Ken McGuire

Author: Ken McGuire

  • 10 Things: 10 Books I’ve Read This Year

    Here’s a list of some of the books that I’ve managed to get through this year. Seen as I read them I’d recommend them – links from either Play.com or Amazon UK (both are non-affiliate links).

    1. Mary Mary by James Patterson
    2. Start An Independant Record Label by J S Rudsenske
    3. Jennifer Government by Max Barry (which I must return to its rightful owner!)
    4. Foul! by Andrew Jennings
    5. Make Money With Your Studio by Tom Volinchak
    6. May Day by Nelson DeMille & Thomas Block
    7. Football For Dummies by Howie Long
    8. Producing Successful Magazines, Newsletters & Ezines by Carol Harris
    9. Cross by James Patterson
    10. Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose

  • 10 Things: The Ten Blogs That I Keep (or try to)

    Some of you know and regularly read this blog (kenmc.com / Creative Imagination) but did you know about the full family?

    1. KENMC.COM – Ken McGuire, on the web. My primary blog, no doubt about that. Looks at technology and the web along with little asides that catch my eye.
    2. LiverpoolAccess.com – Follows Liverpool football club, my own match reviews throughout the season, club news, transfer updates and the likes. Stemmed out of World Cup Access which is no longer updated.
    3. Mobileblogr – Started late in the year as a way of me keeping track of mobile developments, something I’ve held an interest in since college and wish, looking back, that we could have spent a little more time looking at developing for a mobile environment.
    4. Ken McGuire Photography – This one will definitely be getting attention and an update over the Christmas, its been a good six weeks since I’ve uploaded some work to it. The photoblog was restarted when I gave up on DeviantART earlier this year and continues to house my most recent work.
    5. One Take Sessions – Video clips, mentions of bands and a way to keep track of whats going on at the One Take Sessions, held every third Thursday in Kilkenny with KilkennyMusic.com
    6. Sound System – Blog for the Sound System Podcast, show guides, links to bands mentioned and covered, downloads for each podcast (also available on iTunes).
    7. Battle Of The Bands – Coverage of the 2006 Battle Of The Bands as well as coverage on the development of the 2007 event.
    8. The Medium Site – Blog kept for the band, not updated too frequently but its there all the same (last updated mid December)
    9. The KilkennyMusic.com Blog – Currently available as a member only feature but going public in January, I’ve just added some extra writers so I’m expecting a major push on the blog side of KilkennyMusic.com for 2007, you can already put aside that 2008 Best Music Blog award for me Damien 🙂
    10. Event Ireland Blog – I’m currently working on the theme, it will be sorted out, with the content back live, at the end of the holidays.

  • Happy Christmas

    Whatever language you say it in and what ever country you’re in or from, Happy Christmas to you. Thanks to everyone who has been reading during the year and continues to do so. If you’ve never introduced yourself, don’t be afraid to drop me a line.

    I hope the festive season is good to you and wish you all the best (in blogging and in life) for 2007.

  • 10 Things: 10 Non-Irish Blogs I’d Recommend

    Another list of 10 things from myself, this time its ten non-Irish blogs that I read on a daily (or almost daily) basis. A good bunch of tech/web blogs, a nice music blog, and one for Lost fans.

    1. Micropersuasion – Steve Rubel
    2. Techcrunch – Mike Arrington
    3. Engadget
    4. VentureBeat (formerly SiliconBeat)
    5. Business Opportunities – Dane Carlson
    6. Cyber Journalist
    7. The Lost Blog by Andreas Climent
    8. The Unofficial Apple Weblog
    9. Regnyouth (great for music)
    10. Successful Blog – Liz Strauss

  • Happy Christmas From Mobileblogr

    I’m heading away today for the Christmas, no internet connection until the 29th so there’ll be no blog activity. There’s a few posts racked up on my personal blog, kenmc.com, if you’re interested!

    Thanks for reading so far and helping to make the blog what it is, Happy Christmas to you and yours and have a great holiday season!

  • 10 Things : 10 Facts About Me (Seriously)

    Here we go, 10 things about me…

    1. I hold a First Class Honours Degree in Information Technology (with a Diploma in Multimedia Applications Development), courtesy of Waterford Institute of Technology
    2. I’m a massive fan of 24.
    3. I would love to release a solo album. Just have to get the material together. And maybe a small orchestra as well.
    4. If there’s a microwave curry going, I’ll throw a bag of cheese and onion crisps into it, its brilliant!
    5. I love Indian food, Lamb Madras being my favourite dish.
    6. I spend way too much time on the internet.
    7. I’ve a serious dislike for dentists.
    8. Needles freak the shit out of me – having blood drawn is a laugh, especially the coeliac tests last year. Six needles straight – ha!
    9. I registered as an organ doner years ago and carry a card with me (quite faded now that its been through several wallets). I’d gladly give up everything – but my eyes.
    10. I once had 34 email accounts. Now I try and keep it to around 10 or so.

  • 10 Things: 10 Great Albums From 2006

    Ok, to start this little ’10 things’ series off, I’ve got ’10 great albums from 2006′. Now, there’s one or two that might actually be on the list from 2005 but I’ve played to death having discovered during 2006 (such as ‘Waltzing Alone’). I’ve included links where possible (non affiliate links) to buy the CDs.

    1. The Guggenheim Grotto – Waltzing Alone (2005)
    2. Bruce Springsteen – We Shall Overcome (Seger Sessions)
    3. Tool – 10000 Days
    4. Steel Pulse – Living Legacy (1999)
    5. Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill Acoustic
    6. Sia – Colour The Small One (2004)
    7. Zero 7 – The Garden
    8. Rodrigo y Gabriela (Self titled)
    9. System Of A Down – Hypnotise (2005)
    10. Matisyahu – Youth

    If anything, support an Irish act and get out and buy yourself a copy of ‘Waltzing Alone’ by The Guggenheim Grotto. I had the pleasure of seeing them twice this year through appearances with KilkennyMusic.com earlier in 2006 (May and August) and the lads are just after launching their album over in the US through UFO Records. If you’re interested, you’ll also catch a track from them on the first Sound System Podcast or you can download their debut EP (‘A Lifetime In Heat’) from their site.

  • 10 Things : A Christmas Blogging Series

    So we’re finishing work this afternoon for the holidays and seen as I’m going away tomorrow for a week or so I’m organising a little series called ’10 things’ which will take from tomorrow and over the following ten days right up to New Years Eve (I should be back in Kilkenny the day before). Sneaking off to the family home in Sligo (we bought a place up there a few years ago, last year it became more a ‘home’ than a ‘house’ if you get me) so it’ll give a nice break away for a week or so from this coming Saturday.

    I won’t be answering any mail from Saturday onwards until the 29th at the very earliest.

    As for ’10 things’ I be going for ten different lists including my top ten albums of the years, gigs of the year, software, blogs, songs, something handy and a bit different for the festive season. Now, just gotta write all these posts…. If you’re thinking on doing something the same, I’m tagging (for technorati) everything with “10+things”, you know yourself.

  • Crunchnotes Go Great With Some Tea

    Seen as we’re finishing work tomorrow, today has been a bit of a mad one to say the very least and I’m only getting around to the bulk of blog reading over some tea. God bless the tea! What does make for interesting reading (seen as Keith has been busy posting) is Mike Arrington‘s ‘Truth About TechCrunch UK‘ which is Mr. Arrington’s full side of his story – seen as there’s been a load of hype in the past week or two about Le Web and Techcrunch UK’s holding period its interesting to read the clear of air.

    Could we hire an attorney over all of this? Sure. But even though I’m an attorney, that’s not my style. And frankly, we have better things to do with our time. So in the end I had the choice between continuing to work with Sam, and possibly making a lot of money on a European event, or being able to sleep well at night. I chose sleeping wel

    Or maybe not so much a clear of air but just putting the issue to bed for once and for all. Sure makes for interesting reading though.

    Oh how the mighty do bicker.

    So yet again, is it the end Techcrunch UK or would you say its the end of it all? With Sam and Mike now writing at Vecosys [Tracking European Startups] I’m guessing they won’t be back in any capacity. Could do with a decent blog theme though. Sure a shame if it was. Even saw a mention of Blacknight in there once!

  • Sound System Podcast Hits iTunes

    KilkennyMusic.com‘s Sound System Podcast (hosted by myself, Ross Costigan, Alan Dawson and Michael Keogh) is now available on iTunes.

    Joy oh joy 🙂

    If you’re unfamiliar with it, the podcast is an hour long show looking at the music scene in Kilkenny, KilkennyMusic.com related events, while carrying music from our own line of hosted gigs and the One Take Sessions. The Christmas special, covering the ‘Sessions from December 14th (which featured Majella Murphy) as well as taking live tracks from the Christmas party on Saturday night was recorded last night and should hit the web before the weekend.

    Means I’ve got to improve that iTunes graphic now as well…

  • Page Views Are Dead – What Comes Next?

    Its been a while since I pointed out one of Steve Rubel’s blog posts but he makes an interesting point today in calling out for a replacement for page views and an improved system of metrics for tracking web statistics. Allen Stern at Center Networks also makes an interesting post on the death of a metric (in page views). He’s also started a wiki for it.

    I’ve neglected looking at web statistics of late, barring KilkennyMusic.com as I develop a plan for 2007, but I always hold in the back of my mind that you should be monitoring your statistics in order to better serve those visiting and utilising your web site and services – thats why we have the likes of StatCounter, Mint and Analytics.

    Page views is always something thats pissed me off though as a misrepresentation of how many people actually use your site. Fair enough, you know its an interesting page or article but views in no way reflect unique visitors or a strong way to measure browsing trends. If we can dig a little deepers or at least fine tune the process then we can understand a bit more about our web visitors. In the meantime though, I’ve a feeling I’ll be keeping an eye on those above posts.

  • Tesco Mobile To Hit Ireland

    Tesco - Every Little Helps? Now for mobile users!First we had 088, then 087 (Vodafone), 086 (O2), 085 (Meteor) and 083 (Three) – this coming summer, we’ll be introduced to 089 thanks to Tesco Mobile which will launch in 2007, backed by O2.

    The service, according to news reports, will initially launch as a pre-pay option, introducing post-pay options before the end of 2007. Given the sheer number of Tesco stores in Ireland, coupled with the company’s reputation for being able to introduce serious competition and lower prices across the board, Tesco’s mobile introduction should make for an interesting shakeup to the Irish mobile market.

    Tesco already have a similar structure in place in the UK where they’ve already gained more than 1,000,000 customers.

  • Motorola KRZR Irish Launch Site

    Looking snazzy… Its the Motorola Ireland launch site for the new MOTOKRZR K1 model. Linking out to Meteor, Vodafone and O2, the site is flash-packed with everything on the phone. Even from a design point of view the site would have you seriously thinking about the phone. I’m quite happy with my K800i though 🙂

  • Want To Write “How To” Articles?

    Once piece of advice to get people reading your blog has always been (at least I’ve found anyway) to write good “How To” articles – help people to help themselves, give some solid advice and information etc. etc.

    With Zeitgeist announced (Google’s top searches for 2006), here’s the top ten “How To” searches, if you’re thinking on blogging a few “How To” articles then it might give you a little idea on what to aim for…

    1. how to refinance
    2. wiki how to
    3. how to drift
    4. how to podcast
    5. how to scream
    6. how to levitate
    7. how to tattoo
    8. how to blog
    9. how to kickflip
    10. how to draw

    Interesting that more people want to learn how to float or start tattooing as opposed to blogging 🙂

  • Swisscom Take Full Ownership Through Vodafone Sale

    Vodafone have agreed to sell their 25% stake in leading Swiss mobile network, Swisscom, for around EUR2.6bn, giving Swisscom 100% ownership of the company with the Swiss mobile giant already owning 75%. Quoting an “attractive” price, Arun Sarin (Vodafone’s CEO) said “We do not see ourselves as the most appropriate holder of this minority stake in the longer-term”.

    More from RTE.

  • A Personal Thanks…

    While I’ve posted my personal thanks on the KilkennyMusic.com forums, I would also like to thank through the blog those of you who turned up at the KilkennyMusic.com Christmas Party on Saturday night. We had four great bands (The Happy Medium, Laminate, Waiting To Explode and Myp Et Jeep), loads of food and around 200 people there on the night.

    The Sound System Podcast due before the weekend will feature three tracks from the One Take Sessions last Thursday night (featuring Kat Dempsey, Myp Et Jeep and Majella Murphy).

    My thanks to sponsors and to Essaness Music (Kieran Street, Kilkenny) as well for donating a real nice guitar for the end-of-show raffle (which was drawn about 2:15am).

    I’m quite pleased myself with how the Sessions are progressing, last Thursday (its free whenever when we put it on, every third Thursday) we had about 50 or 60 people in, not bad for only its third night. If you’re visiting Kilkenny any Thursday night, do drop in. We’re fully booked for January 4th and January 25th which should make for some great music. As far as I know there’s a track of mine up on MySpace as well if you’re interested 😉

  • iPhone Announced – Only Its Not Apple’s

    If Apple do actually decide to release a mobile phone, you can count on it now that the handset at least won’t be called the iPhone as Cisco have just released their ‘iPhone’ – apparently owning the trademark on the name since the mid 90s. The handset itself is a VOIP handset which will run Linksys. Why couldn’t anyone have figured that out earlier?

    So what are we looking at now? The iTalk? iVoice? Apple Mobile? Stuff.tv has a nice article on it, but there’s going to be a whole host of people disappointed this Christmas!

  • “Bebo me!”

    Thats the new one now for Kilkenny. You run into someone on the street that you haven’t seen in ages and its no longer “ah yeah, I’ll meet you for a pint” or “Give me a text during the week” or “I’ll give you a buzz at some stage”… no. Its now just “Bebo me!”.

    I guess second in place to that (which was heard on more than one occasion over the weekend) – “Did ya see me new flashbox?”.

    Of course, you can bebo me if you like… 🙂

  • Nokia Siemens Deal Is Off

    One great mobile company, one decent mobile company (with strengths in many other areas), Nokia and Siemens were due to follow the path set by Sony Ericsson in previous years and merge into ‘Nokia Siemens Networks’ in the new year but now, according to the New York Times, its not going to be the case.

    Reason being is that Nokia are waiting to see the result of the ongoing bribery scandal at Siemens.

    From the NY Times

    In light of the current investigations of Siemens, the scope of which includes the carrier-related business to be transferred to the new company, Nokia and Siemens intend to adjust their agreements in order to have Siemens conduct an appropriate compliance review prior to closing of the transaction,” the company said in a statement. “This adjustment is an addition to the previously agreed closing conditions. Nokia will participate actively in the review.

    It is the mobile divisions of each company that are to be merged and, all things going to plan, Nokia hope to have the deal finalised by March 2007.

  • Turn Your VCR Into A HTPC

    Lets face it, the VCR is dead. Forget your bulky video tapes, we’re all heading towards mobile media, iPod video, blue ray DVD and all the rest.

    This article though is a gem – turning a VCR into a media PC case. In recent times I know my own house has been gathering old video recorders and while I’ve been thinking of adding a HTPC setup to the living room and kitchen, I certainly wouldn’t mind tackling something like this.