The Google fund
Web search firm Google - whose motto is "don't be evil" - is setting up a subsidiary dedicated to doing good.
Its new philanthropic division, named Google.org, will fund social investment projects in the developing world.
Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are devoting 1% of Google's stock and profits - almost $1bn (£573m) - to the new charitable venture.
The first beneficiaries include projects to improve water supplies in rural Africa and anti-poverty works.
The charity is the outcome of a pledge made by the California-based company at the time of its initial stock market flotation last year.
Mr Page and Mr Brin said they would set up a Google Foundation to do "good things for the world".
Nice to see that they are sharing some of their success with those who have not been so lucky. Some have reservations about Gmail and other developments but this should help to calm their fears.
BBC
Who will control the internet
John Naughton draws attention to a very important piece in today's
Herald TribuneBeyond the headlines, a critically important battle for control of the Internet is being played out.
On the one side is the United States, which wants to retain supervision of the Internet and has managed to get the reluctant support of most of the global Internet community, which sees America as the least bad of the possible ultimate guardians of the system.
On the other side is a collection of states keen on getting as much as control as possible in order to curtail the Internet's power to undermine their regimes. With the theocracy of Iran as the standard-bearer, this group brings together Saudi Arabia, China, Cuba and Venezuela. North Korea is probably keen to join in as well.
The European Union seems to be in the middle, wavering back and forth - and in its wavering it has recently come down with a position that has brought it enthusiastic applause from Tehran, Beijing and Havana.
This has not received the attention it deserves and there is a danger that by carelessness and default that freedom of expression for many will be reduced. The squabbling continued without a decision being made as reported in
The Register.
Doctor
The
Sunday Independent reported
THE Government's chief science adviser, Dr Barry McSweeney, got his doctorate from a US 'university' that globally advertises its unrecognised "fee-for-degree" qualifications on the internet, the Sunday Independent can reveal. The Swedish government has listed Pacific Western University (PWU) as a fake institution that issues bogus degrees, while the investigative arm of the US Congress said in a report that PWU was an unaccredited "diploma mill" for CV cheats.
The revelation about Mr McSweeney's doctorate will come as a further embarrassment to the Taoiseach in a week when he was again chided in the Dail by FG leader Enda Kenny for allegedly "faking" his own degree.
Last night, Mr McSweeney himself refused to comment on his doctorate, but a spokeswoman said that he was "proud" of his PhD, which he achieved in just 12 months, and that he stood over it.
There are now serious questions over the use by Mr McSweeney of the title 'Doctor', particularly given his current role.
The particular use of the title by Dr McSweeney is not important, in fact his standing and reputation are such that it is of little consequence in the specific case. What is important is the need to establish some forum that can validate academic qualifications. It is difficult, but with the wide variety of degree issuing institutions some effort needs to be made.
Easy money
Easy money, but is it fair?
SO HOW much did you make on the side this year. I reckon by the end of the year I'll have made close to 100 grand over and above my wages. So did all my neighbours, several of them lady OAPs.
It sounds like one of those schemes: "€2,000 a week from your home." Except this scheme isn't too good to be true and there are no strings attached. And you don't have to do anything. Just sit in your house.
If your house is any kind of bog standard yoke anywhere in and around Dublin City it's probably worth a half million. And this year, property in and around Dublin City, is set to increase in value by about a fifth.
This raises some very fundamental questions. We need to face this issue.
That more is earned through assets and speculation rather than working is wrong. That they also make no contribution to the common good is a disgrace. The situation needs serious thought and action to introduce fairness. Big money is very powerful and will strongly resist the required change.
The Sunday Independent
Guinness is good for you
The final
proof.
Hat-Tip
mcarthurweb
A bloodless coup
Its more serious than life or death.
Croatian soccer fans rushed to donate blood this week in exchange for tickets for the national team's decisive World Cup qualifying game against Sweden, the Vecernji List daily reported Friday.
The game's organizers set aside 300 tickets for the occasion but the number of volunteer blood donors in Zagreb was several times higher. Students cut classes and employees used their lunch breaks to queue in the hospital, the daily said.
"I have always been afraid of syringes, but for Croatia I found the courage," student Ivica Brnadic told the daily.
Reuters
A small step
A US court gave an important ruling on Bloggers
rights of free speech.
Creative Commons fundraising campaign
Creative Commons has just launched its first fundraising campaign. In 2.5 years, over 50,000,000 works have been licensed under CC licenses (including mine, I'm proud to say). CC licenses promote a free and open Internet, undermine the arguments for technology mandates and DRM, and benefit the developing world, disabled people, and educators and archivists (as well as creators). There are CC projects in dozens of countries around the world, which means that soon everyone will be able to play, no matter what legal system you live under.
The goal is to raise a very modest $225,000 by December 31. That's so do-able. CC is a charity, and you'll get a tax-receipt, but you also get to strike a blow for a digital future that expands our rights and freedoms.
The alternative is a future in which every click and every use and every innovation requires permission and payment. A pay-per-use, pay-per-second, ask-first world. I'll do anything to stop that world from coming to pass. My $250 donation is cheap insurance.
Boing Boing
The media labs debacle
The Irish government invested $40m of taxpayers' money in MIT's Media's Lab Europe - and has bugger all to show for it.
A report by the Republic's public auditor-general also reveals that Media Lab executives awarded themselves large severance pay-offs when the money was running out, and refused to refund public money as the original agreement had specified.Eire's comptroller called the output of the Media Lab over five years "dismal". The Lab netted only €7m in sponsorship and saw just 24 scientific papers published. In addition, 12 patents filed by the Lab are worthless. The Lab added nothing to Ireland's education drive while it went its merry way, and after liquidation will leave the Republic with just €300,000 in assets.
...we are having a problem with unsupervised projects proving a black hole for money. The time has come to shout "stop" and hold our politicians to account. If they can't do the job they should step down and let a group of competent people take over.
The Register
Crazy law
If the Virgin Mary had been born 2000 years later, she might have ended up in an Indiana State prison, if Republican lawmakers there get their way. A proposed bill hopes to make criminals out of unmarried women in Indiana who conceive "by means other than sexual intercourse."
...this can only bring the law into disrepute. We need to speak out.
Boing Boing
Real changes
I recently
blogged about my search for Public Liability Insurance for a disability scooter which I want to rent.
I sent many emails to my broker discussing the wording of my house insurance policy and finally after several negative replies got the correct answer. It'll do for now but I'll watch for a change of policy wording on renewal. In the meantime I am sending a lot of emails to get permanent changes made. In the UK this cover is available why not in Ireland.
How to make bad worse
A classic example of how not to deal with a complaint. A company with the expertise of BT Ireland should know better. I didn't know there was a problem until I saw this.
Finns fight back
The slow sclerosis by big business using copyright legislation.Attention Finns! Your government is preparing to pass a copyright law that is insanely overreaching. They've been influenced by local record executives who believe that listening to music on a computer is a privilege, not a right, and the process is being overseen by a culture minister who says that people who send email to Parliament are terrorists...This Tuesday, Oct 4, Finns are taking to the streets of Helsinki in a rare and urgent copyright demonstration.
Boing Boing
Is this for real
I have a mobility problem and decided that on my upcoming trip abroad on holiday I would rent a mobility scooter. A
search on the web turned up just what I wanted.
The suppliers only have insurance for their mobility scooter they don't offer personal liability insurance to the renter. An exhaustive search drew a blank.
The
Irish Wheelchair Association had met the question before but not the answer. My
travel insurance company said no. After much searching it seemed that my house insurance provider was my best chance. A call to them produced the answer "If your renting the item -no. If you own it -yes. No we can't tell you where the relevant clause is, it's in the policy document which you got."
It seems that the distinction between renting and ownership is crucial. I await their response to my email with interest.
