The Nissan Leaf will be on sale in Ireland from March (€35k but there’s a €5k government subsidy). Just before Christmas, my colleague Risteárd Ó Coisdealbha and I got a chance to test drive it in Dublin. Our radio report for the RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta series Ar Strae sa tSaotharlann is featured in the programme podcast (RSS) for 18 December 2010. We also tested the REVA.
Before we hit the road, I shot this video on my HTC Desire phone as Nissan’s Brian Purcell gave us the low-down on Leaf.
You may have seen reports warning about phishing scam emails purporting to be from the Irish Revenue Commisioners. This morning I got an message in Irish, and reasonably sophisticated Irish at that, in a text file, attached to an email which claimed to be from Cáin agus Custaim na hÉireann . The subject line is oddly phrased – “Tá sonraí le haghaidh idirbheart: 4507874176″ but the Irish in the attachment would easily pass for somewhat clunky civil-service-ese.
A chara Iarratasoir:
Tar eis an riomh do ghniomhaiocht fioscach do 2010 ta muid cinnte go bhfuil tu i dteideal a fhail meid aisioc canach de EURO 284.00.
D’fhonn an fhoirm a chomhlanu cliceail ar an nasc thios:
OK – so here’s how to spot phishing. The URL above looks OK? The first part – http://www.revenue.ie – that’s the address of the Revenue, isn’t it? Yes – if that ‘.ie‘ were followed immediately by a a ‘/‘. But it’s not. The actual hostname of the URL is http://www.revenue.ie.form2011.com/ which is NOT owned by the Revenue.
The rules apply as always: NEVER click on a link you get in an email like this. If you use online services for tax, banking etc then always access those sites by typing in the URL or using a bookmark you saved previously. And treat unsolicited email with suspicion.
The truly upsetting thing here however is the apparent sophistication of the Irish used. It seems too good to be machine-generated, which seems to imply an appalling conclusion. Is it possible that an Irish speaker would stoop so low as to use the language to bait such a vile hook for his fellow Gaeilgeoir?
It would be interesting to discover how many of these emails have been received by people like myself who are known for being interested in the Irish language?
Maybe I’ll start blogging in English again. The topic of neglected blogs came up on Saturday while I was chatting with Alan O’Rourke at the inaugural Irish Web Awards. It was great to see Alan again, and to meet his wife Mary, who engaged me in conversation “as Gaeilge”!
I’m not going to go and list everyone I met at the awards, but I have to give a special mention to Caroline and her friend Tríona, who makes yummy cakes in Athy. Oh – and David and Deborah who introduced me to them, and Ken who I was takling to in the line before I met them, and John and Tommy who shared my taxi from Heuston, and Peter D, and Aido and Dusty and Rick and Brian and Roseanne and Maryrose, and Joe and Darren and Darragh and Walter (Congrats!) and ConorO, and Cathal from Focal.ie who won the award we sponsored, and Jason and Robin and Elly and Marie and John macawilliams, and Eoghan and Gordon and John and Sabrina – who was the design genius behind two winners on the night (congrats also to Debz who I didn’t meet, and to Pat who twittered and Qik’d from JFK!)
So I’m not going to list everyone. That would be silly – and I’d be sure to leave someone out.
… like Damien, maybe? Well done once again, Mr. Mulley.
There hasn’t been time to post a lot here on this site recently. Things are moving forward, business is brisk, and we are gearing up to have the capability to produce even more in the months ahead.
Here’s a Qik video of our new studio fit-out in progress.
It occurs to me that leadership has little to do with ability or experience. Children want someone to care for them and fix things. What a society of adults needs is someone to inspire them, collectively, to fix it themselves.
I can’t remember which Irish blog I found Groovy Dancing Girl on, but thanks! “Sowra” (Samhradh?) gets a mention in the An tImeall column this week.
I’m impressed and delighted to discover a genuine Irish YouTube hit. More than that, however, is the fact that I’m not usually a fan of dance – but I really enjoyed watching this!
Maybe MC Hammer is onto something with his web startup?
Anyway, here’s what I love about web culture. Not only can Sowra/Sophie/Groovy express her talent by making and posting videos like this …
… but others can mash them up in tribute, like this:
Best wishes to everyone involved with Techludd. If you’re in Dublin tonight it should be well worth going to the inaugural TechLudd in the Odessa Club.
TechLudd is a free monthly social networking event for Irish start-ups and those interested in them, from founders to funders to fans.
TechLudd was founded on the idea of nurturing a network around start-ups, building the same kind of ecosystem that the Paddy’s Valley crew discovered helped nurture entrepreneurs with access, funding, contacts and communication on their trip to Silicon Valley in December 07.
For our inaugural get together, we’re hosting a non-event: no speakers, no panels, no presentations – just some of the crew from Paddy’s Valley, who we’ll anchor to the bar so you can ask them about their experiences; an open demo table if you want to show off your stuff; and Irish start-up funders, founders and fans.
I wish I could make it, but unfortunately I’m going to have to skip this one. However, over a hundred people have signed up so I don’t think I’ll be missed. See you at TechLudd 2!
