We learn from Technaute that Praized, a Quebec web2.0 startup, just got an 1M$ investment from the canadian branch of Garage Technology Venture, the venture capital company behind Pandora. Knowing that Pandora is now unaccessible to canadians, lets hope the same will not happen to Praized… It should not be the case due to the type of application they are developping. Here is a quote from their website:

Praized Media is a startup company working on a web-based application that will enable you to find and discover local places and merchants with help from people you can

Yesterday a new book on the Law of Blogging was released. It’s available for $9.95 directly from the author as a PDF download only.

The Contents sketch out a broad range of topics: . . . [more]

I’m finally figuring out some things when it comes to ‘talking’ once and ‘publishing’ many. Ok Matthews, what are you going on about? 2.0 of course! Facebook, Blogging, RSS feeds and Twitter to be exact.

One of the awkward things about all these 2.0 applications is deciding where to publish. Where do I put my thoughts online? Do I blog, linkblog, twitter, or facebook? Well, I *think* I have a solution!

• Step 1 is to decide where to publish. And the answer is not Facebook or Twitter. I’ve come to the conclusion that both should be considered content destinations

A few links to the 2007 survey released this morning.

It covers:

Collaboration tools
Web conference software
Wikis and extranets
Instant messaging
Wireless devices
VoIP
Vista
Automating Processes
Tech Support

Don’t overlook the detailed data either at
CIO’s Pleased as Punch

Communications Chart

Software Chart

Financial Stats Chart

. . . [more]

Catching up on my reading of The Hindu, a piece on Legal Knowledge Outsourcing should be read by everyone.

Even if you discount the ambitions massively, the challenge is still quite amazing.

A few quotes:

The majority of legal services in the West can and should be sent offshore, says Mr Russell Smith, President and Chairman, SDD Global Solutions Pvt Ltd, a Mysore-based legal services KPO (knowledge process off-shoring). “And we are talking about services that now fetch a price tag of $250 billion per year and growing”

. ((Mr Smith, a Columbia Law School graduate and former partner . . . [more]

Here’s a link passed on by Rich in our library to an article at TechCrunch describing a new eBook service from Amazon and Google. It is meant to be delivered on a new piece of hardware called ‘kindle.’ As one reader notes, a bad choice for any book-related product, but perhaps it is meant to be a book killer.

As an interesting aside, see the second comment on the article which must be astroturf. Further into the comments there are some worthwhile thoughts, especially #8. . . . [more]

Only USD100 less than the real thing. And unburdened of any ability to transmit voice.

Apple’s new iPod touch. . . . [more]

The Bootstrapper blog has a list of 100 free products and services available on the Internet for poor entrepreneurs starting and running businesses. The list features all types of handy tools ranging from productivity software, office software, and accounting software. It also highlights free resources related to networking, communication, print and web design, marketing and sales, and customer service and relations. Best of all, it points to sites that offer free samples of trade magazines, packaging and mailing materials, coffee, coffee mugs, paper, post-its, postage, pens, and more!

I can see poor students loving this list too. Pass it on. . . . [more]

That is the question asked in an article published last week in the Legal Times.

It provides an overview of the increasing use of the legal blogosphere by tenured law professors to pursue legal scholarship:

“If you are looking for the future of legal scholarship, chances are that you may find it not in a treatise or the traditional law review but in a different form, profoundly influenced by the blogosphere (…) Who are the bloggers? The uninitiated might think they would be young professors, those who have grown up with the Internet and are comfortable with self-publication in

The Online Education Database came up with a method to determine who the top library bloggers are.

The methodology took into account various measures such as Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Technorati Authority, and number of Bloglines subscribers.

These contests are always a bit “iffy” (see post questioning some of the criteria) but what the heck? Let’s pat ourselves on the back.

5 blogs featuring law librarians (including 2 Canucks who are Slawyers!) made the top 25 list:

• Law Librarian Blog (5th)
• Slaw contributor Vancouver Law Librarian Blog (17th)
• Slaw contributor Connie Crosby of Toronto (20th)
• The Handheld Librarian

I gave up my cell years ago after I got soaked for local calls while out of my home network. I think in the end I was charged at both ends of long distance from my location to my home network, and then from my home network to my location (4 long distance charges in total for on local call). Here’s a link to Michael Geist’s latest column in the Tyee, which outlines the issues around “locked” cell phones, and how Canadian law and policy stands at the moment. In the breach, there are a number of open source . . . [more]