Web 2 Ireland

Trinity College , Dublin are holding a free Open Demo event of ICT stuff developed by researchers – that is available for commercial use [startup guys take note...]

This is an “unconference ” in that the format is very informal with no powerpoint!

It will be held on the evening of November 6th 2008 in the Science Gallery. For more information checkTrinity OpenDemo

Examples of the types of technologies to be shown include:

* web 2.0 animation tool
* automatic image annotation through cross modal learning
* software defined radio toolkit for next generation cognitive radio networks
* hand wash monitoring device for hospitals and food industry
* p2p video streaming on t’interweb
* video based adaptive e-learning
* token based payments system for VOIP on WiFi
* building a wholesale hosting exchange
* spam prevention through email microcharging
* game authoring tool for mental health therapies
* sentiment index for financial markets
* p2p web search
* immersive experiential selling tool

and lots more…..

Ammado, which combines social networking with charitable giving, linking the non-profits with people who want to support them, has unveiled its online donation system – Ammado Giving Circle.

The sbpost has more coverage interviewing its founders Peter Conlon and Anna Kupka – which includes some interesting quotes and comments

“founders claim will help it become ''one of the biggest internet companies in the world''…..''We have created microphilanthropy,…”kept Ammado under wraps for the past three years, while its technology was built from scratch. The company now employs about 70 people at its headquarters in Dublin, regional headquarters in Singapore, and in 11 other locations, including Amsterdam, Washington, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Novi Sad in Serbia.”…..”For donations of that type, Ammado charges a 10 per cent processing fee, so a company wanting to donate €1,000, for example, would make a total payment of €1,100. Kupka said the system could be used to increase employee motivation and allow companies with staff from different countries indirectly to make donations to charities outside Ireland.”

Last week at TC50, a competitor launched – Causecast. – which had very positive reviews.

Update: Anna from Ammado – has provided a comment – which provides more information around Ammado donations – which is very welcome.

“Just to clarify: for individuals ammado charges 5% per donation. These 5% stay in the ammado foundation and help us to cover the cost which are very substantial as we have build a global micro-payment platform, accepting 33 currencies and nearly every payment method around the world (further payment methods are being added).

The 10% you have mentioned are an administration fee for an employer solution: we encourage employers to boost employee motivation by allocating a certain amount – let's say €10 per employee – to all their employees and allow them to allocate the amount to whatever nonprofits they wish. The employee could therefore give 1 Euro of these 10 to their old school in Belarus, 2.50 Euro to a charity in their hometown, 2 Euro for Amnesty in Ireland etc. It can be sliced down to as little as 4cent. That's why we call it micro-philanthropy. Everyone can build their own giving portfolio and if you wish to, people can show whom they are spporting by displaying their ammado Giving Circle (we also have a bebo applicaton for the circle). Cheers, Anna”

Many of us were absolutely gutted when the SeedCamp finalists were announced and there was no sign of Decisions for Heroes (D4H). Anyone who has been following what Robin Blandford has been doing with D4H knows what an amazing idea it is.

According to 11850 It is a collaborative rescue team management tool to record and analyze rescue operations.

It looks like the judges re-considered their decision. Perhaps they realised that the ideas around D4H can be re-used to build many highly valuable logistics-centered systems where the value is in the data.

In any case, that means we now now have an Irish entry in SeedCamp. Well done Robin! Hopefully we’ll have even more Irish finalists next year.

Given the energy and activity around incubation programmes like Genesis and EnterpriseStart, is it time to consider doing a SeedCamp-style programme here specifically for webapps?

Wubud – mobile social network start-up – founded by serial entrepreneur Paul Walsh – has just announced its initial Angel round – from Paul Birch [of Bebo Fame].

We’ve been aware of Wubud for a while – and industry feedback is very positive on the product from this very secretive satrtup.

Given the level of Irish activity @ mobile sector – Wubud is a welcome development [and no doubt Paul will be setting up his European HQ in Wexford] – as it looks to target consumers directly and in-directly – and avoid the network operator purchasing cycles.

Maria has more details on SiliconRepublic.com

Dublin based Newbay – launches LifeCache – which Enables Carriers to Provide Aggregated Social Networking Experience and Allows Subscribers to Easily View and Manage Multiple Communities in a Single Feed

The LifeCache Solution uniquely provides users with an aggregated mobile Social Networking experience. It presents popular information from multiple online communities including Facebook, Bebo AOL, YouTube and MySpace in a single feed, allowing subscribers to instantly engage with friends and family across a host of third party sites.

Check out the press release

I’ve heard nothing but good things about the EnterpriseStart programme in Cork. It was a real lifeline to many Motorola employees last year. The idea is to give basic business skills to those looking to set up their own companies.

Mary Boyle let us know that they run the same scheme in Sligo and the next one is coming up. If you are even considering making the leap then it’s worth popping down to hear what it’s all about.

A free information evening will take place in The Glasshouse Hotel, Sligo on 23rd September. Hear from experts on the supports available to entrepreneurs and from companies who have already set up. Liam Birkett will be the guest speaker on the night. Liam's career began in office management in the grocery trade and extended into sales and marketing. He was involved in the launch of Mace and VG group in Ireland. His experience extended into wholesale, retail, cash & carry, and consultancy on a national and international basis before moving to O'Kennedy Brindley Advertising (later to become Saatchi & Saatchi). With colleagues from the advertising agency, he founded Bernardini, Birkett & Gardner Ltd, a design & marketing consultancy which, for more than 20 years was responsible for corporate identities and many marketing initiatives for Stokes, Kennedy Crowley, Waterford Foods, Monaghan Co-op, Smurfit Group, The K Club, The new GAA branding as well as graphic and packaging projects for a long list of high profile clients.

The evening will kick off at 6pm. For more information please contact Mary Boyle on 071 9159700 or mary.boyle@enterprise-ireland.com

UPDATE: The programme is happening in Cork too in October.  It is delivered by a mix of trainers and entrepreneurs, over six weekends, and at the end of the programme participants file a short feasibility study. The participant is then given a mentor for 5 sessions. The total cost of the programme is €275, with the balance of costs funded by EI and FAS. Contact Paul DOT Healy AT cit DOT ie for details

 

This week’s Push is Cork-based eWrite Lite, a suite of tools built around a CMS to enable SMEs to get online cheaply and easily. If I hear of one more SME having to pay a web-designer every time they want the content on their site updated, I’m going to start naming and shaming. eWrite Lite is perfect for those many small companies out there who are paying through the nose to get simple sites developed and maintained.

Check it out and blog about your impressions of it.

The iFoods guys, who were recently on Dragon’s Den, are looking for a CTO. Job spec below.

Seeking a talented and experience Web Developer (Chief Technical Officer). If you are creative, experience and eager to generate and communicate your ideas – this might be the job for you. You will play an important role and will be responsible for the website development, design clustering Tomcat/Apahe/MySQL, technical issues resolution.

You would need to be proficient in computer science (BA in IT) with a minimum of 5 years experience, have a capability to generate ideas and communicate them to the company management. You would have strong analytical skills, desire to work as a team member and a potential to lead a team.

Some of job tasks will include:
1. Deliver and manage each stage of the project lifecycle of web applications
2. Develop solutions using JavaScript, D/HTML, JSP, Hibernate, MySQL, AJAX, CSS (running on Redhat.Apache, Tomcat)
3. Identify and apply the newest technologies
4. Lead and supervise the team of web developers

We will offer:

* Challenging technical projects in a dynamic environment
* Strong compensation depending on your experience
* Central office location (Thomas street)
* Rapid career progression

Apply via Irishjobs.ie here.