Web 2 Ireland

Via the Google Blog:

That’s why we are excited to announce Google Code Jam 2010 to the true die-hard coding fans. Google Code Jam, powered by Google App Engine, is our annual programming competition, where thousands of coders around the world attack algorithmic problems in several 2.5-hour online rounds. If you make it through the first four rounds, you’ll be flown to our on-site finals, to be held for the first time at the Google office in Dublin! Once there, you will compete with 24 other top coders for the $5,000 first prize — and the coveted title of Code Jam champion.?

All the important dates over on the blog. Should be an amazing event. Let’s show em all what we’re made of over here.

A video from recent Facebook Developer Garage in Dublin

Thanks to Jan at TouristRepubic for organizing video and pictures from event

We’re delighted to announce the First Facebook Developer Garage Ireland of 2010

Speakers include:

Gavin Barrett, Crowdstar
Charles Dowd, tickettruck
Declan Kennedy, Betapond
David Lenehan, Polldaddy
Sonia Flynn, Facebook

Thanks to The Science Gallery for hosting the event and Enterprise Ireland for providing support.

Date: Thursday, February 18, 2010
Time: 4:00pm – 6:00pm
Location: Science Gallery, Pearse Street, Dublin 2

Sign up on Facebook for event

Lots of Gaming related activity happening in Ireland at the moment

Havok founders, Dr. Steven Collins and Hugh Reynolds are rumored to have signed multiple deals with large gaming platforms and publishing houses, with their startup new game technology, which is trading as Kore

Tribal City Interactive based in Galway are working on social games for both Facebook and Twitter

Jolt Online, recently acquired by Gamestop, are hiring like mad

Crowdstar, one of the largest social gaming companies on Facebook, have an operation in Ireland (codename: CSI) , headed up by Gavin Barrett

IDA Ireland announced over 100 jobs at Dublin based Gala Networks Europe

Daft announced recently their Polish Property web service – Daft.pl

The site is going live with about 60,000 properties across every major city and town in Poland. Approximately ten times larger than the Irish market, Poland has a population of 38 million.

This is also the first Daft site to run entirely on Amazon EC2 Cloud platform.

Eamonn Fallon, founder of Daft, over IM informed us that “The site auto-scales which is a pretty cool technology. Yesterday we went from 3 servers to 18 at the peak and we didn’t have to really worry about it.”

The Microsoft Developer Platform Group are holding an informal, celebratory, evening marking the commercial launch of Windows Azure.

At the event, you will briefly hear from Microsoft on what the Azure Services Platform is about and why it is relevant to market.

The evening will start and end with some drinks and snacks for attendees.

Date: 28th January, 2010

Where: The Westbury Hotel, Grafton Street, Dublin 2.

Time: 18:30 (18:00 Welcome time) 19.45 (21:00 allowing for afters)

Register here

Agenda

18:00-18:30 Canapés and Drinks on Arrival
18:30-19:00 Welcome and Introduction to Azure
19:00-19:15 Break
19:15-19.45 Customer Speakers: 'Developing Apps, and Going Live, on the Cloud'
19:45-21:00 Networking and Refreshments

Ammado are seeking donations for Haiti Earthquake Appeal

Please give what you can to help relieve the suffering of those affected.

Dial2Do, the Handsfree Assistant service that lets you get things done while you drive, recently attended the CES show in Las Vegas

Some highlights
- partnership with Enustech for a hands-free car kit called the drive'n’talk
- partnership with Bluetrek
- Media Coverage
Barron’s, Fox News and lots of others

The Dublin Web Summit is hosting an event at

Trinity College Dublin
on Thursday, February 04, 2010
from 5:30 PM – 11:30 PM – this includes a networking event

Chris Newmark (founder of Craigslist) & Matt Mullenweg (founder of WordPress) , who are regular keynotes at the world’s largest technology conferences, will be talking about the lessons & direct experiences in scaling their companies, which have had huge impacts on global commerce and communication.

Chris Horn will reflect on his experience building succesful global companies from Ireland. He will also touch on the broader issue of innovation and Ireland, as well as prospects & opportunities for Irish entrepreneurs over the coming decade.

Sign up for tickets here

Well known developer, Paul Campbell, working with Brian Flanagan have launched Ketchup

As per release notes from Paul

Ketchup is a web app for storing meeting notes.

It’s designed to be easy to use. We’ve purposely only designed the simplest features, from the outset. Over the next couple of months, the plan is to listen closely to feedback and shape the product into a powerful, useful and valuable tool.

In terms of philosophy, the app is designed around three principles:

“Do little, insanely well.”
Pay close attention to visual design and details.
“Not Saving Changes” … every detail is saved once it’s created or changed.