PodCamp Ireland 2007 - Then And Now

What a day. A few short months of planning, conference calls, meetings, trips to venues, calls to sponsors, emails, texts, jaikus, tweets and everything else that goes into making an event happen, all finally came together today (technically yesterday in the form of PodCamp Ireland.

Late to bed on Friday night following another gig meant an early start Saturday morning joining Bernie and Neville Hobson for a great breakfast and chat in Zuni before trekking around the corner to set up for the day. Not to recap every little event and movement from start to finish but there are a few things I got to take out of PodCamp.

Spending most of my day in the main room looking after a few audio bits, keeping an eye on the streaming and backchannel meant I never got to make the trip to the Hibernian (down the street) but I finally got to catch up with James, Michele, Krishna, Conn, Brian and a host of other people I’ve only previously conversed with via blogs / emails / skype etc. As much as I enjoyed finally getting to put faces to names and make proper introductions, it was great to “bend the ear” of some of the faces and names I didn’t know on the day.

I did manage to take in Brian and Dean’s opening talk on creativity, the first morning panel session, podcasting for arts organisations, podcast artwork (Jennifer Farley), the second panel discussion (looking at building communities) while tripping amongst conversations with Michele Neylon (nice to finally meet), Elly Parker (nice moo cards and tip off about blurb.com), Grannymar (who got TRIPLE-DECKER sandwiches for lunch), Margaret Durand (FEIW, great chat about all things Deise and the music scene in the South East), Dean Whitbread (working in the mid 90s and broadcasting gigs), Cathy Fitzgerald (ArtLinks, all things community), Will Knott (custom laptop covers to medieval-esque archery over oak trees) and beyond.

A closing address from Conn saw some of the collective head for food and drinks afterwards in Kilkenny, myself retiring home after clearing out the Ormonde and loading up a van full of audio gear. Leaving a gig earlier tonight (close to 1am) I happened to bump into Brian, Dean and Martin again, picking up GD’s business card and getting some further ideas going in talking with Brian in brief about getting this country of ours podsafe.

I think that’s one of the great successes of today - so many ideas for so many people. Podcasting, blogging, social media has been somewhat demystified; techies met non-technies, podcasters met artists, bloggers met musicians and writes, journalists, photographers - a real fantastic audience.

All the action on the day can be relived through a quite active Jaiku channel or the uStream.tv channel (sessions only from main room available for viewing). Rumour too has it that we’re earmarking September 27th 2008 for the next PodCamp Ireland on an even grander scale.

I’m looking forward to it already.

Thanks a million to everyone who was there today both physically and virtually, to those of you who dropped in during the day and disappeared and to Bernie, Conn, Krishna and Brian who I’ve been working with over the past few months to get all of this up off the ground. Here’s to the next one…

Photos via flickr to come tomorrow, for now - sleep.

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Live At PodCamp Ireland

Finally have the laptop online, I’m standing at the sound desk if anyone fancies saying hello!

PodCamp Ireland Jaiku stream

uStream.tv (Live video and audio) via Edgecast

MAXroam To Launch Today

Previewed at TechCrunch40, Cork-based MAXroam (formerly roam4free) launches later today with Cubic Telecom getting its launch next month.

Kickoff for MAXroam looks set to be midday (12pm GMT) today and if you purchase a MAXroam sim, something I intend to do as I’ll be traveling in November this year along with trips to Toronto and possibly San Francisco in the New Year, you might win yourself an iPhone. Not only that, but the iPhone is unlocked so you’ll have no problem using your new MAXroam sim or your own Irish sim.

Mention of a blogger program too… curiosity has got me there but I’m sure most, if not all, will be revealed at 12 today.

Update: Site launched before midday, grabbed myself a sim card. For €29.99 with €5 credit, the price is great considering the savings it can create.

PodCamp Ireland Podcast - Countdown Is On

Conn and Krishna have got the ball rolling on podcasting this week on PodCampIreland.com ahead of PodCamp this coming weekend in Kilkenny.

The podcast looks at audio quality and production techniques and as a result, the quality of this podcast is fantastic.

Interesting thoughts via Conn on recording conversations via Skype.

You’ll also get to listen to a track from one of my favourite Irish acts at present (boosted now by the fact that he’s taken up residency in Kilkenny), Clive Barnes, who plays Kilkenny on Friday night this week. I’m also giving away two pairs of tickets to his gig via KilkennyMusic.com so if you like what you hear, just leave a comment saying “I want tickets to Clive Barnes” and I’ll include you in the draw!

Check out PodCampIreland.com during the week for further updates on the weekend ahead.

PodCamp Ireland - Audio Production Techniques

(original post)

Net Visionary Awards Voting Open

The Net Visionary Awards voting is up and running from this morning, a few names in there I’ll recognise, a lot of names in there I won’t recognise.

Congratulations to everyone nominated, you can vote until October 19th.

Me, I’m looking forward to the Blog Awards - if anything it’s cheaper to attend

Going through the feeds this morning, Michele raises an interesting point or two

BarCamp Galway Today - Live Updates Availabile

There’s live updates available from BarCamp Galway today with two options thus far available to you…

• Keep an eye on the Jaiku channel as a back channel for discussion during the day, if you’re not in attendance it’s a great way to keep up with what’s going on either online or via SMS. If you are in attendance I’m sure you can use to to keep up with what’s happening at some of the other talks… I know I’ll have the mobile on for the day on this one.
• Conn will be streaming some of the day’s events here on uStream.tv, again something I’ll be keeping an eye on. Perhaps a Jaiku alert when streaming is about to kick off?

The Intruders cameras will be out and about as well so me might see some recaps and interviews from them in the coming week or two.

As seen on the wiki, there’s a solid number due in attendance (around 80), the day of course being held in the DERI building at NUI Galway. Details on talk streams, speakers, directions, accommodation and all the jazz can be found on the wiki. Good luck to everyone on the day, sorry can’t be there but will be keeping tabs online throughout the day.

Jaiku Friday, Didn’t You Know?

Its up there amongst “denim day”, “no uniform day” and other such prestigious events, but today is “Jaiku Friday”, didn’t you know?

Walter made the suggestion, Bernie has the low down.

(Google Results for Jaiku Friday)

Ken McGuire Photography

Well, I’ve decided to call a halt to the photo blog I was running under photo.kenmc.com, having gone through a few different iterations and approaches from portfolio-ish style to mobile blogging, photos from the mobile phone and all the rest…

As a result, I’ve launched Ken McGuire Photography, something I’ve been putting off doing over the past few months until the theatre calmed down and I had a bit more free time on my hands in terms of getting out and about and getting back to doing something I love. The site, driven by Wordpress with a few tweaks along the way for good measure, will house portfolio work old and new.

There’s no comments on the site, but all the images are being hosted through flickr and individual pages have links back to their home on flickr - you’re free to leave a comment there if you wish. I might yet introduce some pop-up comments, we’ll see how it goes.

There’s a few images in there at the moment, but its the start of something for me, something I’ve been longing to get back around to and hopefully this is the kick in the arse I need for it!

Win Tickets For Dave Browne (Picturehouse) In Kilkenny This Weekend

Yep, giving away two pairs of tickets through KilkennyMusic.com to go see Dave Browne (Picturehouse) in concert this weekend. He’s playing the intimate Cleere’s Theatre in Kilkenny in advance of launching his live EP ‘Prelude’ next month and his upcoming album ‘Windows To The Soul’ in the new year.

Tickets are €20 for the gig, I’ve got two pairs to giveaway, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post on KilkennyMusic.com (or alternatively here on kenmc.com). Winners chosen at random by lunchtime on Friday.

Doors open 9:30pm Saturday night with stage time set for 10pm.

Dave Browne - Everybody Wants Love

Apple iPhone For UK On November 9th - Some Points To Note

I almost forgot about this one this morning until skimming the Guardian over breakfast, but Apple have announced the iPhone for the UK, with a release date of November 9th. Here’s some points to note from the press coverage this morning…

• The iPhone will retail at £269 (€386) and will be carried, as previously suggested, by O2
• There will be no discount on the handset
• First-time buyers subject to minimum 18 month contract with O2
• Steve Jobs wouldn’t talk revenue share
• Subscribers in UK will have bundled access to 7,500 WiFi spots - what does that leave Irish market?
• No 3G
• 80% of O2’s “high value customers” would love an iPhone, not necessarily buy an iPhone
• Contracts start from £35 (€50) per month including unlimited data
• EDGE and WiFi all the way
• UK only today, other European countries within the next quarter…

As much as I have a love for all things Apple, there’s still not enough in an iPhone to sway me, plus no concrete details on a rollout within the Irish market. Did someone tell me the Nokia N95 8GB model is hitting the shelves here around the same time?

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