INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
February 27, 2005
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #181 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!
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And away we go....
RSS at MSN
The ability to customize your search terms into an RSS feed is coming along nicely (if a bit slowly), and MSN Search is the first of the big search engines to offer it. Just enter a query, and on the results page scroll down to the very bottom. There's an RSS button there that will allow you to subscribe to an MSN search feed for those terms.Beware of new tech-related injury
Physicians are warning of a new condition that could afflict users of that popular e-mail device: Blackberry thumb. Let's hope we don't see iPod Ear any time soon.Um Diretório Novo do Blawg
Here's a new blawg directory for you -- Blawgs Gerais features law-related weblogs from other countries, including Portugal, Brazil, the U.K., Australia, Spain, France, Italy, and others. What a great resource.Meet the TECHSHOW Bloggers
My article on the ABA TECHSHOW Bloggers is a part of this month's issue of Law Practice Today. I'll be featuring other great articles from this issue during the next week, but don't wait for me -- go read them yourself!Search Results by SMS
Yahoo! Local will now send its search results to your (or anyone else's, I suppose) cell phone via SMS message. Not very useful for you while you're sitting at your PC, but I guess it might be useful to send information to someone who's wandering around lost looking for something.Tools to Make Dumb Legal Researchers Smarter
I'm way late in catching up with this, but it's still newsworthy. A week or two ago, West announced the debut of Smart Tools on Westlaw, a set of enhancements that offers you suggestions or alternative searches based upon the terms you enter. Great tools, but I'd prefer less tenor sax with my demonstration.Increasing your search IQ with Y!Q
Yahoo! has introduced a new service called Y!Q Context Search, which is designed to help you find more relevant content online. As Chris Sherman puts it, it's hard to describe what the Y!Q product does without actually trying it. Download the Y!Q DemoBar and give it a try -- just highlight words on a web page, click "Find Related Pages," and you'll be taken to sites thought to be relevant to those particular words. Yahoo! is offering this service already in its Yahoo! News site.Free Encarta Access (However Brief)
When the new MSN Search debuted, it allowed you to ask questions with answers contained within the Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia. This service is typically subscription-only; however, now MSN is giving a 2 hour free pass into the Encarta articles. Whenever you do a search (for example, where is Addis Ababa?, you'll get a link to an Encarta article on the subject. Your 2-hour timer starts at the top of the page. If you enter another query, the Encarta timer resets itself back to 2 hours. You still don't get access to all the features of encarta, but it's still pretty cool stuff.Blawgs of the Month
Although I haven't been able to write the newsletter this month, I have been keeping up with the "Blawg of the Day" feature at Inter Alia. Rather than list the 21 new blawgs I have highlighted since the last newsletter, I'll urge you to visit Inter Alia and see them there yourself. Here are just a few highlights:Dru Stevenson is an assistant professor of law at South Texas College of Law in Houston, but you'd know that just by looking at his new blog, South Texas Law Professor. Investigate This! is provided by Tamara Thompson Investigations, as a database of investigative tools for attorneys. Shaun Martin is a Professor at the University of San Diego Law School, and he's reporting on recent Ninth Circuit and California state appellate cases over at the California Appellate Report. Conglomerate is the weblog of D. Gordon Smith of the University of Wisconsin Law School, and Christine Hurt, of Marquette University Law School. You'll find a "quirky mix of entries about business, law, Wisconsin, legal education, and whatever else strikes our fancy."
Another AmLaw 100 firm has its own blog, this one in the antitrust arena. The (lexBlog-designed) Antitrust Law Blog is brought to you by Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton. Reid Trautz, the practice management advisor for the D.C. Bar Association, is diving into the blog pool with Reid This, which hopes to "further innovation in management, governance, and ethics for lawyers." I have met Reid several times at technology conferences and ABA meetings, and I know his blog will be well worth reading. Finally, another day, another blog from the Law Professor Blogs Network. The Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog is being written by Gerry Beyer, a law professor at St. Mary's University School of Law.
Caught in the Net -- Google Maps
It was only a matter of time before Google took on the Maps and Directions business, right? Well, take a look at Google Maps -- it's a great new service, even if it has some fine-tuning to do. Among its many features, here are two I like best:
-- Just type in whatever you want in the search box: Dallas to San Antonio, or Pizza in 60611, or 599 W. Elm Street, Chicago -- and you'll get the directions, or a list of pizza places, or a map of your location.
-- To move the map, you don't have to click in any direction; just click on the map and drag it in the opposite direction. The graphics on these maps are really nice.You can find a comparison of the Google Maps product and the other mapping services at Google's Maps Aesthetically Appealing, but Features Need Work.
If you've ever used the Full Screen function in Internet Explorer, you know it can significantly increase your viewing space. Did you know you can do that with any Windows window? Just press F11 for full-screen viewing. If you have Windows 2000, ME or XP, you can add a Full-Screen toggle button to your toolbar: just right-click on the Standard toolbar (the one with the Back and Forward buttons), and select Customize. Choose Full Screen under "Available Toolbar Buttons," then Add, and then Close. That's it!
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
Pretrieve
Finding public records on the Internet is not always easy. The folks at Pretrieve understand that, and want to help. Pretrieve is a search engine for finding public records on a person, business, address, or phone number. Just put in a person's name and location, and you'll get a tabbed interface with links to Property Info, Criminal, Court, Financial, Professional, Local Info, and Miscellaneous. On each tab you'll find links to various public information sources. The tabs are similar for the other types of searches, but with somewhat different resources available. This is a nifty tool -- give it a look!Nationwide Offender Search
If you're looking for criminal offenders, Vinelink looks like it's going to be a great service. The home page features a map of the United States; just click on a state to see the databases offered there -- as of today you'll find databases in 35 states. On the search page, just enter as much information about the offender as you know, and you'll get information about that person's whereabouts. You can also be notified when the offender's status changes.Texas Bar CLE
A site for my Texas lawyers, just because it's so great -- here you can find a wealth of seminars to satisfy your 15-hour yearly requirement several times over. There's an online classroom where you can view seminars in the privacy of your own office, as well as a comprehensive listing of seminars scheduled all over the state. If you register, you can have access to the CLE library, which contains all of the materials from state-bar sponsored CLEs. A pretty nifty site.National Center for Employee Ownership
The NCEO is a non-profit whose mission is to provide the most objective and reliable information possible on employee ownership at the most affordable price possible. You'll find lots of information here on stock option plans, restricted stock, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), and other issues relating to employee ownership. You can receive online training in these subjects, as well as a regular e-mail bulletin.ThomasNet
I have probably mentioned several of the Thomas sites in the past -- they are absolutely the best sources of information for industrial products on the Web. ThomasNet bills itself as the "most comprehensive resource for industrial information," and it's not kidding. You can enter a keyword search for a product, service, or company, or you can browse the directory, which ranges from Adhesives and Sealants all the way to Pumps, Valves, and Accessories. When you click on a particular type of product, you'll get a geographical listing of companies selling that product, for easy reference. You can create your own MyThomas profile and save information there, as well.
Finally, some fun and useful sites to begin your week:
ZDNet presented Tech Nightmares: Customer Service a few weeks ago, with tips and tricks for avoiding misery while dealing with Tech Support. My favorite titles: Hold Times from Hell and The Case of the Techie Who Spoke No English.
If you're in the mood for some medieval fun, check out Onslaught and save the castle.
Well, that’s it for Issue #181 – 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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