Ringing in the New Year: IMPACT recommendations for 2008
Happy New Year to all readers!
With the day-to-day grind of work about to begin again, it's easy just to keep your head down and get on with the work. However, this is a great time to look at new sources of information to improve your know-how, and new ways of getting that information.
We've therefore drawn up a selection of great websites and services that we recommend for 2008. With a couple of exceptions, none of these are particularly new, but well worth a fresh look.
Keeping up with legal & business developments
Written by Chris Anderson, editor of Wired Magazine, the Long Tail blog has been around since late 2004, the year when Anderson's book of the same name was published. The blog explores developments in technology and business, and looks at how Anderson's Long Tail theory of distribution applies to these developments. With Anderson now writing his second book, FREE, the Long Tail is beginning to focus on the theories that will appear in that book. Entertaining and full of facts, the Long Tail is worth adding to your favourites/newsreader.
2. Laurence Kay on Digital Media Law
Written by Laurence Kay of Laurence Kay Solicitors, this blog provides updates on and guides to many of the regular subject areas covered by IMPACT - IT law, e-commerce law, and data protection.
3. BriefBlog
An IP & IT law blog from barrister David Harris, BriefBlog launched in 2007. Whilst Harris does not post very regularly, his pieces are always interesting, insightful, and often pick up on legal points not addressed by other blogs.
Entertainment & current affairs
3. Charon QC
Whilst nominally a law blog, Charon QC devotes most of his time to his love of Rioja and taking a satirical look at UK current affairs. This combination has resulted in Charon QC becoming a very popular and well regarded blog, blog within and outside of legal circles.
Regular podcasts keep the content varied.
For law students, the blog is also worth a read because of the updates on developments at UK law schools and interviews with their leadings players.
4. GeekLawyer & Ruthie's Law
The GeekLawyer blog continues to entertain. Recent posts having focussed on such diverse subjects as Jordana Brewster, Apple's latest operating system and GeekLawyer's telephone conversations with judges whilst naked. There is also the odd bit of law.
Ruthie's Law is a blog produced by Ruthie and Victorian Maiden. Ruthie is a Solicitor-Advocate and former GeekLawyer co-blogger. VM is an anonymous Queen's Counsel barrister. Like GeekLawyer, Ruthie's Law doesn't like to trouble itself with anything as dull as the law too often, concentrating on UK current affairs and amusing news stories. Written in a bizarre Dear Diary style, Ruthie's Law features much erratic use of italics.
5. Dilbert
Essential stuff. There's an unofficial RSS feed of the daily comic at http://dwlt.net/tapestry/dilbert.rdf
New ways of getting information
1. Your mobile phone
With many available free of charge on contract, the latest generation of phones allows you to access useful information from the internet on the go. As well as viewing websites, many phones will allow you to access RSS newsfeeds from blogs.
2. Blog Friends
Blog Friends has features that blow other RSS newsreaders out of the water, whilst being easy and enjoyable to use.
Like any competent RSS newsreader, Blog Friends will display the latest blog posts from your chosen blogs. What takes the service to the next level is a clever feature called "The River", which automatically displays blog posts from blogs you've never heard of that match your interests. If you like a particular blogger in the River, you can increase the amount of posts that Blog Friends will show from that blogger.
The only downside of Blog Friends is that you have to be a FaceBook member to subscribe. However, once subscribed you can obtain The River as an RSS feed. (Update: I now understand from i-together, the folks behind Blog Friends that a non-FaceBook version is on its way).
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