100 Best Products of 2008

Link: PC World.  So here are their top 10:

Is PC World right?  What are you personal top 3 best products of the year (even if you didn’t buy any of them)?

Tornadoes in Kansas: yes, very real

Blue Star Service Banner

• The Blue Star Service Banner was designed, and patented in 1917 by World War I Army Capt. Robert L. Queissner of the 5th Ohio Infantry who had two sons serving on the front line. It quickly became the unofficial symbol of a child in the service.
• On Sept. 24, 1917, an Ohio congressman read the following into the Congressional Record: “The mayor of Cleveland, the Chamber of Commerce and the governor of Ohio have adopted this service flag. The world should know of those who give so much for liberty. The dearest thing in all the world to a father and mother - their children.”
• During World War II, the Department of War issued specifications on the manufacture of the flag, as well as guidelines indicating when and by whom the Service flag could be flown, or the Service Lapel button could be worn. The Department of Defense updated the guidelines on December 1, 1967 with DoD Directive 1348.1, which implemented an Act of Congress authorizing a service flag and a service lapel button (U.S.C. 179-182).
• The Blue Star Service Banner typically displayed in windows is an 8.5 by 14-inch white field with a blue star(s) sewn onto a red banner. The size may vary but should be in proportion to the size of the U.S. Flag.
• Today Blue Star Service Banners are displayed by families who have a loved one serving in the armed forces, including the National Guard and Reserves of all military departments ( https://www-perscom.army.mil/tagd/tioh/FAQ/ServiceFlagFactSheet.htm). The banner displayed in the front window of a home shows a family’s pride in their loved one serving in the military and reminds others that preserving America’s freedom demands much.
• The blue star represents one family member serving in the armed forces. A banner can have up to five stars, signifying that five members of that family are currently in military uniform on active duty.
• If the individual symbolized is killed or dies while serving, the star representing that individual will have superimposed on it a gold star of smaller size so that the blue forms a border. On flags displaying multiple stars, including gold stars, when the flags are suspended as against a wall, the gold star(s) will be to the right of, or above the blue star(s), a place of honor nearest the staff.
• Blue Star Mothers and Gold Star Mothers organizations were established during World War I and remain active today.

Source: American Legion

For Joe and Jennifer

iPhone and 3G

A match made in … well, you know. Since fast data network + iPhone (confessions here) = Cool

What can I say. June 9 (for soooo many) will not come fast enough.

Will you be getting one?

*Update: Are these the new iPhones:

Check out Forbes: Staking the iPhone

Law 2.ooooooooooooooooooooh. Why so great?

Why develop an online law practice?

Recall Jeff Goldblum as Ian in Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so pre-occupied with whether or not they could they didn’t stop to think if they should.” I’m not suggesting we should not practice online, but I do know folks (especially folks like me who love to discover “look what this software can do”) who get so caught up in making it work, watching it work, and telling how it works that we forget to talk about why we’re doing it. I would invite some folks who have their “boots on the ground” in the cutting edge of online law practice to tell/remind the rest of us of the many benefits and opportunities this venue makes possible.

Enter Grant Griffiths and Stephanie Kimbro. Grant has developed an exceptional expertise and following in the legal blogging world. (If you’re here you likely already know this, but…) He is Home Office Lawyer, Home Office Warrior and G2WebMedia, among other things. Stephanie is a North Carolina attorney and catalyst who provides legal services online via Kimbro Legal Services. Stephanie has worked with G2 to develop the website and blog at VLOtech (virtual law office technology) “with the purpose of providing a secure, software as a service, web-based product that connects solo and small firm law practices with the online consumer.”

With the combination of their unique expertise, who better to answer the question, “why so great?” Perhaps you can already imagine some of the benefits to attorney and/or client, but if these two do not delight you with at least one new nugget, I will be very surprised.

So Grant, Stephanie, do tell.

Love to Compete?

So, your quick is quicker than my quick?  Prove it.  I beat you. 

Now you can challenge the world.  For beginners — the classic staring contest.  More advanced users might appreciate trying their hands at Most Creative Motivational Poster.

(Are you going to try it?  If you’re like me, you almost have no choice.)

Metadata: is it in your attorney’s vocabulary?

Web Worker Daily » Archive ADrive: Big Bucket of Free Storage «
“… There are a few minor catches to the plan: their required registration includes your full address and phone number, their uploader is a java tool, and they reserve the right to share metadata about your files with partners - which implies context-sensitive advertising in the future. But if you need somewhere to park a bunch of data online without paying for it, the size here is hard to beat. …”

This is a test. It is pass/fail. You are an attorney. You are about to backup client files to online storage. As you actually read the pop-up terms of service agreement, you come across “provider reserves the right to share metadata about your files with partners…”.

Do you –
a) “accept” and go forward;
b) pause a minute to call your nephew to ask “what is metadata”; or
c) close your web browser on the service wanting your metadata.

If you chose “a” you should go ahead and call your nephew, then call your insurer and ask something like “is it okay if I post privileged client information on my website, just in case someone might find it useful?” Because guess what, the difference is only one of degree.

You use computers in your practice, so metadata is a fact of life. Start learning about it. You are a fiduciary.

3G networks; Want Fast Data?

You want portable access to data. You need it fast. What to do? A good mag has a great article reviewing “Which 3G network is the best?

We all pack appropriate clothing when we leave for a business trip, but most mobile users will still feel naked if they don’t have easy, fast access to the Internet.

Sure, you can stop at a Wi-Fi hot spot or catch up at the hotel at night, but what do you do the rest of the time? Enter cellular providers that offer 3G data service over their networks at broadband-like speeds.”

…

Their conclusion?

“All the cellular data networks are reasonably fast (although AT&T pretty much swept the field). In the course of my tests, I was able to click, connect and get online, on average, in about 4 seconds; download data at 614Kbit/sec.; and upload at 337Kbit/sec. That’s more than enough for most basic on-the-road business applications such as e-mail, connecting to most Web sites and even watching online movies.”

8525 iPhone centro

So, you’re finally looking at smartphones, but so many choices.  Let’s play the one-question game:  what are you after — high function or fun design?  If “fun design” is you, go try an iPhone.  (Enough said; see earlier posts for more iPhone detraction, even perhaps a retraction.)

If you want/need to get more done and nifty is not as important as can-do, you might look to an 8525 (Tilt is its successor w/precious few improvements) or Centro.  The Palm Blog recently presented a decent review of what a Centro offers versus other smartphones.  At conclusion, it conceded some of “what you don’t get” with a Centro:

1. Built-in Wi-Fi. Current Palm models lack built-in Wi-Fi, though Palm CEO Ed Colligan said last year it would be added to future Palm devices.

2. Built-in GPS. Given how clueless GPS-based driving directions can be, I don’t see this as a terrible loss. Also, Google Maps came preinstalled on my Treo, and it has often served me in a pinch.

3. A Pleasurable Web Browsing Experience. Surfing the Web on my Treo is painful, even using Sprint’s fast EVDO network. If a meaningful mobile Web experience is crucial, your best smart phone choice currently is the iPhone.

4. Style and a Large Screen. I’d love to see a sleek new Palm OS handset that combines a large touch screen with the usual sturdy Palm keyboard.

Now, do you “don’t get” those spec’s with a Tilt (improved 8525)?  No.  Understand?  The Tilt has:

1.  integrated wi-fi;

2.  Telenav GPS Navigator(TM) support

3.  web-browsing with Explorer on 3G network (Opera mini is a free-n-easy add-on for “pleasurable” full internet zoom in/out function); and

4.  style and large screen?  2.8-inch screen (versus Centro’s 2.2) and let’s just leave “style” to the eye of the beholder.

If you think the Kansas Business Attorney is off-base on the 8525, ie. your phone is better, do tell because I doubt it!  I realize there are a few out there which will stream live video to the web.  My 8525 will not handle that (guess whether I need that function), nor does it handle GPS without add-ons (yes, that’s one of the improvements in the Tilt, along with a tilting display and 3.0 vs 2.0 mp camera; see previous “guess whether…” comment).

Your phone is more productive than mine?  Prove it and say on.

Todd Burroughs — Taylor Design Group, P.A.

Todd Burroughs, Taylor Design Group, Ottawa, has been elected vice president of the Kansas Society of Land Surveyors — an organization dedicated to the promotion of the common good and welfare of members engaged in the practice of Land Surveying, to foster high standards of professional ethics and practice, to promote the study of Land Surveying problems and the education of Land Surveyors (thus encouraging public faith in the reliance of Land Surveyors and their work).
Taylor Design Group, P.A. is a professional surveying and civil engineering firm. The company began as Taylor Surveying in 1983, and we have been providing quality professional surveying services for over 20 years. In July 2003, the name was changed to Taylor Design Group, P.A., and the services offered were expanded to include civil engineering and land development planning services. Taylor Design Group, P.A. is KDOT pre-qualified for engineering design, surveying and construction inspection.

Listen to him go

The news is a month old now, but this reader never gets old to me.  Proud that this is my first audio post:

 

 Standard Podcast [2:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Disqus: better comment dialogue

Comments: simple, fun, collaborative.  Disqus comment system makes that possible, so the service is now part of the Kansas Business Attorney.  Does it live up to the promise that it …

makes your comments more interactive for readers and easier to manage for you — all while connecting your community with other blogs.

We shall see.  Have you tried it elsewhere?  on your own blog?  Leave a comment regarding experience you’ve had with the Disqus comment system before, or how you like the mechanics or look of Disqus as used here.