08 September 2002

Sighting: VoIP USB Phone AME-GROUP.com -- The Taiwanese company makes the IPO-11, a USB VoIP device that has a RJ11 connector for regular RJ11 telephones. Its regular telephone interface with DTMF decoding allows you to make internet calls using the keypad of your regular telephone.

PayBits Acknowledge the Value of Information TIDBITS.com -- If you like an article, PayBits helps you pay the author, perhaps through your own PayPal account. This could work.

Television Just Turned 75! PHILO75.com -- Television as we know it was invented by a 14 year old farm boy from Utah named Philo T. Farnsworth. That's not what I learned when growing up in the shadows of RCA's plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Could you imagine the world when the Internet turns 75?

Score Another for MPEG-4 M4IF.org -- Yahoo will deploy Real's Helix Universal Server, which means Yahoo is support MPEG-4 compatible formatss. Meanwhile, Microsoft rolls out Windows Media Player 9 which does not support MPEG-4.

Blogging Since 1932 Andrew McCaskey -- "This Blog has run for over 70 years of continuous Print, Radio and Internet commentary. Topic is a daily column series written and presented by Andrew McCaskey for radio broadcast and print without interruption since February, 1932." Andrew has written 500 words a day since 1932. Now he is blogging all those words.

Weakening of the Irish Government's Power over Commoners KILKENNY, Ireland -- No politician has doorstepped me on the Nice Treaty and that indicates the local Fianna Fail machine is a bit miffed that it was not rewarded following the 2002 General Election. A few years ago, Bertie Ahern could simply tell his party members to get out on the stump. Now, his personal power has waned. I think it's because his inner circle has upset formerly loyal party members. The local activists here do not like PJ Mara, Martin Mackin and Peter McDonagh. They have stoked up a simmering backlash against Dublin-generated public policy, like using nice Czech girls to push for a YES vote on Nice.

Microchip Implant Tracks Kids CNN.com -- Kevin Warwick has started talking with parents who want microchips implanted to their children to track their whereabouts. In today's paranoid climate, where kids are abducted every week, this will be more pervasive than Warwick's plan to track the depth of orgasms through microchips. Warwick's idea has attracted full page coverage, following the panic aftermath in the disappearance of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in the UK.

What Helps Entrepreneurs the Most ERNST AND YOUNG -- After analysing business start-ups, Ernst and Young discovered more than 90 per cent have never used or relied on government aid. And not many entrepreneurs rely on family assistance. Business founders benefit from the help of collaborators and colleagues. Blogging helps connect to them.

Smart Use of Business Investment Scheme BES -- Ireland's Business Expansion Scheme allowance permits claims to a maximum of EUR 31,750 against income tax from an investment in an approved new business venture. This will be one way we can reward financial promoters of the Intellisign.

We Should Pay for Rubbish KILKENNY, Ireland -- Some things should never be free. Rubbish collection should not be free. Water should not be free. Yet all around me, people rant on about how our waste should go away every week and our water should flow without question. A clean environment does not come cheap. It starts by paying for what we dispose and charging for what is used.

FIT for Ballymun and Naples FIT.ie -- IT Training methods for the long-term unemployed pioneered by a Dublin project down the street from my Santry office have been franchised by FIT to Canada and Italy. FIT also got a EUR 50,000 grant from Microsoft Europe last week.

iTouch Losses Continue THURLES, Ireland -- Interim figures produced last week by iTouch, the mobile information firm in which Independent News and Media owns a 50 per cent stake, show little promise for the company to rebound to its STG 70p level. Its shares are trading at STG 14.10 currently. The company is carrying accumulated losses of over STG 31m on the balance sheet after two years of operation.

Wishlist: Radar Detector CAR GADGETS.co.uk -- Someday I am going to clip a radar detector back into my car.

Need a Sandwich Spreader? Just Blog It Dean Allen -- Distraught that he couldn't get a sandwich spreader in France, Dean Allen vented his frustrations and had his need fulfilled within 18 minutes. Remarkable thing, this Internet.

First Tuesday in the Berkeley Court FIRST TUESDAY.ie -- What kind of tech ventures are worth funding? Barry Maloney (Benchmark Capital) and Frank Kenny (Delta) will give their thoughts to First Tuesday in Dublin's Berkeley Court Hotel, Dublin, on Tuesday evening (admission EUR 15). Benchmark Europe's aim is to invest in around 45 companies for an average of about $10m a deal. Maloney is bullish on Ireland's chance of becoming the Silicon Valley of Europe, but has warned that better resources are needed to nurture Irish entrepreneurs. He points to the lack of people capable of founding and driving businesses as the main inhibitor to Ireland's potential. Maloney has privately invested in Dublin software firm Sepro, who recently completely a EUR 1m implementation of its e-Rate software with Vodafone Ireland.

In Defense of Infrastructural Needs THURLES, Ireland -- As the Irish cabinet begins talking about building a second 85,000 capacity stadium, I wonder if anyone around the table will make undertakings in defense of infrastructure? The Irish government has demonstrated its inability to bring positive, First World infrastructure to the country.

Irish Researchers Looking East in Sixth Framework THURLES, Ireland -- Irish researchers are planning submissions to the Sixth Framework Programme, an EU initiative backed with EUR 17.5 through 2006. If done correctly, Irish submissions will lead to and sustain high valued-added activities and jobs, something that those unemployed in North County Tipperary would welcome. More than 270 Irish firms took part in over 1,110 projects in the Fourth Framework, worth EUR 200m of EU funding into Ireland. FP6 puts an emphasis on participation from new countries, those part of the EU Enlargement. That kind of emphasis will help dampen the xenophobia allowed to remain unchecked in pockets of rural Ireland.

It's Time to Turn Off Those Bells and Whistles KILKENNY, Ireland -- I'm going to let my blog lapse for a week, starting Friday, September 13th. I'm going to go offline for a week because I recognise the technology has dulled my senses. I'm going to observe a week of data silence. I will pull out my ISDN line, put my WiFi card into a desk drawer and divert all mobile phone calls to voice mail. It will take some real focus to convince myself that I don't absolutely positively need always-on communications. So when I feel myself falter, I'll remember the faces of my Amish neighbours back home, who will never have any of these things and whose weekends always seem to be rewardingly person-to-person.

Ambient Findability SEMANTIC STUDIOS.com -- The coming era of nanotechnology and Internet-aware wireless devices ushers in the concept of ambient findabilty.

Geocoding the Blogosphere BLOGMAPPER.com -- Jason Harlan and Chris Goad are geocoding the blogosphere with Blogmapper. Jason has a fascinating query to the Radio-Dev list. Personally, my ISDN system bogs down with the processor-hungry Flash scripting required to make the maps work, but I'm putting GeoData into my blogged entries nonetheless, using my Navman on my Palm m505.