INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
August 14, 2005
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #201 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....
Listening to your Search Results
That's what you'll be able to do with the new Yahoo! Audio Search. Yahoo! is indexing over 50 million audio files, including music, podcasts, interviews, speeches, and newscasts, comedy, sound effects, and much more. You can search for real music here, and you'll be given results for sites like iTunes, Rhapsody, and other music sites. You'll have to pay for this music, of course, but what a great way to search across multiple databases for music and other audio files.Dogpile offers four-in-one
Meta-search tool Dogpile announced last week that it is the exclusive home to all four of the major search engines -- Google, Yahoo!, MSN Search, and Ask Jeeves. It's a great way to see the results for all search sites, combined or side-by-side.The Pod in your Practice
A few months ago my good friend Dennis Kennedy posited that the iPod is the best gadget for lawyers today. I was skeptical, saying that the Treo was clearly the best gadget. Last week Dennis finally got some support for his theory; in iPod Goes to Work for The Firm, you can read about some of the tools that will turn your iPod into a sleek dictaphone, or other handy business tool.One Internet, One Identity
Are you tired of managing all of your online logins and passwords? Relief may be on the way; a new service called the GoingOn Network, needing just one login and password to access all the services you normally use. It's part of a movement called Identity 2.0, which is dedicated to challenging the way our identities are managed online. Sounds a little bit like the new AttentionTrust initiative.A Plethora of SMS Goodies
Can't get enough of receiving information on your cell phone? PC Magazine had a nice review of several Text-Messaging Resources that will take your SMS to the next level.Does Size Matter?
It's been awhile since the big two search engines, Google and Yahoo!, talked trash about the respective size of their search indexes. So it was interesting to see when Yahoo! announced earlier this week that it has surpassed Google's (which currently indexes 11 billion pages) not with 12, not with 13, but 20 billion pages indexed. Wow! Interestingly, this announcement has Google confused about the true size of Yahoo!'s index. Charlene Li has a nice article discussing the concept of de-duping and canonicalizing the index to make sure the count is accurate, and whether a larger index is really an indication of quality.Google News Finally Gets RSS
It's about time. Google News is finally offering RSS/Atom feeds for its news searches. I don't see that the general feeds (Top News, World, Sports, Entertainment, etc.) are going to be much use; just a lot of noise, I would suspect. However, a feed is also created each time you run a search -- just click on the RSS or Atom link on the left side of your page, and you'll have access to a customized feed that you can add to your aggregator.Blawgs of the Week
Can you believe it? Another crop of new law-related weblogs. First up is the California Real Estate Law Blog, a group effort by seven lawyers. They're writing about commercial real estate, landlord/tenant issues, development, retail, and other subjects, all with a California twist. Dallas lawyer Jimmy Verner is blogging again, and this time it's an audioblog -- in Family Law > Views and News, Jimmy discusses, via MP3, various matters in family law. Sheppard Mullin is just a blog machine -- they now have six weblogs, and the newest is the Labor & Employment Law Blog. More to come later! The blawg A Girl Walks Into (now out of) a Bar Exam... chronicles one person's experiences studying for the July 2005 California Bar Exam. Seeing that the exam's over, maybe the blog is, too -- that's why I thought I should post about it sooner than later....The well-named Friable Thoughts features the ruminations of an asbestos defense attorney in San Francisco. On Firm Ground features the trials and tribulations of Lawgirl, a small-firm third-year associate in the Big City. She hopes to offer insight to those considering a legal career or are interested in the practice of law. Finally, William G. Pintas & Associates is a Chicago firm with "attorneys for injured persons," and they are blogging about those issues at the Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog.Here's a tip for Word users -- some of you may work on a Word document for a while, then work on something else, then want to come back to the first file to make revisions. There's an easier way of getting to that file than the usual File|Open and search for the file. Use the Recently Used File List instead. It's located on your File menu down near the bottom of the list. It will display up to nine of the last files you have worked on. If it's not turned on, here's how to do it. Go to the Tools menu, then select Options, then the General tab. Select the checkbox that turns on Recently used file list, and set it to the number of documents you want to show. Click OK, and you're all set!
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
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
Brought to you by the Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center at the University of Albany, the Sourcebook has presented over 10,000 tables displaying statistical data from over 2,500 public and private agencies, academic institutions, research organizations, and other groups. The site is broken down into six sections: Characteristics of the criminal justice system, Public attitudes toward crime and criminal justice, Nature and distribution of known offenses, Characteristics of persons arrested, Judicial processing, and Persons under correctional supervision. Each section allows you to search by keyword, or browse the contents. The tables are available in both PDF and spreadsheet format.United States Supreme Court
Sure, you all know the Supreme Court has its own web site, but do you know all the great resources offered there? You'll of course find information on the history of the high court, bar admissions, court rules, opinions of the court, and a guide for visiting the court. You'll also find an automated docket system and a lengthy section on oral arguments, which includes a listing of argument transcripts dating back to 2000. Merits briefs are also available via an American Bar Association link.The Copyright Law and Litigation Resource
Rob Kasunic is a Senior Attorney and Principal Legal Advisor at the U.S. Copyright Office, and he has been keeping this page up since 1999. The site is simply designed, but jammed full of useful copyright law links. The topics include General Reference, Legislation, Suits, Controversies and Decisions, Internet and Domain Names, Copyright Office Reports, International IP Resources, State Sovereign Immunity, and much, much more.Internet Fraud Watch
The National Consumers League operates this site, which is designed to "give consumers the information they need to avoid becoming victims of telemarketing and Internet fraud and to help them get their complaints to law enforcement agencies quickly and easily." There are four main sections on Telemarketing fraud, Internet fraud, Elder fraud, Scams against businesses. Just click on one, and you'll find helpful tips on knowing how to spot a scam, statistics on fraud, and an online complaint form that you can submit to report a problem.Social Security Disability Advice
The Traver Law Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, offer this helpful site on Social Security Disability law. There's a forum where you can ask questions or read other notes on the subject, a page of social security legal links, pages of medical and vocational resources, a list of helpful forms and charts, as well as RSS feeds, if you'd like to subscribe.
Finally, some fun and useful sites to get you going this week:
Scott Adams is a bit late to all of this phishing mess, but he certainly hits the nail on the head with Dogbert, the Phisher.
Looking for a cybercafe when traveling? Have no fear -- the Cybercafe Search Engine has listings for 5,763 cybercafes and Internet access points in 161 cities.
Well, that’s it for Issue #201 – 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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