Site of the Week: Law.alltop.com

I think all-on-a-page news aggregators are pretty slick and I've featured several of them already this year. Law.alltop.com is a really nice example of combining many newsfeeds from blogs and law-related news sources. The great thing here is you can hover over any headline and see all or a large part of the linked item. This preview lets you decide whether you want to click for the entire item or not. This is very cool and law firm web designers should take note. Law was not the first subject of an Alltop treatment. The Alltop site shows you the varied collections that have already been created.

We're still getting quite a few visits to our Oklahoma Bar Law Practice aggregator, with tips from the practice management advisors, and its three companion aggregators. There are more advanced methods with more customization and features. But, for now, it seems like many lawyers like the idea of a simple "click, click" for their news and information break as noted in this article.

A Family-Friendly Calendaring Idea

Here's an idea our family is trying this summer. Hopefully it will help us with scheduling and hopefully we will continue after the summer. We are setting up Google Calendars and sharing them so that you view all in one combined view. There are many other options for online calendars, like CalendarHub or 30 Boxes. But we all have GMail accounts, so the choice was easy. It's not like this is a new idea. But we think the time has come to have one place we can check online for the family plans, trips, sports camps, times Dad will be staying out of town for work and Norman, OK events we want to attend.

The setup was simple (as are most things Google) so we will see how it goes. I also think it gives my 6th grade son a little training in a life skill. No matter what career he has, I can't imagine that it won't involve keeping a calendar on a computer, a hand device or perhaps a holographic display. And, of course, it is my favorite price - free.

The ironic thing is that earlier this week I was promoting Erik Mazzone's Law Practice Matters blog and when I visited his blog I noticed that his latest post was this one saying that you must only have one calendar. Well, I'm not saying he is wrong. Maybe this is just the exception to the rule. There will certainly be some duplicate entry required with a few family matters that have to go on the office calendar because they impact it. But I like the idea of keeping business things on the "work" calendar and when I get contacted with some personal invitation I can have the family calendar available in seconds. It beats the present system, which is bothering my spouse with an inquiry.

60 Sites from ABA TECHSHOW Posted

60 Sites in 60 Minutes was the closing highlight of ABA TECHSHOW. As always, the presenters were entertaining, the sites were informative and there were some minor technical problems. J Tom Mighell, Reid Trautz and Craig Ball did the honors this year. I did a mini-review earlier on my blog. But now the complete list of 60 Sites from ABA TECHSHOW 2008 has been posted online. Check it out.

And, as a bonus, let me note something I meant to discuss here earlier, but didn't -- The 101 Most Useful Websites as determined by the Telegraph in Great Britain. I didn't cross check for overlap, but that should at least be 150 sites or so to keep you busy for a while.

Advanced Internet Research Webinar by Tom Mighell and Jim Calloway

Tom Mighell, chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2008, will join me for a two hour webinar on Advanced Internet Research on May 13, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. CST. Tom and I have done several versions of this program over the years. We will explain different types of search tools available and we will also discuss search strategies. Of course, we will have some relatively new cutting edge material. Here's a good way to become a power Internet researcher quickly. Anyone can enroll in this online CLE program,  not just Oklahoma lawyers. To enroll or to get more specific information, click here.

I Just Need an Answer to a Simple Question

People often encourage audience participation by saying "Ask any question. There is no such thing as a dumb question!" Experience, of course, sometimes tells us otherwise. J

But it is true that if one asks the question, they do need an answer. We all have questions that we need answered. We can search for answers or ask friends or trusted colleagues. In the Internet age, there are now online communities of interest where people share information and answer each other's questions. Some of these online groups are huge, like slashdot.org. Others are smaller. A group may consist of an electronic mailing list rather than an Internet site. It may even as informal as saving the last e-mail to "the group" and using Reply All when you want to ask a question or convery information to "the group."

These online communities face challenges. Internet trolls try to disrupt the group. New users pay no attention to the exisiting culture and quickly break either written or unwritten rules. In larger groups, long-term users become frustrated by newbies asking the same questions over and over again. People argue or do veer way off-topic.

My particular frustration is people who ask a question of the group in a detailed e-mail when they could easily find the answer themselves in less time than it takes to type the e-mail. Why not get the answer now? And what if the person who first answers your question is wrong? We don't want just any answer. We want the right answer. I have concluded that the explanation must be that many people don't know how to find the answer online. Well, I can help with that! And so, submitted for your approval, is this tutorial, "I Just Need an Answer to a Simple Question."

Oklahoma Bar Launches OKNewsBar

The Oklahoma Bar Association now introduces a new free online service we are calling OKNewsBar. This is a resource for our members that everyone can use, consisting of a set of Web pages to allow one to quickly access new Oklahoma and U.S. Supreme Court opinions as well as up-to-date legal news and law practice management tips. As you will be able to see, there are four sections to this feature: Court Opinions, Oklahoma Legal News, National Legal News and Law Practice Management Information. Some of you may decide to make one of these pages the home page for your browser. Anyone can access this information, so feel free to share it with others. The main web address is http://www.okbar.org/oknewsbar.htm.

Given my role with the OBA, I am particularly proud of the law practice management section that features content from six bar association (or Canadian law society) practice management experts. The site is powered by RSS newsfeeds from various credited sources. We note with pride that all of our state's appellate court opinions are provided to the public through dedicated RSS newsfeeds from OSCN.net.

Sites For Sore Eyes: Fun and Handy Reference Sites That Rock!

Reference sites abound on the WWW. Finding things online is not just about skillfully using the search engines. Courtney Kennaday and I may have written our best "Sites for Sore Eyes" column ever for the March 2008 GP|Solo Technology eReport with "Sites For Sore Eyes: Fun and Handy Reference Sites That Rock!" By that I don't mean that it is the most well-written or clever. I just mean that we cover a number of great online reference sites like dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference guides. These may sound mundane, but that is only until you really need one and don't know where to find it. Check out our article and add a few more important sites to your favorites.

Websites on how technology works, DIY Legal Technology and PaperLESS office

So what do the three topics about have to do with each other? They are all addressed in the GP Solo Division's Tech e-Report for October, 2007, which was just released earlier today.  This is a nice publication that I tend to profile every issue, in part because my monthly column reminds me to check it out when it is published. In this month's Sites for Sore Eyes column, Exploring the Brave New (Tech) World, Courtney Kennaday and I discuss a number of websites that provide definitions of technology terms and explanations about many things. There is quite a growing group of these and many print magazines are now moving into this area.

PC Mag features 200 Top Websites

We all like to see lists of useful Websites. Well, PC Magazine has come up with a great idea. Instead of a top 100 Websites list, it has two lists:  Top 100 Classic Websites and Top 100 Undiscovered Websites. There is lots of interesting material here. I'm holding off on visiting any of the new ones since I have three articles and papers due immediately.

Medical Information Sites Profiled

In the American Bar Association GP/Solo Division's September Technology eReport, Courtney Kennady and I profiled some useful medical information Websites in our Sites for Sore Eyes column.

Pogue on "The Next Generation of Online Shorthand"

David Pogue's New York Times Circuits column this week is on "The Next Generation of Online Shorthand." So this is new suggested shorthand terms, past LOL, AFK, and BRB. It is good reading for right before a three day weekend.

Some favorites of mine:

* GI -- Google it

* GGNUDP -- gotta go, no unlimited data plan

* 12OF -- twelve-o'clock flasher (refers to someone less than competent with technology, to the extent that every appliance in the house flashes "12:00")

* MBLO -- much better-looking online For the entire column, click this link. (Free registration may be required.)

BTW, I subscribed to the e-mail version of this so I get it every week in my inbox and don't miss one. That is also free. I like it, but YMMV.

FYI: Starting a Website

Having a law firm Website is a business necessity these days. The American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center has just released a new Web feature, FYI: Starting a Website. Their five step outline is relatively brief and easy-to-follow. it contains links to lots of other online material.

Top Sites for Researching Legal Abbreviations

Novalawcity points out top sites for researching legal abbreviations.

"The University of Washington Law Library provides an alphabetical listing which focuses on U.S Legal Abbreviations. URL: http://lib.law.washington.edu/pubs/acron.html

"Cardiff University in Wales provides a larger list and a search by title feature covering world legal abbreviations. URL: http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/

"Monash University in Australia also provides a comprehensive list of world legal abbreviations including U.S. cites. URL: http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/legal-abbreviations/abb-a.html "

You'll have to follow the link in the first sentence to find their favorite legal abbreviations.

Our New Podcast, The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology, opens with "Electronic Marketing: Harnessing the Web's Whizbang"

My friend, Sharon Nelson, and I are now podcasters. It is a part of the ABA Law Practice Management Section's webzine, Law Technology Today. Sharon was ABA TECHSHOW chair in 2006, the year after me. The podcast name is The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology. Right now the plan is to make it a monthly podcast and to list it on iTunes.

Issue number one is Electronic Marketing: Harnessing the Web's Whizbang. We have also included a set of links to various lawyer marketing resources and articles online. The link is here: http://www.abanet.org/lpm/ltt/articles/vol1/is4/digitaledge/index.shtml 

You do not need an iPod or MP3 player. You can click on the link and listen to it over your computer speakers. It is a bit long for a podcast at just over 30 minutes, but we hope you will find some valuable information and tips in it.

"Sites for Sore Eyes" Features Web Resources for Lawyers

"Sites for Sore Eyes" is a new column by yours truly, Jim Calloway, and Courtney Kennaday, Practice Management Advisor for the South Carolina Bar. It is a part of the May 2007 Technology eReport from the ABA General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division. The first column focused on Web 2.0 applications and was brief. It was really designed for the general practitioner who was not familiar with the concept of Web 2.0. We wanted to explain this idea briefly, link to a longer explanation for those interested and highlight a few of these useful Web 2.0 sites. The Technology eReport comes out four times a year, so look for more Sites for Sore Eyes in the future as Calloway and Kennaday explore the World Wide Web.

As usual, the rest of this Technology eReport has great information. J. Anthony Vittal has a great column on how the Information Age is truly changing the world. Jeffrey Allen reviews Top-Rated Digital Dictating Equipment. jennifer j. rose notes the problems when you missend that e-mail to the worst possible person and there's much more.

A Master's Class in Online Snooping

Culver City, CA attorney James Tyre referred the Solosez list to the article "A Master's Class in Online Snooping." It was written by Mark Frauenfelder, one of the co-creators of the popular blog Boing Boing. In addition to tips on snooping, it also includes some defensive privacy techniques. DISCLAIMER: Never heard of this publication before (Radar) and it contains some content which some might find objectionable, but not on the linked article.

Beware of the Dangers of "Drive by" Web Page Infections

The Internet brings great information and access, but it also brings dangers. We've seen viruses, spammers, spyware and computer hijackers. We try to cope with all of these dangers as best we can. Now a report from Google outlines a new form of threat: Web pages that can infect your computer when you merely visit them. You might want to read this online article from MSNBC. NEW NET THREAT: INFECTIOUS WEB PAGES What can one do about this? I have suggested to our bar association members that one method would be to type a web address for an unfamiliar site into Google rather than your Web browser. Then, when it shows up in the Google results you can see if it has the Google warning label discussed in the article before you decide to visit it.

Trolling Through Online Communities

One of my interests is how the Internet allows the formation of online communities of interest. This allows groups of people with like interests to communicate and interact even though they may be separated by distance. For some people these online groups become a significant part of their support group, their peers, their friends and, oddly, their enemies. If you work the graveyard shift, you may not get to see your neighbors much, but the online community is there for you 7/24/365. These communities may exist through electronic mailing lists, public or private message boards, blogs with comments allowed, or hosted Web sites ranging from Digg to MySpace.

As someone who participates in several online communities and tries to moderate one, often in vain I enjoyed this week's article from Cory Doctorow entitled "How To Keep Hostile Jerks From Taking Over Your Online Community." (Doctorow is an writer who publishes the blog Boing Boing. A Directory of Wonderful Things, which is currently ranked by Technorati as the 1st or 2nd most popular blog of them all.)

Doctorow appreciates the emotional attachment that many have for their online communities."

• "If you're part of a nice little community of hamster-fanciers, Trekkers, or Volkswagen enthusiasts, it's easy to slip into a kind of camaraderie, a social setting in which everyone talks about life, aspirations, family problems, personal triumphs. In some ways, it doesn't matter what brought you together -- the fact that you're together is what matters."

But he points out a problem that anyone who has been a member of any online community for very long has experienced.

• "The Internet Tough Guy is a feature in all Internet social forums. These are people who poison discussions with anger, hatred, and threats. Some are malicious. Some are crazy. Some are just afflicted with a rotten sense of humor. Whatever their motives, they're a scourge. It takes precious little trolling to sour a message-board. A "troll" -- someone who comes onto an online community looking to pick fights -- has two victory conditions: Either everyone ends up talking about him, or no one talks at all...."

The entire article is worth reading. I hoped to find a solution that I had not yet tried, but did not find one. Although the concept of a troll whisperer is both cute and interesting.

One online community for solo and small firm lawyers is Solosez. They have had to totally ban political discussions. One announcement of a news item or happening is allowed, but no discussion thereafter. You'd think that since a lot of political activity has to do with the passing of laws there would be some interesting political discussions there. But experience shows otherwise. Rarely would a political discussion get past the first four or five e-mails until someone insulted another or questioned their proper parentage. It actually became sort of a running joke as to how many messages it took before someone compared someone they disagree with to the Nazis.

In Oklahoma, we have the OBA-NET. Participation is limited to Oklahoma lawyers only. Our rules for discussing emphasize respect and never attacking other people personally while you might disagree with their ideas. This week there was a discussion of a certain deceased political/religious leader. One person questioned the meaning of one person's comment, which was met with the retort that if they couldn't understand it, they should "turn in their bar card." So much for no personal attacks, I guess. A few months ago a lawyer questioned my mental ability because we disagreed on a court access policy, of all things.

The ironic thing is that both of these people are nice people in person. But when they post online they use rhetoric that I think they would likely never use in person. As we have all learned from e-mail, the  cold text of typed information separated from any other context is easily misunderstood. In a friendly debate around the office water coolor, a disparaging comment about someone's lack of mental ability said with a grin would have little chance of being misunderstood and certainly couldn't be located with Google years later.

Sports discussion groups often encourage insults and flaming. For many it is all in good fun. But I am sure people leave every week with hurt feelings. Lawyers should consider just how many biting words they wish to leave online to be indexed by Google and found years later. We're pretty good at using our words. But sometimes not using some words may be the strongest tactic of all.

OBA-NET remains a vibrant online community. Young lawyers can receive mentoring. Every Oklahoma lawyer can get obscure questions answered. I've purchased several items online after being alerted to an Internet bargain by one of our members. If you are an Oklahoma lawyer and have never participated or have not logged in for while, come and see us here. Hopefully you won't encounter any trolls.

if you want to read more about online communities of lawyers, check out Ellen Freedman's post on the topic.

Legal Wikis Abound

When you think of wikis, you may think only of Wikipedia. But in fact there are quite a few law-related wikis. For a discussion of the tool and a list of links to law-related wikis, check out Bob Ambrogi's article "Legal Wikis are Bound to Wow You."

It seems like a lot of medium-sized law firms would benefit by setting up an internal, private wiki as a knowledge management tool.

Fantasy Life, Real Law

The ABA Journal for March, 2007 has a feature Fantasy life, Real Law. it is about lawyers who participate in the virtual community Second Life. I became interested in Second Life several months ago when I read that some people werre actually supporting themselves in the real world by their business activities in this virtual world. They design clothes for avatars or provide other goods and services and receive compensation in the local script, Linden dollars.

The article quotes several lawyers who are active Second Life participants, with online characters who are legal professionals. “ 'Many people have active fantasy lives in which they want to pretend to be things they are not because it makes their real life more bearable,' says Benjamin D. Cushman, the lawyer behind [online character] Beathan Vale. 'This really is a tool to enhance the daydreaming experience.”

Another lawyer reported generating real life clients and income via Second life

My son and I tried Second Life a few months ago. We had fun designing a character, but lost interest as a basic skill tutorial, moving a beach ball around, didn't perform as we thought it should.  We complained to a few others who were there having the same problem and left. That was just as well because neither of us really has time for any new hobbies right now. (Learning to fly was fun, though.)

But Second Life clearly is not a second class operation. According to the website there are 4,558,662 residents with 1,629,589 having logged in during the last 60 days. The assertion that $1.770,716 in U.S. dollars was spent or exchanged there in the last 24 hours is attention-getting. Setting up a virtual law practice in the context of a game has many ethical and practical concerns. Read the ABA Journal article. You never know whether you might need a Second Life sometime.

Designing a Custom Google Search Page

Designing a custom Google Search Page, that would take forever right?

No, just about ten minutes.

Mozilla Firefox Cheat Sheet

Here is a nice Mozilla Firefox Cheat Sheet. If you use Firefox, you will like this collection of tips and shortcuts. Hat tip to Tom Mighell for the link.

Top Ten Lists You Don’t Want To Miss

Everyone loves a Top Ten list. After posting about the Top Ten Flicker Hacks a few days ago, I decided I’d spend some time looking for some more Top Ten lists. It has been several weeks since I had time for any semi-pointless Web surfing and it turned out to be fun. There are countless “Top” lists on the WWW, so I decided to limit my collection to lists of either recent vintage or great usefulness (or strangeness.)

Warning: The following links carry lots of useful information, but also the potential for the wasting of a significant number of billable hours. I also have not carefully reviewed all of the linked sites and some may feature content objectionable to some readers. I found so much material that I haven’t had time to read it all myself.

So let’s start with the Top Ten Essential Travel Gadgets. This is great reading for the road warriors. I don’t own most of these, but I do carry a multi-tool in my shave kit and I use it frequently. This is followed by 10 Top Ten Gadget lists, ranging from the ten strangest clocks to the ten strangest keyboards.

Top Ten Largest Databases in the World is from BusinessIntelligenceLowdown.com. I’d never heard of this site before. But they had another interesting feature, How to Be a Manager that Your Employees Respect: 73 Surefire Tips. This is great material for anyone with employees. (I will definitely visit this site again or subscribe to its RSS, but I have to note that a website offering tips to the business community probably shouldn’t have Google ads. It makes it look amateurish.)

PC World has many top ten features, like The Top 10 Tech Stories of 2006. I also must note The 15 Best Places to Waste Time on the Web. (OK, maybe you are better off not knowing of these.) Here are many more PC World Top Ten lists generated by searching the site.

Even though you may have all of the degrees you want, you may still appreciate the Top Web Tools for College Students. If you want to spend way too much time contemplating how to improve the Google ranking for your web site, here are Ten Top Ten Search Engine Optimization lists.

As a dedicated Gmail user, I can’t skip Top 10 Gmail Tips and Hacks. Some of these are at the expert level, but some are for everyone, like “A recent and quietly introduced Gmail feature is Mail Fetcher, which can check up to five other e-mail accounts and download all that mail into your Gmail. To help keep things organized, Mail Fetcher can automatically label and archive all this incoming mail.”

Ten Effective Workplace Habits is maybe a bit mislabeled. It is more about career planning and development than actually getting work done.

OK, I’ve got to stop now. But I’ve accumulated more material. So I will do a follow up next week. I’ve got top 50 and top 25 lists, along with more top 10 lists. But feel free to e-mail more list suggestions to me (except for lawyer jokes.)

Web 2.0 - The Machine is Us/ing Us

Well, at some level I never thought I'd link to a YouTube video from this blog, and at some level I knew, of course, that I'd someday link to video from this blog. But this video from Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cutural Anthropology, Kansas State University, about the evolution of the World Wide Web is currently one of the most-viewed videos on the Web. This is a actually a pretty big deal because the video is intended to make you think, where most highly popular Web videos are posted to entertain. So if you can spare 4.5 minutes of your time, maybe at lunch, or maybe when you get home tonight, you should watch this. But do it when you have time to reflect, not when your next appointment is due in six minutes. If you are a visual learner, you may enjoy this visual representation of how the Web is changing. (Note to those with slow connections or new to YouTube, if the video keeps stopping, hit pause and let the red line showing it is loading expand out to about halfway. Then hit play.)

Google Patent Search

Several months ago a group of nationally-known speakers on a 60 Tips in 60 Minutes panel were joking that we could probably do a presentation titled 60 Google Tips for Lawyers. With the speed at which Google has rolled out new services this past year, that is scarcely a joke any more. The current new offering is Google Patent Search - now in beta.

OK, It's Time To Upgrade Your Browser (or is it?)

New browser versions have been released for free public download: Firefox 2.0 today and Internet Explorer 7 last week. You can download the new Internet Explorer here and you can download Firefox here. A lot of people are busily installing these, while other veterans of many new software installations are hanging back, waiting for the first service pack to be released.

I have yet to install either upgrade, but that's been a "no time" thing. I figure that they have been in public and private beta so long that no real harm can come from upgrading now.

Early commentary has been mixed, but generally positive for both. One long-time Firefox user calls it "a dud" and indicates some should consider switching to the "surprisingly solid IE 7.0." Another ZDNet reviewer reacted to that, saying "Firefox 2 is no dud" and providing a nice brief list of the FF improvements. PC World published a nice, detailed comparison of the two browsers. I think it is fair to note PC World's characterization that Internet Explorer 7 is "radically different," while Firefox upgrade is a "measured step." IE has added tabbed browsing and RSS newsfeed support. (I've told several groups that this may be the trigger that brings RSS into much more common usage. We shall see.)

Both browsers have antiphishing tools and other improved security features.

I think those who choose to wait to upgrade have history and experience on their side. But the best option this time seems to be to go ahead and jump in. Improved security is a good thing and IE users will take a big step forward with new features. One commentator suggests that since you will have to get used to a new Internet Explorer interface anyway, you should just get used to a new Firefox interface. But this is one matter of great public debate where you need not choose a side. Unless you are very short on hard drive space, just install both upgrades. Explore the new features and see what you think. You don't even have to tell others which one you finally select as your defualt browser.

Download the entire US Code in PDF

I have just learned from the OBA-NET (our bar member's only online service in Oklahoma) that you can download all titles of the US Code from a website provided by the US House of Representatives. Here's the link: http://uscode.house.gov/download/downloadPDF.shtml

According to Robert Don Gifford, an OBA member currently working in the US Attorney's office in Reno, NV: "These are large files (up to 37MB), with each USC title occupying one or two files. They don't correspond to any printed version, because they incorporate the materials from the supplements into the 2000 edition. This makes them more convenient for research, but less so for cite-checking."

Online Filing Cabinets

If you haven't been paying attention lately, you may not have noticed that online storage space is getting cheap. I've been researching lately into the various potential uses of online storage space for lawyers, from online backup to file sharing to virtual drives for day-to-day work. You have probably noted that there is a lot of free online storage space available for certain kinds of file sharing services, like YouTube and flickr. Some preliminary thoughts on this topic are contained in my Oklahoma Bar Journal column this month, Online Filing Cabinets.

Improving Your Life a Bit and Toward More Flat Fees

Self-Improvement and flat fees. What do these two topics have in common? Not much except that they were both the subject of good articles in June's Law Practice Today.

Tom Mighell's Strongest Links column is about web sites that help you improve. But these are not, for the most part, self-motivational websites. Rather as Tom says, "one way or another, these sites will definitely help you with something, whether it's getting your job done faster, de-stressing from the hassles of the day, or taking a vacation." Several sites and services I use frequently are listed here and this is definitely worth a read.

I recently got to meet Christy Burke of Burke and Company LLC of New York. At the time I didn't knwo she was an alternative billing believer. Read her article "Flat Fee Nation," focused primarily on one law firm's experiences. The "money quote" is from Carol Cummings, Managing Director of South Carolina-based Rogers Townsend & Thomas:  "Unless you have your process systematized, you cannot survive and you cannot make money – it’s that simple."

I believe that this is critical for law firm success. There are many things in the mix for success; good client service, relationsships, and results, to name but a few. But tight, efficient and well-managed systems to deliver the work and the client communications are key for a Twenty-First Century law practice.

ABA TECHSHOW 2006's 60 Sites in 60 Minutes List Posted

The ABA TECHSHOW website says it best: "Year after year, one of the most popular sessions at ABA TECHSHOW® is 60 Sites in 60 Minutes. This session is a fast-paced and often irreverent look at web sites that may be of interest to lawyers. Many of these sites are incredible legal or law-practice related resources while others range from interesting to just plain wacky."

The 2006 60 Sites list is now online. There are a few more than 60 because we also post the ones that we intended to show, but time (or Internet connection) didn't permit. Thanks to my co-presenters, Bob Ambrogi and Natalie Kelly, for another interesting tour through the Internet.

Google Launches Web Page Creator Tool

I really need a macro for "Today Google releases a new tool." Today it is the Google Page Creator, a design-your-own-webpage tool. Google says "No technical knowledge required. Build high-quality web pages without having to learn HTML or use complex software...Your web pages will live on your own site at http://yourgmailusername.googlepages.com" Here's a post from Google Blogoscoped if you want to learn more about it. I still think a lawyer or law firm needs his, her or its own domain name and not one at Google pages, but any web presence is better than none.

The “Next Generation” of the Internet? — Web 2.0

There's been a fair amount written about Web 2.0 recently. My article for the January, 2006, Oklahoma Bar Journal is titled The “Next Generation” of the Internet? — Web 2.0. It is a bit longer than my usual articles because this is such a big topic. I also think that that the Internet is changing in a way that is only partially related to the technical Web 2.0 applications. It is becoming less about passive downloading, viewing and reading and more about individual user contributions and participation. Blogs are but one example. The online version of my article is packed with hypertext links. It ends with an Annotated Web 2.0 Bibliography where you will find links to even more material, including a comprehensive set of Web 2.0 links by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell.

I know this will take you a little while to read, folks, but I've tried to cover trends that will really impact us all, even the "non-teckie" types. E-mail with feedback or if you know of other new Web 2.0 applications that Tom, Dennis and I missed.

Scary Computer Trick with Internet Explorer

OK, here's your scary discovery in online technology of the month. Well, at least it was a discovery for me.

Go to http://www.friendlycanadian.com/applications/clipboard.htm

(I'm assuming you will have already used copy and paste or cut and paste today. If not, copy something to your clipboard and then refresh the page.)

Yes, by the default settings, Internet Explorer can be made to paste the the contents of your clipboard into a web page. That's really special if you ever copy credit card numbers or passwords to your clipboard.

I would recommend changing your default settings in Internet Explorer:

Tools -> Internet Options -> Security -> Internet -> Custom Level -> Scripting -> Allow paste operations via script:   set to Prompt or to Disable

Thanks to Dan Pinnington for passing along this tip from Rocky Stefano.

UPDATE: You probably want to choose Prompt rather than Disable above, if for no other reason than I have now discovered that the TinyURL application (that I love and use frequently) uses this as a part of its process. So better to be prompted for this, or something else, than to have it suddenly stop working.

RSS and Government Agencies

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland decided to use a blog as an easy way to post press releases to the Web and do an RSS newsfeed at the same time.

So if you did a lot of federal criminal defense in Maryland, don't you think you'd be setting up an RSS newsreader to automatically receive all of their press releases? Fast forward over the next few years as we insert Oklahoma Insurance Commission, Oklahoma Corportation Commission and many other agencies there and don't limit it to press releases, but also include a PDF of agency rules and regs sent once a year, notices of hearings and dockets, decisions and so forth. The blog's fine, but the big deal is all agencies doing RSS Newsfeeeds so interested parties can receive all of the infromation instantly- where it is the core items noted above or a notice of closing early and cancellation of hearings due to inclimate weather. Start lobbying the agencies that you think need an RSS feed now.

Thanks to Securities Litigation Watch blog and the White Collar Crime Prof Blog for the pointer.

Customizing Internet Explorer Links Toolbar

I'm still primarily using Internet Explorer. and one of the tools I seem to use a lot that others may not is the links toolbar. If you've never customized your links toolbar, it is probably hidden and/or you have the default sites of Customize links, Free Hotmail, Windows Media and so forth. Just go to a favorite site, grab the IE icon in front of the URL in the address bar and drop it onto the Links to customize. Couldn't be easier. Right click on the name if it is long to rename it something shorter.

I shortened a few names and now have the TinyURL applet on it. I blogged about that applet here and so won't repeat that. But one thing I am doing a lot more with it being more visible now is answering e-mails questions by doing a search that find the answer and then hitting TinyURL to create a link that reflects the same search engine, query and results as I presently view. I figure the person who receives it benefits because when they click on it, they see how I got the answer and also have a lot of related search results there as well.

Another site I have on my links toolbar is one I have called Time that goes to here: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ When I have a conference call, I don't have to figure out whether the watch, computer or phone display is the absolutely correct time. I just click on that link. It also has a nice feature to help with picking a time for conference calls in several different time zones.  My premise is that most of us have a relatively few sites we frequently visit.  By using short names I have 13 visible on my links bar and can get to those sites very quickly. Try customizing your links toolbar and see if it works for you.

I am told that when I switch over to FireFox, I'll love the tabbed browsing feature as a better way of doing this. Maybe I should take FireFox Hacks home for the holidays.

Google Analytics (for Websites) is Now Free

If you are not doing any analysis of the visitors to your Website you might want to check out Google Analytics. It is now free. I've never used the product. But when you look at Google's track record, the price and the fact that many have been paying for this service previously, it merits a look.

Oklahoma Courts Now Offer RSS Newsfeeds

You can now receive Oklahoma appellate court opinions and Oklahoma Attorney General opinions via RSS newsfeeds at no charge. I believe Oklahoma is the third state to do this, after West Virginia and Louisiana. You may get more information and see the various RSS subscription options here: http://www.oscn.net/Applications/OSCN/rss.asp . I am proud to note that my wife, Terri L. Calloway, Director of Legal Information and Law Libraries for the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, brought this new service into being. It is, of course, free to everyone.

I believe we will see more and more state governmental bodies and agencies jump on the RSS bandwagon.  Just think that one day soon if you have an interest in the business of your state's Corporation Commission or Historical Commission, you will be able to subscribe to their RSS feed and get their hearing dockets, decisions, rule changes, announcements and press releases all delivered to you via RSS.

Today's Lesson: Bookmarklets

Here's an article I found on LifeHacker entitled Ten "Must Have " Bookmarklets. Bookmarklets are small bits of javascript that you can save in your Favorites. But instead of just taking your browser to a favorite Web page, they can perform other actions. If you don't get bookmarklets, let me give you an example you may appreciate. Readers of this blog know I really like services like TinyURL to make shorter links to web pages for e-mailing or even communicating verbally over the phone.

The Tiny URL bookmarklet is here:
http://tinyurl.com/#toolbar 

After going to that page, right click on the link to the bookmarklet and save it to your Favorites. (Some of you may want to put it on the Links Toolbar in IE as they suggested, but mine is full with higher priorities.) Then I opened my Favorites and moved this new one from the bottom to near the top of the list. Just drag and drop it higher on the list.

It looks just like a normal Favorite, but here's the benefit.

Assume that I am already at a webpage and want to create a tiny URL for it to paste into an e-mail or for some other purpose.

Old method:
Copy the URL from the webpage to my clipboard
Surf to TinyURL.com
Paste it it into the data window in Tinyurl
Click the button to create the Tiny URL
(Tiny URL has improved to automatically copy the new URL to your clipboard and save that additional step.)

New method:
Click Favorites and Select the TinyUrl Bookmarklet (which looks like the
other favorites)
As I see the TinyURL Web Page appear, I know that the task is done and
the new URL has already been copied to my clipboard.

For more bookmarklets, see Bookmarklets.com. One bookmarklet I like that wasn't mentioned in the article referenced above was page freshness, which allows you to see when a Web page you are viewing was last updated. It is here.

Google Blog Search

Several days ago, I did a post here on Blog Search Tools. Now we have a new powerhouse in this area with the entry of Google's Blog Search (in beta.) Many of us have been anticipating this from Google for some time. You will not be surprised to hear that it seems to work well and quickly. While some of the more specialized tools I noted previously have unique features and will be useful, my prediction is that that this will become the blog search engine of choice for most. Check out the Advanced Search features so you will know what is there.

Blog Search Tools

With millions of blogs online and tens of thousands of new ones appearing daily, there is a need for tools to sort through the many new voices posting on the Net. Certainly traditional search engines like Google index the blogosphere, but there are other tools focused primarily on blogs. When I want a search to see what's hot and recent in the blog world, I go to Technorati. The search results are presented chronologically, so often the first results returned are mere minutes or hours old.

Even if you do not see a present need for them, it's important for lawyers to be aware of powerful tools. Genie Tyburski's The Virtual Chase Alert directs us to an article worth reading by anyone who fancies themselves as knowing how to do Internet research. A free article, available to nonsubscribers, on the Wall Street Journal's online edition discusses blog search engines and has a nice chart comparing five blog search tools. Read it today. I'm not sure how long it will be online before being archived. Even lawyers with little interest in blogs should peruse this one.

Of course there are always new trailblazing concepts. Cutting edge blogger Matt Homann of the [non]billable hour blog is already dismissing those of us who use Technorati as behind the curve. He points to Talk Digger, which is a metasearch engine that submits queries both to the blog search engines and traditional ones. Here's the Talk Digger FAQ. I have to disagree with my friend Matt as TalkDigger only indexes and lets you search Website addresses, not traditional keyword searchs. It is useful for bloggers to see who is linking to their posts and in some other situations. (Trackback links, like you see at the bottom of this post, only capture a very few of those who link to a blog post.) But for common searches I'm sticking with Technorati and, if I ever find time, will be examining more closely the other tools identified in the WSJ article. (IceRocket was new to me.)

G-mail and high volume electronic mailing lists (e.g. Solosez)

There are lots of e-mail electronic discussion groups. Many have valuable information for lawyers. All Oklahoma Bar Sections have these lists available.

Solosez is a thriving electronic mailing list-based online community. It is for the benefit of solo and small firm lawyers and neither ABA membership or even a law degree is required to participate. But with a large and active membership, the daily message volume can be overwhelming. Are you ready for an extra hundred e-mails per day? You cannot have a high volume list like Solosez routed into your inbox. You will have trouble locating your regular business e-mail in the flood. But a list where there are only two or three messages per month has little potential value. There are techniques for dealing with a high volume e-mail list. The two most common are setting up a rule in your e-mail client to route all Solosez messages to their own folder or just setting up a new mail account just for one or more high volume mailing lists. But I've found the best one, IMHO.

I periodically take a break from Solosez and resubscribe a few months later. I mentioned to Ross Kodner that I was about to resubscribe again and he said "Why don't you just give yourself a Gmail Invite?" As most now know, Gmail is the free web-based e-mail service from Google with over two gigabytes of storage. Gmail is theoretically still in beta version and you join by getting an "invite" from a current user. (Anyone who wants one, e-mail me at jim.calloway@gmail.com. I had 50 invites left last time I looked.)

This has been great--for me anyway. When I log into my Gmail "Solosez" account, the various e-mails are displayed by threads, which makes them easier to quickly access. For example, if someone asked a question about X Software, and ten people responded, I see the subject of X Software with (11) next to it, indicating 11 total messages. Clicking on the subject line brings up all 11 in order. This is a great way to make sure I don't miss a message on a topic of interest, while allowing me to skip threads on the substantive law of other states, for example. And now I've got over 2 gigs of storage on someone else's server. That's a lot of Solosez e-mail!

For more on high volume lists, here's the classic: "How many electronic mailing list subscribers does it take to change a light bulb?"

Forbes Best of the Web Directory

Short reviews of over 3000 websites and blogs are featured in the Forbes Best of the Web Directory. It is quite a collection. For example, see the section on how to locate company documents on the Web. Thanks to beSpacific for the pointer.

Is Your Spyware Detector Being Censored?

Check out Law Tech Guru's post "How Good is Your Spyware Scanner?" He includes a link to a PC World article on the same topic. It seems that some adware companies are petitioning and threatening legal action to get their products removed from the databases of the various spyware/adware detection software packages. The result for you as a consumer is that when you update the software, your system may no longer detect the removed product and warn you about it. There's been a buzz on the Internet this week about the fact that Microsoft AntiSpyware was changed to give Claria's installations an "Ignore" rather than a "Quarantine" rating. Clarita used to be called Gator and was sued by many companies over its pop-up ads.  Microsoft denies that the change was inappropriate or had anything to do with alleged ongoing talks to purchase Claria. This is a huge problem and I hope the new Anti-Spyware Coalition can make some headway.

GPSolo June Issue Features the Internet

Check out the just-published June issue of GPSolo Technology & Practice Guide. It's all about the Internet, from security to web marketing to the uses and abuses of e-mail. The issue is in your mailbox if you are an ABA General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section member or there's an online version if you are not. GPSSF Section chair Lee S. Kolczun notes in this month's chair's column titled "The Internet Has Changed All of Us" that there was quite a debate a decade ago over whether the magazine's content should be published online or reserved for members only. I'm a section member, but the free online content certainly benefits many others, particularly new lawyers.

Faster Jumps to IE Favorites

You probably have saved many links in your Favorites in Internet Explorer. Here's a way to get to those sites you use most a little faster. Save a Web site as a Favorite in the root Favorites directory and give it a one- or two-letter name. Then you can type those letters into the browser address bar and hit Enter to go to the site.

For example, many Oklahoma lawyers use OSCN.net for legal research. Go to the site and add it to your Favorites (again) but this time just use O as the name. The next time you need to go there, just type O in the address bar and hit Enter. Using this will just save you a few seconds; but it will likely save you a few seconds every day.

Thanks to Dallas attorney Bob Kraft for reminding me of this one.

Kentucky Contemplates the Fate of Their Lawyer Bloggers

Earlier this year I welcomed Ben Cowgill's Legal Ethics blog to the blogosphere. Now there has been a troubling development in Ben's home state of Kentucky. It seems that the Kentucky Attorneys' Advertising Commission wants to classify his blog as advertising, requiring him to do a filing and pay a $50 fee every time he does a post. As Ben notes, there's been a whirlwind of commentary on the web about this and even BusinessWeek has covered it. Let's hope things work out where Kentucky isn't the only state to effectively ban lawyer blogging.

In other states, just in June alone, Rhode Island's Annual Meeting had a program which featured a live blog posting, lawyers attending Missouri's excellent Solo and Small Firm Conference heard from a couple of bloggers about blogs (and other things) and Oklahoma's Solo and Small Firm Conference will feature a program "Blogs - Using Them and Building Them" from me and Tulsa County Special District Judge Charles Hogshead on June 24.

Sites of the Week - Mighell's Inter Alia and Ambrogi's LawSites

This week Law Practice Tips features two Websites of the Week: Tom Mighell's Inter Alia and Bob Ambrogi's LawSites. These two sites should be in every lawyer's RSS newsreader collection. If you're not yet into RSS yet, you should bookmark both and visit them regularly. One a scale of 1 to 10, they are both a 12. Both of these blogs feature many, many new websites of interest to lawyers. Inter Alia features a Blawg of the Day every day and a Research Site of the Day frequently. Inter Alia is a great source of information about Internet research and you can subscribe to Mighell's free Internet Legal Research Weekly e-newsletter there. In addition to featuring new law web sites, LawSites covers legal industry news and legal journalism related issues. I learn about much legal industry news first there. Ambrogi also produces the Media Law Blog. Keep current with new law-related online resources with these two great blogs.

I must confess a slight bias in that I know both of the authors pretty well and think they are great professionals. I've done presentations with both and hope to do more in the future.

"60 Sites in 60 Minutes" Sites Posted

We have now posted the links for the 2005 edition of "60 Sites in 60 Minutes" at the ABA TECHSHOW site. In keeping with tradition, we have posted not only the links to the sites we showed, but also to those that we had in reserve, but didn't have time to show. So there are actually more than 120 links─ more than enough sites to significantly impact your billable hours this week. They are divided into serious links and those more "off-beat." For those of you who do your own Internet research presentations, we know you'll find something to steal. Thanks to my co-presenters Bob Ambrogi and Jeff Flax.

First Podcasting, Now Screencasting

The Oklahoma City-based IP blog Phosita has just placed something cool on the Web. Using the software Camtasia Studio, OKC attorney Douglas J. Sorocco, has created a screencast as a demonstration of his firm's blog and the power of Camtasia. Check it out and learn more about how Doug used Camtasia. I do have to say that getting Camtasia has been on my "if I had more time and more money" list for over a year. But I think I've been inspired to move it up to "next month" on my priorities.

Dennis Kennedy: Blawg Guru

I've talked to lots of people about blogs this past week. (Many refer to lawyer's blogs as blawgs.)  I've decided I won't spend much space on my blog discussing how to set up a blog, how useful they are and so forth. There's a lot of that information already available in the blogosphere and I'm going to focus on my primary topic of law practice management and tips.

So my tip for lawyers who want to learn about setting up a blog is to begin with Dennis Kennedy's blog. My friend Dennis writes a lot about blogging and understands it as well as any lawyer. See his recent post on most common mistakes a new legal blogger can make. I'm not just referencing it because he says nice things about me in it and in his post on naming a blog. (Thanks, Dennis.) Many of us recognize Dennis as a blog pioneer and the "go to guy" for blogging advice.

The Google Spell Check

Spell checking in your word processor is a useful tool. But here's a goofy way to spell check anything that appears on your screen in any application. First, install the Google Deskbar. (Internet Explorer only.) Then when you want to spell check a word, double click on it to select it and hit Ctrl+Alt+G, then Enter. This will do a Google search for the word and give you the results on about 1/4 of your screen. If it is mispelled. most of the time Google will suggest the correct spelling. But even if Google doesn't, only a few hits means it is probably misspelled while millions means it is correct, or at least you are in good company.

My Yahoo: RSS Newsreader

I posted a link to my "blogs" article yesterday. In it, I profiled Bloglines as a web-based RSS newsreader. Yesterday My Yahoo announced new features, including support for "the various flavors of RSS and Atom, allowing you to add virtually anything to your page." I had noticed people accessing my site through the beta version of this free service.

Best Free Reference Web Sites 2004

Sabrina I. Pacifici posted a link to great resource on her blog, beSpacific

The American Library Association has posted the Best Free Reference Web Sites 2004.

The sixth annual list was complied by the Machine-Assisted Reference Section (MARS) of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of ALA. Add this one to your favorites.

Most of these are not law-related websites. Some like the U.S. Copyright Office are law-focused content.  It is important for lawyers to appreciate the power of factual research on the Internet, not just legal research. Lists of properly vettted authoritative databases should be treated like the gems that they are and saved to your bookmarks or favorites. You never can tell when you will need to quickly find the ingredients of common household products or locate in-depth information about the Federal Reserve System.