Minibyte

  • Public relations, Ryanair style

    February 25, 2009 @ 5:38 pm | by Ciara

    You have to love Ryanair, if only for the sheer neck of the company. When Jason Roe found a bug in Ryanair’s site, he blogged about it. Enter the commenters.
    (more…)

  • Is the music industry fighting a losing battle?

    February 23, 2009 @ 4:44 pm | by Ciara

    How times have changed. When I first started going to concerts, you were thoroughly searched on the way in for cameras and other recording equipment that might be used to video the band. (more…)

  • Net Visionary Awards 2009

    @ 4:08 pm | by Ciara

    The nominations for the Net Visionary awards are now open.

    Nominations close on March 27th and voting will open in April.

  • Ebay auction tool gets flagged

    @ 3:59 pm | by Ciara

    Ebay users beware - apparently a third-party auction tool has inadvertently been harbouring something a little more nasty than a last second bid and a bit harder to shift [BBC].

    The good news is that the company, Auctiva, has already solved the problem. And for those who were infected, the trojan, Adclicker, is classed by some security experts as “very low risk”.

    Google is still flagging the site as potentially harmful, but is reviewing the situation.

  • Review: The INQ phone

    @ 1:38 pm | by Ciara

    The INQ phone - with integrated Facebook, Skype and MSN Messenger

    The INQ phone is designed to appeal to those who can’t bear to be disconnected from Facebook or Bebo or longer than is necessary. Who need to be hooked into Skype or MSN Messengerfor large parts of the day because .. well, just because. In other words, it was designed to appeal to someone just like me.
    (more…)

  • Irma, Eircom deal just gets better…

    @ 1:21 pm | by Ciara

    This one will just run and run. Not content with their well thought out plan of introducing three strikes and you’re off the network, Irma is now going to start targetting websites it doesn’t like. Excellent plan.
    (more…)

  • Ryanair launches in-flight mobile services

    February 19, 2009 @ 11:17 am | by Ciara

    As if flying wasn’t stressful enough, Ryanair has started offering mobile phone services on some of its flights.

    This could go one of two ways. It could be sheer hell, trapped beside a person jabbering away on their mobile in cramped, close conditions. Or, given the call charges (€2-€3 per minute) there won’t be too many people who can afford to use it for long, soul searching conversations.

    You can get text messages for free, but sending them will cost in the region of 50c.

  • Fake Twitter followers? Surely not

    February 18, 2009 @ 9:56 am | by Ciara

    Brooks Bayne has started a bit of a spat on the internet by speculating about fake twitter followers.
    (more…)

  • And again…

    @ 5:53 am | by Ciara

    Speaking of mobiles, another new one has crossed my desk for testing. No saved texts or incriminating pics on this one. But it did have someone’s facebook account logged in.

    It’s probably a good thing I don’t have (that much of) an evil streak!

  • Pirate Bay scores small victory

    @ 5:51 am | by Ciara

    Small victory for Pirate Bay. [BBC]

    The charges against the site have been “simplified” - meaning prosecuters have dropped the “assisting copyright infringement” ones and decided to proceed with the “assisting making available copyright material” charges.
    (more…)

  • Mobile World Congress: Universal charger for mobiles

    @ 5:33 am | by Ciara

    Well it’s about time. Apparently manufacturers have agreed on a standard charger for mobile phones, meaning that tangle of cables and old chargers could be a thing of the the past.
    (more…)

  • Pull the other one…

    @ 5:19 am | by Ciara

    Companies threaten legal action over some strange things, but a row over using the phrase “pull my finger” in advertising has to be one of the more ridiculous cases.
    (more…)

  • Irish Times journalists nominated in blog awards

    February 17, 2009 @ 12:49 pm | by Ciara

    Four Irish Times blogs have been nominated for blog awards.
    (more…)

  • Mobile World Congress: Nokia’s Ovi store

    @ 11:49 am | by Ciara

    With so many online stores hawking applications and content for your mobile, there needs to be a new angle for people to take notice of yet another one.
    (more…)

  • Reason #565 to never meet anyone from the internet

    @ 10:51 am | by Ciara

    Football fan gets scammed and publicly humiliated [the Register]
    (more…)

  • ‘Blackout’ hits the web

    February 16, 2009 @ 8:05 pm | by Ciara

    Interesting . Perhaps Eircom customers could register some sort of similar protest against it’s “three strikes” agreement.

    Stephen Fry is one of the people joining the protest on Twitter.

  • Facebook creates etiquette minefield

    February 15, 2009 @ 6:30 pm | by Ciara

    It used to be getting dumped by a text was bad enough. The faceless, can’t even be bothered with a phone call kind of brush off that would take up more than 30 seconds of your time.
    (more…)

  • Everyone wants in on Twitter

    @ 10:28 am | by Ciara

    A month ago, I didn’t have a Twitter account. Well, not a proper one anyway. Now I’m hooked.
    (more…)

  • Newsbytes

    February 14, 2009 @ 9:39 pm | by Ciara

    Microsoft is planning to go directly to the customer with a chain of retail stores. [Information Week]

    The fight against the Conficker worm heats up [Washington Post]

    Could Twitter be about to branch out? [VNUNet]

  • Ebooks - a lot done, a lot more to do

    February 13, 2009 @ 3:00 pm | by Ciara

    Gizmodo explains why there is no “perfect” ebook reader at the moment.

    As a self-confessed book worm, I have to admit I love the Sony Reader. Particularly for going on flights where space in your hand luggage is precious. I have yet to figure out what happens if I drop it in the pool though, so maybe it’s not quite a replacement for paper just yet.

  • Sony sells 50m PSPs

    @ 1:30 pm | by Ciara

    The PlayStation Portable never really grabbed me (I’m more of a DS kind of girl) but clearly someone is buying it. According to Sony, they’ve now sold 50 million units.
    (more…)

  • This week’s tech scribblings

    @ 1:30 pm | by Ciara

    More “knowledge economy” than tech but it appeared in BTW technology pages.

  • Want!

    @ 7:30 am | by Ciara

    I want one of these [Engadget]

    And one of these [Amazon]

    But I think I might pass on this, ta. [Stuff]

  • Game on

    February 12, 2009 @ 6:16 pm | by Ciara

    The BBC has this story on video games, children and keeping tabs on when they’re played.

    The article is based on a draft report from a European parliament committee that says games have some benefits for children, but should come with some sort of “red button” parents can use to switch off consoles or disable games.
    (more…)

  • Cynics unite!

    @ 5:56 pm | by Ciara

    It’s not all hearts and flowers for valentine’s Day. Like any other holiday, it’s a prime time for spammers, viruses and spyware to trick their way into your inbox.
    (more…)

  • And the Valentine’s Day surveys start…

    @ 5:00 pm | by Ciara

    We’re a nation of cheapskates, according to a new Microsoft survey. Cheapskates and socially inept.

    (more…)

  • Motorists get more than they bargained for

    @ 1:26 pm | by Ciara

    It seems as though a fine isn’t the only thing people have to worry about when they get a parking ticket - there might be a computer virus on the way too.
    (more…)

  • Safer Internet Day ‘09

    February 10, 2009 @ 12:47 pm | by Ciara

    Released to coincide with Safer Internet Day, this Microsoft study says a fifth of Irish teens have experienced bullying of some sort online, most commonly over instant messaging, while 55 per cent have unrestricted access to the internet.

    (more…)

  • At last - an excuse to watch bad TV shows

    February 9, 2009 @ 12:38 pm | by Ciara

    I have an unhealthy fascination with reality TV shows. I can’t explain it, justify it or break it. I’m a Celebrity, Celebrity Big Brother, Dancing on Ice… I really need to reform my viewing habits.

    But not before I see this [BBC].

    (more…)

  • Learning from my mistakes

    @ 12:18 pm | by Ciara

    Data recovery from a busted hard drive is expensive. The good news is it can be recovered - bad news is it will cost you.

    In this case I think I’m going to have to just suck it up and be more careful about backing up the back-up in future.

  • This week I’m blaming the internet for…

    February 5, 2009 @ 8:45 pm | by Ciara

    Car envy. More accurately, for showing me exactly how much more I’ll pay for the car I want south of the border than if I took a trip up north.

    Becoming mildly obsessed with finding pictures of people who resemble thumbs.

    Spending hours on Twitter.

    Finding ways to increase last week’s credit card bill by looking at sites that will mail me packages from the UK. A sneaky was around those retailers who won’t deliver this side of the Irish Sea.

  • Questions, questions…

    @ 2:38 pm | by Ciara

    I’ve just been sent a new mobile phone by a PR company (we won’t mention any names) to take a look at. One question springs to mind: who set the phone up? Because I’d be interested to know exactly who names their phone “SexyBastard” in their bluetooth settings…

    Update: Further investigation reveals some “interesting” text messages. The word “baby” is used a lot. And I have a first name.

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