Futurelawyer

A Mini Tablet In Your Pocket

Features - Verizon Wireless Cell Phones SCH-I515 | Samsung Cell Phones. Way back in 2011, I purchased a brand new Galaxy Nexus. It was cutting edge at the time, with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, a 4.68 inch Super AMOLED screen, and native Google goodness. Since that time, I have rooted it, unlocked it, and installed the latest and greatest version of Android, Jelly Bean 4.2.2. However, I have moved on to the Galaxy Note 2, and the Nexus stayed in its box. Then, it occurred to me that, even without a SIM card, this little phone was a WiFi tablet in tiny format. And, it has plenty of room for thousands of songs and classic books. So, it is now a WiFi tablet that I use as a music machine. Everything old is new again.

Pelican Sunning By The Bay

I shot this downtown yesterday on a visit to Tampa Bay at the St. Petersburg waterfront. I am pretty certain he isn't worrying about Monday, or stressing or about anything except when to go get another fish to eat. 

Something Smells Rotten In Washington, D.C.

Giant %u2018corpse flower%u2019 with odor of rotting flesh blooms next door to US Capitol - The Washington Post. Now that I have your attention, I must tell you that I am NOT talking about the members of Congress. A huge plant from Indonesia (dubbed the Corpse Flower) is flowering in the U.S. Botanic Garden next to the Capitol, and is drawing many visitors because of its survival technique. In order to attract beetles, it smells like rotting flesh when it blooms. It is purely coincidental that the rotting flesh smell is occurring next to the Congress. I think. It is also a coincidence (I think) that it will reach the peak of its grossness this morning, which happens to be a Monday. If you want to see it live, there is a live webcam set up at the Gardens, which can be viewed in the Washington Post post. Coincidences, Coincidences.

E-Skin - Robots With A Sense Of Touch?

Paper-thin e-skin responds to touch, holds promise for sensory robotics and interactive environments. Paper thin flexible plastic with built in computer sensors that can be wrapped around just about anything will, in the near future, be used to provide touch sensitive interactive computer control to everything from robotic hands to human beings. The applications for prosthetic limbs, future robots and other things gives wearable computing new meaning. While thinking robots that control the world is the stuff of science fiction today, the more exciting prospects are for giving replacement limbs and hands and feet a sense of touch that will give new abilities to humans with disabilities.  

What! Another Cruise?

It has been a while since our family were on a cruise ship together. We are doing it again soon, so I thought it would be fun to show an image of the last one. 

Access Your Desktop Remotely In Android

Chromium team working on Chrome Remote Desktop app for Android | Android Central. While I can currently access my Desktop remotely with my 10.1 inch Android Tablet using TeamViewer, and LogMeIn Ignition, it is good news that Google is working on an Android app designed for tablets to do this natively. It is not beyond the pale to imagine a future in which desktop and notebook computers disappear into always on boxes that reside in homes and offices, and are accessed remotely through tablet devices we carry everywhere. On a recent trip I used TeamViewer to access the notebook computer back home to call up a scan of a receipt from last year so that SWMBO could get a refund on a jewelry purchase. Did it save my marriage? Not that serious. But, I got a lot of street cred from her and the jewelry store proprietor. And, I did it on my Note 2 smartphone. 

I Want A Robot Friend Like This

If you are a geek, you will be amazed at the Robot built for ComicCon. There is a man controlling this thing from the inside; but, it is still the coolest toy I have ever seen. 

iCyte - Organize Your Research

iCyte. I haven't highlighted the iCyte research tool in some time. It is one of those tools that will change the way you do research on the internet. iCyte puts a couple of bookmarklets on your Bookmarks Bar. When you come across a page or quote that you want to save, just click the "Cyte This" button, and you can title, mark, and make notes about it, and insert it in a Project folder that you create. As you research, just click and go. When you get done, or during the research, just click the "View Cytes" button, and the results pop up, saved forever, in their own folder. This won't work just for legal research. You can create projects for anything. Much simpler than Evernote. I highly recommend iCyte for online research. 

Attack Of The Giant Viruses

Largest Viruses Ever Revealed : Discovery News. It sounds like a bad fifties Science Fiction movie; but, the huge viruses located in sludge are changing the way scientists look at viruses. These giant viruses contain more than 2,500 genes (compared with common viruses, which contain 10). Will giant viruses cause a pandemic that will decimate humans? Nobody knows; but, given the unknowns, they have been named Pandoraviruses. So far, they are only killing amoeba that scientists are using to study them. I just had a sudden urge to go wash my hands. Happy Saturday.

Microsoft's Surface RT Problems Are NOT Ad Related

Microsoft's Surface problem: Blame the advertising? | Technically Incorrect - CNET News. Okay, the Microsoft Surface RT is dead in the water, and Microsoft is losing a billion dollars on the product. Now, apologists are blaming the ad agencies who came up with the airy, dancing ads that were as brain dead as the product. My favorite one was the young professionals doing a dance with clicking keyboards. Okay, favorite is not the right word. Frighteningly bad is a better one. But, the reason for the RT's failure has nothing to do with the ads. The product wouldn't run Windows software by third parties. It was too expensive. Simple. Not the ads. The product. Get it?