This case is one particularly horrific example of why Facebook et al have the right idea. No more pseudonyms. You should be as accountable for what you do online as you are standing in front of someone.
A federal indictment accuses Lori Drew, 49, of O’Fallon, Missouri, of using the social networking Web site MySpace.com […]

[Read more →]

Crossposted from Brassneck (the wonky poliblog founded by the Sluggeriffic Mick Fealty on the Telegraph website - and by the way, Brassneck was recently named a top 10 “most influential” of Brit blogs), where I’m an occasional contributor. With some extra at the end, just for you:
Ireland’s referendum vote over the Lisbon Treaty had been […]

[Read more →]

The Irish Times published a second story today on the Estate Agent market manipulation scandal. Its story yesterday, along with a tiny item in the Indo, noted that the National Consumer Agency had demanded a meeting with the industry. Ann Fitzgerald of the NCA certainly throws some fire in the first IT article:
“is extremely serious […]

[Read more →]

The Irish Times property editor, Orna Mulcahy, wrote a letter to Ireland’s estate agents, calling them out for attempting to manipulate the market by exaggerating (translation: lying) about the sale prices of houses bought by private treaty. Massive story. The Sunday Business Post — no stranger to property advertising — runs a big piece on […]

[Read more →]

…moi, along with Sinead Gleeson and Catriona Crowe, who are serious critics, so I’m there to lower the tone.

Tonight at 23.15 on RTE One, discussing, amongst other things:
– Martin Scorsese’s love note to the Rolling Stones, Shine a Light: not just a concert film! And Keith Richards now officially looks like Pirate Gollum.
– The Rough […]

[Read more →]

We’re so fond of Slate.com’s discovery of the widget - and this particular deathwatch - that we thought we’d give it our support. Yeah, we know it’s cheesy. And the analysis could be better. But when the boat finally sinks beneath the waves, it’ll be like the credits finally rolling on that horror film with […]

[Read more →]

Bertie Ahern tells Aengus Fanning in this morning’s Sunday Independent:
“The reality of the situation is that 100 years ago it was Parnell, 10 years ago it was Clinton, today it’s me and tomorrow it will be somebody else.”
Wow.
I’ve argued for several weeks - privately, sadly - that just this line of thinking, explicitly […]

[Read more →]

So it’s now official - defined as noted in The New York Times, and linked to by Drudge - blogging has fatalities:

“Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, […]

[Read more →]

For a magazine piece I’m writing, I’m looking for people with the longest daily commutes in Ireland. People who travel more than 90 minutes each way, every day. “Extreme commuters”, they’re officially called.
They’re a fast-growing group, and we’re going to see more, I think. The reasons are the housing slump and the overall slower growth […]

[Read more →]

RTÉ Belfast reporter Michael Fisher nabbed a nice exclusive, as he caught up with Samantha Power after she gave a lecture at Queens University, after she split from the Obama campaign. She supposedly resigned, but as we wrote earlier and the NY Observer picked up from us (hi Niall Stanage), Samantha Power seemed pretty clear […]

[Read more →]