The director general of the statutory body charged with funding basic science research has expressed his concern at proposals to abolish funding for postgraduate students. Dr Graham Love was speaking at the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Summit in Athlone, an annual event bringing together researchers funded by the body to carry out basic scientific research… Continue reading Concern at post-graduate cutbacks
Tag: technology
In the beginning was the word
There was a time when book burning mattered. Once upon a time, religions enforced dictates by burning books containing the wrong opinions. To be orthodox was, literally, to hold the right opinion. And just in case that didn’t work, heretics were burned at the stake for good measure. At the end of the medieval era,… Continue reading In the beginning was the word
Stop the presses
Irish schools should abandon textbooks in favour of online educational content, says Fergus O’Dowd, FG education spokesman. “Texas and California are investigating the use of ‘open source textbooks’, providing approved digital texts online, written by educational experts such as retired teachers but made available for free or at a discounted price for printed versions,” he… Continue reading Stop the presses
Why I left Facebook
I deleted my facebook account today, though it will take fourteen days for the cancellation to become final. [If you want to know how I did it, follow the simple instructions at WikiHow.] If you really want to opt out, then it’s worth checking that link. Facebook don’t make it easy to permanently delete your… Continue reading Why I left Facebook
Falling for the propaganda
Linux is hard. I know this is true, because I’ve been told it so many times. Never mind that I’ve been using it quite happily for the past few years, it’s hard. Sometimes, I even have to type something using the dreaded Command Line interface. Never mind that all the programmes I need are stored… Continue reading Falling for the propaganda
Meitheal
Ubuntu, the Linux distribution from Canonical and marketed as ‘Linux for human beings’, manages to both annoy and please me with every release. On the one hand, it sure does look pretty, and gets prettier with every new release. The latest version, Lucid Lynx, now in beta, introduces the ‘Light’ theme – see the screenshot… Continue reading Meitheal
Tomorrow’s News
With the Blog Awards approaching, it’s time to revist an idea I’ve been toying with for some time. Blogs are fine, but even the finest blog in Ireland has a limited readership. Unless yuou’re lucky, you may never stumble across some of the best writers out there. The result? many well written articles are overlooked.… Continue reading Tomorrow’s News
Legal Shock
Outside, the new Criminal Courts Complex is distinctive, but not hugely original. Busáras with a facelift. Inside, it feels like a science fiction set. Something American, definitely lacking the post-industrial grime that besets most UK efforts, from 28 Days Later to Dr Who. Think of Doctor Manhattan’s laboratory in Watchmen. Or maybe the headquarters for… Continue reading Legal Shock
Eircom’s Net Loss
By all accounts, Eircom has been hacked. The telco has confirmed that there was a domain name server (DNS) outage on its website last night. Internet users throughout Ireland complained they were being redirected to bogus sites. Eircom customers have noticed slowdowns since the beginning of the month, and noticeably since this weekend, due to… Continue reading Eircom’s Net Loss
Unbundling Internet Explorer: Living In a World Of Choices?
A decade after it insisted that it couldn’t be done in front of a US federal judge, Microsoft has decided to unbundle Internet Explorer from its operating system. From October, when Windows 7 hits the shelves, customers in Europe can install the browser of their choice. At least, that’s the hype. The EU commissioners are… Continue reading Unbundling Internet Explorer: Living In a World Of Choices?