Supercharge your Productivity ➲ How BLUEOCEAN.law use Raycast? [currently: Mac Only]

19/3/2024

AI-Related Wizards

Supercharge your Productivity ➲ How BLUEOCEAN.law use Raycast? [currently: Mac Only]

This blog article introduces Raycast [currently only available on Mac] & showcases how BLUEOCEAN.law use Raycast to supercharge our productivity. 

James D. Ford Esq.

Founder & [iC]℠ a.k.a Outside General Counsel

Contents

What is Raycast?

Quick Tips

Will Apple Acquire Raycast?

How BLUEOCEAN.law use Raycast?

1️⃣ AI Commands

2️⃣ AI Generating Code

3️⃣ BLUEOCEAN.law Website Search ➲ Quicklinks

Configuring Raycast with your own BLUEOCEAN.law Website Search ➲ Quicklinks

What is Raycast?

This is a bit difficult to explain as Raycast can do so many things, some call it a Swiss-Army knife for your Mac.

With a community of developers building thousands of extensions, the functionality is always expanding into new territory.

The best way to quickly get your head around it is to watch the "What's in ____'s Raycast" Youtube video series which interviews Raycast team members & users about how they use Raycast.

The basic version of Raycast is free, so if you have a Mac you can download it from the home page of their website and try it out for yourself.

Quick Tips

If you only have access to a Windows or Linux PC, you can watch the "Quick Tips" Youtube video series to get an idea of what is possible.

The AI Chat integration that is available in the paid PRO subscription just takes everything to another level.

Will Apple Acquire Raycast?

My prediction is that Apple will at some point in the future seriously consider acquiring Raycast.

If they do, I hope they integrate the Raycast team with their own development team.

My view is that every Mac should ship with Raycast built-in.

It just makes a lot of sense.

My personal experience is one of asking myself "how long has this been going on?" and "why wasn't I told sooner?"

If all Mac users are brought on-board as Raycast users from day-one, I think that their user experience will be exponentially improved.

How BLUEOCEAN.law use Raycast?

[A work in progress ...]

We are only in the very early stages of using Raycast, but we can immediately see what is possible.

Watch this space, as over time I intend to expand on this section as I explore use cases and customise Raycast for use by both myself and BLUEOCEAN.law.

It didn't take long to decide to upgrade to the PRO version, as we wanted to ensure that everything we setup within Raycast is automatically synchronised across devices so that it works consistently.

As we already have access to Titan Lawyer [Private AI] we were not expecting the direct access to Chat GPT-3.5 Turbo that Raycast provides would have anything new to offer.

How wrong can one be?

1️⃣ AI Commands

Whilst Grammarly AI probably has the "always on the in background" writing support territory already covered, its scope is limited to being a helpful editor.

It also represents a privacy concern.

A better approach for lawyers is to be able to be selective regarding exactly what text is submitted for AI improvement.

This is the approach that Raycast takes.

My Original Writing

It isn't so much the power of the AI for use on substantive legal tasks (like reviewing a Contract or summarising a court judgment) that Titan Lawyer [Private AI] has been specifically designed to do.

Titan Lawyer [Private AI] does this kind of work (the heavy lifting) in spades.
But what it doesn't have is lightning fast productivity hacks like the following AI commands that are built-in to Raycast.
AI commands can be triggered using a hotkey or activated by a short text code.
What is supercool is that you don't need to open a specific app, there are no captchas, and you don't need to login to anything.
The AI commands are always available (even as I type out this blog article) and always just a few hotkeys away from being activated.
For example, the "Improve Writing" command, or the "Change Tone to Professional" command, the list goes on!

The Solution ➲ A Titan Lawyer [Private AI] Raycast Add-on

What I would very much like to see is an integration between Titan Lawyer [Private AI] and Raycast, so that I can take full advantage of Titan without the need to login, etc.

I know that on the Raycast side, it is simply a matter of changing the LLM that it accesses in the chat setting.

Currently, the LLM model used by Raycast can be upgraded to Chat GPT-4 (if you sign up for the add-on by agreeing to pay an additional $10 per month).

Therefore, the commercial reality would most likely necessitate that I would need to upgrade to activate any Titan Lawyer add-on.

Replacement Versions Suggested by Raycast AI

So If I take what I have typed directly above (in this AI Commands section) as an example, and apply the Raycast "Improve Writing" command.

I could have replaced my original text with the new version AI gives me to consider using, but instead I will paste it below by way of demonstration.

A mistake was made in that AI text stated that Titan Lawyer [Private AI] is [not] primarily designed ...

If you delete the word "not" the paragraph instantly makes a lot more sense.

I am not quite sure which version I prefer, however it is good to have a choice.

I have also pasted the output from the AI command "Change to Professional Tone" below as another demonstration.

Improve Writing

Titan Lawyer [Private AI] is [not] primarily designed for substantive legal tasks like contract review or court judgment summarization. It excels at this heavy lifting work. Unlike Raycast, it lacks lightning-fast productivity hacks like AI commands. These commands can be triggered by hotkeys or short text codes, eliminating the need to open specific apps, deal with captchas, or log in. They are readily accessible and just a few hotkeys away, such as "Improve Writing" or "Change Tone to Professional."

Change to Professional Tone

It sounds like Titan Lawyer [Private AI] is designed for substantive legal tasks while lacking productivity hacks like those in Raycast AI, which offers commands like "Improve Writing" and "Change Tone to Professional" for instant use without needing to open specific apps or log in.

This video is a great showcase from what I am talking about.

2️⃣ AI Generating Code

My more advanced use of Raycast to directly access Chat GPT-3.5 Turbo had it writing Python/Java/Html code for me, again with all the advantages of being instantly available without the need to login, etc.

For the whole story, please read my recent blog article:

Fun with Python ➲ Randomly Delivering our [68+] Lawyer Logic blog Articles

3️⃣ BLUEOCEAN.law Website Search ➲ Quicklinks

Raycast allows the configuration of your own Quicklinks, with the ability to provide default queries search parameters & and input search terms directly from the Raycast command line.

By way of example, I setup the following BLUEOCEAN.law Quicklink to conduct a NSW document search on our website.

If I open Raycast and type "nsw", the Quicklink I configured appears in the Raycast command line.

I can type the keyword/s I am searching for in the space I provided for search terms, in this case "Power of Attorney", hit enter, and our BLUEOCEAN.law website opens at the search result page, providing results only for the "New South Wales" region.

I have setup Quicklinks in the same fashion, for all of the State & Territories of Australia, New Zealand, California and International Legal Document searches.

BLUEOCEAN.law Raycast NSW Legal Docs Search Quicklink

BLUEOCEAN.law Search Result Page

BLUEOCEAN.law Search Result Page

Configuring Raycast with your own BLUEOCEAN.law Website Search ➲ Quicklinks

Screenshot of our BLUEOCEAN.law website search Quicklinks configured in Raycast

Until such time as we manage to code and have an extension approved by Raycast, please feel free to replicate our BLUEOCEAN.law website search Quicklinks in your Raycast setup by using our below configurations as examples, after triggering the "Create Quicklink" command in Raycast.

If your own website has search capabilities you may be able to port this concept across for your own as well as your clients searches of your own website.

Please let us know your feedback in the blog comments section below.

Search Entire BLUEOCEAN.law Website

Name

Search All ➲ BLUEOCEAN.law

Raycast Link

https://www.blueocean.law/?search={Search entire site ...}

Open With (Select your preferred browser from the dropdown menu)

Search ALL NSW Legal Documents

Name

Search Legal Documents [NSW] ➲ BLUEOCEAN.law

Link

https://www.blueocean.law/documents-search-results?search={Search NSW Legal Docs ...}&region={Jurisdiction:new-south-wales}

Open With (Select your preferred browser from the dropdown menu)

Search ALL California Legal Documents

Name

Search Legal Documents [CA] ➲ BLUEOCEAN.law

Link

https://www.blueocean.law/documents-search-results?search={Search CA Legal Docs ...}&region={Jurisdiction:california}

Open With (Select your preferred browser from the dropdown menu)

Social Sharing Image: Compact Raycast window on my desktop [background sourced from Wallpaper Wizard].

Credits: This blog article was written by James D. Ford Esq., GAICD CIPP/US CC | Attorney-at-Law, Blue Ocean Law Group℠.

State of California Bar Number: 346590

Important Notice:

This blog article is intended for general interest + information only.

It is not legal advice, nor should it be relied upon or used as such.

We recommend you always consult a lawyer for legal advice specifically tailored to your needs & circumstances.