Alexia Blogs

The $6 million Home Cinema. Via GMSV.

Is it a bubble? First30Days, a startup aimed squarely at those making lifestyle changes scores $5 million in Series A funding.

Martha opens up registration for Ireland Girl Geek dinners. Great idea! You know you want to. Go on…

Tiernan gives us a tutorial on Email2HTTP and ASP.NET.

The trailer for ‘Scott Walker: 30th Century Man’. I caught it the other night and fell in love with the music. Recommended. Check it out.

At this time of year, we reach that seasonal pivot point, when Winter retracts into the cold, dark recesses of our memories and Spring strides forth with promise. Just like the turning of the season, the Irish technology community stands at a nexus. We have formal technology events, but what about those social ones that Silicon Valley does so well?

So much has been said about the establishment of organisations and formal get-together for technology people to mix and network. And that’s a great thing. With each passing week, I watch with wonder as OpenCoffees happen, TechLudds are being planned or an industry group decide to hold a mixer. They are a great outlet to network, but no matter how one tries to stir it, these events are essentially business events. “Hi, here’s my card. I do such and such”. Not a thing wrong there. But shouldn’t we be seeding a real Silicon Valley spirit also? Include those informal events where people dip in and out? No pressure, no sales pitch, no business cards. That’s where the idea of a Tweetup came from. Just socialising. Hanging out and having a little food. Perhaps a drink or too. No scripts, no prescribed subjects. Just chatter.

So, I was really impressed this past weekend when Anton decided to take the bull by the horns and kick off another Blogger Coffee Limerick. I put together the last one, but it’s even sweeter to see Limerick take ownership of it’s own informal coffee meet for bloggers. The great thing that Anton and the rest of the coffee crew realised was that the meet was an open forum for anything. Politics, sport, health, education. It was life over a cuppa. I would heartily recommend that other cities and towns around the country kick off their own Blogger Coffee meets just like Limerick has. Even if it’s just a pair of you in a greasy spoon. And Limerick people, get in contact with Anton. Go to Blogger Coffee, blog about it and make it something special. Anton has the seed, let’s see it blossom.

I’ve been pondering gender politics. Two things kicked off this line of reasoning. First, I’ve been thinking about the upcoming ‘Women In Technology’ panel discussion at Creative Camp and second, this piece by Peggy Orenstein from the New York Times magazine.

At times, gender politicking annoys the hell out of me. A lot of so-called modern feminists are obsessed with attributing blame. It’s so much easier than actually affect change, isn’t it? Modern feminists need to reassess where femininity fits into the picture.

I’ve come up with some talking points.

1. Has the economic imperative to have women in the workplace had more impact in achieving equitable working rights than the feminist movement? Look to the rush to work during WW2 in filling positions vacated by fighting men.
2. Why is modern feminism so obsessed with men? Shouldn’t we be looking at promoting gender neutral policies and not bitching at eons of discrimination, blaming today’s men.
3. What kind of damage would instituting a gender quota system of filling open headcount in both male and female dominated workplaces? This artificial measure undermines women in male-dominated workplaces (and vice versa), right? I wonder what impact it has on the quality of service.

Taxi To The Dark Side

Wanna go to the Irish Blog Awards? Register. It costs only ten Euros a head and all cash taken at the door goes to three deserving charities - Brainwave, St. Francis Hospice and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland.

So, Facebook is partnering with Vodafone in Europe to cement it’s footing in the mobile space and iron out usability issues on phones. Interesting, but it’s all too expensive to go mass market in my opinion for the now. Andreessen’s words about the mobile web during PV are ringing in my ears. Smells of betting long-term on falling data charges.

Fustar profiles SF writer and adopted Limerick man, Fitz-James O’Brien. Nice to see Castleconnell in the post too. I love the sound of local places in a post.

Daithi has an interesting post on Scrabble v Scrabulous.

The Hylozoists: Warning Against Judging a Christian Brother

Last video of the day, I promise… Here’s a rendition of Wham’s ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’ as performed by cube-mate Keith for Office Ireland’s Charity X-Factor event for Charity Week 2007. Wish we had closeups, but it’s still good. I was there.. in the second row to the left.

Chicago 10

Nice. I’d like one of these. Yes, I can be this lazy.

The Counterfeiters

I’m thinking of going snapwalking on Saturday morning in Dublin. What’s a snapwalk? Take any old compact camera you have maybe even a Polaroid - no SLRs.. And walk about the place taking shots of (primarily) inanimate objects.

Anyone interested in coming along? Perhaps grab a coffee somewhere.