May 2, 2011

8 Ways to Extend Your iPad’s Battery Life

I’ve been traveling quite a lot lately and, as a result, have come to rely on my iPad even more than usual.  One of the iPad’s most attractive features is its extended battery life.  Although the battery on the iPad outlasts the batter on my laptop by leaps and bounds, a full day of airports, airplanes, and taxis can leave you very close to a zero-power moment.  There are some things to do to make sure you maximize your iPad’s battery.  So, Road Warriors, here are a few tips:

1.  Drain the Battery.  Apple recommends that you use drain the battery monthly.  Although this may seem counter-intuitive, it actually helps the iPad “understand” where its true “empty” actually is.  Make sure you first charge the battery to 100% and then keep it on until it shuts off after all of the battery has been used.

2.  Turn Off Auto-Brightness.  Turning off Auto-Brightness and dimming the brightness of the screen is an easy way to extend the life of your iPad’s battery.  Go to Settings > Brightness & Wallpaper, and drag the slider to the left.


3.  Close Applications That Aren’t In Use.  Applications will continue to run unless they’re turned off from the home screen.  When trying to conserve battery life, keep an eye on the apps that are running and close them when they’re no longer being used.  To do this, just double-click on the Hone button.  The applications that are in use will pop up on the bottom dock.  Press and hold any of the app icons and they’ll all start to jiggle.  Press the minus sign next to any app to close it.
4.  Turn Off Push Notifications.  Some apps use Apple’s Push Notification Service to send alerts for various reasons.  The battery is used each time a push notification is received, so turning off this service enables you to conserve some of your battery’s energy.  Go to Settings > Notifications, and set Notifications to Off.

5.  Get Less Mail.  If you use an email service that “pushes” new emails to your account, such as Microsoft Exchange, you can change the settings so that mail is sent less frequently.  And, really, who doesn’t want less email?  Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data, and slide the bar to Off.

6. Use Airplane Mode.  This one takes very little explanation.  When you’re on a plane (assuming it’s a plane that does not have wi-fi), switch this setting to Off, by going to Settings > Airplane Mode.

7.  Turn Off Wi-Fi.  Wi-fi enabled iPads have a setting to turn the wi-fi feature on and off.  When it’s turned on, it will search for a wi-fi connection constantly, which, of course, uses battery.  If you don’t need wi-fi or you’re in an area where you know there isn’t a wi-fi connection, save your iPad’s energy by turning off this feature. In Settings, under Wi-Fi, just slide the bar from “On” to “Off.”

8.  Buy A Battery Extender.  If these tips aren’t enough and you find that you need an even longer battery life, you may want to invest in an external battery for your iPad.  There are several on the market in a variety of price ranges.  Although you can get one for as little as $30, this is one time when it’s best to take the splurge on a higher-level product.  I have one made by New Trent and find that it was well worth the $70, as it extends the life of my iPad for more hours than I can possibly use.

Happy trails!

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April 27, 2011

Nearly-Paperless Business Cards

At the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Ethics Potpourri last week in Pittsburgh, my friend and fellow presenter, Micah Buchdahl, mentioned what he called “bar-code” business cards.  As he explained it, businesses are moving towards these business cards, which include a bar code (for tech-dummies like me), on the back.  The code can be read by most smartphones.

There are several benefits of using business cards that include this technology.  First, it enables you to include far more information than could otherwise be printed (in legible type, anyway), onto a standard-size business cards.  This would be great for social-media users, who may want to include a blog (or two), a website, their Facebook page, and/or their Twitter handle.

Second, by scanning the code with your smartphone, you don’t have to worry about remembering to type the information into your contacts later.  All of the information is saved as soon as the code is scanned and you can toss the card–or, even better, give it back, and the person who gave it to you can save it for the next guy.

As usual, Micah is on the cutting edge of what’s new in legal marketing.  The ABA Journal has an article by Molly McDonough about a firm in Virginia that will be giving lawyers the option of adding a “Quick Response Code” to their business cards.  The article includes links to other pieces on the topic for those who may want to learn more.

Personally, I think it’s a fantastic idea and probably an inevitable step in the right direction.   I wonder if you could have just a dozen or so really great cards printed and laminated and reuse those instead of handing out the paper copies.  I suppose there are uses for both.  To the extent that I can save the trouble of schlepping around business cards–which, by the way, is a far more annoying task for women who wear suits without pockets–I would definitely vote in favor of the paperless (or less paper) option.

[Update:  In the original post, I inadvertently omitted a link to the ABA Journal article:  Biz Cards Go Digital: Firm Adds QR Codes to Business Cards]

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Filed under Misc., Productivity

April 25, 2011

UK Juror Faces Contempt for Friending a Defendant

London’s High Court has approved the request of the Attorney General to bring criminal contempt charges against a juror alleged to have contacted a defendant in the case via Facebook.

According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, the juror is accused of having contacted one of the defendants in an already complicated drug-conspiracy trial.  At the time the juror initiated the contact via Facebook, the defendant had been acquitted but the trial was not yet complete.  The defendant allegedly asked the juror for details about the jury’s deliberations on the remaining defendants.

A new trial was ordered after reports of the juror’s conduct surfaced.  The Attorney General contends that the juror also conducted her own internet research, despite having received repeated instructions from the court to not discuss the case with anyone other than fellow jurors.  The entire fiasco is said to have cost more than 6 million pounds.

In all, there were no less than four trials–all for the same case.  The first trial ended after the parties spent so much time arguing about certain confidential information that the judge ordered a new trial due to “juror fatigue”–concluding that the jurors could not be expected to remember the evidence they’d seen after having been delayed for so long.

The second trial ended when the parties exchanged documents containing the much-fought-over confidential information and, apparently, failed to properly redact the information.  As a result, the information was revealed and the court ordered a new trial for the second time.  Alas, another example of lawyers who don’t use proper redaction tools, such as those in Adobe Acrobat.

The third trial ended as a result of the alleged juror misconduct.  The court ordered that a new jury had to be selected and a fourth trial had to take place–thus the astronomical costs to the parties and the judicial system.  See the Bolton News for more details relating to the high costs of this case.

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Filed under Jurors, PDFs, Social Media

April 23, 2011

Social-Media Jury Instructions by American College of Trial Lawyers

The American College of Trial Lawyers published a comprehensive set of proposed jury instructions that are intended to deal directly with juror’s use of technology, particularly the Internet and social-networking sites.  The publication, which dates back to September 2010, was a result of the College’s Fall 2009, when it explored some of these issues in a program entitled, “The Dark Side of Technology.”

The College intended to develop a set of best practices for addressing and preventing the various issues relating to jurors who, either intentionally or unintentionally, use technology to conduct unauthorized research or communicate about court proceedings.  Included are templates for:

  • Summons to prospective jurors;
  • Instructions for impaneled jurors;
  • Courtroom conduct;
  • Message for jurors to send to family and friends; and
  • Statement of compliance for jurors to sign.

The final product is, indeed, reflective of best practices in a number of respects and represents an excellent resource for courts, practitioners, and committees attempting to evaluate the effect of technology and ways that the negative effects can be prevented.

The instructions, which are titled, Jury Instructions Cautioning Against the Use of the Internet and Social Networking (PDF), as well as numerous other model jury instructions dealing with juror’s use of new media and technology, are available in the Social-Media Research Repository, which is linked at the top of the blog’s home page.

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April 22, 2011

Bringing Spring to Your iPad

With the Easter holiday upon us, it seems appropriate to point readers to a very Spring-appropriate iPad app. For many, the cherry-blossom tree is one of the quintessential signs of Spring.  Even if you don’t live in Washington, D.C., though, you can catch a digital glimpse of cherry blossoms on your iPad with the free cherry blossom wallpaper app.  Yes, there is an app for that.

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April 18, 2011

Social Media & Legal Ethics

Readers interested in the various ethical implications relating to the use (and nonuse) of social-media by legal professionals also may be interested in a just-published law review article on the topic.  The article is published in the current edition of the Delaware Law Review, which is available here as a PDF:

Ethical Risks Arising From Lawyers’ Use of (and Refusal to Use) Social Media

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Filed under For Legal Professionals, Judges, Jurors, Lawyers, Social Media

April 14, 2011

Attention All Lawyers: Don’t Be a Jerk

Stories of incivility, unfortunately, are far from uncommon in the legal profession. And most lawyers have personally experienced the challenges of an unprofessional or unkind opposing counsel.  I am thankful to not have had very many such experiences.  I have had the pleasure of working with many, many lawyers who embody the principles of civility and gentility that is expected of our profession.

So I wasn’t surprised when one of my favorite opposing counsel sent along an opinion from the federal district court in Kansas.  The opinion is so well written, it is likely to bring a smile to your face.  At least until you realize exactly what it is that the parties are fighting about.  And then you’re likely to lose the smile. In the end, justice prevails and the Court grants the defendant’s counsel’s motion to continue.

You should read the decision for yourself–it is a remarkable opinion, even if it’s a somewhat outrageous issue the Court is required to decide. Here is just one of several jewels from the decision:

Regrettably, many attorneys lose sight of their role as professionals, and personalize the dispute; converting the parties’ disagreement into a lawyers’ spat. This is unfortunate, and unprofessional, but sadly not uncommon. Before the Court, however, is an uncommon example of this unhappy trend.

And then, after you’ve read the decision, be sure to give special consideration to your opposing counsel the next time they seek an extension or continuation. Order on Motion to Continue, Jayhawk Capital Mgm’t, LLC v. LSB Indus. (D. Kans. Apr. 14, 2011).

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Filed under For Legal Professionals