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And that sounds right to me in the groups market. Charlie says the least common denominator in the groups market are these three functions:

1. A customizable site to call their own, even if it just has information as to what the group does and how to sign up.
2. A way to communicate internally, via a one-way or two-way listserv, depending on the group.
3. A way to do RSVPs for events.

So using the less is more mantra, someone should build just that, make it drop dead simple, and then build the killer API that lets everyone build on top of that. It may be that the big social nets are in the best spot to do that. Or maybe not.

A VC: Thinking About Groups

Yep, it sure sounds a lot like OG for Drupal.  In fact it sounds a lot like what I’m building right now to allow faculty and students at law schools to come together and form ad hoc groups around classes, ideas, scholarship, organizations, etc. 

Tags: drupal, Fred Wilson, organic groups, groups, elangdell

Charles R. Nesson, a professor at Harvard Law School, says the key for professors is to know when laptops are good for class and when they’re not.
“Technologies are not good for everything,” says Mr. Nesson, who is also a founder of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. “Sometimes they destroy some good things along with the opportunities they make available.”
In Mr. Nesson’s classes, laptops are good for looking up legal material. During class students are encouraged to find the right evidence rule on the Web and to contribute to a class wiki, a communal Web site they frequently edit and update.
He says laptops are not good, however, during and immediately following a guest speaker’s presentation. He requests that the computers stay shut, signaling to students that they should all participate in discussing issues the speaker raises.

Law Professors Rule Laptops Out of Order in Class - Chronicle.com

This just isn’t going to go away.  I think the real answer here is for law school tech folks and interested faculty to actively pursue and advocate for constructive ways to use laptops in class.  Make the laptop a useful tool rather than a distraction. 

MySQL :: MySQL Enterprise for Amazon EC2

Amazon EC2 is a web service that allows organizations to right size their computing capacity on demand using Amazon’s proven computing environment. Using MySQL Enterprise for Amazon EC2, developers can cost-effectively deliver web-scale database applications in the “cloud”, fully backed by the database experts at MySQL. Amazon EC2 and MySQL are a great fit for organizations that want to reduce the capital expenditures and operating costs required to build out and run their IT infrastructure.

This is a pretty big deal. A definitive sign of support for the Amazon cloud on the part of Sun and MySQL.

Technorati Tags: Amazon EC2, MySQL, Sun, enterprise support

Today we informed our partners that we are ending the Live Search Books and Live Search Academic projects and that both sites will be taken down next week. Books and scholarly publications will continue to be integrated into our Search results, but not through separate indexes.This also means that we are winding down our digitization initiatives, including our library scanning and our in-copyright book programs. We recognize that this decision comes as disappointing news to our partners, the publishing and academic communities, and Live Search users.

Live Search : Book search winding down

Looks like Google is now the only mega player in this area.  I wonder if this has anything to do with the failure of the Yahoo! takeover?

Tags: microsoft, Live Search

The editors of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation are about to embark on making revisions for the forthcoming Nineteenth Edition. Please take a few minutes to fill out their survey. Surveys must be received by June 30, 2008 in order to be considered for the Nineteenth Edition. Comments and suggestions are also welcome through email.

Law Librarian Blog: Reminder: Take The Bluebook Survey

Tags: citations, bluebook

As for laptop use, shouldn’t this be a matter decided by law profs and their students on a class by class basis, even perhaps on a day by day basis? If so, law profs might want to read Kevin Yamamoto’s (South Texas College of Law) article, Banning Laptops in the Classroom: Is it Worth the Hassles? [SSRN]. Yamamoto argues that laptops should be banned unless their use aids the learning process.

Law Librarian Blog: Banning Laptops in the Classroom: Is it Worth the Hassles?

This just isn’t going to go away.  The referenced article looks fascinating and I’ll certainly give it a read.

Tags: elangdell, laptops, lawschool