Internet Legal Research Weekly -- July 13, 2008

Welcome to Issue #304 of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, a newsletter that delivers relevant and timely legal research information, and other fun stuff, to your inbox every Sunday. If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to do the same! To subscribe, all you have to do is visit Inter Alia and fill out the subscription form -- it's free!

Blawgs of the Week
Here are a few of the great law-related blogs featured on Inter Alia this past week:

Caught in the 'Net

Getting your team on the same iPage
I use Word 2007 at home, but many people I work with don't have it yet on their computers. I could convert it to Word 2003, but why bother? One of my new favorite document viewing sites, Scribd, now makes it easy to share documents without worrying about whether everyone on your team has the same software. With iPaper@scribd.com, which Scribd rolled out about a month ago, it's just a matter of adding an extra recipient to your email.

Here's how it works. Take your document and attach it to an email. Address it to the members of your team, and CC ipaper@scribd.com on the message. Scribd will take your document, convert it to iPaper, and send your collaborators a copy of the link to the online document. And if you haven't viewed a document in Scribd yet, you're missing out. Scribd supports a lot of document formats, too -- in addition to all Office files (both 2003 and 2007), it will convert PDF, PS, .TXT, .RTF, and open document formats.

Don't use this with confidential or sensitive information -- Scribd is great for document viewing, but I'd never recommend it for pure legal work. Still, it's a very cool way to get your collaborators on the same page.

YouSendIt Gets More Useful

In talking about collaboration and the transfer of large files, I usually mention YouSendIt as my single-file transfer site of choice. (I now prefer drop.io for giving others access to multiple files). Now they've gone and made it even easier to use, through various plugins that are being developed.

Currently they have an Outlook plugin that, when installed on your computer, keeps watch for emails that attached files bigger than a certain size (you can set the size). When that happens, YouSendIt automatically transfers the file, rather than your email server. They're also planning plugins for Thunderbird as well as browser plugins that allow you to use it with web-based email like Yahoo.

This makes it so much easier to send large files, removing the necessity of having to visit the actual website to sign in and send the file manually. Very handy.

We've been covering security tips in this space for what seems like several months, and this week is the *last* installment in that series. In this issue I'd like to talk about ways to keep your technology physically secure, at home or when you're on the road.

-- Lock your laptop. Most laptops have a slot for attaching a lock. Do you use it? Locks are pretty cheap -- one of the better locks is Kensington's Microsaver Cable lock, which you can currently find on the Internet for between $34-$56.

-- Prepare for theft. No matter what you do, your laptop may eventually go missing; recent statistics say that over 10,000 laptops are lost in airports every week. Make sure you have all the details of your laptop recorded -- the serial number, model, etc. -- and check your insurance policy to see if you're covered when the laptop gets stolen.

-- LoJack for Laptops might not prevent your computer for being stolen, but it can help you after the fact. When installed on your computer, the software is activated once the thief connects your laptop to the Internet. You can alert the police on where to find the laptop -- even better, the software can remotely erase the data on your laptop, to keep your confidential data out of the wrong hands.

-- Skype: the poor man's nanny cam? New versions of Skype have really improved the quality of video calls, so buy a webcam and set it up on your computer, then set Skype to automatically answer calls with video, then call your computer from a second Skype account. Presto! You're spying on your own computing space.

-- Know your rights. Every piece of software you use comes with a EULA (End User License Agreement), which could contain some "gotchas" dealing with how the software can operate on your computer. Use the EULAlyzer to analyze your EULA and point out potential problems.

Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net – I’ll post your question (don’t worry, I won’t use your real name) and try to get an answer for you!

Legally Relevant – Sites on the Internet

American Journal of Ophthalmology ($$)
As with most journal sites, most visitors only have access to the table of contents and abstracts of original articles -- most full-text articles are available only to subscribers. However, there's at least one free article provided with each new issue, available in HTML or PDF. Although you just have access to a small amount, there's a lot you can do with it -- you can export the citations, email the contents to others, or subscribe to the site so you can be reminded by email or RSS when new articles are available.

Wiley InterScience ($$)
While I'm on the subject of scholarly publications, let's visit Wiley, which provides access to full-text journals, reference works, books, and databases from around the world. You can search the entire database of publications by keyword, or you can browse by subject. The topics include Business, Chemistry, Information Science, Engineering, Humanities, Physics and Astronomy, Psychology, and a lot more. Unfortunately here too you'll have to pay for access to the content. You can purchase 24-hour access to an article for $29.95. A little pricey, but the breadth of information is really great.

CareSearch
This site is primarily for residents of Australia, but the information is great for anyone interested in the subject of palliative care. There are a number of sections to this site, including an introduction on the subject of palliative care, information for patients and families, evidence on clinical practice, research information, and sections designed specifically for health professionals. There's also a section on finding palliative care services in Australia.

Chicago Crime Data
I think I have mentioned this site before, but it's such a good example of how "Web 2.0" allows us to access useful information, I want to mention it again. The premise of this site is very simple: it's a listing of crimes in the Chicago area, mapped out so you can get an idea of where certain types of crimes are occurring. You can search near a particular address, or just browse by the type of crime. This site also provides information on building permits, business licenses, restaurant inspections, and more.

Construction WebLinks
Although this really busy site looks commercial in nature, it's actually provided by the law firm of Thelen Reid Brown, et al. It's a fantastic directory to a huge number of construction sites, in broad categories like Organizations, Industry Topics, Resources, and Guides. My favorite areas are the Industry Topics and Guides, which include some great construction resources, on issues such as financing, building codes, engineering, best practices, safety, insurance, and architecture, among others. There's also a Construction Resource Guide and Construction Resource List. I wish the site had an RSS feed, but you can keep up-to-date with what's going on here with email updates.

Finally, here are a few fun and useful sites to start out the week:

Keep track of your auto repairs, find the right shop, and get expert advice at RepairPal.

In Blobular, you roll your little blobs along picking up items, to help your blob get home.

Well, that’s it for Issue #304 – I hope you liked it! If you did, pass this along to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to subscribe. Also, feel free to drop me an e-mail any time if you have questions, or if you have websites or other topics you want included in a future issue.

Tom Mighell

Now available: The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell

Subscription Information: If you want to keep on receiving issues of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net, or visit Inter Alia and sign up there! If you no longer want to receive the newsletter, just click on the link at the bottom of this newsletter.

Archives: Miss an issue? You can read previous issues of the Internet Legal Research Weekly in the Archives.

Questions? New websites? Just want to talk? Send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net.