kierenmccarthy.co.uk

I’m quite excited about the fact that Amazon has brought out a new ebook reader that it calls the Kindle. I haven’t seen one in the real world but I am assuming with the effort they’ve put behind it that the screen technology is what it claims to be – easy to read without straining [...]

I just got an email from my very old friend Johnny HB (actually it was through Facebook) in which he informs me that he has a new classical trio, a new fancy website, and is looking for bookings from January.
Johnny (cello), Suzanne (his wife and viola) and Kate (flute – although I swear she’s played [...]

I’m leaving the UK today. It’s going to be a dreadful day. Getting to Heathrow and all the hassle that involves; sitting on a plane for 11 hours; arriving and no doubt being quizzed by US immigration; having to go and pick up apartment keys; then finding the apartment and settling in. A very, very [...]

I am having a tough day today. A very painful goodbye at Oxford station, a long walk along the river, and now I am sat in my half-empty flat feeling hollow and a little lost.
My possessions are strewn about. They need to be divided into take-with, put in shipping container, and chucked away. I have [...]

This morning I received an email from downloadinrainbows@waste.uk.com providing a link to a 48.3MB zipped file. Three minutes later I was listening to Radiohead’s new album In Rainbows. I am listening to it now as I write this.
What is particularly interesting about this is that Radiohead was entirely in charge of the whole transaction. They [...]

For those interested in Internet things – and in this case the sexy side of the Internet, Facebook and all that stuff – there is an interesting conference due to start in two hours in Ottawa, Canada.
I know because I’m here and I’m on of two official bloggers. See can see the full agenda here, [...]

Friday, 17 Aug: Bar, Fonteverde Spa, Tuscany
So, I’m in the bar at the Fonteverde Spa having had a lovely dinner next door. As usual, there is only one or two other people in here, plus the long-suffering pianist and the barman who, knowing I’m going to having one of the remaining single malts, has already [...]

Thu 16 Aug: Fonteverde Spa, Tuscany, Italy
So I’m at this fancy spa in Italy, failing to communicate constantly with everyone I come across, trying to chill in record time and having hilarious massage run-ins.
Yesterday I got massaged by a man named Nicola, and today I had a “vitalstone” massage which, I have to confess, was, [...]

Wed 15 Aug: Fonteverde Spa resort, Tuscany
So I’ve been feeling very tired and grumpy of late. I was also being very apathetic, having to force myself to do stuff. It took a few days but I then recognised I had been here before and the simple answer was that I needed a holiday (I [...]

Kevin Murphy, a British IT journo based in the US, has done a review of my Sex.com book on his blog.
He likes it. Which is nice since he is one of roughly three journalists in the world who understand the domain name system and its history. You can read it all here.
I like the opening [...]