e-Tip #74 - February 2008 - Text-Only Version


<> Welcome to e-Tips

Did you make a New Year’s resolution?  Wil Wilcox and I resolved to reach out to more of our fellow Eclipse users through the e-Tips, which is our free, monthly e-mail newsletter.  

If this is your first e-Tip, we hope you’ll find it helpful.  Each month always includes at least one tip for Eclipse users, but we also look for Windows tricks and gadgets that we hope you’ll find useful, no matter what software you use for court reporting, captioning, etc. 
Occasionally we announce seminars here and sometimes other authors join us, but our goal is always to share helpful information each month in a format that doesn’t take long to read.

This is our 74th e-Tip, and we do keep an archive of all the earlier ones.  Just go to www.KVincent.com and click on the e-Tips button.  You’ll also find a short form there to add/remove a name for the mailing service, but we hope you’ll use it to add a friend’s name rather than to remove your own.  

Wishing you great success with your own New Year’s resolutions,

Keith Vincent & Wil Wilcox


<> Keith Vincent -- Macro:  "Scan Several"

For the past few months, I’ve been working with a charming woman in the South of France as she’s been learning to use Total Eclipse.  Together we’ve put together a version of the program where all the menu items have French labels, and that in itself has been fun.  For instance, what the English call “dragged keys,” the French call “effleurements.”  The “fleure” part of that word means flower.  So the French don’t have a problem with dragging; they have a problem with flowering.  Poetic, isn’t it?

At one point, Marie-Noëlle asked if there was a scan that would find any kind of conflict as well as any untran, but nothing else.  Well, the “Trouble Spot” scan (Ctrl T or Hyperkey t) wasn’t a good fit because it stops on untrans, unselected conflicts, and form fields that have not yet been filled in.  I put together a macro for her.  Afterwards, it occurred to me that a similar macro might be useful for other people as well.

On the e-Tips page of my website, I’ve added a portable macro file called “Scan Several.”  I’ll describe the steps in the macro because you may want to change some of them — for instance, you might want to find something other than untrans, unselected conflicts, and computer-selected conflicts.

     STEP ... MEANING
Cmd: Next scan ...	Uses the “Any” scan
D ... “Deselect all” previous choices on this dialogue
	U ... Optional:  “Untranslates”
C ... Optional:  “Unselected Conflict”
I ... Optional:  “A/I selected conflict”
Enter ... Okay

Want to modify this macro?  You can.  You do not have to use the steps that I have described as “Optional.”  So where I have U and then C and then I, you might have just U and C or something else.  These letters simply use the underlined choices on the “Scan any” dialogue.  Thus, if you wanted your scan to stop on “Scopist’s Editing changes,” then your macro would have an “E” as one of the last steps.

I hope you like this macro, or at least some form of it.  Here’s how to download it and make it functional on your computer.  Go to the e-Tips page of www.KVincent.com.  Look for e-Tip #74.  You should see a line that says this:  “To download macro, right-click here and ‘Save Target’ as a file on your Windows Desktop.”  If you’re using Firefox, the “Save Target” might be called “Save Link As.”  Different wording for the same function.

Save the macro on your Windows desktop so that it will be easy to find later.  Then go into the “Edit” section of your Total Eclipse user settings and use the “Macros” button.  When the list of macros opens, use the “Import” button.  You’ll want to click on the drop-down arrow next to “Look in.”  Select “Desktop” as where you want to look for “Scan Several” or “Scan Several.mac” and then use the “Open” button.  That will bring the macro into your user settings.

One last step.  “Scan Several” should now be in your list of macros.  Find it in that list and then use the “Edit” button to see the steps that it performs.  You can edit those steps, as described above, but you definitely want to use the “Speed keys” button.  You can set up a “Standard” speedkey or one that only works when “Hyperkeys” are on.  Click on the box next to “Keystroke” and then press whatever key you intend to use.  It might be the “S” (without shift key) while Hyperkeys is on or it might be Alt together with some other key.  What you’re doing is a bit of Keyboard Customization, and there’s even a Visualizer movie on that topic.  It’s in Section 1 of the Visualizer Topics.  That section’s devoted to Display & Command Options, which is where you’ll see “K - Keyboard Customization.”  Enjoy!


<> Announcement:  Bridge 2.0 — Can’t Install?  Run from a Flash Drive!

Bridge 2.0 is a free, easy, powerful realtime viewing program that Advantage Software has developed to work with all reporters’ CAT software. As mentioned in last month’s e-Tip, Bridge 2.0 can now be downloaded at www.EclipseCAT.com. The same site also offers free access to the interface info which all realtime software vendors are encouraged to implement so that all reporters, not just Eclipse users, will be able to take advantage of Instant Auto-Refresh.  What a breakthrough it would be for our profession if all CAT programs and all client programs, including LiveNote, Summation, etc., would implement this time-proven Auto-Refresh technology!	

What if you can’t “install” Bridge 2.0 on an attorney’s locked-down computer?  You can still run it from a Flash Drive.  Bridge 2.0 is actually a very simple program and does NOT need to install any hidden files in order to work.  The flash drive simply needs to have a copy of the Bridge program on it.  In fact, you could install Bridge on your own computer and copy the entire Bridge folder onto a flash drive.  That way even the Visualizer movies would be able to be run from the flash drive.  The Bridge installer could then be copied onto the client’s computer so that a real installation could take place later and then the flash drive would not be needed any longer.


<> Wil Wilcox -- Microphone Monitoring via a Wireless Headset

Readback Insurance

In several e-Tips, we’ve looked at wireless connections for your steno input and your realtime transcription output, but earphones involved a wire that could not be cut.  Now, there’s a wireless solution for that, too.  It’s the Plantronics Voyager 855 headset and the Jabra A120s music adapter.  This is what I’ve been using lately for monitoring my audio recording and for making corrections during breaks.

The Plantronics Voyager 855 is a wireless earbud stereo headset that’s light enough and comfortable enough to wear all day. Since it’s wireless, I'm not tied down to my laptop during sidebar conferences or in-chamber proceedings. I can also listen inconspicuously to the audiosync at any time.  

The Voyager 855 transforms a bluetooth headset designed for cell phones into a sleek earpiece for reporters who want to listen to the audio before or during readback or who want to monitor what their microphone is picking up, as an aid to realtime writing. Note: The Voyager 855 comes with a detachable second earbud, at the end of a small cord, in case you want to listen to music in stereo. However, you do NOT have to use the second earbud. Thus, whlie reporting, one ear can monitor audio recording while the other ear remains free.

The Plantronics Voyager 855 has a rated listening time of 6 hours and comes with a typical cell-phone type charger.  It’s compatible with cell phones, but I’d rather not have Call Waiting distract me during proceedings nor would I want to run down the batteries unnecessarily.  For that reason I don’t use it with my cell phone.

Bluetooth devices must be paired with a companion device.  While the Voyager 855 can be paired with your computer’s built-in bluetooth, that is not what I do.  I learned that people have had difficulty doing that and that playback isn't always in stereo even when they're successful.

To transmit the audio from my computer, I use a device called the Jabra A120s.  It’s similar to a Jabra device that offers bluetooth wireless listening to iPods, but the A120s is designed to plug into a standard headphone jack found on computers and music players. The A120s wirelessly sends the computer’s audio to the Voyager 855 headset.

The Jabra A120s Bluetooth Music Adapter is as tiny as a matchbox, but it gives you about 10 hours of listening time.  It charges by being plugged into a USB port on your computer.  

Pairing bluetooth devices isn't exactly a no-brainer, but I did not have any difficulties getting these two devices to work together seamlessly within minutes.  Just follow the supplied instructions or have a geek help you. Simply plug the Jabra A120s adapter into your PC, pair up with the Voyager 855 Bluetooth stereo headset and - PLAY - you’re good to go. 

I should mention that you cannot use the Jabra A120s to stream audiosync to just any bluetooth headset. It must operate on the A2DP (stereo) bluetooth profile for audio functions like that to work. So your choices in bluetooth headsets are limited, but I'm happy with the Plantronics Voyager 855 headset.                                                                                                            

I purchased the Plantronics Voyager 855 and the Jabra A120s online through Amazon.com. I was unable to find these in any of my local stores. Of course, you’ll want to practice using it for editing at home before you rely on it for a realtime job.  

You can think of this equipment as readback insurance.  I appreciate the ability to play back the audio for myself to assist in readback of difficult and technical material. If you’ve never read back with audiosync assistance, it’s quite surprising how quickly you can adapt. You can read back from your text and notes on screen while at the same time hearing the audio playing back. Voicewriters have read back this way for years. They simply repeat aloud what they hear through their headphones from their original recording. I've only rarely used this for readback but have been very grateful to have it for the times that I did. I more often use it to make quick edits on the fly and, through mic monitoring, to enhance my abililty to hear speakers in the room.

I truly believe that microphone monitoring, now using wireless headsets, can take our realtime reporting to the next level.

For more info on the Plantronics Voyager 855, go to www.Plantronics.com.

For the Jabra A120s, visit www.Jabra.com.

For more information on microphone monitoring, check out e-Tip 55 (www.KVincent.com, e-Tips archive.)  

Total Eclipse also contains an excellent Visualizer movie called “Microphone Monitoring through Earphones.”