Teknovis

The Irish Government will implement 17 of the suggestions from the Ideas Campaign, as described in Recession ideas to be acted upon.

There were two ideas that caught my attention. The first idea is:

Provide a one-stop-shop virtual helpdesk for start-ups with advice on legal, HR, patents, accountancy issues etc.

I think that is a great idea, and I can easily imagine it being very useful. I guess that funding it will be a problem :(

The second idea that caught my attention is:

Teach business skills as part of all PhD education as a means of promoting the knowledge economy

This sounds great, but I seriously doubt that many PhD students would be interested in this :o Generally, PhD students just want to focus on their research, and they generally dislike attending classes of any type :o

Tags: Ireland

Amazon is starting a virtual recruitment fair right now in Second Life. I have never attended one of these virtual recruitment fairs before, but I image that it is a good compromise between no interaction with potential employees and normal interaction with potential employees at a recruitment fair. For more details about this see Amazon Second Life Job Fair.

I was discussing this event recently with a friend who works for Amazon. Actually, the discussion was more about Rufus and the dog friendly work environment. My friend said that it feels like a zoo walking around the part of the building containing the dogs and their owners!

Cool B)

Tags: Amazon, Recruitment, Second Life

During the week I had a meeting with a company in The Digital Hub in Dublin. It was my fist time there in over a year, and it was my first time ever there in daylight.

I must admit that I was extremely disappointed with the area. I was expecting it to have a very high-tech feeling. Instead my overall impression is that it is the epicentre of low budget 1€ Shops in Dublin!

Most of the old buildings look run-down and unmaintained. This then attracts a certain type of bottom-of-the-market type shop.

The area was very busy, and it had a lively feeling. However, this was due to the fact that the majority of the people there are visiting the Guinness Storehouse :o

I have heard a rumour that one of the large ICT companies that are currently located in the area are moving out later this year. This company is rumoured to be relocating to a new office development in a different, and more prestigious, part of the city :o Apparently, the cost per square metre is far lower in the new location :o

Tags: Ireland

I read last night that Vodafone is abolishing all roaming charges for the summer!

I think that this is brilliant, and I hope that it becomes permanent! Also, I hope that this is rolled-out across all Vodafone operations!

You can read more about this in Summer roaming promotion – mobile roaming service from Vodafone.

Tags: UK, Vodafone

Yet another Skype story this week…

The founders of Skype were unable to reach a deal with eBay regarding the sale of Skype.  So instead eBay will try to float Skype. That should be interesting to watch, if it gets to that stage!

For more details about this story see eBay set to float Skype.

Tags: eBay, IPO, Skype

Another Skype story…

Rumour has it that the founders of Skype are considering buying Skype back from eBay. The full story can be read in Four years later, Skype’s founders looking to buy it back.

I actually think that this would be a great move for both companies. I do not really see any business or technological reasons why either company is of significant interest to the other. I actually think that they are in totally different market segments – Skype is in telecoms and eBay is in online auctioneering.

Furthermore, I know that many of the Tier 1 telcos see Skype as a significant competitor. I think that independence from eBay would allow Skype to become an even bigger competitor!

I think that the challenges for Skype are to grow its customer base, and to generate more revenue from its customer base. I think that the first challenge is being addressed by increasing penetration into both the mobile market and the business market. I am less clear how the second challenge can be addressed. In my experience, the Skype users that I know have all progressed from the free voice and video calls to buying SkypeOut credit. I wonder what percentage of Skype’s users have actually gone on to make a purchase from Skype.

Tags: eBay, Skype

I came across this web site recently… it seemed that Jamie Varo really wanted to work for Twitter. So she created http://www.twittershouldhireme.com/

I thought it was very creative!

Tags: Twitter

I learned about a business competition on the main national television news last night for Irish Internet based ideas. The prize fund of 10,000€ is being sponsored by an Irish company called iQContent, and entrants must submit a brief business plan. iQContent will not have any further involvement with the winners once the competition is over.

For more details about this competition see iQPrize or The iQ Prize: 10,000 euro for the best business plan.

This could be an ideal opportunity for somebody who has an idea, and I think that it is great to see this type of encouragement.

Actually, the more I think about this competition, the more I realise that it is very beneficial to iQContent also. The company got terrific free public exposure on prime-time television last night. Additionally, the company will get to see many other unsuccessful ideas as part of the competition. I am not suggesting that iQContent will steal any of them, but it might provide it with some useful inspiration :o

Tags: iQContent

I read two interesting articles in the paper earlier this week about Irish people and shopping online.

The first article contains the results of a survey of 1,000 Irish people. The main finding was that Irish consumers spent an average of 1,700€ online in 2008, and that approximately a quarter of these people expect to spend more online in 2009. I certainly spent more than the average online in 2008, but I am probably in the majority who do not believe that this will increase in 2009 :o

Another interesting finding of the survey was that 90% of shoppers believe that they can save money by shopping online. I am certainly agree with this from my experience, and the recent increase in the Irish VAT rate has only exasperated the price differences!

The full article is Shoppers spent average €1,700 online in 2008.

The second article, Downturn speeding up revolution in the way we shop, argues that speed, adaptability, and agility, are the key business traits that will enable companies to survive the current economic downturn. The author then proposes that technology will be the key enabler of these business traits. It is interesting reading, and I share the author’s sentiments!

Tags: Ireland, Tax

BizCamp Dublin was held today in The Digital Hub. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend :( Indeed, I have never attended a BizCamp event, even though it is something that I really want to do!

The line-up of speakers and talks seemed really interesting, and there are many well-known people from the Irish Internet community on the attending list.

Tags: BizCamp