Futurelawyer

The Real Apocalypse Won't Be Mayan

This Is the Exact Date When Our Computer World Ends. In case you were wondering, real scientists have done us the favor of computing the world's real end. Yes, Virginia, the Earth and surrounding planets will be burned up by the Sun in about 7.9 Billion years. Hopefully, we will have figured out how to get the population off of the planet by then. Even if we do, the Universe will expand to infinite scale in about 20 Billion years, and, when it does, some scientists predict it will be all over. And, even then, given the speed at which some Galaxies are moving, the end may not come until much later. Of course, each human being reaches the end of the world in a much shorter time here, when our bodies expire. Until then, resume what you were doing.

The History Of POTS

Plain old telephone service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. No, I am not talking about the POTS you cook in. POTS is a retronym for Plain Old Telephone Service, and the recent news that half of Americans don't have it anymore got me thinking about the future of telephony. In fact, I will wager that half of the rest of us who do have a POTS phone in the house never use it. I can't think of a handset anywhere in our house. My office still has landlines, for incoming calls; but, I use Skype or email for most other business communication. I most definitely use VOIP for outgoing long distance calls. Google Voice has just announced that calls in the U.S. and Canada will remain free through 2013. If your computer has an Internet broadband connection and a microphone, you can use Google Voice to call anyone for free. Of course, you have to pay for the broadband connection, but calls are a nice bonus attached to Internet service. How about you? When was the last time you picked up the phone and made a call?

Hide The Patent Lawyers - iWatch Is Coming

Apple rumor watch: iOS timepiece on drawing board? | Apple - CNET News. How interesting. The rumor mills have Apple coming out with an iWatch next year, tied to the Apple OS. What innovation! Have they patented it yet? Wait a minute, I have been using a Sony Android SmartWatch for a year already. It connects, via BlueTooth, to my Android SmartPhone, and alerts me to new emails, gives me caller ID on incoming phone calls, plays chess, serves as a calculator, tells time and date, and a host of other handy little app stuff. I can't wait to see the innovation and cool styling of the most innovative company on the planet.

Windows 8 Can Be A Pain - Fix It!

8 worst Windows 8 irritations (and how to fix them) | PCWorld. I just realized, after reading this post, that Start8, my favorite third party utility for Windows 8, has already fixed most of the annoyances of the new Windows 8 Operating System. I love the under the hood improvements in Windows. It is leaner, meaner, and faster. It is more secure; although, sometimes, the security scheme can be annoying. I will put up with that; but, I hate not having a start button, I hate the lock screen, and I hate booting to the new interface, formerly known as Metro. Read this post, and learn how to get rid of the most annoying new things in Windows. Oh, and I learned one important new thing in this post. The best Video Player substitute for Windows Media is the free VLC Media Player. Awesome program, which will play anything you throw at it. And, before you even boot the thing, find and install Start8. Now, go forth into the new world. 

Top Android Devices For Christmas

Unwrap a shiny new Android for Xmas? [POLL]. Many people found Android devices under the tree this Christmas, and they are in for a fun time. Here are the most popular Android devices on the planet. I own three of the eight; but, I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. Pick your poison.

Get Up, And Get Busy

To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate
the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man's life.

-- T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American Poet

Why Is This Man Smiling?

Facebook tests $1 fee for messages to non-friends � Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Because he is about to get even richer, that's why. When you have billions of members, it is a safe bet that a few of them are dumb enough to pay you a dollar to send a message to a non-friend. If you are that dumb, don't count on being friended by me, by the way. FaceBook is desperate to prove to the stock pickers that there is an income stream to be found in the ubiquitous messsaging service. Gotta keep that stock price high. For somebody who pretends not to care about money, Mr. Zuckerberg is doing a fine job prying every last dime he can out of his members. Jeez.

Social Media Explained

My fraternity newsmagazine, Phi Alpha Delta Reporter, had a little article in it this month, explaining Social Media. It is informative, and establishes that Google+ is the best social media application for building your law practice. I have modified it slightly:

Twitter: I have Parrots in my office.

Facebook: I like Parrots.

FourSquare: This is where my Parrots live.

Instagram: Look at the cute pictures of my Parrots.

YouTube: Watch my Parrots perform tricks.

LinkedIn: My skills include Parrot litigation.

Pinterest: 10 tips for raising Parrots.

Google+: I am a lawyer who has Parrots in my office.

 

Xmas Trees For The Obsessively Compulsive

Is Cloning the Key to Perfect Christmas Trees?. If you are OCD about Christmas, do I have a tree for you. As in most avenues of my life, I prefer the imperfect, the not perfectly straight, the cluttered detritus of normal people living normal lives. I put up with SWMBO's need to put Xmas wrapping paper into the plastic garbage bags while we are unwrapping presents, and the need to have a house that looks like an ad in Better Homes And Gardens. I draw the line, however, at cloning the perfect Xmas tree. Perfect Xmas trees are like perfect people. They don't exist in my reality. If you are always pursuing perfection, you will never have time to live your life. So, sit back, relax, and revel in the imperfections of life. You will be happier. And, you won't be assimilated.

The Acer $100 Android Tablet Is Coming...But You Can't Have One

You Won't Be Able to Buy the First Decent $100 Tablet. The Holy Grail of modern tablets is just out of reach. Acer is building, and will be selling, a comptetent 7 inch Android tablet for $99. However, you can't have one, if you live in the U.S. So, outstretched arms and begging won't help you. No $99 tablet for you. These cool little monsters will only be available overseas, in emerging markets. Apparently, Acer doesn't believe a tablet with lesser specs will compete well here, due to the plethora of $150 to $200 options from ASUS and other manufacturers. Acer, you give us too much credit. At $99, U.S. citizens would buy millions of these things. I promise.