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Good news for the productivity-obsessed (or Candy Crush fans): the FAA is close to issuing new rules for consumer electronic devices during takeoffs and landings. While you (likely) will still be banned from making phone calls, you may be soon be able to continue editing that memorandum or reading our blogs through in-flight Wi-Fi, reports The Wall Street Journal. That’s right. Reading FindLaw Blogs for Legal Professionals during takeoff and landing and taxiing....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. No question, Google is the search engine beast of the Internet. And when you are the beast, you are subject to attacks. Google notes that in addition to its free “organic” search results, Google operates its advertising AdWords program. This latter program is revenue-producing and through advertisements helps “Internet users quickly and easily access relevant information....

The filing of a federal lawsuit last week has brought attention to yet another corporate scandal, this time known as the Heartgard Plus cover-up. Former Global Head of Pharmacovigilance Dr. Kari Blaho-Owens has sued Merial, Ltd., the manufacturer of the canine heartworm medication, alleging that she was fired after discovering that the company had intentionally utilized improper data analysis methods to ward off an FDA investigation. There are also allegations that she was instructed to destroy documents....

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration not to allow publication of blueprints to make 3D printed guns, but the order was far too late as a practical matter. Defense Distributed first published blueprints for a printable gun in 2013, and they were downloaded 100,000 times before the federal government caught up with it. The company sued on First Amendment grounds, and the U.S. State Department settled by agreeing to let the publication go forward on Aug....

In case you were wondering, cops can make small talk with your client during a Terry search. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that a constitutionally-valid stop and frisk does not become unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment when the officer asks some brief questions unrelated to the reason for the stop and the purpose of the frisk. After all, who could object to shooting the breeze with the fuzz while getting a patdown?...

John McAfee was arrested yesterday by Guatemalan police for illegally entering the country. The antivirus pioneer now faces expulsion to the neighboring country of Belize, where he is wanted for questioning about the murder of his neighbor, reports Slate. The neighbor’s murder and McAfee’s subsequent disappearance have all been strangely captivating, as McAfee kept a running blog during his three weeks on the lam. Fittingly, the circumstances leading to his capture were also highly unusual – not to mention ironic for the man whose name is synonymous with data security....

Being in a high-paying career is something to be proud of. Being in a high-paying career with no future is something to be concerned about. Unfortunately for judges, they rank at the top of this list. Many solo and small-firm attorneys aspire to ultimately become judges partly for job and pay security reasons. That rationale is being shaken for a variety of reasons as life as a lawyer may actually be a much more secure place to be....

When clients look for attorneys, they’re looking for someone who will win. But finding that information isn’t always the easiest. Sure, attorneys may tout their big victories on their websites, billboards, and subway adds, but the average legal consumer can’t easily tell if that $15 million personal injury verdict was a fluke or the norm. That is, until now. A new startup has launched a free website, Justice Toolbox, that lets users look up the winning-est lawyers by practice area and city – though there might be some problems with evaluating lawyers based on wins alone....

Sometimes, a tiny change in perspective can make life easier within a legal department. Little distinctions, like whether a glass is half-full or half-empty, whether a product is a beverage or a diet supplement; those are the differences that can make or break you during bonus season. So it looks like the lawyers for Monster Energy Drinks are earning whatever bonuses come their way this year. Monster Beverage, the country’s highest volume energy drink seller, has made the leap from high-caffeine diet supplement to high-caffeine beverage, reports The New York Times....

“Mainstream Support ends January 13, 2015.” This past weekend, a flood of tweets started popping up, warning people that, just like Windows XP’s end of life earlier this year, Windows 7 would be killed by Microsoft in January 2015. Not quite. If you’re using Windows 7, you can continue to do so safely for at least the next five years. The only thing that will change for most people is that Microsoft will not release any new features after the end of “Mainstream Support....

Not a lot has changed from the 1860s turf war portrayed in Gangs of New York, when Daniel Day-Lewis stabbed his opponent in the back. Sure, rival gangs don’t battle with hatchets in the streets anymore. From petty thief to mass-murderer, modern criminals seek their prey on virtual turf. That’s why two hacker groups are warring for control in the card-skimming wars. The gangs may have evolved, but the victims are still the same....

On April 16, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced they had filed a complaint against Goldman Sachs & Co. and one of its vice-presidents, Fabrice Tourre, for defrauding investors with a sub-prime mortgage related financial product structured and offered by the company just as the U.S. housing market was beginning to fail. The SEC is seeking injunctive relief, disgorgement of profits, prejudgment interest, and financial penalties from Goldman Sachs and from Tourre....

Should you have a more creative office space? Well, duh, because the ’90s want their furniture back. Unless you’ve got more retro-shtick than the Dude, his Dudeness, or Duder, it’s time for an upgrade. This is not an entirely subjective suggestion because Harvard also said so. If you want to inspire creativity at work, change your environment. Re-Create Space You can start by re-creating the space you already have. If you need more motivation, consider the phenomenal successes of companies like Google, Apple and Pixar....

It’s been a little over four months since Congress enacted the America Invents Act, yet the patent reform law is already making its mark. Courts have rejected a number of false marking lawsuits, and others have severed multiple-defendant litigation. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has also issued notices of proposed rulemaking, asking for commentary on the reexamination process and genetic testing. The Act is ultimately expected to change U.S. patent litigation, particularly in the following ways....

Life can be a wonderful, albeit chaotic, and hopefully long and bounteous event for most attorneys. The chaos, though key to providing the variance that keeps life interesting, can sometimes raise the ire of court, like when you get a flat tire on the way there. When disaster strikes last minute, do you know what to do in order to remain in the court’s, and your opposing counsel’s, good graces? What you do can make all the difference....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Along comes the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who according to APNews.com, has announced that California consumers should share in the billions of dollars that tech companies make on personal data they collect. Indeed, Governor Newsom reportedly has asked his aides to come up with a proposal for what has been referred to as a “data dividend” for California residents....

When Google announced it was no longer supporting Google Glass, the recording, texting, streaming wearable, in January of 2015, we thought we were finally done with creepy, techie eyewear. Our sighs of relief might have come too soon, though. Barely a year and a half after Google Glass’s much celebrated demise, the photo messaging app Snapchat has announced its own set of smart eyewear, called Spectacles, which are camera-equipped sunglasses that can record the wearer’s surroundings and immediately upload clips to the app....

Did you watch Lance Armstrong and Oprah last week? By now, you’ve certainly heard that the disgraced cyclist has admitted to the talk show queen that he doped his way through his seven Tour de France wins. His lawyers advised against the interview, The Wall Street Journal reports. Armstrong has had plenty of experience with lawyers over the years. (You don’t amass a $125 million fortune and worldwide fame without a few attorneys negotiating the terms along the way....

It might be time to retire if: Your aged parents look younger than you do, you don’t recognize that old person in the mirror, or you have more hair in your nose and ears than on your head. Come now, we’re joking. After all, people can lose their eyesight and go prematurely bald early in life. Aging and retiring are two different subjects, but let’s face them together for a moment....

Social media has changed the game of marketing. It makes a firm more accessible to its clients and potential clients. And it allows a firm practicing in a niche specialty to inform and engage the legal and general community about particular areas of law. And where an attorney and firm’s time is limited by hours in the day and existing caseloads, social media features give your firm a virtual presence even when an actual presence is not possible....