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What You May Have Missed in the World of Android
January 26, 2014
Google bought Nest for $3.2 billion. I wonder what that bidding war was like. You’d have to believe that Apple and others were in on the purchase plan. And here’s why you might get a little concerned with this buyout. Will our devices spay on us? Perhaps. Google’s jumping in the spending lead of acquisitions for the past 2 years. Including Nest, Google spend $16.2 billion. Google also announced that it’s developing a bionic contact lens, which is waiting for FDA approval. Google released the...
January 26, 2014
Google bought Nest for $3.2 billion. I wonder what that bidding war was like. You’d have to believe that Apple and others were in on the purchase plan. And here’s why you might get a little concerned with this buyout. Will our devices spay on us? Perhaps. Google’s jumping in the spending lead of acquisitions for the past 2 years. Including Nest, Google spend $16.2 billion. Google also announced that it’s developing a bionic contact lens, which is waiting for FDA approval. Google released the...
January Divorce Month
January 26, 2014
From CNN: There was that distant-feeling New Year's kiss at midnight. Valentine's Day, a holiday based on setting hearts aflutter, was full of awkward pauses and glances over soufflé at the person you used to love. Come March, it's time to turn over a new leaf. In recent years, January has earned the nickname "Divorce Month" -- a less appealing title than National Pet Month (May) or National Honey Month (September), though divorce can surely be both hairy and sticky. While marital psychologists...
January 26, 2014
From CNN: There was that distant-feeling New Year's kiss at midnight. Valentine's Day, a holiday based on setting hearts aflutter, was full of awkward pauses and glances over soufflé at the person you used to love. Come March, it's time to turn over a new leaf. In recent years, January has earned the nickname "Divorce Month" -- a less appealing title than National Pet Month (May) or National Honey Month (September), though divorce can surely be both hairy and sticky. While marital psychologists...
Self-Interest in Law Schools
January 25, 2014
A few days ago, I had a post on the problem of inertia in law schools, and how inertia affects law school reform. Here is a new article on the same subject: Self-Interest and Sinecure: Why Law School can’t be “Fixed” from within by David Barnhizer. Abstract The issue of how best to do a legal education is being approached as if it were an intellectual and pedagogical question. Of course in a conceptual sense it is. But from a political and human perspective (law faculty, deans and lawyers)...
January 25, 2014
A few days ago, I had a post on the problem of inertia in law schools, and how inertia affects law school reform. Here is a new article on the same subject: Self-Interest and Sinecure: Why Law School can’t be “Fixed” from within by David Barnhizer. Abstract The issue of how best to do a legal education is being approached as if it were an intellectual and pedagogical question. Of course in a conceptual sense it is. But from a political and human perspective (law faculty, deans and lawyers)...
Have You Switched to Chrome for Your Browser of Choice Yet?
January 25, 2014
Sometimes lawyers are ahead of the techonology adoption curve. We have a higher percentage of smart phones than the general...
January 25, 2014
Sometimes lawyers are ahead of the techonology adoption curve. We have a higher percentage of smart phones than the general...
73% of Adults Use Social Networks
January 25, 2014
A couple days ago. I blogged how the next wave of a social law firm required going from the corporate use of social to a personal...
January 25, 2014
A couple days ago. I blogged how the next wave of a social law firm required going from the corporate use of social to a personal...
Robots With “Soul”
January 25, 2014
What kind of robots does an animator / jazz musician / roboticist make? Playful, reactive, curious ones. Guy Hoffman shows demo film of his family of unusual robots -- including two musical bots that like to jam with humans. (Filmed at TEDxJaffa.) Can robots and humans interact the way that human beings interact with each other? Guy Hoffman researches embodied cognition and intelligence in robots. Full bio »
January 25, 2014
What kind of robots does an animator / jazz musician / roboticist make? Playful, reactive, curious ones. Guy Hoffman shows demo film of his family of unusual robots -- including two musical bots that like to jam with humans. (Filmed at TEDxJaffa.) Can robots and humans interact the way that human beings interact with each other? Guy Hoffman researches embodied cognition and intelligence in robots. Full bio »
FTC Wins Challenge Against Idaho Hospital Deal
January 25, 2014
A federal judge ruled Friday that an Idaho hospital system must unwind its acquisition of the state's largest independent doctor group, a decision that could have significant implications as health-care providers nationwide increasingly seek to join forces. The ruling handed another victory to the Federal Trade Commission, which in recent years has renewed its efforts to police health-care mergers it sees as anticompetitive. The commission has won a string of rulings against mergers between competing...
January 25, 2014
A federal judge ruled Friday that an Idaho hospital system must unwind its acquisition of the state's largest independent doctor group, a decision that could have significant implications as health-care providers nationwide increasingly seek to join forces. The ruling handed another victory to the Federal Trade Commission, which in recent years has renewed its efforts to police health-care mergers it sees as anticompetitive. The commission has won a string of rulings against mergers between competing...
Can Neuro-Music Boost Your Productivity?
January 25, 2014
Work environments today are noisy and distracting. As Maria Konnikova writes in arecent New Yorker article, open office plans are a big culprit. One study describes the effects of open environments as “damaging to the workers’ attention spans, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction.” One effect of open environments is that now many office workers sport headphones and use music to reduce distraction levels. Music isn’t necessarily a panacea for increasing productivity; it can be a distraction...
January 25, 2014
Work environments today are noisy and distracting. As Maria Konnikova writes in arecent New Yorker article, open office plans are a big culprit. One study describes the effects of open environments as “damaging to the workers’ attention spans, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction.” One effect of open environments is that now many office workers sport headphones and use music to reduce distraction levels. Music isn’t necessarily a panacea for increasing productivity; it can be a distraction...
Mindfulness
January 24, 2014
Mindfulness is becoming a trending word. Nevertheless, it may have practical benefits. In “Wherever You Go, There You Are,” Jon-Kabat Zin describes the concept in these words: Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally. This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity and acceptance of present moment reality. It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments. ... Mindfulness provides a simple but powerful...
January 24, 2014
Mindfulness is becoming a trending word. Nevertheless, it may have practical benefits. In “Wherever You Go, There You Are,” Jon-Kabat Zin describes the concept in these words: Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally. This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity and acceptance of present moment reality. It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments. ... Mindfulness provides a simple but powerful...
High Emotional Intelligence Dramatically Improves Decision-Making
January 24, 2014
A new study finds that people with high emotional intelligence make smarter decisions because they aren’t swayed by their current emotional state. The emotions can provide very useful information, but sometimes they are not related to the decisions we are trying to make. Being able to tell one from the other is part of what constitutes emotional intelligence. Stéphane Côté, the co-author of a new article published in Psychological Science explained: “People are driving and it’s...
January 24, 2014
A new study finds that people with high emotional intelligence make smarter decisions because they aren’t swayed by their current emotional state. The emotions can provide very useful information, but sometimes they are not related to the decisions we are trying to make. Being able to tell one from the other is part of what constitutes emotional intelligence. Stéphane Côté, the co-author of a new article published in Psychological Science explained: “People are driving and it’s...
