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Google Launches The New Google Pixel 6 And Pixel 6 Pro In Ireland

Marty
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Google Launches The New Google Pixel 6 And Pixel 6 Pro In Ireland

The Google Pixel has been one of my favourite phones for a few years now. The sheer power of Google’s smart software with ever improving hardware has made Pixel one of the best phones on the market. Last year’s Pixel 5 was simply incredible with one of the best, yet simple, iterations of Android I’ve ever seen. Today, Google launched the next generation; the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. I’ve only had a brief time with these phones, so the reviews are coming soon. But if you want to know the basics, here you go.

Two Phones

Google has toyed with two phones before. Whether it’s the bigger screens or two phones released months apart, it’s always felt a bit frantic. Now, Google has gone the tried and tested route of Pro. Yep, Google launched a Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Both phones are rocking a lot of similar specs and power but the Pro just packs more punch, mainly in the camera hardware.

The biggest difference is the addition of a 4x optical zoom camera and dynamic refresh rate ensuring smooth scrolling when you need it or power saving when you don’t.

Whether you buy Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro, you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits Google is offering with their homegrown Tensor processer.

Google Tensor: Google’s Biggest Hardware Leap

Everyone is talking about chips these days, amid a global shortage. Many companies, like Google, are pivtoing to gain more control over the supply chain. The solution is simple. Just make your own processors. This is exciting because true magic happens when companies create both the hardware and software to work in unison. Just look at how incredible the Apple eco-system is.

Speaking at the launch, Google’s Rick Osterloh describes the line up as “quite a bit different” and that Google has “state-of-the-art hardware, which means Pixel can deliver even more impressive real-world performance, as well as new AI-driven experiences that have never been possible before”.

Highlights of Google Tensor

Google’s biggest strength is its bordering on creepy levels of machine learning and AI-processing power. Tensor promises to not only be nearly 80% more efficient than previous Pixel smartphones, but also to deliver next level processing power in a smartphone.

Tensor will power better image processing and voice recognition. This is great because, while Google’s photography hardware is good, it needs incredible software to add some finesse. Until now, mobile processors have held Google back, but Tensor fixes that. They also promise better Assistant speech recognition and Transation, all powered by Tensor.

The Camera Bar

The primary camera setup on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro makes this one of the most unique looking phones on the market. Take a look here at the Pixel 6 Pro.

Pixel 6 Pro camera array

Speaking at the launch, Brian Rakowski said the “Pixel 6 is leagues ahead of our previous Pixel Cameras, from the hardware, to the software, to the computational photography”.

Indeed, while the hardware is great, it’s Google’s software and processing power that’s really exciting. For example, Magic Eraser lets you remove people or things from the background of your photos that’s ruining your vibe.

Also, for BIPOC, Google’s camera smarts promise to deliver more true reflections of people how they really look, making Pixel 6 the most inclusive camera on the market.

Camera highlights

There are a wealth of other features on the new Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Not all are coming to Ireland, at least not yet. The most needed is smart call screening so fingers crossed Google expands that beyond the US.

This is just the quick overview of the launch. Check back in next week when I’ll be publishing the full review.

Oh, if you’re interested, the Google Pixel 6 will be available SIM-free for €649, direct from Google. The Pixel 6 Pro will be available SIM-free, direct from Google, for €899. If you need a SIM-free plan, we got you covered.

DPC Secures Additional €4.1 million in Budget 2022 Funding

Marty
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DPC Secures Additional €4.1 million in Budget 2022 Funding

It may seem like a somewhat insignificant footnote on Budget Day 2022, but the Irish Data Protection Commission has today secured an additional €4.1 million in funding from the Irish government. This funding brings DPC’s allocation of budget to €23.2 million for 2022. This increased funding comes amid staunch criticism leveled at the DPC from commentators and the EU alike.

DPC Secures Additional Budget 2022 Funding

As part of Budget 2022, the Irish government has recognised the importance of data protection in Ireland by allocating an additional €4.1 million to the DPC. This marks a rather astonishing 1121% increase in budget allocation to the DPC since 2014 and 21% since last year alone. Heavy investment is understandable given Ireland’s unique position. As the EU home to companies like Facebook, the DPC is responsible for regulating many large companies from a data protection point of view.

irish government spending on data protection since 2014
Irish government investment in Data Protection Commission since 2014

On the additional funding, the Commissioner for Data Protection, Helen Dixon, stated that “as the DPC embarks on the delivery of its ambitious Strategy for 2022-2027, we very much welcome the ongoing recognition of the we very much welcome the ongoing recognition of the Government of the need to adequately resource an independent data protection authority. As societies, government and business become ever more data-driven, careful oversight by the DPC is necessary to ensure the personal-data rights of individuals are factored in and protected. Over the last 12 months, the DPC has significantly increased its enforcement activity as larger investigations have reached conclusion and this work must continue and increase alongside the DPC’s role in guiding organisations on compliance”.

But the question remains, just how good an investment this is by the government?

Is The DPC A Worthwhile Investment?

A couple of years ago, in an old job, I was assigned the job of Data Protection Officer. It was a new requirement for this particular company ahead of GDPR. Little did I know it would be the start of my keen interest in data protection. A couple of months ago, I watched a meeting of the Joint Committee on Justice to discuss the performance of the DPC, at which data protection activist Max Shrems was in attendance. I was shocked at what emerged.

The DPC uses the term “handle” quite a lot and with it comes a massive grey area and questions around just how valuable the DPC as a service. To the DPC, there is no obligation to produce a decision where a complaint has been made. In fact, of the 10,000 complaints reported by the DPC in 2020, the organisation planned to deliver just six or seven decisions this year.

Indeed, I myself am left scratching my head at how remarkable it is that the DPC has been given another large chunk of change given I’ve had a complaint open against the church since mid-2018. Under GDPR, members of the public are entitled to have their data protection rights enforced by national bodies, free of charge and in a reasonable time. Over three years is hardly reasonable.

There are often winners and losers on Budget Day. Considering a press release that went out from the DPC suggests they feel they’ve won today. Unfortunately, it would appear that the taxpayers have lost. The DPC has been held to a minimal level of accountability since GDPR brought increased investment and little has changed since that Joint Committee meeting.

Max Schrems, Chair of noyb put it best when he said, “if you were to tell your boss that you interpreted ‘to handle’ as letting you dump work in the trash, you would probably get fired”. Commenting on the investment, Shrems described the investment as “throwing more cash at a broken organization”.

Huawei Contactless: Pay With Your Phone In-Store

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Huawei Contactless: Pay With Your Phone In-Store

It’s been a turbulent time for Huawei in Europe over the past few years. It’s been a while since the brilliant but problematic Huawei P40 Pro launched, but it does look like the P50 Series is about to launch this month. The P40 Pro is a hardware marvel, but it’s the first Huawei flagship to launch since parting from Google following the US ban. With it went Google Pay and the ability to tap your phone in-store to pay for stuff. Contactless payments are a crucial part of smartphones these days and Huawei has finally arranged a solution for Huawei HMS phone owners.

Curve Payments

I’ve been using a service called Curve for a few years now. It’s one of those funny apps that I have, but literally never even think about anymore. Curve lets me manage all my bank cards from a central app and card. As silly as it might sound, I have a card for Bank of Ireland, two for KBC, two for Revolut and another for N26. I have my reasons and none of them are dodgy before you ask.

Keeping track of all these cards is a nuisance and from time to time I might be found trying to pay for something with a card I don’t have on me. This is why I use Curve.

I can add all my cards to Curve which in turn gets linked to my final card; my Curve card. I can use this like any other bank card but it pretends to be from Bank of Ireland of KBC. The bad news is that, while it pretends, it’s spending your money.

Huawei has announced that Curve is now available in the AppGallery.

Huawei Pay Alternative: Huawei Contactless With Curve

Back before the world fell apart, I attended a Huawei launch event in Barcelona and asked the company’s CEO, Richard Yu, what plans were in place to overcome the issue of mobile payments. It’s not the solution Yu suggested it would be. I had assumed that Huawei Pay, the company’s own digital wallet, would be expanded to new markets. Instead, the partnership with Curve means that’s almost negated.

Now, you can install Curve on your Huawei HMS device, like the P40 Pro, and set up your payment cards. For example, you can add your Revolut card to the Curve app. Once set up, you just have to unlock your phone and tap to pay where ever you normally pay with a card.

Curve is also available for Android and iOS.

If you shop in the Huawei online store for something like the FreeBuds 4 (which are brill) you can get 5% back when you pay with Curve.

Why Does Down Detector Say ISPs And Networks Are Down?

Marty
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Down Detector is a really useful tool for confirming it’s not just you and everyone else’s phone isn’t working either. Today, Facebook platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and even Facebook’s new app for RayBan Stories, all went down. It is the worst outage for the company since 2008 and at the time of writing is still ongoing. Not that I’m feeling it much given I’ve quit Facebook and deleted WhatsApp. But a look at Down Detector suggests it’s not just Facebook and that internet service provider (ISPs) are also having a global issue. What gives?

How Does Down Detector Work?

Down Detector is a really simple concept. The people behind the service have built a platform that monitors several places people turn to when something on the internet breaks. For example, amongst many other factors, they monitor Twitter for mentions of outages or mentions of things like “is Facebook down”. Combining these many sources of information and validating as much as possible, Down Detector then provides a graph that shows spikes in likely outages.

Just one event, like a tweet, can’t cause a spike. It’s all relative and as a result, usually pretty accurate.

But tonight’s outage has shown some weakness in this approach.

Down Detector Suggests Issues With ISPs, Carriers And Mobile Networks

A look at the Down Detector status screen suggests this isn’t just a Facebook issue. On top of the Facebook estate, mobile networks and home ISPs all show similar spikes in reported errors. Why is that?

Down Detector dashboard incorrectly suggesting ISP and network issues

Well, it’s very human to be honest. When your Instagram feed stops refreshing, you’re more likely to flick airplane mode on and back off again, or reset your modem. After all, Facebook spends massive money to make sure they continue making money through even the heaviest of traffic spikes. Facebook doesn’t fail.

So when Facebook does fail, people are far more likely yo blame their phone, carrier, mobile network or home ISP. That’s what you’re seeing in the screenshot from Down Detector. And that’s the one flaw in their reporting system.

A quick trip to Google Trends validates this. Looking at queries driving Down Detector in Google Search over the past four hours, “vodafone outage” and “vodafone broadband down” are Breakout rising terms. This means people are jumping the gun and blaming Vodafone for Zuckerberg tripping over a cable in the office.

vodafone being blamed for Facebook outage

Don’t let this take away from how useful Down Detector is. It’s still the first place I go when something like this massive outage happens. It’s just important you know where to direct your anger, if you’re all that bothered about watching some telly or chatting to your housemates!

Update: So, Vodafone is actually experiencing a real outage too though they do state it’s related to the Facebook estate outage. My theory is that people are rebooting, retrying and attempting to reconnect so much that Vodafone simply can’t handle the volume of network requests. Just a theory. What an interesting night.

Esports In Ireland: College Esports Series Kicks Off

Marty
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Esports In Ireland: College Esports Series Kicks Off

There’s a really obvious way to open this article. Most kids growing up have heard “get off that computer and do your homework”. Or maybe it was housework. The fundamental idea is simple though. Some parents (me actually excluded) never believed people could make a living sitting at a keyboard or playing games. The rising popularity of Esports has utterly shattered that misconception. Even today’s top F1 drivers like Max Verstappen and Lando Norris participate in Esports. And now, there’s a new competition specifically targeting collegiate Esports in Ireland.

The Irish Esports College Series

Legion Esports, an Irish Esports company, has launched a new competition open to just Irish college students. This is the only third-level Esports competition in the country, welcoming gamers from over twenty Irish universities and colleges. Legion Esports founder, Stuart Dempsey, says “Legion Collegiate is a hugely exciting opportunity for us. The popularity of esports amongst third-level students has been obvious for a number of years now, and we’re looking forward to providing them a platform to showcase their skills and go head to head with other college teams in Ireland and beyond”.

Legion Collegiate – Participating Colleges
University College DublinDublin Business School
University College CorkDublin City University
Trinity College DublinDundalk Institute of Technology
University of LimerickInstitute of Technology Carlow
University of UlsterInstitute of Technology Sligo
Letterkenny Institute of TechnologyQueen’s University Belfast
Maynooth UniversityRCSI Dublin
Munster Technical UniversityTechnological University Dublin
National College of IrelandWaterford Institute of Technology
National University of Ireland GalwayAthlone Institute of Technology

Gamers will be able to enter the competition across a wide range of games, including League of Legends, Valorant, Rocket League, Smash Bros. and CS:GO.

The initial Legion Collegiate Winter Series running from October 11th and wrapping in January. This will be followed by the Legion Collegiate Spring Series, kicking off in February 2022 and conclude in May 2022.

Registrations for Legion Collegiate Winter Series are Now Open.

Phox Water Jug: The Eco-Friendly Water Filter

Marty
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Phox Water Jug: The Eco-Friendly Water Filter

I’m a big fan of sparkling water. I’m also a big fan of the idea that my children and grandchildren will have a decent planet to grow up on. So here’s the problem. Sparkling water typically comes in plastic bottles. Simply put, plastic bottles suck. The solution is my beloved Sodastream which injects CO2 into tap water to create sparkling water. Living in Dublin brings another problem to the fore. The water in Dublin tastes horrendous. I’ve found a solution to this problem too. I bought an eco-friendly water jug called Phox and here’s why I love it.

What Is Phox?

Phox is, quite simply, is a water jug. If it were to do nothing else, it would achieve holding and pouring 2.2 litres of water. Now, if it was just that I wouldn’t be talking about it. There’s a bit of eco-friendly science about this water jug that sets it aside from the competition.

If you have a water filtration jug in your home, there’s a massive chance it’s been designed and built by Brita. Brita is a world leader in the production of water filtration jugs. While they’ve made strides to be more eco-friendly, these traditional-style water filters lead to more than 100 million plastic cartridges ending up in landfills every year. Phox estimates that their eco-friendly water jug has a carbon footprint 70% smaller than the Brita style water jugs.

The Phox water jug has been designed with the reduction of waste in mind. Instead of replacing the filter after every usage cycle is complete, you change the contents of the filter.

How Does The Phox Jug Work?

Parts of the Phox jug

Phox, in essence, works the same as all water filtration jugs. You fill the jug from a tap and the tap water passes through minerals. This process removes contaminants from the water making it taste and smell less unpleasant. Phox is different because unlikely many water jugs, you empty the minerals required to filter your water into a reusable container inside the jug from a small package. This process dramatically reduces the waste that ends up in a landfill.

Phox offers two different filtration packs:

  1. Clean Pack
  2. Alkaline Pack

I’ve only tested the clean pack so far. Given the water in Dublin is so horrible straight from the tap, I just wanted to make our tap water taste nicer. The ultimate goal was to make my own sparkling water and stop buying bottled water. The clean pack can also softens water and makes for a better cup of tea or coffee.

I’m going to try out the alkaline pack too. This pack removes the stink from water but also helps with heartburn.

Is Phox Really An Eco-Friendly Water Jug?

Throughout my review, and I will review this in a minute, I struggled with one element of Phox. A lot of the calculations on carbon footprint and manufacturing are based on the product being used in the UK. It’s not great knowing I have to get my filter packs shipped from the UK. Now that I’ve tested the jug out, I’m going to order at least a year’s supply of filtration packs to reduce on shipping.

Still, even though the jug had to be shipped to Ireland, its manufacturing doesn’t change. To reduce their carbon footprint, Phox found UK companies to supply as many raw materials as possible. All of this second generation Phox jug’s manufacturing, packaging, design and distribution are completed within an 80-kilometre radius of Phox HQ in Glasgow.

At the end of the day, I’m confident that this approach is better than relying on store-bought water in plastic bottles.

Life With The Phox Jug

There’s been some debate over whether or not water jugs are a good idea. For me, given the number of times we’ve seen water quality make the news in Ireland due to declining quality, it’s a no brainer type purchase.

I’m just about to replace my second filter. Each filter lasts for 45 days so I’ve been using the Phox for nearly three months. The first glass of water left me shocked at how effective the Phox is at making Dublin water completely drinkable. I don’t think twice about drinking it. We no longer buy bottled water and are keeping the Sodastream busy.

One massive positive of the jug is just how fast it filters a full reservoir of water. In just 5 minutes you’ll have lovely clean tap water to drink. The Phox team have cleverly created an app that reminds you to change your filter contents. They even send you an email to remind you too. I need things like this in my life.

When it came to ordering my replacement filtration packs, there was some snag with customs. Now that I think of it, the jug itself was slow to arrive because it was coming from the UK, but it did arrive. I’ve since spotted that Amazon stocks the Phox filtration packs. Considering Amazon is about to open a fulfilment centre in Ireland next year, this should make this whole process a lot easier than buying directly from Phox.

I, again, have to call the people of Phox very clever. Once your filtration pack does land, it’ll arrive in a letterbox friendly package. This means your postie is a lot less likely to have a failed delivery, further reducing carbon footprints.

Flaws Of The Phox Jug

While ordering from the UK isn’t ideal, the jug itself isn’t perfect either. Perhaps the biggest flaw of the design is the large circumference of the glass container. It’s so large that it doesn’t fit in my fridge door, something Brita has always been sure to think of. If you overfill the reservoir it won’t filter down into the glass container. I’ve had many occasions where this happens and then when pouring water, unfiltered water leaks from the reservoir.

It’s also a very tall jug. This means anything at all in the sink can make the jug tough to refill. Typically, I use a small kitchen jug to refill it. An easy solution really.

Despite these little snags, I have nothing but positive recommendations if you’re thinking of buying yourself a Phox.

Phox Eco-friendly Water Jug: The Verdict

Let’s recap. I bought this jug from the UK, had various delays in getting it through customs and hit further snags getting my refils. There are some little annoyances about its design too, so how do I feel about the Phox in general? Well, to be honest, I love it. I can’t quite put my finger on why I love it but despite the flaws, it’s a great solution to the problems I was having. Also, during the buying process when I hit snags, their customer care was great.

The Phox nails the two most important things I was after in a water jug. I wanted an eco-friendly alternative to a Brita water jug and I wanted tastier water. Is it the perfect solution? Maybe not, but it solved my problems perfectly.

You can buy the Phox eco-friendly water jug directly from Phox’s website. The jug, with a year’s supply of filtration materials, costs about €80.

Sync Fitbit To Apple Health And Get Steps Widget On iPhone

Marty
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Sync Fitbit To Apple Health And Get Steps Widget On iPhone

After many years of resistance to Apple, I’ve found myself sitting slap bang in the middle of their ecosystem. I’m writing this on my MacBook, with experience of using my iPhone 12 and iPad. But I continue to resist Apple Watch, opting instead for the Google-owned Fitbit Sense. I say Google-owned because that means the tracker is firmly competing with Apple which leads to some problems. I like Apple Health, but my Sense doesn’t play nicely with it. I’ve learned how to beat it into shape, forcing it to sync and even getting my steps into a widget for some of my favourite iOS 15 home screen layouts. Here’s how.

How To Sync Fitbit To Apple Health

There is no direct way to sync your Fitbit step data to Apple Health. That’s a real shame because Apple Health is a lovely app. It’s so lovely, I didn’t want to give up on finding a way to sync the data, bridging a gap between Apple and Google. The solution lies in using a third-party app. I found two apps that can do this but both have pros and cons.

I should pop a wee disclaimer here. Neither of these apps has been developed by Apple or Google. You’re trusting a third party to connect your data.

Fitbit to Apple Health Sync

This is the first app I have used for quite some time. I liked it because it was free to get started and it worked, even if it is a bit manual. Fitbit to Apple Health Sync can link your steps to Apple Health but will only do so when you manually open the app and tap sync. Automatic sync is a premium extra and extremely pricey so I never paid for it. You can pay monthly for €6.49, annually for €43.99 or get a lifetime pass for €59.99.

I can see what it may be tempting to pay for this given it solves a specific problem, but the value just didn’t seem right for me given all it will take is an agreement between Google and Apple to rule this app dead in the water. That’s why I went back looking again and found a better solution.

Sync Solver

And that better solution was Sync Solver. Now, this still isn’t free but the price is more reasonable at €4.99. You pay for this app up-front and then there are no additional fees to worry about. Sync Solver continues to link my Fitbit step data with Apple Health. One drawback is that it doesn’t sync very regularly. Typically, you’ll get an automatic sync two or three times a day. You can change the settings to be more aggressive but remember that more aggressive means more impact on battery life.

If you want, you can still open the app and manually sync throughout the day.

Sync Solver costs €4.99 up-front and then you’re done. Compared to the previous app I looked at, I’m much happier with Sync Solver.

Keeping Fitbit To Apple Health Syncs Clean

One final thing you need to be wary of is keeping your sync data clean. By default, Apple Health uses your phone’s hardware to track your steps on a daily basis. It assumes you don’t have a tracker at all but that means if you use an app to sync, you will likely end up with duplicate data and double step counts.

To avoid this from happening, go to the Steps section of the Apple Health app. At the very bottom, tap “Data Sources and Access”. Tap “Edit” at the stop of the screen and go to the “Data Sources” section. Drag “Sync Solver” to the top of the list. This will now be the singular source of your step data.

Fitbit Step Data As iOS 15 Widget

Because I’ve been playing with Focus Mode and home screen layouts, I wanted to get my step data into a home screen widget. I was surprised that Fitbit doesn’t have a widget. I was completely shocked to find Apple Health doesn’t seem to feature as an option either. Yet again, I was seeking a workaround that came in the form of Widgetsmith.

Widgetsmith lets you design your own widget. I’ve not made anything too fancy yet but nor have I spent a penny on getting this app to do what I needed.

Straight away, Widgetsmith supports pulling activity logged in the Apple Health app into a widget. Combined with my Fitbit sync trick from above, creating an iPhone widget to display steps tracked with my Fitbit was easy.

I went for a new small widget and added “Step Counting” from the Widgetsmith app. I started out with a simple basic step counter but now have moved to a step goal layout instead.

That’s it. I can effectively have a Fitbit step counting widget in iOS 15. I’ve also added the Sync Solver app in case I do want to give it a quick manual sync too.

I would have preferred if everything here just worked, but it might be a while before Apple and Fitbit sort their differences out. I also would have preferred being able to do this for free. While the first third-party app worked for free, investing in option two seemed like decent value for money.

Is The TikTok Creator Fund Available In Ireland?: Not Yet

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Is The TikTok Creator Fund Available In Ireland?: Not Yet

In my eyes, there are two kinds of people. Those who actively use TikTok and those who are too embarrassed to say they do. I’m exaggerating for humour of course, but TikTok has experienced explosive growth around the world. The social media platform was a massive escape from reality during lockdown so it’s no wonder it was a winner. But if you’re living in Ireland and loving the creation side of TikTok, the Creator Fund isn’t available for you just yet.

What Is The TikTok Creator Fund?

People creating content is the lifeblood of social media platforms. That’s the simple reason why TikTok encourages people to go live in order to continue getting followers. It’s also baked into the foundations of the Tiktok Creator Fund.

TikTok launched the Creator Fund to repay content creators based on the number of views and the authenticity of those views along with the level of engagement on the content. Basically, the better the quality the more money creators can make.

The Creator Fund total varies daily and is based on the number of videos published by TikTokers that day. For the next three years, the new social media giant has committed £231 million in funding.

Who Is Eligible For TikTok’s Creator Fund?

Much like going live, the Creator Fund is only for those who have done enough to show they mean business. Right now, you must be a creator based in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain or Italy. You must be over 18 with at least 10,000 followers. Your videos will need to have generated at least 100,000 views in the past 30 days and you can’t have breached any TikTok guidelines in getting to where you are now.

going live on tiktok with a ring light

Can I Join The Creator Fund In Ireland?

I’m afraid not. Despite the fact TikTok is investing heavily in their Irish offices, we’re not allowed to join the Creator Fund. Even if your account meets all the requirements, you must be based in France, Germany, Spain or Italy to avail of the European Fund. The fund has proven popular in Europe, with tens of thousands of creators already signed up. Over half of all eligible creators have signed up.

Will The Creator Fund Launch In Ireland?

I’m sure it will, but who knows when. As TikTok have said themselves, “the Creator Fund is in its early stages, and we’re continuously exploring new ways to improve the experience for our creator community and the way creators are rewarded”. This means they’re still trying to work out the markets it’s currently live in.

The TikTok Creator Fund is a great idea but Ireland is a relatively small market. Right now, keep creating content and hopefully, your time will come.

Squid Game: South Korean Netflix Series Is Hostel Meets Takeshi’s Castle

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Squid Game: South Korean Netflix Series Is Hostel Meets Takeshi’s Castle

It’s hard to tell if Squid Game is being recommended to all Netflix customers or it just got fired up by my own recommendation algorithm. I’ve watched the first few episodes and I’ve seen enough to recommend it. For me, it’s the movie Hostel meeting TV show Takeshi’s Castle. If you find yourself looking for an interesting whacky series to watch, this is it.

What Is Squid Game About?

I think my description of Hostel meets Takeshi’s Castle is so damn on the money here. Squid Game is a South Korean TV series about a mysterious survival competition. 456 degenerates who’ve worked themselves into massive debt are invited to play a series of games to win 45.6 billion Won – about €33 million.

The games are based on traditional South Korean children’s games, but they all have a deadly twist.

Mild spoiler ahead for episode one.

For example, the first episode has a game called “red light, green light”. Normally in this game, someone says “green light”, allowing players to move. They can continue to move until the words “red light” are said. Anyone who moves after this point is eliminated. In the kid’s game, that means knocked out. In Squid Game, it means death.

Is Squid Game Worth Watching?

Absolutely. Squid Game is another fine example of how impressive the South Korean entertainment industry is these days. The series threads the needle of humour, entertainment and gore while also offering up a complex commentary on real life. Be warned, while the story is a bit wild and funny at times, the gore is intense. But it’s not just gore for gore sake. There’s some great story underneath all of this.

I’d recommend watching the original in Korean with English subs, but the dubbed version is also great.

Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix.

How Much Is Amazon Prime In Ireland: Is It Worth It?

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How Much Is Amazon Prime In Ireland: Is It Worth It?

Amazon customers living in Ireland have wondered for a long time just how valuable a service Jeff Bezos offers us outside the UK. It might come as a surprise, but immediately after Brexit, Irish shopping on Amazon.co.uk remained steady. I shop with the UK website and have noticed their delivery times to Ireland are stunningly fast and offer great value even with extra Brexit related fees. For this reason, I’m an Amazon Prime customer and I see the value in that. If you think you might too, here’s everything you need to know.

Update: Amazon.ie is now live, giving shoppers in Ireland access to 200 million products from the Irish distribution centre with faster deliveries and easier returns

How Much Does Amazon Prime Cost In Ireland?

Amazon Prime costs £7.99 per month. I pay monthly through Revolut to make sure I’m always getting the best exchange rate on that along with not worrying about conversion fees. Last month, that worked out to be €9.45 for my Prime membership.

You can also pay for your Prime membership annually. To go down this route will set you back £79 per year. If you pay annually, you’re looking at a bill of about €92. Depending on the exchange rate when you buy annually, you could be saving €20 by paying for the year upfront.

Finally, if you just want to watch Amazon Prime Video there’s a specific membership for that too. That’ll set you back £5.99 per month, or €6.99 per month in Ireland, give or take a few cents.

Here’s a recap.

Amazon Prime Membership Costs In Ireland

Cost (Sterling)Approximate Cost (Euro)
£5.99€6.99
£7.99€9.45
£79€92

Is Amazon Prime Worth It In Ireland?

Personally, I find Amazon Prime worth it. The least value for me is from Prime Video. I just don’t find myself scrolling through Prime Video looking for something to watch very often. But I do order somewhat regularly from Amazon.co.uk and get decent savings along with free and quick delivery. It amazes me that Amazon can deliver to my front door quicker from the UK and passing through customers, faster than most Irish companies based here.

Amazon delivery vans now operating in Ireland

Still, Amazon Prime really is only good value if you use it somewhat regularly. I’d probably order something every week or at least every second week so maybe that’s the sweet spot.

What Amazon Prime Customers Get In Ireland

Along with the improved delivery experience, you get some extra sweeteners as a Prime customer.

  1. Amazon Prime Video included
  2. Unlimited Premium delivery
  3. Unlimited music streaming
  4. Unlimited photo storage
  5. Prime Reading

I don’t use much of this myself beyond the Premium Delivery. Ordering on Amazon can cost up £4.99 or more per delivery if you’re not a Prime customer. From time to time I might spot something on Prime Video, but the rest are nice to have features that I don’t use regularly.

Additional Prime Benefits

The cool thing for Amazon Prime customers in Ireland is that we’re starting to see additional benefits appear in the market. Just recently, Amazon and Deliveroo announced a partnership offering Prime customers free Deliveroo Plus membership. I’m already using this too.

Amazon Prime Verdict

If you plan to shop on Amazon.co.uk in and sort of regular fashion, Amazon Prime is worth it. With Amazon confirming a full Irish fulfilment centre for 2022, the shopping experience will only get better for Irish-based customers. You can sign up to Amazon and try out a month of Prime for free to see if it’s for you.

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