Inside View

After talking to eircom

AFTER TALKING to an eircom telesales rep who rang me with a bevy of offers, I realised that Ireland's traditional telephone company must know it will be pillaged by Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony. Perhaps that's why they're willing to let me call my international VoIP gateway for five hours of talktime if I agree to an additional €3 in contract costs. When taken hand-in-hand with my Smart Telecom account, this means I get nearly five hours of talk with my mom in the States for less than €15 a month when I use my landline.

Biggest change on Irish streets

THE BIGGEST CHANGE on the streets of Ireland since 2001 is the snippets of conversation you hear in Slavic and Arabic languages. It's very noticeable in Kilkenny's High Street because Poles, Romanians and Latvians are more likely to walk off the centre sidewalk and into a laneway to converse. Their chatting reverberates out onto the main street where gaggles of Irish will normally simply stop their double-wide baby buggies to catch up with each other. (Note to Kilkenny Corporation: Please pedestrianise High Street on Saturdays.)

Iraq Tipping Point

AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION has reached a tipping point concerning Iraq, according to an Associated Press poll that shows 53% of Americans believe that going to war in Iraq was a mistake. More than 135,000 American troops patrol Iraq in a campaign that makes sense only if you buy the Bush vision of freedom and self-determination.

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Why not single-handed convergence

I WISH every image, video and sound recorded by my SonyEricsson P910i would play through my SonyEricsson MMV-100 and then onto my Sony TV set. Only the camerphone's JPG images go from the phone to the 32" WEGA screen. Even if I burn the P910i MPEG-4 videos to CD, they won't play on the TV. I think Sony is missing a sure-play in the game of single-handed convergence. If everything recorded by their smartphones could play over Bluetooth to their MMV SCART devices, I think many in the consumer electronics market would buy Sony all-around to ensure they got easy sitting room convergence of cameraphone content.

How Irish Times Could Improve Online Revenue

IF THE IRISH TIMES wanted to increase revenues through online advertising, it would open its archives to all comers. Keeping them hidden behind a paid registration system denies the newspaper known revenues, according to pundits Doc Searls and Amy Gahran. Their analysis follows the podcast show Future Tense episode in which E-Media Tidbits editor Steve Outing offered his ideas on voluntary registration for news sites -- in the form of registration requests (not demands) placed at the top of every article.

Get the special look

GET A SPECIAL look from people on the street because of what you wear. Here are some clothing items and venue suggestions that have delivered special looks I've seen while out and about:

The Lillington Extensions

KARLIN LILLINGTON takes a step back from hands-on blogging to explain succinctly how blogs are communication tools. Implement a blogging element on your website and you have a better site. Here are some things that arise from the suggestions made by Karlin Lillington in her Net Results column. I call them the "Lillington Extensions" and I believe they are exceptionally relevant for those in the process of upgrading their website:

Ryanairsucks could become illegal

A TROUBLING amendment has latched onto a trademark bill currently meandering through the US Congress, according to Paul Levy. Its authors claim the technical amendment protects branding but the end result amounts to "an insidious attack on free speech" according to readers of Politechbot.

One version of the new trademark dilution revision act (HR 683) has already passed the House, and a related version is under very active consideration in the Senate.

I bought a vibrator

I BOUGHT MY first mobile phone since 1999 and it's a SonyEricsson P910i. This is a rugged phone. I got it through below-wholesale haggling. It has returned the joy of gentle vibration to my shirt pocket. I didn't know I missed the sensation. With the Nokia 9500 now relegated to my camera bag for occasional free WiFi hotspot use, I have a pocket-sized smartphone good enough to create podcasts and vlogs for a new media project beckoning next month. The P910i is a dependable digital dictaphone and its scrolling thumbwheel make reading blog summaries a real joy.

Hillary Clinton Blogging Cancer

HILLARY CLINTON IS (guest) BLOGGING about cancer on Yahoo's health blogs. Her first post is attracting hundreds of comments (441 comments were up when I looked but I noted several flamebaits that were deleted from last weekend) and most comments are forthright. Hillary blogging is tantamount to Irish Minister for Health Mary Harney addressing a Labour Convention. It's remarkable that she's using this channel of communication and more remarkable that the maggot comments can be pruned before they distort the flow of cross-talk (which, unsurprisingly, careens down the path of politics more frequently than the discussion of health).