Personal Injury and Social Security Disability Blog

Please Attend TECHSHOW - April in Chicago

I've been attending TECHSHOW, presented by the American Bar Association almost since the beginning, many years ago. It's always a highlight of my year. The enormous amount of technical information presented is only one reason to attend. Equally important to me is the opportunity to meet in person with many of the friends I correspond with online.

This is one event that lawyers can't afford NOT to attend. Now is the time to learn about new technologies and new methods of doing business.

I  think TECHSHOW is absolutely wonderful, and I recommend it very highly. It's aimed more toward the solo and small firm lawyer, but there are seminar tracks for IT specialists and Big Law members as well. The exhibit area is fascinating and the hallway conversations are always fun. Check it out at TECHSHOW.com.

Here are some details, provided by the ABA:

•    ABA TECHSHOW is the world's premier legal technology CLE conference & expo. The three-day CLE conference is attended by more than 1,500 professionals each year and produces more than 50 legal technology CLE programs and training sessions in fifteen topical tracks.

•    The ABA TECHSHOW 2009 is presented by the ABA Law Practice Management Section, April 2-4, 2009, once again at the Hilton Chicago, in the magnificent Windy City!

•    TECHSHOW offers something for everyone—from new solos to large firm partners, from tech beginners to advanced IT directors—there are educational sessions for all. With plenty of “networking” time to talk with other lawyers and experts on the technology issues facing your firm.

•    The social networking and marketing with technology sessions, alone, are well worth the price of admission.  These seminars will help you generate new clients and new business from existing clients.

•    The growth of eDiscovery is not stopping due to recession, so lawyers must continue to learn and update their knowledge.

•    The sessions feature the best of the best in legal technology. Practicing lawyers and nationally-known legal technologists sharing practical strategies and ideas to build new business and make your firm or offices more efficient and cost-effective.

•    Expand your referral network by meeting other lawyers from around the country. Build relationships at organized activities such as TECHSHOW After Dark for entertainment, food and drinks. Participate in the Taste of ABA TECHSHOW and dine with speakers and other attendees at one of several Chicago restaurants.

•    Friday, April 3 is Solo & Small Firm Day, offering lawyers in these firms a special one-day admission with two all-day tracks of seminars especially for small firms.

•    ABA TECHSHOW also features a two-day expo. Learn about the latest products and services in the Expo Hall, featuring more than 100 companies providing the latest hardware, software, and technology services to attorneys and law firms.

•    Meet product and service vendors who may have more knowledge and experience than your local representative. No one wants to make a mistake buying the wrong software for the entire office. Make sure you are getting the right information before you buy!

•    One-day passes are available at discounted registration fees. Super passes are also available for groups up to 10 persons from the same firm or for ANY group of 10 people (submitting their registrations together and one 1 check) for one flat rate!

•    Attendance to the Expo Hall only is free with an Expo Hall Pass.

•    Take advantage of the world's premier legal technology CLE conference and expo at a substantial discount by registering before the February 28, early-bird deadline.

•    This year's featured keynote is Richard Susskind, author of The Future of Law, and his new sequel, The End of Lawyers?, who has 25 years of legal technology experience, and serves as Chair of the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information and has been IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England.

Guard Against Identity Theft On Social Networks

Today's Dallas Morning News has a good article about how to safeguard your confidential information while using Internet social networking Web sites.Here are excerpts:

The next source of identity theft may be social networking Web sites.

Thieves are constantly searching for new ways to get you to divulge any sliver of personal information so they can tap into your wallet.

For example, most of us use facts associated with our lives as user words or passwords, and thieves are learning they can mine these facts from social networking sites.

Social networking sites enable people to freely express themselves in a way that may cause them to unwittingly drop morsels of information that criminals can extract to steal their identity.

       Here's how it might work:

Your profile says that you live in Texas, you were born in Dallas, your beloved pet's name is Max and that you like to spend time with your parents, Dick and Jane.

It also says that today you're venting your anger at your bank – Bank XYZ – because it's been slow to resolve a problem with your account.

Now criminals know the name of your bank, the name of your pet and your mother's name. They will seek to learn your mother's maiden name, which is often used as a security question on bank Web sites.

Here are some tips to protect yourself online. You've heard them before, but they're particularly important for social networking sites because the information you post can be accessed by others:

•Never post sensitive personal data, such as your Social Security number, driver's license number and bank account numbers.

That includes your hometown, mother's maiden name, your date of birth, your high school, the hospital or city in which your were born and your favorite color.

•Avoid telling everyone your physical location and what you're doing at the very moment, especially if you're away from home. That's an invitation for someone to burglarize your home.

•Manage privacy controls on social networks. Set your profile to "Private" to prevent uninvited people from viewing your personal information.

•Don't make your password easy to guess.

•Only allow people you know to view your personal profile. Be careful about allowing strangers to view your profile because people aren't always who they say they are.

Featured Link - SafeManuals.com

I have a bad habit of putting manuals and instructions for cameras, computers, etc. in safe places where I can never find them again. A site like SafeManuals.com helps me by proving user manuals for dozens of manufacturers and hundreds of products online for me to download as necessary. If you've lost a manual, check out this site. Here is the description from the site:

 

How many user manuals available only on cd-rom, on the internet? They are sometimes very hard to get your hands on. And will they be here when you get back? What can you do when an e-bay auction you won ends with you getting the item without the instructions? On this site you will easily be able to find the required instructions guides and user manuals that you need.

Featured Link - Really, Really Basic Computer Tips

This article from the New York Times blog has a list of really basic computer tips that everyone should already know. But I admit that after using computers for at least 30 years, I didn’t know all of them. You might find a few little tricks that you either never knew or had forgotten. Check it out.

Featured Link - YouConvertIt.com

YouConvertIt.com is a handy Web site for converting files from one format to another. The site handles pretty much every format I've ever heard of and many that I haven't. Here is the explanation from the site:

YouConvertIt.com, the world's first and most complete conversion, file storage, units conversion website allowing internet users to convert audio video images and documents into an array of formats also sending or delivering file(s). YouConvertIt.com support unit conversion of thousands of types making it easy for users to reach one stop shop without the need to jump from one location to another.

YouConvertIt.com’s service is free, instant, and does not require any tedious download and software installations.

Featured Link - Pixolu

Pixolu is an Internet search engine for images. The unique feature is that you can refine your searches by choosing images that you like best from the original search. You drag and drop your favorites over to the side, and then the engine searches again, using your "preferences" as a factor in the new search. It's in the formative stages, but worth checking out.

Featured Link - BrowserShots.org

If you maintain a Web site, you should know how it looks in different browsers. Although most people use Internet Explorer, more and more are using Firefox, Safari, or any of a dozen others. One Web site that lets you see how your own site appears in different browsers is BrowserShots. It's very easy to use and really helpful.

Computer Crash Hinders Texas Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Case

According to the Dallas Morning News, the Texas Attorney General has hit a major speed bump in his investigation into Medicaid fraud in Texas, and all because of a computer crash and a failure to backup data. Let this be a lesson to all of us - back up your computer now!

A massive computer crash that destroyed hundreds of the state attorney general's confidential documents may prevent scores of Medicaid fraud prosecutions and has revealed serious problems with a newly expanded state outsourcing of computer services.

As much as 50 percent of the Tyler Medicaid fraud division's files were destroyed in July when a server being repaired by a state vendor wouldn't restart. The scope of the damage is in dispute.

In an apparent oversight, the documents lost were not backed up – meaning that evidence crucial to convicting dishonest health-care providers who ripped off the state's health insurance program for the poor may never be recovered. E-mails and other records obtained by The Dallas Morning News indicate some Tyler investigators lost up to 90 percent of their open case files.    

Featured Link - Rushmore Drive.com

Is Google too White? That's the question posed by new search engine RushmoreDrive. The developers of this site say that Google is unconsciously biased in favor of sites sought out by Whites, and not those searched for by Blacks. So at RushmoreDrive, the search results tend more toward "Black" sites. This proposition seems a bit dubious to me, but I'm not really in a position to know. Here's the site's description:

We deliver a blend of mainstream search results plus a layer of more relevant search results influenced by the Black community. RushmoreDrive is where the Black community goes to find the best search results.

RushmoreDrive News enables the Black community to find news headlines from the entire World Wide Web, including well known Black media, blogs and countless relevant online voices, as well as recognized mainstream news sources.

At RushmoreDrive you will also find a feature-rich job networks community where members can create a professional profile, find job opportunities, and create job networks online. RushmoreDrive’s easy-to-use job networking tool will help members unlock the power in their professional connections.

RushmoreDrive is the starting point and the destination for its users to find what is most relevant to the Black community.

Information Service For Your Cell Phone - ChaCha.com

The information service at ChaCha is pretty well-established now, and the business has an interesting structure to it. ChaCha employs thousands of "guides" who answer questions sent in from cell phones. The guides are paid $.20 per answer, and frequently use Google or Wikipedia to find the answers they text back to the users. The service is free, and here is an explanation from the Web site:

ChaCha is like having a smart friend you can call or text for answers on your cell phone anytime for free! ChaCha works with virtually every provider and allows people with any mobile phone device - from basic flip phones to advanced smart phones - to ask any question in conversational English and receive an accurate answer as a text message in just a few minutes.

What’s your question?
Simply text your question to 242242 (spells ‘ChaCha’) or call 1-800-2ChaCha (800-224-2242) from your mobile phone to ask any question. What are you waiting for? Ask away!