I’m exceptionally late to the game on this, but last week i bought an iPad. And it’s not the operating system or the size and form factor that impresses me the most: it’s the screen technology.

The advancements in displays keep coming year on year, to the extent that monitors have become a disposable technology. Things have been moving that way since the launch of the iMac in 1998, which rolled its monitor directly into the computer: meaning that upgrading the hardware meant binning the screen.

I tend to invest heavily in the technology I use most: a good keyboard and comfortable mouse are things I’m happy to spend money on – even my own money to beef up work computers. But monitors don’t fall into that mental category.

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Posted by Dave Molloy in •Tech
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Update: Yes, it’s the Independent.

There have been some really interesting adverts popping up around Dublin – two starkly contrasting images with the simple tagline ‘we are defined by the choices we make.’

The general consensus seemed to be that the camaign was somehow connected to hot political topics, but now it seems like it may be an advertising campaign for newspapers.

We are defined by the choices we make. Wexford Street. #dublin twitter.com/DublinDiaries/…

— Dublin Diaries (@DublinDiaries) May 6, 2013

Specifically, there are reports of the Irish Independent logo appeaing on some of the adverts in town from Reddit Ireland users, and a claim that they placed a small site at independent.ie/lifesaboutchoices before quickly removing it.

We are defined by the choices we make twitter.com/PresidentMikey…

— Mikey Carr (@PresidentMikeyC) May 6, 2013

If that’s true, the mind boggles. I’m fascinated by news media advertising strategies. The Irish Times recently went down the route of The Story of Why, the main piece of which is a long, self-congratulatory and overly ‘arty’ video that screened ahead of feature films. It hit wide of the mark, I think, because it portrayed the news business the way it wants to be seen. But it doesn’t focus on the reader or tell the reader what the news can do for them.

That contrasts sharply with one the most famous ads for The Guardian, which sells the benefit directly to the reader – they show you both sides of the story.

‘Life’s about choices’ looks like another high-end campaign. The posters have done their job of piquing interest, and it’s damn fine work from whichever agency was involved. But the tone of the campaign, based around choice, is an odd one for a newspaper, which historically have liked to be seen as impartial.

I wonder how they’ll proceed with this. I hope the campaign centres around informing people to make choices rather than telling people what choices to make. The Indo has been a pretty divisive paper for a few years, so a new brand strategy, if that’s what this is, will be very interesting.

Posted by Dave Molloy in •Business •Media
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Photo: Alexander Baxevanis

Is it just me, or is blogging out of fashion?

When was the last time you actively read blogs, informed yourself, and wrote your own? Dove in head first, and created content outside your job?

I used to blog a decent bit back in the day, even getting a spot on the young journalist’s section of Journalism.co.uk. I made some connections with some very interesting people: people like Dave Lee (BBC, now blogs every few months), Josh Halliday (The Guardian, no longer blogs), and Suzanne Yada (Centre for Investigative Reporting, nothing in six months).

Google Reader shuts down on 1 June because people aren’t using it. We all know this, but it’s a symptom of a far bigger change in personal generation of content.

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Posted by Dave Molloy in •Tech
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I’ve been working at WorldIrish for the last while. I thought I’d share some of the stories I’ve enjoyed working on in August and September:

    • I met Donovan, an Australian guy who decided to teach himself the Irish language. Because Irish is cool.

    • Bollywood Blockbuster Dabangg 2 cancels Irish shoot because we’re too rainy. Criminally underreported.

    • Eight Donegal songs for the All-Ireland final taught me that Donegal fans are mental and brilliant at once.

    • The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Dublin was picked up by lots of other folks, but no-one linked back to me. It was one of those things where I mentioned it in the office and realised no-one around me had heard of it. Shocking!

I’ve also really enjoyed some historical stuff I’ve done – there are some really fascinating stories about Irish people throughout history.

    • Thomas Blood was an Irishman who very nearly stole the crown jewels – and even after being caught, got away with it.

    • Patrick Keohane was an arctic explorer from Cork who tends to be forgotten. When his home town unveiled a statue to the man, I looked into his story. It’s fascinating.

If you hear any Irish-interest stories I might be interested in, drop me a line on Twitter.

Posted by Dave Molloy in •Journalism
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