Ken McGuire

Author: Ken McGuire

  • Playlist Mix 37 Goes Live

    Pato Banton

    Recording in a studio with no lights is no fun. Just like stubbing your toe is no fun. When you do the two together and podcast in the dark, it’s bound to become a little interesting.

    As I wait on this week’s KilkennyMusic.com podcast to upload I point you in the direction of the 37th Playlist Mix podcast featuring this 90s reggae-loving gem (above), Pato Banton.

    The 37th podcast brings you another 30 minutes or so of podsafe and independent music, six acts, six tracks and some background in between. It arrived online later than expected, due to unforeseen technical difficulties with lights, a crashing browser and ultimately electricity but it’s there for all to grab now.

    You can download here (about 28mb) or stream below. You can also check out PlaylistMix.com for the podcast archives, see past shows and subscribe via the feed (opens iTunes) to find out what I’ve been listening to during the week and just what’s been hitting my inbox.

    Playlist Mix 37
    [audio:http://www.playlistmix.com/podpress_trac/web/87/0/podcast037.mp3]

  • Shortlisted At Irish Web Awards


    My morning-after coffee at the 2008 Irish Blog Awards earlier this year

    Two of my babies (can I call them that if I’m *that* close to them?) have been shortlisted at the 2008 Irish Web Awards.

    While I was secretly delighted to see KilkennyMusic.com and the Playlist Mix Podcast (new podcast later this morning) make the longlist last week, there was not one but two high fives given yesterday when I discovered that KKM and PLM have made the shortlist for Best Music site and Best Podcast respectively.

    Needless to say I’m all surprised and happy and I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone again in Dublin on October 11th. I’m should be dragging the blog awards ninja with me again to represent Kilkenny Music on the night but can’t wait for the show.

    Congratulations too to all the individuals and companies who also find themselves on the shortlist. Registration for the awards, taking place in the is currently open with numbers already well in three figures

  • Tuesday Push For DownloadMusic.ie

    DownloadMusic.ie

    It’s about time I offered up a post for the Tuesday Push and I’m happy to see my first one being for DownloadMusic.ie.

    With almost 900 artists on the books and close on 45,000 legal music downloads – which, by the way, contribute to standings in the Irish music charts – DownloadMusic.ie has become the place to be seen for independent Irish acts looking to make any kind of a name for themselves.

    I’ll admit, I’ve never purchased music from the site. However, I use the site from the other side, as an artist and promoter helping other acts to get online and start selling their music.

    While anyone can go online and purchase music via credit card or online payment, it’s nice to see DownloadMusic.ie give bands the chance to sell their music via text message. In a mobile-hungry country where mobile handset saturation exceeds 100% (I know myself I’ve got three active handsets on three different numbers with two spare handsets just in case), the service seems ideal. We are a texting nation. We’re possibly there-or-there abouts for phone calls, but we’re certainly there for texting.

    Texting is where it’s at for DownloadMusic.ie. Fans of the bands can send a short code to 57501 e.g. ‘music XYZ’. They’ll be charged just a Euro for the text with the revenue split between the operator, DownloadMusic.ie (DownloadMusic.ie don’t actually take any money, leaving more to the artist again), the bulk going to the band (yes, IMRO are in there too looking for their percentage if you’re IMRO registered). The result is a text link and password for a secure download area to grab your new track and in the process of doing so you’re helping a band move one step closer to inclusion in the national music charts.

    There’s no doubt that the majority of acts I work with through KilkennyMusic.com and under the One Take Sessions gig series have a presence on DownloadMusic.ie. Vesta Varro (were due in Kilkenny on Saturday), currently touring in support of new single ‘Believe’ are the featured artist on the DownloadMusic.ie homepage.

    Local favourites Saving J, Myp Et Jeep and The Fundamentals are there too. At the last One Take Sessions in Kilkenny, Carlow performer Joe Cleere made a great point of asking people to text his shortcode to the DownloadMusic.ie number (57501) to buy his new single ‘Queue’.

    CDs at gigs will shortly become a thing of the past. Further proof to this is the relase of DownloadMusic.ie’s first USB album (I was on the panel of judges asked to select the acts for inclusion), which is also registered for the Irish music charts and features the likes of Dirty Epics, Vesta Varro, Ro Tierney, Codes and more – €12.99 for a 1gb USB key with 15 tracks included isn’t a bad deal at all.

    But you can get so much more – browse artists, get gig listings, check out the DownloadMusic.ie blog and there’s also the future possibility of bands selling tickets for gigs, band merch and more.

    DownloadMusic.ie is an absolute credit to the independent Irish music scene and long may the service continue.

  • Online Pizza Ordering Arrives In Kilkenny

    Extreme Pizza Online Ordering

    Ordering a pizza in Kilkenny just got a whole lot easier. On Friday (and again on Saturday) I tried the new online ordering system from ExtremePizza.com, the US-based pizza company, Kilkenny being the first Irish franchise location.

    The flier in the door suggested online ordering was available so I clicked on over to the website about 5:55pm, made a custom pizza ticking off all the extras I wanted, placed the order around 6pm and was emailed a receipt and told the average delivery time would be 45 minutes.

    Being one of the first houses in the estate, taxi and delivery drivers often skip past my own place and head for the bulk of the houses to seek out my address – but at least they listened to the ‘special instructions’ part of the order. At 6:45pm I get a phone call from the driver saying he’d got the message, was in the driveway and described the house before approaching the door.

    Instead of opting to open a company account or pay by credit card online (even more convenient), I had the cash ready from the receipt and – unlike some other pizza delivery companies I’ve heard tales of in Kilkenny – what you see on the receipt is what you pay.

    In discussing the merits of online pizza ordering over a few beers on Saturday night, we put it to the test again, different house further across town, different order combination and all with the same results – order goes in, pizza confirmation emailed, 45 minutes later your internet order is at the door.

    If they could knock the time down to 30 minute it’d be nice and handy but it’s great to see the whole system works and I’d hope that other places in Kilkenny catch on soon.

    See my LouderVoice.com review here.

  • The Business Of Beauty, Gaming And Music

    The Business of Beauty, Gaming and Music

    The UCD Quinn School of Business are running three evening talks from next week looking at the business of beauty, gaming and music, giving transitition year, fifth year and leaving cert students “a real insight” into viable career options in the three industries.

    These are more than just a talk. They are real business people sharing their vast experience in today’s exciting world of business and the possibilities that can arise from a degree in business.

    The Business of Beauty talk will be given by L’Oreal’s Eoghan O’Sullvan and Sarah Keating next Tuesday at UCD from 6:30pm to 10pm.

    With a focus on specific ventures, Eoghan and Sarah will highlight the commercial, marketing, finance, supply chain management and human resource aspects to their business while you enjoy funky canapés, mocktails and goody bags on offer at the event

    The Business of Gaming talk will run on Thursday October 9th with XBOX Ireland’s Orla Sheridan and Microsoft Game Studio’s Michel Buch Andersen taking to the floor to provide an insight to the current gaming marketplace, “retail distribution channels, profitability models” and more, something being pushed (by the looks of things) towards those studying business, economics or accounting.

    However, the one that got my attention is the Business of Music talk being given by Universal’s Freddie Middleton (Marketing Director) and Gill Dooley (Digital Campaign Manager), the talk taking place on Thursday October 23rd. The Business of Music should offer an insight to the role of a record company in the music industry, from a traditional background through to digital media distribution. You think they’ll get a debate going on where record companies are going and how they’ll continue in 5, 10, 20 years?

    Students going to the talks also have a chance to win a shadow-day at either Universal Music, L’Oreal or Xbox Ireland. Why weren’t they doing this kind of thing when I was in transition year? Were these events even open to third-level students in recent years?

    If you are a second-level student with an interesting in any of the above, then head along. I know I would be anyway if the door was open to me.

  • Bandcamp Launched & It Looks Interesting


    Bandcamp Screencast from Ethan Diamond on Vimeo.

    Cheers to Will Knott for the nudge on this one but it looks like BandCamp.mu has gotten underway and could provide a nice outlet for bands looking to distribute music online and further enhance their fan base.

    On the front of things from watching the screencast (above) it all seems pretty straightforward – add you profile, add your tracks, add some cover art and away you go. Grant API access to your PayPal account and you can start selling tracks direct from Bandcamp on a very Radiohead-esque “name your price” basis.

    I’ve signed up to give the service a try and see what it does for my own music (something I keep meaning to publish online and get away from the older demos clouding the MySpace) and those of other bands we have involved with KilkennyMusic.com.

    In their own words about what they do…

    We’re not yet another site wanting to host your tracks alongside the trailer for High School Musical 4: I’m Pregnant. Instead, we power a site that’s truly yours, and hang out in the background handling all the technical issues you dread (and several you’ve probably never even considered). We keep your music streaming and downloading quickly and reliably, whether it’s 3am on a Sunday, or the hour your new record drops and Pitchfork gives it a scathingly positive review. We make your tracks available in every format under the sun, so the audiophilic nerderati can have their FLAC and eat mp3 v2. We adorn your songs with all the right metadata, so they sail into iTunes with artwork, album, band and track names intact. We mutter the various incantations necessary to keep your site top-ranked in Google, so when your fans search for your hits, they find your music long before they find bonkersforlyrics.com or iMyFace. We give your fans easy ways to share your music with their friends, and we give you gorgeous tools that reveal exactly how your music is spreading, so you can fan the fire.

    The signup process (for me) has been delayed as I don’t have AIFF or WAV dumps of the music. Unlike MySpace, Bebo, NumberOneMusic etc where MP3s are the in thing, Bandcamp looks for the highest quality (loss-less) audio file you’ve got available and they’ll take care of the conversions to a variety of MP3 formats (192k and above), FLAC etc. The user or fan of your music can then decided how high a quality track they want to take, what format they want it delivered in and how much they’re willing to pay for it.

    The stats behind Bandcamp let you see where the visitors are coming from, who’s linking to and using your music online, what are your most popular tracks, how have they been played (complete, partial, skipped), everything you’ve wanted to know about who’s been listening to your tunes.

    Once I sort out a WAV dump of some of the session files I have gathering dust here I’ll give it a full run through, but for now, it looks rather promising indeed.

    Update:Andy Baio (Waxy.org) has an interview with Ethan here.

  • Playlist Mix 36 Released

    Vesta Varro

    They Playlist Mix podcast series returned two weeks ago after a light summer break and I’ve just released the 36th Playlist Mix this evening, a little earlier than usual.

    I’m doing well of late in the battle to set a definite finishing time work-wise during the day so I can free up more time in the evenings. More time in the evenings means earlier podcasts, earlier to bed and less of a fight with myself on a Wednesday morning before phoning into the PodCamp Ireland podcast show.

    It was PodCamp Ireland last year in Kilkenny that gave me the much needed kick to put the Playlist Mix on course and since last October I’ve managed to release 32 podcasts. I’d be looking at close to 50 had it not been for the serious lack of any evening-time in the summer thanks to producing and acting in two back-to-back performances from May to August with this devious bunch.

    As always on the podcast there’s six tracks from six different acts with music this week coming from Vesta Varro, Planet Rewind, This Is Fiction, Annie Golliath, Satellite State and Ro Tierney who I had as a guest at the One Take Sessions in Kilkenny last year.

    I’ll be catching Vesta Varro in action in Kilkenny this weekend but until then, enjoy the podcast. Comments always appreciated 🙂

    The podcast has also been longlisted / nominated for Best Podcast at the 2008 Irish Web Awards, another fine night in store for the Irish web community this October 11th in Dublin.

    Playlist Mix Podcast #36 – Download @ 27mb
    [audio:http://www.playlistmix.com/podpress_trac/web/83/0/podcast036.mp3]

  • Irish Web Awards Long List Published

    Oscars 2008
    Creative Commons License photo credit: julialat34

    The first of the long lists for the 2008 Irish Web Awards (Fall in love with the web again).

    I’ve spied the Playlist Mix (Best Podcaster) and Kilkenny Music (Best Music) amongst the list of exceedingly good Irish web sites and resources.

    Once again though, as in the case of the Blog Awards, these long lists are opening my eyes to other sites and resources I’m either unaware of or just don’t get to enjoy all that often. So while it’s certainly welcoming to see two of my internet babies on the long list, it’s great to have the eyes opened up to more great Irish websites.

    Registration to attend the awards, taking place on October 11th in Dublin, will open soon.

    See also: Long list for Best New Web Application / Service, second part of long list (just published).

  • Slow Down, Go Further, Share A Car?

    G-Wiz London #002 28 07 2007
    Creative Commons License photo credit: thingermejig

    I met Paul Brennan, the man behind Future Proof Kilkenny some months ago and I always meant to slip a note into the blog about the events Future Proof run here in town.

    This week, coinciding with EU Mobility Week, Future Proof Kilkenny are hosting a seminar on Sustainable Transport. While some of the talks will look at Kilkenny’s plans for cycling, the future of city motoring and more, one of the talks will come from Mike Newham of GoCar, a new pay-as-you-go car-sharing business launching in Cork this Friday.

    I’m particularly interested myself in how GoCar will do in Cork and if there’s a possibility we’ll see something like it happen elsewhere in the country (as opposed to something like DublinTraffic.ie).

    Following a light lunch there will also be a demo of the REVA electric car in Butler House carpark. The event (half day) takes place in Butler House, is priced €15 and you can grab all the details here.

    Note: Trying the Photo Dropper plugin for WordPress 2.5+ to grab Creative Commons licensed images for the blog posts. Another thing I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time.

  • Wifi Breakfast Gives Food For Thought

    Wifi Breakfast In Kilkenny

    For the last six weeks or so, maybe a little more, I’ve been making more time to get out of the office when it comes to planning on projects, dealing with client emails or any of the music and theatre related activities.

    I’ll either pencil a morning in at home or I’ll take to a coffee shop in Kilkenny. During the recent Smitten run with The Devious Theatre Company I spent some time working from a corner of ‘The Barn’ (theatre venue), Crotty’s coffee shop on Kieran Street, The Field on High Street (great grub) and now the Kilkenny Cafe at Market Cross.

    While the O2 broadband connection in my bag here beside me will allow me to work online from relatively anywhere in Kilkenny, the Kilkenny Cafe (as I mentioned in this video this morning) offer a ‘Meeting Room’ facility, having changed the upper level of the cafe to provide free wifi access (you don’t need a card or key) and powerpoints for your laptop / mobile phone.

    So twice in two weeks I’ve found myself sitting here, breakfast on one side, laptop on the other, plenty of food for thought.

    When you spend as long in the office as I tend to do, it does good get out of there every now and again and take the work with me.

    Plus, the tea isn’t too bad either.

    Note: The Asus EEE PC above isn’t mine, but I did have the joy of setting it up and getting to tinker around with it for a while. Works well in a wire-free environment.

  • Podcamp Ireland Podcasting Setup




    Podcamp Ireland Podcasting Setup

    Originally uploaded by kenmc

    I meant to get this posted to the blog a week ago or so – my podcasting set up for the Wednesday morning call for PodCamp Ireland.

    In the run up to PodCamp on the 27th in Kilkenny (this month) myself, Bernie Goldbach and Krishna De have been chatting every Wednesday morning at 9am for a one-hour podcast show.

    There’s regular interviews, some banter between ourselves, a hosting/domain tip from Blacknight’s Michele Neylon and a few other bits thrown in for good measure.

    So while you might hear me on a Wednesday morning, this is what I’m looking at in one corner of my office.

    Note: the description was actually in the flickr profile but the jist of what you’re looking at (outside of the laptop and second monitor) is a shielded Shure SM58 (stand cut into the desk) feeding through a Digidesign Mbox 2, connected via USB to the MacBook Pro. All audio for the MacBook on the call is routed through the Mbox, allowing me to use the SM58 with Skype.

  • A New Look For September…

    I’ve spent more time in recent weeks blogging around the web than here on my own blog. Music, theatre, tutorials… a whole lot of things semi-related to technology but not hardcare about technology.

    Perhaps it’s a shift in my blogging habits. Perhaps it’s my lack of time to sit down in the evening and gorge on mountains of tech-related RSS feeds as I used to do; arming myself with an abundance of tech news (once for a segment I was doing on KCLR 96FM), getting the brain thinking about blog topics for the week ahead.

    I’ve been so wrapped up in the world of theatre and music this summer that I haven’t gotten around to a whole lot of sharing of the same. Now, I’m not saying that I’m going to turn kenmc.com into a theatre and music blog, I’ve got other outlets for that. But it got me thinking – I live a creative live. One surrounded by all kinds of technological wonders, but one steeped in creativity and boosted by certain realms of the tech world, online and offline.

    So maybe it’s time to bring in some of that creativity.

    That or I’ve just been fed up of the way the blog was looking (subsequently putting me off posting) and I figure a new look will get me on track.

    What have I done? In comparison to the old theme, I’ve narrowed the main content column, added my live Qik channel (in an effort to get me Qikking), returned my Flickr photo stream (in an effort to get me uploading photos again), added gravatars, hacked a few themes together and away I go.

    Until October… then we’ll see about turning pink all over again.

  • CreativeCamp Belfast This Weekend

    The first CreativeCamp (in Ireland) hit Kilkenny this past March (I had a helping hand in organising the event), an event which started to bring in a nice concentration on design and the arts online. I had many a good conversation with film makers, visual artists, a writer, a theatre director – all of whom were starting to explore the online world as a means to promote their work and connect with fellow artists.

    While artists and creative practitioners made up a small portion of the blend of people there (there were initially 120+ subscribed to attend and likely 80-90 there over the day), the key thing is that it brought creative people together from all walks of life both online and off.

    So it was great to see Andy McMillan (who I got to meet at this year’s Irish Blog Awards, briefly) annouce earlier this year that CreativeCamp Belfast would be taking place. And wouldn’t you know, it’s taking place this weekend.

    CreativeCamp is a self-organised “unconference” – made up of open, participatory workshop-events where the participants are responsible for setting the agenda, deciding on topics and generating the content. CreativeCamp Belfast brings together technology and creative enthusiasts who want to make things happen with web, mobile, open source, new media, music and design.

    Of all the events and unconferences to provide some kind of online coverage or online archive of the day, this is one of those events I hope archives everything.

    When I passed my driving test earlier in the summer (before the need to have a second driver regardless of your license kicked in) I thought, “this is great – have van, will travel. Dublin, Belfast, anywhere with a bit of motorway”.

    Then in typical Irish form you get an invitation to a wedding and two fall on the same weekend, pinning me to Kilkenny on Friday and Mayo on Saturday. So there’s a slight part of me (the musician and music promotor / sponsor / butcher / baker / candlestick maker) gutted that I’m going to be missing out on talks like

    • Nick Fitzsimons – Music Licensing – What is it, how to approach it, and why it’s important
    • Rich Dale – A Manifesto for a sustainable NI Music Scene
    • Anto O’Kane – Building a new model of the music industry from the ground up – open discussion on the best way to keep a band afloat, and even make a few quid.

    not to mention the rest of the talks that are taking place on the day, a number of which have yet to have their details published.

    Plus it would have given me the chance to spread the wings and head to Belfast, take in a load of new faces on the day – the key thing for me behind these unconference events.

    So, long spiel aside, here’s the facts –

    • CreativeCamp Belfast takes place this weekend, Saturday September 6th
    • It runs 10am to 5pm in Blick Shared Studios (map)
    • You can still register here, here or here
    • It won’t cost you a penny to attend

    To those involved in CreativeCamp Belfast and those attending, have a good one!

  • Irish Web Awards Nominations Close Tonight

    The deadline for getting nominations in for the inaugural Irish Web Awards is tonight, August 29th at 23:59. Typically I’ve left my decision making until the last minute but I’ll be submitting my nominations before the deadline passes. While registration to attend the awards night itself has yet to open, there’s still the opportunity to step in as a sponsor for one of the categories like Best Education Website, Best School Website, Best Practice, Best Videocaster etc.

    (Note: those categories may well be sponsored at this stage).

    However, you can learn about sponsorship opportunities for the awards here.

    Time to get the thinking cap on…

  • More Online TV From Kilkenny

    We’re a talented bunch of people in Kilkenny. That said – Kilkenny people are quite talented. “The Creative Capital of Ireland” it has been called in the past. I’m also lucky and consider myself privileged to travel in quite a number of creative circles, one of those would be an association with Mycrofilms.

    Though not directly involved with Mycrofilms, I’ve spent a few days on set with them in the past and there’s a crosspolination of bodies involved with The Devious Theatre Company and KilkennyMusic.com, both of which I head up.

    So as the music calendar heads into the latter part of the year and our theatre programme takes a bit of a breather, I’m delighted to see that Mycrofilms (who are filming this week) have just released the trailer for Episode 3, due for full release later in the year.

    You can watch episode one ‘The Kris Kringle Konundrum’ and the second episode ‘The Scarlet Lady Vanishes’ right here. If you’re in Kilkenny this week then keep an eye out of the Myrcrofilms crew this week. Rumour has they were spotted in the Castle Park vicinity…

  • Podcasting Takes Time, But They’re Coming Back

    As I mentioned yesterday, I’m currently ‘Smitten‘. In a pure theatrical sense that is. Since the third week of May this year for three nights a week or more, plus weekends (taken up with theatre and gigs) I’ve been spending my nights at a variety of rehearsal venues, nights I had previously dedicated to other things I thoroughly enjoy such as the Sound System Podcast and the Playlist Mix.

    Now that we’ve hit show week on our second of three productions for the year I can look forward to having my evenings come back and getting into the podcasting groove again.

    There’s a perk in this for me as for the third production, I’m looking at producing a radio play. We had been speaking to one radio station to look at carrying the play in October but whether the show goes across the airwaves or not, we’re going to be releasing it as part of a short series of podcasts from the theatre company, a nice way for us (as the theatre company) to embrace podcasting and reach a new audience.

    What I’m also looking forward to is returning to the Playlist Mix (Tuesday nights) and the Sound System Podcast with KilkennyMusic.com (Wednesday nights). Producing podcasts, the way we’ve gotten into producing them, can take anywhere up to 3 hours if you allow a half hour for pre-production and notes.

    While the Playlist Mix will return with it’s regular and healthy dose of podsafe music, the Sound System Podcast will be showcasing highlights from gigs since May this year, for the first few shows with five weeks worth of live music to offer (20 live tracks) though an overall format change has not yet been decided by myself and co-host Ross Costigan.

    Thanks to my theatrical commitments and weekend engagements, three hours is a lot to ask when you’re in “show mode”. So from the first week of September, both podcasts (which collectively have almost reached the 90-mark in the last year) will be returning to an iTunes store near you.

  • I’m Smitten, All Week

    My evenings are about to come back to me once again, returning a sense of normality to my days and my blogging routine. What has been “normal” to me for the past 3-4 months have been intensive nights of rehearsals, mornings and weekends of production meetings, script meetings, safety checks, sound design, set design, more production meetings and more food than one could ever possibly consume at ‘The Field’ in Kilkenny.

    Tonight sees the opening of my second show in two months. For those of you who don’t know, I’m one of the four heads responsible for the running of The Devious Theatre Company in Kilkenny, at it’s core a six-strong group of actors and theatre lovers striving to develop and promote new programmes of theatre aimed at people our own age. Out with The Field and Oklahoma, in with Trainspotting and Cannibal The Musical and, this week, Smitten.

    In a round about way I got to join Darragh Doyle on KCLR 96FM last night (both of us pre-recording at separate times on Monday night) where listeners would have heard myself and writer John Morton talking about Smitten, opening tonight in The Barn at Church Lane, Kilkenny (behind The Good Shepherd Centre / St. Canice’s Cathedral) and running until Saturday.

    Smitten is, unashamedly so, a play about Kilkenny, set in Kilkenny, hosted by Kilkenny actors. A mish-mash of stories focusing on topics from alcoholism to pregnancy, mystery girls to testicular cancer, broken hearts to broken hands, make-ups and break-ups… but it’s a comedy at the heart of it all.

    John has actually put together a great piece here that’s well worth the read, from the writer’s perspective of Smitten.

    This is the fourth new production I’ve been involved in staging over the past two years where this time around I play ‘Niall’ who could quite possibly charm the pants off anything if he put his mind to it. For me it’s been a great role to take given I’ve been wearing other hats as producer for the show, sound designer and general Mr. Transport (have van, will travel). Having played a nice guy record collector, to an all-singing-all-dancing lover of snowmen, to a good-guy-turned-junkie, it’s nice to play someone with a bit of sleaze to their character, shake things up a bit.

    If you’re interested in finding out more, check out DeviousTheatre.com. I’ll be hanging out in The Barn pretty much all week and would like to extend my thanks once again to Barnstorm Theatre for providing us with a most excellent rehearsal and performance venue. If you would like to pop along to the show or reserve tickets, drop me a text or email me and we’ll sort something out.

    Until then, I’m Smitten.

  • Irish Web Awards Announced

    Irish Web Awards 2008If you have doubted web award ceremonies in Ireland in the past, then doubt no more. The Irish Web Awards 2008 have just been announced with Moviestar.ie as the headline sponsor. As with the Irish Blog Awards, Damien Mulley is the brains behind the operation so you know you’re in for a good night and a solid show.

    Nominated sites will be judged in areas such as

    • Interactive Design
    • Content
    • UI Design
    • Feedback
    • Extras such as web standards, mobile compatability etc

    A full breakdown of the scorecard can be found here.

    Registration to attend the awards ceremony to be held on October 11th will open soon. The best thing about it? It won’t cost you a penny It will only cost you €30 to attend and nominations are entirely free!

    Update: Damien has posted an update re: pricing.

  • The PodCamp Ireland Podcast Series

    In case you’ve been in hiding for the past few weeks or haven’t yet heard, myself, Krishna De and Bernie Goldbach have started a PodCamp Ireland podcast series, distributed through Blog Talk Radio and iTunes every Wednesday. As it is hosted through Blog Talk Radio, the show goes out live at 9am each Wednesday morning and you’re able to listen live or dial in to the show to take part.

    The podcast, heading into its fifth week, features a weekly tech / domain / hosting tip from Michele Neylon, a feature interview by Krishna with a new guest each week as well as other topical discussion on the build-up to PodCamp in Kilkenny this September.

    Already interviewed have been Johnny Beirne (DownloadMusic.ie), Campbell Scott (IGOPeople.com), Cathy Fitzgerald (ArtLinks.ie), Darragh Doyle (re: 4DayMovie.com) while this coming week sees an interview with Deborah Hadley (Tast.ie).

    If you would like to get involved, offer yourself available for an interview or suggest a topic for discussion then drop an email to podcampireland [@] gmail.com.

    Listen to Podcamp Ireland on internet talk radio

  • Ken McGuire, MaxRoam And The N95

    I feel I’ve been neglecting my blog of late, getting drawn into the many other blogs one keeps and watching my workload pile up online and offline.

    However, here’s an interesting one.

    Keeping an eye on Twitter during the day, I caught a tweet from Laura Czajkowski referencing potential employers googling your name. I’ll admit that I do have a Google Alert set up to catch mention of my name (as it turns out, it’s quite helpful) but I wouldn’t regularly Google myself.

    On top of that, I’ve always wondered about the secondary results on Google, especially those one-word or sectioned links under the primary search result.

    So to my amazement I run a google search for Ken McGuire just now and I’m presented with the above.

    Explain that one…

    That said, if a potential employer was to indeed “Google me”, I’d be quite happy with the results thrown up on the first page highlighting my blog, my photography, my music, my work with KilkennyMusic.com and a newspaper interview covering everything else (about a year ago).