Author Archive

FluffyFluffy little star – Fluffy Links Sept 7th 2006

Thursday, September 7th, 2006

Inspired by BoingBoing: Google Ireland search for confidential data.

Via Julian is the East Cork Early Music Festival..

Beowulf performed by Benjamin Bagby. The world’s foremost expert in Medieval music performance sings a major section of the Beowulf epic in the original Anglo-Saxon, to lyre accompaniment.

Good post by John Carroll on Nicholas Sarkozy’s approach to the youth of his country.

Another Industry funded Regulator. You’d think they’d learn that sometimes that doesn’t work.

TCAL talks about Rick O’Shea’s Brainstock. Great idea. Go support.

Liberman finally gets a blog. Bit late no?

and finally. D’Lefties are back interviewing.

Bubble Brothers becomes the facilitator – Suppliers interact with customers

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006

A cunning plan as Julian calls it. I quite like this idea. Having your suppliers talk about their product on your blog. You facilitate the conversation. Perhaps with good feedback these suppliers might be encouraged to blog themselves.

Read more at the Bubble blog.

Uh ooops

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006

Scott Adams pulls plug on post about Steve Irwin. Tut tut.

Calcanis kept his up. The post that is.

New Content Creators – Blogs to podcasts to video?

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006

Where are the video bloggers in this country? We have Technolotics and we have Balcony TV, anyone else? Blogs pushed the idea of homemade content and subscribing to it and then podcasting came along and is going quite well in fairness, but what about video content? When will Ireland have a Ze Frank and can we help it along? I’ve been chatting to a few tech companies to see would they sponsor some gear for such a thing. Two tech companies seemed interested but then they always say that instead of saying “get lost smelly blogger”. Too polite they are.

What I’d like to see are the current creative types who make quick podcasts, flash games and go crazy with photoshop, to start considering video too. Since most of the stuff created for YouTube and Bebo seems to be done in bedrooms using webcams then the first step to help along this new generation of content producers might be to give them web cams. This is where the tech companies come in to donate their gear and naturally they’d get some good coverage as a result.

What I’d like to see is a few people (maybe 10) given videocameras or even just cheapish webcams after they agreed to create something like a 5 minute show once a week for a month or once a week for two months. These shows would then be uploaded to a website with the sponsor’s name on it. There the public can rate these videos.

An audition or competition would be held to give the webcams and software to those who send in the best proposals. Then each week the shows are watched and after a month prizes of tech gear could be given out to those deemed the best shows. It’d be a first in Ireland for a competition to encourage digital creativity. It would be guaranteed to get the tech company or even non-tech company some good press as well as goodwill. We could even find the elusive Ze O’Frank.

Michael Moore Vs Fred Phelps

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006

and the sodomobile!

eConsultation.ie – Oireachtas starts engaging with the public more

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006

Houses of the Oireachtas   eConsultation.ie is officially launched at noon today. Just don’t go to WWW.econsultation.ie because that doesn’t seem to be working right now.

According to the press release this is what it does:

For the first time in the history of Parliament, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) will provide the opportunity for the Houses to engage directly with the public through the Internet. The Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources will use this innovative approach to assist it in considering proposals from the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in relation to broadcasting. Simply by logging on to eConsultation.ie, the general public can read and give its views on the proposals and, at a later stage, see the Joint Committee considering the views expressed and actively participate in discussion — all on-line.

The site as of this morning doesn’t appear to be finished with a few broken links and “Put something meaningful in here” type space fillers. It might be done by noon though.

These are the current areas of discussion. It’ll be great to see more initiatives like this. Don’t forget to send them in your feedback.

Quick Irish Podcasting stats question

Tuesday, September 5th, 2006

How many hours and how many minutes of Irish podcasts now exist?

Battlestar Galactica Season 3 – Webisode 1

Tuesday, September 5th, 2006

Seems you can’t access the content from non-US IPs so you can find it on YouTube. Not sure how long the below will last:

It’s my party and I’ll campaign if I want to – Democrats release powerful MySpace clone

Tuesday, September 5th, 2006

It’s called Party Builder and it looks quite slick.
Party Builder

What’s it got?

  1. A user dashboard that pulls data from all tools into one, easy-to-manage interface.
  2. A social networking tool that allows for people to connect with one another.
  3. A search tool, allowing users to find each other or to find established groups based on name or zip code.
  4. A groups tool, allowing users to join together for an issue, cause, or candidate. Users then share a common blog, events management system, and listserv.
  5. An events tool that allows users to create real-world events of any kind.
  6. A personal fundraising system, that allows users to take control of the financial future of the party.
  7. A petitions section, allowing users to add their voice to a host of important issue statements.
  8. A letters tool, that easily connects users with the editors of their local papers. Talking points are conveniently provided for a range of issues.
  9. A blog for every user, complete with full management control and commenting functionality. The blogs have an integrated, shared tagging system for system-wide categorization.

More details on number 8:

The Letters section allows you to quickly and easily write letters to the editors of national, regional and local newspapers. You can always use the Letters tool to write about whatever you want, but we do provide useful points for various issues if you want some tips. To get started, simply enter your zip code or click on your issue, then enter your zip code. The simple process will allow you to enter your name and address, write your letter, select which newspapers will get it, and then review everything before you click send.

Simon, is this spam or is it ok because the emails go to generic email addresses? It seems like a great idea for lowering the barrier to entry for campaigning but it’d be a shame to see a local paper get avalanched because of someone wanted their agenda pushed forcefully.

Party Builder is a great step but one has to wonder about the overall editorial policy given that it’s a partisan site. Would it not be better to have a non-partisan system? There doesn’t seem to be any APIs or ability to stick other social networking services into your dashboard. No feedreader either. Shame. No way of importing or exporting OPML. Importantly, where’s the mobile integration? Surely that’s important in this day and age. Still a very good start and maybe all these wants will be added over time.

Maybe when they finish PPARS the developers could be hired to make an Irish version of Party Builder?

Fluffy Cool ideas on a Tuesday

Tuesday, September 5th, 2006

No, this is not going to be a regular thing.

Have your message scroll at the bottom of train timetable screens. The money generated goes to charity.

Speed check sign shows your speed and your licence plate number.

Blogs and forums borrowing features from each other.