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For the past ten years or so, we’ve been careening to a Star Trek-like future, where all our computing is done in a simple, hand-held device. Smartphones let us bill hours via apps, tablets let us port word processors around as easily as a magazine. But if you want to experience the future, you might want to look to the near past. The desktop PC, that humming, churning plastic box from the ’90s, has suddenly jumped to the forefront of innovation....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. The Internet crosses geographic boundaries, right? Correct. So, online risks are the same no matter where you are located, right? Wrong! According to a recent study, Internet risks indeed vary depending on where you go online, and ten U.S. cities have been deemed the riskiest. They are, risky online places to be. The survey, by Norton from Symantec, considered various risk factors in coming up with its results, including cybercrimes such malicious attacks, malware infections, spam zombies, and bot infected computers, as well as additional factors like wireless hotspots, broadband connectivity and online purchases....

Thanks to social media, we live in a world of almost constant oversharing: teenagers share their insecurities on Facebook, adults Instagram their every meal, the Kardashians – well, never mind, the Kardashians are an extreme case. And this is great news for lawyers, who have increasingly turned to social media for evidence in litigation and are now using it to collect judgments or seize assets. If you’re not familiar with the Rich Kids of Instagram Tumblr, check it out....

Lawyers in the Boston bombing trial presented their final arguments today, following weeks of testimony. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces 30 counts and a possible death sentence for his participation, alongside his deceased brother, in the twin bombings which killed three and left over 200 others wounded during the 2013 Boston Marathon. In dueling narratives, prosecutors sought to portray Tsarnaev as a calculated jihadi who attacked the event to make a political point, while the defense characterized him as a young man under the influence of a brother who was much more to blame....

There is a lot of debate about what exactly a “virtual” law practice is: Is it someone who doesn’t have a full-time office and primarily uses email? Or is it something more: online-only, using secure document portals for clients, perhaps using more than just e-mail (video chat, maybe)? For now, we’re going to go with the online-only lawyer. Think: someone who never meets clients in person and who could run his firm just as easily from North Dakota as he could from a motel in Amarillo, Texas....

When it comes to litigation, parties have got to pay their own way. It’s just the way we do things here – it’s called the American Rule for a reason. But all rules come with exceptions. The American Rule can be broken and attorney’s fees awarded, in order to protect the public interest, to punish parties who refuse to settle, or simply to increase a law’s effectiveness. Take the Patent Act....

Yahoo has sued Facebook over 10 of its patents, some of which cover methods for webpage customization, content sharing, ad placement, sending messages to friends, and social photo optimization. The lawsuit comes a month after the search company threatened legal action against Facebook if it did not license the technology. These sorts of suits are par for the course in an industry known for its ongoing patent wars. But Silicon Valley seems to think Yahoo’s suit is a different sort of beast....

It wasn’t necessarily a compliment if somebody once said: “You should become a lawyer.” That’s because being good at argumentation is not the same as being argumentative. It’s the difference between being a good talker and being an annoying chatterbox. It’s also a reason why sometimes lawyers should work alone. It’s hard to get into an argument when nobody is talking to you. Fewer Conflicts You can’t offend a co-worker in a solo operation, but that’s not the main reason attorneys often work better by themselves....

Law firms and other professional communities are becoming increasingly open to using biometrics for security purposes. There are obvious advantages to biometrics. If you’re like most people, you are tasked with remembering a dozen or so passwords just to access your usual online accounts. There is proprietary software out there that can synchronize your accounts, but there is still some hassle involved. Recently, a fair number of banks have implemented biometric technology to safeguard customer accounts....

Philip Durachinsky was about 13 years old when he started hacking computers. Over the next decade, he exploited malware to spy on people through their computer microphones and cameras. By the time he was 27, he had collected million of images of unknowing victims – including children in pornographic photos. The FBI caught him about a year ago, but didn’t know how dangerous he was at the time. It turns out Durachinsky also had access to a government agency responsible for nuclear weapons....

The first Friday in March is National Employee Appreciation Day, and in honor of the occasion, we’ve assembled a list of things that your company’s employees might appreciate. Basically, don’t violate state and federal labor laws. Your employees would really appreciate that. It might seem like a good idea in the short run to cut corners on dangerous equipment, but it could come back to bite you in the form of employee civil suits along with OSHA suits....

In order to develop a ‘world-class anti-discrimination policy,’ Airbnb recently hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. This move follows rather coincidentally after the company became tangled up in a lawsuit alleging discrimination by hosts against guests based on their sex or ethnicity. World-Class Anti-Discrimination Policy Users will have to get ready to read through new terms of service agreements put out by the more beefed up Airbnb after the company has come under fire for some PR pummeling stories about discrimination by hosts....

Hot on the heels of a similar ruling in Mississippi last week, a federal judge in Alabama has also declared part of the state’s abortion law unconstitutional. As in Mississippi, the issue in Alabama was the constitutionality of a state law requiring doctors administering abortions to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. (Laws requiring admitting privileges are being used to try to eliminate access to abortions in several states, mainly in the South....

You don’t always get what you pay for, especially when you buy a counterfeit. “Any seller purporting to sell Fuse Chicken products, authentic or not, can click ‘‘Sell Yours Here’ and be listed as a Fuse Chicken seller under the product page created by Fuse Chicken, which is populated with plaintiff’s marks and registered copyrighted materials,” the complaint states. Making “the toughest cable on earth,” Fuse Chicken says the counterfeit sales are damaging its brand and causing “consumer dissatisfaction....

Sometimes, including these tech times, you just have to do it yourself. That’s about what Orrick Herrington and Sutcliffe has decided with its internal technology incubator, “Orrick Labs.” The developers are building custom solutions for the law firm. “Clients worldwide are asking us how we are addressing innovation and value, and Orrick Labs is a key part of the answer,” said Orrick chairman Mitch Zuklie. “With a dedicated team collaborating with our lawyers, our goal is to innovate where optimal solutions are not available in the market....

So, my new BlackBerry went back. After two weeks, I came to the realization that the software pretty much isn’t ready. The operating system is fast and fluid, the browser is spectacular (seriously faster than any browser on iOS or Android), but there are no apps. And the ability to run Android apps, which finally came via the OS 10.2.1 update, is too flaky for daily use. (Plus, running Android apps on the Q10’s square-shaped screen was really awkward....

For some, the veteran’s story is not a good one. They come home to find out they can never go home again. Disillusioned, their battles too often end tragically. Lawyers who help in those struggles can become heroes. Veteran’s Day is the day to become one. Help Veterans Bob Carlson, president of the American Bar Association, has called upon attorneys everywhere to help veterans on their day. “As we come together on Veterans Day to honor the sacrifices of our fellow Americans in their military service, we must not forget the many challenges that continue after their separation from active-duty service....

Is it getting hot in here, or is it just the competition for pricing legal fees heating up? If you have started to sweat over the pressure to cut fees, you are not alone. Ninety-five percent of the lawyers in a new survey said they expect more price competition, and fully three fourths expect more non-hourly billing and alternative fee structures. The competition – from legal service providers, technology firms, and others – is rising....

Rectrix Aerodrome Ctrs., Inc. v. Barnstable Mun. Airport Comm’n, No. 09-2173, concerned a plaintiff’s suit against an airport commission and individual defendants, claiming that it was prevented from competing with defendant in the sale of jet fuel. In affirming the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants, the court held that plaintiff’s fraud claim fails as plaintiff was a commercial tenant of the airport and, given the self-service standards and lease terms, had no right and no reasonable expectation of being able to sell jet fuel at the airport....

Well, this is a trend we weren’t anticipating. According to Above the Law, the new biggest thing in attorney advertising is “adorkableness.” That’s a portmanteau of “adorable” and “dork,” if you missed it. And it’s apparently replacing cheesy catchphrases and family dogs – or worse, campy explosions – as the new legal marketing trend. Adorkawhatnow? Adorkableness isn’t exactly new. It’s been a common trope in television and movies for years now....