NiallOK’s Blog

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● The fastest way to go up a hill? Zig-zag! … who knew, eh?

● Is this the bus of the future?

● I know Mulley’s an Elmo doll fan but would he be an less so if he knew that one of them recently threatened to kill a Florida toddler?

● The European Commission don’t trust Microsoft - well there’s a shock.

● Now that Blu-Ray has won the format wars (thanks, Toshiba! Glad I got a PS3 now!) it looks like the HD-DVD add-on for the XBox 360 is due to drop to 50 bucks.

● Google in your brain - good idea/bad idea?

● Unless we can change the orbit of the Earth, we’re all screwed… well… in 7.6 billion years that is!

● OSAlt - find open source alternatives to a huge range of commercial software packages. Nice idea.

● The trailer for the new Star Trek movie - supposedly, this is the Irish page - shouldn’t it really say “St. Stephen’s Day” and not “Boxing Day”..?

Been away from this blog for a few days. There are reasons. Work aside, there’s a few other web sites I maintain which needed attention lately - one being ShiteDrivers which features a new entry today from me about kids. They can be shite drivers too, you know. The ShiteDrivers site has been shortlisted for the Irish Blog Awards - which gives me an excuse to stick on my best suit and head to Dublin on March 1st!

Another site I maintain is the Dundalk FM 100 one - which is also based on WordPress. The latest additions are podcasts and YouTube videos (one can be seen on the RehabCare on Air page) plus a full schedule and loads more besides including live football scores and commentary!

My own sites aside, it’s amusing to see Marks and Spencer making a slight cock-up, in trying to sell a lingerie model (with ‘durable hardwood feet’) on their web site. Great value at only £1,549!

Via Damien… iPhone’s available in Ireland… how trustworthy does this look?

Ralph Wiggum for President! Oh yes! … Do you “dig the wig”?

Ruairi thinks it never happens that you’re waiting for ages for a bus and then two come along at once… I beg to differ. Happened to me loads of times when I lived in Dolphin’s Barn in Dublin.

As Conor Pope reports, BT can be pretty nasty too when it comes to billing for their broadband ’service’ (or lack thereof)

Finally, from the “ooh that’s entertaining… and clever… and incredibly nerdy” department (and via Michèle) comes this… a tune made entirely of Windows sounds:

● Thanks for the link, Damien - my 3rd fluffy link in the past week or two. Yes, I’m giving away prizes on the radio show’s site… I only hope someone enters now!

● Ever wondered whose site shares the same IP address as yours? Find out with My IP Neighbors (sic). This site apparently shares it’s IP with a Bank of America site, a site for Bunratty in Co. Clare, sites for the gay communities in both Cork and Limerick, and - of course - ShiteDrivers.com, among (many) others!

● What exactly does your mobile phone say about you? Forbes have a few ideas.

● I’ve spotted another couple of cool music sites out there, and I keep coming back to them - one in particular, “Musicovery : interactive webRadio” picks the songs you hear based on your mood. Are you heartbroken? Energetic? Positive? Dark? Musicovery has the music for you.

● Also, there’s Splice,- I found this handy for grabbing sound effects used by other DJ’s around the world and finding unusual mixes and remixes, but I’m sure there’s lots more to it than that…

● For fans of twitter, facebook, jaiku, etc. (I’m not one), there’s now a single handy way of updating your status on all of them. Are you happy? Are you grumpy? Are you discussing the economy with the president of Burundi? REALLY? Everyone MUST KNOW. NOW! … *ahem*… Tell them with HelloTxt.

● The phishers are here and they want your AIB account details. Be vigilant.

● Finally, via Damien and Donncha - here’s 200+ people freezing on the spot in Grand Central Station, New York. Can’t see them trying this in Connolly or Heuston, can you..?

● Via Damien: As heard first via various twitterings, C|Net’s News.com are now reporting that Microsoft have bid $44.6 billion for Yahoo!. Will be interesting if the deal goes through - although, as ChinaView asks - how much will a Microsoft-Yahoo marriage change Cyberspace?…


● Bock the Robber wasn’t impressed by the Irish rugby teams performance (and, in fairness… who was?) - but the picture he’s using is from the front page of the Irish Times - taken at the Ireland Vs Italy Womens Six Nations match - where Ireland won by a much more impressive score of 19 - 0. Leave it to the ladies, eh?
● Primal Sneeze isn’t a Ray D’Arcy fan, (they never really liked him on the boards either) … and he seems to think that D’Arcy’s interview with me back in August about ShiteDrivers.com was the final straw in the Today FM DJ’s decline. Frankly, I do enjoy D’Arcy’s show - but it’s not as good as it used to be, and I don’t really think he deserves to win Best Irish DJ (it would be his 4th year running) at the Meteor Awards this year.
● Speaking of the Meteors, you can now vote for the 2FM Hope for 2008 award - my recommendation is Owen Brady. We featured him on the show recently.
Oh and speaking of my show, we had the Top Ten Movie Soundtracks on Friday, and we talked (briefly) about the new Rambo movie (which Damien didn’t like) and the incredible body count in it compared to the previous 3 films!
● OH!… and speaking of ShiteDrivers.com (mentioned it when talking about D’Arcy above, .. remember?) - the site has been “longlisted” for four awards in the Irish Blog Awards which take place in Dublin on March 1st. I’ll be there!
● Finally… I’ve read two of these books cover to cover and I want more. Thankfully there’s OverheardInDublin.com… ahhhh… those Dubs, eh? I particularly like this one:

Was listning to 2fm a few weeks ago in the afternoon and a female dj(dont know her name) was doing a request show,a mother was on playing a request for one of her kids that was sick with the flu and she was saying that she was hoping that none of the other kids would pick up the same illness,”touch wood” the dj replies “dont worry I have my 2 hands firmly on wood as we speak”..

(extra: see also it’s sort-of “bigger” brother, OverheardInIreland.ie - I still prefer OverheardInDublin, to be honest…)