• This will be a breakout year for Opensim, the 'Apache of Web 3.D' (yes oh cynics, the perennial breakout year for the 3D web finally happens). Look in particular for an announcement by Microsoft who have shown keen interest in the Second Life offshoot. Think 'Virtual Earth you can walk through'. Still smarting from their Lively fiasco Google will ignore these developments until 2010.
• I know Pat Phelan is a telecomms guru but I'll stick my neck out and say he's wrong about Skype because they're in prime position to dominate the low end of the 'telepresence' market (otherwise known as video-conferencing) and are strongly hinting at significant developements early in 2009. Remember telepresence is Cisco fastest growing new product category and they're planning on bringning it to the home this year (though it'll be 2010 before the price is anything like consumer level)
• Having said that, Skype Video will get some very interesting (though minor) competition later in the year from a Scandinavian startup developing a set-top box solution.
• Asus kickstarted the netbook craze in 2008 and will do likewise for touchscreen PCs in the home in 2009. The Eee Top will be another category defining hit for the Taiwanese innovator.
• Speaking of netbooks they'll continue to sell like.... er, netbooks, and become ever more useful with dual core CPUs and convertible touchscreens. There are even rumours that Apple is jumping into the fray with a large form iPod Touch.

CHRISTMAS is traditionally the season for family and togetherness, but there are huge numbers of people in this country whose experience of loneliness and vulnerability is brought sharply in to focus at this time.

Unfortunately, one of the largest groups of people who experience such isolation at Christmas is the elderly, something that caught the attention of one Limerick businessman who has harnessed video technology and the social networking phenomenon to create a unique product which, he hopes, will alleviate the loneliness

Knockaderry businessman James Corbett is in the process of setting up a not-for-profit firm, and its first project is designing an advanced communications system for isolated senior citizens.

The device - known as Vizitant - is a suitable next step, following similar inventions which use voice communications technology to aid the older generation.

Under the plans, James is looking to hook up a video messaging facility targeted at older people. For the first stage of his plans - which he has already received a €5,000 grant from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland - James is looking to set up Vizitant in old people's homes across Limerick, having kicked off with a pilot project in Dromcollogher.

"Last April, we heard Social Entrepreneurs were inviting applications for social projects. I had the idea (to set up a video conferencing facility) for the last number of years. I think the first time I thought about it was when I was watching Nationwide a number of years ago. They had a snippet about a project whereby a team of volunteers used to proactively make phone calls to elderly people living in the community. Another project was a call centre in Dublin which took calls from the elderly, for example if they just wanted someone to talk to. So I put these two ideas together and thought they could add the extra element of video," he recalled.

James feels that, while oral communication is great, older and more vulnerable people also appreciate seeing a friendly face - and the body language that goes hand-in-hand with that.

He said: "Voice communication is only a small percentage of communication between people. Body language, facial expressions, tone of voice are all the extras you do not get from the voice alone make an awful lot of difference to communication."

James is currently working alongside the Respite Centre in Dromcollogher to introduce the concept to people there.

"I have teamed up with WTS Broadband, which has brought wireless broadband to Dromcollogher, and provided this to the retirement village and Respite Centre in Dromcollogher. We are setting them up with a touch screen PC so it makes it much easier for them to take part in Skype video calling," he explained.

Even just introducing a word like Skype (an internet based telephony system) would throw a lot of people - but especially old-age pensioners who are unfamiliar with computer technology as a whole.
However, James says he thinks that because the benefit is so clear to older people, this will enable them to get over the 'digital divide' hurdle.

"Previous projects have shown that, if people could see a major benefit in something, it's amazing the barriers they can get past. I've even noticed this with my own father. He always felt it was beyond him to use the television and the microwave, but I noticed he learnt how to use teletext, because he was really motivated to be able to look up the sports results. When you have that motivation, there is no problem to learn. At the same time, part of our project is remould and redesign the software to make it as easy as possible for older people to use."

[See the Limerick Leader for the rest of the article]

Julian Davis, founding Director of Fleishman Hillard,  gave a talk on Developing a PR Strategy at our last Social Entrepreneurs gathering in Dublin. I took the following notes -

• PR is about more than media/press relations - it's much wider than that.
• Ask yourself why are you doing it (a particular PR strategy) and do you need to do it?
• You need to influence people
• Who are all the people in your target audience? Press? Local authorities? VECs? Parents? Etc, etc. Identify them all
• You should have a different message for different groups
• Where is your target audience getting their information? Who is influencing them? And who is influencing the influencers, etc.
• You might well be better off with one-to-one meetings!
• Can you say succinctly and clearly what your project is about?
• Shape your message to who is listening
• Prioritize key people. What is your key message? What is your key ask/purpose?
• Have a plan written out and figure out your key channels - e.g., Facebook, meetings, etc.
• As regards dealing with the press - walk before you run. Start local. Identify people in local radio stations.
• Understand the different flavours of media/shows - what is suitable material for them?
• Ask the professionals, PR people, journalists.
• Let the 'gatekeepers' know what's in it for them. Ask them for advice. Phone them on the right day of the week and time of day.
• What organizations have mailshots going to your target audience. Can you 'piggyback'?
• Be patient. And remember that even if you get TV exposure that might not produce the results you would imagine

I would be interesting to know how such advice will compare that on offer at Collision Course in Dublin on January 21st -

"The format will be a PR rep will give a five minute talk about what PR is about and maybe give some Irish context and then we’ll have an Irish blogger share their experiences of what blogging in Ireland is about and then we’ll open the floor so anyone can pick the brains of this combined group. The idea of this meetup (and perhaps it will become a regular thing) is for those who interact so much online can share their experiences with those people employed to try and connect with these digital natives and give them what they want."

Image via Wikipedia

- And speaking of camps TeenCamp has a venue!

- Congrats also to Matt and the team at Infurious for getting Masked Marshall into the Apple Store Staff Picks list.

- Paul Campbell has been making great use of screencasting in his work as a web developer and shares some good tips here. I'd take issue with point 2 though - "You shouldn’t do the voiceover while you’re recording the screencast, at least if you don’t want to sound like an idiot." I used to do voiceovers while I was recording my Intruders.tv screencasts but regularly paused after stumbling over myself, then just restated what I was trying to say. Using Camtasia I was then able to edit all the stuttering out fairly seamlessly in post production. I found it much easier to synchronize the voiceover and on-screen activity using this method.

- Frank Fullard explains how Irish Business Women are 'making lemonade' during the current downturn.

- Haydn has a thought provoking post about the Privileges of Communication.

"James", he said, "you have to develop the noble art of looking over the hedge". Which almost insulted me at first seeing as I'd always prided myself on an innate sense of curiosity. But 'inquistive' does not equal 'aware'. And 'nosey' isn't the same as 'observant'.

Case in point - I pulled in to the Midway Foodcourt in Portlaoise again last Wednesday while on a drive home from Dublin, as I've done at least a dozen times over the last 12 months. I like this pit-stop because, as the name implies, it's about half way on the journey, has clean restrooms and a good choice of eateries.

But on this occasion I did something I hadn't done previously - I actually sat back and watched one of the five large screen TVs hanging from the wall, instead of ploughing through my email and Twitter stream. Only because it was 9pm and O'Briens Sandwich bar - purveyors of fine wifi signals - was closed,

Sky News was showing but only taking up 3/4 of the screen area. Believe it or not it took a few moments for me to realize that fact - an interesting news item was being broadcast and I didn't instantly notice that the right hand column of the display was blank, except for a few lines of text which I couldn't quite read from my chair, near the opposite wall. How inconvenient! My curiosity piqued I had to go to all the bother of getting to my feet and walking over to the far side. Where I read on the screen - "To advertise here email midway@click2screen.com"

Interesting! It turns out Click2screen is an Irish company whose flagship product is a digital signage software system allowing you to publish media content and data information to any screen. The clever part of the system is an admin console which is accessible through any internet connected web-browser. From there you can manage and edit your file library, screen templates, layouts, and schedules. A good example of their work is the project they did for Bewley's Airport Hotel.

Anyway, while my 'discovery' was nothing earth shattering, it just so happens that I'm currently acting as a technology advisor to another friend who has a large property development going through the planning process. A project which might readily avail of a Click2screen powered display system. In fact, it might just fit the bill perfectly.

Which all just goes to show that it can be well worth while dragging your head out of your laptop screen every now and again to take a closer, more attentive look at the real world around you. And to develop the noble art of looking over the hedge.

"CLARE COUNTY Council asked the Equality Tribunal to investigate the personal finances of Traveller advocate Heather Rosen, and threatened High Court proceedings if the tribunal did not stop her representing Travellers at their hearings.

This is revealed in documentation released by the Equality Tribunal into one of the failed discrimination cases taken by Ms Rosen on behalf of Clare-based Travellers."

If you read that article it's worth referring to the commentary on the UCC Law News Forum for a less tinted view -

"The facts are complex, but it involves a series of cases brought by members of the travelling community surrounding the service provided by Clare County Council arising from the travellers' applications for housing and related accommodation needs and linked issues.

In an unusual move, the Equality Officer (sitting as the Equality tribunal) required that the travellers attend for a series of "callovers/hearings" which would take place on two particular days. When families did not turn up, even though their representative was present, the Officer decided that no prima facie evidence of discrimination had been provided and therefore that the claims failed.

The travellers were represented by Ms Heather Rosen, and the Tribunal went on to decide that Ms Rosen had obstructed and impeded its investigation and hearing of the cases. The Tribunal was of the view that Ms. Rosen had wilfully abused the Tribunal process and had sought to manipulate the manner in which she carried out her investigative and decision making functions. The end result was that Ms Rosen was ordered to pay expenses of €200 in the main case and a large number of similar cases. (See particularly Paras. 6.1 to 6.13).

The decision raises important procedural issues as to whether the Tribunal took sufficient account of the difficulty involved for a representative in gathering together a large number of claimants who are members of the travelling community for a callover/hearing. The whole idea of a "callover/hearing" seems strange in any event. There is a reference in the decision [para.4.5] to a tragic death of a young traveller woman having occurred close to the time of the callovers, but an adjournment only being granted in the case of close family members.

All in all, it seems unfortunate that the Tribunal did not proceed to a full hearing of the substantive issues and a large number of traveller families may well be left with the impression that the state apparatus is acting against them rather than facilitating their claims."

Image via Wikipedia

• Frank Fullard is one of the people behind a boot camp for 500 young entrepreneurs in Mayo and learned some very interesting things - "I learned that when you treat young adults as adults they will behave accordingly. I learned that our society is considerably more ethnically and culturally diverse than I had thought it to be. I learned that our young people are imaginative, creative, and entrepreneurial. Above all I learned that, despite all who say otherwise, our future is optimistic, bright, positive and progressive. The Z generation, or the We generation, call them what you want, have the where-with-all to take us out of the mess we have created for them."
• Limerick-headquartered WorldTV is a "next-generation online video service that lets users create full-screen, TV-like channels online". And now it's developed "a new advertising programme that will turn these users into future media moguls", according to SiliconRepublic.
• Loving the Irish sutainable living blog Greeme which covers entrepreneurial ideas like Freight*BUS - "This innovative new design combines a passenger-carrying bus with that of freight haulage. It can be reconfigured in seconds by the conductor or driver to carry freight and passengers. Furthermore, passenger space & freight space can be easily adjusted to match demand.This flexibility is in part due to ceiling-suspended pairs of seats, which can be completely folded out of the way."
• Phoebe Bright in Cork has an interesting suggestion for bars and restaurants facing a downturn - "How about attracting a new market. People who eat on their own but don't want to eat in a resteraunt on their own. Have a sitting every half hour and whoever wants to eat are put together on a table together." I know nothing about the food business but I love to see people putting their thinking caps on instead of whinging about how the sky is falling.
• And on that note Robin Blandford wrote another blog post that really resonated with me - "Imagine if… we had a mission as a country. A mission to be the first country in the world to do something incredible. Imagine if the Irish Government decided that a cheap way to start bringing winds of change, create new jobs, create new companies, create new markets, would be to undertake a world first mission we could all join in on. All talk about. All look forward to. All focus on." I'm still processing this 'call to arms' and personally think it needs to percolate from the bottom up not the Government down. Perhaps an Irish X Prize of sorts. More on this later...
  

Keyboard

Arrington says, "Any normal adult can’t type fast on it without constantly hitting the wrong keys because there is no space between them."

I say, "Last time I checked I was a reasonably normal adult and I'm 95% as fast a touch typist on the Dell Mini 9 keyboard as I am on the full-sized external - I know because I've tested myself"

And for the doubting Thomases among you I'll be giving 'demonstrations' at OpenCoffee Limerick next Thursday. In fact I'll buy coffee for anyone who beats me in a speed test on their regular sized laptop. So there!

Too Little Horsepower

Arrington says, "If you have an email application open and a couple of tabs in a browser, there’s a lot of slow down. One Vista machine I’ve been testing tends to crash after a few minutes of use."

I say, "Vista!?! So he got his hands on the only netbook (the HP 2133 Mini-Not) that uses Vista and decided to base his impressions on that. Now that's just ridiculous"

"My Dell Mini 9 runs XP with greater speed than the Inspiron 510m (full sized) laptop it replaced. I rarely have fewer than a dozen Firefox tabs open on it and yet never notice any sluggishness. Besides, these are netbooks, not desktop replacements - the whole point is quick and convenient access to web apps, checking email, Twittering and so on. Not the mathematical modelling of the stock market!"

The Screen

Now this one's the real kicker. Arrington says, "These machines have screens ranging from 7 inches on up. The worst thing about the screens is vertical resolution, which is generally 600 pixels.... the iPhone or iPod Touch, with a tiny 3.5 inch screen, has a vastly better browsing experience than any Netbook"

I say, "Huh? What planet is this guy living on? The resolution of the iPhone is 320 x 480. On the Mini 9 it's 1024 x 600. Michael's problem isn't with the hardware it's with software settings. Someone needs to show him how to change the font size on his browser and view full screen with F11. Hey, you can even rotate the display if you just must read in an iPhone-ish portrait mode."

Which is a long winded way of saying Arrington you're full of s**te. But Don Crowley says it more eloquently --