(PC Users) Want to know why your computer is full of spyware and viruses?? Internet Explorer - that’s why! Apple however have finally brought their Safari browser to the monopolistic platform of Windows at long last. I’ve been using Safari non-stop for over 18 months now and it’s amazing how it just works perfectly every time.
The best news is that Safari for Windows is TWO TIMES FASTER THAN INTERNET EXPLORER and ONE AND A HALF TIMES FASTER THAN FIREFOX!!!
diarmy
AppleInsider is leading with a story from New York City, where
Two individuals can now flaunt the crown of the “first iPhone line waiters”, having camped out Monday morning on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk more than four days before the Apple device is due to go on sale.
At 5:00 a.m. on Monday, the two iPhone enthusiasts stationed themselves outside Apple’s Fifth Avenue flagship shop in New York City’s Manhattan borough, assuring their first and second places in line. Yes — they plan to remain there till Friday evening and are seeking food and MetroCards as donations.
Read the full story and photos here.
diarmy
Now this is a BlackBerry I can sink my teeth into! This is the latest creation from Canadian firm Research in Motion - the all-new BlackBerry for the masses. With its expanded QWERTY keyboard, it’s a throw-back to the ‘Berry’s of old - the strawberry-speckled 7290 for example. This is a fantastic machine and it’s most dominating factor is its sheer size - the thing is tiny! When compared to the 8700g which I bid farewell to some weeks back, the 8300 is sleek, sexy and slim.
The 8300, like its anorexic cousin the 8100, also sports a camera - this time 2 megapixels (although it’s fairly useless!) adorn the rear of the device - with a built in flast too for good measure. It’s screen is the full-fat no-nonsense beast of beauty the 8100 has. Its processor is also beefier which aids the response times. It’s a simply beautiful creature.
Many former sceptics of the RIM device have even commented that the Curve is the best-looking BlackBerry to date - even when put sitting side by side with the Pearl. The build quality of the Curve is also dramatically improved as it moves into the chic domain of sexy-hardware. It’s a gorgeous piece of equipment. Its glowing white rollerball merely hints at the innate beauty of the beast underneath. This is the best of the RIM products to date without shadow of doubt.
For those who maintain their 8800 is better, this is simply not true. I tried the GPS-containing device for myself, and aside from the poor keyboard and the lack of a camera and the slow response from the rollerball, the 8800 is simply too square. On top of that, the ‘BlackBerry Maps’ application is so pitifully useless outside the USA that it’s a waste of time buying for that reason. If you could install Route 66 or something, it’d be a winner - but you can’t. The Curve is truly the best device out there. I love it.
diarmy
I decided some months back, that the BlackBerry 8700 which I’d been wielding for over a year had run its course. The poor thing suffered badly with many rough contacts with such surfaces as the streets of Galway, Dingle, London, Düsseldorf and even Cardiff. It was time it left my presence and retired to a good life with a new owner. But this left a void that needed to be filled.
The cravings for a new phone are somewhat unnerving. People don’t often admit it too readily, but one cannot survive for long without a mobile phone. In Ireland more than any other nation is this the case. We have an innate ability to talk about anything. We sort of all know each-other but we love talking and texting. And those of us who carry BlackBerrys suffer from the worst of these addictions - the addiction to constant online-ism.
So the BlackBerry Pearl came my way by means of a freak accident. I was waiting for my BlackBerry Curve to arrive (review above) and this came into my hands in the mean time. It had been damaged by its previous owner but I soon repaired it. One major noticeable thing about the device however was that the rollerball was almost completely black. The phone was merely 6 months old at this stage. Nevertheless I removed the rollerball and cleaned it.
The 8100 is a fantastic phone when compared to its wanting sister, the BlackBerry 7130v - which on Vodafone is an awful phone. The sleek lines of the Pearl are fabulous and its weight and size make it the perfect companion for a girl’s handbag too - making it the most unisexual of the Canadian affliction. It’s smooth and light and extremely ergonomic. The brilliance of the screen is instantly noticeable, and lacks that smoky over-contrasted screens of elder BlackBerry. The key response is also quite good. The addition of a camera - the first BlackBerry to have one - is interesting, but to be honest, having had a BlackBerry for nearly 4 years, I don’t really see the point in a camera on a BlackBerry yet.
Overall it’s a nice phone. Not for me though - I hate SureType! So I’m now off to get my Curve and enjoy QWERTY life for another year or more!
diarmy
Well the unthinkable has happened. Our country is now in the boughs of a coalition government comprising the now three-in-a-row winning Fianna Fáil party, of which Bertie Ahern still rules supreme, and the Green Party - our very own national collection of insane hippies with radical notions and ideals. There are of course some smaller constituent parts to the formation, but no one really cares about the. What is interesting, is the fact that we’re actually a Green/Government country now.
As and from this morning, Ireland will no longer be the secure and fast-paced place it has been for the past ten years. OK, so that’s a bit of a scare tactic. But to be fair, the Greens are an unknown element in government here. It could be good, but is likely to be bad. The Green Party hates everything that Ireland loves - cars, transport, using incandescent light bulbs, rewarding the fat-cats of society who’s crumbs fall from the tables of industry to feed the middle classes and working classes, and of course, we love our airlines. The Greens therefore are the antithesis of our beloved creation of Ireland 2.0.
But as ever, Bertie holds the reigns of power… so while John Gormley of the Green Party was given a cabinet ministry with responsibility for ‘Environment, Heritage and Local Government’, his responsibility for roads and road transport was removed before he took office. The other green-horn was Eamonn Ryan who steps into the shoes of Noel Dempsey to take on the mantle of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, with the previous charge of ‘Marine’ being dropped from the portfolio.
Basically, the Greens perceive to have what they wanted, when in fact they have very little control over this the 30th Dáil. This is good because it keeps their radical notions at bay and allows Ireland to get on doing what it does best - growing faster than any EU state!
But what of the future?? Is there a risk that a Greener influence in Irish politics could damage the country? I for one am sceptical. One one hand, it’s likely that the Greens will simply become Fianna Fáil’s whipping boy and be almost completely destroyed come the next election. On the other hand, the Greens could become a very popular force in Irish politics, however that’s almost certainly not going to happen.
So for now, let’s congratulate the party who said “It’s Time” in their election campaign, and hope that Bertie calls ‘time’ for them soon enough - after all, there’s only so many Prius-driving tree-hugging yummy-mummys in Ireland!
diarmy
