According to Comreg, spectrum allocated for wireless broadband providers is maxed out for Dublin. That means that punters had better like the current offerings, because there won't be any new entrants to the market soon. A spokesman did say, however, that it was in the process of looking for new spectrum for the sector.
Recent Posts
- How many people really use Twitter for Irish political debate?
- Dear BlackBerry, Bubble Bash 2 isn't compensation for a week's email disruption
- Why today's ECJ decision spells trouble for the GAA, FAI and IRFU
- Panoramic shots with Sony's NEX-5N
- Why Google's new €75m data centre is about more than jobs
- Vodafone's new broadband dongle hits 14Mbs. (Yes, in the real world.)
- More Lumix GF3 messing around
- Panasonic Lumix GF3
- Hacked music company's email to Irish victims
- Where to get the best operator deal on an iPhone 4 in Ireland
« April 2006 | Main | June 2006 »
iTrips to become legal in Ireland, says Comreg
People using iTrips, the small radio-transmitting gadgets used for connecting iPods to car stereos, will soon be law-abiding citizens. Comreg, the telecoms regulator, has revealed to this blog that it is to soon decriminalise the use of such short-distance transmitters. The only catch is that the items will have to have the 'CE' mark, indicating that they conform with EU standards (meaning that models imported from the US will remain illegal). iTrips were sold in Irish shops for a short while until Comreg clamped down on retailers, pointing out the rather anachronous broadcasting legislation.
Munster fans mugged on Ebay.ie
The predictable scamming of desparate Heineken Cup final fans on Ebay is well underway. Two naive gullible unlucky Munster supporters from Cork lost €160 each when they 'won' an auction on Ebay and paid the seller via Paypal, only for the latter to scarper with the tickets. The seller had no feedback comments, which didn't appear to deter the raging fans. And on it continues. As I write, this auction has a ticket for €200 -- and no feedback comments on the seller. Only a mug would buy it.
iBooks out, MacBooks in
Get ready for cut-price deals on whatever remaining iBooks are out there. Apple has just launched its new replacement, the Intel-based MacBook (in either black or white). Starting at €1,120, it now means that Apple's cheapest laptop is over twice the price of an entry-level PC laptop.
Red mobiles for HIV
Motorola has launched a special red Moto Slvr phone as part of the expanding 'Red' retail campaign that has seen the likes of American Express, Gap, Converse and Armani pledge percentages of sales to charity. €10 of the phone's price will go to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is backed by the UN and (invariably) Bono.
New pre-pay packages from 3 Ireland
3 is expected to complete a u-turn on its Irish market strategy when it announces new pre-paid packages next week. It has arranged a press conference for Thursday and, though company executives won't say what it's about, the industry is expecting an announcement on new pre-paid packages. 3 had initially rejected pre-pay, citing a lower income per phone. However, it has been forced into a turnaround by low subscriber numbers, thought to be under 25,000, despite large advertisement campaigns. Around three quarters of the Irish mobile phone market is pre-paid. 3 offers pre-paid mobile deals in Britain, its biggest market. Expect handset prices here to be at least 30 per cent more expensive than Britain, which is the norm for mobile phone operators. Despite 3's post-pay limitations, it is generally the cheapest of the mobile phone operators in Ireland.
UPDATE (May 16th): And so it has come to pass. Although 3 Ireland's website is down as I write, the company is offering an introductory three month offer of 3 cents per text and call to any network.
Satnavs: useless in new cars?
Looking for a satellite navigation gadget? Watch out -- it may not work with your make of car. A growing number of vehicles are being made with athermic -- sometimes called solar -- windscreen glass. This type of glass has a thin layer of metal attached to it to block parts of the sunlight that heat a car up too much. Environmentalists like it because it reduces the need for air conditioning, thus saving energy. But sun rays are not the only thing the glass stymies. It knocks back lots of different kinds of radio signals, including those used by GPS satnav devices. I discovered this when trying to use Sony’s Nav-U50 in a Mercedes. (Not mine.) Other devices that have difficulty with the athermic windscreens are radar detectors and even mobile phone car kits. To get around this, luxury car makers are building satnav devices directly into the dash and wiring them to a small ‘shark-fin’ antenna on the roof of the car.
Cars built with athermic glass include new Renaults, Citroens, Peugeots, Vauxhalls, Audis, BMWs (X5s anyway) and some higher-end Mercs.
Fujifilm Ireland: we’re number one
Fujifilm Ireland claims that 214,000 Irish adults own one of its digital cameras. It also claims to be number one in the Irish market. One in five digital camera-owners chose Fujifilm models (such as the Z1, left), claims a statement from the company’s Irish division. Quoting 2005 Joint National Readership Survey results, it claims that the total number of digital camera-owners is 32.5 per cent of the adult population, or 1,072,000 people. And Fujifilm, it claims, has 20 per cent of that market. The survey was carried out among 1,000 adults by British-based firm Research Now.
