NIMUG

Tonight from 6 pm - 8 pm is the second of the Digital Circle events - this one focussing on Innovation Vouchers, R&D Tax Credits and finishing off with a discussion on trade shows that might be of interest to Digital Media companies (most of which use Macs anyway).

It’s being held at the University of Ulster Art College in Belfast.

See here for the link. There’s no need to RSVP at this point, just turn up - though it would be appreciated.

We’re planning a NiMUG meeting for the 29th September.

The venue is Windsor Lawn Tennis Club which is located on Windsor Avenue in Belfast. There’s plenty of parking and you enter in through the main doors and come to the downstairs meeting room. It’s quite exposed and not large but we need to get an idea of the numbers before we book the bigger room upstairs. We’ll definitely have tables, WiFi and seats. Mac-Sys did buy a Projector we can borrow as well. The meeting will starts at 7 pm and we’ll aim to finish up at 9 pm. The format is still very fast and loose. We still want volunteers to give demos. The turnout will be the best gauge of success!

Agenda

• The Apple Store in Belfast - isn’t it great that we now have one?
• The iPhone/iPod touch app store - bring your device along and talk about the top 5 best apps and ones you’re waiting for.
• The Dock - Nearly a decade on and we’re still using the Dock. Nick from Mac-Sys will be about to talk about the most visible element in the Mac OS X user interface.

Continue reading »

Free and not so free WiFi access points across the island of Ireland. Hundreds of them.
This was created by James at EirePreneur.
Continue reading »

According to Larry Dignan on ZDNet:

• Hard drives are the “hot” PC accessory this holiday season.
  Of course with Leopard and Time Machine we can see that an external drive quickly becomes a must-have for anyone wanting to retain their data. It really takes the pain out of maintaining backups.
• Notebook demand remains strong.
  Anyone could have told you this. With AOL giving low-end laptops away and MacBook demand going through the roof, people are keen on having computing where they want it rather than having to place the computer in the spare room. And nothing beats using your laptop to answer those questions that strike in the middle of the night. Or is that just me?
• Anything Apple.
  No surprise here either. A recent report said that 1 iPhone and 13 iPods are being sold an hour currently in any one of the Apple Retail Stores. Like last year, this is going to increase as Christmas approaches.
• Printers are an afterthought
  I’d not really noticed but I don’t have a working printer at home currently. I’ve just not needed it. Having the iPhone makes a difference for sure because I tend to keep stuff in my email and of course, iPhone is really good for email. I never need to print anything.
• Smartphone discounts abound, but not for long.
  These discounts were in direct competition with the iPhone but they were simply not sustainable. Of course there’s a palpable difference between having a smartphone and a smart phone. Hey, it’s the same phone as Chris Moyles and Jeremy Clarkson.