Blackout Ireland – Irish Internet Censorship

Posted by: Sean | Posted on: March 5th, 2009 | 0 Comments

Irelands biggest ISP (Internet Service Provider) Eircom is been forced to begin blocking websites. The IRMA (Irish Recorded Music Association) has decided that if they get Irelands biggest ISP on board with blocking sites then soon all the others will follow. IRMA say that by blocking sites such as 'The Pirate Bay' and 'Isohunt' that it will help to combat piracy. When in actual fact it will most likely cause more interest and people will soon find another way around the blocks that there ISP impose on them.

'The Pirate Bay' over the last few weeks have been in court over this topic, they are been accused of hosting files that are copyrighted, however they are just linking to this content, the files themselves are not been hosted on there servers. If another site decides to link to one single file of copyrighted content does this mean that that site should be blocked also? If your ISP decided to block websites where will it end? It would start to raise questions on why other sites arent been blocked, why should your ISP have the right to decide what you can or cannot view.

The IRMA are only concerned with potential profits that they are losing out on, instead they should be coming up with better ideas on how they can make there content more widely available, i think that the iTunes Store was a great success, by allowing people to buy music cheaper than they can buy it in there local shop, and most recently they have removed the DRM (Digital Rights Management) from there songs, this will allows people who buy a song to easily copy it to all of there computers and not just the 3 that Apple used to offer. Although Apple may be removing the DRM it is said that when people buy a song they could easily distribute that song illegally, this is why Apple have introduced a new 3 tier pricing scheme which allows the record companies to choose one of 3 prices for there songs,more on this topic can be found here.

For the next week the people of Ireland are being asked to place the above image as there profile picture or to put the picture on any site that they currently use often, this is being done as a protest that will show how many people simply will not stand for having there freedom of online browsing censored.

Censorship is not a solution. It is avoiding the issue. It does not pay artists for their work

To find out more on what you can do to take part in Blackout Ireland visit: www.blackoutireland.com before your ISP removes that site too!

New Ipod's And iTunes 8

Posted by: Sean | Posted on: September 11th, 2008 | 1 Comments

Apple have released some brand new updates for this quarter of the year. There first major update has been to iTunes, they have released iTunes 8.

So, what's new in iTunes 8 you might ask?

Well there is loads of new features, such as:

You can now download HD TV-Shows from the iTunes store, although HD is not new to the store it is new to the TV-Shows. Also apple have created a brand new way for you to browse through your library, you can now view your song's by there album artwork in a grid.

Also they have a new visualizer which looks great, it now has 3D image's:

But the best bit of this new update for iTunes i think has to be "Genius". Genius is a new feature which will enhance your experience with you music. You simply set up Genius and the when you are flicking through your songs on iTunes and you hear a song you like, and you want to hear more like it, you simply click the Genius button and iTunes compares your library and makes a playlist of songs that sound similar to the song you are listening to (it's great). genius helps you rediscover music that you may have forgotten about.

Apple have also updated there ipod touch. It now has a new contoured stainless steel design, and best of all it now has built in speakers with volume control on the sides. They have also upgraded the battery life on the touch, it can now play 36 hrs of music or 4 hrs of video. Also they have dropped the price of it, it now starts from just $229 (€164)

Also Apple have released a new ipod nano, it is the thinnest ipod they have ever made.

It has great new features which include the new Genius feature that apple have made. The screen is now shaped into i kind of oval shape and has a full sized colour screen just like the last nano. The accelerometer feature that can be found in the iPod Touch and iPhone can now be found in this new nano.

When you are going through your library you can now flick your ipod onto its side and view the artwork or watch a movie full screen, and also play games with the new accelerometer.

Also they have used this feature to enhance the party shuffle feature, sometimes when you are going through your songs you don't know what to listen to, so if you simply shake the nano it enters into party shuffle mode and plays a random song from you library.

Also there is a variety of new colours available, and prices start at just $149 (€107)

You can watch the new Apple Keynote HERE to hear all about the latest from apple.

Below is the new ad for the iPod Nano:

[flv]http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/ipoditunes/2008/nano/ads/apple_ipodnano_paint_20080909_640x360.mov[/flv]

New Apple iPhone 3G

Posted by: Sean | Posted on: June 9th, 2008 | 0 Comments

Its official Apple have just announced that on July 11th they will be releasing the new iPhone 3G. The amazing thing about this is that not just is there new features like 3G but the price has literally been slashed in half. You used to have to pay $399 (Approx €255)  for an 8gb iPhone and $499 (Approx €319) for a 16gb iPhone, but as of this July 11th you will now only have to pay $199 (Approx €127) for the 8gb iPhone 3G and $299 (Approx €191)  for the 16gb iPhone 3G.

The 8gb iPhone 3G will be available only in black however they will be releasing the 16gb iPhone 3g in black & white so there is more choice if you go for the 16gb. There is also a hint now that they will be releasing a new update for iTunes, this update will be version 7.7. This is required for the new iPhone 3G.

This new iPhone 3G was announced at the wddc 2008 today (June 8th 2008).

I think that when this new iPhone gets released i will definitely be buying it.