Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Geek Level: All Levels Litigation Technology: Court Services Brings Tech to the Courtroom
Posted by Lynsey Mitchell on Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 11:00 AM
While the legal field still does most things based on time-honored decorum, today's juries expect technological sophistication in the courtroom.
Technology has permeated every part of our society, so juries expect the presentation of cases to be as sophisticated and up-to-date as their smart phones.
Bringing technology into modern litigation gives a modern jury the chance to see and absorb a much more interactive set of data.
Savvy lawyers can easily integrate PowerPoint presentations and other multimedia into their case, but a steadily growing field is in litigation technology support.
Litigation technology is a game-changer, leveling the playing field between the sides of cases. From a graphic timeline of events to the ability to see video testimony concisely and effectively, it can be a persuasive and powerful tool.
And of course, sometimes courtroom facilities themselves can be a problem.
While Memphis' Federal courthouse has full technology integration with state-of-the-art equipment like touchscreens, laptop inputs at attorney and witness stands and document cameras, the Shelby County courthouse offers much less technology. Court Services provides a full courtroom set-up with projectors, screens, monitors, document cameras, and necessary cabling.
While the rules of civil procedure remain unchanged, litigators need to bridge the gap between tradition and technology.
That's what we do at Court Services Inc.
Lynsey Mitchell is president of Court Services Inc., a litigation technology team and a member of Oculus Litigation Technology Group, both based in Memphis serving clients nationwide.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Geek Level: Low 5 Video Games That Made Me A Sports Fan
Posted by Will Askew on Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 10:49 AM
Two nights ago, after Alabama scored a touchdown to take the lead on LSU with 51 seconds remaining, I found myself literally running around my house and leaping for joy, whispering (because our six month-old was asleep) all sorts of jubilant curse words. My wife, who was asleep on the couch for entire second half, woke up and muttered something to the effect of, “Good God, Will. Calm down.”
I care about sports far more than anyone should care about ultimately irrelevant contests between teams of people I will likely never meet. Right about the time my wife was asking me why on Earth I had woken her up, I started to wonder how I had gotten this way. Why do I care so much? What has made me such a passionate sports fan?
Well, there are lots of things—weekend trips to visit family in Tuscaloosa, the place of my mother's birth all throughout my childhood, watching UNC games with my father and hearing him scream obscenities at Duke, playing sports since I was old enough to carry a bat, to name a few. Also, though, my sports fan experience has been greatly enhanced by my growing up during the video game generation. I didn't just watch games on TV, or read about them in the paper; I was actually playing them. Indoors. With my favorite players.
While I don't consider myself a gamer, I have certainly spent far more hours in front of a TV with a controller in my hand than anyone should. When talking about my sports video game experience, a few titles stand out more than others. These are the five games that inflamed my passion for sports and, in addition to all of the other reasons, made me the sports fan I am today.
Tecmo Bowl/Tecmo Super Bowl (NES):
Whenever someone compiles any list of the greatest sports video games ever, said list is dead to me if one of these games is not in the top 3 at least. Bo Jackson, Lawrence Taylor, and Cap Boso are sports game legends. These 3 are literally unstoppable in the original Tecmo Bowl. Tecmo Super Bowl featured an expanded playbook and NFL licensing, which meant that you could actually play as your favorite team. It also featured a full season mode and full statistics, which at the time was absolutely mind-blowing. Seriously, these are the best sports games of all time. It's not negotiable.
Baseball Stars (NES):
While RBI Baseball gets a lot of deserved love for early baseball games, I would argue that Baseball Stars was more addicting. RBI Baseball had a lot of charm, mostly because of the morbidly obese players and the fact that space for names was short; you'd end up with player names like Clmns (Roger Clemens) and Glrga (for Andres Galarraga). However, Baseball Stars was easily the best baseball game in the early Nintendo years. Slick fielding, full season mode, team creation, and the fact that you could play as Frankenstein and Dracula make this game superior to RBI Baseball.
Tecmo Super NBA Basketball (Super NES):
I spent God knows how many hours in my middle school years playing this game. There are lots of reasons this game stands out, but the main one is Michael Jordan. You could play with Michael Jordan. Easily the most memorable basketball game from my childhood. Because you could play with Michael Jordan.
NCAA Football '98 (Playstation):
This game got me through my freshman year of college and probably contributed to my sub-standard GPA. This was the first college game to feature a Dynasty Mode that allowed the player to take control of teams for multiple seasons and recruit. This was right during the heyday of Mack Brown's tenure at UNC, and it absolutely infuriated friends that I crushed with the Heels. They couldn't stand it that I was playing with a basketball school.
MLB 2000 (Playstation):
Let's just say that Spring Training Mode—the mode where you create a player from scratch and take his career through the minor leagues to the majors—gave me a little bit more hope than I should have about how easy a career in baseball was. My created player always was a huge contributor on MLB teams, while I never made it out of Single-A. I guess that's why I live vicariously through video games.
Without these games, I probably still would have run around my house like a joyful idiot on Saturday night. My love of college football runs deep. Without these games, though, I doubt I would have considered a career in sports media. Games have an ability to immerse us in a world that we have no hope of being a part of normally. These five gave me an escape. What are the games that made you a sports fan? How big of an idiot am I for leaving your favorite game off this list? Let me know!
Will Askew has more than a decade of experience in sports media. You can follow him on Twitter @waskew for his thoughts on sports, history, politics, and whatever else strikes his fancy. He has a patient wife of over two years and a lovely six month old baby boy named William, who will also care way too much about sports.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Geek Level: All Levels It's Geek Week!
Posted by Dave Barger on Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 11:24 AM
Where once the term "geek" was relegated to derogatory cafeteria lingo, in 2012, this word has been reclaimed. Instead of pocket protectors, we proudly sport smart phones and tablets. Instead of (or in addition to) arguing Star Wars versus Star Trek, we debate Apple versus Android. And instead of social exclusion, we look around to find that we're all becoming geeks in one way or another.
Memphis Geek Week is all about recognizing the geeks around us and sharing our collective knowledge. Tech geeks, film geeks, web geeks - Memphis is full of experts and eager learners. By pooling our wealth of resources, we can promote awareness, adoption, and advancement of new technology to the betterment of our community.
We want to spark a conversation. How can we benefit the latest gadgets and networks? How can they aide our businesses and relationships? How can they help us make lasting, positive differences for our families and neighborhoods? And what is the impact of these technologies on our privacy and security? By answering these questions, Memphis can become a bigger push-pin in the technological map.
The week after Memphis Geek Week is, befittingly, Global Entrepreneurship Week (Nov 12-18), which focuses on turning great ideas into great businesses. It dovetails perfectly onto the end of Geek Week, which we hope will spark the kind of creative ideas which are necessary to maintain the thriving startup scene in our community.
Most of all, we want to highlight the wealth of geekery right here in the Mid-South. And there's so much of it, Memphis Geek Week doesn't actually fit in a week! From November 1 through 10, we're
encouraging businesses and organizations, no matter their focus, to celebrate all the geeks in their field. They'll be joining these other events that are already sure to raise some noise about technological innovation in Memphis!
Friday, November 2
• Microsoft: Windows 8 on the Square & more
• 48 Hour Hack "Pitch" / HighTech Happy Hour
Saturday, November 3
• TechCamp Memphis & Tech Expo
Sunday, November 4
• 48 Hour Hack Presentation/Awards
Monday, November 5
• Memphis Python User Group Memphis GEEK week edition
• Memphis Gives Special Geek Week Edition
Tuesday, November 6
• Be a good GEEK and go vote :-)
Wednesday, November 7
• Interactive Expedition Local SEO / GEEK Week!
• Staying Ahead of the Curve - Bartlett Chamber
• MemTech Lunch - Memphis GEEK Week Edition
Friday, November 9
• Media! Event (GEEKmemphis, SOE, LaunchMemphis)
• Power of Habit — In-Synk Book Review: GEEK week!
• MidSouth Makers GEEK week open house
Saturday, November 10
• Special GM & LM event
Be sure to visit Memphis Geek Week for the latest geeky updates. We hope you'll add an event of your own to this line-up of great geeky events, and put the Geek Week badge up on your website!
Dave Barger is a University of Memphis graduate with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, who spent time in the Navy and working for major corporations, Barger understands the operating nuances of Corporate America, as well as the impact of "the voice of the customer" coupled with contemporary technologies on any organization.
Now, he has become a recognized resource in Memphis in web strategy and tech community development. Deemed a "Digital guru" by The Commercial Appeal, he shares his vision of business in the world of Web 2.0 with entrepreneurs and established companies all over the Memphis area and beyond. Since 2007, he has shared that vision on social media and contemporary web topics with over thousands of professionals in 6 states in about 70 presentations.
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