Welcome to the peer-powered, weekend summary edition of the Law Technology Digest! Using PinHawk's patented advanced big data analytics, this summary contains the best of the best from the week. These are the stories that you, our readers, found most interesting and informative from the week. Enjoy.
'DVDs "curdling like milk" and "rotting" are not a very pleasant images. But it seems that's really just a bit of hyperbole and these discs from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (made between 2006 and 2008) simply stop working. The working theory is "that the defective discs all came from a specific manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania that used subpar materials and cut corners, resulting in poorly made discs." WB says, "Where possible, the defective discs have been replaced with the same title. However, as some of the affected titles are no longer in print or the rights have expired, consumers have been offered an exchange for a title of like-value." How can you tell if you have affected discs (other than they won't play)? "Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader noted that owners of WB DVDs can check to see if their discs were manufactured by the maligned plant by looking at the inner ring codes on the DVDs' undersides." Scharon Harding offers some good advice, "...if you have DVDs distributed by WB that you haven't played in a while, now is a good time to double-check if they're still functioning." Read more at ars technica: "They curdle like milk": WB DVDs from 2006-2008 are rotting away in their cases
'Benj Edwards' post may have you re-evaluating your outlook on PDFs. Personally I've never had much issue with PDFs, but then my needs might be limited. Consider the words of Derek Willis, a lecturer in Data and Computational Journalism at the University of Maryland, "Part of the problem is that PDFs are a creature of a time when print layout was a big influence on publishing software, and PDFs are more of a 'print' product than a digital one." Benj dives into optical character recognition (OCR) and the newer LLM-based OCR. Read more at ars technica: Why extracting data from PDFs is still a nightmare for data experts
'We have Stephen Abram to thank for the link to this handy list of sites. I tried to follow the link to ChatGPTLibrarian, but couldn't find exactly where he extracted it, so I'll reference his link. Librarian pinions may be familiar with more of the sites on this list, but most of them were new to me. Be ready to dive down the rabbit holes as you read more at Stephen's Lighthouse: ChatGPTLibrarian: Bridging ChatGPT and Librarianship
'Bill Toulas is direct and to the point, "The ubiquitous ESP32 microchip made by Chinese manufacturer Espressif and used by over 1 billion units as of 2023 contains undocumented commands that could be leveraged for attacks." We have researchers, Miguel Tarasco Acuna and Antonio Vazquez Blanco, to thank for uncovering the fact that ESP32 chip ("one of the world's most widely used chips for Wi-Fi + Bluetooth connectivity in IoT (Internet of Things) devices") is compromised. Read more at BLEEPINGVCOMPUTER: Undocumented commands found in Bluetooth chip used by a billion devices
'Mirko Zorz has a good post on where to and where NOT to spend your cybersecurity monies. As no one I know has an unlimited budget, these are good things to know. DON'T spend money on more tools. DO spend money on incident response and continuous cybersecurity training. For more Dos and DON'Ts, be sure to read more at HELPNETSECURITY: Smart cybersecurity spending and how CISOs can invest where it matters
'The preface to William Josten's post reads "Many are predicting that the prices of legal matters, or at least specific tasks, may come down due to GenAI - and some GCs think that needs to happen." I had hoped as I started reading this I might see that William recognized the cost of adding AI. And while he talks about increased productivity and efficiency, increased volumes of work, revenue declines and increased profit margins, I still see no calculations of the cost of AI tools. Take his example, "To be sure, a task that used to take 10 hours to complete at a cost of $5,000 (at an assumed rate of $500 per hour) does not suddenly become worth $250 because it can now be completed in 30 minutes." True as far as it goes. But where is the cost of the AI tool(s) that achieved that 9.5 hour reduction calculated? Depending on the tools you get (many of which are only licensed enterprise-wide), it might add $2,000, $5,000 or $10,000 per lawyer per year. There is certainly a point at which higher volume might cover the annual costs of the AI tools (for some of the alwyers, but for all?), but I have yet to see anyone write about it. I guess I need to keep hoping. Read more at Thomson Reuters Blog: Pricing AI-driven legal services: The problem of increasing corporate matter volumes
'Anyone who has had to maintain a computer room knows the value of rewiring. It can get pretty wild and wooly over time and sometimes you need some new outside event (new computer room, new switches, tripping over the wires) to force you to put in the time to rewire. I think the authors of this post are pretty even handed and realistic in what they espouse. "Organizations have been experimenting with gen AI tools. Use continues to surge, but from a value capture standpoint, these are still early days-few are experiencing meaningful bottom-line impacts. Larger companies are doing more organizationally to help realize that value. They invest more heavily in AI talent. They mitigate more gen-AI-related risks." AI is certainly a good outside event to have you rewire. Be sure to read more at McKinsey Report: The state of AI: How organizations are rewiring to capture value
'In the past pinions like to read Marydee Ojala's posts on tech companies that matter in knowledge management and here is her new list for 2025. She writes, "The importance of innovation and creativity in KM cannot be overstated. In many respects, AI and other emerging technologies have cemented the importance of KM within organizations, making KM a 'must have' rather than a 'nice-to-have' vehicle for knowledge sharing and organizational success. Companies on this list are wonderful examples of how they help organizations unlock the power of knowledge. They stand out in the KM field, and we applaud their accomplishments. Check them out at KM World: KMWorld 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management 2025
Benj Edwards' post may have you re-evaluating your outlook on PDFs. Personally I've never had much issue with PDFs, but then my needs might be limited. Consider the words of Derek Willis, a lecturer in Data and Computational Journalism at the University of Maryland, "Part of the problem is that PDFs are a creature of a time when print layout was a big influence on publishing software, and PDFs are more of a 'print' product than a digital one." Benj dives into optical character recognition (OCR) and the newer LLM-based OCR. Read more at ars technica: 
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Bill Toulas is direct and to the point, "The ubiquitous ESP32 microchip made by Chinese manufacturer Espressif and used by over 1 billion units as of 2023 contains undocumented commands that could be leveraged for attacks." We have researchers, Miguel Tarasco Acuna and Antonio Vazquez Blanco, to thank for uncovering the fact that ESP32 chip ("one of the world's most widely used chips for Wi-Fi + Bluetooth connectivity in IoT (Internet of Things) devices") is compromised. Read more at BLEEPINGVCOMPUTER: 
Mirko Zorz has a good post on where to and where NOT to spend your cybersecurity monies. As no one I know has an unlimited budget, these are good things to know. DON'T spend money on more tools. DO spend money on incident response and continuous cybersecurity training. For more Dos and DON'Ts, be sure to read more at HELPNETSECURITY: 
The preface to William Josten's post reads "Many are predicting that the prices of legal matters, or at least specific tasks, may come down due to GenAI - and some GCs think that needs to happen." I had hoped as I started reading this I might see that William recognized the cost of adding AI. And while he talks about increased productivity and efficiency, increased volumes of work, revenue declines and increased profit margins, I still see no calculations of the cost of AI tools. Take his example, "To be sure, a task that used to take 10 hours to complete at a cost of $5,000 (at an assumed rate of $500 per hour) does not suddenly become worth $250 because it can now be completed in 30 minutes." True as far as it goes. But where is the cost of the AI tool(s) that achieved that 9.5 hour reduction calculated? Depending on the tools you get (many of which are only licensed enterprise-wide), it might add $2,000, $5,000 or $10,000 per lawyer per year. There is certainly a point at which higher volume might cover the annual costs of the AI tools (for some of the alwyers, but for all?), but I have yet to see anyone write about it. I guess I need to keep hoping. Read more at Thomson Reuters Blog: 
In the past pinions like to read Marydee Ojala's posts on tech companies that matter in knowledge management and here is her new list for 2025. She writes, "The importance of innovation and creativity in KM cannot be overstated. In many respects, AI and other emerging technologies have cemented the importance of KM within organizations, making KM a 'must have' rather than a 'nice-to-have' vehicle for knowledge sharing and organizational success. Companies on this list are wonderful examples of how they help organizations unlock the power of knowledge. They stand out in the KM field, and we applaud their accomplishments. Check them out at KM World: