Convention Blawgers

Lawyers Jeralyn Merrit and Kos are blogging up a storm in Boston. [Update: Lawyer bloggers Allen Larson and Tom Burka are there too.] The best way to take in the convention:

1. Tune the TV to C-SPAN.


2. Surf blogs, including the convention aggregator, in multiple Firefox tabs. (Last link via BoingBoing)

Today's New Blawg

Several law librarians at the Southern Illinois University School of Law write the Law Dawg Blawg, where they're posting tips and items of interest to the law school community. (So far, none are named Zeb.)

Build It Great And They'll Interoperate

Jon Healey's stories for the Los Angeles Times are always interesting, and today's is no exception: Music Industry Taking Cues From File Sharing. Among the developments chronicled there, Healey previews RealNetworks' new strategy (due out tomorrow) of making its files compatible with other player platforms.

In the meantime, RealNetworks Inc. is trying to chip away at another advantage of the pirate networks by making it easier to play legally downloaded songs on any device the consumer chooses, provided it uses anti-piracy technology from Real, Apple Computer Inc. or Microsoft Corp.

On Tuesday, the Seattle company is expected to unveil software that can transfer songs bought from Real's store to any MP3 player or other gadget. Other stores support only one kind of anti-piracy technology; for example, Apple's iTunes Music Store works only with Apple's iPods.

Real's 'Harmony' technology will give people who buy music the same flexibility as those who download it illegally, said Richard Wolpert, Real's chief strategy officer.

This means Real's tunes will be playable on your iPod (and tacitly acknowledges that if they weren't, you'd have precious little reason to buy them). PCWorld has more, including speculation about how Apple will take this, and Slashdot gets right to the point: Real Networks Hacks iPod...

Paperless Tail — Er, Trail

I'm still reading through the Virtual Roundtable on electronic discovery in which I participated for the ABA's Law Practice Today: A Gold Mine of Electronic Discovery Expertise: A Conversation Among Veterans of Electronic Discovery Battles. It's lengthy and there's quite a bit of good information there. Editor/moderator Dennis Kennedy asked six questions to a cross-section of electronic discovery buffs. My favorite section so far is the one with anecdotes and war stories, which includes this from Craig Ball: "Most of my stories involve the astounding stuff I find on workplace hard drives, but I can't share them, except to wonder, 'Does anyone work anymore, or is the entire business day spent watching porn and surfing the 'Net?'"

Clean And Green

Technorati has a nice new look and the politics section is live. Dave Sifry has more.