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Welcome to Issue #118 of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, a newsletter that delivers relevant and timely legal research information, and other fun stuff, to your inbox every Sunday. If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to do the same! To subscribe, all you have to do is visit Inter Alia and fill out the subscription form -- it's free!

In case you missed it...
Yahoo! will purchase Overture for an estimated $1.6 billion. If you recall, previously this year Overture purchased AltaVista and AllTheWeb. This reminds me of the cartoons I used to watch where one fish is swallowed by a bigger fish, only to be swallowed by an even bigger fish. The number of fish is getting smaller...

Google's Not God?
In yet another in a recent string of "let's not get too carried away with Google" articles, Slate notes, in Digging for Googleholes, that "we're wrong to think of Google as a pure reference source. It's closer to a collectively authored op-ed page—filled with bias, polemics, and a skewed sense of proportion—than an encyclopedia. It's still the connected world's most dazzling place to visit, a perfect condensation of the Web's wider anarchy. Just don't call it an oracle."

Yahoo's People Finder
No, I'm not talking about Yahoo! People Search -- a SearchDay article this week featured the advanced public records search offered by Yahoo! (which is on the same page as the simple search). Actually, the search is powered by USSearch.com, a public records search company. The services provided by USSearch sound pretty good, but also pretty pricey. For example, USSearch's Basic People Search ($9.95) gets you a name and relevant phone number(s), while for $39.95 you also get a listing of the person's past addresses, possible aliases, and whether the person is deceased. More information is available for $59.95 and $99.95. I use Accurint for much of my background searching, and a fairly comprehensive search (for which USSearch charges $39.95) costs me around $6.00. I can even get some of the information only available in USSearch's high-dollar reports, for that same $6.00 price. At that price, why would I want to pay six to ten times that amount for the same stuff? Does anyone use USSEarch? Let me know what you think:

Down with Long URLs!
How often do you get an e-mail from a friend that contains a URL, and the address takes up more than one line? It's a pain to get that cut and pasted into your web browser, and sometimes it just doesn't work. That's why it's helpful to have a "URL-shortening" service on hand -- these sites will take your impossibly long URL and shorten it to a manageable length. These sites will store the longer URLs (most of them indefinitely) and will redirect you to the original site when you click on the shortened version. If you're interested in trying one of these services, check out this roundup of websites that shorten long URLs -- it has a comparison chart and everything.

Health Seekers
The Pew Internet & American Life Project has a new survey on Internet Health Resources and how Internet users search for them. Although few people (6%) go online each day to search for health information, the number has grown to over 77 million since 2001.

Blawgs of the Week
Just when I think I get caught up on all the new law-related weblogs, more new ones keep popping up! And there are a LOT this week:

Although I originally reported on Bart's blog back in May, The Limit of Its Logic has become a Ninth Circuit Blog. We now have blogs for two circuits -- ten to go!
Chaesq has been blogging over at MC Estoppel for some time now, "because lawyers have fun,
too...."
Law firm Holland & Hart debuted its Rocky Mountain Health Care Law Blog last week. While I love the fact that a big firm is getting into the blogging business, they gotta start posting some links, not just stories -- connect us to more information on the subject!
A House on a Hill follows the adventures of "a sassy lawyer in Philippine Suburbia" (You certainly won't find a lawyer blog in the U.S. with a post on how to battle dengue fever!).
Bill, a newly minted lawyer and judicial clerk, presents Stickbugblog.
Minh starts law school in Denver in the fall. Follow his progress at Minh's Blog.
Patent Defect is a techie also starting law school in the fall.
Evan publishes Freelaw.au, a blog Down Under, focusing on "freedom through technology law."
While studying for the Wisconsin Bar Exam, a former Texas lawyer (?) is jotting down her Misplaced Thoughts.
The German American Law Journal is a group blog (or is it just a journal?) providing "information sharing in the areas of German and American law, mainly where the two intersect, vary or intrigue." Intriguing.....
Trial Practice is a blog "dedicated to trial advocacy with some appellate advocacy thrown in -- real, mock, and moot."
Government website OMB Watch now has a weblog with daily posts on federal budget issues.
Cicero's Ghost comes from a law student at the University of Michigan.
Rod Dixon, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Education, has been publishing Cyberspaces.org for some time now (I can't believe I'm just getting around to it!)
Finally, Joe Gratz is a law student living in Minneapolis.

Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net – I’ll post your question (don’t worry, I won’t use your real name) and try to get an answer for you!

Toxics Release Inventory Program
The Toxics Release Inventory is a publicly available EPA database that contains information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities reported annually by certain covered industry groups as well as federal facilities. From the home page, you can check up on toxic chemical releases in your (or any) neighborhood, read the latest featured topics, and access the TRI
Explorer, which gets you directly to the TRI data. You can also download reporting forms, read up on statutes and regulations on the topic, and learn what the individual states are doing about toxic chemicals. There are a lot of other helpful resources on this site, too -- just browse for them in the alphabetical index.

MilitarySearch.org ($$)
With our military involvement in Iraq and elsewhere facing an uncertain future, sometimes it's hard to figure out a person's current military status. That's where this site comes in -- for $7.50 you'll receive verification of military or non-military status of any individual. If you don't have the person's social security number, the cost is $29.95.

American Legal Wills ($$)
Need a will fast? American Legal Wills can provide with a will, all from the comfort of your own home. For just $35 you can write your own will -- have it reviewed by an attorney for $49 more. If you want to be able to store your will online and make changes to it, you'll have to pay depending on the length of
time -- from one year ($35) to forever ($127).

Capitol Hearings
A service of C-Span, Capitol Hearings allows you to listen live to committee meetings held by the U.S. Congress. The site is pretty simple; there's just a day-by-day listing of hearings for the week, with links to the home page of the committee and a link to the live streaming audio feed. On the side is a menu where you may select your hearing by room (there are 26 of them) or by committee. Best of all, it's free.

Coffin Nails: The Tobacco Controversy in the 19th Century
If you think the "anti-smoking" craze was invented in the 20th Century, think again. This site provides editorials, articles, news briefs, cartoons, illustrations, ads, and poetry on the evils of tobacco, all of which appeared in Harper's Weekly from 1857 through 1912. Some fun and interesting materials here.

Diabetes Dictionary
A service of the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, the Diabetes Dictionary is just that -- an alphabetical listing of words that are often used when people talk or write about diabetes. It is designed for people who have diabetes and for their families and friends. Pretty basic, but also pretty helpful.

E-Discovery Newsletter
Kroll Ontrack is a company that specializes in locating, managing, and reviewing electronic evidence. One of the nifty free services offered by the company is a monthly newsletter on E-Discovery. Each newsletter has summaries of cases dealing with electronic discovery, as well as practical information for incorporating electronic discovery into your case strategy.

Finding Images on the Web
If you're still puzzled about the best way to find images on the Internet, this site from the Boston University Libraries should clear up some of the confusion. Here you'll find some very basic but useful information on searching for images, tips on downloading and inserting images into documents, and websites that specialize in images. A great tutorial on the subject.

HeadlineSpot
Okay, so maybe there are better news sites out there, but here at ILRW we're all about equal opportunity, so I'll mention HeadlineSpot. The folks at HS are all about getting you to the headlines, so you will find a lot of links and a minimum of fluff. Search for headlines by city, region, topic, or by media. There are also links to news photos, columnists, radio stations, polls, and offbeat information. A good starting-off place.

IP Law and Business ($$)
IP Law and Business describes itself as "the business magazine for intellectual property." It's a part of American Lawyer Media, the folks behind Law.com; some of the articles from this magazine appear for free on Law.com. The home page contains several recent stories you can read for free online, as well as a listing of breaking intellectual property news. The yearly subscription price is $125/year (or $175 -- there is some confusion on the subscription page), which isn't too bad for the quality of the content you're getting.

Are you nostalgic for the days of yesteryear on the Web, when Mosaic was the browser of choice? No? It's hard for me to remember sometimes, too, but if you want to revisit the old interfaces, head over to Deja-Vu.

Looking for a new cell phone? Check out the Cell Phone Visualization page -- as you narrow down your criteria, you can see the phone that best fits your needs.

Well, that’s it for Issue #118– I hope you liked it! If you did, pass this along to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to subscribe. Also, feel free to drop me an e-mail any time if you have questions, or if you have websites or other topics you want included in a future issue.

Subscription Information: If you want to keep on receiving issues of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net, or visit Inter Alia and sign up there! If you no longer want to receive the newsletter, just click on the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Or, send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net and I'll remove you from the list.

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Questions? New websites? Just want to talk? Send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net.

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