Teknovis

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!

Tags: Greece, Ireland

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!

Tags: Facebook, Instagram

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?

Tags: AOL, Microsoft

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!

Tags: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter

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!

Tags: Facebook, Skype, Twitter

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!

Tags: UK

Liam Stacey, a 21 year old student, has been jailed for comments he made on Twitter, according to Student jailed over Muamba comments.

I have not seen the exact comments that Liam made, so I cannot comment on whither or not they were racist. However, regardless of their content, I firmly believe that Liam has the right to say whatever he wants (online or otherwise).

It is also a sad day for the UK! I am amazed that its judicial system has been reduced to this level of stupidity by policing teenagers’ comments on social networks.

Tags: Censorship, Twitter, UK

I came across this interesting infographic in Job Wars: How Google Stacks Up Against Facebook over the weekend:

Google Versus Facebook (Copyright Mashable)

Enjoy!

Tags: Facebook, Google

I previously wrote how I love the Nissan Leaf in Nissan Leaf. I have not yet spoken to anybody who owns and drives ones, but I did come across a very interesting blog today by an Irish owner – Irish Electric Dreams.

Tags: Nissan

Sean Sherlock is the Irish Minister (albeit a pseudo minister) who is responsible for research and innovation. Unfortunately, he is also a bit of an idiot :( He is one of many Irish politicians that has very little understanding of the Internet, yet he still embraces creating legislation relating to the Internet.

He recently gained a lot of publicity for championing a piece of legislation referred to as “Irish SOPA”. Naturally, he decided to pursue this shortly after it was abandoned in the US! At the same time Sean and his government colleagues want Ireland to become a major international centre for IT excellence. Yes, it is a sad reflection of this country that our politicians are so inept :|

This week I came across a site detailing how Sean has violated copyright several times on his own web site! The details are in Sean Sherlock TD violates copyright on his own site…, and it is very interesting reading!

Sean, you are truly an embarrassment to those of us working in research and innovation!

Tags: Ireland