Music Downloads: Go With The Flow?

As CD's die out, more and more focus is being put on internet downloading of music, with several online retailers popping up. Cue the latest entry into a rapidly overcrowded market: mflow.

Like any MP3 store, you can browse the site and find most major acts (there's still a couple of labels that are unavailable). Both songs and albums are available in 320kps quality, which is very good. In the push to get people to notice the site, it has making available a surprisingly large amount of promotional offers. So far, it has offered a range of offers, from free credit to codes that lower all song prices to just 20p, as well as offering certain albums for free. The site is 100% legal, and pays all artists, as required.

While it is undoubtedly a great offer to avail of, one has to ask, how do they intend to make a successful business out of it?

The answer to this is a fairly novel idea. The website allows users to "flow" songs, either on their mflow profile, or via Facebook, Twitter or Google Buzz. What this does is essentially promote the song to anyone following that user, presenting them with a link to purchase the song. But why would anyone do that?

As an incentive, for each purchase that is made via that flow, the user receives some of the payment, in the form of additional credit, worth 20% of the purchase.

It remains to be seen if such a tactic will pay dividends in the long term, or whether it is just a short-term novelty. However, with iTunes currently dominating the digital downloads market, it makes sense that new challengers will have to provide something different.

Not Even Mark Zuckerberg Is Immune To Being Hacked

The Facebook page of company founder Mark Zuckerberg has been hacked by an unknown person, who left a status update calling for more social investment in the company. A message was posted calling on Facebook to look towards social investment from ordinary people, rather than encouraging investment from banks and capital specialists.


The message read: "Let the hacking begin: If Facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn't Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a 'social business' the way Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus described it? What do you think? #hackercup2011."


The message appears to have been in reference to the recent investments in Facebook by Goldman Sachs and a Russian venture capital firm, valuing the social network at $50bn. Concerns have been raised over the secrecy clouding the deal.


Embarrassingly for Zuckerberg, more than 1,800 people 'liked' the update and almost 500 left comments before the post eventually was taken down.

Is Ireland About To Embrace Leader Debates, American Style?

As the start of the General Election 2011 approaches, it seems more likely than ever that there will be a leader's debate during the campaign.

Fresh from his election as leader of the Fianna Fáil party, Micheál Martin has declared his interest in partaking in such a debate with the leaders of both Fine Gael and the Labour party. During Martin's first press conference as leader, he said that the "traditional module of election debates is seriously flawed and must change".

"Specifically, I have asked them to agree to hold two

debates between us three, one at the start of the

campaign and one at the end.

In addition there would be a series of one-on-one debates

between us and a separate debate in the Irish language."

As expected, the smaller parties that would be excluded from such a debate are unhappy with such a scenario. Sinn Fein TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin criticised the idea, saying: 'Once again we have a Fianna Fáil leader engaged in the politics of exclusion and only willing to debate with parties from the consensus for cuts.'

Mr. Martin's call comes days after it was revealed that Sky News have approached the leaders of the five main parties to televise a leaders debate, chaired by Adam Boulton. RTE, TV3 and TG4 are also said to be interested in holding such a debate, although they are said to still be considering their respective formats.

It is not yet known whether all parties involved would take up such an offer. However, both Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore have called for such debate to take place, so as it stands, it appears that the likelihood is that Ireland shall follow the UK's lead, and have the party leaders fight for the hearts and minds of the public through a televised forum.