Technology.ie Podcast #3

Steve Jobs while introducing the iPad in San F...

Image via Wikipedia

Michele Neylon is unwell, but he soldiers on. Suffering a reaction to vaccinations for a forthcoming trip to Africa, he should really be in bed, but he’s struggled in to his desk at Blacknight HQ to join me for another Technology.ie Podcast.

Our guest this week is Adrian Weckler, Digital Editor of the Sunday Business Post. Naturally Steve Jobs dominates the news.

Adrian says he’s wary about using the word ‘love’ in relation to personal digital gadgets, but we reassure him that it’s OK to talk like that on Technology.ie. We don’t judge!

Encouraged, I confess my love for Android. We speculate on the upcoming launch of the Ice Cream Sandwich, the newest Android OS from Google which was due to be launched this week on a Samsung device. Google and Samsung have postponed the announcement as mark of respect for Jobs.

We talk about iPhone 4S. There’s a dual core processor and a better camera, but the key feature of this release may well be Siri, the speech recognition system. It’s going to be available in the UK (including Northern Ireland) from the outset, but there is no indication when Siri might be available in the south.

Amazon has launched new Kindles, including the Kindle Fire. Adrian says Kindle Fire’s “iPad killer” reputation is mainly on the grounds of the the low price. He points out that Kindle Fire is more attractive in the US than Europe, because of Amazon’s Content On Demand, which is not available here.

Kindle Fire also has a new feature for web browsing called ‘Silk’. It’s a kind of web-caching technology for browsing on mobile devices. Michele explains that it breaks SSL – so there are implications for data-protection which may also impede adoption of the device outside the US.

The talk turned to Ireland’s tech startup culture – or the lack of it. Adrian brings up Stripe – the latest venture of Patrick and John Collison. They’re a proven success in Silicon Valley, but could it be done it at home?

What do you think? Comments welcome!

About the Author: Conn Ó Muíneacháin

Conn Ó Muíneacháin works at Blacknight, Ireland's largest provider of domains and hosting. He's an award-winning radio producer, podcaster and blogger. He's an engineer as well (not the award-winning kind). Conn produces video for Blacknight and edits Technology.ie. Labhair Gaeilge leis!

2 Comments

Peter October 14, 2011 at 10:35 pm - Reply

Really liking the podcast guys

Thought on what Michele was saying about .co domains being a good option and having lots of names still available etc – do you think there is any danger that a company opting for a .co rather than a .com risks non tech savvy users thinking it’s a typo with no ‘m’ in it, at least until .co becomes a lot more common among recognisable brands?

Again, really enjoying the content thus far, keep it up

Cheers
Peter
- Conn October 19, 2011 at 2:42 pm - Reply
  
  Hi Peter – it’s a good point! I guess it’s something you need to take into account. The choice of domain name is influenced by a lot of factors – but it’s probably worth looking at a lesser used domain extension if it is going to give you a better choice of names.