Bleep - Technology news and reviews from Ireland

• Techdirt: RIAA To Prosecutors: Use Piracy Charges To Round Up Drug Dealers And Terrorists
  following paul mcguinness’s comments at midem it seems the music industry is really taking the gloves off in 2008
  (tags: music paul+mcguinness piracy copyright)
• BBC NEWS | Technology | Domain name for Asia up for grabs
  no doubt it will be as successful as .eu i.e. a waste of time except for a few domain squatters that manage to make a few quid
  (tags: internet domains asia)
• Geordie cops arrest two for Wi-Fi squatting | The Register
  in years to come this is going to seem like the most ridiculous “crime” ever
  (tags: wifi wireless crime squatting)
• Deregulation gets green light - 21 Feb 2008 - Computing
  underlines just how far ahead of us the broadband market in the uk is
  (tags: broadband regulation European+Commission UK competition)

• Venture Capital Wear » You Know What They Say
  everyone needs a bit of humour on friday morning and these t-shirts for vcs got a few chuckles in the office. my favourite: “no not even powerpoint can save you now!”
  (tags: clothes design funny humour startup VC venture+capital,)

• BBC NEWS | ‘Hacker’ launches iTunes copying
  dvd jon wants to liberate the content that you bought with your hard earned cash. expect the law suits to start flowing
  (tags: DRM copyright DVD+Jon iTunes ipod)
• Building on growing platforms | Negative Approach - CNET Blogs
  sounds obvious - bulf for where the users are. but how many start-ups make the fundamental mistake of not doing this
  (tags: business development software technology Salesforce.com Google Apple)
• Rotation Of Earth Plunges Entire North American Continent Into Darkness | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source
  via howard owens i came across this onion piece which shows with the right skills anything can be written up as a news story. now printed out and pinned beside my pc
  (tags: funny humour news parody newspapers media)
• Judge Shuts Down Web Site Specializing in Leaks - New York Times
  seems like a strange decision from a us court. journalists everywhere are weeping and gnashing teeth
  (tags: WikiLeaks privacy free+speech journalism leaks)
• BBC NEWS | Technology | How mobile got its game on
  good round up of what’s happening in the mobile gaming industry - which has stubbornly refused to take off
  (tags: mobile games wireless conference development)

grabbing a precious quiet moment at the mobile world congress in barcelona. it’s been a guerilla assault on the industry’s annual shindig - i arrive here at noon yesterday and am flying back to dublin in a few hours. lots of copy in friday’s irish times on my impressions of the event but here’s a few little teasers:

• team ireland has been in top form and all credit to enterprise ireland for organising the pavillion which not only showcases some of our brightest companies in the space but has great free coffee
• just getting to grips with the nokia n95 and really like it. thanks for nothing nokia for introducing the n96 and giving me phone envy again.
• pat phelan, the consumate networker did a fine job putting on bash last night. venue felt a bit sterile at start but the event came together nicely.
• why can’t we have more good value restaurants in dublin. top meal last night for two for €84.

• Seattle Taps Its Inner Silicon Valley - New York Times
  there is a simple message for ireland here - we need some high profile tech successes and not just multinationals employing big numbers. hard for founders to resist the exit though
  (tags: Seattle SiliconValley startup tech)

there’s only really be one story in my world the last week or so - microsoft’s unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for yahoo. of course google has weighed into the battle with opinions divided on what exactly that means. i’ve written a big package on what the proposed take over means which will run in business this week in tomorrow’s irish times.

i noticed though google seems to be launching an unusually large number of new services this week. the front page of techmeme earlier today had mentions of google news local, a new google apps team edition and google’s entry into open id. not to mention the rumour that google might buy bebo.

call me cynical but does anyone else think it’s just coincidental that the number of new services and alliances being rolled out by google has ramped up significantly this week? maybe i’m just too familiar with the way pr works.

• ITPro: Google heads pledged twenty more years
  the only person i could make a twenty year pledge to is my wife. google have since confirmed the story is true - although they would, wouldn’t they
  (tags: Google Larry+Page Sergey+Brin Eric+Schmidt IPO)