Inside View

Selling Papers With Dirty Laundry

Photo of Deputy John McGuinness with @conoro.

THE IRISH INDEPENDENT is filling front pages with 1000 cuts of Deputy John McGuinness, an Irish politician who heads the most powerful committee in national government. From the newbites I've read, it sounds like a civil servant with an axe to grind has helped journalists cobble together a string of efficient Freedom of Information requests that raise issues every politician should answer.

The Irish Times gives a more balanced view of what's happening behind the scenes. In one article, the Indo spotlights an expensive office renovation without mentioning the incoming politicians don't decide on those kinds of things. Renovations happen whenever the governments change and as an occasional visitor to the office premises in question, I can attest to the worn carpet existing before the changes happened.

Dirty Laundry

A Common Cause to Buy Distressed Debt

Screenshot from RollingJubilee.org.

BANKS SELL DEBT to speculators for pennies on the dollar--I know this from personal experience. The speculators then try to collect the full amount from debtors.

The Rolling Jubilee intervenes by buying debt, keeping it out of the hands of collectors, and then abolishing it. The cause is not a market practise but it is a public attempt to highlight the predatory debt system, its effects on families and its stifling impact on communities. Rolling Jubilee is a project of Strike Debt.

The Rolling Jubile campaign is a bailout of the 99% by the 99%. I hope some form of this campaign emerges in Ireland, with the same level of transparency.

Learning a Few Things from Twitter Analytics

Screenshot from my Twitter Analytics.

SEVERAL TWITTER ANALYTICS tools can now be seen by the public in selected markets, which means you might be able to view more about tweets that are retweeted, favourited and replied to. I'm learning more about word choice and time of day through the screenshot above than by merely viewing the actions of those tweets using Boxcar on iOS.

The change was spotted by Christopher Penn, vice president of marketing technology at SHIFT Communications and one-half of the Marketing Over Coffee podcast team. Not all markets can see these analytics because advertising campaigns are not in place in every country. In Ireland, there's no payment mechanism accepted on the advertising dashboard.

Lessons from the Early Morning Clipping Crew

Bernie Goldbach uses Powerbot now.

I USED TO WORK alongside hacks who prepared a morning digest for the outer ring in the Pentagon. Our mission: to reduce hundreds of news items into a 10 page package. It had to be done in the simmering battle of attention deficit.

I face the same problem today but I don't have the fancy office. ganized, and streamline my workday. However, I am fighting attention deficit issues with a vengeance.

At first, I thought salvation would come in the form of The Absolute App that would ensure I could wrap everything into a nice tappable icon. Left swipe would make the issue go away. Right swipe would automagically record the item into a special pile of stash. It's not to be. But I've something close.

Three Felonies A Day

I downloaded the Kindle version of this book (cover shown at left).

THREE FELONIES A DAY: How The Feds Target The Innocent by Harvey Silverglate is recommended reading for anyone who holds liberty true. You can click on the image for more details.

From a major listserv, I learned Three Felonies a Day is the story of how citizens from all walks of life--doctors, accountants, businessmen, political activists, and others--have found themselves the targets of federal prosecutions, despite sensibly believing that they did nothing wrong, broke no laws, and harmed not a single person. From the perspective of both a legal practitioner who has represented the wrongfully-accused, and of a legal observer who has written about these trends for the past four decades, Three Felonies a Day brings home how individual liberty is threatened by zealous crusades from the Department of Justice. Even the most intelligent and informed citizen (including lawyers and judges, for that matter) cannot predict with any reasonable assurance whether a wide range of seemingly ordinary activities might be regarded by federal prosecutors as felonies.

[Bernie Goldbach discusses online privacy as part of the Emerging Trends module taught on the creative multimedia honours degree in the Limerick School of Art & Design.]

Get details on the book from http://openlibrary.org/works/OL5827943W/Three_felonies_a_day, from Amazon ISBN 9781594032554, from OCLC, from Library Thing or from Goodreads.

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Back Seat Tablets

Photo of Dylan by Bernie Goldbach.

I REMEMBER READING how Cherie Blair installed DVD screens in the headrests of the family car for her kids. Today, we have plus-oned her tactic by offering connected tablets to our lot.

This tactic is actually a necessary intervention because of our 24-minute homeward commute. At the end of a normal day, our kids often fall asleep between the ninth and tenth mile and then they don't eat a proper evening meal. This sometimes leads to less restful sleep patterns for the entire household.

While they're still young, I want to record both Mis and Dylan when they're deeply immersed in their tablet adventures. There's good value in simply recording the audio portion of their touchscreen actions. This week we are heavy on Toca Boca.

[Bernie Goldbach teaches creative multimedia to a wide age group.]

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Critical Processes

Bernie Goldbach snapped "Critical Processes" from his Moleskine.

THIS SUMMER I PLAN to spend 100 hours reviewing the topic of "critical personal productivity processes" and as I embark on that journey, I've sketched a first look at mine.

Regular readers of my blog probably know I'm constantly in pursuit of extreme personal productivity. And because I frequently write about the topic, it means I haven't embedded a productivity process into my working world. Feedback I received during this past academic semester suggests that both our third level students and my fellow colleagues would prefer me to revert to my drill sergeant mode. This means holding myself to a production line and by inference that means enforcing higher production values from students. 

A Quick Look at Critical Processes

If you've an idea that would accelerate me on the path of extreme personal productivity, please leave me a comment.

[Bernie Goldbach features GTD in several creative multimedia modules at the Limerick School of Art & Design.]

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Jeff Haden -- "Eight simple steps to extreme productivity" from Inc., January 14, 2013.

Joshua Riddle -- "What is personal productivity" on the Work Awesome blog, November 4, 2012.

 

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Using VidTrim Pro For More Audio Too

The VidTrim Pro logo that has a place of honour on my Android screen.

I BOUGHT VidTrim Pro for two euro because its reviewers said it would help me cut, edit and upload strips of video recordings on my Sony Xperia. It also produces high quality audio clips too.

The most positive factor about the software is it allows me to use the two microphones on my Xperia handset and that means I get authentic doppler effects with traffic, wave action on the beach and the drifting sounds associated with lively pedestrian footfall across Ireland.

First Touch of Audio-Evolution

Screenshot from Bernie Goldbach's Xperia Z using Audio-Evolution.

BECAUSE JASON GOFF pointed to Audio-Evolution on Android, I bought the app. It lays down multi-track recordings with dozens of audio software effects in the menu.

First Cut by Audio-Evolution

I made the above audio clip for fellow Audiobooster Phil Sorrell, just to prove the app worked right out of the Google Play cloud.

The Black Door for Luggage

I EXPECT TO visit London a few times this summer so I'm resurrecting some hidden gems from London for view on my blog, starting with The Luggage Room.

I found the Luggage Room when walking Grosvenor Square in search of places Dwight Eisenhower used during his D-Day planning. Today, the London Marriott Hotel commands Grosvenor Square and it's the place I recommend for people who want to drop their bags after a hard day on Bond Street.

As its name suggests, The Luggage Room used to be a place for bags. Now it's an opulent 1920s-style bar behind a black curtain. It has marble floors, cream walls and leather chairs. The service exceeds expectations and the cocktails are some of the best in Europe. But you'll pay for the experience.

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Expect to part with €30 if you want a drink with some cheese.

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