As you know in England a woman put an unfortunate and defenseless cat into a wheelie bin. The video below is a great turn around on that – with a very obvious outcome.

The latest on the woman who put the cat in the bin is that she thought it was funny at the time and that it was really out for character for her. The bank clerk enraged cat and animal lovers around the world when she was caught on the cat owners CCTV footage  grabbing  4 year-old Lola the cat by the scruff of the neck and tossing her in a bin. The RSPCA had meetings with her today and are deciding on their next move.

The  backlash is that death threats have been made against her online (with some facebook groups setup against her), she said she was “profoundly sorry” for her actions against the cat.

You can see more footage on Sky News by clicking here

Kilkenny v Tipperary Update – September 2nd

Tipperary supporters have taken this on board and there is a video on YouTube of a Tipperary woman putting the Kilkenny Cat into the Bin.

“5 in a Row My Arse”? … Lets wait until Sunday and see…. odds of a draw are only 12/1, but I think Kilkenny could do it but it will be a close game…..

For a performer, being on stage, with the lights in your face, you may not see very much – so if a bottle or cup full of beer is thrown you have no way of avoiding it. I think that sort of behaviour from “Fans” was uncalled for. Axl asked for people to stop and said that he would walk if it happened again … only minutes later this is exactly what happened and I don’t blame him. No performer should be attacked in this way.

The start to the show was spectacular, fireworks, pyros, huge intro so it wasn’t a half-baked or poor performace. There was no need for the jeering or throwing. Many people left when the house lights came back up, thinking it was all over. I asked an O2 steward and was told ” There is no chance of him coming back on “. Apparently the promoter, MCD, restrained Axl and prevented him from leaving the venue after walking off stage. The promoters did come on stage twice to ask for calm and patience while technical difficulties were looked at.

I left the O2 once the house lights came back on, and 20 minutes later I got a phone call from my sister (Thanks Elaine) letting me know that the concert was back on. We went back and the atmosphere was less hostile but still not right. Axl was back mid-stage to avoid any missiles, almost at the drum kit. He just stood at the mic and sung, breaking once or twice to play the piano – November Rain was excellent. The band itself were excellent and it good humour despite what happened.

They played until just before 1am to a creshendo of tickertape and pyros.

I think the organisers should have had the stage better perpared, as they seemed to be doing sound checks, stage clearance, wiring and so on for about an hour. Also, having people drinking for 4 hours before Guns N’ Roses appeared on stage was not a good idea. Although Guns N’ Roses have a history of problems and late shows, you know this about the band and its not a reason to run riot and physically attack an artist.

Guns N’ Roses released a statement after the concert which read: “Despite every effort being made by promoters to ensure Guns N’ Roses would go on stage on time, they went on at 22:26hrs having been due to be on stage at 21:45hrs, support artist finished at 21:00hrs.

“During the second song Axl requested members of crowd who were throwing plastic glasses containing unknown substances to immediately stop or he would have no option but to leave the stage. He confirmed band’s wish to perform stating “we want to stay…one more bottle and we go home”. Despite his continued appeals, having tried to continue performing for 22 minutes, people continued throwing unknown substances leaving artist with no choice but to leave the stage.

“From the stage MCD Promoter Denis Desmond again appealed to audience to refrain from throwing items and stated that the band would be back on stage shortly.

“The artist was prevented from leaving the venue by the Promoter and following backstage discussions Guns N’ Roses went back on stage at 23:20 hrs and performed their full set until 00:53 hrs.

“While the artist has a long history for being late on stage (Slane 1992 – crowd waiting 2 hours and last weekend’s UK Reading festival), NO artist should be subjected to missiles and unknown substances being thrown at them. However, despite this the band went back on stage after people stopped throwing items performing their full set of songs in full.

“MCD and The 02 wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused due to late running of the show.”

Video – Guns n’ Roses at the O2

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Firefox can’t find the server at www.facebook.com.

Twitter usage is up as a result with 20-50 tweets per minute about Facebook.

We will just have to wait for Facebook to come back on-line – I’m sure its nothing serious but is certainly unexpected as Facebook haven’t had too many outages in recent times.

Solution

However if you need your fix http://m.facebook.com/ does work !!

I Saw a very funny twitter post from @ Nathan4791 “With Facebook Down I give it 3 hours before people start eating each other.”

The iTimelapse iPhone App allows you to create a timelapse project, specifying the timelapse interval, duration of the project, & size of the video. During rendering you can output at varying framerates, add music and add a filename. The timelapse videos can then be output to your camera roll / library for sharing.

The quality of the videos are very good and I feel I could be getting slowly addicted to timelapseing … But it is enjoyable especially if you have a nice subject, e.g. sunset, cityscape, or something which is slow moving but interesting to watch over time.

I would recommend that you switch to Airplane Mode, turn off sound, turn down the brightness, and if you are running a timelapse which takes mire than 2 hours that you have a full battery or stay on AC power.

Your projects in iTimeLapse are saved so if you render & export your video at 12fps and you find that it is too jumpy then you can re-render later by accessing the project file and changing the fps of the timelapse.

Have a look at a sample which I created this month in Sydney, Australia.

The iTimeLapse iPhone app is available in the app store at €2.99 – well worth it, a nice fun app.

I downloaded this iPhone Sat Nav App based on price first, thinking that for €6.99 there was no way that a Sat Nav app for this price would work. But it did!

The app has many features including POI (points of interest), find an address, route to your home address plus much more. The NDrive Sat Nav App has a speech interface so turn by turn, you get a nice lady telling you to “in 400 metres turn left” and the usual “Turn Around” if you don’t follow the instructions.

I tested the NDrive App from a service station on the Naas Dual Carriage-way outside Dublin to Waterford.
The route was estimated to be 1hr 48 minutes which turned out to be only 8 minutes out but traffic is not considered. Also I did use the route via the N9 via Thomastown however the App suggested using the N10 via Kilkenny. I did this deliberately to see what would happen. It initially told me to “When safe – Turn Around” but on entering Gowran it recalculated the route and continued using the N9 which was nice.

The app has a powerful address search engine, and it remembers recent searches to minimise input requirements. There are also features like Itineraries, Alternative routes, Lane Assistance, TTS, POIs, Traffic and Business Search. NDrive won’t use your 3G or Edge data connection to show you the map. The entire Ireland & UK map is stored in your iPhone and even if you lose coverage (which will happen a few times between Waterford and Dublin), your navigation won’t be interrupted.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes the system to update the mapping to include the new M9 from Danesfort Kilkenny to the Carlow section of M9 which opens on September 9th.

The routing and positioning is very accurate. Only one or two small bugs, including one where it told me to turn right up a road which was blocked off & closed in 2005.

The NDrive app provides great value, a good interface, good service and also it does exactly what it says on the tin.

Apart from that I am very happy with the NDrive Ireland & UK iPhone App and it is available to download from the App Store, search for NDrive!

Link : http://www.ndriveweb.com/software-iphone/

PREVIEW SCREENSHOT
NDrive iPhone Sat Nav App

The completed M9 motorway will link Waterford to Dublin with non stop motorway and the journey time should be approx 1h 30 mins between the two cities with the previous journey time usually 2 hours 35 minutes. Currently traffic has to exit at Danesfort, continue via Kilkenny (or via Knocktopher / Thomastown route) to the Carlow section and resuming on the M9 just outside Carlow. The announcement of the official M9 motorway comes as a welcome relief to travellers to Dublin from the South East as well as the people of Kilkenny (and Thomastown/Gowran) who have seen increased traffic as a result of the diversions.

Roll on the 9th September … the only thing not on the M9 through are servcie stations or Motorway services, I wonder when these will be added?

Below are listed some handy iPhone Apps for using Twitter all of which are freely available on the iTunes App Store.

Twitter

The official Twitter iPhone app has all the features you might expect, tweeting, latest posts, lists, access to your profile and favourites and some other extras. This is the twitter app I use most, mainly because it is the official app.
Latest Version is 3.0.3 – Size 3.9 MB

Price : Free

Tweetdeck

The Tweetdeck iPhone app allows you to have Facebook and Twitter on the same app, saves you having to access 2 different iPhone apps. Some nice features and if you want to have a fully integrated app this is the one for you, tweet and facebook on the one app. I still use this on occasion and it is a handy tool for Facebook and Twitter users.

Price : Free

Echophon

This is one I installed a while ago and was my original twitter app before moving to tweetdeck and moving then to Twitter App. It’s a bit clunky and I found it a bit slow to use but that was over 7 months ago … so if anyone has used Echophon add a comment below. However having reviewed the latest app on iTunes I think this has recently been updated.

Price : Free

Feel free to add your comments and review of these Twitter iPhone apps….

Apple is set to release a new update to the latest iPhone within weeks of the release. The iPhone went on sale in five countries, including the US & UK, on June 24th but iPhone fans in Ireland are not happy as the iPhone 4 will not be available in Ireland until July 30th. The official release date for the iPhone release in Ireland and 16 other countries was announced and confirmed by Apple at a press conference on Friday 16th 2010.

Apple have admitted there is a problem with how the iPhone calculates its signal strength. Some iPhone users had complained that holding their iPhone near where the antenna is located caused a reduction in signal strength and sometimes dropped calls. Apple defended this saying “Gripping any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by one or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid and Nokia phones. …. Users observing a drop of several bars of signal when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying four or five bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place”

Apple have released a statement promising a software fix within weeks for the signal strength error. The iPhone seems to misrepresent signal strength and this is not just for the new iPhone 4G but apparently the signal strength error affects the previous iPhone 3GS and 3G models.

Apple said ,”…We were stunned to find that the formula we used to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays two more bars than it should for a given signal strength…”

The new iPhone software fix is promised within weeks and should make the signal strength calculation more accurate … watch this space!

iPhone OS4.0.1 is now available which fixes some of these issues so download now!

The reason behind the Apple press conference is not yet known officially but rumours persist that Apple will discuss the antenna and signal problems which are affecting the iPhone 4G.

Other rumours also include that the iPhone 4 press conference will see a price drop for the iPhone 4G, or in a worse case scenario that Apple will recall the iPhone 4 an that the signal issues are hardware issues and not software issues.

Apple had said that a software update would be available soon to fix any signal related issues and it is quite possible that todays press conference will be 90% relating to the signal strength issues.

The Apple press conference is set to take place at 10AM PT (6pm GMT) Friday, July 16th.

The boom is over and prices have fallen, but have levels of service also been reduced – getting poor service is something which is creeping in here in there.

From Restaurants and Bars to Travel Services and the general Service industry. I have seen many examples in the past year where I feel that service just was not up to scratch … not going to name any places (just yet) , but I’m just wondering if I’m alone. In one establishment, I held out my hand to get change and while looking me in the eye, the girl at the till plonked the coins onto the counter, another incident involved going to a till and the cashier just saying “20″ … not “Thats €20 please”, just “20″ – no please and when I was finished, no thank you.
Small things but I haven’t returned there!

For the duration of the World Cup, June 12th to July 12th I had 63,100 Visitors to the site and 126,900 pages viewed. So for this year there have been 394,000 visitors to the site and over 854,000 page views generated – and hopefully there should be a quarter of a million visitors to the site, and 1,600,000 page views by the end of the year.

During the last month I would have thought World Cup topics would overtake other search terms on the site but not necessarily.

The top queries to this site were as follows – the keywords are linked if you want to read the actual sections they refer to.

Top 5 Referring Search Queries
4g iphone release date ireland / 4g iphone release date england / 4g iphone release date netherlands
keyboard chords list / basic keyboard chords / easy piano chords
guitar chords list / guitar minor and major chords
queen discography
reading music for beginners

There were also some news items or local events which showed.

Top Search Queries in the News
carlow to kilkenny motorway opening time / m9 kilkenny opening date
iphone signal calculation
vou vou zela / vous vous zela

It seems that the popularity of the iPhone is mapped likewise onto the web and it shows how many people are  searching for iPhone related items. With the iPhone 4G being released this month in Ireland and UK websites which have iPhone related information will see a rise in traffic.

I think the game will be a very tight affair but unless Holland can strike early, Spain should come out as winners.

So I think there will be 2 scenarios, Holland score in the first 20 minutes, then put 11 men behind the ball for 70 minutes (unlikely since Holland like to play total football) …. Spain could draw the match and it would go to extra time.

or

It remains 0-0 until about 65 minutes, Spain score, Holland then have to attack and leave themselves  open and Spain score again … so either 1-1 after 90 mins or 2-0 to Spain.

You can see yesterdays post below! Holland did win but not to the score I predicted.

Spain v Germany Score Predictions

I still think Germany will win, however, Paul the Octopus has predicted a Spain win and I did have a dream last night that Spain won 2-0 … so not sure what you would make of that! I would like to see Germany win , possibly 3-1 with Ozil as the first scorer – thats my bet of the day… a long shot I know but did anyone think before the world cup that New Zealand would finish above Italy, and that France would fail to qualify from the group stages?

Original Post

As we get down to the last 4, I think these are easier to call, personally I think Holland & Germany will progress.

I’ll keep it short… my predictions for today are;

Uruguay – Holland : Holland to Win 2-0 (Van Persie with both)
Odds : 6-1 for a Holland 2-0 win if you are putting on a bet

Spain – Germany : Germay to Win 3-1 (This might even be 4-1 as the boss for Germany will be wearing his lucky blue jumper which he hasn’t washed as he thinks its lucky!)

Germany to win 4-1 is 80-1 which is not as long a shot as you might think!

Breaking News – Tuesday 6th July
German “psychic” Octopus, Paul the Octopus (or Paul der Octopus as he is known in Germany), has chosen Spain to beat Germany in tomorrow’s World Cup semi final – Spain v Germany.

I think Netherlands might give Brazil a run for their money, I think Brazil will score first, Holland will equalise and it will go to Extra time. From here – anything can happen so I’m just saying 1-1 after 90 mins (stiiting on fence with qualifier – possibly Holland as anything can happen in extra time!)

I think Ghana might have enough to get past Uruguay, in spirit alone, wanting to be the first African nation to progress past this stage. I think Uruguay 0 – 2 Ghana with the second Ghana goal coming late in the match.

Kick off is only 7 mins away … here we go!

If you did, please don’t be worried as Apple are not doing an iPhone 4G Recall. The whole recall alarm was sparked by a fake Twitter account with username “CEOSteveJobs”. The tweet read “We may have to recall the new iPhone. This, I did not expect.”. So many people thought this Twitter account was real and was owned by Steve Jobs – I did too (I recently stopped following CEOSteveJobs when I found out this was a parody account)

The iPhone 4G was released on June 24 and will stay released – no recall pending. There are small theething problems as with all pieces of technolofy, mainly Reception issues and activation issues but iPhone 4G is due for a minor software update before the year is out according to some sources which might help with the initial issues.

The real Steve Jobs responded to the fake Twitter post and also to the iPhone 4G complaints and advised users to avoid holding the iPhone in a way that blocks the antenna. “Avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases,”.

As you can see from the photo below, taken from the goal line video, the ball was not fully over the line as the shot came in and beat the keeper.

Really at this stage FIFA need to introduce video footage into games – if they don’t they are stupid and behind the times.

Apart from Englands disallowed goal, In the Mexico game the first goal was clearly offside again, everyone could see it was offside.

Who needs to mention the cheating which was clearly visible on the Thierry Henry “Hand of Frog” incident.

FIFA – Get the finger out and don’t let this crap continue!
It’s embarrassing!

North Korea v Ivory Coast
No chance of an upset here, I can’t see North Korea doing anything only losing.
Ivory Coast need a good few goals to stand a chance of qualifying.
I think Ivory Coast should win this one by 3 or 4 clear goals.

Portugal v Brazil
This is where we might see an upset – Brazil looked good in the past few matches and if they take Portugal lightly I think it could end a draw or Portugal might even edge it.
I’m Sitting on the fence ; 1-1 draw.

Chile v Spain
Spain, favorites at the start of the World Cup, need to win and I think should win if they get on top of their game.
Chile 0 – Spain 2 (or 3)

Switzerland v Honduras
Switzerland need to win to stand a chance. They could put a few past Honduras and if they win by 2 more goals than Spain, they will qualify even if Spain win.
Switzerland 3 – 0 Honduras

Looking at yesterdays post, it wasn’t too far off the mark (scores not 100%) but the Win Lose Draw was 3 out of 4. I didn’t think Australia would have won yesterday. Great to see USA topping the group also – England v Germany should be a cracker on Sunday and on last nights performace England have to do a lot better to get past Germany (great goal from Worzel last night – he had his scoring face on last night!)

Todays World Cup match predictions are ….

Paraguay v New Zealand
Would love to see New Zealand win this one and that might just happen. Most probable outcome is a draw or 1 goal.
Putting neck on Line I think New Zealand to win 1-0.

Slovakia v Italy
Easy … Italy 2-0 (Unless they do a France, have a big fight and can’t play for sugar!)

Cameroon v Netherlands
Netherlands are through but I think they will keep the pressure on – probably a Holland win 2-0.

Denmark v Japan
Tough call – Both have weaknesses that the other can exploit … Both need to win to be certain of qualification!
Maybe Denmark to win 1-0.

USA v Algeria could have an impact on England should England draw with Slovenia. USA look good so far and seem to have a good game plan. This could be another USA draw but if they keep the concentration and get an early goal they could win by a goal or two.

Australia v Serbia is a tough one to call; Australia have to bounce back after the German Hammering, but need to win today, Serbia might be too much for them. One goal will probably decide this game, most probably in Serbias favour.

Ghana v Germany is (or should be) a no brainer. Germany should have no problem in winning this game, unless they do a France and just fall apart which is 100/1 unlikely. Could be 3 or 4 in this one.

Score Predictions for todays games:

-   Slovenia 0 – 2 England

-   USA 1 – 0 Algeria

-   Australia 0 – 1 Serbia

-   Ghana 0 – 3 Germany

I think Mexico and Uruguay will pass the ball to each other knowing that a nil nil draw will knock France out of the competition… The Curse of Henry strikes! If Mexico accidentally score, Uruguay just need to equalise with an OG – easily done ! It could be 12 – 12 as a premeditated joke between the 2 teams but will probably be scoreless or at least 1-1.

France vs. South Africa

The Curse of Henry strikes again – disarray in the French camp. If they score 40 goals and Mexic and Uruguay draw they will still fail to qualify. Bye Bye Henry – Go home and quit and don’t come holidaying in Ireland!

Nigeria vs. South Korea

I think South Korea will want to get one over on their neighours from the north and want to avoid any 7-0 hammerings. I think it will be a close game probably being won in the last 20 mins.

Greece vs. Argentina

Greece have a tough match and I think Argentina might knock a few past these guys.
Another hatrick for Argentina?

Probably miles off but these are my predictions for today.

Mexico 0 – 0 Uruguay
France 1 – 1 South Africa (but I Would love to see France 0 – 4 South Africa)
Nigeria 1 – 2 South Korea
Greece 0 – 4 Argentina

I like the look and feel of the new OS – and the unified Inbox is great for putting my 12 email accounts into one list.

The New Look iOS4 on the iPhone 3Gs

The main difference I could see was the changeable background on the home screen, multitasking bar at the bottom of the screen – which you can access by double clicking the home button, and Folders which you can create by holding down an icon and once wobbling , dragging one icon on top of another.

I’m still playing around with all the features so I’m going to stop typing now … if you still haven’t updated to the new iOS4 on your iPhone3Gs or 3G then have a look at my previous posts and twitter posts for details on what is involved in upgrading your OS.

The latest version of Apple’s iPhone OS, iOS 4, will be available later today but it is erleased only when the USA get out of bed! As you probably know (unless you have being living under a rock) iOS 4 is the next major Operating System software upgrade for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The new iOS4 adds a range of new extra features to the iPhone / iTouch.

99% of the features will work on the iPhone 3GS, and some of them will work on the iPhone 3G / iTouch. Some of the new features include multitasking, camera zoom, folders, improved email, and iBooks just like the version on the iPad.

Multitasking will be the most interesting feature in the new iOS 4. Once iOS4 is installed on your 3Gs you will be able to switch between running iPhone apps without having to shut each app down … according to Apple this feature won’t slow down the iPhone or use extra battery.

The most probable time for the release will be either 5pm or 6pm Irish time (GMT) but no news yet means that they might hang on until they are happy to release – i.e. could be 8pm or 9pm if they decide to have their morning cappuccino at Apple HQ first !!

If you want to be notified by Twitter when iOS4 is released follow me on Twitter -
http://twitter.com/smcdonalddotorg and I will tweet once it is available!!

The new iPhone will have over 100 new features, the free iOS 4 Software Update will allow iPhone 3Gs users to experience the majority of these. The new iPhone OS, iOs 4, will be released on Monday 21st June 2010 – iTunes 9.2 has been updated so download this first and upgrade your systems in preparation for the new iOS 4 release.

The new features of iOS4 will include the following;

• You can use Multitasking and switch between your iPhone apps instantly, without apparently slowing down the performance of the foreground app or draining the battery unnecessarily.

• There are Folders so that you can organize your iPhones apps into relevant folders using a drag-and-drop technique. You can also manage up to 2160 apps (the current limit is about 180 apps) and get faster access through your folders.

• Text Messaging update – There will be a Character Count option in Messages Settings, so you can keep a track on the number of characters while typing an SMS Text message.

• The Email client has been improved and you can see messages from all your accounts in a unified inbox, organize your email messages by threads, and you can open attachments in third-party apps.

• There is an ebook reader functionality called iBooks. This is not just an ebook reader, rather iBooks allows you to browse and shop for books as well as reading them (or PDFs) within the system.

• The new iPhone will have 5x digital zoom with the Tap to focus function

• While shooting video, tap the display to choose where to focus. You will also be able to tag photos and GeoTag where they were taken.

• The Home screen wallpaper can be changed so that you can have your custom background wallpaper on your Home screen.

• For techies, the iPhone iOS 4.0 includes more than 1,500 new APIs for app developers.

There are many other new features, such as improvements when reading documents, improvements in the contacts section, a photo resize option, playlist creation, and you will find even more when you install your own iOS 4 update (or if you are luck enough to get the new iPhone 4).

The new iOS 4 will work with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G (some functionality for later third generation  iTouch models also). Not all features of the features above are compatible with all the devices. For example, multitasking is available only with iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS and Multitasking then is only available with Apps that have been specifically developed to work with iOS 4 multitasking mode. Also note that the Face Recognition system only works with iPhoto on the Mac (sorry PC users).

The new iPhone4 / iPhone 4G should be on sale in Ireland & UK fairly soon, hopefully in the next month. Carriers such as Vodafone, O2, 3 Mobile and Orange will be making sure customers know well in advance of pending sales of the new iPhone.

This looks like this update will boost the iPhone in the market – great improvements to an already great piece of technology.

Watch the video from Wordpress below on what has been added in the new Wordpress release.

A Brief rundown on the features of WordPress 3.0 include New menus, new designs, better posting, nice default wordpress template called Twenty Ten, customistion of the Twenty Ten template, creation of short links, bulk plugin upgrades, huge revamp of the Wordpress API, and much more.

You can get the full list of what’s changed in Wordpress 3.0 at http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_3.0

WordPress 3.0 is available for download from http://wordpress.org/download/ or you can upgrade WordPress to version 3.0 automatically from your control panel dashboard.

Happy Blogging!

I think the whole of Ireland are praying for a scoreline of Mexico 2 – France 0 … With Mexico opening the scoring with an own goal from Thierry Henry powerful shot, in off his face)  and the second goal a penalty after Henry handballed ( he was caught this time ) in the box. The Irish referee (Mr. K. Arma) had no option but to give the spot kick and then dismis from the field by the ref.

Who knows. … This could happen !!

7:30 tonight – We all hope to see Headlines reading “France lose against Mexico in the World Cup – Ireland Delighted“

iTunes 9.2 is the first piece of the software mix but only has some changes to the actual software but the main change is iPhone iOS 4 compatibility. There are going to be major software updates for the iTunes version 10 which might be available between September – November of this year!

The change log for Apple iTunes 9.2 is as follows;

• iPhone iOS 4 Compatibility : Sync with iPhone 4 to enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows, books and more on-the-go

• iBooks Compatibility : Sync & read books with your iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4 and iBooks 1.1

• PDF Update : Sync PDF documents and read PDFs as books with iBooks 1.1 on the iPad and any iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4

• iOS 4 Folders : Organize your apps on your iOS 4 home screens into folders using iTunes

• Speed Update : Faster synching and back-ups for iPhones or iPod touchs running iOS 4

• Album Art Update : Album artwork improvements make artwork appear more quickly when exploring your library

The new version of iTunes from Apple is now available for download from the Apple website.

The Boeing 767 was flying from San Francisco to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport when the co-pilot became ill with a stomach bug. Help was requested from the flight deck from any passengers with a pilot’s license. Flight attendant Patti DeLuna, stepped forward as she was a commercial pilot in the past, and took over for the ailing first officer – The flight’s purser also had flight experience, but the captain eventually chose DeLuna.

DeLuna’s first question to the captain was, ‘Where are the brakes?’”

According to media reports, Patti DeLuna, has been a flight attendant for 32 years, had a commercial pilot’s certificate in 1970, and has about 300 flight-hours flying a small Cessna but had not flown since for about 20 years.

The plane, carrying 225 passengers and 7 crew, landed safely at Chicago O’Hare. The sick co-pilot was taken to hospital, treated and released.

An American Airlines spokesman said the Boeing 767 can be flown by only one pilot if required and is actually so sophisticated it can even land itself thanks to the Auto-Land system.

I thought Slovacia and Portugal would have won today.

My predictions for Wednesday are 2 draws and one win which will be Spain.

Boylesports here I come!

Tomorrow Tuesday … Lets see how this goes !

New Zealand vs. Slovakia : Slovakia to Win 3 – 0
Côte d’Ivoire vs. Portugal : Portugal to Win 2 – 1
Brazil vs. North Korea : Brazil to Win : 4 – 0

I wonder are the VuVuZelas causing problems for teams like Italy??

The vuvuzelas or Vous Vous Zellas are extremely popular among South African fans, and many teams were warned about the effect of the vuvuzela on the pitch. Many broadcasters have complained that commentary cannot be heard. France even had the nerve that the vuvuzela was a factor in their poor display in their goalless draw with Uruguay. (not because they played bad or were unable to cheat or handball).

But South Africa call the vuvuzela their “12th man that we need … our weapon”.

If the vuvuzela is not banned coult the psychological influence and noise distraction help then through to the latter stages of the competition?

Monday, 14 June 2010
FIFA World Cup
Italy v Paraguay, Gp F, 19:30
Italy should surely win this!
Italy 3 – Paraguay 0

Japan v Cameroon, Gp E, 15:00
Could be a boring draw but Cameroon should win this one.
Japan 0 – Cameroon 2

Netherlands v Denmark, Gp E, 12:30
Possibility for an upset here but if Netherlands play well it could be three or four goal rout.
Netherlands 1 – Denmark 0

Let’s see how this pans out, but I only got 3/2 matches right today … Ghana was a real surprise!

I Know this is a short post but sometimes a picture (in this case a video) is worth a thousand words.

iPhone 4G NEWS UPDATE - Apparently the date is now July for Ireland and the UK with the prices being roughly the same as current 16 – 32Gb versions.

The new 4G iPhone will sell in the US first and the date of June 7th was being mentioned as the possible release date. I don’t think that will happen though.

On the back of the iPad release, the new iPhone 4G should have a huge amount of interest in Ireland & UK. Keep an eye on Vodafone, O2, 3 Mobile and Orange who will be pushing to be the first in Ireland & Uk to sell the new iPhone 4G.

The feature list on the new iPhone is becoming clearer, apparently coming with ;

• a 5 MegaPixel camera
• possibly including multitasking of iPhone apps
• sleeker body design
• sturdier construction
• clearer picture with a high definition capability
• a 3.5 inch TFT touch-sensitive screen
• available in 64GB & 80GB storage
• built in half gig of RAM.

For those with the 3Gs iPhone there should be an OS upgrade also, which should give you some of the features of the new iPhone.

Note : the new 4G iPhone is actually a reference to 4th Generation and does not reflect a transition from a 3G network to a 4G network.

If you ever wanted to have the Speaking Equaliser which was associated to Kitts voice then you can look no further – the iPhone or iTouch brings you Phone Rider.

The Phone Rider iPhone App picks up your voice using the inbuilt microphone (or plugged in mic if you are using the iTouch) and displays any ambient noise, e.g. speech or music , in the animated Kitt output.

Shown above is the original design which is output by the Phone Rider app, but as everyone knows this was not always the way the Kitt voice was represented (see below for the alternate designs available from the control panel). You can choose from Plain Red, Red Diamond and inverted yellow.

I like this – but it can be a bit overly sensitive (which can be adjusted) – but a nice thowback to the 80s;

Phone Rider – Available on iTunes priced €0.79 – Click Here

Related Links:

iKitt iPhone App
iKitt iPhone App GPS Review

Enjoy!

I pity this years leaving cert students, with the World Cup starting during the Leaving Cert – must be hard to study with such distractions as Facebook, World Cup and of course with the Leaving Cert starting in a few days we can be guaranteed some good weather too!

Best of luck to all sitting this year !

No point in dragging out the suspense – here is the video. (The orginal video was withdrawn by YouTube so I uploaded this video instead)

I think it is terrible – this video of the smoking toddler is sparking outrage on the web. According to the boy’s parents, the smoking toddler goes through two packs a day and throws temper tantrums if he’s not allowed to smoke. (most children get tantrums but we don’t give them cigarettes)

His father apparently got him hooked after letting him take his first puff of a cigarette at 18 months

This is just an update regarding the iKitt iPhone App’s operation as a speedometer using GPS as you are travelling.

Turn the iPhone on its side and you get the classic Knight Rider / Kitt speedometer. As the iPhone gathers the GPS coordinates and positioning it calculates the actual speed you are doing (please do not do this when driving!! I don’t want people telling me they crashed when trying this out!).

A screenshot of the app in operation is shown below.

The speed of the iKitt speedometer is not realtime, sometimes it will update once a second sometimes longer. However it is quite accurate. The actual speed when testing above was approx 90kph.

I was very tempted to try this in a 737 when taking off from Gatwick recently but felt the “Please turn off all mobile devices” was enough to get me to turn it off.

Its a very good app and well worth the €0.79c price tag on the iTunes App Store, even if it is just for the retro sentimentality.

You can vote for Ivory Coast, since the colours are the same as the Irish flag but backwards or you can vote for the USA since there are a lot of Irish there anyway.

The results should be available on the show tomorrow.

However retrieving the Air France Airbus black boxes from the ocean floor might be near impossible.

The cause of the crash remains unknown but the aircrafts airspeed had given false readings, but officials believe other factors must also have contributed including blocked pitot probes or rudder failure similar to a crash in New York in November 2001.

Finding the black boxes from AF 447 will reveal flight data and cockpit conversations, allowing investigators to build a computer model of the final moments of the flight.

A French navy spokesman said: ‘It’s like trying to find a shoe-box in an area the size of Paris, at a depth of almost 10,000 feet and in a terrain as rugged as the Alps.’ and this search for AF447 is apparently ‘one of the most complex undersea operations ever’.

It will be interesting to see if any black boxes are found almost 1 year after the disaster.

The one thing I have a problem with is the placement of these signs.
The key areas these signs should be placed are
(1) All International Airports
and
(2) All Major Ferry Ports .

The sign you see here was about 10 miles inland and 95 miles from the nearest airport or ferry terminal.

If anyone could make it 95 miles on the wrong side of the road – I think they deserve to continue on the right hand side.

Picture it, they leave Dublin airport in a car, on the wrong side of the road, cars blowing, swerving and crashing into ditches, they continue for 95 miles and THEN they see a sign saying “Drive on the Left” … who decides where to put these signs???
Stupid!!

• It’s a bit early for Iceland volcano jokes. We should wait awhile for the dust to settle.
• Waiter, there’s volcanic ash in my soup. I know, it’s a no-fly zone.
• I came out my house yesterday and was hit on the head by a bag of frozen sausages, a chocolate gateau and some fish fingers. I realised it must be the fallout from Iceland.
• It was the last wish of the Icelandic economy that its ashes be spread over Europe.
• Iceland goes bankrupt, then it manages to set itself on fire. This has insurance scam written all over it.
• Volcano in Iceland. What next Earthquake in Asda?

Gizmodo.com have announced that the phone in indeed believed to be iPhone 4G, the fourth generation iPhone. Watch the video of the iPhone 4G below which is from the Gizmodo website…

Although disguised as the iPhone 3GS by peeling off the fake casing it revealed the new-look iPhone 4G model. The new phone apparently has a host of different features, according to the Gizmodo.com website, including a front-facing camera for video chatting, has a physically larger battery, uses a Micro-sim, a larger lens on the rear camera (which should improve picture quality) and a camera flash. One notable difference is that the back is perfectly flat as opposed to the curved back on the current iPhone.

Gizmodo.com say there was almost no possibility the phone is a fake. Apple have also rumoured to have said that the phone was not lost but stolen – they want the prototype back.

The new iPhone 4G is Due for release in June. Vodafone and O2 in Ireland both have the iPhone 3GS on sale , starting at €199 for bill pay. Might the price of the 3GS drop after the release of the new iPhone 4G? Is it worth buying an iPhone 3G or 3GS now? Would you wait and see? is the iPhone found in the USA a fake? … We just have to wait and see !

Feel free to comment below

Commercial airlines around Europe are now looking at the British Airways test flight to see if this may see flights resuming again in European Airspace which is costing about €150m per day and some airlines might have to close as a result of this major issue, combined with the recent recessionary problems faced by the European airlines.

This is now longer than the 9/11 closure of airspace and it is really unusual to look into the sky and not see any contrails.

The decision to close airspace was made in the interest of customer safety, but could the aircraft have flown below 20,000ft or could there have been reduced altitude short haul flights from Dublin to lets say Manchester or Liverpool, London to Paris in order to to ease the burden.

There are probably many people wondering “When can I fly again?” but with the weather set to change on Friday hopefully this will push the ash to the East and clear some airspace around the UK and Ireland. But with the possibility of the volcano continuing for months or even years this air dissruption will be just another thing to get used to.

Best Island Tours of Lanzarote

Grand Tour, Last Minute Travel;
Takes in the national park, lava fields, the caves and some extra stops including wine tasting. Lunch is included. Takes about 8 hours.

César Manrique Tour, Last Minute Travel;
Takes in areas of the island which have buildings or sculptures designed by local artist Cesar Manrique. You get great views if the island, a chance to enter caves created by a 20m year old lava flow, you can see his house and visit a cactus garden with 10,000 plants. Lunch is included. Takes about 8 hours.

Other Tours
If you are in a group the Rancho Texas evening would be great fun but it is not something for couples as you end up sitting with 6 strangers … Forced conversation can be difficult. Food was nice and lasso / whip demo was excellent. End of show cabaret including songs from show turkeys such as “Annie get your gun” and “Calamity Jane” was not for my taste.

Diners & Restaurants in Puerto del Carmen

American Indian Diner, located on the main strip in Puerto Del Carmen, the American Indian Diner has live music every night on stage with rock band “Question, 3 video screens with the best in rock and pop and live soccer from the Permiership, great food & cocktails including American burgers, steaks, delicious starters from only €2.80 as well as English breakfast, sandwiches and more from 8.00 a.m. – Great Atmosphere and we came here about 3 nights running.

Universo, located 2 doors down from the American Indian Diner. If you are looking for real food, if you are sick of fast food and burgers, this place will certainly deliver. Great food at reasonable prices. We were well impressed here.

New World Chinese Restaurant. A great Chinese, check out my full review on this restaurant. click here.

Indian Aroma,  Located about 5 min walk from the Fariones shops, this Indian is authentic, great starters and nice food. Indian Restaurants abroad are not 100% like Indians in Ireland, but are more like Indians in the UK. Sauces are thicker and a bit spicier. But we really enjoyed here and the food was very good.

Shopping in Lanzarote

Biosphera Shopping Centre. Located at the top of the hill in  he old town there are plenty of good shops and cafes, there is also  a Hagen Daz ice cream parlour if you get too hot from shopping. This is also where the #6 bus to Playa Blanca departs from.

Shopping in Playa Blanca. Playa Blanca is very good for shopping. Away from the main centre of tourism, Puerto Del Carmen, Playa Blanca seems to give a bit better value. Cosmetics, Perfumes, Electrical Items and Cameras are all good value. Don’t forget to haggle – if you are offered 200, say its too expensive and start to walk, you will be offered 170 and you might just say that you thought it would be cheaper, before you know it you will be offered 155 if you are lucky.

Overall, Lanzarote is a great place for shopping but it can be easy to get ripped off if you are not careful. Forewarned is forearmed – so enjoy if you are going !

The following solution will stop ash going into the engines – however it may cause some extra buildups of ash to occur in the atmosphere.

Unknown Credit

Following advice from the UK Met Office, the National Air Traffic Service introduced these restrictions to UK airspace as a result of volcanic ash drifting across the United Kingdom from Icelands recent volcanic activity.

The European air safety body, Eurocontrol, said the cloud of ash had reached 55,000ft and was expected to move through northern UK & Scotland by 1300BST today.

The Jakarta Effect

The restrictions were necessary because volcanic ash can damage aircraft engines and other instruments.

On June 24th, 1982 a British Airways 747, Speedbird 9, was on its way over Jakarta in Indonesia when Capt. Eric Moody made the following address to the 247 passengers on board;

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are all doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.”

After unknowingly flying through a plume of volcanic ash, all four engines shut down one by one.
Another side effect of flying through the ash for BA Speedbird 9 was that the windscreen of the aircraft was effectively sandblasted and they could only see through a small unaffected strip at the bottom of the window. It also blocked the pitot tubes which resulted in a 50 knot difference on the left and right airspeed indicators.

As they decended below FL29 (29,000 feet), they started trying to restart the engines, as per their training and their understanding of the 4 Rolls Royce engines standard operating procedures; Not expecting that the engines would restart. They continued to decend through 14,000 feet and ast they did they were able to get engine #4 restarted. followed by engine #3. About 2 minutes into the sequence, engines #1 and #2 came back on-ilne.

Jakarta ATC cleared them for a visual landing, as there was no way the flight could continue to its destination. They landed safely only using instruments and the 2-inch strip of clear glass to land the jumbo.

There was a nearly identical incident on 15th December 1989 when KLM Flight 867, a B747-400 travelling between Amsterdam to Anchorage, Alaska, flew throught a plume of volcanic ash from the erupting Mount Redoubt, again. causing all four engines to fail.

The effect of volcanic ash contaminating an engine is called “The Jakarta Effect” after the problems BA Flight 9 / Speedbird 9 had over Jakarta back in 1982.

Below is a video from Air Crash Investigation which shows the problems of BA Flight 9 in 1982.

So if you can’t travel today then there is an actual reason and its down to “The Jakarta Effect”.

Link to Crystal Swing appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show;

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2010/04/crystal_swing_finally_makes_it_vod-0412.php
The video is a little jumpy in places…

Below is the original video from the St. Patricks Day, Ellen DeGeneres Show vowed to get them on the Ellen Show. I’m not sure about the stats near the end of the video where Ireland is quoted to have 6m people.

The new iPhone 4G is also rumoured to be called the iPhone HD and may have HD capabilities. It is also rumoured to have a forward facing camera, ideal for Skype video calls, and may be a bit longer / thinner than the 3GS iPhone.

This is an interesting concept of the New iPhone 4G

Other iPhone Rumours include

• The iPhone 4G will have an RFID antenna so you can scan products and use the phone as something such as an Oyster card.
• The iPhone 4G will have an OLED screen for a brighter, higher resolution screen which goes along with a HD iPhone for the 4G
• The iPhone 4G will have more storage – which makes sense possibly 64Gb or 128Gb
• The iPhone HD will have a 16:9 screen – ideal for video
• The iPhone 4G will have an LED camera / video flash and will be >5 megapixels
• The iPhone release date for the 4G iPhone is June

Nobody knows if these iPhone 4G rumours are correct but time will tell.

A very reliable service provided Canal Travel and the owner Rafael was excellent in helping us on our arrival as our travel agent in Waterford had let us down by not booking transfers for us. On departure they were right on time (they were actually there in advance) at our hotel and took our bags from the lobby which helped make departure from the hotel that bit easier.

I was well impressed and certainly recommend them.

Canal Travel
Website: www.canaltravel.com