From the e-newsletter: “Justice Sandra Day O'Connor received three standing ovations and a mounted glass globe this week when she gave a speech at a black-tie dinner for the Atlanta-based Southern Center for International Studies. At the U.S. Supreme Court, however, O'Connor's message -- that American courts should pay more attention to the laws of other countries -- gets a much more mixed reception.”
The rest of the story is here.
Source: Today’s Legal News, 31 October 2003
From Trey Ryder: “As we approach the year’s end, people get caught up in the spirit of the season. As a result, they often forget the many ways they risk injury or liability. As a lawyer, you have many opportunities to educate different audiences -- and several opportunities for free publicity.
What’s more, the closer we get to the holidays, the more advertising we’ll see in newspapers. Since editors try to maintain a balance between advertising and articles, as the number of ads increases, editors will need more articles to keep the right balance.
Follow these steps and I will (almost) guarantee that you’ll benefit from a number of articles and interviews as the holidays approach.”
Source: Trey Ryder's LAWYER MARKETING ALERT, September 17, 2003
© Copyright 2003 by Trey Ryder LLC
Via: ESQlawtech, 31 October 2003
Ten Things To Think About Before You Build That Fence
From the e-news: "The people next door have just adopted a dog that barks every minute the neighbors are gone. So, you're thinking about a fence. Nothing could be easier than building a fence, right? While you're considering materials, color, size, and cost, here are a few more things to think about before you actually build that fence.
1. Your boundary line. If you build your fence on your neighbor's property because you aren't sure where the property line is, your neighbor becomes the owner of a free fence. Hire a surveyor.
2. The subsurface. If the fence builders need to excavate in order to plant posts, for example, they could run into underground utility cables or sewers, or who knows what else. Contact your utility companies and local government for a subsurface survey.
3. The "why". It is illegal in many areas to build a "spite" fence, that is, a fence that is meant to serve no useful purpose but is built just to annoy your neighbor.
To Read The Rest Of The Fence Building Tips, See:
http://public.findlaw.com/real_estate/neighbors/life_events/le15_4ten.html"
Source: FindLaw's CONSUMER LEGAL TIP
A FindLaw Resource Covering Solutions To Everyday Problems
October 30, 2003, Issue # 15
Copyright (c) 2003 FindLaw, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Firms Seek Big Names for Senior Advisers, Law Degrees Optional
From the e-newsletter: “They are often the biggest names at their law firms. Well-credentialed and well-connected, they are ideally situated to be rainmakers -- but J.D.s or not, they're not lawyers. Instead, they belong to the growing ranks of senior advisers, brought on to guide firms through non-legal intricacies of various markets and to provide access to prospective clients. And in the view of Covington & Burling's Stuart Eizenstat, it's the wave of the globalized future.”
Visit LawJobs"
Source: Today’s Legal News, 30 October 2003
From Glenn K. Garnes: “Here's the latest example of lawyers who understand the tremendous benefits the Internet offers us to leverage our time and knowledge. Take a look at Millennium Divorce.com. This site was created by a group of lawyers who obviously have some experience with family law matters, and is a model for how your knowledge could be generating an additional stream of income for you even when you're not representing a client...”
Source: ESQlawtech, 31 October 2003
Just COULDN'T resist this one!
From the blog: “Are you a small firm practitioner litigating a Daubert motion? Do you need to keep close watch on your research expenses? Stop by Walmart.”
Source: Blog 702, 29 October 2003
Patrick Douglas Crispen writes in his e-newsletter, The Internet Tourbus: “…Windows has a …built-in feature called the "Windows Messenger Service." Now this is NOT to be confused with "Microsoft Messenger" or "MSN Messenger," Microsoft's free instant messaging program (a la AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, or IRC.) *WINDOWS* Messenger Service is a way for mainframe and network administrators to broadcast an emergency text message to all users.
The Windows Messenger Service is, by default, enabled in Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP (Home and Professional), and Windows 2003.
And it's about as useless as giving a job application to my brother.
The problem is that the Windows Messenger Service can be used by unscrupulous spammers to send you an untraceable pop-up message even if your Internet Explorer is closed. And, even worse, a hacker can use the Windows Messenger Service to break into your computer and do all sort of nasty things "including installing programs, viewing, changing or deleting data, or creating new accounts with full privileges." [Source: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-043 at http://tinyurl.com/r2j3]
By the way, you DON'T need to worry about the Windows Messenger Service if have a Mac, a *nix box, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98SE, or Windows ME. BUT, if you have Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003, you need to turn this little bugger off. Now.
You could manually disable the Windows Messenger Service if you want -- the University of Virginia's Information Technology and Communications department shows you how to disable it at http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/docs/messagepopup/ -- but if I were you I'd just hop on over to http://grc.com/stm/shootthemessenger.htm and download the free "Shoot the Messenger" program.
I *HIGHLY* recommend this program for four reasons:
1. It's free. Free is good.
2. The Shoot the Messenger program is only 22 kilobytes in size.That's so small it's downright silly. You can download this program literally faster than you can read this sentence, even on the slowest modem connection on earth.
3. Shoot the Messenger was created by Steve Gibson at Gibson Research, the guy behind ShieldsUp and SpinRite. Steve is probably one of the most trusted and respected computer gurus on the planet. Having Steve Gibson [through his Shoot the Messenger program] disable the Windows Messenger Service for you is like having Lance Armstrong fix your bike or Michael Schumaker fix your car.
4. Downloading and running Shoot the Messenger keeps you from having to get your hands dirty by going to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services > Messenger ...blah blah blah.
Once you have downloaded Shoot the Messenger, just double-click on the
shootthemessenger.exe icon. A little window appears telling you if the Windows Messenger Service is running on your computer. If it is, just click on the "Disable Messenger" button and then click on "Exit."
That's it. The Windows Messenger Service is now disabled, and your computer is now protected from both the spammers and the hackers who have been using the Windows Messenger Service to do nasty things to other people's computers. Oh, and you can delete shootthemessenger.exe if you want. You don't need it any more. :)”
Source: The Internet Tourbus, Volume 9, Number 19 -- 30 Oct 2003
Copyright 1995-2003, Rankin & Crispen - All rights reserved
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From the e-newsletter: “A one-year study by the Federal Judicial Center found more advantages than disadvantages to offering remote public access to electronic criminal case documents. A majority of judges agreed that unlimited remote public access to criminal case files, excepting certain documents, should continue.”
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
30 October 2003
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
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From today's Daily Business Review:
· "To prevent identity theft and other criminal uses of data as more court documents go online, the policy-making arm of the federal courts [U.S. Judicial Conference] has approved a plan that requires attorneys to delete selected personal data, including Social Security numbers, from both their paper and electronic filings [effective on December 1].
· See also the Conference Adopts Policy on Electronic Access to Court Files, as well as the Report on Privacy and Public Access to Electronic Case Files.
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
October 29, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
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From the e-newsletter: “During its September meeting, the Judicial Conference amended the Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule for federal courts. The previous schedule placed a cap on the seven cents per page charge for Internet access to data obtained electronically from the public records of individual cases in the courts, with a maximum $2.10, the equivalent of 30 pages, for electronic access to any single document. The amendment extends this cap to all case documents, including docket sheets and case-specific reports, with the exception of transcripts of federal court proceedings. The cap will apply to all PACER, RACER, or CM/ECF sites.
SEE, Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
30 October 2003
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
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Taming Online Research: Tracking, Reporting, & Cost Recovery:
· "Law firm libraries and information centers have new and better opportunities to track usage of online research, and participate in cost recovery endeavors. Software vendors, both new comers and old timers, help make better reporting possible."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
October 29, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
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From the NewsWire: “Remember that little old Microsoft lawsuit? The one in which the company was found guilty of antitrust violations? Well, that lawsuit was followed by a class action lawsuit in California which Microsoft settled for $1.1 billion, the catch being that it would only have to pay up if people filed claims. Seeing a golden marketing opportunity, upstart Lindows has launched MSFreePC.com, a site that will process your claim against Microsoft, and then let you apply that money to an Office-like suite (either StarOffice or LindowsOffice), the LindowsOS CD, and a library of Linux software. What's more, 10,000 eligible people will receive a free Lindows PC. Lindows is a version of Linux designed for home and small business users. MSFreePC.com offers a wizard that tells you if you qualify -- you must have purchased a Microsoft software license for use in California between February 18, 1995 and December 15, 2001. If eligible, you can submit the claim online and obtain an instant settlement that won't cost you a dime. To learn more, visit http://www.msfreepc.com.”
Source: TechnoLawyer’s NewsWire, 29 October 2003
Copyright © 2003 PeerViews Inc. All rights reserved.
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From the e-newsletter: “This short article describes ScanSoft software, called PDF Converter, which lets "Word users ... convert PDF files into editable word-processing documents while preserving tables, columns, graphics and other formatting."
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
30 October 2003
(c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
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From Fred Langa: "Windows XP has gussied up some of its built-in maintenance tools, but in doing so, has actually hidden some of their power. For example, take Defrag. The normal, manual way to run Defrag is to click to Start/Control Panel/Performance and then select "Rearrange items on your hard disk to make programs run faster." All those clicks, and all that verbiage, simply starts the Defrag.Exe program (usually located in the Windows\System32 folder). When you run Defrag this way, it comes up with a graphical front end that requires still more pointing and clicking to make anything actually happen. So, this approach is useless for automated defrags when no one will be there to point and click as needed.
And that really *is* the way Microsoft steers you to use tools like Defrag. For example, if you search for "Defrag" in XP's help file, the primary search results ("Using Disk Defragmenter" and "Disk Defragmenter") offer links to the graphical, manual--- and limited--- version of Defrag.
But Defrag actually can run *better* with no graphical front end at all and that's the key to using it (and other, similar system tools) in a far more powerful and fully automated fashion. That's the topic of the full-length feature article at
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15600170 : We'll start with the basics to make sure those new to Windows and XP are on board. But we'll end with some advanced ideas that can let your PC perform multiple automated unattended maintenance tasks of arbitrary complexity, and in whatever sequence you choose--- and all for free, using only the tools built into XP!
For example, if you want to have your PC automatically wake itself up every night at 3AM, clean up your hard drive, backup all your files, defrag every disk or partition in your system, and then go back to sleep--- no problem! In fact, it's easy, once you know how.
Let me show you how simple it can be, using Defrag as the working example. Just click on over to the free article at
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15600170
for the full scoop.”
[Good article – I just wish I had XP!]
Source: The LangaList, Special Issue Standard Edition Version
30 October 2003
Copyright (c) 2003 Fred Langa / Langa Consulting LLC.
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Thank you Peter for correcting my reporting of “Free for Individual Users Who Have Microsoft Office XP and Office 2003.”
Peter comments: “No, it is not free. Unless all you want to do is view a little picture "verifying" its authenticity. To be able to sign them, you need to spend $20 for a digital certificate from another vendor, then pay the post office per document you want to sign. I was not able to see how much they charge per block of signatures, since it requires a digital certificate and disclosing a credit card to get to that page.”
In my own defense, I was unable to test the service since our library is pretty poor and we are STILL using Windows 98. I apologize for my mistake.
From Ernie: "God forbid I should be in a coma ...but if I were I'd want this doctor treating me. Come to think of it, I'd want him treating me no matter what state of mind I was in.
Source: Ernie the Attorney, 29 October 2003
From Tom Mighell: “The October Pandia Post offers up some hidden features of Google, many of which you may already know about from reading this blog. They are still good to know.”
[I learned a thing or two, well actually two from the article – Google Keys and Google Voice Search.]
Source: Inter-Alia, 29 October 2003
From TVC Alert: “Google and OCLC will test search access to books available from OCLC member libraries. Google will index and place in its database approximately 2 million bibliographic records from OCLC's WorldCat database. The records represent books held by at least 100 libraries. The pilot program should be available as part of a Google search sometime during November.
Relatedly, Publishers Weekly reports that Google has been talking to publishers about building a database of books. The database would help searchers find book content as well as promote book sales.”
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
29 October 2003
(c)1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP.
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From the blog: "Today the WSJ reported on a the results of privacy study conducted last month by the Ponemon Institute, an organization "dedicated to advancing ethical information and privacy management practices in business and government." There is no link available to the text of the study. However the article states that its author, Larry Ponemon, "a pioneer in the development of privacy audits" found that "of more than "5,500 individuals contacted last month, 36% of respondents agreed with the statement that [the Department of] Homeland Security is "committed to protecting the privacy of my personal information." Forty-three percent in the study disagreed, while 21% were unsure."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
October 28, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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From Dennis Kennedy: “I spoke at an excellent CIO Security Forum put on the the St. Louis Chapter of the Association of IT Professionals on Saturday and learned tons of great stuff from the other panelists and audience.
One of the big issues raised was how to calculate return on investment for security efforts in order to sell security projects to management.
CFO magazine has a comprehensive discussion of this issue in an article called "Gremlin in the Works," which is as good a starting point on this issue as I've seen."
Here's the abstract:
"It's almost impossible to figure ROI for information security investments. But as supply chains become more complex and business partners become more connected, IT security is increasingly the concern of the CFO."
Source: DennisKennedy.blog, 28 October 2003
Amazon Full-Text Search; Advanced Search Features
From TVC Alert: "Amazon last week debuted a full-text search feature that covers more than 120,000 titles. Called Search Inside the Book, it enables querying the contents of books from over over 190 publishers, including Wiley, Time Warner Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Inc., Random House, Inc., Publishers Group West, Incorporated, McGraw-Hill Professional, Holtzbrinck Publishers and HarperCollins Publishers.
To achieve high relevancy, use specific keywords, and if necessary, narrow queries with Amazon's power search commands. For example, suppose you seek information about how dyslexia affects memory. If you search just the word, dyslexia, you receive results that cover a range of issues involving the reading disorder. But using the Power Search box on the Advanced Search page, you can narrow the results to those books that discuss memory. Use the "keywords" qualifier, like this:
keywords: dyslexia and memory
To limit these results to non-fiction published after 2000, try this:
keywords: dyslexia and memory and pubdate: after 2000 and not fiction
Also, use the indexing information from relevant results to discover other useful materials. Suppose you want to read about female spies in U.S. history. A simple search for "women spies" (no quotes) finds the book, Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS. Review its subject indexing to discover the category, Military History - Intelligence & Espionage. Now run the following query to retrieve similar books:
subject: (intelligence and espionage) and keywords: (female or women) and not fiction
SEE, Search Inside the Book
ALSO, Advanced Search
ALSO, The Great Library of Amazonia
Wired, 12 November 2003
(Details the history of the new Amazon service, how it works and how it deals with the copyright issues.)
ALSO, Trouble for Amazon's book search? The Volokh Conspiracy, 24 October 2003
(Author's Guild memo questioning publishers' rights to participate with an author's permission.)
RELATED, OCLC Project Opens WorldCat Records to Google ()
ITI Newsbreaks, 27 October 2003
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
28 October 2003
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP.
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Sabrina posts: "This link is to the text of an email sent by the Author's Guild to its 8,000 plus members, voicing concerns about Amazon's new Search Inside the Book database:
· The Guild questions whether proper permissions were received from the authors of the 120,000 books in Amazon's database. In addition, the organization has deteremined that it is possible to print more than 100 consecutive pages, free, from works that include best selling books.
· See also Amazon Offer Worries Authors"
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
October 27, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Preview: Microsoft's Longhorn OS
From the site: "Microsoft yesterday gave a preview of its new operating system at the company's Professional Developers Conference. Dubbed Longhorn, it promises to provide "new methods of storing files, a complete revamping of the graphics, tighter links to the Internet and greater security."
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
28 October 2003
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP.
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From IP Memes: "Noted IP authority D.C. Toedt has a new blog called "By No Other." In it, he discusses a recent case between Storage Technology and Cisco that involved the issue of reasonable efforts to keep trade secrets secret. Among other things, the Court looked at how Storage Technology treated and label the "secrets" in employee presentations and PowerPoint slides. Toedt's analysis provides helpful information about these issues and ends with a few practical pointers. By No Other article"
Source: TechnoLawyer’s IP Memes, 27 October 2003
Copyright © 2003 PeerViews Inc. All rights reserved.
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From Tom Mighell: “In my seminars, I tell people that the best way to find resources on the Invisible Web is to "know where you need to go before you need to go there." A little counter-intuitive, but it's true. Now, researchers in England are developing a technology that will allow users to search for something without knowing where it resides. The new technology permits free-text searches of the contents of relational databases. This should be interesting.”
Source: Inter-Alia, 28 October 2003
Glenn K. Garnes posts: “Below is a letter I sent to Mr. Harvey Mackay, the author of "Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty". If you have not read this book, I strongly recommend it. It's a great resource on networking, and perfect for lawyers and other business people. Would also make a great "pass it on" to your clients!"
You can read his letter to the author at the blog site.
Source: ESQlawtech, 24 October 2003
© 2002-2003 ESQlawtech, Ltd.
From the blog: “New cool stuff written up at Gizmodo
The MIRT (Mobile Infrared Transponder) - A device to change a red light to green as you approach the intersection. Now you can truly be the Master of the Universe.
The Knee Defender - a device to "prevent the asshole sitting in front of you from fully reclining his or her seat" on an airplane. Gizmodo reports that Northwest Airlines has already announced a ban on this one.”
Source: LawTech, 27 October 2003
© 2003 Franco Castalone
Ted Frank writes: "Say what you like about Osama bin Laden. He's done wonders for the defamation bar," says a British barrister. A group of wealthy Saudi businessmen are engaging in "libel tourism," suing in British courts to silence American critics. British libel law, unburdened by the First Amendment, puts the burden on defendants to prove that their stories are true; the threat of libel suits often acts to deter journalistic inquiries, but now suits are being aimed at American publishers. The Wall Street Journal faces two lawsuits for a February 2002 report on Saudi support for terror that was reprinted in its European edition. (Michael Isikoff & Mark Hosenball, "Libel Tourism", Newsweek Web, Oct. 22). (via Postrel)”
Source: Overlawyered, 26 October 2003
From the e-news: "Last May, a team of American lawyers visited Iraq to assess the state of its shattered judiciary and to make recommendations for recreating it free from the influence of Saddam Hussein. A picture of the team's recommendations emerges that is surprisingly familiar: The new Iraqi justice system could end up looking a lot like the American one. But before Iraq gets to big questions like human rights abuses, it must claw its way out of a morass of smaller, more practical problems."
Source: Today’s Legal News, 27 October 2003
Dennis Kennedy posts: "An article in today's ABA Journal eReport addresses the shocking lack of attention a surprising number of law firms pay to security. As I've mentioned previously, the tech survey cited in the article is self-reporting and not scientific, but these numbers are astonishing because they reflect what law firms are willing to confess.
Are clients asking the right questions?"
Source: DennisKennedy.blog, 24 October 2003
Tom Mighell writes: "Darrell West, the director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy, has published Achieving E-Government for All: Highlights from a National Survey. The survey provides results on how governments are responding to the serious challenge of making their online services accessible and relevant to all people, regardless of their abilities, skills or economic situation."
Source: Inter-Alia, 27 October 2003
Sabrina Pacifici posts: "Achieving E-Government for All: Highlights from a National Survey, published October 22, by Darrell M. West, Director, Taubman Center for Public Policy, Brown University.
· More than 1,600 local, state and federal websites were reviewed using the free Bobby Accessibility Test.
· Several key facts: government data is increasingly migrating to the web; more than 100 million Americans are not online, more than 50 million Americans have "some level of disability," and 90 million adults are identified as "low literate."
· "Information on most government websites is skewed to the needs and abilities of highly educated English speakers."
· "...47 percent of federal sites satisfied the W3C standard of accessibility, 33 percent of state sites did and 20 percent of city government sites met the test. With the stricter Section 508 guidelines, 22 percent of federal sites were in compliance, compared to 24 percent of state sites and 13 percent of city websites."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici -
October 24, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
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"Denise Howell mentioned a service called Infone and so I checked it out. As Denise mentioned in her post, this costs nothing to sign up for. It's one of those things that --when you need it-- you'd pay a lot more for than what they are charging.
I suggest you read the list of features to see exactly what they do, but the gist of it is they provide incredibly useful telephone assistance (e.g. need directions to a location while you are driving?). The basic cost is nothing, unless you call them. Then it's 89 cents for the first call (in which you can ask for lots of different pieces of information) up to 15 minutes, and then its 5 cents a minute after that. The first 5 calls are free so you can try it out right away just to test it.
One interesting thing about Infone is their use of voice-recognition technology. Because it is a pay-per-use service they have to bill you through a credit card. But they want you to be able to access their service from any phone without the hassle of authentication so they take a couple of voice samples. After the simple registration process (including the voice sample input) when you call their 800 number you just have to say "Hello Infone" and you are authenticated and ready to use the service.
So basically for the limited time investment of signing up you have a high-powered information assistance service that is a toll-free call away, and which you only pay for if, and when, you use it. Talk about a no-brainer."
Source: Ernie the Attorney, 25 October 2003
From the e-news: "Call it the three-year itch. With just over 14 months left in the Bush administration's first term, the trickle of top administration lawyers heading back to private practice is starting to look more like a stream. In recent weeks, senior lawyers from the Department of Justice, the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, and more have stepped down -- moves carefully timed so the administration can still line up replacements."
Visit Lawjobs
Source: Today’s Legal News, 27 October 2003
Post Office Wants to ID the Mail:
· "A small change in labeling requirements for bulk mailings announced Oct. 21 requires bulk mailers to identify themselves on the outside of the envelope with a valid address. This marks the first step in the Postal Service's desire to create "intelligent mail."
· See Embracing the Future: Making the Tough Choices to Preserve Universal Mail Service
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
October 27, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
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J. Craig Williams writes: “Now that the Boys of Summer and the World Series are gone, what does Major League Baseball have to do?
Well, regulate how you read about baseball. Huh?
Yep. According to this U.S.A. Today article. "Bob Bowman, who oversees Major League Baseball Advanced Media, says it's time to assert property rights: 'One way to exhibit a live baseball game is TV. Then there's radio. The third is offering real-time data online. To us, there's no difference.'"
It's big business. Baseball makes much of its money from broadcasting rights. But the consequences, oh, the consequences. The U.S.A. Today reporter Michael Heistand observes "...the ripple effect on leagues' almighty TV revenue could be devastating. Theoretically, major leaguers might be forced to get off season jobs.
"Apparently, lots of websites offer the ability to "watch" baseball online, such as ESPN's Gamecast feature. In other words, you can look like you're "working" while you "watch" online.
But regulate reading?It's been tried before. In the NBA v. Motorola case, Big Basketball tried to stop Motorola from providing game stats to pager customers. We all know how that turned out, since you can still get scores on your handheld, phone and pager.
As it is, MLB comes close to occupying the field now. MLB offers a Broadband Service titled "It's Probably Too Much Baseball." No lie. You can get a lot of baseball online, so that when the off-season comes, the suffering will diminish.
As for me, I'm glad to watch football again, without worrying whether I'll watch it in person, on TV or online. Go Hawkeyes!”
[Personally, I am a die hard Indians, Browns and Ohio State fan – that last link was hard to include!!]
Source: May It Please the Court , 26 October 2003
From the site: “Sports Agent Index ( http://www.sportsagentindex.com ) is a freely-searchable index of sports agents divided up into several categories.
From the front page you can go to a search form that allows you to search for agents by keyword and sport. (You can't just search by sport. You have enter a keyword.) Keyword searches have to be narrowed down to last name, client, news, company, city, or state.
A search for all sports in the state of CA found over two dozen results. (HINT: Search for state abbreviations and full spellings. Looks like people do both. If you search for the entire word "California" you'll only get three results.) Result listings include agent name, company name, city, state, and sport covered. Click on the agent's name to get a page with space for contact address, services offered, professional services, education, credentials, clients represented, and recent news and transactions. I say "space for" because different listings have different levels of information.”
Source: ResearchBuzz, 24 October 2003
Thanks go to Jerry Lawson, whom I admire greatly, for his kind comment on my blog! I was floored when I realized a person of his caliber actually read my blawg!!!!
From Jerry's blog entry: “The Stark County Law Library blog does not have a snazzy name, but it is consistently one of the best current awareness sites for lawyers and law librarians.”
Source: Net Law Blog, 18 October
Lunch Poems
From the e-newsletter: “Lunch Poems, a monthly poetry reading series under the direction of Professor Robert Hass and held on the U.C. Berkeley campus, has "become the best-attended poetry series in the West of the U.S." The site includes a schedule, brief information about the poets, and audio and video of recent presentations.”
[You will need Real Player to view the webcast, which are easily identifiable through the use of a camera icon proceeding the programs]
Source: ii.org: Librarians' Index to the Internet
NEW THIS WEEK for October 23, 2003
Copyright 2003 by Librarians' Index to the Internet, lii.org.
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From Glenn K. Garnes: “This past week, I received several phone calls and emails from our readers. One wanted help getting a web site set up in pMachine, one had just bought a Visioneer scanner, and wanted more information about Wordox, and several inquired about adding audio to their web sites for marketing and informational purposes. The last one emailed to let me know he had just launched his first electronic information product, a project on which we had helped him with.
I love getting these calls and emails, so let me ask you. What can I do for you? I want to be of service if I can, so please don't hesitate to let me know how I can help you. I don't have all the answers, but I know who to call to find them when I don't. My main point is don't think you are out here on your own with no source to ask questions. Pick my brain, and the brains of people in my network. After all, it's free!”
Source: ESQlawtech, 24 October 2003
© 2002-2003 ESQlawtech, Ltd
"The Supreme Court Forecasting Project, from Washington University in St. Louis, consists of a computer model that was used to predict the votes of the judges for each pending case of the 2001-2002 term. These forecasts were juxtaposed with those made by an expert panel of "law professors or appellate practitioners who specialize in one or more areas of the Supreme Court's docket."
· "For the 2003 term, we are providing real time statistical forecasts based on a statistical model updated with the cases decided during the 2002 term. Anyone can use the Forecasting Engine to obtain model-based forecasts for cases of interest. For each case, we will be posting our forecasts (obtained using the engine) as well as the final decisions as they are reached. We also will post the manner in which we coded the variables on which the forecasts are based."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
October 23, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
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From Dennis Kennedy: “I attended the Microsoft Office System Launch Event in St. Louis with my eyes open for the potential value to lawyers. I had read a number of articles suggesting that Office 2003 was an "unnecessary" upgrade and I wanted to see for myself.
I drew the opposite conclusion. There are aspects of Office 2003 that should be considered carefully by lawyers and law firms who either (1) wish to take advantage of some cool innovations or (2) want to improve productivity and business results. Those firms not interested in either category can go back to sleep now.
I'll probably write an article with more detail at a later point, but I will note that the combination of Small Business Server and Office 2003 could be a dynamite package for a new small firm, and here are five observations I'll share:
1. Microsoft has developed a standard edition of Small Business Server that provides most of the server software a small business needs (print and file sharing, remote access, et al) and some nice bonuses for $600 for 5 users (used to be $1,500). In addition, some hardware companies (I can't remember which) are bundling a simple server plus SBS for not much more than $1,000. Additional users are added by 5-pack licenses. SBS can also be supported remotely, alleviating the need for a full-time IS person or on-site consultant.
2. Office 2003 (Small Business and Pro) has two programs built in that will have great utility for small law firms - a business contact manger in Outlook 2003 and Small Business Manager, an accounting and financial package. Both packages probably give you a solid 90% of the best stuff of what you'd expect from standalone programs (Act!, QuickBooks) and might (emphasize might) be alternatives to dedicated case management and legal accounting software in certain circumstances. Small Business Manager will allow you to create useful business analysis reports very easily.
3. Office 2003 (Small Business and Pro) once again contains Publisher, which can be used to create a variety of marketing materials and standard print items.
4. I continue to believe that the newest versions of Office have more features that are geared to the working lawyer. As other articles have indicated, Outlook 2003 is clearly the star of the new version. The integration between the office programs is pretty amazing.
5. OneNote - Very, very interesting application for lawyers. You'll be hearing more from me about it.
Final Thought: I came out of the day-long session energized and seeing a lot of possibilities in the new versions. I think that's a good sign. I'll be curious to see what other legal tech experts think.”
Source: DennisKennedy.blog, 23 October 2003
More from BeSpacific: "From the December 2003 issue of Wired Magazine, this article provides background and details about the development and implementation of Amazon's new Search Inside the Book service comprised of more than 120,000 books that have been scanned into an electronic archive.
· "The archive is intentionally crippled. A search brings back not text, but pictures -- pictures of pages. You can find the page that responds to your query, read it on your screen, and browse a few pages backward and forward. But you cannot download, copy, or read the book from beginning to end. There is no way to link directly to any page of a book. If you want to read an extensive excerpt, you must turn to the physical volume -- which, of course, you can conveniently purchase from Amazon."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
October 24, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
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From the Tourbus: "As our friends at CNET pointed out... Amazon has updated its search engine. Not only can you search for books that focus on a particular keyword, you can now also search for books that CONTAIN a particular keyword. Just hop on over to
and in the orangeish search box choose "Books" in the pull-down list and type in a keyword like, oh, say "badgers." You'll see a normal Amazon search results page with one small difference: Several of the hits include links to excerpts from the accompanying book. Click on an excerpt's link and one of three things will happen:
1. If you have a free Amazon account but haven't been to Amazon in a while, you'll be asked to key in your email address and Amazon password. Once you do, an excerpted page from the book will automatically appear with your keyword highlighted in green. [Think catalogs.google.com with a different highlight color.]
2. If you've been to Amazon recently and Amazon has stored your email address and password on your computer in the form of a cookie, the highlighted page will automagically appear. No muss, no fuss.
3. If you DON'T have a free Amazon account, you'll be asked to create a new one before you can see anything. Since the material that Amazon is about to show you is copyrighted, Amazon understandably needs to know who you are. Fortunately, the registration process is painless.
Once the excerpted page appears, you can browse through that particular book and even see all that book's references to your keyword. Just look for the navigation bar above the excerpted page.
Amazon currently lets you search through the text of about 120,000 books. That sounds like a lot, but remember that most major university libraries contain in excess of five MILLION books. So, if you are hoping that Amazon's new search feature will save you a trip to your local library the next time you have to do some scholarly research, expect to be disappointed. But, Amazon's new search inside the book feature it is still a wonderful addition and a nice start to what I expect to eventually become a very popular research tool.”
Source: TOURBUS Volume 9, Number 18, 23 Oct 2003
Copyright 1995-2003, Rankin & Crispen
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And this from Sabrina Pacifici: "See this How It Works page for screen shots and examples of the service. The Search Inside the Book FAQ page provides further details."
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
October 23, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
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Sabrina writes: "A new Australian search engine (it is in beta) was launched on October 22 by a company called Mooter Search. The CEO, Liesl Capper, stated that Mooter is unique in that it "look(s) at the long lists of results from other search engines and then...group(s) them using artificial intelligence algorithms. But also we look at what you're doing and while you're working we actually move with you and push up things that you seem to be interested in." [Link]"
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici
October 23, 2003
Copyright ©2002, 2003 BeSpacific LLC.
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I regret the delay in posting the Tuesday and Wednesday blog. Our server has been going through some upgrades and was unavailable! Sorry
From Dennis Kennedy: "I've just finished the highly-praised Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story, by presentation guru Jerry Weissman. Add me to the list of fans.
As a frequenter presenter, I am constantly looking for ways to improve my presentations. If you forced me right now to pick just one book to have, this book would be it.
I recently (but before I read this book) completely revamped a presentation I had done because, although it was good, it did not seem to be effective enough. I thought that the revamped presentation, when I gave it, was 100% better than the first version. Reading Weissman's book, I realized that I had improved the presentation by paying attention to and actually choosing one of the approaches he lists under the category of "Flow."
If you want to be a great presenter, study Weissman's book - he's been advising speakers for years and there are a lot of tips and techniques that I fully agree with based on my own experiences. Even if you only get what he is saying about "Point B" and include one, you'll stand out from the crowd of run of the mill speakers.
Finally, and this may be most important, Weissman's book is also the best resource on using PowerPoint that I've found. If you read what he has to say about the distinct roles of presenters and presentations, you'll have a solid understand about how to use PowerPoint.
There have been many articles about the "evils" of PowerPoint and the terrible effects that it has had on society. I don't agree with any of that. PowerPoint is a tool. What's the point of blaming a tool? I don't get it. The problems I see with the use of PowerPoint in presentations arise out of the way the tool is used, not because of the tool itself. As Weissman says, "The presenter is the focus of the presentation." Keep that in mind and you will do well with PowerPoint."
Source: DennisKennedy.blog, 22 October 2003
From the e-newsletter: “The Tools of the Trade column in this month's Modern Practice contains a checklist for Web site owners. It outlines what the site should contain and what you should know about it.”
Source: TVC Alert, The Virtual Chase
23 October 2003
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP.
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From the e-newsletter: “This month, we salute small law firms that specialize in Family Law, a rapidly expanding practice area. Due to the personal and emotional nature of most family issues, Family Law is one area where attorneys can get a lot of online traction from prospective clients who are surfing the Web looking for guidance.”
Source: Modern Practice, October 2003
Copyright (c) 2003 FindLaw, Inc.
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From the article, "We are looking for a few good documents--the Ten Most Wanted government documents for 2004, to be precise. And we're hoping you, as an expert in this area, can help.
As part of an effort to fight increased government secrecy, we would like your help in identifying:
(1) the ten or twenty government documents -- or categories of documents -- you would most like to see the government make available to the public
(2) problems you have faced finding government information
Send your ideas to info@openthegovernment.org.
The complete article has more information.”
Source: The ResourceShelf, 22 October 2003
From the site: “Marcus Zillman's put together another Subject Tracer Blog, this one called DeepWebResearch.info. This one-page link list provides information about the "invisible Web" in a variety of categories, including articles and papers, cross-database search tools, and presentations.
Be sure to note the link at the top of the site to his article "Using the Internet As a Dynamic Resource Tool for Knowledge Discovery" and the column "Business Intelligence on the Internet".
Source: ResearchBuzz, 20 October 2003
From the site: "If you can't get enough of searching Weblogs, check out Bloogz at http://www.bloogz.com/ . The front page allows you to search Weblogs in five languages (Italian, English, German, Spanish, or French.) I can't find any indication of how many 'blogs are indexed here, though there is a link to list all posts made today (look at the bottom of the screen) and right this minute there are 935 posts available.
A search for "vinegar" found 57 results. Results include title, abstract, date of the post (I didn't see anything further back than August) and URL. The "post" link on each search result provides all posts from that particular Weblog. On the right side of the search result page you'll see a calendar and links to get all blog posts from a particular day.
Phrases don't appear to be supported; a search for "three blind" and "blind three" returned the same number of results. I like the multiple languages supported, and I like the idea of getting all the posts on a particular day. This search engine will be even better when it supports phrases and indexes more 'blogs."
Source: ResearchBuzz, 10 October 2003
From Tom Mighell: “If you haven't been following the Virginia sniper trial, you should check out the weblog being kept by a reporter for the Virginian-Pilot. It's fascinating to follow a trial this way.”
Source: Inter Alia, 23 October 2003
From the e-newsletter: “Do you ever search for audio/video files on the Internet? If you use your favorite search engine, you probably won’t find what you’re looking for. That’s because text-based search engines aren’t designed for movie trailers, mp3s, newscasts, and the like. However, you’ll easily find all kinds of audio/video files using Singingfish, the leading audio/video search engine. Singingfish is on many of the most popular media players and portals. Check it out at http://www.singingfish.com/?evt=rsrchbuzz
Source: ResearchBuzz #254 -- October 23, 2003
ResearchBuzz is copyright 2003 Tara Calishain
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From the site: “Chris Sherman, SearchDay Associate Editor, responds to yesterday's question about a resource for comparing search engines for intranets and networks. He writes, "Hands-down the best resource for this is Avi Rapporport's SearchTools site. Nothing else even comes close."
Source: TVC Alert The Virtual Chase, 23 October 2003
(c) Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP.
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