 |
12 November 2002 |
POCOCKE HOTSPOT -- Tim Kirby has a migrane headache and as he packed up his PowerBook in search of solace, I wondered how much of that pain was from his very distinct T Model of Skills. Because like the letter T, Tim is very deep in one area and very wide in all other areas. As a new media developer, Tim doesn't tell an accountant how to develop his amortisation schedule. Nor does he tell a metal worker how to improve corrosion resistance. But Tim knows just enough about these isses and how they affect new media production. Plus, he can talk to those other specialists without demeaning them. An accountant or a metal worker coming up with new media strategies sounds like a mistake from the point of conception. Unless we're dealing with Renaissance Men in both cases.
|
|
NEUROS AUDIO -- The Nueros 20 GB HD looks interesting. It can broadcast songs wirelessly to your stereo. It can record and identify songs from FM radio. It can automatically synchronise your downloads, playlists and requests from your PC library. Plus, it enables sharing between handheld drives. You choose: share or private. It automatically recognises shared drives within the wireless handheld, making it a doddle to select, connect, and download playlists, music, and movies at broadband speed.
|
|
Wireless Speakers
OPEN -- Several audiophiles on the Irish Open Mailing List discussed how to use wireless speakers. "Wireless headsets are definitely an option," said Ciaran Walsh. "Sennheiser do a set, which can take up to four sources, and gives you virtual surround sound that's supposed to be fairly good."
I agree with Ciaran and think if you're serious about your sound, you'll figure out how to hide your wires. The pursuits (Ciaran, Dave Wilson and Stephen McCarron) recommend moving around the wood flooring and edge skirting to suit your needs.
Lift them floorboards! It's not that bad. If it's a floating floor, there are skirting board options, such as magnetic clip-on skirting that you can easily remove and replace. And there are usually gaps around the edges where the wires fit nicely.
If you are running the wires, then consider future-proofing it. Think of runnning the wires needed for a subwoofer, and possibly a rear centre speaker (for 6.1 support). Subwoofer cabling is not the same as just another speaker wire.
If you're being really neat, then you can always do some wall plates and sockets too, instead of cables suddenly appearing from the skirting.
|
|
JIGZAW -- This tasty Pieces Bookmarklet hangs on PC and Mac IE and NN browsers. Content creators, site maintainers and bloggers can use the bookmarklet's functionality to rapidly go from a selected Book Title, Author or ISBN to inserting a rich set of content with links from Amazon and other sources. It will allow you to insert your own Associate ID into all of the "buy it now" links. Future releases of the program include full support for all items sold by Amazon as well as rich content from sources like Google.
|
|
Open: Ideas for Maintaining State of a User's Session OPEN -- Fruitful discussion ensued on the Open Mailing List concerning the most common way of maintaining state of a user's session in a web-based application. The discussion ultimately revolves around statistics that show the percentage of viewers using cookies.
|
|
Closing the Door BUSINESS PLUS -- Nick Mulcahy reports that FAS, the Irish State labour agency, wants a clamp-down on work permits, believing some employers are abusing the current system. Overseas workers are tied to their employers by the terms of their work permit, which puts the employer in a very strong position when it comes to dictating terms.There has been a very considerable increase in immigration over the last four years including a record number of work permits in 2001. Most of the immigrants over the latter years of the 1990s were highly skilled or experienced. However, work permits have been issued primarily for unskilled jobs in retail, agriculture, hotels, catering and construction. Business Plus revealed 19,000 work permits were issued in Ireland in the first half of 2002, of which 11,500 were new permits and 7,500 were renewal permits. Of the 47,600 job vacancies notified to FAS this year, 42 percent have ended up with work permit applications. FAS director general Rudy Molloy wants to move towards a transparent immigration system that might be based on a points system. The existing system rests in the Department of Employment. An internal report there shows that the labour supply will have to grow significantly in the medium-term in order to satisfy project employment needs.
|
|
SIEMENS ie -- Trying to drive customers towards mobile content is as important as getting mobile phones to those customers in the first place. That's part of the message I took from listening to Danuta Gray in The Mansion House a few days ago. On the heels of that philosophy, Simens is offering funding to companies to develop the next must-have item.
Siemens Mobile Acceleration will provide capital investment of up to €1m to deserving companies. Investment decisions are based upon a business idea that shows potential to successfully tap into the wireless technology, applications and services market that will open up with the advent of next generation mobile telephony,W says Dietrich Ulmer, chief executive of the unit.
The acceleration fund has made seven investments so far in Germany, Sweden, China and Italy. The company is not interested in "me too" applications.
All of the Siemens fundings went to companies with telecom expertise present in the management teams.
x:109
Sent to blog with Nokia D211 WiFi connected to Pembroke Street (Dublin) hotspot.
|
|
WIRED -- Katie Dean reports on an SRI study that shows handhelds can be effective classroom tools. Over 90 percent of teachers who used them with their classes say that handhelds can have a positive impact on learning. Topgold gets weekly requests for information about Pocket Classrooms, a concept related to the SRI report.
|
|
WIRED -- Kendra Mayfield reports that a former tech exec is photographing California's 1,100-mile coastline and posting the shots online. The database has already helped environmentalists catch polluters, and that has some property owners worried. Visitors can look up a photograph at a specific location by clicking on a detailed map or entering longitude and latitude.
x: 109
|
|
Cell Phone Straddling Two Worlds Ephraim Schwartz -- Curious what might be a "cell phone that straddles two worlds," I read on InfoWorld that it's a phone that does voice and data through a keyboard. I'm pretty sure that's the same as "texting" in Ireland.
|
|
MACROMEDIA -- Contribute is an easy way to edit static HTML sites.
|
|
SLASHDOT org -- Check out the Slashdot thread on Network Detectors. The white paper discusses how to detect whether NetStumbler and similar programs are running on your network. Normally, NetStumbler is considered a passive activity.
|
|
OPEN -- Keith Jordan received an invoice for €590 from UTP Digital Directories for a directory listing he know nothing about. He wondered if anyone else received this. Group consensus suggested it was another directory con-job. Jon Hanna believes "it doesn't matter if anyone has heard of them or not, if no one in your office has heard of them (or at least no one who can authorise €590 expenditure) then contact both the gardai and law enforcement in whatever country they reside in. Gaddo Benedetti pointed to a helpful URL on bogus operations. John McCormac explained some of the consumer psychology behind invoice scams.
The Eu-digital scam involved a time limit on the scam invoice as in if you did not return payment within a few days, you had accepted the invoice. These operations tend to be based on the lack of financial control in large companies -- someone thinks that the inclusion/ad has been approved and pays out.
Sent by Nokia 9210i as mail2blog.
|
|
©2003 Bernie Goldbach, Tech Journo, Irish Examiner.
Weblog powered by Radio Userland running on IBM TransNote.
Some content from Nokia 9210i Communicator as mail-to-blog.
|
|
|
-->
