richardirvine.net.nz personal weblog

internet

A cynical experiment - LOL!

In internet, new zealand on 11 May 2008 tagged trademe with no comments

I’m fascinated by people that make money from nothing on auction sites - like this guy flogging a Casio Vl-1 ‘possessed by Satan’.
So… a weekend tidy up yielded an innocuous cheese grater - and I decided to write a ‘hard case’ ad on TradeMe, taking full advantage of current hoo-hah over rising food prices. Oh [...]

Del.icio.us - where to-dos go to die

In geek, internet, meta on 23 April 2008 tagged del.icio.us with 1 comment

I’ve been using Del.icio.us since April 2005, and saved 2200 pages to the site. Recording and tagging my web travels is great, stopping all those wonderful links from slipping into the digital never-never land. Firefox makes link getting really easy, with Apple or Ctrl - click I get a good eight or ten tabs [...]

Unplugged in Opito Bay

In geek, internet, meta, new zealand, photo on 18 March 2008 tagged rss, unplugged with 1 comment

I went off the grid for a few days with my girl. As I left the office on Friday, I wrestled with my conscience - does the laptop come or stay? With my T3G card, I get reasonable  connection pretty much anywhere - but that’s not really a holiday is it? It wound up staying.
So, [...]

Gawker Media - sharpest keyboards on the interwebs

In internet, media on 10 March 2008 tagged gawker with no comments

The Observer interviews Gawker Media’s Nick Denton
Nick Denton is the blogosphere’s Baron Silas Greenback, sitting pretty in his New York loft/lair, having figured out what EVERYONE wants to know - how to make money off this here blog thing.
I’ve loved Gawkers’ hilariously insulting beatdowns on the ‘internet famous’ for brief periods at a time. I [...]

Facebook infestation hits New Zealand beaches

In internet on 21 January 2008 with no comments

Facebook has taken over from Sharks as the slow news summer shock horror story. The Sunday Star Times reprinted curmudgeonly Tom Hodkinson’s rant from the Guardian, changing its’ title from ‘With friends like these…’ to the much more measured “Why Facebook is EVIL!”.
Reading the SST front page story I learned Sophie Elliot’s boomer era father [...]

Napster ‘99 all over again

In chartered trips, internet, links on 1 August 2006 with no comments

Remember when Napster was a free for all? It was bloody magic, I was working in Dublin at the time downloading CRAPLOADS of music on a Celtic Tiger-provided high speed connection. The best bit was thinking “what about that one song I liked back in ‘86?” - a quick search and there it was, you [...]