Fergus Cassidy

TUESDAY 19 APRIL 2005 23.15 (GMT+1)
-------------------------------------------------

:::: FREE PEER...

If you're using P2P software for file sharing may I suggest you check out MUTE.

MUTE was designed to protect individual privacy in a P2P network. Direct connections between downloaders and uploaders are avoided.

Messages are routed through a network of neighbour connections, using virtual addresses and encrypting all the traffic.

The free software (GNU GPL) was developed by Jason Rohrer and is available for Mac OS X 10.2, Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP and Linux.


THURSDAY 7 APRIL 2005 23.55 (GMT+1)
-------------------------------------------------

:::: FEEDS UNITED...

I always tried to read as many Irish blogs as I could, but finding them was always the problem. That and having the time to visit blogs which didn't have RSS feeds.

But the arrival of a number of sites* which aggregrate Irish blog feeds has helped greatly.

Today I had a look at over 120 posts from Irish bloggers and there's no way I could have gotten through that amount before.

While I'm on the subject, I have NOTHING at all to do with the 'Joe Bloggs' column in the Sunday Tribune.

I just enjoy reading what people have to say and usually learn something along the way as well.

* Planet of the Blogs
Yahoo! Groups Irish blogs
Irishblogs.ie


WEDNESDAY 6 APRIL 2005 02.45 (GMT+1)
-------------------------------------------------

:::: REITH ON...

The BBC's annual Reith Lecture series begins tonight at 8pm on BBC Radio 4.

This year's title is 'The Triumph of Technology' and the five lectures will be given by Alec Broers, engineer and nanotechnology pioneer.

Tonight's talk is titled 'Technology will Determine the Future of the Human Race'.

Full details on the series, including listening online and the 'listen again' facility, are here.


FRIDAY 27 MAY 2005 02.40 (GMT+1)
-------------------------------------------------

::: LOVE ME TENDER

In a move which I can only describe as giving two fingers to the rest of us, the Oireachtas has tendered for the supply of broadband to its members.

A notice on the official government tender site announced that the Oireachtas "is in the process of implementing an enhanced remote access system, which will improve access from Members' homes or constituency Offices to data and services on servers in Leinster House".

Up to now the bandwidth-starved TDs and Senators have been "utilising ISDN circuits...", but these will now "become redundant".

The tender offers a two-year contract and indicates that "there are almost 200 separate locations spread across all areas of the country". This number "may increase in the future".

This 'group broadband scheme' amounts to an appalling admission of failure by the government to roll-out broadband countrywide.

If decent internet access was widespread and easily available, there would be no need for this contract carry on.

Tenders for them, tender mercies for the rest of us.


WEDNESDAY 4 MAY 2005 23.10 (GMT+1)
-------------------------------------------------

:::: GAME ON...

Throughout May the Digital Hub in Dublin has a programme of events and exhibitions with a focus on gaming.

This includes a seminar on 'Censorship in the Games Industry' on Friday 6 May; a gaming careers expo on 9-10 May and a game design seminar on 9 May.

All are welcom and there's no charge. Full details are on the Digital Hub's site.

WEDNESDAY 13 JULY 2005 17.45 (GMT+1)
-------------------------------------------------

::: SHUTTLE LIFT-OFF

I'm watching fly-on-the-wall live coverage of the astronauts boarding Discovery and going through their pre-flight checks.

Lift-off is scheduled for 8.47pm (Irish time) tonight. Live feed is available from Nasa.

UPDATE (19.15pm): Today's flight has been posponed due to a problem with a fuel cut-off sensor.


MONDAY 4 JULY 2005 00.45 (GMT+1)
-------------------------------------------------

::: NOT SO SMART

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) has some neck.

Its head of regulatory affairs, Michael Bride, has written to the education minister calling for the Euro6m broadband for schools contract won by Smart to be reviewed. Bride cited anti-union behaviour by Smart.

The CWU is the largest union in Eircom and its members form the majority in Eircom's Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT).

ESOT controls 29.9% of Eircom on behalf of current and previous employees and has a number of seats on Eircom's board of directors.

The allegations against Smart come at a time when the company is taking legal action against Eircom and is also competing to buy Meteor, so how timely of the CWU to raise these allegations.

In October 2003, the Sunday Times published a letter from the CWU (again written by Bride) questioning the building of a "duplicate" communications network by the government.

"It would be better to divert scarce resources to other deserving projects, such as schools or hospitals", he wrote.

Such a caring attitude - but for whom?

THURS 29 SEPTEMBER 2005 22.00 (GMT+1)
-------------------------------------------------

::: THE OLD BILL

Adam Beecher had enough of billing problems with BTIreland.

In the great tradition of gripe (or sucks) websites, he put up a site called BTIreland-sucks.com.

Last Tuesday, BTIreland sent a solicitor's, calling on him to remove his site and "cancel the domain name without delay".

Claiming intellectual property rights over the use of BTIreland, the letter claimed he had "no right, title or interest in respect of the name".

A copy of the BT letter and Adam's response is available at BTIreland-sucks.com.


THURS 29 SEPTEMBER 2005 02.00 (GMT+1)
-------------------------------------------------

::: SCIENCE IN THE AIR

Programme four of a science series called 'The Quantum Leap' is on RTE Radio 1 tonight at 8.02pm.

Presented by Mary Mulvihill, the 12 week series "looks at the latest work by Irish scientists and reports on science stories from around the world".

Archived programmes are available here.


THURS 8 SEPTEMBER 2005 22.00 (GMT+1)
-------------------------------------------------

::: IRELAND OFFLINE AGM

I've given up on incorporating other blogging software into my site and am sticking with the hand-coding I'm using.

It's too time consuming trying to do this kind of stuff when stuck on the end of a miserly 64k connection.

If you're in this bandwidth hell and in Dublin this Saturday, the IrelandOffline AGM is taking place.

DETAILS: Buswell's Hotel, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 (opposite the front entrance to the Dail), starting at 2pm.