Futurelawyer

Why Are You Paying For Legal Research?

I have written about Google Scholar before. It is a great case finder, and is free. It contains the full text of just about every case ever decided, has a really good search engine, and has official pagination, internal linking to the full text of every cited case, a built in Shepard's like citator, which, with one click, will pull up every case that has cited the case you are viewing. $69 addon, CiteStack, creates pin cites, and memoranda on the fly, while you are doing Scholar research. Take three minutes and watch how CiteStack works in Google Chrome. Google Chrome, Google Scholar and CiteStack. A complete legal research solution. (Disclosure: CiteStack is an advertiser on this page). 

Ultrabook At 2.1 Pounds - So Light It's Insane!

This All-Carbon Fiber Ultrabook Weighs Just 2.1 Pounds. A 12 inch laptop that weighs only 2.1 pounds? That's impossible. But, with a carbon fiber structure, the new Gigabyte X11 is a full function ultrabook, with a 128 Gig SSD drive, an 11.6 inch screen, 4Gigs of RAM, and a best in class IVY Bridge processor. As you might expect, for a Windows 7 computer that is 4 ounces lighter than a MacBook Air, this puppy will cost north of $1,000. My Asus Core I7 with a 500 Gig drive weighs 5 pounds, and since I got it for less than $700, I think I can stand the extra weight. If you don't need an on board DVD drive, or more than 128 Gigs of storage, and you are very rich, go for it. You will be able to say you own the lightest notebook computer in the land. And you will have a lighter wallet to go with it.

 

Dinosaurs In My Waiting Room

Birds may be dinosaurs that never grew up. - latimes.com. One of the pleasures of solo practice is that nobody can tell me what is appropriate decor for my waiting room. We have all been in the waiting rooms of large law firms in office towers. Antiseptic in their cleanliness, lots of dark wood, mahogany preferred, magazines neatly laid upon large coffee tables; sort of like the kind of room we expect to see while waiting to go to Purgatory after we die. We solos have a lot more freedom; my shtick is that I have three large parrot cages, populated by noisy parrots; two Umbrella Cockatoos and a Blue and Gold Amazon. Some clients have told me that waiting in my waiting room is like going to Busch Gardens. I have always had an affinity for large parrots, and I now find out that they are really baby dinosaurs who never grew up. I guess I now know that I am not the only dinosaur in the office. Who knew?

Calibre - Convert Your News Feeds To Ebooks

How to Convert News Feeds to Ebooks with Calibre - How-To Geek. Some of us become so enamored of our tablet computers, and notebook computers that we forget that many persons are still using Ereaders. Whether you have a Kindle or a Nook, you love being able to pick up a small tablet and read ebooks. But, how to get the material into the Nook? Calibre is a software application that runs on your Windows, Linux or Mac computer. It converts ebooks, RSS feeds, and other resources into a format capable of being read on many tablets and ereaders. It will download the sources automatically on a schedule you create, and you can sync them to your ereader with a cable, or send them via email. I still prefer reading my RSS feeds and other magazines and newspapers with PressReader, Zinio, and Flipboard on my Samsung Galaxy Tablet; but, if you aren't ready to go whole hog with an expensive tablet, you can have as much content as you like on an inexpensive Kindle, or Nook, or Nook Color. Try it. It's free and easy.

CD Wallet Toolkit - You Can't Take That On A Plane

Make Your Own CD Wallet Toolkit for On the Go Tinkering. (Apologies to Bruce Carton, whose "You Can't Do That On A Plane:" series is always entertaining). I like DIY projects, and this little toolkit, which stuffs pliers, a portable screwdriver, a utility knife, and more into an old repurposed CD Wallet is very cool. However, you can't take this everywhere; although, you could probably put it in checked luggage at the airport. That is, if you are willing to pay the price to check luggage at the airport. If you fly at all. This guy spent around $30 on his kit; I probably have this stuff already, but it would take a while to find it. 

E-Discovery For Small Cases

Ride The Lightning: New Book: Electronic Discovery for Small Cases. This book review highlights a great new resource for attorneys who try routine cases, and need economical tools for ediscovery. Most of us don't spend our time on huge litigation projects with huge ediscovery budgets. And, the ediscovery firms are way too expensive for small projects. This great new book highlights many of the ways that you can do a competent job of ediscovery without breaking the bank. If you try cases, you need to read this book.

And This Time, We Really Mean It!

Verizon, Google get ready to post Galaxy Nexus' Android 4.0.4 update, really really this time -- Engadget.
Verizon has finally approved the ICS update for the Galaxy Nexus phone, to IMM76K. Of course they have. After a couple of months of waiting, I finally bit the bullet last weekend, unlocked and rooted my phone, and flashed the new build from the Google website. If any of you need rain, I will fly there, and go out without an umbrella. Well, at least I now have a rooted phone that I can play around with. I don't recommend the rooting and flashing process, unless you have some experience. I have some not so fond memories of bricking my old GTablet a few times before I got it right. Anyway, if you have a Nexus, check for an update in the next few days. It does increase speed and stability.

Sorry, But Facebook Already Is Just An App On Other Smartphones

Facebook hires former Apple employees, still working on a %u2018Facebook phone%u2019 | GadgeTell. An unnamed Facebook employee (smart move) has allegedly said that "Mark is worried that if he doesn't create a mobile phone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms." Duh. Hate to tell you, your Markness, but Facebook already is just an app on other people's platforms. Unless you have a new mobile OS up your sleeve, Facebook is going to be used on all sorts of phones. Be happy with the fact that you are being used on just about every mobile device on the planet. Not that you need the money; but, if world domination is your game, figure out a way to keep the shareholders rolling in money first. Look at me, presuming to give advice to the richest man in the world. Sorry, I take it all back. Create a Facebook phone. I am sure there are a lot of people who will buy it, just because of the logo. Or, just call RIM and offer them a billion dollars for the company. They will probably be glad to get out of the business.

Text Messaging A Driver Found Not Grounds For Liability

No Liability Found for Sending Texts to Driver Just Before Crash. If you thought that the texting while driving controversy was over, you are wrong. Just because a New Jersey trial court has found that a third party texter is not liable for the distraction caused to a driver who then caused an accident, you may be assured that the foreseeability test will be tested again, both on appeal, and in other cases. Of course, negligence must be the "proximate cause" of injury to be actionable, and that cause depends upon the vague notion of what is reasonably foreseeable. But, it will take a lot of trials, and a lot of appeals, to flesh out a doctrine of foreseeability in texting cases. Would direct evidence that the texter in this case had "actual knowledge" that the driver was operating a motor vehicle change the result? Who knows? However, this certainly will give impetus to voice texting software in phones. Drivers can be distracted by all sorts of things. It is the voluntary act that causes the distraction that creates liability problems. 

This Isn't Your Daddy's Nintendo

GameStop to sell Android tablets in over 1600 stores | Android Central. If you have kids, or have had kids in the last 20 years, you have spent some of your time in GameStop or similar store, looking at kids holding tiny video game machines. My kids ran the gamut, and I spent enough money on small game cartridges to bring Greece out of bankruptcy. These handheld game machines were pricey, and I remember spending $149 on one ill fated GameBoy, that mysteriously disappeared from my son's room a few weeks later. Now, it appears that the high end Android tablets are becoming kids' game systems of choice; at least the ones they carry around. With 7 to 10 inch screens, dual core, or better, processors, and dozens of game companies selling games in the the Google Play Store, they are an ideal product for GameStop in this new century. The great graphics, and modern gaming techniques, make the tablets ideal for this stuff. And, the benefit is that you can teach your kid all the productive things they can also do with an Android tablet, like spend hours talking to their friends on Facebook. Some things never change. Only the methods do.