Legal Research

489 Bucks? Daaaaaannng!

Posted on May 06, 2009
The wraps are now off of the bigscreen Kindle, the Kindle DX. Here’s the new stuff that its older sib doesn’t offer: 9.7 inch display (2.5 times bigger than K2) Built-in PDF reader Auto-rotate capability 3.3 GB of memory, enough storage for up to 3,500 books Coverage via Engadget, Wired, CrunchGear, and TechCrunch...

Public Opinion Regarding Electronic Health Records

Posted on May 05, 2009
A recent NPR/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health survey determined that 75% of adults think it is either very important or somewhat important for their health care providers to use electronic health records.  But ironically, 59% of those surveyed are not too confident or not at all confident that their personal health information will [...

Obama Administration Decides Google’s a Real Tempting Juicy Target. Beats Having to Fix the Economy.

Posted on May 05, 2009
Less than a week after the DoJ announced it’s looking into antitrust issues wrt the Google Books-Authors Guild settlement, the Federal Trade Commission is now investigating whether Google and Apple violated the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 because they have 2 common directors: Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt and Genentech’s CEO Arthur D...

In a Moment of (Temporary) Insanity …

Posted on May 05, 2009
… I have elected to download the Windows 7 Release Candidate, which was released today. I have only 1 hour, 37 minutes and 53 seconds remaining until I can experience once more the joy of installing Windows. Only question is, where do I put it? Right now, the only place I can is on my [...

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Crime, Incorporated: Legal and Financial Implications of Corporate Misconduct

Posted on May 04, 2009
By Miriam F. WeismannToday, whether prosecuting or defending, the approach to understanding organizational crime has become more difficult because of the increased multi-organizational character of corporate crime. Crime, Incorporated: Legal and Financial Implications of Corporate Misconduct, provides a complete re-examination of how traditional legal rules and their application given how corporate crime has changed [...

Follow the Money

Posted on May 04, 2009
Interesting story in the NY Times about how researchers at Northwestern University are modeling the spread of swine flu using data from, among other things, the Where’s George Website. For those of you who haven’t visited the site, Where’s George has allowed you to track the movement of U...

Large-Screen Kindle to be Introduced on Wednesday

Posted on May 04, 2009
Apparently a new version of the Kindle, with a bigger screen that’s optimized for newspapers and magazines, will be introduced on Wednesday at 10:30 am. The NY Times has been involved in this newest evolution of the Kindle. Will it save the failing newspaper biz? “But if Kindle-like devices really do take off, they will be [...

Well, It Took ‘Em a Month …

Posted on May 01, 2009
… But Twitter finally made their “Discovery Engine” search tool available to the unwashed masses like me.

Google Goats

Posted on May 01, 2009
Go figure. (Why is it that people in California consistently and habitually seem so, I don’t know, *weird* to those of us on the East Coast?)

Here’s the Best Dang Search Engine I Know Nothing About

Posted on May 01, 2009
You may have been hearing some hype lately about a new search engine, Wolfram Alpha. (Danny Sullivan has some commentary, just in case you don’t know what I’m talking about.) You can’t actually use it right now, because you’re one of the unwashed masses (wow, used that phrase twice already today!) The creator, Stephen Wolfram, did [...

Disney Gets a Piece of Da Action

Posted on April 30, 2009
Disney has purchased a stake in up-and-coming YouTube challenger Hulu. According to the Washington Post, NBC, News Corp., and Disney will each own 27% of the site. (Wired pegs it at 30%.) Anyway, shows from ABC (and Disney) will soon join those from Fox and NBC on Hulu...

Claude Shannon Would Have Been 93 Today

Posted on April 30, 2009
Wired has a “This Day in Tech” post about Claude Shannon’s birthday today. Shannon is one of the biggies — if not *the* biggie — in the field of information theory. I started reading his masterpiece, A Mathematical Theory of Communication, a couple of years back...

Boy, Ya Gotta Jump Through a Lotta Hoops To Become a Monopoly

Posted on April 29, 2009
The proposed Google-Authors Guild settlement is back in the news again. The DoJ, which has decided it really doesn’t care for Google’s attitude, thank you very much, has notified everyone that they have decided to look into various and sundry antitrust issues related to the settlement...

It’s Just So Obvious — They Never Leveraged the Synergies

Posted on April 29, 2009
The Washington Post reports today that Time Warner would really, really, really love to spin off the red-headed stepchild they got stuck with, AOL: “The Company continues to review its strategic alternatives with respect to AOL. Although the Company’s Board of Directors has not made any decision, the Company currently anticipates that it would initiate a [...

How Much Love Does Google Have To Give Newspapers?

Posted on April 29, 2009
Earlier this month I wrote about how newspaper publishers were threatening action against Google for “stealing” their copyrighted stuff. Danny Sullivan wrote a long rant titled “Google’s Love For Newspapers & How Little They Appreciate It” that’s a great read...

Twitter’s Retention Rate Is 40%. Should They Be Concerned?

Posted on April 29, 2009
NielsenWire reports that 60% of new Twitter users do not return to the site: “Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty. Frankly, if Oprah can’t accomplish that, I'm not sure who can...

Read This

Posted on April 28, 2009
Read this article. All I can add is “amen”. Amen amen amen. (Now the fact that he calls out 2 of my favorite whipping boys, Microsoft and Facebook, has nothing to do with why I think this article is great.)

The Law of Obscenity and Pornography

Posted on April 27, 2009
By Margaret C JasperThe law of obscenity has evolved considerably since the first cases appeared in the courts. Most of these legal changes are the direct result of shifts in industry and cultural standards. The advent of the computer has presented new and novel issues to be addressed, as it is a difficult medium [...

Don’t Follow Me, I’m Lost

Posted on April 27, 2009
I’d wanted to post something about swine flu and the Web, but these guys beat me to the punch. That’s the price I (gladly) pay for not blogging on the weekends. Anyway, I want to examine how people are using the only Internet sites anybody really cares about anymore — Google, Facebook, and Twitter — to [...

iPhone on Verizon? Really?

Posted on April 27, 2009
It’s just a rumor, but USA Today is reporting that “Verizon (VZ) and Apple (AAPL) are discussing the possible development of an iPhone for Verizon, with the goal of introducing it next year, people familiar with the situation say.” Repeat after me, “It’s just a rumor...

One Billion iPhone Apps Downloaded

Posted on April 24, 2009
In about 9 months, just in case you’re counting.

Google Has My Profile, But Doesn’t Think I’m An “Everyday Essential”

Posted on April 23, 2009
Google has a bunch of smart answers that they plunk at the top of the results page. They call ‘em “Everyday Essentials“. Wanna know the weather in International Falls, Minnesota? Boom … it’s right at the top of the results...

Public Service Announcement #4

Posted on April 21, 2009
Lifehacker points to a PowerPoint presentation containing info about how to identify ATM skimmers — electronic devices glommed onto cash machines that steal your card number and PIN. Skimmers are becoming more common each month. Each day my life gets more complicated...

On The Rebound

Posted on April 20, 2009
Oracle has announced that it will buy Sun Microsystems for about $7.4 billion. As you may recall, earlier this month Sun’s board scuttled a proposed deal with IBM at $9.40 per share. Oracle’s offer comes in at a dime more per share.

How to Protect Elders from Harm (Oceana's Legal Almanac Series Law for the Layperson)

Posted on April 20, 2009
By James T O'ReillyHow to Protect Elders from Harm is a useful resource for anyone interested in learning more about protecting elders from insufficient care or mal-treatment.  The author presents a number of scenarios and offers expert advice on how to prevent harmful situations as well as how to take appropriate legal action if [...

Technological Changes in the Medical Laboratory

Posted on April 20, 2009
The California Healthcare Foundation recently released a report entitled Under the Microscope:  Trends in Laboratory Medicine which was prepared for them by the Lewin Group.  Having spent 16 years as a Medical Technologist in a hospital laboratory, I found this report quite interesting, especially seeing how much the lab has changed since I left to [...

The People’s Republic of Facebook Has Become a Democracy

Posted on April 17, 2009
Facebook netizen, you are now empowered to vote on the rules of governance for the site. Do you want the Proposed Statement of Rights & Responsibilities or do you want to retain the current Terms of Service? The vote will be binding if at least 30% of active users participate...

Bits and Pieces

Posted on April 17, 2009
A collection of stuff with an odd sort of a common thread running through them: Jail time for The Pirate Bay? The 4 leaders of the file-sharing site were found guilty of violating copyright by a Swedish court and sentenced to a year in prison. They’ll appeal, of course, so the drama will continue...

Now I *Know* the Apocalypse is Upon Us

Posted on April 16, 2009
Oprah’s going to Twitter tomorrow on her show. Aaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh.

But For a Nail the Shoe Was Lost

Posted on April 16, 2009
But for a nail the shoe was lost, But for a shoe the horse was lost, But for a horse the soldier was lost, But for a soldier the war was lost, But for a war the kingdom was lost. And, according to the Daily News, “but for 9 bucks the case got postponed for 5 months”...

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