February 15, 2008 – Vol. 2, Issue 4

Welcome to our groovy refurbed newsletter. We are extremely happy that our new site is up and hope you have a chance to stop by and visit. We know, you’re busy! Just give us a 30-second surf, okay?

We have some great sites to share today. And yes, we’ll make it quick.

Want my opinion?

Well, yes, actually. We do. There are some great opinion sites and as the online world keeps shifting, what we really wanted was a place to see reviews – both formal and informal – pulled together and searchable. Sounds crazy, right? Not at all.

Check out Summize. This site connects you with the opinions of millions of people on zillions of products and gets info from ratings sites, blogs, and more. And it even shows trends. That’s a whole lot of stuff! But just remember, opinions are like, well, let’s just say everyone has one…

Intermezzo

25.jpgWendy’s favorite 5 minutes of the week is Friday at 6:25 a.m. Why? Because that’s when our local PBS station airs Story Corps.

Since 2003, almost 30,000 everyday people have shared life stories with family and friends in our StoryBooths. Each conversation is preserved at the Library of Congress.
It’s touching, funny, sad. Sometimes, it makes Wendy laugh, but more often, it makes her cry. You can listen (to the podcasts, not to Wendy crying) at the site or download the podcasts from http://www.storycorps.net/listen/podcast.

Decisions, decisions

This week, Carl Malamud posted free electronic copies of every U.S. Supreme Court decision and Court of Appeals ruling since 1950. Seriously. While it’s probably not all that great for the legal publishing world, it is pretty exciting in the world of accessibility and openness.

This guy is hoping to start a revolution of sorts – so that more people will demand that court rulings be made available online for everyone to see. There’s still a long way to go, but Malamud has history. He led the charge in the 1990’s to make public filings available to the masses and, of course, we know how that worked out!

Stump the Researcher

A loyal reader asks: I know that if I have a question, I can search for the answer online or ask you (of course asking you is the best choice), but what if I need to show someone something. Just yesterday, I was trying to identify a funky tool that I found. How can I figure out what it is?

Your timing is excellent. Read on.

So there you have it

Our first newsletter since the big changeroo. There will be many more to follow and if you have any thoughts on the new format, send ‘em our way.

See you in two weeks. (It’ll be March by then, if you can believe that!)