Tag: Uncategorized
Supercharging Patent Lawyers With AI (via IEEE Spectrum)
In my recent article, Quantitative Legal Prediction – or – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Preparing for the Data Driven Future of the Legal Services Industry 62 Emory Law Journal 909 (2013), I discuss how companies like Lex Machina are creating a more efficient and data driven legal industry. Next semester at MSU Law, Michael Bommarito and I will co-teach a course called “Legal Analytics.” This is a follow on the introductory course that I teach called “Quantitative Methods for Lawyers.” In Legal Analytics, students will be exposed to cutting edge predictive analytics approaches such as machine learning, natural language processing, network science, etc. Students will apply their skills on real datasets that are available from published papers or from some our industry partners. Thus, the course will mix theory with practical applications useful for the practice of law as we move forward into the 21st Century.
R Boot Camp – Part 2 in Quantitative Methods for Lawyers (Professor Daniel Martin Katz)
Today was Day 2 of our R Boot Camp in Quantitative Methods for Lawyers.
In total, there will be three set of slides in this multi-day bootcamp designed to introduce students to the logic of R, the basic roadblocks such as loading data and cleaning data, loading various R packages, running basic commands, shifting out of default command settings, plotting data, conducting statistical tests, etc. Later in the course we will use R for regression analysis, etc.
For anyone who might be interested, the Full Course Page including all slidedecks is located here. For help on the installation of R and the RStudio IDE please check out my Loading R/RStudio Bonus Module.
Insights from a Legal Design Jam – (Via Margaret Hagan & Stanford d.school)
On October 11 (@Stanford d.school) and October 12 (San Francisco) – 2013 Legal Rebel & Stanford d.school fellow Margaret Hagan helped run perhaps the first of what will hopefully be many legal design jams. Here are her five insights from running the event. If you want details about the upcoming events or if you want to host a jam – contact stefania.passera (at) aalto.fi
The #LegalHack Movement -or- The HomeBrew Computer Club of the Legal Industry
#Legal Hacking is a Movement. This is what Robert Richards from Legal Informatics Blog declared back in 2012. It turned out to be a very accurate prediction. The rise of the legal hack movement is among the most interesting developments in our industry — with significant growth coming in the second half of 2013.
Thousands of individuals in the #LegalHack movement are coming together across the globe to connect, discuss and try solve persistent problems that plague both the legal industry and public sector / judiciary. The past months alone have featured more than 10 events in locations such as Washington, DC, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Bologna, Brasila, London, Geneva, Ottawa, Brooklyn, Paris, etc. RC Richards has been compiling a list here.
Additionally, there are law+technology meetup events taking place in locations such as Seattle, Cincinnati, Austin, Los Angeles, etc.
While certainly not a silver bullet for all problems, technology can potentially help alleviate some of the persistent issues in both the private and public sector including firm efficiency, access to justice, better courts and a better justice system, more effective regulation, perhaps a less dysfunctional congress (well – that might be impossible) …
I should just note for those of you not familiar with this fact – “hacking” has multiple meanings. The context in play here is the positive sense of the word -> developing creative solutions to particular problems that exist in the world (rather than say committing crime using a computer). So the well know site Lifehacker (which helps me all of the time) is devoted to hacking your life in order to make it easier.
For the legal industry, this looks a lot like the HomeBrew Computer Club (circa about 1976)!
Network Analysis and Law Tutorial – Katz + Bommarito
Above is a tutorial that Mike and I developed for the Jurix Conference in Vienna in December of 2011. Feel free to message if I can answer any questions.
R Boot Camp – Part 1 in Quantitative Methods for Lawyers (Professor Daniel Martin Katz)
Today we start our R Boot Camp in Quantitative Methods for Lawyers.
It should be fun! 🙂
In total, there will be three set of slides in this multi-day bootcamp designed to introduce students to the logic of R, the basic roadblocks such as loading data and cleaning data, loading various R packages, running basic commands, shifting out of default command settings, plotting data, conducting statistical tests, etc. Later in the course we will use R for regression analysis, etc.
For anyone who might be interested, the Full Course Page including all slidedecks is located here. For help on the installation of R and the RStudio IDE please check out my Loading R/RStudio Bonus Module.
Leica M Review (M as in Milestone)
The new Leica M is the most innovative and versatile M, which has spawned the modern M system. It combines decades of experience with the rangefinder system with cutting-edge digital technology: It has a newly developed, high-resolution CMOS full frame sensor that achieves together with its high-performance processor and the legendary M lenses outstanding image results. With live view, video and new additional focusing methods, it is the M, for all who want to give up anything that modern camera technology offers.
With live view, video and new additional focusing methods, it is the M, for all who want to give up anything that modern camera technology offers.
It has a newly developed, high-resolution CMOS full frame sensor that achieves together with its high-performance processor and the legendary M lenses outstanding image results.
Splash-proof camera housing
Based on the experience of our engineers in the construction of the new Leica M camera bodies is uncompromisingly designed for maximum stability and strength. Your deck and its floor covers are milled from blocks of brass. Your all-metal housing is closed and consists of a high-strength magnesium alloy.
All new features of the Leica M at a glance
Together with the new sensor, the Leica Maestro processor ensures that the vision of the Leica M sets new standards in terms of speed. At top speed he prepares for the coming from the sensor image data and generates image files.Even complex calculations he performs at extremely high speed. Thanks to the energy-saving processor and the electronic image sensor convinced the new lithium-ion battery (1800 mAh) Leica M with a particularly long term.
- Maximum picture quality through newly developed LEICA MAX CMOS sensor
- New applications with electronic viewfinder and Live View
- Simple, high precision focusing with Live View Focus and Focus Peaking
- Fully digital format for Leica R lenses, the Leica R Adapter M
- Extended sensitivity range up to ISO 6400
As we increasingly move past the point of sufficiency, manufacturers will continue to try filling ever-smaller niches. It becomes more about something you like/ want to use more than something you need. Is there room for one in your arsenal? Only you can answer that.
Running Of The Bulls Festival
A fighting bull stands alone surrounded by a crowd of runners on the second day of the San Fermin Running Of The Bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain (photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez). Four people have been injured so far in the nine day festival that takes over the whole town.
The idea for the event came to Rob Dickens and his business partner as they were looking for ways to expand their 20-employee Boston business beyond its Rugged Maniac obstacle course, a five-kilometer run-slide-climb-slip-stumble-swim trek that has expanded to 20 markets nationwide.
We wanted to do something unique that nobody else was doing
Since records began in 1924, 13 people have been killed during Pamplona’s bull run. Many of those who run are full of bravado (and/or drink), and have little idea of what they’re doing.
The Running of the Bulls
El Encierro, the running of the bulls from their corrals to the bullring for the afternoon bullfight, takes place in Pamplona, every morning during Sanfermines. Six bulls are let loose from the Coralillos de Santo Domingo to charge across the square of the same name (a good vantage point).
Every year, the Festival of San Fermin, including the “Running of the Bulls”, attracts thousands of visitors to Pamplona, Spain. Lasting nine days, the festival kicks off with massive crowds at the Chupinazo in Pamplona town square, followed by a carnival, fireworks, the running of the bulls, and many bullfights. Held since 1591, San Fermin remains a popular, if also dangerous and controversial, event — dozens of people were injured this year.
The Big Picture
A fighting bull stands alone surrounded by a crowd of runners on the second day of the San Fermin Running Of The Bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain (photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez). Four people have been injured so far in the nine day festival that takes over the whole town.
- A third rocket goes off when all the bulls have made it to the ring, and a final one when they have been rounded up in the stalls.
- They can become isolated from the herd and are then always dangerous.
- A very treacherous stretch comes towards the end, where Calle de la Estafeta slopes down into the final turn to Plaza de Toros.
The 2006 event passed without serious injury to any of the runners, but with even greater demands on the authorities, including 145 fire alarm call outs and four stray cats collected; no stray bulls reported. For dedicated Encierro news check out www.sanfermin.com
Jawbone Up Fitness Rubber Band Review
A review gallery post with full width featured image enabled. Anyone who bought one of Jawbone’s much-hyped Up fitness bands last year found themselves an unwitting participant in a beta test. The brand-new platform promised to get you up and exercising, help you sleep and eat better, and make you more stylish to boot — and we liked it. But there were some missing features, and some overly simple software for the device.
And then the Up started breaking. Weeks and months after being purchased, our review unit and many others simply stopped taking charges or turning on. Jawbone acknowledged the fault, offered its buyers a no-questions-asked refund (even if you just didn’t like the thing, you could return it), and went back to the drawing board.
Are you dealing in calories and carbohydrates, or points and badges?
I wear my watch almost everywhere, but I take it off when I sit at my laptop. It’s just uncomfortable having the band scratching and scraping around the palmrest, and it forces me to perch my arms awkwardly above the keyboard. That’s not a problem for my watch, which doesn’t need to be worn all the time, but I had to take off the Up as well because it caused the same problems.
Tracking your life
The Up tracks three things: activity, sleeping, and eating. The first is simple, requiring only that you wear the bracelet. Its engine turns the motion of your wrist into calories burned, steps walked, and active versus inactive time.
The Up’s vibrating motor is used for two different alarm features, both of which I’ve come to love. When you’re sleeping at night, you can set your alarm, and the Up will rouse you up to 30 minutes before that time based on when you’re in lighter sleep and will wake up feeling better.
Wrap-up
I’ve now lived with both the $99.99 Jawbone Up and $99.95 Fitbit Ultra fitness devices so you’re probably wondering which I would recommend? So am I, honestly.
The Street That Changed our Minds About Streets
Full width featured post generally considered the most beautiful post in the Caribbean, Cartagena in Colombia grew unimaginably wealthy as the port through which the looted gold of the new world sailed eastwards to Imperial Spain.
Turns out we have, with the likes of Sir Francis Drake (one man’s privateer is another man’s pirate) plundering the city as far back as 1586. In subsequent years, particularly those of the late 20th Century, Colombia was famous for other exports: mountains of pure cocaine, left-wing guerrilla ideology and “magic realism” from the pen of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Remember at all times that while you are seeing the world, the world will see you.
These childhood friends have overcome some serious setbacks — guitarist and vocalist Adam Haworth Stephens was in not one but two road accidents last year — so this new album’s a bit of a boon. With buddy Tyson Vogel, he certainly sounds glad to be alive on a boisterous folk-rock album that shows two mild-looking men can, like The Black Keys, make a hell of a noise.
Why now?
July sees concerts on the beaches and events in the bullring and yet more excuses to party thanks to the Summer Festival. Alternatively, the literary/arty Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias rolls into town each January. Wales or Colombia, Wales or Colombia? The sound smacks of the KoL’s brand of macho melancholy, while Brown’s voice lends a rockabilly twang.
For all her extraordinary talent and work ethic, Bly’s appearance was decidedly unremarkable — a fact that shouldn’t matter, but one that would be repeatedly remarked upon by her critics and commentators, something we’ve made sad little progress on in discussing women’s professional, intellectual, and creative merit more than a century later.