Tom Murphy has three interesting entries from a PR perspective on Microsoft and the "switch" debacle, with links in case you missed the embarrassing story the first time round. Tom used to do PR for M$ as well.
11:59:21 PM  #   your two cents []

Well, this is pretty amusing...

and this, from the BBC, is pretty bizarre: "A conservative Iranian cleric has denounced the "moral depravity" of owning a dog, and called for the arrest of all dogs and their owners."  Last year the police apparently confiscated all the short-legged dogs, according to the article. With all due respect to differing religious beliefs, this is the kind of thing that you suspect of being a spoof... but the Beeb wouldn't be caught out, now, would it? [grin]

11:40:43 PM  #   your two cents []

Tomorrow (Wednesday), the famed Nobel physicist Murray Gell-Man (discoverer of the subatomic particle the quark, which he named at least in part after a word in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake... confirming that there's *always* an Irish connection somewhere) will be in Dublin to deliver an Irish Times-sponsored lecture -- the first of an annual series named in honour of 19th century Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton (also read more here). (The lecture is free, but no tickets remain.)

On October 16, 1843, Hamilton was walking along the banks of Dublin's Royal Canal when he was struck with the idea of a four-dimensional mathematics and the concept of the "quaternion". He stopped at a canal-side bridge and started sketching the equations on its side. Quaternions introduced a new level of complexity into mathematics -- one no longer had to base algebraic formulas on ordinary numbers. James Clerk Maxwell used quaternions to help him work out his theory of electromagnetic waves two decades later, and today, quaternions are the mathematical foundation that enables figures in computer games to move swiftly around the screen. A plaque on the bridge and an annual Hamilton walk -- and now, a lecture -- commemorate the occasion.

The canal-side walk, led by mathematicians at the University of Maynooth, begins tomorrow at 2:15pm from Dunsink Observatory, where Hamilton was director, and will proceed into Dublin along the canal (a hefty distance!). Dr Gell-Man will join in, and later, present his lecture entitled "On Hamilton, Bridges and Contemporary Science" at Trinity College. I can't wait -- I love this kind of thing (the geek siren is going off)! I'll be reporting on it and will offer links when the piece runs.

7:18:23 PM  #   your two cents []

Bernie mentions the T-Mobile deal to put wifi into 400 Borders bookshops in the US (they're the ones who already did a similar deal with 1200 Starbucks outlets). For a moment I imagined how cool it would be if someone did the same for a few Dublin bookshops -- Waterstones and Hodges Figges, say -- but then I wondered if anyone would actually use the network if it were there. Irish people don't tend to carry about laptops; maybe handhelds?
10:06:39 AM  #   your two cents []

"Irishwan.org is an attempt by Irish Internet users, gamers, e.t.c. to create community run wireless networks all over the country. Already there are active networks in Antrim, Dublin, Limerick and Wexford, several sharing internet connections, and more to come. Click on Forums to discuss these topics, see if there is interest in your area, and so on. [via Smart Mobs]

[The Shifted Librarian]
9:56:27 AM  #   your two cents []

Dan Quayle. "[It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system." [Quotes of the Day] Ahhh Dan Quayle. A little shot of nostalgia!
9:55:20 AM  #   your two cents []

Free OpenOffice for Mac users. The first beta of Sun Microsystem's open-source competitor to Microsoft Office that caters to Mac users is finally here. [CNET News.com]
9:54:15 AM  #   your two cents []

The homeless blogger. Kevin Barbieux sleeps in abandoned buildings or shelters -- and writes a daily journal that has made him an Internet celebrity. [Salon.com] It's a really good, thought-provoking blog, too. Have a read.
9:53:13 AM  #   your two cents []