And who do we have that can get the crowds going like that? Or is getting the elecorate energised below Irish political parties? When is the last time a YouTube video of a politician here got sent around from someone outside of the party?
Archive for the ‘irishblogs’ Category
This was 2004
Thursday, January 1st, 2009More pressies
Thursday, January 1st, 2009A phone and a big telly. Again from Santa Pat. Get entering the competition.
Ones to watch in 2009
Thursday, January 1st, 2009
Photo owned by timsepulveda (cc)
Ones to watch from 2008. 2007.
Pat Phelan
Third year in a row for Pat Phelan. The perennial one to watch, 2009 will not change that. Bigger and better year on year for man who is probably the hardest working man in Irish technology and the most generous with his time too. Some say he’s got a big head but his heart is much much bigger.
Niall Harbison
Chief spud peeler at iFoods.tv, he was on the Dragon’s Den earlier this year and held his own. A thoroughly nice and modest chap too. Prolific videographer and blogger. He makes a mean steak and a fantastic cheese sandwich. I’ve seen Niall on Twitter, on his blog and in his videos and the amount of work and the positivity that he brings with it is admirable. His energy gives you energy. Second chef on this list, probably tells you something about the character of chefs as much as entrepreneurs. Fred Wilson and other VCs talk about the founders of a company will always have an influence on it and iFoods.tv is going to be huge because of Niall and Seán alone. This is why VCs invest in people, not tech, not business plans.
John Peavoy
Networking god. Seeing John work a room is like watching an artist at work. Always the good word for people, always oozing positive encouragement to people and helping them make connections. Someone like that is always going to make an impact and John is just starting.
Paul Savage
Winner of the Geansai Gorm competition and asker of some very good questions at BarCamp Cork. We’ll ignore all the examples of good social media campaigns he named that nobody heard of though… Will he remain in Germany in 2009?
Sabrina Dent
Oi Dent, I want more than flowers for all these Blog and Web awards you’re winning. Sabrina is far from a designer or “just a designer”. She’ll get involved in what a company is doing or launching. She’ll ring her client up and bollock them out of it if they don’t blog enough or don’t convey their message properly. She’ll tell them using the words “honey” and “fucking” to sort their PR out or their business model. Sabrina Dent is an honest-to-goodness business makeover person and while she might not launch a product or specific service herself, her influence on dozens of businesses and startups means that her reach will go far in 2009.
Ciara Crossan
Ciara sprang up in 2008 at the various meetups in Cork and soon became a scene queen. Someone not at all afraid to get stuck in and approach anyone or everyone in a room. Ciara’s WeddingDates.ie service is great but the real value in the whole thing is Ciara who a hell of a lot of people should get lessons from when it comes to promotions and engaging with those strangers who become your customers and friends.
Darragh Doyle
His blog was born just after the 2008 Blog Awards and he roared out of them. Darragh is going to make a bigger impact in 2009 than he did in 2008. What’s this about a book/writing deal? 🙂 Darragh has covered more news items and the personal journeys of more people than most people in the media would do and he’s done it in a very natural and open way. I don’t think it’ll just be a Blog Award trophy or two in 2009 that will define his success either.
Robin Blandford and David Doran
Robin and David were already mentioned in an earlier post and are working on Decisions for Heroes. Decision For Heroes is going to be much much bigger in 2009. The big time for these lads is around the corner.
Brendan Hughes
Brendan has been working away in FBD for a while now and working hard with the No Nonsense brand online. He also chairs the IIA Social Media Working Group and does U.N. style work from time to time as well. This is a good guest blog post from Brendan. Brendan’s work with and influence on his employer on top of the advice given out by the IIA Social Media Working Group means when it comes to Marketing and PR online in Ireland in 2009, he’ll be a hub of influence. And besides all of that, Brendan is a genuinely decent guy wanting to do good, that philosophy means a hell of a lot.
Patrick Collison
We started with a Patrick, we end with one and another One to Watch from last year. Patrick and John Collison have already been well documented on this blog and Tommy is popping up more and more too. In 2009 John will be kicking ass in the Leaving Cert and fending off advances from the best colleges in the world so I think he’ll be slowed down from changing the world. Tommy will be doing that whole school thing and drumming in a jazz trio in his spare time so I think it’ll be Patrick who’ll once more make an impact in 2009. Dunno how but I have no doubt it’ll be useful and clever.
Who are your ones to watch?
Dear 2008
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
Thank you.
From the suckiest 2007 to the best year of my life. Some move! 2008 saw me finishing up in my day job and working for myself and being diagnosed with MS. No no, this was good. I got a tattoo with the word “Free” inked on my chest a few months ago just to remind myself of this year and what happened. MS was the best wake-up call ever. It made me realise life is short, most people are worth loving while a few aren’t worth your time at all. I’m caring more and I’m caring less. I’m working harder than ever and loving every single second of it. Work for me now is 7 days a week, 16 hours a day at times and it’s totally fun. Money and tangibles became even less important for me in 2008 than previously. I’m saying “ah well” more than ever before too because I’m taking risks and that’s a phrase you’ll say now and then after you take that risk.
I’ve lost some friends but I’ve gained tonnes more and am now not just surrounded but mobbed by amazing and inspiring people, many of them read and contribute to this blog. You all rock! I’ve got some plans for 2009 and 2010 and 2011 and 2012 as it happens but I don’t care too much if they work out or not. If they don’t: Ah well. The journey is the real fun and interesting bit.
I’ll enjoy being free next year too and whatever number of years after that. Thanks 2008. Thanks to everyone that took time out of their lives to read Mulley.net, to leave a comment (even if calling me an asshole) and to share their thoughts and opinions with me offline too. See you on the other side.
Broadband in Ireland in 2009 – Could it get better?
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008Two things at the very end of 2008 could mean there is a little hope for better broadband conditions in Ireland come 2009.
Photo owned by andrewjstevens (cc)
First, many operators seem hopeful that when it comes to selling broadband products over copper, it will now be easier and cheaper. This is to do with new pricing models for Local Loop Unbundling that ComReg (the patentedly useless telecoms regulator) brought out forcing eircom to remove what could be classed as getting hello money for moving a customer from one broadband service to another (despite there also being a connection and even a cancelation fee). This means there is more of an incentive by operators to offer good products that compete with each other. This pricing change should have happened about 7 years ago. If those telcos weren’t such wimps when it comes to the regulator maybe this would have happened sooner but despite all the private moaning about ComReg, they’re all afraid to say something about them in public. People too comfortable in their fucking jobs. The attitude would be different if they owned their telcos.
Unlike IrelandOffline, who thankfully are back. A more independent, nothing-to-lose by telling the naked truth group has always been needed in Irish telecoms and it’s great to see a group of dedicated people restart IrelandOffline. There is a huge amount of work to do and a massive amount of issues to tackle but at least their is now an identifiable voice for the masses. Hopefully we’ll see them meet with Eamon Ryan sooner rather than later and despite all the shit I give the man here, he is always open to listening to people and groups about broadband. Maybe they’ll get him to do something too though.
Be your own hero
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008Some thoughts as 2008 gently comes to a close. This is the sister post to And?
Why look up at sports gods, business giants or famous entertainers? Be your own hero. Expect excellence from yourself. Expect a high standard. What you expect of those giants, expect of yourself. Line yourself up for challenges and work really damned hard to make sure you carry them out and you won’t be disappointed even if you don’t manage to complete them. Why should a stranger get your adulation when you yoruself should get it? Love yourself. (Not in the making-you-go-blind-way) I see so many people reading business books and biographies of business people and hear them recounting to everyone how these business people are brilliant and worthy of praise. They are but feck that. Why not do and create and build and compete with them? It’s not a monopoly that they hold.
Be your own hero in 2009, you all deserve some adulation. You might be my hero for being your own hero. (Begin infinite loop)
And then there’s this:
Fluffy Links – Tuesday December 30th 2008
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008Congrats to Keith on his great gig in the East. Best of luck.
So TeenCamp is on January 17th in Dublin in Filmbase. Why not go along? If you’re a teen and want to do a talk or see a talk then go
Me talking shite about Twitter.
Frank’s suggestions for running a business in 2009.
Two more twitter accounts to alert you about bargains in Ireland. IrishConsumer and PriceAlerts
So I attended the first Team Tommy event Sunday and Monday, held at Castle Collison. It was a hoot and then some. Various people argue Tommy wasn’t shotgunning cans of Heino but I dunno… You had to be there I suppose. It was cool that he lined up a jazz trio too with a cool drummer. Total lie. I may be black and proud but I have no rhythm at all.
Bloody brilliant deals with Expedia to lots of places. See this Boards.ie thread about it.
Except the machine was to the left, not the right. They swap the machines every so often. That’s being too environmentally friendly.
Via Una Santogold – Lights Out
Fluffy Links – Monday December 29th 2008
Monday, December 29th, 2008From the iFood lads, Food and Fizz.
New blog from Matthew. Pavelware.
Nice gift ideas for the nerd. For next year.
Art of the Title. Brilliant blog breaking down the opening credits of movies. Lovely screenshots and history.
This is what we do to the rest of the world with our junk.
Here’s a blueprint to save the newspaper industry.
Twitter sells paintings. Irish context.
Twitter helps local politicians too.
Zombies and the food triangle.
Live iPhone apps so you can play each other or do other fun things.
Slaves in advertising. A series.
Simply not the best:
Maybe they should be called YellowSnow.ie?
Sunday, December 28th, 2008Director of communications company tells me about C U Next Tuesday on Twitter and how that bad word is in my Twitter profile url and it’s obscene. I act shocked and confused. What ever does she mean? The penny eventually drops and old-skool type deleting of the mess happens (Aside: Oh yes and after finding out Rupert Murdoch owns Facebook, she deleted her profile):
Director of Yellowstone.ie telling Damien what C U Next Tuesday really means
So after that, she deletes all those messages to me as if it didn’t happen. Liam makes a comment and she thanks him for his support:
Liam is thanked for his support
He says he didn’t support her. She deletes that message but they still show up in the Twitter timeline.
So the nuclear option is taken, the whole Twitter account is wiped. I’ll leave it to Liam for his take:
Liam's take
There’s a case study in this on how NOT to engage with an online community. I dunno what rule number it is but Rule No. Yellow is: Don’t join an online community and tell them how they should behave on their space especially if done in your language not theirs. Understanding a community takes time, you need immersion. If someone has Cuntfuckistan as their URL then there’s a strong chance it was put their on purpose. It’s not like I bent down to tie my lace and someone changed my profile URL.
Fluffy Links – Sunday December 28th 2008
Sunday, December 28th, 2008Another Collison is online and blogging. Lily Collison is here. Two potential Best Newcomers at the Blog Awards.
Bit late to this but holy fuck, there’s Irish craftsmanship right there!
Colm Brophy gets Obamaified and shows you how to do the same.
Via Alexia. Someone got a tat saying they love Helvetica. Now I have a tattoo that has Helvetica font but crikey, I wouldn’t declare my love for a person on my skin, let alone a font.
Congrats to SCC English for winning Best Group Blog at the eddies.
Jason talks Declarations and Mary-Lou McFootinMouth.
Haydn on the privileges of communication.
Backtype. Time to stalk.
Innocent when you dream maybe?