Ken McGuire

Author: Ken McGuire

  • Happy Anniversary To Me

    I’m not married or marking any kind of personal anniversary… this one is the blogging kind as (according to my post archives) kenmc.com marks one year as a blog and I, in turn, mark one year as a blogger.

    There’s a little lie behind that I guess as I ran a blog of sorts in college, also hosted on this domain using Serendipity at the time before I discovered WordPress. I think, however, there’s a slight difference between “running a blog” and “blogging”, where the college one served as means to an end, following a particular college subject and project notes and this one was pushed to the public domain.

    I’ve had a few rants, there’s been some interesting discussions and over the past year I’ve managed to launch several blogs.

    At present, the main count would be…

    To top it off, at the weekend I launched Mobileblogr, with a view to keeping up to date on mobile developments (something which interests me directly). Comments and feedback on the theme and layout would be greatly appreciated. All of the above are hosted on versions of WordPress between 2.01 and 2.04.

    In that time as well I’ve been able to work with people, friends, bands and family in setting up blogs and have been able to develop my own style of writing (certainly more clearer to myself once World Cup Access launched, which in turn inspired Liverpool Access). I

    I’ve also made contact with some excellent bloggers in the country and read up on many of them on a daily basis (see the blogroll on the right-hand-side for some quality Irish blogger links), discovered a wealth of information and been introduced to new sites, products, different ways of thinking, all through blogs.

    The ways of the web, including my own usage of the web for day-to-day activities has changed a lot too since coming out of college in May 2005 (my own background there being a BScH in IT with a preceding BSc in Multimedia Applications Development) and I guess Google’s purchase of Youtube in the last week or so is certainly proof of point that the ways of the web are about to get a lot different over the coming years.

    Thanks to everyone (now 80 or so daily reading the blog via FeedBurner outside of search engine links or regular browsers) who continues to read the blog, or any of my other blogs for that matter and thanks to people for all of the above.

  • Bluetooth Link For Your Mobile And iPod

    Computer Active have a small article on BluEye, a new bluetooth solution for those of you likely to keep your iPod in one pocket and your mobile in the other. When synced with your phone, the bluetooth headphone set will pause the music on your iPod allowing you to take your call before switching back to your iPod when finished.

    With BluEye connected, when you have an incoming call on your paired mobile, your iPod’s tunes automatically stop and a ring-tone cuts in. The in-coming number appears on your iPod’s screen and you can accept or reject the call using the BluEye’s buttons. BluEye will pick up your voice via its inbuilt microphone and you hear the caller’s voice through your headphones. so your mobile never needs to come out of your pocket. As an extra bonus, once the call is finished, your tunes will automatically cut back in!

    It features

    • Make and receive calls on your iPod
    • Plug’ n’ Play with most Bluetooth enabled mobile phones
    • Caller Number ID displayed on iPod screen
    • Automatically pause and resume music for incoming calls
    • Last 9 numbers redial from your iPod
    • Voice dial when paired with supported Bluetooth phones
    • 15 Presets and auto scan FM Radio
    • Use your own headphones
    • No need for batteries
    • Bluetooth 2.0

    Shipping this November, the unit is expected to cost in the region of €65 but this is yet to be confirmed.

    Full product details here

  • 200 Jobs, 28 New Stores For 3 Ireland

    3, one of Ireland’s current 3G license holders, has announced that they are planning to launch a total of 28 new stores before the end of 2007 throughout Ireland, creating a total of 200 jobs and signalling a further investment of €15 million by the company in its Irish presence.

    Currently, 3 mobiles are available throughout Ireland via Carphone Warehouse.

    Eight stores are due to open this year with the flagship store opening in Dublin while stores will open in both Cork and Wateford before the Christmas holiday season. The remaing outlets will open “in prime locations in shopping centre and main streets”.

  • HP’s rw6815 Gets European Release

    ipaq-rw6815_190x170.jpgHewlett Packard’s rw6815 has been given an October European release and will likely clock in around the €549.99 mark (inc VAT). There’s no 3G functionality built into the handset but it makes for a nice, smaller model in comparison to the 6500 series (the hw6515 which I’m currently using). From HP directly….

    The HP iPAQ rw6815 Personal Messenger is small in size but big on connectivity and features so users can make phone calls, send text and instant messages, surf the Internet, check emails, and much more. Key features include:

    • Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and e-mail sync automatically over the mobile phone network using Direct Push Technology, keeping schedules, important phone numbers, and “to do” lists up to date
    • Microsoft Office lets users read presentations, spreadsheets and documents so they can work when and where they want.
    • Entertainment features combine user music, photos, videos and built-in HP Photosmart Camera all together in one ultra-portable device.

    These new products provide the rich mobile data experience that customers are demanding for both professional and personal productivity,” said Neil Dagger, senior category manager, handhelds, HP Personal Systems Group, UK & Ireland.

  • Electronic Passports Issued Today

    Today is the day the passport office start issuing the new ePassports, (electronic biometric passports) after successful testing independantly in the Netherlands (to meet EU standards) and Viriginia in the US (to meet US standards). The deadline was October 26th but looks like they’re set to start rolling out from today, October 16th. (See older Department of Foreign Affairs press release here)

    While the new biometric passport will look much the same as its predecessor, it will have a microchip embedded in it which contains the digitised facial image and personal details of the passport holder as they appear on the data page. The microchip can be read electronically at border controls. The Government has no plans, at this stage, to include a citizen’s finger prints. Ireland is internationally recognised as having one of the most advanced passport documents in the world. The proposed legislation will further augment the trust that the international community places in our passports.

    As biometric passport reading facilities are progressively introduced at overseas airports, the new technology will strengthen border security and streamline the movement of passengers through airports.

    The biometric passport incorporates a number of important security features designed to protect the identity of the bearer. A special code is used to write data to the microchip, the chip is protected by a secure electronic “key”, and an additional access code guards against electronic eavesdropping or “skimming” of information on the microchip.

    The project was estimated to have cost around €8.8m for 2006.

  • Carphone Warehouse Fuming Over Sales Demand

    Looks like one of the reasons, according to the Sunday Times today, for the falling out between Vodafone and the Carphone Warehouse is Vodafone’s demand for a guaranteed 35,000 sales “irrespective of the terms offered to customers”.

    According to Carphone chief Andrew Harrison (quoted in the paper)

    Vodafone approached us to do the same deal and we would not go anywhere near it with the terms on offer,” Mr Harrison said. “It goes against everything we stand for.

    Carphone Warehouse maintain that less than 10% of their contract customer base in the UK opt for a Vodafone contract. While Orange have stated that they may follow Vodafone’s actions, T-Mobile have announced that they are backing Carphone Warehouse’s stance who stated they saw Carphone Warehouse “as an important partner despite Vodafone’s decision”.

  • Creative Imagination In Advertising

    I guess “Creative Imagination” would have been a good name if I was a marketer as much as someone with a love for design but for those people into advertising… here’s the “Top 5 Most Creative Ads” as posted on TechEBlog today.

    Here’s a sampler (from Honda UK)…

  • Vodafone Dump Carphone Warehouse for Phones4U

    Just as things were looking up for Carphone Warehouse after sealing a cut price deal to take AOL UK under its wing on Wednesday, share prices at the high street mobile chain were knocked back again on Thursday as Vodafone announced that they are pulling the rug out from under Carphone Warehouse for third-party mobile sales, instead opting to go with Phones4U exclusively.

    While share prices took a sizeable hit on Thursday, investors have been left worried going into the weekend on news that UK operator Orange might be pulling contract phones out of Carphone Warehouse as well while they review their own high street strategy.

    The moves comes not long after Carphone Warehouse in Ireland announced that they are to carry contract and pre-paid phones for the 3 network in Ireland.

  • Booked (Blogged) For Canada

    Since we started the business last July I’ve managed to take a week off work (barring a ten day break at Christmas), and during that week I was involved in producing (and acting in) a show for a new theatre company a small group of us established back in May. That said, I’ve got a few spare days this year to take so I’m booked for a week in Toronto flying out the morning of Friday November 24th and arriving back the morning of Friday December 2nd.

    After spending a good week researching flights, making phone calls, waiting on phone calls I discovered that the only decent way to get to Canada – directly, and quickly – is to go out from Belfast. So the night (23rd) before the flight I’ll drive avec mon pére (more his trip away with me tagging along for the break and change of scenery) to Belfast or as close to as is permissable to catch the morning flight out. In the end we opted for Zoom Air who run direct flights to both Toronto and Vancouver, running at around €450 inclusive of flights, taxes, insurance etc. for the return trip each. Not bad considering that it was costing at least €100 more to fly out of Dublin or Cork, both offering flights with lengthy stopovers in any of London, Paris, Amsterdam or Atlanta, extending the trip anywhere up to an extra 6 hours.

    The flight comes at a good time as well blogging wise. Between the few blogs in the last month (thanks in part to a 250 quid text link on The Football Times) or so I find myself less than a hundred quid off the final cost of the flights… If anyone asks I’ll just say I blogged my way to Canada (or at least part of the way there)….

    All the same, can’t wait to get away and get over there. Last time I was stateside was a good ten years ago, spent a few weeks in MA between Boston/Springfield/Northampton/Florence…. gorgeous neck of the woods (Northampton/Florence).

    But of course – Toronto is in Canada! Anyone ever been or can suggest anything to go check out while I’m there?

  • 5 Tips To Backup Your PDA

    Here’s 5 tips for backing up your PDA (only two of which I actually do on a regular basis) from ComputerWorld.com.

    1. As many applications can send data to your PDA or smartphone directly, you should keep master copies of all data on your own server/computer
    2. Make new backups if you ever make any significant changes to the content of your mobile – the choice of location is yours, SD card, PC or over the network
    3. Backup to two local memory cards (one of which is always kept separate in case of loss)
    4. A lot of phones nowadays are effectively using additional memory cards for hard drive access. If this is the case with your phone then make frequent copies of your SD card content
    5. If you’re in the habit of forgetting to backup your phone – automate the backup – most mobile software packages now have automation options, as soon as you plug your phone in via cable, docking station, or your bluetooth/WiFi is detected your phone will start backing up. Only takes few minutes and can save you an awful lot of heartache down the line.

  • Sony Ericsson ‘James Bond’ handset ready

    I’ve had a fairly good run with Sony Ericsson, having used a P900 for about 18 months before jumping over to my HP 6515W so its nice to check up on Sony’s new models – I would certainly have no problem moving back to them.

    Nice to see too that they’re releasing the silver version of the K800, the new “James Bond” phone, as used by 007 himself in the upcoming Casino Royale movie (due out on November 17th).

    The phone comes with a 2″ QVGA display, 3.2mp camera, 64mb internal memory and M2 card support as well as USB 2.0 connectivity. Unfortunately for fans of the phone, it is a limited edition so if you’re after it get your hands on it soon as its hitting the market for a three-month run before disappearing again.

  • Another Pagerank Update

    Looks like Google have been at the PR updates again…

    • kenmc.com – PR 4 to PR5
    • kilkennymusic.com – PR2 to PR4
    • liverpoolaccess.com – PR0 to PR5

    Pretty pleased with the increase in LiverpoolAccess.com given its only been knocking around since the end of the summer, coupled with the rise in kilkennymusic.com’s PR, which I hadn’t been able to shift from 2 while using PHPNuke at the backend, no matter who was linking into it or what amount of content I published.

    Just after I had asked was Pagerank really important and all…. 😉

  • Record On Your 5G iPod – MicroMemo

    Don’t know about you… but I like the sound and look of this….

    MicroMemo plugs right into your dock connector to capture memos, meetings, lectures, or any audio content directly to your iPod. A flexible, detachable mic captures audio. Or you can use any microphone with a 3.5mm-plug.

    • Full iPod integration and on-screen display
    • Built in speaker for instant playback
    • One-touch recording in stereo or mono
    • Accepts other microphones and line-in cables
    • Records 16-bit audio at 22 kHz and 44 kHz
    • No batteries needed—iPod-powered

    Supposed to be shipping again from next week but loves damn impressive… Has anyone tried it or know anybody who has tried it?

  • Creative Links for 2006-10-11

    • Web Application Security Podcast and Blog. A dream plugin for Podcasters using WordPress. Full featured and automatic feed generation (RSS2, iTunes and ATOM and BitTorrent RSS)

  • Making Techmeme


    kenmcg

    Originally uploaded by keithbohanna.

    Posted by Keith on Flickr this morning…

  • Sound System Podcast – Show #1

    About time says you… we’ve gotten the podcast up and off the ground at KilkennyMusic.com.

    The first show covers a little intro and outro by myself (only new pieces). The bulk of the show, a round table discussion on music in Kilkenny and what exactly KilkennyMusic.com is and does, was recorded over the summer in the KCLR 96 FM studios in Kilkenny as part of a special show we recorded exclusively for the station.

    Its late at night, I don’t have exaxt show notes or anything but along with the chat between myself, Ross Costigan (our resident photographer), Alan Dawson (our resident engineer) and Jimmy Trigger (front man for Kilkenny progressive metal band, Itchy Trigger Finger) you’ll get music by

    The show runs at 53:59 and stands at 37mb, MP3 format at 96Khz. Listen to it now or check the site.

    The podcasts are going to continue in more of a structured show format covering band interviews, new music, and tracks from our new One Take Sessions which are kicking off on November 2nd with KilkennyMusic.com.

    Of course, if any of you listen to the podcast, or have any tips or feedback – good, bad, or otherwise – then drop me an email or leave a comment.

  • From Rumour To Reality – Google Buys Youtube

    A text message at half eleven at night to tell me that Google just acquired Youtube. Last week it was just a rumour, now its a US$1.65 billion reality.

    Guess its one thing that Google, with all their millions, couldn’t make on their own. Will this mark an end to Google Video? Who knows! Techcrunch has a great report on it, including mentioning that Yahoo were involved in the bidding war right until the closing stages.

    The deal itself will be closed soon enough but represents Google’s largest ever acquisition and considering the age of Youtube it is an absolute phenomenon that the company went for this much money.

    The acquisition combines one of the largest and fastest growing online video entertainment communities with Google’s expertise in organizing information and creating new models for advertising on the Internet. The combined companies will focus on providing a better, more comprehensive experience for users interested in uploading, watching and sharing videos, and will offer new opportunities for professional content owners to distribute their work to reach a vast new audience.

    “The YouTube team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” said Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google. “Our companies share similar values; we both always put our users first and are committed to innovating to improve their experience. Together, we are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers.”

    No sign of a name change, Google stating that Youtube will retain “distinct brand identity, strengthening and complementing Google’s own fast-growing video business”. Full details are available from the official Google press release.

  • Perfect Mic For Podcasting

    Until recently, any of my vocal record either at home or in the studio would require a mic setup (usually a Shure SM58), XLR lead, small desk, stereo phono to jack lead and onwards into the soundcard. Of course, you could eliminate the need for a desk and phono load by using an XLR to jack converter and plug into your soundcard that way.

    No more I say!

    Picked myself up a Samson C01U studio condenser mic. Why a studio mic? Why not! Its quality you’re after and after playing with the mic for the last four days or so (it arrived on Friday morning) then you can’t go far wrong. Best of all, the mic has been upgraded from Samson’s C01 series – the U standing for USB. Plug the studio mic straight into the sound card via USB and you’re laughing. PC friendly, MAC friendly and it comes with its own controller software to adjust mic phase, watch for clipping and adjust your levels.

    The C01U works perfectly on any computer, Mac or PC, and with any DAW software program. It immediately solves a huge problem for users of many laptops, many of which have no other input method for audio devices.

    It’s a must for any musician on the road or in the project studio, but the C01U is going to offer solutions to more than just musicians. The mic opens up possibilities for anyone who records audio—from Podcasters, journalists, students, and business people adding audio files to websites and multimedia presentations.

    Bagged the mic from Thomann, along with a mini mic stand (which you don’t get with the mic). What you do get isa quality mic, a ten foot USB cable and software drivers on CD, but you can pick up the latest version of PC/Mac from Samsontech.com.

    Of course, that must mean that there’s a podcast looming somewhere….

  • Net Visionary Awards Nominations Open

    The 2006 IIA & CheetahMail Net Visionary Awards are now open for your voting. Looks like Keith and Aidan have managed to get themselves in there this year, Keith for Bohanna Consulting under the educational contribution category and Aidan for his new blog which launched within the last 2-3 weeks, WierdInfo.com. Tough competition going up against Tom, Michele and Twenty Major in the best blogger category but best of luck to you!

    This is just the preliminary stage and voting will close on October 23rd when the overall shortlist will be announced. Some nice people and companies to choose from in the meantime, so go cast your vote here.

  • Pirate Vista? Kiss Goodbye To Your Computer.

    Using a pirated version of Vista (when released) should be ok for a while. Then you might notice a few things go missing on your computer. Then, you might notice your applications won’t open any more. Then you might notice that you’ll only be able to browse the internet – likely being that case that you’ll be whisked off to the Microsoft website to purchase a legit copy of Windows Vista.

    Personally, I still haven’t seen the big plus side to jumping over to Vista. Mind you, its still in beta stage but every time the computer at home boots up I’ll still go for that “Earlier Version Of Microsoft Windows” option….

    Will XP become the new Windows 98 and in five years time people will STILL be running on a copy of XP SP2? With Microsoft not expecting “a slow adoption of the software”, how long before support for XP is wiped out?

    MSNBC has more….