Irish Blog Awards are on Twitter if you want to be updated on website updates. Congratulations to all who made it this far, a massive massive thank you to all the judges who worked their socks off to bring us to this point. Judging Round 1 is now done. Judging Round 2 will start on Friday. After Round 2, a finalist lists will be released. Below are the Shortlists. With all blogs judged, we have shortened the lists to 25 in some categories and less in others. Some blogs are listed in multiple categories, however a blog can only be...

Panda Bear A list of recommended events taking place over the next seven days in Dublin. Highlights this week include Panda Bear, Filthy Dukes, Local Natives (with Peggy Sue supporting), Passion Pit, The Beatyard on Saturday Afternoon and Ellie Goulding. I’ve got the last two ticket to Ellie Goulding on Sunday to giveaway. Email freebies@nialler9.com before Thursday at 6pm to win. Don’t forget you can still win a signed Ellie album here. Sample MP3s below. Tuesday 9th March - Trashed (Indie/Electro club) @ Andrew’s Lane Theatre (10.30pm, €5) - C U Next Tuesday (indie/electro/pop/dance) @ Crawdaddy (11pm, €3/5) Wednesday 10th...

There is no doubt that the resignation of Martin Cullen, when taken with that of Willie O’Dea, presents Brian Cowen with a golden opportunity in the forthcoming reshuffle. The current travails of Mary Harney only adds to the list of ministers applying to be removed from thier post. In a political system such as ours where often the symbolism of a move like a reshuffle matters more in comment and analysis than substantive policy, what Cowen chooses to do and say on the reshuffle will set the tone for the government up to the next election. From a government that...

@seanfee80 If Johnny Giles (or AN Other Irish/British manager) was managing Italy, you'd think they bother learning Italian? in reply to seanfee80 # Really disappointed with the @VodafoneIreland pricing on the iPhone. Was expecting some kind of attempt at competition. # Nice that we've gotten to the time of year where you can leave work and it's still bright out. # @cloudsteph that's a whole lot of acronyms. in reply to cloudsteph # I'm finding it hard to sympathise with publicans suggesting the Munster v Leinster game should be moved off Good Friday. House Parties ftw. # @ConorWinders @vinnycoyne It's...

Brian Cowen should stop churning out reports on innovation and the smart economy and start producing real jobs according to Fine Gael Innovation Spokesperson Deirdre Clune TD. Speaking before the launch of the Government Innovation Taskforce report to be published tomorrow, Deputy Clune said it’s time to turn all these ideas into reality. This report hasn’t been published and it already looks like a damp squib. From what we see in the Irish Times article, there is little or nothing new in this report and most of the proposals have been reheated on numerous occasions. Brian Cowen’s Smart Economy policy...

The ever politically active Gaelick has written a post about anti-gay campaigners writing en masse to the Oireachtas justice commission to obstruct the civil partnerships bill. I hope everyone reading this will take a moment to write to the clerk of the justice committee Mr. Alan Guidon (alan.guidon@oireachtas.ie) and express support, not just for the civil partnership bill, but for full marital rights for gay people. There is massive support for gay rights in Ireland, but if the crazed bigots shout louder they get might just get their way. LGBT noise and other gay rights movements are doing great work...

This morning when I logged on to the family computer I noticed a new icon on my desktop and was alarmed that one of the other users of the computer (well intentioned, but not extremely internet savvy husband and children) had allowed a virus download to the PC. I did a search on the name and then remembered this was something we were expecting: Browser Choice.Per the Microsoft Website:Microsoft is providing the Browser Choice update to comply with a legal settlement with the European Commission. Microsoft is required to inform customers who currently use Internet Explorer as their default browser...

So a little later than usual, it’s the second instalment in the newly revitalised State podcast series. Still looking for that elusive title to the series, Jules and Laura return to bring you music, mindless banter and plenty of interviews with some of the most interesting acts to visit our fair city last month. First up, it’s the lovely Victoria and Alex from Beach House who speak to us about some of their favourite tracks from their current album, the intoxicating Teen Dream. Then it’s off to the Academy, where we catch up with Ira from Brooklyn boys done good,...

Just received this from Frank Byrne,  looks like they’re not leaving! Rally outside the Commission at 4pm! The Irish Taxi Council Email: info@irishtaxicouncil.org Ph: 087 1471818 Press Release for immediate Release 08/03/10 The Irish Taxi Council has been informed by three of its executive committee members that following a meeting with the commissioner for taxi regulation they do not accept the outcome of said meeting. They intend to stay and resolve all outstanding issues with the commission for taxi regulation until a resolution addressing the problems of full time taxi drivers is agreed with the regulator and the Minister for Transport. Bearing in...

THE SUNNIEST DAY in months greeted Ireland today along with a pounding headache due to the Irish recession. I reduced the Sunday Business Post (SBP) and the Sunday Times (ST) to 12 minutes, finding interesting stories about the recession [1-6], standards in education [7-10] and technology [11-15]. If I was awarding Oscars for writing, I'd give one to Richard Woods for his feature story in the Sunday Times Magazine [16] because his observations affect every creative in my classroom. I'm experimenting with different settings inside Qik, my preferred live-streaming service. Today's Qik clip suffers a little from my failure to manually...

As you know external  links that point to your website will help give the relevant web page more authority with the search engines. Your website’s overall visibility depends on a large number of onsite and offsite factors used by search engines to rank the keywords for which you want to be found. In another article I have pointed out the top 10 on-page seo tips for increasing your keyword ranking. So in this article, let’s take a look at the main off-page factors that can help boost your keyword rankings. So What Off-Page Factors Really Matter? There are three main...

We’re one step closer to the release of ‘Tron The Legacy’, the sequel to 1982’s ‘Tron’, one of the most venerated Sci-fi movies of all time. Directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring newly Oscar-ified Jeff Bridges (who reprises his 1982 role as Jeff Flynn), the movie is about artificial intelligence and gaming. While it’s 3D, its not like Avatar. According to Kosinski “Ours is sort of a “Wizard of Oz” approach. Ninety-eight percent of the 3-D is in the world of “Tron.” The 3-D really starts once we get into the Tron world. We used a newer generation of camera...

Terry Shannon THE walkout by Fianna Fáil councillors from yesterday’s meeting of Cork County Council and the verbal assault launched on trade unions representing City Hall staff at yesterday’s meeting of Cork City Council were described this morning by Socialist Party councillor Mick Barry as being akin to “kids having a temper tantrum and throwing their toys out of the pram”. Fianna Fáil councillors walked out of yesterday’s Cork County Council meeting for two hours in protest at IMPACT’s decision to boycott some dealings with representatives of the government parties which have cut their pay by 15-19 per cent in...

Just a quick post to let everyone know that we are developing a research subsite for Positive Behaviour Ireland. This is going to contain qualitative and quantitative research that we find, are sent and undertake ourselves. We’ll include studies of ABA, ADHD, autism, parenting, child protection, family support services, education, tuition, alternative care, training and development and disabilities. It’ll be available at this subsite: http://research.pbireland.ie That site is online at the moment, but has very little content there thus far. Sign up to the newsletter and we’ll send you an e-mail once the site goes properly live. Alternatively (if you’re on Facebook...

We are delighted to welcome this guest contribution from Prof. Christine Bell, Transitional Justice Institute (TJI), University of Ulster. The TJI offers the LLM in Human Rights Law and Transitional Justice at both Magee and Jordanstown campuses, for which applications are still being accepted. For further information, see here. You can find out more about Christine on our Guest Contributors page. Lord Saville is due to publish his report into the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’ the week commencing 22nd March.  There are two ways in which a Tribunal of Inquiry can  bury rather than reveal the truth.  The first, known...

Just a quick post as I’ve gotten several e-mails asking for my WordCamp Ireland slides. The slides can be downloaded here: http://www.slideshare.net/martharotter/free-tools-for-wordpress-users-from-microsoft My talk was “Free Tools for WordPress Sites”, and I covered several free tools people can download to help improve their blogs and websites. A fantastic suggestion by my colleague Josh Holmes, who came down to Kilkenny after a staggering 16-day tour of Europe talking to developers, was to do short video clips of each tool.  I realized that the audience was quite broad so not everyone has the same background, and some of the tools are more...

Ireland met its targets for generating 15 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2010 in January, a conference in Dublin was told this morning.Addressing the National Summit on Renewable Energy at Croke Park, Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan also revealed that Ireland is on schedule to overshoot its aim of achieving 40 per cent of the State's electricity needs from renewables by 2020.Mr Ryan said he believed there are no longer any differences between political parties and industry on what needs to be done and the only issue left was the speed of the development of renewable energy.The...

Feel compelled to put this NewOrdery song on, dunno why. One of these coreys is dead So, yeah, Stretch Mac an Gibbbaaaainn has been shorter-listed for the Masturbators Anonymous Annual Jamboree. Presumably there will be fifteen or so further short lists, so they can whittle it down to 20 or summat. (Stretch not doing his chances much good here!) Three things I learned today: 1. Never try to resuscitate roadkill, despite his pleas 2. Harry Potter is evil, pure evil and controls my time and 3. Corey Haim is not dead on, but y’know dead. (misheard) I’m sure he was...

One of the great things I like about our backup infrastructure is how we can add extra storage without the need of shutting down the service. It can be scaled to what we need and when we need it without interrupting any of our customer’s backups. I’ve recently dealt with the daunting task (or so I first thought) of adding a lot of extra storage space for our backup service, a mission critical service that our customers heavily rely on for their disaster recovery. Fortunately it wasn’t a case of shutting down the servers, slapping in a few hard drives...

For the benefit of those of you not on Planet Government or subscribed to the Fianna Fail email update, a message from Brian Lenihan. Dear supporter, Over the last twenty months, we have taken decisive and bold action to bring this country back from the brink of economic and financial ruin. The latest of these measures were contained in last December’s budget. We made savings of €4 billion through cuts in public sector pay, an average 4% reduction in welfare payments, and through controlling expenditure in all areas of Government. These measures have stabilised our public finances and greatly increased...

Bob Dylan makes a return visit to these shores on July 4th with a show at Thormond Park in Limerick. Tickets are €81.25, €70.70 & €60.00 Euro Seated & €65.70 GA on sale Monday March 15th @ 9am through Ticketmaster and other usual outlets nationwide. Booking Line: 0818 719 300.RelatedFionn Regan: The Shadow Of An EmpireBob Dylan – Together Through LifeWar Child – HeroesBob Dylan to play the O2 in...

Blanaid Hennessy is without doubt one of Blaubushka's favourite ladies which is why we cant wait for 'Absolut Style at Set'; a vintage fashion, film and furniture fair for Langton's House Hotel, Kilkenny ( 2nd, 3rd and 4th of April). The event shall showcase their new SET theatre and will include daytime style talks from brilliant stylists such as TV3's Laura Cunningham and the Irish Examiner's Annmarie O'Connor, a food fair in the courtyard. At night the style shall come alive with 'The Stylebitches Night Out' on saturday and a 'Soul Kitchen' Sunday. A weekend that promises style, hot djs ans alcoholic...

The National debuted ‘Terrible Love’, the opening track to their new album High Violet, on the Jimmy Fallon show last night. The track has not yet popped up on youtube but can be seen and heard on the weallwantsomeone blog and is well worth checking out. In the meantime, here’s the wonderful ‘Apartment Story’. Random PostsThu 26th Mar – Choice Cuts presents Biz Markie – Dublin – WhelansSat 20 Dec – Green Lights – Dundalk – Spirit StoreThe Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love The Human League, ABC and Heaven 17 for Some Days Never EndLoop Festival taking...

The first batch of this years Champions League quarter finalists gets decided tonight as Europe’s premier club competition continues. Arsenal must look to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Porto, while Fiorentina face a similar task as they welcome Bayern Munich to the Stadio Artemio Franchi. Below, we take a closer look at these ties……. Arsenal vs FC Porto (agg 1:2) A few weeks ago it seemed that European success may be the main priority for the remainder of Arsenal’s season following their  tame elimination from the FA cup and their distant position behind Manchester United and Chelsea in the Premier...

Michael Creed FINE Gael’s Agriculture Spokesperson, Michael Creed has said the Taoiseach’s response to calls for the Ombudsman’s Report on the Lost at Sea scheme to be referred to an Oireachtas Committee reinforces the view that Fianna Fáil has something to fear from a Committee investigation. “Why can’t the Taoiseach or any member of the Government explain why they are afraid of a Committee investigation of the Ombudsman’s Report on the Lost at Sea scheme? “The Taoiseach’s stifling of scrutiny of this scheme which is surrounded by serious questions only adds to the view that the Government’s handling of the...

We have new city cards hitting the street. We know spring is on the way when the always stand out alternative miss ireland card is printed and distributed. The great design comes from niall sweeneys pony studio. The pagent goes ahead this sunday 14th march at Olympia. Do yourself a favour and arrive on time as the mistress of ceremonies, Panti's intro to proceedings is a highlight. For those men who burn the midnight oil, l'oreal have a new ice cool eye roll on to rejuvenate tired eyes this campaign is also running through our media, you know the score...

The IFI in Dublin is hosting an in-depth discussion with Irish director Ivan Kavanagh, and the cast of his new film, The Fading Light, at 4pm on Saturday 13th March.The Fading Light, the fifth feature from fiercely independent up-and-coming Irish director Ivan Kavanagh, opens exclusively at the IFI on 12th March and we are delighted to host a conversation with the director and his cast at 4pm on Saturday 13th March. The emotionally visceral style that has become Kavanagh's trademark springs from the rigorous background work on each character undertaken by his actors before the plot is revealed to them...

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day 2010. It is, according to the event’s website, “a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future”. The day has been celebrated for over a hundred years and is actually a public holiday in many countries, including China, Russia, Bulgaria and Vietnam. It’s not a holiday in Ireland but there are a lot of events taking place to celebrate the day, which you can read about here. The University of Limerick is hosting an International Women’s Day Conference entitled “Women & Recession: Strategies for Survival” The gap in...

Photo owned by pthread1981 (cc) Brilliant news for Galway: TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is expected to confirm this week that the next Volvo around the world yacht race will finish in Galway in 2012. Mr Cowen is expected to make the announcement in Dublin, when he will explain that the race festival will be an “all-island” affair. via Cowen to detail Volvo race’s Galway finish – The Irish Times – Mon, Mar 08, 2010. Like this post? Share it! Click an icon above to be safely taken to your preferred social...

Best Motion Picture of the YearThe Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg ShapiroBest Achievement in DirectingKathryn Bigelow for The Hurt LockerBest Performance by an Actress in a Leading RoleSandra Bullock for The Blind SideBest Performance by an Actor in a Leading RoleJeff Bridges for Crazy HeartBest Foreign Language Film of the YearEl secreto de sus ojos (Argentina)Best Achievement in EditingThe Hurt Locker - Bob Murawski, Chris InnisBest Documentary, FeaturesThe Cove - Louie Psihoyos, Fisher StevensBest Achievement in Visual EffectsAvatar - Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andy JonesBest Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original...