Ken McGuire

Author: Ken McGuire

  • Is Your Personal Name Or Business Name Taken Online?

    Weird News — No. 4
    Creative Commons License photo credit: Caveman 92223

    Just off the latest PodCamp Ireland podcast on Blogtalk Radio where, when looking over activities of the past week, we got around to talking about protecting your username, personal name or business name online when it comes to web services.

    This stems from a blog post Pat Phelan published recently about brands and their use of Twitter and the check comes, possibly, from a tweet by Tom Raftery.

    UsernameCheck.com is a service which allows you to see if your preferred username for your person, business or brand is available on a multitude of webservices. You don’t need to enter a password, just your chosen username and the site will check whether or not the name is available on everywhere from 12seconds.tv to Digg, eBay, Flickr, Last.fm, Typepad, Twitter, Youtube and a whole host more.

    Given that “93 of top 100 brands don’t control their Twitter name” (taken from Pat’s post) if you’re worried about control of your brand name on the web, whether Twitter or elsewhere, I’d get checking via UsernameCheck.com sooner rather than later.

  • Rhyme Rag, New Poetry Blog In Kilkenny

    Testament that including blog links in your email signatures work, I stumbled onto Rhyme Rag earlier this morning.

    Rhyme Rag is a young poetry publication issued by the Kilkenny Arts Office, directed by local arts officer Mary Butler.

    You can also follow the artist-in-residency blog for No 72 John Street here where Gypsy Ray has recently commenced a four week residency.

  • Search Engines, Guitars, Food All Get Investment

    When someone emails you with some good news on the investment front for startups, and is happy to answer your questions via email, I’m happy to talk about it. (edit: as Keith was).

    RevaHealth, headed by Caelen King, have announced the securing of a €1.25m investment through Mianach Venture Capital and supported by Enterprise Ireland, EI backing RevaHealth.com as a High Performance Start Up in 2008 (though judging the EI terminology, should HPSU not be High Potential Start Up).

    On the site itself, it “currently stores information on over 60,000 clinics in the UK, Ireland and 50 other countries worldwide. RevaHealth.com helps people take control of their healthcare choices and find the most suitable clinic and treatment for their needs”.

    I asked Caelen what we could expect on RevaHealth.com as a result of the new investment in the business, specifically in what new features users could look forward to.

    “New features that we are investing in include advanced map and geo-coding, semantic search functionality (it is very difficult to match consumer health terminology with professional health terminology) and integration with 3rd party content (mash-ups).”

    Would users like an iPhone app as part of the development? Considering there’s information to be had on over 60,000 clinics

    You can also follow RevaHealth on Twitter here.

    db Twang

    While congratulations have been passed on in person and on Twitter, if you didn’t hear about it, db Twang also managed to secure €110,000 angel round funding in December. I’ve been following the development of the project since close to day one having worked on early elements of it, but to get this funding and signal the intent of raising up to another €500,000 between Q2 and Q3 is fantastic.

    db Twang, based here in Kilkenny, also achieved High Potential Start Up status from Enterprise Ireland back in December.

    This is a startup to watch. If you haven’t already signed up for notice of the launch, get thee to dbTwang.com now. With 400+ registered interest users and talk of a closed beta taking place in March you’d do well to get in quick.

    iFoods.tv

    Bringing more good news to the table this week was Niall Harbison who announced that iFoods have secured (or did before Christmas but have now made it public) a €400,000 investment, with the possibility of adding a further €200,000 in the coming months.

    Having watched the guys on Dragons Den and the request for £100,000 at the time, the investment of up to €600,000 in the business is yet another golden moment for Irish startups.

    Ireland’s own Dragons Den should be starting soon on RTE.

  • A Beginner At The Irish Blog Awards

    IMG_3673.JPG
    Creative Commons License photo credit: harry-m

    They know what a blog is. They’ve read blogs as references. They might have even given thought to starting a blog at some stage, if they had time to do it. They know that podcasts exist. They know the power of the web.

    They don’t blog. They’ve not really heard of, seen or used Twitter. Online video is another world away, but there is a realisation that it works.

    They’re not on Facebook. They’re not on MySpace.

    It’s their first time going to the Irish Blog Awards or any award ceremony that recognises those working with blogs or the wider world of the internet in Ireland.

    I’ve spoken to people at the Irish Blog Awards over the last two years who were in the same situation. Some of them have gone mad altogether.

    What advice would you give such a person?

  • Irish Blog Awards Nominations – Have You Made Yours?

    Irish Blog Awards - morning tea following the 2008 IBAs in Dublin

    The nominations are still open for the 2009 Irish Blog Awards, but not for much longer with 6pm Wednesday the deadline to get your nominations in.

    Guilty as charged, I’ve yet to make my own but they’ll be in for this evening. The night recognises the talents and voices of the Irish blogging community across all genres. In the past I’ve been lucky enough to see nominations for some of my blogs in Best Technology, Best Music and have nominations in one or two other categories as well.

    But it’s not just about technology or music, there’s the arts, business, pop culture, photography and a whole lot more.

    The awards themselves are changing location this year. After three years in Dublin (having made the road trip the last two years) I’ll find myself driving to Cork and this great venue for the awards. Having experience two years at the Blog Awards and a fantastic night at the Irish Web Awards in October, the real fun of the night isn’t competely in the awards ceremony itself but in the craic before and afterwards (and all through the night).

    In saying that, I’ve booked into the hotel already so there’ll be no looking for Burger King at 2am.

    I’m looking forward to the night, catching up with those I’ve not seen or spoken to in a while and hopefully get the chance to match even more faces to names from the web. Hit the awards as often as you like, when there’s a few hundred people in the room it can be tricky to talk to everyone you want to!

    Nip along to Awards.ie and get your nominations in before Wednesday.

  • People Still Get Blue Screens, Unmountable Boot Volumes

    Crashed train station display
    Creative Commons License photo credit: sethschoen

    One of my most popular blog posts of 2008, judging by comments and hits on the post overall, was this one – Unmountable Boot Volume (Dell, Fix) – where I outlined in October 2007 some steps that can be used to get around that boot volume blue screen error on Windows XP.

    Since I published the post, I haven’t had a blue screen error. Primarily because I moved over to a Mac and started using OSX, but that’s another thing altogether.

    I’m amazed at how many people still get the issue – but moreso by some of the comments. Specifically people being told by customer support and technical support agents that the hard drive must be fried, people will lose all their data and they really have no hope.

    I’ve been there. I’ve worked in a call centre. I’ve read the instructions from the screen as you step through the case. But I’ve also used my initiative and given people a few “off the books” instructions that would see them right, because you’ve experienced something similar yourself.

    To those of who who managed to repair your drive from the steps included in the blog post and went on to become a regular reader and commenter in other areas, I’m glad I was of some assistance to you. To those people who seek out advice from blog posts and the web and get their own second opinion online, more power to you.

    Sure enough, in the long run your hard drive might kick the bucket, but at least you’ve taken the initiative to seek out a solution online. Hopefully, when you arrive on it, it works for you too.

    If you’re having an unmountable boot volume issue, click here for some steps to help you through it.

  • TeenCamp For Dublin Next Saturday

    TeenCamp, Ireland’s first barcamp-esque event for teenagers takes place next Saturday, January 17th, in Filmbase . You’ll find Filmbase on Curved Street in Temple Bar in Dublin.

    As they say themselves

    TeenCamp Ireland is a gathering of the techies/bloggers/fanboys age 13+ of Ireland to give talks, meet others, share ideas and have a laugh.

    TeenCamp’s are organised/planned/run by teens for other teens.

    They’re still registering for numbers so if you’re intending on going along on the 17th, let them know in advance so they can figure out how many pizzas to order up. Better still, if you’re in a position to help sponsor some pizza, projectors, drinks, hardware, software, goodies – anything at all – be sure and contact them and help get Teencamp off the ground.

    The day itself will run from 1pm to 7pm with a break for lunch around 3pm.

    See TeenCampIreland.com for more.

  • D-Day For Dell?

    Update: Following the action on Twitter and again via RTE, Dell are to cut 1900 employees from the Limerick plant with job losses phased between April 2009 and January 2010. That’s a serious casualty for jobs both in Limerick and technology in general in Ireland.

    —

    I was listening to Newstalk on the way into work earlier this morning, and have it on here in the office but it looks like it’s D-Day for Dell. Or, on the official line, workers in the Limerick plant have been called in to a meeting due to start a few minutes ago.

    The possible closure and loss of jobs in four figures has long been whispered. I knew that Dell were manufacturing in Poland but didn’t realise that Irish orders through Dell.ie, which I thought were being manufactured in Limerick, were actually coming from Eastern Europe.

    This goes back to one of the deliveries I was waiting on (which kept me in Kilkenny a few days longer than anticipated at Christmas) with my brother awaiting a delivery of a laptop from Dell, out for delivery on the morning of the 18th of December. Knowing Interlink carry the Dell deliveries coming this direction I had thought I’d be able to collect the laptop on the 19th (Friday) and get on the road. Nothing on the 19th, nothing the following Monday and you should have seen the look of surprise on my face when I rang Dell only to find out they were waiting on the delivery to come in from Poland before it hit the road in Ireland.

    I still found it incredible that given it’s a manufacturing plant in Limerick, they’ve got to send all the way to Poland and back for an order that’s only going two hours up the road. Do laptops ordered for delivery in Limerick go to Poland as well?

    RTE reports that the manufacturing staff are meeting first, with the IT, legal and marketing meeting at 10am.

    Looks like today we’ll know the true reality of the situation in the Limerick plant.

  • iTunes To Go DRM Free?

    DRM sign, Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan.JPG
    Creative Commons License photo credit: gruntzooki

    It looks like iTunes is possibly going (completely) DRM-free? Great news for music lovers but whether or not it actually materialises is another thing. There are plenty of alternatives in the marketplace for DRM-free music downloads but according to this BBC article, it looks like Apple (who already sell DRM-free tracks from the EMI label) are about to sign off on a deal with the rest of the big four including Sony, Warner and Universal which would see all DRM copyright restrictions lifted from the iTunes store.

    It might also bring about a change in pricing on the iTunes store – more for recent tracks, less for older tracks, but Apple’s pricing is a whole other kettle of fish.

    We all knew it was going to come around eventually, right?

    Update: TUAW has the details on price changes for 2009.

  • Kilkenny Open Coffee? It’s A Possibility, It’s This Week

    Hot Cup Of Clay
    Creative Commons License photo credit: Gary Denness

    Having an Open Coffee morning in Kilkenny has long been whispered and suggested amongst Kilkenny-heads. I spoke to a few people about it at PodCamp and the whispers appeared again before Christmas on Twitter.

    Over on IGOPeople.com, Keith has set up a Kilkenny Open Coffee Group where a few of us have agreed to a first meeting at the Kilkenny Cafe tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11:30am. You’ll find the Kilkenny Cafe located downstairs in Market Cross Shopping Centre and The Meeting Room is up at the back of the cafe. There’s plenty of tables, chairs, big seats, power points for laptops and free wifi as well.

    If you’re in the Kilkenny area, drop in, have a coffee, let’s see what happens.

  • Blogging For Beginners Hits The Spot(light)

    Last May I was asked to give a Blogging For Beginners course to a number of ArtLinks members, the primary focus being on blogging from an arts perspective.

    While the meat of the day was in the actual talking and conversation part (as more often than not is the case), I had put some slides together as a handout for the eighteen or so who attended. Cathy Fitzgerald has been working away on getting the ArtLinks courses online over Christmas and the Blogging For Beginners presentation on Slideshare is currently the featured presentation in the careers section.

    You can view / download the slides here.

    Another one on ‘Getting Ahead In The Music Industry’, a talk myself and some of the KKM crew ran in Wicklow in November 2007 should be making its way online in the next few days.

    Some of the presentation may indeed be dated at this stage but will get a revamp soon enough.

  • Working For Myself, By Myself

    DSCF9207
    Creative Commons License photo credit: houseoftext

    The corner has well and truly turned on 2009 and as I park myself at my desk and gulp down a mug of green tea in between thoughts, I’m reminded of the year ahead for 2009.

    I’ve been working for myself pretty much since I left college. I did take up work in the family business for about six weeks to keep myself going. It started as two and within six months we were three. In 2007 we returned to two and as I look into 2009 I’m reminded that two, has become one as the ways of ones business changes.

    Of course, I’ve been getting used to the idea, having resided in the office on my own for the past few months but I’m looking forward to the challenge ahead in 2009.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much a team player. Kilkenny Music has operated for over three years with a strong team, the Devious Theatre Company has operated for over two years with a strong team and in my work life there’s always been people around. So for something that started as a team effort, it will be interesting, challenging and I think quite enjoyable to take it to the next step as a solo effort.

    A lot of the change I talked to myself about (in a professional and personal capacity) in 2008 is going to start surfacing in 2009. Business is broadening and opportunities actually do exist for those who actively go out and look for them. New clients open to new ideas, old clients with new plans for a changing future – they do exist.

    While I’m stopping short on any official announcements work-wise, I will say that I’m going into 2009 in an optimistic mood.

    Working for myself is something I always wanted to do. Sure enough, there are bumpy patches along the road. You open yourself up to the world of business, tax, accounts, chasing people for invoices, pitching for contracts, winning those contracts, missing out on those contracts, the good, the bad and the ugly.

    As I head into my fourth year of working for myself I can’t say that I’ve any regrets. You learn a lot of valuable lessons, no doubt about that. But at the end of the day, it can be so rewarding knowing that everything you achieve is as a result of the work that YOU did.

    Here’s to achieving new things in 2009, and a belated Happy New Year to all.

  • Anti Pinkertons Campaign Commences

    Christmas Eve (or possibly Christmas Day) saw a new online helping from the Vultures crew in Kilkenny as the next-in-line trailer for episode four, The Case Of The Poisoned Dates, hit the web.

    View the trailer above, or click here to visit the Vultures site.

    Remember kids, say “no” to Pinkertons.

  • Merry Christmas To All

    Lough Talt

    It’s Christmas at the lake, and unlike other years (and two weekends ago) there’s no sign of snow. In fact, all things considered, it’s quite mild.

    I was going to schedule a blog post full of Christmas cheer for everyone but figured it would be nicer to type one up overlooking the lake, the O2 dongle firmly nailed to the edge of the window for better reception.

    Christmas Day has arrived, the ham is done since last night (tastes great), turkey going into the oven about 11:30am, champagne for breakfast and all the family around – can’t ask for much more than that really.

    I get to tinker with some new gadgets, immerse myself in a good book and generally flake out for the next few days, something I hope all of you get to do.

    So from myself (and everyone at the lake), merry Christmas and I’ll see all of you (hopefully) in the New Year.

  • Save EUR250 On An iMac

    iMac
    Creative Commons License photo credit: KnOizKi

    You can save €250 on a brand new 24″ Apple iMac.

    How?

    By not buying from the Apple store, funnily enough. While I love the Apple store online, and enjoy walking around the physical properties as well, you can’t argue with a saving of €250.

    In January of this year I told myself that by the end of the year I would add an iMac to the family. I’m looking for something to handle my workload and free up the MacBook Pro for home use. After saving a few pennies I figured I would go for the 24″ iMac.

    Yes, one could stop at the 20″ model but I’d set my mind on the 24″ 2.8Ghz model, retailing on the Irish Apple Store at €1599 or €1316 ex VAT.

    I loaded up the cart, hovered, hovered, hovered, and walked away.

    Coming back, I said I’d try Dabs for the craic to see if they sell Apple goodies, which they do. Low and behold on Dabs4Work.ie they have the same 24″ iMac, brand spanking new, at €1065 ex VAT. Like apple, they also offer same-day / 24-hour dispatch. At a saving to me of €250-odd Euro.

    After a slight delay in trying to verify the address of my office, everything is on the way. The way the Euro vs Pound is working now, it certainly makes more sense to buy from Dabs as opposed to Apple.

    Case in point (as highlighted on Twitter yesterday) – you can buy an Apple iPod Touch (8Gb) on the Irish Apple Store for €219. The same piece of hardware is £165 on the UK Apple Store, now the equivalent of €175 (with the Euro trading at STG 0.9411 at time of writing).

    If you’re buying Apple this Christmas, at least for the moment, take the time to shop around online. A €250 would pretty much pay the tax on my van for 12 months, well worth it.

  • ArtLinks Reaches The 1,000 Member Milestone

    ArtLinksArtLinks, a growing online community for artists of all walks of life, based in the South East (here in Kilkenny) celebrated a nice milestone yesterday as they’ve reached the 1,000 member mark.

    I’ve been a member of and following the prior to its official launch in November 2007 and for the site to gain the ground it has since last November is largely down to the drive of the organisations director, Cathy Fitzgerald.

    Cathy was an attendee of PodCamp Ireland in Kilkenny in September 2007, moving up to be a speaker at CreativeCamp (March 2008), PodCamp Ireland II (September 2008) and more recently the Arts Council’s new media conference (November 2008). You can view the presentation here.

    Online and offline ArtLinks has come a long way since its launch. Born out of ideas generated at a fantastic Artists Exchange day I attended in May 2006, ArtLinks operates as a partnership between the arts offices of Kilkenny, Carlow, Wicklow, Wexford and Waterford County. By engaging with ArtLinks I’ve been able to open up new doors for theatre and music in Kilkenny as well as connect with some great creative-minded people in the region.

    If you’re a involved in the arts in any way in the south east of Ireland, be it film, drama, music, writing, sculpture, painting – anything goes – drop along and register for free. Best of luck to Cathy and all the arts officers in 2009.


    Disclaimer: I have worked as a consultant and advisor on ArtLinks, and have delivered a number of real-world courses for them.

  • Devious Theatre Do Online Video With Trainspotting

    First came the podcast of The War Of The Worlds, now we’ve started to release clips from our production of Trainspotting in Kilkenny in 2008.

    We put a lot of effort into the visual side of our productions. We hire a great video team for each show who will come in and do a two or three camera shoot. We also had a documentary produced a few months ago giving a fly-on-the-wall look at one of the nights of Trainspotting. However, we also understand and appreciate the power and the reach of the web for the arts and as such I’m expecting 2009 to be a great online year for The Devious Theatre Company.

    To the end of December and into January and February (our quiet real-world months) we’re going to be releasing clips from our shows (recorded in HD), the documentary and much more.

    To start with, here’s the first clip, as mentioned above it’s the opening scene from the Friday night of Trainspotting in Kilkenny. The crowd were already on their feet before the curtain opened – won’t be forgetting that feeling in a hurry.

  • Poll: Working With Clients Via SMS

    There are plenty of ways to communicate with your clients these days – phone calls, Skype calls, email, fax, face time, letter, text message and more.

    I’ve recently had a select number of clients looking to maintain contact via text message. Some clients it works for, others it doesn’t and I simply wouldn’t go for it. If they’re away from their desk and need notification of something, I’m happy to ping them with a text.

    Of course, some people look for full conversations via text and if I see it coming I pick up the phone or arrange to meet them in person.

    So I ask, are you happy to deal with clients via SMS? Cast a vote, leave your thoughts as a comment. Is texting too personal a connection to a client, or have you enjoyed a greater client relationship because you utilise text messages?

    If you can’t see the poll above (using the new Polldaddy wordpress plugin), click here to access the poll via Polldaddy.com.

  • Talking Mice On The Radio

    Seemingly, I’ll be heading over to the KCLR studio in a half hour (for an 11:40am slot) talking about mice. Not the run around and eat cheese kind but rather, the clicky kind.

    The mouse, as we all know it and love it in its various shapes and sizes has celebrated its 40th birthday and I’ve been roped into talking for a few minutes about its life to date.

    In case you didn’t know, the first computer mouse went public 40 years ago, back in 1968, demonstrated for the first time on December 9th at a conference in San Francisco. Xerox developed mice in the 70s before Apple acquired the license to manufacture mice in the 80s and things took off from there.

    When you look at the likes of the voice commands, the iPhone, the Wii, and other gesture-based devices, things have come a long way.

  • Following The Apprentice Final, Live

    I’ve found myself parked in front of the TV on a Monday night, working online, and happened upon The Apprentice, final. Admittedly I’ve only seen one or two weeks of the TV programming but there’s been a massive following on Twitter over the weeks.

    That following has landed me on Darren’s blog where you’ll find himself and a host of others in Le Cirk tonight live blogging The Apprentice final on TV.

    It’s a right flurry of activity over there…