The Lallys are Taking the Long Way Home [Audio]
After many years, Gillian and Brendan Lally have decided to return home to Ireland with three of their kids. That’s a relatively simple business in this day and age, but they’ve decided to take the scenic route: 30,000 miles, 3 continents, and dozens of countries, over land and sea by truck. Brendan Lally is my […]
Irish Writer Crowdfunds with Postcards written in Blood
I’m a fan of Julian Gough. I used to play his band on the radio in the 1990s, and I’ve sneaked a read of one of his novels in a bookshop. One day, I promise, I’ll actually buy one. That’s the problem right there, for Julian and others like him. He’s got plenty of goodwill and accolades, […]
Louis CK on the Miracle of Technology [Video]
So I’m typing this on my computer – get that? MY COMPUTER! And it’s not even the only one I own. Louis CK thinks we’re too complacent about technology. “… now we live in an amazing amazing world, and it’s wasted on the crappiest generation of just spoiled idiots …” Did mention I’ve got A PHONE […]
Flying without Windows in a ‘Transparent’ Plane [Video]
We’ve all heard of fly-by-wire, but how about implementing aircraft cabin windows in software? The plane in this video is just a concept, but doing away with the traditional fuselage windows opens up some interesting possibilities. Want to look outside? The high definition screens on the interior display a panoramic view from cameras mounted outside. Don’t like the view? […]
Now you can pay for your Ryanair tickets with Paypal
Ryanair have announced a new payment partnership with PayPal, providing customers, business travellers, travel agents and corporate travel departments with even more ways to book and pay on the Ryanair.com website. This is the latest development in Ryanair’s recent customer improvements, including allocated seating, a second free cabin bag, a new website and app and […]
Bill Gates & Jeff Bezos Take ALS Ice Bucket Challenge To New Levels
Over the past few days leaders in technology and celebrities have been pouring buckets of ice water over themselves to raise awareness for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). So Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg did it a couple of days ago: http://youtu.be/6TTpXKFBkjk and threw down the gauntlet to Bill Gates. Gates really took the challenge seriously and designed […]
‘Monkey Selfie’ Photographer David Slater on his Fight with Wikipedia [Audio]
I’ve written about the ‘monkey selfie’ photo already this week. Wikipedia users have declared that David Slater‘s photograph of a celebes crested macaque is in the public domain, because the monkey, not David, pressed the button. David Slater is my guest on today’s podcast (17:28; 10MB; MP3). He talks about his trip to Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the three-day expedition during which he shadowed a […]
Fifty Shades of Frozen
So what happens when you put the soundtrack for the Fifty Shades of Grey trailer on to some cleverly edited scenes from Frozen? Well, apparently this:
America is “Losing the Cloud” over Surveillance, warns i2Coalition
We mentioned Christian Dawson on last week’s podcast, and we’ve interviewed him in a previous episode. He’s chairman and co-founder of i2Coalition, the Internet Infrastructure Coalition. i2Coalition is an industry organisation representing businesses that provide the “nuts and bolts” of the Internet. It includes major players in the hosting networking and hardware industries, such as Rackspace, Dell, Google […]
Centenary Commemoration of Irish Submarine Pioneer
Today is the centenary of the death of John Philip Holland, inventor of the submarine. That’s 100 years of table quiz questions, and the iconic image of the bowler-hatted man emerging from his vessel’s turret. Born in Liscannor, Co. Clare in 1841, Holland joined the Christian Brothers and became a teacher. However, science and technology were […]