Copywriter, technical writer, translator (FR>EN, ES>EN, IT>EN), journalist

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First steps: troubleshooting Internet connection problems

People sometimes lose their home Internet connections. If this ever happens to you, there’s a chance that you might fix the problem in five minutes or less. The next time your connection fails, try the following steps. Keep going through the list until one provides results: Check

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Seven steps to handling group work online

Ah, group work. You need to keep dates straight, understand who does what, work on only the latest files, and you do all this with phone calls and email – big piles of email. Or not.

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Many lawyers still Luddites resisting technological advances

Originally published in The Lawyers Weekly. Does everybody in the legal industry embrace technology? You might think so, but certain anecdotes give me pause. For instance, a recent National Post headline announced: “Trial adjourned due to lawyer’s laptop.” According to the article, an Ontario justice agreed with

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Handy Windows shortcuts

Sometimes an article pops up online that fits perfectly in this blog. Marc Saltzman wrote one on Windows shortcuts that every Windows computer owner needs to read. Here are a few gems: 1. Windows Key (by itself) This launches your Start menu, instead of having to click

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Choosing a practice management system

originally published in The Lawyers Weekly Here’s a New Year’s resolution for lawyers: bring as many of your work systems as you can under one digital roof. That means putting matter management, calendars, contacts, time tracking, billing and other computer systems into a comprehensive practice management system.

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Project management on a Mac

Freelance writer Jane Langille asked me about Outlook for Mac, now that it’s back on the market and has replaced Microsoft Entourage. “Is it worth buying the new Office for Mac Home & Business version 2011 just to get Outlook? The project management integration between Mail, iCal

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The greatness of GMail

This past week, I watched a podcast and read a blog post that reminded me just how cool GMail can be. Take ten minutes to go through both of these. You might be surprised at what Google’s free email service can do for you.

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Drowning in data (proportionality in e-discovery)

originally published in Lawyers Weekly Magazine The number of needles a lawyer has to find during discovery has not changed over the years. But thanks to information technology, document haystacks have ballooned out of all proportion. Now judges, litigators and clients want to bring proportionality back to

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Creating basic functions in a spreadsheet

Tax time is coming! Maybe it’s time to let technology help you handle the numbers. That’s what accountants use spreadsheets for, but you don’t need to understand accounting or finance concepts to get a spreadsheet.

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What to consider when hiring out-of-office IT staff

originally published in Lawyers Weekly “I don’t think there’s anything that we couldn’t outsource.” It seems a bold statement, but Joel Alleyne’s tone was matter-of-fact as he said it. The chief information officer and knowledge officer for Borden Ladner Gervais LLP has been investigating the matter in

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