Ok so you may have noticed the change from “Networking” to “Networking and News”. The reason for the change was because I want to be able to gather more useful resources for startups beyond binging them together. To help out for the intervening time between events. The aim of TechLudd going forward will be to not only run great free events but also to make people aware of what else is going on that affects startups here.

So please send us your Startup news. Have you hired? Ar you hiring? Have you just raised a round? Are you doing a Demo? Do you have an event that might be of benefit to Startups? Are you closing down? Has the law changed? Has tax changed? What’s your opinion? (We have an opinion section) Did you get a large contract? Did you exit? Just beginning to export? Just Launched?

We’re interested in all of these things and we’d love if you’d send us this your news whether you’re a big company like Microsoft, a government agency like Enterprise Ireland or even a one man show striving to be the next big thing, or perhaps you’re running an event or conference that people should know about. We want to be another way of getting the message out there.

We’ll keep running the free events too and we’ll bring in people from the international stage too from time to time.  And we’ll try and meet and give an opportunity to Demo to as many people as possible.

Really looking forward to meeting new people and reconnecting with old faces  at the TechLudd/WebsiteSpark Event. 66+ people already signed up at the time of writing to head to the Storehouse on Tuesday next week (20th). Please do come along, it’s free and should be good fun.

Send your news to news@techludd.com.

**[Credit Mike Curtis from the HD For Indies blog for the original iPrecious parody poster]**

The Irish Web Awards rolled into Dublin again on Saturday night and brought with it the usual fun and networking from it’s ringmaster Damien Mulley. Now in it’s third year The Irish Web Awards are fast becoming one of the most popular and sought after awards for web companies because of the emphasis on community. It’s certainly come a long way in just three years and is a credit to the organiser and all involved.

I know we’re supposed to be covering more of the local startup news but we didn’t get a chance to have someone there unfortunately because of schedule conflicts and because we’re only tooling up around here again. I’m a little embarrassed about that but we’ll be looking more and more at goings on and things that effect the technology and startup folk here in Ireland as we go along.

In the meantime here is the full list of winners below. One thing is for sure we’ll definitely be there next year.

Best Online Publication – sponsored by Maximise

The Irish Times

Best Radio Website – sponsored by IGOPeople

Phantom

Best Podcaster – sponsored by 3 Ireland

The Persuaders

Best Videocaster – Sponsored by Irish Mortgage Brokers

Look and Taste

Best Sports Site – sponsored by ArgusCarHire.com

RTE Sport

Best Music Site – sponsored by Poll Daddy

Nialler9

Best Entertainment Website – sponsored by Radical

Entertainment.ie

Best Arts Website – Sponsored by Brennan Sabatini

Dance Ireland

Best Technology Site – Sponsored by BH Consulting

Silicon Republic

Best New Web Application/Service – Sponsored by Red Cardinal

Kildare Street

Most Innovative Website – Sponsored by iQ content

Decisions for Heroes

Best Discussion forum – sponsored by KRO IT Solutions

Boards

Best Government and Council Website

IDA Ireland

Best Education and Third Level Website – sponsored by National Digital Research Centre

Talk Irish

Best eCommerce / Services Website – sponsored by Cybercom

Curious Wines

Most Beautiful Website in Ireland – Sponsored by Beaut.ie

Organic Supermarket

Most Useful Website in Ireland – Sponsored by DoneDeal.ie

RTE

Best Social Media Campaign – Available to sponsor >

Count Me Out

Best Practice – Sponsored by Spinnakerpro.com

Cars Ireland

An Suíomh Gaeilge is Fear – sponsored by Edgecast Media

NOSMag

Most Accessible Website – Sponsored by Insure.ie

Rose Project

Best Website in Ireland – Sponsored by Realex Payments

RTE.ie

We’re delighted to be relaunching TechLudd today and what better way to relaunch it than by a collaboration with our old friends at Microsoft who’ve been one of the biggest supporters of events and networking in the tech industry here in Ireland. It’s the anniversary of their BizSpark program and they are  also launching a new initiative WebsiteSpark aimed primarily at web based businesses.

In the last year, over 300 companies in Ireland and Northern Ireland have benefited from business and development support from the BizSpark program. Come help us celebrate the success and growth of these organizations! You’ll also learn about the latest addition to the Spark family: WebsiteSpark. More information on WebsiteSpark can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/web/websitespark/

See you at the Guinness Storehouse on October 20th for drinks, networking and a toast to sparking the economy.

What:
TechLudd events are completely free thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, and open to anyone who wants to attend. Come along and meet new people, and make new contacts and have some fun too. The BizSpark and WebsiteSpark programs are run by Microsoft to help Startup companies with support, technology and networks.

When & Where:
From 7:00PM at The Guinness Storehouse • Dublin

Dress code, for people who care about such things, is whatever you like.

RSVP:
This event is absolutely free, but please register to let us know you are coming. Thanks, and we’ll see you there!

The Science Gallery plays host to many weird and wonderful goings on these days not least of which, on the wonderful side of course, is a series fo mini-conferences organised by Jimmy Cotello and Steve McCormack.

The futureproof conference series is all about just that proofing your business against future trends and helping real business people understand where the real value lies in new technologies. Having kicked off in June with a superb lineup of local and international speakers of a standard unheard of for such an intimate event. With less than 140 people it was much easier for attendees to get access to speakers and experts than would normally ever be the case at a larger event.

The latest event is all about online video and how it can be used to increase conversions and revenues online.

“80% of web users have watched a video ad online – 31% visited the advertisers website and 22% searched for more information about the product.” source Yellow Pages

This conference is aimed at people who want to understand these trends and come up with practical uses in their business or orginisation in the areas of sale, advertising, marketing, branding, customer support, training or general communication.

Hulu has grown from 63 million video streams in the US in April 2008 to 373 million in April 2009 and its coming to Europe next year.

Here’s why they say you should attend put as succinctly as I ever could.

So why attend?
Ten years ago the world of online video was little more than an idea. It was used for close circuit broadcasts mainly between professionals and was slow, clunky and expensive… fast forward to today… you have 260,000 videos uploaded onto Facebook everyday but even more astonishing 13 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

New research demonstrate that online video marketing, adding video to a website increases conversions from prospective clients. Consumers typically visit an average of 5 websites before they end up making a decision. When video is added to the website, this number decreases to 1.8.

Futureproof 2 – The Business of Online Video runs from 9am to 4pm on Thursday 8th October and tickets cost just €139

Futureproof is a series of conferences covering and demystifying all aspects of the digital world for businesses. If your company needs to engage and utilise this medium and turn it into a powerful resource you should attend.

So there you have it thoroughly recommend you attend and we have a discount code giving 10% off to anyone who does. Just use “hatmedia”.

We’ll be there anyway so hopefully we’ll see you at it.

So here it is folks TechCrunch is coming and we’re delighted to partner with them to get a gang together to welcome them. Mike Butcher of TechCrunch UK & Ireland will be there to talk to companies and probably some familiar and unfamiliar faces as well.
For anyone who doesn’t know TechCrunch has 850,000 sbscribers, over 3million unique visitors a month and is No.1 on Techmeme as a source of news and No.2 on Technorati.
What:
TechLudd events are completely free thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, and open to anyone who wants to attend. There may even be cash behind the bar on the night! Come along and meet new people, and make new contacts and have some fun too.

When & Where:

From 7:30PM at 4 Dame Lane • Dublin

Dress code, for people who care about such things, is whatever you like.

RSVP:

This event is absolutely free as always so please go register so you can let us know you are coming and we can ensure we know who you are. We’ve changed up the signup method and we’re going to try out Amiando. I think it’s a great service and I think you’ll like it too. Thanks, and we’ll see you there!

The OpenDemo will return for those who want feedback on cool stuff they’re doing right now only 8 spaces but if a lot of people are interested we might expand it. Go register to demo now slots allocated on a first come first served basis.

Sponsors

Sponsors get to support a great event but also will get promotion with links and logos via a posts on TechCrunch and TechLudd. We’re looking for sponsors right now so please drop me a line at anton [at] techludd [dot] com. for details.

Hi there folks as I said before a pause is on the normal TechLudd routine.

So we’re keeping it low-fi in May and having a together in the very stylish Morrison Hotel to coincide with the Microsoft Mix Essentials event. Details below…

What:

TechLudd events are completely free thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, and open to anyone who wants to attend. There may even be cash behind the bar on the night! Come along and meet new people, and make new contacts.

When & Where:

From 7PM at The Morrison Hotel • Ormond Quay • Dublin 1 • 01 887 2400

We’ll be in the bar to the left of the entrance from the Quay.

RSVP:

This event is absolutely free as always, but please register to let us know you are coming so we can ensure we know who you are. Thanks, and we’ll see you there!

TechLudd is returning to the city that gave it life but we’re having the March event at the start of April to give you a bit of a break.

This also coincides with the Irish Microsoft Technology Conference so check it out and pop along if you’re going.

After the hectic Easter rush we’re hoping to kick off the year again with some networking, some great people and hopefully some cool technology.

What:

TechLudd events are completely free thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, and open to anyone who wants to attend. There may even be cash behind the bar on the night! Come along and meet new people, and make new contacts.

If there are additional features you’d like to see at this event, please head for the blog.

When & Where:

From 7:30PM at The Odessa Club • 13 Dame Court • Dublin 2 • 01-6703080

The Club is located above the Odessa Restaurant. Dress code, for people who care about such things, is casual.

RSVP:

This event is absolutely free as always, but please register to let us know you are coming so we can ensure we know who you are. Thanks, and we’ll see you there!

The OpenDemo style was very successfull in Limerick and so we’ll repeat it for those who want to get feedback on cool stuff they’re doing right now.

Registration for 8 OpenDemo slots is now available. Go to the Demo Registration page to signup. Slots are assigned on a first come first served basis so early signup is essential.

Following on from the success of the inaugural Dublin event, attended by 100+ fabulous people, we’re pleased to announce the second TechLudd event is on Thursday, 21st February in Limerick.

What:

TechLudd events are completely free thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, and open to anyone who wants to attend. There may even be cash behind the bar on the night! Come along and meet some of the upstarts from Paddy’s Valley again, meet new people, and make new contacts.

If there are additional features you’d like to see at this event, please head for the blog.

When & Where:

21 February • From 7 PM • The George Hotel, O’Connell Street, Limerick.

Entrance is from Shannon Street. There is free on street parking after 6 and free overnight parking for those staying at the hotel on the night. The hotel is also offering a discounted room rate for those staying at the hotel. Use “TechLudd” as a reference

RSVP:

This event is absolutely free as always, but please register to let us know you are coming so we can ensure we know who you are. Thanks, and we’ll see you there!

As per your suggestions registration for 8 OpenDemo slots is now available. Go to the Demo Registration page to signup. Slots are assigned on a first come first served basis so early signup is essential.

The first TechLudd event is on Thursday, 24 January in Dublin and will take place at the extremely fabulous Odessa Club.

What:

TechLudd events are completely free, and open to anyone who wants to attend. There may even be cash behind the bar on the night! Come along and meet some of the upstarts from Paddy’s Valley and talk to them about their recent adventures and experiences in Silicon Valley. There is also an open demo area and WiFi so you can show off your wares if you want.

When & Where:

From 7 PM at The Odessa Club • 13 Dame Court • Dublin 2 • 01-6703080

The Club is located above the Odessa Restaurant. Dress code, for people who care about such things, is casual.

RSVP:

This event is absolutely free, but please register to let us know you are coming. Thanks, and we’ll see you there!