#“The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”

#“Oscar and me messing with phone video and Kino video editor”

#“BMW 5-Series. Old or new for my Da?”

My Da’s 12 year old BMW will fail its NCT unless he has 5 grand of work done on it so he has finally decided to get a new one. The new 520d and 525d are catching his eye. The advantage of the 525d is that it is available in March. The big disadvantage is a massive price uplift over the 520d. But he can’t really wait until July for the 520d to be released.

The garage has some current model 520d’s in stock and he is wondering should he just get one of them instead. I’ve been doing some research and I think he should but then I’ve never owned a Beemer so would appreciate advice from those in the know. My feelings are:

1. He can get current 520d for a good deal if he negotiates hard (and waits for new shape to be launched)
2. Nothing reported about the new 5 Series would matter to him (new shape, 8 speed auto, better iDrive, better suspension)
3. After 5 years, the three models will all be very similar in re-sale price. In particular, the 520d->525d delta will have disappeared

My only concern is that moving from 5L petrol to 2L diesel may be a leap too far for him. Some decent test drives on the new Waterford bypass should hopefully answer that.

How is the 520d for refinement, reliability, service cost etc? His old 7-Series is a lovely car but as reliable as a Trabant and spares cost a fortune.

Or should he consider Merc/Audi? He’s been a BMW guy since the 80s when his job upgraded him from the vinyl-roofed Granada :-) 

#“Irish Blogs are Dead. Long Live Irish Blogs”

#“No man can resist this”

via aldi.ie

850W Generator creating a stronger emotional response than a picture of Cheryl Cole.

#“3,678,189 life-saving tetanus vaccines”

#“Free Willie - A friendship you could never imagine”

via gammagoblin.blogspot.com

A 12 year old street kid. A 3 ton orca moustache. A friendship you could never imagine. An adventure you'll never forget.

#“Google Shopper for Android - Nice”

via google.com

Another area I knew they would eventually invade. Google Goggles made into a useful product. US focussed now but give it time.

What ever happened to Compare Everywhere? For a long time it vied with Shopsavvy in this space and then disappeared out of the Android Market. Did Google buy it?

Of course Voice Search is still a bit flakey. I tried "Google Nexus One" twice and it came back with "Connexus Corp" and "Lexus".

#“Good Riddance to O’Dea. Now, Couglan.”

via rte.ie

#“PAYG data effectively 4x more on 3IRL than 3UK……in Ireland”

I’ve mentioned my Pay As You Go Three UK SIM many times on Twitter. The value and customer friendliness of it is still unbeatable. Walk into a Three UK store, give them £10 and get a SIM with a ton of minutes, texts and 150MB data that lasts 90 days.Top it up with another tenner for good measure and that doesn’t expire.

If you use that SIM in Ireland (ROI), they text you to say that you get 10p per min call, free to receive, 10p per SMS and 10p/MB for data.

Now go to the Three Ireland site and look at their PAYG data deals. Oh that’s right, you get no data included with your €10 Free SIM. So how do you get data?

You can get 1GB per month add-on for €9.99. Perhaps someone in 3 Ireland can explain how a per month charge = Pay As You Go?

Or I can get a mobile broadband deal. Because as we all know, data packets on your phone are entirely different to data packets on a broadband modem. Those deals are 1 day (500MB) at €5, 1 week (2GB) at €10 etc. On the surface, solid value. But no-one on PAYG needs 2GB in a week, they need less spread over a longer period. Otherwise they’ll just take pay monthly contract.

So let’s say you pay your €5 for the one day. How much is data after that i.e. How much is it to Pay As I Go? 49c per MB. FOUR TIMES MORE than Three UK charges in Ireland.

FOUR TIMES MORE.

I had high hopes for Three being disruptive when they came to Ireland. The UK operation really is at the cutting edge of value for money and interesting services/devices. But obviously they saw that the Irish love nothing better than to be ripped off by mobile operators and figured they’d get a chunk of that action.

You’ll find your friendly Three UK Store at “3 STORE, 48A - 49 Buttercrane Shopping Centre, Newry, BT35 8HJ”

Small warning tho. Don’t use it to receive calls/texts in the South. The people contacting you will be gouged by their local Irish mobile operator.