Web Log

Compiled by JOHN COLLINS

Your stolen camera

It's a little-known fact but every picture you take with yourdigital camera contains a huge amount of embedded data including,rather helpfully, the serial number of your camera.

The clever people at Stolencamerafinder have harnessed thatinformation to reunite stolen cameras with their owners. Simply dragand drop a picture taken with a lost camera onto the box on thehomepage and the site will tell you if pictures taken with it havebeen posted online recently.

Currently with one million camera sightings in its database, thisservice can only become more useful. www.stolencamerafinder.com

Tim Berners-Lee on open data

At its annual conference yesterday, the Irish InternetAssociation called on the Government to open data to its citizens.What might such a move achieve? In this TED talk, worldwide webinventor Tim Berners-Lee shows just what can be achieved whengovernment data is let free for developers to play with. From mapsof cycling accident blackspots to what taxes are being spent on, thefive-minute video shows the potential for better government bygiving citizens back their data.

http://is.gd/I8Gnab

Start-up ideas that consistently fail

We scratched our heads a little when question and answer websiteQuora suddenly became the online flavour of the week at the start ofthe year but it is now attracting enough users to become reallyuseful.

One particular question caught our eye: What are some start-upideas that persistently fail? Seems if you think you've got a killeridea for a dating site, a T-shirt site or yet another tool forcreating personalised news, the group wisdom of Quora is thinkagain.

http://is.gd/84OlFb

The Irish Sports Council iPhone app

The Irish Sports Council claims to have scored a world first withan anti-doping app for the iPhone, which tells sports people iftheir medication breaks the rules. The free app accesses theEirpharm Drugs in Sport Database which lists the drugs prohibited bythe World Anti-Doping Agency.

Although aimed at professional sports people, the app provides awealth of information on over-the-counter medications for anyoneinterested in their health.

http://is.gd/4OBXmQ