Subscribe Today!
Legal Guides
Feb
21
I feel better having read Casey McGlasson’s post on The Sample Gates regarding a study that determines that Internet usage makes us smarter. Sometimes I worry that too much Internet usage is a bad thing. Reading that it isn’t is relieving.
Writes Casey McGlasson:
At least it’s relatively encouraging to hear that the benefits side of things is highly recognized, despite much of the popular opinion.
It makes me think about how things have changed over the years since the Internet became commonplace.
Instead of waiting for the weekly news or special interest magazine to arrive, we now have gigabytes of information on any subject readily available at our fingertips 24-hours every day. Even the arrival of the morning newspaper seems to bring old stories one has already read online.
Instead of having to run out to a library to pull a book from the stacks, fire up the computer and log on to find information. Data that used to be expensive — legal research, for example — is being made cheaper by companies providing flat rate access to legal information, such as Fastcase or Casemaker.
Phone books seem to be going the way of the dinosaurs as online directories — such as Google local — make looking up a business easy and quick. There’s no need to ever call 411 when online services provide free directory assistance by phone, text, or web.
Even sending documents is easier. Instead of mailing or faxing letters and other documents, I find it is often easier for everyone involved to scan and send via email. It saves postage and the trip to the post office, if the letter carrier has already stopped by the mailbox.
The Internet is a great thing. Life has gotten easier than ever. We’re growing smarter than we’ve ever been.
If people complain that the Internet is dulling our senses, it might be because they aren’t using the resources available to them the right way. Even with ample usage of “time wasters,” people are better off today because of the rivers of knowledge flowing through the Internet than they were back in the old days when data was often harder to come by.
Photo credit: Roberto Rizzato.
Jul
30
Internet DNS Threatened?
Filed Under internet, life online | Leave a Comment
Is the way the internet translates friendly URLs — such as ChristopherHedges.com into IP addresses (this website’s IP address is 208.109.149.107, for example) — that send people to websites threatened by a flaw that the bad guys can exploit?
The New York Times reports that IT people and ISPs are rushing to fix their DNS servers before the information about the exact problem is released to the public.
The potential consequences of the flaw are significant. It could allow a criminal to redirect Web traffic secretly, so that a person typing a bank’s actual Web address would be sent to an impostor site set up to steal the user’s name and password. The user might have no clue about the misdirection, and unconfirmed reports in the Web community indicate that attempted attacks are already under way.
One easy solution computer users can do for themselves right now if their ISP hasn’t responded to the threat is to switch to Open DNS, reports the New York Times.
Jul
28
Cuil — Alternative to Google?
Filed Under Cuil, Google, internet | Leave a Comment
Some former Google employees escaped from the Googleplex and have opened up their own shop named Cuil (pronounced “cool.”)
Motley Fool says that there are some things in favor of Cuil:
Cuil reportedly looks through more pages on the web than does Google meaning that you might find something someone searching Google might not — three times more pages than Google and 10 times more than Microsoft’s search engine are indexed by Cuil.
Also, Cuil doesn’t keep track of what you’re searching for — everyone searches for some silly stuff on the net, but it isn’t cool when someone figures out you’re looking for strange items on the web.
I’m with Motley Fool’s prediction that Cuil — if it is all that it says it is — will end up being snapped up by Microsoft or Yahoo or maybe even Google itself.
Jun
22
Why does the Herald Times Online cling to subscription model?
Filed Under blogging, internet, life online, local newspapers | Leave a Comment
Does anyone know why the Bloomington Herald Times Online is still password protected? It’s not like news is going to be kept locked inside the city limits of Bloomington.
Maybe the thousands of Hoosiers fans willing to pay for access keep the subscription model worthwhile despite the fact that it keeps many people out of the Herald Times Online website?
Why not move beyond the confines of the limited subscriber base and open up the newspaper to the world? More web traffic would mean higher advertising rates for online advertising and expanding readership beyond just Monroe County, Indiana. More web traffic usually translates into higher revenue!
Is the Herald Times Online the last newspaper in America locked away behind a subscriber-only iron curtain? The New York Times opened its doors in an effort to increase advertising revenue. And, there was some talk about the Wall Street Journal doing the same — although most of the news and opinion is freely available on the WSJ site.
The subscription only model just keeps the newspaper low in the rankings for news sources people rely upon in Indiana.
Who is going to link to the newspaper if readers outside of Bloomington cannot read the news stories? Since news is plentiful, people just find their news elsewhere and there are plenty of options for local news from Bloomington, Indiana. I’d love to be able to read and link to the Herald Times every so often — especially since I’m hoping my kids attend college at my alma mater.
If the Herald Times Online desires to have a subscription only model, why not free up the local news content — it’s probably not the real money maker — and require paid access to Indiana University basketball stories where loyal Hoosier fans are willing to pay a premium for access to Hoosiers news.
In the meanwhile, here are my favorite / alternative news sources from Bloomington news:
The Indiana Daily Student and its fine Sample Gates Blog.
And, for court information, the State of Indiana’s Odyssey Case Management System (limited to Monroe County and Marion Co.’s Washington Twp.)
Top Commentators
* 30 Day Top 15 *daltonsbriefs (7)
Aaron (2)
Allyn (2)
Lisa (2)
Adam M. (1)
Arthur Smith (1)
Dave Woodson (1)
GaryInIN (1)
gioperation (1)
Gregory Santos (1)
Jeff Eriks (1)
Jimenez (1)
Lynn Jackson (1)
phil (1)
RG (1)
