Inside View from Ireland

Chain letters online

KILKENNY -- I have started getting chain letters about Irish as an official EU language and those e-mails often reveal more than the authors intend.

Quicklinks to VoIP

FORTUNE -- One of the most compelling reasons for home broadband is VoIP. This will be a leading technology of 2004. Voice over Internet Protocol uses the Internet to replace ordinary phone service. Virtually any Net connection--cable modem, DSL, dial-up--can be turned into a phone line. Usage is tiny now, but VOIP promises to revolutionise calling. That has everyone from startups to cable buys drooling over the billions telcos collect for phone service. Here is a breakdown of some of the players and what they're doing.

Distortions in Kilkenny People

KILKENNY -- I have become suspicious of editorial comment in The Kilkenny People that extends from articles written by Sean Keane. Specifically, I am bothered by an item last week concerning the gap between Waterford City and Kilkenny. I think the editorial confuses apples with oranges when it tries to equate road works in the two counties.

Ryanair, Charleroi and Eurocrats

IRISH TIMES -- "An Irishman's Diary" took a page out of Michael O'Leary's book today, chastising the EU for obstructing the free market. Kevin Myers was hitting on all cylinders.

Perhaps the most entertainng spectacle in the world is an EU official lecturing us on the virtues of the free market, as Loyola de Palacio, the EU Commissioner for Transport, did the other day. "Only genuine competition is truly capable of safeguarding consumers' rights," she declared when announcing her ruling on Ryanair: Eurobabble at its purest.

Immigrants and optimists

WSJ -- The face of the official Irish welcome is that of the immigration officer and it means enduring at least a visual shakedown on landing at a major Irish airport. The
Wall Street Journal points out financial reasons why immigrants should enjoy a friendly handshake on landing.

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Wall Street Journal -- "Immigrants and Optimists: The key to America's continued prosperity. "
Wall Street Journal -- "Welcome to America: Fifteen thinkers offer a Conservative Statement of Principles on Immigration."
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Note to self on mobile memory

I HAVE ADOPTED A practise of purging messages from my Nokia 9210i (at right) when any folder extends above 911 messages. Things run faster On the Nokia Communicator with unbloated memory.

Based on the number of people landing on this blog searching for "9210 hack" and "reformat Nokia 9210," I believe some of them could have enjoyed many more hours of productivity by following a practise of cleaning out their message folders. On a related note, I seem to get better service from the brick-like Communicator when I do not sync its mail to my desktop. That process writes data to the memory card. The fewer times an external write occurs, the more stable the handling of on-board messages. Awareness of a phone's main memory management is very important.

Goodbye Candygirl

MAY I BE FRANK -- I could count on several late-night visits a week from Emma, a woman I never saw. She visited in early mornings London time and Misty would sometimes come looking in the evenings. The blog's server tracked both of them having a click-around. Em found my blog on the "recently updated" list, linked to it, and occasionally visited. I never wrote to her or spoke to her, but my referrer logs told me that she read my stuff several times a week. She died of cancer on Thursday, aged 36 years in London Bridge, about a year after my dad died of the same disease. But Emma was 38 years younger than my father, which makes her passing all the more tragic.

Friends Meroë, Colin, Linda, Ernest and Rob wrote

Just to let everyone know that Emma died peacefully early on the morning of February 5th 2004 with her family there. This picture was taken last Thursday as we walked down by the Thames at London Bridge following a bout of shoe window shopping...She was tempted by some furry boots but felt they were a little extravagant. Candygirl was a tough cookie till the end...telling us off for being upset and ordering the nurses around.

This blog was one of the things that made her happy over the last few months. She loved getting everyone's posts as I know you loved reading hers. It would be great if people would like to post their thoughts. I know Emma would have liked to thank you all for your words and support.

We love you Em and will miss you so much.

It's unusual when a blog makes you cry. Bye Em.

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Candygirl Emma -- "Goodbye Candygirl"
Can you blog in heaven?
Flowers or donations to Cancer Research UK or Iyengar Yoga Institute of South London may be sent to H. Towell, 97 Swan Street, Sileby, Leics. LE12 7NN England (Tel +44 1509814404)
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Oprah's RSS

ATOM -- As Joi Ito has gone syndicating with Atom, Dave Winer keeps stoking an extended conversation about syndication standards. And as Eoin says in a comment, "getting syndicated blogs ... to be a killer app--the kind that Mom could use--it needs more expert content .... We really need an RSS feed from Oprah, or Woman's Way--that wold indicate format success."

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Irish Typepad -- "Syndication evolving"
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Global trillions

UNDERWAY -- I walk the carriages of the Waterford train many Friday mornings to sample the mobile working demographic and sometimes it has an air of globalism about it. This morning had an American flavour, based on the accents I heard and the newspapers on tables. You might expect as much, if you use the $2 trillion trade and investment relationship as a guide. Transatlantic trade between Ireland and America in 2002 totalled about $548b, with $12b between the US and Ireland in the first half of 2003. The EU sends almost a quarter of its total exports to the US, and the US sends about a third of its exports to the EU.

Almost ¾ of all foreign direct investment in the US comes from EU countries. In the first half of 2003 European companies put $26.3b new FDUI into the US. More than 13m Americans and Europeans receive their pay cheques from local affiliates of US and EU parent companies. About 90,000 Irish get their wage packets from US subsidiaries in Ireland. This two-way dimension of globalisation must be appreciated by those who rage against the influence of American companies around the world.

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Data from James Kenny, American Ambassador to Ireland
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7 cost-cutting tips

IRISH TIMES -- It pays to scrutinise Eircom phone bills. Jamie Smyth offers seven tactics that could save money.

1. Do you really need to rent a handset from EIrco? It costs EUR 2.11 per month while a new handset could cost as little as EUR 10. Send your old handset to Eircom, Freepost Eircom Logistics, Dublin 22.
2. If you spend more than EUR 25 per month on calls made within the 32 counties you should consider EsatBT's Advantage Plus. This enables you to make as many local and national telephone calls as you want, each up to one hour in duration.
3. If you are not on an Eircom gold, silver, or bronze scheme, ring customer care (1901) and walk through your entitlement. Deep discounts apply to the Circle of Friends scheme.
4. Do you need the Eircom mailbox at EUR 1.15 a month?
5. If you make only a few calls every month and no direct international calls from your landline, it might be cheaper to remove your fixed line altogether. But before you do, consider converting it to ADSL and learning how to make VoIP calls.
6. Eircom's low user scheme can save you money if you make EUR 10 or less worth of calls a month. A bundled paackage combining line rental and EUR 5 worth of calls costs EUR 22.50 per month.
7. If you run a business from your home, claim back the VAT on your phone bill.

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Jamie Smyth -- "Lethargy costs telecom customers dearly" in The Irish Time Business This Week: Personal Finance, February 6, 2004
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