TechWire

Ireland's flimsy take-up of broadband

In its latest State Of The Net publication, Amas has produced a handy reminder as to the lack of takeup of broadband -- for various reasons -- in Ireland.
It reminds us that the 2006 Census survey showed about 20 per cent of Irish households opting for broadband. Yet 63 per cent of households chose digital TV. I wonder why?
The truth is that there is a lot of huffing and puffing over the "lack" of broadband availability in Ireland. I would estimate that at least 80 per cent of households in Ireland can get some form of broadband of at least 1Mbs. (It goes up to 100 per cent if you consider satellite, though this is still very dear.) And yet just 20 per cent take it up?
Come off it, lads -- admit that three quarters of the population can't be arsed with getting broadband into their homes...

Dell's €7,700 laptop

Ever wondered how much a Dell laptop would cost if you took all of its accessories? €7,694. That's based on picking its Inspiron XPS M1710 model, which, unadorned, costs €880. Throw in the warranties, protection plans, security software, memory upgrades, external doohdahs (printer, keyboard, mouse, speakers etc) and you increase the price by 850 per cent.

New toy

Just got my hands on an Xbox 360 Elite (with 120GB hard drive). Shame that you still need to buy the €170 HD-DVD drive as an accessory to play high def films. Still, that's the rest of the month gone...

Is this the ugliest new PC on the market?

Lenovo's Thinkcentre M57 is a stellar performer, no doubt, but ugh...

Are you happy with your laptop?

Is it crap? Does it breakdown? Or is it damn reliable?

I'm writing a piece about 'home' (consumer) laptops this week...

New online photo-sharing services

I see that there's a new Dublin-based photo sharing website, pix.ie. It's clearly modelled on Flickr and the rest of them. So far, it seems to have few users but good luck to them anyway. Meanwhile, Fuji Ireland has launched fujipix.ie, a sort of shutterfly service.

iPod Touch to sink iPhone in Europe?

Is it me or has Apple lessened the reason to buy an iPhone, with the launch of its new iPod Touch? The new gadget has the same touchscreen system as the iPhone, has wi-fi and also has more memory for music.
Tomorrow, we'll find out about Apple's plans for its "UK" iPhone launch. O2 is expected to be the operator unveiled as the "UK" partner. Surely it'll feel a little miffed that half the iPhone's functionality is now available to the wide world on the new iPod? Why bother signing an expensive contract with O2?

So long, sweet TV...

Am (tearfully) returning one of the best products I've ever reviewed, Samsung's 40 inch LCD TV (model 40R82). For this money (€1,300 in Power City), it's the best large-screen TV on the market, hands down.

iPhone fact of the day:

Apple has reached 1 million iPhone sales in 10 weeks. Nokia sells 1 million phones every day.

Problems with Paypal

I've been hearing about more and more problems with Paypal. Today I got correspondence from someone who keeps getting rejected when they try to open up a small business account. Recently, I tried to send a few dollars to a God daughter in the US. It would allow me to send only in increments of 10 or 20 dollars and only every fifth or sixth try. Incredibly frustrating. I wonder if others are experiencing problems with the service?