M’learned friends

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From yesterday’s Irish Times:

“The rules of Portmarnock Golf Club do not state it excludes women but rather say that membership is limited to men, counsel for the club has argued before the Supreme Court.

That is not discrimination within the meaning of the Equal Status Act 2000, and there must be an equal right to associate with persons of one’s choice, Donal O’Donnell SC submitted.”

The Justices reserved judgment on the ‘preliminary issues’ in the case.

The stakes are high. Section 8 of the aforementioned Act provides for the suspension of the registration of a discriminating club, which means that it could not get a licence to sell alcoholic beverages.

Flann O’Brien, where are you when we need you?

Domestic bliss

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Lovely tweet from one of my Twitter buddies last night:

“Have just realised missing husband is at wembley. Excellent. Remote control all to myself for maybe another hour.”

Guardian takes the plunge

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From today’s paper.

Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian today announces that it will become the first newspaper in the world to be published exclusively via Twitter, the sensationally popular social networking service that has transformed online communication.

The move, described as “epochal” by media commentators, will see all Guardian content tailored to fit the format of Twitter’s brief text messages, known as ‘tweets’, which are limited to 140 characters each. Boosted by the involvement of celebrity ‘twitterers’, such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Stephen Fry, Twitter’s profile has surged in recent months, attracting more than 5m users who send, read and reply to tweets via the web or their mobile phones.

That’s the stuff. Pity about the date.

Google ventures forth

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From the New York Times.

SAN FRANCISCO — Google, which has invested in many startups over the years, will announce on Tuesday that it is creating a venture capital arm whose main objective will be to turn a profit.

The group, called Google Ventures, is expected to invest up to $100 million over the next 12 months. It will be overseen by David Drummond, who will continue in his role as senior vice president of corporate developing and chief legal officer at Google. Investments will be vetted by William Maris, who joined Google about a year ago, and Rich Miner, a co-founder of Android, a mobile software startup that Google acquired in 2005.

Mr. Maris said in an interview that Google will tap the connections of its employees and its ties to the venture capital world to find promising startups in areas like the Internet, clean technology and life sciences…

Interesting that its objective is “to turn a profit”. I’m wondering what other options were considered. It’s probably a good time to be getting in the the VC market, though — given that many other investment firms are getting rather strapped for cash.

Twitter comes of age

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Yep. Early indication here.

Courtrooms have already begun dealing with jurors Googling, Facebooking, and Twittering their way through the case. Now, some courtrooms are starting to set regulations ahead of time. The Associated Press is reporting that the Idaho Supreme Court’s criminal jury instruction committee is discussing guidelines that would prevent jurors from using electronic devices to post their thoughts or do research on cases that are in progress.

While nothing has yet been approved, if instructions for jurors are approved, they would be recommended for use in both magistrate and district courts throughout Idaho, the AP said.

Meanwhile, the National Basketball Association has fined Mark Cuban — who has a reputation for complaining — $25,000 for comments he made in Twitter about the officials…

Thanks to Glyn Moody for spotting it.

The Celtic tig…, er, donkey

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Front page of this morning’s Irish Times. Junk bond status coming soon. Reminds me of a nice joke that’s been circulating for months in Ireland.

Q: What’s the difference between Ireland and Iceland?
A: One letter and six months.

Microsoft Encarta succumbs to Wikipedia

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Well, it was a long time coming, but here it is.

Do you remember what came in between printed encyclopedias and Wikipedia Wikipedia reviews? For many, the answer is Microsoft Encarta, which was distributed starting in the 90s via CD-ROM and more recently on the Web via MSN. Today, Microsoft announced that it’s discontinuing Encarta later this year, offering symbolic confirmation that Wikipedia is the world’s definitive reference guide.

Microsoft acknowledges as such in an FAQ they’ve setup explaining the move and what existing Encarta customers can expect. The company writes, “Encarta has been a popular product around the world for many years. However, the category of traditional encyclopedias and reference material has changed. People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past.”

That’s quite the understatement. As PaidContent points out, the crowd-edited Wikipedia boasts 2.7 million entries in English versus just 42,000 for Encarta. Need further confirmation of why Wikipedia is simply a better model? News of Encarta’s discontinuation has already reached the product’s entry on Wikipedia.