Some things I haven’t had time to write about from the last few weeks:

• Synkron Syncs Files and Folders Across Platforms | Lifehacker
• GIMP Tricks Everyone Should Know | Lifehacker
• THIS is Why Solos Must Learn Technology and Think Globally | Build a Solo Practice, LLC
• Zotero: The Next-Generation Research Tool | Futurelawyer
• First Look: Microsoft Office Heads Online with Next Release | Lifehacker
• RSS and Sliced Bread. Tough To Explain. Never Go Back | Technology Evangelist
• Strategic Design: 6 Steps For Building Successful Websites | Smashing Magazine
• Value Billing Q&A | Legal Ease Blog
• YouMail Replaces, Transcribes Your Voicemail | Lifehacker

Annoying, isn’t it? And yet, if you are an attorney, there are dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of people who can make your phone ring any time they want to.

This is my favorite part of my answering machine message:

I return phone calls at 10 and 4 if I am in the office. If you need to reach me more quickly, please send me an e-mail.

(more…)

“Voicemail is dead. Please tell everyone so they’ll stop using it.”

Oh, if only it were so! Voicemails are one of the most annoying time sucks in my work day.

I hate the phone. It is always an interruption. But if I don’t answer it, then there is that blinking voicemail notification staring me in the face, reminding me that I will have to listen long, rambling messages.

I would much rather quickly scan an e-mail when I have a few free moments and mental cycles, but nobody seems to listen to the part of my message that politely requests an e-mail instead of a voicemail.

I would love to just stop using voicemail entirely, but ours is not a profession where that would fly. Instead, I am thinking about using an assistant—or maybe a service like SpinVox or PhoneTag, that converts voicemail messages to text and sends them as e-mail.

A world without voicemail. Beautiful.

I decided to give PhoneTag a try for my trip to visit mynsister in Alaska (hello from Juno!), and I am loving it.