The iPhone Launches Today

Come 6pm in the US I’m expecting to see a flurry of activity online with initial end-user reviews of the Apple iPhone. Sure enough there’s plenty of reviews floating around the web from people who’ve had two weeks with the phone, a month with the phone, testing the ins and outs of every feature given thats what they do every day!

I’m more interested in seeing how the average mobile user gets on with the phone, those who will use the phone for a phone’s sake, those who carry it in their pocket, fling it in the end of their bag, try to dump their entire iTunes collection on it - some serious road testing.

If you’re buying an iPhone (which if it was being released in Ireland on any given calendar I’d likely do) why not click here to download the iPhone guided tour video. Its a big’un at around 175mb. Alternatively, check out the Apple guide on how to use an iPhone.

Apple employees won’t have to splash the cash however with word that full time Apple employees and part-timers who have been working for Apple for a year or more will receive a free iPhone in July. Damn.

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Intermissions This Week (I’m Away)

The blogging this week is a little stop-start. For those of you reading via RSS and who haven’t seen the note running at the top of kenmc.com or been tracking my tweets from during the week, I’m on stage every night this week with The Devious Theatre Company for our second run of Heart Shaped Vinyl in as many years.

Its been going great so far - the last two nights (public) sold out and tonight’s show is also sold out also leaving some tickets for Saturday’s run. I cut myself off from the internet around 4pm to get down to the theatre. I’ve also taken the mad step of deleting the internet profiles on my phone so I’m not tempted to check in, send emails, all of that kind of thing. Coupled with the RSS diet I started a while back its affording me some nice time to switch off! You’d sometimes forget just how much work there is in running a theatre production!

2 Chances For Networking This Week

There’s two free events on this week that should a) educate you and b) give you the chance to catch up with some like minded people and make a few connections.

First up is the next series of the Help Yourself seminars in Carlow which Aidan and Keith are running. The series has been extended of late from Kilkenny into Carlow and until recently the Carlow talks have been looking at internet marketing. This week Keith is taking the lead through a discussion on free software for your business, software that will afford you the same functionality of the bigger mainstream commercial packages but you can avail of for free. There’s a chance for networking pre and post session and the hour long meet in the Carlow County Enterprise Board building (on O’Brien Road) takes place tomorrow (Thursday) at 1pm.

If you’re up for a drive (which I won’t be as I’ll be on the stage with The Devious Theatre Company), Queens University Belfast plays host to BarCamp Belfast, the first of the cross-border BarCamps. I missed the Dublin one courtesy of being tied up with KilkennyMusic.com and certainly won’t be making the Belfast one but if you’re thinking of attending, check out all the details here. The list of attendees looks a bit lower than previous events (Cork, Waterford, Dublin etc), possibly due to the event being held in Belfast and I would assume there’d be a larger northern contingent heading.

Names I do recognise in attendance include John Breslin who is flying up to speak on the “Semantic Web 2.0″, Ina O’Murchu and Derek Organ. I’ve only been to Belfast twice in the last year or so, the first time for a gig and the second to head to the airport (cheaper to drive to and fly from Belfast to Toronto than go to Dublin) but its a nice city, QUB is a great establishment and should make for a good setting for the BarCamp so best of luck to everyone going, enjoy it!

Sony Ericsson K800i Speakerphone

An open question to any owner or user of the Sony Ericsson K800i - is there any way (that I’m missing) of upping the speakerphone volume on the K800i? I’ve got the phone sitting in a cradle in the van just on the dashboard unless I move the phone to right under my chin (while not driving), the speakerphone function is useless to me. I’ve the called volume maxed on the phone when I’m in the van and would rather be able to use the speakerphone in the current cradle as opposed to splashing out on a bluetooth setup for the van.

Is there a possible firmware hack or anything of upping the speakerphone volume? Anyone else having extreme difficulties with it? I’ve had the phone since last October and love it to bits, from a review point of view the speakerphone volume is the only bad point I can raise about the K800i even at this stage.

Sky Box Office Just Too Easy

Purchasing something through Sky Box Office is way too easy.

After what has been a hectic weekend away from the internet (thanks largely in part to working non-stop with The Devious Theatre Company ahead of the show opening this week, coupled with The Guggenheim Grotto appearing with KilkennyMusic.com on Saturday) I managed to find some down time last night. Of course, I should have been asleep but there was a few of us who needed some unwinding before stepping into the technical fray tonight in the theatre. As such, I decided all spur-of-the-moment like that it would be a great idea to watch WWE Vengeance on PPV.

Six guys gearing up for a night of wrestling which only started on Sky Box Office at 1am. Thoughts of beer, loud music, roaring and shouting - but no. Winding down was more like popcorn, m&m’s and a load of tea until 4am this morning.

The thing is, ordering on Box Office was way too easy. You press the box office button on your Sky remote, select what you want to watch on PPV and press ’select’ to order it. Within 3-4 button presses from start to finish you can order what you want. I’m assuming of course that last night’s charge (€21.95) will get tacked on to my direct debit at the end of next month but I am just surprised at how easy it is.

I would have been plenty happy to have to enter a series of codes, magic password, credit card details, something that required some element of security - but no, Sky have just made it WAY too easy for me to do this in the future. Thankfully of course there aren’t any curious PPV folk at home or children crying out for the latest release on Sky Movies but if there was I reckon I’d be in trouble.

The easy process of course made for a great night, the Sky box switched over automatically at 1am and we all settled in for a three hour fest that was more like a ten-year-old’s birthday party. Talk about reliving parts of your lost youth! Yet so enjoyable was last night that we’ve decided to make it a regular thing. There’s not much better than hanging out with great friends for a few hours watching mindless TV - even if it is at four in the morning!

Mac OS X 10.4.10 Update - Wha?

There’s something I wasn’t expecting to see - another update to OSX before the release of Leopard later this year. Not only that but the 50 meg update (10.4.10) brings up version ten of my preferred OS.

There’s improvements made in the handling and mounting of external USB drives, new RAW support for Leica users and those shooting the budget Nikon D40x, the problem with random frames being dropped on a DV cam import is fixed and there’s a few ’security’ upgrades in there as well. Doesn’t seem all that long ago since 10.4.9 and I would have thought that the next logical step was 10.5 but I guess Apple can do what they like with version numbers - who said they have to stop at 9!

Update to Mac OS X 10.4.10 now.

Revenge Through Spamming

I can see a head rolling for this one but by the looks of things, someone at CityJet (possibly but not 100% confirmed) is up shit’s creek with their IP logged as registering Damien Mulley for several dating sites, writing up untrue and possible libellous profiles. Bad form on their part in a big way, all likely stemming from a recent post on IWillNotHold.com about Sky Handling Partners, set up to provide a space to rant on customer service in our fair country.

No so fair by the looks of this wouldn’t you think?

If I was one of their web folk lurking around registering someone who has a bone to pick with your company for a very valid reason I’d be cowering about now….. Bloody childish carry on if you ask me.

Open Source Food

Thought this one deserves a mention on the blog - Open Source Food. Now, its not food for thought in an open source programming kind of way - more along the lines of Open Source recipes, community-driven food from around the world.

I’m a massive lover of foreign foods, any country in the world, and I love spending time in the kitchen (when I have time that is), messing around with different fresh ingredients, cooking up a storm for one, two or a load of people. I’ve been doing some restaurant work of late in Kilkenny (for a client) and I’ve been slowly building a food project of my own since August 2005 (one of those serious back-burner things that should be coming to light in a month or two) but this site is a pleasure to trip around. Hell, the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo in Toronto last year was a good highlight for me.

Big full colour photos of meals prepared by community users, full ingredients, step-by-step guides and a really easy navigation (easier than getting around the kitchen or leafing through a tiny-print cookbook with fancy studio shots). How about some Japanese noodles made in China, some spring onion and ginger crabs, or a banana muffin for that morning coffee?

Give it look, try something out!

Tagged: Charity Link Meme

I’m all for charity and charitable causes and Gavin at Ireland SEO Marketing has tagged me in relation to ‘passing the juice’ for an ongoing charity link meme.

The rules are simple, copy the list of charities and links (grab it from whomever tags you) and add your 5 favourite charities or non-profit organizations to the end (link to their sites with anchor text of the causes they champion). Of course finish things off by tagging 5 other webmasters/bloggers and then publishing the post or the webpage.

So, here is my own list of five anyway which don’t also appear on Gavin’s list. I’ve chosen the five for personal reasons as well as the fact that they’re five great organisations in Ireland.

• Young Irish Film Makers - Centre Of Excellence for production of youth film, outreach media programmes
• Cancer.ie - Irish Cancer Society
• Irish Hospice Foundation - Hospice and palliative care in Ireland
• Barnardos - Ireland’s leading children’s charity
• RADE - Recovery Through Arts, Drama and Education

And here’s Gavin’s own list (and original list)…

• The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity - Polish Charity
• CPR For Schools Across Poland - CPR Training
• Program of Insulin Pumps in Diabetic Children Therapy - Insulin Pumps For Children
• Non-invasive Neonatal Breathing Support - Infant Flow
• Program of Universal Neonatal Hearing Screenings - Neonatal Hearing
• American Red Cross - disaster relief
• Raleigh Rescue Mission - homeless raleigh
• SOS Children’s Villages - sponsor a child
• Samaritan’s Purse - emergency relief programs
• St. Jude Children’s Hospital - cancer research
• Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders - Humanitarian Relief
• American Red Cross - Emergency Preparedness
• AMREF - African Medical & Research Foundation - African Health Development
• DOROT - Programs for Elderly
• Feed the Children - Protect Children
• Service International - Disaster Relief
• Pujols Family Foundation - Children with Down Syndrome
• National Alliance to End Homelessness - Homelessness
• The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research - Parkinson’s Research
• Ronald McDonald Care Mobile Program - Child Healthcare
• Aids Research Alliance - Aids Research
• Wildlife Conservation Society - Wildlife Protection
• Cancer Research Institute - Cancer Research
• Second Harvest - End Hunger
• AARP Foundation - Helping Senior Citizens

• Bubblegum Club - Children In Crisis
• Autism NI - Autism Northern Ireland
• Adoption Ireland - Irish Adoption Charity
• Ireland Funds - Peace and Reconciliation In Ireland
• Dublin Simon Community - Combating Homelessness in Dublin

So, after all that I’ve got to tag five bloggers… in that vein I nominate the following…

• John Butler
• Aidan Coonan
• Sean McNamara
• Pat Phelan
• Paul Browne

YouTube Mobile Launched

One of the problems of my recent RSS diet is that I miss out on certain news stories - this one in particular from Saturday when it was announced that the Verizon exclusive control over YouTube Mobile (m.youtube.com) has passed and the service is now open to the public. Of course, if you flick open the address in your mobile you’re likely to be greeted by

YouTube Mobile is a data intensive application. We highly recommend that you upgrade to an unlimited data plan with your mobile service provider to avoid additional charges.

but in saying that, if you’re on a flat-rate data plan or mobile wifi service then you’ll be pretty happy. Although I mention it here I’ve yet to try the mobile service - 1) having only discovered this morning that it is gone live and 2) I’m making an effort to cut down my mobile bill, not increase it. Good news for mobile users though is that handset support is pretty extensive with all videos for YouTube Mobile encoded in the 3GP format.

At present there’s only a small portion of YouTube’s current content available on the mobile service but if you’re a YouTube junkie then there’s more than enough to get you started.

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