Page 16 - Pierce County Lawyer Novemer December 2024

My Top Ten Tech Gifts
By David Smith
All, it is such a joy to write these articles every year.
My father, Joseph A. Smith, was a prolific writer.
Unfortunately, he passed this year, but I always sent
him our magazine with my tech articles. Although he may
just have been a proud father, he was very complimentary
toward the magazine, its content and, of course, the tech article
each year. He was also a contributor to our magazine, which
brought him great happiness toward the end! We are coming
up on my 25th year practicing law (time flies), and, as always,
we appreciate all of the connections to legal community friends
and mentors (you know who you are).
This year’s tech article, as always, has an aspect of my life that
connects the ‘tech dots’ for these article, and this year is no
exception. My daughter, Torie, is currently in the Recreational
Management program at Western. Recently, she said she
wanted to go backpacking with me, so, several of the items in
this year’s article are backpacking related. And, of course, there
is new tech I am recommending that I think will be great gifts
and very useful to our legal community. Without further ado,
here is this year’s list.
1. Lenovo Folding Tablet, X1.
This is the next generation of
Tablet technology. It combines
laptop technology with “foldable
phone” technology. The unit
has a 16.3” display that can be
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displayed in landscape or portrait mode, but what is really cool
about the unit (as can be seen by the picture) is that it can fold
in half (yes, like a newspaper or book). The footprint when
the unit is folded in half is about 12”. The keyboard and stand
to hold it can be purchased separately. These items, costing a
few hundred dollars, are magnetic and stick to the unit. The
unit can also be used as a portable monitor. It is made with
strong material and if the unit is dropped it should not crack or
break. Also, the crease in the middle, where it folds, is hardly
noticeable. Frankly, I like the portrait mode because it allows
me to read full page pleadings like I am reading them on paper.
This product has a great processor, most recent Windows and
a battery life of up to 11 hours. It can be purchased only at the
Lenovo Website at www.lenovo.com for $2,299.00.
2. Samsung Galaxy
Fold Phone 6.
I had the same phone for so
many years, the Note 8, and
I really liked it. It didn’t blow
up, or crash or get hacked
the whole time I owned it.
But, alas, time passes and
the phones get new tricks to
suck you in. I honestly could
have kept using the Note
8 for another 4-5 years, but, wow, Samsung came out with a
cell phone that folds. There were several versions prior to the
current one (Samsung Fold 6). But we decided in the Fall of
last year to upgrade phones and we now own the Samsung
Fold 5 phone, which is almost identical in spec to the Fold 6. I
will tell you that I really like this phone. It is well-vetted by the