Lally Logic

sad - no blog updates

2009-07-31T18:00:00.003-06:00

What a sad bast*** I am.

No updates to blog in ...yonks...

Been busy "earning a living" kinda stuff ...

Also dabbling in Twitter (thelal) - see here

finding it much easier/quicker to fire off a quick blast

Also linked my facebook into it (as don't do much over there either)

500+ Lally's on FB - gave up looking!

Anyways lots of 'wanna write' articles just that dreaded time thing (tick-tock) and getting down to it

Lal

One SIM to conquer all

2007-12-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

I've been trialing Cubic Telecom's Pirelli Discus DP-L10 dual mode mobile/cell phone (Wifi/GSM) for the last several weeks. (yes that is the tire/tyre company!). Even helped some of the Irish startups on their Paddy's Valley trip.

I don't have the ability to try their MaxRoam product (where most of his "advantage" currently lies) - not resident in EU and not really applicable in the USA. Maybe on my next Irish trip!

I've made several calls to US, Ireland and UK - both to landlines and mobiles and quality has been fantastic (even so that my wife didn't complain as she normally does on transatlantic calls). And as an Irishman that has worked back-n-forth across the pond many times I know how phone calls can suck! Most of those have been over a Wifi (WPA2) connection running VOIP. Its all pretty easy and painless.

David Berlind does a in-depth review ("If Skype was disruptive to telcos, then Cubic Telecom is their nightmare (and good for you") of the technology with plenty of comments on his ZdNet blog (Under the hood of disruptive technologies)

Its not quite in the FMC league (as it doesnt do any hand-off of a call between GSM and Wifi/ calls) but you can set preferences as regards having Wifi calls when service available (and hence 'free')

As David as pointed out there are LOTS of cost savings (and convenience) if you fit the right profile (in EU, travelling around and do a lot of calls on your mobile)

It has a WAP browser for accessing 'mobile aware' internet web sites. Its fine if u're after short/specific info but not (like most low end internet mobiles) the best user experience. Also the browser has some stability problems (not sure what OEM version its running); I'd prefer a more open plattform (Opera mini brow, OpenMako etc.) but for that u pay and need 2 get nerdy :)

There are some nice features such as ...

up to 50 local numbers of the user's choosing can be linked to a single SIM, making it affordable for callers to get in touch no matter where they may be.

via TechCrunch. They presented at the TechCrunch-40 in Sept 2007. Review here

As Damien has indicated ..

It's like those Skypeout numbers but all going to one account. Handy for those who want to have "local offices" in many countries but don't want a physical office there.

From Pat via TechCrunch-UK

..This model is unique, you can drop and add local numbers, these are fixed line numbers not my mobile numbers, you make a local call and the person receiving saves money, that’s the point..

From Tornado Insider

The SIM card allows users to allocate up to fifty local landline numbers from around the world to the user's phone. A businessman based in Dublin who travels regularly to the USA and Canada can allocate landline numbers from Dublin, New York and Toronto to his MAXroam SIM, meaning that he can be contacted cheaply and directly by colleagues and customers at any time. His Canadian customers simply call a Toronto number, and his mobile phone will ring wherever he is. His Irish colleagues simply call a Dublin number, and get connected straight to him - whether he's in Dublin, New York, Toronto or elsewhere

As they've been rushing this product out the door there have been some teething issues and hoping those are getting fixed. Some of the user's (access) web site needs improvement/polish etc.

I'll review Cubic's (Cork, Ireland) strategy in more detail later and compare to TruPhone, Jangl and several of the other VOIP/mobile players that are out there. I know Pat Phelan has some great vision on where he is going with this (anyone say 'USA'?) and I'm not talking food (Pat used 2b a chef!).

I'll also try this via a GrandCentral front-end and see how it works and maybe a Celtrek#

Other links:
Engadget
A Cellphone Without Borders By DAVID POGUE- NY Times
final review with lots of comments
MuniWireless
Techcrunch
Celtrak/Global Roaming teams up with Cubic
review of phone/service by Bernard Tyers
Cubic phone review by Dameon Welch-Abemathy
VentureBeat review

More later ...

PS I had 2 send my phone back as 'knackered' (Irish technical term!) - why me -only one so far. Awaiting on new delivery (Hurry up Santa! aka Pat!)

PS #2 why is their no cheap US SIM's - using AT&T PAYG (25c/min - ouch!)

Lal

Irish “Paddy Valley” startup session with Milestone Group

2007-12-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Mark Zawacki from the Milestone Group is hosting a session/Q&A at the Four Seasons, Palo Alto on Wed 2pm for the Paddy Valley startups.

Topics will include:

How the investment community works in Silicon Valley

What does it take to get an investor/angel/VC interested in your startup

Challenges for international startups in the US market

Attendees

CoClarity:
Gerard Hartnett.
CoClarity combines Web 2.0 technologies with a simplified form of work flow and empowers you to plan, share, and track activities: to communicate more effectively with customers, suppliers, colleagues or friends. In essence, it is a project oriented social network.

Relevant Media:
Niall Larkin
RelevantM offers patented socially intelligent tools that allow users to maintain healthy levels of privacy online and express themselves with their friends with the same sense of freedom they enjoy in the real world. This is a much sought after breakthrough solution that is also a key strategic stepping-stone to the social web, with relevance to social reputation, social identity and social trust online.

Bench'd
Anton Mannering
Building social applications to help people communicate and socialize around sport.
Bench’d is a social network that lets people find, share and discuss stories they like about sport with people who share their interests. We are creating a “Web 2.0 Commonwealth” for sport.

PlanDaddy
Patrick Liddy
Aimed at homebuilders, DIY enthusiasts, property developers, construction design professionals and individuals who are interested in modifying or upgrading their existing homes.\

We'll help users to design, visualize and communicate the ideal home using a simple, user friendly and intelligent online tool. It is also a source of information on all aspects of the building and DIY experience, from dealing with banks and architects, to building an extension or fixing a broken window.

MobaNode
Shane Mc Allister
Mobile services company that provides technologies to enable the deployment of an “off network” mobile communications platform that can be deployed on either a permanent or temporary basis to provide rich media content directly to (and from) mobile phones.

Using “off network” technologies such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, mobile communications networks can be created and deployed independently of the Mobile operators. These networks can deliver rich media interaction to mobile phones at no cost to either party and at high bandwidth. Hence both parties win – the provider reaches a wide, targeted audience with their message and the receivers get valuable information, content or data relevant to their interests, location and their profile.

GlowDay
Daniel Becker
GlowDay allows users to create surveys online, from simple one-question polls to complex multi-page questionnaires. Surveys are delivered as plug in widgets for online Social Networks (Facebook, Myspace etc), blogs or other web pages.

Survey Designers have full control of layout and presentation and can include images and videos for added impact. A survey can be shared for others to use or improve. Results can be analyzed and compared to results gathered by others.
The model could be described as a sort of "MyBlogLog" with Surveys.

Toddle
Alan O'Rourke.
Send great looking email newsletters

Everyone hates spam, but when done right email marketing currently offers one of the highest returns on investment. For the 11 million businesses in the USA the barrier to entry is high New Technology, specialist knowledge and high cost. With Toddle we can solve this problem.

To date a custom email newsletter design can cost $1000 +. We offer it for $6. Better yet it works with the tools a business already knows- web browser and Outlook. It is offered direct to consumers and we also provide a white label version for existing Email managers offering them a new revenue stream.

PIXie
Marcus Mac Innes
Online Photo sharing product for consumers.

People need more than just a place to store photos: they are concerned about their privacy, and they want to see their entire network's photos in one place. Pix.ie's friendly and simply to use service is introducing a whole new generation to online photo sharing.

Pix.ie then goes beyond these basics to satisfy the evolving needs of consumer and professional photographers like no other site on the web.

Other attendees:
John Collins - Business Reporter, The Irish Times – articles
Paul Campbell- about to create a startup
Maura Moore- Adventura Partners Private Equity Adviser with InterTrade Ireland

Lal

Irish startup boys coming to San Fran, hungry 4 contacts

2007-12-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

A group of Irish software startups (mostly Web 2.0'ish) have gotten up off their a***s and are showing how its done.
Frustrated with the lack of a "Web 2.0 connected" support eco-system (will write about this some more) within Ireland they are traveling tomorrow across the Atlantic and heading to the mecca of startups - Silicon Valley.

"Irish start-ups have a range of connections in the Valley," says tour organiser Conor O'Neill, "but even with all our enthusiasm and contacts we were a little short on ways to raise our profile and make a real mark for Irish start-up entrepreneurial-ism."

They even have a couple of chaperone's with John Collins from the Irish Times tagging along and seeing how these 'Internet' connections are done. Writing in blogs, Skyping, IM-ing and all that fancy stuff helps get most of this initial conversations going but nows the time 2 come face 2 face, meet those folks you've RSSed, see the facial expressions and read the subtle body language, work your charm and do what the Irish do best “TALK” : )

InterTradeIreland is also coming along for the trip and nice 2 see their enthusiasm and commitment. Something 2b learned there.

They are staying at the Cardinal Hotel in Palo Alto with events/trips organized during the week.
They are open 2 all offers and interested in meeting folks that can help them get business contacts, meet potential investors or people genuinely willing 2 help.

Their trip so far includes visits to Google, Microsoft, Yahoo HotBrick (their internal incubator), Meebo, SocialText, Ning, Facebook, Twitter, Sandbox, UnitedLayer and I'm sure a few more will pop up. Robert Scooble has even arranged an evening of meetups (and I'm sure a few drinks) on Monday evening-

I've arranged a talk from one of the local VC's – Mark Zawacki/Milestone– who has been around the block and few times and knows Ireland from his Symantec early days and has a few UK/EU clients as well. Thanks 2 Peter Cranstone (Brit) for this connection and he runs an disruptive mobile application platform - here in Boulder and going great guns at the moment.

Enterprise Ireland have jumped on the bandwagon and have arranged a pitch session for five of the startups (Tourist Republic, Putplace, Nubiq, Spoiltchild, Pix.i) in front of a few local VC/angels.

The initial event took some organizing and rounding up with a few beers and arm-twisting 2 get it off the ground. Congrats 2 Damien Mulley, James Corbett and Conor O'Neill 4 all the hard work they have put into this. It looks like a success already and they haven't even landed!
Good on ye lads!

Links:
http://www.enn.ie/article/89349.html
http://paddysvalley.org/
http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_1010703.shtml

Lal

Off to Ireland

2007-10-20T10:03:00.000-06:00

Oops - not been great in keeping up with blog postings..
Been away on a consulting gig (enterprise architect/strategy) for a large USA retail firm. The joys of the larger companies!

Off to Ireland for a few weeks (23 Oct - Nov 6) and hoping to meet up with some software startups. Talked with some before but would be great to meetup in person and see the "real story" trying 2 get a startup going in Ireland.

In Galway, Dublin(maybe), Cork and possibly Clonmel. If anyone is interesting in (organising) a meetup (Barcamp/OpenCoffee or whatever -even pub 'visit') please let me know.

Hoping to talk to/meet (interview for blog posting etc.) :

Fergus Burns - nooked
Evert Bopp - WiMax
Conor O'Neill - LouderVoice
Joe Drumgoole - PutPlace
David Copithorne - Waveson
John Ward - Cengal
Paul Walsh - Segala
Jonathan Hill - Infacta
David Lenehan - PollDaddy
Tom Raftery
Ken Thompson - Swarm
Walter Higgins - Sxoop/pxn8
Bernin Goldback - podcasting
Aodhan Cullen - Statcounter
Keith Bohanna - dbTwang
Frank Fullard - CEB
Brian O'Malley - EI
Donncha O'Caoimh - pictures!
James Cooley, John Breslin - DERI
James Corbett- Grazr
Pat Phelan - Cubic
Sean O'Sullivan
David Doherty - 3G Doctor
Niall Larkin
Vinny Glennon
Dominic Herity - Redplain
Julian Ellison/Yongchun Ji - Tablane

lots more .. but can only type so much ... on my way... bring that brollie :)

Lal

EU/UK: VCs backing competing businesses

2007-06-20T18:00:00.000-06:00

From Paul Fisher blog- VCs backing competing businesses:

"It seems that every week we get contacted by a new investor looking for deal flow. I see a swath of new money coming back into the market whether is hedge funds trying to knock out Benchmark and Index or media corporates investing to protect their markets."

Irish guys coming to Denver (Microsoft related) July 07

2007-06-19T14:30:00.000-06:00

I hear there's some Irish boys coming over for the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2007 happening 10-12th July in Denver.

They will be giving out their awards and a few Irish guys involved. Can't keep them down!

Its going to be a small convention :)

Over 10,000 partners, industry experts, speakers, exhibitors, Microsoft executives, and many others are expected to attend this year’s conference

Those that I know are coming:

Nitec Solutions

"We were thrilled to be the first Microsoft Ireland Partner ever to win a Worldwide Partner Program Award. To be named Partner of the Year in the Networking Infrastructure category, which is really our core business, has given us a strong message to leverage in the marketplace. We managed to generate broad media coverage as a result of the win. The award also helped raise our profile with the local Microsoft subsidiary, which has helped us develop an even stronger partnership."

Nigel Mulholland
Nitec Solutions

Mamut IRL or UK?
Spanish Point
Enterprise Ireland - Benjamin Mosse

Mentec won last years Microsoft Dynamics GP International Partner

Who else is coming?
There are 350+ partners listed in IRL but don't necessary believe the results!

Are those that attended Mix07 coming back ? Walter, Fergus, Tom, Rob ?

Let me know and I've try and arrange a get together (maybe a little drinking :) down Denver way!

Lal

Advisors: can’t live without `em

2007-06-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

Frmo Paul Fisher's blog - Advisors: can’t live without `em:

if a company is using an advisor then it tells an investor a lot about an entrepreneur:

1) None of the quality entrepreneurs I know want to become an expert in raising capital. They are happy to know their ratchet from their double dip but they want someone else to put it all in context.

2) None of the entrepreneurs I know want to spend enormous swathes of time raising capital. They want to spend time on their companies: development, A-B Testing, business development, sales, collecting cash: whatever. Happy to talk to investors, but lets keep it in perspective.

3) None of the entrepreneurs I know want to talk to just one investor. They know it’s a good market. They know the best companies get multiple offers. They want the CHOICE.

4) What most entrepreneurs DO want, is great investors. They do want the brand, the strategic input, the operational advice, the workshops and the conferences, the exit planning, the introductions and the profile building that comes with great investors.

A decent corporate finance advisor gives an entrepreneur these things

Lal

2006 Early Stage VC into European Web 2.0

2007-06-18T09:00:00.000-06:00

From Paul Fisher blog 2006 Early Stage VC into European Web 2.0:

Ecosystem 2.0

European politicians should be delighted that we have a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem which they have been attempting (hoping) to build to compete with the USA, principally the West Coast.

Interestingly, this ecosystem is not centering on the Universities or the government sponsored funds.

It is instead the Silicon Valley model of second time round entrepreneurs, experienced business angels and VCs who have already been through a few cycles.

Looks good if it can be kept up.

Lal

Tribler v4 raises 6M Euro's from Dutch goverment and Enterprise Ireland comparision/?'s

2007-06-18T07:15:00.000-06:00

From alarm:clock euro:

The non-profit group has caught the eye of several researchers, broadcasters, and the Dutch government, enticing twenty scientists working on Tribler and 6M Euros in Dutch government funding.

Netherlands-based Tribler caught the attention of the Net today with the launch of v4. Tribler, which is a joint research project from Delft University of Technology and the VU University Amsterdam, is a video aggregator that pulls in YouTube videos, Torrent downloads and other video file formats. Tribler layers on some personalization to help users find niche content in the sea of Net videos.

Hmm - I wonder what's the max investment Enterprise Ireland (Irelands goverment body for startups/enterprise) has put into any single Irish startup?

Anyone know?

I've don't see a whole lot of openness on EI stats (as in details on -

what companies are on their programmes?
what companies are turned away and why?
what companies receive what type of services?
what companies are given 'special'/accelerated status?
what companies are folded?
what companies get 'connections'(/sales) via introductions?
what companies are funded and how much, how often, what criteria?
success/failure rate on funding and the different type of programmes?
etc..

- maybe its there - just that I can't see it and not got very encouraging response when requested similiar information before. I would think that its in EI's interest to be as open as possible (but little to no EI bloggers active, they've yet to get an RSS feed on their news ...).
Is most of this information is already 'public' ?
(as goverment body - or do you have to go thru the Freedom on Information act?)

Anyone?

Lal

Building End-to-End Infrastructure Security - Belfast, Jun 27th

2007-06-17T11:48:00.000-06:00

noticed from John Craddock blog (Microsoft Technet Manager, Ireleand) indicated an upcoming event in Belfast. Also at MS Events.

Belfast Event: Building End-to-End Infrastructure Security

I'm delighted to announce that I'm bringing John Craddock and Sally Storey to Belfast to host an event on End-to-End Infrastructure Security on June 27th in the Water Front Hall.

Infrastructure security is frequently only considered once server roles and network connectivity has been implemented, a problem made worse by inadequate training. When security technologies are not deployed until late in a project, the result can be poor implementation, weak documentation and compliance testing.

08:45-09:15 Registration & Light Breakfast
09:15-09:30 TechNet Update
09:30-11:00 Is Your IT Infrastructure Secure?
11:00-11:15 Break
11:15-12:45 Securing Your Network
12:45-13:30 Lunch
13:30-14:45 Locking Down Servers and Workstations
14:45-15:00 Break
15:00-16:15 Vista Technologies

Topics covered:
Identifying business assets
Threat modeling
Security policy and response planning
Deploying IPSec for domain and server isolation
Building rules and filters
Identifying protocol and port requirements
Firewall configurations
Managing server roles and lockdown policies
Patch management and compliance testing
Creating Software Restriction Policies (SRP)
Least privileged user access
Establishing client security and software policy
Client and server attack vectors
Managing through group policies
Network Access Protection (NAP)
Vista security enhancements

Biographies:

John Craddock has designed and implemented computing systems ranging from embedded high-speed industrial controllers through to distributed IT solutions. John works as a consultant providing services to industry leaders including Microsoft. He was a key player in the Government Gateway Project, has designed high-availability web portals and help companies build Active Directory solutions to support their business critical environments. In addition to his role as a consultant, he has written over 20 technical training courses that have been published worldwide. He co-authored 'Investigating and Managing Objects and Attributes for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003' which is part of the Active Directory Forestry series. John lectures internationally and has written and presented technical sessions at MTB, MEC, Tech•Ed, Microsoft IT Forum, JDP and deployment conferences.

Sally Storey has worked in management and consulting in the IT industry for Novell, Microsoft and now, independently. Sally works as a consultant on enterprise infrastructure projects in operations, logistics and deployment roles. Sally is ITIL qualified and specializes in building process that keep systems highly available and secure. Sally co-authored the Active Directory® Forestry series with John Craddock.

Lal

Essential Web Conf - London - June 27th

2007-06-17T10:50:00.000-06:00

In a previous post I mentioned the upcoming Essential Web Conference being hosted by Library House on 27 June in London.

Well the stage is set and have a few Irish lads at it.

Speakers/panelists include:

Daniel Applequist, Senior Technology Strategist at Vodafone, founder of Mobile Monday in London
Nic Brisbourne, VC, Esprit Capital Partners, blogger The Equity Kicker
Adrian Critchlow, founder of Active Hotels, now building new web company, alertme.com
Saul Klein, formerly VP, Marketing at Skype and founder of Video Island, now at Index Ventures
Ashish Patel, MD, Intel Capital
David Soskin, Cheapflights CEO and founder of HOWZAT Media
Jonathan Wolf, M&A Yahoo
Judy Gibbons, Accel Ventures
Paul Walsh, CEO & Co-founder, Segala and member of the BIMA Executive

And the most dynamic and disruptive web entrepreneurs include:

The Todeka Project
Trampoline Systems
WAYN
we7
Yuuguu
Zubka
Huddle
Jaiku
Louder Voice
ParkAtMyHouse
Shozu
Spotify
Alertme.com
cebase
Comeks
ConnectMeAnywhere
Extate
G.ho.st
Garlik

Seatwave
Quintura
Spotify

From Conor O'Neill site (also checkout his blog)
Great Blogger Reviews in Your Language
You can publish reviews to your blog in many different ways.
If you love high quality reviews by great bloggers then you can find them through us. Why not write some reviews too?
Test the new early release of LouderTweets. 140 character reviews via SMS or IM for Twitter Users. No need for a LouderVoice account!

sounds good 2 me - Keep at it guys and best of luck Conor :)

Lal

Beware of VC data being reported in EU and the "little details"

2007-06-16T22:25:00.000-06:00

In a previous post on VC funds in EU on the Up (May 2007) I looked at a blog posting from Alarm:clock regarding a Financial Times who reported on research from Paul Fisher on Web 2.0 and Internet investments in the European region in 2006.
and how the ..The growth is remarkable.

Nic Brisbourne (Esprit VC outa London/Cambridge) has an article "Lies, damm lies and venture statistics" that looks at more recent figures from the EVCA in more depth.

The opaque world of venture capital isn’t helping itself with the way stats are being presented at the moment. The EVCA (European Venture Capital Association) released data last week which is a little confusing in the way it categorises different types of private equity and venture capital investment.

As a result the FT this morning ran an article under the heading Europe venture capital shows big rise that is misleading, at least according to my definition of venture capital. The article leads with the following paragraph:
Europe’s venture capital market recovered sharply last year as money raised by funds investing in start-ups and early stage companies rose 60%

When I read a sentence like that my immediate assumption is we are talking about technology venture capital - not so. If you look to the underlying EVCA data it shows that funds raised in “Venture high-tech” declined last year from €5.1bn to €5.0bn. There was massive growth in “Venture non high-tech” which gives rise to the 60% figure above - but that is not really relevant to what we are about at Esprit and I imagine most of you are about in your day to day jobs.

The FT article also makes much of the statistic:
The average internal rate of return over the life of all venture capital funds since 1980 until the end of last year was 5.5%

I have a couple of points to make in response to that:
Venture capital has always been a business where the top quartile of funds make a good return and the rest don’t so quoting the average without quoting the top-quartile returns doesn’t give a true picture. According to the EVCA data the top quartile returns for all venture were 17.4% and for balanced venture funds (which is what we are) it was 23.5%. (Note that EVCA returns stats don’t break out tech and non-tech venture. These percentages are for all venture and need to be treated with care.)
The European venture industry is still young - there simply wasn’t much money invested prior to the dotcom bubble and unfortunately most of that was raised in 1999 - ie too late to make hay while the sun was shining. Post bubble times were hard and funds raised declined, so the “all venture funds since 1980″ stats are weighted towards the crazy period of 1999-2001 and thus a little misleading.

We are working towards trying to pull together some better data, but progress is slow as we suffer from the hours in the day problem.

Irish StatCounter man -Aodhan Cullen- in the Top EU 2007 Young Entrepreneurs

2007-06-16T20:43:00.000-06:00

BusinessWeek has an article on Europe's Young Entrepreneurs 2007 and Aodhan Cullen (24) is one of nominations for those entrepreneurs under 25.

He runs StatCounter from Dublin, Ireland = A free yet reliable invisible web tracker, highly configurable hit counter and real-time detailed web stats.

Aodhan Cullen calls himself a born entrepreneur.
He has been running businesses since the age of 12, when he set up his own résumé-typing business. As a young teen, he dabbled in Web site design, and it was this experience that gave him the idea to launch StatCounter, the company he founded in 1999 when he was 16. When Cullen started designing Web pages, his clients repeatedly asked him whether anyone was visiting their Web sites.

So, Cullen formed StatCounter and came up with a way to measure the number of hits on Web sites, the geographical location of visitors to sites, the various pages a visitor views on a site, and the keywords they use to find a site.

StatCounter currently has more than 1.4 million members and tracks more than 9 billion page views per month across its network of more than 2 million Web sites. The company, which is profitable, claims to be signing up 1,500 new members per day.

Over 100+ congrats on his blog and over 500 that are voting for him.
Note from Aodhan ..

one comment Done, and done! Excellent work - very useful utility. Hope Google buys you for $27 million…
another
Statcounter is the best counter out there. I tried many and am very happy with it
.

Good on yah! - Vote here (Note: its the first captcha that I've seen that is Caps sensitive!)

Lal

U an Irish CEO and want a 5 day trip to Edinburgh

2007-06-16T19:09:00.000-06:00

from little known CEO Club Ireland (at least no one I've talked with has mentioned it and not seen it on any blogs connected with Irish startups!) they are planning a Visit to Edinburgh.

CEO CLUB VISIT TO EDINBURGH
15th - 19th August 2007

CEO Club has been working with Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Consulate in Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to make this a memorable and exciting opportunity for CEO Club members. The CEO Club-Edinburgh Initiative aims to provide members with a forum for meeting, discussion and exchange of ideas. Our intention is also to increase the number and quality of collaborations and the presentation of work from Ireland and the UK through the increased networking between UK and Irish creative practitioners.

...

DAY 1 Wednesday, 15th August 2007
- Pick up points in Dundalk & Newry
- Coach to ferry terminal and on to Edinburgh
- Check in to Accommodation
- Dinner

DAY 2 Thursday, 16th August 2007
- Breakfast & Briefing Meeting
- One to one Meetings Facilitated at the Apex International Hotel, Grassmarket, Edinburgh
- Best Practice Visits, Edinburgh
- Evening Reception, Irish Consulate, Randolph Crescent, Edinburgh

DAY 3 Friday, 17th August 2007
- Breakfast & Briefing Meeting
- Breakfast Practice Visits Glasgow
- Evening Networking Event with the Creative Entrepreneurs Club at the Lighthouse, Glasgow
- Coach back to Edinburgh

DAY 4 Saturday, 18th August 2007
- Breakfast
- Members have free time to use as they wish!!

DAY 5 Sunday, 19th August 2007
- Breakfast
- Coach to ferry
- Drop off points in Newry & Dundalk

You cannot "see" any events or their calender unless you are a member (must be secret stuff they get up to!) and trying to use their search it doesn't show anything for event, calender, scotland, edinburgh (so obviously not a full text search or again doesn't show 'secret stuff')

They appear to have plenty of 'local' connections via their Steering Committee

Greg Battersby- Enterprise Ireland
Paul Branagan- Enterprise Manager, Dundalk Employment Partnership
Ronan Dennedy- Chief Executive, Louth County Enterprise Board
Brian Harten- County Arts Officer, Louth County Council
Dette Hughes- Development Officer, East Border Region Interreg IIIA
Professor Paul Jeffcutt- Centre for Creative Industry, Queen's University Belfast
Somhairle MacConghail- County Arts Officer, Monaghan County Council
Jill McCormac- Project Officer, Creative Ambitions
Irene Monaghan- Regional Development Centre, Dundalk Institute of Technology
Stephen Mullen- Head of Creative Industries, Invest Northern Ireland
Conor Paterson -Chief Executive, Newry & Mourne Enterprise Agency

If anyone has any connection with them please let me know.
Like a lot of goverment related sites on the web they have no blog and very much a closed shop (hint!)

Lal

Pitch to a Dublin waiter and Win free trip to OCC London

2007-06-16T17:52:00.000-06:00

Paul Walsh from Segala is at it again :)

He had tried to arrange a dinner outgoing in Dublin for startup entrepreneurs but had to postpone at the last minute (I'm sure there was a lot of happy waiters :)

So he's arranged another Curry dinner evening on July 2nd, 2007

...prize of a trip to OpenCoffee London where introductions will be made to potential partners and investors. All you have to do is pitch your product/service to a waiter in one minute. If you’re from the UK I’ll arrange for another prize.

...Business should be fun!

Trust the Irish to have a different slant to the elevator pitch; but then there is less of them in Ireland compared to other big cities. Hmm! maybe we can get some research firm or some univ's guys 2 check that out ?

Now boys don't forget to leave a tip!

Lal

Free VC advice: funding

2007-06-05T19:07:00.000-06:00

Niva and Naval from Venture Hacks are doing a free online voice conference all this Thursday June 7th 2007 at 1pm PST.

Can call in via Skype of several other country numbers.

I've read some of their postings b4 and some good info on dealing with VC's, fund raising, term sheets etc..

Lal

20 sec pitch: Fergus Burns, Nooked, Ireland

2007-05-25T10:59:00.000-06:00

Fergus Burns from Irish Web 2.0 startup Nooked does a speeeeeedy 20 sec "pitch via PodTed's Silicon Valley Minute at the Web 2.0 Conf in San Franciso.

Nooked Feedwizard enables marketers to use RSS technologies to deliver one-to-one marketing to consumers.

Anyone seen a faster summary ?

Spotted on James Corbett blog

Lal

Enterprise Ireland has called on SMEs to fully exploit the benefits of technology licensing

2007-05-24T00:52:00.000-06:00

From Business Plus Online :

EI: SMEs Need To Exploit Technology Licensing

18/12/06: The agency said that while Irish companies increasingly recognise the value of technology licensing, spend on licensing as a proportion of R&D still not high enough

Enterprise Ireland's TechSearch programme assisted 35 Irish small and medium sized enterprises sign technology transfer deals in 2006, worth almost €2m directly and leading to over €5m of increased sales and exports annually.

Participation in the TechSearch programme, which provides direct assistance to Irish companies who wish to harness technological advances made in other markets to support indigenous growth, increased 60% in 2006 with almost 200 Irish SMEs entering the programme and 100 companies entering into negotiations with potential partners in Europe and further afield.

However, less than 5% of the estimated €1.4 billion invested in R&D by Irish companies in 2006 was spent on in-licensing, reflecting the need to further increase SME awareness of the potential for business growth that exists through technology licensing.

“Enterprise Ireland has some €60m to spend in its RTI (R&D) and Productivity funds in 2007, up to 50% of which is available for licensing and technology acquisition, and we want to ensure that this money is used to best effect,”

said Jim Cuddy, Enterprise Ireland's manager of the Innovation and Technology Transfer department.

“Many entrepreneurs who head up SMEs think their business doesn't fit the profile of a company who should take advantage of licensing but our TechSearch programme actively supports Irish businesses through each step of the process, including finding the technology or product, evaluating potential projects and contract negotiation.

“Several Irish companies, including Soft Edge, {Note: see Microsoft article} Alltracel and NTera, have already benefited from the rise in the rate of international licensing of IP by building partnerships with some of the world's leading global companies.
“This is a call to action to Ireland's SME business community...

A partnership agreement signed in October with Enterprise Ireland and the National Research Council of Canada to coincide with the opening of the new Enterprise Ireland office in Toronto gives Irish companies access to SMEs across Canada through a network of technology advisers.

Enterprise Ireland aims to involve 20 Irish companies in technology licensing partnership discussions with Canadian counterparts in 2007.

A number of Irish companies are already seeking technology and product partnerships in this market including Bord na Mona, Dromone Engineering, Jacob Fruitfield and bathroom products manufacturer Qualceram Shires.

As well as sourcing technologies, it is anticipated that Irish companies will be able to offer a gateway to Europe for Canadian companies, while Canadian companies can offer a gateway to North America for Irish companies.

Other Irish companies that have already benefited from the TechSearch programme include:

Inishowen Engineering, Donegal, which licensed an underwater lamp which will take them into international export markets
Butler Manufacturing Services, Longford, which acquired the rights to manufacture storm cell tunnels from Germany and the US
eXpd8, which announced a licensing partnership with a South African company to establish its software products in that market
Surface Power, Castlebar, which acquired the distribution rights to pellet burning stoves from Sweden
Techrec Ireland in a joint venture with an NI company COD International to give them refrigerator disposal technology.

It also includes an IP audit that will help businesses assess their readiness to participate in licensing agreements, a DIY search facility that allows Irish businesses to search for innovative technologies worldwide, as well as downloadable legal and tax guides and a patent search facility.

Sectors that have traditionally embraced technology acquisition include the biomedical, food processing, electronics and automotive engineering industries, however, Enterprise Ireland is keen to point out that companies of all sizes and of all sectors can gain from this practice.

Lal

Business Angels have €20m to invest in startups- Dublin, IRL

2007-05-24T00:41:00.000-06:00

from Business Plus online Feb 2007

The Halo Business Angels Partnership has announced that it has raised €20m to invest in startup and developing companies

The partnership is a pilot programme and has resulted from a joint initiative between Enterprise Ireland, InterTrade Ireland and the Irish Business and Innovation Centres. It is designed to match private investors with pre-screened investment opportunities in early stage and developing businesses. The programme is being managed by the Dublin Business Innovation Centre (DBIC).

DBIC said that four companies have received cash investment of €100,000 each in the past six months. Average investment amounts should range from €25,000 to €100,000.

DBIC chairman Hugh Governey said: "This fills a gap in the market for early stage companies which have major potential but which are outside the radar of traditional venture capital companies. We are interested in continuing to attract angels and investee companies. Our goal is to create excellent opportunities for investors and early stage funding for successful Irish companies of the future".

Welcoming the announcement, enterprise minister Micheál Martin said "Angel investment in countries such as the US has played an important role in helping to build a knowledge economy. This programme is unique in that it harnesses the experience of entrepreneurs and investors many of whom have already built successful companies in Ireland".

Although DBIC is responsible for co-ordinating the Business Angels partnership, it is available in the South West, South East and BMW regions through the offices of Cork BIC, West BIC and South East BIC

anyone know who got the 'funding'?
anyone applied and got turned down?

Lal

€3.8m in funding for Irish based MapFlow from SOS

2007-05-24T00:35:00.000-06:00

Glad to see some funding happening these days as current Irish VC funding seems 2 have gone down the tubes (more on that later)

From Business Plus Online

Mapping and location software firm Mapflow has secured €3.8m in funding in a round lead by Sean O'Sullivan's (outa of Texas) SOSventures

Spatial Ireland (Mathew Sammon) has more info-

Irish company Mapflow has raised US$5.1m in research and development funding from the Irish subsidiary of venture capitalist firm SOSventures, with a further US$6.6m forthcoming subject to targets being achieved.

The aim of the investment is to make the company a world leader in its sector; Mapflow provides mapping and location intelligence software primarily to the transportation, telecommunications and insurance industries.
SOSventures’ founder Sean O’Sullivan, an Irish-American who founded prominent GIS software firm MapInfo, will become chairman of Mapflow’s board.

ENN has has more info including ...,...

...which has effectively bought out Mapflow's previous backer Trinity Venture Capital..

The firm's major win last year was a EUR15 million deal with BT, to allow its location-based technology to be sold to mobile operators and internet service providers around the world.

O'Sullivan, who has relocated to Ireland from the US and joined Mapflow's board as executive chairman, said Mapflow's management team, customer relationships and innovation track record attracted him. "As I looked at Mapflow, I saw all three of these enablers in place. It is truly a gem of the Irish software industry, and the challenge is now to make it a global leader: number one or two in its markets worldwide.

from Mapflow site
SOSventures Investment Ltd is the Irish subsidiary of SOSventures SA, an investment company managed by Sean O'Sullivan which manages over $100 million in investments, primarily in the high tech industry. The rate of return has averaged 27%, compounded annually since its founding in 1994. SOSventures also manages the investments for the O'Sullivan Foundation, a charitable organisation that gives between $1-$2 million annually to various humanitarian and developmental activities, primarily in the third world.

So looks like another player in town --- good (more on funding aveneues, angel networks, VC's in Ireland later)

Lal

EI in 2006 had 76 startups and 2007 predictions

2007-05-24T00:32:00.000-06:00

From Business Plus Online:
07/03/07:Enterprise Ireland has said that indigenous Irish companies that it supports will create more than 1,260 new high skilled jobs and generate exports worth €110m over the next two years. The majority at 41 are located in regions outside of Dublin, with 35 companies being located in Dublin.

Kevin Sherry, manager of Enterprise Ireland's High Potential Start-Up Unit (HPSU) added: "Increasing the number of new high-growth export focused businesses is a key objective for Enterprise Ireland and 2006 has been a record year with the establishment of 76 HPSUs.

Martin and Sherry were speaking at Enterprise Ireland's annual High Potential Start-Up Showcase, an event ... also provides an important networking opportunity by bringing together these entrepreneurs, the investment community, Irish business leaders and Enterprise Irelands business development executives. “Furthermore it provides a platform for venture capital firms to identify investment opportunities,” he added.

... I am pleased to report that the pipeline of HPSUs for 2007 is already strong,” said Sherry.

A high potential startup is defined as a company which is:
based on technological innovation
likely to achieve significant growth in three years (sales of €1m per annum and employment of ten)
export oriented
led by an experienced team, with a mixture of technical and commercial competencies.

56% of those firms were in 'Software and Services'. No further breakdown by Web 2.0, Enterprise, SaaS etc..
From EI news report
Enterprise Ireland invested €17.5m of the total €47.5m investment in the 76 new start-ups.

Two intial things:

I have to read this from BizPlus and not EI's site as they don't have any RSS feeds - duh! - maybe one of their HSPU's can hack that together for them (Brian - can u kick someone : )
Has anyone attended this showcase and any reports on it; who attended, what investors, angels, VC's, entrepreneurs, open or just EI affair?

Lets hope its a bit better in its predictions than the current economic stats reported (great article going into a lot of depth) by Michael Hennigan at FinFacts

Only six jobs were created in the €110m Information Age Park Ennis (IAPE- Shannon Development) in the past 12 months...
...Enterprise Minister Mícheál Martin, who said it had the potential to create 3,500 jobs over the next 15 years.
...the numbers working at the Information Age Park are 43, increasing six
...The number of companies increased from 14 to 19.
...IDA Ireland has so far failed to attract any foreign direct investment into the park

Innovation specialist Professor Danny Breznitz of the Georgia Institute of Technology says our research infrastructure is too narrow in its focus and may not be sustainable. (Note: GIT has a great looking support/teaching stucture - will follow up with another article on "Whats needed for a support eco-system". I'll also talk about SFI and research orgs which (investment wise both via EU/IRL) seem to dwarf other 'support' initiatives.)

He says we are not creating enough new businesses, and when new businesses are set up, the financial supports are not there to keep them innovating.

Professor Breznitz said that if a country wants sustained economic growth it has to focus on innovation, not only on the research side but on the commercialisation and the growth of productivity.

...GEM...found the percentage of people who were either thinking of going into business or had just started a new venture slid substantially in Ireland...

...He (Feargal Quinn) praised the Government’s decision to invest heavily in scientific research, but he said that turning Ireland into a world-class research centre is not enough.

Lal

€53K available 2 apply 4 EU grants; wanna travel?

2007-05-24T00:31:00.000-06:00

From Business Plus Online :

07/03/07: The EU has launched a new research fund that Enterprise Ireland said will allow Irish researchers and SMEs to reap the benefits from the new financial supports

As part of the funding, EI has announced financial supports for researchers employed in Ireland's private and public sectors taking part in the largest ever EU research programme, the Seventh EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7). The FP7 fund of €50 billion will run until 2013 and offers significant opportunities to researchers to carry out their work on an international platform.

'Ireland's research community has already proved its ability to compete at European level, accessing over €200m in the previous round of EU research funding'

Industry based researchers in Ireland won almost €40m in funding under the last EU research programme (FP6 2002-2006), with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) accounting for two-thirds of this figure. The supports are designed to help researchers cover the upfront costs incurred in writing research proposals and travel expenses.

Ireland's research community has already proved its ability to compete at European level, accessing over €200m in the previous round of EU research funding (FP6 2002-2006), according to Dr Imelda Lambkin, director of the Irish National Support Network for FP7.

"Irish participation in FP7 will be a critical component in delivering the targets set out in the Government Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation which covers the same timeframe,"

she said.
'The FP7 financial supports will be a great help to SMEs'

Dr Jimmie Parkes, managing director of Inter-Euro Technology, said he believed the “FP7 financial supports will be a great help”
to SMEs.

"These new supports will relieve some of the financial burden of contacting and meeting prospective FP7 partners. EU research can be very exciting and profitable not only in money but also in contacts throughout Europe and the build up of knowledge and IP transfer from European technology leaders,"

said Parkes.

The new supports will also benefit researchers based in higher education institutions who accounted for 70% of the FP6 funding to Ireland. Larger travel grants to visit potential research partners in other countries and grants to aid proposal preparation by project coordinators have been extended to include all research projects. Eligibility for these grants has been expanded to include researchers in publicly funded organisations and all research areas including the socioeconomic sciences and humanities.

Researchers based in Irish companies and public research bodies who want to participate in FP7 can now avail of the following financial supports:

Proposal Preparation Support for Companies

The maximum grant for this support has been increased to €25,000 (at 50% grant rate i.e. €25,000 based on a total expenditure by the company of €50,000). Eligibility has been expanded to include all research projects.

Proposal Preparation Support for Academic Coordinators

The maximum grant under this support is €25,000 and all research projects are eligible. Eligibility has been expanded to include researchers in publicly funded institutions.

Travel Support for Researchers

Researchers based in higher education institutions can apply for a maximum grant of €3,000 to facilitate multiple visits to research partners. Eligibility has been expanded to include researchers in publicly funded institutions.

For more information on FP7

Lal

UCD: Ireland. VC Backed Tech Firms Central To Knowledge Economy

2007-05-24T00:28:00.000-06:00

From Business Plus Online:

"The study said that high tech companies accounted for 84% of all Irish VC investment in 2005. This is the highest technology weighting in Europe where the average is 17%. "

23/03/07: A new report by the Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies in UCD has found that venture capital backed firms continue to provide the impetus for development of a knowledge based economy

The study said that high tech companies accounted for 84% of all Irish VC investment in 2005. This is the highest technology weighting in Europe where the average is 17%. The report finds that on average, VC backed firms are about ten times the size in terms of revenue and employment at the exit stage compared to the time of the initial venture capital investment.

It found that VC backed firms increased employment in 2005 by 39%, significantly up from 14.6% in 2004. The 2005 increase compares to an overall increase in employment in the economy of 5.1%.

This is the second in depth study into the economic impact of venture capital in Ireland to be carried out by the Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies in UCD under Professor Frank Roche and Vincent Sheehan.

Commenting on the findings, Roche said: "At a time when we are seeing closure and cut backs by international firms seeking lower cost centres, there is little doubt that indigenous VC backed firms have an important role to play in creating high value, knowledge based jobs in line with public policy objectives. They grow faster, create more employment, export more and invest more in R&D and in sales and marketing than other indigenous firms".

Other findings included:

Graduates represent 74% of the workforce of VC backed firms. In 2005 graduate employment in these companies increased by 25%, compared to a 15.4% increase reported in 2004.
VC backed companies are growing fast, with revenues increasing in 2005 by 34.1% to €1.95 billion.
VC backed companies raised €211m in 2005 compared to €242m in 2004. 34% of this capital was invested in start up and early stage companies compared to a European average of 23%.
Expenditure on R&D by these firms increased by 33.7% in to €89m compared to an increase in BERD (Business Expenditure on Research & Development) from indigenous companies of 11%.
Irish high tech VC backed firms are highly export focused. They export 63% of revenues compared to 33% in the case of UK software and computer companies.

While the stats are useful they are based on 2005 data. Whats the info on 2006 and 2007 up?
Certaintly 2007 doesn't look too good with VC money slackening off.

Lal

NovaUCD Entrepreneurs Live seminar- Apr 2007 - Dublin, IRL

2007-05-24T00:16:00.000-06:00

from Business Plus online mag

Yep - I know its past, as it gone, over, done, dusted...
anyone go to it, any feedback ?

04/04/07: Benchmark Capital partner and Bebo director Barry Maloney was the first guest speaker at the NovaUCD Entrepreneurs Live seminar series

Maloney advised entrepreneurs to "set themselves ambitious goals which will require sacrifices, to hire the best and to never ever give up".

The Entrepreneurs Live seminars will bring leading Irish entrepreneurs talk about their experiences of setting-up and running their businesses. During each seminar attendees have the opportunity to ask questions of the guest speaker. The series continues each Tuesday lunch time (1 pm to 1:50 pm) until April 24 in the William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium, at UCD and attendance is open to all.

Three other Irish entrepreneurs will be speaking at the series: Oliver Tattan, founder and chief executive of Vivas Health; Garry Moroney, founder of Similarity Systems; and Dermot Lawton, director of eBay European Services.

The series is being organised by UCD technology transfer centre NovaUCD with the backing of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board.

Commenting on the event, NovaUCD director Dr Pat Frain said: "The Entrepreneurs Live seminars attract a large and diverse audience and stimulate a lively and enthusiastic debate on issues relating to entrepreneurship and innovation and the establishment and development of technology-based companies. The level of interest at these seminars is evidence of a growing culture of entrepreneurship at UCD which augurs well for Ireland's ability to generate the new knowledge-intensive and innovative enterprises which are critical for the sustained development of Ireland's knowledge-based economy".

Lal

Irish VC Investment Slackens- Q1 2007

2007-05-23T20:26:00.000-06:00

from FinFacts
Irish Venture Capital plunged to €4.2 million in Q1 2007;
European Venture Capital flattened

Coming off the strong growth made in 2006, venture capital investment into European companies flattened in the first quarter, with €1.07 billion invested in 207 financings, according to the quarterly European Venture Capital Report released by Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young. Compared year-on-year, both capital and deal flow decreased 11% from the first quarter of 2006.

Irish Investment Activity Slackens
In the first quarter, €4.2 million in venture capital was invested in young innovative firms in Ireland, significantly down from €26.3 million in 4Q’06 and the €28.6 million invested in 1Q’06. Only one deal was completed in 1Q’07, down from 4 deals in 4Q’06 and 7 in 1Q’06.

“The Irish market is quite small, therefore quarterly numbers need to be treated with caution as they can be skewed by cyclical patterns and by the small number of deals. More meaningful data should emerge with respect to the underlying trend for 2007 as we complete the second quarter” said Garry O’Rourke, Transaction Advisory Services Director at Ernst & Young in Dublin.

There were no seed, first or second round deals in 1Q’07, which represents a decrease from 3 deals in 4Q’06 and from one deal in 1Q’06. A single later stage deal was completed in 1Q’07, just as in 4Q’06, compared to 5 in 1Q’06, raising a total of €4.2 million compared with €2.6 million in 4Q’06 and €27.4 million in 1Q’06.

No investments were made in the healthcare sector in 1Q’07, compared with two deals in 4Q’06 and a single deal in 1Q’06.

There was only one IT sector deal closed in 1Q’07, just as in 4Q’06, although this is down from the 7 deals in 1Q’06. The amount invested totaled €4.2 million in 1Q’07, an increase from €2.6 million in 4Q’06 but significantly down from €28.6 million in 1Q’06.

There were no exits in 1Q’07, compared to the two exits in both 4Q’06 and 1Q’06.

Ireland ranked fourteenth in Europe in terms of the number of deals, level with Poland, Romania and Italy, but behind Russia and Austria. Ireland was fifteenth in terms of amount raised, behind Austria and Italy but ahead of Poland and Romania.

European Investors Focusing on IT
The first quarter found investors renewing their interest in information technology, which showed signs of a significant comeback; there were 9% more deals and 6% more capital invested in this industry than in the same quarter a year ago. In addition, later-round financings were at their highest point in a year and second round financings also showed significant growth. Another positive sign, according to the report, was that median round sizes across all industries improved upon last year’s increases to reach the highest point on record at €2.7 million overall.

“The continued growth in round size, especially in second and later rounds, indicates that investors are providing the most promising portfolio companies with the resources needed to progress along the path to exit," said John de Yonge, Global Research Director of Ernst & Young's Venture Capital Advisory Group.

"Last year saw the most venture-backed initial public offerings in Europe in six years and steady acquisition activity. Investors are focusing greater capital and attention on the subset of companies with the most potential to take advantage of the supportive exit climate in the near term."

Later Rounds Dominate Activity
Forty percent of the rounds in the first quarter were later-stage rounds, the largest percentage since 1999. In addition, the €606.7 million directed to the 83 later rounds was the most capital invested in this round class in a year and represented more than half of all capital invested in Europe in the first quarter. Capital investment into second rounds also showed a significant quarter-on-quarter increase, growing 21% to €257.1 million. The median size of second and later rounds is now €3 million and €3.5 million, respectively.

Seed- and first-round financings, meanwhile, made up 37% of the deal flow in the first quarter but only 19% of the total investment.

Round allocations varied by industry. Healthcare financings in the first quarter were particularly dominated by later rounds, which made up 55% of the deal flow activity to this industry. Conversely, information technology saw more early-stage activity with seed- and first-round deals representing 41% of financings.

Information Technology Posts Significant Growth
Information technology had the most significant upturn of any industry in the first quarter, according to the report. In total, €550.2 million was invested in 133 technology deals, representing €30.1 million more in capital and 11 more deals from the first quarter of a year ago. The software and information services segments showed the most activity for the sector. Software deals increased by 20% over the same period a year ago to 73 and investment increased11% to €222.5 million. More dramatically, deal flow in the information services segment increased 131% to 30 deals, and capital increased more than two-fold to €114.7 million.

“The emerging interest in Web 2.0 technology—which is mostly focused in the information services segment—seems to be fueling this growth in European technology investments,” said Jessica Canning, Director of Global Research for VentureOne. “In addition, the number of IPOs for information services companies doubled over the past year and this is likely a factor in investors’ preference for the segment this quarter.”

European venture capital investors also invested more in energy companies, according to the report. There were 10 energy deals in the first quarter, only slightly more than the nine that occurred in the same quarter of 2006; however the capital invested in this segment more than doubled to €58.6 million.

The healthcare industry in Europe was more constrained in the first quarter, the report found. The 38 healthcare deals and €387.8 million invested here represented declines of 42% and 19%, respectively, from the first quarter of 2006. Nevertheless, the €50 million second-round investment in antibacterial company Novexel of France was among the largest deals of the first quarter.

Lal

EU startup environment improving but still a gap in early stage support

2007-05-23T19:20:00.000-06:00

From alarm:clock euro:

"'Startups are being funded at a faster pace lately and some projects are really interesting with global ambitions and presence but there is still a huge gap with other countries and the USA. There is in particular a lack of light investment structure like YCombinator or CRV quickstart or even experienced business angels to support projects at very early stage before they arrive in VC hands.'"

I will write more regarding this as I feel this is a key element in the startup eco-system. I've had some talks with David Cohen from TechStars on what get him onto his idea and will also talk with Brad Feld regarding whats the 'magic ingredients' necessary for startups at an early stage.

I have more 'bodies' lined up to talk with (especially as regards Ireland) but if you know of anyone that can help lead some experience/advice please let me know.

Lal

How's this for an exit - Zanox - without VC funding

2007-05-23T19:17:00.000-06:00

From alarm:clock euro:

"Affiliate marketing startup Zanox, has been acquired by Swiss PubliGroupe and German media company Axel Springer for €214.9M plus an additional undisclosed performance related payment. It took less than a year for Zanox, which grew into a hundred million a year company within six years and without the aid of VC, although it did raise an undisclosed single digit million euro amount from unnamed Asian private investor in 2005, to be acquired after making sure the business press knew it was looking for a buyer."

Web 2.0 VC Dealmaking On The Upswing in UK/EU

2007-05-23T19:13:00.000-06:00

From alarm:clock euro::
"Europe can do well if we learn to live with the losses. Some companies will fail. In the US, when that happens, people say ‘hey, we tried’ and start again, but in Europe people remember the failures more readily than the successes.”

Today the Financial Times has a report inspired by fresh research from Paul Fisher of First Capital on Web 2.0 and Internet investments in the European region in 2006. It reports the amount raised last year jumped to more than £144M (about €219M). It also has commentary from active online service investors, such as Barry Malone of Benchmark Capital who talks about the "spray and pray" approach to investment and Fred Destin who talks about what it will take for Europe to grow.

Fisher posted the original data on his blog along with some good analysis, and created a good table showing all the deals in question. He writes:
More than £144mn was raised in Europe across seed and first rounds in 2006 by 54 European web2.0 companies. This total doesn’t include the “undisclosed investment” rounds, of which there were 16.

The growth is remarkable.

In the UK in 2005, just £24mn was invested into web2.0 companies. In 2006 that figure increased threefold with £79mn worth of early stage investments into 21 companies.

The FT's article is currently not behind its firewall, so you can read it now. Here are some quotes from Benchmark's Malone:
These [Web 2.0] companies are also much cheaper to set up than other technology businesses.

"It is very difficult to build up a semiconductor company or an enterprise software business. You need to invest $40m to $50m before you know if you have a product that works," Mr Malone said. "With web 2.0 companies you can find out after three or four million dollars whether it will work."

As a result, Mr Malone said, many European venture capital companies were using a "spray and pray" strategy, spreading small amounts of investment over dozens of companies in the hopes that two or three would make it.

Just in case you think Barry doesn't know what he is talking about -

Prior to joining Benchmark, Barry spent five years as CEO of Esat Digifone, Ireland's second largest GSM mobile operator. Under Barry's leadership, Esat Digifone expanded to a profitable company with 900 employees, more than 1 million customers and IR400 million in revenues. Esat Digifone was acquired by British Telecom at a market value of IR£2 billion and is now part of the O2 Group.

Before Esat Digifone, Barry spent two years at Xerox Corporation in Palo Alto, California, where as Vice President of first Business Development and then Channel Operations, he was instrumental in revolutionizing Xerox’s approach to global marketing. Before this Barry enjoyed a pan-European career at Digital Equipment as European Pricing Manager, Director of Software Business Europe and Vice President of the Component and Peripheral Business Unit Europe.

Previously looked at Enterprise Irelands 2006 startups and mentioned FinFacts current report on economy and investments etc.. - not good reading.

Only six jobs were created in the €110m Information Age Park Ennis (IAPE- Shannon Development) in the past 12 months...
Professor Danny Breznitz of the Georgia Institute of Technology says our research infrastructure is too narrow in its focus and may not be sustainable...not creating enough new businesses,...
......GEM...found the percentage of people who were either thinking of going into business or had just started a new venture slid substantially in Ireland...

Also posted about Irish VC Investment slackening in Q1 2007

Only one deal was completed in 1Q’07, down from 4 deals in 4Q’06 and 7 in 1Q’06.
There were no seed, first or second round deals in Q1
There was only one IT sector deal closed in 1Q’07, just as in 4Q’06, although this is down from the 7 deals in 1Q’06.
There were no exits in 1Q’07, compared to the two exits in both 4Q’06 and 1Q’06.
Ireland ranked fourteenth in Europe in terms of the number of deals

,

Mentioned goverment subsidies and views in a previous post.

Bridges Ventures..VC group.. invest in deprived parts of the UK... make its 27th investment

Bridges raised £40m for its first fund, including £20m from the UK govn... as well as private equity executives ..and 3i. But its second fund of £50m had no government money.

micro financing may look unattractive to many VCs ... claims his funds are outperforming the rest of the VC market.

Also mentioned some views on angel/VC investing from EU Innovate conference.

So it will be interesting to see how Ireland does over 2007 as so far it looks sloooow, besides MapFlow.

Lal

Irish/ EU R&D funding for SMEs seminar, May 28th, Cork UCC, IRL

2007-05-23T18:46:00.000-06:00

from Business Plus online news

University College Cork is to host seminar on how SMEs can take better advantage of Irish and EU R&D funding

On May 28, UCC, in conjunction with the South West Regional Authority (SWRA), Enterprise Ireland and CorkBIC, will host a seminar entitled “Research for SMEs – How to Benefit from New Funding Programmes” to highlight the latest supports for industry to gain access to R&D both nationally and in Europe.

SWRA, as part of its DRIVE for Growth Initiative, is working in conjunction with all regional research organisations and business development agencies to address deficiencies and barriers in the way academia and business exploit public R&D and knowledge transfer. These include cultural differences between the business and science communities, legal barriers and fragmented markets for knowledge and technology.

Sinead Crowley, projects manager at SWRA, said: “If we can increase the number of indigenous companies who participate in R&D and build the levels of knowledge being shared, then we have new opportunities to create economic spin-offs for local companies and support their economic sustainability and competitiveness moving forward.”
'TTI facilitates the effective transfer and commercialisation of technology between university and industry'

Crowley said that a major innovation is taking place to help Irish companies benefit from the world-class research expertise available in UCC through its Technology Transfer Initiative (TTI), an industry outreach programme to provide access for Irish companies to world-class research facilities. “Funded by Enterprise Ireland, the TTI facilitates the effective transfer and commercialisation of technology between university and industry, applying new knowledge and technologies for the economic benefit of the region.”
'Recognising the concerns and constraints of small industries is the key to the TTI's success'

According to Miriam Collins, TTI programme manager: “Recognising the concerns and constraints of small industries is the key to the TTI's success together with the provision of an easy-to-access entry point to the resources and expertise within UCC. As a prime source of knowledge, UCC has a significant role in the process of technology transfer to Irish industry.”
'Speakers will give participants a greater understanding of what's involved in national and European funding programmes'

Collins said that innovation can be an “expensive and lengthy course of action”, adding that many companies find it difficult to begin the process. “Negotiating the minefield of funding agencies and bureaucracy often puts people off trying. However, help is available and this seminar aims to assist industry through the process. Speakers will give participants a greater understanding of what's involved in national and European funding programmes as well as ways to access that funding. A number of case studies, involving local companies, Science2Business (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK?) and Cybercolors (?), will highlight the advantages and benefits of collaborative R&D.”

Artie Clifford, managing director of Dingle Bay Seafood Soups, feels that “with the assistance of the TTI at UCC, food producers are being given access to the huge depth of knowledge which is available in our universities and which will help to give us a major competitive advantage in Europe”.

For more information on the seminar contact Sinead Crowley, Projects Manager, SWRA on 021 487 6877 or e-mail s.crowley@swra.ie or contact Miriam Collins, Programme Manager, TTI, UCC on 021 490 2823 or e-mail Miriam.collins@ucc.ie.

Lal

EU VC: What have we learned?

2007-05-23T18:27:00.000-06:00

From Paul Fisher's blog-European Venture Capital: What have we learned?:

"I think that the European VC scene is a notably better place and that THNGS ARE GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME.

The ecosystem for entrepreneurs is getting better: from uni spin-out hubs & clubs to booze fuelled dinner table debates.

The quality and segmentation of investors is getting better; from international success-stories like Index to small, ultra focussed funds like Eden Ventures.

The DIALOGUE is getting better;
I doff my cap to initiatives like open coffee club which fosters mutual understanding.
I believe VC –entrepreneur relationships are far less adversarial and far more informed than they were 8 years ago. (Fred has a nice angle on this too)"

Anyone apply for Top 15 EU Startups competition?

2007-05-23T13:32:00.000-06:00

(OOPS - this one got stuck in the Web2Ireland blog Drafts Q :( )

Anyone know or enter for this?
Deadline was by May 2nd, and happens on May 10th in Madrid.
I found it via Richards post on ReadWrite

StartUp2.0 is a competition of European web 2.0 sites whose objectives are to promote and reward the European startups (either created or willing to do so in the future) that work in the field of 2.0 technologies.

The Irish boys not up 4 this and fancy a trip 2 Spain (with cheap RyanAir flights) ?

I see our man Tom is on the panel...

Should EI or someone be keeping a 'diary of relevance' for Irish startups?

Fergus gave a mention earlier

Lal

Views on Goverment subsidies from Vinod and UK

2007-05-23T13:28:00.000-06:00

from Library House latest newsletter:

Keep an open mind on subsidies

For many entrepreneurs, the mere mention of subsidies has them shaking their heads in disbelief. Vinod Khosla, a founder of Sun Microsystems and a serial entrepreneur, said he viewed companies that rely on government backing with great suspicion. But Mr Khosla, speaking at Library House’s Essential Cleantech conference last month, did entertain the possibility of limited subsidies for very new industries.

The fact is, like it or not, governments are getting increasingly involved in venture capital. They recognise the positive effect that well-directed investment can have on jobs, GDP growth and, importantly on public morale.

For this reason the most prolific European investors, according to VenturePedia, are High-Tech Gründerfonds Management, which partners with the German government, and funds run by Scottish Enterprise, which are also state-backed. High-Tech Gründerfonds Management has made 49 investments in the last year while Scottish Enterprise funds have made 45. The average deal size involving these organisations is less than €1m, indicating they are operating at a micro level, targeting companies that are below the radar of most venture capitalists.

There are also a number of hybrid investment companies, that are ostensibly privately-owned but whose funds are swelled by government money. One of these, Bridges Ventures, the venture capital group set up by Sir Ronald Cohen to invest in deprived parts of the UK, will this week make its 27th investment, lifting to £26.5m the amount of capital it has spent since being set up in 2002.

Bridges raised £40m for its first fund, including £20m from the UK government, with capital also provided by Sir Ronald's charitable trust, as well as private equity executives Jeremy Coller, Nigel Doughty and Jon Moulton, retailer Tom Singh, and listed private equity group 3i. But its second fund of £50m had no government money.

Although micro financing may look unattractive to many VCs given the amount of due diligence that is required to complete a deal, this may be a false impression. Phil Newborough, the chief executive of Bridges claims his funds are outperforming the rest of the VC market. That should, at the very least, give the sceptics food for thought.

Interesting...
I'll comment some more as I write about goverment involvment/support on the Irish scene and startup eco-system.

Lal

Next Web conference - Amsterdam

2007-05-23T13:26:00.000-06:00

OOPS - another one stuck in the Web2Ireland blog Drafts Q :(

Anyone else joining the Irish lads Conor and RTE at the The Next Web Conference event at Amsterdam, June 1st, 2007?

The Next Web Conference presents The Startup Arena and introduce three great opportunities for innovative tech start ups to boost their PR, meet up with VC’s and/or show off their service or product to the tech savvy crowd.

Startup Arena
There will be 15 20 tables in the main Coffee plaza available for startups (at no additional costs) to show off their services. Sign up to get a free startup booth. The 20 selected companies will be announced a week before the conference.

Showcase
Two companies will be selected by a jury to give a 10 minute Showcase / presentation on the main stage! If you think you’re up to it, take a chance!The 2 selected companies will be announced a week before the conference.

Speedpitching
During the lunch break the Big bang Ventures will host a Speed pitching session, which is open for all startups, VC’s and press. Startups are matched to VC’s and press for a 4 minute speed pitch. So, meet, pitch, impress, make sure you meet up at the party, shake hands, and get a card and the next Speed pitch is coming up! Join the Speed pitching session.

Lal

Start your own business course- Dublin, IRL

2007-05-23T13:23:00.000-06:00

OOPS - this one got stuff in the Web2Ireland blog Drafts Q :(
so its a little late !

In case anyone is interested in this : Start Your Own Business: Starts Thu, 17th May 2007

Venue: Nutgrove Enterprise Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14
Find on Map

Who Should Attend?
Anyone who is looking to become their own boss but who is not sure where to begin. By the end of the 6 session course, participants will have achieved the following:-

Certification from ILM (Institute of Leadership & Management) is available.

Duration
6 weeks (one evening a week from 7pm - 10pm).
There is a 30 min break during each session.

Course Fee
Only €195 per person. Places are limited.

Lal

3 days 2 apply: Essential Web 2007 Europe’s top web innovators -Library House- London

2007-05-22T23:15:00.000-06:00

Library House is seeking the fifteen most innovative businesses to present at the Essential Web conference this June. A panel of industry experts will select the very best companies to present to an audience of leading investors, business, and media players. If you would like your venture to be considered please nominate yourself by Friday 25th May

Date: 27th June 2007, 8:00am - 8:00pm
Location: BFI IMAX Cinema, Waterloo, London

Essential Web 2007 is a one-day showcase celebrating Europe’s web innovators.

Key themes

Mobilising the web: how do mobile web and internet web work? Is the technology up to scratch? Where are the biggest opportunities for entrepreneurs?
Social, social, social: The explosion of vast social networks and the countervailing surge of micro-blogging
Monetising the web: Great idea. Now how do you make it make money?

Raw companies: pre-funded start up companies screened by Library House and a panel of experts to represent the newest, most innovative and exciting web ventures in Europe.
Hot companies: investor-backed ventures on a fast track to growth.
Star companies: mature web ventures - market leading or looking towards exit.
Plus: insight from experienced entrepreneurs, dealmakers and commentators.

As an entrepreneur behind a web venture you will qualify for a special rate of £95 (a £200 discount on the early bird price) to attend the event, and if your company is selected to present you will be refunded the £95*.

All entrepreneurs who qualify for this special rate have the option to:
Attend a special day's training at no extra cost
Access a database of venture-backed companies until 27 June at no extra cost

The audience will vote for the best presenting company of the day, who will receive a year’s access to Library House's VentureConnect events series (£4,950 value) and our VenturePedia database of competitive intelligence on top European venture backed companies (£4,950 value).

This programme will focus on successfully presenting to investors and addressing a large audience with impact. Please note that attendance is not a requirement for selection.

Agenda for training days
9.00am Arrival and coffee
9.30am Session 1 commences: Elevator Pitch
Company elevator pitches. Each delegate presents company elevator pitch. The whole group gives feedback. Facilitators give feedback.
10.30am Break into two groups for each facilitator to give additional coaching and advice on elevator pitch. Further rehearsals
11.30am Revised elevator pitches presented back to entire group
12.00pm Session 2 commences: Company presentation
Break into two groups for each delegate to give 10 slide/10 minute company presentation to respective group. Each group gives feedback.
1.00-1.45pm Break for lunch
1.45pm Facilitators score each presentation and give feedback to overall group
2.15pm Delegates breakout to work on improving company presentations Facilitators circulate amongst delegates and spend min 20 mins one one-to-one basis with each delegate during this period. Further rehearsals.
4.45pm Final company presentations in two groups with external opinion-former (ideally VC or corporate investor) in attendance.
5.45pm Review and close Once you have booked a ticket we will send dates and locations of these free training sessions.

Investor attendees to Library House events in the past few months have included:

3i, Acacia Capital Partners, Advent Venture Partners, Add Partners, Albany Venture Managers, Aloe Group, Amadeus Capital, AMF Ventures, Atlas Venture, ATOS Origin, Benchmark Capital, Bridges Community Ventures, BT Group, Cambridge Capital Group, Capricorn Venture Partners, Catapult Venture Managers, Celtic House Ventures, Chesham Holdings, CLS Holdings, Enterprise Ventures, E-Synergy, Esprit Capital Partners, Eden Ventures, ETV Capital, First ventures, Foresight Venture Partners, Foursome Investments, Impetus Partners, Intel Capital, Katalyst Ventures, Mitsui Capital, Quester, Scottish Equity Partners, Siemens Venture Capital, Sofinnova Partners, SRPE, TLcom Capital Partners, TTP Venture Managers, Zouk Ventures, Warburg Pincus, Wheb Ventures, YFM Group

Lal

Mobile tech panel at Innovate EU 2007

2007-05-22T22:56:00.000-06:00

Rudy De Waele has another follow-up from the panel on Mobile technology at the Innovate EU 2007 conference in Zaragoza.

Moderated by the illuminated Thomas Crampton, another interesting panel on Mobile technology followed after the break with Scott Cooper, VP Mobility Solutions at Nokia; Augustín Núñez Castaín, Handsets & Services Innovation Director at Telefónica Móvilés España and Avi Shechter, CEO of Fring. Some notes on that panel:

- big intersection between web 2.0 conversations and being present in a network/community, this model comes now to mobility
- next generation mobile services will be monetised in different ways
- roaming call from Helsinki to NYC and back: roaming cost 2, 45 $ while through wi-fi 0,04$ (!)
- UGC (User Generated Content) is really changing the face of society
- it’s all about the value created around the ecosystem
- remember Google & Yahoo are not FREE, it’s a different way of paying, of collecting money from users
- new ways to collect money will arise, like targeted advertising, personal profiling, added-value services
- rich presence services - it’s the blend of technology and individual content creation
- right time to open up and have the right tarification plans for early adopters
- people want to pay for a good mobile service
- upload of personal content will become the next wave (personalisation, tuning of music, uploading your life with pictures, video…
- as for the operator: it’s a matter of where to put and manage the bandwith and how to garantuee a seamless integration for our users…
- sharing personal content, user-generated content
- adapted TV programs, still a need to find the right broadcast solution
- explosion of new buisness models will come, the opportunity for the operator is that it has the user’s trust
- there will be low-cost carrier and low quality but also room for high quality servcies, connectivvity, device managemenent, storage for contents, handset replacement, entreprise applications, etc…
- related to mobile 2.0 startups in need to connect to operators: operators have the experience, the support and the billing experience

Lal

Innovate Europe 2007 Wrap-Up and Angels/funding

2007-05-22T22:47:00.000-06:00

Rudy De Waele has a summary (just copied his part of Angels/funding in EU) from the Innovate Europe 2007 Wrap-Up

Power Angels panel, composed of:

* Klaus Hommels, Venture Partner, Benchmark Capital
* Oliver Jung, Investment Manager, Adinvest
* Saul Klein, Venture Partner, Index Ventures
* Simon Levene, Partner, Accel
* Mark Tluszcz, Managing Partner, Mangrove Capital Partners

Here my rough notes from that session:

- 20 relevant vc’s and 20 angels in europe
- 30 investments last year, diversification (oliver)
- a lot less opportunities in EU then elsewhere
- just less deals in EU
- too much advertising as biz model for tech startups, Oliver likes to see more real pure business models build on revenues
- 50% funded seed companies will not survive
- too many companies on to few opportunities
- more people starting companies then people joining companies
- great talent pool in europe
- great examples serve as role model
- first 50 people building a team are fundamental!
- need more people joining teams than starting companies

Conclusion: it’s all about smart entrepreneurs and passionate people

Lal

Wanna pitch? Microsoft Campus, Silicon Valley - June 2007

2007-05-09T11:01:00.000-06:00

from Event Launch : Silicon Vally 2007

Following the success of the initial Launch: Silicon Valley event in November 2006, we are pleased to announce Launch Silicon Valley 2007 will be held on June 5, 2007, at the Microsoft Campus in Mountain View, CA. The event, co-presented by Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs (SVASE) and Garage Technology Ventures, provides the next generation of emerging technology companies with the opportunity to pitch their products to, and network with, an audience of Silicon Valley’s top movers and shakers. The first Launch: Silicon Valley event featured 29 top startups, presenting their products and services to an audience of over 180 VCs, Angels, corporate business development executives, prospective customers and partners, bloggers and media.

Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 is designed to uncover and showcase products and services from the most exciting of the newest startups in information technology, mobility, security, digital media next generation internet, life sciences and clean energy. Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 will feature new companies that are ready for launch, but are not yet well known. These are companies that have a product or service available (as of June 5, 2007), but have not been out in the marketplace for more than a few months. Companies that are interested in presenting their products at Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 should send an Executive Summary of no more than 2 pages to Launchsv@svase.org by latest May 13, 2007

Up to 30 of the most interesting companies will be invited to present their product or service at Launch: Silicon Valley 2007, and to network with the audience of Silicon Valley’s top movers and shakers at the Pre-LSV Event Party on the evening of June 4, as well as at the event itself on June 5. The CEOs of the companies voted “most promising new company” in each of the six sessions will also receive invitations (for two) to attend the prestigious Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” Gala Dinner on June 29 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

Costs approx $750. got until May 13th 2 sign up!!

Here's what 2 of the presenting companies from Launch: Silicon Valley 2006 have to say:

Launch: Silicon Valley was an extremely valuable event for cFares, as it was there that we met the firm that subsequently became the lead investor in our latest round of finance. We would not have achieved as much progress as we have without Launch: Silicon Valley.

Vajid Jafri
Founder & CEO
cFares

Since L:SV we closed series A with Innovacom and ATA and have gone on to win large customer deals across the Telco and mobile social networking world. We’re growing significantly and are now looking at closing a new round of funding as well that we will announce sometime early next month.

On the team side, we’re up to well over 50 people and are looking to be over 120 by end of this year across the globe. We currently have people on the ground in Santa Clara, Beijing, Karachi, Tokyo and soon to expand to Hong Kong, Paris, London, Dubai and Bombay.

So things are going quite well so far. Thanks much for giving us the opportunity to present at L:SV; it was indeed a very good show for us.

Faraz Hoodbhoy
CEO, PixSense, Inc.

Lal

Latest comments

2007-05-08T14:19:00.000-06:00

Yep just a couple :)

Need 2 add in alt text so u can see what the topic was about for those that don't have nice URL's

http://revolutiononrails.blogspot.com/2007/01/db-migrations-usage-at-rhg.html
http://mashable.com/2007/04/19/mysay/#comment-792582
http://www.putplace.com/blog/2007/03/08/our-new-offices-at-the-digit-depot/
http://www.putplace.com/blog/2007/01/02/putplace-is-raising-a-bes-round/
http://contentlabel.org/content-labels-get-thumbs-up-from-the-equity-kicker/
http://contentlabel.org/firefox-extension-that-reads-semantic-labelled-sites/
http://www.aidanf.net/blog/comparing-irish-and-american-web-hosts
http://www.aidanf.net/blog/learning-erlang#comment-397
http://www.mulley.net/2007/05/01/irish-venture-capital-association-charge-to-tell-you-how-to-raise-venture-capital/
http://www.mulley.net/2007/05/02/guardian-rectify-attack-piece-on-me/
http://blog.loudervoice.com/2007/05/02/we-finally-did-it
http://www.gaisan.com/blogs/archives/2006/02/tipping_the_sca.html
http://www.ratcliffe.com/RatcliffeBlog/archives/001299.html
http://tedshelton.blogspot.com/2007/04/grokking-twitter-presence-scope-and.html
http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/002304.html
http://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14170016&postID=8031958591856013190
http://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14170016&postID=2985138195602648709
http://www.scottconverse.org/2007/01/third-board-meeting.html
http://www.vecosys.com/2007/04/27/microsoft-partner-with-library-house-to-find-the-best-in-europe/
http://www.steveouting.com/drama-at-backfencecom.html
http://outsidethevalley.com/2007/05/02/core-business-models/
http://outsidethevalley.com/2007/05/02/getfridaycom-the-online-assistant/
http://outsidethevalley.com/2007/04/24/starting-a-business-in-college-part-3-final-part/
http://parallax.blogs.com/parallax_calculating_tech/2007/05/adsonomies.html#comment-68428052
http://www.founderblog.com/2007/04/googleclick-who-owns-your-cash-register.html#comments
http://www.bomega.com/2007/05/02/openidea-idlstercom-screensavers/
http://www.darrenherman.com/2007/01/22/the-holy-grail-of-entrepreneurship-venture-capital/#comment-4576
http://www.web2ireland.org/2007/05/04/only-3-web-20-companies-in-irl/
http://outsidethevalley.com/2007/03/30/web-companies-in-ireland/
http://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=10391094&postID=3841810771793783474
https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=10391094&postID=4317984624823602820
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=10391094&postID=112364870470226923
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6505212251488303993&postID=5657292385795852380
http://blog.moybella.net/2007/04/10/hardware-and-linux/
http://blog.moybella.net/2007/02/26/useless-accounts/
http://ricksegal.typepad.com/pmv/2007/04/fun_with_the_di.html
http://www.ericjohnolson.com/blog/2007/04/17/web-20-expo-bits/
http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2007/02/outsidein.html
http://innovationecosystem.blogspot.com/2007/05/network-fx_06.html
http://petercranstone.blogspot.com/2007/04/delivering-on-promise-of-new-local.html
http://petercranstone.blogspot.com/2007/04/location-based-services-in-context-of.html
http://wanderingstan.com/2007-03-19/is_comcast_selling_your_clickstream_audio_transcrip
http://www.johnbreslin.com/blog/2007/05/06/webcamp-on-emerging-mobile-internet-in-ucd-approaches-may-17th/
http://ce.seekingalpha.com/article/34201
http://rainersimon.wordpress.com/2007/04/26/fonfinder-its-almost-official/
http://blogs.open.ac.uk/Maths/ajh59/010236.html
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/zimbra_comcast_plaxo_hp.php
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_15_web_20_startups_europe.php
http://novaspivack.typepad.com/nova_spivacks_weblog/2007/02/web_30_roundup_.html
http://www.coworking.ie/coworking-facilitates-informal-learning/
http://bhconsulting.blogs365.org/wordpress/?p=87
http://www.frankfullard.com/wordpress/?p=4
http://www.oreillynet.com/databases/blog/2007/03/_so_are_database_stored_proced.html
http://blog.roam4free.ie/head-of-mobile-firm-accuses-skype-and-truphone-of-freeloading/

Lal

AACS takedown notice on DRM key backfires via Dig

2007-05-02T14:37:00.000-06:00

AACS takedown notice backfires

from link above nice story on how the 'crowd-sourcing' of Digg has back-fired on the might of lawyerdoom.

legal threats from the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACS LA).
All well n good u might say...
...except ....

Complete and utter chaos. Tens of thousands of Digg users posted story after story containing the 16-digit encryption key. Traffic on the site was so high that it was unavailable for parts of the day.

In the end Digg stopped taking down their users posting of the key and gave up and sided with their users.

So instead of supressing the code, all the AACS managed to do was generate a ton of negative publicity and spread thousands of copies of the code indelibly all over the internet.

AACS is all above DRM on DVD's etc..

Lal

browser=3270, Ajax=lipstick on a pig

2007-05-01T09:53:00.000-06:00

Dave Thomas has an interesting post with lots of great comments/dialogue on REST, CRUD and how it can be improved. The article is titled "RADAR Architecture: RESTful Application, Dumb-Ass Recipient".

Most of the article is in relation to increasing the usefulness and seperation of a presentation layer so the browser side can be a lot more intelligent. He proposes some server side proxy elements and HTTP rejigs etc..

To me (as some of the other guys point out) its partly overkill and XML/XSLT looks like an 'easier' answer but maybe HTML 5 and Xforms (or whatever variation comes out from W3c - whenever!) will help.

He has some great comments ...

Because HTTP is stateless, and because applications talk to browsers using a fire-and-forget model, your servers and networks can handle very large numbers of devices. This is exactly the architecture that IBM championed back in the 70s. The half-duplex, poll-select nature of 3270-based applications allowed mainframes with less processing power than a modern toaster to handle tens of thousands of simultaneous users. The browser is really not much better than a 3270 (except the resolution is better when displaying porn). (Recently, folks have been trying to circumvent this simplicity by making browser-based applications more interactive using technologies such as Ajax. To my mind, this is just a stop-gap until we throw the browser away altogether—Ajax is just lipstick on a pig.)

As I've indicate on my initial profile page, HTTP is a lot like the old 3270 green screens that IBM used and the protocols that ran underneath (BMS maps into a CICS transaction).
Somehow when u compare 'web' applications to that scenario it doesn't look as if it (foundations) hasn't moved on very far. Oh sure we have SOA, Web services, Atom, RSS, video streaming, podcasting and all these wonderful 'applications' on top of a very client-server layer.

Lal

More stuff 2 blog about

2007-04-29T00:58:00.000-06:00

Like last post this is also a follow-up from here

Links that prompted me 2 blog later about.
Lots of stuff as usual, Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Startups, techie stuff, BarCamp, Funding, VC's, Angels, govn bodies, etc..

(Ya follow that?)

gcal n outlook sync
flipstart
beyond trust
ms v's vmware
intel 2.0?
funny ads
startups in UK
get a mentor
200K Enron emails
boBIG
castlebar
mngm 4 startups
ireland expansion
irl startups

"What do you think of VCs? They are like salt and sugar in your diet. You need some, but too much will kill you." from here

ouch

barcamp nui irl
lessons via pics
irl web dev issues
saul on EU startup
funny spam
ebay infrastructure
IRL docklands-innovation-park-award
sw dev rules
iotum
vc in irl
belfast startup
what others think
startup concerns
Cnn 1 2
joel on need >progs
how 2b
equity handout
people
got a cause
sentry irl
raid cooler
irl enterprise
heavy soa stuff
NI seedcorn comp
oops hacked
first words
idead sharing
$1m
investment in irl 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
drag n drop 2 gmail
irl at staNford
funny links
more irl fun
great idea 4 startups
humour - fake startup
humour
open eircom info
hmmirl
vc n startups
irl startups
ask a ? via mobile
economist on angels
web 2.0 funding
wanna b a vc
backup
virtual co.
dublin EVCC
compare the amts IRL
EU grant search
summary/logos web2.0
killer startups
WIT clients IRL
4 sale
irl waterford barcamp
move 2 consumer
insight on need in IRL
ibm dublin vc centre
Belfast equity talk
twitter spoof
EI Web 2.0 apr 06
NI enterprise awards
interruptions hurt
post 2 web input
investors irl?
ditto

Lal

More stuff 2 look at

2007-04-29T00:55:00.000-06:00

Yep a follow on from here and lots more R&D 2 do.

All interesting in case u're bored!

http://saunderslog.com/2007/03/02/strutting-their-stuff-at-the-etel-mashup-contest-and-gigaom-launchpad-events/
http://blogs.zdnet.com
http://www.slideshare.net/Cloud/dm110-week-6-video-podcasting/
http://www.slideshare.net/Cloud/social-networks/
http://sioc-project.org/
http://franticindustries.com/blog/2006/12/21/big-webos-roundup-10-online-operating-systems-reviewed/
http://joedrumgoole.com/blog/2006/11/03/virtual-storage-and-network-backup-review/
joel's book online http://www.destraynor.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/17-The-Best-Software-Writing-I.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/latimests/20051020/ts_latimes/iwilleatyourdollars
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_6/lynch/
http://www.burningdoor.com/askthewizard/
http://www.themanagersclub.com/
http://techgain.net/
http://www.mneylon.com/blog/
http://www.manojranaweera.com/startups/
http://daggle.com
http://www.startupping.com/
http://www.zoliblog.com/blog
http://www.howzatmedia.com/blog/
http://bouldertech.wordpress.com/
http://lookwest.ie/index.php/links.php
http://www.gumiyo.com/
http://www.peepel.com/
http://kayuda.com/
http://www.navdog.com/
http://eyejot.com/
http://barcamp.org/BarCampBoulderAttendees
http://barcamp.org/BarCampScotland
http://www.npost.com/interviewresults.jsp?searchCategory=interviews&searchBarTerms=&searchButton=Search
http://www.foundread.com/
http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie
http://www.dbspin.com/w/DERI_Social_Network_Webcamp
http://webcamp.org/SocialNetworks/
http://sioc-project.org/
http://the-accelerator.blogspot.com/
http://coloradostartups.com/2007/04/16/ask-the-vc-a-multi-sensory-experience/
http://navdog.com
http://www.venturevoice.com/
http://ventureblog.com/
http://thunder1.cudenver.edu/bard/index.php?action=council.council
http://www.burningdoor.com/askthewizard/
https://www.getfriday.com/
http://www.calacanis.com/
http://steverubel.typepad.com/about.html
http://www.voce.com/about.html
http://log.yeurope.net/
http://dandelife.com/story/24419
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=lloyddavis
http://pastillas.wordpress.com/ convert
http://www.thesmokesellers.com/ convert
http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/player.jsp?showId=6040
http://www.createandinnovate.net/
http://dbspin.com/w/Barcamp_Ireland_3
http://www.irishsilicon.com/
http://www.pixelcorps.com/overview.php
http://www.paperprototyping.com/what.html
http://www.ipbabble.com/
http://workingwithrails.com/contests/hackfest2007/winners
http://www.martinfowler.com/bliki/EnterpriseRails.html
http://bitworking.org/news/162/First-Atom-Publishing-Protocol-Interop-Notes

Lal

Latest bookmarks

2007-04-29T00:34:00.000-06:00

From the following list u can get an idea of what I've been browsing (and these are just the links that I liked and saved :)

I need 2 go finish that program that gives me the 'text' of what I've saved with each bookmark and tags so much easier 2 glance over/sort etc.. (and sync up 2 del.ico.us). The joys of Opera and its crappy searchability 4 bookmarks!

So its a combo, Ruby/Rails, Ireland, startups, Web 2.0, funding, semantic web, business best pratices, software development, mobile ...

http://magicmodels.rubyforge.org/
http://compositekeys.rubyforge.org/
http://rubini.us/forums/4/topics/12
http://www.tomw.net.au/2006/wd/smartphone.shtml
http://solsie.com/
http://emulator.mtld.mobi/emulator.php
http://www.skweezer.net/
http://mowser.com/about
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-deployment
http://drnicwilliams.com/2006/08/30/foreign-tourists-to-your-websites-part-2/
http://drnicwilliams.com/2006/09/03/exporting-netvibes-bookmarks-to-delicious/
http://drnicwilliams.com/2006/09/04/trick-natural-language-dsl/
http://www.scribestudio.com/
http://activereload.net/blog
http://lighthouseapp.com/
http://drnicwilliams.com/2007/04/12/magic-multi-connections-a-facility-in-rails-to-talk-to-more-than-one-database-at-a-time/
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2006/08/10/fed-up-with-rails-fixtures-part-one
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2006/09/01/mocha-quickstart
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2006/09/11/the-difference-between-mocks-and-stubs
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2006/09/16/ruby-stubbing-techniques
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2006/09/17/rails-acceptance-testing-with-selenium-rc
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2006/10/11/developer-tests-and-double-entry-book-keeping
http://cheat.errtheblog.com/s/mocha/
http://piston.rubyforge.org/
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2006/12/23/fixtures-mock-objects-or-in-memory-activerecord-objects
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2006/12/23/stub-queries-and-expect-commands
http://www.jmock.org/yoga.html
http://roundcube.net/
http://blog.testingrails.com/2006/11/19/super-simple-stubs
http://blog.testingrails.com/2006/9/4/running-tests-on-deploy-with-capistrano
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2007/04/05/cruisecontrol-rb-for-mocha
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2007/04/25/escape-from-the-enterprise-london-rails-jobs
http://glu.ttono.us/articles/2006/06/23/capistrano-mike-clark
http://glu.ttono.us/articles/2006/06/23/stefen-kaes-optimizing-rails
http://glu.ttono.us/articles/2006/06/24/ezra-deployment-tales-from-the-front
http://glu.ttono.us/articles/2006/06/24/glen-vanderburg-testing-migrations
http://glu.ttono.us/articles/2006/06/24/mike-clark-testing-rails-apps
http://glu.ttono.us/articles/2006/08/07/why-fixtures-suck-and-how-we-can-fix-them
http://glu.ttono.us/articles/2006/08/30/guide-things-you-shouldnt-be-doing-in-rails
http://blog.floehopper.org/articles/2006/09/01/injecting-mocks-the-mocha-way
http://fluxiom.com/
http://rightcart.com/
http://glu.ttono.us/
http://jroller.com/page/obie?entry=semantic_enterprise_architecture
http://jroller.com/page/obie?entry=google_maps_cockup
http://jroller.com/page/obie?entry=pause_execution_using_gets
http://jroller.com/page/obie?entry=poor_man_s_breakpoint
http://jroller.com/page/obie?entry=sortable_activerecord_models
http://jroller.com/page/obie?entry=conditional_association_loading_trick
http://www.streeteasy.com/
http://jroller.com/page/obie?entry=seo_optimization_of_urls_in
http://rubyosa.rubyforge.org/
http://mikenaberezny.com/
http://mikenaberezny.com/archives/70
http://maintainable.com/articles/rails_logging_tips
http://maintainable.com/articles/dry_up_testing_with_autotest
http://mikenaberezny.com/talks/zendcon05/setting_up_php.pdf
http://mikenaberezny.com/talks/dcphp06/getting_started_with_zend_framework.pdf
http://mikenaberezny.com/talks/zendcon06/php_development_best_practices.pdf
http://nubyonrails.topfunky.com/articles/2006/12/18/dynamic-graphics-with-rails-1-2
http://mikenaberezny.com/archives/55
http://dizzy.co.uk/cheatsheets/capistrano.pdf
http://blog.touristr.com/articles/2007/02/01/irish-tips-to-launch-your-web-app-with-little-cash
http://chadfowler.com/2007/3/26/how-to-run-a-small-conference
http://weblog.rubyonrails.com/2006/3/31/freeze-is-cool-so-freeze-for-goodness-sake
http://railsexpress.de/blog/
http://railsexpress.de/blog/articles/2005/11/09/accelerate-your-dates
http://railsexpress.de/blog/articles/2005/11/22/speeding-up-the-creation-of-new-sessions
http://railsbench.rubyforge.org/
http://railsexpress.de/blog/articles/2005/12/19/roll-your-own-sql-session-store
http://www.softwareverify.com/ruby/profiler/index.html
http://railsexpress.de/blog/articles/2006/05/29/simpler-piggy-backing
http://www.infoq.com/articles/Rails-Performance
http://geokit.rubyforge.org/
http://octopod.info/
http://octopod.info/2006/8/19/managing-multiple-local-mephisto-repos-with-svk
http://new.hostireland.com/index.htm
http://creativeteachingpodcasts.blogspot.com/
http://www.iopus.com/imacros/
http://www.clickatell.com/
http://www.greendimes.com/
http://unclutterer.com/
http://www.sharpreader.com/
http://www.bre.ie/service.jsp?id=872
http://develooper.com/talks/
http://code.google.com/p/mysql-master-master/
http://capttofu.livejournal.com/1752.html
http://sourceforge.net/projects/innotop
https://sourceforge.net/projects/mycat/
http://www.danieldura.com/code/twittercamp/
http://www.fastforwardireland.com/
http://www.enovation.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=65
http://www.iflow.ie/index.asp
http://www.livingland.ie/index.php
http://www.eac.ie/
http://www.topology.org/linux/fwsuse.html#suse91
http://test1.walkingorbit.com:80/realtime/login.jsp
http://www.linux-mag.com/id/3015/
http://www.linux-mag.com/id/3016/
http://www.pabcas.com/
http://rubyireland.com/
http://sioc-project.org/wordpress
http://groups.google.com/group/ruby_ireland
http://www.thinkpatchwork.com/
http://www.thehealthtechblog.com/
http://www.keyes.ie/johnnyk/
http://www.exoftware.com/
http://www.electricmill.com/
http://www.transpoco.com/
http://www.investnet.ie/index.htm
http://www.sasaska.net/cromalim/index.html
http://pc.dev.mobi/
http://www.hawhaw.de/
http://mozes.com/
http://peepcode.com/
http://blog.softtechvc.com/2006/04/web2ireland_web.html
http://1timetracking.com/
http://goalsuccess.typepad.com/goaltips/2006/05/new_taskblaze_p.html
http://opengarden.org/community/blog/open_web_initiative
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=361403
http://opengarden.org/dekiwiki
http://derekorgan.com/
http://nubyonrails.com/
http://opengarden.org/dream
http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/atompub-charter.html
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview
http://www.flashcomguru.com/index.cfm
http://www.advancingcolorado.com/
http://www.standingmobile.com/
http://www.jaanuskase.com/en/2007/04/a_friendly_form_to_enter_credi.html
http://www.jaanuskase.com/en/
http://www.screencast.com/
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/06/22/1692104.htm
http://www.ucd.ie/nova/services/support.htm
http://www.sfi.ie/content/content.asp?section_id=464&language_id=1
http://www.sfi.ie/content/content.asp?section_id=189&language_id=1
http://www.ucd.ie/nova/
http://www.conorpower.com/
http://www.webtrade.ie/
http://www.ubisense.net/
http://www.adaptiveinformation.ie/?tabindex=5&tabid=51
http://captsolo.net/info/
http://blog.flinter.com/articles/category/people
http://rnalexander.wordpress.com/
http://sioc-project.org/
http://www.trilcentre.org/
http://www.opmlmanager.com/
http://www.dbspin.com/about/
http://www.helpyourself.ie/2007/02/08/10-must-have-internet-marketing-tools-for-successful-business-online/
http://www.helpyourself.ie/
http://kceb.ie/fa.shtml
http://www.itsligo.ie/
http://www.designinnovation.ie/index.html
http://kceb.ie/
http://www.bnsrd.com/
http://www.bluebloc.com/flash.htm
http://blog.creativity.ie/
http://webcamp.org/SocialNetworks/
http://www.dbspin.com/w/DERI_Social_Network_Webcamp
http://blogs.iona.com/ohurley/
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/
http://www.adnet.ie/
http://qatano.com/
http://www.500hats.com/sys-tmpl/door/
http://www.patrickoconnor.ie/blog/
http://www.slideshare.net/DERIGalway/gabriela-avram-where-is-the-knowledge-reflections-on-social-networking-in-corporate-environments
http://www.slideshare.net/DERIGalway/mark-tarbatt-successful-campaigns-on-the-bebo-social-network/
http://mobius.inria.fr/twiki/bin/view/Mobius
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~necula/
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~petel/papers/pcc/pcc.html
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~necula/
http://www.inao.blogspot.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/DERIGalway/valdis-krebs-social-network-analysis-19872007/
http://srg.cs.ucd.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=13&Itemid=28
http://www.socialmeter.com/
http://www.networkweaving.com/blog/
http://www.orgnet.com/
http://www.pixelbeat.org/scripts/bashfeed
http://www.edge.org/
http://www.xlml.com/aehso/about
http://www.martinkeane.co.uk/
http://www.pixelbeat.org/speeds.html
http://www.pixelbeat.org/docs/google_stars.html
http://www.pixelbeat.org/docs/screen/
http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/04/web_20_and_databases_part_1_se.html
http://www.scribd.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/inao/453704968/
http://www.getthecraic.com/index.php
http://www.lincor.com/
http://www.pixelbeat.org/
http://www.directski.com/
http://www.roomexhotels.com/
http://erc.europa.eu/
http://groups.google.com/group/erc-ireland
http://www.macalla.com/products/products.html
http://blog.flinter.com/pages/about
http://www.aidanosullivan.info/
http://www.vectorfunk.com/
http://deeden.co.uk/
http://www.carisenda.com/
http://www.technofutures.ie/
http://www.booknow365.com/
http://www.camara.ie/drupal-4.7.3/node/1
http://www.remotecontrolmail.com/contact-us
http://www.adammaguire.com/about/
http://www.remotecontrolmail.com/pricing.php
http://daviddoranmedia.com/blog/
http://liamdaly.com/
http://daviddoranmedia.com/projects/pagecheck
http://www.davidbehan.com/blog/?p=26
http://www.davejeffery.com/about/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/04/20/35-designers-x-5-questions/
http://www.xtended-blog.com/
http://www.keithmander.com/index.html
http://fintanp.wordpress.com/
http://jessicawhitephoto.com/
http://www.eoghanmccabe.com/naive-by-design/irish-web-app-development-a-team-to-the-rescue/
http://www.davidbehan.com/v1/
http://waveadeadchicken.wordpress.com/about/
http://www.mproperty.ie/
http://europeanirish.com/blog/
http://europeanirish.com/
http://www.irishsilicon.com/
http://www.techno-culture.com/
http://www.cearta.ie/about/
http://www.lexferenda.com/
http://thinedgeofthewedge.blogspot.com/2007/04/mission-impossible-getting-legitimate.html
http://colin.netech.ie/
http://www.textmarks.com/
http://www.downloadmusic.ie/
http://www.myus.com/
http://www.mailforwarding.biz/index.asp
http://www.bahflafburb.com/
http://www.italliancegroup.com/services/competency/
http://taggingtech.typepad.com/blog/
http://www.mindjet.com/uk/products/mindmanager_viewers/index.php?s=3
http://www.fring.com/about/what_is/
http://www.sourcewire.com/index.php
http://www.seewhy.com/content/view/71/140/
http://denyhosts.sourceforge.net/
http://www.fail2ban.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
http://connectmeanywhere.com/learnmore.php
http://www.nbia.org/
http://www.otef.org/
http://www.myemma.com/whatemmadoes.php
http://rubyonrailsworkshops.com/
http://roughunderbelly.com/user/login
http://blog.johnnypez.com/about/
http://www.modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk/
http://veen.com/artsci/veen-artsci.pdf
http://www.dezwozhere.com/links.html
http://www.officevision.com/pub/p5ee/
http://blog.solalta.com/
http://www.onsight-media.com/blog1/
http://rnaventures.blogspot.com/
http://thunder1.cudenver.edu/bard/index.php?action=programs.vf
http://www.businesseye.co.uk/
http://mpulsemedia.com/wapspace.php
http://www.businesseye.co.uk/stories/?issueid=15&storyid=56
http://www.ex.ac.uk/sobeinternal/Staff/GCMurray/GCMurray.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2346.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/0565.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/1307.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/1717.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2100.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2180.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2506.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2536.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2693.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2759.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2851.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2905.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2978.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3320.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3348.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3437.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3514.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3865.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3866.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4704.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4780.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4948.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5089.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5122.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5203.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5480.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5543.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5506.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2201.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5480.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/topics/entrepreneurship.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/
http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm
http://www.u-blox.com/news/lea_4r.html
http://72.19.178.110:5580/realtime/login.jsp
http://www.worldlabel.com/Pages/openoffice-template.htm
http://www.goteamspeak.com/
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/822775.html
http://blog.stealthmode.com/
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/04/meetings.html
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid8_gci1094882,00.html
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/?url=/library/en-us/dnpag2/html/VB6ToVBNetUpgrade.asp
http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/Migration.asp
http://www.ftponline.com/vsm/2003_06/online/meader/
http://www.devx.com/vb/article/16822
http://www.dnjonline.com/article.aspx?ID=mar05_vbvscsharp
http://dnjonline.com/article.aspx?ID=jan04_vb6tovbnet
http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/VB.Net/Migrating-to-Visual-Basic.NET-from-Visual-Basic-6/1/
http://www.panopticoncentral.net/archive/2005/03/10/7951.aspx
http://searchvb.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid8_gci893966,00.html
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=A656371A-B5C0-4D40-B015-0CAA02634FAE&displaylang=en
http://www.howtoforge.com/using_and_customizing_openoffice_templates
http://www.devx.com/codemag/Article/33654
http://www.codeproject.com/vbscript/AsyncSample.asp
http://www.pclinuxos.com/news.php
http://www.howtoforge.com/xen_tools_xen_shell_argo
http://www.howtoforge.com/converting_rpm_to_deb_with_alien
http://www.howtoforge.com/knowledge_tree_dms
http://www.mockriot.com/
http://www.microsoft.com/Business/Startups/Default.aspx

Lal

Latest comments

2007-04-29T00:29:00.000-06:00

Been inactive for a little bit but busy that last day or so.

These are a list of comments I've dropped the last few days (I really need 2 get this done right so its automatically listed!)
Previous entries were at here

http://mealticket.wordpress.com/2007/03/11/the-lessons-ive-learnt-during-y-combinator/#comment-711
http://www.emomentum.co.uk/blog/uk-startups/thoughts-on-london-fowa-panel-discussion-european-start-up-culture/#comments
http://www.web2ireland.org/2007/03/16/irish-startup-scene-some-thoughts/#comment-12566
http://eirepreneur.blogs.com/eirepreneur/2007/04/a_bit_like_snap.html#comment-67217612
http://qbc.forpodsake.com/blog/2007/03/22/corporate-podcasting-summit-europe-day-2-the-authentic-human-voice/#comment-2
http://www.quirkeye.com/2006/07/07/google-launches-kitchen-sink/
http://www.mediangler.com/2007/04/16/bar-camp-dublin-needs-to-focus-on-content/
http://joedrumgoole.com/blog/2007/04/15/perfect-storm-or-soft-landing/#comment-25738
http://www.mediangler.com/2007/03/21/newspapers-are-hot/
http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2007/04/if_you_hate_liv.html#comments
http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2007/04/kryptonite_star.html#comment-67239444
http://gigaom.com/2007/04/21/is-uk-mobile-cartel-under-threat/#comment-932476
http://gigaom.com/2007/04/21
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/tommorris/learningPerlConvinceMeNotTo70491/?a=26513
/what-apps-are-in-googles-future/#comment-932835
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/tommorris/futureOfConferences51499/?a=47789
http://www.ripoffrepublic.com/2005/08/667000-irish-people-cant-be-wrong-o.html
http://ricksegal.typepad.com/pmv/2007/04/fun_tech_coming.html#comment-67248496
http://blog.broadbandmechanics.com/2007/04/ello-london#comment-240204
http://coloradostartups.com/2007/04/12/on-angels-wings/#comment-1145
http://creditcardvc.com/2007/the-pitch-for-angel-investment/#comments
http://mockriot.com/2007/04/18/microsoft-should-buy-zoho/#comment-1277
http://mockriot.com/2007/03/29/how-to-know-youve-outgrown-the-blog/#comment-1284
http://www.mulley.net/2007/04/24/coworking-using-the-fon-model/#comments
http://www.mulley.net/2007/04/23/blogfire-of-the-vanities/
http://www.davejeffery.com/journal/developing-inspiration-part-1?commented=1#cpreview
http://blog.flinter.com/articles/2006/11/10/european-research-council#comments
http://blog.creativity.ie/2007/03/26/create-and-innovate-event-april-in-dublin/#comment-403
http://www.helpyourself.ie/2007/02/21/helpyourself-comes-to-carlow/#respond
http://blog.flinter.com/articles/2007/04/18/lero-is-launched#comments
http://blog.flinter.com/articles/2006/05/19/talk-in-tcd#comments
http://www.vecosys.com/2007/04/23/google-is-building-gailstorm-using-gdata-and-gdrive/
http://www.vecosys.com/2007/04/25/vc-20s-arent-too-busy-to-help/#respond
http://derekorgan.com/raising-venture-capital-for-web-20/business/31
http://paulmwatson.com/journal/2007/04/18/rails-not-respecting-primary-keys/
http://paulmwatson.com/journal/2007/04/15/4x4-advertising/
http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/03/fcommerce.html#comment-67754376
http://blog.touristr.com/articles/2007/02/23/european-start-up-culture-panel#comments
http://blog.touristr.com/articles/2007/02/06/europe-vs-us-the-challenge#comments
http://drnicwilliams.com/2007/03/22/meta-magic-in-ruby-presentation/#comments
http://blog.ilike.com/engineering/2007/02/ilike_scaling_r.html#comment-67870012
http://blog.ilike.com/engineering/2007/02/mongrelrails_au.html#comment-67870308
http://www.everythingissales.com/blog/experience-knowledge-more-certainty-in-sales/#comment-2559
http://blog.decaresystems.ie/index.php/2007/04/24/database-indexing-101-part-1/#comments
http://emad.fano.us/blog/?p=531
http://emad.fano.us/blog/?p=527
http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/archives/2007/04/taking-ajax-offline-podcast.html#comments
http://blog.decaresystems.ie/index.php/2007/04/04/jacobson-gives-us-the-opportunity-to-grow-up/#more-102
http://www.everythingissales.com/blog/competitor-or-ideal-partner/#comment-2591
http://www.everythingissales.com/blog/what-is-a-business-plan/#comment-2592
http://www.everythingissales.com/blog/on-the-trail-getting-to-use-sugarcrm-ms-outlook-synch-help-needed/#comment-2593

Lal

Finding Money for your Start-up - "Irish style"

2007-03-31T21:24:00.000-06:00

These are notes from watching (and trying 2 listen) to "Finding Money for your Start-up" from BarCamp South East (Waterford) Ireland 20 Jan 2007. This was held at ArcLabs Research and Innovation Centre at the new WIT West Campus at Carriganore just outside Waterford City and organised by Keith Bohanna and Tom Corcoran

There were several other presentations and talks (see below) but the main interest for this topic was-

Panelists were:

Louise Grubb is the CEO of Nutri-Science, a nutraceutical company based in Waterford. In business since 1999 they have raised funding from a variety of sources including County Enterprise Boards, Enterprise Ireland (€150k) and BES (€250k). They are previous participants on the SEEPP program.
Mick Cahillane is an active private investor and may be able to help participants understand the way in which Angel Investors make their decisions.
DELETED Evert Bopp who is in the process of fundraising for his WiMax venture --- DELETED
Tom Doherty of Lecterna instead
Brian Caufield of Trinity Venture Capital
Bernie Goldbach -very active blogger and journalist as well as teaching at the Tipperary Institute of Technology

Notes from video :

Brian Caufield:
like most VC's they cannot fund very early (less money) startups due 2 the way funds work. They are most interested in market opportunity. U need 2 have sussed that out and thought thru the process, what the problem is u're solving, how u're going 2 solve it, why u're better than the competition, why the customer will buy it from u, how u're going 2 sell.
Get advice from whoever u can. The more feedback u can get the better.
Don't tell me u have no competition - its like shooting yourself. Either u havn't done your research or maybe there is no market 4 what u're trying 2 do.
Get a customer and better still one thats given u a purchase order - then his very interested. Previous experience can help but in priority order 1) market potential 2) people on board 3) technology (and thats way down the list)
They've only once funding (cayala?) a startup with 2 guys and idea and a powerpoint.
For funding help go talk with ISA, accounting firms (corporate finance division) - not so much for the money but more for referrals to their private investors if they like u're idea, ditto for lawyers that are in the space (again connections).
Very little money is available for early on startups and more so because of the Irish property market and won't get money to build a technology foundation. Bootstrapping is back in fashion but time can be an issue regd. opportunity (in case another funded startup will get ahead of u).
Its better 2 build a team around u that can fill in (your) gaps and that team (and individual functions) can change over time. You will have to give equity share for those willing 2 put in that effort (where Evert disagrees) and get that "good" team.
Don't take money from employees if they cannot afford 2 lose it. Its rare 2 have investors as FT employees.

Louise Grubb:
don't go looking 4 money at an early stage. Its very time consuming and unless u have something 2 show its next 2 impossible. Spend the time on developing your product and trying 2 get a customer. Self-fund yourself and maybe go back 2 your FT day job and work the startup on the side.

Get as much advice and mentoring as u can. There is plenty available from Enterprise Ireland and others - u just have to ask and your all the connections u can. When showing people (bank manager etc.) your idea and work ensure u have done your homework and have it well thought out (hence the advisors etc..)
the further out u can delay the funding aspects the better position u r in, the better your product is, the better tested it is

Mick Cahillane:
can now get up to EU2M thru BES scheme; a good business plan can raise this funding; beware of high initial charges (up 2 10%). Friends & family can be good 4 fund raising. Also approach different banks/building societies for spreading the (their) risk and even if they don't take up with u they can recommend some private investors 2 talk with. Starting small is important. Believing in people and their commitment (from investor side).
Five areas/criteria for success (from 'best pratices from 100+ US entrepreneurs)
1) integrity
2) self discipline
3) own personal skills
4) family support
5) hard work

Bernie Goldbach: (came in late due to other talk he was giving)
Was involved with a media startup outa Shannon (failed). He indicated they should have gone after "pivot" leads? with the other startups that were in the same location as there was money available (lots!). He stressed that u need 2 have someone that is good on the phone and is willing 2 chase down invoices that are owed and get the money in the door. Don't screw up on cashflow.
Banks love looking at hard financial data (spreadsheets) so make sure u know what the figures say.

Tom Doherty:
had some interesting thoughts regd. ownership of company (clashed with Brian) and raising money.

He ran two other startups before and sold both (I think) - both of those were self funded and no outside investment. His current startup has some funding.

He indicated that the team should be employees and not investors and both should be kept seperate.
Its better to hire the expertise when needed and keep control is important.
Are your customers your investors (as opposed 2 getting outside funding/investment).
U need 2 have >=1 customer before u can go get funding.
A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tommorow.
U will sell your product if u're really committed. Get out and sell.
Get advice. He indicated EI can be "Ei Ei No" and they keep giving u advice, which u forget and go back doing what u were doing. U go back again and they "Ei Ei No" and give u the same advice. Eventually if u listen and u go get that first customer the penny drops and they then hymm "Ei Ei Yes"!

some presentations:
Ken Maguire had a summary of the overall events here
Anrian Smith also had a summary here. He also has a graphic from the “Building a Web Services company” from
James Cooley has a couple of notes here
Conor O'Neill posted up a video of Donncha O Caoimh Wordpress talk here. Some interesting discussion on working for a US company outa IRL and dealing with Solo in Soho, time/cultural differences etc..

The agenda:

Bernie Goldbach from Podcasting in Ireland and Conn O Muineachain from Edgecast Media will both be giving 20-minutes talks under the heading of "Podcamp Waterford". more detail on Conn's talk
James Corbett : How blogging can win you a position on an Advisory Board more detail
Sabrina Dent : Second Life and Virtual World opportunities (per James)
Rory Fitzpatrick : Satellite broadband for the roving and the rural
Brian Caulfield : Accessing Venture Capital Funding
Paul Watson: Unconventional Rails. Rails outside of its comfort zone. more detail
Haydn Shaughnessy : A Discerning Future for Content
Elly Parker : Dealing with Death & Divorce in today's Digital World more detail
Aidan Finn : Idiots guide to Ruby on Rails, Django, Turbogears and other assorted newfangled frameworks. more detail
TJ McIntyre: "Who owns software? What developers and clients need to know before the lawyers get involved." more detail
James Cooley Eclipse for Java and other languages. more detail
Laurence Veale: NEW! Personas and how they fit into the user centred design process
Alan Burke: The Benefits of a CMS for a Club Website / A year with Drupal
Brian Cleland: OpenIreland & Open Source Software in Ireland
Damien Mulley: Pissing People Off: Experiences from running a lobby group
Donncha O Caoimh: WordPress.com - running the biggest wpmu site in the world
Jan Blanchard: How Not To raise funding to launch your Web App.
Panel Discussion - "Building a Web Services company" Joe Drumgoole, Conor O'Neill, Walter Higgins, Helene Haughney and Jan Blanchard
. Panel Discussion - "Finding money for your start-up" Louise Grubb, Mick Cahillane, private investor, Brian Caulfield, Tom Doherty,Bernie Goldbach from Podcasting in Ireland ; more detail
Justin Mason: A quick intro to Amazon's S3 and EC2 web services

Long list of attendees:

Jason Roe
Laurence Veale
Walter Higgins
James Corbett
Conor O'Neill
Michele Neylon
Bernie Goldbach
Ken McGuire
James Cooley
Aidan Finn
John Butler
Lee McGuigan
Will Letters
Dennis Deery
Tom Atkins
Paul Watson
James Mernin
Brian Caulfield
Conn O Muineachain
Haydn Shaughnessy
Elly Parker
John Ronan
Brian fives
Sabrina Dent
Rory Fitzpatrick
Richard Delevan
Chris Gallagher
Ferghal Reidy
TJ McIntyre
Brian Cleland
Paul Power
Tom Doherty
Alan Burke
Martin Whelan
Justin MacCarthy
Donncha O Caoimh
Siasy Collins
Ray Griffin
Keith Gaughan
Kim Leahy
Cathal O' Riordan
Colm Dunphy
Niall Doherty
Brian White
David Murphy
Kieran Gleeson
Paul McAvinchey
Andrew McAvinchey
Cormac Moylan
Chris Chedgey
Barry Downes
Damien Mulley
Joe Drumgoole
Evert Bopp
Jan Blanchard
John Handelaar
George Pratt
Miguel Ponce de Leon
Eoghan McCabe
John McCormac
Paul Brennan
Laura Czajkowski
Helene Haughney
Roger Galligan
Ken Guest
Donal Mc Carthy
Grainne O Connell
Adrian Smith
Fiona Haughney
Paul O'Leary
Dominic Maguire
Stephen Burke
Zac Burke
Mike Bennett
Stephen Power
Donal Lehane
Bill O'Gorman
Justin Mason
Ray Leahy
Stéphane Corlosquet
Cian Foley
Paul Wright
Michael Shanahan
Brendan Lyng
Jamie Good
Dave Hearne

PS The audio (video wasn't bad) needs 2b a lot better 4 non attendee's 2 follow this. At a min. the speakers need 2 have mic either collectively or individually. Having the mic way at the back (inbuilt with video I presume) just doesn't work

Oh and I wasn't there-- bummer.

Lal

Irish sites and blogs have "My Brain Fried!"

2007-03-24T23:46:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I read and subscribe to some of the Irish blogs and visit the web sites now and again.

So I decided (as part of latest quest) to go check them all out. I "think" I've visited nearly any blog or web site connected with startups, funding, technology etc...
and my brain is fried!

I'll left several comments on some blogs and been corresponding with a few people via email/Skype. Some of the sites had 'commenting' issues and a few required subscription (duh!)

For those that subscribe to "Irish have the gift of the gab" there were a few sites that just went on and on and on... (as in they've been blogging 4 quite awhile and write frequently) e.g. Damien, Donncha and Pat ...

Noticed also that several (mostly woman?) don't indicate their name and prefer to live behind their 'blog handle'. Most annoying as takes some time 2 track down (even if its just for my bookmarks - which by the way need a complete overhaul at this stage)

I also have a habit of going back thru all the blog entries so can be time consuming but often find some interested tidbits especially regd. previous work etc..

So here are a list of the comments I've dropped (well most of them):

http://blog.touristr.com/articles/2007/02/06/europe-vs-us-the-challenge#comments
http://eirepreneur.blogs.com/eirepreneur/2007/02/limerick_openco.html#comment-61507118
http://www.web2ireland.org/?p=293
http://www.web2ireland.org/2007/03/15/fancy-a-trip-to-sunny-colorado-and-go-play-at-getting-your-startup-going/#comment-8985
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/segala_web_trust.php
http://eirepreneur.blogs.com/eirepreneur/2007/03/socail_networki.html#comment-63994414
http://www.eire.com/2007/03/14/the-irish-times-credit-card-surcharges-by-retailers-set-to-be-outlawed/#comment-104532
http://www.cearta.ie/2007/02/data-rentention-us-style/#comment-2285
http://www.eire.com/2007/02/17/tesco-loyalty-cards-privacy-what-does-it-all-mean/#comment-104534
http://www.eire.com/2007/02/04/pdfs-are-evil-lazy-slothful-and-sinful/#comment-104538
http://www.tomrafteryit.net/any-questions-for-martin-varsavsky/#comment-102569
http://www.tomrafteryit.net/fon-review/#comment-102571
http://www.redcardinal.ie/webdev/21-10-2006/will-scrybe-be-the-future-of-online-organisers/#comment-5562
http://www.redcardinal.ie/webdev/26-07-2006/checking-website-layout-in-multiple-browsers/#comment-5563
http://www.clearcommunication.ie/2006/07/31/how-to-give-a-great-presentation/
http://www.mneylon.com/blog/archives/2007/03/10/openwrt/#comment-51105
http://www.aidanf.net/comment/reply/41
http://www.niall-larkin.com/blog/?p=8#comment-92
http://blog.moybella.net/2007/03/22/googlebot-useragent-good-for-something/#comment-368
http://blog.moybella.net/2007/03/11/garda-website-unusable-under-linux-and-anything-other-than-ie/#comment-369
http://collison.ie/blog/?p=7#comment-135
http://blog.infurious.com/2007/03/22/to-listen-stop-talking/#comment-4796
http://blog.infurious.com/2007/01/24/obstacles-in-your-way/#comment-4797
http://blog.infurious.com/2007/01/14/business-ethics-and-whiner-sp-on-the-iphone/#comment-4798
http://blog.infurious.com/2006/11/23/228/#comment-4800
http://blog.infurious.com/2006/08/20/monetising/#comment-4801
http://blog.infurious.com/2006/06/08/hitting-the-target-aka-quotweb-20-whats-thatquot/#comment-4803
http://blog.infurious.com/2006/06/06/google-calendar-30-boxes-yahoo/#comment-4804
http://blog.infurious.com/2006/03/26/you-can-have-3-of-your-own-company-final-offer/#comment-4807
http://blog.infurious.com/2006/01/11/are-you-sure-you-want-to-be-a-software-business-owner/#comment-4816
http://www.mulley.net/2005/12/10/unconferencing-in-ireland-more-of-this-sort-of-thing/
http://www.mulley.net/2007/03/21/school-vouchers-for-business-thoughts/
http://www.mulley.net/2007/03/10/to-those-who-try-to-pimp-me-their-wares/
http://chrishornat.blogspot.com/2007/02/global-entrepreneurs-from-ireland.html
http://blog.nooked.com/nooked_is_a_redherring_100_europe_winner/#comment-4432
http://chrishornat.blogspot.com/2007/03/lean-software-services.html
+ most of his other posts
http://malcolmsparks.com/archives/63
http://blogrium.com/2007/02/19/open-source-web-services/#respond
http://malcolmsparks.com/archives/60
http://taggingtech.typepad.com/blog/2007/03/eircom_announce.html#comment-64277024
http://www.openireland.com/information/blogs/archive/2007/03/22/open-office-too-good-to-be-true/discussion_reply_form
http://taggingtech.typepad.com/blog/2007/02/can_anyone_affo.html#comment-64279420
http://www.edbyrnehq.com/blog/galway-geek-dinner-quick-review/#comments
http://www.edbyrnehq.com/blog/self-fund-or-venture-capital/#respond
http://taggingtech.typepad.com/blog/2007/01/leading_financi.html#comment-64281148
http://taggingtech.typepad.com/blog/2006/05/technology_less.html#comment-64281830
http://taggingtech.typepad.com/blog/2005/10/politican_gives.html#comment-64282082
http://vehicle-tracking.blogspot.com/2007/02/blackberry-with-built-in-gps.html
http://www.yourtechstuff.com/techwire/2007/01/oi_microsoft_wh.html#comment
http://thinedgeofthewedge.blogspot.com/2005/05/reach-public-services-broker-goes-live.html

I'll be writing the 'current state of affairs' or something like that in coming days (after I get some zzzz...)

Lal

Come to sunny Colorado and get kick STARTED

2007-03-14T22:05:00.000-06:00

TechStars has created an opportunity to get your startup or idea KICKED off the STARTING LINE. For 4 months (mid May-mid Aug) you'll be getting your "business" GOING....

bridge the startup funding gap by providing just enough capital to get your idea off the ground in exchange for 5% of the initial equity in your company. This is a non-controlling interest and comes with no voting rights. We won't ask for a board seat or for any uncommon investor rights. You will still run the show.
advice and mentoring from successful startup guys
get great advice on your product and strategy
connections to potential partners (angels, VC's) and customers
pitch during an investor event that we organize
only take ten companies
you get $5,000 per founder, up to 3 founders. So at most, you'll get $15,000 for the summer
about three times per week, we will organize an informal dinner and invite our mentors to speak on a relevant topic
you can come and go as you see fit. But we do require that you be primarily based here (Boulder, Colorado) during the summer
we don't provide a place to live
we will provide meeting and casual office space with Internet access. This space will be available on a first come, first served basis. We will have space available for the founders to meet, work, and play. We'll fill the space with couches, tables, and some dodgeball equipment.
free legal services to the selected companies
free servers, hosting, and bandwidth
application deadline for Summer 2007 is March 31, 2007

Mentors include:

Jared Polis Chairman, The Jared Polis Foundation and Founder of BlueMountain.com and ProFlowers.com
David Cohen Executive Director, TechStars
David Brown Founder and President, ZOLL Data Systems
Kimbal Musk Founder and CEO, Medium and angel investor, Paypal, X.com
Alex King Independent Developer and Founder of FeedLounge and Contributing Developer, WordPress
Mark Sawyer Entrepreneur in Residence, Borealis Ventures
Chris Scoggins Principal, Sequel Venture Partners
Jason Mendelson Managing Director, Foundry Group
Greg Reinacker Founder and CTO, Newsgator Technologies
Todd Vernon CEO, Lijit.com and founder of Raindance Communications
Terry Gold Founder, CEO, and President, Gold Systems
Gary Held President, CTEK
Paul Jerde Director, University of Colorado Leeds School of Business and The Deming Center
Dave Taylor Serial entrepreneur, author, and consultant
Frank Moyes Entrepreneurship Scholar in Residence, University of Colorado
Andrew Currie Founder of EMail Publishing, Inc., and Cyberspace Development, Inc.
Brad Schell Founder & Board Member, Sketchup (acquired by Google)
Brian Makare Founder & CTO, Email Publishing / MessageMedia
Michael Platt Partner, Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP
Paul Berberian Founder and CEO, Raindance Communications, and Founder Market Force Information
Jim Pollock Executive Director, CTEK Boulder Venture Center
Darren Crystal Founder and CTO, Photobucket.com
Wendy Lea Chairman, Newmerix and SVP Siebel Consulting
Niel Robertson Founder and CTO, Newmerix
Lucy Sanders Founder and CEO, National Center for Women & Information Technology
Rajat Bhargava Chairman and CEO, StillSecure
Jim Lejeal Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Oxlo Systems
Sue Kunz Founder and CEO, Solidware Technologies
Ryan Martens Founder and CTO, Rally Software Development
Tim Miller CEO, Rally Software Development
Ben Casnocha 18 Year-old Entrepreneur & Writer
Seth Levine Managing Director, Foundry Group
Don Loeb VP of Partner Services, FeedBurner
Dan King Founder and CEO, ReadyTalk
Lisa Rutherford Venture Partner, Vista Ventures

some of these have excellent blogs on startup life, challenges, success/failure, raising money (or not), failed ideas etc...

this is what the May-Aug months look like ..

Date Session Speakers

05/21/07 TechStars Kickoff -David Cohen

05/22/07 Talk it up: What we're building -"founders only"

05/24/07 How to start a startup -Brad Feld, Jared Polis, Brad Schell

05/28/07 Early stage: Breaking even -TBD

05/29/07 Tech session: Technologies platform debate (Java/PHP/Rails/.NET) -founders only

05/31/07 Know your market (go to market strategy, market validation, etc) -Wendy Lea

06/04/07 Early stage: Find your calling (visit Webroot, Inc.) -David Moll

06/05/072Tech session: My coolest tools -founders only

06/07/07 Starting off right (legal & financial issues) Paul Jerde, Gary Held, Michael Platt

06/12/07 Transparency - blog or die?- Alex King, Don Loeb

06/14/07 Financing your company -Brad Feld, Gary Held, Brian Makare

06/18/07 Growth stage: Bootstrapping (visit ZOLL Data Systems) -David Brown

06/19/07 Tech Talk: My best tricks -founders only

06/21/07 Technology infrastructure- Todd Vernon, Greg Reinacker

06/21/07 People Power: Recruiting and timing your next hires- Terry Gold

06/25/07 Growth stage: Scaling the company (visit NewsGator) Brad Feld, Greg Reinacker

06/26/07 Show off night: 1 month demos- founders only

06/28/07 What makes angels want to invest? -Panel of CTEK Angels

07/02/07 Growth stage: Surviving Massive Adoption (PhotoBucket) -Darren Crystal

07/03/07 Independent thoughts- founders only

07/05/07 Working with early adopters -Alex King

07/12/07 Nailing your elevator pitch -Panel

07/19/07 Exit strategies -Panel of VC's

07/26/07 Pitching to investors -Panel of CTEK Angels

07/30/07 Success stage: The acquisition (Sketchup/Google)- Brad Schell, Brian Makare, Mark Sawyer

07/31/07 Show off night: 2 month demos -founders only

08/02/07 PR & Buzz: Crank the machine- Panel

08/07/07 Pitch Practice: Would you invest in this company? -founders only

08/09/07 Term sheets: what you need to know- Panel of VC's

08/16/07 TechStars: Goodbye, "now go kick some ass" party -David Cohen

Note that the dates are in US format MM/DD/YY

More news and blog info here
and FAQ here
from the blog ....

We expect to have somewhere around 100 investors present, and it's by invitation only. Our companies will get about 30 minutes each with this audience to show off their stuff and pitch their ideas (we'll help you prepare for that, don't worry).

The investors will consist of angel investors with strong reputations, as well as top local (Colorado) and coastal VCs. We already have commitments from VCs in Boston, Silicon Valley, etc. to attend. There will be no shortage of all-star investors to look at the companies emerging from TechStars at the end of the summer.

....

Get going only 2 weeks left and you could be the lucky one (or ten!)

Lal

Want some Honey? with or without a Pot?

2007-03-12T22:12:00.000-06:00

These guys have a good article on how to watch for hackers looking to break into yoru website, what techniques they use and how you can secure your system.

They offer open systems on the web with 'special' wrappers that allow them to watch their system getting hacked (and not let them get toooo far, I presume).
Some other good articles here from their other contributors on similiar stuff around "honeypotting"

Lal

Where ave I been?

2007-03-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

Just busy doing that work'n stuff.
Yikes several weeks and no postings - not that I've a shortage of things 2 write about.

Just in case u're bored - here's a list of things I'm gonna blog about (I keep a little short checklist)

vc stuff - http://waytooearly.firstround.com/

start a blog - http://www.troyangrignon.com/blog/Business

check commment I put on http://startup5.blogspot.com/2006/11/pulling-things-together.html

success startup http://blog.softtechvc.com/2006/02/tie_how_to_buil.html

funding http://blog.softtechvc.com/2006/03/why_startups_mu.html

f&F funding http://blog.softtechvc.com/2006/03/how_about_frien.html

fedex planes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzsXqawswPc

linux on mobile http://www.funambol.com/blog/capo/2006/11/mobile-linux-going-up-stack-with.html

funambol licence http://www.funambol.com/blog/capo/2006/09/hpl-version-10-is-here.html

intel web 2.0 http://news.com.com/Intel+unveils+Web+2.0+software+suite/2100-1012_3-6133294.html

http://www.suitetwo.com/

crowd/craig http://www.crowdspirit.org/blog/

note they have a backtrack at http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/12/2007_user_gener.html#comments

cto http://123suds.blogspot.com/2006/12/cto-patterns.html

http://silkcharm.blogspot.com/2006/12/job-350k-online-cto-new-business-unit.html

4 denver guys xbrl http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2006/11/16.html#a1563

nav http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2006/11/15.html#a1562

maskups http://blogs.zdnet.com/SAAS/?p=31

wifi cars http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/technology/02avis.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

copy prot http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0105.html#3

diy pc http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=396

uk passport http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=394

email blackmail http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=392

soa http://blogs.zdnet.com/service-oriented/?p=790

saas and small isv http://blogs.zdnet.com/SAAS/?p=246

dog alarms http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6146682.html

micro financing http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/2005/01/securitization_.html

crowdsourcing http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_25/b3938601.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2006/id20061208_509041.htm?chan=tc&chan=technology_technology+index+page_software

also Amazon Mechanical Turk ?

4 seniors only http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061129_628050.htm?sub=techmaven

mycelery

savvy seo

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2006/11/cyber_monday_hy.html#trackback

worse IT failures heres one - look at silicon.com, us gov audit office etc.
http://www.category4.com/blog/2006/10/03/the-worst-software-project-failure-ever

web makeover http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196513700

40k s/w hacking
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=4QINKOTSQSRKOQSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=1968009
78

undertrained progs http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/17868/page2/
...one serious problem is that currently, too many software developers are undereducated
and undertrained...

hictu/mobile sync .. http://lucafiligheddu.blogspot.com/2006/12/hictu-your-definitive-web-address-book.html

free int calls http://www.futurephone.com/inthenews.html

talkster voip http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/isp/2006/1218isp1.html

http://www.talkster.com/news.aspx

hullo voip http://saunderslog.com/2006/08/22/hello-hullo/

marketing http://www.churbuck.com/wordpress/?p=576

rails? http://stakeventures.com/

free calls UK http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=18341&hed=UK+Goes+Mobile+VoIP+Crazy%C2%A7or=Industries&subsector=Communications

grandcentral
http://venturebeat.com/2006/09/25/grand-central-gives-you-a-single-phone-number-backed-by-halsey-minor/

busta voip http://www.tmcnet.com/comsol/articles/2521-introducing-busta-browser-based-voip-mobile-phone.htm

ibasis pingo http://www.ibasis.net/News/PR2004/pr09152004.htm

voip http://www.splinter.net/

fritzblog http://www.avm.de/en/index.php3

http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=5206

ajax phone http://my.opera.com/Think/blog/2006/11/28/demo-of-next-generation-ajax-mobile-ajax

openmoko phone http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35590

fly on demand http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36846

128GB Flash http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36841

voip background noise http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36715

phone speller http://www.phonespell.org/

IM http://www.berggi.com/BergieWebManagerUSA/English/indexV2.jsp

dual phone + skype http://dualphone.net/

dog collar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0ffIyxiLxc&eurl=

heavier than air http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PJTq2xQiQ0&eurl=

snow effect trees http://homepage.mac.com/inertia_visual_media/.Movies/pearl-snowtl-short.mov

techstar http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/002136.html

seed funding http://www.newmanva.com/blog/2006/11/08/vcs-going-seed-stage/

small startup & $ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/technology/09venture.html?ex=1320728400&amp;amp;amp;en=550d24cae21caac0&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

eu ok on OSS http://news.com.com/European+Commission+vouches+for+open+source/2100-7344_3-6150324.html?tag=nefd.pulse

startup 2eb 2.0 harder http://blog.tomevslin.com/2007/01/web_20_greater_.html

celtic tiger going http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/11/13/8393173/index.htm

chandler demise http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/01/21.html

bs http://coloradostartups.com/2007/01/21/big-or-bullshit-series/

free tutorials http://inpics.net/

real world angel stats http://www.5280angel.com/2007/01/01/2006-a-year-in-review-for-angel-investments/

pitch http://www.5280angel.com/2006/12/15/come-on-guys-practice-your-pitch/

10x returns http://www.5280angel.com/2006/12/05/the-challenges-of-acheiving-a-10x-return-on-investment/

oops - u're hacked http://www.gnucitizen.org/blog/what-happens-to-your-computer-if-you-mispell-googlecom

skype cmds http://www.skype.com/help/guides/chat.html

http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2005/08/skype_chat_tips_and_tricks.html

esoft Broomfield http://www.esoft.com/company/innews.cfm

meetup demo's http://bouldertech.wordpress.com awareo, photovu,

cranstone http://bouldertech.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/session-3-peter-cranstone/

flikr goodies http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2007/01/the_seminal_web.html

joust http://www.wired.com/news/wiredmag/0,72506-3.html?tw=wn_story_page_next3

google n 270+ comments http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070119_001510_comments.html

need power http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.10/cloudware_pr.html

iphone n cingular http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070111_001476.html

new vc funding http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20061215_001334.html

why vista will sell http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20061208_001308.html

email not guaranted

voip sniffing http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20061201_001274.html

free does pay http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2007/01/siaa_preview_ke_1.html

http://www.unionsquareventures.com/siaa%20keynote%201-29-07.pdf

eu money http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6337273.stm

syncMyCal - google http://www.syncmycal.com/index.htm

goo sync http://www.goosync.com

startup http://www.entrepreneurshipweekusa.com

cal http://blog.jonudell.net/2007/01/31/calendar-cross-publishing-concepts/

3 door trick http://math.ucsd.edu/~crypto/Monty/montybg.html

zyb http://www.servicesmobiles.fr/services_mobiles/2007/01/here_are_4_ques.html

cornell http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/ee476/FinalProjects/

neg dilution from vc http://venturelaw.blogspot.com/2007/01/venture-capital-negotiating-ratchet.html

non competes -leave http://venturelaw.blogspot.com/2007/01/non-compete-clauses-canada-vs-us.html

hire smarter people http://ricksegal.typepad.com/pmv/2007/02/the_title_trap.html

venture debt http://www.wellingtonfund.com/blog/2007/02/14/wsj-article-on-venture-debt/

EU startups http://www.dailyii.com/article.asp?PositionID=2610&amp;amp;amp;ArticleID=1041583&pagPageID=218&stage=True&zonZoneID=156

local search add in GetLisa http://www.useful-networks.com/

vc activity uk 06 http://www.thecoffeeshopsofmayfair.com/2007/01/2006_early_stag.html

times reader review http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2006/09/nytimes_reader.html

sony reader review http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2006/09/phony_reader.html

mmc http://www1.divitas.com/product/overview

carson with 4 day week http://strange.corante.com/archives/2006/09/24/eurofoo_working_a_four_day_week.php

paul G on USA http://strange.corante.com/archives/2006/05/17/xtech_2006_paul_graham_how_american_are_startups.php

EU startup http://localglobe.blogspot.com/2007/02/y-europe-can-seed-growth-of-its-new.html

new UI interface http://browsegoods.com/

ic prog'ers http://www.jobably.com/mail/programmer

photo/file mngm http://www.putplace.com/blog/

review FOWA http://www.argolon.com/2007/02/21/european-start-up-culture-panel-at-fowa/

barcamp irl http://bohanna.typepad.com/pureplay/2007/02/video_upload_fi.html
irl
http://businessadvisory.ie/

uk http://www.vecosys.com/

guy in seattle http://asack.typepad.com/

irl startups on map http://www.frappr.com/
irishstartups?src=flash_map&sig=visitor_map&src_mvid=4515762&amp;amp;amp;origin=other&ct=seemore

steps irl http://www.steps.ie/

irl cork guys http://www.sxoop.com/

google maps entry http://www.click2map.com/

barcamp irl http://www.argolon.com/page/2/

sligo guys http://www.infacta.com/asp/common/company_info.asp

open id at fowa http://simonwillison.net/2007/Feb/21/fowa/

startup uk? http://www.startupping.com/

irish site http://www.post282.com

irl http://www.weddingsbyadam.com/

irl mobile http://www.alatto.com/index.html

irl http://www.my-me.com/

irl http://www.cengal.com/

locator gps style uk http://www.loc8tor.com/products.asp

boulder guys http://www.collectiveintellect.com/blog.php

? http://blog.coworking.info/

ef grp http://www.efcolorado.org/

90% garbage http://jeffreybjordan.blogspot.com/2007/02/getting-truth-from-entrepreneurs.html

5 tips 2 raising $ http://brockblake.com/2007/02/21/angels-tips-to-raising-money/

$100k 4 utah http://brockblake.com/2007/02/21/100k-for-your-business/

unix on web http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/03/sfearthquakes_o.html

mysay IRL http://blog.mysay.com/

http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/50/launchpad.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/x180/405945591/in/set-72157594560771625/

it summit http://www.theitsummit.com/2007events/denveragenda.html

irishman (Simon Linscheid) on blogsled team http://www.canoe.ca/SlamNaganoBobsled/feb21_four.html

and in case u have got this far -- then there's the other stuff I just want to look at :)

http://earlystagevc.typepad.com/

http://www.startup-review.com/blog/about/index.php

http://www.carsonified.com/about/

http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/

http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/293/

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=4QINKOTSQSRKOQSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=196800921

http://www.abbeynet.com/eng/tecno-sip.shtml

http://www.pcw.co.uk/itweek/comment/2151021/corporate-class-im-comes-price

http://kellyodell.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_kellyodell_archive.html#114509018116565285

http://www.svioklascontext.com/2006/04/marketing_remix_1.html

http://redeye.firstround.com/2006/07/one_of_the_toug.html

http://www.everythingissales.com/blog/

http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/

http://www.rapleaf.com/

http://www.compete.com/help

http://www.crv.com/AboutCRV/QuickStart.html

http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/002106.html

http://www.troyangrignon.com/blog/_archives/2006/11/20/2513809.html

http://www.troyangrignon.com/blog/_archives/2006/11/17/2507155.html

http://www.newparadigm.com/media/IntroAndOne.pdf

http://www.cooperationcommons.com/cooperation-commons/images/050_cschart.gif/view

http://www.troyangrignon.com/blog/_archives/2006/11/16/2505050.html

http://www.intellione.com/

http://www.bobparsons.com/WhenYouLoveSomething.html

http://blog.softtechvc.com/2006/07/gnomedex_6_shou.html

http://vcexperts.com/vce/news/buzz/archive_view.asp?id=382

http://venturebeat.com/

http://www.troyangrignon.com/blog/_archives/2006/11/16/2504601.html

http://www.troyangrignon.com/blog/_archives/2006/11/13/2497687.html

http://www.capgemini.com/ctoblog/

http://thinkature.com/

http://xobni.com/

http://jumpchat.com/

http://gigaom.com/2006/12/14/skyspace/

http://www.telepocalypse.net/

http://jeremiahgrossman.blogspot.com/2006/12/i-know-if-youre-logged-in-anywhere.html

http://www.kolabora.com/index.htm

http://carriers.icall.com/services.php

http://www.kolabora.com/news/2006/12/04/online_collaboration_tools_and_resources.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/technology/21pogue.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

http://loadedpun.com/category/tools/

http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/12/15/news-innovation/

http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/11/28/business_blogs_and_the_business.htm

http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/12/06/business_blogs_and_the_business.htm

http://annezelenka.com/category/software-development/page/2/

http://www.cobizmag.com/articles.asp?id=1400

http://www.boulderquantumventures.com/

http://www.advancedmd.com/

http://www.digitalmediaminute.com/article/1816/top-ruby-on-rails-tutorials

http://www.funambol.com/blog/capo/2006/09/hpl-version-10-is-here.html

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2003/12/11/myths.html

http://ha.ckers.org/xss.html

http://www.continuent.org/HomePage

http://www.moveahead1.com/articles/articles.asp

http://www.knowledgestorm.com/prov_summary_51190.asp

http://www.inphasetech.com/articles/archives.php

http://www.winweb.com/products/

http://gilbane.com/ctoblog/archives/2006/08/movin_on_up_or_was_it_down_1.html

http://confusedofcalcutta.com/

http://virtuelvis.com/archives/

http://andrewbfife.blogspot.com/2006/05/non-vc-buzz-web-20-techcrunch.html

http://www.fluidata.co.uk/about/aboutus.htm

http://www.feld.com/blog/index.php

http://www.grid7.com/

http://www.jumpbox.com/vtiger-customer-relationship-management-jumpbox/

opendns

phishtank

clearcube

cheap blades

attask

e project

project.net

http://cricket.sourceforge.net/

http://www.opennms.com

http://www.thecoffeeshopsofmayfair.com/

http://zenopy.com/

http://www.bloggertalks.com/2007/02/alex-king-on-wordpress-development-the-community-and-the-share-icon-project/

http://pragmath.net/

http://www.arraystudio.com/

http://www.pervasivecode.com/blog/2007/02/20/tips-for-offshoring/%3Cbr%20/%3E

http://www.petercooper.co.uk/

http://dylanschiemann.com/

http://www.argolon.com/2006/10/15/the-outsourcing-adventure-part-1/

http://www.mediangler.com/about/

http://www.skynet.ie/

https://portal.zimki.com/login.html

http://www.teqlo.com/

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_55_piece_mobile_search_tool_kit.php

http://www.centraldesktop.com/

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/editgrid_online_spreadsheet.php

http://www.enrackados.com/blog/index.php

http://www.roam4free.ie/

http://www.1time.ie/

http://www.lijit.com/blog

http://onrails.org/articles/page/2

http://www.thealarmclock.com/euro/archives/2006/03/londons_zopa_takes_15m_to_move.html

http://www.thecoffeeshopsofmayfair.com/

http://brockblake.com/

http://www.launchutah.com/

http://www.5280angel.com/

http://juntopartners.com/

http://www.microbusiness.org/gui/content.asp?w=pages&r=271&pid=445

http://www.wengomeeting.com

Hah!

Lal

Joel says "Scoble is wrong"

2006-12-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Joel Spolsky (who doesn't read his humorous and thoughtful blog articles) talks about Microsoft starting 2 pay 4 blogging support.

There's an interesting debate going on about whether bloggers should accept gifts from vendors.

Lately Microsoft... been getting rather aggressive about trying to buy good coverage from bloggers. A few months ago they invited bloggers out to Seattle to meet Bill Gates, with all expenses paid (hotel, airfare, etc). Last week they send out a round of expensive laptops with Vista preinstalled. These are not loans, by the way: they're completely free laptops ("yours to keep!").

Sounds nice, huh? What could be wrong with that?

Robert Scoble says "it's an awesome idea." He says that as long as the bloggers disclose that they got the laptops free, they're acting ethically.

Scoble is wrong.

Just because it's someones job to do something, doesn't make it ethical...

Effectively Microsoft has bought publicity and goodwill. And even though the blogger has fully disclosed what happened, their message is corrupting the medium.

I've been thinking long and hard about this, and the only conclusion I can come to is that this is ethically indistinguishable from bribery... The blogger will feel some obligation to return the favor to Microsoft.

These gifts reduce the public trust in blogs...

Anyway. I do not have clean hands. I accepted that stupid cell phone from Sprint fully intending to never write about it, and later decided it was so bad I should just write a negative review. For a couple of years, I accepted a donation of colocation space and facilities from Peer 1 Network, but only because they were the best colocation facility and backbone provider I could find, and only because Joel on Software is really a non-profit, advertising-free site and I was happy to accept the sponsorship. Google donated a Search Appliance to provide search for Joel on Software, also mostly as a community service on their part, which was very nice. They probably intended to get some free publicity out of it. They did.

Microsoft's crazy offer, though, made me think a lot more about this whole thing, and I've decided that from this point forward I'm not accepting anything, full stop...

Today, Fog Creek Software pays the Peer 1 bills. I declined the Microsoft offer and bought my own fully-loaded Dell laptop (a D620) to try out Vista.

Do not, under any circumstances, consider upgrading an XP system to Vista... Vista is not reason enough for a new PC. Need more details? Read Paul Thurrott's review.

I'll keep trying, though, to earn your trust.

I can't really comment from the side that Joel's been on; in that I've never taken any 'gifts'. I'm kinda with Scoble in that 'buyer beware' and 4 any article u read u need 2 either research its origons/intentions or just take it with a 'grain of salt'. (You do know that everything on the Internet is always TRUE - right!)

I certaintly agree with his last line in that each writer (blogs or otherwise) has to gain the trust of their readers.

Lal

Too much money floating around

2006-12-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

Sam Zell's has a very bizarre (at least from a normal web page/blog) site at yieldsz.com

Its well done with an initial recital and then goes into a song (tune to "Raindrops keep falling on my head") but this time its "Capitial keeps raining on my head".

Funny-ish.

from blog entry Too much capital?

This is in part 2 a followup on one of Troy's sessions from Web 2.0 from the Venture Capital session by Roger McNamee (private equity) and Ram Shiram (seed investing).
Will try and do some more detailed followup on this topic later.

Lal

Web 2.0 Summit review from Troy Angrignon

2006-12-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

Troy Angrignon has a great review and HUGE detail of the Web 2.0 Summit with 3 days of notes. This is his summary:

Web 2.0 is real. In fact, it's even more important than when Microsoft had their epiphany about the internet ten years ago
We're at the beginning of the ramp for things like social media and mobile
This year, we grew users 10-15%, usage 20-30%, and monetization 30+% and that looks like it will continue
video has surpassed text everywhere all the time
Internet Advertising is still under-represented so ad spend will shift from 8% of the total spend to about 15% of the total spend and will make this transition very quickly.
It's now possible to build an entirely virtual company by outsourcing every single component of it
Application development speed continues to leap ahead radically
find and go towards the large white spaces
there is lots of capital out there; ideas and good teams are the limiters; there's no excuse for not raising money right now
web services and mashups are going to explode
find passionate users, let them drive your products and your business
In fact, let them help you BUILD your product if possible
Build your products so that people either love them or hate them; don't aim for the zone of mediocrity.
LOVE your users
To keep good people, ensure they're passionate about what they're doing, give them the ability to somewhat drive their (and your) success and innovation; engage them in decisions
Realize that you can build things now collaboratively across the web in ways that were not possible before
Do something bold that changes the game

Goldcorp gave up their sacred data and $500K to make $3.4B in revenues.
Bob Parsons cancelled the GoDaddy.com IPO because the analysts were too annoying.
Amazon wants to start running your businesses because frankly, they can do it better, cheaper, and faster than you can by a factor of 100x.

the better your product, the less you have to use traditional marketing;
focus on niches;
we're at the beginning of the curve on immersive environments and they will play a larger and larger part in our economy;
help people make money on top of your platform;
Watch the cashflow (daily!); it's more important than profits (for a smaller company);
Making money is better (and way more important) than finding investors
Adapt quickly
Create passionate users who will help you create your business
Listen to yourself; listen to your customers; don't listen to analysts; never listen to the doubters.
measure what counts but remember that "not everything that counts can be measured, nor does everything that can be measured count." (be careful what you measure);
operational excellence can be a a defensible long-term strategy, and significant point of differentiation; (Microsoft, Amazon, Fedex)
Profit or size?
Most people: make it profitable right off the bat; then build with revenue as fast as possible;
Bezos: go for size!
On finding the next opportunity:
Calcanis/Dmitry: stay focused on your original business!
Bezos: Always keep exploring down dark tunnels for new business opportunities! ecosystems beat platforms beat applications beat features;
there was a lot of contradiction regarding how companies should or should not start small. I think it shows that there is no right answer. There will be a plethora of small companies and others will choose to get the funding to get big fast as we did in Bubble 1.0

I wish I was there! I certaintly concur with his thinking on-

online avertising is still in its infancy
starting a business is now easier than ever b4 (4 the 'webbie' kind)
go towards the large white spaces and focus on niches
mashups are going 2b BIG
get passionate users

He also wrote some of the dailogue on some talks/interviews with:-

Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley: The State of the Internet Part 3
has some interesting metrics on Yahoo, Google, Customer Acquisition, Advertisers, Commerce, and more ... I've copied out some of the key ones.

approx 60% of internet traffic may be Peer to peer filesharing of "unmonetized" video
Skype would rank #3 in the world for telecom providers (behind China Mobile and Vodafone). It may still have the title of "fastest product ramp in history". Skype carries approximately 7% of all global cross-border calls and that should double in the next year or two.
Blogs continue to double every 7 months
American Idol receiving 63M votes (via mobiles + internet) in the final 4 hour round
User Generated Content based sites have moved into the top 15 global websites
North America is becoming less dominant on the internet
Broadband penetration has finally hit the 25-30% "sweet spot"
Global Mobile 2.5G/3G penetration has hit the 30-35% "sweet spot"
rich media will be the next avenue for US internet advertising spend growth
Search is the top customer acquisition tool for online retailers
Search is also the cheapest customer acquisition channel
eBay has outstripped classifieds 9:1 but the newspapers still make all the money - a correction is inevitable. eBay listings have gone from zero to 921M listings in 8 years
Video is most of the P2P traffic
Apple has sold $16B worth of iPods and music/videos in only three years
Google + Yahoo = ~58% of US online ad revenue
Google and Yahoo share approximately 30% of their revenue with their partners

A Conversation with Jeff Bezos

We have removed the "muck"; You come up with an idea, you wade through the muck, and then eventually you get to working on the fun parts. And then when you come up with your NEXT idea you have to go through the muck all over again. up to 70% of your time, energy, and dollars for web-scale apps goes into undifferentiated, heavy lifting and "muck"...."We make muck...so you don't have to."...

Korea's MySpace Challenger: CyWorld Revealed

20M subscribers, 40% of the population of Korea; 96% of 20-29 year olds ; 20B monthly page views
=Myspace + iTunes + Google + IM + eBay
we brought young women in their early 20s (who didn't use the internet) to the internet. We made the entire system appealing visually to young women.
the base service is free...but charge for the personalization
Integrated with IM NateOn is causing a decline in MSN. NateOn went from 0 to12M users; MSN went from 10 to 6M.

Enterprise 2.0 mashups, with Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com

You have to move from being a killer app to a killer platform
an elastic database; 10 Terabytes, 500,000 subscribers
mashup of Google map and salesforce.com into a tool that allows you to find bikram studios. Some third-party did it via iRows
We mashed up Skype as well showed their Skype status
We now have >400 applications sitting on App Exchange; grab the app you want and it populates your workspace.
... cubes for mashup developers. $20K/yr per cube buys you a spot in our building where you can work closely with us to build your product that sits on our platform.
Side note: When I spoke to Michael Platt, Chief Architect from Microsoft at the New New Internet conference in Virginia, he told me that "mashups are the most exciting thing I have seen in years" and the Emerging Technology guy from SAP stated outright in the Enterprise 2.0 session at Office 2.0: "Mashups are the future of our [SAPs] business."

What GoDaddy knows, with Bob Parsons

he talked about why they filed for and then withdrew their S1 application to become a public company. It cost him $3M to realize that once he went public he would have to listen to the advice of a lot of people who had no clue about his business.
"I met a lot of analysts who didn't know the basics and who focused on short-term financials rather than on good solid business basics."
Cashflow is WAY more important than paper profits
We will have $340M revenue and cash of $50M of cash flow ($1M free cashflow PER WEEK) so I think we're doing okay
When it comes to promoting your company, everybody wants you to fall in line and offend nobody. That's just the wrong idea. To be different you have to be polarizing.
we let podcasters create their own ads for us - they're weird and crazy...
Don't forget the fundamentals and be VERY careful who you listen to.

Venture Capital: Roger McNamee (private equity) and Ram Shiram (seed investing). I've just taken some of the key points:

... cheap to start a company; it is hard to find talent though :)
Content companies are very hard to build and grow
... having too much money is a problem for startups - "indigestion is worse than starvation."
... A lot of the most attractive ideas need less than $1M
... too much money floating around there
...don't equate money with success.
...be careful of increasing your valuation too quickly and pricing yourself out of the market from an acquisition perspective
...Building your business and serving people is your primary job. Raising funds is secondary.
User-generated content ... will be huge.
...look at enabling forms of user generated content.
...companies less than $1B don't get any notice from the analysts anymore
...Build something great and the exit will take care of itself
...Just find smart money and work, work, work!
...Focus on the size of the pie, not on the size of the slice
...Find the person who you want to call at 2am with bad news and also with great news and who have the contextual expertise about your business.
...Entrepreneurship is not for lightweights. Life is hard.

I love the last comment and indigestion one.
Like Wow! a lot to take in. Great notes Troy

Lal

Founders starting to get some money in their pockets?

2006-12-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

Allan Leinwand (with VC Panorama Capital, founder of Vyatta, CTO of Digital Island) has a post at GigaOM on " VCs, the new liquidity providers".

In it he talks about how VC's that want to put money to work in the new environment where its becoming easier for startups 2 get off the ground, cheaper and faster. Often some of these interesting companies get "quickly acquired by the big players in the space for both the technology and the team".

"One method that seems to be getting more popular is to have the venture capital go toward providing liquidity for the founders (buying secondary shares). This method can serve multiple purposes:

1) It gives the venture investor the desired ownership;

2) It providers some liquidity to the founders who may be living on sweat equity; and

3) It aligns the financial interests of the company and investors."

Certaintly founders are nearly always interesting in getting some money in their pockets (particularly if they have been struggling for some time running the company and not drawing any salary) but at what price?

VC and angels are only coming in on the basis they can get a (large) return on their money/investment. Putting some of that investment straight into the founder's pockets is often a big No-No. Be interesting if this is starting 2 change and what % of valuation is viable as a founders 'share'.

Paul Graham also has a piece on this and how the landscape has changed with some companies getting acquired before an A round.

Lal

Yikes - SSPCA warning gets your attention

2006-12-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Not sure I agree with the unexpected violence on this Xmas video intro from the SSPCA. Have made a short film which features a pantomime horse being beaten to death with a crowbar in front of an audience of schoolchildren.

For those not from across the waters they are the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA)

Scotsman newspaper have an article on it:

...is to be sent to 50,000 e-mail addresses in an effort to stop an annual slump in the number of people contacting the charity over the festive period.

The charity has said it makes no apology for the content of the film which it created in an attempt to shock people into action.

Lal

Some of what really went on behind the scenes for Google purchase of YouTube

2006-12-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

Mark Cuban has a very interesting post (from ""anonymous author", who I respect and trust.") on what may have gone on behind the scenes when Google was buying out uTube.

It raises some interesting points:

...Yahoo was deep in the process as well.

...suitors kept stumbling over the potential enormous copyright infringement claims that were mounting

Youtube knew they had an issue and had offered a straight revenue share deal if the complainants would call off the dogs and give them time. The media companies quickly rejected this...

...obvious solution and that is to set aside a portion of the buyout offer to deal with copyright issues.

Nearly 500 million of the 1.65 billion purchase price is not being disbursed to shareholders but instead held in escrow.

...decision was made to negotiate settlements with some of the largest music and film companies.

Youtube approached the media companies with an open checkbook to buy peace. The media companies smelled a transaction...

...they didn't predict Google would pay such an exorbitant amount...

They negotiated about 50 million for each major media company to be paid from the Google buyout monies....

The media companies had their typical challenges. Specifically, how to get money from Youtube without being required to give any to the talent (musicians and actors)?

...media companies would receive an equity position as an investor in Youtube which Google would buy from them. This shelters all the up front monies from any royalty demands.

...big G wants to make sure the Youtube purchase was a wise one.

...an agreement to look the other way for the next 6 months or so while copyright infringement continues to flourish.

...pile some lawsuits on competitors to slow them down and lock in Youtube's position. As Google looked at it they bought a 6 month exclusive on widespread video copyright infringement. Universal obliged and sued two capable Youtube clones Bolt and Grouper.

.. puts enormous pressure on all the other video sites to clamp down on ..content posting ... it shuts off the flow of venture capital investments into video firms.

...Infringement lawsuits will be served on Youtube and the new proud parent Google in the coming months. Google will respond with two paths: an expensive legal fight or a quick and easy settlement with most choosing the latter.

Lal

Beware inflated Reality, u can't do everything from Mark Cuban

2006-12-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

Mark Cuban has an article ("Success and Motivation:Drowning in Opportunity /Winning the Battles you are in") regd running his businesses and some of the issues he faces and what to concentrate on.

He talks about 3 rules:

1. Everyone is a genius in a bullmarket
2. Win the Battles you are in before you take on new battles
3. You can Drown in Opportunity

I agree with most of the article and sometimes 24hrs a day is not enough and u have 2 focus on what u can do.

Lal

Players in IM/VOIP space

2006-12-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

Livia Iacolare on Kolabora has an article on VOIP primer and shows the main players in that space (consumer).
This shows an instant comparision of the players regd features.

Talks about:

I'd forgotten some of these and not heard about iVocalize b4. I'll look 2 do another post and try and collect all of the Voip Softphones and IM products out there (at least on the low-end consumer side).

Lal

Gizmo has 1c calls to US, 1.5c UK/IRL and free to Gizmo users - PC/Home/Mobile

2006-12-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Gizmo (open source SIP VOIP system) is now offering free phone calls (can be to PC,
home# or mobile) from your PC to other Gizmo/SIP users.

"That call will be free provided (a) you both are active Gizmo Project users, which just means you make a few calls a week using the software and (b) are calling a qualifying number in one of the 60 countries for which the plan is offered.
...are only able to allow free calls to landline phones in 60 countries, and mobile numbers in 17 of those countries ...

Offering very cheap calls to US landlines (1c), UK(1.5c), IRL (1.6c)
Also offer a free incoming (US only) 775 area code thats routed to you.

Gizmo offer Instant Messaging and now part of IM Federation which is using Jabber as an IM integration gateway (allowing you 2 talk to other IM's via its XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence) Protocol. Trillian and Gaim have been doing this on the PC for years but require a new version each time Microsoft, AOL or Yahoo have their IM wars.

Customize Voicemail Messages
Gizmo Project and Google Talk are Now Connected!
Instant Messaging (IM)
Free Mobile phone and Landline Conference Calling
Asterisk PBX Support
SIP Number
VoIP networks can reach your Gizmo account free
Access Numbers
Calling Other VoIP Networks
Call Recording
SIP Adapters

There are plenty of other cheap/free-ish VOIP type offerings out their, most using softphone but a few like Jahah (free calls on Xmas day) doing "other" offerings that are more mobile/cell friendly.

Lal

System Administration with ooRexx

2006-12-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

Howard Fosdick and Jon Wolfers wrote an article in Mar 2006 on System Administration with ooRexx. ooRexx is the Open Object Rexx language.
Rexx, invented at IBM around 1980, was one of the first scripting languages and stands for "REstructured eXtended eXecutor"

This brings me back a couple of years to my mainframe era doing Mvs, DB2, Profs, Cics, Ims etc...

He shows an example script to identify and delete large files on Windows servers.

Howard has an older article Rexx: Power Through Simplicity.

Here's a quick quiz. Which scripting language ...
Runs on virtually all platforms and operating systems?
Enjoys a strong standard to which all implementations adhere?
Comes in object-oriented versions that are upwardly compatible with the standard procedural language?
Is known for combining ease of use with power?

Through the first three questions you might well have answered "Perl," but question four is a stumper. Powerful and useful as it is, few might claim that Perl is a language that is easy to learn or master.

Rexx is the answer.

Lal

Where is Apple going with Intel and potential competition from Sony/IBM with the cell

2006-12-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Adrien Lamothe has a very interesting article (Apple's High-Water Mark?) and his views of Apple v's Sony plus other competition and where it is going, from Mar 2006.

... "Why should Apple worry about a gaming console? For starters, adding a 2.5-inch hard drive, keyboard, and mouse to the PlayStation 3 turns it into a full-fledged personal computer. The real eye-opener is Sony choosing Linux as the operating system for PlayStation 3, breaking away from Microsoft" ...

Apple appears intent on dethroning Sony as king of consumer electronics...

Why Intel for Apple?...

There is a very real possibility the digital media market will quickly migrate to Cell-based computers, if the applications are available...

Apple faces other challenges....

Apple's new outlets have affected the resellers. Some of Apple's old-line resellers have gone out of business. Several have filed a class-action suit against Apple....

The company appears to have reached a point where it cannot reduce its operational costs....

how will Apple's new business model measure up? Is it sustainable?...

appears to be an attempt to create a "Nike effect."...

it can hope the Cell processor turns out to be overrated. This is a real possibility. ...

There are some who think Apple should allow Mac OS X to run on other hardware....

Sony also faces some challenges....

Huge and interesting commentary at the end that discusses the article and points on Xcode, other processors etc.

Lal

HP laptop Pavilion dv6110 poor power connector and battery life

2006-12-20T00:47:00.000-07:00

I have this HP laptop now about a month and overall pleased with it but recently the power connector seems to have a life of its own. I'm sitting away and get this pop-up indicating that AC has been plugged out an running on battery. Nope. Still connected.
Look again and now its back on. Wiggle in my seat and can make it go on/off/on/off. Pushing in the connection (into laptop where it lights up a small led blue ring) makes it connect again.
Sometimes I need 2 plug it out and back in again. PITA.

The main bug-bear is the lack of battery life. I get <= 2.5 hrs. They 'claim' (now I need 2 go find where that claim is - maybe on the sales box) 3-3.5 hrs. Found this from previous chat

"previous HP chat : Samson A normal 6 cell Li-Ion battery lasts 3.5 to 4 hours"

I contacted HP (via Live 'chat') a few times and spent a lot of time going back n forth "troubleshooting" until finally they indicated "its as designed" and 2.5 hrs is pretty good. I can get the 3-3.5hrs IF I boot into DOS (and not the default operating system that comes with it) and turn off WiFi and ensure all USB devices are off. THEN I should get the claimed battery usage! What a load of marlarkey. So I gotta move back 2 the dark ages and do all my "computer usage and productivity" in DOS! Wow!

Hp Pavilion dv6010us indicates no mention of expected battery usage. Safe -huh!

zdnet review on dv6000 indicates

"When it comes to battery life, the Pavilion dv6000's 2 hour, 35 minute battery life is somewhat disappointing; we'd hoped for at least 3 hours."

Plenty of other negative comments regd battery life at.

HP supplied links

JAJAH moves to ad-funded model; Announces European partnerships

2006-12-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

Alec Saunders has a nice piece about Jahah getting some major validation in the real world.

Two German companies (Pro7Sat1, Germany’s most popular TV station, and Bild-T Online, the most widely read newspaper in Europe), plus News Austria, the leading media company in Austria, will announce relationships with JAJAH. Starting tomorrow, everyone living in Germany, or Austria, will be able to make free phone calls anywhere in their respective countries

If all this appears 2b gobbeldy-gook (as VOIP provided) then what part of FREE do u not understand.

Jahah allows u 2 call 4 free/cheap anyone via your mobile/cell-phone. They have free calls on Xmas day.
..You simply enter the number you wish to call, press call and… well that’s it really. Imagine, same behavior but the call is free, or up to 95% cheaper...
Works on Symbian or those that can download Java apps.

It will be very interesting to c the response from the carriers/telco's once this gets user traction in those countries. I believe the rates in Germany are similiar 2 the UK so higher than they should be!

Awh! those telco walls are starting 2 crumple and Mr. Skype predicted that

Phone calls will be free within a decade.

I tried to comment via his (Alec) blog but posting just doesn't appear (needing moderation?)

Robin Good has a review of Jahah over a year ago.

Lal

The Long View of Identity

2006-12-18T23:49:00.000-07:00

The Long View of Identity - good article by Andy Oram in June 2006 with views on privacy, trust, anonymity, 3rd parties, reputation from the Identity Mashup conference at Harward Law Berkman Center.

outline:

Identity's Two Faces
The Urgency of a Positive Holistic Identity
Your Transactional Identity?
The Compartmentalized Ideal
Centralized Identity, Like It or Not
Identity: It's Not Your Own
Managing Authority
Privacy and Data Control
Security, Trust, and Liability
Persistence and Ownership
Secure Data Exchange: Another Choke Point for Identity
Solutions: User-Centric Identity
Or Does Society Own Your Identity?
The Building Blocks of Identity
Anonymity: The Starting Point for Identity
Aids To Trusted Third Parties
Alternatives To Trusted Third Parties
Identity and Reputation
Identity: The Long View

Identity is something I will cover in more detail and something I've been following for a long time without signs of any magic bullets but interesting developments in the "Web 2.0 era"

Lal

13 new companies at LaunchPad - Web 2.0 Summit

2006-12-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

2006 Launch Pad Participants at Web 2.0 Summit

3B is the new online 3D experience. Browse your MySpace page and your friend’s pages in your themed 3D space. Create 3D flickr or Photobucket galleries in under a minute. Decorate the walls and then hangout and chat with your friend’s avatars. It’s free, quick to create and easy.

Adify enables online publishers to sell advertising directly, while retaining complete control over their advertiser relationships. In addition, Adify-enabled publishers can expand their revenue opportunities by participating in one or more niche, content-focused networks. Adify’s service platform includes campaign management, performance tracking, optimization, reporting, billing, payment and media merchandising.

IN THE CHAIR is a music technology company that lets even beginner musicians play with professionals, live or on-demand over the internet, whilst receiving immediate feedback on their performance. New features in version 2 enable user generated content as well as direct access to music from publishers' online libraries.

Instructables is a web-based "cookbook for stuff" where users share what they have built and how they built it. The inventors at Squid Labs started Instructables to scratch an itch: How to record, share, and collaborate on projects as diverse as kite designs, open-source hybrid vehicles, or a family recipe.

oDesk is a global marketplace for programmers and technical talent that lets businesses build and manage remote teams. Hiring managers can choose from among thousands of top-rated technology professionals, and project managers can use oDesk web-based collaboration tools to visually track and verify work. oDesk investors include Benchmark Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, and Sigma Partners.

Omnidrive: The Universal Web Storage Platform. More than just online storage, Omnidrive gives you the power to easily and securely store, share, publish and backup data from any platform or application. No matter where you are, no matter what device you have in hand, with Omnidrive your files are always with you.

Klostu Empowering web communities. Extending social networks. New feature to be showcased (details can not be made public at this point): A revolutionary mechanism for networking disperate communities.

Sharpcast develops software and services that automatically synchronize any type of file, media or application data between multiple PCs, the web and mobile phones. The company's patent-pending universal synchronization platform and APIs seamlessly bridge the gap between offline desktop applications, online services, and all the devices people use to access them.

Sphere Blog Search and Discovery - we help you find the good stuff, a simple idea that takes some smarts to do right. There are a lot of blogs out there. Some of them are great. And a few of the great ones are about things that interest you. We'll help you find those.

Stikkit makes organizing your daily details as simple as jotting down a note or firing off email. Stikkit's "little yellow notes that think" talk to the productivity applications you already use, as well as to friends, coworkers and family, giving you a universal remote for your life.

TimeBridge has created the first personal scheduling manager to give busy professionals a faster, more efficient way to schedule meetings and manage their time. TimeBridge transforms Microsoft Outlook into a hub for collaborative web services, allowing users to bring busy people together across time zones, calendaring systems and companies in just one step.

Turn is the world's first automatic targeting, bidded CPA ad network. Manual targeting and keywords aren’t required, and advertisers can bid on a cost per action basis. The result: amazing simplicity, superior relevance and greater revenue. Turn is led by search and advertising veterans from AltaVista, Ask Jeeves and Yahoo.

Venyo is building a free online reputation management tool to offer a unified and standardized measure of the personal reliability of each user through the evaluation of his contributions by the community: the Vindex™. Certifying the published material quality will increase the trust level of Web2.0 users and advertiser

Lal

run Redhat and Suse on IBM Power5/Aix using virtualization

2006-12-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

Interesting article on how IBM have added extra's to their kernel and Power5 platform to allow Redhat/Suse to run on it.

Get IP PBX system using Mac Mini and iPod

2006-12-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

blue4S: 4S newcom turns the Mac mini into the world’s slickest IP PBX

Berlin-based 4S ...uses SIP for VoIP communication and runs on a Mac mini..., it is booted off an iPod Shuffle... “It is so compact that even on the smallest iPod Shuffle (512 MB) enough room is left for 4 full hours of music.”

Once the system is booted off the iPod shuffle, it can, of course, be installed on the built-in hard disk, leaving the user to enjoy the iPod Shuffle safe in the knowledge that it will also serve as installation media in case of emergency.

The blue4S entry level system consists of a Mac mini, the iPod Shuffle with the 4S IP PBX licensed for up to 250 users and 30 parallel calls, as well as five snom300 VoIP phones. It will be priced at 2,999.00 Euro...

“Conventional PBX systems at this configuration cost ten times as much”, says Harry Behrens. “Due to the flexibility of software vs. hardware and IP vs. TDM, it is also much more flexible and versatile, and the operating costs are a fraction of what users will be used to from their conventional TDM-based PBX”

The system provides a slick and intuitive configuration front-end, which is purely web-based and accessed by simply pointing a web browser to the IP address of the IP PBX.

With just a few clicks, the system administrator can configure inbound number blocks, users, extensions, outbound routing and advanced features such as auto attendant, voicemail, conferencing etc.

4S newcom will donate 51% of the proceeds of the first nine hundred and ninety-nine systems sold to the VoIP Competence Center at the Technical University Dresden. “We are an East German company and like to invest in the local human capital”, says Harry Behrens.

Some people have 2 much time on their hands

2006-12-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

These two guys (Tony vs. Paul)most have spent a lot of time creating this video
Some impressive (2 me) footage and editing tricks but Yikes what a lot of effort

X little tricks

2006-12-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

Dru Lavigne has an article on "Fun with X.org" and looks at some cool stuff u can do with X.
I'll read about
some of the capabilities b4 but not seen easy 2 follow screenshots that makes it easier 2 understand.

add in support 4 DRI (Direct Rendering Interface), DRM (Direct Rendering Manager), OpenGL (OPEN Graphics Library) as doesn't come by default from x.org
multiple window managers simultaneously
pread a single display across multiple monitors using DMX
Monitor Other Systems

Ad-Hoc Clustering 4 MP3 ripping

2006-12-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

Raimo Koski gives an example of how to do Ad-Hoc Clustering for ripping CD's into MP3 format (via Wav). Looks pretty simple with some easy to use scripts and if u have lots of spare PC's (with CD readers).

You have right? -- maybe 20 Pc's all configured and ready 2 rip that stack of 1000 CD's and just waiting 4 the right s/w?

Methinks the example could b changed 4 other uses.

Lal

VOIP on the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet

2006-12-17T22:06:00.000-07:00

O'Reilly article by John Littler shows how to get VOIP (Sip) running on the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet.

His previous article discussed getting Linux running on it.

Now, if I only had one :)

VoIP Hacks book

2006-12-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

VoIP Hacks by Ted Wallingford from O'Reilly article

Some free PDF chapters including:

Hack 3: Wire Your House Phones for VoIP
Hack 11: Sound Like Darth Vader While You VoIP
Hack 40: Skype with Your Home Phone
Hack 55: Link Two Asterisk Servers with PSTN
Hack 96: Build a Standalone Voicemail Server in Less Than a Half-Hour

Some Skype hacks

2006-12-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

O’Reilly has Skype Hacks by Andrew Sheppard from article

Has some free PDF chapters

Cool Incoming Call Routing from UK company

2006-12-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

Found on Ewan MacLeod SMS TextNews blog

Blackfin(beta) (not to be confused with DSP maker for VOIP boards) have a lovely Flash interface for creating incoming call routing for an office. Nice simple drag-n-drop buttons to connect/route main line thru IVR to individual people/depts.
It also shows allowing follow-me

Nice.

Ya think some of the major telco's could have a simple interface like this and not need complicated (and trained) telecomm engineers to reprogram PBX's!

Talk to a Skype user from your cellphone

2006-12-17T00:33:00.000-07:00

Santosh has an article (video) on how TalkPlus has figured out how to talk to Skype from their own servers. They sell a service that allows (via small java application u download on your cellphone) u to have a 2nd 'virtual' phone number (up 2 ten numbers), which works over the data channel but appears to some one on the other end as a normal phone call. This allows u to have annoymouse #, one 4 business and one 4 personal etc..

There are other ways 2 get Skype on your cellphone or interact (such as Eqo, IPdrum, Soonr, Epyx, iSkoot (recently got $6M funding from Vinod Khosla Ventures) and Vox) but appear 2b more complicated. Notice that some phones are now starting 2 get Skype (and other IM's) installed as standard.

from Bruce Stewart article also more

Yikes - FBI can listen to your cell phone even when turned OFF

2006-12-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

from ABC post it indicates that ...The FBI can listen to everything you say, even when the cell phone is turned off...

Yikes - u're not safe now. Well if u've got interesting stuff going on that the FBI are taking some notice of u then u'd better b careful.
Be interested in seeing HOW this really works if someone has more low level details.

Found via O'Reilly blog

Virtual keyboard - can type on any surface

2006-12-17T00:03:00.000-07:00

$180 gets you this virtual keyboard that you can type on any surface. Nice XMAS pressie 4 the geek that has all the latest and greatest.
...uses a light projection of a full-sized computer keyboard on almost any surface...Uses Bluetooth (HID/SPP) connection.

Useful for those with small PDA's or cell/mobile phones that have no (or useless) keyboard

Dell customer service; and how to GET the service you deserve

2006-12-16T23:54:00.000-07:00

Dell's customer service used 2b known as the best and one of the reasons they did so well 4 so long. I rarely recommend Dell computers anymore to people - 2 many gotchas and when u have totalled up all the add-ins 2 make it a viable computer its often 2 pricey.

Anyway this guy, Pat Dori, was having problems with his new purchase and Dell were not co-operating so he took a novel approach and got some service ($3000) in the end!

Way 2 go. Reminds me of the guy (Vinny) who video-tapped his conversation with AOL (another guy did Comcast sleeping tech on the job) on trying 2 give 2 the service and all the hassle he had 2 go thru.

Impressive Flash site for Windows startup contest site for small business

2006-12-16T23:44:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is running a contest with up to $100K and a years office space in New York for a startup with a good business idea.

The site has a very impressive Flash demo with animated/real video of a person taking down your details. Filling in any form again is going to be boring!

The site is also a download of Office Accounting Express 2007 4 FREE!

More on their press release from their site.
The deadline for submissions is Jan. 31, 2007
...Microsoft will deploy the Ultimate Challenge Van, an RV tour that will begin its journey in Times Square on Nov. 28 and make stops in Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago and Atlanta through January. The Ultimate Challenge Van will be a destination where contestants can go to submit their applications and meet Microsoft representatives...

Simple age validation could have saved you $1M in FTC fine

2006-12-16T23:37:00.000-07:00

from a mashable article

Xanga, the popular social networking site, has been ordered to pay a $1 million civil penalty for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The penalty is the largest ever assessed by the FTC for a COPPA violation.

The charge seems pretty straightforward. Xanga stated that under 13s couldn’t join, but then provided accounts to those who indicated that they were under 13 on the sign-up form (ie. the user’s birth date made them a child). In Xanga’s defense, however, they did require all users to tick a box verifying that they were over 13. Xanga’s mistake was that they didn’t check the birth date - a user whose birth date suggested they were a child would still be given an account if they ticked the box. Over the last five years, Xanga has created 1.7 million accounts for users who entered an age of less than 13.

As mentioned previously on Mashable, Xanga serves some of the youngest social networking users, and has some very strong privacy features in place. The company employs a Chief Safety Officer and provides online safety information for users. In fact, one of the reasons we rarely hear about Xanga is because it’s such a closed community. However, this is a strong reminder that social networks have to be extremely careful when it comes to dealing with underage signups.

Update: Xanga’s CEO John Hiler has responded with a statement: “Xanga has long been committed to making its site safer for its members. When these issues came to our attention, we instituted a stronger, more comprehensive safety and compliance program.” MSNBC is also reporting on the story....

Oops! any web coder can do some simple Javascript validation or even a quick check on the back-end.
Goes to show you that just having a privacy policy ain't enough!

Need to turn on comments for posts

2006-12-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

Blogger has an article that shows what you need 2 do but I was still missing it after doing the 'comment settings' changes.

When creating a new post there is a Post Options (extra lines/options are shown via javascript) that you need to click (particularly on any old blog posts that don't have 'Comments' allowed) and then click on Allow. This also applys for backtracks.

Top 100 beta websites

2006-12-16T17:03:00.000-07:00

Found this site (by Top 100 beta websites) that shows the top 100 beta websites in the online web application space.
How does it do it?
Simple really - "as measured by the number of bookmarks at del.icio.us"
Don't u like the KISS princple and how to reuse other web services.

I was trying to find a website that I had seen in the last week or 2 and couldn't find it in my bookmarks (advanced bookmark searching in Opera is another topic).
anyway I couldn't remember any keyword/tag regd. the site and only remember it was in/pre-beta and I liked its home page (style wise)

I'm creating my own beta website and looking to improve its home page (yes it still needs improvement). Some the websites I like (for an initial beta site) were Voices, Project360, Harvest, Dabble, Freshbooks, CalenderHub*, Goowy, DropSend.
there are others (basecamp/backpack, ) but those were the main ones I've reviewed the last few weeks. I like the simple interface, clean design, easy to understand etc...

* also working on another site that will sync contacts, calenders with your cell/mobile phone over the web.

No auto save when creating Posts - beware

2006-12-16T16:32:00.000-07:00

yep - just lost my first (maybe 10-15 mins worth) of typing for a new post.
Hopping back n forth in my browser (Opera 9) with other sites to put in links, check email context etc. and did a BACK in my blogger Post (active on that window where I was typing) and when came back (FWD) it was all gone!

Live and learn.

---------------------------------------------------
Yep - did it again 5 mins later. Same Post!
Moral of story - create in notepad first then copy/edit in blogger when most of story created.

Tags and Categories in beta Blogger

2006-12-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

How do I easily create a list of categories and then put any new post into one of those (or 'misc'). Second is then how to tag all entries (ok found that via Blogger/Help) Duh!
The categories is not the same as what Blogger calls lists

I can see plenty of info for 'normal' blogger (not current beta I'm using) and looks as if one of the new features of beta is labels (aka tags)

Taker has an entry Code Snippets: Categorizing Blogger entries he talks about oldcola and delicious version and suggest a different approach using JS to invoke a 'focused' search.
He also talks in Blogger Categories in 5 minutes (A different approach) about how to improve on his last version by using CSS and categories thru JS and CSS tag.

I've not tried either of those (and how much work they are) but I am also perplexed at how Blogger does not come with these (what I would consider 'normal' features) as standard (maybe need to look at WordPress or some others?)

Also BLogger Category and Calendar "add-on" as a tip from Li-Zhao using Pico Search to index your site . Note: an interesting side-menu that dynamically "pops-out" as u mouse over it.

John has an entry on how to use delicous for categories.

WebWeaver has an article of tag cloud from phydeaux3: Code for Beta Blogger Label Cloud article. Nice - will need to add this as a feature to my blog.
He also has been working on delicious2Blogger - Categories for Blogger and trying to get it working the new beta. Seems similiar to what Taker had written about above. Also has an in-depth look at Beta Tags Evolution on the beta and some speculation on tags. Interesting.

Had no response on my post at beta blogger group

anyone got any ideas/links?

Startup funding in Ireland

2006-12-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

In reference to Web 2.0 Ireland post Web2.0 Funding - a possible scenario
(has good summary of latest IRL govermet budget and BES Scheme and how it can help startups)
as an Irishman in USA and contemplating to return someday, I see a "lack" of visible early stage funding available in IRL.

Now this is written mostly from afar (and hence looking at blogs, websites, VC sites, finance circles, google etc.) although I have a few 'startup' connections across the waters.
The UK has a similar issues but not on such a grand scale.

I see EI/IDA doing some good and the goverment making the right noises just not seen any real concrete results (maybe 2 early 2 tell).

I presume as u indicate those (would be angels) with money in their pockets are getting higher (and potentially less risky) returns from their other investments (property). In that respect it will take quite a bit of correction (signs are there 4 quite some time but not really happened yet) b4 they "need" to go look elsewhere. Also expect they will need some education (and/or brokering) b4 they dabble in 'risky' technology startups.