One great thing that has come from ecommerce, is the ability to shop around for the best prices. Being able to choose from not just a select few retailers but from hundreds or thousands really has it’s advantages. Competition is always a good thing. Every retailer is constantly trying to outdo the other.

I do a good bit of shopping online, mainly for music, dvds and books. And I think that if I hadn’t, I’d be down a lot more Euros than I am right now.

Lately though I’ve been feeling more guilty about my online shopping. All of my purchases in recent months (if not since my first ever online purchase) have been from a retailer in another country. What’s to be feeling guilty about you ask? I’m saving money right? Yes, but the money I spend is not going back into my country’s economy - which it needs.

I’ll admit, I do my fair share of complaining about how this country is run, but when all is said and done, I’m still proud to be Irish and want to help make it a better place.

Some might argue that my online spending habits won’t really make much of a difference, but every penny helps (even though we’re using cents now ). Others might argue that if the economy can be affected by the small number of Irish people spending there earnings online, then the government should do more to help lower prices.

Maybe they should. Maybe they are. Or maybe I shouldn’t worry about my country’s economy so much, and let those elected do the worrying instead.

According to The Register, Ireland is one of the most expensive countries for broadband.

When it comes to the high price of broadband among the 30 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries only three others - Luxembourg, Denmark and Iceland - are more expensive than Ireland

You would think with Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, Google, Overture, AOL and Paypal all with offices (existing or planned) in Dublin that the technology sector (including broadband) would be flouirshing. But no, not in Ireland!

I just don’t understand why

‘Best blogs on the web’ honoured.

Maybe one day Wired Vision will be among the nominees

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone.

Hope you enjoy this years celebrations too!

I’m a big fan of music. I listen to it all day, everyday. The radio is on in our house from the time the first person gets up until the time the last person goes to bed. It’s been like that for as long as I can remember.

Although the radio is on, I prefer to play my own music when designing or coding. I’ve burn the majority of my cd’s onto the computers hard drive, so I’ve got a good selection to choose from.

Generally I like to listen to upbeat music (Gigi D’Agostino, Daftpunk, Fatboy Slim, Prodigy, etc) when coding and alternative music (Radiohead, Ocean Colour Scene, Keane, Snow Patrol, etc) when designing.

Have you got any favourite music for when you design or code?