Watching the Republican primaries from this distance is probably the safest way of coping with the mix of toxicity and stupidity that is the hallmark of the race, but one aspect that seems to be increasingly prevalent is the casual use of “Europe” as a broad pejorative, a lazy symbol for dysfunctional “socialism” that…
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Author Archives: davinodwyer
The culture that is Germany (Football punditry edition)
It’s a big night of league football all over Europe, with key games in England, Spain and Italy. None is more decisive than the game that just finished between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich – the winner was almost certainly going to be crowned Bundesliga champion in a few weeks. Bars and “kneipes” all over…
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A billion-dollar Easter Monday
Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram has taken everybody by surprise, but a few hour’s of analysis seems to have come to the consensus that it was both obvious and obligatory for Zuckerberg to make his move: Instagram was cornering the mobile photo-sharing game, and it had something else that Facebook doesn’t have any more, though I…
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The King of the World, at the Bottom of the Sea
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA Exploring strange, alien frontiers is nothing new to James Cameron – from Aliens to Avatar, he has made billions creating adventures in exotic environments for eager cinema audiences. But last weekend, Cameron went on an adventure all of his own when he brought his cameras to the Challenger Deep,…
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Hardware innovation’s glass ceiling
HARDWARE INNOVATION HAS COME UP AGAINST A GLASS CEILING From The Irish Times, March 19th, 2012 When apple chief executive Tim Cook launched the new iPad in early March, it was the most eagerly anticipated hardware announcement in months, inspiring huge amounts of speculation ahead of its unveiling – the infamous Apple rumour mill…
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Hinging on stupid design
I could never understand what all the hullabaloo was about when details of the Microsoft Courier tablet leaked back in late 2009. It seemed so obviously an exercise in FUD-inspired vapourware directed against the imminent iPad – which was to be revealed in January of 2010. Courier’s debut was just a leaked series of mocked up…
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The historical opportunity of Julian Assange
In researching this article on the Lulzsec case, I had a great chat with journalist Misha Glenny, who is very familiar with the world of hackers after years researching the terrific non-fiction thriller DarkMarket: Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You (which I had the pleasure of reviewing for The Irish Times last year). While discussing the hacktivism of…
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The Hacking Game
THE HACKING GAME From The Irish Times, Saturday March 10th, 2012 “It looked like a fairly innocuous tweet, sent a few nights before New Year’s Eve: “@anonymouSabu – will you be releasing technical infodox about how the #Stratfor ownage went down? I sure hope so . . .” To the uninitiated, the words have little…
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Innovation talks: The new means of production
My first Irish Times Innovation Talks column was in the paper today – it’s due to be a monthly column, there or thereabouts, on various aspects of tech innovation. The first column, on how critical programming is to the future of innovation, is below. “GIVING THE WORLD ACCESS TO THE NEW MEANS OF PRODUCTION” From The…
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The Agony of Lying, the Ecstasy of Getting Caught
For those of us interested in technology (particularly Apple), non-fiction storytelling (particularly on This American Life), and journalism (wherever it might occur), the Mike Daisey saga has been an absorbing case study. Daisey is the monologuist who has become one of the fiercest critics of Apple’s manufacturing process, going so far as to visit…
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