Teknovis

Mobile 2.0 Europe started today in Barcelona. Both the Developer Day and the Speakers seem really interesting!

I wish that I was there!

Tags: Mobile 2.0 Europe, Spain

I saw an interesting article on the news this evening describing how the Irish Government is currently investigating the issue of mobile phone bullying. For more details about this, including video footage, see Criticism of delay in mobile bullying measures.

The facility to block communication from certain numbers does not currently exist because there has not been a need for it until recently. This facility would be part of general policy management, and I expect that there will be many advancements in this area in the near future. There are many companies currently developing solutions in this area, including two Irish companies:

• Anam (which is supplying a solution to O2)
• Openet

So there should be policy management solutions deployed by the mobile phone network operators in Ireland very soon.

It really annoys me to hear politicians giving the impression that that know what they are talking about when it comes to technology!

Tags: Anam, Ireland, Mobile Phone, O2, Openet

Science Foundation Ireland has announced the creation of a new fund to commercialise existing research that it is funding. The fund is called the Technology and Innovation Development Award (TIDA), and you can read more about it in Technology and Innovation Development Award (TIDA).

The maximum grant size is 100,000€ over 12 months. I think that is a really significant amount, and it should be enough to determine if existing research has commercial potential.

I am actually surprised that Science Foundation Ireland is doing this, because I thought that commercialisation was under the remit of Enterprise Ireland.

Tags: Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland

I read about a really exciting new programming language during the week called C# Application Markup Language (CSAML). It is basically the merging of C# and XML to create a totally new programming language! You can read more about it in C# Application Markup Language (CSAML): An Evolutionary Leap.

It is even more interesting to see that a few people have actually been discussing this on bulletin boards!

Tags: XML

I had a Kit Kat Chunky after lunch today. It was delicious! I was reading the packaging as I was munching, and the following caught my attention:

Contact us FREE

0800 604 604 (UK)

00800 6378 5385 (ROI)

The UK freephone number prefix is what I expect (0800), but the Irish (ROI) freephone number is not! I was expecting a 1800 prefix :o

After some brief investigation, I discovered that the 00800 prefix is for Universal International Freephone Numbers. It was my first time to see one of these numbers!

While I was reading about these UIFNs I also came across the European Telephony Numbering Space. I have never seen any of these numbers, but I think that they are a great idea!

Tags: Ireland, UK

The online version of the print version of The Irish Times is very impressive: http://irishtimes.newspaperdirect.com/

Unfortunately it is not free, but most of the content can be found on its main web site :o

Tags: The Irish Times

I have another web site that is unrelated to this one. I have had it for approximately a year. However, I now need to use Twitter in conjunction with this web site.

Unfortunately, the Twitter account name that matches my domain name has already been registered :( However, it was registered almost 2 years ago, contains 1 post, is not following anybody, and has no followers. So it is as inactive or as disused as possible!

I tried searching the Internet for advice from people who were in similar situations. I did not find a lot of information, and the best article I found was How to Secure an Unused Twitter Account. I was initially very optimistic when I read that Twitter releases unused accounts if requested. However, Twitter no longer provides this service according to Help Resources/Terms of Service and Rules policies/Name Squatting :( Twitter might release inactive accounts, although its policy is contradictory:

Accounts that are inactive for more than 6 months may be removed without further notice. Twitter is not currently releasing inactive/squatter accounts unless in cases of infringement.

I have followed the advice given in the first article, and I will update this blog with my progress!

Tags: Twitter

A friend of mine who works in UCD was trying to use the RTE Player on her laptop this week. (Yes, it was work related :o ) She had mixed results!

She could view the RTE Player web page, and any of the video content, using her wired connection in one building. However, she could only view the RTE Player web page, but not any of the video content, using her wireless connection in another building. The video panel would time out after playing the advertisement. That was annoying!

I did a quick search on the Internet, and the only related information that I could find was New RTE player also blocked?. However, this thread seems to be full of inaccuracies, as I normally find on Boards.ie :( In particular, the following statement appears to be incorrect:

The new RTE Player opens a direct connection to the RTE Server on tcp port 1935

fmsv1.rte.ie:1935

I can view the RTE Player video content perfectly from my current location, and I know that I am not allowed to access TCP Port 1935. I also am behind a proxy server, so that cannot be the cause either. My friend was able to access fmsv1.rte.ie, so obviously the site is not blocked.

However, I still do not know what is causing the problem :|

Tags: RTE, UCD

I am hearing and reading a lot about Bing this week! Microsoft seems to be putting a lot of resources behind it! I have not tried using it yet. This is mostly because I am happy with Google, so there is no real incentive for me to change my search engine. I previously had very bad experiences with Cuil. (I must write about them here :o )

Today somebody showed me the Maps feature of Bing. I thought that the interface seemed nice, and the satellite photos were good. It certainly is as good as Google Maps.

However, then I was shown the Bird’s Eye view! This really impressed me!

Bird's Eye view of Camp Nou in Bing Maps

Above you can see the Bird’s Eye view of Camp Nou (home of the 2009 Champions League winners).

Tags: Cuil, Google, Microsoft

I read an interesting idea for a B.Sc. in Web Development and Design in Web Development Should Be a Third Level Degree. This idea is particularly interesting because it comes from the Lead Software Developer in Boards.ie, and he previously started, but did not complete, the computing degree course in DCU.

Tags: Boards.ie, DCU