We know that North Korea has taken censorship to the limit. Civilians have no internet access and receive news only via media controlled by the state. China had a very public spat with Google in recent years, insisting that Google filtered its search results to remove links to sites which did not toe the official line. Google refused, and ultimately pulled out of China, although recent reports suggest that Google will soon be returning to this enormous market.

Even here in Ireland, censorship of a sort has been in place. Eircom capitulated to pressure from music and media companies to implement a three strikes procedure. Under this agreement, Eircom effectively agreed to police its own users, and take action against those downloading music. First they would send warning letters, and ultimately they would disconnect the users. Of course the inevitable happened, and many innocent users were accused of offences they hadn’t even committed, due to misconfigurations  in the Eircom infrastructure.

Now in the USA a piece of legislation called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) threatens the future of the internet as we know it. On the face of it, the act seems to make sense. It’s about stopping online piracy through various punitive measures. Once you dig into the details, you see that the act proposes to make  website owners liable for their user’s actions. This means if I post a link to copyrighted material on a popular social bookmarking site like Reddit, the site could ultimately be closed down. There are many more problems with the legislation. One expert says:  ”The language of SOPA is so broad, the rules so unconnected to the reality of Internet technology and the penalties so disconnected from the alleged crimes that this bill could effectively kill e-commerce or even normal Internet use.”

Fortunately, opposition to the act is widespread, and its opponents are vocal. When GoDaddy, a leading domain name seller expressed its support for SOPA, it faced a backlash from angry customers who threatened to take their business elsewhere. The company was initially dismissive of the threat, but as support grew, GoDaddy relented and withdrew support for SOPA.

Few would disagree that piracy is theft, and that countermeasures are required to safeguard jobs, but SOPA is the wrong tool for the job. Let’s hope that sanity prevails and the legislators go back to the drawing board.

The internet is a hodge podge of wisdom and of misinformation. It is a reservoir of knowledge and a steaming cesspit of depravity. It is a safehold for the downtrodden and a refuge for trolls and terrorists. I’d rather take the good with the bad, than have someone else’s standards imposed on me. How about you?

First published in Cork Independent: http://corkindependent.com/blog/category/tech/

Google takes over the world

Google has exhibited megalomaniac tendencies for years, and its dominance has crept up on us slowly. This may well be the year when they take it to the next level:

• 50 million people have now signed up for Google+, and some predict that the ranks will swell to 400 million by the end of 2012
• 700,000 android devices are being activated daily – the operating system relies on the user having a Google account,  resulting in many new converts
• Google Chrome recently increased its  market share beyond that of Mozilla Firefox, and is gaining on Internet Explorer every month
• The company offers so many platforms and services, that Google touches most of the things we do on the internet in some way.

Tiny computers

We can now cram the power of a PC into a smartphone. Processing power, affordability and ever-improving battery/power technology have opened the way for tiny inexpensive computers. Projects like the Arduino captured the minds of geeks in recent years, but the next wave of devices will be far more impressive.

The Raspberry Pi project in particular looks very interesting, and I hope to review one of the devices when they start to ship  in late January. These machines run a complete operating system (Linux), have USB, networking and video connectivity and start at $25. Given that these devices are general purpose computers, I think we’ll start seeing a lot of roll-your-own recipes for home automation, home theatres, robotics, etc. Your fridge may soon be tweeting you to buy more milk on the way home from work.

Social media backlash

I’ve alluded to this one a couple of times before. People are getting fed up of the constant barrage of information from  their social networks. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many are dumping one or more social platforms, due to time and/or privacy issues.  I’ve certainly seen a decline in participation from my social networking connections in 2011. People just aren’t “on” as often, and some have disappeared entirely. I think this ennui will peak this year, before we find a happy medium in 2013 and beyond.

Electric cars

We’ve been “nearly there” for years now, but I think we’ll start seeing electric cars on the streets of Cork towards the end of the year. Battery life, charging time and availability of charging points are the three main issues. Conversely, as the cars start to approach mass market production status, prices are creeping down. A generous VRT allowance coupled with low mileage costs means that electric cars are starting to make financial sense.

Video on demand

New televisions are now shipping with networking abilities – they can connect to your broadband and stream live video from the internet. Netflix announced recently that it would enter the Irish market early this year, offering TV shows and movies on demand. While they still face some legal issues, this is the way forward. Indeed, I spent much of the Christmas vacation viewing video on my laptop rather than trying to find something palatable and hitherto unseen on Sky.

What are your tech predictions for 2012?

first published in Cork Independent blog: http://corkindependent.com/blog/tech-predictions-for-2012/

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Start by taking a look at last year’s figures and your most up-to-date business plan. Use some of the following questions to assess 2011 and plan your 2012 advertising/sales campaign:

• What were your sales goals in 2011 and did you reach them?
• What was your target market in 2011? Did you succeed in reaching that market?
• How did you target? What types of advertising did you use and what was your return on each type of advertising investment? Narrow it down again if you can.

• Has your target market changed from last year? Or expanded? This could be due to trends or changing demographics or geographical reach.
• Based on your advertising investment returns, what will you increase/decrease in 2012 in order to optimise your returns and save on costs?
• How targeted is each type of advertising? Are you wasting money on advertising that isn’t targeted to the right market?
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If we can be of assistance, give us a call at 022-55002.

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The desktop

The IBM PC debuted in 1981, which makes the platform 30 years old. So has it reached end of life? I would suggest that there is life in the old dog yet, but its market share will continue to diminish. For the average user, a laptop (or perhaps even a netbook or tablet) can fulfill their everyday needs, but power users (hardcore gamers, videographers, etc.) will require more.

A top-of-the-range desktop will have more “grunt” than a top-of-the-range-laptop. High end graphics cards are enormous, due to the amount of silicon crammed onto the cards, the amount of power they consume, and the fans and heatsinks required to keep them cool. This means that laptops will always be a step behind on the graphics front. A desktop is also inherently more upgradable; pretty much any component can be removed and replaced or upgraded. While laptops have become more user serviceable, something like a motherboard upgrade will never really be possible, as the motherboard tends to be custom-made for each model.

The laptop

I used a laptop for the first time in 1988. It didn’t have a battery and it cut off circulation to my lower legs. I quickly abandoned the experience when I  learned that the device, which was by now burning my thighs, cost a small fortune. I returned to my cheap-and-cheerful Sinclair Spectrum to play Knight Lore.

The price differential between laptops and desktops meant that they were a bit of a niche product until relatively recently. Fierce competition and oversupply mean that you can now buy a capable budget laptop for around €400. A laptop is portable, has a self-contained (albeit limited) power source, and can take advantage of the free wi-fi spots that are mushrooming around Irish towns and cities. That being said, they’re cumbersome to carry and often to use as well. I’ve never met anyone who enjoys interacting with the fiddly touchpads which laptops employ in lieu of a mouse.

The tablet

Apple changed the game again with the introduction of the iPad, or “fondleslab” as it’s been dubbed by the online tech press. The iPad, and subsequent offerings from other manufacturers, rely on a small form factor, long battery life and, most importantly a touch interface, to distinguish themselves from other devices. These devices are lightweight, intuitive to use, and inherently suitable for browsing, social media, emails, and even lightweight document editing. Price is coming down all the time, with capable devices available in the sub-€200 price range.

The smartphone

The smartphone has become almost ubiquitous as prices of low-end Android devices tumble. Relying on the touchscreen interface, most find them fiddly for anything but keeping up with social media on the go. Some recent innovations are changing the game, however. Applications like Apple’s Siri and Android’s vLingo and Iris allow us to converse with our phones. If you can get over the fear of sounding like a complete muppet in public, you can dictate instructions to your phone. This natural language interaction has been a mobile holy grail for years – the technology on PCs is actually pretty mature, but it’s in the mobile world that it has really taken off.

We’re also starting to see laptop-style docks for phones, which use the phone as their brain and provide a large screen, as well as a keyboard for a more conventional computing experience. If manufacturers can settle on a docking interface like mini-USB to connect all phones and docks, and a standard firmware for docks, we could upgrade our phones, even changing from a device running the Windows Phone operating system to Android, while keeping the same dock.

Summary

It’s really hard to tell what form factor will win out, although I suspect that all will continue to hold their own, due to the disparity of user preferences and requirements. We’re likely to see further innovations in the fields of wearable technology, gesture based interaction, projection and nearfield communications. What are your predictions?

My father had a ‘mobile’ in the late 1980s which was used for work. Realistically, it was more of a luggable telephone-book sized affair that strapped into the boot of the car, with a clunky handset up front, connected to the business end by a cable.

The creation of a phone that could fit in a pocket was a marvel of engineering, but it brought our private discussions into the public domain, and life would never be quite the same again. The subsequent race for miniaturisation nearly killed the Celtic Tiger in it’s infancy, as aspiring yuppies spent all their wages on the latest clamshell devices. They would parade up and down the South Mall with their newly acquired bling clasped to their ears, gesturing wildly and issuing instructions.

As processing power improved, it became possible to do more with the phone. The SMS message single-handedly remade the English language into txtspk, a new dialect which removed all the vowels and replaced them with exclamation marks. We moved from the beep-beep of monophonic ring tones, to badly rendered faux-classical polyphonic ring tones, to mp3-capable devices which blared their owners appalling taste in music to all and sundry.

I still remember the day I saw the man in the jeans and blazer walking down the road, berating passers-by, shop windows and briefly, an ageing Jack Russell terrier. It was only when I saw the small device attached to his ear, I understood that Bluetooth technology and hands-free conversations had arrived.

The smartphone brought many new opportunities for phone plonkers. Who amongst us wasn’t cornered by an early iPhone adopter for an instructional lecture on it’s advanced capabilities? Better cameras and larger memories meant that relative strangers had hundreds of images of their offspring to show us in the pub. Now, most phones can do high definition movie clips, and some come with a built in projector – oh, the humanity!

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Apple announces Siri, your personal voice controlled assistant (and yes there’s an Android app called Vlingo that does something similar). Now, as well as being privy to the conversations of strangers, we’ll get to hear them dictate emails, tweets, Google searches and SMS messages.

Your smartphone is a powerful device, capable of incredible feats, but with power comes great responsibility. Enjoy your miniature supercomputer, but please don’t be a phone plonker!

More clues as to the identity of the 5 Mallow Secret Santas are being revealed online on Facebook this week. While the competition is generating a lot of interest and good spirits in and around Mallow, some of the identities are proving a little difficult to uncover.

Organiser of the competition Niamh Ni Chearbhaill of Spiralli Web Design, says “We want as many people to be able to enter the competition as possible as all donations will be going to theMallow SVP. We are getting a very good response to the competition to date but people seem to be stuck on one or 2 of the Secret Santas, so we decided to put a few helpful clues as to the identities of our charity Secret Santas on www.facebook.com/spiralli”.

Those who can correctly identify the 5 Secret Santas are being asked to accompany their entry form with a donation of any amount to SVP or an unwrapped new toy and to drop them to Spiralli in Market Square.  Entrants are also in with the chance of winning some fantastic prizes.

Some of the clues include for Santa no. 1, he’s male, “choo, choo”, he is outgoing, while Santa no. 3 is incoming, all in the name of good business. Santa no. 2 is also male, he could be called a “Grouchy” Santa, he is the running man, often seen with a camera and he looks a bit like Sting.  Santa no. 3 is female, she has the same first name as two Irish presidents who served a total of 21 years in office, she is a sure “bet”.  Santa no. 4 is brandishing a meat cleaver, he’s newly married, he plays music in a band and although he’s a purveyor of more than just fine meats, he’ll throw a shrimp on if you ask him nicely! Our final Santa no. 5 is also a lady, home makeovers are her speciality, her husband deals in beef and she has the inside line on interior design!

All proceeds and donations are going to bolster the work of the Mallow branch of the St Vincent de Paul, which is facing a tough Christmas with extra demand on their services. Last Christmas, the society helped 180 families and in 2011, they expect that number to increase to 250. Mallow President of the Mallow branch of the organisation Pat Murphy is worried that this Christmas could push families over the edge. “I am seriously concerned that this year might be the hardest faced by families in our communities. People living next door could be suffering hardship unknown to us.  All donations will make a real difference to the local community”.

The Secret Santas’ true identities will be revealed at 8pm on Dec 1^st at the festive themed Spiralli Gallery annual Christmas art exhibition.  All those who entered the competition and made a donation will be invited to return for the unveiling and prize giving ceremony.

If you are having trouble finding an entry form, please contact Niamh at 022-55002 for more information.

MALLOW SECRET SANTA REVEALS A HAPPIER CHRISTMAS

5 Mallow personalities are doing their bit for charity this Christmas by disguising themselves as Secret Santas and inviting the general public to identify them correctly. The Society of St Vincent de Paul in Mallow is facing a tough Christmas with extra demand on their services. Last Christmas, the society helped 180 families and in 2011, they expect that number to increase to 250. 

Click Image to Download PDF Entry From

Mallow President of the Mallow branch of the organisation Pat Murphy is worried that this Christmas could push families over the edge. “I am seriously concerned that this year might be the hardest faced by families in our communities. People living next door could be suffering hardship unknown to us.  All donations will make a real difference to the local community”.

To this end, the Spiralli Gallery and local businesses such as Costurama costume hire have come on board to organise the festive themed competition where all proceeds and donations will go to the St Vincent de Paul in Mallow.  Entrants are also in with the chance of winning some fantastic prizes. The well known Mallow faces will also wear a clue as to their identity. The pictures will be published in local media and to enter, people can make a donation of any value or drop in a new toy with their entry form to the Spiralli Gallery in Market Square. Additional clues as to the Secret Santa’s identities will be given on Facebook.com/spiralli over the coming weeks.

Niamh Ni Chearbhaill from Spiralli says, “We thought this would be a fun way of getting the local community involved while also helping a very worthwhile cause. We approached our local “celebs” and they were all very enthusiastic about taking part. We wanted to run the competition as early as possible so the charity can place the toys with the most suitable children and families and to help alleviate some of the pressure on those who are finding times tough at the moment”.

The Secret Santas’ true identities will be revealed at 8pm on Dec 1^st at the festive themed Spiralli Gallery annual Christmas art exhibition.  All those who entered the competition and made a donation will be invited to return for the unveiling and prize giving ceremony.  Spiralli can be contacted at 022-55002 for further details.

The hunt is now on for spot prize donations – any businesses who wish to donate a spot prize can do so by calling Spiralli at 022 55002 or 087-7700471.

ENDS

For further information : Sara Mc Mahon, SmackPR, 086 2180969