PICTORIAL GEEKDOM:

is it cool to work in a tech savy environment ?  how good is this

check out this images  of an ultimate work place ..... how some of the tech hubs are !

google , twitter, diggs ....list is endless ...... .all just awesome.... I plan to visit , work or gatecrash  some that I have not so far ....

Here is an  individual list that was awesome .....  JUST CLICK EACH AND CHECK OUT.....


1. OKIA WEB SOLUTIONS
2. TWITTER IS HERE
3. CARTOON NETWORK
4. parliamentdesign (DEsiGn ANd InTeractiOn FiRm... among my favourites)
5. Medical Techs Technology Center Medical Science - Berlin
6. Moser Associates Hongkong
7. 37 Signals Office
8.arting365

SHOULD LAWYERS ADVERTISE FOR THEIR SERVICES

here are my thoughts ...... 

NB :  This article was part of a series we are running in one of the  print media in East Africa .

LAWYERS: ADVERTISING AND ICT by Karanja E. Mwangi

Competition motivates, and innovates; fosters good pricing, better services   and information flow .In competitive communities, institutions have stronger structures and consumer always wins. Objective advertising manures competition. According to the Adam Smith Institute, Adam Smith, LL.D., in An Inquiry into the Nature And Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), "...showed convincingly how the principles of free trade, competition, and choice would spur economic development, reduce poverty, and precipitate the social and moral improvement of humankind."  "So persuasive were his arguments that they not only provided the world with a new understanding of the wealth-creating process; they laid the intellectual foundation for the great era of free trade and economic expansion that dominated the Nineteenth Century."

Businesses advertise, yes! In commonwealth and non commonwealth countries lawyers advertise! If you don’t its impossible to get clients. It’s only the media, the method, frequency and size of audience that differ. Lawyers did advertise in America even before 1908 when the American Bar Association adopted the Canons of Professional Ethics, in particular Canon 27 which restricted lawyers advertising to the use of   business cards. This was mainly meant to protect the public perception of the profession but ended up with loss of public confidence mainly attributed to profession's poor handling of basic client relationships, absence of attention to communication and general misunderstanding on lawyer fees. In 1977, Seventy years later, the American Supreme court threw out the blanket restriction against lawyer advertising as unconstitutional, holding that bar rules which banned lawyer advertising were infringements of an attorney's First Amendment right to commercial speech. (Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977). For the last 30 years this decision has been hampered by hilarious infringements of ethics and the common good which has led to various court rulings to provide directions and even in different states Bar associations have set guidelines. An example of such cases is In re Anis, 599 A.2d 1265 (N.J. 1992). Where a lawyer in New Jersey was publically reprimanded for sending letters to solicit business from accident victims knowing well that their mental and physical state could not permit good judgment and thoughtful choice. Most associations focus their advertising guidelines on the following six pillars

The advertisements should be truthful; both literally and in the impression it should give a fair and true picture.

They should be accurate and the language used should be clear to lay audience. It should include disclaimers, qualifiers and explanatory notes that are of such type size and prominence to be easily read by anyone accessing this information portal.

Uphold fairness in such that any endorsement by public figures or celebrities ,dramatization and recreation of events should represent underlying facts and contain disclaimer that the persons depicted are just actors for advertising purpose alone  not clients of the firm.

The information relayed should be relevant to help the client make a thoughtful choice and should not include comparison with other lawyers’ services

The animation and other stylistic representation should be rational not to unduly manipulate the clients into ignoring the underlying facts.

The advertisements have to state clearly the jurisdictions where the lawyer is authorized to practice.

ICT AS AN ENABLER

Advances in ICT and e-marketing have been aerating various sub sectors of the economy, judicature is not an exception .Introduction of technologies in this sectors has led to drastic changes in rules and dynamics of the goods and services markets 

If adopted, Advocates Practice, Marketing and Advertising rules 2007 it will spearhead the move by Kenyan lawyers, from 50cms by 35cms plaques to digital advertising which has a lot of benefits to different stakeholders. Law firms will able to market themselves to a larger clientele and hence more business opportunities. Lawyers can capture this opportunity to educate the wider community on important issues in the legal processes hence reduce the perceived distance between public and legal institutions  .Use of digital advertising boosts trust and confidence among members of the public.

The move will oxygenate the link between the ICT professionals and the legal fraternity especially lawyers in  Kenya where previous interaction has been in only in areas of core software development like Case management systems that are utilized by a segment of the market and automation of court documents .With availability of web based tools of advertising and brochures ,webdesigners,graphic designers, e-marketing consultant and perhaps professionals in data mining who will be handy in analysis ,evaluation and prediction of markets using web generated data will have lawyers top in their clients lists.

ICT will have positive impact on the legal educational system, in future the lawyers must have above basics knowledge of ICT and marketing to stay afloat in the competitive market, this have to be propped by introduction of training modules in legal courses .Even some Commonwealth Countries like  India have done this and as a result they have Techno-legal firms  .As Lord Chancellor’s Department in England and Wales Consultation Paper: Resolving and Avoiding Disputes in the Information Age (1998) puts it…

“There can be no doubt that we are moving rapidly into information age, into era where rich body of technology will transform our lives, bringing changes as fundamental as the Industrial Revolution brought to society in the 18^th century. No one will be exempt from these changes”

With  a wide history the legal practice has strong background which can be assimilated and enhanced through  improved research that can be tech -aided .

This new technologies come with challenges .The expected constraints that the users of this technologies especially the internet must be aware of include the Access rights ,the access to various information portals must be well defined “who should see what”. In the theory of information security ownership of information is very important for sources authentication.

Users must also be aware of cyber extortion where fraudsters’ purports to be offering various needed services .Lawyers and other Information disseminators must be able to minimize denial of service attacks on their clients .Spamming is also  major nuisance in electronic advertising ,where a client receives unsolicited mails purported to originate from a given entity .

Who knows soon we might have Kenyan legal blogs .For more on current legal blogs see http://legalblogwatch.com.

The author is an ICT enthusiast

LADIES IN TECHNOLOGY ..... SCHOLARSHIPS FOR YOU

As part of Google’s ongoing commitment to furthering Anita’s vision, Google   announces  The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Through the scholarship, the  aim is to  encourage women to excel in computing and technology, and become active role models and leaders.
Multiple scholarships will be awarded based on the strength of candidates’ academic performance, leadership experience and demonstrated passion for computer science. A group of female Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD student finalists will be chosen from the applicant pool. The scholarship recipients will each receive a €7,000 (or equivalent) scholarship.
In June 2011, all scholarship recipients and finalists will be invited to visit Google’s Engineering Centre in Zurich for a networking retreat. It will include workshops with a series of speakers, panels, breakout sessions and social activities, and will provide an opportunity for all finalists to meet and share their experiences.
GET THE SCHOLARSHIP HERE

GRAB THIS CASH ..... change lives ....... ALL IT NEEDS IS PASSION ......

We're challenging the public to create innovative software applications that move us a step closer toward solving some of the world's most pressing problems.  
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on teaching theoretical computer science

As I wandered online ,   I found myself in these two familiar territories  and the discourses  were funny and mind pricking ....... The first discourse by Scott  makes a lot of sense and  was in a big way  a challenge  .....find out here TEACHING YOUR STUDENT NOT TO NEED A TEACHER


this is another wonderful  BLOG (one of my Favourites)  by Daniel Lemire .....find out from here CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.
 this blog raises very key  issues that circumvent many research projects.

EVER WONDERED ..... Why Intelligent People Fail

EVER WONDERED ..... Why Intelligent People Fails ,
 HERE IS THE ANSWER

enjoy and be objective ....this article from Michael Anissimov..... says it all

REMOVE VIRUSES IN RECYCLER FOLDER AND SYSTEM VOLUME INFORMATION FOLDER

Note: System Volume Information folder might be recreated after these instructions but it will a clean folder .

Here is a  simple and easy sequence of  instructions on how to remove viruses the "recycler"  folder and System Volume Information folder  in windows XP ..... Your drives will have such folders as the ones below  . e.g if its c:

in case you attempt to delete either ..... you get  these annoying message box .........

FIRST ......TO DELETE  RECYCLER FOLDER ...... Follow these .....

1. Access the Task Manager >>> this can be done by ge ....Start > go to  Run ......... and type Taskmgr on the run Prompt as shown below

 2. The Task Manager will Pop Up as shown below  and kill  the process called Ctfmon.exe

 3. Right click on My computer Icon  and go to properties  and after the pop below go to System Restore  Tab and tick  the  "Turn System Restore on all Drives" check box as shown below and  Click Apply  button and then Ok

 4. Delete the RECYCLER FOLDER in each drive (e.g in my Scenario I would  delete in C,D, and  E) and empty  the recycle bin .... Alternatively Shift + Delete  the folder in each drive.

After These the RECYCLER FOLDER is GONE......GONE ...GONE......!

SECONDLY  ..... TO ACCESS THE AND DELETE THE CONTENT OF  SYSTEM VOLUME INFORMATION FOLDER

Note: its advised you only delete the content of these folder not the folder itself ..... it will be recreated  by windows after the rebooting.

here are the steps 

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. On the View tab, click Show hidden files and folders.
4. Clear the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) check box. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the change.
5. Clear the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box.
6. Click OK.
7. Right-click the System Volume Information folder in the root folder, and then click Properties.
8. Click the Security tab.
9. Click Add, and then type the name of the user to whom you want to give access to the folder. Typically, this is the account with which you are logged on. Give the user full control if not access Click OK, and then click OK again.
10. Double-click the System Volume Information folder in the root folder to open it.
11. Delete the content of these System Volume Information folder in each drive ...... or Delete the folder itself ...... It will recreated a fresh and virus free ......

Hope this helps ........ In case you need more .......ask

After all these EMPTY THE RECYCLE BIN AND RESTORE BACK SYSTEM RESTORE  AND RESTART THE COMPUTER