After a rocky start – pissed fat guy staggering around the hotel lobby whilst a particularly crabby woman checked us in slowly – our first day here turned out really well. The people are really friendly even though I am using the tried and tested English method of conversing with foreigners – speak slowly and loudly - prices are so good you overspend and the quality of local food, drink and wares seems high.
Very hot sunny weather but with a refreshing breeze off of the Black Sea. The final big surprise was that the hotel not only has wireless, which I was not expecting, but it is free.
Looking forward to the dolphin show and the pirate ship thingy. For tomorrow though I think just bucket and spades down on the beach, time to earn my holiday “wings” as a dad and let my boys bury me in the sand.
Since I saw Princess Leia asking Obi Wan for help in Star Wars I have wanted two things, a droid and 3d holographic displays (of course minutes later I really wanted a lightsabre)
Well I have a RoboDinosaur that is pretty naff, but this gives me hope for my second choice.
If someone could send me a unit for review and possibly throw in a lightsabre as well, I’d be chuffed, you could get R2 to deliver it for me.
Cnet TV launched its new site and is packed with video reviews and news. Anyone into tech will appreciate the tongue in cheek way the Cnet crew present their informative programming.
This week saw the launch of Firefox 3, it has been heralded as a big improvement over previous versions, with better rendering speeds and better memory management. All very exciting, but I have been playing around not so much with Firefox, but with an offshoot of it called Flock.
Flock, and bear in mind I am just trying it out by using it to post this for instance, is built on Firefox (the superior password management in Firefox 3 is not in here).
What it offers that marks it out from its older sibling are all the built in hooks to popular sites and services such as Facebook, Flickr, GMail and many blogging platforms including WordPress which I use.
So for those into Gmail, Yahoo mail, Facebook and all the other (don’t forget Twitter) it provides one place to look at all the social and media data we crave.
For those looking for a neat, economical way to browse the web, collect email and perhaps edit files on the go, the Asus Eeepc is definitely worth looking at.
As you can see from the image, it comes in various colours. What you cannot see is suprisingly small and that it comes with different specifications. Admitidley all of these specifications are reletivley low when compared to full blown laptops, but they provide sufficient horsepower to do the things we tend to do most with a computer, browse the web and check email.
With the current trend of making applications available as web services, photo editing, video editing and streaming, the need for a powerful PC is reduced meaning these devices provide useful portable tools for those who do not wish to cart around one of their chunkier brethren.
The Pink and the Lime version are currently available from Keltik directly for just €289 with the following specification:
Processor – Intel Celeron Mobile CPU
Chipset – Intel
Integrated Network
Form Factor – Notebook
Memory (Maximum) – 512MB (512×1)DDR2
Hard Disk – 2GB
Monitor – 7ins (800×480)
Sound Device – Integrated Intel High Definition Audio compliant audio chip
Speakers – Built-in Stereo Speakers (1.5W)
Audio Features – SoundBlaster Pro Compatible
Wireless – IEEE 802.11g
Modem – Intel High Definition Audio Modem Integrated
Operation System – Linux
Card reader – SD/MMC
VGA Port – 1
Headphone/Audio Line Out – 1 x Headphone-out jack
Microphone In Port – 1
RJ-45 Ports – 1 x RJ-45
USB Ports – 3 x USB 2.0
Software Included – Open Office 2.0 Security – BIOS Booting / HDD User Password Protection and security lock Kensington lock hole Trusted Platform Module
Battery – Lithium-Ion (3Cells) 2400mAH
Security Locking Mechanics – Kensington Lock Slot
Dimensions – 22.5 x 16.4 x 2.15-3.5 cm
Anyone that knows me, knows that I have quite a nose and today I am proud of the noes that managed to block the Lisbon treaty. Okay flippant I know(s), but I feel that my faith in the ability of people not to be rail-roaded into doing what the powers that be dictate has been restored.
There was an awful amount of money thrown into the “yes” campaign, just take a look at the amount of yes posters, when compared to those of the noes. Every parliamentary party except Sinn Fein advocated a yes vote and threw their weight behind behind the campaign, yet we managed to make a stand against pissing away the rights and privileges that so many fought and died for. Don’t get me wrong I am not the type to get the soapbox out or to rant on about the struggles with the English (hardly possible with my broad cockney accent and London upbringing). I have however read quite a bit of Irish history (I may have mentioned my love of history before) and know that this country spent far too long without effective democratic process, to just hand away our rights now, leaving Irish voters practically disenfranchised. I will not even get into the wars fought in Europe to secure freedom and the right to elect by democratic process those who govern.
The question is, as the title says, what is next? I doubt that anyone for a minute believes that the whole process of turning Europe into a super state will just go away. There is too much money at stake and if anything this whole referendum will highlight to the elites of Europe just how inconvenient this whole democracy thing is.
Anyone going to open a book on how soon the next reincarnation of this “treaty”comes around? I am betting it will be within three years.
Jumping straight on the bandwagon (actually a little late) I just thought it would be worth mentioning to my clients and any passing visitors that the new iPhone is well worth looking into. At a fraction of the price of the original iPhone (actual price is dependent on which service plan you take from O2 and they start from just €49) these phones are an excellent tool for providing full email and web capabilities to small and medium businesses. As a long-time PC technician and user, I have been impressed with my iPhone as a genuine productivity tool as well as a must have gadget for the technophile that I am. Real, usable, full web surfing means access to online banking on the go, as well as being able to look up cinema listings whilst on route to said cinema (not whilst driving though – best to have an assistant for this). Mobile email provides a vital link to the office for all workers and is almost as big a paradigm shift for the sole trader as the mobile phone was itself in its day, as it allows you to function on the go without the need to carry a laptop, pay for mobile broadband and most importantly find a convenient spot to boot the laptop, get your connection and check your mail. Checking mail is now as easy as checking your SMS text messages and with the new version including support for push email (your mail is forwarded without you having to “check it”) I could see email replacing SMS. Of course many if not all these features have been available for a while, but what Apple has done is make them very accessible and with the price cuts also very affordable.
I was just going to write a brief plea to anyone reading to vote NO to the Lisbon treaty, but having been lazy about looking into it, and having only just read into it a bit, I cannot believe how scary it is, scary in a grab your tinfoil hat, where’s my conspiracy theory trench coat kind of way. I knew it was trouble when all the “money” wanted a yes vote.
Having read a dozen or so blogs, another dozen sites arguing for and against it, I am convinced that they cannot be serious.
I just happen to be covering competition amongst the elite of the late Roman republic and the causes of the Roman revolution at the minute I cannot help but draw comparisons to current events. The fact that I have also been listening to an audio version of “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” add to my growing sense of “holy sh*t” how are we being manipulated. I read words written over 2000 years ago and I get a shiver as they seem to be so typical of what is happening now.
Mighty kings were vanquished, savage tribes and huge nations were brought to their knees; and when Carthage, Rome’s rival in her quest for empire, had been annihilated (146 BCE) every land and sea lay open to her.
It was then that fortune turned unkind and confounded all her enterprises. To the men who had so easily endured toil and peril, anxiety and adversity, the leisure and riches which are generally regarded as so desirable proved a burden and a curse. Growing love of money, and the lust for power which followed it, engendered every kind of evil.
Avarice destroyed honour, integrity, and every other virtue, and instead taught men to be proud and cruel, to neglect religion, and to hold nothing too sacred to sell. Ambition tempted many to be false, to have one thought hidden in their hearts, another ready on their tongues, to become a man’s friend or enemy not because they judged him worthy or unworthy but because they thought it would pay them, and to put on the semblance of virtues that they had not.
At first these vices grew slowly and sometimes met with punishment; later on, when the disease had spread like a plague, Rome changed: her government, once so just and admirable, became harsh and unendurable. “Handford, S. A.(trans.)(1963) Sallust, The Jugurthine War/The Conspiracy of Catiline, London: Penguin, pp.181–83)
I know it is all very Revelations, but this was Sallust’s idea of how Rome became corrupted by Empire, how the rich and powerful became greedy and wanted more and more. Of course in the late republic when the top few elite tried to subvert constitutional power, they played the fear card, they pandered to the masses, they offered free grain and gladiatorial games. Now although we get the fear card played daily, we have to pay inflated prices for our grain and our entertainments. Veni, vermini, vomui!
Anyway this was an interesting video (produced on a shoestring I’d say, but well done to the lads who put it together as it is very informative) take a look, it’s long at over an hour and twenty minutes, but worth a look.
And if that is just too much for you to watch here is a clip from Rainbow (a TV show from my childhood) and ask yourself, are they serious?
prices are so good you overspend and the quality of local food, drink and wares seems high.
As a long-time PC technician and user, I have been impressed with my iPhone as a genuine productivity tool as well as a must have gadget for the technophile that I am. Real, usable, full web surfing means access to online banking on the go, as well as being able to look up cinema listings whilst on route to said cinema (not whilst driving though – best to have an assistant for this). Mobile email provides a vital link to the office for all workers and is almost as big a paradigm shift for the sole trader as the mobile phone was itself in its day, as it allows you to function on the go without the need to carry a laptop, pay for mobile broadband and most importantly find a convenient spot to boot the laptop, get your connection and check your mail. Checking mail is now as easy as checking your SMS text messages and with the new version including support for push email (your mail is forwarded without you having to “check it”) I could see email replacing SMS. Of course many if not all these features have been available for a while, but what Apple has done is make them very accessible and with the price cuts also very affordable.