Silicon Ireland News Wire

Emerald Valley Live Event

2012-01-27T07:39:00.000Z

Emerald Valley the Newry based incubation space officially launches today.

Here is the Live Link for the Live Stream.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/relive-test

Friday 27th January 2012 - 2 Great Initiatives

2012-01-26T13:47:00.002Z

Friday 27th Jan - Will see two great initiatives being launched:-

1) SMECommunity - an organisation formed last year over twitter, will be holding its first event in Birr. Over 150 are expected, all working on a common goal. to help the small business person, the startups, make a difference across Ireland. This is the first of a National campaign to have events across the whole Island of Ireland. It shows what a couple of hard working people can achieve in a short time. Debbie is an inspiration to all those in the community and her passion for helping all SME's is amazing.

For those who don't know about the organisation Read Here

There still is time to be a part of this event : here

Event Day looks like this:-

As the #SMECommunity All-Ireland Tweet-Up on 27th January is almost upon us, we've just put together a few details as to how the day is expected to run so that you can ensure you don't miss out.

11am - registration, tea and coffee at County Arms Hotel, Birr

12pm - introduction to the event, with special guest speaker George Mordaunt scheduled for 12.15

1-2pm - informal networking

2pm - lunch

3.15pm -Vincent Byrne, Author & Business Coach of Business Should Be Easy will give a brief talk to kick off the afternoon session of informal networking - lasting until whenever you want :)

Speakers include a number of SME Community members who have been actively engaged within the community since the early days and George Mordaunt, author of "Shepherd's Pie". You can find out more about George at www.georgemordaunt.com and we're told he will also feature on TV3 tonight after 10pm.

The hashtag for the event is #Birr2012 - we'd love to see it trending so please feel free to use from now!
Parking will be available at the hotel for attendees
WIFI will be available at the venue, access codes will be made available at registration
Badges will be available for the tweeters, please add your twitter names so we know who you are! These badges have been provided by@mpointcreative.

2) Emerald Valley - A space for Startups in Newry Co-Founded by Nichola Bates and Eve Earley (featured here) with no direct Government support, they are launching there building and project tomorrow at an official opening for 50 invited guests. For those who do not know about Emerald-Valley :-

Visit Here

Listen to Radio Interview today with Eve Earley and Nichola Bates here

We will be live streaming the event here on our site tomorrow.

So Who Buys Deals in Ireland? Men or Women?

2012-01-25T19:10:00.003Z

So Who Buys Deals in Ireland? Men or Women?

Discount Voucher and deal related websites are now the highest growth category of website online*. With great bargains for all types of goods and services from daily essentials to luxury goods, it is not difficult to see the mass appeal of such sites, especially considering the current economic situation in Ireland. There are now a number of deal/voucher related sites servicing the Irish market, with Irish consumers reaping the benefits of the savings on offer. While we generally hear about the global daily deal sites, there is also a local Irish owned website offering a choice of deals for shoppers www.voucherpages.ie, which differs from the rest in that it is a discount voucher directory for Ireland.

While no one really disputes that these sites receive huge usage from consumers hungry to save some money in these recessionary times and with businesses only too happy to offer discounts in order to generate sales, the big question is: who actually buys deals and uses discount vouchers?

Both male and females of all ages use voucher and deal related websites, however, there appears to be a much stronger participation among the female population in Ireland. Ronan tells us that while users are both male and female adults of all ages, over 70% of users are actually female. Furthermore, over 75% of those female users are aged between 25 and 44 years old, a percentage which is also consistent with the male user base. This would suggest that some of the hardest hit age groups in Irish society really are shopping around to get the best deal, and that any organisation looking to target those consumers should promote their business on www.voucherpages.ie.

According to voucherpages.ie founder Ronan Hickey, “they offer consumers choice thus ensuring they do not waste money on deals they will not redeem. Users can search voucherpages.ie by business type and location to find discount vouchers for what they want, when they actually want it. A user either prints or sends a voucher to their mobile phone via free SMS text message, and then makes a purchase in-store in the normal fashion but for less. Thus, consumers can actually shop around on the one site and only buy what they really want.”

Some may say that the above statistics are only natural because of the stereotype that women love to shop or people in that age group may have more disposable income. However, what these statistics do show us is that while females may or may not prefer shopping, they certainly know how to find a bargain when they do shop!

Let us know what you think.

Digital Circle Events - 1st Quarter 2012

2012-01-25T17:50:00.002Z

EVENTS LIST

The Evolve Programme

Thu, 26 January from 13:00 to 14:00 at Blick Studios, Belfast
http://digitalcircle.org/events/the-evolve-programme

Global Game Jam - University of Ulster

Fri, 27 January 12:00 to Sun, 29 January 12:00 at University of Ulster, Coleraine
http://digitalcircle.org/events/global-game-jam-university-of-ulster

Making the Jump to Ruby

Tue, 31 January from 18:30 to 21:30 at 21 Social, Belfast
http://digitalcircle.org/events/making-the-jump-to-ruby

Deloitte TMT Predictions 2012 - Northern Ireland Launch Event

Tue, 07 February from 18:30 to 21:30 at The Innovation Centre, Northern Ireland Science Park,
http://digitalcircle.org/events/deloitte-tmt-predictions-2012-northern-ireland-launch-event

#BLOC54 Games Design Group - February Meeting

Thu, 16 February from 18:00 to 21:00 at Holiday Inn, Belfast
http://digitalcircle.org/events/bloc54-games-design-group-february-meeting

Dublin GameCraft

Sat, 25 February from 09:00 to 17:00 at Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin 2
http://digitalcircle.org/events/dublin-gamecraft

Mobile World Congress - App Planet - 27th Feb to 1st March 2012

Mon, 27 February 09:00 to Thu, 01 March 17:00 at Fira Montjuïc, Barcelona
http://digitalcircle.org/events/mobile-world-congress-app-planet-27th-feb-to-1st-march-2012

TeachMeet BELFAST

Fri, 02 March from 18:00 to 20:30 at The Centre of Excellence for Leadership, Innovation and Learning, Belfast
http://digitalcircle.org/events/teachmeet-belfast

GDC 2012 - Game Developers Conference - 5th-9th March 2012 - San Francisco

Mon, 05 March 08:00 to Fri, 09 March 19:00 at Moscone Centre , San francisco
http://digitalcircle.org/events/gdc-2012-game-developers-conference-5th-9th-march-2012-san-francisco

SXSW Trade Mission (Austin, Texas) March 2012 - Join Us.

Fri, 09 March 09:00 to Sun, 18 March 10:00 at SXSW, Austin
http://digitalcircle.org/events/sxsw-trade-mission-austin-texas-march-2012-join-us

What does an 'Irish Tech Initiative' mean for Ireland?

2012-01-25T09:34:00.001Z

Ireland Tech
2012

We have been covering technology issues in Ireland for over 4 years. After 640 plus posts we have an idea what the Ireland tech market looks like across Ireland.

Our recent opening of the Startup Academy Campus in Belfast brought focus to the splintered view that the 6 counties in the North have of itself against the view of the Republic . We have been amazed over the years with the way Dublin has focused itself on becoming the 'Tech Hub' of Europe, and with events like the Dublin Web Summit and centres like the Digital Hub. These have been incremental in making Ireland a focus in Europe.

We also see a major push by the IDA for inward investments, Google's new office, Twitter, and Zynga all making good news stories in an otherwise not so good Irish economy.

There are things happening to in Northern Ireland. Emerald Valley opens its doors to new startups, Silicon Ireland's Startup Academy opens a campus for its new startups and there have been a number of acquisitions made of Northern Irish firms, like GEM . (Global email company)

The main problem as we see it, is that there is not a co-ordinated strategy. No one working together for the common good of the whole, and in a country as small as Ireland, that is needed.

Now for all the many reasons:- politics, borders, etc Why government departments can't work together from both sides, is understandable, trying to compete with each other on uneven political playing fields (ie. taxation incentives and general size) just doesn't work. If you look at strategies of InvestNI they chase similar or the same companies the IDA does in the hope of securing them.

What we think is needed, is a private enterprise initiative, working both sides of the borders, encompassing all that is great on both sides. Non governmental, non political and focused on the greater economic good of the Tech economy for the whole of Ireland as an Island.

It needs a focused leader, who can lead an International organisation that could do for Ireland, similar to what Former President Bill Clinton did with his 'Clinton Global Initiative', but for Irish Tech.

This initiative could focus on smaller companies help with the creation of a national network of 'Creation centres' for ideas to be turned into businesses.

There are a number of people and organisations doing things like this like ITLG, and Eve and Nichola at Emerald Valley, but what we need is a national consensus with no borders, no political baggage, and freedom to integrate the open borders of the Internet across Ireland.

So now think how this could work? It is a work in progress and your comments and thoughts are welcome.

So Ireland is in 'Anonymous' crosshairs!

2012-01-25T00:54:00.001Z

NEWS JUST IN:-

So Ireland is in 'Anonymous' crosshairs!

They announced #OpIreland this evening in response to Minister Sherlock's proposed legislation for a version of SOPA for Ireland.( revision of the Irish Copyright laws)

For anyone wanting a recap on what this means :-

'Everything you need to know about SOPA' - By the Journal.ie

This attack has taken down many sites including - Dept of Justice and Dept of Finance. (We have not listed the sites here.) Many more may be affected by the DDOS attack.

We will update the story as we get it.

Eve Earley, Co Founder of Emerald Valley talks about what drives her

2012-01-24T21:35:00.000Z

On a recent visit to Emerald Valley, in Newry, we spoke with Eve Earley, Co Founder of the business incubation centre, about her reasons for coming to Ireland to work on such a project. This is her candid story!

What would you be moving to “this feckin country” for?

Easy! You live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. When I describe Slieve League, Shannon Pot, Mussendun Temple, Knocknorea, and Navan Fort to the locals they say they’ve never been. They are magical and sacred places. Were we to allow ourselves a connection to the land, to times before the age of industry and clocks, to get back to our agrarian roots and live in the present moment – We would be able to see the Narnia CS Lewis saw in the Mournes and Carlingford Lough.

When I moved here my Jewish friends called it “making Aliyah” – the right of return. A call – first described by Abram’s journey to go “to a land that I will show you”.

In mythology, it is called the heroic quest. Every culture has a story like it, our children know it as Star Wars or the Matrix. Why would every culture have virtually the same story? Probably because human development is the same no matter the culture. You grow, you fight to separate from your parents, you achieve independence, competence, you mature, grow old, achieve a sense of wholeness and die.

Joseph Campbell (Follow Your Bliss) described the biblical & mythological stories as a mirror of the ego’s passage through life stages.

The concept of being called to a new place – psychologically and physically fit my own midlife journey. When the opportunity presented itself, I didn’t question it. In fact, I jumped so quickly, I didn’t even have time to be afraid.

In many ways it was a time of giving birth to a fully formed adult self – or as a friend puts it – “Choosing to become CEO of your own life”.

I recovered from a decades long depression and addiction to food, by living consciously and carefully. It required accepting that both were a way of coping with the legacy of a traumatic childhood. Forgiving myself and the adults in my life too wounded to protect me, was part of the process.

Acknowledging that I was a survivor was the hardest. “Sure, if I could do it, it couldn’t have been that bad.” I sounded a little like my friends from Belfast, Derry/L’derry & South Armagh who say, “Well, I wasn’t directly affected by the troubles.”

Compliance and passivity were an adequate means of survival during childhood. But adaptive responses that serve us well in one life stage, do not serve us well when we move to another.

Not shedding those automatic and self destructive adaptations when my circumstances changed as an adult was limiting.

Finding a voice, asserting my needs and choosing not to accept unacceptable treatment were the tools of my recovery. Feeling entitled to be treated as well as I treated my own children was my benchmark.

My adult and recovering self arrived in November 2008. Irish Times Financial writer, Fintan O’Toole was begging folks to pay attention to the banking crisis. I had personal knowledge of a major criminal breach. No one would listen, no one was outraged, no one thought the problem was urgent. I did, my expat friends did, but not our Irish neighbours.

The most direct message I got about how to fit in was from my American born, now resident, friend. She told me I couldn’t send back an awful restaurant entrée. The butcher told me I couldn’t have “that” cut of meat, especially requested for my children’s first visit. “Your children will just have to learn to eat Irish”. I apparently needed to learn to be shamed into passive, polite acceptance of less than what I wanted. Less than acceptable.

“NO!” Suddenly I understood what the legacy of Norman, Viking , British conquerors and emigrations born of famine and economic need was: Lower your expectations or leave. Don’t raise your head above the parapet. Accept that “you will never change that”.

Add to that begrudgery. An unwillingness to celebrate other folks success. Face it – in a land of limited resources and opportunity, someone else’s success was likely to have cost “me” something.

At one time this and lowering expectations was a perfectly reasonable adaptive response to unacceptable situations.

It is the gift of my personal recovery that informs my life and work on this island. When I was growing up in post-war, post-Holocaust America in a largely Jewish neighborhood, “grownups” always spoke of news and world events and punctuated the sentence with: “Yes, but what will it mean for the Jews?”

My recovery is the same – but my “never again” promise is to the little girl I was, the one who cried herself to sleep every night wondering why there were no “grownups” to rescue me.

I view every circumstance, economic or political, framed only with the question? “What will it mean for the children”.

We are an entire populations still accepting the legacy of conflict and that is an appropriate legacy for adults born in this place as it was.

To move on, however, to give our children the gift of a limitless future, we need to hold back the limits born of our fears. Our children need to know it is OK to aspire to greatness. That success is to be celebrated because it is like an abundant harvest. My crop and your crop will thrive side by side and not be diminished by each other’s plenty.

Jean Kennedy Smith on leaving as the American Ambassador to the ROI was asked what her abiding memory of Ireland would be. “A legitimate sense of outrage”. I would add to that a legitimate sense of urgency.

In February 2010, when the bomb at the Newry courthouse had my children asking me to move South or home – out of a “theatre of conflict” (why would no one call it a “war zone”), I accepted that staying meant chose to actively witness how an individual recovery might inform a communal one.

Recovering from depression I realized I wasn’t trapped, I was stuck. Not by a marriage, where I was well enough loved, but by a perception that I was powerless to change my fate.

I couldn’t save my little girl from the abuse or neglect of wounded parents, but I could help her heal. I can’t even begin to imagine the horror of life here during the troubles; I know traffic stops with armed police and snipers posted around explosive filled trucks terrifies me.

What terrifies me more is that it does not terrify my neighbours.

They are numb to it. Shut down. Protected from experiencing the horror they knew and might come again. But it means on a core level, afraid. Their entire posture is defensive.

It is a normal, adaptive response to trauma. But like me moving into adulthood with leftover behaviours designed for my childhood – those adaptive responses impair our children’s ability to move forward. No young gymnast succeeds with a parent who says: “don’t climb so high, you will fall”.

We need to admit the peace process as we know it has gone as far as it will go without a prosperity process. We can’t move forward if we can’t let go of old resentments about who “gets everything” when there isn’t enough to go around?

A prosperity process will empower our children to remain on this island. To live and work here. How will we move forward if we expel the best and brightest of a generation reared in peace?

Emerald Valley is a place to empower change. Empower prosperity by motivating and educating our children and their parents. It is a reminder that every election, every news event, every day should begin with the query: “What will this mean for the children”.

Nichola and her peers have the power to bring the work and investment that will allow us to export our intellectual property and not our children. I need to model to their parents that a different future, one they cannot even imagine, is not to be feared.

My task is to reframe the Ireland they know into the one which I know. Seen by millions of tourists whose lens is not clouded by the experience of war.

DoneDeal.ie launches Android App.

2012-01-24T16:17:00.000Z

We are delighted to announce that DoneDeal's Android App has finally landed and is ready for a spin! The DoneDeal Android App gives you a customised experience for all Android phones where DoneDealers can keep up to date with the latest deals while on the go!

'It was important to us that we delivered an app that had lots of features, and at the same really easy to use so that all you DoneDealers would find it just as good as the website. We hope we have achieved that.' they said.

You can search all sections, refine your search by location, price and all the rest. If there is something you would really like to see in the next version of the App, please let us know by sending feedback or leaving a comment below. Go ahead, download DoneDeal from the Android Marketplace now or simply search for DoneDeal!

400 companies enter Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards

2012-01-24T10:09:00.000Z

Considering the 400 entries to the Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards were the judges, front, Grainne Kelly owner of BubbleBum UK, which picked up the ‘Best Business Start-Up’ category last year, and Ian Jordan, Ulster Bank; back, Donal Durkan of Invest Northern Ireland, Sam McIlveen, Belfast Telegraph’s digital publisher and Liam Nellis of InterTradeIreland.

Businesses have come out in force to highlight their good work in this year’s Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards.

Almost 400 entries have been received for the prestigious scheme, with strong entry levels in categories such as ‘International Business’; ‘Best Business Start-Up’; and ‘Innovation and Emerging Technology’.

Judging has now taken place, with the Ulster awards final happening on January 26 in Riddel Hall, the new Post Graduate and Executive Education Centre at Queen’s University Belfast. Ulster Bank is one of the founding members of the centre.

After the Ulster final, Ulster winners will go forward for all-island judging, with the all-island winners to be announced on April 19 at a prestigious event in Dublin.

Run in association with The Belfast Telegraph, and supported by Invest NI and InterTradeIreland, the scheme has eight categories for businesses of various sectors and stages of development.

Welcoming the strong entry levels, Ulster Bank’s head of business and commercial banking, Northern Ireland, Ian Jordan, says: “Things are far from easy for many companies, so it’s really heartening to receive so many entries to the awards and to see that such a wide range of firms have impressive achievements to highlight and celebrate”.

“International trade has been a big focus for Ulster Bank in recent months, as we seek to encourage more small and medium-size businesses to become exporters, so we’re particularly pleased to see excellent entries in the International Business category, as well as in the other categories,” he continues.

“The judges will have a very difficult job, but we very much look forward to congratulating the Ulster winners and to wishing them every success in the all-island stage of the awards,” Mr Jordan adds.

Companies are judged on a variety of merits including sales performance, market share growth, company milestones, innovative new products or services and successful achievements by key personnel.

The eight award categories are:

1.Innovation & Emerging Technology Award

2.International Business Award

3.Social Entrepreneurship Award

4.Best Business Start-up Award

5.Family Run Business Award

6.Green Business Award

7.Agriculture, Food & Drink Award

8.Service Business Award

Provincial and category winners will receive a specially commissioned award, PR opportunities, entry into the all-island awards and a dedicated profile page on the Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards website.

More information is available from: www.businessachieversaward.com

2012 - The Year of the Startup

2012-01-23T00:08:00.000Z

By Nas Hussain - Dublin Editor

2012 - The Year of the Startup

The continual growth and the recognition of Ireland as being a hub of startups have made 2012 an exciting year for potential new businesses to grow and develop in Ireland. Over the past week I have had the pleasure of talking to Connor Murphy (Co-founder and CEO of Datahug, http://www.datahug.com/) and Benoit Curdy (Co-Founder of Vocalytics http://www.vocalytics.com/) to see how both of these Dublin based startups see the year ahead.

Datahug are tackling the problems of “big data and social networking” - they position themselves as “the enterprise relationship management company”. Connor and the Datahug team have seen growth and development of their products this year including a migration from SQL Server to MongoDB to handle the scale of data they deal with. Connor has an extremely positive outlook for 2012, with further growth of both the Datahug team and the markets they will enter this year. Connor’s enthusiasm and outlook for 2012 are positively contagious and see the Irish startup arena growing even bigger this year. It will be hopefully be another year of expansion for Datahug in terms of the business and also the engineering team who have worked tirelessly to make the Datahug vision a reality.

Vocalytics are investigating solutions to improve voice performance through analysis of speakers. Benoit sees Ireland as a “hub for startups” and sees this continuing further into the year but also wants to see these startups flourish as fully fledged businesses that can see a product through to fruition. Benoit is heavily involved in the start up scene in Dublin; he is co-organising the Dublin startup weekend which will be taking place at Google offices on the 2^nd March (http://dublin.startupweekend.org/). Benoit sees the Dublin scene as healthy with a wide variety of opportunities for the startup community.

From the perspective of the Irish economy, Government based grants are available and the startup scene provides job opportunities and the ability to compete on a global with firms. Numerous success stories of emerging companies are showing that start-ups can be established in Ireland. The biggest task for the new enterprises is to successfully develop the vision and idea of the company into a viable product or service that can keep profitable and successful.

2012 is the year of optimism for start-ups. Great success stories from a vibrant scene which will hopefully nurture startups and see them succeed.

Startups, Start Local, but plan to be Global

2012-01-22T00:02:00.000Z

High-Impact Entrepreneurship: Start Local, but Plan to be Global
Part of a series: Ten Rules for Becoming a High-Impact Entrepreneur

The following post is from an upcoming study by Endeavor’s Center for High-Impact Entrepreneurship (C-HIE) on key success strategies for start-ups. The study is based on interviews with 55 High-Impact Endeavor Entrepreneurs from 11 countries. In honor of Global Entrepreneurship Week, we’re sharing five of our favorite “Rules for Becoming a High-Impact Entrepreneur” from this study, with input from some wise Endeavor friends. The full report will be available soon.

Today’s most admired startups – the Facebooks, Googles and LinkedIns of the world – are global companies that started in local markets. Let’s take Facebook as an example. Zuckerberg started Facebook on a very local level, testing out the original concept at Harvard College. Over time, Facebook grew nationally and then globally. Today, Facebook has more than 800 million active users, more than 75% of whom live outside of the United States.

Reid Hoffman, Endeavor Global Board Member and Founder & Executive Chairman of LinkedIn, spoke about why it’s important to “start local but plan to be global” at the 2011 Endeavor Entrepreneur Summit.

“You might as well shoot for something large because you can still end up with something smaller."

Read more!

News from Grow VC

2012-01-21T14:53:00.001Z

Grow VC in 2012
Looking ahead

THEY believe 2012 will be the year of the crowdfunder. This year, we will franticly develop the GrowVC platform to further our position as the leading social and global marketplace for startup funding, by involving more stakeholders and more ordinary people.

A lot is happening in the startup marketplace, new services are offered by an increasing number of service providers. While we will be introducing a number of smaller modifications to our platform this year, we will specifically focus on improvements to ensure that we remain the...

Best Marketplace for:
Ticking the four boxes

❒ Startups. We are making it easier and simpler for existing GrowVC startups and new members to communicate with their stakeholders, networks and peers via GrowVC platform to ensure optimal funding.

❒ Investors. We have introduced the social side of crowdfunding and will keep adding elements to widen the services for investors to facilitate the interaction between groups. We will also offer our support.

❒ Globally local organizations. We will offer extended support for local organizations building businesses and partnership in various corners of the world with the help of our own Lost-in-Translations solution and other localization tools. We look forward to share with you success stories from the non-English-speaking world in coming episodes of the GrowVC newsletter.

❒ Networks. The newest module to the Grow VC platform brings unique value to the network members. Stay tuned for more news in this section! Read more!

Own a Part of Grow VC
Grow VC shares up for grabs

We have taken on board some brilliant individuals as investors. We also want to welcome our community members to invest in Grow VC itself, however, the places are limited and it's a first come first served practice. Do you want to participate in the journey and own a part of Grow VC? Take action!

New Talent
So, we've grown..

We’ve strengthened the UI&UX teams with two gentlemen, Henrik Stürmer & Konsta Kanniainen, who focus on developing and implementing the UI/UX improvements that best support the features and functionalities the GrowVC community requires.

Our new blog coordinator, Quintin, is an international, multifaceted entrepreneur. On top of his blogging responsibility, Quintin also participates in the UX work that contributes to a more transparent, social and intuitive UX that helps users to find the right tools, people and information.

Paul Higgins - Before engaging in the startup world at the London-based Rapid Innovation Group about five years ago, Paul held marketing and technical roles at companies such as IBM, Barclays, UBS, and eBay. At GrowVC, Paul will be focusing on building a strong community of engaged Networks.

Ryan Williams & Dan McNamee – We added two skilled lawyers to the team: Ryan is a seasoned social entrepreneur, future capital markets attorney & advocate for innovations on Wall Street. Dan’s extensive background is at capital markets law in the US, the UK and Europe.

Key stats..
100 new networks and counting

In terms of numbers, we had a tremendously successful year. As an organization we grew 150%, hired people on six continents representing law, marketing and business development. We are extremely proud of the new Networks functionality within GrowVC. Networks has been adapted by 100 network members, among which are incubators, accelerator programs, universities, student networks, associations, institutions, startup networks, bootcamps, startup events, local networks and niche specific networks. We’re delighted by the traffic the Networks are generating and hence becoming the internal forum for seeking speedier and more sustainable take up of their businesses.

Vodafone Home in Ireland

2012-01-20T12:09:00.002Z

Today, 20^th January, Vodafone Ireland is delighted to announce reaching the milestone of 200,000 home customers. Vodafone at Home offers the best value* landline and fixed broadband bundle in the Irish market, so it’s no surprise that 200,000 homes in Ireland have chosen Vodafone as their preferred provider in less than last three years.

To celebrate this significant milestone with customers, Vodafone Ireland is offering a FREEAndroid smartphone** to new and existing customers. In addition, the free smartphone, theVodafone Smart 858, will come with 3 months free mobile internet access on pay as you go – giving new customers even more reason to switch to Vodafone. The Vodafone Smart 858 Android smartphone is one of Vodafone’s best selling devices to access social networking sites, email, multimedia and over 500,000 apps in the Android market!

With Vodafone at Home, not only do customers get a fast and reliable service but they also have the option to choose from a wide range of bundles. Speeds start at 8Mbps congestion-free broadband with 40GB data usage allowance and there are also options of up to 24Mbps with 350GB usage allowance. For customers seeking a better deal on landline and fixed broadband - Vodafone at Home offers the best value landline and fixed broadband from just €38 a month. It’s easy to switch and customers keep their existing numbers with no disruption to their phone service.

Commenting on the announcement, Conor Carmody, Head of Consumer Marketing, VodafoneIreland said: ‘We are delighted to be able to celebrate this significant milestone by offering a free smartphone to new and existing customers. Vodafone at Home reaching its 200,000^thcustomer, reinforces the fact that Vodafone offers the best value fixed broadband, with a fast reliable service and demonstrates why more and more customers are choosing Vodafone at Home.’

Summify is acquired by Twitter

2012-01-19T19:36:00.000Z

Silicon Ireland has been using Summify for a while now and are please to announce for them the following.

Summify Joins The Flock At Twitter!

by summify on January 19, 2012

You’ve probably noticed we’ve been quiet lately. Well, we’re extremely excited to announce that Summify has been acquired by Twitter! I know, right? We can hardly believe it ourselves!

Roughly 2 years ago, we moved from Romania to Vancouver after being accepted into Bootup Labs, an awesome startup incubator. It has been an incredible journey, with lots of highs, a few lows, and many product iterations. In March 2011 we launched our email summary product and we’ve been blown away by the response ever since. Many of our users tell us we found a magical solution to a truly unsolved problem.

Our long-term vision at Summify has always been to connect people with the most relevant news for them, in the most time efficient manner. As hundreds of millions of people worldwide are signing up and consuming Twitter, we realized it’s the best platform to execute our vision at a truly global scale. Since Twitter shared this vision with us, joining the company made perfect sense.

We’d like to give a big thanks to all of our investors and advisors, especially Bootup Labs, Boris Wertz, Rob Glaser, Andrew Braccia, Stewart Butterfield, Steve Olechowski, our users, ourteam and, of course, the city of Vancouver. Thank you for your support and your faith in us, we couldn’t have made it so far without you!

And, a huge thanks to @robncampbell for all his work with us over the last 7 months.

Best,
The Summify Team

FAQ

What happens to Summify?

We will be disabling new account registrations immediately and we will also be removing some features. We will keep the email summaries for a few more weeks, but at some point we will shut down the current Summify product. In the meantime, if you’re a user of Summify you’ll still receive your summaries, just like before.

What features are you removing?

Starting today, the following changes will take effect:
We’re removing the ability to make your summaries public (i.e. all summaries will be private)
We’re removing profile pages and influence pages
We’re removing the auto-publish feature
We’re disabling user registration from the website, iPhone and Hootsuite apps

Why are you removing these features?

We are offering a more streamlined service as we transition our efforts to working at Twitter.

Will you still be in Vancouver?

We will be moving down to San Francisco and will work out of the Twitter office.

What will you be doing at Twitter?

We are joining Twitter’s Growth team and will continue to explore ways to help people connect and engage with relevant, timely news.

UPDATE

Thanks for your notes of congratulations. We’re thrilled to be joining Twitter. Some of you have expressed concerns about the product being shut down. We appreciate your support and enthusiasm. At Twitter, we are going to focus our efforts on making Twitter even more engaging and useful for you. While we can’t get into details on what’s to come, we can say that we’re excited and we think you will be too.

An update on SMECommunity first tweet up in Birr

2012-01-18T22:15:00.001Z

32 County Tweet-Up Takes Place 27th January 2012

For those of you who are regulars to the SME website, blog or facebook/twitter pages, you’ll have come across references to the #SMEcommunity – a group of Irish SMEs who met up through social media and support and work together on a daily basis to try and get Ireland back on track.

So successful has been the online rapport that we’ve taken the events off-line also with a series of tweet-ups to date across Ireland including Dublin, Mayo, Donegal, Waterford, Cork, Limerick & more…

And next Friday, 27th January 2012 we’re having our first All-Ireland Tweet-Up in the wonderfully central location of Birr, Co. Offaly so that everybody who wishes to attend from across the 32 counties can do so. The event takes place at the County Arms Hotel in Birr, Co. Offaly and we are asking those who wish to attend to register for a FREE ticket at;

http://smecommunitytweetup27jan12-esearch.eventbrite.ie/?srnk=1&ebtv=C

You’ll also find a full list of attendees on the event page, so you can ensure that if there’s somebody you’d like to speak to that you don’t miss out!

And of course, we look forward to meeting so many of the wonderful SMEs that we’ve spent months tweeting

If you have any queries whatsoever in relation to the event, you should contact;

Debbie Harper of TusNuaDesigns.net at 0868866736

Dublin Web Summit launches ' the Start Summit

2012-01-18T16:32:00.000Z

The Dublin Web Summit is launching the Start Summit, a series of events to bring together 300 members of Ireland’s tech community for an evening of talks, networking and product demos.

The Start Summit will let entrepreneurs, investors, developers, designers and executives network for an evening in Dublin. It will let a number of Irish start-ups speak and exhibit their works. There will also be opportunities for those looking to get hired in companies.

“We decided to start this start-up specific event in response to the growing start-up sector in Ireland,” said Dublin Web Summit organiser Paddy Cosgrave.

Surprising Social Media Moves that Grab Attention

2012-01-18T16:23:00.003Z

Surprising Social Media Moves that Grab Attention

By: Amanda Nelson

When it comes to engaging on social media, the opportunities are endless. From asking questions to contesting to sharing links, there are so many ways to have a conversation. But when it comes to grabbing attention, brainstorming smart approaches will go a long way. Time to turn the heads of others in order to grow your community and brand awareness. Here are some ways to get there.

Thank you for the criticism

If you have a repeat critic, or detractor, do your reserach to understand them better. Once you have the background information, respond in public whenever possible. Yes, hit the issue head on in public. Even thank them! It will start the process of changing their demeanor and show your community that you’re transparent and open to feedback.

Future Tech Startup Founders Need Vision & Mentorship

2012-01-17T18:04:00.000Z

Future Tech Startup Founders Need Vision & Mentorship
Guest post written by Lior Levin, a marketing consultant for the Tel Aviv University’s department of Ma in Security

In 2011, it was difficult to go more than one week without hearing from a new tech startup that built the latest iPhone or Android app, or that launched the newest and best way to create, manage, and measure your social media profiles. Add to that on demand television and music, and data mining, and you’ve got a pretty well-rounded look at the landscape of tech startups in 2012 and beyond.

For companies building solutions like those mentioned above, it doesn't take much money or even that much time to launch and start proof of concept. Long gone are the days spent perfecting pitches for investors, venture capitalists, or even crowdfunding partners (although, startups that get funded during seed-stage have been shown to be more successful).

Instead, the whole product is developed, produced, and marketed before investment money is even needed. These affordable, just-in-time products and services are exactly what have shaped the recent past of the tech startup age.

Read more!

Silicon Ireland announces support for Mobile World Congress Unofficial Fringe Festival

2012-01-17T08:03:00.000Z

Silicon Ireland is announcing its support for the Mobile World Congress Unofficial Fringe Festival 2012.

The aim is to let people know everything that's on during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona - both on and off site: to help you find the stuff that's interesting and relevant to you; to help you make the most of your visit; to help more people get their events, happenings and initiatives seen and talked about during one of the most hectic weeks in the mobile industry calendar

If you would like to get on board and help then follow this link. Please Support

Dublin based Spanish Point to supply a Musical Rights Licensing and Royalty Distribution System to the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency

2012-01-16T07:54:00.000Z

Spanish Point to supply a Musical Rights Licensing and Royalty Distribution System to the
Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency

Dublin and Toronto –January 18, 2012 - Spanish Point Technologies Ltd. (Spanish Point) today
publicly announces it has been engaged by the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd.
(CMRRA) to design and develop a Musical Rights Licensing and Royalty Distribution System.
CMRRA is a non-profit music licensing agency, which represents the vast majority of music copyright
owners (music publishers) doing business in Canada. On their behalf, CMRRA issues licenses to users
of the reproduction right in copyrighted music. Licensees pay royalties pursuant to these licenses to
CMRRA and, in turn, CMRRA distributes the proceeds to its clients. CMRRA is based in Toronto and
has approximately 100 fulltime staff.

"The music industry is facing major changes and challenges that are impacting the ability of
songwriters to be compensated fairly for their work,” said David A Basskin, President and CEO of
CMRRA.” In order to respond to unprecedented demand for licensing, and to best provide for the
collection and distribution of royalties, we have decided to invest in new technology to allow for
improved processing and communication between all parties involved."

Spanish Point’s solution will replace CMRRA’s current technology with an up-to-date and advanced
system providing rich functionality as well as an ability to interface and exchange data easily with
other systems.

Commenting on CMRRA’s search for a partner to develop their new system, Mr Basskin noted
Spanish Point’s proven track record in supplying copyright licensing and distribution systems as a
major factor in choosing them for this significant development. Spanish Point has previously been
recognized by Microsoft for work in the musical royalties field, for which it was awarded the
Worldwide Partner of the Year Award.

The solution designed for CMRRA draws extensively on Spanish Point’s expertise in modern software
development tools and technologies such as Microsoft’s .net, BizTalk, SharePoint, Azure and SQL
Server.

“Our design ensures a high degree of integration between modules. By using an integrated
technology stack from Microsoft, our solution ensures that CMRRA will enjoy the latest
developments in areas such as system integration, parsing, transformations, human-based workflow,
full-text indexing and searching, and other technologies relevant to the its needs,” said John Corley,
CTO of Spanish Point.

The implementation will be rolled out in a series of phases and is scheduled for completion in Q3 of
2013.

About Spanish Point Technologies Ltd.
Dublin based Spanish Point Technologies provides innovative consulting and solution build services
using Microsoft technologies to provide business systems which remove complexity, increase
productivity and connect users to critical business information. Spanish Point employs technologies such as SharePoint, Microsoft Office, BizTalk, SQL Server and their own LookupPoint™ to build
powerful solutions for customers.

wEB COMPANY'S GAME IN HELPING CHILDREN WITH EDUCATION PROGRAMME - Business News, Business - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk

2012-01-15T08:17:00.000Z

Shopping around to find out what's going on in supermarkets

NORTHERN Ireland web company Omnisoft has launched a major new

education programme called Game to Learn.

Deskstream acquires NI Based World Desk

2012-01-14T22:09:00.003Z

Desktop virtualisation software provider DeskStream has acquired Belfast start-up WorldDesk. The deal was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas today, but the financial details have not been disclosed.

Founded in 2010, WorldDesk will continue to be based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and its employees, including co-founders Jonathan Chesney and Claire Moore, will join DeskStream.

Startup Weekend is coming to Belfast. May 2012

2012-01-13T16:39:00.001Z

Silicon Ireland News, is pleased to announce that it has been appointed as organisers of the Belfast Startup Weekend Event.

It will take place in Belfast on May 18th 2012 at the Offices of Startup Academy off the Lisburn Rd.

For anyone not familiar with the event,:- (here is the info)

'Startup Weekend is an intense 54 hour event which focuses on building a web or mobile application which could form the basis of a credible business over the course of a weekend. The weekend brings together people with different skillsets - primarily software developers, graphics designers and business people - to build applications and develop a commercial case around them.'

We are very excited to be working with Startup Weekend, and are pleased that it is the first event in Northern Ireland for them.

We will be announcing Speakers, mentors and partners in the coming weeks.

If you would like to take part in Startup Weekend Belfast - click here

Rim - BlackBerry maker has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs

2012-01-13T13:36:00.003Z

CNet reports

'The BlackBerry maker has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to help it field potential buyout offers, according to the rumor mill on the Wall Street trading floor. Speaking to Fox Business yesterday, one unidentified trader said that RIM is "up on Goldman," but cautioned that it doesn't mean a sale is coming anytime soon.

Even so, all that speculation was enough to see RIM's shares jump over 5 percent yesterday to settle at $16.44. It was a much-needed boost for a stock that has been slumping over the past year, declining nearly 74 percent in the last 12 months alone.'

Emerald Valley in Newry welcomes its first companies

2012-01-13T11:15:00.003Z

Emerald Valley headed by Nichola Bates in Newry, is on a mission!

This mission is to create something different in the already burgeoning enterprise Irish technology
scene. through hard work and determination she has opened a centre in Newry to help those new
companies benefit from location, skills pool and investment all in one place.

As their website states
' Emerald-Valley is about nurturing, encouraging and growing the entrepreneurs of tomorrow while
helping indigenous companies expand and export beyond our shores. Emerald-Valley is putting
ideas into action, creating a space where like-minded people can achieve their full potential
through hard work, networking, passion and creativity.'

Emerald Valley now welcomes its first occupants to its centre.

'Business Driven Change (BDC) provide consulting services in business & IT change and have
done so for over 5 years. Some of their clients include the big 5 consulting firms such as
Cap Gemini along with outsourcing organisations such as T-systems & BT and Orange.
Building from a base in London, the company has recently expanded to the west coast of
the US providing advice to the VC and PE communities on the innovation aspects of their
potential investments.

BDC last autumn announced the entry into Northern Ireland, primarily to benefit from the
talent pool available and the advantageous grant system that the government is
promoting for companies wanting to start-up.

Of the decision, CEO Mark Rothwell-Brooks said :

"To complement the innovation appetite we have for our business coupled with the desire
to progress, complete and take to market products that will complement our consulting
services, the group have decided to invest in resources in this geography by partnering
with Emerald Valley. We have an aggressive strategy of being activily involved in 20
start-ups within a 3 year period and the Emerald Valley folks are an ideal partner to
help us achieve this.

www.AwayOnBiz.biz is the first such investment and is the essential app for the
business traveller - no longer will your mobile ring tone volunteer the fact that you
are out of the country. The AwayOnBiz application lets you control where you appear
to be by letting you choose the ringtone that is heard when your mobile phone is called.

2 other ventures are in the final process of being launched with an announcement due at
the beginning of February. Although based in Northern Ireland, these are pan-european
in nature and we will be hiring locally with language skills.

With operations in San Francisco and now Northern Ireland, we can appreciate how similar
the behaviours in people are, in terms of a willingness to take risk, innovate and think
differently. It s a trait that has of late left London; there's a attitude of 'lets just do it' in
Ireland, both north and south of the boarder, a very forward thinking, unstoppable outlook
that is very akin to the American never-lay-down-anything-is-possible mentality"'

Nichola and her team are officially launching at the end of the month, see details here :-

www.emerald-valley.com