TechWire

Dell starts designing nice stuff

Simple, but effective: its new Studio Hybrid system looks great, even if it's fairly basic under the hood. Nice price, though, at €550 (including delivery and a 19 inch monitor).

Watching TV shows and movies online without downloading

Someone asked me whether watching Season 5 of The Wire on this website was legal. I said I'd get back to them on it. :)

How to get close attention to your email: 'recall' it

Like many peoiple, I get hundreds of emails a day. Like many people, I just gloss over and dismiss lots of them after a few seconds. But if you really want to ensure a closer look, simply do what this person did today:

...Nina Wainwright would like to recall the message, "Government targets to reduce regulation burden merely “lip service” say SMEs"...

Yep, automatically, I go back and pore over the initial email to see whether there was some boo-boo. If this was intentional, Nina, it was a job well done. I now know all about regulatory sub-paragraphs for SMEs, or at least the angle you're pushing.

O2's newly improved modem speed

Sitting in a cafe in Drumcondra, Dublin 9 (the Cheese Pantry). Just ran a speed test with the upgraded O2 modem (which promises up to 7.2Mbs). I'm getting 3.12Mbs down, 1.24Mbs up, which is pretty impressive.

BT introduces 24Mbs broadband for €42.50

On top of recent moves by UPC (NTL/Chorus) and Magnet, this should open up proper broadband services in the country. And Eircom will have to move on the issue now. According to BT, current availability:

Tallaght, Dun Laoghaire, Dolphins Barn, Dublin North Main, Terenure, Merrion, Crown Alley, Beggars Bush, Swords, Clondalkin, Summerhill, Blanchardstown, Naas, Dooradoyle, Navan and Kilkenny City.

By the end of September 2008 the new broadband service will be available in Douglas, Ballincollig (Cork) and Whitehall, Belcamp, and Foxrock (Dublin) and Greystones (Wicklow).

Magnet's 50Mbs broadband: where it's available

So far, it seems to only be available in a handful of estates and new developments in Dublin, with a couple also in Meath and Laois. Here's the list so far:

Dublin
Adamstown
Beacon South Quarter
Belmayne
Carrickmines Manor
Carrington
Castlemoyne
Castleway (Chancery Lane)
Clongriffin
Coleport
Fairview Close
Grand Central
Heywood Court
Levmoss Park
Lymewood Mews
Northern Cross
Parkview
Parklands (Santry)
Redwood
Spencer Dock
St. Annes (Milltown)
St. Samson's
The Coast
The Gallery (Donabate)
The Grange (Stillorgan)
Vantage

Meath
Dunboyne Castle
Williamstown Stud

Laois
Fairgreen Village, Portlaoise
Maryborough
Rockview

Missing laptops blah blah blah

Here's a classic (from a press release by Dell today):

NEARLY 4,000 LAPTOPS LOST OR MISSING IN

EUROPE’S MAJOR AIRPORTS EVERY WEEK

· Over 800,000 laptops are lost annually in US and European airports ¹

· Nearly half of surveyed mobile professionals carry confidential company information and don’t take steps to protect it

· Dell ProSupport services keep mobile professionals protected and connected

Of course, virtually none of that "confidential company information" is of any use whatsoever to someone in the business of stealing laptops. But why ruin a good sales pitch? The whole "missing laptops" scare is a load of bunkum: there is little or no threat. Chances are that a laptop thief sells it for e75 to for scag money.

Why computers in schools are a waste of money

Official department of education/department of communications policy is for more computers into primary and secondary schools: Minister Ryan has pledged a chunk of extra money for such a purpose. What a waste of money. Kids don't need computers in schools -- most already have them at home already. And even if they don't, how can computers in schools help educate a child? Maybe CAD skills or technical studies for junior cert or transition year are worth it. But for younger kids? Go back to the basics: reading, writing, language skills, maths. Leave the computing skills until they get sad and lonely later on in life.

Lack of diversity/views in Irish blogs

I agree with a lot (but not everything) that Damien and Twenty Major said about bloggers and the Irish blogging scene over the weekend.

Twenty said it was boring. Damien said it was weak and feared it could be suckered into boring reportage.

But is Damien's suggestion correct, that "boring reportage", and not "actual opinion" is the standard set by "the current media" (as opposed to Irish blogs)?

Respectfully, no. The truth is that if you want diversity of opinion, the Irish blogosphere is the last place to look.

Want a dissenting view on orthodox middle-class views of current affairs (US invasions, urban planning, health issues, gender issues etc)? Don't look to Irish blogs: they largely sing off the same standard-issue hymn sheet (with one or two exceptions).

The only place to find an actual diversity of views is the current media. The Mail will never agree with The Irish Times. The Sun is unlikely ever to concur much with Village Magazine. The Sindo couldn't be more different to The Irish Catholic. I guess that's why people buy them: the difference in opinions (in addition to the new information they publish).

For dull, repetitive reportage, stick with the blogs.

Are Irish blogs just crap?

Do they actually achieve anything beyond a pub-style conversation among a couple of hundred (max) people? Do they actually contribute anything, in themselves, to furthering understanding or offering new information on any topic?

The only blog I'm aware of that genuinely does this is Damien's. And not through his views which, though sometimes interesting, can also be found in a number of different sources in the 'traditional' media. But through genuinely helpful devices such as his occasional Freedom Of Information requests, which, to me, bring his blog into the realm of proper journalism. As far as I can see -- and please correct me if I'm wrong -- nobody else bothers their arse.

Then there are the ranks of freelance journalists who proclaim the value and importance of blogging. That is, until they get a staff gig somewhere. Then their blog mysteriously disappears and they laugh it off as something they did to fill the time until they 'got a job'.

So does anyone actually take Irish blogs seriously? What do they contribute, beyond entertaining a group of about 2,000 to 3,000 people?

Also, are their creators simply classifiable as either:

a) people trying to canvas business for themselves
b) people who are bored
c) people who are lonely
d) people who are angry

Spare us the 'green' product pitches, please

A word for any PR types who may be reading -- can you please stop artificially forcing in environmentally friendly angles to your product/service pitches? 80 per cent of them are pathetic.

Like the one last week from an electronic caddy charging company, which is trying to reheat some old press releases by adding in the line that it "reduces your carbon footprint".

Microsoft is a particular offender here, constantly claiming that its 'productivity suites' (which sound like a conference room in a Holiday Inn, by the way) save traveling, save fuel consumption, save the planet, blah blah blah blah blah.

I realise that it's tempting to chance your arm with it, but it just annoys journalists. Some of us, anyway.

When journalists go to war with sub-editors

For the small number of readers who have ever written regularly for a large media organisation, this is very funny. It's the London Times columnist and food critic Giles Coren raging against the sub-editors' changed to his copy. Here's an extract:

"...that is as bad as editing can be. fuck, i hope you're proud. it will be small relief for the author that nobody reads your poxy magazine.

never ever ask me to write something for you. and don't pay me. i'd rather take £400 quid for assassinating a crack whore's only child in a revenge killing for a busted drug deal - my integrity would be less compromised.

jesus fucking wept i don't know what else to say."

Facebook libel case in Britain

From the BBC's news website...

A businessman whose personal details were "laid bare" in fake entries on the Facebook social networking website has won a libel case at the High Court.

Mathew Firsht was awarded £22,000 in damages against an old school friend, Grant Raphael, who created the profile.

The judge ruled that Mr Raphael's defence - that the entry was created by mischievous party gate-crashers at his flat - was "built on lies".

The profiles were on Facebook for 16 days until they were taken down.

DTT: much ado about nothing

DTT is a bunch of overhyped waffle. Nobody who has an existing Sky, NTL or Chorus service is going to switch over. And I can't see how Boxer, the winning applicant, is going to meet its roll-out obligations.

Why Batman sucks

As a superhero, I mean. His vehicles (see picture) are naff, his costume looks like a cheap outfit put together in a medium-grade theme park somewhere in New Jersey or Blackpool.

And the storyline is always crap: always. Even Batman Begins, which was reasonable, had no more than an average grade plot by science-fiction standards (no better, say, than the current mediocre hit, Wanted).

And for those who say: look, it's just a superhero film, it's not supposed to have a decent, or original, plot, I say: rubbish. Look at The Matrix. Look at Spiderman. Even look at X-Men. They're all stimulating in one sense or another. But there is not one Batman film that inspires people to go back a second time. They're just stupid. No wonder DC Comics is thinking of killing the character off -- he's a crap superhero.

Yes, I will go and see it this weekend, but then again, I went to see Hancock and Wanted, and will probably go to Babylon AD. So that's no measure.