TechWire

100 hotspots for Bitbuzz

Bitbuzz has clocked up its 100th public wi-fi hotspot (the Guinness Storehouse). Congratulations to Alex, Steve and the guys. They're a hardworking, very entrepreneurial bunch and it's not easy to take on the big guns as a small independent set-up. (Can't wait for the low-price, mass market era of wi-fi! Hint, hint...)

New broadband speeds from Chorus

The cable operator has upped its speeds and cut connection costs in a bid to match its sister outfit, NTL. In brief, the prices are:

1MB (100k upload) -- €20 per month
2MB (200k upload) -- €25 per month
3MB (300k upload) -- €30 per month
6MB (512k upload) -- €40 per month

The first three months rental are free and there's no connection fee.

No e-mails please, we're an Irish tech company

What's the record for late responses to an e-mail inquiry for an Irish tech company? Three weeks ago, I logged a query to a midlands regional broadband player called Last Mile. It was sent to the company's 'info @' e-mail address. They finally responded this morning (and with a holding, 'your e-mail has been logged' e-mail at that). Other companies go even further. I've logged three e-mails with national outfit Irish Broadband in the last six months (through its online contact form) with no reply or even acknowledgement. That many Irish companies don't take e-mail seriously is not new. That it includes tech companies -- and communications ones in particular -- is pretty depressing.

More dodgy ads

Eircom is currently running broadband ads during halftime breaks of World Cup matches, urging people to sign up so they can watch clips of matches online. Fine, except we can't get any World Cup clips online. Reminds me of a few years back when the company ran an ad campaign with kids watching movies online thanks to 'broadband' (which was a 128k connection at the time)...

Update: Naturally, as soon as this is posted, things change (nothing to do with this blog, I'm sure, unless it has some powerful readers in Fifa): Yahoo and Fifa appear to have changed their settings and clips now can be downloaded from the Fifa.com site from Ireland.

Fun stuff

Don't normally post light-hearted video stuff on this particular blog, but this is good. It's George singing U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday. The song is free to download, too.

Shake, slash, cut

Apple has slashed the price of its software editing programme, Shake 4.1, to €500 (from €3,000). Should interest some low-budget film makers.

How to make your mobile an iPod

Want to give your mobile or PDA iTunes functionality? Now you can, thanks to a free program called SyncTunes. The E61 blog gives a step-by-step guide to installing the program. Although the blog is focused on Nokia's E-Series phones, the program also works with higher-end Sony Ericsson mobiles, PDAs and even Sony PSPs. A memory card is also required and the process is configured for Macs only. Thanks for the tip, E61.

"Nokia's Blackberry" for Ireland next month

Nokia's E61 smartphone -- styled and presented like a Blackberry -- is to be launched "properly" in Ireland in July, according to Vodafone executives. This means that it will be available at a subsidised price on a mobile tariff plan, which this blog understands to be €200. The phone is available with push e-mail, similar to Blackberry's, and a Qwerty keyboard. No word yet from other operators as to whether they'll take it up, but it's unlikely.

To come: RTE on your mobile

RTE is currently trialling a DAB-IP (ie digital transmission) TV service on special mobile phones. It is broadcasting both RTE1 and RTE2 on a signal that can be picked up on HTC's Trilogy mobile phone handset. The idea is that one of the mobile phone operators will sign up to the technology and launch the service commercially, a product that Virgin Mobile is about to do in Britain. RTE's head of operations, JP Coakley, told me that he couldn't see a reason why the service wouldn't be taken up "by the end of the year". I got my hands on one of the HTC handsets the week before last and the reception and quality of the broadcast is excellent. It also has no problem playing in stereo, unlike Vodafone's 3G Sky TV service. The HTC handset also has Windows Mobile on it.

Make broadband universal by law, says TD

A Labour Party TD has come out and said that the government should force Eircom to provide broadband to whoever has a phone line. Tommy Broughan says that the company's Universal Service Obligation, which applies to telephone lines and services, should be extended to cover broadband. He argues that a proposal within the European Commission to do just this has been ignored by the governement. For its part, Eircom is known to view this sort of proposal as "crazy".

Vodafone Ireland's new flat price datacard

As predicted, Vodafone has come in with a new €50 per month (including Vat) flat fee for its 3G datacard service. On top of this, it's upgrading its network to HSDPA -- which hits up to 1.2Mbs now and a promised 11Mbs within months -- starting in Dublin this October. Two thirds of the country's population will have access to the HSDPA network by October 2007, according to Vodafone Ireland. No word from O2 or Meteor as to their pricing response, though it had better be sharpish. Most punters get fleeced on the pay-per-data-downloaded model, which has failed the mobile industry badly (and which Vodafone now admits). 3 appears not to give a damn. And get ready for slashed monthly wi-fi subscriptions, too -- who the hell will pay up to €150 per month (take a bow, BT Openzone) for access to the internet in a handful of hotels and cafes when you can get an entire city's roaming for €50?

Bye bye Screenclick

Finally cancelled Screenclick.com. It worked well sometimes but, ultimately, was too hit and miss in terms of delivery and selection for my tastes. It would suit someone who isn't too fussy about which film they receive and when. And that appears to be plenty of people, with a reputed 1,000 titles posted out every day.

Vodafone to introduce flat rate wireless broadband

Tomorrow, Vodafone is expected to introduce a flat rate wireless broadband product. The product will likely be in the form of HSDPA datacards (with Vodafone Sim cards) at close to 1MBS download speeds. I'm not sure about geographical coverage yet. This is a reasonable leap from the mobile industry's (failed) pay-per-data-downloaded model which it has used on its datacards up to now. I expect a price of not more than €50 per month, including Vat, on subscription (another upfront cost for the datacard may also apply).

When big news hits, servers go down

Or at least that's what RTE discovered over the last 90 minutes. Even a full two hours after the news of Haughey's death, its news site is very slow to load, if load it does. On the other hand, it goes to show how few Irish news sites there are online (ie there's only really one).

Tut tut, TalkTalk

TalkTalk, the phone service operated by The Carphone Warehouse, has received an embarrassingly public slap on the wrist from Comreg. Turns out it has been cold-calling customers who didn't want the privilege, which Comreg labelled "serious failures in the exercise of [TalkTalk's] obligations" to its customers. Here's what the regulator had to say in a press release today:

"ComReg and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) have recently received a number of complaints from consumers who have received cold-calls from TalkTalk despite those consumers having recorded their preference NOT to receive such unsolicited direct-marketing calls. ComReg and the ODPC were made aware of a series of data integrity issues in TalkTalk’s internal processes and procedures. Intervening on behalf of consumers, ComReg and the ODPC instructed TalkTalk to immediately cease all direct marketing sales activities until it had audited and rectified all procedural defects. TalkTalk was further instructed to issue a public apology for contacting consumers who had chosen not to receive sales calls."

D'Oh!