Inside View from Ireland

Technorotty Problems

BACKSEAT DRIVERS -- Count Ireland's Backseat Drivers as part of the chorus slating Technorati's stumble-footed rush out of beta.

Moodle Moot in Ireland

MOODLE -- The first Irish Moodle Moot happens on Friday, 10 September 2004, on the Dublin City University campus. It's an event hosted by DCU and assisted by both Tipperary Instituteand the Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA). This is a fast-track event provided tips and tricks for those interested in Open Source Software for education.

Make Science

OREILLY -- The hacking mindset is alive and well inside Irish DIY and that spirit needs to be enshrined by the State. OReilly is rowing in behind the idea with a concept magazine loaded with exciting projects that help you shows kids how to make technology work. That's important because at the end of July 2004, there were only 16,200 pages of things made in Ireland.

Participants make Open Source work

ON LAMP -- Tim O'Reilly is making the rounds, asking what it means that Google, eBay, and Amazon.com are the new killer apps. He repeats Clayton Christensen's quote that "Free and open source software is the Intel inside of the next generation of software applications--or is it?" According to Christensen's law of conservation of attractive profits, the value simply migrates to adjacent levels.

Your phone is your swipe card

EXAMINER -- One of the most promising emerging technologies in Ireland is RFID tagging. This fact emerged during presentations and vendor displays at the INBITE conference in Thurles last November and it continues percolating in publications read by supply chain professionals.

ITV looking to Linux

GUARDIAN -- ITV is looking to Linux to streamline operations. Jack Schofield spoke to IT director Nick Leake about the rationale. It's less expensive and easier to streamline operations by switching platforms.

SMS Alerts

GLOBETECH -- One of the quiet success stories is the revenue flowing from premium SMS or subscription text alerts in Ireland. Companies like Globetech partner with content providers to offer a range of subscription based SMS alerts. Customers (anyone with a mobile phone) can opt to receive information via SMS text on a daily, twice weekly, weekly or triggered by an event, basis. These are paid for using premium rate SMS, and all revenue is shared.

Why MS is flat

WSJ -- The publisher of Forbes explains why Microsoft's stock has been flat since 1999. The company is rife with gray hairs. And as we know in our software development degree programme, software is a young person's game.

Only gray hairs print emails

STRATEGY-BUSINESS -- Theoretically, the technology skills of our newest cohort on our BSc in multimedia have the potential to make the youngest class the most proficient at absorbing information, making decisions quickly, and multitasking.

Motorola iTunes

WSJ -- Next year, Motorola will offer smartphones that can play iTunes. This makes both the iPod and the Motorola phones more desireable. Plus it helps lock in Apple's technology as a de facto standard.