November 5, 2006

Welcome to Issue #248 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!

Get your tech on video
I'm a big fan of CNet -- it's where I go whenever I want to learn about the latest gadgets, and compare reviews on different technology tools. Now they've unveiled CNet TV, a daily selection of video reviews, tips, and other fun stuff. You can even subscribe to the RSS feed, and receive those daily videos in iTunes.

Blawgs of the Week
Here's a selection of the law-related weblogs I mentioned on Inter Alia this past week:

Caught in the 'Net

Making RSS Easier to Understand/Read

I'm always looking for ways to show lawyers (and others) easier ways to understand RSS, and how to use it effectively. I recently came across two resources that can help me do just that:

-- When I describe RSS to seminar attendees, I typically use its traditional meanings -- Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, and the like. But I think my new favorite acronym for RSS comes from How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way, and it's "Ready for Some Stories!" It's a great way to read story headlines from your favorite websites, all in one place. Great description.

-- Keeping with the headlines theme, check out the SimplyHeadlines experiment. Users can just add the RSS feeds for their favorite sites, specify how many headlines you want and when you want them to arrive, and an e-mail will be delivered each day, just like the daily news. I think this is a terrific way to get people started with RSS, especially those more comfortable with (and accustomed to) receiving information by e-mail.

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Consumer Electronics Search

When I'm searching for a new gadget or some other piece of technology, I have a few favorites as starting points: CNet, PC Magazine, and PC World, among others. I'm sure that the products I find there have been reviewed elsewhere - but how to find those reviews?

Two new sites can help with that. The first is Wize, which ranks products based upon the reviews they have received on other websites -- it contains reviews from both people who have bought the product, as well as expert review sites. I'm not sure I always agree with the ranking, but the depth of information is great.

Another good site to check out is Retrevo, which is a pure search engine. Just plug in the name of the product you're researching, and you'll get a set of listings from various review sites. You can preview the particular review within the Retrevo window, and the search results include manufacturer info, reviews and articles, and posts from forums and blogs.

Here's a Word tip you might find handy if you want to sort data that's not in a table. Let's say you make a list of cities:

1. Dallas, TX
2. New Orleans, LA
3. Phoenix, AZ
4. Oklahoma City, OK
5. St. Louis, MO
6. Denver, CO

These aren't in a table, but you want to sort them, first alphabetically by state, then by city. Word's Table Sort feature can help with this, even if the text isn't in an actual table. Here's how to do it.

University of Washington Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine
There are a number of medical schools that have a nice set of resources on their site, and the UW orthopedics and sports medicine is one of these. Most of the good stuff is under the Articles for Patients and Videos for Patients links. You'll also find helpful information in the Clinical Services area.

CoCourts.com
If you need Colorado court records, this is the place to come. The database contains "millions of up-to-the-minute court records in four major case categories: Criminal, Civil, Traffic and Domestic Relations." It's not free -- you'll pay $6 per search, which is not bad.

Corporate Information ($$)
This service is provided by Wright Investors Service, and it has a wealth of information on leading companies in over 55 companies. You can get basic information for free; more in-depth research requires a subscription. Pricing is not available on the website -- you have to request it. But to get an idea about the quality of the information, you can search by Company or Ticker Symbol, and see sample company reports, financial statements, financial ratios, and more.

Delphion IP Research ($$)
Delphion is a Thomson corporation, and is a patent intelligence research site. The number of patent tools is impressive; you'll have access to U.S., European, WIPO, Derwent, German, INPADOC, and other patent databases. You'll also have tools to analyze and manage your research results. Individual subscriptions run from $118 to $235 a month, and group subscriptions are available.

ExpectMore.gov
Here's an interesting government site -- the government is actually telling you which of its programs are working, and which are not. You can search by keyword, or by Performing or Non-Performing status. Under each program, you'll see a rating (from Effective to Ineffective), a description of what's right (or wrong) about the program, and what the agency is doing to improve it.

Now here's a service that could really take off. It's called Bringo, and it's designed to conquer the phone tree that never actually gets you to a human being. GetHuman shows you how to personally get a human being for major companies; Bringo actually navigates the phone tree for you. Just tell Bringo the company you're trying to contact (there are currently over 170 available), enter your phone number, and Bringo will call you back when the phone tree has been navigated. I haven't tried it, but the service certainly sounds intriguing.

You're always getting links to the latest funny video in your e-mails. Short-circuit the process by coming to the Viral Video Chart, which lists the current Top 20 videos being circulated around the Internet.

Well, that’s it for Issue #248 – 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.

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