This one straight out of Dane Carlon’s blog tells of an entrepreneuring idea helping people put music on their iPods. You’ve heard all about them, you want one, haven’t a clue how to use it or get your hundreds of cd’s onto the damn thing. Well, now for $1.75 a cd for the first 50 with Hungrypod you can have your entire cd collection picked up and transferred onto an iPod and delivered right back to you….
Where there’s a demand, there’s always someone hiding!
Interesting one this. An English secretary, Catherine, whose surname remains private and blogs under the guise of ‘Petite Anglaise’ is taking a test case to French court under French Labour Law after allegedly getting the sack over the writings of her anonymous blog detailing her life in Paris. Anonymous in every regard bar the use of her photo on the blog, which the company now feel identifies her, identifies who she works for and has lead to her discharge under gross misconduct.
Read on at her own blog, or check the Telegraph article from earlier in the week.
Or at least people using IrishBlogs.ie do as this picture might show from a visit to the site this morning. Whats the story there eh? Now I could be wrong, and maybe its just Big Brother that people have a real interest in. Big what now?
Via Xinhua…
12 million Americans keep a computer log and share it with the world while about 57 million Americans read these blogs, or Web journals, most of which detail everyday experiences, the Washington-based nonprofit Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed on Thursday.
The study, Pew’s most extensive yet of blogging, found that both the number of bloggers and the number of blog readers have quadrupled during the past four years, said Amanda Lenhart, senior research assistant and author of the Pew study
Nice to see that the ole blogosphere is still going.
According to the business certificate here in the office, we’re officially one year old, so happy birthday to us! The fact that I’ve still got a job and there’s now three of us working here I would consider a good thing. Maybe now we can afford those blank cd’s we’ve been meaning to order all week….
Planning for the business had started a long time and really got frantic about two months before we kicked off last July (of course at 22 years old you still wonder are you a bit mad) but I think that after 12 months we’re exactly where we had really hoped to be if not better – can’t be going too bad!
My other little baby, Kilkenny Music, is also heading for its first birthday this coming September so no doubt there’ll be a wee party there as that has developed quite quickly in itself! All I need now is for Devious Theatre (that baby is just 2 months old so we’ve a bit to go yet) to hit the headlines and we’re all set.
But you know what? I love every minute of it – wouldn’t trade the design, the music, or the theatre for anything. Mind you, I’ve no idea where the last 12 months have gone….! It might come back to me after a celebratory pint and a steak tomorrow night 😉
Happy days for the photographers among us as Adobe have finally launched a Windows beta of Lightroom, previously only available on the Mac.
Lightroom and Aperture are designed to handle photographs taken in the “raw” formats available on higher-end digital cameras. Raw images preserve more detail because they’re pulled directly off a camera’s image sensor; some of that information is lost in typical cameras when they convert that data into more convenient JPEG files.
Although raw images can be better adjusted for exposure, color balance and other qualities, they bring a profusion of new options for the image-editing process. In effect, raw images must be “developed” into the more convenient formats before they can be used.
While I’m only recently getting used to shooting in RAW and its benefits, I’m looking forward to tackling this. Not a full replacement for Photoshop by any means but if it makes the mess on my hard drive any way tidier then I’m all for it!
So after a long haul, kenmc.com has risen to a page rank of four. Just noticed that over the weekend courtesy of an email from Text Link Ads kindly notifying me to the fact that I had now been accepted to the program, having been rejected a few months back for a low popularity.
So a quick check today, and World Cup Access is firmly on a PR of 4 about 6-7 weeks after the registration of its domain name, having had no posting activity really in the last week so I think I’ve reached the result of my test.
While I wanted to blog about the World Cup (and now blog about Liverpool), I also wanted to see just how quickly your Google PR could rise in a short amount of time. And there you have it, “up 4 places in this weeks chart to 4/10”. Now all I have to do is wait another 4 years, hope it doesn’t go down, then try crack it a little bit higher.
Exactly a year to the day since he started his adventure to trade one red paperclip for a house, it looks like Kyle MacDonald has finally accomplished his goal and looks set to pick up his house tomorrow.
Kinda takes the power of the internet and media to new levels…. Think you could walk into your local Sherry Fitz and start that conversation…
“I don’t suppose there’s any chance….”
World Cup Access. The World Cup is over, starting to become a distant memory to those who followed it even religiously. So this morning I notice there’s something funny with the stats. A jump from 200 uniques on Sunday to over 1700 on Monday. The value of that increase…. 38 cent 🙂
Of course its great to see one of my blogs pushing up the charts, the crazy spike in vistors throwing it to #3 in the IrishBlogs charts… for now…
Oh… what were they looking for? Seemingly Zidane’s headbutt against Materazzi? Couldn’t even remember where I had mentioned it, my SEO was just that good! So I gave them a video this morning for their efforts…
…another one begins.
Sucker for punishment, or just someone who enjoys his writing and musings, I’ve launched yet another blog with the focus remaining on soccer. World Cup Access has been a fantastic micro-journey for me but I feel its regular postings (331 at present count, with an estimated 10-15 left in me as I tidy things up) will be coming to a halt once the competition is over. Focus will start to shift on the global scale towards Euro 2008 and I may well look into that area when the time comes, but with the World Cup ending tomorrow (Sunday), so too will the regular activity on WorldCupAccess.com.
Having enjoyed the posting and all the activity in and around the World Cup to date I’ve decided I need (for myself) to keep up with writing about the sport, but with the focus on my club love, Liverpool.
With that in mind, I introduce to you, Liverpool Access, available via LiverpoolAccess.com with a feed available at feedburner. If you are a football fan, or fanatic, you will be able to recount the great conversations you’ve had with friends over the years, rows you’ve had in the pub, what tactics you would have played and why you wouldn’t have brought on such-and-such a player in the second half… so I look at this as my online airing of views on Liverpool while keeping up with further news and events surrounding the team.
Launched only within the last day or two you’ll find a few posts from myself, while you’ll be able to keep up with transfer news, track the league table, match reports and all my own musings.
Just putting it out there… 🙂
So my World Cup blog, World Cup Access has finally gotten some extra attention. Just when I notice a quiet spell in the stats due to lack of my activity over the past two days and the quiet spell between the semi finals and the final…
Dear Sirs
I am writing on behalf of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) with respect to the 2006 FIFA World Cup(tm). FIFA owns the exclusive rights around the world in a number of trade marks and copyright works created for the tournament, including but not limited to the Official Emblem, Mascots, FIFA World Cup Trophy and numerous word marks such as FIFA WORLD CUP (the “FIFA Marks”). FIFA has various exclusive contractual arrangements in place with sponsors and licensees around the world relating to the exploitation of such rights in accordance with strict terms.
We have discovered that FIFA’s Marks are being misused in the following way on the website under your control and/or legal ownership at: http://www.worldcupaccess.com/
Unauthorised use of FIFA’s copyright and trade mark protected Official Emblem.
FIFA has not consented to this activity and consequently, this is a clear infringement of FIFA’s rights and/or a misuse of FIFA’s marks. Such activity is likely to cause material damage and harm to FIFA and its sponsors or licensees.FIFA requires that you immediately remove the offending material and/or cease the offending activity within the next 24 hours. Please note that further monitoring will take place to ensure that this request is fulfilled and the infringement is not repeated, and that FIFA’s rights and those of its sponsors and licensees are protected.
Not only that, but they were kind enough to email me a screenshot highlighting in a lovely red colour where I broke the rules… (the use of the World Cup logo on the top left of the page). So 24 hours to come up with a new logo… for the love of God, the World Cup is nearly over!!!
Now in fairness, FIFA ran wild on Spreadshirt and anybody selling tshirts or unofficial merchandise with mention of the World Cup but does a lowly blogger who has a passion for football look like I’m about corrupt FIFA? For the love of God, I’ve got stuff to do today apart from changing the entire header graphic of the site. They were kind enough to email me in German, Spanish and Chinese as well.
They could have at least been nice about it and told me how they found the website. Through Google? Referred by a friend? Or is someone in the FIFA marketing department subscribed to the RSS feed? If so, are you happy with the full posts or would you rather snappy summaries? Did you like my blogging efforts? The screenshot’s primary post was after the Germany vs Italy game on the 4th so I’ll have to see what I can find from the stats….
Guess I got busted for causing material damage and harm to FIFA for promoting the World Cup 😉
Bwaaagh! I’m finishing this cup of tea first…
They’re on MySpace, they have a podcast, and you can download every showing via YouTube…
Are you part of a band? Are you a singer? Are you a poet? Are you a celebrity with a cause? Are you a celebrity with something to say? Are you a celebrity with nothing to say? Can you juggle? Can you stand on your head? Are you Bono? Are you Terry Wogan? Can you turn translucent? Can you crack a few jokes? Are you a stand up comedian? Are you a politician? Do you want to defend your policies? Bertie this could be for you! Speak to the world! Break a news story! Shamelessly publisise something! (It better be good!) Its all possible on Balcony TV.
Innovative Irish site that I was introduced to this morning, Balcony TV could be described as a semi show/video blog coming to you from high over Dame Street in Dublin and watching and listening to some of the performances going on, I think this is a cracker way for people to get introduced to the Irish public online. Some fantastic songs and a great use of the whole Web 2.0 environment…
Balcony TV, well worth checking out for your Friday’s entertainment.
They might only ever have two people working the checkouts (which is one of my pet hatreds of shopping there) but according to Om Malik’s blog this evening they’re about to become the next big supermarket broadband dealer.
Lidl, a German discount supermarket – think Walmart type operation – is going to start selling discount broadband packages soon. The company plans to offer high speed connections for about 20 Euros a month. They will also sell a VoIP-based phone service as well.
If you squeeze in between the german sausages and coleslaw at the end of the shop, you might just find that 6mb broadband connection you’ve been looking for. No word on if the Irish chain of stores, of which there is one in Kilkenny and likely one in your own home town too will be offering the service but the plans are in place to roll it out in Europe.
If I may be so bold, I’d like to suggest some listening for your in office / late night workings… The Animatrix Soundtrack (not an affiliate link).
Had a listen to it in work today and its currently playing out through the headphones (got myself a handy pair of technics headphones for mixing) and its one damn fine soundtrack. Perfect music to live, work or sleep by, especially with my ever increasing late night working habits.
If I may make another musical suggestion I suppose I should say that The Happy Medium (the royal we as a band) have released a new demo of ‘Fairground Attraction’ which I originally penned many a year ago. The song has been transported right through its acoustic phase, indie phase and now into its rightful position as a quite upbeat funky tune. The track itself is available for download on MySpace and if you’re going to take a listen to it, I wouldn’t mind a bit of feedback all the same. Free music? Yes please!
I love Football Manager. I’ve been an avid fan of the series since its earlier days as Championship Manager and going back further afield to the likes of Tactical Manager in the mid 90s. In more recent years four of us would get together every couple of weekends, settle ourselves in with a case of beer in the fridge, a Chinese takeaway at some stage of the night and enjoy countless hours trying to take our respective teams to the top of the leauge in good old lan game fashion.
Even after ten years or so of playing the game we still recount great matches down through the years, fantastic signings, cup finals… whatever. But its all a fantasy.
Except for John Boileau, who recently took his computing gaming experience to the next level. Having enjoyed ingame success with the likes of Doncaster, Nuneaton Borough, Rushden & Diamonds and in later years Liverpool, Real Madrid and more, John decided to apply for the vacant post at Premier League club, Middlesbrough. In real life.
John sent the application back in May, along with his footballing CV based on his exploits in the game, and to his credit, got a sweet letter back from Boro chairman Steve Gibson.
(Via). Picked up this post earlier this evening having been away from the PC most of the weekend, at least in an online capacity anyway. So it seems that Chorus are upping their cable speed and lowering their prices, bringing them into line with NTL. Meaning that my 1mb cable service comes down from €30 to €20. But seen as I’m already paying €30 a month, their new pricing structure gives me access to a 3mb service at that price.
Low and behold, a DSL speed test this evening across various sites is showing an average d/s of 2.5mb. Do I thank Chorus? Think so…
Not only that, but if I wanted a 6mb line it looks like its only an extra tenner a month 🙂