Web 2 Ireland

Unfortunately I missed the keynote speech at the opening of the Irish Web Technology Conference given by Fergus Burns of Nooked. Luckily the PPT is now available on Slideshare.

Quite simply, what he said.

A much needed wake-up call.

I hope to see lots more like this over the next few days at IWTC. It’s not too late to get a ticket.

Update: Video of talk available – Thanks to Martha

The xCellerate2008 event next week has the following offer for the Web2Ireland community

A discount code Tran08 – which takes the price down to 60EUR – Buy here

Panelists for xCellerate2008 include

* Chris Horn, Founder & Chairman, IONA Technologies
* Bernie Cullinan, CEO Clarigen, Ex-CEO of SteelTrace
* Noel Ruane, Founder & CEO BrandMail Solutions
* David Smith, Merrion Capital
* Shay Garvey, Partner, Delta Partners
* Maura Moore, Lead Equity Advisor, EquityNetwork
* Deirdre Terrins, Crescent Capital – Investment Manager
* Michele Carroll, President, Carrollco Marketing Services
* Damien Eastwood, Angel Investor, Xcellangels
* Brain Caulfield, Interim CEO, AePONA
* Chris Gill, CEO Silicon Valley Association of Start-up Entrepreneurs
* Diane Roberts, Partner, xCell Partners

The Irish Software Association would traditionally be viewed as “enterprise focussed” – but this years Annual Conference has a web2.0 focus

Speakers include

- Guy Kawasaki
- Ray Nolan – hostelworld – on his way to the $1billion exit
- Jerry Kennelly – stockbyte – exited in 2006…

and a host of others.

Promises to be a great event – signup now – spaces are filling up fast.

Update: First 10 to register – gets an entry fee of €200 [use code: Burns08]

Walter at Pixenate – gets some love from TechCrunch UK

Walter has done a brilliant job developing a market leading solution in simple online image editing – and out executing some rather large companies at the same time

Irish company – AMT3D – using their 3D software technology have powered a 3D view of Westport on Google Earth

For more details check Google turns Irish town 3D | The Register

Irish startup nimble is making waves – and is a worthy competitor to the Bebo dominated Irish social network scene.

With over 100k users on this network – primarily Irish users to date – its one to watch in 2008

ENN reports that pharmaceuticals businessman Gerry Brandon is raising a seven-figure investment sum for his new online collaboration network Eplixo.

“The products technology incorporates instant messaging, blogging and other networking tools to allow multiple employees to work together on a single project. The software is still in the beta stage of development by teams in Ireland, India, Poland and Slovenia. Brandon has spent EUR500,000 funding the project to date and hopes to raise between EUR1 million and EUR1.5 million in additional capital.”

Looks interesting….

Some great points from Jobster founder Jason Goldberg today around making your start up work.

Example

* The CEO’s job is to create value.
* Try to ride some powerful existing waves vs. just creating new waves.
* Technology companies are all about the product.
* You must get close to your users and customers and live their personas.

read all the 12 Learnings From My First Turn As Startup CEO

Just got a mail from the military.ie guys about their first Google Maps mashup. It’s very simple but it’s bloody impressive to see them try this stuff out. It displays reserve defence force unit locations and organisation around the country. They call it a work in progress but I completely agree when they say it is a big first step for a public service to embrace this technology at all.

Of course something simple like this gets the synapses firing and you start thinking about real-time GPS tracking of units and activities on Goog Maps. Those old public service announcements about artillery practice in the Glen of Imaal could be brought right up to date!

One quick tip – it would be great if they’d add an RSS feed(s) for news on the site (and maybe Feedburner email subscriptions) so we’d here about any new things they are doing.

On a side note, I love the new ads on the radio and the URL really sticks in the head. Well done to whoever is running PR and Marketing in the Defence Forces.

From the Irish Times Facebook considering adding Ireland as a friend

I guess the PaddysValley guys did the IDA a big favour…

Now folks – tell us what you’re planning to do with Facebook – check poll here..