techno-culture

I lucked out on my return flight from San Francisco — I was on an empty centre aisle, but the aisle and window seats were also empty on my flight so I moved across — I like looking out the window if I can get an empty seat next to me on a long haul [...]

No doubt the European Commission will be outraged to find out that even as they were fussing over Ireland’s low 12.5% tax rate, the country has secretly been charging those multinationals only 11%. Haven’t they? Well, John McCain just said so in the first presidential debate.
I must say that while that’s a small difference, this [...]

Tags: Irish tax rate, McCain

That was the big announcement out of Oracle OpenWorld, and the centre of Larry’s keynote. Oracle and HP are teaming to produce the Exadata storage server and a grid array in a box called the Database Machine that utilises the Exadata plus some database servers. Oracle is claiming the Exadata gives minimum 10x speed increases [...]

Just watching the Thomas Kurian keynote here at Oracle OpenWorld and noticed all the demos they are running are on a Mac. But they are Windows demos. I think that’s the first time I have seen big stage keynote Windows demos running natively on an Intel Mac. That made me wonder if it is a [...]

That’s the big buzz at Oracle OpenWorld and a lot of products are showing web 2.0 features or are completely based around them. Social networking elements are central to a new product, Beehive, introduced yesterday, which is enterprise collaboration software that draws on discussion board, IM, email and other networking technologies. I’m listening to a talk [...]

Well, virtually at least. I’m out in San Francisco at Oracle OpenWorld and the organisers are pushing social networking engagement big time. Bloggers are separate but equal members of the press corp with badges that clearly state ‘blogger’ not ‘press’ (though if you are press and also a blogger you get a little orange ribbon [...]

This Saturday, the 20th, with free talks and demos and games at the Digital Exchange, Crane St, the Digital Hub, Dublin. This starts at 11 am, and runs to 5 pm, with chat and adult beverages after in the Longstone pub. More info and you can sign up here, though I am sure you can also [...]

This one promises to have lots of good stuff as it has some sharp organisers, a spicy looking talks list, and a great location for a weekend away for anyone outside of Kilkenny. Unfortunately I will be in California that week so won’t be able to attend (everything interesting seems to end up scheduled for when I [...]

This is a rare chance for anyone that loves dogs to hear one of the great pioneers of training and behaviour speak in Dublin over a two day seminar this weekend. I believe this is the first time he has ever come to Ireland to give a class. You can go either the 20th or 21st [...]

Last night, I went to the opening  of the absolutely mesmerising performance of Rigoletto at the Anna Livia Opera Festival at the Gaiety. This is a fantastic performance for anyone who kind of likes opera but has never been — the story line is simple (though the emotions are very complex), the staging is excellent, [...]

I finally, finally, finally, FINALLY got around to installing Mac OS X Leopard. Initially I waited to make sure there were no major issues; then I waited to find time to back up my Mac, then I waited to find time to find time. That turned out to be last night and I can say [...]

According to IT Force’s latest report, 92% of all email arriving into Irish inboxes was, ech, SPAM.  This was their top virus list for August:
Top Viruses

Trojan.Delf-5385
Email.Trojan-9
Trojan.Zbot-1962
Email.PornTeaser
Trojan.Zbot-1966
Worm.SomeFool.N
Worm.SomeFool.P
Worm.W32.Agent-1
Worm.Autorun-1710
HTML.Phishing.Pay-159