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You may soon be able to replace your password with just a spoken word, according to scientists at Hong Kong Baptist University. They have invented lip-reading software, apparently the first of its kind. Users will be able to speak into their smart devices, which will unlock as the software recognizes their lip movement. It will work even with a silent whisper. Futurism, a technology news site, gushes that it “could spell the end of passwords as we know them....

A recent AP story details some facts that appear to be particularly troubling for Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brian Kemp, as he faces a lawsuit over the state’s last two elections. Complicating the lawsuit, the state’s main election servers have been deleted and completely wiped clean of any and all data. The deletions came at rather suspect times, with the first server being deleted just days after the lawsuit was filed, and two others being scrubbed about a month later....

On Friday, the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments on the issue of whether to issue an emergency stay of enforcement of Texas’ abortion law pending resolution of the appeal. A Burden on Whom? The state’s argument on appeal was that the stay should be lifted. The test for deciding the issue was comparing the relative harms to the state and to those seeking abortions. The state is harmed, said Jonathan Mitchell, Texas’ Solicitor General, whenever its laws aren’t enforced, and acknowledging that some women might be harmed, the plaintiffs never demonstrated how many women would be unduly burdened....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. It is natural for us to ponder the future and to wonder what is coming next. For example, right now we are considering how far will Artificial Intelligence (AI) go. Will more and more of our lives be facilitated positively by AI? Or, will AI robots ultimately work toward their own superiority and survival over that of their human creators?...

Yesterday, we covered three suggested “pragmatic” gifts — the sort that will help advance your dear law graduate’s professional life. A laptop could help with cover letters and hopefully, paid legal work. Tablets are great for bar review apps (and bar review breaks!). Smartphones help her answer emails and take calls from potential employers. They are all good gift ideas, but sometimes, fun trumps function. After all, your grad has been working hard for years to get her degree, and now little Jane will be taking a bar review course and searching desperately for an entry-level legal position....

When you get yourself new tech, your older tech can sometimes be rendered obsolete or just unused. But, if you didn’t completely destroy your last device, it can often feel bad to just let it gather dust in a drawer. Fortunately, there’s a solution, at least for your Apple and Android smartphones. Since most smartphones, at least for the last few years, have a pretty good camera, as well as WiFi, as well as a decent enough processor to run as a dedicated security camera, an old iPhone or Android phone can easily be used as an additional measure of office security (or home security)....

Divorce is a difficult time for clients but it’s also a time when they really need a legal expert. Helping a client navigate the balance between law and emotion is complicated and a lot can go wrong. There’s some evidence that divorce is ‘contagious’ within social networks. While sad, this can also mean repeat business for a lawyer who makes a good impression. Figuring out a good marketing strategy that also improves client satisfaction can be a huge boost....

Have you ever put something on Craigslist, only to have potential buyers low-ball you so low that “dirt cheap” sounded good? Or, if you are from the last century, did you ever have a garage sale and somebody offered to take “that junk” off your hands for nothing? That’s the same kind of thing that happens with some clients – the low-ballers who try to make you feel like they’re doing you a favor....

People tend to think marketing is simple: a jingle, a camcorder and voila – you’re a veritable Don Draper, ready to sell yourself to the world. If only it was so easy. In fact, marketing, like law, requires a bit of expertise. Just as you wouldn’t cut your own hair or do your own dental work, most lawyers could probably benefit from hiring a marketer. But when is the right time?...

When it comes to high-profile litigation, the court of public opinion moves much faster than the courts of law. Managing your corporate reputation in such times is essential to mitigating potential damages to the company’s brand. No one disagrees about that. Yet, when it comes to protecting the corporate rep., many senior legal officers have outdated strategies or no strategies at all, according to the inaugural edition of Greentarget’s Litigation Communication Survey....

We were just talking about junk faxes, largely because our office keeps getting them. (And no, fool, I don’t want to hire someone who uses a fax machine to design a mobile app for my company.) They’re annoying as heck, and they’re also prohibited by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The case of Palm Beach Golf Center-Boca Inc. v. John G. Sarris, DDS, involves a junk fax, sent by a dentist, that a golf club probably received – the fax logs say that it was successfully transmitted and that the two fax machines connected for over a minute – but nobody seems to have seen....

Planning on visiting a federal courthouse anytime soon? Get ready for a good pat down. Courts across the country are beefing up their security and getting in to see a judge these days can require just about as much security screening as flying to Jordan. Getting held up in security can throw a serious wrench into your day, whether you’re present simply to attend arguments or arguing before a judge. Pay attention to these three security rules to know so you don’t get caught off guard when walking up the courtroom steps....

When is an emailed receipt not a “printed receipt,” for purposes of the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)? A unanimous panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that, where FACTA limits information to be included on a “printed receipt,” an electronically-transmitted email message acknowledging a transaction is not a “printed receipt.” Dmitriy Simonoff sued Expedia, an Internet travel website, for violation of FACTA. The alleged violation was that Expedia included Simonoff’s credit card expiration date on an email acknowledging a travel purchase....

In the realm of airport body scanner lawsuits, pro se plaintiff-appellants Jeffrey H. Redfern and Anant N. Pradhan filed a constitutional claim against the TSA’s use of Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) body scanners and enhanced pat-downs. Due to the upgrade, the AIT scanners used at passenger screening checkpoints no longer generate the TMI images of passengers’ bodies that spawned this lawsuit; instead, they have been displaying a generic outline of a person for all passengers....

District court judgment holding that plaintiff was equitably estopped from pursuing its claim for reimbursement of deductibles related to a class action settlement is affirmed where the: 1) the court properly found that plaintiff’s course of conduct in settling the class action was unreasonable and misleading; 2) defendant reasonably believed that its contribution to the settlement fund would absolve it of all liability; and 3) defendant suffered a cognizable detriment through that reliance as it will now be expected to make additional payments....

As the Apple-Samsung patent battle heats up at home, the iPhone and iPad giant has scored a big win in the European Union, with a German court issuing an emergency injunction barring Samsung from releasing its Galaxy tablet Union-wide. Though this is a big setback for the South Korea-based Samsung, the company continued forward, launching the tablet in India on Wednesday, and reiterating its plans to do the same in Australia next month....

Word to the wise: Don’t antagonize the man in the black turtleneck. Apple, Inc. has issued a cease and desist letter to M.I.C. Gadget, maker of the Steve Jobs action figure. The figure featured jobs in his trademark (not literally) black turtleneck and jeans standing on an Apple logo platform. It is listed for $79.90. Apple cited California Civil Code Section 3344 which prohibits the use of any person’s name, photograph or likeness in a product without that person’s prior consent, which Chris Chang reported on his blog....

Amidst the controversy over the in-depth searches of electronic devices on the border that are lawfully happening, the New York City Bar Association has chimed in with some advice for attorneys that could be subject to these border searches. The ethics opinion explains what an attorney’s ethical obligations are when it comes to a border search of their electronic devices that contain client data, or privileged information. The opinion provides some rather detailed advice, including a requirement that an attorney promptly notify any and all clients whose data or confidential information may have been disclosed as a result of a border search....

Attorney Omar Rosales made a really bad argument on appeal. Already facing nearly $176,000 in sanctions for making false statements about opposing counsel, he argued the trial judge engaged in “extreme judicial activism.” That cost him another $60,000 sanction from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Undeterred, Rosales says he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. No telling how much that will cost. More Than 65 Briefs Rosales told Texas Lawyer that he was disappointed with the Fifth Circuit decision....

You miss that QWERTY keyboard, don’t you? You’re not alone. Many of us do, which is why BlackBerry keeps releasing new keyboard-equipped models, including two entrants this quarter alone – the Passport and the Classic. We’ve talked about the Passport – behemoth phablet meets QWERTY taskmaster at a premium price – but today, BlackBerry made the Classic model official. What’s the Classic? Depending on whom you ask, it’s either (a) a long-overdue pragmatic fit of nostalgia or (b) the same phone BlackBerry has released three times in the past few years....