Sunday News in Ireland

RECESSIONARY PRESSURES in Ireland continue to squeeze technology news from the main business pages of the Sunday papers. That means most tech items sit in the technology ghetto of the Sunday broadsheets instead of percolating out to the friendlier business and news sections. More and more depressing news is getting rewarmed in all the Irish newspapers lately, making quality technology items all the more important to spotlight. News like Intel planning a €1bn retrofit for its Leixlip facilities is less prominent. [4] I've discovered there's a distinct shift to journalists covering ecotech. For example, Stephen Price gives nearly an entire page to tidal power, battery improvements and innovative ways of leveraging salt mines as an energy resource. [1] His points revolve around wind power not producing power in a steady fashion and the need to develop wind farm batteries, perhaps ones containing sulphur and sodium. And his ideas about mines involve looking at Gaelectric, a company that wants to use salt mines under the County Antrim coast to store wind energy in Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES). "Off-peak power is used to compress air into the mine; the compressed air is then released at peak times and mixed with natural gas to drive combustion turbines." Price's points form part of the 7-minute Qik video clip [11 MB 3GP file] that I've made while flicking through the Sunday papers worth trusting in Ireland.

Double Your Internet connection speeds. If you take your internet connection from anywhere other than the main phone connection in your home, you may be subjecting your data signal to electronic interference that runs rampant in your home. If that's the case, you might consider using the iPlate. It fits onto the homes master (NTES) telephone socket by simply removing a few screws on the front plate to fit the iPlate device. Some users have reported 51% increases in speed, measured by the ThinkBroadband.com website. [2]

Air-Powered Car. The AirPod concept car gets a half page in "the big picture" as part of the InGear supplement today. Its 180cc engine runs on compressed air. It can carry three people for 130 miles at speeds up to 40 mph. [3]

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1. Stephen Price -- "Batteries harnessing the winds of change" in the Sunday Business Post Agenda magazine, 8 March 2009.
2. Barry Collins -- "The budget broadband booster" inside InGear, a supplement to the Sunday Times, 8 March 2009.
3. Jason Barlow -- "Big Drive" in the InGear supplement to the Sunday Times, 8 March 2009.
4. Tom Lyons -- "Intel mulls €1bn plan for Kildare" n the "Money" section of the Sunday Times, 8 March 2009.

Direct link to 3GP file: http://www.podcasting.ie/video/sundaytech_090308.3gp

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