Web 2 Ireland

Online service @ Carpooling – Carpool.ie

Great idea – now we just need the govt. to create carpool lanes…. operation freeflow

Given the number of Web2 companies here that use freelancers and outsourcers for many aspects of their businesses, would it make sense to have some sort of simple skills board (as opposed to jobs board) here? Even something as simple as a page with a list giving Company Name, Person Name, Services Offered, URL for contact info.

Thoughts?

Haydn Shaughnessy has just launched the virtual art gallery Ten Cubed in Second Life. As a confirmed SL cynic, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this. However Haydn is one of the smartest guys around in media, tech and journalism so it had to be worth a look.

I have to say it’s pretty damned awesome. The idea is radical but seems like a logical progression from e-commerce to v-commerce. You walk around a virtual gallery and look at the art hanging on the walls. Some of it exists in the “real world”, some of it only in Second Life. But here’s the twist – you can buy either!

I initially didn’t understand the concept of buying virtual art but there are tons of companies with their own “offices” in SL who are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars getting them built. As with real buildings, these can only be improved with the addition of art.

The advantage on the real-world side is that you can get a much better sense of the art hanging on a wall in 3-D than you can looking at flat scans on a web-site.

Now I have all the artistic sensibilities of a corpse but there is some fantastic stuff in the gallery. I saw some of it when Haydn had the Gallery in Harbour View and it impresses just as much in a virtual setting. The other thing which is very obvious is the intelligent design of Ten Cubed. You have none of that usual 3-D world “where do I go?”. You are naturally guided in particular directions.

Even if you just want to see what eBay might look like in five years time, it is well worth your while checking this out.

One of the most successful community sites in Ireland, EuropeanIrish, has just had a major re-launch. This site has been quietly growing to an impressive 1 million uniques last year from its beginning in 2003. For most of its existence it was a part-time labour of love for Siasy Collins but with the closure of Motorola in Cork, he finally took the opportunity to give it his full attention.

The site is all about Irish ex-pats on Continental Europe having somewhere to congregate virtually so they can socialise better face to face. In some ways you could think of it as a niche Upcoming.org since it always has a big list of events that are happening around Europe. But there is a lot more to it than that and it has had a thriving community for many years.

In addition to a general re-build and facelift, they have added “MINE” – My Irish Network in Europe. This is effectively a Social Network for ex-pats and is an idea I love. There are only so many generic Social Networks that are going to get traction but a niche one like this, where you know that the other members have much in common with you, should see lasting growth.

Siasy says that 300,000 Irish people have now made their homes across Europe, and there were 3.5 million trips by Irish residents to the Continent in 2006. It looks like many of those Irish have been using the site for years. Whether it’s entertainment, pubs, social clubs, discussion forums, cultural issues or general news, the site has an angle on it.

EuropeanIrish is based in the Rubicon Centre in CIT in Cork and is taking part in the Genesis Enterprise Programme.

The buzz on the Twitter lines is all about stealth Irish start-up MOLI raising $30m in private investment. According to the Silicon Republic article, they have 55 employees and are based in the Digital Hub. They are supposedly concerned with managing multiple SocNet profiles from one account.

This sounds like it could be very useful, particularly if it dovetails in with all the current efforts around data portability.

Further descriptions muddy the waters slightly with mentions of “professionally-produced content coupled with interactive e-commerce features enabling members to connect and conduct business with other discerning individuals, groups and businesses”. There are hints of LinkedIn, Facebook, PodTech, Yahoo, eBay and Amazon in that one sentence.

You can sign-up for free on the site now and I’m off to have a good poke around. The design and production levels seems very high indeed. It also looks like they are the only company based here that has a slot at DEMO 08.

It’s fantastic to see high net worth individuals investing serious sums of money in the Web2 space in Ireland. We’re keeping a close eye on Ammado in that context too. Surely this is just the tip of the iceberg for those looking to add a bit of excitement to their investment portfolios?

UPDATE 1: Further scratching seems to reveal that they allow multiple profiles within their site, not across SocNets. Therefore are they positioning themselves as YASN with a demographic focus on late 20′s/early 30′s? i.e. somewhere between Facebook and LinkedIn.

The team at PutPlace just released an invite only beta.

PutPlace could be described as a butler for your entire digital life. PutPlace gathers all the valuable, digital stuff you’ve created and stockpiled over your lifetimefrom photos and documents, to music and home movies. Then PutPlace organizes it, protects it and helps you find exactly what you need, wherever you are.

Sign up for a beta account - and provide Joe and his team with feedback/comments.

PutPlace have some exciting announcements coming out in 2008 – so stay tuned.

Polldaddy get great coverage in techcrunch article

Richard also has great analysis on readwriteweb

Congratulations to Lenny and the team.

ps. when you see folks like blogger/twiiter founder Evan Williams using polldaddy – you know these guys will be successful.

Just a quick post to find out if anyone from Ireland is heading over to LeWeb 3 in Paris on the 11th and 12th of December?

I know nooked, PollDaddy and LouderVoice will be there. Are there any other Irish companies traveling over to this event?

Online review service Loudervoice selected for start-up competition at prestigious LeWeb conference in France.

See
LouderVoice blog for more details

The ISA's new company of the year award went to Ammado according to this SBPost article.

“Ammado a company co-founded by serial entrepreneur Peter Conlon and Anna Kupka.

The company has development offices in Dublin and overseas and is in a pilot phase before launching to the public at large.”