Category: Technology

  • Microformats and spam

    Paul Walsh poses an interesting question on the Segala blog when he asks are Microformats perfect tools for spammers? Machine readable contact details using the hCard format, for example, potentially make it very easy for spammers to automate harvesting of info to populate their databases. I have already made it very easy for spammers by…

  • etenders site hacked/phished?

    I received a troubling email this morning from a friend of mine. He ran into a problem when he tried to log in to etenders this morning (etenders is an Irish government website where you can find tender notices on government and public sector procurement). He said: I went to log on to the etenders…

  • Spam Assassin on Direct Admin problem

    As I mentioned previously, I have rolled out a new server for my blog (and a couple of sites I host) in the last few days. I am now being hammered by spam! Spam Assassin is installed on the server. The hosting software on the server is called Direct Admin and in each hosted domain…

  • Off to HostelWorld

    HostelWorld is one of the world’s larger travel companies and their annual conference is a big affair. This year the Hostelworld conference is on in Dublin on Jan 29th and 30th. They have asked me to give a talk on the opening morning to the conference delegates about Web 2.0 and its affects on their…

  • BBC to launch Second Life for kids

    I see the BBC have announced this morning that they will be launching an online virtual world – CBBC World in which children can inhabit and interact. Details are sketchy yet but this sounds very much like Second Life to me but for kids (i.e. moderated and without the financial angle). It is aimed at…

  • Cluetrain quotes – 2

    Continuing my quotes from the Cluetrain Manifesto, here is another quote which I love from the 95 Theses: 12. There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.

  • Blogs increase newspaper traffic online

    Reuters is reporting today that the number of people reading the blogs of newspapers in the US tripled in the last year. The study of online habits carried out by Neilsen went on to show that: Unique visitors to blog sites affiliated with the largest Internet newspapers rose to 3.8 million in December 2006 from…

  • Cluetrain quotes – 1

    I finally read the Cluetrain Manifesto over the Christmas break. I had dipped in and out of the online version but I treated myself to a paperback copy and read it while offline in Spain. All these things are so much easier for me to digest in dead tree format! Getting old, I know. Anyhoo,…