I realise that ‘reactions’ are supposed to be almost instantaneous on the web and many of the blogging folks have managed to get their write-ups on the Irish Web Awards online already. My brilliant excuse is that my macbook died on Saturday afternoon, leaving me unable to live-blog the awards, or upload the photos and begin as early as everyone else.
I arrived at Greystones in the end and had a great night with Darren, Lottie, Darragh, Niamh, Ben, Anthony, Andrew and others(?) (sorry if I’ve forgotten names). There are a few photos on flickr.
Saturday afternoon’s relaxing was cut short when the MacbookPro decided it no longer enjoyed Dublin’s power supply, and, as mentioned shortly after the event, died. I tried to remain calm, I think Darren was surprised...
What if we could redefine the words we know? One step towards this is through The Big Word Project.
The Big Word Project was set up by Lee Munroe and Paddy Donnelly two masters students studying Multidisciplinary Design at the University of Ulster in Belfast. Since February 2008 they have sold thousands of words which can be used to represent any website at a cost of $1 a letter, slowly redefining the dictionary, one word at a time.
I recently asked Lee a few questions about the project:
What was your inspiration for the project?
Mass collaboration. We thought if we can get thousands of people to just
contribute $1 to a project, then that’s $1,000s to us and next to nothing to
them. This then led to us thinking of selling the words of the dictionary.
How many words have been sold...
Social networking sites have been found to be national entities. And Ireland is the most socially networked country on the planet.What do I mean? Sites like Bebo, Facebook and so on are in fact limited by national interests. Not one social networking site is genuinely global, with most limited from expanding into other countries by language barriers.This study found that, inevitably, Ireland had the highest usage of social networking sites of any nation on Earth, as well as being Bebo's spiritual home.But the study also reveals that social networking sites are becoming nationally limited in scope. Irish people use Bebo, Americans use MySpace (remember that?), Facebook is biggest in Turkey and Canada, Google's Orkut is big in Brazil, whereas India is the most LinkedIN.What the study sadly...
I will admit that it is important, although the chaos that resulted after Gmail went down for an hour or so (for some, longer) last night was quite surreal. Thousands of tweets, widespread panic, and even an article to mark the occasion.
“productivity up of 20 million people” - Techcrunch
Though for many people, this quote is completely untrue. So many of us rely on Gmail. What do we do when it goes down? Should this make us think about having backups of our backups?
We all assume Google’s servers are safe for hundreds of years, but are they? Maybe they are, but sometimes things go wrong, even just for a short period of time. They tell us that although something has gone wrong, all our stuff is still safe - reassuring, but what if it wasn’t.
There wouldn’t be...
Did you ever invent your own word?English is a very adaptable language. It has in previous times incorporated large chunks of classical Greek, Latin, French, Germanic Saxon, Celtic and other languages into its lexicon.This adaptibility may well be why, alongside British and American imperialism, that English is well on its way to becoming the first genuinely global language.But there are still concepts in existence that English is lacking words for.One great example is the joy of witnessing someone else's pain. Only the Germans could have identified the need for such a word, and they did. They call it 'schadenfreude'. And English has gleefully borrowed it.But there are still many concepts missing a word to define them. and when we were young, we used to create our own.These weren't...
The king of Internet ideas, Ze Frank, has started a Colorwar.
Have taken my throw.
ROCK!...
When I first heard of Twitter I thought it was so totally ridiculous. Sending and receiving txt messages is not new. It’s distinctly old technology. So I signed up.
After receiving some useless messages from some people I had added - the sort of messages that said, “Just got the kids to bed, now gonna have lots of hot sex with the wife” or “Monday mornings suck, I hate my job”, or “I hate technology and computers. What’s a blog?”
As well as the usual mutterings of new technology ideas, crazy entrepreneurs telling us their new money-making scheme, conferences in Cork, Seminars in Limerick, photo meets in Dublin and sheep giving birth to deformed creatures from hell with a Tinyurl linking to a picture.
So 11 months after getting bored and...
Remember that letter that wasn't a letter and didn't exist that was never written and never shown to Ian Paisley which didn't make clear to him that he was to stand down? The number 33 hangs in the air when signatures are mentioned. Have a ponder on that number.
Whatever it was or wasn't, and no matter who did and didn't sign it, it worked, and now Peter Robinson has quite a job on his hands. He has a balancing act to perform to an extent that Paisley never did. As Jim Allister has articulated Robinson isn't Paisley and wont be able to carry party opinion so readily and so dogmatically. What we know or can very safely assume is Robinson as First Minister, Dodds to Finance, Foster where she is and Poots is likely toast. So who gets DETI, DECAL and the junior ministers bag?
Robinson...
I’m feelin’ a little weird doing this. It was hilariously funny. They sussed it out and sent a nice little apology.
Why am I doing this. Well just to follow up on the story. Maybe I should have just left it at that. But what the heck.
from Clint Word <cword@godtube.com>
to
date Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 10:36 PM
subject GodTube Customer Care
Dear Members,
At GodTube, we take the responsibility of monitoring site content 24 hours a day very seriously. We are the Christian site where you can feel assured you will find clean images and dialog.
We’ve been made aware that on March 4, you may have received an email that appeared to be from our Customer Care department. If you did receive the email, we offer our apologies. The subject line and content of...
Seeing as no one has bothered to comment on this on Slugger, we'll see if it can prompt a little debate here.
As far as I recall, public bodies aren't required to publish FOI disclosures, but it's quite good practice to do so. The NIO do (or at least seem to - the list is remarkably spartan) and it makes interesting reading. In particular the most recent disclosure has some interesting information in it.
Read more »Powered by...
Here is an email I received 30mins ago.
I’m not genius at tracing mail but it seems like it is coming from Godtube. This was in the original/detailed message:
Received: from FE4.exchange.rackspace.com ([10.244.5.57])
by FE4.exchange.rackspace.com with Microsoft
SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);
Tue, 4 Mar 2008 18:49:48 -0600
Received: from admin.godtube.com ([67.192.33.245]) by
FE4.exchange.rackspace.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);...
To anyone who is concerned about the effect hip hop culture is having on western society - I have some evidence to submit. With exibit B.Powered by...
Finally the inevitable has happened, and the octogenarian First Minster has decided to quit. I just got a text which is very incisive. "If you listen carefully, you'll hear O'Neill, Chichester Clark and Faulkner laughing".
And well they might.Powered by...
Robin Bury has an excellent letter on the Reform Movement blog (links not working properly on this computer - http://reformblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/aims-of-reform-letter-by-robin-bury.html ). Well worth a read.Powered by...
There had been rumours that this year would be better than the previous two, and with the addition of intros, music and a few words from George Bush it was. Once again, but very deservedly, Twenty Major won the award for best blog, coinciding with the recent release of his book the two prizes go hand in hand. Maybe it’s time to give someone else a chance next year.
Highlights of the night include Robin Blandford’s mum collecting his prize on his behalf, Kieran Murphy of Ice Cream Ireland’s dress sense, Nialler9 winning once again, Grannymar and Grandad sharing the same stage.
The award for best photoblog this year went to Claire of Gingerpixel and with her blog being filled with so many brilliant photographs, especially her great portraits of people she has stopped in...
This really pissed me off. I heard on Radio 5's Drive programme in the car on the way home from work today that Prince Harry has been in Afghanistan, fighting on the front line, for 10 weeks. The media knew this and said nothing. Obviously this was necessary to protect Harry and the other soldiers working with him from becoming walking bullseyes for the Taliban.
There were complaints about the media doing a deal with the government to keep this secret. The deal was they get fairly up-close and personal to Harry in exchange for not reporting it until after he's back home. I'm not one to praise the media very often, but the fact that the whole of the British media kept this secret, I think, demonstrates that they do actually have the ability to recognise that there are one or two things...
There's plenty wrong with copyright laws in this country. Instead of fixing those things though, the government want ISPs to do their dirty work, monitor everything you download and ban users from the internet if they download copyrighted material. There are so many things wrong with this I don't know where to start!
1. It's an invasion of privacy. This is the most immediately obvious problem. That's fair enough if you're one of those downloading illegal content, but it's essentially treating everyone as guilty (by stripping them of their right to privacy) until proven innocent. There isn't even a "reasonable grounds for suspicion" protection.
2. It's not technologically feasible. Discussing this very issue, one ISP that monitors the types of traffic on their network quite closely...
http://www.everythingulster.com/blogs/index.php/2008/02/15/downloaders_banned_from_the_internetThere's plenty wrong with copyright laws in this country. Instead of fixing those things though, the government want ISPs to do their dirty work, monitor everything you download and ban users from the internet if they download copyrighted material. There are so many things wrong with this I don't know where to start!
1. The most immediately obvious problem is it's an invasion of privacy. That's fair enough if you're one of those downloading illegal content, but it's essentially treating everyone as guilty (by stripping them of their right to privacy) until proven innocent. There isn't even a "reasonable grounds for suspicion" protection.
2. It's not technologically feasible. Discussing this...
http://www.everythingulster.com/blogs/index.php/2008/02/07/conservatives_courting_potential_candidaSeems a novel (to say the least) way of recruiting electoral candidates, but the Northern Ireland Conservatives have a message on their blog requesting that:
"people - from all backgrounds - who might like to put themselves forward for the next Westminster election... Please, please contact us if you have the time, aptitude and interest to take on a campaign for a seat in Westminster"
Seeking Candidates - ConservativesNI.com
I can't decide if this is a bit desperate or a good way of taking advantage of new technology to reach out to like-minded individuals. Maybe it's...
I am always in search of gig guides, and to know where my favourite bands are without having to launch their Myspace page. The answer came to me a couple of weeks ago. Sceptical at first, assuming it was just another web 2.0 hopeful, I turned out to be quite wrong once I delved into the recently launched Showclix.com.
Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, this could be the key to accessing information about live music anywhere in the world, by bringing the social aspects of the web to the forefront. Showclix is a search engine for gigs and concerts, as well as a ticket provider - a definite competitor to Ticketmaster.
Simply key the name of a city in the search box to find artists stopping by on their tour. There is a profile page for each concert date which draws in related information...
http://www.everythingulster.com/blogs/index.php/2008/02/04/irish_blog_awardsWhile I recently mentioned that Everything Ulster had hit the big time, it came as something of a surprise to find that the site has been nominated for Best Political Blog in the 2008 Irish Blog Awards.
Being up against the likes of Slugger O'Toole, the Mac Daddy of Northern Irish (and probably Irish) blogs, the odds of actually winning are about equivalent to those on Limavady Utd. winning the premier league this year, but it's an honour just to make the long-list, so thanks to whoever saw fit to nominate this little site of mine.
The Irish Blog Awards 'ceremony' will take place on 1st March at the Alexander Hotel in...
So the long list of nominees has been officially released, just behind those “leaks” that spread across the web in the last couple of days. This year I find myself nominated for: Best Designed Blog, Best Photography Blog and Best Blog. I am very pleased about this, though I doubt I will win due to the great competition I am up against in each category, but to be standing alongside these great bloggers I feel honoured.
Not surprisingly, the number of blogs has increased significantly since last year let alone how much of an increase there has been from two years ago, with just far too many to count (at the minute at least).
I have my work cut out for me for the next month, the little free time that I will have will be spent catching up on the blogs I know and all those that I...
The date is January 4th 2006, nominations have just opened for the very first Irish Blog awards to be held in Dublin on March 11th at the Alexander Hotel.
I was very excited, I had lots of visitors to my photoblog at the time. I was in with a chance. I expect to win, but I knew I had a chance.
The day before the ‘ceremony’, Friday 10th March 2006, my camera arrived in the post. My first digital SLR. After ripping the box open, I headed to Dublin City, having barely any idea what I was doing with the camera, sticking to ‘auto’ much of the time, I snapped away through the busy streets.
The next day I met Gavin and we both snapped all around us, he having received an SLR for Christmas a few months prior. Some of these photographs I still like today.
We arrived at the...
Thanks to the help of my good friend, Andy, I have a nice new website for you to marvel at, with an updated portfolio.
Check it out at www.philokanephotography.com
Stay tuned for more updates over the next few weeks.
Copyright Phil O’Kane © 2006-2007This feed is indended for personal use only. If you are not reading it in your feed reader please let me know....
Having all of last week away from the horrid office workplace environment, I had to go back. I remember back in both primary and secondary school wishing that time would go so much faster. Now that there is no more school there just aren’t enough hours in the day for all the things I want to do.
I spent much of my week attempting to ‘get my life on track’ and be like those extremely organised people - by organising my bookmarks, firefox extensions, feed subscriptions and reading a few productivity websites such as the incredible Lifehacker, Lifehack. These sites always gets me motivated to start organising my normally very disorganised computer/hard drive/file system.
This problem stems from the fact that I have a few too many interests. Of course, having lots of...
It's been over a year since my original look at the Northern Ireland Delivery Rip-Off so, given the popularity of that post, I thought it was past time I looked at the whole matter again. The scenario is simple - I want a small computer peripheral or component delivered to my Northern Ireland address. The problem is most of the companies with the best prices (even accounting for mainland UK delivery costs which are the only ones included in price comparison sites), often have the largest penalties or "surcharges" if you want your items delivered to Northern Ireland. The result is it's difficult to tell who is best for getting individual smaller items delivered to Northern Ireland, so I've done a little investigating.
This time I've added a few extra retailers bringing the total to 13....
Last week I was asked to recommend a local band, and believe me it is never an easy question. I love my music and I love my local music. There is just so much good music about this land that I have to think very hard before coming up with an answer. But there can only be one this time around.
The chosen band is Boathouse, a Belfast-based five-piece with a host of instruments including a shaker and glockenspiel.
Unfortunately, with the current lineup, they have no official releases other than the session which was broadcase on Across the Line for BBC Radio Ulster in June of this year. The three tracks ‘Johnny and Ruth Story’, ‘What I Remember’ and ‘Don’t Knock’ are rarely far from the currently playing song in my playlist.
The review was published...
Lots of people seem to think these ideas work. Whether they do or not I suppose it isn’t a bad idea to have that huge sense of community; thousands of people thinking about and writing about the same thing.
Today, October 15th, is Blog Action Day. Today we will all write thousands of blogs have been chosen to write about the environment, so that many more will be able to read about the environment, in turn creating awareness in a variety of ways, about the environment. I think it’s dying or something.
I have decided that we should all switch of lights ‘cos I heard that helps the environment.
And so I did. I switched off my light. You should try it.
Do it lots of times.
It’s fun.
Tomorrow, do not think about the environment. I wonder what we will be thinking about...
Bookies are offering odds on a united Ireland
It's exactly what it says on the tin. For nationalists anyway, it's a chance to put your money where your mouth is, quite literally, by betting on a United Ireland. PaddyPower's online betting service is offering odds on the annexation of Northern Ireland by the Republic by various years from 2012 to 2027 (just go to Novelty Bets > Politics > United Ireland?).
Interestingly, they don't seem that confident of a united Ireland in the next 20 years, and are even offering odds of 20/1 that the Republican wet dream of unification in 2016 will come true.
At this time the odds are:
United Ireland by 2012 25/1
United Ireland by 2017 20/1
United Ireland by 2022 14/1
United Ireland by 2027 10/1
So if you're feeling confident, stick a tenner...
Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are catching up to England for levels of broadband uptake according to figures released by Ofcom this week.
In 2005 England was leading the way with 36% of homes connected to broadband. Scotland followed with 31% while Wales and Northern Ireland brought up the rear with 25% and 24% respectively. In 2006 though, England was just in front with 45% while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were all just behind on 42%. The Republic was still lagging well behind with just 13% of homes connected to broadband.
The UK average of 44% is just above mid-table for European countries which is led by Holland with 66% and propped up by Greece with just...