Like many lawyers, I have one foot firmly planted in the Google world as a Gmail user. I also have the other foot newly planted in the Apple world with an iPad. Many new iPad and iPhone users need help properly setting up their Gmail accounts on their new iOS devices.

If you received a netbook for Christmas, consider using one of the many free and subscription file synchronization services to get maximum utility from your netbook. A small portable computer with excellent battery life and a decent keyboard can be a great thing to have with you at home and on the road. But it is less useful if the client and firm documents you need are not also on the netbook ready for you to review and edit. The easiest way to do this is to use a file synchronization service that will let you designate which files and folders should automatically be synced between your office computer and your netbook over the Internet. The leading contenders are DropBox, SugarSync, Syncplicity, and Windows Live Mesh 2011. While each has its own user interface quirks, all will do the job of keeping your files in sync between your office computer and your netbook. There are many comparison reviews available on-line if you do a Google or Bing search. For example, read this one from PC Magazine. Costs will vary, and often there are basic services for smaller amounts of data offered at no charge. But even the subscription fees are low enough that cost is not really a factor. Microsoft's Windows Live Mesh 2011 is completely free. But the newest version works only with Vista and Windows 7, leaving those of you still on XP out of the mix once the old Live Mesh Beta services are deactivated at the end of March, 2011. UPDATE: I should have added that syncing of documents is also possible, and useful, if you have a tablet computer such as an iPad or one of the new Android OS tablets. For example, Dropbox has mobile versions for the iPad, Android, and Blackberry. The same with SugarSync. My replacement Archos 70 tablet arrived, so I plan to try at least one of these services to see how it works in making my practice-related documents available on the tablet.

If you were lucky enough to receive a netbook for Christmas, or are considering picking one up for the New Year, there are two things you should consider doing as soon as possible: Upgrade RAM from the standard 1 GB to 2 GB's. Upgrade from Windows 7 Started to Windows 7 Home Premium. Hopefully the purchaser of your netbook took advantage of the $19.99 ($60 off) discounted upgrade from Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium offered by most retailers (brick and mortar stores and on-line merchants). That is a small price to pay to dump a somewhat crippled operating system to one without far fewer restrictions. For $20, you receive a card with a PIN which can be exchanged on-line for a Windows Anytime Upgrade product key. With that key, you can upgrade to Home Premium via download. The process can take a long time if there are many Windows Updates to download and install. I tried it on a Toshiba netbook and it took about an hour (far beyond the 10 minutes suggested on the upgrade card). But to run Home Premium effectively, boosting RAM to the maximum (for most netbooks) of 2 GB, is necessary. That will usually mean opening a small slot on the bottom of the netbook, removing the 1 GB RAM module, and installing a 2 GB module that should cost anywhere from $25 to $40 depending on brand and where you shop. The process is fairly simple and takes only about 5 minutes. The most important part of the process is making sure you buy the right RAM module. Most web sites have a memory utility that lets you pinpoint the right part by entering your netbook's make and model number. Your new netbook will be a more useful and satisfying machine with Home Premium and the RAM upgrade.

It is December 3 and if UPS cooperates, today I will receive my Archos 70 Android tablet. Despite its flaws, I miss the Augen GenTouch78 tablet that I returned to Kmart in late October just ahead of the 90-day return deadline. The 7" form factor was ideal for me as a traveling lawyer (from my home in Florida to argue my appeals in Michigan) in part because it fit my inside suit coat pocket. Neither the iPad or competing 10" tablets can do that. The 7" screen was much better for reading documents and email attachments than even the large (by phone standards) 4.3" screen on my Droid X. I also found that with the Kindle for Android app installed on the GenTouch, I left my previously-beloved Kindle DX ebook reader sitting on the shelf. So I have been anxiously awaiting a replacement tablet that shared the 7" form factor of the GenTouch, but didn't share the GenTouch's resistive touch screen. Having fully acclimated to the capacitive touch screen on my Droid X phone, downgrading to a resistive screen on a tablet was simply too great a sacrifice. I considered the Samsung Galaxy tablet, but I don't need or want another data plan. Both the GenTouch and the Archos 70 will easily tether to my Droid X for web connectivity where Wi-Fi is not available. Plus, the Galaxy tab, even without a data plan, is much pricier than either the $170 GenTouch or the $270 Archos 70. With another appeal oral argument trip from Florida to Michigan on tap for next week (is it really 30 degrees and snowing in Detroit already???!!!!), I will have a chance to try out the Archos 70 Android tablet as a mobile lawyer's traveling companion. Report to follow upon my return. Update: The Archos 70 tablet joined me on the oral argument trip to Michigan. It proved useful as I used the included USB cable to transfer the folders for each of my three cases set for argument to the microSD card I added to the tablet. Most of the files were in either PDF or .doc format and consisted of my research, briefs, trial transcripts, etc. I left my full-sized notebook back at the hotel and took the Archos tablet with me to court. While I waited for my cases to be called, it was a fairly simple matter to review the briefs, transcripts, and research on the 7" screen and then stow the Archos in the inside pocket of my suit jacket during argument. I used the free Adobe Reader for android software for the PDF files and my purchased copy of Documents-to-Go for the Word files. Documents-to-Go is supposed to also display PDF files, but I had better luck with the free Adobe Reader app. Some of the PDF files would not display in Documents-to-Go, but all displayed perfectly in Adobe Reader. It took some trial and error, but I was able to get the Archos to tether to my Droid X phone for Internet connectivity via the built-in Bluetooth radios in each device. It is actually simpler than I expected using the tethering app preinstalled on the Archos. What threw me off was the absence of the need for any special configuration or software on the Droid X. Once the two devices were "paired" via Bluetooth, the Archos tethering app did the rest. Speeds were fine for ordinary web browsing and email, but I'd reserve video or audio streaming for a Wi-Fi connection. About 10 days after my return to Florida, one morning I powered up the Archos and the screen was mostly white with a few black horizontal lines. Not good. So I telephoned B&H where I'd purchased the tablet and within minutes they emailed an RMA number and prepaid UPS ground return label. 30 minutes later, the boxed up tablet was at my local UPS store and on its way back to B&H for replacement. B&H contacted me on 12/23 to let me know they received it and it would take a few days to process the replacement. I look forward to having a replacement Archos 70 in my hands around January 1. But for this screen failure, I'd rate the tablet as a very nice addition to my mobile lawyer arsenal.

Now that major-brand Android tablets are about to become available, the question is - are they worth the price? The well-designed and full-featured Samsung Galaxy 7" tablet will be available from major cell carriers very soon, but it will come with either a high price, and expensive data plan requirement, or both. As just reported by Gizmodo, Sprint will knock $200 off the $600 price of the Galaxy tablet if you sign a two-year contract for a data plan running from $30 to $60 monthly. Verizon, on the other hand, is not offering a discount if you sign-up for a data plan, leaving the price of the Galaxy tablet at $600 with or without a plan. Verizon's plans start at $20 monthly - but the low-end plan includes only 1 GB of data. That means a Galaxy tablet without a data plan (in other words, using only its Wi-Fi connection), comes in at $100 over the $500 price of a 16 GB Wi-Fi only iPad. As fond as I am of Android devices, is the Galaxy tablet worth the high price? UPDATE: Leaked info posted by ZDNet suggests that Best Buy will sell a Wi-Fi version of the Galaxy tablet for $500, the same price as the Wi-Fi only 16GB iPad. I suppose one alternative if you want a 7" Android tablet is to buy the flawed, but still useful, Augen GenTouch78 tablet. Although no longer sold at Kmart (unless you find a left-over at your local store), it is now available on-line at Computer Geeks for $169.99. It is a Wi-Fi only device, but that may not be a huge disadvantage. Many users with Android phones have the ability to use them as Wi-Fi hotspots, spreading their 3G data connections to other devices such as notebook or netbook computers and, yes, the GenTouch tablet. I did exactly that with Verizon's $20 per month hotspot service added to my Droid X. So for my initial outlay of less than $150 at Kmart on the GenTouch, plus Wi-Fi hotspot tethering service on my Droid X, I have the functional equivalent of the Galaxy tablet without the high price or data plan contract. And the Wi-Fi hotspot capability does double-duty by providing Internet access for my notebook and netbook computers (up to five devices simultaneously). Of course, the Galaxy tablet is significantly better than the GenTouch in nearly every way - except price. So the choice is whether to live with the limitations of the GenTouch (mostly its somewhat balky resistive touch-screen), or spend big bucks on the Galaxy tablet with its nice phone-like capacitive touch screen. A mid-level alternative might be the soon-to-be-release Archos Internet Table 70. It is $275 seven-inch Android tablet with a capacitive touch screen that should be more user-friendly than the resistive touch-screen Augen GenTouch78. Like the GenTouch, it can be tethered via Wi-Fi to a cell phone for mobile Internet access. Unlike the GenTouch, it also offers tethering via Bluetooth and USB.

LogMeIn is well-known for their free and paid remote access and control software and service. I often use it to remote back to my primary desktop computer from my notebook or netbook when I am on the road. My colleagues here at Affinity Consulting Group use it for tech support through the Remote Support Link at the left side of the home page on our web site. We are now using the smart phone version of LogMeIn Rescue to remote into a client's smart phone to configure it for maximize productivity. Now LogMeIn is making a direct challenge to on-line meeting services such as GoToMeeting and WebEx by offering both free and paid versions of its new Join.me service. It is an on-line meeting and collaboration service that requires minimal setup and configuration. Both home and office users can conduct meetings with up to 250 people – free. To use the software, you go to the join.me Web site, click to share your computer and then get a code. You can send that code to anyone you like and off you go. People receive a phone number for holding conference calls, can send instant messages during presentations and can share control of a screen. The free version offers: screen sharing chat file transfer remote control The paid version offers all of the above, plus: personal link meeting scheduler user management meeting lock This could be an excellent tool for lawyers within a firm, but in different locations, to work together on a case. It could also be a way to work with clients and co-counsel.

Recently Verizon Wireless has been running TV commercials featuring the free Android (also available for other smart phone platforms) security app called MyLookout. Because smart phones are as powerful as computers were a few generations ago, and hold much sensitive or confidential data, it only makes sense to secure them like you would a computer. But because smart phones are more mobile than any computer, they require even greater protection, including the ability to remotely wipe all data from the phone if it is lost or stolen. That capability is one of the features of MyLookout. Several other apps offer the same service. I've used Wave Secure, a paid service, and Mobile Defense, another free service in the various (now up the three) Android phones in our family. Both seem to work as intended, at least as to the ability to track phones. Fortunately, we have not had to use the remote wipe feature. With all of these programs, if your phone disappears, you can use your computer or a colleague's smart phone to log into your account on the service's web site and trigger a GPS tracking process, backup data, lock the phone, remote wipe, or in some cases, sound a loud alarm from the phone's speaker. There are many Android security apps available, free and paid. If you have an Android or any smart phone that contains sensitive or confidential personal, firm, or client data, you should install and learn how to use one of these apps.

The end is near, but not imminent. Users of Microsoft's free Live Mesh Beta service to synchronize their files and folders between multiple computers, and to remotely control their computers, have until March 31, 2011, to "upgrade" to Windows Live Mesh 2011 or switch to a different service. Why is this date important? If, like me, you are a happy user of Live Mesh Beta and at least one of your computers runs Windows XP (as do both my notebook and netbook), you will be out of luck with Windows Live Mesh 2011. It doesn't support XP. You need either Vista or Windows 7. That wouldn't ordinarily be much of a problem. Windows 7 is a very nice OS ( I run Win7 Pro on my desktop PC and like it very much) Upgrading from Vista often makes sense. But if your portable machine is a netbook over a year old, odds are it came with XP Home preinstalled and there is not easy upgrade path to Windows 7. You have to do a "clean install" of Windows 7, unless you want to upgrade first to Vista, then to Windows 7, a somewhat convoluted process that has little to recommend it. And then you have the question of whether your pre-Pine Trial netbook or aging notebook will be able to run Windows 7 adequately. If your netbook or notebook runs XP just find with its 1 GB of RAM, it will struggle with Windows 7, and you may not have the hard drive space for Windows 7 plus all of you apps and data. So what is the solution? Perhaps it is time to buy a new netbook or notebook? Well, I think the hardware in my ThinkPad R61i (XP Pro) and Toshiba Mini 10 (XP Home) still have plenty of life left in them. At least running XP, they do. I doubt that either would be especially good at running Windows 7, although both have 2 GB of RAM, at least making that a possibility. But why invest between $100 and $200 into each, go through the bother of a clean install (backing everything up, installing Windows 7, reinstalling all of my many applications, then restoring my data, if I cannot be sure Windows 7 will perform adequately? Maybe the answer is to switch (at least for the next year to 18 months until I am ready to upgrade to a nice Windows 7 notebook or netbook) to another file sync service. The leading contenders are Dropbox and SugarSync. There are several comparison tests available on the web between these two services. A comparison review from January picks SugarSync. Another comparison in February is neutral. Yet another from July adds Syncplicity to the mix, but leans a bit in favor of SugarSync. Of the available options, it seem as if SugarSync works the most like Live Mesh Beta. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be quite as seamless in letting me to simply right-click to select folders in Windows Explorer I want to sync between my three computers. There is a similar process with SugarSync, but from the on-line info, you need to be in SugarSync's manager application to select sync folders. SugarSync has a free 30 day trial, so my next step is to give it a try (perhaps running it along side Live Mesh Beta) to see if it will work for me. I will report back on my findings.

I've written in the past about how much I like using Microsoft's Live Mesh Beta service to sync my current client folders across the three computers I regularly use in my practice (desktop, full-sized notebook, and netbook). Microsoft is in the process of transitioning this beta service into its more full-featured Windows Live Mesh 2011 service for Windows 7 and Vista PC's, but not for computers still running Windows XP. XP users wanting to keep the Live Mesh Beta service will soon be out of luck or will need to upgrade to Vista or 7 . Once Windows Live Mesh 2011 has been out and in use for a few months, Microsoft is expected to terminate the original Live Mesh Beta service. XP users could switch to a non-Microsoft file and folder sync service such as Dropbox that remains compatible with XP. My full-sized notebook and my netbook are still on XP, so I will have to make this decision myself very soon. Like the Live Mesh Beta, Windows Live Mesh is free. In addition to the very useful remote desktop and file syncing features of Live Mesh Beta, Windows Live Mesh 2011 adds the ability to sync your Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer settings across multiple computers. If you use more than one computer, you know what a nuisance it can be if Office is not set up exactly the same way on each computer or if you set IE favorites on one computer, but they don't appear when you open IE on your other computer. The inability to sync favorites/bookmarks was one of the reasons I switched from IE to Firefox a few years ago. Now, if you have a computer at the office and at home (or have a notebook or netbook in addition to your primary desktop), you can use the free Windows Live Mesh 2011 service to do the following: Keep your client or firm files/folders (this includes PDF's and other files in addition to MS Office format files such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint) in sync between your office and home or portable computers. Connect to and remotely control any of your computers you have assigned to your Windows Live Mesh account, even if they have a "home" version of Windows Vista or 7 that does not directly support a Remote Desktop connection. This would substitute for a service such as LogMeIn or GoToMyPC. Keep your MS Office and IE settings consistent across each of the computers you use. Also worth mentioning is the 25 GB of free on-line storage provided by Microsoft's SkyDrive which integrates well with Microsoft Office's web apps for collaboration and sharing files with others.

OfficeMax has the versatile home office/small office Brother MFC-7840w laser all-in-one printer on sale for $229.99. I've relied on the predecessor to this model as my workhorse printer/scanner/fax machine in my solo appellate practice for several years. I don't use it for major scanning jobs such as trial transcripts (my ScanSnap S500 is much better for that - today you'd want to buy the newer S1500), but for a few pages or something that needs a flatbed scanning option, it is great. OfficeMax also have my favorite budget wireless mouse, Microsoft Mobile 3000 model, for just $12.99 Sunday and Monday only in a variety of colors. Video conferencing is becoming a great way for lawyers to save time and money when meeting with clients and co-counsel rather then physically traveling to the same site. Free applications like Skype now support HD (high definition) webcams. You can buy any of several Microsoft LifeCam HD webcams on sale now at Best Buy from $39.99 for a lower-end model to the very nice LifeCam Studio 1080p HD Webcam for $69.99. If you need a battery-operated portable printer, head over to Office Depot this week. The HP Office Jet Mobile Printer is on sale for $249.99, and this price actually includes the lithium ion battery. Making this deal even better is the offer to take another $50 off the price if you trade in any old printer. Most of use have an old inkjet printer laying around. If not, buy one at your local thrift shop for $10, trade it in, and still come out $40 ahead. That is what I may have to do, having recently donated a couple of decade-old inkjet printers to a local charity.

Staples is one of my favorite places to buy the tech products I need for my appellate practice. It is also my primary source for supplies such as paper, pens, etc. I have no affiliation with Staples other then my appreciation for the fact that they had the wisdom to open a store in the strip mall closest to my home/office. Now Staples is selling Amazon's market-leading Kindle ebook reader. The Wi-Fi only model is $139 while the Wi-Fi plus 3G model is $189 (a better value for the ability to download ebooks easily while traveling). It is available in-store only, so as not to compete with Amazon's on-line sales of the device. But this development gives you the chance for a hands-on test before you buy - something that was not possible when Amazon's web site was the only Kindle source. While I think the much more expensive Kindle DX (apparently not available at Staples stores) has more appeal to lawyers because its larger screen makes it easier to read PDF files (our format of choice for digital documents), the latest versions of the regular-sized Kindle also include native PDF reading capability. And it is possible to email PDF files to Amazon for conversion to Kindle's "text flow" format and then wireless download the converted document to your Kindle for easier reading.

The evidence is becoming overwhelming that the nations top wireless carrier, Verizon, will offer Apple's iPhone sometime early in 2011 according a report on Gizmodo. But is this a bit of "too little too late"? Android phones collectively now outsell the iPhone. How much of this is due to the relative weakness of the iPhone's AT&T network, or the increasing parity (of even superiority) of the latest Android phones when compared to the iPhone, is a matter for debate. The debate may be answered when the Verizon iPhone hits the market. If it seriously cuts into Android phone sales on Verizon's network, then we will know that Apple and the iPhone continue to have a unique market appeal. If not, then we can conclude that the iPhone is just one of many top-level smart phones from which consumers may choose. For lawyers, it may not make much of a difference which smart phone OS we use. Over the next few years we will see the continued emergence, perhaps even dominance, of cloud-based applications for managing our lives and practices. Most of these will be accessible via the increasingly competent browsers that come with, or can be added to, our smart phones. Platform specific apps will be written to access these services, but my bet is on browser-based access via specially-tuned "mobile" versions of web portals, not locally run apps written specifically for the iPhone, Android phones, or Windows Phone 7. Browser-based access to cloud law office applications will also work especially will on the coming wave of tablet computers running Android or Windows 7, and also, of course, on the existing Apple iPad. Having used the admittedly compromised, but still useful, Augen GenTouch78 Android tablet for a couple of months now, I think the 7-inch screen form factor for tablet computing is more likely to succeed for this purpose than the 10-inch form factor of the iPad (if for no other reason than a 7-inch tablet will fit in a man's inside suit coat pocket or a woman's purse. A 10-inch tablet will not.)