Justia - Google for the Legal Crowd

From AppScout:

Legal information can be difficult to find: You have to dig through piles of books, page through thick court decisions, or know a lawyer. Justiais a search engine that can help you find the court decisions and legal rights that matter to you. The service was designed to make digging through complex legal information as easy as a Google search and to open the door to everything from active dockets in front of federal courts to legal blogs and podcasts that might interest you.

Court decisions, position papers, judgments, and precedent cases all sound like stuffy legal paperwork that may not be interesting to many people. But if you're at all interested in hot tech topics like intellectual property rights and fair use, you might find value in Justia. For example, one search will take you to a wealth of information about what your fair use rights really are--and the more you dig into them the more you might be surprised at what's explicitly protected by the law and what's not.

If you want more information, Justia can take you to legal blogs (also called bLAWgs) and podcasts that address the topic directly. Justia links directly to the blog entries discussing your search term, and if there's a podcast that addresses your topic, you can click to listen to it directly from the Justia search results. When I searched podcasts for "fair use," I found podcasts from The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and NOLO that were available either directly in the search page, or just one click away. If you don't find what you're looking for by searching, you can browse the categories listed on Justia's home page, whether you're searching for immigration law, real estate law, criminal law, or business law.

If you're particularly interested in Supreme Court cases and decisions, Justia has a Supreme Court Center with a searchable database of all Supreme Court decisions since the 1790s. The Supreme Court Center also hosts links to blogs that focus on related news, articles about decisions, and even downloadable audio of arguments before the Supreme Court, if they've been released.

Justia also reaches out to lawyers looking to promote their services with its sister site Justia.net, hosts a sub-site that provides RSS feeds of newly announced consumer recalls from various government agencies, and partners with Stanford University to host the Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center. Justia has a broad reach and makes a point of extending its services to lawyers, consumers, and amateurs interested in the world of law.

Justia is primarily a search engine, but it also hosts a wealth of other resources that you might find useful. While the service is obviously of value to lawyers and students looking for legal information or legal opinions, there's a lot to gain from the service if you're interested in your civil or legal rights or if you just want to know more about the laws and loopholes discussed on the evening news and in the halls of government.

Justia: Google for the Legal Crowd - AppScout

Ditto - Clipboard Extension

 http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net/

Tired of being able to copy and paste only one item or block of text at a time?  Ditto is the FREE answer.

Ditto is an extension to the standard windows clipboard. It saves each item placed on the clipboard allowing you access to any of those items at a later time.  Ditto allows you to save any type of information that can be put on the clipboard, text, images, html, custom formats, ...

    * Easy to use interface
    * Search and paste previous copy entries
    * Accessed from tray icon or global hot key
    * Select entry by double click, enter key or drag drop
    * Paste into any window that excepts standard copy/paste entries
    * Display thumbnail of copied images in list
    * Full Unicode support (display foreign characters)

Ditto, Clipboard Extension

Hotspot Shield

http://www.hotspotshield.com/

Public networks (both wired and wireless) are great. After all, what would life be without connecting while at airports, hotels and coffee shops? However, the danger to your personal data exists even if you connect to a fee based open network. Your passwords, credit card numbers, and any data you send can be seen and associated with you personally. Standard antivirus software won't protect you as this threat is on the network, not your laptop or iPhone.

That's why AnchorFree is pleased to offer Hotspot Shield. Our application keeps your Internet connection secure and anonymous on public networks.

100% Security Through a VPN

Hotspot Shield creates a virtual private network (VPN) between your laptop or iPhone and our Internet gateway. This impenetrable tunnel prevents snoopers and hackers from viewing your email, instant messages, credit card information or anything else you send over the network. Hotspot Shield security application is free to download, employs the latest VPN technology, and is easy to install and use. So go ahead - Get behind the Shield - Try Hotspot Shield today!

* 3GB of free bandwidth is offered within a rolling 30 day window. Additional bandwidth may be purchased thereafter. See Terms and Conditions for complete program information.

Hotspot Shield runs on:

• Windows Vista
• Windows XP
• Windows 2000
• Mac OS X (10.5 Leopard)
• Mac OS X (10.4 Tiger)

CNN recently broadcast an exposé calling action to broadband users at hospitality and coffee chains to secure their session while exclusively highlighting AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield

PC Magazine recently named AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield as one of its "Best Free Software Downloads"

Get Behind the Shield! Hotspot Shield by AnchorFree

The 3,000 Mile Oil Change Myth

Yahoo Autos

By Bill Siuru, Greencar.com

According to a recent study by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, 73 percent of California drivers change their oil more frequently than required. This same scenario no doubt repeats itself across the country. Besides wasting money, this translates into unnecessary consumption of $100-a-barrel oil, much of it imported.

Using 2005 data, the Board estimates that Californians alone generate about 153.5 million gallons of waste oil annually, of which only about 60 percent is recycled. Used motor oil poses the greatest environmental risk of all automotive fluids because it is insoluble, persistent, and contains heavy metal and toxic chemicals. One gallon of used oil can foul the taste of one million gallons of water.

It’s been a misconception for years that engine oil should be changed every 3000 miles, even though most auto manufacturers now recommend oil changes at 5,000, 7,000, or even 10,000 mile intervals under normal driving conditions.

Greatly improved oils, including synthetic oils, coupled with better engines mean longer spans between oil changes without harming an engine. The 3000 mile interval is a carryover from days when engines used single-grade, non-detergent oils.

For several years, automakers like General Motors, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz have installed computerized systems that alert drivers via an instrument panel light when it’s time to change oil. As an example, the General Motor Oil Life System (GMOLS) analyzes the engine temperature, rpms, vehicle speeds, and other driving conditions to calculate the rate of engine oil degradation. Then, software calculates when the oil needs to be changed. Other systems work similarly.

Because of the many external conditions and parameters that have to be taken into account, calculating the precise maximum service interval using mathematical models alone is difficult. Now, Daimler AG has developed a more direct and precise way to monitor oil quality directly on board a vehicle.

Daimler uses a special sensor integrated into the oil circuit to monitor engine oil directly. Oil doesn’t wear out, but rather dirt and impurities cause oil to lose its ability to lubricate properly, dictating the need for a change. Daimler uses the oil’s “permittivity,” that is, the ability to polarize in response to the electric field. If the engine oil is contaminated by water or soot particles, it polarizes to a greater extent and its permittivity increases.

To evaluate the quality of the oil, permittivity is measured by applying an AC potential between the interior and exterior pipes of an oil-filled sensor to determine how well the oil transmits the applied electric field.

Because not all impurities can be measured with sufficient precision via the electric field method, Daimler also measures the oil’s viscosity to detect any fuel that may have seeped into the oil. Daimler researchers measure viscosity while the vehicle is in motion by observing the oil's side-to-side motion in the oil sump. The slower the oil moves, the higher its viscosity. This movement is registered by a sensor and the viscosity is calculated on this basis.

A single sensor, along with the information already monitored by on-board computers, is sufficient to determine the various parameters of the engine oil. Daimler will likely use the technology first on its commercial vehicles. Here, large oil reservoirs mean larger quantities of oil can be saved. Plus, a predicted 25 percent increase between service intervals and reduced downtime will be of interest to fleets, and thus justify the added cost of installation.

Best Free Antivirus Applications

Excerpted from: Five Best Antivirus Applications

The internet is a glorious and exciting world, but unless you're properly protected with a good antivirus application, it can also be a dangerous one. We've come a long way since the days of Norton, with handfuls of excellent freeware software that can keep your computer safe from malware just as well as their bloated, more expensive counterparts.

AVG Anti-Virus (Freeware and Shareware)

The lightweight AVG Free provides protection against the various nasties floating around the internet. Like many of the options in the Hive Five, AVG provides freeware (with limitations) and commercial versions of their software, but most users find AVG Free is all they need.

 

Avast Antivirus (Freeware and Shareware)

Available in both freeware (Home) and shareware (Professional) flavors, Avast Antivirus is the happy home of many an AVG-switcher. Avast is slightly heavier on system resources, but users argue its excellent protection more than makes up for the increased footprint. The freeware version will cost you an email address to get a free registration code from their website.

 

 

Avira AntiVir (Freeware and Shareware)

According to many of its users, Avira is the go-to freeware app for detecting viruses and other malware that other antivirus apps miss. Like several of its peers, Avira is available in both freeware (Personal) and shareware (Premium) versions, and most people find the freeware alternative plenty to suit their needs. One downside to Avira on install is pop-up ads enabled by default (adware, anyone?), but you can disable the ads with a couple of clicks.

Hive Five: Five Best Antivirus Applications