The Irish invasion of Silicon Valley has gained quite a bit of momentum in the past few days and today a press release was sent out about it. 18 have now signed up on the Wiki but if anyone wants to build a form for people to register with, please do. Not everyone wants or knows how to play with a Wiki. There’s now also a tag for this event which naturally is: paddysvalley
Archive for the ‘irishblogs’ Category
18 down so far for PaddysValley Tour
Wednesday, April 18th, 2007Fluffy Links – April 18th 2007
Wednesday, April 18th, 2007Sure I can mind the kid. Maybe I can get her to do some blogging.
Now Bertie can have €2000 a plate dinners instead of €650 a plate dinners.
Via Timmy Worstall – the McTerrorist.
Mary Mary quite, what the fuck are you up to? Sending a drink lobby group to represent Ireland at the at a World Health Organisation review on alcohol policy.
“The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible.â€? – Salman Rushdie.
Via Joel Simplycity is a “community for those who value simple” Simple being the cosmetics/toiletries crowd.
By answering regular polls (such as helping choose future packaging or a model for a poster campaign), registered users become “advisers” and earn points to spend on discounted products in an exclusive online boutique.
Clever idea that.
Shoe fetishists will love this. White chocolate Nike runners.
Interesting Intel Ad for their latest run at the Ultra Mobile market:
Cheap photo prints 1p for a limited time only
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007Cheap 1p photos. Terms and conditions. Yadda yadda. 70 prints at most. Offer ends midday Wednesday 18th April 2007. Extended til midday Thursday 19th April.
Google Presentations is a go
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007Google Presentations has been announced and it seems it will be merged in with the offering from Tonic Systems which Google just bought. How long before the Tonic kids walk?
Blurb:
Tonic Systems is a San Francisco-based company that provides Java presentation automation products and solutions for document management
We won’t see the actual product til this Summer though. Still, another Google product that isn’t really “wow” more “ah yeah, makes sense.”
Are Google losing their innovative power? Should they split?
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007Despite how the 1000s of amazing and brilliant people they have, Google really have not done anything innovative in years and years. They might tweak their algorithms but they are still an ad company with a search engine. That’s what has made them the megabucks and allowed them to buy into being ad partners with mySpace and AOL and to buy YouTube.
They’ve branched out and bought radio ad companies and are even trying to serve ads to cable customers but frankly have so far made no impact at all. (While this was in draft they announced a deal with radio monopoly Clearchannel.) Blogger/Blogspot is a total piece of shit and is full to the brim with spam (77% of all blogs on Google’s Blogspot service were spam) and yet they do nothing about it. As was pointed out, WordPress.com seems to be quite spam free, possibly because they don’t allow ads.
It seems Google can’t keep the people they bought in through various acquisitions with the blogger people leaving, the dMarc people and most recently the Dodgeball founders left while making a scathing statement about Google as they did.
I’m still a big fan of Google but it seems nowadays they are doing nothing more than adding new coats of paints to their service, more than doing anything fantastic. Big company disease as Robert Scoble points out. Fred Wilson makes a very valid (and sad) point.
Google’s lawyers are going to become their most important asset and when lawyers are more important than engineers to a company, you lose.
Are Google just a one-hit wonder who are still gaining because of the long-tail? Are they already at the nadir of innovation? Video search is still shite unless you tag, as in audio. 10 years later and Google has not nearly tackled this. Maybe their freephone directory service will allow them gather enough voice samples so that they’ll be able to tackle audio. I’m actually a fan of Google but more and more they are looking just like Microsoft and other big tech corporations. I wonder does that scare the shit out of them because what it means is they’ll be out-Googled themselves some day. Perhaps they should split the company into a Search/SearchR&D company and an ad/content creation company.
Update: John Ward in the comments puts it succintly:
Google is built around search working, google’s revenue model is built around search not working.
Fluffy Links – April 17th 2007
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007The Irish Politics Awards have been announced.
Bjork videos and interviews about her new album Volta.
You can now watch Aljazeera on YouTube. RTE will eventually submit to distributing their content this way. Yes, you will.
Space Invaders doormat. oooh.
Nah, it’s the Pussy Wagon or nothing. 🙂 Sorry Suzy.
This is how easy it is to have YouTube videos taken down.
Patricia McKenna – the Bill O’Reilly of the Irish Green Party.
Watches made from debris from the Titanic.
Here’s a nice techy idea. Fading out no-follows.
Fine Gael or Fine Gowls?
Monday, April 16th, 2007Just read over on IrishElection that Fine Gael think Internet users won’t vote, lads and ladies, maybe they won’t for you. Lots of non-Internet voters won’t either. Probably the majority.
Online is cheap, but the people who are looking at it aren’t likely to vote on election day.
This is for you lads:
God is in the machine?
Monday, April 16th, 2007So it seems the megachurches are coming to Second Life and now also comes the idea of selling Jesus via Twitter. Hmmm
Fluffy Links – April 16th 2007
Monday, April 16th, 2007Via Tom – This is a nice bit of sign-hacking in Cork. Sex is now on the tourism signs?
Joanna Newsom rocked in Dublin on Saturday. Amazing music and very very talented band that played with her. She’s also the cutest thing ever.
Can’t get broadband? Your dial-up bill could be up to €240 for two months, even with a “flatrate” package.
Interesting use of Twitter for marketing a TV programme.
What Keith said. NoFitState Circus, go see them when they are in Dublin this summer. They’re well well worth going to see.
Jaysus, the Sindo really are out to get Bertie.
More Twits on the block: Uldis Bojars and Jonathan Hill
Fluffy Links – April 13th 2007
Friday, April 13th, 2007Final plug (this week), don’t forget to register for ShareIT on April 28th in Dublin.
A blog on men’s issues and non-issues by Irish Times columnist Padraig O’Morain, author of Like A Man – A guide to men’s emotional wellbeing.
No standing ovation for Mary it seems.
Best band evar, ever, EVURRR. Nialler is totally unbiased. 🙂
Hemingway, Dietrich letters reveal 30-year relationship. That’s some unrequited love going on there. Ernie was a bit of a charmer alright:
“What do you really want to do for a life work? Break everybody’s heart for a dime? You could always break mine for a nickel and I’d bring the nickel.”
Scoble gives TV tips. Handy ones they are. Nice one Roberto!
Hooray for NewKlur power. Thanks Andy!