Office Lens For Android Just Got a Big Improvement

As you may recall, I've been an Office Lens fan for a while now. When we switched to Office 365 in my program earlier this year, I began telling everyone I worked with that they had to get Office Lens. Because we are on the road a lot and away from scanners, etc., Office Lens really helps us make copies of client documents. I use it a lot in the County Recorders' offices when I need to get old deeds, for example.

But, there was always a problem for us Android users. It wouldn't save to a work or school account. You had to have a personal account to save to. I was always willing to overlook this problem, but it was hard to explain this quirk to some of my colleagues. And to be fair, it never should have been a problem for us Android users. This hasn't been a problem for iPhone users for nearly a year.

Yesterday though, I opened Office Lens and saw the notification I'd been waiting for: Office Lens is now able to connect to my work or school account. Being the grumpy person I sometimes am, I muttered something along the lines of, "it's about time" then scanned the deed I was looking at.

But when I got back to my office and saw my deed waiting for me in my work OneDrive folder, I realized that, yeah, this is actually a big deal. Now, a big quirk that made Office Lens clunky for me and my Android friends was gone, which meant I could be much more full-throated in my encouraging my colleagues to start using Office Lens.

Plan For the Loss of a Mobile Device Now

I spent a couple of days last week in New York talking with some very smart people about automated document production in the legal profession geared primarily towards pro se individuals and legal services advocates. On the way back to Ohio, I had a layover in D.C. During the flight from LaGuardia to D.C., I took a nap. I placed my tablet in the seat back pocket. Upon waking, I completely forgot that I had done this and left the plane without picking up my tablet.

It wasn't until half an hour later as I was waiting at the next gate that I realized what had happened. Fortunately, I was lucky and was able to get it back without too many problems. But, as I stood there waiting for an answer as to whether my device had been located, I began to think about what to do in the event that my device was lost. It wasn't something I had put much thought in to before. After all, I've lost more wedding rings than mobile devices (true fact).

Today's message: don't wait to think about what to do if you've lost your device. Some things to think about would include ways to locate it using GPS. Perhaps a message on the lock screen containing information about what a good Samaritan can do to return the phone. And, of course, ways to completely wipe all information from the device remotely if it isn't found and returned. This is especially important if it is a device that contains confidential information.

This latter point is worth thinking about a bit. I've pulled that trigger one time just to see how thorough a remote wipe was. It was very, very thorough. Nothing left. I had backed everything up ahead of time because I knew in advance what I was going to do. Odds are, that won't be an option if you've misplaced your phone. So, if you haven't got a backup plan you're following, probably a good time to think about that as well.

Phone Running Low on Memory? Try A Little Fall Cleaning

The first day of fall was just a couple of days ago. The leaves are changing, which means the wife is going to want to dress the boys up and take pictures of them outside. Of course, when she starts doing this, she is going to get the message on her phone that she is running low on memory.

So, before you start taking all of your fall pictures, take a little bit of time and do a little fall cleaning on your phone. Free up some memory and maybe it will run a bit better. At the least, you won't be getting error messages about low memory all the time.

First, clear out all those silly apps you downloaded over the summer to pass the time that you no longer use. If you haven't used an app in a month or two, odds are that you don't actually need it. And even if you later find out that you want it, you can always re-download it.

Second, clear out your cache. Go to settings, find the storage option, and clear the cache. This can be hundreds of megabytes in size if left to build indefinitely.

Third, clear out the photos. This is the wife's biggest issue. She takes pictures and videos of our kids constantly. And I love it, because she's always sending me pictures of the boys while I'm at work and she has the day off. Yet, the gigabytes of photos and videos is compromising her phone's performance. Delete the garbage photos and videos for a starter. Next, back them all up to external storage and get them off the phone. Keep a few of course, but you don't need 20 pictures of your kid going down the same slide, do you?

Lastly, if you're up for it, do a factory reset. It will clear out everything on your phone including all the orphan file structures left over from some removed apps. Make sure you back up first. But, I find this option to be somewhat refreshing, and it's something I find myself doing once every 12 to 15 months.

Regular cleaning and maintenance can make a difference.

BRING NEW LIFE TO GALAXY TAB 10.1 -- ROOT IT AND GIVE IT A CUSTOM ROM

Over the last month, I brought out my older Galaxy Tab 10.1 (wifi only). It is a decent enough tablet, one of the earlier Android models. When I got it, it was running Honeycomb.

To be perfectly honest, however, it was always a bit sluggish and lagged quite a bit. I had hoped that the upgrade from Honeycomb to Ice Cream Sandwich would help, but it didn't, not really. Then, I watched Jelly Bean come out, but it never came to my tablet.

I kept using it, but it was never turning into what I had hoped: a tool to help organize notes, review information on the run, and keep track of my cases. Yes, it could do it, but it was sluggish and the writing apps weren't all that great.

Then, I watched OneNote come out with its handwriting addition to its Android app. I was excited for what it could do to my tablet. When I went to the Play Store, it was not available for my tablet, which was running Android version 4.0.4.

Almost ready to give up on my tablet, I came up with a new plan. I rooted my tablet and installed CyanogenMod 10.1. All of which was absolutely free and not terribly difficult to do.

Now, I'm running Android 4.2.2, and maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I think the whole tablet feels a little bit quicker. Plus, I can use OneNote again.

So, if you've got older technology (yes, I know, a 3 year old tablet isn't that old in the grand scheme of the cosmos, but it is in terms of early tables), before giving up on them, there might be ways of scraping a little more life out of them.

TALKING TO MY PHONE EVEN MORE

I like talking to my phone. A lot. I ask it about the weather, to text the wife that I'm on my way home, to call people, keep track of notes, add appointments, and all sorts of things. It was mildly annoying to do so originally because I had to double click the home button to launch Google's voice search. Then, I got the Google Experience Launcher, which meant I only had to say "Ok, Google" while my phone was unlocked and not in an app.

Now, thanks to the newest update to Google voice search, I can just say "Ok, google" even from the lock screen. Even if I'm in an app. Even if the screen is off but the phone is plugged in. Just say the magic words and I hear that magic binging noise, ready to answer my every question.

Yes, yes, I know that the Moto X has had this capability for a little while now. I'm over that. We're all getting it now, and I hope everyone enjoys it.

To enable, open the "Google" app, which is where you find your Google Now cards. Click on the menu button, go to setting, then voice. Then, click on the "Ok Google" detection where you can adjust the settings.

Now, be warned, enabling this means your phone is going to be listening to you. Most of the time in fact. And it's going to send information to Google about your searches and voice. For the privacy concerned, you should be aware of this. However, Google already knows a lot about me since I use an Android phone, Gmail, and most of their other services. As for me, I enabled it all as soon as possible and have been loving it.

YOU HAVE AIRDROID ON YOUR PHONE, RIGHT?

FutureLawyer reminded me today of an App I use on such a regular basis that I take it for granted that everyone has it: AirDroid.

Once you install AirDroid on your phone, you are able to access your phone from your desktop without any annoying wires. You can manipulate files on your phone using your computer, which I find to be much easier than trying to do it on the phone. Additionally, you can copy files between your phone and computer. Of course, if you're going to do this and are concerned about data charges, make sure your phone is on a WiFi network.

My current phone is not rooted; however, if your phone is rooted, AirDroid can display your phones screen on your computer. I used this feature a number of times on my prior phone for giving demonstrations via GoToMeeting. Rooted or not, you can display your camera's view via AirDroid.

While the ability to manipulate files is wonderful, I think the thing that truly makes AirDroid indispensable in the office setting is the ability to send and respond to text messages on your computer. This eliminates the need to switch devices constantly depending on how you wish/need to communicate. Of course, any text you send using AirDroid shows up in your text message stream on your phone. I find this feature to be incredibly helpful at the office.

Even if you are not rooted, AirDroid offers a lot, and I highly encourage everyone to install it.

GOOGLE NOW FINALLY ON THE DESKTOP... SORTA

I've previously discussed how much I like Google Now on my smart phone. Having useful information contained in the Now cards at my fingertips is something I like. And I don't mind that it knows all there is to know about me. I like it popping up notifications that packages have been shipped and reminding me of hearings.

Up until now, it has only been available for the phone; you could not get your cards on the desktop. As of today, those using Chrome Canary can see their Google Now cards on their desktops. Ars Technica has instructions for turning them on here.

It might still be a while before this feature comes to the stable version of Chrome (Canary is billed as the developer/early adopter version and "can be prone to breakage"). This is a step I've been waiting for for a while now, and I'm excited for it to make it to all versions of Chrome.

LET TRIGGER ADJUST YOUR PHONE FOR YOU

In a prior post, I had explained how you could use an app called NFC Task Launcher to program and read NFC tags on your phone. That app, which is now called Trigger, has other uses as well.

I have been using Trigger for several months now not only for programming NFC tags, but also to adjust my phone's ringer and notification settings based on what wi-fi network I am on, and if you purchase the full version, you can even have changes occur based on your GPS location.

As an example of how I use it, when I connect to my home's wi-fi network, Trigger turns my phone's ringer and notification setting to a mid-volume setting, turns the media volume up higher, and disable's driving mode. It also can change the ring tone and notification tone.

I have a different setting for when I connect to my office's wi-fi that turns the ringer and notification volumes down and turns the media volume completely off.

And where I am able to connect to a court's open wireless network, I have it programmed to turn all of the volumes off in case I forgot to when I enter the court.

I also have it set to automatically adjust my settings once I disconnect from any of those networks.

In addition to adjusting settings based upon your wi-fi location, the free version also allows triggers based upon your connection to a bluetooth device or by NFC tag.

In the premium version, battery status, time of day, whether you are charging your phone, presence of a headset, and GPS location can all act as triggers.

I highly recommend anyone with an android phone get at least the free version of Trigger for their phones. I have found it an amazing time saver in terms of making sure my volume settings are always appropriate.

SPOTIFY ON MOBILE

In case you're not familiar, Spotify is a music service that let's you play your favorite songs whenever you want. Best of all, it was always free on the desktop (ad supported of course). However, to get it on your mobile phone, you had to pay a monthly fee.

I've been a big fan of Spotify for well over a year now, and I actually prefer it over other streaming services like Pandora because I get to choose the songs I want to hear when I want to hear them. But I never could justify spending the money to get it on my phone.

As of yesterday, Spotify is now free on your mobile device. When you log in, you can listen to your music, ad supported, as well as listen to radio stations built around songs you like. It even has your playlists from the desktop version. The only catch is that you can't choose when to play your songs in your playlist. Instead, it is always on shuffle mode. A small price, as far as I'm concerned, to be able to listen to my music on the go.

All-in-all, if you're already a Spotify user, you've probably been waiting for this day for a while. If you're not using Spotify, what are you waiting for?

WHY I PREFER THE CHROME WEB BROWSER

In thinking back, I think the first web browser I used was Netscape. That soon gave way to Internet Explorer, which was what I used until early 2005 when I switched to Mozilla's Firefox. At the time, Firefox was the lighter, had fewer security vulnerabilities, and had tabbed browsing. Firefox was simple. It knew it was a browser and didn't try to let a bunch of features creep in.

For the past couple of years though, I've been using Google Chrome as my browser of choice. It allows for endless customization if you like, but it is ready to go out of the box. Additionally, I like that I can log in to Chrome, and it will important all of my settings to whatever computer I may be sitting at. This includes all of my bookmarks.

This cross computer functionality is also cross platform: everything on my computer's version of chrome shows up on my phone's chrome browser as well. In fact, if I have a site pulled up on my computer that I would like to view on my phone, I can just go to my phone's browser and it has the link waiting for me. A simple tap opens up whatever tab I may have open on any other computer without having to retype the link.

Lastly, Google Chrome's integration with Google Now is great. Using my computer, I was looking up information about the Social Security office I was going to be visiting the morning before the social security hearing I had that afternoon. Google Now took the address off of the computer's tab and had my phone tell me how long it would take to get there given current traffic patterns and asked if I wanted to start the navigation app.

In short, Chrome strives to be your one-stop-shop for accessing information and organizing your life, and I think it is succeeding at that. As an attorney, anything to help do that gets a gold star in my book. 

NFC TAGS CAN HELP

A lot of smartphones that use the Android operating system, some Windows phones, and some Blackberry phones are now equipped to use NFC (near field communications). Phones with this capability can easily send files and information to each other by simply touching the phones together. Plus, when tags are programmed, touching your phone to an NFC tag can make your phone change its settings.

I'm not going to go into the details of programming NFC tags because Lifehacker has put together a guide on this. I will say that programming tags is incredibly easy with the NFC Task Launcher App, and the tags themselves are exceptionally cheap.

In addition to having NFC tags in my car and next to my bed, I use them in the office in a number of ways. First, I have an NFC tag that will allow the phone to connect to our public wi-fi network. This keeps people from having to remember or enter the SSID and pass phrase.

Second, I have a tag on my desk that when I tap it, my phone's ringer is silenced, the vibration turned on, and mobile data is turned off since I'm on the local wi-fi.

I have another tag on the bag I take to court with me that completely silences the phone, turns the vibration off, and turns all system sounds off. That way, I'm sure my phone isn't accidentally going off in the middle of a hearing and doesn't make other noises if I pull it out during a break. If I touch the tag a second time, it turns my ringers and other sounds back on.

Get some NFC tags, program them, and see how they can save you time in setting your phone up the way you want.

KEEPING TRACK OF THOSE PASSWORDS

How many usernames and passwords do you have? Email, PACER, electronic filing, bank accounts, and the list keeps going. For example, I have more than 50 different website's username/password combinations stored on my phone, and there are surely sites that I never bothered keeping track of. Recently, I was asked how I keep all of them organized.

One way to do it would be to just use the same username and password for everything I do and never change it. Of course, that would be about the least secure thing to do. If someone got your password for your email account, they would then also have access to your bank accounts and who knows what else.

Instead, I try to have a different username and password for everything. To keep track of them all, I use a free, open source program called Password Safe.

One of the great things about Password Safe is that it stores all of your files locally in an encrypted file. To open the file, you only have to remember one master password. It will automatically generate new passwords for you, alert you if your passwords are too weak, and even remind you to change your passwords on a regular schedule if you like. It even remembers prior passwords so that you don't accidentally reuse one.

They also have Android and iPhone versions so that you will always have your passwords with you wherever you go. You also have the option of storing your encrypted password file in the cloud for Android with another app.

So, if you're still using the same password you have been using for the past 15 years, update your passwords and use Password Safe to keep it all organized.

IS YOUR PHONE LOCKED?

If you had all of your passwords, credit card numbers, account numbers, addresses, phone numbers, your social security number, and your client's confidential information stored on paper, you'd make sure it was in a locked box, right? After all, if someone took the box, you wouldn't want them to be able to just open it right up and take all of your stuff?

So why isn't your phone locked? It probably has all of the above information on it. If you would lock that information up if it was in paper form, why not when it is in digital form on your phone.

Android phones make locking your phone easy and even give you several lock options. To access them, open up your phones setting's and find the screen lock menu. From there, you will have the option of enabling several different locks, including a dot pattern (my lock of choice), a pin number, and a password. And on at least the Galaxy S4, there is the option of using the camera to allow your face to serve as the unlocking method.

WHAT IF YOUR SMARTPHONE WAS LOST OR STOLEN?

For many lawyers, our smartphones and tablets are essential tools in the practice of law. It's replaced the paper calendars that used to be lugged around. It's where we send and receive email about cases and clients. We do legal research on it using apps like Westlaw and FastCase. Not to mention, it has a lot of our personal information stored in it.

So, what are you going to do if it gets lost or stolen? How are you going to protect both your client's confidences and your own personal information?

If you're using an Android operating system, the answer is easy: the Android Device Manager. To enable it, open up the Google Settings on your phone, choose "Android Device Manager", and check the "remotely locate this device" and "allow remote factory reset".

Then, from any computer, you can go to https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager and log in with your Google account. You'll be able to see in Google maps where your phone is. You can make your phone ring at full volume - useful when you've lost it under your couch cushions and can't find it. And, perhaps most importantly, you can essentially tell your phone to forget everything it knows about you and your client by clicking the erase device button.

So protect yourself and your clients. Turn on the device manager settings and hope you only have to use it when your two year old has hidden it in his pile of stuffed animals.