OpenCoffeeDublin now streaming live thanks to Eoghan McCabe.
Update: After a great Q&A session / round table discussion as people found their groove while on camera there’s a recap from Eoghan McCabe and some great notes from James Corbett to be found online. More of the same from Cork OC tomorrow?
Does anyone know any Irish artists or art groups who are podcasting their profession? When I say arts I don’t mean painting in the “art” sense or anything (though that would be included) but those involved in music, poetry, writing, visual arts, dance, jazz, classical music – anything goes.
Working on PodCamp Ireland’s planning I’m aware that Poetry Ireland (who just launched a great new site) or someone from the group will be attending PodCamp with the offer to speak on the podcasting for arts groups and artists. But beside Poetry Ireland and ourselves at KilkennyMusic.com – who else is out there?
I’m currently piecing together some material in advance of the launch of new professional development courses being offered by ArtLinks here in the South East (who have been highly impressed that something like PodCamp or BarCamp exists) and I’m basically looking to get in touch with podcasters who are dipping their toes into the arts scene or the other way around – those of you involved in the arts scene interested in dipping your toes in podcasting.
Gimme a shout, leave a comment, drop me an email (details on the contact page). If you’ve links off to arts related podcasts, leave them here for me!
I like this one, thought I’d do a little note about it (share it with la familia). My cousin was given these as a gift for her recent 30th birthday. Nothing like a taste of home, even if you are 3,000 odd miles away.
Which reminds me… flights priced up, dates pretty much sorted, just got to get to booking the trip. Reckon I’ll be back in Canada this coming November, likely around the same time as last year.
Earlier this year when Google were snapping up FeedBurner, Microsoft were laying the foundations to buy up aQuantive.
Yesterday they did just that, closing the deal that see’s the software giant splash a grand total of US$6bn (six billion dollars folks). The aQuantive board have resigned, the stock as been delisted from NASDAQ and Microsoft are now in complete control. Figures touted around put online advertising in the US$40bn bracket so paying $6bn to take a big step forward in terms of online advertising is a slight bit overwhelming – especially considering that Google picked up Doubleclick for half that amount.
Seriously though… six billion quid? Should certainly help with their behavioural advertising approach…
Delighted to see that Conor O’Neill is behind the launch of the Irish arm of Blognation, which kicked off today. As they say in Ireland, “there’s no better buachaill”. The addition of an Irish element to Blognation means that we’ll be more seeing the latest Web 2.0 developments / tech developments from all around the country.
The opening post on the blog covers an introduction to the web/tech scene in Ireland at present and lists some of the great web services on offer at the moment. You’ll get the latest tech events in the calendar (though *ahem* PodCamp Ireland isn’t among them yet – September 29th for FREE in Kilkennny) and a lot more besides.
One thing that jumped out at me from the post is Conor’s mention of the VC scene at present and what some options are.
The single biggest blocking factor for web startups here continues to be access to capital
Reason being in that I had a chat (and a sneak preview at the beta service) in Kilkenny today with a Beverly Hills startup (Kilkenny native) who politely offered his thoughts on the VC scene at present and the reason he’s now set up – with funding – in the US. Having watched in on the Auctomatic boys last week and the upcoming Paddys Valley tour in December I can see some of his points!
The first article though is a great one, well worth the read if you can. Would be a nice place to get some tech company profiling going on if the opportunity presented itself (with Damien currently compiling companies in Ireland) but thats for the editors to decide!
Anyway, tip of the hat to Conor O’Neill and fair play to Sam Sethi and Blognation for opening a door into the Irish market.
I was ‘memed’ a while back to do something on seven random facts about myself and haven’t yet gotten around to it but I’ve managed to pull one for today. August is turning out to be a crazy month for me and we’re only into the second week. I’m neck-deep in preparations for Cannibal! The Musical which kicks off on August 22nd and this morning received my “pen pic” for the director’s profile which contains an interesting fact, or humourous at least.
Ken doesn’t stop, ever – if he drops below 50mph he’ll explode, however if he ever reaches 88mph he’ll go back in time.
Though Ross is trying to be funny in relation to the pen-pic, he’s also drawing on fact (something he gets on to me a lot about) and I think it’s only when you see it in print that you realise you have to find a way to slip under 50mph from time to time! All that started this weekend with selling my Electric Picnic ticket so at least I’ve got one weekend between August and September when I can do *nothing*.
I reckon while Cannibal! is in the works I’m hovering around the 87.99mph mark but it certainly gets the adrenaline going!
Just a little test post from the Nokia 770 internet tablet from within WordPress.
Noting that no buttons showing for links, images etc. I’ve the visual editor off as a standard.
Can’t select a category either…
Nope – its still the 770, but this morning I followed a link out of Paul Browne’s post on upgrading the N770 to an N800 (OS2007) and presto, you’re looking at a new interface. Called the ‘hackers’ edition of OS2007 you’ll need to input your 770’s WLAN code here in order to get the upgrade. The binary is hosted by Nokia so I can’t imagine there’s too much to worry about in the security of the download (or at least I didn’t worry anyway).
So, what do you do?
That is pretty much it. The whole install itself should take less than two minutes and the device will reset itself on completion. When you boot up the next time you’ll notice a brand new Nokia N800 interface and the tablet identifying itself as an 800 model.
Things to note…
If I spot anything during the course of the day I’ll be sure and update…
Yep – selling my Electric Picnic ticket. €226.50 (ticket value and booking fee – looking for face value and the original booking fee as any electronic transaction likely to eat into it!). If you’re interested, just shout. I’ll register-mail it Tuesday morning if you’re living in Ireland for free. Payment can be made via PayPal, details available on purchase.
With way too much stuff on this summer I’m having to make sacrifices around the place, one of them is the Picnic for this year!
Another PodCamp Ireland promo video surfaced earlier this evening, Keola Donaghy doing a video promo all the way from Hawaii. Keola, along with 31 others so far will be attending the very first PodCamp Ireland event in Kilkenny on September 29th. While the signup via blog is readied, why not add your name to the PodCamp Ireland Wiki? It is free after all – nothing to lose and so much to discover about the world of podcasting and new media!
A friend of mine called me at lunch time today asking me to order him a Nokia 770 which I’m currently enjoying playing with. So I log onto eXpansys.ie and I’m presented with this error. Ok, I figure, the Google index could be wrong. So I hit the eXpansys homepage and notice that the shiny Nokia 770 button that decorated the right sidebar is missing.
A little digging around later and Justin Mason reveals that the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet has been discontinued, eXpansys are no longer stocking it. Sure enough, they’re (Nokia) hyping up the Nokia 800, the successor to the 770, but did many people know about the discontinuation? Is this the possible reason for the recent dramatic drop in price or are Nokia and eXpansys sick of sending out 770s to Irish bloggers and gadget-heads?
I’ve got to share this one today as I’ve just received the artwork for the Cannibal! The Musical poster, the one we’re running with to promote the show from now to the opening night on August 22nd. Some of you will know of my involvement with The Devious Theatre Company here in Kilkenny, some of you won’t, but Cannibal marks my directorial debut (there is a pair of us directing this monster of a production) and is the realisation of a goal of mine over the last six years or goal.
The design above was assembled by Paddy Dunne, a great friend of mine for God knows how long now and an extremely talented graphic artist. The images of the cast were shot by KilkennyMusic.com‘s resident photographer Ross Costigan on a green screen generously provided by Young Irish Film Makers. You’ll see myself and Ross second and third from centre (me with a bowler hat on).
If I’m not in the office I’m doing something with Cannibal – we’ve been actively fundraising, organising costumes, sets, finances, cast meetings, crew meetings, a lighting designer, stage manager, orchestra, MD, advertising – the whole lot. It falls to a team of seven dedicated individuals (and now Ross as well getting involved on the PR front for the duration of the show) so hopefully all the very late nights and very early weekend mornings will all pay off in about 3 weeks time.
If you’re interested in travelling to the show (Irish premiere no less), held in the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny from Wednesday August 22nd to Saturday August 25th tickets can be booked now for all nights by phoning +353 56 7761674.
There must be a fair few Irish bloggers getting up this morning to DHL deliveries, or from during this week anyway, as Expansys shipped their new stock of Nokia 770 internet tablets into the wild, one of them arriving on my desk late yesterday afternoon.
As with every new gadget, instruction kits and leaflets were dumped straight out of the box, diving in instead for the battery, charger and pulling the 2GB RS-MMC card I’d ordered via eBay last week. In goes the card and battery, 770 starts charging and its off through the setup I go. The whole setup process itself shouldn’t really take you any more and two minutes or so, though admittedly I didn’t time the setup but you’ll go through personal details, pairing of a phone device, localisation (no sign of Kilkenny so Dublin will have to do) etc.
The device itself is comfortable to use, the screen rendering sharp for it’s size though on a UI point of view I think a bit more life could have gone into the icon sets. They get the point across but don’t go expecting an iPhone-esque interface. Sizewise you’ll see it above in comparison to my laptop and a standard 17″ Dell monitor (yes, that is PodCamp Ireland logo in the background). Speaking of PodCamp, the first thing I did was pay a visit to SoundSystemPodcast.com on the 770, no problem at all streaming the latest KilkennyMusic.com podcast straight to the tablet.
The web browsing (above) is pretty quick, pages render quite well and can viewed as standard or optimised (like reduce-to-fit). Email setup too is a breeze, if it is your first time to check email you’ll be prompted to set up an account and so I pulled the kenmc.com mail, the device picking up mail but leaving copies on the server so I can deliver them to the laptop later on.
GoogleTalk too itself (‘New Chat’ via the contacts menu, entering your gTalk / Jabber details pulling all your contacts direct from Google) is quite easy, nice big chat window, no problems in maintaining a conversation flow (see how fast you can ‘tap’ on the screen).
Very little done with it thus far bar the above but plenty of opportunities presenting itself. Pretty much fits in the pocket, also fits in the phone holder in the van, sees the MacBook Pro and Sony Ericsson K800i no probelm – that in itself is enough for me. Plenty of toying around with it at the weekend to be done!
I mentioned last week that I had ordered a Seethru case from Speck Products for my 15″ MacBook Pro… well, it arrived yesterday and the afore mentioned laptop is now green.
The casing does add a bit of additional weight to the laptop – not much – but enough to make the screen start dipping itself when low enough (i.e. when you’re closing the lid). Other than that though it is quite durable and perfectly capable of keeping scratches off the laptops original surface.
The cover itself clips on and off no problem and is well ventilated on the bottom so should be no problems there. Having ordered it on the 26th of July to arriving via UPS yesterday I reckon thats a pretty good turn around. Wasn’t expecting it at all until at least next week at the earliest. Happy with purchase? Yep.
If you haven’t seen the video on Facebook already, Mike Kiely cut together a 90 second-ish video shoutout for PodCamp Ireland featuring Conn and Bernie. Give it a watch above. Things nicely gathering pace in advance of Ireland’s first ever PodCamp. (See also YouTube channel)
The PodCamp Ireland blog itself will be dressed in a nice attire by the weekend but in the mean time don’t forget you can register on the PodCamp Ireland wiki – just add your name!
Last night myself and the others at at KilkennyMusic.com sat down late (say 9:30pm) in Studio A for a short meeting followed by the recording of the 19th Sound System Podcast. Internet access was a must before the recording – some last minute research, checking of dates, sampling of music etc. Ross was flying away on his Powerbook on the studio network while I wound up forking out for a 30 minute Eircom voucher to allow me get my work done.
It turns out, as I was informed later, that my inability to connect to the network is that the WiFi connection is now being serviced by an AirPort Extreme base station, my MacBook Pro currently living in a/b/g land. Well now, its living in a/b/g/n land and should have no problem in the studio next week.
So how does one enable 802.11n WiFi access on their MacBook Pro? Well, you do it via a download from the Apple Store, retailing at US$1.95 or €1.95 if you’re shopping out of the Irish store. You must have the AirPort Extreme update installed from earlier this year if you haven’t done so already.
Via the Apple Store
How to install the AirPort Extreme 802.11n Enabler:
- Add the AirPort Extreme 802.11n Enabler to your shopping cart and complete your order.
- On the Order Confirmation page and email, you’ll receive instructions and a URL for downloading the Enabler software.
- Click the download link, then locate the disk image (.dmg) file on your computer and double-click it.
- Double-click the 802.11n Enabler file and follow the onscreen steps to update your Mac.
Where do you get the AirPort Extreme update? Right here.
If you haven’t installed the AirPort extreme update and you find that your MacBook Pro won’t allow you to do it, I suggest you read this page (click here). It tells you how to extract the application via the ‘Show Package Contents’ context menu feature in OSX, allowing you to first install the AirPort Extreme application and then upgrade is through the normal process.
The process from start to finish, including purchase from Apple Store, should take you all of five minutes and will require a system restart when finished.
If I’m ever setting up a project in StatCounter, the first thing I’ll do is set a blocking cookie. A few people I know have been amazed at some of their early days statistics, so many page views!!
But wait, only one unique? What happened there? Well, they love their website so much that they keep going back to it, keep refreshing pages during testing, unknowingly overinflating their traffic stats. When I’m viewing statistics on a web project I don’t need or want to know how many times I hit it (my lack of sleep would usually by a good indicator) – I want to see how often OTHER people have been there.
So as I said, in the case of StatCounter, you can use a blocking cookie. But how do you do this? Well, the steps are easy.
That, as they says, is that. If you wish to start tracking your own visits again, repeat said steps only when you return to the blocking cookie screen the next time you will be prompted to ‘Destroy’ the blocking cookie. This can also be done by completely emptying your browser/cookie cache.
I currently use a combination of StatCounter and Google Analytics across all my blogs with StatCounter.com now tracking 17 separate projects.
Update: Cheers Sean
Do any Irish or other bloggers have a mint and if so, at US$30 per site, how do you find it compares to the likes of Google Analytics or StatCounter when it comes to obtaining statistics, accuracy, layout and feel?
Any thoughts at all…
Paddy’s Valley gets a mention in the Irish Times today. If you’re not a paying subscriber, you can enjoy a few days free trial of the digital edition here.
Laura Slattery writes on page 16 that ‘Tech Firms Get Backing For US Trip’, plugging the trip, quoting Conor O’Neill, referencing James Corbett and making mention of TouristR and RelevantM. Nice little snippet to get on the side of the page (beside the big photo of Calisto Tanzi).
If you haven’t a clue what Paddy’s Valley even is, check here.
