Apr 30 2012
The deadline for entry into the Annual All-Ireland Schools’ Programming Competition is the end of this week! It is a great competition, and the standard at the final in DCU is always extremely high!
For more details see How to Enter.
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Apr 29 2012
It really was a week celebrating intellectual property!
First, there was the World Book and Copyright Day on the 23rd of April!
Second, there was World Intellectual Property Day on the 26th of April. There were a few events on to celebrate this, and some great Irish science discoverers are featured in World Intellectual Property Day: celebrating Irish innovators.
The scientist that most caught my attention was Kathleen Lonsdale. I must admit that I had not heard of her before this week!
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Apr 14 2012
I spent my afternoon setting-up a new laptop. I usually choose my passwords securely, but it reminded me of this infographic that I saw a while ago (click image to see larger version):
What Makes A Strong Password? (Copyright Killer Infographics)
The original article where I saw this inforgraphic is Use This Infographic to Pick a Good, Strong Password.
Apr 13 2012
Ireland and Greece are both currently being bailed-out. This effectively means that both countries are funding their current expenditure using borrowed money. This became necessary because their economies both got into serious difficulties. So it is very interesting to see how both countries are adjusting to this financial dependence.
I read today that the minimum wage in Greece has been reduced to 580€ gross per month, according to Greek unemployment at record high with youth jobless rate now over 50%. This reduction is designed to boost employment (by making it cheaper to employ people) and boost the economy (by making exports cheaper).
I was curious how this compared to Ireland, so I did some investigating. According to my calculations, the minimum wage in Ireland is 1,500€ gross per month. (This is based on a minimum wage of 8.65€ gross per hour as described in Minimum rates of pay.) Even more interesting is the fact that the minimum wage in Ireland was increased by 173€ gross per month in 2011.
The Greeks (and probably many others in the EU) must look at Ireland and wonder how the Irish can afford such high minimum wages at a time when the country is bankrupt!
I certainly do not understand this!
Apr 10 2012
I just learnt that Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion, according to Facebook Buys Instagram for $1 Billion!
Wow! I am surprised by the price! I am also surprised that Facebook are interested in Instagram!
I do not use either service!
Instagram positively annoys me when I come across people using it to tweet photos!
Facebook itself does not annoy me, but its users annoy me :( Several times recently I have been asked to look at some content (either marketing material via an email list from a company that that I buy from, or from a personal contact who asks me in person), only to find that a Facebook account is required to view the content. No – I am not going to log into Facebook just to see your latest advert!
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Apr 09 2012
A few weeks ago I read that AOL was going to sell its 800 patents, and that it hoped to raise about $1 billion. The article I read is AOL may sell off some of its 800 patents for cash. At the time I thought that it was very wishful thinking by AOL.
This evening I am eating humble pie :) AOL has sold all of its patents to Microsoft for $1.1 billion according to AOL Sells 800 Patents For $1.1 Billion To Microsoft [Memo To Staff]! This equates to $1,375,000 per patent!
It will be very interesting to see what Microsoft does with these patents next. Is it intending to go an an offensive against a competitor, or is it building up its own defence?
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Apr 08 2012
It seems impossible to spend any time online these days without hearing about Pinterest. It certainly seems to be going from strength to strength, and it is now the third most popular social networking site according to Pinterest is third most popular social site after Facebook and Twitter.
I admit that I have not used it yet. I intend to try it, but at the moment I do not really see what the attraction is! Pinterest’s first investor explains this attraction in Pinterest’s First Investor Explains the Secret to the Startup’s Success, but I still do not get it!
This week I came across this very nice infographic in Flowtown Infographic: Why Is Pinterest So Addictive? that explains Pinterest’s addictiveness (click image to see larger version):
Why is Pinterest so Addictive? (Copyright Flowtown)
(There are some other very nice infographics on that website also!)
I think that I should give Pinterest a try!
Apr 05 2012
I came across some interesting Skype ads in Skype slams Facebook and Twitter in ad campaign tonight.
It is interesting that the ads are so focused on Facebook and Twitter!
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Apr 02 2012
It looks like there will soon be a new TLD according to UK.gov gives nod to .scot!
I was going to write about this yesterday, but I was afraid it would be confused with some of April Fool’s Day madness!
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