I’ve been twittering lately, its bad stay away…

Fantastic night last night at the inaugural TechLudd, big crowd turned up (I’m never good at these estimates, but my guess is at least 70 100 people) Microsoft paid for the beer (big shout out there, thanks Clare and Martha) and Ireland’s current crop of Entrepreneurs provided the entertainment and conversation. Marcus took a bunch of snaps which are now up on pix.ie.

Full marks to Anton and Sabrina for doing all the heavy lifting. Looking forward to the next one already…

Ireland’s two top bloggers are having handbags over on twitter. What a hoot!

Techludd is today, quick rush over to the site and register for the last few places, its free! Meet interesting people in the Tech Sector, Drink beer, get your name in the papers.

Whats not to like?

See you there at 7.00pm.

I note in a new version of iTunes terms and conditions,

Usage

(viii) You may not use The Products as a musical ‘Ringer’  in connection with phone calls

First of all this is fair use, second of all its unenforceable, third of all its a classic example of the record company regouging for every new format of a piece of content you already own.

Music executives should have their eyes taped open while they watch Larry Lessig’s talk on copyright at TED.

TwoTitsAndaVote.com launched this week to give a lobbying voice to women in Ireland who are at risk from breast cancer.

We’re pleased to announce the launch of our first campaign: Better Access to Breast Health Care. With diagnostic services in hospitals being suspended and discussions of four month waiting lists for breast ultrasounds in the Oireachtas, it’s time to let our politicians know that we, as women voters, demand better access to breast health care, now.

The site design is excellent and a lobby organisation in this area couldn’t be more timely.

Goto the Camtasia Store and get a quote for Camtasia studio, USD $299.00. (This is an electronic download price). Now select your country as Ireland, and get a new price in euros of  €259.50.

Now go to xe.com and get the current dollar/euro exchange rate. hey presto, the actual price in euros (if you do a straight conversion) is €201.22.

Now return and reselect your country as the US and let your credit card do the exchange instead. Even with VISA’s crappy rates you still save money on the Camtasia rip off.

Antoin Mannering (of Benchd fame) has done all the heavy lifting (with help from Sabrina Dent on the webside) for TechLudd. An event designed to generate some of the energy and enthusiasm that we all found in ourselves over on the Paddy’s Valley tour to Silicon Valley.

Kick off is at  7.00pm at the Odessa Club on Dame Court. (Opposite the Stags Head). The Odessa Club is a very discreet doorway so you need to hunt around for it and ring the bell. You should register here for the event so they can gauge numbers. Who knows, there may even be a few drinks in it…

From the Special Report on eGovernment,

“In 2002, the Government set a target of having all public services capable of on-line delivery made available by 2005.  This was clearly unrealistic”

Right lads, I know what to say at my next EI audit review.

There’s more,

The Public Services Broker was planned as a single website which would facilitate data sharing between public service providers and link together all the public services associated with significant events for members of the public, such as the death of a relative or setting up a business.  The aim was to make it easier for members of the public to find and use services.  No budget or timetable was set for the Broker project when it got initial Government approval in May 2000.

The Broker concept was innovative and ambitious.  Its feasibility, however, was not examined early on and planning was weak.  A review of the project in 2002 led to a scaling back of the proposal.  In May 2003, a less ambitious project was approved with estimated development costs of €14 million.  This project was due for completion in August 2004 but was not completed until December 2005 at a cost of €37 million.  Annual running costs for the Broker are in the region of €14 – €15 million.

37 million? For a project that essentially failed to deliver. With 14-15m annual running costs. Can you say return on invesment?

Hands up here any software startup that would be happy to share in that 37m in chunks of less than 100,000? Who would leap at a chance to implement a Government system at cost just for the experience and referenability.

The Irish government needs to scale down the size of its IT ambitions untils it learns how to manage them properly.

Just caught the last few minutes of The Thin Red Line, Terence Malik’s movie about the American Troop experience of invading one Island in the Pacific during WWII. Its amazing how resonant that movie is. I’ve seen it several time by now, but everytime I see a snippet, it drags me in pretty much like my favourite work of non-fiction about war, Dispatches. Its something about the “loud/soft” quality of both works and the essential humanity of both auteur and author, that leaves you feeling vaguely haunted.