Monthly Archive for June, 2007

Take Back America live on Confabb!

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 19/6/2007
in politics
. 2 Comments

The Take Back America conference is a major American Democratic Party conference where the candidates for the Democratic Party presidential nomination lay out their stands.

The candidates are live now on Confabb.com - the only place they are being streamed - John Edwards has just come on stage. He will be followed by Clinton and Kucinich. Edwards has just said he was wrong to vote for the war in Iraq and that on his first day in office he will close Guantanamo. Fascinating stuff.

There is also a “Live Chat” taking place. Thanks to Salim for alerting me.

Take Back America live on Confabb.com

Google launches phishing blacklist api

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 19/6/2007
in Search Engines and Security
. 0 Comments

I see on the Google Security Blog that Google have launched a Safe Browsing api.  In other words, Google are making available its dynamic blacklist of phishing and malware sites so ISPs and web app coders can check against it.

This should help ensure unwitting users are notified before they browse to to unsafe sites and submit their confidential information.

Google are actively encouraging 3rd party participation -

Sign up for a key and let us know how we can make the API better. We fully expect to iterate on the design and improve the data behind the API, and we’ll be paying close attention to your feedback as we do that. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Great idea guys.

Can inkjet printers be hacked?

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 19/6/2007
in hardware
. 4 Comments

Ars Technica have an article about something I have long suspected, inkjet printers are filthy, lying thieves!

The article quotes figures from an Epson sponsored study (!) which show that inkjt printers regularly report that they are out of ink when there can be as much as 60% of the ink left in the cartridge.

Not surprisingly Epson printers came out of the study best with figures of 20% of ink remaining when the cartridge reports empty.

The really annoying thing about this is that all the manufacturers are aware of it but they do nothing to fix it. If a cartridge reports as empty, the printer will cease to print, even if there is plenty of ink left.

Does anyone know, is there a way to get around this (apart from buying a laser printer)?

Eircom slowing YouTube?

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 19/6/2007
in video
. 20 Comments

In the last few days I have noticed a marked slow-down in the rate in which YouTube videos are downloading.

As far as I can  see there are three possible explanations:

  1. YouTube is suddenly being swamped by traffic and can’t serve up videos as fast
  2. YouTube video file sizes have increased (if a new codec was deployed, for example) - unlikely as older videos are also coming down slowly
  3. My ISP (Eircom - no link on purpose!) has suddenly started throttling YouTube content -  this is quite a strong possibility, I imagine.

I can certainly imagine Eircom wanting to slow down video consumption on their network so have any other Eircom users noticed this too, or is it just me.

On the other hand, if you are not an Eircom user and have also noticed a slow-down of video from YouTube in the last few days, leave a comment here too - it may be one of my first two guesses.

Or a fourth or fifth which I haven’t even thought about!

Facebook review

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 18/6/2007
in social media and social networks
. 10 Comments

Facebook seems to be new cool Social Networking toy of choice.

It is a cool app, it has to be said, with the ability to easily create networks and groups of like-minded individuals.

More than that, it has an api which allows 3rd parties to create apps which hook into it easily. Tripadvisor have developed a “Cities I have visited” app which simply allows you to add in the names of places you have visited and it plots them on a map! Sounds simple but it is curiously addictive and similarly for the iRead app (books you have read and can review), iLike for music, Twitter and there’s even a Marketplace (for items for sale, rent, Jobs, etc.).

The social networking aspect is like LinkedIn’s but  with the advantage that you get to see a photo of the person you are linking to if they have uploaded one. This is always handy if you are browsing one of your contact’s list of friends and you recognise a face but wouldn’t have remembered the name!

Also handy is the ‘river of news‘ information flow from your friends as they update their profiles, their apps, or their Friends list.

There are one or two things which could be improved in Facebook -

1. As Jon Udell pointed out this morning, it always annoys me that when adding a new Friend, there is no ‘Met Online’ option . Consequently I find myself clicking the Skip this Step button and

2. The email from Facebook is painfully slow. If I check the Requests page, I often see requests to connect from people I know who I haven’t added as friends yet. I add them and two to three days later, I receive an email telling me that that friend wants to connect and I should check the Requests page!

Facebook is rapidly becoming the Social Networking tool of choice for professionals - rapidly catching up on (if it hasn’t already overtaken) LinkedIn and Xing. It has a far richer user experience than either LinkedIn or Xing and it has the advantage of being free whereas full functionality in LinkedIn or Xing requires payment.

Paddy Valley trip - help needed

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 18/6/2007
in Technology and social media
. 1 Comment

There is a contingent of Irish heading to Silicon Valley in December (2nd to 9th) to meet up and forge links with the movers and shakers in the mecca of the computer world.

The Paddy Valley Tour, as it is being called, has 17 Irish companies signed up so far. Many of those going are seeking to showcase products and to meet investors while there.

The organisers are looking for a little help:

There is a lot we need to cover so suggestions, reviews, tips and anything else is welcomed. We can’t do all of it on our own (and remain sane).
Things we need to do:

* Create shortlist of hotels to stay in that are central but also cheap.
* Create shortlist of venues for a showcase event. (A big room with connectivity and projector).
* Create shortlist of people to meet.
* Create shortlist of companies to visit both large and small.
* Create a list of potential companies.
* Cost of showcase.
* What can EI pay for or other Govt groups

If you can help with any of this leave a comment on the Paddy Valley site

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