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A report on the boom in the media industry despite the worst recession in 70 years. Related posts: cultureTECH: What I did… Holidays in England All I needed to know about games… Humans FTW! Sky-Bully FTL!
A report on the boom in the media industry despite the worst recession in 70 years.
Damien Mulley just announced the nominations for the Irish Blog Awards 2009! Go have a look! “This is not the long list and it is not the short list, this is the Nominations List. Every one of these blogs will now be sent forward for judging. After this, a longlist will be released, followed by … Continue reading “Irish Blog Award Nominations 2009”
Damien Mulley just announced the nominations for the Irish Blog Awards 2009!
Go have a look!
“This is not the long list and it is not the short list, this is the Nominations List. Every one of these blogs will now be sent forward for judging. After this, a longlist will be released, followed by a short list. The winners will be announced on February 21st.”
Notable ones who I know well from the list:
Best Fashion Blog – Sponsored by Spinnakerpro
Dressjunkie: http://dressjunkie.com
Best Technology Blog/Blogger – Sponsored by Bitbuzz
Unwired: http://wimaxxed.blogspot.com
Michele Neylon: http://mneylon.com/blog
Digmo!: http://digmo.co.uk
Pat Phelan: Telecomms Disruptor: http://patphelan.net
Mj: http://cimota.com/blog – Yes, me. No, I didn’t self-nominate.
Best Newcomer – Sponsored by Teamworkpm.net
Lee Munroe’s Blog: http://leemunroe.com
Russellmcquillan.com: http://russellmcquillan.com
Ronster Munch – Blog: http://theronster.co.uk
Best Blog of a Business – Sponsored by RedCardinal.ie
No More Art Notepad: http://nomoreart.co.uk/notepad
Best Personal Blog – Sponsored by Microsoft Ireland’s Developer & Platform Group
Marramgrass : http://marramgrass.org.uk
Sickbiscuit: http://sickbiscuit.com/blog
Alan In Belfast: http://alaninbelfast.blogspot.com
Best Photo Blog – Sponsored by Pix.ie
Iced Coffee Photoblog: http://icedcoffee.ie
I’d suggest you have a click-through and see what’s happening in the big wide world of blogging in your region. There’s some real stars out there (and looking at the heavyweights I’m nominated alongside, I don’t fancy my chances!!!!)
[Edit: Also noticed The Ronster!]
LaunchPad CoWorking An interview with Jerome Chang, founder of Blankspaces: Spike: You’re also using a for-profit business model (as is LaunchPad Coworking). How did you decide on this model? Did you take any heat for it? Jerome: I’m all for pushing collaboration and communities — if profit is what it takes to generate more participants … Continue reading “CoWorking: profit or non-profit”
LaunchPad CoWorking
An interview with Jerome Chang, founder of Blankspaces:
Spike: You’re also using a for-profit business model (as is LaunchPad Coworking). How did you decide on this model? Did you take any heat for it?
Jerome: I’m all for pushing collaboration and communities — if profit is what it takes to generate more participants and advance the cultural movement, then profit it is. Between the time and effort, money, and liability, we should be rewarded for that contribution and exposure. Besides, I didn’t know about coworking at all until I’d already started construction, so I was not “influenced†by the altruism.
I’m becoming more and more convinced that a Co-Working site needs to be a ‘company’ as opposed to a ‘charity’.
I’ve seen lots of non-profits fall by the wayside due to the founders needing to move on and it’s hard to find people with the right mentality to take over. I’ve seen non-profits founder because without the extra edge of needing to make a profit (and reaping benefits thereof) the good will can vanish.
I’m well aware that people working at a non-profit can draw salaries and that the non-profit moniker has been used in order to attract attention while the ‘workers’ draw insanely large salaries. I guess I’m not comfortable hiding behind the tax benefits of a non-profit while engaged in something that is creating things ‘for profit’.
But let’s run with the current school of thought. That CoWorkingBelfast will be a non-profit organisation.
That said – if I have anything to do with it, CoWorkingBelfast will have to be a shining light and not just a damp squib. I want it to be excellent, a model place to work and not just a set of desks in a dreary room above a bank. It has to make enough money to survive and prosper and not just be a half-empty space which has to resort to arcane marketing schemes disguised as trade shows in order to generate a bit of coin.
Part of the Co-Working Belfast ethos should, in my opinion, to create ‘industry culture’ in Northern Ireland. That’s got to be more than just creating a web portal (and how many of those have sprung up in the last year or so) but the creation of a lasting legacy, a tradition of fostering creativity in the technology sector. CoWorking is not about technology itself – it’s about connecting people where they were not previously connected.
Part of the culture of CoWorking Belfast should not only be the opportunities and connections which are brought about by proximity but also the potential for fostering tomorrow’s industry (you know, the people who will be paying taxes when you and I are in a home for the elderly). I have a plan which consists of nothing more than a couple of pledges, a holding page on a web site and a monthly bill which I’ll work to find sponsorship for – which will be wholly dedicated to finding people with energy, be they young in body or just young in mind, and giving them a place to work and express their creativity as well as providing mentoring (by using and abusing the people housed in the CoWorking building) – more on this later.
Through this meandering post I’m convincing myself that CoWorkingBelfast can be a no-profit. What do you think?
Every year we wait for the new and sparkly stuff from Apple and we often get it. The move to Intel. The iPhone. the 17″ and 12″ Powerbooks wayback when. This year is no different. We have a new subnotebook, software updates and a glimpse into Apple’s plans for everyone. MacBook Air Some correspondants on … Continue reading “MWSF2008: The Good, the Bad and the Fugly”
Every year we wait for the new and sparkly stuff from Apple and we often get it. The move to Intel. The iPhone. the 17″ and 12″ Powerbooks wayback when. This year is no different. We have a new subnotebook, software updates and a glimpse into Apple’s plans for everyone.
Some correspondants on Damien’s blog don’t think it’s up to much (and this is before touching the device). One commenter wrote “Certainly it’s some kind of breakthrough, but then shit-flavoured ice cream would be, too.” I think that’s more than a bit harsh but then it explains why Apple always dips straight after MacWorld even if the product announcements have been insanely great. A lot of people were expecting Apple to go after the eee PC market and produce a subnote that was cheap. People, seriously. Subnotebooks are not cheap. If you don’t mind running a machine with a 7″ screen, that is light but bulky, only has a 2 hour battery and has barely enough storage for the OS plus any media files, then by all means run, don’t walk, and buy a eee PC. It’s ugly (and yes, I have one here).
The MacBook Air is aimed at people who would buy the Sony TZ series of subnotebooks. No-one would ever accuse Sony of being a cheap brand so I wonder why people expect Apple to suddenly, after years of being a premium brand, flood the market with £200 laptops. The Air would have to be beautiful, it would have to show something new and exciting and it would have to beat the best, not beat the cheapest. It’s thinner than the TZ and cheaper than the TZ.
My beefs with the MacBook air are simple. It’s only got one USB port. Though I seldom have more than one thing plugged into my MacBook Pro, there are times I have two. I might be charging my iPhone while playing Battlefield. And no, wireless mice are not good for the First Person Shooters. This happens infrequently enough that I’m not concerned about it. I’m also not worried about the lack of an ethernet port because, frankly, it’s been months since I plugged my laptop into ethernet and that was when I was at a client site. I usually carry a Airport Express with me if I’m unsure of wireless at the next location. I’m also not that concerned with the lack of RAM upgrades and the inability to remove the battery. 2 GB of RAM is a goodly amount for the target market for this device. I am curious that they didn’t bring out some sort of dock, I guess you plug in your USB hub, your power and your video out and just work on. It’s a sleek machine, underpowered for what I want (mostly in the graphics card department) but tempting. I don’t consider the multi-touch trackpad to be a big deal – if it’s not a touch laptop screen I don’t see the point. That said – touchscreens tend not to be thin if they are of any size.
In all, the MacBook Air is not for me. I’m not THAT much of a road warrior (heck, my laptop is 17″ and seldom leaves the house). It would serve a lot of people I know, probably more than they realise especially when they consider exactly how often do they plug anything into their laptop!
Lack of ethernet? Yes. I really wanted to drop over a grand on a laptop and then run wires all over my house, chaining me to certain parts of the room.
Scores 8/10 in my opinion. I’d have liked a 11″ machine.
We knew this was coming and it’s just like it said on the tin. Maps will now find your location pretty effectively using cell tower triangulation. You can move icons about. You can add bookmarks to the home screen for the bazillions of web apps out there. Texting to multiple persons doesn’t inspire me in the implementation but that’s a UI thing. Song lyrics? If I had any. iTunes rentals? If they were available in the UK I might care but I have Sky and more movies than I can watch anyway. And for iPod touch owners, $20 for the update isn’t a big deal. Sure, it’d be nice if you didn’t have to buy it but then 5 apps for $20 means apps are being targetted at around $4 each. Is Apple laying down expectations for pricing for iPhone apps bought through iTunes later this quarter?
A solid enough upgrade I guess – I don’t get lost very often though. 6/10
This makes the Apple TV into an interactive device rather than just something to view media with. It becomes a realistic option for people who have broadband and don’t want to pay for cable or satellite TV or on-demand services. Of course, you can’t buy movies on iTunes in the UK and neither can we rent them via Apple TV. So if you’re in the UK, this is a useless update and another example of how if you’re in the UK, Apple doesn’t really care. Just keep buying their stuff. This is pretty much a 1/10
The Airport Extreme with built-in hard drive is the only thing that really impressed her-indoors. Everyone should be backing up and with having to plug in disks, it can be a pain having to do so. This removes that pain. This I would place as the most impressive release in the show.
What does this tell me? Apple wants people to have more than one Mac. That seems obvious but Time Capsule is designed to back up multiple Macs. The MacBook Air is not designed as a standalone machine but rather as a portable machine which provides you with a companion to your powerful desktop at home. Leopard options like “Back to my Mac” show that being able to access one Mac from another Mac is an important part of their strategy. They’ve convinced a lot of people to buy one Mac so far and when you’ve managed that, getting them to buy another Mac is a no-brainer.
Time Capsule gets a rather spiffy 10/10 from me. Would have been 11 if it had AirTunes too.
We’re now counting down to the release of the iPhone SDK.
A few weeks ago, Her Indoors made an off-hand comment about how I should do more for good causes. At the time I grunted as my attention was elsewhere but the statement didn’t leave me and I’ve been mulling it over for the last few days. The outcome of this internal debate is that I’m … Continue reading “Charity Cases”
A few weeks ago, Her Indoors made an off-hand comment about how I should do more for good causes. At the time I grunted as my attention was elsewhere but the statement didn’t leave me and I’ve been mulling it over for the last few days. The outcome of this internal debate is that I’m happy with my charitable contributions. I’ve helped a charity with their network issues when they had a fire and were forced to move. I’ve installed the wiring for a school left high and dry by C2K running out of budget. I’ve been running NiMUG for the best part of a decade for free and allegedly done heaps for Mac users in Northern Ireland (according to some of those Mac Users). I’ve done FOC house calls for some people who really couldn’t afford another option and Mac-Sys regularly donates to raffles for worthy causes. Infurious, though still just starting up, contributes patches back to the open source world and take it from me, if they were in a position to “give something back”, then they’d be doing a lot more than just that.
Today I set up a web page for a campaign for improving a playground. It’s based around Colby Park in Four Winds in Belfast. Have a look at the Campaign for Colby Playground. Sure, it’s just a little WordPress install but it takes my time (and my money) to set these things up and the people doing this aren’t technical people. My kids won’t even see the benefit of this park as they don’t live anywhere near it, but I was asked and it’s a good cause.
If you have any knowhow in the political process or even know how to motivate people, get in touch with them. It’s not about what you can gain from it, but rather what will become of it on it’s own.
Hot on the heels of the Open Social, Google has announced the Open Handset Alliance. Handset makers such as LG, HTC, Motorola and Samsung (essentially those who have had their lunch money stolen by Apple) are pledging to implement the software, based on a Linux OS. It’s also being supported by major carriers such as … Continue reading “It’s phone week. Google dips a toe.”
Hot on the heels of the Open Social, Google has announced the Open Handset Alliance. Handset makers such as LG, HTC, Motorola and Samsung (essentially those who have had their lunch money stolen by Apple) are pledging to implement the software, based on a Linux OS. It’s also being supported by major carriers such as Sprint and T-Mobile in the US, Europe’s Telefonica, and Japan’s KDDI and NTT DoCoMo (essentially another set of companies who’ve not got the iPhone for sale).
Damien had previously claimed that Google will release specs for mobiles and get someone to build them for as cheap as possible. That’s not exactly what’s happening here. Google is building an advertising platform here.
Get it: there is no gPhone.
This is the interesting bit.
… the OS will not be branded or charge users for each program. Google … will instead collect revenues from ads that appear on Android phones.
I’m not sure I’m really up for that. I already loathe software which spends half of the load time with a splash screen and the built-in software which is on my Sony Ericsson K800i is sluggish enough already and I hate the advertising splash screens it has.
They’re saying its all about making cellphones do whatever YOU want it to do. That’s a dirty marketing lie. This will be about making the cellphone give more nickels and dimes to Google. They’re saying it’s about choice, low cost, creativity, innovation. Their cast of people introducing the initiative want a phone which keeps tabs on their kids, shares a family calendar, does their taxes. Very funny.
I’ve always been a proponent of Google but this, combined with Open Social, just seems to be a rather greasy sweaty hand enclosing around areas that should be free. I mean free in terms of access all areas. Free from advertising.
The hardware manufacturers will probably be happy enough to build something but I predict this will be a Zune rather than an iPod, a ROKR rather than an iPhone. I dn’t think it’s possibly to build something with vision by handing people an SDK and saying “Go for it!” That’s not how the iPhone was built and it’s also not how Google was built.
Anyway, introducing Android:
At this point it’s an SDK. Sometime in late 2008 we might see a phone using it. Whether it will be any different to any currently shipping phones who knows. I think Google might just have invented the Myspace of Mobile Phone Operating Systems (for those who don’t get the reference: that’s a description of most Myspace pages. A hash of oddly placed components, clashing backgrounds and adverts. With a tiny smattering of content.).
Slashdot has it’s share of interesting ideas.
If you want data too, skip the GSM bugs and go for a full-feature GSM/GPRS module. It’s got all you could ask for. Just add an antenna and a battery to your board and you’re set. Add everything up and you will end up half the price of an iPhone. Best of all, it will run _Your Stuff_, and _Your Stuff_ Only.
Ahhh, yes. So you can have a cell phone that looks like one of the following:
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John Battelle writes on the recent investment into Facebook from Redmond giant Microsoft. Microsoft invested $240 million and got a measly 1.6% stake (and likely the guarantee they’re going to be the advertising supplier for the Facebook platform). The real upshot of this is that Microsoft just verified the wild claims that Facebook was worth … Continue reading “And the winner is…”
John Battelle writes on the recent investment into Facebook from Redmond giant Microsoft. Microsoft invested $240 million and got a measly 1.6% stake (and likely the guarantee they’re going to be the advertising supplier for the Facebook platform). The real upshot of this is that Microsoft just verified the wild claims that Facebook was worth $15 billion dollars.
Maybe it comes down to this: Microsoft won, Google lost. If that’s the case, OK, but…the real winner here is Facebook. At least, until it has to earn into a $15 billion valution. Good luck with that if social ads doesn’t pan out. On the other hand, well, congratulations for getting money so cheap.
All of the recent activity indicates to me that the market has certainly gotten over the dot-com bubble bursting at the start of this decade and they’re ready to invest in internet firms. It used to be enough to use the word internet in your business plan to have investors falling over themselves to throw money at you. Now, the buzzwords are “social networking”.
Were our lives better when we could buy pet food over the internet the first time round? Are they better now that we have Facebook and Friendster and Myspace and Bebo? We’re not seeing much enrichment of people’s lives from these companies and I think that’s why we’re headed for another bust.
It’s also a big red flag to me that Microsoft desperately needs to compete with Google and they’re willing to spend a lot of money for a tiny stake in order to beat them, even at this one, potentially ephemeral, game. I mean, you’re not going to drop that amount of money for that amount of equity just so you can scrape pennies from online advertising? Are you? Ah. It seems you are.
Microsoft has too many enemies at the moment and I feel a little sorry for them. They’re having their ass handed to them in Operating Systems and Music/Media players. They’ve had their first good month for the XBOX 360 and to get that they had to develop Halo 3 and say goodbye to Bungie (there’s a tradeoff – can you see that Bungie was bored of Halo and used the development of Halo 3 to buy their independence? Oh yeah.). They’re trying and failing to get Silverlight positioned as a Flash replacement (I mean, who cares?). They’ve previously failed to displace PDF. They’re not doing too hot with the Open Document format wars. They’ve a litany of failures (Tablets haven’t taken off. Mira? Zune? and I’ll let you in on a secret regarding their competitor to iPhone and multitouch: Surface, the $10 000 coffee table – it’s going to be shit.)
The theory goes that we’ll see targeted ads because of entries on personal profiles. If Facebook knows you’re into Hello Kitty, Friends and Lost but you dislike 24 and CSI, then they’re going to tell Microsoft and Redmond is going to fire adverts at you containing just the things you like. Advertising based on what you’ve told the system – what you like and what you dislike which, I suppose, has better success criteria than “what I’m searching for now” which is the model espoused by Google. Not sure about that one.
Reading the Segala blog on enabling more trustworthy, relevant and reliable search, I’d think that was a worthy way for Google to combat Facebook. (I’ve never spoken to Paul @ Segala but I’m sure he’d like $240 million!) Remembering that Facebook is very much a walled garden at the moment (you can put your data in but you can’t get it out –not quite true, but still ) and attempts to retrieve data have found some companies getting a kick in the nads and told to eff off. Facebook wants to own the data, thanks, so please stop doing that and use the limited APIs we’ve provided. Or we’ll kill you. (and we have £240 million dollars with which to buy hit-men).
At least with such a minority stake we’re not going to see a desperate, drawn-out attempt to make Facebook just like Hotmail, including ripping out any server not running Windows.
You’d hope.
I’ve posted the announcement from Apple on the release of the iPhone on the Mac-Sys blog. It’s a mix of good news and bad. Especially bad for those of us in Northern Ireland: 30% of O2’s network will be EDGE by launch. Northern Ireland won’t be until the last. (Based entirely on opinion and past … Continue reading “iPhone UK: on the Mac-Sys blog”
I’ve posted the announcement from Apple on the release of the iPhone on the Mac-Sys blog. It’s a mix of good news and bad.
Especially bad for those of us in Northern Ireland:
David Morgenstern quotes Gartner Research Vice President Steve Kleynhans in saying that: to these new customers, the current IT experience “stands for the inhibitor of technology,” Kleynhans said. He observed that there is a basic conflict growing between the pushing clients and the IT traffic cops. and really the rest of the article reads like … Continue reading “More on iPhone versus IT”
David Morgenstern quotes Gartner Research Vice President Steve Kleynhans in saying that:
to these new customers, the current IT experience “stands for the inhibitor of technology,” Kleynhans said. He observed that there is a basic conflict growing between the pushing clients and the IT traffic cops.
and really the rest of the article reads like a rehash of my rebuttal from last week.
Am I in the wrong job? I guess I should either be an eWeek columnist or a Vice President for Gartner Research.
And the iPhone itself. Having watched the guided tour I’m more than convinced I’m going to need one. Email is my lifeblood and I hate Blackberry email passionately. Morgansterns article claims that iPhone only having support for POP/IMAP is inelegant. Bollocks to that – requiring proprietary MAPI or other closed API services is inelegant. I want my email on my phone. I want it on my iPhone. I want to be able to roll my own webmail site using Squirrelmail or something like it.
As for the apps – I don’t give a monkeys really. I’d kill for SSH access and I’d love for it to have secure AFP as well but I’d cope if it could handle WebDAV – and arguably it can considering it has Safari. We’re going for a ubiquitous network coverage model here and sure, the technology and the deployment are a little behind the times but that’s going to come eventually. Â
I want all these things because at this moment I’m stuck behind an incredibly restrictive firewall and I want to be able to check mail and surf my personal sites during breaks. I want to be able to grab files off my home or office servers when stuck behind this firewall. Having a wireless data connection other than WiFi is just what the doctor ordered. Maybe they should built it into the Mac (though linking my Sony Ericsson K800i to my Mac was simplicity itself for the use of the GPRS network).
The release this week of the iPhone just adds fuel to my desire to see it here in the UK. I’m continuing to count the minutes. And by the time it gets here, it’s going to be a much more mature product.
A new blog designed to promote and collect information about collaborative workspaces in Ireland. Community driven and non-profit and hosting the first of my posts on the subject. Last year when I started all of this, I was sufficiently keen on the concept of Bedouin workspaces that I wrote up a business plan about it. … Continue reading “coworking.ie”
A new blog designed to promote and collect information about collaborative workspaces in Ireland. Community driven and non-profit and hosting the first of my posts on the subject.
Last year when I started all of this, I was sufficiently keen on the concept of Bedouin workspaces that I wrote up a business plan about it. Adding some things, excising others to make it into a plan that an investor could get excited about. I’ve still got the plan, still got the desire to do it but placed it on the back burner until I get some other things sorted.
My posts on coworking.ie will be mainly distilling ideas from the business plan, both the final version and the parts that we excised for brevity and focus, in order to build a picture of what a coworking facility should provide.