Inside View

U2 Rose Bowl on my TV

U2 APPEARED IN CONCERT from Pasadena's Rose Bowl and a few hours later, I was able to pull their two-hour video onto my television through the broadband straw offered by Eircom in Ireland. It wasn't perfect--several delays lasting five to ten seconds disrupted the stream. Several of my online friends didn't think watching U2 on the internet was important but for less-connected neighbours, it was a big deal to see Ireland's most successful rock band playing full screen on a TV well before the Christmas DVD was offered for sale. A few hours later, Sky TV started replaying snippets of the historic event--historic because YouTube streamed the concert across the internet to millions of viewers. On stage, Bono thanked Google for supporting the live stream. Akami Networks carried the lion's share of the burden by opening pipes to the internet for the massive transfer of CD-quality audio and broadcast television video. Around 100,000 people were inside the Rose Bowl for the concert. I'm looking for the official numbers of the viewers who watched the stream. If the clip stays up, I'm sure more than a million people will click into it and see it before the end of the month of October. (It's getting around 20,000 views a day at the moment.) And when that million are recorded on the YouTube counter, it will further cement YouTube's ability to present live events, effectively making Google into a television station that serves seven continents.

U2 in the Rose Bowl

Set list below the break.

DeanWhitbread Deleted But Reposted Here

BECAUSE DEAN WHITBREAD expects to be deleted in a comment he made to a Guardian article, I'm taking the liberty of reposting his musing here. I've followed Dean's audio snippets since 2004. He is the UK's first podcaster, sharing a lot in common with Brian Greene at left (Ireland's first podcaster). 

From Dean, in a comment deleted from the Guardian's digital blog:

"Hello, I'm an social media expert. I lost my previous media job in the recession, sorry, depression, and I needed another scam, sorry, job, so I decided to copy the Americans and hype this relationship-enhancing social value platform they call the telephone, sorry, Twitter. I figured it wasn't enough to be tweeting about my breakfast, so I decided to dress it up in marketing überspeak in order to impress my blue chip clients and make up some of the sideways realtime shortfall in my now defunct pension plan. All my business plans are in less than 140 characters and remember ROI is NOT IMPORTANT. I am. And so are you, as long as you pay me."

Now watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKCdexz5RQ8

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Mercedes Bunz -- "Media 140: The dos and don'ts of social media" in the Guardian's Digital Content Blog, 26 Oct 09.

Markham Nolan made the YouTube clip.

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Apple's Infringement of Nokia

AS A FREQUENT USER of new technology (including the iPhone at left), I'm interested in how Apple intends to resolve the patent infringement action brought against it by Nokia since I know most other companies pay Nokia for the rights to use its intellectual property in aspects of 2G and 3G wireless connectivity, WiFi integration, and related baseband technology. When Nokia asked Apple for the same respect, Apple opted to play hardball in the hopes that a better rate card will be offered on the steps of the courthouse. This is normal Apple business strategy. But behind the scenes, there are some big shifts in market share at the upper end of the smartphone market. Actually, it's a shift in the power balance in flagship phones. It's way cooler to own an iPhone 3GS than to have a Nokia N97, a SonyEricsson Satio or a Palm Pre. Once you've used an iPhone for several weeks, you get accustomed to many very cool applications and those apps alone are probably going to keep you hooked. I've years of legacy add-ons, chargers, and carkits that work with Nokia so I'm not going to walk away from the brand because a sweet new thing full of clever apps saunters by. Moreover, from field tests I know that I cannot get a day's use out of an Apple iPhone, much less a year's durability. That's all down to my personal use case--I think the iPhone is a sweet piece of technology and I really like how the App Store has shifted people's attention to phones as a data point. Competition is good. Big players have a long way to fall. New players have a lot to learn. I'll be surprised to see Nokia stumble with mobile telephony and enjoy watching the quarterly results ebb and flow between Finland and California.

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Sunday News Round-up from Ireland

IF YOU WANT A QIK LOOK at the Irish Sunday broadsheets, you should consider bookmarking Qik.com/topgold or "irishsundaynews" on Qik.com where you'll discover my short takes nearly every Sunday from southeast Ireland. If you want your summaries in 140 characters, bookmark @marklittlenews and let a professional take you through the papers in four or five tweets. I normally favour the Sunday Business Post and The Sunday Times when I make my Qik clips. I never review the Sunday Independent because its headlines often lie. On the front page of the Sunday Business Post comes news of the Irish government planning to slash its capital projects by at least one billion euro next year. The forward-looking Irish Transport Minister is trying to make an end run around internal party bickering about limitations pertaining to driving after drinking. The Sunday Times leads with a story that the Irish national broadcaster may get stuck with funding EUR 60m worth of free television licenses to pensioners this year and next. That paper also picks up on the transport minister's olive branch to his backbenchers. Stricter blood/alcohol limits would bring Ireland into line with other European countries but if the limits change this decade, they will come without having drunks put off the road--unless the driver wrecks someone else's car and is given a blood/alcohol test at the scene of the incident. That often doesn't happen in Ireland. For more of the Sunday news from Ireland, click the audio file below or see the Qik clip by clicking the image above.

Sunday News from Ireland 25 Oct 09

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Direct link to video http://qik.com/video/3327049 and to the audio http://www.insideview.ie/files/091025_sunday_news_from_ireland.mp3

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Hat Tip to Gavin Sheridan

TODAY'S QIK CLIP of the Sunday Tribune fails to mention the tireless work of Gavin Sheridan and TheStory.ie, two well-written blogs that deserve a lot of credit for the spotlight they've shown on the unfortunate state of overpaid and self-serving Irish politicians. The Sunday Tribune continues its formulaic approach to the predictable spending patterns of national politicians in Ireland but misses the opportunity to set an agenda early on its front page. [1] One of the solutions--to impose a requirement that Irish politicians present receipts for reimbursement--should be part of the stories that enjoy front page coverage in the Sunday Tribune. The idea sits deeper in the paper, after a two-page spread that details all the generous expense payments enjoyed at the expense of the Irish tax payer. [5] The system that has legitimised over-the-top payments to politicians has to change in a country has a population smaller than Philadelphia.

Sunday Tribune 25 Oct 09

Qik Clip: http://qik.com/video/3326422 and short Sunday News clips by Bernie Goldbach.

Wimax Ireland

ON A BILLBOARD THAT ENCOURAGES READERS to Google for Wimax, Imagine Broadband probably assumes potential Wimax customers will scroll down the first page of results for Ireland and find its website listed. This is a risky assumption because nearly half of the potential customers I know will type the word Wimax into the URL bar of their browser and land inside the Wikipedia where they can read the history of the technology. Wimax is a technology that could help several local rural communities find the internet without walking a few miles for better over-the-air reception. Wimax won't help me because its mast array will be nestled behind the Rock of Cashel and its signal strength will never push through the Rock's granite. Those limitations aside, it amazes me that Imagine Broadband isn't buying Adwords for better search engine placement (although they are buying sponsored links that many people overlook). And it's rather curious that Imagine isn't pushing its product in social media with advertisements or in Irish blogging space with comments to posts about broadband in Ireland. It appears that the marketing team is focused on standard billboards and mass media marketing. That's an interesting decision, especially considering the proven value-for-money conclusions drawn by other broadband providers in Ireland. If I were handling the marketing campaign, I'd ring an expert for better placement.

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David Quaid -- "Wimax: Google It" from the Primary Position blog.

Aileen Hahesy -- "Mullinahone continues to press for improved broadband and mobile phone coverage" in the News section of The Nationalist, 22 Oct 09.

Previously: "Eircom Wimax Dundrum Tipp" on Inside View, 18 Oct 06.

Evert Bopp -- "Wifi or Wimax or Both", 17 Oct 07.

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Really Cheap iPhone Offered

IF YOU NEED AN IPHONE for status, but already have a perfectly fine Nokia or SonyEricsson phone, why not get a sharp-looking display model iPhone and impress your mates? You can get a dummy iPhone for less than the cost of a weekend's calling top-up. Once you have an iPhone dummy, you can put it in the middle of the table at the pub, place it prominently on your desk, or let it sit alongside you on the train and you know your friends will want to hold it. It costs only $19.95 (free shipping to Stateside addresses) and after your first order, you can get 25% off your follow-up order by sending in photos or videos of you smashing your iPhone or exploding it in the microwave oven. Don't delay! Operators are standing by!

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Go now: www.iphonedummy.net

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Things Ireland Lacks

AS I BAPTISE a Bank Holiday Weekend with my open Moleskine under one palm and a fresh Guinness in another, I'm thinking about some e-mail and Facebook comments about what Ireland lacks. I've written about this thought after attending a Tipperary Tourism Workshop last week. Tipp lacks bundled tourism--a large operator cannot click into Tipp and find intelligent suggestions that extend across several days while hosting a full coachload of people in the Golden Vale, so the big operators go to Kilkenny, Galway, Dublin or Kerry where there are bundled attractions. But if you asks Google "things Ireland lacks" you get some other interesting answers that I want to validate. Google says Ireland lacks intelligent signage. It certainly does. And when the signs are up, they're often turned by people who want to confuse tourists with GPS units. For the past two years, I've noticed how much Ireland lacks in terms of family-friendly activities. Two generations ago, the toddlers enjoyed the pub. Four years ago, I saw buggies in Temple Bar pubs. Last year, one of my favourite local pubs plastered a large "No Children" sign on its front door. And there's no hope of finding family-friendly pathways linking housing estates primary schools. It's as though the county councils want yummy mammies to buy SUVs and straddle double yellow lines for the primary school days. And finally (since I need to get another pint), Ireland lacks truly high-quality cultural festivals outside of the normal summer season. Try as they might, small towns try their hands at mounting a community festival but the ones I've attended are no better than those I enjoyed with volunteer firemen during Chicken Corn Soup Festivals in the States. Good social craic, but low on high culture. That said, you kinda know what you're going to get by looking at the promotional material.

Enjoy your weekend!

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia E90 O2-Ireland Typepad service between rounds in Brian Boru, Main Street, Cashel, County Tipperary.

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Working with Facebook Amish

EVEN THOUGH I WORK in a creative multimedia programme where we teach people how to promote their online profiles, I encounter a half dozen students every academic term who do not want to create a public persona online. I respect those opinions because I grew up among the Amish and I know people who enjoy productive lives while living off the grid. The hesitant students are like Facebook Amish and they don't want to be prodded by invitations, poked by friends, or tagged in someone's collection. All the social networks are making it easy to tag people (see how Flickr is doing it above). Sometimes there are skeletons in closets that people want to keep away from the light of the web, so getting tagged isn't nice. Other times there are issues about getting onto the radar of former colleagues, ex-spouses or bill collectors. I can respect all those concerns. But as a Media Writing lecturer, it means I want an essay written that explains the concerns my hesitant students express about wanting to remain cloaked or invisible online.

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See my first Flickr photo with tagged people.

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Controlling the Overheating

MY LONG-SERVING DELL D620 laptop needs good ventilation coursing underneath if it's to continue running while I render HD video for more than 20 minutes at a time. I have an Akasa stand at home (and a less expensive plastic stand at work) and both can dissipate heat and cool the laptop with two fans underneath. I'm also using a helpful screen from PC Wizard 2009 when I start rendering and if the job takes more than one cup of coffee, I refresh the wizard and ensure the temperature isn't above 200F. From experience, I know I get little warning from my laptop once its processor temperature exceeds 200F. It just shuts down and if I'm not careful, I lose the current video rendering project. I hope to learn more little work-arounds related to editing, producing and syndicating multimedia content from my Media Writing class. There's academic credit in sharing the experiences.

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