Recently in Business Category
Grainne from InterTradeIreland got in touch with me yesterday regarding the All Island Seedcorn Competition 2008.
The competition is aimed at startups and has a prize fund of 280 thousand euro. The first prize is 100 thousand euro (I wish we'd had that kind of money to play with a couple of years ago!)
Full details including entry criteria are on the site
The competition is aimed at startups and has a prize fund of 280 thousand euro. The first prize is 100 thousand euro (I wish we'd had that kind of money to play with a couple of years ago!)
Full details including entry criteria are on the site
Blogging company SixApart announced a major expansion earlier today. (They also quietly unveiled a new look for their main corporate site)
The company announced its acquisition of New York based Apperceptive who will form the core of their new services division. Apperceptive's team have not only worked on a lot of very high profile projects but have also developed quite a few extensions for Movable Type (I think I've a couple of them installed on this site!).
They've also announced a new advertising solution for both bloggers (publishers) and media buyers. As this is a new service I'd expect there'll be a delay before we start seeing it "in action".
Anil Dash's post on their main site covers their vision in some detail.
Earlier in the day Arvind posted an interview with Anil on the Blog Herald
The services side of the company will probably meet with a degree of criticism from some quarters, but it's not uncommon for software companies to handle a certain amount of this type of work inhouse.
Will this have a negative impact on the developers and consultants who work closely with SixApart?
Judging by reactions on the mailing lists probably not, though the company's detractors were vocal as usual.
What is interesting to see is the range of services that they are pushing. These range from basic installation and tweaking to a full migration and upgrade service.
While the $199 price tag may put off some people I can imagine that a lot of small businesses might be attracted. With the current rate of exchange it equates to a mere 125 euro for a blog "tune up".
They don't seem to be offering design services, which is a pity as I'd love to give this site an overhaul!
EDIT: Fixed a typo spotted by David Raynes' eagle eyes!
The company announced its acquisition of New York based Apperceptive who will form the core of their new services division. Apperceptive's team have not only worked on a lot of very high profile projects but have also developed quite a few extensions for Movable Type (I think I've a couple of them installed on this site!).
They've also announced a new advertising solution for both bloggers (publishers) and media buyers. As this is a new service I'd expect there'll be a delay before we start seeing it "in action".
Anil Dash's post on their main site covers their vision in some detail.
Earlier in the day Arvind posted an interview with Anil on the Blog Herald
The services side of the company will probably meet with a degree of criticism from some quarters, but it's not uncommon for software companies to handle a certain amount of this type of work inhouse.
Will this have a negative impact on the developers and consultants who work closely with SixApart?
Judging by reactions on the mailing lists probably not, though the company's detractors were vocal as usual.
What is interesting to see is the range of services that they are pushing. These range from basic installation and tweaking to a full migration and upgrade service.
While the $199 price tag may put off some people I can imagine that a lot of small businesses might be attracted. With the current rate of exchange it equates to a mere 125 euro for a blog "tune up".
They don't seem to be offering design services, which is a pity as I'd love to give this site an overhaul!
EDIT: Fixed a typo spotted by David Raynes' eagle eyes!
Steve Jobs has Fake Steve Jobs. Shel Israel has a puppet. Paul Walsh has Walsh Watch.
It seems I've now got the next best thing - my own "wikipedia" page courtesy of Mr Eoin Costello. (He was in the news earlier this week when his hosting company was swallowed up)
I must say I am impressed. I didn't realise that Eoin was such a talented wit and not a bad graphic artist either.
It must have taken a couple of hours to put it all together. So maybe we'll see more of these little works of art now that he isn't distracted by his "booming" business.
Of course if he'd spent more time on his business maybe he would still be a "player" and not another footnote ...
Here's a screenshot of the page in case Mr Costello removes it.
It seems I've now got the next best thing - my own "wikipedia" page courtesy of Mr Eoin Costello. (He was in the news earlier this week when his hosting company was swallowed up)
I must say I am impressed. I didn't realise that Eoin was such a talented wit and not a bad graphic artist either.
It must have taken a couple of hours to put it all together. So maybe we'll see more of these little works of art now that he isn't distracted by his "booming" business.
Of course if he'd spent more time on his business maybe he would still be a "player" and not another footnote ...
Here's a screenshot of the page in case Mr Costello removes it.
Social networking sites were in the news this week again with AOL's purchase of Bebo for $600 million. Maybe the new owners might get round to fixing bebo.ie, which is still pointing at the "cover story" used by its previous owners.
Closer to home Vaveeva is reported to be in trouble and looks like it will be shutting its doors permanently.
The site is currently unavailable, so whether or not it comes back or not remains to be seen.
Last year there was some mention of them faking their online numbers, while they also took
liberties with one of Krystian's photos.
Can all of these various social networking sites survive?
Or are they all trying to be snapped up by some big media giant?
Closer to home Vaveeva is reported to be in trouble and looks like it will be shutting its doors permanently.
The site is currently unavailable, so whether or not it comes back or not remains to be seen.
Last year there was some mention of them faking their online numbers, while they also took
liberties with one of Krystian's photos.
Can all of these various social networking sites survive?
Or are they all trying to be snapped up by some big media giant?
I run a hosting company so I know all about outages and unexpected issues.
They can and will happen.
No matter what happens you will never please all of your clients. You can try, but you won't succeed. It's not that your best efforts won't be good enough, but simply that there will always be an "expectation gap". The best you can hope for is pleasing most of them most of the time.
One thing I have learnt (the hard way) is that being honest and upfront can be both painful and rewarding.
You need to swallow your pride and "eat humble pie" when you screw up.
No matter what you as the provider may think, as far as the client is concerned their little site is the centre of the universe.
You can say what you like behind closed doors, but you need to be respectful in public.
I'm not saying that we all manage to do this all of the time or that it is easy, but it's the sanest way of dealing with things.
Some providers simply don't "get" that.
And if you're feeling particularly evil check Keith's blog
They can and will happen.
No matter what happens you will never please all of your clients. You can try, but you won't succeed. It's not that your best efforts won't be good enough, but simply that there will always be an "expectation gap". The best you can hope for is pleasing most of them most of the time.
One thing I have learnt (the hard way) is that being honest and upfront can be both painful and rewarding.
You need to swallow your pride and "eat humble pie" when you screw up.
No matter what you as the provider may think, as far as the client is concerned their little site is the centre of the universe.
You can say what you like behind closed doors, but you need to be respectful in public.
I'm not saying that we all manage to do this all of the time or that it is easy, but it's the sanest way of dealing with things.
Some providers simply don't "get" that.
And if you're feeling particularly evil check Keith's blog
One of the hot topics at the moment is the exhaustion of ip4 space.
While this may not sound very exciting to "normal" people the impact it could have on you might be quite painful. If ISPs have to pay a heavy premium for more IP space as their networks expand, then the end users may be forced to pay a premium.
Jay Daley, Nominet's CTO, has an interesting post on the Nominet blog about the possible creation of a market in IPv4 space. It's an interesting read and it will be interesting to see how things pan out in the coming 12 - 36 months.
Of course if more ISPs were to start actively using ipv6 then none of this would really matter... I wouldn't hold my breath though, as so much consumer equipment in active use at present isn't compatible
While this may not sound very exciting to "normal" people the impact it could have on you might be quite painful. If ISPs have to pay a heavy premium for more IP space as their networks expand, then the end users may be forced to pay a premium.
Jay Daley, Nominet's CTO, has an interesting post on the Nominet blog about the possible creation of a market in IPv4 space. It's an interesting read and it will be interesting to see how things pan out in the coming 12 - 36 months.
Of course if more ISPs were to start actively using ipv6 then none of this would really matter... I wouldn't hold my breath though, as so much consumer equipment in active use at present isn't compatible
In the runup to the Golden Spiders earlier this year I noticed several complaints about their mailing lists.
Both Peter and Mary Rose complained of having issues getting off the list despite several attempts.
Now it transpires that Mary Rose has not only reported the issue to the data privacy commissioner, but that the commissioner has ruled in her favour and Golden Spiders / Business and Finance will be forced to pay €500 to the charity of her choice.
Good!
If only more people took the time to report abusive emailings like this maybe Irish business would learn how to use email properly
Both Peter and Mary Rose complained of having issues getting off the list despite several attempts.
Now it transpires that Mary Rose has not only reported the issue to the data privacy commissioner, but that the commissioner has ruled in her favour and Golden Spiders / Business and Finance will be forced to pay €500 to the charity of her choice.
Good!
If only more people took the time to report abusive emailings like this maybe Irish business would learn how to use email properly
AIB finally upgraded our company account to use their new system which supports "real" Java and my choice of browser (Firefox).
It seems they have been migrating companies across to the new system over the last few months.
We now all have a little calculator sized "doda" called a "digipass" which basically generates a lot of random numbers.
Downsides
It seems they have been migrating companies across to the new system over the last few months.
We now all have a little calculator sized "doda" called a "digipass" which basically generates a lot of random numbers.
Downsides
- I had to change my password's format again!
- Passwords aren't case sensitive - huh?
- You have to have your digipass with you in order to login
- the digipass is battery powered - I'm betting that the batteries will die on payday
- It supports Firefox
- It uses Java as opposed to the Microsoft Virtual Machine which has been defunct for years
- It should be cross-platform (see above)
- Did I mention that it should be cross-platform?
I'm currently trying to sort out a few things with our bankers. A
couple of the things are minor. They should be easy to sort out.
A couple of the other things are a bit more complicated, so I more or less expect them to be awkward.
However what's proving to be awkward is actually finding the correct channel to deal with them.
If you speak to the branch about X they'll refer you to centre Y. Centre Y refers you back to the branch. So you end up going round in circles.
And why is it that local branch banks can't do email?
Why must I go into their offices and waste their time and mine over simple matters that would have taken a couple of emails to sort out?
I'm getting a small bit frustrated!
A couple of the other things are a bit more complicated, so I more or less expect them to be awkward.
However what's proving to be awkward is actually finding the correct channel to deal with them.
If you speak to the branch about X they'll refer you to centre Y. Centre Y refers you back to the branch. So you end up going round in circles.
And why is it that local branch banks can't do email?
Why must I go into their offices and waste their time and mine over simple matters that would have taken a couple of emails to sort out?
I'm getting a small bit frustrated!
When is a link not a link?
When you can't actually click on it.
Someone started a thread over on CI the other day about NetVisionary nominee Panthius
The footer of the site contains a set of "links" which DO NOT work if you are using a normal browser:
It transpires that the links do work if you use Internet Explorer, which shows how "popular" a browser that is with Irish creative and web professionals!
Regardless of what browser I may or may not be using I'm amazed that someone managed to put together a business website so badly that the links don't work. That takes effort!
When you can't actually click on it.
Someone started a thread over on CI the other day about NetVisionary nominee Panthius
The footer of the site contains a set of "links" which DO NOT work if you are using a normal browser:
It transpires that the links do work if you use Internet Explorer, which shows how "popular" a browser that is with Irish creative and web professionals!
Regardless of what browser I may or may not be using I'm amazed that someone managed to put together a business website so badly that the links don't work. That takes effort!
