Digital Media

I love movies. I also have my favourite tv shows (another blog on that sometime). I do a LOT of commuting. I LOVE my iPhone as a way to watch my films & tv shows on the go.

Since totally above board legal downloading of content is virtually impossible in Ireland, I rip DVDs into AVI format and store them. I then make mp4 copies of these when I need them and delete these mp4s afterward.

This is SUCH a pain.

If there are legal reasons for no movies/tv shows on the Irish iTunes store/any other store then fine. Can’t be done ATM ( wish Apple and the EU would get something sorted soon).

My question is why a digital copy is not included on all DVDs? I know it is on some – but very few.

And why doesn’t Apple/Pixar/Disney have them at the very least. They championed this at WWDC 08. I expected my copy of WALL.E to have one, but no.

Until they clean up their act on this the illegal services will get more and more popular – and less revenue will come in for the movie distributors.

Doesn’t make sense in a recession does it?

Great Deal For Golfers

I am recommending all golfers to check out http://www.greenfree.co.uk/gm to get a great deal on green fees.

On the site you can buy vouchers that entitle 2 people can play golf for the price of 1 – and you can buy up to 6 such vouchers for £17.80 (for the lot) and get 2 more free.

The offer applies to many golf courses in Ireland and the UK. Haven;t seen many of the really famous ones, but a lot of regional ones are participating.

I look for courses in Leinster and found a few I know well – including Dundalk Golf Club in Blackrock (2 miles down the road … woo-hoo!). Arklow, Coollatin and Mount Wolseley are also there – I have played these and recommend them all.

My own golf club Courtown is NOT on the list – which is a shame as it is a course that has greatly improved over the last decade.

March 2009’s ‘Golf Monthly’ magazine has a free voucher.

Laser Eyes….

I wore glasses for 10 years. I developed what my optican described as ‘Student eye sight’ while at university. Too much looking and reading up close – couldn’t see faraway things clearly or at all.

Reading overhead projectors, reading road signs, even seeing the golf/hurling/any ball was very difficult -and at times impossible. Glasses solved this, but I played a bit of football and I grew to hate contact lenses.

So after much wiping/losing/getting pissed off of glasses I decided on laser surgery a month before my son Darragh was born – May 2008.

I was anxious, but I couldn’t praise the guys at optilase enough. No pressure, appointment dates and times to suit (even weekends), and a very relaxing experience in terms of the operation itself.

As for the operation I had no need for any worries. It all felt like going to the dentist – except with the comfort of going to the hairdressers. I won’t describe the procedure here (feel free to mail me if you’re really interested) except it was short, pain-free and was like someone washing your eyes and looking into a light for about 20 seconds.

The recovery demands a bit of discipline. LOTS of eyesrops – I didn’t know there so many types! -and a 4 hour period of eye closure on the day. I feel asleep; job done.

I haven’t missed wearing glasses, having fogged up glasses, losing my glasses or my optician at all.

And I can see the golf ball landing now – believe me that helps.

Cost me €2800. I claimed back 42% tax on that. I had the more expensive laser treatment ( worth it) and had the LASEK method of surgery.

Optilase are now offering all private health insurance customers a grand off.

Highly recommended.

Economics 101

As a Commerce graduate, I have been dismayed by the recent actions/inactions of companies and governments. The subsqent over-the-top media reaction has only accelerated the economic slowdown.

I studied Commerce in university. Economics was one of those business subjects that I HAD to study but never became one I loved. For me it was always the study of the obvious; a practice of making assumptions in order to track economic activity. Enterprise, innovation, that get-up-off your ass and get on with it attitude -economists and accountants don’t know what these really are – they are unknowns in their precious models. I liked IT and marketing – I felt positive after studying them.

So when a company like Sony ( for example) announce that they’re about to make their first loss and therefore have to cut jobs, I fail to see how that helps them sell more goods and generate future profit. They are making losses because consumers are frightened of losing jobs and saving their money instead of buying that LCD or VIAO. Accountants & economistd advising to shed jobs and cut costs does not guarantee sales or profit next year – lowered prices, quality products, new innovative sales techniques and conveying a positive consumer-focussed attitude does that. Apple are brilliant at this (maybe not the lower price bit though).

Recently a real estate company in Wexford introduced an amazing idea. They introduced a scheme on a new estate where potential buyers could rent houses for 4 years. They then had the option of buying them at the current low prices after the 4 years AND the rent paid was offset against the purchase price. The estate sold out as if the recession never happened. No jobs lost. No tears. Genius.

A lesson for all companies in the current climate. Losses happen with minimum effort – profits come from pushing on, innovating and not cutting the very people and resources that can help create the recovery.

Obvious.