Nokia gets ready for Oxegen with festival apps

Ahead of the biggest music festival of the year here in Ireland Nokia is readying ticket holders with a selection of free apps - Apps for Oxegen - designed to be part of the festival survival kit.

Available through Nokia's app store Ovi.com these free Apps for Oxegen include three specially created apps for the big weekend: Nokia Live Link, Nokia Recommends and Nokia Video Jukebox.

Even if you're not there on the day you can follow gigs and gossip through these apps and the Live Link app give up breaking news, stage times, special guest info as well as traffic information and where the parties are happening on-site.

Live Link is created by mobile app developer Mobanode, the tech start-up behind apps including national anthem app Amhran na Bhfiann and a variety of apps for Electric Picnic. Read More

Coursey: Silicon Republic

Brown Bag Films lands Disney contract

The twice-Oscar nominated Irish animation company Brown Bag Films has landed a major contract with Disney to produce a new children’s television series.

Brown Bag will produce a 52-episode series entitled Doc McStuffins for Disney, which will be screened on the US cable TV channel Disney Junior.

Brown Bag chief executive Cathal Gaffney said the company would be taking on an additional 14 staff over the next two years to cater for the new contract.

Gaffney founded Brown Bag Films in 1994 with Darragh O'Connell, the studio's creative head. Read More

Courtesy: Silicon Republic

Demise of the desktop

AS AN increasingly rare sight on retailers’ shelves, in people’s homes and even around the office, it is clear that the desktop computer is dying. So what is driving the demise of this once ever-present machine and does it have any hope of survival?

Once expensive and unwieldy, the laptop is now the dominant player in the computer landscape.

According to both manufacturers and retailers this is because of two distinct trends which, between them, are working to squeeze out the desktop – ever-improving miniaturised technology and changing customer behaviour.

“The price points [on notebooks] have come way down and the market has caught up a lot with desktops in terms of performance,” said Aaron McKenna, country manager for online retailer Komplett.ie.

Just a few years ago, money spent on a laptop would give users far less power than the same amount spent on a desktop. However, cheaper and smaller components mean this gulf has all but disappeared at consumer levels. Read more

Courtesy: Irish Times

Irish cure for vuvuzela 'sufferers'

Irish company Restored Hearing has found a novel way to combat Vuvuzela-related hearing damage from this year's World Cup by providing a low frequency therapy for people who are suffering from temporary tinnitus.

Temporary tinnitus is caused by exposure to loud environments, such as listening to the noise of the Vuvuzela horn. In noisy environments damage can be done to the sound receptor cells in the cochlea.

The cochlea is that part of the ear which converts wave-vibrations into electric signals before sending these signals onto the brain. Read More

Courtesy: RTE News