Gareth Stack

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Selection of articles written between 2005 and today.

  • Why eMusic doesn’t suck

    I try to stay in touch with the quirky world of American indie music via the excellent Brooklyn Vegan blog, normally it’s dishes of Alt Country, New American Weird, Post Punk and other musical gumbo are served just the way I like them. However, a recent post has left a bad taste in my mouth.… Read more

  • Disappearing Future

    After re-listening to many of the excellent podcasts from 2005’s Accelerating Change conference, available from IT conversations; I got a hankering to read Charlie Stross’s highly recommended, and Hugo award nominated, post singularity novel Accelerando. The book is available to download under a Creative Commons license. Or rather, the book was available for download. Accellerando.org… Read more

  • Gmail receives email from other accounts

    Google have just begun rolling out a terrific feature, which allows users to grab email from other accounts (work, yahoo etc) via POP3. This could be a godsend for users glued to horrible proprietary corporate email accounts with ineffective spam filters, or anyone tired of multiple simultaneous email logins, who for whatever reason (multiple desktops,… Read more

  • A life less

    Recieved an email this afternoon… Hi Senior Sophisters of all disciplines If you are interested in a life less ordinary, then you should visit the Irish Army Stand in the Foyer of the Arts Building, College next Tuesday 5 December 2006 from 12-2pm. For further information visit: http://www.military.ie/careers Given the increasingly incredible state of Irish… Read more

  • More Vicious Than Rape

    In John Barnes dystopian novel ‘Kaleidoscope Century‘, the protagonist occupies a 21st century a million miles away from the ordinarily rosy scientific positivism of most Science Fiction. In Barnes’s future, rival armies systematically utilise rape as a weapon in continually escalating conflicts, and alienated soldiers move as mercenaries from one side to another, too damaged… Read more

  • Gigabeat Apple At Their Own Game

    I don’t buy the argument the the iPod – iTunes packages own the digital market due to the wonderful convenience of the iTunes store. Yes iTunes is one of the major reasons for the iPod’s success. The same is not necessarily true of the iTunes store, at least not in Europe, where the store didn’t… Read more