INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
March 20, 2005
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #184 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....
Stateline Gets RSS
If you ever use the terrific Stateline.org to get state policy and politics news, you might be interested to know it's now making its headlines available via RSS feed. Here's the list of RSS feeds (65 feeds in all, including a feed for each state).For the Blawg newbie, a pathfinder
Check out Lynn Lenart's useful Law Weblogs - Blawgs pathfinder at the University of Akron Law School web site. The page provides a blog glossary, examples of blawgs (including Inter Alia -- thanks!), and links to aggregators, blog search engines/directories, hosting sites, and more.Deeds Coming Online
Who would have thought that the new gatekeepers of online filing would be....real estate lawyers? That's right -- Connecticut may be the first state in the nation with a digital deed recording system. If successful, this will definitely "drive the 400-year-old paper reporting system into the digital age."RSS for the Mobile Researcher
The folks over at Yahoo! have punched up their Yahoo! Mobile services. If you use My Yahoo! to view RSS feeds (and if you don't, here's how), you can now access them on your cell phone. Just plug in http://mobile.yahoo.com into your phone's web browser, and navigate to the News section. Your feeds will be there under My News. Russell Beattie has more on this at the Yahoo! Search Blog.Blawgs of the Week
Here's this week's crop of law-related weblogs worth visiting. First, Small Business IP Protection and Management is "J. Douglas Miller's blog dedicated to the intellectual property needs of a small to medium-sized company (Patent, Trademark, Internet, and Technology Law)." What a great niche blog! A lawyer known to us only as JB is writing Law Time Money, featuring "random stream of consciousness about practicing law in the suburbs of Philadelphia." SafetyLex is brought to you by John C. Philo of Detroit, Michigan. The blog features posts on "torts, rights and accountability: theory and practice." SoTheBearSays features the musings of Baylor Law student Chris Fahrenthold -- he's now a 2L, but he's been blogging ever since his first year. Three Generations is short for "Three Generations of imbeciles are enough," a quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. The author is a public defender named Tejas Bhatt who likes to blog about everything and nothing. A public defender in one of Indiana's 92 counties is publishing the appropriately-named Indiana Public Defender. Finally, Privity has been around a while -- since September of 2003. Cheryl Stephens has been dispensing words of wisdom about the lives of lawyers and their search for balance, work-life harmony with quality of life and professional excellence for almost 2 years now. Check it out.
Caught in the Net -- All About Google (And a Little about Yahoo)
New Google Shortcuts
I'm a bit behind in announcing this (those dang jury trials), but over the past few weeks Google has rolled out more helpful search shortcuts, including:
-- Weather -- just type in weather and a U.S. city, and you'll get a four-day forecast.
-- Movie reviews -- just type in movies:[name of movie], and you'll get local movie showtimes (with hyperlinks to specific showtimes, so you can purchase tickets) and a link to movie reviews.
Not much here to help you in your legal research, but good information nonetheless.
Google desktop search matures
Google's desktop search program is out of beta, and it contains some considerable improvements. It now searches for PDF files, and multimedia files like MP3s, JPGs and GIF files, and video files. It also supports Thunderbird and Firefox, which is pretty nifty (why hasn't the Google Toolbar caught up on that?), and if you're an uber-geek you can customize the application to search even more file types.
I still have some privacy concerns about the product, but these improvements certainly bring it closer in quality to the Copernic Desktop Search tool, which I use and prefer.
Find RSS Feeds Automatically with Yahoo!I've been giving a lot of speeches lately about RSS, and a question I get frequently from RSS-newbies is "I agree RSS feeds has the ability to revolutionize the way I do research on the Internet, but how do I find the darned things?"
Well, here's one way: download the Yahoo! Toolbar. It has the ability to detect RSS feeds located on the particular site you're visiting. One problem: it's not available yet for the Firefox version of the Yahoo! Toolbar. But if you're using IE, check it out -- I have been using the Yahoo! Toolbar for a while now, and like its features just as much, if not more, than the Google Toolbar.
New Definitions for GoogleDo you use Google as your online dictionary? Just plug a word into the search box, and a hyperlinked definition appears in the upper-right corner after the number of results. In the past Google was using Dictionary.com for its definitions, but recently it switched and is using Answers.com, which in my opinion provides a much more detailed definition, including translations for that word in 13 languages (including Japanese, Arabic, and Chinese). It's a nice enhancement for Google, I think. Toss your dictionary and start using Google instead.
Ever have trouble positioning your mouse over a window border just to resize the window? Here's how to make it easier: on your desktop, right click and select Properties. Click the Appearance tab (and in Windows XP, click the Advanced button). From the item drop down list, choose Active Window Border and increase the value under Size. That's all there is to 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
Copyright Duration
Having trouble remembering whether that published work is protected or in the public domain? This great page from the Copyright Website will help you see the duration of a copyright in an easy-to-follow graphic. The rest of the site has some nice resources, too.CyberSettle ($$)
CyberSettle was the originator of the online, double-blind bid system for dispute resolution, and it's still going strong. It facilitates claims in the areas of auto and general liability, workers compensation, subrogation, and no fault claims. The initial phase occurs online, and there are telephone facilitation services available for additional discussion. The prices range from $175 to $300, depending on the settlement amount, and there are volume discounts for parties (insurance carriers, I'm sure) with large numbers of claims.DisabilityInfo.gov
Described as "your gateway to the federal government's disability-related information and resources," DisabilityInfo.gov certainly lives up to its name. All resources can be accessed by the tabs across the top, which include Employment, Education, Housing, Transportation, Health, Income Support, Technology, Community Life, and Civil Rights. Each section has its own set of links to information on laws and regulations, state and local resources, news and events, emergency preparedness, and other topics related to the particular subject. This is a great resource.eDicta
This page is maintained by the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section(or TIPS) of the American Bar Association. Fortunately, it's not limited to section members -- anyone can access the resources available here. Unfortunately, it appears that some of the information has not been updated for some time. So use this site for its great collection of links -- you'll find a long page of sites on insurance and trial law by clicking on the Portal link.Environmental Law Alliance
The Environmental Law Alliance "gives public interest lawyers and scientists around the world the skills and resources they need to protect the environment through law." On the home page you'll find news stories and links to newsletters; but don't stop there -- dig into the News and Resources pages, which contain some great resources on environmental law. There's even an RSS feed, so you can have news delivered to your desktop.
Finally, some fun and useful sites to get your week started:
In this era of digital technology, everything is automated. But sometimes we need, nay we crave human contact in our business dealings. That's why this Find-a-Human page is so helpful -- it provides quick and easy ways to navigate through phone menus to get to a real live person, for banks, cell providers, computer companies, and more.
If you use the Internet to shop, or just to research a purchase before you head out to the store, you'll want to check out Become.com. It's a search engine that focuses on "shopping-related research: buying guides, reviews, articles, specifications, forums, merchants, and a variety of other relevant information." I tried a search for portable dvd, and the first two hits contained some great reviews and a buying guide. Become.com is still in beta, so you'll need to register to use the service.
Do you speak American? You'd be surprised at all the slang you didn't know when you check out the site for the PBS series of the same name.
Well, that’s it for Issue #184 – 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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