Inside View from Ireland

Quicklinks for accessibility

NCBI -- Des Kenny, CEO of the National Council for the Blind of Ireland reminded a breakfast meeting that we have a legal requirement to serve accessible Web pages. He pointed to some online resources.

• Visually Impaired Computer Society of Ireland
• IBM Enable
• Access IT
• Section 508
• Jim Thatcher

---

Sent mail2blog from Langton's breakfast atrium using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service.

x_ref125ws

Cybercafe comments

KILKENNY -- I spend some Fridays inside a Kilkenny cybercafe (in fact, it's Powers Newagents, the least expensive Internet connectivity in Kilkenny) where I hear uneducated comments about technology. Yesterday, I listened to three different people mangle the concept of broadband. They didn't understand what it would do for them. They didn't know they could get it in Kilkenny. They didn't know it was less expensive than ISDN, a relatively clean and fast connectivity option. My telephone charges have risen faster than any other utility charge. Assuming my experience parallels those of small business, a compelling fiscal argument exists for Irish enterprise to learn more about ADSL for their connectivity.

---

John Gilsenan -- "Telecoms Trends and Expenditure in Ireland 2003"
Mark Twomey -- "Survey finds knowledge of broadband is poor"
Tim Power -- offers the cheapest means to call and connect in Kilkenny.
Sent mail2blog from Langton's breakfast atrium using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service.
x_ref1482

Scoble's recipe for engaging conferences

SCOBLE -- Robert Scoble suggests interesting ways to enhance attendance and participation at industry conferences by making cameraphones integral parts of the proceedings.

1. Require that all attendees have camera phones. Get a mobile phone company or mobile phone manufacturer to sponsor the conference and sell inexpensive cameraphones outside the venue.
2. Set up interesting photo opportunities inside the conference venue with athletes, celebs and nude women.

   Yes, naked people. Have you ever been to a Consumer Electronics Show? They have an entire "porn industry" hall. No one will ever admit that's why they go to the CES, but my brother and I went to a CES in the 80s and it was hard to get into the porn hall.

3. Have facilitators standing by to help take pictures with attendee cameraphones. Send images over MMS to friends who couldn't attend.
4. Instead of putting a microphone in the audience, have people call in on their phones.

"Who knows?" says Scoble. "It certainly couldn't do much worse than the enterprise-focused shows I've been a part of."

---

Scoble on doing conventions.
Alan Reiter -- "Camera phone conference"
Ashley Benigno on grid blogging.
x_ref153

Knowledge Networks

KILKENNY -- While chatting with colleagues involved in the Higher National Diploma Art course at Ormonde College, I thought that we need to blend our approach by using a knowledge network. We need to make the most of our information resources and leverage what we know. We will set up a simple k-log where we share authoring space.

Best Practise in database development

SYSMOD -- Throughout the past academic term, we have discussed the process of developing databases and the applications using them. Database development begins with enterprise data modeling, where the range and general contents of organizational databases are established. Enterprise data modeling is part of an overall process that develops an information systems architecture for an organisation. It's a process seldom understood by small businesses when they unpack and fire up their copies of Microsoft Access.

---

Patrick O'Beirne -- "The personal software process"
x_ref143db

High-gain Wi-Fi antennas

LUXUL -- Luxul creates superior broadband mobile wireless products and solutions for the wireless market with a focus on the 802.11 space and the unlicensed spectrums of 2.4 GHz and 5.X GHz. Luxul solutions can propogate farther. Because their components are tweaked to handle 2W power that's legal in the State, their signals will blow through walls where a European antenna might bounce off. They are on my short list.

---

Luxul -- High-gain parabolic antenna for $399
x_ref1013

Becoming Bow-lingual

TAKARA USA -- Note to Karlin: Have you ever wondered what your dog is trying to say to you? Try the Bow-Lingual Dog Bark Translator. You can become bow-lingual by using the Animal Emotion Analysis System (AEAS) to analyze your dog's barks. The AEAS selects one of the nearly 200 preprogrammed phrases to represent what your dog is trying to say. The phrases have been selected to reflect the emotion expressed, as well as be entertaining by capturing the natural playfulness of your dog. It's pre-programmed for a variety of popular dog breeds.

---

Takara -- Bow-Lingual System
John Walkenbach -- "Listen To Your Dog"
TripleS -- Bow-Lingual
x_ref19

Short snappy descriptions

DUBLIN -- After talking with two different PR professionals, I think it's time to ask my writing students to describe items in short and snappy ways.

1. Using one adjective, describe your current living space.
2. Using two adjectives, describe your current employer.
3. Using three adjectives, describe your favorite hobby/pasttime.
4. Using four adjectives, describe your typical day.
5. Using five adjectives, describe your ideal life.

---

x_ref125ws

Things missing in Dublin

DUBLIN -- Walking around Dublin with fewer than 20 shopping days remaining until Christmas, I noted a few surprising things.

• Christmas lights handing across Grafton Street are turned off at night.
• Street cleaning crews are overstretched because there are many fallen leaves waiting for sweepers. Walking on fallen maple leaves feels a lot like walking on small piles of dog poo.
• The mobile phone shops should be doing well, based on the noise. While aboard five different buses, the only ringtones I heard were polyphonic, the kind associated with newer phones.
• Early morning breakfasts have not become the fashion. Flanagan's in Georges Street offers one of the least expensive Irish breakfast in centre city Dublin, at EUR 3.20 a plate.
• It seems you cannot have enough buses. During the morning rush, you must plan to wait for at least two overfilled buses to pass by bus shelters

---

x_ref17

Shaking to the drive-through

DUBLIN -- Justin Mason¹ reminded me of the day I was waiting to turn into a drive-through lane at Burger King and my car was rocking as though four men were bumper-bouncing it for fun. The car swayed side-to-side because of the vibration induced by an Abrams tank rumbling up behind me. The place was Schweinfurt, Germany, where soldiers often take the company car to lunch. Five guys in a tank were headed to Burger King.

You can get a decommissioned Abrams tank and inflict the same pleasure on unsuspecting motorists chatting on mobile phones. "The Abrams hybrid tank weighs in at a sturdy three tons and gets just over two miles per gallon. The treads have been scaled back, the barrel has been removed and the turret has been smoothed out. The front window has been expanded and the plexiglass top hatch doubles as a door and sun roof. Crash tests show the Abrams to be first-rate."²

---

¹Justin Mason -- "The next thing after the Hummer"
²Lala Times -- "Gulf War Vehicles Hit L.A. Freeways"
x_ref102103