The Net turns 20 ... sort of. Twenty years ago ARPANET switched over to TCP/IP [InfoWorld: Top News]
8:28:22 PM  #   your two cents []

Wireless in Kenya Takes a Village. Telecom carriers thought it might take a lot to get the average East African to drop $100 on a cell phone. But they didn't bank on one simple fact: Kenyans love to yak, and they're happy to share one phone in a family of many.  [Wired News]
8:22:56 PM  #   your two cents []

From BoingBoing, Cory Doctorow outlines a fantastic project that gets tech to places it hasn't gone before. Danny O'Brien wrote the original piece on the project for us at the Irish Times. Cory sez:

$25,000 needed to change the world. Lee Felsenstein -- creator of the Osborne PC, introducer of Steve Jobs to Steve Wozniak, moderator of the Homebrew Computer Club --is making history again. He has developed bicycle-powered, portable, Linux-based ruggedized WiFi boxes that are connecting refugee villages in Laos to the Internet and to each other.

Here's how you can make the project happen.

8:21:50 PM  #   your two cents []

Derivative Works And Open Source [Slashdot]
8:14:10 PM  #   your two cents []

Strong views from Dave Winer: Read this op-ed by former Industry Standard editor James Ledbetter to be reminded how the business press excused themselves and still do now, for the abuse of trust of their readers during the dot-com boom. [Scripting News] ...I think in many cases the failure of the dot-com press was due to so many very inexperienced journalists writing about the area. Demand was high, pay was high, and if you knew about tech and could vaguely write, or could write and vaguely knew about tech, editors were begging (and I do mean begging) pretty inexperienced people to write for them. Writing about business is hard -- it requires specialised knowledge and experience in dealing with the corporate mega-PR machines, and executives who are often extremely media-adept. And understanding tech issues and developments is hard. In my experience it was extremely rare to find business writers who knew tech, or tech writers who understood business and business reportage. And -- face it, folks -- most of you were an audience, likewise not particularly knowledgable about business AND tech, who demanded nothing but good news and bought shares based on same. Bubbles produce gullible people, all 'round. The few hacks (and investors -- such as Warren Buffet) who did point this out were often lambasted for doing so.
8:13:38 PM  #   your two cents []

Vaporware 2002: Tech up in Smoke?. In an unusual turn, three products out of the 10 to receive the Wired News 2002 Vaporware Award also appeared on last year's list. Tech-hungry readers wonder: Why can't these developers get it together? [Wired News]
2:57:36 PM  #   your two cents []

Having been following Bernie's clearly devoted efforts at housetraining a puppy, I've been thinking about the opposite case, of animals and the people who get them only to dump them after they decide they 'don't fit in with their lifestyles'. As RTE revealed in a news special last year, Ireland has the highest per capita rate in Europe for putting down abandoned dogs -- 30,000 mostly happy fellows whose only crime usually is reacting in a doggish way to being bored stiff alone at home, while owners head to work. I'm sure the cat totals are similar, and then, there's iguanas...

 I grew up with a range of cats and one huge dog, a dignified, incredibly gentle and loyal Great Pyrenees who when standing on her hind legs, could hang her paws over my 6'2" father's shoulders. We got her as a puppy -- a big ball of white fluff that at 10 weeks, was larger than most people's fully-grown lapdogs. And she remained a part of our family til her death of old age complications, about 14 years later. Sure, we had white hair everywhere for over a decade -- mom found nests in the trees lined with her fur even long after she'd died (and what a nice, warm lining for baby birds her long white coat must have made).  And a very big dog is a very big responsibility. But how different and empty our lives, and my childhood, would have been without her and that big 'smile' which is one of the hallmarks of the breed.

If you have just acquired new animal friends, for yourselves or for your kids -- be aware that your life will need to adjust to their needs. Animals don't just sit quietly in the background waiting until you feel you have time for them (get an Aibo!). They are partners in the household. They will give so much. But they will leave hair around, and maybe try clawing or chewing a few things that look inviting to them. They will make noise to get attention. Just like small children, they will probably break or damage a few things you value when they are puppies and kittens (that's another great reason to get a rescued adult pet from a shelter or breed rescue group instead!).

I have two small calico cats (two are as easy, and often easier, than one, as then they always have a close companion around) -- and I hope someday to have a place big enough to keep a Pyrenees of my own. But I hadn't had cats since I lived with my parents, and I underestimated the demands they would make and the time (many months) it would take for me to adjust to their being there. This didn't annoy me; it just surprised me, then quickly, became a non-issue. The trade-off is so worth it, in a million different ways, but give yourself, and the animals, time to adjust to living together. Be responsible and neuter and spay. And look for the many, many ways of addressing behavioural problems before thinking you must get rid of your new pet. Chances are, he or she will not find a new home and will only become another small body that gets euthanised. BTW, if you are in Ireland, this is a great site for getting a rescued friend, fidning a shelter or advice or links on animals. It's a labour of love by the Irish Internet Association's Net Visionary of the Year 2002, denise cox.

2:50:55 PM  #   your two cents []

Dail to get tough on use of mobile phones [Irish Times, sub only]:

The new generation of high-tech mobile phones that allow users to send pictures poses a threat to the decorum of the Houses of the Oireachtas, it has emerged.

Since 1998, the use of ordinary mobile phones has been banned inside the Dáil and Seanad, and on the public corridors of Leinster House.

The rule has been most frequently breached by TDs and Senators, more than a few of whom have been interrupted in full flight during speeches to either House by the ringing of their own mobile phones...

...Concerned by the possible invasion of privacy threatened by Vodafone's and O2's much-hyped new image messaging service, the Committee of Procedures and Privileges now intends to get tough.

So, the mobile ban will be enforced. And I'd so looked forward to close-ups of select ministers in full rant mode, snapped by opposition colleagues!

12:01:35 PM  #   your two cents []

Professors Vie With Web for Class's Attention. As universities rush to install wireless networks, professors say the technology poses a growing challenge for them: retaining their students' attention.  [New York Times: Technology]
11:49:04 AM  #   your two cents []

For the Gadget Universe, a Common Tongue. An innovator's son takes on a new challenge: to make incompatibility obsolete. [New York Times: Technology]
11:48:13 AM  #   your two cents []

Chemistry Sets for Adults? [Slashdot]
11:46:09 AM  #   your two cents []

Dave sez: I just realized that we now have two Irish tech bloggers, Sean McGrath and Karlin Lillington. [Scripting News] ... I've blogrolled quite a few more (tech or mostly tech): Tony Bowden, Bernie Goldbach, Tom Murphy, Maura McHugh, Mark O'Neill, Hackwatch, Abort, Retry, Fail?, Sean McCann, Tim Kirby and Simon McGarr. I'm sure there are others, too -- if you have an Irish tech blog let me know and I'll add you.
11:12:03 AM  #   your two cents []

The Lying Game: "Mafia requires all the skills natural to any self-respecting New York climber: deception, treachery, guile—and a high tolerance for acute social paranoia. A Russian psychologist claims to have invented it in the 1980’s, to show how an informed minority (the "mafia") power-play against an uninformed majority (the "village"). Since then, it’s developed avid followings."
12:04:32 AM  #   your two cents []