We all know what unmitigated disasters Digg V3 and later were. In a world of Twitter and Facebook they kept thinking it was still 2007. When V3 launched I said that it should have been built around the popular stories on Twitter since that’s what people are really interested in, rather than the closed coven of Digg power-users. So I was thrilled to see the recent launch of NewsWhip which does exactly that.
The site is an aggregation of popular news based on sharing and RTs across Twitter and Facebook. So there is no gaming, no moderation, just a smart algorithm bubbling up the hot news right now. They give a score to a news story by measuring how many Tweets, Likes, Shares, and other interactions it gets.You can filter by the location you are interested in and various categories and sub-categories.
At the moment the front page is showing some stories on the possible return of Arrested Development. That makes me very happy indeed.
For a great snapshot of interesting news across the realtime web during the day, I think the guys have nailed it.
The ICT sector in Ireland is already playing a leading role in showing this model in operation, with Facebook connecting with local application developers through its
Developer Garage programme and Google's Code Jam engaging in a similar way.
One of the sections is very interesting – titled – Connect with Tomorrow's Twitter
High growth technology companies have impact hugely disproportional to their size. They are often first to market with new ideas and new business models in digital media, life sciences, mobile technology and financial services. These young companies are the seeds of tomorrow's multinationals whether through organic growth or in mergers or acquisitions, often with more established firms. IDA will increase its emphasis and focus on these high potential companies in support of the development of
Ireland as a global innovation hub. IDA has established a dedicated team focused on the needs of these companies. Working with sister agencies and other stakeholders, we will assist these emerging companies with financial support and in making connections in Ireland. These high-growth firms
will become an increasingly important part of Ireland's innovation ecosystem, linking up with established multinationals in ICT and globally traded businesses; third level institutions and their talented graduates; and indigenous companies of similar scale and potential.
Walter and Ursula who run Sxoop Technologies have been in the image manipulation software biz for several years now. Their core offering, Pixenate, an online photo editor, is integrated on many sites worldwide. More recently they have built a bunch of fun and useful tools using Pixenate. The most recent, Twitter Mosaic, is actually making money on Twitter before Twitter themselves have figured out a business model!
Mosaic is just one of those beautifully simple forehead-slapping ideas. You tell it your Twitter username and it generates mugs, t-shirts, bags etc with a mosaic of your followers on them for purchase on Zazzle. A damn sight more interesting than the “Maximising customer delight through six sigma” mug that your employer gave you as your Christmas bonus.
There was a great push from the community this week and here are the posts we have found. If you have done a push, make sure to follow @tuesdaypush on Twitter and let them know.
Walter Higgins has just released the latest version of Pixenate ~ the online photo editor. This version has a new Transparency tool which makes it easy to create cut-outs from your photos and images.
Despite Walter’s constant grumping about Twitter , they also had more than 800 twits use Pixenate to make festive twitter avatars in the run up to Christmas.
It looks like 2009 is going to be another top year for the Pixenate crew.
Compatipals – interesting Dublin based startup – using social networks @ friendships. “CompatiPals helps you understand one of the most powerful and influential things in the world, relationships. Discover yourself, your friends, and the mystery of compatibility.”
Ticket-Text – interesting Irish company – “ticket text is a new low cost ticketing agent that delivers tickets via text messages (SMS) and print-at-home e-tickets. Simply bring your SMS or print-at-home e-ticket to the venue, scan your ticket and you're in!” – Ryanair is a customer.
Pat Phelan has just announcedTwitterFone in the past hour and it’s gone completely insane! 1500 signups in 42 minutes. 72 comments on TechCrunch in the blink of an eye.
What is it? It’s a way of sending messages to the Twitter micro-blogging service by calling a number and speaking. Your message is converted to text and then posted to Twitter. For all those times when you can’t SMS (like when you are driving) or it’s just more convenient to speak.
Not only is it a great application with a stunning design by Sabrina Dent but there are some critical start-up lessons to be learned from the development. A small set of businesses came together to build this in a few weeks for a tiny cost. Cubic Telecom + Dial2Do + Zong + VOX!
Amazing job Pat and well done to all involved in the build and launch!
We’ve been posting the blog updates to Twitter for months but completely forget to mention it here. If you want all the latest Web2Ireland news directly into your Twitter feed, then you just have to add @web2ireland as a friend.
3rd of October 2011 by conor
9th of 
, they also had more than 800 twits use Pixenate to 
