August 7, 2005

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INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
August 7, 2005
Tom Mighell

Welcome to Issue #200 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!

Wow -- THE 200TH ISSUE. Who ever knew I had such stamina? Certainly not me. Thanks to all of you who have been with me since 2000, when I started writing this little newsletter. And thanks to all of you who have joined since then -- you continue to remind me that I must be doing something right. I'm grateful for all of you.

And away we go....

News Update

Mighell and Kennedy on Blogs for Lawyers
Next Tuesday, August 9, Dennis Kennedy and I, along with Raza Hasan of FindLaw, will present a free one-hour webinar entitled "Blogs for Lawyers: Building an Audience to Build Your Practice." If you don't already have your own weblog, or you know someone who's thinking about it, you might want to check it out. It will be presented twice, so you don't have an excuse to miss it. Here are the links to follow:
Tuesday, August 9 at 11:00 a.m. CDT
Tuesday, August 9 at 3:00 p.m. CDT

Towards a More Complete Search
Mary Ellen Bates hits the nail on the head with Thinking Outside the Search Box, which expresses the simple but often overlooked fact that search engines don't always have the best answers. Sometimes you have to look to other sources, which is why it's a good idea to always keep up with the latest new sites.

Improvements to My Google
A while back I mentioned that Google was trying to enter the portal arena with its My Google page. Back then it was pretty elementary. Well, they have been quietly adding content, and while it's still no My Yahoo, it's getting better. You can now add content from about 20 listed sources, and it even has RSS capabilities, so you can add your favorite feeds to the main page.

Update Firefox the Right Way
One of the great features of the Firefox browser is its ability to notify you when updates are available for extensions and toolbars that you might have. It will also tell you when the Firefox browser itself is out-of-date -- but don't update Firefox using this method. Here's why. The better practice is to go straight to the Firefox download site and install it from there.

New Meta-Search Tool for Blogs
I have long used Technorati to figure out who links to my weblog. Now there's Talk Digger, which will run your search not only at Technorati, but also at Bloglines, BlogPulse, PubSub, Icerocket, Feedster, BlogDigger, MSN Search, and Google. And you can run any search there, to see what the blogosphere (and the Internet) is talking about.

An Electronic Discovery Roundtable
I'm pleased to be a part of a group of lawyers talking about electronic discovery over at DiscoveryResources.org -- it's called Thinking E-Discovery, and the roundtable features Dennis Kennedy and Evan Schaeffer. Give it a look.

Blawgs of the Week
Here's another helping of law-related blogs: first up, Slaw is a cooperative weblog about "Canadian legal research and the impact of technology on it." The contributors include law librarians, lawyers, knowledge and information technology officers, professors, and more -- all from Canada. Miguel Primaz is a young lawyer in Porto Portugal, and he's blogging about it at the Portuguese-language blog Suo Tempore. Clark Allison is a California tax, business, and estate planning attorney, and he's blogging about those issues at the Sacramento Estate and Business Planning Law Blog. The Baton Rouge firm of Kean Miller Hawthorne D'Armond McCowan & Jarman, LLP is discussing insight and information on Louisiana law, litigation, and legal culture at the appropriately-named Louisiana Law Blog. Connie Crosby is a Toronto law librarian and "info diva," and she's blogging about legal research and the like at her self-titled blog. There are also two new blogs from the Law Professor Blogs Network: the Business Law Prof Blog, brought to you by Dale Oesterle, from Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, and the Elder Law Prof Blog, which is being published by Anne Dayton, Visiting Professor at William Mitchell College of Law.

Help Desk

I have discussed browser home pages frequently in the past, but it's a subject that bears repeating. We all have our favorite home pages -- CNN, Yahoo, Google, etc. -- and sometimes you may be surprised when you start up your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, or others) and find that your home page has been changed to something you don't recognize. There are two possibilities here, and two ways to get your home page back to normal:

1. Some web sites out there may ask you if you'd like to change your home page to that site -- if you're not paying attention, you may click "Yes," and the site automatically makes the change for you. If this happens, take these steps to change back to your original home page:

First, navigate back to the page you want as your regular home page.

In Internet Explorer, select Tools, then Internet Options. At the top, you'll see an area called Home Page. Click Use Current, and it will set the page your currently visiting as your home page.

In Firefox, click Tools, then Options, then the General button on the left. At the top is an area called Home Page. Click Use Current Page, and you're good to go.

2. What if that doesn't work? If your browser continues to go back to the same unfamiliar page, you may be infected with a Browser Hijacker, a particularly evil form of malware. Programs like Ad-Aware, SpyBot and Microsoft's Spyware removal program can help identify the hijacker and hopefully remove it. If you run these programs and STILL can't get rid of that blasted home page, drop me a line; I'll suggest some more drastic options.

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

New York State Library
I like to mention library sites every now and again, because nowadays you don't have to be in the same town as the library to enjoy its terrific resources. The New York State Library is one such site -- you can search the Catalog to find citations from the library, State Archives, and Historical Documents Inventory. There are databases, e-journals and e-books which will also retrieve full-text information, in addition to citations and abstracts.

OceanPortal
A service of the United Nations, OceanPortal is a high-level directory of ocean data and related web sites. The home page is a bit messy; along the left hand side you'll find the Top 10 stories and a signup for a mailing list, among other things. The main portion of the page is a Links Directory, with thousands of links in categories such as Information Resources, Data Resources, Scientific Topics, Agencies/Institutes/Foundations, Associations and Societies, Administration, Conservation & Policy, and Commerce and Trade. The sites are all annotated, and you can save them as favorites or write a review about the site.

Pesticide.Net
Billed as "the world's most comprehensive source of news, analysis and regulatory information on conventional, biological, biotech and antimicrobial pesticides," this site provides several different types of content. The Basic Content is available for free, and includes recent news, court cases and decisions, data compensation and cost sharing awards, enforcement news, international issues, laws and regulations, and more. The Insider eJournal requires a paid subscription ($395/year), and provides access to additional Premium Services.

PsycARTICLES ($$)
This is part of the American Psychological Association's main site, and it contains full-text articles from more than 50 journals published by the APA. You'll have to pay for the articles, but it's pretty reasonable -- $11.95 per article (if you're part of an institution, you can get a discount). Once you subscribe, you'll have access to journal issues from 1985 to the present, as well as book chapters from 2000.

What Was The Exchange Rate Then?
Just a nifty little site that helps you figure out what the exchange rate was at a particular place in time. Just select a country, then either enter a year, or a range of years. For example, in 1999 it took 1.89 New Zealand Dollars to buy one U.S. Dollar.

Finally, some fun and useful sites to jump-start your week:

Interested in learning more about the latest viruses? Symantec has a page of Latest Virus Threats, where you can learn to protect yourself against attack.

Teagames is a neat little site with easy-to-learn Flash games.

Well, that’s it for Issue #200 – 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

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.

Archives: Miss an issue? You can read previous issues of the Internet Legal Research Weekly in the Archives.

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

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