Gavinsblog.com

Month: September 2005

  • Is a Slimmer Sony Coming?

    With the new guy in charge it looks like Sony are trying to get back on an even keel. Few doubt that Sony, a much diminished force and brand, needs some shock therapy to revive itself. After all, its core electronics division, which accounts for 70% of sales, has lost money on an operating basis…

  • Church attendance

    Here’s an interesting graph from this month’s Foreign Policy. It show church attendance as a percentage of the population attending church at least once a week. As you can see Ireland is way out in front. Do that many Irish people still go to Mass? I really didn’t think the figures were still that high.…

  • The Future of Oil

    Foreign Policy poses seven questions to Matthew Simmons, a chief proponent of the idea of peak oil. Some of the juicier ones: FP: You’ve written that Saudi Arabia relies on old and overproduced oil fields that are likely to start declining in output. How has Riyadh responded to your analysis? MS: They’ve said “trust me,…

  • Apple declares war on Nigels

    And on the subject of iPod nanos, don’t be called Nigel. As Orlowski notes: Quite so – but popular forenames, too? Is an iPod engraved with a “Nigel” really worth less? The Nigels of the world must unite and stand firm. Or before we know it, Apple will be coming after the Kevins.

  • NASA unveils vision for return to Moon

    Well hopefully I will see this in my lifetime, to think we have left it so long before going back is strange. But I think there are reasons other than scientific here, space will become a very important place in the next few decades, and controlling it will be pretty important, the US appears to…

  • The American Interest

    So when I was at the Terrorism and Security Conference in Washington everyone received a copy of the new periodical, The American Interest. It will be published 5 times a year, and judging by the first issue it will make for some hefty reading. The contributors and editorial board are a who’s who of the…

  • Asian squirrels

    Interesting figures: China has overtaken Japan: it now has the world’s largest foreign-exchange reserves. The combined reserves of the People’s Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority stood at $833 billion at the end of June. By now, given their recent rate of growth, they could be nudging $870 billion-worth, most of this…

  • The resurrection of Steve Jobs

    The Economist have an interesting take on Apple boss Steve Jobs this week: ONE morning, about a year ago, a doctor told Steve Jobs that a cancerous tumour in his pancreas would kill him within months, and that it was time to start saying his goodbyes. Later that night, an endoscopy revealed that the tumour…

  • Google blog search

    So while I was away, Google went and launched Blog Search, in Beta as usual. It seems to be quite a handy little tool, how long before it has facilities better than those at Technorati? I also did some searches pertinent to blogs I have an interest in. I searched for ‘gavin‘, ‘corruption‘ and ‘eminem‘,…

  • Back to normal posting, finally

    Here’s hoping that I can increase my productivity in the blogosphere.