Luke's blog

O2 Ireland, horrible experience

2011-10-21T11:23:00.000+01:00

I am having an on going issue with O2 Ireland, still not solved. These guys are seriously incompetent and an arrogant bunch too.

Will update once I get the problem solved. But lets say I won't be a customer of them for much longer.

Tablet Prediction

2011-10-10T12:27:00.003+01:00

So this is a start to a longer article on the future of tables, key points being jotted here so I expand on later.

Over the next few years the main players will be Apple and their iPad, Amazon and their Kindle. That's it, the side players will be Android and Microsoft tablets.

Key predictions:
- Amazon will buy WebOS from HP - replacing Android on their tablets.
- Microsoft will buy Netflix - providing a media source for their tablets.

Android will struggle, Google will have to take tablets into their own hands and produce a Google tablet via Motorola.

The biggest struggle for Google and Microsoft to become a leading player in the tablet field is content, Amazon and Apple have huge content deals already established - books, magazines, movies, music, tv shows and apps. They both sell direct, no middle man, so cheaper hardware. They both have your credit card numbers stored on their system, we trust them with this information. Easy for us to buy more.

Netflix is in trouble and I can see Microsoft purchasing them to provide content for their tablet, phone and xbox platforms. Microsoft will also purchase Nokia in the near future.

RIM are dead, I don't seem them in the future outside of the cell phone.

Sony, if they were smart they'd adopt Android (or buy WebOS) and build a tablet around it providing their great entertainment content via it. Sony also have moved to buy Ericsson out of Sony-Ericsson, so Sony can further develop their tablet and phone business, together with the PS3 and PSP.

Google, I think they will struggle. A tablet is a very different beast than a cell phone. We use phones to communicate: calls, sms, email, im. We use a tablet to consume information and media - this is where Amazon and Apple are way out in front.

Now, 18 months ago there wasn't a tablet market at all, so in the next 2-3 years who knows what will happen. But this is an outline of my bet on the tablet industry,

Eastman Kodak

2011-10-03T13:14:00.006+01:00

Eastman Kodak is a sad story, once a very innovative company on the cusp of digital technology with entrepreneurial spirit.

On Friday, September 30 2011 there was a "Kodak Moment" - their share price collapsed 53.84% on a rumor that Kodak are considering bankruptcy due to their massive losses over the past couple of years.

What went wrong, how does the strongest brand in photography fall apart?

A lot of it has to do with their lack of innovation, not necessary in the camera technology, they failed to innovate in the changed camera ecosystem. The arrival of the web changed photography, changed how we take, view and share photos and Kodak failed to capitalize on this.

Kodak failed to develop in-house web technologies, and did not understand their weakness in this area and buy it in. Many fantastic opportunities passed them by - most notable are Flickr - fantastic online photo storage (purchased by Yahoo in 2005), Picasa - photo library and online services (purchased by Google in 2004), Eye-Fi SD cards - share your photos as you take them via wifi (established in 2005), Flip HD video cameras - excellent product, brand and software (purchased by Cisco Systems in 2009). These should have been on the Kodak radar, but they failed to acquire them to add value to Kodak.

Their online printing too has taken a back seat too, they failed to offer a worldwide printing service, leveraging the great Kodak brand and their 1882 slogan - "you press the button, we do the rest".

What does the amateur photographer want now, we all have cameras in our pocket and a large screen photo viewer too. So what does the consumer want? Cheap and easy photo storage, as we take thousands more photos than 20 years ago, we want to store them in the cloud. Easy ways to share our photos, as we have a digital network via Facebook, but we also want high quality prints (framed or photo books) for our home or as gifts. That's it, we expect the technology to do all the rest, automatically.

So where does Kodak turn from here? A major investment in an online presence, they need to overhaul their Kodak Gallery solution, even re-brand and make it international (unheard of outside the USA). Purchase Flickr from Yahoo, as Yahoo is broken up and sold over the coming year, there should be an opportunity to purchase Flickr and use this as the Kodak online brand - "Flickr, powered by Kodak". Evaluate what Eye-Fi could add to the core business, allows users to share photos as they take them via wifi, Kodak were the first camera manufacture to include wifi in their consumer models.

Your printers are making money, evaluate it and the long term ROI on ink, is the ink recycle business hurting sales? If you can continue to make money and add margins, do it (see scanner point below). But start to shift focus to online printing services and solutions. Look to who is a leader in this: purchase Blurb.com, experts in photo album/book printing, look at PhotoBox.com and look at the value added printing services they offer. What can Kodak up-sell to these customers?

There is a generation of photos in shoe boxes, how do we get these into the cloud? Is there a gap in the market for an easy to use photo scanner (will feed a stack of photos and scan, remove scratches, correct color and sharpen with one touch?). We don't want to send our photos to someone else to do it (too precious).

Introduce medium to highend camera solutions, there is no margin in the entry level. Looks at DSLR, Pen, the new mirrorless camera systems. There is margins in the higher-end cameras and the consumer who wants more than a camera phone (camera phones will continue to improve). Can Kodak invest in camera phone R&D, seek to provide Apple, Nokia, HTC with better camera technology and lens? Sony currently supply Apple their camera module for the iPhone 4 & 4S.

What has happened to the high end medical imaging industry? Has Kodak the expertise to change the medical imaging industry, both in the capture, archiving and management areas.

Kodak are in trouble, they will have to face a possible sale of their valuable patent portfolio, plus their brand is powerful. More powerful than the IBM ThinkPad brand and PC business that Lenovo purchased for $1.75 billion deal in 2005. We could see a Chinese camera manufacture break into the world market by purchasing the Kodak camera brand.

Will Kodak survive? It isn't going to be easy to save this company. A major shakeup is needed, this is way worse than the problems that Motorola or Nokia are facing.

Some Milestones at Eastman Kodak
- 1888 : Kodak n°1 box camera is mass marketed; first easy-to-use camera.
- 1882 : Slogan, "you press the button, we do the rest," when Kodak n°1 box camera was introduced.
- 1897 : The word "Kodak" sparkled from an electric sign on London's Trafalgar Square.
- 1935 : KODACHROME Film introduced and became the first commercially successful amateur color film.
- 1942 : Kodacolor, Kodak's first "print" film.
- 1963 : Kodak introduces the Instamatic.
- 1975 : Steven Sasson an electrical engineer of Kodak invents the first digital camera.
- 1986 : Kodak scientists invent the world's first megapixel sensor.
- 1999 : Purchased OFOTO an online digital photo sharing service.
- 2005 : Kodak EasyShare-One Digital Camera, world’s first Wi-Fi consumer digital camera.

Amazon Kindle Fire

2011-09-28T21:17:00.001+01:00

Blog article coming soon, major news from Amazon today regarding the Kindle Fire, at last a table that can compete with Apple. Offering what only Apple currently offers, media (books, movies, tv, music & magazines).

Looking into it more, like cost to Amazon for the $199 device, plans for 10" model, who will buy it and WebOS and Amazon.

Changing Blog

2011-09-10T16:31:00.001+01:00

Looking and updating and providing more details on projects I'm working on here.

Plus some side interests postings.

Apple Ireland Sale

2010-11-26T09:33:00.001Z

Lots of discounts on Apple websites around the world today, some great savings for Christmas gifts.

iMac: From €1,128.00 - Save €101.00 - buy
MacBook Pro: From €1,048.01 - Save €91.00 - buy
MacBook Air: From €1,198.00 - Save €101.00 - buy
iPod nano: From €148.00 - Save €11.00 - buy
iPod touch: From €208.00 - Save €21.00 - buy
iPad: €458.00 - Save €41.00 - buy

BBC Channels on Freesat

2010-11-06T21:53:00.004Z

There has been some changes made to the BBC Northern Ireland on freesat since October 18, 2010.

To tune BBC1 and BBC2 NI and other BBC channels into your free satellite box use the following settings:

10817 V 22.0 5/6

BBC One Northern Ireland

BBC Two Northern Ireland

10803 H 22.0 5/6
BBC Four / BCeebies

10788 V 22.0 5/6
BBC One Wales
BBC Two Wales

10847 V 23.0 5/6
BBC One HD
BBC HD

ITV1 HD
Channel 4 HD
Both available...

All other free channels are listed on my blog post from a years back:

http://lukemcurley.blogspot.com/2009/02/sky-digital-bbc-itv-channel4-five-in.html

Update June, 2011
BBC HD changed their broadcast, details updated above.

Book Sales in Ireland

2010-06-20T10:58:00.000+01:00

Just listening to the Sunday Business Show on Today FM, Sunday June 20th, 2010.

Talking about books sales in Ireland. Over the summer months, to be the number one selling book you would need to sell about 3,500 copies. This falls off earlier in the year: Jan, Feb, March you would only need to sell 250-300 books to be in the top 10.

Trade Show Insurance

2010-06-16T18:07:00.001+01:00

Just posting this for future self reference, although maybe useful to others.

USA Once Off Trade Show / Exhibitor Insurance:
**Have Used** http://www.exhibitorinsurenow.com/

http://productioninsurance.com/
http://www.insurance4exhibitors.com/

UK Once Off Trade Show / Exhibitor Insurance:
http://www.exhibitor-insurance-online.com/quote
https://www.hiscox.co.uk/events/default.aspx?tabid=282&Product=EXHIB

This is just a list, I don't recommend any, do your own research. If you are exhibiting at a conference you need insurance cover.

iPad

2010-02-01T12:00:00.010Z

Last week Apple announced it, biggest surprise for me was the price, starting at only $500. The price reflects that it is another gadget to be synced with your computer, not a replacement.

The 9.7" screen is a little bigger then expected, the large bezel around it makes the device look large, but won't really know until I get to pick one up. I do like the 1024x768 screen resolution though, it will make web browsing much easier. A 10hr battery life is great, really world use would reduce this but we should know by March what it really is.

Overall I can really see the appeal for this as a web surfing replacement, have it sitting on the coffee table for instant web surfing. Instant-on makes it ideal for this, no longer needing to wake laptop or boot up laptop, this will be left on 24/7 and put to sleep when not need.

I was surprised that no SD card slot was included, instead Apple have made the iPad work with the iPod camera photo connector for transferring photos. With the SSD memory limiting the storage capacity I can see why Apple decided against an SD slot, as it wouldn't take too many 13 mega-pixel photos to fill up. Apple would also be very worried about what hackers would do with an SD slot, leaving it out to halt jail-broken devices. This would be very popular if you could load on apps or transfer apps with an SD card. Then again as this device isn't tied into a network contract, should Apple really care about this, they'll still be getting $500 per unit regardless of what the end user does with it. Although missing out on App Store revenue.

No Adobe Flash, no surprise here. Flash is buggy as hell, always has been. If my browser crashes it's always Flash that causes the crash, especially Flash 10. Until Adobe gets a good QA guru I can't see Apple supporting it. And only recently Adobe/Macromedia have decided to use hardware acceleration to improve performance, and this is still way behind.

Book store looks interesting, but I would have preferred to see a magazine store with subscriptions from National Geographic, New Scientist, Inc Magazine, etc. But maybe Apple will leave it up to each publisher to create their own app for this, not sure why though as Apple would miss a revenue trick. As for books, it's still cheaper to purchase the paperback of the books over the digital version. I would be rushing to the beach with my iPad for a read, you cannot beat a paper book for durability and cost.

Apple Ireland Sale

2009-11-26T18:05:00.005Z

Lots of discounts on Apple websites around the world today, some great savings for Christmas gifts.

iMac: From €1,008.00 - Save €91.00
MacBook Pro: From €1,058.00 - Save €91.00
iPod nano: From €128.00 - Save €11.00
iPod touch: From €168.01 - Save €20.99
Nike+ iPod/iPhone: €14.00 - Save €5.00

Dell Inspiron 1520 with Windows 7 and Bluetooth

2009-10-28T16:23:00.004Z

For anyone who has a Dell Inspiron 1520 with bluetooth and is wondering how to get bluetooth enabled under Windows 7, try downloading this file from Dell. Worked the trick for me, the bluetooth adpater in the 1520 is a Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module.

Back to work. Thanks to this website for the details of how to get my bluetooth working.

Another hardware issue with Windows 7 is the SD Card Reader. You can fix this via the Dell website and download the Ricoh R5C833.

Twitter

2009-09-02T17:02:00.003+01:00

This blog won't be updated as often in the future, Twitter is my new outlet, so blogger will take a back seat. So follow me on twitter @lukejr

iPhone Stencil Kit

2009-06-17T10:59:00.003+01:00

Excellent idea for iPhone developers, great for drawing out design with pen and paper before going near Xcode. $16.95 to puchase, plus shipping: http://www.designcommission.com/shop/iphone-stencil-kit/

If you're a Photoshop kinda person, this PSD template may be more useful: http://www.teehanlax.com/blog/?p=447

Magnet Broadband

2009-06-08T17:24:00.005+01:00

Got my Magnet broadband setup last Friday, very impressed with it so far, nice fast constant speeds and excellent up speeds. I really like their boost feature on their website, it basically checks the maximum speed your phone line can handle. Tried it, mine maxes out at 14Mb/s, not bad but not the 24Mb/s that Magnet can deliver in some areas, I only signed up for the 10Mb/s which is good enough at the moment.

UPDATE 25 June 2009:

The wireless modem that is provided by Magnet, is just that a modem, not a router (my mistake). It is not like what you receive from BT or Eircom. So if you want to play with settings, hook up printers, use static IPs, you will need to purchase a router for this. I have mine hooked up to a Belkin N router which works great, no problems.

Also the IPTV option, I don't know the ins and outs of IPTV but this needs to be wired to make it work. Over wifi it just breaks up all the time, but wired is good, although not as good quality as on Sky or UPC. Magnet can provide a wifi booster for TV, not sure how it works it's still G wifi, but it will cost an extra few Euro a month. It will be interesting to see what Magnet do with this service in the future, currently RTÉ 1 & 2, TV3, TG4, E3 and MTV are provided. I don't think it'll hit main stream until BBCs, ITVs, Channel4s, and some 24-hour news channels are added. They will also need to provide a set top box to the TV and not charge for the wifi booster or try it out on N wifi.

After three weeks with the service I have found the quality of the broadband great, really great. I have had UPC back when their max was 6Mb/s (got 4), have Eircom 3Mb/s service (got 1.3), and Magnet has always been 10Mb/s and upload of 1Mb/s. Magnet Support are easy to get through to on the phone, and they are active on Twitter @MagnetNetworks and Boards.ie, their phone support is very direct too.

Take a giant LEAP

2009-05-26T16:45:00.004+01:00

This is me two years ago this week after hiking up to Angels Landing at Zion National Park in Utah State. Can't believe it was two years ago we spent three months travelling around the United States and camping at 11 national parks, visit http://www.hikingtheusa.com/ for more details and photos.

Anyway that was 2007, this past week I have moved to Limerick (back again) to begin the LEAP programme at the EAC in LIT. The focus of LEAP "is a year long milestone driven enterprise and management development programme hosted by the Enterprise Acceleration Centre @ Limerick Institute of Technology that assists men and women entrepreneurs to establish their businesses."

Over the next year I will focus on taking EdWare.ie to the next level and develop the business further with a huge focus on export driven sales. I'll try and keep you posted on events.

Google Maps - M7

2009-05-16T13:52:00.005+01:00

Google Maps is great, and will be the future for GPS devices as GPS moves from solo device to cell phones. I love this with Google, noticed it during the week. The new M7 from Nenagh to Limerick was due to open in May 2009, Google have it implemented already, although the road doesn't actually appear on the maps unless you do a direction route and then the route shows it. So I guess the db side is updated but not the visual. The latest news on the road from the NRA.ie is that it's been delayed by a max of 6 months, so expect it to open later this year.

Just shows how on the ball Google are as discussed in an early post regarding new Irish motorways:

http://lukemcurley.blogspot.com/2008/07/google-maps-again.html

FG Broadband

2009-05-13T11:18:00.006+01:00

Just reading the Fine Gael (FG) policy document: A “NewERA” for the Irish Economy, see PDF.

Interesting ideas for broadband, although I'm fearful that their case for state supported and Eircom nationalized infrastructure could destroyed current private broadband providers: UPC, DigiWeb, Magnet and others who have invested heavily to supply broadband. They need to create a better policy or they will destroy these providers, and scare off future private investment.

Something I did find odd was on page 8 of their document titled 2. Broadband 21, they hope to provide "every home and business in Ireland, with speeds of between 50 and 100 Megabytes per Second (Mbps) available to 90% of the population by 2013". Yes you read right under FG they promise to deliver 50-100 MEGABYTES (MB) of broadband, not megabits (Mb). That's 800 Mb/s broadband, even faster than a USB2 connection, currently Eircom broadband tops out at 7 Mb/s.

I suspect that FG don't know the difference between megabytes and megabits, which is kinda telling as they called it Mbps, not MBps, all very confusing, which is fine, as it confuses the hell out of me too. I would be very surprised if FF or Labour new the difference, but FG it's in your government policy! This really suggests that the broadband section wasn't written or read by anyone who has any idea about broadband, which is very worrying indeed.

Stay in the Euro

2009-05-12T11:46:00.009+01:00

This is a quick response to a recent article by an Irish economic entertainer. I'm not an economist, two semesters at UL, while very good, doesn't count.

Where does one begin in relation to the article regarding Ireland leaving the Euro, and the magic benefits.

Reference was made to Iceland regarding their recent collapse and their low inflation, Iceland is not the same as Ireland, we are dependent on oil for our energy. Iceland gets almost 100% of their energy needs from natural resources (hydroelectric and geothermal), only has a population of 300,000 and their largest export is fish, yes fish! They are still largely an agriculture exporter. Also I think it is very fitting that Iceland is voting to begin accession talks with the EU this Friday.

About the devaluation. So lets say Ireland decides to pull out of the Euro (EUR), we set up our own currency, we'll call it the Irish Yoyo (YOO). So first of all the value, initial: YOO 1.00 = EUR 1.00, the Irish government decides to devalue by say 10%, now the value is YOO 1.10 = EUR 1.00, so now everyone has 10% less buying power and all our bank accounts and pay will show 10% less, if you had EUR 1,000 in your bank account it is now worth only EUR 900. So would our domestic savings take flight and leave Ireland, I'm pretty sure they would for anyone that could move it.

With our own currency we are now in the international currency market, so lets follow what happened to the British Pound recently, a 25% fall against foreign currency. So now the value is YOO 1.37 - EUR 1.00, this is if we drop like the Pound, but we could be hit a lot harder. Our salaries are suppose to stay the same as otherwise what's the point of the devalue, and would otherwise lead to run-away inflation. So if you earned EUR 30,000 you will now earn YOO 30,000. But its value in Euro is now only EUR 22,000.

So what does this mean for us, petrol that currently costs EUR 1.10 per/ltr will cost considerabley more YOO 1.50 per/ltr. The increase in oil prices will have a knock on affect to transport costs, agriculture, manufacturing, energy, and more. All imported products will be affected the same way. Also consider that your pension or savings is now worth a lot less in real world terms.

Export advantages do exist, but inflation may remove this. Inflation could be a big issue and run away interest rates to combat this would drive up mortgage repayments. So what happens to the billions the banks owe, this was touched on briefly in the article, but basically it would involve the collapse of the Irish banks (bread and butter of economic development and democracy) as their international payments on loans could not be met. The Irish government may also have problems repaying their loans, which could cause the government to default on debt, but there will be no ECB to save us, instead the IMF or Russia may have to step in.

The other area that would be greatly affected is the knowledge base here, and resulting brain drain. The cost of employing highly skilled workers will jump. Why would a software developer, scientist or engineer stay in Ireland and be paid in YOO currency? The US multinationals will also find it very difficult to employ European staff at their European HQ based here, let alone the headache of dealing with weekly currency fluctuations.

I've only highlighted a handful of issues that spring to my mind here, I don't think leaving the Euro is any benefit to Ireland, and it may actually be a complete disaster.

HD vs SD TV

2009-05-05T18:48:00.005+01:00

As covered in previous posts about HD I'm back on the topic today.

So why cover it again? Mainly because HD is still not popular in Europe, although many HD capable televisions have been sold, very few channels are broadcast in high definition.

I started off writing an article and then I had a quick look back at an article from 2006, and well nothing has really changed in the three years, so just read that. HD all explained.

http://lukemcurley.blogspot.com/2006/07/hdtv-facts.html

Although I did find this nice graphic from blu-ray.com which is useful for explaining HD. As for blu-ray, if they don't release a $99 player soon the standard will never go main stream, being replaced by downloads from Xbox, PS3, iTunes and torrents.

How not to wear a mask!

2009-04-28T22:31:00.004+01:00

From the AP today, it should really cover your nose. Unless you have a filter up there?

Sano Shinsuke wears a mask to protect from swine flu as he walks through Times Square after arriving on a flight from Japan, Tuesday, April 28, 2009 in New York. Shinsuke said he feared catching the illness. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) - Yahoo.com

New Tyres

2009-04-25T17:19:00.006+01:00

Need to purchase new tyres, I currently have Firestone TZ 200 Fuel Saver which are good, but heard about the new Michelin Energy Saver tyres which are very good, the reviews online say so. Will look into getting these if possible, they are about 20% more expensive than my Firestone, but they will (according to Michelin) save €150 euro on fuel over lifetime of the tyres. It seems to make sense to get the new energy saving technology, find out more.

Anyway learned a bit about tyres this morning, including what all the numbers refer to which explains a lot. Also what speed ratings are, on my car at the moment are V, which is rated to 240km/h (149mph) I really don't need them on my car, so will save a few euro and opt for T or H grade.

I checked on ebay to get a guide price for the tyres before I call into my local tyre place next week, Firestone TZ 200 are about €55 each and Michelin Energy Saver are about €75 each.

A lot more is explained at this website: http://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/tires/faq.jsp

Mainly I'm posting this so I have a record of this stuff so I don't have to dig through my bookmarks. Before I forget, I use these guys to get custom made mats for my car, they have great choice and really good quality mats: http://www.needed4.co.uk/

Microsoft Encarta

2009-04-01T12:57:00.001+01:00

"Microsoft is cancelling its long-running encyclopaedia service Encarta. The Redmond giant is pulling the plug on the service thanks in part to the rise of free reference services from the likes of Wikipedia, and has promised to refund subscribers. The premium service, which will finish up this June, was first offered to customers as a software product in the early nineties. "People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past," a Microsoft spokesperson said on the MSN website." From ENN.ie

A strange move, how much money did this cost Microsoft to run I assume it was a profit making venture? What will they do with all the content, maybe they will launch a competitor to Wikipedia. Kinda strange, I ordered myself a copy as it's a good reference title to have. It's available until June 2009, so snap up quickly before it's unavailable.

IE8

2009-03-31T20:29:00.005+01:00

Microsoft released IE8 last week, not much fanfare about it. So what's my opinion, Paul Thurrott does a good review, altough he's a Microsoft fanboy. I used Firefox since release as my main browser, although this changed last Autumn when I moved to Google Chrome. Chrome in my opinion is the best browser currently available; fast and simple.

So my views on IE8, not much of an improvement over IE7. In fact I would say few people would notice the difference, the good news is that IE at last takes note of web standards which is very nice and much welcomed. Speed has increased, although still lags behind all competition. Some fancy new tricks which some may find useful, especially if you use Microsoft's online tools. The new InPrivate mode is useful too and something Firefox will release in theirs soon, and Chrome already has.

But overall I am glad Microsoft is putting a nail in this code and starting afresh with their next browser; Gazelle.

Pros:

-Faster (only faster than IE7, not Chrome or Firefox)

-More secure (same as above)

-Web standards at last (still fails acid3 tests)

-Some useful new features like: InPrivate, Suggested Sites, Web Slices

Cons:

-Bookmarks, same old IE3 system for organising them, lame.

-Restore Tabs, has moved to blank tab from close dialog, lame.

-Change from IE7, now you cannot have bookmarks in line with menu bar, lame.

-Still slower than Firefox and Chrome, lame.

In conclusion I am not sure why anyone who knows how to install an application still uses Internet Explorer. There are four good free alternatives out there; Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera in order of popularity. I find Chrome to be excellent and would highly recommend it, especially for its management of tabs and associated memory. IE8 does not offer anything new or exciting, and many of the old problems have gone un-addressed.

EU Cap Mobile SMS & Data

2009-03-26T21:52:00.003Z

The biggest news this week has to be the European Union applying a cap on roaming txt and data charges for mobile operators.

The price of a txt message sent from and to anywhere within the EU will be capped at 11 cent from July 1, 2009. This compares to 29 - 49 cent at present from different Irish operators.

The wholesale price (retail will be higher to include profit) of data roaming will be capped at €1 per megabyte from July 1, 2009 and this is set to fall further to 80 cent from July 2010 and to 50 cent from July 2011. As an example O2 Ireland currently charges €4.97 per megabyte for data roaming in the UK.

This is great news and will actually encourage me to use my phone 3G or EDGE network when abroad, as currently I disable data roaming when out of Ireland.

Read more about this @ Irish Times, PCPro

What Happened to Nero

2009-03-19T19:49:00.004Z

I have been a long time user of Nero and find it one of the best solutions for burning CDs and DVDs and creating DVD-Video of Xvid/DivX.

Recently Nero has bloated into a horrible suite of software, I wish Nero would create a new product line that focused on it's core, buring discs. I don't want the following bloatware included: photo viewer, audio editor, music player, tv recorder, backup thing, nero scout, media player, tape achiever, my nero sharing thingy, media centre, playback centre, label maker, photo editor, oh how the list goes on.

So Nero, I own version 8 and won't be upgrading to 9 anytime soon.

Reason for this blog was due to a system reinstall and I got to remember the pain of making sure all the little apps and hooks weren't installed with Nero. Afterward I had a system crash and noticed I forgot to disable that horrible Nero Scout crap, aka NMIndexStoreSvr.exe, the cause of it.

New iPod shuffle is TINY!

2009-03-11T13:15:00.004Z

Apple today released the new iPod shuffle, and it is tiny, no controls on the device, they have moved to the headphones. Room for 1,000 songs (4GB) and has a new voice-over feature that speaks the title of each song, also at last it now supports playlists.

I hope the new headphones will also work with the iPod and iPhone, better than current.

CAO Tech Courses Down

2009-03-10T10:09:00.004Z

Yet again this year people applying for technology courses at third level are down, Irish Times. "Demand for engin-eering and technology courses are down by 10 per cent". I cannot believe this, I can understand the construction sector lagging, although keep in mind it will be 2015 before an architect graduates.

I currently blame the media, poorly informed politicians and career guidance teachers. Over the past two months both the mainstream media and politicians have talked of layoffs in the high-tech sector, in relation to manufacturing at both Dell and HP. Very few computer scientists assembly computers or ink cartridges at either of these companies.

Career guidance teachers got it wrong in 2001 and 2002 too when they suggested that students do not pick computer related courses due to the dot com bust, hence four years later we had a shortage, that is still here today. Havok one of our leading software companies are considering pulling their development operations out of Ireland due to lack of high quality computer science graduates, Google was reported to have shut down an engineering group in Ireland too for the same reason in December 2008.

In reality nobody can judge what the economy will be like in four years time, so people should do what they will enjoy and like in college. I don't expect the recession to last four years or longer, anybody starting college next year will graduate into a growing economy so all professions will be in demand.

Almost, Getting There Dell...

2009-02-26T22:00:00.007Z

The new Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is almost the perfect netbook, almost. It ticks every box, 160HHD, Windows XP, 1Gb Ram, WiFi & Bluetooth, webcam, lots of ports and the first I have seen with HDMI, which is excellent, and all for €399.

But it is let down by the screen resolution of (1024x576) WSVGA, 600px should be the minimum for pixel height, as most software is designed for that as a min, and the 24 pixels missing from this screen is a let down. Hopefully Dell will add the pixels in the next revision. Ideally I would like to see 720 vertical pixels for watching HD on the go in the future.

But other than that it is by far the best netbook I've seen, again HDMI is a huge selling point, at last Dell have kicked their VGA habit.

On a side note, Microsoft will be releasing Windows 7 in September 2009, and they are working on a slim edition for netbooks, so might be worth waiting until then before getting one.

UPDATE: Just reading the Dell website, it looks like a 720p HD screen and 250GB HDD are coming soon as an option, way to go Dell.

Pirate Bay Home Page Cartoon

2009-02-24T22:24:00.000Z

Sky Digital - BBC, ITV, Channel4 & Five in Ireland

2009-02-23T23:23:00.004Z

Always looking for these online:

ITV Frequencies Settings

10.758 V 22.0 5/6
ITV 1 London
ITV 2
CITV (0700-1900)
ITV 4
Men & Motors
ITV 1 Granada
ITV 1 Anglia North
ITV 1 Central West

10832 H 22.0 5/6
ITV 4 +1
ITV 1 Thames Valley North
ITV 1 Central East
ITV 1 Wales
ITV 1 West
ITV 1 Westcountry South
ITV 1 Border England

10891 H 22.0 5/6
ITV 1 Border Scotland
ITV 1 Tyne Tees North
ITV 1 Meridian South
ITV 1 Meridian South East
ITV 1 Anglia South
ITV 1 Yorkshire West
ITV 2 +1

10906 V 22.0 5/6
Channel TV
STV North
STV West
STV East
Ulster TV
ITV 3
ITV 3 +1 (1900-0700)

BBC Frequencies Settings

10.773, H, 22.0, 5/6
BBC One London
BBC Two England
BBC Four (1900-0600)
CBBC (0600-1900)
CBeebies UK (0600-1900)
BBC Three (1900-0600)
BBC One Northern Ireland
Five (aka Channel 5)

10788 V 22.0 5/6
BBC One West Midlands
BBC One North West
BBC One East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire
BBC One Yorkshire & North Midlands
BBC One East Midlands
BBC One East

10803 H 22.0 5/6
BBC One Wales
BBC Two Wales
BBC One Scotland
BBC Two Scotland
BBC Two Northern Ireland
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

10818 V 22.0 5/6
BBC One West
BBC One South East
BBC One South
BBC One South West
BBC One North East & Cumbria
BBC One Oxford

10847 V 22.0 5/6
BBC One Cambridge
BBC One Channel Islands
BBC HD UK

11954 H 27.5 2/3
BBC News
BBC Parliament
BBC Alba
BBCi Stream 4 0
BBCi Stream 4 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 4 DAB
BBC Radio 4 LW
BBC Radio Scotland AM
BBC Radio Wales FM
BBC Radio Ulster
BBC Asian Network
BBC World Service UK
BBC Radio Cymru
BBC 1Xtra
BBC 6 Music
BBC Radio 7
BBC Radio nan Gaidheal
BBC London 94.9 FM

12441 V 27.5 2/3
BBC Stream 3 0
BBC Stream 3 1
BBC Stream 3 2
BBC Stream 3 3
BBC Stream 3 4
BBC Stream 3 5
BBC Stream 3 6

Other Channel Settings

10729 V 22000 5/6
Film 4
Film 4+1.

10.729 V 22.0 5/6
E4
E4 +1
More4
More4 +1

10.714 H 22.0 5/6
Channel 4
Channel 4 +1

10773 H 22.0 5/6
FIVE (Channel)

11261 H 27500 2/3

CNBC

More channels and details:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free-to-air_channels_at_28E

Eircom & IRMA

2009-02-20T14:31:00.003Z

The three strikes policy for "proven" illegal music downloads is fair enough, once the IRMA can prove it 100% in court, which is nearly impossible.

But the letter the IRMA issued to all Irish ISPs this week is very worrying. I do not agree that the IRMA can decide which websites I have a right to visit. If they want to block a website they should bring that particular website to court in Ireland and have it blocked. I am disgusted that Eircom is bending over backwards to please the IRMA. This is a very dangerous road we are traveling down, what's next!

Adrian Weckler has an interesting blog today regarding the dangerous of going down this road:
http://www.yourtechstuff.com/techwire/2009/02/irmaisps-why-were-about-to-sell-ourselves-out.html

UPDATE Interesting Call:

So the judge will still make the decision at the end of the day, so will be up to him/her to enforce the copyright law, not the IRMA. Eircom is not the police of the Internet and does and will not monitor individual users, that is not their job, unless of course it is informed of illegal activity. Just like An Post is not the police of the content in the mail, should An Post open each letter to check if it's content is illegal?

Interesting chat though, will leave it at that.

Music and Piracy

2009-02-17T18:35:00.008Z

I am currently researching a large piece on the music industry in Ireland and the recent court case with Eircom and the threat letters mailed by Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) to ISPs today.

This blog is a bit of a random brainstorm, but just trying to get something started on the piece.

Interested in readers feedback and their take on this, so please leave comments. One area I am very interested in is the blocking of torrents and torrent listing websites. Also concerned by the complete lack of mention in the media about LimeWire. In general people I know who download illegal music use LimeWire, very few use torrents. Torrents in general are used for movies and tv shows, although no legal alternative exists in Ireland for this. In relation to legal music downloads, only now are they available without crippling DRM.

In relation to music downloaders, if you do download music without paying, how much money do you spend each year going to concerts and electric picnics.

Back in the day I used to buy 4-5 CD Albums each year, in Tower Records (pre 2000/01). Max spend €50 a year. Since iTunes was available in Ireland I have started to buy many single songs that I like and I have become very fond of audiobooks, spend last year was about €100, the iPhone makes it way too easy to buy music on the go.

Does DRM encourage you to download music illegally? DRM pisses me off big time, normally from iTunes I burn a purchase song to CD-RW then rip it back to MP3, what a waste. The restictions were just a pain in the ass.

The IRMA in their court case against Eircom, quoted that Eircom’s head of Internet Protocol, Denis Curran, in January 2001, suggested “‘piracy’ is a loaded term. Could we say ‘sharing‘- ‘piracy’ implies there’s something wrong with it." In 2001! Who the hell had broadband in Ireland in 2001, less than 3% of the population, this cannot be used as an argument.

The record industry seems to have forgotten that most buyers of singles and albums are still the 10-18 age group, who cannot get a credit card, and then cannot purchase music from legal music sources with ease, eg iTunes. When your target market cannot purchase your product you have a huge problem with your business model!

Our Sky dish gets about 50 music channels, all digital quality. One can listen to the latest music all day every day by flicking through these stations. Where is the need to purchase the music?

Some random thoughts. Anyway let me know your opinion on this and I'll pen a blog over the next few weeks.

Some related media reports:

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Threat of legal action on music copyright

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Downloaders face disconnection following Eircom settlement

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Internet users face shutdown over illegal music downloads

Saturday, January 31, 2009

EMI Ireland records 'an exceptional year' with pre-tax profits of €4.5m

A previous piece on the music industry that I wrote a while back may be worth a read.

http://lukemcurley.blogspot.com/2006/04/music-industry.html

Mac OS 10.5.6 - Wait

2009-02-16T12:06:00.004Z

Just updated our MacBook to 10.5.6 and ran into a annoying change from Apple. They have removed the ability to change the battery power saving mode from the menu bar. The Apple online solution doesn't fix the problem, it's a work around.

Options before 10.5.6 Update

Options after 10.5.6 Update

USA No 1 - Wind

2009-02-06T13:23:00.002Z

Feb 3rd 2009 - From Economist.com

Cool iPhone Trick

2009-01-27T19:59:00.000Z

Get Japanese emoji icons on any iPhone, very simple and it works too.

Windows Time

2009-01-26T22:14:00.003Z

Only noticed this today, set you date incorrectly in Windows XP. Something that can happen by accident if you use the calendar to check future dates. Then try and set the date and time correctly again using Windows Internet Time, you get this funny error that Windows can't sync the times as your date is incorrect. Why Windows doesn't offer to correctly set your date is just strange.

Domains of the World

2009-01-26T21:54:00.004Z

This is a cool idea, a map of the world, each country is represented on the map by their domain name country code. The size of the font is in proportion to their population.

Google Chrome

2009-01-26T19:14:00.006Z

I have been using Google Chrome as my main browser since the summer, but this week that all stopped as I reverted back to FireFox 3. Why? The most recent releases of Google Chrome are full of bugs, and I have been having trouble with it in both XP and Vista, and both the dev build and "solid" release.

The bugs are show stoppers too:

- Unable to compose emails in both new Yahoo Mail and Hotmail.

- Windows Clipboard would crash frequently when using Chrome, closing Chrome fixed the problem.

- Tabs not appearing correctly, getting all bunched up randomly to about 10px across, making them impossible to use.

Until a solid build appears from Google I cannot recommend Chrome for the time being. Up until the 2009 builds, all were solid, but something has gone seriously wrong with the application lately.

UPDATE: Google Chrome 1.0.154.46

Google has fixed all issues mentioned above with the latest release of Chrome, so will be going back to it now, bye bye Firefox (again!). The clipboard crashing was related to a problem with ClipDiary app and Google Chrome, and the dev is working on a fix now.

FedEx

2009-01-22T18:42:00.006Z

View Larger Map

This is where the FedEx depot in Dublin is, if you look up their own website you will notice that the map shows them to be on the runway at Dublin Airport. So it took me a while to get good directions and Google Maps didn't know where it was either. So I said I would post online where exactly it is, for anyone else who may be looking.

Excellent service from FedEx, next day delivery to anywhere in the USA if dropped at depot or collected before 16:30, and not that expensive, especially when compared with An Post courier service that takes a week. Mailed package at 16:30, arrived 08:30 the following morning in Texas, fantastic.

The New President of the USA

2009-01-20T10:36:00.002Z

January 20, 2009 is inauguration day for the new president of the United States, Barack Obama. To celebrate the inauguration we have created a nine page worksheet (1.0 MB) about the United States, perfect for school. If you want to learn more about the United States please consider our awarding winning Know Your USA software.

Page 1: Map of USA with Regions and States marked.
Page 2: Join the Dots maps of the USA.
Page 3: Map with each State name and the Capital.
Page 4: Name the States of the USA pop quiz worksheet.
Page 5: Blank Flag of the United States, great for colouring.
Page 6: Barack Obama factfile with colouring.
Page 7: Washington DC factfile with photos.
Page 8: Barack Obama factfile and photo.
Page 9: US Election Results worksheet, colour in the winner of each state.

This worksheet is perfect for printing and photocopying. It is a great introduction to the United States and excellent classroom activity for the inauguration.

Download Worksheet on the United States of America

We also have a free online quiz for testing your knowledge of each State in the United States. Play it online at our website. Remember that each aspect of the USA is covered in detail in our award winning Know Your USA software. You can also watch the YouTube Animaniacs cartoon clip we posted a few weeks ago, a quick way to introduce the United States to younger children.

The inauguration takes place at 12:00 in Washington DC (17:00 GMT) on Tuesday January 20, this is too late to watch in school, but our worksheet is perfect classwork or for home work exercise that evening.

Windows 7

2009-01-19T21:54:00.004Z

Yeah, Microsoft fixed the Safely Remove Hardware task. In Windows 7 it lists the drive name and letter, this makes it much easier to eject drives.

Compare this to the previous versions in Windows Vista and XP.

Multi-Core

2009-01-19T13:12:00.002Z

Very interesting article on multi-core computers in this months issue of Technology Review, Vol. 112 / No. 1. Most interesting is a quote from Steve Wozniak:

"I can't wait!" says Steve Wozniak, the inventor of the Apple II. "The repeal of Moore's Law would create a renaissance for software development," he claims. "Only then will we finally be able to create software that will run on a stable and enduring platform."

"In schools," says Woz, "the life span of a desk is 25 years, a textbook is 10 years, and a computer is three years, tops. Which of these devices costs the most to buy and operate? Why, the PC, of course. Which has residual value when its useful life is over? Not the PC--it costs money to dispose of. At least books can be burned for heat. Until technology slows down enough for computing platforms to last long enough to be economically viable, they won't be truly intrinsic to education. So the end of Moore's Law, while it may look bad, would actually be very good."

Makes a lot of sense, the need to upgrade every few years is a money drain, especially in schools, the comparison is great with desk, books and computer.

Google Ireland

2009-01-05T22:42:00.002Z

Over Christmas I read in the Evening Hearld (take with pinch of salt) that Google Ireland has decided not to locate 100 software eng jobs in Ireland as it has been unable to recruit enough.

In a further blow to the ailing economy, Google has decided to abandon plans to locate up to 100 software engineering jobs in Ireland because it was unable to find enough qualified candidates here, Evening Heald.

Some interesting comments via Eire.com

Apple Christmas Advert

2008-12-16T10:41:00.004Z

Apple Ireland Sale

2008-11-28T00:18:00.006Z

Great discounts today only at the Apple Store for Christmas:

iMac 20-inch €958.01 - Save €40.99
MacBook €1,098.00 - Save €101.00
8GB iPod nano €128.01 - Save €10.99
iPod classic €208.00 - Save €21.00
8GB iPod touch €197.99 - Save €21.01

Movies: Apple Rentals

2008-11-20T13:33:00.003Z

When I was in the USA last week I picked up an iTunes gift card in Walmart for $10. When I arrived home I started up iTunes, set store to USA entered the code and presto I now have a USA iTunes account with $10.

The feature in the USA iTunes Store I am most interested in, is the movie rentals. This is the future of on-demand content and I was looking forward to seeing how well it worked. After some browsing (not the best Apple experience) I picked the 2008 movie Flawless (Michael Caine & Demi Moore), clicked purchase and the download began. Being a 1GB file it ain't small, but the estimate 2 hour download was quick enough as after about an hour of downloading you can begin watching. I hooked my MacBook into the LCD TV (mini-DVI to HDMI cable), hooked up the sound, and clicked play. It worked, was worried about HDCP protection interfering. The quality was fantastic, better than watching a DVD, no ghosting. This was standard definition content although I'm not sure how much better HD can be for the extra cost.

So my opinion of renting movies, it's very easy to use, only costs $3.99 for new releases and $2.99 for older releases, also a $0.99 movie special each week. It downloads quickly, and quality is top notch. This has to be the biggest advantage over torrents, which can often take hours to download, quality can be dodgy sometimes and it is illegal too.

As for purchasing movies, I don't see the point. I have a DVD collection of about 40 of my fav movies, I have never watched one movie more than three times so the cost of renting outweights the cost of buying.

Skype Phone

2008-11-13T12:44:00.004Z

I use Skype for work a lot, I have free national calls and a SkypeIn number, all costing about €40 per year. I currently use a headset with my computer, but for some reason I don't use it as much as I should, free national calls and all.

So currently I am shopping for a Skype Phone, I tried Three Mobile, lets just say I am no longer with that network, terrible service. Then I looked at USB Skype Phones, but I want a standalone no computer needed solution. Today I found that Belkin has relased an office style Skype phone that plugs directly into your router via ethernet, perfect. Good reviews too.

Priced at €89 it's not cheap, but if I use it like I should it will be, read a review of it here.

Apple's R&D Spend

2008-11-10T17:25:00.003Z

In 2008 Apple Inc invested $1.1 billion in R&D. The really interesting factor is the breakdown of the figure, it only covers hardware R&D, not software. In 2009 we can expect Apple to invest even more, which should throw up some really interesting innovations in the coming years.

Break down of R&D over past four years:

2005 - $535 million
2006 - $712 million
2007 - $782 million
2008 - $1.1 billion
2009 - ????

AppleMatters.com has some more details, read more.

New Pixar Movie

2008-11-10T17:22:00.000Z

Election Night at the Rockefeller Plaza

2008-11-09T14:35:00.002Z

NBC covered election night at the Rockefeller Plaza with a map of the United States on ice, they then painted each stated depending on the winner.

US Elections

2008-11-04T11:40:00.003Z

November 4th 2008, is election day in the United States. A plug here for my own software and school resources. I created a quick five page worksheet on the USA for my customers and posted it online and sent it out to customers. I decided to plug it here too.

Download Worksheet on the United States of America (PDF 0.6MB)

Also there is a free online quiz for testing your knowledge of each State in the United States, play it online at our website. Also you can watch the YouTube Animaniacs cartoon clip we posted a few weeks ago too, quick way to introduce the United States to younger children. I have also developed Know Your USA for learning more about the USA, you can download a free trial online.

To keep up-to-date with the election we recommend the IrishTimes.com or the NYTimes.com for the latest news and results. Some good mapping websites for the election include: electoral-vote.com and politicalmaps.org

If you know any teachers pass this onto them as it's a great activity for election week, also fun in the office too!

Install Win XP after Vista

2008-10-24T00:56:00.001+01:00

Like many users I have avoided Vista as my main development system. Problem is that my main computer is no over three years old and getting a bit slow. I've been holding off hoping that Vista will be fixed. With Microsoft basically saying it won't be wait until Windows 7, I need a solution.

I found this guide for getting XP onto a pre-installed Vista system, drivers could still be a problem but will be putting this to test within the next four months.

Use iTunes with non iPods, Use iTunes Sync

2008-10-07T22:10:00.002+01:00

iTunes Sync is a very useful tool for using any MP3 player with iTunes. The developer has tested it with players from Cowon, Creative Labs, Dell, iRiver, JVC, Samsung and Sandisk. It also works with many cell phones including Nokia and Sony Ericsson.

Useful, also will take a look at his clipboard utility and dual monitor wallpaper apps.

Real Time Satellite Tracking

2008-09-30T20:05:00.001+01:00

This is a cool website, www.n2yo.com it tracks satellites in real time using Google Maps.

Market Meltdown

2008-09-29T22:42:00.004+01:00

The international stock markets took a hammering today. The ISEQ dropped 493.25 points, or 13.03%, to 3,291.52 points. The largest one day drop in the history of the Irish stock exchange. Over the past 18 months the ISEQ has plunge from the market peak on Feb 20, 2007 at 9981.08.

Very surprising was the lack of coverage in the Irish media, at 16:00 on RTÉ Radio One news the market crisis was not the main headline, it was item number three, and on the Newstalk 106 on their 16:30 news it was not even mentioned, no mention of the drop. This was when the ISEQ was down 12% and was the worse performing equity market in the world so far for the day. CNBC was covering the drop on both their Europe watch and on their US show Squawk on the Street all day. Yet the Irish media was asleep, the RTÉ One news on the TV did kinda cover it but never mentioned the huge plunge and double digit drop and instead focused on the UK and other European markets. Only the IrishTimes.com had the news mentioned on their homepage shortly after 14:00, it was not displayed anywhere on the RTÉ News website when I checked at 15:00. RTÉ was asleep during the worse day in the history of the Irish stock exchange. By 18:00 RTÉ had realized the crash, but this was too late. Where was the media coverage?

All of Europe's markets were hit hard today but Ireland's market suffered the greatest loss. The United States also suffered. The Dow Jones dropped 777.68 points, or 6.98%, to 10,365.45 points. This is lower than stocks when George W Bush entered office in Jan 2001.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 was even harder hit dropping 9.14% and 8.79%. Some huge drops on the Nasdaq included: Apple -17.42%, Google -9.50%.

What will happen tomorrow? Futures are down.

Ireland's Corporate Tax Rate is 12.5%

2008-09-27T02:21:00.001+01:00

McCain, I've heard you quote this wrong in the past week. Ireland's Corporate Tax Rate is 12.5%, not 11%.

Tax Ireland – Ireland Corporate Tax Rate 12.50%

US Car Industry

2008-09-25T11:32:00.010+01:00

We all know that cars in the USA get very bad fuel economy, why? I think cheap gas has not motivated the industry and cheap fuel has not pushed the consumer to demand it.

On CNBC this week Chrysler rolled out a range of new cars that are hybrid electric and gas (petrol) powered, these are still concept and won't be available until 2010. What was amazing was that these hybrids only get 400 miles on 9 US gallons of petrol, that's 34 liters or 7.5 UK gallons. They say that the electric motor powers the first 40 miles of driving, so the gas engine only gets 360 miles on 9 gallons!

I do not get this, my 1995 2.0l Mercedes Diesel gets about 370 miles on 9 gallons (34 liters), more than these new cars from Chrysler. My car is 13 years old and has better fuel economy than a car that is built for economy and won't be available until 2010. I understand that my car is diesel and as a fuel is about 15% more efficient, that is, for the same volume of diesel and petrol you will get 15% greater distance with diesel.

Currently the big three US automakers (Ford, General Motors and Chrysler) are in serious trouble, sales are falling across their profitable large vehicles, share prices have plunged to 50 year lows and they are only now realizing they are in a bind. So how do they decided to fix the problems? Currently they are looking for a $25 billion government bailout to get them out of this mess, which they created by not investing in new technology. So should the "capitalist" government bail out failing industries? Although that would be a very socialist move, but then again, that didn't stop them with Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae or AIG.

Over the past 20 years European automakers were forced to improve efficiency and emissions both by the EU setting goals and by the taxes on petrol and diesel. This encouraged the consumer to demand the most mile/km per gallon/liter. This resulted in an industry focus on efficiency and clean diesel engine technology, Europe is currently the leader in this field. The USA is obsessed with Hybrid technology and automatics*. Most European diesel cars are more efficient than the number one Hybrid, the Toyota Prius.

Also this is an interesting article about the new Ford that will be available in Europe but not the USA, gets 65 MPG, although I assume that is US gallons the article does not specify. Read the comments, or some of the 1,800, very funny.

Notes:

Automatics can reduce fuel efficiency by as much as 10%.

A US gallon is not equal to a UK imperial gallon, 1.00 US gallons it equal to 0.83 UK gallon or 3.78 liters.

Diesel as a fuel is more efficient than petrol.

The New Dell

2008-09-19T12:16:00.002+01:00

Over the past two weeks Dell has been in the news, the WSJ started it all off reporting that Dell were looking for buyers for their manufacturing facilities. The Irish media has since weighted in; Irish Times and Independent. The greatest concern is the facility in Limerick that assembles Dell computers and employs over 3,000 people.

So what is the concern? Dell has been struggling over recent years, and HP has long knocked it from top PC spot. Currently Dell are restructuring to cut costs, but does the old Dell model even work anymore?

Dell has always sold direct, through it's website or by phone. This allowed their customers to tailor their computer to exactly the specs they wanted. For me this was always and still is a strength, and I have only bought or recommend Dell computers for years (unless of course you want a Mac). As computers have moved into the mass consumer market is this needed any longer?

The mass market in my opinion do not customize their system or want to, they want to buy a computer. Being bambuzzled by Ram, CPU speed, number of cores, graphics card, etc... does not mean a whole lot to them.

So how does Dell fix this model? They offer mass market set spec computers which are built in Asia. This is what Apple and HP have been doing for the past number of years, driving down costs and increasing margins. Dell has started this already with the introduction of their Studio Hybrid system this Summer.

So what will happen to the number of assembly plants Dell already operates? They could move to the custom market only, and possibly adopt their Ailenware brand. The high end server market will more than likely stay put too, but everything else will be outsourced to the best (often lowest) bidder and mass production of units will go main stream. Current Dell assembly plants will be scaled back as demand for their custom offerings is reduced.

For me the ability to customize systems at Dell is excellent and I will always pick them over the competition for that reason.

Dems or Reps for the economy

2008-09-17T19:55:00.010+01:00

The Bush years Jan 20, 2001 to Jan 20, 2009. At the current rate the Dow will have increased by 3% over eight years or 310 points. Even if you take the peak of the Dow under Bush at 14,279, this is still only a 35% gain over eight years.

The Clinton years Jan 20, 1993 to Jan 20, 2001. The Dow increased over 220% during his eight years as president, or 7,170 points.

So who is better for the US economy, based on history it is the Democrats, not the Republicans as recently concluded in the New York Times and Forbes Magazine.

Many believe that the Republicans are better for the economy but the figures do not back this up, as the election is only 47 days away it will be interesting who the country picks as next president.

Crisis

2008-09-17T19:46:00.003+01:00

A German woman in 1924 feeding a stove with currency notes, which burn longer than the amount of firewood they can buy due to rocketing inflation.

US Dollar

2008-09-08T14:37:00.003+01:00

The US dollar continues to gain ground against the EURO. I was expecting that the nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the US government over the weekend would sink the dollar again, as it has more than doubled the American national debt. So far it has appeared to have the opposite affect.

Will have to wait and see, great article on CNBC. Another interesting article on Bloomberg.

iPhone 3G on prepay

2008-09-02T23:28:00.003+01:00

News today from O2 UK & Ireland that the Apple iPhone will be available to purchase on a prepay phone plan. The price will be above €500 but this could be a major boost for Apple considering that 70% of all phone users in Ireland are on prepay it opens the iPhone to the mass market.

Microsoft Keyboard

2008-08-21T17:06:00.004+01:00

Microsoft announced the introduction of their new SideWinder X6 keyboard and X5 mouse. I have been looking for a full sized keyboard with a switchable or leftside numeric keypad for years. So with the X6 you can move the numeric keypad to the left or right, why do I like this?

Keyboards are designed badly, user normally have the spacebar positioned directly centre to their monitor, look at where your mouse is, over to the right, but the numeric pad is forcing you to stretch an extra distance to use your mouse, resulting in bad posture. By moving the numeric pad to the left, you have more space for you mouse and you no longer have to stretch for it. If you use a computer for more than eight hours a day, 5-7 days a week this does cause pain, hopefully this new keyboard will go someway to solve my twitching arm.

I currently use an Evoluent mouse to help with mouse posture.

For left handed people, current keyboards are perfectly designed for you.

Windows Backup

2008-08-20T18:14:00.007+01:00

I am currently shopping around for an easy to use backup utility for my Windows computer. For the past few years I have used Microsoft's own SyncToy to sync folders between PC and external hard drive. It has its limitations most noticeable is that you cannot change drive letter. This is a Windows issue since the early days that each time you connect an external drive it is given a drive letter, not always the same each time, so can get messy.

So the main software backup solutions I'm looking at is the backup features built into OneCare (review), Titan Backup (review), Macrium Reflect (review), Acronis True Image (review), Paragon Drive Backup (review).

I'm unsure which is best for me, I do not want a backup image file which can only be accessed through each software. I would prefer some indexing solution which just backs up each file so they can be accessed at a later date from any system. Bascially the first good solution I find I will stick with it, since OneCare is already installed will be trying it first. Will let you know how I get on.

UPDATE 1: OneCare, oh dear Micrsoft, your backup is crap. It does not allow you to select your own folders, Microsoft has a predefined list like My Documents, Outlook Express, My Music, My Movies and few others and that is it! Of course this is Microsoft for you, it's their way or no way. Its backup for the extreme dummy. So will be skipping this and trying another application.

Also got a comment regarding online backup, I currently use MozyPro for some files that I really can't loose, but for general backup cloud computing is too slow and the capacity is too low.

UPDATE 2: After some researching trying out and googling I have decided to purchase Titan Backup 2.3, it's very easy to use. Only a 8MB download, quick, does backup either compressed, image or maintains files and folders. So exactly what I was looking for.

Currently I am backing up to an external USB2 hard drive, I'd prefer to use Firewire as they don't utilize the CPU like USB, CPU is over 50% currently for the backup. I would advise anyone who wants an external hard drive just for backups to purchase a Firewire hard drive. They are not only quicker, uses less CPU but can also be used for daisy chaining.

Anyone reading this blog knows I am a Mac user too, and I have to say that no Windows backup solution is anyway near the excellent system Apple offers in Mac OS 10.5 called Time Machine, it is by far the best and easiest to use backup system every developed.

I really like the range of Western Digital external hard drives, especially there 2.5" range, they even have one with Firewire. Their MyBook range is very nice, powers on and off with computer which is a nice power saving feature.

iPhone Case

2008-08-19T10:57:00.005+01:00

So you have an iPhone and you want to protect it with a nice slim case. I purchased the cheap €12 CarPhoneWarehouse silicon case just to have something when I got the phone. Also got the Zagg screen protector, just for the screen, not full body as that causes problems with some cases. The Zagg is developed from military grade plastic film and is designed to have no air-bubbles once applied and completley scratch proof, or your money back. Free delivery to Ireland too which is very nice indeed.

The Griffin Technology cases look the best so far. I was unable to find them in a few stores I checked in Ireland, and I really wanted to see them in person to have a good look. Luckily there is YouTube and a there is a series of iPhone case reviews from a YouTuber and they are really great, check it out if you're thinking of a case, many are reviewed: reviews by Carlos on YouTube and also a guy called Sean on YouTube is doing some reviews too.

I ordered the Griffin Leather Elan Form case online at the Apple store, should be getting it in early September as there is a serious lag time as supply is short.

Also looking for a good handfree option with headphones, the supplied headphones have a mic on them and a squeeze button that works well for answering calls. Although also looking at the Griffin Technology Tunebuds Mobile which has a button to answer calls, and are in black too to match my iPhone, earbuds look like they'd fit nicely.

iPhone, first few hours.

2008-08-13T22:11:00.006+01:00

First few hours I like, I like a lot.

Although the Sync process does appear to have some glitches which I expect Apple will iron out over the next month or so. The App Store is great and there are some very nice apps, some free some I paid for like iDrink (cocktail recipes) and Monkey Ball (it's impossibly difficult) everything else I downloaded for free, Google Mobile App, Apple Remote, Labyrinth Lite and a few others.

Currenly looking for a good Internet radio app for streaming radio channels from the states (WNYC & Air America) over WiFi, there are some out there but don't look too good yet. Also my iLuv Alarm clock doesn't work with iPhone, new this before hand and their staff said to expect something in the new year.

I did have one or two problems downloading updates to Apps installed from the App Store, resulting in an iPhone restart required, this seems documented and Apple are working on fix, I hope it's out soon, read more here.

Websites work well on the iPhone, but the best are websites designed with the iPhone in mind and automatically display content so it easy to read, check this BBC page out. The NY Times has the option of a free App Store download to view their news that works really well, if only the Irish Times will follow, better go e-mail that request.

Before I forget an Irish developer named Vinny Coyne has developed EirText for sending free txt messages via an iPhone app interface that uses O2 or Meteor website, it's very good.

I currently have it plugged into my PC, might consider the Apple iPhone 3G Dock, as disconntecting the cable (not long enough) to answer the phone is ackward, so a quick drop/pickup dock would be useful. Also looking at a case, slim silicon one would be ideal, Griffin Tech Wave is looking like a nice choice. As for the power adapter, UK & Ireland are stuck with the larger older powerplug, compares sizes: USA Power / UK & Ireland Power. Apple I want a small one, find some way of fitting three pins into a smaller unit. The size below are kinda accurate, I aligned up the USB ports and judged the sizes.

iPhone

2008-08-11T09:16:00.004+01:00

I will stop with the O2 moaning posts as of now, ordered my iPhone3G from O2 online store this morning and got one without any problems.

Expect delivery later this week.

UPDATE 13:50 Just checked the O2.ie website and they still have iPhone (8GB & White 16GB) still in stock. O2 must have received a large delivery from Apple. Will keep my name on list at O2 store until iPhone is in my hand.

o? and the 3g iphone (O2 Update)

2008-08-04T14:37:00.012+01:00

the iphone was available in limited quantities on saturday, but as usual for dublin only, it appears. i have been on the waiting list at my local o2 store for over a month now and they haven't had any iphone stock come in since launch day on july 11. UPDATE: that's what they told me in person when i called in, i phoned during the week and another staff member slipped that they did receive some stock last week, when i asked why i didn't get one she said, oh it's because other people on the list before me (3) and the model i had pre-ordered didn't come in. So I called into the store again later and was told I am at number 4 on the list (still), getting very sick of it now, so who did the iPhone stock go to, or was the lady just an idiot or miss informed.

o2 posted on their website that stock would be available on saturday in limited quantities and that it would be allocated to pre-ordered customers. i foolishly assumed that stores outside of dublin would receive some stock. on calling into the store on saturday the staff did not know anything about it, and i was the first to inform them that stock should have arrived. they had not received any stock nor expecting any.

what really annoyed me was that the iphone was available in dublin, and on a walk-in basis to some stores they had so much stock, as reported on the o2 website.

UPDATE August 05, o2.ie had very limited stock available online this morning from their online store, all sold out now no luck as server kept crashing from the "load". so o2 are serving customers from their website while ignoring customers on waiting lists (and there are many), also if you are already a bill customer from o2 you cannot upgrade to iphone online, need to purchase from store.

apple have pumped up production to 800,000 units a week which should increase supply, but as mentioned earlier another 20 countries will have the iphone on august 22 which will soak up any excess capacity.

someone pointed out that apple aren't supplying enough to o2, well that's true shortages are worldwide. o2 are applying no ryhme or reason to how the stock is allocated to stores.

UPDATE August 09, O2 yesterday posted on their website that again limited stock will be available to stores for customers on their waiting lists. So I thought for a second I might have a chance, called O2 store this morning, they didn't receive any iPhone stock again this week (they didn't get any last week either). So it has been almost five weeks since I pre-ordered my iPhone and I still have not received one from O2, five weeks! (Notice the capital letters Mossy)

I am really tired at O2 at this point, their method of distribution appears to be a pen and paper job, we all know there is a world wide shortage of iPhones but it isn't this bad in the rest of the world. Also they had stock to sell on their online store on Tuesday morning for first come customers, so what's the point of a waiting list?

elusive iphone 3g

2008-08-01T15:23:00.009+01:00

it has been almost a month since i pre-ordered a iphone 3g at an o2 retail store in ireland, unfortunate for me they didn't get enough stock on july 11, but as i pre-ordered my name is now number 2 on the waiting list, considering i was number 30 on the pre-order list, not much stock arrived on july 11.

so every few days in july i have been calling o2 retail stores, no sign of any iphones. in fact all of the o2 stores i have called have not received any iphone 3g stock since the initial (tiny) stock on july 11. i have been told that it will be august at the earliest.

what to make of this? o2 ireland grossly underestimated the demand, and i mean grossly. i assume that apple supply their resellers much the same as other companies to do, you anticipate demand and request stock to be delivered on certain days or time slots. looks like o2 ireland just did not do this, assumed low demand and did not order sufficient stock from apple. i don't blame apple for this, as o2 stores in the uk can source them and have been getting continued supply since launch, same for apple and at&t usa stores. o2 stores in ireland on the other hand have not got any stock in since july 11.

it's now august and i assume that supply will appear, as o2 should have noticed the demand and placed a large order with apple for august delivery.

also apple launch the iphone 3g in many more countries on august 20, just hope ireland get some iphones before then as real production shortages will appear as demand outstrips supply.

UPDATE Aug 01: O2 announced on their website that there will be limited availability of the iPhone 3G tomorrow Aug 02, and from their online store on Aug 05.

UPDATE Aug 02: Limited stock, must have been. The staff at my local O2 store didn't even know iPhones were due in today, had to show them the O2 website. They didn't get any stock in and didn't even know stock was due. O2 appear to be in a complete mess, no communication between store or staff, grossly underestimated demand for iPhone and limited stock only being made available to Dublin stores.

usa coffee chains

2008-07-25T11:01:00.003+01:00

i'm a big fan of starbucks, the mcdonalds of the coffee world. i was reading some data about starbucks and i new they were the biggest coffee chain in the usa and world, but then i thought, who is the second biggest.

mcdonalds, burger king, yum! (kfc, pizza hut) it's easy for fast food.

so coffee, you have starbucks largest in the world at 16,226 stores, 11,434 of these are in the united states (600 underperforming due to close soon). the second largest i can find is caribou coffee with 464 stores in the united states (non international) and that's about it. starbucks are un-challenged kings.

some people would say that at 7,988 stores dunkin' donuts is very large, but it sells crap coffee and mainly donuts (which i don't like either). yes i am very pro-starbucks.

mcdondals and burger king have started to offer coffee drinks, and it's nice coffee but how much of an impact will it have on starbucks? it does appear to be having some impact due to the recent trouble starbucks and their rapid expansion has experienced recently. with only 5,000 stores outside of the united states, international expansion will be the future growth market for starbucks.

starbucks annouce q3 earnings next week, i expect it to be a good quater mainly from internationally sales helped by the weak dollar.

WALL•E

2008-07-20T14:04:00.007+01:00

we went to see WALL•E (trailer/wiki) last night, and it's a great movie, by far the best from pixar yet, even better than nemo. the first 30 minutes are fantastic, just funny and with no dialogue too. go watch it soon, i highly recommend it for anyone. also before you go try not to watch too many trailers online, just go see it.

the short movie from pixar shown at the cinema before the movie is called presto it's excellent mini movie about a bunny rabbit and his magician owner.

by the way WALL•E stands for [Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class]

google maps again

2008-07-17T10:15:00.005+01:00

as with the carlow bypass a few months ago, google maps have again been quick off the mark by updating their road maps to reflect improved motorways in ireland. yesterday the n6 moate bypass opened greatly improving drive times from dublin to athlone and galway.

this type of rapid development i predict will see google maps becoming the standard for gps and mobile devices over the next couple of years. we can see how well this works already with the iphone, and more gps devices, mainly from car manufacturers incorporating google maps are arriving.

tomtom and garmin do not offer this quality of mapping or rapid map updating to its customers, and also charges for any updates too. the only road block google has is the need for an internet connection, this can be overcome as the merger of phone and gps (iphone, nokia, sony ericsson all have models) is already happening in high-end phones this will become standard for all, especially as gps chips are merged with 3g, reducing price. the phone carriers benefit from using google too as the user must pay for bandwidth to view the maps, a win-win situation.

just noticed on the map on google maps that kilbeggan is called grangegibbon, strange.

taoiseach at nyse

2008-07-16T19:47:00.007+01:00

today taoiseach Brian Cowen opened the nyse in new york by ringing the opening bell.

at an earlier breakfast meeting in ny hosted by enterprise ireland cowen mentioned that "we [ireland] are the 12th largest exporter to the US, greater than Brazil or India or indeed the Netherlands". bigger than brazil or india, that is big.

iPhone

2008-07-16T10:59:00.006+01:00

gizmodo has an article on how to prolong the battery of the new iphone.

they make a good point in article that 3g can be on or off, but there is no automatic setting that would turn it off automatically when not in use, ie when not browsing, watching youtube, etc. this does seem strange, most other suggestions are common sense like reducing brightness of screena and turning off wifi, also turning off bluetooth if you don't use it would be another smaller saver. they have also gather together all the battery tests.

called o2 this morning, still no new stock in. also go to itunes (new version 7.7) and noticed how little apps are in the irish AppStore, only one game and no Super Monkey Ball. now change to the uk store and have a look, we are being screwed again. i think ireland is the only country in the eu with such few iphone apps. why apple, why?

i have lodged a complaint with Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland as apple clearly show games on their irish website as a selling point of the iphone, now if they can't be purchased this would be false advertising. just hoping this will push apple to get the games out quickly.

UPDATE July, 18: all apps and games have now been added to the apple AppStore, it took a week but all online now.

sharepoint

2008-07-15T09:48:00.002+01:00

been reading about sharepoint a bit over past two days and looks interesting, mossy i think i'll buy a book, oh wait i still have a .net book here i have yet to really use.

will try and find some tutorials and getting started guides online and post them shortly.

how big is a gallon

2008-07-14T14:39:00.004+01:00

we often hear that cars in the united states get low miles per gallon. this is often not as accurate as it sounds. in europe we mainly now use km/litre for new cars, but many british magazine will still state the mpg. these mpg cannot be directly compared to usa mpg, as the usa gallon is smaller than the uk gallon, yes smaller. as it is smaller we get more miles per gallon as we have more fuel in the tank.

1 UK Imperial Gallon = 4.55 litres
1 US Liquid Gallon = 3.79 litres

although even with this factored in cars in the states are still extremely poor when compared to european or asian built cars. the engine size of cars in the states are just huge, in europe we tend to purchase smaller cars and smaller engines normally less than 2l, but in the states a compact car has at least a 2l engine and they are all automatic too which is about 10% less efficient than a manual.

iPhone 3G

2008-07-11T12:54:00.003+01:00

received a call from o2 this morning, they didn't get enough iphones in to cater for all customers, i was number 30 on the list and was told that i was near the top for next batch they get it in. so i'm guessing that each store got about 20-25 iphones.

will have to wait, o2 said they would give me a call once more come in, hopefully soon.

iranian missile image

2008-07-10T14:38:00.005+01:00

new york times story today has questioned the photography from Iran yesterday regarding their test-firing of nine long and medium range missiles. apparently the photo was altered, the original can be viewed at the new york times. they may have wanted to conceal their launch vehicle used, or even a mis-fire, and did so with the smoke from the far right launch.

adobe are currently working on software that will automatically detect tampering with images as reported in wired magazine last year, hopefully this will solve many of these issues.

click on the above image to see it larger, and look at the two missiles in questions, also look at both images overlay below. the red and orange circled missiles as shown in nytimes are not the same, even when compared from the earlier image of the missile (left image taken few milliseconds before). there is no doubt that the smoke has been cloned, the missile has been cloned in, but it has not been cloned from any of the missiles already in the photo.

above image shows the main missile pasted from the left image, pasted onto the right image. if anyone reads this and thinks i'm somehow a professional when it comes to images, or fakes, i am not. just messing around with filters.

digital divide

2008-07-09T14:37:00.003+01:00

firefox has a very interesting download chart on their website for firefox 3, the world map shows the number of downloads per country. it also shows the digital divide between developed world, developing world and africa. noticed that some countries in africa have below 1,000 downloads, really is an interesting insight into internet usage worldwide.

some interesting figures, china only has 720,000 downloads with a population of 1.2 billion, biggest surprise is india (the it outsourcing capital) has only 400,000 downloads for a population of 1.0 billion. to put this in context italy with only 60 million people has more downloads than china or india at 760,000.

the balkans region (south west europe) is particularly low and i was surprised at this. also look at iran, with a population of 80 million people they have over 500,000 downloads, impressive.

upc broadband

2008-07-02T15:23:00.007+01:00

upc have updated their broadband speeds, 10mbps for €30 a month with no cap! the 20mbps is excellent too at €40, but unsure if it would reach that speed in the real world. also achieving that speed through wireless is almost impossible even with pre-n routers, so wired would be the best solution for the 20mbps service. irish times article.

excellent interview with robert dunn of upc in the irish times last week.

so if you live in a town or city with upc broadband (chorus or ntl) get it and ditch eircom, it will not only save you money it will also be faster and have no download cap. you will also be able to move over to upc phone too and transfer your number.

windows x

2008-06-30T14:08:00.006+01:00

great article in the new york times regarding what microsoft should do next for windows, start from scratch like apple did with os x. this makes sense and i wonder why microsoft hasn't started on this transition. they are obsessed with backward compatibility, yet vista breaks all the rules. vista carries all the bulk outdated code from previous os but still can't run many old applications. so why didn't they just start from the beginning build a lean operating system and run legacy apps in a virtual pc!

many mac users know that mac os x on a low spec system will run very fast, compared to similar spec computer and vista. also apple have announced that mac os 10.6 will focus on speed and not on new features.

ny times, june 29 2008

ireland.com and irishtimes.com

2008-06-30T13:10:00.005+01:00

so big news of the day, the irish times is now free to read online at irishtimes.com, at long last! ireland.com has been transformed into a lifestyle portal similar to entertainment.ie but hopefully a lot better. as entertainment.ie is not very good.

very pleased that the irish times has decided to do this, will also be interesting to see how ireland.com pulls it off, ireland needs a good website like this. currently i still use aertel for lots of things as it's so easy to find information, hopefully ireland.com will be similar.

www.irishtimes.com is governed by the Memoranda and Articles of The Irish Times Trust which mandates us "to publish The Irish Times as an independent newspaper primarily concerned with serious issues for the benefit of the community throughout the whole of Ireland, free from any form of personal or party political, commercial, religious or other sectional control". GERALDINE KENNEDY

upc 20Mbps broadband

2008-06-27T14:57:00.004+01:00

looks like broadband speeds in ireland are at last picking up. upc have recently announced 20Mbps broadband in cities and towns around ireland.

now if only eircom would hurry up and increase their service above the current lame maximum of only 3Mbps!!!

office 2007

2008-06-23T19:22:00.003+01:00

i have been using office 2007 for a little over six months now, after the initial annoyance with the menu system, having to learn how to do the simplest of things all over again. is frustrating at times. overall it's a big improvement over previous versions.

excel 2007 has some nice improvements, like the undo button actually works now, even after clicking save. but still some basic formating like changing text to uppercase, lowercase or title case are needlessly complex.

word 2007, i think word is the same as word 95, not a lot of progress over the past 12 years, except that it's now slower to load. a few areas are smarter, but i still think microsoft need to redesign how styles are handled and displayed when editing a document. doing simple tasks like headers and footers, changing page numbers can be little annoying.

powerpoint 2007, have not used it at all. i started using apples keynote when it first came out on the mac, and it's fantastic. only since then has microsoft actually improved powerpoint, but i still can't see it being better than keynote.

access 2007, briefly used it, better visual display of cells makes it easier to use and input data. the real test would be to check if making reports or developing simple db apps has improved. will look into this down the line.

overall, if you're using office 2003, not much improvement to justify the cost of upgrading. there is a learning curve for the new menu system, but once mastered it is better than previous versions.

o2 speakeasy price hike

2008-06-16T11:12:00.005+01:00

so o2.ie updated their rates lately, above is a chart comparing the previous Nightowl rate (the majority of users) and the new O2 Experience rate. notice the jump in price of calls for weekend, and the huge jump in call prices to other irish networks, from 19c/12c to 49c. a massive jump. even the cost of calling voicemail went up. the rise in weekend rates is a big surprise though, o2 are trying to move people over to this based on their phone a friend for free for life, but that friend must also be on o2.

for the new rates o2's website says the following:

We’ve changed our Speak easy price plans to give you even greater value.

greater value, wtf.

all you have to do is to call o2 and check what plan you are on, and they can switch you back.

iPhone in ireland

2008-06-10T11:42:00.005+01:00

o2 ireland have released details on the iPhone 3G in ireland:

The 8GB iPhone 3G will cost €49 on the €100 monthly iPhone tariff, €99 on the €65 tariff and €169 on the €45 tariff.

The 16GB iPhone 3G will cost €129 on the €100 monthly tariff option, €169 on the €65 tariff and €229 on the €45 tariff.

there is a very big jump in price for the 16gb model. all tariffs are the same as o2 currently offers and yes data traffic is still only 1gb. but at least they have teamed up with wifi provider bitbuzz. bitbuzz will offer free wifi service to iphone in 155 locations around ireland.

not sure why they are sticking with the 1gb data plan across the board. on a 3g phone, this will be reached much quicker than before, especially with gps and google maps!

of course if you are an eircom broadband customer you will also be able to avail of their free wifi hotspots.

UPDATE From O2.ie

iPhone 3G will offer faster browsing speeds on the move over O2’s HSDPA network. It will be available in an 8GB model and a 16GB model. The 8GB iPhone 3G will cost just €49 on the €100 monthly iPhone tariff, €99 on the €65 tariff and €169 on the €45 tariff. The 16GB iPhone 3G will cost €129 on the €100 monthly tariff option, €169 on the €65 tariff and €229 on the €45 tariff. All iPhone tariffs include anytime minutes, texts and a 1GB data bundle.

iPhone 3G

2008-06-09T21:09:00.003+01:00

slick, and now with built-in gps even better. i am very glad i did not purchase a gps for my car for €180 last month can now get an iphone for nearly the same price.

how fast can you type

2008-06-07T17:41:00.001+01:00

this is a cool little website that checks how many words a minute you can type, very handy little website.

http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/

google maps

2008-06-03T16:43:00.004+01:00

carlow bypass opened last week, nice to see google keeping their maps up-to-date, the new bypass is now shown on google maps. this shows how committed google are to their mapping system and these updates are delivered far quicker then traditional gps maps from garmin or similar. the inclusion of gps in mobile devices will make google the mapping system of choice and i look forward to the new iphone next week with built in gps and 3g internet working together to make google maps the best gps system out there.

carlow bypass

2008-05-29T20:29:00.005+01:00

the new carlow bypass opened today which will make traveling to waterford or kilkenny from dublin a bit quicker.

lisbon treaty

2008-05-21T23:29:00.002+01:00

the excellent daily article on the lisbon treaty by irish times journalist jamie smyth is available to read (for free) on the irish times website. jamie's series of articles and the irish times daily coverage is a great way to learn more about the lisbon treaty.

http://www.ireland.com/focus/thelisbontreaty/
http://www.ireland.com/focus/thelisbontreaty/lisbonexplained/

http://www.lisbontreaty2008.ie/
http://www.lisbontreaty2008.ie/Lisbon_Treaty_English.pdf
http://www.lisbontreaty2008.ie/HandBookEng.pdf

yahoo uk

2008-05-19T16:11:00.004+01:00

anyone noticed how yahoo.com is now redirecting people outside of the usa automatically to their regional page. so if i enter yahoo.com as url, yahoo will send me to uk.yahoo.com and doesn't offer a method of returning to yahoo.com, although their help website claims it does, i can't get it to work. so now i must go to us.yahoo.com to go to the yahoo.com website. are we sure microsoft didn't purchase yahoo?

http://help.yahoo.com/l/uk/yahoo/homepage/troubleshoot-02.html

this type of thing annoys the hell out of me, as uk.yahoo.com has no info about ireland, has british related web adverts which aren't applicable in ireland, all for the uk market. if they had directed me to ie.yahoo.com and actually had some irish news it would be fine, but they just have uk news. this is the reason i use google.

best buy

2008-05-14T22:04:00.002+01:00

best buy purchased 50% of carphone warehouse yesterday and plan on opening hundreds of stores across europe, including ireland. carphone chief exec promises "a retail experience such that you will never have seen before in europe", sounds promising.

The Best Buy Company, the electronics retailer, will open its first stores in Europe by investing £1.1 billion ($2.16 billion) in a joint venture with the Carphone Warehouse Group. Best Buy, based in Richfield, Minn., will open stores under its brand name across Europe beginning next year in Britain. NY Times

i can see this trend continuing as business from the usa move to earn euro to prop up revenue and profit as the dollar's value falls. this should be good news for ireland as we have positioned ourselves as the hq hub of europe for american multinationals.

where have all the emails gone?

2008-04-29T17:19:00.003+01:00

this is very interesting from a computer technology point of view, and worrying too. basically the email archives of the white house have disappeared. the audio below is a 20 minutes long interview with david gewirtz author of the new book, Where Have All The Emails Gone?

Above audio from Ring of Fire on Air America Radio and their freely available podcast, originally broadcast on April 27 2008

it's a tragic number!

2008-04-22T15:11:00.002+01:00

i moved over my business phone to the three network about six weeks ago and until today i had only good things to say about them, full four/five bar signal in my house. well after over half an hour talking with their mumbai call centre my liking for them has dropped, a lot. basically my phone won't connect to their 2G netwoork where i live from this morning. i don't live within three's 3G network coverage, so i get 2G network, which is fine. but now my phone won't connect to their 2G network and their only solution is to drive to dublin to a three store to check that it is not my phone. as a technician won't be called out to check the mast until it is confirmed that it is not my handset by staff of three store. trick is, all of three's stores are within three's 3G network coverage. so they will have to give me a new phone and sim, then i drive home again and check.

the lesson learned from this story, never ever deal with a company who has their call centre based in india!

watch south park online

2008-04-13T23:01:00.005+01:00

earlier this month south park announced that it will be available to watch freely on-line, i wasn't sure but i assumed it would only be available in the united states like similar services from abc & nbc, and also bbc's iplayer which is only available in the uk.

but no, south park is available to watch everywhere, including here in ireland. so now you can watch every episode from every season on the south park studios website, there are two or three very short adverts in the middle of the show, and the quality is very good. watch them now!

upc broadband

2008-04-10T11:34:00.002+01:00

the speeds of broadband are finally on the increase in ireland, digiweb last week increased speeds across their packages, upc (chorus/ntl) has also upped their speeds, see table above. eircom have also committed to up their speeds this summer, but due to line rental the eircom price will be about €30 more expensive per month than the other packages.

i think upc, as mentioned in earlier posts, will become the best broadband provider in ireland once their network is completely upgrade and they shake off the ntl legacy. 12mb broadband for €40 a month is great and with 1mb upload speeds it's really good.

micro laptops

2008-04-09T15:46:00.003+01:00

while apple decided to produce a super slim laptop which is powerful at $1,600 the rest of the computer industry has decided to launch micro laptops with 8.9" screens, small solid state hard drives, no optical drive, and a squashed up keyboard all for the super low price of $500 with windows xp. i just look forward to the option of requesting 3g cell card being built into these micro laptops, that would be extremely useful.

asus eee pc started the ball rolling on this one, followed by hp and today dell announced that it plans to launch an 8.9-inch wide-screen laptop for under $499 by this summer.

i already suggested to duffy that he purchase one of these while he goes travelling this summer, great for checking e-mail on the go, uploading photos, transfering photos from camera to 30gb ipod classic, perfect for $500.

windows experience index

2008-04-08T22:43:00.003+01:00

i don't get the windows experience index system, this is the score from my inspiron 1520, as mentioned in earlier posts. i don't get how the most graphic intense requirement for a standard computer (gaming) scores 4.4, yet what you would assume is low end 2d desktop graphics stuff gets a score of 3.4, all this on a laptop with a nvidia geforce 8400m gs graphics card.