Our Blog, April, 2008

600 police in stolen phone raid

The Telegraph report that 600 police descended on the Finsbury Park area of London targetting stolen mobile phones. A massive 40% of all phones stolen in the UK are sold in that area. In one day they got 300 mobile phones, 120 laptops, 110 cameras and 32 iPods.

Intel anti-theft technology for laptops

Great to see a behemoth like Intel start to take laptop loss and theft seriously. Details of the service are pretty sparse but they are talking about making the laptop , and not just the hard drive inoperable.

A Right side of the brain company !!

Dan Pink, interviewed on Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1, reckons we are a right side of the brain company.

Dan was speaking at the IMI conference and reckons that creative companies are needed to drive our economy – we need to build skills in Ireland that cant be outsourced to a lower cost economy. Building a business from scratch is tough , building a business from scratch where there is no industry, is even tougher . It is great to get an endorsement from Dan.

40% of all phones will have a security app by 2011

According to Juniper 250 million phones will have a security application by 2011. At this point it will outstip the revenues for the PC market.

Startup Threads

What all startup folk should be wearing Spring Summer 2008.

Tiny pcs –

Fit-pc have launched an ultra ultra small pc in the same line as the Asus eePc.

What They say:

fit-PC is a noiseless PC the size of a paperback, yet fit enough to run Windows XP or Linux. fit-PC is designed to fit where a standard PC is too bulky, noisy and power-consuming. If you ever wished for a compact, quiet and green PC – then fit-PC is the perfect fit for you.

I totally understand mobile computing getting smaller and smaller but where are there specific applications for this – education etc?

Why companies dont encrypt !!

Interesting comment in an article on Federal Computer Week, detailing why some companies dont encrypt their laptops – in this case it corrupted and lost data. We have dealt with police forces that have removed encryption of other operational reasons i.e. the laptop took forever to open documents.

People will always take the path of least resistance and encryption will never become commonplace if it affects performance one jot.

Lost Luggage Solution – ship ahead

There is nothing worse than losing luggage. A great niche has developed for companies who come to your home and deliver your luggage to your final destination. I know a low maintenance guy ( hi Dad) who was travelling to the states for a month and all he brought was carry on luggage. If only my significant other could learn from this frugal traveller.

Cellphones in USA looking to send $65.5 bn home

A massive $65.5 billion are sent home from USA residents, primarily to Central America. A number of interesting companies are looking to move that to cellphones. This is an under the radar business aimed at a very specific demographic and will thrive if moved successfully to a mobile platform.