Help my friend Jim - he's buying a home computer and wanted recommendations on a a good basic system and, here's the key part, a webcam. He wants to be able to see his wife and child from his laptop, so he'll need another webcam for that purpose. I've never really fooled around with webcams, but I told him I thought the Logitech products were pretty good. If you all have any good suggestions leave a comment so Jim can benefit from your munificent wisdom.
As far as a computer, I recommended the Sony Vaio PCV-RX860, which I myself recently bought. It's just over $1,100. It has a 2.4 Ghz processor, 256k of RAM, an 80 GB hard drive, and here's what I really like: it has 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 in the front), and 2 firewire ports (one in front). Oh, it even has a DVD burner. The CD burner only writes at 8x speed, but so what? I'm not cranking out CDs in quantity.
10:07:15 PM
Marty Schwimmer needs help - he's posted a Request for comments. "OK, I need to replace my office fax and copier. Do you guys have any recommendations? Email marty@schwimmerlegal.com."
People actually still buy fax machines? What about efax, or something like that? Getting your faxes by E-mail cuts out the need for the synchronous connection.
As for a copier issue, I'd get a scanner. A scanner is a copier, but it allows you to store the output for later when you want to print another copy. I predict that in 10 years fax machines will no longer be sold. Or at least I hope so.
5:10:32 PM
Sailing, sailing over the wireless main... - US Navy Prepares To Navigate With Wireless Lans. Wireless LANs are being installed on Navy warships to free up manpower, reduce crew sizes, and improve monitoring of a range of mechanical and electrical systems. [via Smart Mobs]
Now what I'd like to see is courtrooms deploy wireless access points so that attorneys could, during the course of a trial or hearing, access the Internet to do on the spot research, or pull up a key document from their office. When do you think that will happen?
4:44:31 PM
Great profile of Harvard's Berkman co-director Jonathan Zittrain - very interesting thoughts about the "appliancizing of technology" and what that might portend in the struggle for, or against, DRM.
4:35:52 PM
New Lawyer Bloggers, check this out - Jerry Lawson has started a blog page just for you. And it has an RSS feed so you can catch it in your favorite news reader/aggregator. And he has other categories too, such as ethics. Wasn't someone recently asking when someone would start an Ethics blog?
4:27:32 PM
The Googlebox lets you have your own private Google - Cory Doctorow: "The city of San Diego recently dropped $23,000 on a Googlebox." [via Scripting News].
I've thought about how cool it would be for our firm to have a Googlebox. After having spent the last year as a power Google user I crave the ability to have a similar function for the information here at work. We have all of these hierarchical systems that have to be configured, and which people have to fill out fields to search for information. To me the better approach is to let data accumulate in a form that is easily searchable by a Googlebox, and then teach users to use Google. It's like sweeping the data into the corner of the room and then vacuuming with Google.
1:43:50 PM
Living la vida "packet-switched" - I find that as my life puts me more in touch with techies I have had to adapt to their way of communicating as they solve problems. One major feature of their problem-solving method is that they attack problems in packets. This allows them to multi-task, which is efficient. And it allows them to break the problem down into components.
Lawyers can "multi-task" and can break problems down into components too. But when it comes to communicating they are behind the curve, clinging to the "switched network" model wherever possible. Older lawyers prefer to talk on the phone, even when E-mail might be more efficient. Younger lawyers who use E-mail, often have not grasped the role that IM can play in communication. Overall, lawyers tend not to be as efficient in processing information as the techies that I deal with.
I find myself increasingly interested in communication methods that minimize my transactional costs. Office meetings have a high cost, and telephone conversations are the next most costly method of communicating. If all I'm doing is brainstorming with someone then usually it's better done in chunks. People think more clearly when they have to write. That's why I prefer emails and IM to office meetings and phone conversations. Obviously, there are exceptions where a phone conversation is more efficient.
