LAWTECH GURU BLOG by Jeff Beard

FeedDemon is Now Free -- Read Why

NewsGator is now giving away several of their RSS or news reader programs for free. These include FeedDemon, NetNewsWire, NewsGator Inbox, and NewsGator Go at the free download page.

Many of you know FeedDemon has been my preferred RSS reader since I started using it at least 4-5 years ago. I've also played around with other readers, both PC client and web-based, but kept going back to FeedDemon. I also chose FeedDemon as the best RSS reader or news aggregator for a prior Law Office Computing Shootout feature article. It packs a ton of useful features into a very intuitive, fast, and polished package. But rather than extoll upon its many great features and advantages, MediaBlab has already done a fine job of that.

Lest ye think NewsGator is abandoning their client-based software programs, it's just the opposite according to Nick Bradbury, the programming genius behind FeedDemon. In a nutshell, they're making it free to expand their client software users. Why? Because we humble human beings seem to make an effective relevance engine. You see, when using one of these now-free NewsGator programs, it sends back information when one flags an article, saves a clipping, or e-mails it to a friend. By these simple actions, we're signifying that particular item was important or relevant. I'm quite reminded of how Google was founded upon ranking relevance via tracking a site's inbound links. Nick gets it.

All this aggregated information helps NewsGator determine which RSS feeds and articles are more relevant than others, and helps them "bubble it up" to the surface for their enterprise customers. That's where NewsGator is refocusing their efforts and attention. So in exchange for getting the software free, users help them by doing nothing more than they are already -- reading, flagging, searching, etc. As Nick says, "Your attention is valuable." Sounds very Web 2.0 to me.

To their credit, both Nick and NewsGator recognized that we're just a little concerned about our privacy. Nick covers that in his post, and points us to NewsGator's FAQ so we can decide for ourselves. Apparently, we can choose to disable the data collection and reporting mechanisms, albeit at the loss of features like data synchronization.

Also, since many of their enterprise customers use these very same programs, Newsgator appears to have a vested interest in keeping them updated rather than abandoning them.

I give them credit. In a very innovative way, they're providing value in offering a first-rate RSS reader for free and enabling us to see what news is popular with others. NewsGator is gaining value in return while being fairly transparent about it. Of course, the new free FeedDemon 2.6 specifically contains more "phone home" mechanisms for "attention reporting". While I would normally suggest staying with an earlier version for privacy reasons, if their FAQ is accurate and we can indeed disable those tracking and communication methods, then there's probably little harm. Besides, even if they could still track my RSS reading habits, there's nothing there that would make me miss any sleep. But I'd still hold them accountable so that all users have a clean choice.

I also really like Nick's attitude and customer focus in his other blog post:

"Sure, I enjoy making money as much as the next guy or gal, but I'm really doing this because it's fun. I like writing software, and I'm going to keep writing it until my fingers break off.

There's no point in creating software in a vacuum - you've got to make it useful, make it scratch an itch, for it to be truly rewarding. And to do that, you've got to listen. You've got to pay attention to what people are asking for and what they're complaining about.

So, regardless of whether you've paid for FeedDemon in the past or you're a new user now that it's free, I'm not going to stop listening. It wouldn't be fun otherwise."

Refreshing Internet Explorer

While alternative browsers are all the rage, the practical reality is that many organizations use Internet Explorer as their main browser. One reason is wider compatibility with the plethora of web sites and their embedded multimedia. However, have you ever noticed that sometimes a particular web site just won't load or update properly, and doing a Refresh (F5 or Refresh button) just doesn't help?

You see, contrary to its plain meaning, the standard Refresh feature may not actually refresh content by pulling it down from the web site. Instead, it checks the temporary copy of the web site it just downloaded to your hard drive (the local "cache"). Sometimes the cache gets messed up ("corrupted"), and IE dutifully keeps trying to load that messed up copy. Also, most offices have a proxy server to allow shared Internet access to its users, which may also have a stored copy of the web page.

In some cases, it helps to delete your local browser cache on your hard drive, which takes six mouse clicks (Tools, Internet Options, Delete Files, Delete all offline content, OK, OK). Not difficult, but somewhat annoying. Another option is to force IE to do a full refresh by grabbing a fresh copy of the web site:

Simply press CTRL-F5 or hold down the CTRL key while clicking on the Refresh button in IE's toolbar.

In my experience, most people simply don't know about this second refresh feature. It's in the IE online help, but who reads that anymore? (Okay, I do.) Those who update web site content should also find this very helpful. There's been a number of times when I've updated LawTech Guru, pressed F5 to refresh, and nothing happened. CTRL-F5 did the trick. Quite refreshing.

Wisconsin Lawyer: Finding and Using RSS Feeds

A lot of legal professionals read blogs. However, except for the tech-savvy, many still don't know how to use RSS feeds and readers to make this task easier and more productive. So if you're relatively new to RSS feeds or would like to pick up more web resources for finding legal content in RSS subscription form, read on. Bonnie Shucha just published a good RSS primer in this month's Wisconsin Lawyer. She's the head of reference at the U.W. Law Library, Madison, and past president of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin.

Bonnie does a nice job of explaining RSS and how to use it in plain language, its pros and cons, and more. Some of the legal feeds mentioned have a Wisconsin flavor given its readership, but several others covered will have broader appeal. For instance, while many use Technorati to search the blogosphere, Bonnie tells us how to use Yahoo!'s Advanced Search for limiting its results to RSS feeds, very nice.

I found the link to Newspapers with RSS Feeds a worthwhile visit (courtesy of The Media Drop, but note there's an updated list). Also noteworthy is her mention of Current Law Journal Content from Washington & Lee Law School Library, which searches a whopping 1,236 law reviews and journals and has some RSS feed capabilities. Check out Bonnie's other links to make your search for online legal content a bit easier and fruitful. The WisBar site also republishes prior Technology articles from the bar magazine.

If information is power, then savvy use of RSS feeds is a must-have to tame the information overload beast.

Blog Software Smackdown

Whether you're new to blogging or an experienced blogger wondering if there's a better blogging system for your needs, check out the Blog Software Smackdown: The Big 3 Reviewed by Vinnie Garcia. It compares Movable Type, WordPress, and Textpattern for those who want to use a self-hosted solution, as opposed to hosted systems such as TypePad, Blogger, and LiveJournal.

There's an interesting comparison chart at the end, which rates the three by such factors as ease of installation, administration, portability across platforms and databases, support community, security and spam blocking, and more. Albeit any review is somewhat subjective, but it nicely emphasizes some of the strengths and weaknesses of each one -- which is indeed helpful when you need to select a system to best fit your needs and level of tech savvy.

Reflections on BlawgThink

Last weekend, I had the genuine pleasure of presenting with Dennis Kennedy at BlawgThink in Chicago. We covered more advanced topics such as tagging, ping services, Flickr, tag clouds, OPML, plugins, blog editors, and more in the Blogging 2.0 track. Dennis was intriguing as always, and it was a nice reunion for us as speakers (we first presented together at the '98 ABA TECHSHOW and quickly became good friends). We had fun brainstorming for the session, and ended up learning some cool new things from each other.

It was also interesting catching up with and meeting other blawgers. It's always great seeing Dennis and Matt who organized the event, along with Ernie, Tom, Rick, Sabrina, Carolyn, Jack, Kevin, and other thought leaders. If nothing else, blogging has led us into a group of highly creative and forward-thinking legal professionals, who also happen to be down-to-earth good people. Through blogging, I think we challenge each other to stay current, examine issues from different angles, try new ideas and technologies, and develop new approaches. I know it keeps me sharper than I would be on my own.

And that's probably one of the reasons why blogging has become such the phenomenon it has. It's as much about the social and professional connection as it is the new and unconventional ways of manipulating how we find, publish, and take in information. I'm not saying it's for everyone, but it's been a very worthwhile and rewarding experience for me.

BlawgThink definitely brought this home for me. While the first day had more structured sessions, the second day's use of OpenSpace encouraged much more innovative discussions. Because it involved interactive group discussions, we had a chance to "blog in person", as it were, contributing ideas in real-time. The fun part was not hearing that people were leaving with good ideas, but that we were trying to figure out how were going to find the time to try them all. Thanks again to Dennis and Matt for inviting me.

Google Blog Search Beta Released

In the ever-expanding Google universe, they've just released the Google Blog Search Beta. Not surprising, given Google's general affinity for blogs in its regular search engine, and naturally they own Blogger, so what better way to boost both technologies?

While some speculate it will give services like Technorati a run for the money, I see it a bit differently. Yes, all of these services perform a search function, but some do a better job of tracking the pinging or links between them, which could be translated as discussion threads. Now remember, this is a beta, so Google could certainly add more features as they go.

There are a few different ways you can get to Google's Blog Search:

• blogsearch.google.com (Google-style interface)
• search.blogger.com (Blogger-style interface)
• The Blogger Dashboard
• The Navbar on any Blog*Spot blog

More help and info is available at the Google Blog Search Help page, which is a list of FAQ's.

Apple Adds Podcast Support to iTunes & iPods

If there was much doubt about the future of Podcasts, Apple has recognized their popularity. Beginning with the newly released Apple iTunes version 4.9, iTunes supports locating and downloading podcasts. To take full advantage of the new features, you'll likely also need to download the newest iPod firmware updater, which adds a Podcast category to your iPod's menus.

To give you a quick leg up on the new features, iPodlounge (the mecca of all things iPod) just published "The Complete Guide to iTunes 4.9, with Podcasts", and confirms the need to update your firmware as well.

Naturally, Apple is smart to integrate podcast support both in the software and devices. Easy downloading and management of podcasts is another good reason to buy an iPod. With Apple's official support, podcasts move even more into the mainstream.

I also note with mixed feelings that Apple just streamlined their iPod line to eliminate the 30GB iPod Photo, which I felt was the sweet spot for balancing pricing, thickness, and capacity. To compensate, Apple added the color display and photo capabilities to the 20GB model, and dropped the price of the 60GB. I would have preferred them dropping the 20GB instead since storage is just getting cheaper.

MP3s, Podcasts and Internet Audio Resources for Lawyers

This month's ABA Law Practice Today e-zine has perhaps one of their best "Strongest Links' column yet: Fellow bloggers and friends Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell have compiled an impressive list of "MP3s, Podcasts and Internet Audio Resources for Lawyers".

Whether you're just curious about finding and listening to podcasts, or want to create your own, Dennis and Tom have once again done a great job of saving your fingers from doing all the walking. Don't miss the sections on CLE Audio and Lawyer Podcasts. Another link not mentioned, but also useful, is Podscope, as a helpful reader posted here at LawTech Guru. PodScope is a search engine for finding podcasts, naturally.

More on Microsoft's RSS Strategy

Microsoft Watch has more on MS' big plans for RSS. The post includes a link to an MSDN Channel 9 video of Microsoft's RSS team.

The more interesting parts are in the latter half of the very informal video. From Channel 9, there are three demos in the video at the indicated time positions in the video:

Demo One, at about 23:19. RSS in IE 7 and synchronization with other aggregators (like RSS Bandit)
Demo Two, at about 34:00. Enclosures, calendar integration.
Demo Three, at about 49:50. Amazon integration.

Microsoft to Incorporate RSS in Longhorn

Microsoft just announced that RSS will be incorporated into the forthcoming Longhorn (the next version of Windows) as a core technology. This has the potential of being really big, and I'll tell you why.

Right now, each RSS application (e.g., FeedDemon, NewsGator, etc.) has to maintain its own set of RSS feed addresses and XML data downloaded from your subscribed sites. The problems are many: Duplication of storage and data, no synchronization resulting in time-consuming import/exports of OPML files (or none at all), outdated RSS links in your lesser-used RSS readers, etc. Sure, you could use a web-based service such as Bloglines for central access, but I've never been satisfied with their watered-down features compared to FeedDemon. That's a key difference between fat and thin clients.

The OPML format makes transferring the RSS feed lists and groups easier between RSS apps and PCs, but what about the downloaded content itself? What if you like to maintain a year's worth of feeds (or more) for searching or creating watchlists within your RSS reader (Go FeedDemon!)? You likely can't merge the different data sets.

By now you have a pretty good idea of the issues with using multiple RSS readers and computing platforms (Windows, Web, etc.).

Now let's talk about the OS: Remember those fond DOS days when each application needed its own modem, printer, and display drivers installed, configured, and tweaked? Centralizing those shared services into the OS usually made it a lot easier and cost-effective on both the application developers and the end users. Developers didn't have to write additional code for all these items, so they could either focus on coding additional features, or simply getting their application to market more quickly.

Fast-forwarding to RSS as a core piece of the OS: If Microsoft succeeds, RSS feeds and data could be stored as shared resources. Updated Longhorn-aware versions of your favorite RSS readers can access the shared info. So, for example, if you love using both FeedDemon for its watchlists but also SharpReader for its blog discussion threading, you can have your cake and eat it too (assuming the app developers support Longhorn).

Let's kick it up notch: Think of all the cool things we do on our PCs -- the integration of e-mail, web browsing, and RSS feeds (NewsGator is a good example at their intersection). How about music and video playlists and streaming? Movie listings? TV listings? Driving directions? These could all very well be RSS-driven. Driven where? Right into any number of RSS-aware applications: Browsers, e-mail, office suites, multimedia players, games, you name it. The entertainment and media center applications and extensions are particularly well suited to being RSS-enabled. Microsoft's RSS team surely already knows this. Microsoft also has a good track record of waiting until a technology begins to mature and then swarms it (think browsers, e-mail, office suites, and portals -- all of which could benefit from being RSS-aware).

With this said, all of this RSS "goodness" within Microsoft's control raises valid concerns:

• Microsoft making proprietary changes to the RSS standards:

Remember those IE extensions to HTML tags, which only worked in the IE browser? Discussions are already underway by Microsoft to extend RSS to handle lists (e.g., music playlists, NY Times Bestseller list, SharePoint document lists -- aha!). However, there is a mitigating factor mentioned in the PC World Techlog: "Microsoft will make these extensions available through a Creative Commons license, which means that other developers can incorporate them into their services and software products."

Keep in mind, though, that this still gives Microsoft an edge to begin subtle RSS morphing into their own image. The CC license, while laudable, also helps MS avoid some of the backlash and speeds adoption. Very savvy. Even Dave Winer sounds optimistic with the way MS is approaching RSS extension and new format development -- quite a turnaround from his previous battle over RSS vs. Atom.

• Effect on the market:

Anyone who integrates with a key piece of Microsoft code is in danger of being displaced by a watered-down Microsoft replacement or MS acquiring them outright. Remember Stacker (disk compression) and certain Quarterdeck utilities (memory management)? More recently, consider the nifty Lookout add-in for Outlook (Microsoft actually acquired Lookout, but you get the idea).

Now consider NewsGator's tight integration with Outlook. I'd be a little nervous if I were them, as IE and Outlook are two critical intersection points for RSS feeds. I'd bet NewsGator saw the writing on the wall over the last year or two and decided to diversify by offering addition services and integrations.

I don't view this as a panacea to some of the other issues (syncing RSS feeds and/or content between PC's, for example). However, it doesn't take much imagination to see how RSS' capabilities can be extended and exploited with a little help from the OS as a common enabling platform. Definitely worth staying tuned.

A Good Directory of RSS Readers (News Aggregators)

The dmoz open directory project has definitely grown their list of RSS readers. For instance, the list of Windows-based RSS readers has grown to a whopping 79. I note with interest that FeedDemon, my personal fave, is designated as the "cool site" at the top. But there are also 42 web-based readers. Mac users have 14 listed, although I expected to see more. Even handheld users have 12 readers listed for the various mobile platforms.

In other words, if you haven't found an RSS reader you like, odds are there is one here for you. Enjoy.

Podcasting Gains Momentum -- Is It Here To Stay?

There are likely differing opinions regarding Podcasting: Is it just a fad or a disruptive technology with a bit more staying power?

Many of the same comments were said about blogging, and it's still expanding after its humble beginnings from around '98-'99. Well over five years in Net time isn't a fad, in my opinion -- it's a breakthrough. RSS feed technology helped blogging to skyrocket. Why? Because it vastly improved the delivery mechanism. No longer did we need to visit many sites manually to get our information fix. We subscribed to content, and it came to us. RSS readers allowed us to aggregate, slice, dice, clip, search, and organize it to our desire. It allowed us to reach larger audiences, and to integrate content across site barriers.

While podcasting is definitely a bit newer, I'm seeing the same types of discussions online -- both in blogs and in mainstream publications. For instance, check out BusinessWeek Online's recent slew of articles on podcasting. Big business has already gotten into the act, but some are discovering that the copyright laws haven't yet caught up with the technology, and are understandably skittish.

The misnomer of podcasting is that you don't need an iPod or even a portable MP3 player to listen. A software-based player such as Windows Media Player, Winamp, and numerous others do the job nicely. But taking that route is a bit more manual.

However, combine all the above, and you've got something, well, revolutionary. Take the RSS feed technology and use it to improve the delivery mechanism. Use a good RSS reader like FeedDemon, which includes a tool like FeedStation to automate the process: After you subscribe to a podcast RSS feed, FeedStation can automatically download the podcasts and transfer them to your iPod -- all while you sleep. Pick up your iPod for your morning jog or drive to work, and you have a convenient way to timeshift an audio broadcast. No wonder it's being compared as Tivo for radio.

Returning to the blogging corollary, blogging made both web publishing and reading easy -- really easy. It made web publishing and content management as easy as sending an e-mail to your web site. RSS feeds made it just as easy for consumers of the information. Right now, podcasting is easy on the end users as I described above. However, creating commercial-grade podcasts still takes significantly more effort, and requires a number of production tools. Basic blogger-talk podcasts are somewhat easier to produce. I've listened to both, and while content is still king, adding commercial-grade polish is definitely appreciated and easier on the ears.

It's still too soon to say where Podcasting will end up, particularly with respect to copyright issues when music is added to the mix. However, it's definitively picked up both momentum and a fairly large following within the past 6 months alone. By name, it carries the cachet and mystique of the iPod itself, which has definitely contributed to its popularity and ease of use. It's caught the attention of big business, has hit mainstream journalism, and can be a relatively low cost method of marketing. Indeed, it has the earmarks of another media revolution, much like internet and satellite radio have caught on.

There's a convergence factor at work here: Perhaps the best podcasting user experience occurs when all of the above blogging, RSS, music, and iPod revolutions are combined. In other words, perhaps Podcasting isn't all that revolutionary once one sees what it's built upon. It's the next piece of digital media evolution utilizing the tools of what came before, and extending them with new tools, such as iPodder. But give the innovators their due credit -- it's certainly a creative approach.

With all that said, like blogging, podcasting still has uncertain terrain to traverse. Unlike the text contained in RSS feeds, podcasts are audio content in typically MP3 format. As such, the consumer basically has to listen to it to benefit from the content. I've been waiting to see if anyone develops a podcast speech-to-text application for archiving the content in searchable form.

There are definitely first-mover advantages to be gained. Some podcasts will likely do well, and again, like blogging, some will not. There's room for both broad-podcasting and niche-podcasting. As something that's new and exciting, it will likely draw in the advertising dollars. It's still in search of a business model, which is why advertising is a quick win for podcasters. I've found some Podcasts a fair waste of my time, and others entertaining and/or informative. I'm intrigued where it's headed, but I'm going to reserve judgment for awhile yet. In the meantime, I find the momentum encouraging.

The PR Impact of Blogs

BeSpacific has a great post with a link to this interesting whitepaper: "Trust 'MEdia' - How Real People Are Finally Being Heard", with the subtitle, "The 1.0 Guide to the Blogosphere for Marketers & Company Stakeholders".

It's a good guide for companies who are struggling to understand the blogging phenomenon. My advice: Read the paper, and learn from the many mistakes companies have made by trying to cash in on blogging, or trying to control something they did not understand. Read the statistics on bloggers. Many are extremely intelligent, well educated, tech-savvy, and long-term Internet veterans. The ones you want to approach are not the cranks and fanatics who like to rant. That's the first reality check. Next, read the section on "Blogs Gone Wrong".

My advice for any company looking to leverage the blogosphere: Lurk and learn before you do. Understand the individual blog sites and bloggers' perspectives and passions. Don't market to them -- engage them. Don't approach blogs as quick hit marketing stunts, but as a longer term strategy and investment.

Transparency, trustworthiness, and integrity are king. Anonymous and "shill" blogs are dangerous -- it's only a matter of time before you are found out. Reputation damage is more costly to recover from than most realize. Consider the following guidelines I've put together:

1. Be yourself. If you forget or ignore all else mentioned here, be genuine. Integrity is everything in the blogosphere. Always take the high road, and you won't have anything to worry about -- no damage control, no back-peddling press releases, public apologies, rebates, etc. Bloggers can sniff out phoneys in a heartbeat.
2. Engage bloggers as you would a valued business partner. While bloggers tend to be quite generous in helping others, don't engage them with a "something for nothing" approach. It's a huge turn-off. If you're going to benefit from visibility from a mention on someone else's blog, be prepared to contribute something of value in return. Make it worth their time.
3. Many established bloggers greatly dislike the "reciprocal links" type of request. We have been inundated with them. We're already highly visible and highly placed on Google. Obviously, that's far more valuable to the link requestor than the established blogger. So what's so reciprocal about it?
4. Consider what will make it worth the blogger's time and credibility risk by endorsing you with a mention. Can you pique their interest with something novel or useful, or provide them with a truly free sample of your product or service? Bloggers love freebies, and they'll likely disclose that fact to maintain their transparency and credibility. Don't be stingy -- the one demo unit you give up will likely pay for itself many times over in ways you couldn't have paid traditional marketing channels a handsome amount to accomplish. If the bloggers like the product or service, chances are they will continue to blog about it, other bloggers will pick up on the posts and blog about it, and the circle of exposure widens exponentially. If you require that they return the unit, you've greatly reduced your exposure by orders of magnitude. If it's really the better mousetrap, giving it up it will sell itself many times over.
5. Take the time to read and understand the blogger's perspective you'd like to approach. It's easy to offend someone when you don't know who they are, what they do, and their passions.
6. Bloggers love being part of the "in" crowd, being "in the know" before others. Find reputable and influential bloggers and make them one of the team. Make it a strategic alliance.

Better Text Messaging & A New Legal Tech Blog

Here's a great follow up tip to my recent post, "Doing E-Mail on Your Cell Phone":

Teleflip solves the problem of having to know all the different domain names for each wireless carrier's service. Regardless of which carrier your intended recipient is using, just send a text message or e-mail to the person's 10-digit phone number at teleflip.com, like this: 8005551234@teleflip.com Teleflip figures out who's on which service, and it gets there in a few seconds like magic. No registration required -- just send the message per above.

Per the site: "Teleflip^TM started when the founder became increasingly frustrated at his inability to send text messages to friends' cell phones from his PC. It was of course possible, but you had to know the cell phone provider, the correct domain name and the correct syntax for the email address. There had to be an easier way....Teleflip^TM was born."

The catches? Teleflip is a free service, but it adds "---- www.teleflip.com" to the end of messages as a form of advertising. Other free services such as Yahoo! Mail do something similar, just as a point of comparison. Per the site, Teleflip only works in "North America (Canada, US, Caribbean, Hawaii, Guam)", but they are working on adding more countries.

As a precaution, since you're sending your messages through their service, you may also want to check out Teleflip's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Many thanks to Barry Bayer for e-mailing me the Teleflip tip. Barry has been writing about legal technology for a long time in his "Law Office Technology Review" columns. He just started a new blog, the "Law Tech Review".

By the way, here's a very good example for new bloggers, regarding how to contact another blogger. Barry had seen my post about text messaging, and had come across a great alternative solution. He e-mailed me, asking if I'd tried Teleflip. He didn't even mention his blog, at least not overtly. It wasn't until I spotted his blog's address in his e-mail sig line that I got curious and headed over. Less is definitely more. Welcome to the Blawgosphere, Barry.

Blogging About Blawgers at TECHSHOW

This is the really cool part about TECHSHOW -- sitting in a nice strong Intel-sponsored Wi-Fi cloud, and listening to Ernie, Rick, and Sabrina talk about blogging. Half of the room is full of blawgers, the other half are keenly interested in jumping in.

What is a blog and what is it good for? Ernie says it's a great way to trap a lot of fish -- people surfing around the web using Google who stumble across blogs. Rick aptly pointed out that Google loves fresh content and links as votes -- as a result, Google knows that blogs are updated more often. Here's a key point, that I've blogged previously: Google doesn't just index sites by their own content. Google also indexes content based upon content in other sites' links to your site. It's called Google Bombing, and it was used quite expertly to embarrass President Bush. Just Google for "miserable failure" to see what I mean.

The wild thing about blogs that Rick, Ernie, and I have all experienced is that some of our most "successful" posts are ones that haven't related directly to the legal world. In my case, I've seen my blog traffic spike over the RSS vs. Atom feed debate, and most recently over how to use your 3G cell phone to get free wireless Internet access. It made it within the top 10 results (the first page) for "free cell internet access", without the quotes, on Google.

Sabrina enlightened us with how blogging has evolved into internal use, behind the firewall. It's difficult to gain inertia, to be sure. Sabrina urged that we have to plead, beg, and keep at it. As Ernie added, while we see the power of this use, the problem is that people within an organization are often too busy and don't like to share. It's ironic, and something I've experienced, that people outside the organization are more responsive and gratified by the information than those within. However, sooner or later, the word gets out, and pockets of folks start to realize its benefits.

Sabrina adds that you need Informational Omnivores within your organization -- people hungry for taking in, processing, organizing and sharing information. Many bloggers fall squarely in this category, myself included.

Rick and Sabrina covered why RSS feeds are so important, but had different experiences: Rick's blog gets twice as much RSS feed traffic than web pages served. Sabrina's is exactly the opposite. Some of it has to do with the differences in their audiences. Rick's is more tech-focused, whereas Sabrina's is more legal-focused and probably attracts more web browser-centric users than RSS feedreader users.

The discussion turned to blogging platforms for those interested in starting one today. TypePad clearly came up as the winner for newbies, based upon the number of people here who made various recommendations. While Movable Type is great, it requires a much higher level of geekiness. Monica Bay stood up and raved about TypePad, even though "it sucks on a Mac". (You gotta love Monica's style.)

Monica's pearls of wisdom:

• Find your voice


• Be yourself


• Find the 4 - 5 themes that are your signature issues

Get Your Google Page Rank

If you have a blog or web site, and you're curious to know your Google Page Rank, try these two sites:

GoogleRankings.com
Google PageRank Calculator

Both sites are helpful in different ways, and neither seems to be affiliated with Google. While the latter is good for returning a general GPR, I like GoogleRankings.com because it returns the Page Rank relative to various keywords. So you can run a number of queries to determine where your site is doing well, and where it might need a boost.

Disclaimer: I'm not a Google algorithm expert, so take from this what you will, as this is merely my general understanding of how this stuff works. Google's inner workings are constantly being tweaked.

Basically, Google's algorithm assigns each web site a Page Rank from 0-10, with 10 being best. In reading some of the search engine watch sites, exactly how Google arrives at the score seems to be a moving target. I wouldn't be surprised if this scale wasn't linear, as I suspect it's much more difficult to move from a "9" to a "10" than it is to move from a "1" to a "2".

After all, per the Google PankRank Calculator site, the 10's are the massively popular sites like Google and Yahoo!. Even usatoday.com ranks a "9", while nytimes.com and cnn.com only rank an "8". So I'm pretty darn satisfied with a "6". Some of the most popular blawgs seem to rank between 5 and 7 (although I only ran the query for a half dozen of them, so it's not statistically significant). Precious few got a 7, such as Bag and Baggage. Most of the well-known blawgs are at 5 or 6.

Some general rules of thumb seem to play out with Google SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for earning a higher Page Rank: Sites that update content regularly, and that are more heavily linked to (inbound links) from other sites generally receive a higher Page Rank.

So why are Google Page Ranks relevant? The raw score doesn't mean much by itself. When combined with a Google keyword or phrase search, in context, that's when the page rank makes a difference. For example, LawTech Guru is the number one result returned when searching for Jeff Beard or lawtech, but is nowhere in the top 1,000 results for the word "tomato" -- probably because I've never used "tomato" in a post before today. Now, the interesting thing will be to see if and how that tomato page rank changes within a week, since I've now changed the status quo by this post. (In scientific terms, I've changed the environment by the act of studying it.)

So Page Rank scores, by themselves, probably won't get you new business. But what they may get you, in the right context, is increased visibility in Google search results. But which results? Some of my highest rankings are from posts that have nothing to do with legal technology, at least not directly. I suspect those got there by others linking to them.

What's important to take away from this is that if you want your blog or web site to be found for various keyword or phrase searches, it's helpful to know where you're starting from, and which words you need to add to your content on a regular basis. To get a bigger boost, you'll want those pages to be linked to by other high-ranking sites, as that will help to elevate your ranking, and potentially, your online visibility. I can tell you firsthand that while I don't sell anything here, not even services, professional visibility is quite valuable.

Now with that said, don't get caught in the trap that you must be found on Google or other major search engines to be found online. Yes, it's very important, but it's not the whole enchilada. Again, I'll use this blog as an example. According to GoogleRankings.com, this site currently ranks as 29 to the keyword search for "legal technology" using lawtechguru.com as the URL pattern. That gets knocked down to 49 when using www.lawtechguru.com as the URL pattern. Which means that I'm not on the first two pages of Google results for legal technology. But you know what? Thanks to the collegiality of my fellow blawgers, I'm linked on many of their blogrolls and vice versa. Which means that when they get found via search engines and their sites are read, some of those readers will invariably stumble onto my blog -- it's how the blogosphere works.

So, when the dust and smoke clears, while Google Page Ranks are important to understand and leverage, they are only one piece of the overall solution for online marketing and visibility. Rather than an end, they are an important means to achieving an overall plan.

NextGen Blogging: Podcasting at a Glance

iPod, You Pod, We all Pod for Podcasts. (Or something like that.)

Remember the first song ever played on MTV? Yup, it was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by Buggles. Well, no one can say that Podcasting will kill the radio or even Internet Radio. But it's one heck of an enhancement, and yet another way to draw audiences to your RSS feed, especially if you have a good broadcast personality. So what is Podcasting? Think of it as Blogging meets Internet Radio.

To better answer that question, Wired Magazine has two great Podcasting articles this month. First, there's the feature article about Adam Curry, the ex-MTV VJ who's a key player in the development and promotion of Podcasting via iPodder. From MTV to MP3, talk about first mover advantage.

If you're new to Podcasting, or just curious about how it works, check out Wired's "Podcasting at a Glance." This short guide covers:

• How It Works
  
• How To Get It
  
• How To Make Your Own Podcast
  
• What's Next

No one says you have to be a Howard Stern to push the media envelope. But I think it's fair to say that people are hungry for media. People with iPods and MP3 players -- even more so. Combining audio broadcasts through the simplicity of RSS feeds is a powerful combination.

While not every Podcaster is going to make it big (just like bloggers), there's still time to get in on it during the first wave. But just like blogging, a commitment to Podcasting should not just be a knee-jerk impulse. A good theme/market is helpful (whether it be mainstream or niche), as is the ability to keep it going after you start. Consider the additional time it takes to provide both text and audio feeds. It's also helpful to have a certain broadcast quality. Here's a thought: If you don't feel you've got "the right stuff", consider a Tonight Show format. Bring on lots of guests over time and let them tell their story or share their expertise and guidance.

Will your blog wither away if you don't Podcast? If you're providing compelling content, I seriously doubt it. So don't feel bad if you're not Podcasting (I'm not). Remember, while iPods are all the craze, far from everyone has one. Everyone with a PC has a browser, so that's a much, much larger audience. However, Podcasts can be used to draw in new audiences in this "nichestream" (as opposed to mainstream), simply because you're offering it. Now once it gets saturated, the dynamics could change a bit. Again, there's a LOT to be said for first mover advantage in this space.

Compelling blogs + compelling Podcasts = One powerful media streaming source. It's another value add if done well. As to what format or content you should provide, that's what you'll need to figure out. The best blogs are the ones that come from the heart -- what that person or group is passionate about. I'd say that goes double for podcasting. Also, I think this is an area where big business can redeem itself in the blogosphere. Remember all those publicity-stunt blogs that were started just as a gimmick and fizzled overnight? Well, putting some value-added commercial grade broadcasts (not just fluff) into a Podcast is likely to gain a much more positive reception.

Perhaps it's just me, but Podcasting gives bloggers and others a much more intimate connection with their audience. It's one thing to read what I've written. But consider how much more powerful it is when you listen to what I say.

Most Common Mistakes by New Legal Bloggers

There's lotsa blogging about blawging going on around here:

If you're new to blogging or are considering blogging, Dennis Kennedy's recent post is required reading. Dennis is one of the few people I know who breaks down a complex socio-technological issue like blogging into easily understood advice.

Likewise, Kevin O'Keefe came across 10 tips for better blogging. Kevin and legal marketing guru Larry Bodine are also offering a blogging webinar on Feb. 17th.

FeedDemon 1.5 Beta Available

I chose FeedDemon as the best RSS Reader or News Aggregator for a prior Law Office Computing Shootout. It packs a ton of useful features into a very intuitive, fast, and polished package. One of the drawbacks of the version 1.1x series was the lack of synchronization between your PC-based FeedDemon channels and online RSS reader services. Thus moving between PCs caused certain challenges with maintaining your feed lists and syndicated content.

If you're an existing FeedDemon user, you just might want to check out the long list of new features and fixes in the current 1.5 beta release, officially designated the "FeedDemon 1.5 Release Candidate 1a (RC1a)". First, there's new integration with Bloglines for feed synchronization, including instructions. Synchronization support for NewsGator Online Services was also added in a similar fashion.

Other new features include an "Export All Groups to OPML File" item added to the File menu. This will create a single, categorized OPML file containing all of your subscriptions, so you don't have to manually export each channel group separately. Starting FeedDemon with the command line option "/ua" performs an "Update all groups" as soon as FeedDemon starts. Now you don't have to wait for each group to update individually nor invoke the "Update all groups" feature manually. New styles were also added, so you have more choices in finding a display format more to your liking.

These are evolutionary refinements to make a great RSS reader even better. Keep in mind this is a pre-release or beta, so expect some glitches. Given the relative tech edge of many of this blog's audience, somehow I don't think this will deter you much.

A Hearty Welcome for Jim Calloway's Blog

Now here's a great way to start the new year in blog style: "Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips Blog" was just launched yesterday. Jim is a Law Practice Management veteran: He's the Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program, current Chair of the ABA TECHSHOW Board, frequent presenter and author, and more.

I've enjoyed the privilege of working with Jim when I served with him on the TECHSHOW Board. He's wanted to do this for some time, so I expect he'll have plenty of tips raring to go. Jim excels with his common-sense approach, and breaks down practice management and technology topics into plain language. Thus I have no doubt his blog will be another great resource for law practice tips, management ideas, and other insights. Welcome to the Blogosphere, Jim!

New Releases of Zempt & w.bloggar Blogging Clients

Bloggers may want to check out the latest releases of the Zempt and w.bloggar blogging clients. Both version updates have been long in coming and add some much-needed features. Either one is a welcome tool in addition to the native blog entry interface found in most online blogging systems. In particular, they add much-needed HTML and spell-checking features.

Zempt 0.4 provides a more refined GUI and toolbar interface than its quirkier 0.3 release, several new features, and fixes a number of other peculiarities and bugs. Overall, it's a welcome set of refinements. I've used Zempt for over a year despite of its numerous rough edges because it supported all of Movable Type's fields and features. In comparison, w.bloggar 3.03 only had support for Movable Type's Main and Extended Entry fields (and the latter only through a proprietary HTML tag). It did not support MT's other fields and especially MT's multiple category selection. Zempt was developed specifically to support Movable Type. Zempt 0.4 also has improved support for TypePad posts. Be aware that most, if not all, of the new Zempt download mirror links are broken. However, Zempt's support forum posted this SourceForge download link to provide access.

With all that said, w.bloggar wins hands down for having a well-polished GUI interface for quite some time. It has excellent HTML and other editing features, and has great support for uploading and coding images into your blog posts. Whenever I have a post with an associated image, I automatically turn to w.bloggar because it's just so easy to use for this task. It also supports a large number of blogging systems. Up to now, the trade-off has been the lack of full MT field and category support. w.bloggar 4.00 Release Candidate 2 (RC2) is available for download, and has added much of the missing Movable Type feature support to finally bring it on par with Zempt for MT users. While I haven't experienced any problems with RC2, be aware that it's not a final release -- more like a late beta. The final version 4.00 release is slated for December 16th.

LawTech Guru Goes Platinum

Upon returning from the long, snowy drive from the 2004 Midwest Law & Technology Conference in Chicago, I was pleasantly surprised to see my blog surpassed the one million hits mark for the year.

The jury is still out on the statistical reliance on site hits, especially since some of them are caused by web bots, spiders, crawlers, and the like. However, as this site intentionally has very few graphic files, the vast majority of the hits relate to the substantive content. While it may not be a perfect measuring stick, surpassing a million hits is a noteworthy accomplishment, especially on a non-commercial site run by a single person. So say what you will about hits, but I'm pretty excited.

Looking back, what a difference a year makes. For me, the real "sparking moment" for LawTech Guru came during Tom Mighell's and Sabrina Pacifici's incredible blog presentation at the ABA TECHSHOW 2003 -- talk about a valuable take-away. It felt like a 60,000 watt light bulb went on in my head. I already had the domain name, but was seeking something much more dynamic than a conventional web site.

Seeing Rick Klau blog live from TECHSHOW via Wi-Fi clearly illustrated this was a giant leap forward from what came before. Updating a web site was now as easy as sending a lightly HTML-formatted e-mail from any location and device with Internet access. I discovered early on that RSS news feeds added tremendous reach. I think most bloggers will agree that when the heart of a passionate writer meshes with an enabling technology, the result is a quantum leap. That, and it definitely helps to have fantastic colleagues like Dennis Kennedy, Jerry Lawson, Larry Bodine, and Rick Klau. They let me bounce a number of ideas and blog designs off them, gave me plenty of food for thought and a nice introduction into the blogosphere. Thanks guys.

In addition, thanks to all of you who've stopped by this site or downloaded an RSS feed. It's very satisfying for me to give something back through this blog, and I'm glad to see so many are finding it interesting and useful.

New Blawg Looks Promising: Feedmelegal

There are so many new blogs springing up that I rarely, if ever, mention them. While acknowledging some are quite good, it seems that an increasing number seem to be in it just for the quick hits, asking for links, some fizzle out, and some just don't post compelling enough content for me.

So when I see good content on a topic that interests me, it's worth mentioning:

If you like reading Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs (he's also the founder of LexBlog), then you'll probably like Feedmelegal. It's a brand new blawg dedicated to "webfeeds, weblogs and the legal profession".

In its short time online, Feedmelegal has already posted about "Weblogs for newly qualified lawyers?", "Weblogs: A primer for lawyers", and "The significance of webfeeds for lawyers".

He's even broached the subject of which international law firm will deploy weblogs/webfeeds first? and blogs in corporate legal departments.

Which again raises the question, why haven't more law firms embraced blogging, which is something that has bothered me for nearly two years. Besides the obvious knowledge sharing through an easy publishing system, we bloggers enjoy many benefits from blogging that most law firm marketing officers and partners would kill for: Heavy site traffic, numerous inbound site links, very high search results rankings, name recognition, and perhaps most importantly, being included in interesting and visible professional opportunities due our willingness to share and contribute. Thus I'm left wondering whether it's the time, money, legal issues, and/or just plain inertia that are holding most firms back from client-facing blogs. Granted, it's definitely not for everyone, but I've got to believe that every large firm has at least several dynamic individuals who are well spoken and have a passion for writing and sharing information.

Thus far Feedmelegal has been a micro-aggregator of legal blogging facets (as have Real Lawyers Have Blogs, NetLawBlog, and others -- apologies if I haven't mentioned you specifically). In any event, while the masked blogger behind Feedmelegal hasn't yet revealed him/herself (even the domain name was registered by proxy to protect his/her privacy), it's off to a strong start. Here's hoping for more of the same.

21 Blogs of Interest for a Law Firm CIO / IT Director

Hot on the heels of LawNet 2004, here's an interesting find for Legal CIO's:

Ed Schembor's Blog looks relatively new and has a new article listing and discussing suggested blogs for Law Firm CIO / IT Directors to read. He's picked a number of legal technology blogs, many of which I've read and listed here in my blogroll. Welcome to the blogosphere Ed.

Ed states: "The list of blogs I have put together below covers the ones which I have found are ideally suited to the knowledge needs of a senior project manager, director of technology or CIO at a medium to large size law firm. These blogs generally cover strategic aspects of technology of interest to law offices, and may also cover more tactical and technical subjects."

Ed, you're off to a great start, but I'd add the following blogs to your list, as they tend to have either a compelling strategic or legal IT flavor, or both:

• DennisKennedy.blog

• Electronic Discovery and Evidence

• Professional Marketing Blog

• Real Lawyers :: Have Blogs

I'm sure there's even a few I'm forgetting, with apologies to my fellow blawgers.

Blogging Abuses are Escalating

First there was comment spam: Spammers artificially boosted various web sites' Google page rankings by embedding links to those sites in blog comments. Google rankings favor sites that have a lot of inbound links, especially from highly ranked sites.

Then there was trackback spam: Blogs supporting trackbacks (i.e., the ability of blogs to learn which other blogs are linking to them) were nailed by artificial trackback pings containing spam web site links -- and they were harder to remove than comment spam. Luckily, I only received a couple of those.

Regular blog sites ended up being used to increase Google page rankings for various online pharmacies, casinos, porn sites, and more. I've personally had to clean this dreck from my blog. Usually it wasn't too bad -- just a couple a day, easily deleted. I've always resisted the urge to curtail commenting as I truly wanted to encourage a lively discussion. Then, just last month, I suddenly got hit by over 1,600 spam comments in a single week (no, that's not a typo), and they were increasing each day after. Since the comments were always made to older posts where there were virtually no new comments, the easy solution was to run a script that closes comments older than "x" number of days. It's a pretty good compromise so far, as most comments are made within a few days after posting, and I still want to have commenting enabled. (I've known about the MT-Blacklist plugin for a while, but I didn't have the time nor the inclination to upgrade my blog software just for that alone.)

Over the past six months, I've seen an increase in "me too" blogs -- ones in which the overall motivating factor was to have a site which ranked highly on Google. Then I started receiving link exchange e-mails from commercial services that had nothing to do with this blog's topics. Naturally, I ignored them the same as any spam e-mail.

Now, according to Wired News, the online porn industry is at it once again. But for the very first time, it seems they're not touching my blog, nor others. No, they've figured out they can better directly manipulate Google rankings by setting up their own set of blogs and then cross-linking between themselves. This part isn't all that novel, as many bloggers know you need to exchange links to benefit in page rankings.

But this time around, the pornsters are using Google's technology against itself. Google owns Blogger. So they've set up dozens of free Blogger sites and are using them to create the necessary inbound links to manipulate Google. Ironic, isn't it?

Here's the money quote from Wired: "It's just like (when) the first couple of people who got the idea to try to manipulate the meta-keyword thing might have been successful, but then everyone jumped all over it.... These things run their natural evolutionary course after awhile."

Note that a number of search engines don't use metatags for that very reason. Because of abuses like this and "Google bombing" (hint: do a Google search for "miserable failure" to see how anyone can be targeted), Google has been under increasing criticism due to these manipulations' effects on the integrity of the results. Like metatags, I expect that the abuses will go the normal route of getting worse before they get better. Eventually, when a particular abuse hits critical mass, then the search engine companies attempt to adapt their technology to preclude or ignore it (much like metatags are now ignored). Since Google's core technology has always focused on the link factor, this should prove interesting indeed.

That is, until the next exploit is discovered, and then we get to repeat the cycle. Get ready...

Blogger Burnout on Wired News

If you're a blogger or considering starting your own blog, here's something to consider, courtesy of Wired News: "Bloggers Suffer Burnout". At times, I've felt it too -- that weird feeling after a few days of not posting anything, that I should be blogging, that I'm somehow "behind" in putting content out there. I've considered my options which mainly boil down into the following categories: 1) Post smaller but more frequent posts just to put something up without taking much of my time, 2) Find material in advance, and pre-post it to my blog to "get ahead" of the game, 3) cloning myself, and 4) just cutting back at times.

Speaking of which, one of the reasons why you haven't seen as many postings here lately is that I've been preoccupied with other things, such as getting settled into my new job and living space, getting my home office network set up with broadband and Wi-Fi (which if you haven't done yet, you don't know what you're missing as long as you take the time to reasonably secure it), working on other writing projects for the ABA LPM section, and naturally trying to fit in some free time to enjoy the summer with my family before I wake up one day and wonder where all my kids went.

I don't like options one and two above, because I've never been a fan of fluff or filler on a regular basis. Cloning myself just raises too many issues (which one of us gets to stay home to surf and blog, spend time with my family, and which one has to go to work. Not to mention that I'd have to deal with myself, now that's a scary thought -- rent "Multiplicity" with Michael Keaton for the whole story).

So, I'm heeding the advice of this and other articles on the subject. I've also considered how I'll be delivering the new "Trick or Treat" category. It takes some time to pull together a quality group of useful tips and documenting same. So rather than have just a single post full of many tips for the week, I'm going to try posting just a single tip or two at time, or perhaps a few more if they're short and simple. In keeping with the title, consider it a light snack that will be quick to read and easy to try. Also, I welcome good tips and tricks, and would be happy to post them here with full attribution. Or just post them as comments -- which is one of the reasons I still have open commenting here, despite the spam comment challenges. The latter is good fodder for tips too, i.e., which third-party comment spam plugin did you use, and how easy was it to set up?

The EDDix 50: Another Great Resource for Legal Blogs

If there's one thing you've probably noticed about blogs and bloggers: we like useful lists with links. Thus you'll probably want to add the EDDix 50 to your collection.

This is a great resource, because the blawgs listed (and the blawgers behind them) are among the best resources for insightful, creative, savvy, and cutting edge information and discussions relating to the legal market. With all due respect to legal publishers, if you've ever watched "Men in Black", I consider blawgs to be the "Hot Sheets" of the legal world. To adapt Tommy Lee Jones' line: "Best damn legal practice commentary on the planet. But hey, go ahead, read the New York Times if you want. They get lucky sometimes." Per EDDix, "...the bLAWgs listed below -- the EDDix 50 -- are different."

The "value add" is EDDix 50's additional editorial features. Besides offering a savvy capsule review for each, it clearly indicates whether each blawg features an RSS feed, is listed on the Daily Whirl site (see below), and/or features an e-mail newsletter subscription. In addition, the EDDix 50 editors have coded select blawgs with a blue- or red-bordered box. It's marked blue if the "bLAWg being reviewed covers EDD topics", and red to signify that "regardless of focus, [EDDix] thinks this bLAWg or blog is MUST READING". Nice job.

You've also got to love an EDD site that doesn't take itself too seriously: "The EDDix 50 is dynamic because the world's dynamic and, quite frankly, we're fickle." Amen. If you haven't come across EDDix (Electronic Data Discovery Information eXchange) yet, that's because they're still in their site's beta launch. EDDix's niche is attempting to provide independent research, analysis and reporting on the EDD marketplace, and their mission is to make sense of EDD so you can make the right decisions.

Thus I'm truly honored to be included on the EDDix 50, and it's long been my goal to make this techie stuff more understandable and useful for others, as well as pointing out savvy ways to bake it into the practice and improving how we ultimately serve our clients. It also doesn't hurt to poke light fun at ourselves in the process. (I sometimes share with a wink that I'm a "recovering attorney" -- and it's a 47 step process.) Per EDDix: "We like people who make sense out of nonsense. In legal tech, JB's our man." Thanks. It's also important to point out that there are many other great blogs (legal and otherwise) available online, so these are not the end-all. They are, however, a good starting point to find information of interest and then finding others via their blogrolls and other links.

Other good legal tech lists and links that I HIGHLY recommend:

• Dennis Kennedy's "The Strongest Links" column on the ABA LPM's Law Practice TODAY e-zine.

  Each issue, the column provides a crème de la crème list of web links on a particular topic. While there's no separate link to his columns, they appear to be archived under the e-zine's "Technology Articles" category -- which is another great resource for legal tech info and tips. I recall reading that Tom Mighell (of Inter Alia, another EDDix 50 blawg) will also be contributing to the column, so it's in great hands.

• Ernie the Attorney's list of legal feeds.

  If you're new to reading RSS feeds, read his post first. Otherwise, all you really need is his list of blawgs in the standard OPML format, which you can easily import into your favorite news aggregator/RSS reader.

Finding other blawgs:

• My Detod
• Daily Whirl

On the subject of EDD, another good web resource is