Inside View

Tracking What I WEEE

DICK O'BRIEN sniggers when he weees, Adrian Weckler gets hit for WEEEing at every turn because shops know he has received complimentary gadgets WEEE-free, Brian Greene tenaciously points out other rubbish charges while forsaking the WEEE under his nose. Not me--I'vd been WEEED on and I'm counting the bills. Since December 2005, I have paid at least €130 in WEEE charges. I need to figure out whether I can claim that back as a tax refund. WEEE is everywhere. I went to Dublin, bought a keyboard, and paid a euro in WEEE. They smile at me when I walk into shops, right before they WEEE on me. It is demeaning to be WEEED upon.

What Dies First on an iPod

I DON'T HAVE much experience with iPods since I have used only one in my life. For nearly two years, I have avoided the flat battery problem with my iPod. I know how to replace a battery in an iPod but I haven't had to replace mine. I haven't cracked the screen. I haven't dropped my iPod or splashed it with Guinness. The problem I have with my iPod is the 3.5 mm jack. I've used knock-off input jacks to pump the iPod sound into lecture halls and sometimes I had to force the jacks in and out. So I have created my own downfall--sound through my iPod drops in and out from left to right channel.

Note to self: never jam a lead into a 3.5 mm socket. It's not elastic for a reason.

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Dave Fanning has 210 Friends

HIS RECENT foray into MySpace has earned Dave Fanning 210 friends. And counting. But some of those friends might think he's really 26, as his MySpace profile proclaims.

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"On the internet, no one knows you're a dog."

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How Great People Work

ELEVEN SUPER-ACHIEVERS told Fortune magazine how they stay ahead. I learned a few things after reading the story and watching a steady swarm of office workers flock to this blog post because Google Finance linked to this blog item when it mentioned the P&G brand name. (Note from editor: More people came looking at the P&G angle than any other brand. I knew how powerful the brand was before writing this, but it's quite remarkable watching the lesson prove itself in real time.)

The Message Not the Medium

THE HALF PAGE given over by the Irish Times today to the impact of blogs on Irish politics makes the point that the message matters more than the medium of blogging. Few TDs will conduct a buzz metric of their parishes prior to the next national election.¹ No politician in government today cares about tagging, trackbacks, flame wars or what Richard Waghorne had for breakfast. What would you expect from a cohort that opts out of facilitating comments on existing websites? The insinuation of Irish Corruption may pique interest but its author might think twice about future commentary since his blog shows up prominently on web searches for the term "gardai".

Mindfulness as a life hack

43 FOLDERS might incorporate wide-ranging features including an ongoing look at mindfulness, in ways that improve your concentration and productivity. The Buddhists teach mindfulness as a strategy to combat depression, OCD, and attention problems.

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Mindfulness from the wikipedia.

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Simply Cool Makes Retro Useful

I SPENT AN HOUR munching Nokia biscuits while watching how N-Series phones work. No WEEE charges seem to apply to either. The new phones don't have to be complex to be cool. They can simply do a recurring task more elegantly to be cool in my book. Most of the N-Series Nokia phones seem to be that way. They look stylish, feel solid but without the technosexual dimension associated with bright, shiny, new, and ultrageek. I am using the utility version--the N70--as a life blogging device. So far, so simple. You don't have to be a geek to appreciate how it works. Sometimes it pays for technology to be less technical. That may make it less cool but much more useful. And for the manufacturer, it should mean the utilitarian devices sell briskly in the shops.

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Nokia N70 Second Touch

NOKIA PACKS a lot of punch into its N70 mobile phone, including advanced multimedia capabilities that would bring some older phones to their knees. I have used the N70 for music and video playback. Having multimedia capability in my pocket encourages me to create more. We have libraries full of audible revision files in post-production now and plan to release the files as 24-minute podcasts that easily drag-and-drop onto the N70.  After a fortnight of using the N70 in the Tipperary Institute Skunkworks, students have figured out how to use it off-netrosk as a music player. We need to make it a DIY video and explain to others how to leverage threir mobile phones as convergent tools.

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D+16 air travel

ALTHOUGH SOME may be surprised, I do not know anyone who has spoken to a travel agent while sorting out international air travel to professional events during the past two years. Today's knowledge workers know how to use cool tools--many of those in the pockets of those as SxSW. This is the efficiency of disintermediation (D+16) at work. Where I work, we can burden two other people to book and pay for flights beforehand, but if we figure out the travel requirements and charge them ourselves, it's easy to get expenses covered before flying or immediately after returning from the event.

Why there are great pubs in Ireland

DURING THE PAST 12 years while living in Ireland, I have developed an eye, ear and nose for pubs. When in a pub, I can tell if it's located in Ireland, Germany or the States. One reason for the existence of high-quality Irish pubs is they seem to enjoy laws unto themselves. No matter what the law about closing time, age of customers or fire standards for total occupancy, it seems to me that many high-spirited Irish pubs get their atmosphere from two fingers to the State. Sure, they will make the smokers stand outside but the publicans decide when to turn off their lights inside. This is especially true in the case of country pubs located in townlands lacking garda stations. The courtesy extends to all the roads leading to and from the country pub. You won't find a garda control point on those winding roads although you will probably pass a winding car making its way home with a wel-tanked pub regular inside. Sure, you need this kind of institutional protection to ensure Irish pubs reign supreme above other countries who dare use the word "pub" as a label for a watering hole.

Brenda Power writes, "Admired and envied across the globe for our booze-fuelled bonhomie, nobody wants to let the side down. Buying drink and being great craic is what we do best, and there is an obligation on us to do it with extra brio when our national saint's day rolls around."

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Brenda Power -- "Would sobriety sap out national spirit?" in The Sunday Times, March 19, 2006.

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