Inside View from Ireland

Quick key combos

KILKENNY -- If multimedia students used key combos rather than pull-down menus, they would get more work done during each lab period while reducing the risk of repetitive stress injury. Users don't have to learn very many key combinatins to get significant benefits. The obvious ones in Windows are Ctrl-A (select all), Ctrl-X (cut), Ctrl-C (copy), Ctrl-V (paste), Ctrl-P (print), Ctrl-S (save), Ctrl-Z (undo) and Ctrl-Y (redo).

---

x_ref125mw

Building blocks of our networked world

WIRED -- The November cover story of Wired¹ gives more than a dozen pages to Linus Torvalds and Open Source because those two items represent how we roll together our networked world.

About two-thirds of the servers that collectively make up the Internet deliver Web pages and other data through a program called Apache, developed by a band of programmers who receive no direct financial compensation for their work. The programming language Perl, another freebie, has become so indispensable to Web developers that it's been referred to as the duct tape of the Internet. And most of the world's email is routed through Sendmail, yet another exercise in mob authorship. Like Linux, each of these was created by coders abiding by the open source credo: Do what you wish to improve a product, charge for it if you like, but share the underlying source code you added.

---

¹Gary Rivlin -- "Leader of the Free World" in Wired, Nov 03
x_ref1482

Notes from Damien Kiberd

SUNDAY TIMES -- Damien Kiberd's "Irish Outlook" never disappoints those in search of acerbic wit.

• "The Irish Congress of Trade Unions still appears to regard the Celtic Tiger as a conspiracy against organised labour."
• "Cheque-in-the-post farming is now divorced from physical output."

---

Damien Kiberd -- "Tax regime still adds up" in The Sunday Times, 9 Nov 03. Info also featured on "Lunchtime with Damien Kiberd" on Newstalk106, the source of the Kiberd image.
x_ref17

Learning in a Dublin Sony Centre

DUBLIN -- I spent an hour in the Blanchardstown Sony Centre, watching people, talking to John Ahern, and coveting more electronics gear than my wallet would accommodate this year or next. With my charge cards locked up and only pocket change in my shoulder bag, I wasn't going to do anything more than window shop. I saw three objects of desire: a Sony Clie PEG-UX50, a Sony Vaio Z1VAP1 (big brother of the CIB Editor's Choice today), and a combo Sony PC-TV (the Vaio PCV-W510G). All three were connected to the Internet wirelessly. That's the first time I have witnessed the convergence of Wi-Fi with consumer electronics.

Quicklinks about Visiting America

VISIT AMERICA -- I have no more than a week to roam the States in December, so I'm trying to resist the temptation to travel too much. Airports are never cultural meccas and you often get stuck in airports when traveling throughout the States in winter. I would rather spend time absorbing instead of traveling.

• Christmas Magic in Manhattan is tangible. You can add the warm smells of sidewalk takeway food to the sounds of music from all the fashionable shops to the chatter of shoppers carrying attractively wrapped presents. There's a Ritz Carlton near Battery Park in NYC offering rooms for $250 a night that might be worth a special stay. I've seen some Paint the Town special deals on offer as well.
• Amtrak National Rail Passes enable Irish tourists to buy 15-day tickets costing $295 for travel on any Amtrak route.
• With my hometown (Lancaster) a simple hour-long journey by train, I will spend some time in Philadelphia, showing Ruth two of the nation's largest shopping malls.
• Getting to Washington, D.C. before Christmas is also a priority.

---

Travel Association of America has frequent giveaways for Europeans headed to the States.
x_ref350

LRC100 laser jammer

COMTECH -- I avoided several speeding tickets in my Corvette 20 years ago because radar detectors couldn't lock onto its fiberglass snout. A blue Brit-reg BMW traveling Dubin's M50 ring today had a piece of black plastic nestled into its grille that would do one better--it could reflect error messages back onto handheld police radar guns.

More than 1000 Target LRC 100s have sold for EUR 490 each since June, without any marketing campaign.

Ripwave wireless broadband

IRISH BROADBAND -- "Ripwave" draws an easy dozen searchers a day to this blog, some of them Irish users looking for entry level wireless broadband. Ripwave Home offers 128k service for EUR 24.80 a month, after a €99.18 setup fee. It's available in South Dublin but the technology bolts onto community nodes.

If you're looking for rural access to broadband Internet speeds, you should benchmark options to Digiweb's Skystar service. It delivers 128k speeds for EUR 99 a month, costs €1145 to set up and needs a 12 month contract for services. Unlike Ripwave, there are no contention ratio issues. Digiweb gives you dedicated downstream access.

---

x_ref1482 x_ref125

Sony TR1MP Editor's Choice

SBP -- Computers in Business awards its "Editor's Choice"¹ to the saucily-styled TR1MP. ZD Net gave the laptop 8.2 out of 10. It's a full-spec laptop with a 90 MHz Centrino processor, 256 MB RAM and a 30 GB HDD. It also has a video camera built into the frame of the monitor, FireWire connectivity and video editing software. It writes CDs, includes WiFi and Bluetooth as standard firmware. I view its five-hour battery life with suspicion but think it would last for most of my 80 minute tabletop time on most runs aboard Irish Rail.

---

¹Dara McCluskey -- "Buying the right laptop" in Computers in Business, Nov 03
x_ref1334

Quicklinks to streaming

KILKENNY -- I operate without broadband at home and my trusty computer still needs a part. While moving around favourites on a back-up system, I want to share some of the best streaming sites.

• Real -- Has top-notch free content but SuperPass is not giving me value for money.
• Sites for Sites -- Comprehensive search engine linking 20,000 broadband websites with feedback scores.
• Shoutcast -- superb hub with quality radio streams
• Music Brigade -- satisifies my addiction to pop videos
• Live 365 -- perhaps the largest Internet radio network
• Ifilm -- bundled into SuperPass or available for small monthly fee
• Dot Music -- Part of the Yahoo kingdom. Good streams but tinny sound

---

Alex Pell -- "Streams into Torrents" in The Sunday Times, 9 Nov 03
x_ref125ms

Problems with Computer voting

TRIBUNE -- "Opposition is mounting in Ireland and all over the world to a process which critics say jeopardises crucial accuracy for the sake of a quicker result on election day."¹

Nobody in Irish political or legal life outside of environment minister Martin Cullen's department has inspected the voting machines ordered in a €38m contract from Powervote. The internal workings of the machines cannot be examined by citizens, political opponents or technology experts. Could you imagine the government buying a jet without opening its engine cowlings?