Web 2 Ireland

BarCampGalway is on this weekend – Should be a great event. Sign up here

Rich internet applications are the foundation of Web 2.0 and there are a host of new tools out there promising to help you deliver interactive, animated web applications.

Microsoft has recently released Silverlight their sparkly new platform for delivering rich internet applications, which focuses on high-def experiences and media streaming.

Irishdev.com are organizing this FREE Silverlight event with Martha Rotter, from the original Microsoft Silverlight crew, demonstrating how Silverlight can light up the web with Rich Interactive Applications.

Thanks to all who helped make version1.0 of Web2Ireland DemoBar a success.

- Sponsors
- DemoBar Companies
- Media Sponsors
- the venue – Ely HQ
- Ryan and FOWA

and finally the 200+ people who attended.

For writeups – check out Blognation, SocialMedia.net and Intruders for the event low-down.

We’re looking at Web2Ireland DemoBar version 1.1 for November. Appreciate any thoughts/comments/feedback to this post please.

From Techcrunch – Intel To Acquire Havok. Another great Irish company getting bought.

Congratulations to the founders, Stephen and Hugh – great vision and technology in a very competitive market.

Vincent Glennon is responsible for the very useful UseAMap site. He seems to specialise in building very smart single-function sites that the big guys will never do. His latest mapping application, which he launched at DemoBar, is JustRoutes. It provides information on public transport routes in Dublin via two simple clicks on a Google Map: Starting point and Destination point.

I could have done with this many times in the past couple of months and I'm sure that applies to anyone who travels to the capital on a semi-regular basis. Heck I know plenty of people who live in Dublin and who only know the bus routes from their house to work.

When he was trialling it, I suggested that he ensure it works well on mobiles as I could imagine that being a popular use case. Unfortunately I didn't have much luck with either Opera and Opera Mini 4 on my Nokia N70. The maps aren't really readable and the text entry interface didn't like my locations.

Vincent has also implemented the UseAMap idea here where any route you request is given the equivalent of a TinyURL. Another nice touch is the cost estimate for the journey.

Hopefully when Google Maps stops being a bad joke outside of the large cities here, he will add national bus and rail routes. If he included private operators too, that might be a route to a revenue stream. I'm not sure what his monetization plans are but the whole area of local advertising could be a possibility. Alternatively, CIE (the bus/rail operator) could show uncharacteristic commercial sense and buy it from him or invest in it.

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Comment posted by Conor O’Neill
at 9/17/2007 8:51:52 AM

Vinny has UseAMap working with Yahoo and MS. Problem with Yahoo is their idiotic non-commercial-only use of all their APIs. They have to change this asap if they are to compete for mindshare.

Comment posted by Grace
at 9/17/2007 6:47:17 AM

I got a demo of this at Demobar on Thursday and I think it's a great idea! I also thought a mobile App version of this would be very useful This is the type of information that people need when they're out and about!

The best of luck to the lads!

Comment posted by Will
at 9/17/2007 3:44:46 AM

Given that Yahoo Maps seem to be more up to date with Irish maps than Google, could this be trialed on Yahoo, or are the APIs still lacking.

Last night they blew the bl***y roof off Ely HQ in Dublin's South Docks! Hands down the best gathering of people working here in this business ever. Ryan Carson figures 200 people turned up. I wouldn't be surprised, we were squeezed in like sardines and loved every minute of it. As someone said It's like we've crammed our own Silicon Valley into one room

The the four events of the day; Pitch Training, Paddy's Valley Meetup, DemoBar and FOWA RoadTrip overlapped and merged in and out of each other from 2pm onwards. The feedback on the Enterprise Ireland training was all positive and a big thumbs up to Paul Fisher from Advent for sitting in on some of the sessions.

I don't think I have ever seen that wonderful mix of people collected together here before. We had developers, geeks, entrepreneurs, VCs, telcos, Microsoft, PR people, Ryan and a bunch of startups all talking at 100 mph. The enthusiasm and eagerness and adrenalin in the room was infectious. I was particularly glad to see some of the startups make links to certain serious players for the first time. If they raise a round, I hope they can say it all happened that night in Ely HQ.

The event could not have happened without Fergus Burns from Nooked, a man who has worked tirelessly for the web community in Ireland and who deserves tons of kudos for that. Apart from the event itself, Fergus also put together a great bunch of sponsors. I shouldn't call out one but I will. Clare Dillon in Microsoft Ireland has arranged sponsorship for many of the community events here. Clare gets it and we all appreciate what she and her team do.

Ryan was fantastic with making sure to talk to all the start-ups and do interviews. Conn and the Intruders guys took plenty of footage too. I somehow managed to not take one single picture for which I should be flogged. One startup managed to show the power of their soon-to-be-released product when a punter knocked a pint of beer all over their demo laptop. Joe Drumgoole calmly turned the laptop over and said It's ok, it's all backed-up with PutPlace.com

For the next one, we're gonna need a bigger building.

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Comment posted by Daniel Becker
at 9/14/2007 9:52:59 AM

I've posted some photo's on our blog:
http://devblog.glowday.com/2007/09/glowday-launch-demobar.html

It was great night.
Daniel

Comment posted by Paul Campbell
at 9/14/2007 10:14:31 AM

Hear hear, Conor. It was an immense night and that vibe was simply electricity – every you turned, the enthusiasm and energy just crackling from head to head. Definitely a shame that I had to leave early, but am now so energised to startup soon and really go for it. Very, very exciting times.

Comment posted by James Gallagher
at 9/14/2007 10:24:12 AM

Great to see these kind of events going well, I'm looking forward to the move back to Ireland.

Comment posted by SocialMedia.net
at 9/17/2007 5:08:29 AM

Unexpectedly large turnout in Dublin for day of Web 2.0 related events

Dublin, Ireland saw one of its largest web technology and business gatherings last Thursday evening (September 13th). At least 200 Web 2.0 professionals from all over the country and Europe, plus others interested in the web application industry, conv

Comment posted by The B-Team Blog Blog Archive So Far.. So Good
at 10/8/2007 8:07:50 AM

[] Those of you who were there will know that Bench'd first stuck it's head up over the parapet in September at the Paddy's Valley Pitchcamp training which coincided with the FOWA Roadtrip-Dublin and Web2Ireland Demobar. The feedback from this event was massive and hugely positive and it was very exciting for us to meet with so many of the Web 2.0 community in Ireland all at once. Blognation have a great report about it here. []

Location: Bandon, Co Cork
Founders: Conor O’Neill (CEO), Catherine O’Neill (COO)

LouderVoice.com is a web-site for finding, writing and sharing reviews. It enables everyone from Bloggers to MySpacers and SMSers to get their opinions and expertise read by a larger audience in their own language.

Never underestimate a motivated person. Yesterday afternoon Walter Higgins, CEO of Sxoop, the creators of online photo editor Pixenate, wondered about the point of Facebook Apps. After a flurry of commentary from the Irish Jaikusphere, he was convinced and got started. Now, less than a day later you can use the Pixenate App on FB!

This is no pointless proof of concept, it is a practical useful application for editing your Facebook pictures and photos in-situ. It is also extremely fast.

It'll be interesting to watch the growth in usage in this. Whilst it is relatively easy for someone high profile like Hugh Macleod to drive lots of users to his app, I have noticed many otherwise impressive applications languishing on Facebook.

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Comment posted by Conor O’Neill
at 9/12/2007 2:52:29 PM

Great idea, I'll do that.

Comment posted by Paul M. Watson
at 9/12/2007 2:34:19 PM

Yeah, so lets get Walter in for an interview in a few weeks time and see how he benefited. Be great info for the rest of us in Ireland wondering if the FB springboard is a real, long-term positive effect. Hopefully it is and thanks to Walter for giving it a go.

Comment posted by Conor O’Neill
at 9/12/2007 2:23:40 PM

Paul, Walter was dubious in exactly the same way until he was convinced to at least investigate it. The ease of development seems to have sucked him in!

In his case, even if it just worked as an advertisement for the main site and the product, then I think it was one day's work well spent.

Comment posted by Marcus Mac Innes
at 9/12/2007 2:08:06 PM

Paul just wait till FB brings in micropayments.

Comment posted by Paul M. Watson
at 9/12/2007 1:52:10 PM

It would be really handy if Blognation did a follow up with Walter to see if the Facebook application benefited his bottom line in any way. FB apps seem to have huge numbers but I wonder if they are more to FB's benefit than the app creators.

Comment posted by Marcus Mac Innes
at 9/12/2007 1:21:21 PM

Well done Walter, this is one of the best examples of Facebook app that might actually go somewhere!

Tomorrow sees a jam-packed day of events for the Irish web start-up scene. We mentioned the basics in a previous post but it's come a long way since then.

Starting at 2pm, Enterprise Ireland has arranged pitching training for ten start-ups. By the end of it, those who are presenting later should be slick operators. There may be a surprise guest to help them hone even further.

This is immediately followed at 5pm by a social meetup of those people going on the Paddy's Valley tour of Silicon Valley in December. This trip is getting more impressive daily with the announcement this week that a journalist from The Irish Times newspaper will accompany the tour.

Then we get to the meat of the day at 6.30pm with DemoBar and FOWA Roadtrip. blognation is delighted to be a media partner for this event. The idea behind DemoBar is that ten web startups are given booths to present their wares to the assembled masses. They are expecting a big turnout for this. There are at least three UK VCs coming over, a bunch of Irish investor types, National press, state bodies, other start-ups and representatives from some major corporations.

Ryan Carson and the crew from FOWA will also be in attendance and it sounds like all of their Road Trip stop-offs to date have been great fun. The upcoming Future of WebApps conference is looking like it will be the best yet. Ryan is a top bloke who is a mine a useful information about launching your own web business.

The hot startups who will be demoing tomorrow night are:

• mysay
• LouderVoice
• Glowday
• Nubiq
• PutPlace
• justroutes
• pixenate
• touristr
• polldaddy
• Lukulu

Roll on Thursday in Ely HQ on Hanover Quay in Dublin!

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Comment posted by blognation Germany Blog Archive Why Road Trips Through Europe Are Important For Event Organizers
at 9/21/2007 10:21:52 AM

[] Today is their last stop in Barcelona, and my colleagues already reported about their stops in London, Dublin. []

Comment posted by Conor O’Neill
at 9/13/2007 6:35:52 AM

The Intruders guys will be taking lots of video.

Comment posted by Anthony
at 9/13/2007 5:33:49 AM

Very disappointed to be missing the event this evening. For anyone who is attending, please make sure to take lots of photos and video.

Company: TouristRepublic

Location: Enterprise Acceleration Centre – Limerick

Team: Jan Blanchard (founder) / Conor Wade (designer/developer) / Wannita Phanchana (illustrator)

Products: TouristR (new version at DemoBar) and TripPlanr (in development)

TouristR is a social network website that lets users find and share travel stories. At Tourist Republic, we believe the best way to find out about a place is to read stories from people who have been there. The real experts aren't the professional writers, they're the people who plan, book and create trips themselves.

TripPlanr will allow users to build trips. It will use content from TouristR to suggest destinations but also anticipate transport, accommodation, activities, places to visit and automatically generate relevant itineraries. TripPlanr will model trips based on personal preferences and preferences from like minded profile.