4 screen, with its slightly higher pixel density, look extremely sharp, but it is small.  The screen was the deciding factor in my decision.

On the other hand, the other materials used in the Samsung handset are just shy of pathetic.  The phone is almost entirely plastic.  It is beautiful and thin lying on a desk, but when you inspect the details, it doesn't look like it was made with materials that are appropriate for a full-powered, modern smartphone.  I wanted to test drive this operating system on AT&T.  I had two choices for phones at launch, the Samsung Focus and the HTC Surround.  The HTC surround has a ridiculous sliding speaker mechanism that makes the phone pointlessly thick.  If HTC had made that phone without the speaker, I probably would have chosen it over the Focus.  At least HTC used brushed metal detailing around the screen.  How can these handset manufacturers watch Apple drive itself into the smartphone world, now in the 4th position after just 4 years, and not respond to Apple's design dominance with better handsets?  I know that there are enough good designers in the world to allow at least one to work at each handset manufacturer.  And Apple can't have a monopoly on things like aluminum - the Earth's crust is chock full of it.  Unless I used it all drinking Diet Coke.

I will almost certainly replace the Focus next year with a handset befitting the OS on it - something more like the LG Optimus or HTC Mozart that were released in Europe.   I'm sucking up that extra cost so that I can report on my experiences with the newest OS on the block.  Until then, I will concentrate on the great screen.

Adobe rolls out new cloud services of interest to legal professionals

Two new Acrobat.com cloud services of interest to legal professionals, Adobe SendNow and Adobe CreatePDF, are now live.

E-mail systems still suffer from the lowest common denominator syndrome.  Your ability to send files is restricted by the lowest cap on attachment sizes in the e-mail transmission chain.  Systems for drop delivery of large files have been the solution for several years.  Adobe is offering a large file transmission service, but Adobe is differentiating itself from the crowd with additional transmission and monitoring features.  SendNow allows users to: 

  • Send large files from one computer to one or many recipients.
  • View files that they've sent in the past, and see when and to whom they were sent.
  • Keep an eye out for files that have been sent to you.

As with SendNow, CreatePDF isn't the first of its kind online (in fact, it isn't the first such service from Adobe), but Adobe hopes to interest users in this latest cloud-based service with some fairly powerful features.  Adobe CreatePDF will (in addition to the standard conversion of Office documents, images and other supported files into an Adobe PDF from a web browser) enable users to: 

  • Combine documents into a single PDF file.
  • For users of Microsoft Windows, users will be able to install a special printer driver that will allow creation of a PDF file online from any application that can print.
  • Within Adobe Reader X, a new Share pane provides a connection to the online Adobe CreatePDF service, making it easy to create a document that others will be able to view consistently.

CreatePDF looks like good stuff for the small firm or solo practitioner, and SendNow looks useful for any size firm.  I will give SendNow a test drive so that I don't have to create private websites for large file exchanges or find some other kludge to get the job done (like abuse Acrobat.com's file sharing feature as though it were a file drop service).

Adobe announces Acrobat X and related service enhancements

Earlier today Adobe announced the soon-to-be-released Acrobat X family of products.  Having seen a demonstration of some pre-release features, I can say that Acrobat X looks like it will accomplish several important things from the standpoint of legal practitioners.  For example, the automation tools will increase the ease with which attorneys and support staff process documents.  PDF Portfolios receive several enhancements, including the ability to control the order of documents in the PDF Portfolio (if you haven't used this feature, it is essentially using the PDF as a wrapper around a number of different document types - the documents are packaged much like an electronic binder, complete with a cover page and designer color schemes).

Acrobat.com will add an explicit tool to do what I've been manually using it for since Acrobat.com first went live.  The SendNow tool will allow users to send large files that might not successfully move through e-mail systems.  The SendNow tool will provide delivery receipts, a helpful addition for document delivery.

Personally, I am also interested in the prospect of SharePoint integration.  Combined with improvements to SharePoint functions and improved SharePoint features available through Office 2010, SharePoint might make a very serviceable substitute for the pricey document management services that target the legal industry.

I will be sure to give Acrobat X a test drive when it is available and let you know how quickly you should look to update your stale version of Acrobat.  Here's a hint that doesn't even require a test drive - if you are using Acrobat 7 or below, you must rush to upgrade; if you are using Acrobat 8, you should give some serious thought to upgrading at your earliest convenience.  I'll let you know if you get enough out of the jump from Acrobat 9 to Acrobat X to justify the same recommendation that I give for versions 8 and below.

On October 11th much will be revealed about Windows Phone 7

At a New York launch event, Microsoft will officially announce the upcoming release of Windows Phone 7-based handsets.  According to Engadget, which has been invited to the event, T-Mobile and AT&T should both have some handsets to show off to members of the media.  Verizon and Sprint will have to wait until early 2011 for CDMA handsets.  As for AT&T and T-Mobile, handsets should go on sale around November 8th.

Surreptitious "flash cookies" track web activity, are hard to remove, and are now the subject of class action lawsuits

You likely have heard of "cookies," the small bits of code stored by websites in your browser.  Cookies allow sites to look up your preferences when you return, or present different content to new visitors.  Cookies can improve your internet experience, but they can also be used to track your movements across websites.  Generally speaking, this is often accomplished through "third-party cookies," which belong to an advertising site, and not the website you are visiting.  When you visit subsequent sites that have relationships with an ad network, that network can ask your browser if it is storing one of its cookies.  If it is, the network can assemble a profile of your internet activity.

Many people know that browser settings can be adjusted to reject third-party cookies.  Or, you can clear out all cookies stored in your browser.  Don't you feel safe now that you've cleared all those cookies?

Turns out that clearing cookies isn't enough anymore.  Adobe's flash technology allows sites providing flash video of any sort to store a code snippet on a user's computer when the user views that flash content.  These "Flash cookies" are larger in size than html cookies (100 kilobytes of information in the case of flash cookies, or 25 times what a browser html cookie can hold).  This added size allows for the storage of far more information about a user's internet activities.  Moreover, flash cookies can be used for one particularly despicable purpose - they can be used to restore deleted html cookies.  In other words, you think you actively protected your privacy by deleting all "cookies" (really, just the html cookies), and when a site that can read a flash cookie sees that you used to have a related html cookie on your browser, it can restore that deleted cookie.  Thus the recent trend to refer to these cookies as "zombie cookies," the cookies that cannot die.

This sneaky new form of visitor tracking has resulted in a number of class action lawsuit.  The New York Times reported on several such lawsuits in an article earlier today.  Wired reported on other suits in July of this year.  These days you need your own home IT support just to know whether you are being spied on by the websites you visit.

COMPLEX TECH: Windows Phone 7 news rundown

I'm exceedingly interested in the potential of Windows Phone 7 as a mobile platform for information access.  It has the potential to replace the iPhone as the standard for innovative platform design.  And it might ultimately do a better job of allowing clear access to many types of information that those in the legal industry currently access through other smartphone platforms.  If you aren't up to speed on this release that may be less than 2 months away, here is a sample of recent news: 

  • As reported on Engadget, Microsoft shows off a few major applications that will be available at launch or soon thereafter and releases the final set of developer tools.  If you aren't a tech junkie, this won't mean much to you, but, no matter what you may think of Microsoft, the fact is that Microsoft makes some of the best developer tools out there.  The ease of application development will open Windows Phone 7 to a large number of potential developers.  Winsupersite.com discusses the developer advantage.
  • Here is a thorough preview of Windows Phone 7 from Engadget.
  • And Winsupersite.com has a massive, multi-part examination of the phone by Paul Thurrott, who will be releasing a book about Windows Phone 7 at or right after launch.
  • HTC will be releasing Windows Phone 7 hardware.  This may be video of what to expect.
  • Samsung will also have Windows Phone 7 hardware available at launch.
  • Verizon will likely carry Windows Phone 7 hardware, but possibly not until 2011.
  • Some pre-release applications already look like they will provide a superior experience on Windows Phone 7, such as Seesmic.

I didn't upgrade to the antenna-on-the-outside iPhone 4.  I'm keeping the powder dry for a phone running Windows Phone 7.  Looks like the restraint will be rewarded. 

COMPLEX TECH: IE9 beta now available for public download from Microsoft

If living on the cutting edge is just your thing, then you might be interested in looking at Internet Explorer 9 beta.  IE9 beta is available for download now.  It is a beta product, so quirks are to be expected.  If you want to know what you are getting into before jumping into murky beta waters, read this review.

The newest version of IE is a great looking program.  I've seen a few layout quirks, but this blog looks right, so everything is mostly right in the world.  Of course, I did discover that the Create a Post pop-up doesn't work on SquareSpace under IE9 beta.  If the connection isn't obvious already, this blog is hosted on SquareSpace (thus I write this post in Chrome).

I did notice that, not surprisingly, Exchange web access works just like it should.  If I notice any other bugs on any law-related sites, I will post a follow-up.

Windows Phone 7 looks like it will be right in the thick of it at launch

History seems to be repeating itself.  I've been using an iPhone for several years now.  I have been very happy with it, but I decided to hold off on the iPhone 4 until it users put it through its paces.  Turns out to have been a good choice.  I don't need a phone that drops calls because you hold it in the wrong place, and I'm not enamored of a company that won't just admit to the issue and say that they are examining some potential solutions that don't require the phone to be in a case.

Enter Windows Phone 7.  Microsoft's long overdue return to the smartphone space looks like it will make an incredible splash.  Can Microsoft muscle into the market that iPhone owned and Google is now crashing into like a freight train?  I don't know, but I like what I have seen enough from Microsoft to begin taking steps that would make a move from an iPhone to a Windows Phone 7 to be relatively painless.  I expect that most of the applications I use on a regular basis will appear, in some form, on Windows Phone 7 in the first six months it is out.

The operating system looks amazing.  No doubt about it.  It is clean and modern.  What I don't know yet is whether the hardware will live up to the operating system.  You can't deny that Apple makes great-looking hardware.  The iPhone feel and build quality is first rate.  If I find a Windows Phone 7 handset on AT&T that looks as good and feels as solid, then I am sold.  HTC could do it.  We'll have to wait and see on the others.

I am sick of iTunes.  It is now the least responsive major program on my otherwise unstoppable i7-toting computer with its 8gb of ram and the 64-bit Windows 7 OS to use it all.  I would be filled with joy to find an entirely new ecosystem to live in as far as media and mobile applications are concerned.  Windows Media player and Zune software could fit that requirement nicely.  Now all I need is a good Windows Phone 7 handset...

If I make the jump to Windows Phone 7, I will regularly post about applications that would help the mobile litigator on the go.

The government can sneak on your property and track your car with GPS, no warrant required; illegal options exist to jam trackers

In United States v. Pineda-Moreno, 591 F.3d 1212 (9th Cir. 2010), a panel of the Ninth Circuit concluded that no Fourth Amendment issues were implicated when police snuck onto Pineda-Moreno’s property at night and attached a GPS tracking device to the underside of his car. The device continuously recorded the car’s location, allowing police to monitor all of Pineda-Moreno’s movements without the need for visual surveillance and without a warrant. The panel held that none of that implicated the Fourth Amendment, even though the government conceded that the car was in the curtilage of Pineda-Moreno’s home at the time the police attached the tracking device.

A petition for rehearing en banc was filed.  The petition did not receive the majority vote necessary for rehearing and was denied.  Chief Judge Kozinski had some choice words for the Court:

Having previously decimated the protections the Fourth Amendment accords to the home itself, United States v. Lemus, 596 F.3d 512 (9th Cir. 2010) (Kozinski, C.J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc); United States v. Black, 482 F.3d 1044 (9th Cir. 2007) (Kozinski, J., dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc), our court now proceeds to dismantle the zone of privacy we enjoy in the home’s curtilage and in public. The needs of law enforcement, to which my colleagues seem inclined to refuse nothing, are quickly making personal privacy a distant memory. 1984 may have come a bit later than predicted, but it’s here at last.

Slip op., at 11504.  On fire, the Chief Judge continued:

The panel authorizes police to do not only what invited strangers could, but also uninvited children—in this case crawl under the car to retrieve a ball and tinker with the undercarriage. But there’s no limit to what neighborhood kids will do, given half a chance: They’ll jump the fence, crawl under the porch, pick fruit from the trees, set fire to the cat and micturate on the azaleas. To say that the police may do on your property what urchins might do spells the end of Fourth Amendment protections for most people’s curtilage.

Slip op., at 11508.  In a particularly introspective moment, the Chief Judge argues that the bench is lacking in persons familiar with the life experiences of the poor:

There’s been much talk about diversity on the bench, but there’s one kind of diversity that doesn’t exist: No truly poor people are appointed as federal judges, or as state judges for that matter. Judges, regardless of race, ethnicity or sex, are selected from the class of people who don’t live in trailers or urban ghettos. The everyday problems of people who live in poverty are not close to our hearts and minds because that’s not how we and our friends live. Yet poor people are entitled to privacy, even if they can’t afford all the gadgets of the wealthy for ensuring it. Whatever else one may say about Pineda-Moreno, it’s perfectly clear that he did not expect—and certainly did not consent—to have strangers prowl his property in the middle of the night and attach electronic tracking devices to the underside of his car. No one does.

Slip op., at 11508-9.  Ouch.

Speaking of ways to protect your privacy from a government run amok, Gizmodo points out that certain cheap (but illegal) GPS jammers are available in an article prompted by this decision.  Please don't engage in any unlawful conduct to protect your constitutional rights.  That would be wrong.