The Semantic Web, or Web 3.0, is a term which often pops up, but understanding of the term can be limited at best. In short it means adding more meaning to the web, by enabling computers to make decisions on data. An example would be when using Google to search a message board, with information about the post you are looking for is in the search results.

So, to give us a primer on all things semantic we spoke with John Breslin (homepage, twitter, foaf), founder of the SIOC project (homepage, wikipedia). John told us that Natural Language Processing and extra markup are used to derive meaning from data on the internet. He also spoke about how the Semantic Web will affect both the “average-Joe” user and Web developers.

Our next topic of conversation was ComReg’s announcement that Eircom must reduce the line rental fee charged to other operators from €8.41 to €0.77. We spoke with Peter Evan’s, Product Director of BT Ireland who welcomed the news. Peter spoke about how the market will now be open to true competition, and how we may see new Local ISP’s set up to cater to rural needs. We also discuss the future of broadband here, mentioning that dial up in Ireland (17%) is still more common than the European average (11%) and Magnet’s 50Mbps Fiber to the home offerings.

Christine Heffernan, Acting Head of Corporate Affairs of Vodafone Ireland also sent us a statement in which she said that “[this decision] will lead to more robust competition in the provision of fixed communications services as it will facilitate operators such as Vodafone to offer compelling differentiated products, lower prices, and improved product quality and choice to customers.”

Finally, we had a quick mention of the iPad, and how it’s interesting to see Apple designing their own chips, but we want to see magazines on the device before we buy one.

So, what do you think? Have you moved back to Eircom recently due to high charges? Would a €92 a year saving make you think about moving away from them again? Have you dabbled with Semantic Web technologies? We want to hear from you, leave a comment below.

The audio of this show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (CC-BY-NC).

This show originally aired on Wednesday February 3^rd on FlirtFM (101.3MHz, Galway) at 12:30pm.