From the people that gave us Bertie on Dragon’s Den
Pope Benedict XVI Brings Reform to the Catholic Church
July 31st, 2007Fluffy Links – Tuesday July 31st 2007
July 31st, 2007Via Pat. Send texts from as little as 1 cent.
This week’s new blogs on the block.
Last chance for Paddy’s Valley this week. Spaces still available. Details here.
Tech company profiles, why not have your own company profiled? So far I’ve gotten 14 profiles sent in. We surely have more tech companies in Ireland than that?
I really thought online group buying died a death?
Richard Hawley – Tonight The Streets Are Ours
Albert Hammond Jr. – In Transit:
Tempted by the fruit of another
July 30th, 2007I feel ill. The chef here had me try out a chocolate sweet made from durian. The smelliest, most horrid fruit ever. This is actually how he billed it before I tried it. The sweet is now repeating on me and sends waves of the most noctious, sickening gas up my throat and out my nose and nostrils. It is the type of thing that fits so comfortably in the “delicacy” comparment that fools us all into paying a fortune for food nobody else would bother trying since their life doesn’t depend on it.
Here’s a video of someone trying it:
Battles – Math Rock – If Google started a band they’d be this lot?
July 30th, 2007Math Rock. Yeah apparently this genre exists. I’ve heard of Battles for a while but was really wondering were they a band that sang songs like “1 and one is two. Two and two is four. Break it down.” or “I don’t want to be your square root, I want to be your multiplier” but they seem more about doing rhythms in certain ways. They have a Primus or Zappa feel to them. Then the chipmunks have an LSD party with the Smurfs. It also reminded me of something else.*
Anyway, Phantom played this tune tonight:
Of which a longer, live version is here:
Really good. Must get the album now.
* Was also reminded of this Trigger Happy TV moment:
Paddy’s Valley mentioned in the Times
July 30th, 2007Irish Times, FinFacts and others cover the Paddy’s Valley trip. Maybe now the local papers will cover the companies, now that the Times gave them a seal of approval.
Fluffly Links – Monday July 30th 2007
July 30th, 2007Most expensive petrol in Ireland?
Words. The most offensive.
A mobile client for bit torrent. If the operators in Ireland don’t block it and give proper caps, it could be useful. It should have a bluetooth or wifi option.
I seem to be on a Ben Hammersley linkathon of late. Ben mentions that this is the golden age of good TV and I think I’m going to agree. But it is only a golden page because of the net and Bittorrent. Deadwood, Battlestar, Dexter. Friday Night Lights, Heroes, The Wire to Rome.
I’m beginning to think that all the fuss over the internet is entirely misplaced: the artform that is truly coming into its creative and cultural maturity is television, and specifically long-form American produced drama. It’s not a new point, but from the Sopranos through to BSG, Dexter to The Wire, there’s some truly inspired writing and photography happening coming together.
African journos use mobiles to take vids and upload them using GPRS.
Via Metafilter: Dentist puts boar teeth into patient’s mouth. She sues, he coughs up 250k. He sues insurance company and they cough up a million. America.
This is an ex-Internet:Teaser trailer for Beowulf:
Ikea – Now doing sleep overs
July 29th, 2007Madness. Via BoingBoing
The Oslo Ikea is opening up a no-charge hostel for shoppers who want to keep on shopping the next morning. It includes a bridal suite, and a luxury suite with breakfast in bed. Many Norwegians visit Ikea on holidays, treating it like a flat-pack theme-park. Guests also get to keep their sheets, and complimentary slippers, bathrobes, dinner and breakfast.
I’m reminded of this scene from Fight Club:
Review of Interpol – Our Love To Admire
July 29th, 2007Interpol – Our Love To Admire
The third album from this impressive New York band failed to improve or maintain the quality of their previous two outings.
It’s a real shame that the new Interpol album didn’t depart from the first two albums or in fact maintain the same quality. I’ve listened to t he album a good few times and nothing is sticking out. All the songs blend into the same background melodies.
The album sounds old and tired with just a few tracks sticking out, such as “The Scale” and “All Fired Up” pushing you to play them again. This album is like a badly taped recording of the previous two albums. Maybe not being on a major label suited these guys more?
Rated /5 on Jul 29 2007 by Damien Mulley
Vote on this review or write your own at LouderVoice
Review of Simpsons Movie
July 28th, 2007Simpsons Movie
Massively disappointing movie of the long past sell-by date TV cartoon.
While it was a much hyped and over-hyped movie, this was more like an extended episode, or that’s what most people told me. What they failed to mention was that it was an extended episode of the caliber from the past 5 years which means it was awful.
It’s a shame that it took so long to get this onto the big screen as every gag and anything clever has already been done.
This movie was boring, meandering and pointless. If it did not come from the TV series it would not be memorable at all. The past greatness of the show is the only redeeming factor for this movie. Forget the sequel, kill the damned thing off NOW.
Rated /5 on Jul 28 2007 by Damien Mulley
Vote on this review or write your own at LouderVoice
SEO and Blogging Cheat Sheet
July 27th, 2007At the recent Wicklow CEB talk that I gave, I covered how it was very important to optimise websites for Google and as a result all search engines. I outlined that all the important steps for riding high on Google tie in neatly to blogging and so I advocated blogging as being crucial for a business to blog, if they have the time of course.
A cheat sheet was sent out to those that attended and here’s a bit of what was in it, which the SEO guys will no doubt nitpick 🙂
When optimising for Google:
Page titles mean a lot
Links mean a lot
Google likes new
Blogs fit well into this
Blogging tips:
Pick a niche, become the authority.
Network – IrishBlogs.ie, other bloggers in your niche.
Put your blog on your existing website.
Host the website in Ireland, if you want Irish traffic.
Regular posts – 1 per week for a year.
Additionally, writing a blog is not writing some kind of diary, it is a form of story telling, a way of you communicating with potential customers and explaining to them what your company or business philosophy is.