The British Wind Energy Association, an industry trade group, has cut its CO2 reduction calculations in half after talks with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, which enforces rules on claims in advertisements.
“There are no tragedies. Only plot twists.” Jeff Howe is the guy that wrote that book on Crowdsourcing and writes for Wired. His son Finn has been diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum and he is now documenting it on the blog A Boy Named Finn.
The wise men have gotten their praise but despite blogs and twitter and all this “citizen journalism” it is traditional media that connects those with the technologies and the new business ideas to those with the money and the power. In Ireland especially, the media still have a strong role when it comes to a business getting custom, name recognition and connections with possible investors, suitors and partners.
A few people in the media (but they’re not the only ones) got my attention this year for their tireless work in spreading the news about Irish Tech companies.
We have John Collins from the Irish Times who is a wise and patient person and who has gone out of his way again and again to give Irish companies coverage in his paper. John is a very decent guy with a thorough grasp on technology and business. It’s great to see that they have made him acting Assistant Business Editor in the Irish Times now. Something he has more than earned.
We then have Marie Boran and John Kennedy in Silicon Republic who again work very bloody hard at giving exposure to many Irish companies and are always happy to chat on the phone about what you’re working on. They’ve also given up work and personal time to come along to events too. A lot of companies are quite grateful for the coverage they got. SiliconRepublic also contribute to the Irish Indos coverage of tech too so they’ve really spread the news far and wide.
Baaaa. More continued bullshit from one of the most ineffectual entities in this state. The Data Protection Commissioner, the one that releases a report with go-faster stripes each year and makes a mini-celebrity out of one case while doing nothing for everything else is now saying they’ll be getting tougher on spammers. Complete and utter bollox. They have a “new weapon” against spammers. Which they’ll keep well polished and stored away for safety no doubt.
I’d FOI them for this information but their smug press officer got great kicks telling me a while back on the phone that they don’t come under FOI. It was suggested I send in an information request when I asked for details about the Bank of Ireland laptop thefts. So this is what I sent in:
RTE last week reported that the Data Protection Commissioner’s Office delivered a report to Bank of Ireland which included recommendations to prevent future data loss. Bank of Ireland said they would not release that report. I was looking for said report but obviously with the commercially sensitive information removed. I doubt that all the report is giving away BOI’s IP.
I also wanted to get details of the costs involved in putting that report together. Numbers of staff and manhours involved.
This is what I got back:
As you are aware, no regulations are currently in force specifying this office as a body to which the Freedom of Information Acts apply. As a matter of good practice and with due regard to the privacy of the parties involved, we endeavour to keep both data subjects and data controllers informed of the progress of investigations. This does not apply to your request. Having reviewed your request, I won’t release any of this information to you.
The DPC blow taxpayer money to advise a Bank but refuse to disclose how much it cost and what advice it was. Course there’s a trend when it comes to using taxmoney to keep banks happy. It’s a shame this shower didn’t get culled in the budget cuts because sometimes an expensive and out of synch clock is more dangerous than no clock.
If Pat is Santa, I’m an elf. I’ve been given four prizes to give away on this here blog in exchange for promoting the Jack and Jill Foundation who recycle mobile phones. Just to note Jack and Jill didn’t provide the prizes but a supporter of theirs and it was thanks to Santa that they contacted me about this.
What does the Foundation do?
The Foundation provides early intervention home respite to families with children up to the age of 4, with severe neuro developmental delay and palliative conditions requiring extensive medical and nursing care at home.
Here’s the deal. For everyone that donates one or more mobile phones to the charity, they’ll be entered into a draw for three prizes (First, second and third out of hat) - a Nokia 5220, a Voyager 815 bluetooth headset and an Elextex rubberised portable keyboard for phones. The blogger who gets these people to donate phones will also be entered into a draw for a Nokia 810 Internet Tablet.
Donating a phone is dead simple as you drop the phone and charger (if you have it) in a jiffy bag and send it to their freepost address: The Jack and Jill Mobile Appeal, Freepost, Ratoath Road , Finglas, Dublin 11
If you collect 10 phones they’ll even send a courier to you.
So if you’re a blogger/run a blog, send your readers this way (this is not a link building thing so nofollow away) making sure they have you as the referer (as in “JohnnyBlogs sent me”) and you could win a Nokia 810 Internet Tablet and if you want to donate a phone leave a comment on this post with the make/model of the phone you’re donating and which blogger sent you this way. Yes, you can donate a phone and refer your own blog so you can be in two draws.
It’d be interesting to see which blog sends the most referers. Game on blogger people!
Over the past year and even longer there’s been four people who have devoted a lot of time helping out others in the growing Irish technology scene. They’ve given their precious time without charge to encourage and help as much as they can and it has resulted in a greater body of shared knowledge when it comes to business and tech.
Those four people are Pat Phelan, Joe Drumgoole, Keith Bohanna and Conor O’Neill. At Barcamps, Open Coffees, on blogs and on the oldskool phone they’re regularly dispensing advice and helping people make connections. I’m not sure how much people appreciate these guys but this is my little thank you card on the web for them as this year comes to a close. The Irish startup scene would be a lot poorer without these guys giving their time. Thanks Pat, Joe, Keith and Conor. Maybe we should give thanks back by talking up their work or do what they do and help out others when we can. These guys are heroes.
Head over to Indiecater and get some great Christmas inspired music from some great musical talent. Two tracks I really really liked from that compilation are: Track 12 - Nonstop Everything -There Is No Santa, Little Boy and track 15 Loxsly – Santa Got The Spins. 17 tracks for a recession busting €6.50. You can listen to them before you buy too.
Then via You Ain’t listen to Sufjan Stevens’ latest Christmas album called “Astral Inter Planet Space Captain Christmas Infinity Voyage, Volume VIII.”
Made in Hollywood, the people behind the Web Awards props recently relaunched their website and it’s very impressive. They also have a blog but have a look at the props they’ve made for other events. Nice. Fran Hollywood from Made in Hollywood is looking for some good pics from the Web Awards of the Ws that he made. If you have any then email them on to him and he might use them in the gallery on his site.
