LTN for Products

AccessData: "Show Me the Money"

AccessData, an e-discovery, cybersecurity, and digital forensics provider, has raised $45 million, for its first funding in the 26-year history of the company. First in 26 years?

Show me the money: The investment includes a $20 million equity trade from Sorenson Capital and $25 million in structured debt from Silicon Valley Bank. According to officials, the funding is designed to "reduce outside ownership and add Sorenson as a strategic, long-term partner."

Take the money & run: Prior to AccessData's fund raiser, Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services (CLS), a legal content, process, and business peformance management provider, divested itself of the 25 percent interest in AccessData Group, taking the opportunity to focus on legal services.

ZL Technologies Unified Archive Gets Optical Character Recognition

San Jose, Calif.-based ZL Technologies Inc., a provider of archiving, records management, compliance and e-Discovery software for large enterprises, on Thursday expanded its data capture offerings for ZL's Unified Archive with optical character recognition technology.

Accusoft Released HTML5 Viewer

Tampa, Fla.-based Accusoft a provider of document, content and imaging solutions, announced on November 1 the release of Prizm Content Connect v6, an HTML5-based content viewer with annotation, redaction controls, and thumbnail displays.

The new HTML5 Viewer relies on web-browser functionality and does not require any plug-ins, according to the company. The Prizm Content Connect viewer eliminates the need to open third-party applications to view and redact documents. It also limits security risks from the use of third-party browser plug-ins and provides IT administrations the flexibility to choose the web browser for their users' needs.

The viewer release also improves the Prizm Content Connect Flash viewer, Proxy Server, and the SharePoint viewer, as well as EMC Documentum. The viewer works alongside Webtop, Centerstage or Taskspace to provide unified document viewing for any file type in the Documentum platform.

Viewer improvements aim to give users better response time when paging through large files as they are loading. Additionally, enhancements have been made for the support of many popular formats, such as CAD drawings and PDF documents.

Press release.

Thomson Reuters and BlumbergExcelsior Get Their Forms Together

Thomson Reuters and BlumbergExcelsior signed on October 25 a strategic licensing agreement that adds more than 230 Blumberg New York forms to Westlaw Form Builder. I was obviously too busy planning my Halloween costume (W. Rabbit) to be bothered at the time. I will be catching up with this and other news now that I've had my fill of candy and Sandy has run its course over New York.

The list of New York forms now available in Form Builder cover several practice areas including litigation, real estate, landlord-tenant and powers of attorney.

The Blumberg forms will be added to Westlaw Form Builder's New York libraries and will be available to existing New York Form Builder customers at no additional charge. Blumberg customers will benefit from the agreement because it allows them access select Westlaw forms that will be licensed for use on Blumberg's legal forms online.

Westlaw Form Builder customers will have the ability to:

• auto-fill Blumberg forms;
• purchase Blumberg forms on a subscription basis instead of a transaction basis; and
• navigate more easily from Blumberg forms to Westlaw's form repository.

Thomson Reuters' Case Evaluator Goes Mobile

Thomson Reuters, a provider of information for businesses and legal professionals, is launching the mobile application of WestlawNext's reporting tool, Case Evaluator. The new mobile format will allow users to research information about similar cases from any internet-enabled location, be it in court, in a meeting, or commuting across town or country.

Case Evaluator is designed to allow users to evaluate potential cases, steer the direction of negotiation and settlement, and analyze verdicts in various jurisdictions.

Although the new mobile version doesn't contain the full features of the desktop version of Case Evaluator, the mobile code has been designed to offer features that appeal to road warriors. Users can view case awards data and analyze of award amounts by selectable criteria. You can also email PDF versions of Case Evaluator reports.

The mobile Case Evaluator supports Applie iOS and Android smartphones.

Press release.

Keeping Lawyers Vizible

Vizibility Inc. provides attorneys and law firms with a mobile identity management platform. The company's Mobile Business Card product can be shared without an app via QR code and a mobile wallet card with NFC (Near Field Communication).

Vizibility launched their Online Identity Manager (OIM), an online identity management and tracking tool in June. The tool has a dashboard that allows marketing and business development teams to monitor  the online identity status for legal professionals. Recently, they have been adding some name-brand law firms to their clientele.

Law firms such as Loeb & Loeb, McCarter & English, and Lowenstein Sandler are now using mobile business cards for their attorneys and managing their people's online identity with OIM. Most recently, Edwards Wildman Palmer (Am Law 100) and Goldberg Segalla now have their attorneys "Vizible" using Vizibility's identity management tools.

I tried out a free Mobile Business Card for my identity. It was a snap to set up. Without Vizibility, a Google search targeting "Sean Doherty" hits me in three percent of the first three pages of results. With Vizibility managing the search, viz.me/sdoherty, it's all about me. If you click on that link with a smartphone, you will see my Mobile Business Card; if from a PC, you will see Google results filtered by Vizibility.

If I were in the context of a law firm, that firm can synchronize their corporate directory to tie into Vizibility and marketing and business developers can see through the OIM how clients and potential clients are engaging me.

Now, welcome me back. This blog, as well as @LTNSeanDoherty, has been almost dormant since returning from a leave of absence in 2011.

 

HP Fight With Oracle More About Tech Than Contract

After Oracle announced that it would stop developing new versions of its software on Itanium microprocessors, Hewlett-Packard Corp. sued Big Red for breach of contract in Santa Clara County Superior Court (Hewlett-Packard v. Oracle, 111 CV 203163). The crux of the matter was whether version 12c of the Oracle database due out in early 2013 would be available on HP's Integrity servers built on Intel's Itanium architecture (IA64).

Judge James P. Kleinber recently ruled that Oracle has a contract to continue porting its software to Itanium computers for as long as HP sells Itanium computers. Focus on "sells" and keep an eye on Intel's development for IA64. I'm guessing that Intel does not have a contract with HP like Oracle has a contract with HP.

In a company statement issued on September 4, Oracle said that it "will continue building the latest versions of its database and other software covered by the judge's ruling to HP Itanium computers." The company plans to port Oracle software to HP's Itanium computers on approximately the same schedule as Oracle software on IBM's Power systems. I'm guessing IBM has a contract with Oracle for Power Systems' support like HP has a contract with Oracle for Itanium support.

My interest in IA64 waned when Microsoft wavered on porting Windows to Itanium systems, which appeared to me to be superior to x64 systems. IA64's lack of support for 32-bit applications was key. Although WOW (Windows on Windows) did a very good job, performance was a problem and an app may as well have been on a 32-bit system rather than IA64.

Although Judge Kleinber's contract decision stands, his first take on the matter for HP and Oracle to look at "divorce" may have been a better take on IA64 technology, which is not poised for growth and more of a candidate to frustrate a contract than support one.

Libraries are investment banks, not cost centers

Gregory Castanias, Jones Day partner in charge of library global services, read Dewey & LeBoeuf's bankruptcy filing and found among the top unsecured creditors that accompanied the firm's first-day bankruptcy filing was tangible proof of the central importance of library services to the existence of law firms, and just how substantial firms' economic relationships with their vendors of legal research products are.

Is it time for a free e-book on law school applications?

There is a time for everything, along with a location. It may, however, be a good time to put the law school experience on the back burner. Unless of course there is a school that is willing to pay you to attend for three years, which is quite possible given the dismal outlook for law school education. Indeed, university cash cows are now grazing in technology and biotechnology.

But if you're looking forward to law school regardless of the economic climate, someone has to write those patent applications, right? Stay focused on things, e.g., the LSAT, that will take you where you want to go.

Some products and services may appear useful for law school wannabes, but others may either suffer from being released too eary or too late. Case in point: A free e-book launched to help law students write effective law school applications. Your time as a law school applicant may be better spent on studying for the LSAT. Because a good LSAT score will overcome any shortcoming in your application.

And if your score is really good, you can defer your acceptance until all the baby-boomers start playing golf full-time. But be sure to check a firm's retirement compensation for partners. You may be paying their green fees for a long time. Fore!

LegalTech West Coast Went on Without Me

LegalTech West Coast went on without me this year. But I was able to see what was new here and there while I was in New York covering our Law Technology News desk. A better way to say that is, "while I was in New York, covered by the LTN news desk." Because there is certainly a lot to see from our New York operation, which seems to go on all day long, and well into the night.

Probably the best news to come out of the show was delivered by LTN's Associate Editor, Michael Roach, who was at the show this year and reported that a panel was "challenging predictive coding [technology] to better defend it" in the discovery process. Bully for them.

Sherpa Software Unveils 'Report Attender'

Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Sherpa Software, an e-discovery and information management software and services provider, announced the release of a new data analysis tool for litigation support, called Report Attender. The new tool is designed to search and report on an organization's data assets to give decision-makers the ability to make critical decisions when litigation is imminent.

Report Attender analyzes the content of data stores and assesses the "age, size and substance of email messages and other files," according to the company. The new software is installed on-site and automatically scans data stores, gathering key statistics and categorizing files and messages from network shares and email stores. The program can expand compressed files, identify duplicates, and gather attachment statistics. Once scans are complete, the software issues summary reports, charts, tables, and graphs that visually represent an organization's data map. Summary reports can be drilled into for more detailed information on sources and data.

Report Attender sports a user-friendly interface with an application wizard to create custom scans that can access secure file shares. Sherpa Software claims that Report Attender can scan any Windows accessible file share, as well as collect statistics on messages and attachments stored in Outlook .pst files, Exchange mailboxes, and online archives.

Report Attender is less than $1000 per installation for unlimited processing.

For more information see www.sherpasoftware.com.

Google on P3P Privacy: Impractical to Provide Modern Web Functionality

Quote from Google Senior VP of Communications and Policy Rachel Whetstone in a statement e-mailed to Ars Technica: "It is well known -- including by Microsoft -- that it is impractical to comply with Microsoft’s [Internet Explorer privacy policy] request while providing modern web functionality."

Translation: Google can't provide value-ad (read: income-generating advertisement) services and maintain your privacy in web surfing.

Clio Announces Beta for Document Automation

Clio, the online practice management software provider, announced beta software features for document automation. In effect, you can create a template with merge codes, or Clio tags, and use information on a matter, e.g., client, case number, to automatically fill the tags in your document with data. See Catherine Hillier's post on "How to Create a Document Template" in Clio.

For online practice management systems, this is an extension of the document automation that has already been at work creating custom invoices for billing. Now it has been extended to put more of your data to work to create documents, as well as custom invoices.

Legal Hold Pro Adds Collection Tracking Feature

Legal Hold Pro added a collection tracking feature designed to enhance preservation, aka legal hold, work flows.

After a notification is sent to a custodian, there are a number of other steps an entity should take to make sure evidence is preserved, e.g., suspend auto-deletion in an email archive or records management system.

With the new feature, Legal Hold Pro allows managers to take additional steps to preserve evidence and record the action and its results. The new feature incorporates project management functionality to define numerous, detailed tasks, assign resources, and report on task progress. So hold managers can monitor the progress custodians make on legal hold notices, as well as track and report on any number of detailed tasks incident to a legal hold., with assigned resources such as IT personnel or records managers being able to report progress on each task. Hold managers can monitor holds and tasks in real-time and maintain a complete history of all action taken on a hold.

For more information, see the Legal Hold Pro Blog.

Recommind Axcelerate eDiscovery 4.3

With all the news at LegalTech New York, it is easy to miss something. Actually, it's pretty easy to miss a lot of things. For example, Recommind, a provider of predictive information management software and primarily responsible for creating a stir over "predictive coding," released Axcelerate eDiscovery version 4.3.

Axcelerate eDiscovery consists of two licensed products: Axcelerate ECA & Collection and Axcelerate Review and Analsis.

New features in Axcelerate aim to make the collection process shorter, simpler, and faster and make the review process more efficient via simplified workflows. The new features include:

• one-step collection with enhanced indexing and storage of loose files;
• new monitoring system to manage multiple systems;
• enhanced search query editor; and
• enhanced predictive sampling functionality to support smaller document sets.

According to Recommind CEO Bob Tennant, organizations are struggling with the complexity of e-discovery cases and the "unweildy combinations of point tools they're using to navigate the e-discovery process."

Although the use of multiple point tools may increase the risk of a mistakes and possible data loss in data handing and transfer between programs, the use of point tools allows you to apply best-of-breed applications to discreet e-discovery tasks.

But applying point tools to EDD tasks may lead to the consumerization of IT where, according to Sophie Ross, senior managing director at FTI Consulting, procurement commands the purchase of the point tools and, rather than choosing best-of-breed applications, it chooses the programs with the best price.

Press release.

Who'da Thought? An iPhone App That Saves Lives

An iPhone app, PulsePoint, marshals a community resource in its CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)-trained citizens to respond to victims of sudden cardiac arrest. Who would have thought of that? Chief Richard Price of the San Ramon Valley, Calif., Fire Dept., that's who.

The civic-minded Fire Chief's location-aware app is free and may only come at a cost if it is not deployed. And that cost may be lives lost due to cardiac arrest.

If the cardiac emergency is in a public place, the location-aware app will alert CPR-trained citizens in the vicinity of the need for assistance and simultaneous dispatch advanced medical services for the emergency. The application also directs these Good Samaritans to the exact location of the closest publicly accessible Automated External Defibrillator.

The app is gratis, provided and maintained by the PulsePoint Foundation. The supporting services are also free to public safety agencies who deploy the app in their community. Since the app interfaces the local public safety communications center, there may be charges from the vendor of your computer-aided dispatch system to make the connection. But the foundation is working with the CAD vendors to mitigate these fees with reuse efficiencies and grant opportunities.

What Was the 'Coolest' Thing at LegalTech New York?

Shortly after LegalTech New York, a colleague asked me about the "coolest" thing I saw at the show. Still suffering a bit from "product" shock, I could not recount anything that knocked my socks off after covering some of the new products at 2012 International CES and covering MacWorld iWorld in San Francisco, especially j5create's Worm Hole. But then again, legal technology is not designed to get my feet bare, but help accomplish litigation strategy, client needs, and manage matters and the business of law. And like previous shows, LegalTech 2012 had plenty to see from e-discovery and computer forensics to practice management and office tools. ... [MORE]

MacWorld iWorld at the Moscone Center in S.F.

I stopped in at MacWorld iWorld last Saturday at the Moscone Center before traveling to LegalTech New York. Since I was not hunting for luggage to tote some iOS device or looking for an innovative way to recharge Apple hardware, the pickings were slim. Although I was impressed with Joos Orange, a solar-powered device to recharge your mobile devices.

With up to 12 hours of exposure to the sun, the Joos product can transfer up to 8 hours of charge over USB. The charger can also retain its ingested solar power in a replaceable lithium-ion polymer battery (20Wh/5400mAh). And here's the kicker: it's waterproof so you can take it ice fishing.

What I was hunting for on Saturday was apps to create and edit Microsoft Word and PDF documents on the iPad. I have heard that lawyers like the iPad, and tablets in general, to view content but not create it. For someone like me who grew up using mini- and mainframe computers from CRT terminals with a green glow, I found it hard to believe.

I have tested an iPad with its high-resolution display and touch-screen with controls to tap, touch, drag, and gesture. Tablet navigation reduced the number of key strokes I needed to use in editing and eliminated the use of a mouse. So why not create documents on a tablet? Toward that end, I found a few options at MacWorld to edit Microsoft Office and PDF documents on tablets.

I first ran into Byte² and got a demonstration of its Office² HD for the iPad. The Office² product is a document editing suite that lets you view, edit, and create Word compatible documents, Excel-compatible spread sheets, and PowerPoint-compatible presentations.

Office² supports Word 2007-2010 (.doc and .docx) with the following features:

• character formatting for bold, italic and underline and font size, face, color and highlighting;
• paragraph formatting with indent and justification controls;
• bullets and numbering;
• support for tables and floating images and shapes;
• full-text search;
• copy and paste;
• undo and redo; and
• auto-correction and auto-capitalization.

Byte²'s office product can also save documents in PDF format and revert to previous versions of saved files on the iPad. If you need more, you can move up to computer platform and use Office on the Mac or PC.

Quickoffice was also on hand to demonstrate Quickoffice Pro HD, an editing suite for Microsoft Office documents that includes a PDF viewer. The Quickoffice folks have a lot of experience in editing documents on mobile devices. They grew up with the Palm products and have a SmartTouch technology that makes navigating and managing files very easy with some advanced tap, touch, and drag controls and an any-direction scroll that lets you drag over pages of documents for selection. A Quickoffice toolbox lets you format text, numbers, colors and justify paragraphs.

Neither Byte² nor Quickoffice support Track Changes, but both admitted that the feature is on their roadmap.

If you are looking for a PDF document viewer and editor, Smile On My Mac has PDFpen for the iPad. From the demonstration, you simply select text you want to edit, tap "Correct Text," and the highlighted text is replaced with a text box to edit or replace the text. The PDFpen can sign documents, although its not a digital signature. The product can OCR PDF images for editing and redact content.

If you need to print out a document for editing, check out Ecamm's Printopia, which is print server software that can advertise print services for a printer connected to your Mac (read: any printer with supported print-driver software) to any AirPrint-enabled device. With Printopia, you can print from your iPad to the printer connected to your Mac.

I also found some cool hardware. j5create was showing off its Wormhole Switch. Although that sounds like something you would see in Star Trek, the nifty little device consists of two USB drives interconnected via cable. The drives contain proprietary software that allow you to plug-and-share files as well as keyboard and mouse controls between two computers without installing any software.

The Wormhole Switch can transfer files between Windows and Macs; and Windows and iPads or Android-powered tablets. It will also work between two Windows machines if you don't want to share folders. j5create's nifty little tool not only shares files, but you can also drag your mouse to the connected computer and control its desktop with the keyboard and mouse controls in front of you. In effect, your PC can control your Mac, and your Mac the PC.

Seagate demonstated its new Go Flex Satellite Mobile drive. The new external drive has a built-in wireless access point to support up to three users, a 500 GB hard drive, and an on-board battery battery for up to 5 hours of power without an adapter.

And from the why-not-put-Wi-Fi-in-everything department, Hyperdrive was showcasing its forthcoming CloudFTP device, which is a small USB server with Wi-Fi support. The CloudFTP can connect an external storage device via USB and make it available over a Wi-Fi network. Since the CloudFTP device is a USB server, it will soon support other peripheral devices with USB ports from printers to scanners.

See you at LegalTech.

Rocket Matter Adds Document Automation to Online Practice Management Software

Rocket Matter released version 2 of its practice managment software.

After reviewing Business Integrity software and working with Korbitec's Ghostfil software, I believe successful document automation and assembly modules in online practice management applications that use Microsoft Word templates will be successful if developers can expose as much relevant client and matter content in default codes to merge with Office templates, insert the templates on pages that can, from the context, immediately populate the templates without additonal processing (e.g., matter or client pages), allow for the creation of unlimited merge codes for rich template creation, and integrate time and billing information with the creation of the document.

Based on my criteria, document automation in Rocket Matter version 2 is impressively sophisticated, in it's simplicity.

Crashing MacWorld iWorld

I stopped in to pick up my media badge at MacWorld iWorld (Mascone Center) this morning and viewed some of the new-to-market products that were advertised on the first-looks wall, a lineup of posters on display near the registration area. There I saw a number of products I will investigate further during the show:

• Byte Squared (booth 818) makes Office² (booth 818), which is the all-in-one office document editing suite on iOS devices.
• Blue Microphones (booth 413), which manufacture microphones for iOS devices.
• Studio Six Digital (booth 818), which makes an audio test and measurement app that includes an iAudioInterface2 for iOS.
• Parallels (booth MacIT G2), which makes virtualization software for Mac OS X is now up to version 7 Enterprise edition.
• MicW Audio (booth 322), which manufactures professional microphones for iOS devices.

The exhibit hall is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Unpacking News at 2012 International CES

There is good reason to attend, follow, or take a lead in the 2012 International CES. Advancements in consumer electronics and gaming can impact technology in business and law. Take Ars Technica rumble at CES and imagine how you might object to paper-thin devices in computers that may produce a haptic effect in a courtroom video presentation.

Although Microsoft claims it will reduce its presence at CES in the future, that may be more in body than spirit as the software giant hopes that Windows 8 and Phone operating systems will command consumer electronic devices.

Ricoh Rings In the New Year With New Imaging Systems

Ricoh has come out with new multifunction imaging systems that copy, scan, print and fax. In the old days we used to call these systems multifunction printers or MPs.

The Ricoh Aficio MP 2352, 2852, and 3352 all have walk-up features to scan and print from a USB drive or SD card in many file formats, including PDF, JPEG and TIFF. But if you can't walk up to the device, Ricoh's optional HotSpot printing application supports mobile printing from internet-enabled devices.

The new MPs print speed ranges from 23 to 33 pages per minute and are Ricoh's first A3 monochrome prints with automatic duplex printing and internal finishing features such as collating and stapling paper up to 11 x 17 inches. The units all come with a 50-page automatic document feeder that sits atop the printer. Beyond print, the units scan output in black and white and color at 50 and 45 images per minute (respectively) at 200 dots per inch. Maximum scan resulution is 600 dpi.

Ricoh includes its Personal Paperless Document Manager software that converts scanned paper documents into searchable electronic files with every printer. The MPs also come with standard security features that encrypt and overwrite data on the included 120 GB hard drives as well as functions to support document management systems such as scan-to-email and scan-to-cloud services. The printers also come with a Java VM card to develop customized applications.

The new printers start at $4,780 (MSRP).

Richo also released an A4 line of MFPs for busy workgroups from 10-30 persons: The Ricoh Aficio SP 5200S SP 5210SF and SP 5210SR.

The new SP 5200S series printers, like the A3 printers, all scan in black and white and color, but the A4 printers support print speeds from 47 to 52 pages per minute. They come with a large 8.5-inch, full-color tilting LCD touch-control panel. The A4 printers support LDAP and scan output directly to email, a folder, or network share.

The new SP 5200S printers start at $3,299.

Epson's New MegaPlex Home Theatre Projectors Can Go to Court Too

New Epson MegaPlex projectors make a public spectacle of an app, pictures, presentation, movie, etc., on an Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod. Although David Pogue reviews the new projectors favorably in The New York Times as home theater projectors, they would also make good projectors for courtroom presentations.

The new home theater projectors, Epson MegaPlex MG-50 ($699) and MG-850HD ($799), project high-resolutions of 540p (960 x 540 pixels per inch) and 720p (1280 x 800 ppi) in 2,200 and 2,800 lumens, respectively. In effect, your presentations will be in high definition for the court and the jury in dark or light courtrooms.

Dock your Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod in the back of the projectors to display content. You can also use a microphone to amplify your voice using the projectors' built-in 10-watt speakers. Although you may not need the amplification for the courtroom, these projectors will also make great projectors for CLE presentations. The projectors also support USB, HDMI, and VGA input.

The new MegaPlex line of projectors are portable, weighing approximately 8 pounds in a form factor of 13.39 x 11.46 x 4.53 inch (W x D x H), all backed by a two-year limited warranty.

Download Epson Megaplex Fact Sheet

Epson Projects 3 New Projectors into the Market

Epson recently introduced three new VS-series projectors for small businesses that offer high brightness at low costs. All three models deliver 2,600 lumens of color and white light output -– the VS210 (approximately $399) offers SVGA resolution, the VS310 (approximately $499) delivers XGA resolution, and the VS315W (approximately $599) provides WXGA (1280 x 800) resolution for users looking to leverage widescreen notebooks and high-definition content. In addition, weighing in at 5.1 pounds, All three models weigh in at 5.1 pounds, so they are lightweight and easy to carry to court or the board room.

The VS210, VS310, and VS315W offer easy-to-use connectivity and control features, including USB Plug-n-Play for instantly projecting video and audio from a PC or Mac computer via a USB connection, as well as automatic vertical keystone correction for easy image alignment.

The new VS models also have Direct Power-On and Power-Off features for wall switch power control and Instant On/Off, which immediately powers the projector on and off with no cool down time. All Epson projectors come equipped with the latest 3LCD, 3-chip technology to deliver a reliable light engine, which uses available lamp light to create vibrant images, according to the company.

The Epson VS210, VS310 and VS315W will be available in Sept. 2011 through national resellers, mail order and distribution. All models come with a standard one-year limited warranty that includes two elite technical support services.

For more information, visit www.epson.com/projectors.

Press release.

Hard Drive Shredder and a Real BlackBerry Killer

One of the most important devices in my law office is an industrial-size shredder for paper and plastic such as credit cards and compact discs. Now I've got my eye on a relatively new shredder, Security Engineered Machinery's Model 0300 Jackhammer, which shreds hard drives and other electrical devices like cell phones, BlackBerry phones, PDAs, etc.

The Jackhammer is designed for the office environment. It's frame sits 37 inches high, 45 inches wide, and 21 inches deep atop locking swivel casters. The shredder has hooked, sawtooth blades that claim to shred 125 to 500 drives per hour. Your mileage will vary depending on the type and size of the hard drives. But, according to SEM, all drives are reduced to "1.5-inch shreds," which appear to me more like shards. But either way, it appears a drive will not survive a run through the Jackhammer's gauntlet.

The input or feed door can accept drives up to one inch thick. And when open, the door does not allow access to the cutting blades. Other safety features include a key start and an immediate halt in operation if the waste-removal door or cutting-head access lid are open. The shredder is easy to operate with 4 settings: start, reverse, stop, and reset.

SEM says that the Jackhammer can automatically sense jams and clear them. And it has a "Bin Full" indicator that notifies you when the waste collection bin is full.

The Jackhammer is designed for organizations that need secure destruction of physical media. It satisfies the National Security Agency requirements for physical destruction of drives after they have been degaussed.

Canon's New Scanner Is Fit for a Desktop or Network

Canon USA, a manufacturer of digital imaging products, introduced their latest document scanner, the imageFormula DR-C125. The new scanner is designed to easily fit onto your desk or other busy work area and allow you to quickly digitize and share documents.

The DR-C125 makes it easy to scan documents. It stands upright, with a face-up, top-loading document feeder that also ejects originals on top, all of which makes for a small operational footprint.

The new scanner has a Full Auto mode where a single click adjusts multiple feature settings to deliver an optimal scanned image. This feature is perfect for inexperienced office help or lawyers with little time to learn the nuances of document scanning.

The DR-C125 performs two-sided scans in one pass and aims to deliver color, black-and-white and grayscale scan speeds of up to 25 pages-per-minute and 50 images per minute. The document feeder can handle a wide variety of document types, including long documents up to 118 inches in length, e.g., medical records such as electrocardiograms. The scanner also supports optional paper paths for scanning bulky items such as thick documents, plastic ID cards, embossed cards and drivers licenses.

The scanner comes with image processing features such as Background Smoothing to improve legibility, Auto Resolution to automatically adjust the output resolution, Auto Color Detection, and Shadow Cropping. To help streamline workflow, the DR-C125 is bundled with the new Canon CaptureOnTouch software.

CaptureOnTouch software allows you to configure repetitive scan jobs and facilitate collaboration by routing scanned images to network locations in Microsoft SharePoint sites and internet locations, e.g., Evernote. CaptureOnTouch can automatically convert scanned images into PDF/A and Microsoft Powerpoint format. The Canon DR-C125 scanner is also bundled with Windows and Mac ISIS/TWAIN drivers, which are industry-standard interfaces used to link applications with scanners.

The new imageFORMULA DR-C125 document scanner is available now through all authorized Canon resellers with an MSRP of $495.

Press release.

Corel Simplifies PDF Tools

The Portable Document Format has long been associated with Adobe, the company that created it. But the PDF standard is open, which means there is nothing to stop any software company from adopting it and creating any variety of new and interesting PDF tools, such as what Corel has done with PDF Fusion, says freelance writer Jason Krause. ... [MORE]

Best Authority to Open in Nashville

Levit & James, manufacturer of Best Authority, a Microsoft Office tool for producing tables of authorities, has announced that it will demonstrate its new version 3 at the International Legal Technology Association annual conference in Nashville, Tenn., from August 22-25. The new version boasts dramatic improvements in performance and usability. ... [MORE]

Epson Has Two New USB Plug'n Play Projectors

For those lawyers who are too busy to tangle with a projector in court or other setting, Epson has some good news. The new VS410 and VS350W multimedia projectors are affordable, project high-resolution images, and are easy to use.

Both the VS410 and VS350W support USB 2.0, plug-and-play connections to Apple Mac and PC computers. There is no figuring out where S-Video or A-V cables interconnect devices. Although the bandwidth of USB 2.0 is not sufficient for high-definition video programming, the new VS-Series projectors will easily handle any presentation with less than full-motion video.

The new projectors offer lawyers and small business owners 3LCD technology to display vibrant images. The built-in lamps for the projectors include Instant On/Off technology to save power and flexible positioning that will allow you to set the projectors up away from the epicenter of your own presentation. In effect, you won't have to walk around the projector and you will still be able to use the units to project sound. Both projectors have 5W speakers, weigh 7.25 pounds, and have an expected lamp life of 4,000 hours.

The VS410 and VS350W have energy efficient E-TORL lamps designed to prolong lamp life, an A/V Mute Slide to pause presentations quickly and horizontal and vertical keystone controls, which allows you to adjust the projector and lamp if it is askew from its foil.

VS410 ($899): XGA resolution (4:3 aspect ratio); 4,000 Lumens.

VS350W ($949): WXGA resolution (16:10 aspect ratio, wide screen); 3,500 Lumens.

Recommind Decisiv Email Goes Mobile With 3.6

Recommind, a manufacturer of enterprise search and automatic categorization software, announced the release of Decisiv Email version 3.6, which now supports mobile devices and smartphones powered by Apple iOS, Google Android, and RIM BlackBerry. The new version also extends its integration with Microsoft Outlook and Exchange 2010.

I visited Recommind's new headquarters in San Francisco's financial district this month and got an early look at the new version of Decisiv Email from Derek Schueren, co-founder of the company and general manager of Recommind's Information Access & Governance business. Schueren admitted that the swank new quarters on California Street were quite a distance from Recommind's humble beginnings in a leaky warehouse in Berkeley. Indeed. Although I was distracted with a clear view of the Bay Bridge, Schueren set me straight on the design of Decisiv Email. It is not an enterprise e-mail program. ... [MORE]

Is It the Hardware, Stupid?

For the last decade, we have seen a trend in which some manufacturers get out of the hardware business and focus on their core business: software and services. For example, IBM began edging itself out of the commodity hardware business when Big Blue sold its PC factories to Sanmina-SCI, its hard drive unit to Hitachi, and its PC group to Lenovo. And storage providers like EMC, which used to solely rely on hardware, are today revitalizing their businesses with software and services.

For many software makers, putting together commodity hardware and bundling it with code is not cost-effective for the bottom line or a value for customers. Customers could often obtain the same or better off-the-shelf hardware components at lower cost or recycle old equipment to satisfy a manufacturer's minimum or recommended hardware requirements to run software. But all trends, like the rule of law, have exceptions. ... [MORE]

'Is Open Source Exploitative?'

The techdirt post "Is Open Source Exploitative?" is worth sharing. Although extreme, it shows that the law can both effect and affect technology, which includes open source.

Harken Up for the Next Killer App

When you have a meeting with partners, associates, even clients over the telephone, you take notes to capture the most important points. Then after the meeting you hang up the phone and the conversation goes away, with only your notes and memory remaining. This can be a faulty, untrusted system in your professional services to the law firm or to a client. But what if the conversation remained and you could hark back to only the most important parts of it?

Autonomy's Jack Halprin Expected to defect to Google

Jack Halprin, who recently resigned from his post as Autonomy's vice president, e-discovery and compliance, is expected to land at Google to manage its electronically stored information, for both legal and information governance purposes, in its Apps/Postini wing, according to the 9TO5Google blog.

"His background includes 'managing social media for legal and governance purposes, defensible processes for managing discovery, proportionality, and the reduction of e-discovery costs' -- which will certainly help Google prepare companies who moving infrastructure into Google’s Cloud offerings," reports Seth Weintraub on the blog, quoting from Halprin's LinkedIn biography.

Halprin previously worked in e-discovery positions at both Guidance Software and LexisNexis Applied Discovery. He earned his law degree at the University of California Los Angeles, and is a member of three state bars and the Patent Bar. He has been active with The Sedona Conference, and the Electronic Discovery Reference Model groups. 

Law Technology News' editorial advisory board members said the expected move will help Google and the legal technology community. "I think it confirms the Autonomy reputation as a leader in the merging of legal e-discovery  with non-legal content management -- and shows the Google commitment to the same market," observed Tom O'Connor, director of the New Orleans-based Gulf Coast Legal Technology Center. "Google went after someone who has shown he understands how to do what they want to accomplish."

"Jack's pretty tall, so it bodes well for pick-up hoops at the Googleplex," joked Austin-based attorney and forensics expert Craig Ball, author of LTN's "Ball in Your Court" electronic data discovery column. "Jack brings extensive large-scale EDD and project design experience to Google, which they need internally and to better serve their growing base of corporate cloud services (i.e., Apps) customers," said Ball. "For the community, it means another good presenter from Google, which is where all your data's going eventually, so we need to care deeply how they manage ESI."

Said Robert Owen, partner at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan: "Google is obviously a major player in all facets of the ESI world, and this move is yet another indication that ESI governance and management occupies an ever-increasing place of importance in businesses or all sizes."

"Great news," said consultant George Rudoy, CEO of New York-based Integrated Legal Technology. "For years, many of us talked about the relative lack of maturity of our industry and speculated that the e-discovery business will be far more sophisticated and reliable if the real technology giants will take note and interest. Certainly Google is one of them –- this development adds instant 'upgrade' to the credibility of the field."

Google's legal department won the 2011 Best Legal Department of the Year award from our colleagues at Corporate Counsel magazine.

Halprin, reached via e-mail, said he could not comment at this time.  

Monica Bay is editor-in-chief of Law Technology News, and a member of the California Bar. E-mail: mbay@alm.com.

 

Epson Unveils New Artisan All-in-One Printers

Last week I recently attended an Epson America event in San Francisco at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel that showcased new products. I almost didn't make it, because I walked by SF Chefs 2011 in progess at the Union Square. But I pressed on to see what was up and coming with Epson products. And I'm glad I did. ... [MORE]

Microsoft Disbands Legal Sales Team

Microsoft this week disbanded its team of legal-industry specialists who focused on selling Office applications to large law firms. The team became unnecessary due to market saturation. Microsoft will keep its Dynamics CRM legal team, but still isn't explaining its recent e-discovery acquisition of Prodiance, Evan Koblentz reports. ... [MORE]

Security and Privacy Standards in Cloud Services

New computer and network services provided by web-based applications, cloud computing, and mobile computing platforms can reduce computing costs and provide lawyers with the resources to accomplish their clients' missions without straying far from their core competencies. To fully embrace these new technologies, service providers need to maintain information security and ensure lawyers that when they transmit and store information in the cloud, it is not for all the world to see. ... [MORE]

Synaptec and World Software Broaden Product Integration

Glen Rock, N.J.-based World Software Corporation (Worldox) and Denver-based Synaptec Software (LawBase) have announced two expansions to their existing product alliance. The first change offers closer integration with a virtual desktop, and the second means real-time changes to client and matter tables. So what drew the two companies closer together? ... [MORE]

Canon Puts Big Law Firm Features in Small Law Office Printers

Canon announced 7 new imageCLASS multifunction printers aimed at the small to medium-sized law office or law firm work group. Four monochrome laser printers and three color laser printers. Most of the new printers are multifunction printers that support Wi-Fi connectivity, which is a first for the imageCLASS line of products.

Big Law firm features found in the new MF8380Cdw, MF5960dn, MF5950dw (pictured left), MF4570dw, and LBP7660Cdn printers include duplex printing to reduce paper and a redesigned remote user interface that can be accessed from networked computers, as well as console buttons on some models that allow users to perform functions like Secure Print, Easy Scanning, and Paper Save Copying (duplex copies and placing multiple copies on one sheet or n-in-1 copies) in one touch. ... [MORE]

SonicWall Has New Firewall Firmware for Small Biz Remote Access

SonicWall, a provider of network security and data protection solutions, recently announced the availability of new firmware (SSL VPN 5.5) for their Secure Remote Access Series of products. The new release enhances SonicWALL's SSL VPN technology with the introduction of spike licensing.

Spike licensing allows network administrators to quickly and automatically increase the concurrent user capacity of their remote access solution during disaster or other conditions that require an immediate increase in the number of users connected to a VPN device. Spike licensing allows an increased number of licensed remote users to connect back to the corporate network in the event of an unexpected increase in demand; such as during an emergency, snowstorm, flooding or pandemic outbreaks.

Offered as a 10-day license, Spike licensing can be enabled to quickly increase the number of concurrent users, allowing SMBs to limit the committed upfront investment required for user licenses. You can enable the license for 10 days or less. If you use less than the 10-day license, you can disable it and use the balance of days at a later time.

Additional features in the 5.5 firmware include the ability to scan web traffic for credit card and Social Security number information, which provides increased protection to help prevent the leakage of sensitive information, cookie tampering protection, PCI compliance report generation, and application profiling to help achieve Payment Card Industry compliance. Application profiling allows the WAF to intelligently learn about the Layer-7 traffic, and over time, detect and differentiate normal from irregular traffic. With attacks of web-based vulnerabilities on the rise, SonicWALL WAF aims to provide advanced web security proactively minimizing breaches such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting, or XSS.

The SonicWALL SRA Series offers clientless tunnel access for a variety of fixed and mobile operating systems, including Windows, MacOS, Linux, Windows Mobile, Apple iOS, and Google Android. Using SonicWALL Secure Remote Access, SMBs benefit from a granular unified remote access policy, ActiveSync support for mobile devices, two-factor authentication including one-time-passwords, load balancing and high availability – all in an easy to manage and deployable interface. The latest firmware release enables the use of Virtual Assist to remotely support an end-customer system running Windows, MacOS, or Linux.

The new SMB SSL VPN 5.5 firmware is now available for the SonicWALL SRA 1200, SRA 4200,and SRA Virtual Appliance SSL VPNs for small to medium-sized businesses. For more information, see www.sonicwall.com.

Lit Software Launches iPad App Trialpad Version 2.0

Unfortunately, this item was languishing as a draft on the blog. Better late than never.

The iPad App Trialpad, manufactured by Lit Software and designed to manage legal files and present electronic evidence, has been revised with version 2.0 and is now available for purchase ($89.99 perpetual license; the new version is free for existing Trialpad users) in the iTunes App Store.

Consultant Ted Brooks reviewed the first iteration of Trialpad for Law Technology News in January. Version 2.0 updates include:

• Support for more file types including Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), Excel (.xls, .xlxs) and PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx); multipage TIF and text files; as well as PDF, .jpg, .gif, .png image files.

• Video support with basic video editing functions, which include clip creation and the ability to take snapshots of video frames

• Enhanced presentation options and annotation tools with multiple callouts per page, split screen mode to show two exhibits side by side, whiteboard for drawing, and multi-colored laser tool.

• Improved document management permitting separate tabs for documents and videos and a separate hot docs section for key documents

• Import from Dropbox with file and folder structure intact.

• Print current page or the entire document, with or without annotations.

In addition, to Dropbox, files can also be imported via e-mail, iTunes, iAnnotate, GoodReader and ReaddleDocs.

For more information see www.trialpad.com.

Done Deal: General Dynamics Acquired Fortress Technologies

General Dynamics completed its purchase of Fortress Technologies, a provider of secure wireless networking equipment for the U.S. military and other government customers.

Fortress Technologies produces mesh networking products with secure wireless network capabilities for military field operations. The company is based in Westford, Mass., and has approximately 70 employees. It will now be managed by General Dynamics C4 Systems, which is based in Scottsdale, Ariz.

General Dynamics C4 Systems manufactures and distributes trusted and secure communications systems, command and control systems, and operational hardware to the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community, as well as federal civilian agencies and international customers.

For more information about Fortress Technologies see www.fortresstech.com.

For more information about General Dynamics C4 Systems, see www.gdc4s.com.

Lenovo Loads Up 'LoJack for Laptops'

Absolute Software, a provider of firmware-based endpoint security, recently announced that its Computrace persistence module, aka LoJack for Laptops, has been embedded into the firmware of the new Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet.

Lenovo and Absolute customers can now maintain a constant connection back to each tablet deployed in their organization. This will permit customers to perform remote security and administrative functions on a ThinkPad Tablet regardless of who is using it or where it is located.

Computrace persistence technology is embedded in the firmware of computers and tablets from leading computer manufacturers. Since it operates in firmware, the product can survive operating system re-installations, as well as hard-drive reformats, replacements and re-imaging, helping to ensure that the service is there when it's needed most.

When initiated, the Computrace Agent calls the Absolute Monitoring Center with IT asset information including the physical location of each device. If a computer is reported stolen, the Absolute Theft Recovery Team works on behalf of the customer to gather evidence from the computer to identify where it is and who's using it, then they work with local police to get the computer back.

Absolute customers can also remotely delete data, freeze a device, and remotely retrieve files to secure the device.

For a list of computers with firmware-embedded with Computrace technology, see www.absolute.com/firmware.

Document Management for Real Estate Pros

Cartavi, a provider of document management software, unveiled a web-based document management service for real estate professionals at Real Estate Connect, the industry's bi-annual technology gathering.

Cartavi is designed for real estate professionals and allows buyers, sellers, and anyone else related to the transaction to securely manage and share documents with everyone involved in the sale –- from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. With Cartavi, the real estate agent invites all parties involved in the transaction into a web-based deal room, or Transaction Room, where documents can be securley exchanged.

dtSearch Enhances File Parsers

dtSearch, a supplier of enterprise and developer text retrieval software, announced version 7.67 of its product line, which expands the company's file parsers.

Parsers enable dtSearch to perform instant hit-highlighting in searching data, be it static or dynamic online content, and are available to developers via application programming interfaces in 64-bit and 32-bit Windows and Linux (C++), Java, and .NET up to version 4.

In version 7.67, file parsers have direct access to Microsoft PST files without having to go through MAPI. In effect, dtSearch can directly search items in Outlook PST stores such as messages, contacts, appointments, as well as file attachments, and display the hit-highlights in retrieved items. The new release also provides hit-highlights when searching PDF files in Adobe Reader X via a new dtSearch plug-in.

For more information, see the readme file for version 7.67.

Microsystems Licenses Litera's Metadata Removal Technology

Litera, a manufacturer of content lifecycle management software, has granted Microsystems a non-exclusive license to Litera's metadata removal technology (U.S. Patent No. 7,895,276). The license grants Microsystems the rights to develop, sell, and market a server product for the removal of metadata from legal and business documents. So what happened to 3BView's 3BClean?

Microsystems has the exclusive rights to distribute 3BClean, a server-based metadata cleaning product manufactured in the U.K., in the U.S. Now, however, 3BView's server product is sold under a license with U.S. Patent No. 7,895,276 from Litera Technology LLC.

Seems that Litera was awarded U.S. Patent 7,895,276 in February 2011 for a server-based technology to remove metadata from files attached to e-mail sent by any e-mail client, including web-mail and smartphones. The patent covers server-based metadata cleaning that Litera markets as Metadact e.

Metadact e removes metadata from documents like Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF, image and ZIP files sent via Outlook or another e-mail program. The product can implement a centralized metadata cleaning policy, as well as a policy to allow individual users control over their own e-mail attachment cleaning. In effect, Metadata e can remove track changes in Word documents, hidden cells in spreadsheets, speaker notes in PowerPoint files, and more.

Bottom line, the Litera license grant allows Microsystem customers to continue to operate 3BClean without infringing Litera's patent in the U.S. And I will certainly have to put Metadata e on my list of products to review this year.

New Version of EnCase eDiscovery Includes Scripting Wizard

Guidance Software, maker of digital investigations and e-discovery software, upgraded EnCase eDiscovery to version 4.2 today. The new version continues to hone and define new features designed to make the product easier to use and includes a new graphical user interface for front-end processing, more workflow capabilities, and collects hosted Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint content.

Nuance Wraps Up Equitrac Acquisition

Nuance Communications, a provider of speech and imaging products, recently announced that it has closed the acquisition of Equitrac, a provider of print management and cost recovery software.

The Equitrac acquisition adds to Nuance's global channel partners for multifunction printer (read: scan) management, which now includes Canon, Xerox, Konica Minota, Ricoh and Hewlett-Packard. That pretty much covers the map. So if you are not talking to Nuance about managing your internal scanning workflow, you are printing too much.

For more information see www.Nuance.com.

Sanction Unveils New Version of Litigation Management Software

Sanction Solutions, a manufacturer of litigation support products and services, introduced Sanction 3, a software application designed to organize, manage and present evidence and other materials in a litigation matter.

According to Mike Hahn, managing director of Sanction Solutions, the company did not simply polish its last version 2.9 for a new release. Version 3 allows the simultaneous handling of multiple exhibits and includes new transcript ingestion tools, as well as new facilities to manage evidence and simplify project workflow.

For more information see www.sanctions.com.

ZL Technologies Delivers E-Discovery and Records Management SaaS

ZL Technologies, a provider of e-discovery, records management, and archiving software for law firms and corporations, has taken the company's on-premise Unified Archive software and, together with Sunguard Availability Services, made it available from the cloud in a software-as-a-service model. ... [MORE]

Wolters Kluwer Signs Agreement to Buy National Registered Agents

Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services, a provider of software and services to legal and financial professionals, announced their acquisition of National Registered Agents and select affiliated entities.

Wolters Kluwer hopes the acquisition will extend the company's custom offers in legal compliance and governance, which already include CT Corporation and BizFilings. The terms of the deal were not disclosed and the close of the acquisition is still subject to regulatory approval.

NRAI is headquartered in Princeton, N.J., and has approximately 160 employees in offices across the U.S. It provides national and international registered agent services (e.g., service of process, corporate and regulatory filings) and specializes in compliance and governance services for small and mid-sized businesses and the legal community.

For more information, see "Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services Signs Agreement To Acquire NRAI."