INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
February 22, 2004
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #146 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!
And away we go…..
In the No Big Surprise Department...
In Search Beyond Google, Technology Review discusses a pack of startups that are developing technologies aimed at besting Google. The article spends time discussing search tools Teoma and Mooter.A Mighty Wind?
BlowSearch pulls results from 20 engines, and considers itself a "Super-Meta PPC" search engine. Give it a spin.Google Hacking
You don't need to spend money on proprietary background search databases to get the dirt you want; just use Google. The article reports that it's easier than ever to find private information through a relatively simple Google search. It's bad enough when hackers are able to get through a secure computer system to confidential information -- but you generally won't be able to find something through a Google search unless there has been some sort of screwup with the web site's security, leaving the page open to the public. A quote in the article estimates there are tens of thousands of sites with this information left out in the open.Who's Spamming Who?
This article is a month old, but the advice is still timely. In Who's Spamming Who? Could it be You?, the Federal Trade Commission warns that if you do not take precautions to secure your computer, a spammer can actually use your computer to spew out garbage. The advice provided here is simple, but extremely important.Voter Registration Deadlines
Not sure when your state's voter registration deadline falls? This helpful page will answer all your questions.Stuff I've Seen and other ways of remembering Favorites
The people at Keeping Found Things Found are very interested in your surfing habits. It turns out that many users of the Internet don't bother to keep track of or otherwise organize the sites they find. Instead, they e-mail it to themselves, or write it on a Post-It note. The KFTF project wants to find new ways to revisit web sites. One way is a new project called Stuff I've Seen, which is currently being tested by Microsoft. It may be available in Longhorn, the next version of Windows.Check out Copernic Meta
A few weeks ago I mentioned a new product called NeedleSearch, a toolbar that allows you to create your own search toolbar for any site/search engine on the Web. The only downside to the program was that it doesn't work with Internet Explorer. Enter Copernic Meta. Download the Deskbar or the IE Toolbar, and you'll have access to a powerful metasearching tool on your desktop. Meta also lets you add any search engine to the toolbar, so you can have access to all of your favorite search engines through this great utility.Tech News that comes to you
CNet is one of the best sites on the Internet for tech-related news and information. That's why I was excited to see that it is offering e-mail news alerts in dozens of categories. Just choose the categories that interest you, and how often you want to receive updates (as news occurs or once daily), and CNet will deliver the news to you.Stop spyware in its tracks
PC Magazine's most recent issue reviews several anti-spyware programs in Spy Stoppers. Their Editor's Choice is Spy Sweeper, a program I'm currently testing on my PC. I have long been a big fan of SpyBot Search & Destroy, which comes in 2nd place in the PC Magazine article (one thing that makes SpyBot better than Spy Sweeper in my view: it's free!). Because no one program really does a complete job of removing spyware, I recommend using at least two of the programs listed in this article.News Topix of your choice
Topix is a news site that searches 3,500 sources to organize news into an eye-popping 150,000 topics. What I like about it is its Local News feature - just select a town, and Topix will display a page that aggregates headlines from various sources in your area. Best of all, you can then subscribe to an RSS feed that will deliver the headlines directly to your newsreader!Search Engine Loyalty?
With Yahoo! unveiling its new search engine this week, CNet thinks the search wars are about to get personal. The article discusses the fact that people are generally not loyal to one search engine, and how the major players are maneuvering to secure that loyalty; one of the people quoted says, "Everyone thinks there's this incredible loyalty to Web search engines, but in fact there really isn't." It seems to me the term "loyalty" is misused here. Sure, everyone has a favorite search engine (can you tell from reading this newsletter that Google is mine?), but in order to be a successful searcher, you have to be disloyal, to use the language of the article. Good researchers know that one search engine won't find everything on the Internet, and several tools should be utilized for the most effective search. In other words, bravo for Yahoo!, or any other search engine, for that matter -- if they can help me find things that Google can't, more power to 'em.Blawgs of the Week
The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog offers tips and techniques for trial lawyers, whether plaintiff or defense. This looks to be a great resource for trial lawyers. Criminal Appeal covers post-conviction practice in the Ninth Circuit and the California state courts. It's brought to you by Jonathan Soglin, a criminal appellate lawyer in California. Douglas Sorocco, an intellectual property attorney with Dunlap, Codding & Rogers, has been publishing PHOSITA since January. An intellectual property weblog, PHOSITA stands for "Person Having Ordinary Skill In The Art." Promote the Progress is written by J. Matthew Buchanan, a patent attorney who is focusing on patent procurement, use, management, and other patent-related issues.If you use Google News, you know what an amazing resource of information it can be. What if you want to find articles from a specific publication? No problem -- just use the "source" syntax. Let's say you want to find news about the President in the Washington Post. Just head over to Google News and type in:
"george bush" source:washington_post
If the news source has two or more words, make sure you separate the words with an underscore (_). Interestingly, if you want to search a news site that requires a subscription, you need a slightly different syntax. For example, if you want to conduct research about the Texas Governor in the Dallas Morning News, the search looks like this:
"rick perry" source:dallas_morning_news__subscription_
Note that there are TWO underscores between "news" and "subscription" -- don't ask me why. If this is too confusing, just go to the Google News Advanced Search Page, and use the Source search box.
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!
Legally Relevant – Sites on the Internet
Ethics Videos on the Web
This site doesn't really deal with "legal" ethics, but the broader term, including such topics as abortion, animal rights, death penalty, computer ethics, and more. The video offerings are quite impressive here, and there are lots more resources to explore from the menu bar.govpro.com
Govpro claims to be "your online source for news and events, articles, and the most comprehensive database of supplier and product information intended to fulfill the needs of the government professional." You'll find the most useful information from the menu across the top of the screen. You can subscribe to the free e-newsletter, and view past issues. You can also search through what appears to be a nice-sized archive of documents. There's also a director of suppliers to the federal government, broken down by industry. For those interested in selling their products to the U.S. government, there are government marketing resources available.HubMed
Billed as "an alternative interface to the PubMed medical literature database," HubMed is an interesting site. The interface itself is very clean and simple. Just enter your search terms like you would at PubMed, and you'll get back the same listing you would get at that medical research site. The difference here is that an RSS feed is automatically created with your search terms; you can add this feed to your newsreader, so that your search can be run automatically without you having to revisit either Pub- or HubMed. You can even create a HubMed bookmarklet that allows you to search PubMed from the safety of your browser toolbar. Pretty cool stuff.Investopedia Dictionary
Need to find a definition for Mello Roos? (and no, it isn't candy) Head over to the Investopedia Dictionary and enter your term or browse the extensive index of investing terms. A good resource to keep in your reference folder.Mass Appellate Courts
This is the public case information website for the Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. There are two basic things you can do here, search for cases and view the court's calendar. Cases can be found by docket number, involved party, attorney, or the court/judge from which the case was appealed.
Finally, some fun and useful websites to start off your week:
Trapped in a dead-end relationship, but don't want to end it face-to-face? Send a Gotta Break Up E-Card.
Strap on your diving suit and head to the Bottom of the Sea.
Well, that’s it for Issue #145 – 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.
Tom Mighell
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