IT'S COLD--REALLY COLD--OUTSIDE at the moment in Ireland. I don't feel like going out much so I'm clicked back a few years on my blog to see what was happening during the first week of January in years past. One thing for sure--this is the coldest Irish winter since blogging was invented. One year ago, Limerick was hit by the announcement that Dell was pulling out. We're still looking for the first use of millions of euro that's earmarked for retraining former Dell employees.
The device I cited in 2008 as my "longest serving technology" item is still in use.
In January 2007, I first used Multitouch on an Apple device. It's an interface previously used by me on my SonyEricsson phones and a subject of a patent infringement case filed by Nokia against Apple. Now it's the benchmark used by people who pick up mobile phones.
Two years after I got my first iPod, I was ranting about dragging and dropping content onto an iPod. It's still something I like doing but iTunes has become much more efficient in the past two years. In fact, iTunes hasn't skewered my collection of digital media so I use it more than any other sync program.
I was riding the train from Kilkenny to Dublin a lot in 2005 and one overheard conversation caused me to wonder who gets your files when you die. It's more problematic than you think because everyone has digital remnants more intriguing than doodles on a scratch pad.
January 2004 was the first winter I used Typepad. Back then, Ireland had a small blogland. It still feels small to me today and it's much colder today as well.
