It’s a never ending story, the saga of our broadband connection. A ‘reconfiguration’ last week has left us crawling along at around 4KB/s (32Kb/s) – equivalent to slow analogue dial-up.
Living a long way from anywhere has some fabulous advantages, but one of them is not connectivity. We knew this when we moved here, but we did dream of a time when even this remote spot would be connected electronically to the rest of the world by something more than the string and chewing gum that was Telecom Eireann’s rural network circa 2000.
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Life in Currane, technology
Broadband, technology
So the iPhone 3G is here. As I said in a previous post, I really want one. I wanted the original iPhone, and now I want the 3G.
I’ve also said to friends that I’m at that age where I have to be convinced that the product is right and the time is right. As you may know I’m a huge Apple fan and until the iPhone no other smartphone had really attracted me. Having the latest/smartest gadget doesn’t do it for me, but that’s a personal thing. I need to see real utility and ways in which my life will be made easier, even if the product design is dreamy.
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technology
iPhone, mobile telephony, O2, technology
Isn’t it great to be able to take your music library with you when you fly somewhere? Let’s face it, flying is one of the few occasions left when you are expected to do no more than just sit there (ok, and buy lots of expensive coffee, food etc.). So you don’t have to feel guilty about sitting back and enjoying some tunes.
The brainboxes in the tech industry are making it even easier to do this by merging our iPods with our mobile phones – one less gadget to carry, one less charger, so much smarter.
Except that I was shocked at the announcement on a recent flight to the effect that, although iPods etc could be used once airborne, mobile phones must remain switched off even if they have a flight safety mode and you just want to use them to listen to a bit of Bach.
Oh dear. So much for convergence.
technology
aircraft, flight, iPhone, iPod, mobile telephony, technology
The iPhone has arrived in Ireland – last Friday actually – and I always said I’d be one of the first in the queue. Every time I’ve visited the UK since it’s launch there I’ve made a point of spending some time in an O2 shop playing with it, and what a fabulous device it is! So easy to use (even with my stubby fingers) and such a gorgeous thing to hold. It’s the first mobile phone that I’ve really wanted.
So have I bought one? No. Why? O2 Ireland. OK, so there are several minor issues: I’d like to have more memory (32GB minimum) and maybe 3G, and clearly the software is going to develop very, very quickly over the next few months; but no, it’s the incredibly mean package from O2 that is making me wait.
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technology
iPhone, mobile telephony, technology
Modern technology can be wonderful. Satellite communications and the internet make it possible to work anywhere and we are lucky enough to be able to live in a really wild, remote area while still being part of the online world.
Whenever we start to feel smug, however, Mother Nature is ready to put us back in our place! A really bad storm on Sunday night – gale force winds, hail, thunder and lightning – left us without power between 12:30am and 11:15am Monday. Not too bad you might think, and you should be right. Unfortunately we’ve found that whenever the power goes, so does our broadband. It’s never a simple matter of restoring power. Something dark and mysterious has to be done by our broadband provider to restore our connection. Happily I can report that just over 24 hours after the power came back we are online once again.
[NB this doesn't affect the website, only our ability to access it.]
Life in Currane, technology
