IT’S THAT time of the month again, tomorrow today is Open Coffee morning in Kilkenny (follow on Twitter).
For almost 18 months now we’ve been operating on the first Wednesday of every month and regardless of whether there’s a dozen people there or two people there, it’s a morning I very much look forward to in the month as a chance to catch up with folk, shoot the breeze over some tea, talk a little shop, sport, tech, gadgets, demos, whatever is going.
It’s rare enough that I’ll pop my head up to share an advertising video, but the theatrical side of me really likes this extended viral for Nokia’s SatNav campaign. Between work and new ventures in the past two months I’ve found myself on the road a lot, have taken many wrong turns in Dublin, some wrong turns in Cork, but having a sat nav in the van and on the phone eventually brought me back to Kilkenny.
I’ve strayed from the N95 as my primary handset in recent weeks but for road and street warriors packing any of Nokia’s recently released handsets, there’s some free maps to be had with Ovi Maps.
Now to break out the notebook and get me some blog posts…
THE NEXT gathering of Kilkenny Open Coffee is tomorrow morning (Wednesday 5th) at Kilkenny Cafe, Market Cross Shopping Centre on High St., Kilkenny. All are welcome, whether you’re involved in business, technology, a web worker, home worker, artist or otherwise. Come along, tell us what you’re up to, bring a friend, plug your business, website and meet new people working (quite possibly) in the same sector as yourself. This will be the fifth meetup of the year and I’ll be looking to get back to KOCC tomorrow morning myself having missed last month’s outing.
If you’re coming along, we usually meet up at 11am at the back of Kilkenny Cafe (around the couches and bigger tables). There’s usually some type of offer available on coffee / tea / scones etc., free wifi available and powerpoints on the floor too for anyone bringing a laptop along, though admittedly laptops are rare at the Kilkenny mornings.
Courtesy of Mediacontact.ie, I’ll be heading along to Media 2020 tomorrow in Croke Park in Dublin for a day long conference that includes presentations from BBC, RTE, the Guardian, the Irish Times, CNN, Google, Channel 4, and Realex Payments amongst others.
According to Mediacontact.ie, the aim of the conference is to
Understand the key domestic and international trends that will shape the media in the future.
Explain the techniques, and strategies for reaching new online audiences.
Give you detailed information about the technologies, websites and applications that will capture the zeitgeist for the next five years.
Network with key influencers in the media industry.
Just over a year ago, my own business took a step in a new direction, went through a little re-branding, and came out the other side with an additional focus on all things media. While web design and development is still the busiest element of the business, the shift from Event Ireland to Event Media has allowed me to open new doors in the world of design, music, theatre and radio and reach out to new audiences for each.
Online and offline, dealing with the media has become a near daily part of work life on some level, certainly moreso when it comes to the music and theatre side of life so I’ll be very interested in hearing what the big players have to say about the changing face of media and thoughts on what’s coming over the next few years. Plus it’ll be good to get out of the office and meet some new faces.
If you’re heading along and we’ve not met before, feel free to say hello. I’m here on Twitter, here on LinkedIn, and I’m aiming to be in Croke Park for breakfast. Hashtag for those following the conference on Twitter tomorrow is #med2020.
APPLICATIONS to be on the third series of TV3’s The Apprentice close on Monday May 3rd. I’ve followed the show for the past two series, loved it and sure enough, while good chunks of the show are shot for a TV audience, you’d have to admit that the series makes for great viewing as the candidates are put through their paces to become Bill Cullen’s “apprentice”.
Last time around saw salesman Steve Rayner beat Steven Higgens to the punch in the show’s finale with Rayner getting a €100,000 contract for is efforts.
From TV’s application –
A selection of applicants will be called to take part in an interview process on Saturday 8th May with the possibility of progressing to a further round of interviews on Tuesday 11th and either Wednesday 12th of May or Thursday 13th of May.
Please be aware that your interview may only take a few minutes due to the large number of applicants. It is essential to come to the interview well presented and with good reasons as to why you should be Bill Cullen’s next Apprentice.
Please note that if you are one of the successful applicants who make it through to the televisions series you will need to make yourself completely available for an extended period of filming between June 14th 2010 and August 21st 2010.
If you’ve been sitting at home watching the last two series, reckon you can do better, why not make the application?
REGISTRATION is open and underway for BarCamp Belfast, taking place at the University of Ulster on Saturday May 22nd. Already in the pipeline for talks are Freedom of Information … for coders and bloggers, Hyperlocal Belfast (would hyperlocal blogging work in Belfast), Location, Location, Location (looking at smarter phones and the mobile web in 2010), Making money out of fresh air (bootstrapping your startup), Project Management With a Client Focus (keeping your clients involved in the web development process).
There’s a list of attendees there as long as your arm already and it won’t cost you anything to attend.
After many promises to go north over the last few years, I made the trip to BarCamp Belfast last April (would be this weekend coming). If you can, it’s worth trying to make a weekend of it. As it was I’d made all the morning sessions before disappearing for lunch and finding myself caught up wandering around the streets of Belfast. Plenty to see and do, a ridiculous amount of places to eat and drink (or shop if you’re so inclined, including an Apple store).
Last year’s ship was run very well, great talks, great people, great buzz about those in attendance and I still managed to run into a few familiar places. I’d booked myself into the Premier Inn last year, which is grand in terms of accommodation and food but the parking is a no-no and wifi costs (I think) £10 for a 24-hour pass, the most of which you’d be sleeping or out and about. Andy might have suggestions on somewhere close by that has parking and free wifi access (can’t for the life of me remember the name of the hotel you’d suggested!).
SATURDAY took myself and a few hundred bloggers on a journey across the country to Galway or the fifth annual Irish Blog Awards. We had the motorway up, the scenic route home and in between had a fantastic evening / night / morning in the Radisson Blu in the centre of Galway, the shindig organised by some mighty fine people, assisted by other allstars, and attended by bloggers from all walks of life (more on that below).
I’ve made it to the awards the last four years, enjoyed two great years of it in Dublin, last year in Cork and this year in Galway. Shows like this take a hell of a lot of ingredients, time, money, the patience of saints, sponsors, promotors, advertisers, volunteers and more. Behind the scenes there’s an army of people making contributions from writing up the awards, judging, submitting videos, laying out chairs, providing props, music, food, goodie bags – the whole nine yards – but it has to be said, when it comes to showtime, everything is so smooth, so energy filled and runs so well that by the time you hit the bed after the awards you’ll be planning and booking for next year.
Or at least that’s my take on it anyway and nominated or not, I’m already looking forward to 2011.
Each year brings new faces, new conversations and given the majority of bloggers (I would hazard a guess) are Twitter users in some capacity, the ability to recognise people across the room has gotten a lot easier too. I could namecheck people for the night given how you couldn’t move 20 feet at times without running into someone for a chat but needless to say, it was a great night out in Galway and one that anyone with a remote interest in blogging would really benefit from attending.
The video above is one myself and Ross put together as one of the category introductions for the night. Sneaking in the door at 8pm I gave up my (what I would deem) traditional front-row-ish seats for one right at the back of the room, making it quite easy to duck out the door if the video went horribly wrong. Alas, the laughs were there, the comments and feedback for the 60-second piece were great and I didn’t have to prop up the bar as much as I had anticipated. If there’s an opening for more videos next year you can chalk us down in advance.
In the aftermath of everything, there were agreements to meet up for pints, talk of organising trips up to Belfast or getting people to Kilkenny for a session. Some of those on my “pint list” I didn’t get to link up with but we’ll do something soon.
I found, as I’ve done the past three years, that a trip to the Blog Awards is a great motivator for your own work. Come January of this year I started making more time for the blogs I’ve authored over the past few years. This one alone has seen more posts in the first three months of the year than the last six of 2009, DeviousTheatre.com is going strong and expanding its arts coverage, KilkennyMusic.com has had a recent facelift and online strategy put in place and it’s all coming up blogging here in Kilkenny. With the Irish Web Awards just over six months away we should get a nice, timely kick in the arse to look after our bigger sites as well.
In summary, my thanks to the Blog Awards Army. That includes Damien, Rick, Darragh, Steph, Anto, Brian Greene (whose 90s set could be heard no problem on the garden rooftop after midnight), all those who put together videos, all those who accepted awards, all those who attended, all those I got to chat to, the Radisson Blu hotel (who do an absolutely fantastic breakfast, welcome you off the elevator AND put a Sunday paper in your hand), the new faces and usernames I picked up, the old faces who continue to be great people, Edwina for this most excellent photo and all those who continue to read, write, comment and rate Irish blogs. Yes. All of you, and that lot, are in that army.
PayPal. eBay. Facebook. LinkedIn and, now, IBM. Between them in recent months they’ve announced hundreds of new jobs.
PayPal had announced recently that they were adding 200 to their Dublin base, Brian Cowen had a smile on his face when he let the news out that eBay would be creating up to 150 jobs, Facebook had announced they would double their Irish-based workforce from 70 to 140 after only one year here while LinkedIn announced yesterday that they were setting up their European HQ in Dublin to link up with new offices in London and the Netherlands. This morning saw The Irish Times carry a story on IBM creating up to 200 new jobs in Dublin.
When I started in college in 2001 we were told we’d be lucky to get any kind of a job in the technology sector. Particularly anything to do with the internet.
If I was sitting back in the canteen in WIT reading the business section of this morning’s national papers I reckon I’d be doing so with a smile on my face. If the big hitters keep investing and reinvesting, something has to be going right somewhere, yes? That said, those hoping to apply for new positions created by the companies would do well to register for their services and brush up on how everything works.
I would be interested to see the figures on LinkedIn’s plans for job creation or its expansion into Ireland but if the big companies keep on coming, how many more from the picture above will we see open doors here? Anyone taking odds on a Dublin-based European HQ for Twitter?
WIRELESS TRANSFER of photos in an otherwise non-wifi enabled digital camera. How? Eye-Fi. Yes, I would like one of these.
Try as I might, I usually end up walking away from the house or the office without the cable to connect my camera to the laptop. When it comes to transferring photos on the move, that can be a right pain in the neck. Sure enough, you can pick up digital cameras of all shapes and sizes (that might cost you a bit more on the credit card) packing WiFi transfers, GPS, location tagging and the likes. But for those of us looking for a WiFi option, the Eye-Fi might be just the ticket.
According to TUAW, you can set the card “to automatically upload to iPhoto, or just to a specific folder on your computer. You also have the option to have your pictures uploaded to MobileMe, Flickr, Evernote, Picasa, Facebook, and many other places (see chart in new window). Videos can be uploaded to Flickr (only 90 seconds maximum, though), Picasa, YouTube, Facebook, Phanfare, and Photobucket. You can even set it up to send notifications via email, Facebook, Twitter, or SMS when transfers start, finish, or are interrupted.”
It might seem a bit on the steep side for an SD card. Argos are happy to flog them for anything up to €60 for an 8gb SDHC card, and if the Euro conversion rate at €112 or so held up, an extra €50 isn’t a bad price to pay to get full WiFi capabilities for your digital camera.
FORGOTTEN PASSWORDS can be a pain in the ass. Especially when the security guard to get a new password issued via email includes a zip code field, which you didn’t have to enter to begin with and subsequently the form validation won’t allow the zip code to be empty. Long and short of it, my brother’s password was forgotten for Amazon but they wouldn’t send him a new one using their password reminder feature.
In this situation I’d usually email customer support, wait the few hours and hope that something positive would come out of the correspondence. However, when the delivery is late and you’re a bit anxious about the staus of the shipment from mainland Europe, I’d pick up the phone to try find out what’s going on.
Presented with the screen above, you click on “phone”, enter a landline number, choose whether you would like the call now or in five minutes and away you go. It works for UK and Ireland and within seconds of pressing “call me”, the phone on reception here was ringing – a few minutes later and the password issue was resolved, package tracked and all well in the world.
THE IPAD. Everyone’s talking about it, the preorders are already rolling in and as far as gadgets go, it’s one of the most anticipated releases of 2010. I feel I should be drawn to it straight away, but somehow that’s not the case.
I’m a gadget fan, no doubting that. From carrying multiple smartphones to iPods, iPhones, recording equipment, 3G this, WiFi that, GPS watches and more, I find myself yearning for the latest gadgets and toys. But for some reason, I can’t seem to find a want in me for the iPad.
As it stands, I carry an iPod touch with me on the road, a 3G iPhone in my pocket, a MacBook Pro in my bag and there’s a 24″ iMac sitting on my desk. All taken into consideration, I’ve a feeling that the iPad may well not be targeted at me and if I was pushing it in a shop, I’d be hitting the new home broadband users, the “silver surfers” or even the school kid generation.
It’s not going to do anything for me that I can’t already do. Sure enough, it will carry the apps I use daily, it will allow me to check mail and surf away to my hearts content, but that’s all achievable with the iPhone. I like the flexibility to use 3G access as opposed to WiFi when I’m out and about, something which I would have to fork out a lot more for on release of the European models of the iPad. It won’t make phone calls and won’t pack a video camera for the first generation, so video conferencing is out – though discoveries in the latest iPhone SDK may suggest different.
Yes, it bridges the gap size-wize. In the hands of an very young or elderly user, it’s not so small that you can’t read the names of apps on the screen or have difficulties in viewing the on-screen text when flicking through the New York Times or your latest eBook addition. The interface, as with that of the iPod / iPhone is quite simple to navigate and apps have made web access all the more easier for folk. Want weather? Tap here. Want news? Tap here. View photos? Tap here. Read email? Tap here.
With family connections coming and going from the US over the next few weeks, the question has come up again and again… “can I bring you anything home?”, quickly followed by “what about those ipad yokes?”.
While it would be very easy to say yes, it’s something I genuinely cannot (at least with what we know about the first generation model) justify in buying. It’s not so much the price (I was happy to go and shell out for a pre-paid iPhone 10 months ago rather than take one on contract), just the use, and potential lack of. I can’t carry it in my pocket and at the very most I reckon it could be used for some bedside browsing but then again, the iPhone and laptop take care of that.
I can’t even find a good reason to buy one for the office outside of demoing developments on-site but even that would be scraping the bottom of the reasoning barrel.
A GUARANTEED good night out, solid entertainment, old faces and new and more have been found at the Irish Blog Awards for the last couple of years. Last year saw the first night to be held out of Dublin when hundreds of bloggers descended on Cork’s International Airport Hotel (cracking venue) and at the end of the month, the annual pilgrimage will be made to the Radisson Blu in Galway for the 2010 Irish Blog Awards.
The long lists came out, then the slightly-longer-that-last-year-short-lists came out and we’ll soon be reading the finalists lists before the awards proper on Saturday March 27th where we’ll find out who the blogging public have deemed the creme of 2009/10 in Irish blogging circles.
My last visit to Galway was September 2008 with myself and Ross hitting the road for a Strike Anywhere gig in Cuba. Thankfully this time I won’t have to turn around and drive back to Kilkenny at midnight. If the awards have taught me anything over the last few years it’s if you can stay in the awards venue – stay in the awards venue. The drinking, chatting, storytelling, meeting and greeting never seems to end and as a bonus you get to do it all over again at breakfast the following morning.
If you’re planning on heading along on the night, you’ll need to register in advance. Tickets have also gone on sale for €15. A pre-show text message on Wednesday told me I’d be shortlisted under Best Technology blog, something I’m delighted to see. The second round of judging, where the shortlists become the finalists, gets underway from today but nominated in the end or not, you’ll find me in Galway on the 27th.
CAN’T PAY? WON’T PAY! opened last night at Set Theatre in Kilkenny, the latest offering from The Devious Theatre Company. While I can be seen on stage for the 95 minutes or so of performance, I’ve been working as a producer on the show as well for the past few months so there’s a bit of a bonus feeling of excitement there when you see the fruits of your labour (and those around you of course) take to a stage in full technicolour detail.
As a group this year (and over the last four years) we’ve really tried to grow our online presence, exploring all avenues social. Delighted we are in that people who come to the shows then return their feedback via Twitter, or Facebook. Hell, some people will even email in their thoughts post-show. However the feedback arrives, it’s made all the more possible, accessible, and real time thanks to the embracing of said social tools, tools that have not so much changed how we operate as a theatre company but have certainly shaped how we operate.
On the back of WordCamp, the wifi setup that was created for last weekend’s conference (part of which was held in Set Theatre) is still in place, thus you can access WiFi during the show. No, we wouldn’t want you checking your email or getting lost browsing the web, but with Twitter, Facebook and more at your fingertips (or in your pocket), we’d love to hear the feedback on the night, good or bad, public or private. If you’re sitting in the audience tweeting about the show, why not use the hashtag #cpwp? Feel free to take photos of the performers in action on the stage (just switch the flash off if you don’t mind) and tag them accordingly. Adopting a more open approach last year, we wound up with some fantastic audience photos that were shared via email, Picasa, Facebook and more.
John Morton has been talking about the ingredients of Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! over on the DeviousTheatre.com blog, and now it has added WiFi, so if you’re coming along, don’t be shy, let us know what you think.
THEATRE WORK is holding me up all weekend but if I can squeeze it in, I’ll be keeping an eye on Livestream.com’s coverage of the 82nd annual Academy Awards, with locally-produced movie The Secret Of Kells in the running for Best Animated Feature.
In the above clip, Tomm Moore (director) gives a few thoughts on the movie ahead of tonight’s event. Best of luck to all the Cartoon Saloon crew and here’s hoping that whatever happens tonight brings more fortune (and financing) to the company in the future.
WORDCAMP IRELAND takes place this weekend, kicking off this morning in my own back garden (Kilkenny) where hopefully I’ll get to pop my head in for a few minutes over the course of the two days.
Langton House Hotel is the venue for the first Irish WordCamp conference and for bloggers, techies, non-techies and WordPress users of all levels there’s plenty to choose from. Things kicked off informally last night with some nibbles, drinks and a photowalk around Kilkenny and registration has just opened this morning for the start of talks proper. Up first are Hanni Ross & Sheri Bigelow, Leo Ibanez & Loughlin O’Nolan and Daryl Koopersmith all split across the three tracks – Intro, Bloggers and Tech.
Langtons are looking after the catering and judging by mentions of croissants and scones for the morning, lunches in the afternoon and the (ticketed) dinners in the evening, along with a special WordCamp cocktail menu, nobody will be going home hungry. There’s full childcare available, free wifi for all and plenty for speakers and attendees to link up with.
For those who haven’t picked up tickets yet, there are limited numbers available on the door with tickets today available for €50 and tomorrow (Sunday) available at €25.
It’s possible I’ll make an appearance this afternoon disguised as a clown (or I could be mistaken for a clown in the garb I’ll be wearing for the day) so if you see a grown man running in the door of Set Theatre wearing lime green dungarees, a bright pink shirt and a very white face, do say hello. To all those visiting Kilkenny for the first time, you’ve got the weather for it, you’ve got plenty to see and do so don’t miss out on what the city has to offer as well!
OPEN COFFEE in Kilkenny for the month of March takes place this Wednesday morning at 11am in the Kilkenny Cafe. If you’re living local and you’ve not had the opportunity to drop in to Open Coffee then why not join us on Wednesday morning. The crowd that usually gather are a blend of web workers, home workers, IT workers who take the time once a month to grab a cup of coffee, chat about projects people are currently working on, maybe offer up a demonstration, chat about web-related events and news.
There’s free wifi, power points for laptops and you’ll find the group in the back of the Kilkenny Cafe (up the steps to the meeting area) in Market Cross Shopping Centre. There’s no charge, no obligation to talk, just come along and pull up a seat. The meeting time was changed recently to cater for those visiting from Waterford via train with Market Cross a ten minute walk from the train station. If you’re driving or cycling, you’ll find ample parking in the Market Cross Car Park on James’ Street (entrance via James’ Street or Parliament Street) and if you’re walking through Kilkenny you’ll find the main entrance to Market Cross on High Street with Kilkenny Cafe in the corner of the ground floor.
DIGITAL IDEAS should be in plentiful supply in Dublin this Wednesday with The Digital Festival taking place in the Berkeley Court Hotel in Ballsbridge. Early bird tickets are long gone but there’s still the possibility of buying a full-price ticket for €375 (plus VAT) before Wednesday.
What does the €375 get you?
How about a day with the following speakers –
Peter Kim, MD of the Dachis Group, speaking on “Social Networking & Social Business Design in 2010 and beyond”
Tim Duggan, Founder & Director at Mercury Girl Inc speaking on the revolution of Apps and how the explosion of production, engagement with and use of apps alter the communications landscape.
Shel Israel, speaking about real world stories of how Twitter has dramatically helped companiesgrow, provide greater customer service and changed the dynamic of the human conversation
Martin Bailie, Planning Director at Glue London speaking on digital consumer insights.
Russell Davies, The Open Intellegence Agency, speaking on blogging and business in a connected world.
Brent Hoberman, co-founder of LastMinute.com, delivering keynote talk on “Digital Growth – Opportunities for the future and some lessons from the past.”
Speaker list does look quite good, with each allocated 50 minutes on stage, three talks in the morning and three in the afternoon, sandwiching an hour for lunch and wrapping with an open panel discussion with all speakers. Those interested in getting more details about tickets can check the site or phone +353 1 284 6096.
THE SECRET of Kells bagged itself two more awards in advance of the Oscars next month, this time picking up the Best Animation award and Rising Star award (for director Tomm Moore). The feature-length animated movie was also in the running for Best Irish Film, the award won by The Eclipse.
Win or lose at the Oscars, The Secret Of Kells has firmly installed Cartoon Saloon on the global animation map and is proving wonders for the Kilkenny company. It’s Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature has seen some of the Kilkenny crew travel to the US for a few intensive weeks of promo and pitching and has also seen then the movie gain a limited US cinema release.
WHILE the Irish Blog Awards and Irish Web Awards might be my response for “best industry awards night in Ireland”, one of the big awards nights for those involved in the online world in Irish business, the IIA Net Visionary Awards, are now open for nominations (and have been since Monday). This year is the 12th year of the awards.
2009 saw Damien Mulley named Best Business Blogger, Krishna De name Best Business Podcaster, Puddleducks.ie awarded Best Online Retailer with Mark French & Ciaran Bollard of Muzu.tv presented with the Overall Net Visionary Award.
The awards were realigned in the last year or two to coincide with the IIA’s annual congress and this year they will take place on May 20th at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Northwood hotel. It’s free to get nominating in one of fifteen categories open to the public, the deadline for nominations being March 26th. You can spy all the open categories here or get your nominations in here.
SURROUNDING YOURSELF with fantastic creatives (i.e. incredibly creative people) can be great for your health. It can be great for your sanity. It can inspire all kinds of creative thoughts of your own, bring ideas to life and much more. Of course, if you’re like me, it can leave you with a cap, a white face, a pencil moustache, incredibly large sideburns, a pink check shirt, electric green overalls and outrageous accents.
But in fairness, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
One of those creatives is fellow deviant, Paddy Dunne, who has produced the latest masterpiece. For the last few stage productions for Devious Theatre, myself, Paddy and John (Morton) have worked the angles and cameras coming up with funky setups and promotional imagery for the likes of Stags and Hens, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, and next month’s production of Dario Fo’s Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! The phrase “I’ll just photoshop it in” took on a life of its own many moons ago, but “photoshop it in” he’s done and he’s created this gem.
Of course, we won’t mention his PPAI Designer of the Year nomination last year but you’ll find reference to it in the programme if you make it along to the show.
Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! opens in Set Theatre, Kilkenny, on Wednesday March 10th and runs to Sunday March 14th. Tickets, priced €13 are available from our online sales area. The early bird tickets (which were available at €10) have been snapped up but we’ve got plenty to go around. From March we’ll be taking a break from the stage for a few months, directing our theatrical sights into other areas online and off and this latest production brings a close to our Dario Fo season so we urge you to come out, you won’t be disappointed.
photo credit: Yuki Mizuguchi
WIRELESS TRANSFER of photos in an otherwise non-wifi enabled digital camera. How? 
THE IPAD. Everyone’s talking about it, 
WHILE the Irish Blog Awards and Irish Web Awards might be my response for “best industry awards night in Ireland”, one of the big awards nights for those involved in the online world in Irish business, the IIA Net Visionary Awards, are now open for nominations (and have been since Monday). This year is the 12th year of the awards.