Cork Swansea Ferry
Last night I sailed on board the Julia, the new Cork Swansea ferry operated by fastnetline. This was my first time aboard the new ship, which was acquired by the West Cork Tourism Co-op members in an effort to boost tourism in the Irish region following the removal of the previous service in October 2006. A well executed group business project, and I hope suitable dividends will be paid to all those involved.
So what was the ship like?
I arrived in Swansea at about 6pm by bicycle after undertaking a bike ride from Bristol that day. Absolutely shattered I headed straight for the ferry, and after some ship style boarder check formalities, was permitted to board in a reasonable time period. With the bike tied up well, anticipating a bouncy voyage, I headed for reception on deck 6, taken up kindly by a deck hand in the elevator.
Following a speedy check in at reception, I proceeded to find my two berth window cabin number 7003. A reasonable size, with a compact bathroom and pretty much what I expected as per the pictures.
Given my chosen portable device is an iphone, my immediate concern was where to plug this bad boy in. What I found was that all the electric sockets were two pin European, shite! Right off down to reception. "excuse me do you happen to have any adapters to suit my UK/Ire plug" "No Sir, I'm afraid you will have to purchase one down in the shop on deck 5"
Okkkkkk, not indicating that she doesn't have any, just directing me to purchase one. Hmmmmm. Down to deck 5, and the kind lady in the shop informs me they only have global universal chargers available for €7.50! Alright Alright, I just want to get this thing going. Damn you iphone!
This I believe needs to be addressed. Given the largest proportion of passengers will be of British, Irish origin, then they will need access to their standard electrical socket. To expect everyone who wants to charge or plug something in, to purchase a new charger is a bit of a joke. Either re-fit the sockets, or purchase 300 adapters for the 300 cabins. Simple
Rant over, I proceeded to sort out some food, as I was guessing my attitude was deteriorating by the minute. The main options on board seem to be a self service buffet, or the €35 a head restaurant. Given I would have eaten a stray sheep running around Swansea, I opted for the restaurant 3 course meal for €35. This I must say was the best part of my experience. A really nice waiter took my order, and even put my iphone on charge 
I had mussels, which were good. Fillet steak which was an excellent tender medium, sloshed down with a nice glass of house red. Finishing off with an apple and pear crumble. A very nice meal I must say, which was good value I thought. Dinning room wasn't full, as a lot of families with kids we're opting for the buffet, rather than pay €35 for johnny to paint the wall with his pate. 8 out 0f 10.
The voyage itself as expected was pretty rough, but managed to sleep through most of it, and we arrived at the entrance of Cork Harbour by Roches Point to a beautiful morning.
Most of the staff on board are of Eastern European origin, although I think the barman may be picking up a Cork accent! Seriously, very good job by the staff.
I'll be back, next time in a car though, and with an adapter just in case!
PS - why no more tweets??
Starting to Learn
The business and life experience gained from developing and launching a start-up business seems to be unrivaled in my view.
The chance to:
- Put into practice your knowledge gained so far, academic or professional and tailor it to the specific start-up requirements.
- Learn new skills as and when they are needed: finance, marketing, management, planning, design, negotiation, pr, networking.....
- Dedicate your entire attention to something you believe to be of value, knowing that you control the rewards associated with that.
Not suited to everybody, but those that can capitalise on start-up opportunities, can learn what is very difficult to teach.
Political Ambition
How do we improve the desire of young and energetic Europeans to engage in politics and take senior positions within government?
1. Remove the need for association with a political party as a route to politics.
2. Educate the electorate as to the need for young, industry experienced professionals to take senior positions within government
3. Lower the differences between adopting a leading public and private professional life
4.
Live Blogging
I've just been contemplating the contributions to this blog, and what I can do to improve it's content both in terms of interest and frequency.
The solution I've arrived at is to publish the thoughts and blogs I am constructing as they are written. This will largely be made possible by the wordpress iphone app, so that I can post live contributions on the move, and just as ideas are generated.
The format of the posts may not be pretty, but will resemble the construction on my thoughts on a particular issue, spelling mistakes included. These posts can then be tidied up at a more suitable time.
So just like an event, where live blogging is the norm, the event is now my life. Here goes...
Geographical Development and Support
Two conversations I've had over the last number of weeks have both revolved around where to locate a web app development company targeting the international market. Interestingly both came to different conclusions.
The successful support of web application development comes largely down to the ability to source talent and finance. If certain locations provide more access to both for a particular focus, then the results will be evident. Not to mention the work ethic that is generated when such an ecosystem of resources and development is put in place.
So the question is, do you have to be located in San Jose to ensure the correct support is available for your company. My initial thoughts are no, as successful web co's have been created in other large successful innovative centres, notably London. However, one cannot ignore the output and focus of the valley in this arena. Therefore it is a must to learn and feed off this experience to the best of our ability. We have therefore been very interested to see the opening of the Irish Innovation Centre in San Jose, and hope this is only the beginning in advancing our relationship and contribution to the future innovations emanating from this location stamped with a San Jose Irish Flag.
So with a combination of work work work,the continued development of our local eco-system and a strong relationship with all of the major innovative centres for this field, I believe we can create some truly excellent and successful international enterprises.
Let's leave it at saying we're planning a research trip to the valley in the immediate future.....
Ending 2009
It has been quite an interesting and eventful year to gain business experience. From launching the Loopthing Social Business Network in April we have had a busy 8 months full of increased challenges and demands, with invaluable experience for a young team, wrap this up in a global economic recession and the years teachings will take a bit of beating.
From my own perspective I have knocked down a lot of youthful mind barriers that might have restricted thinking on wider international business levels. Being based in London and having undertaken an Asian research trip during July have both added greatly to my vision on international growth. The Tokyoites in particular were very interesting to analyse in business practice and some great meetings shaped my thinking on undertaking business expansion in the region.
From an Irish perspective the year has done more to shape my national political and business views than at any other time in my life. Identifying those deploying sustainable business practices was very evident, as were the unsustainable who enjoyed the economic ride.
The political environment has become so stale that an immediate general election would even do little to revive it. It has become clear that expertise and experience is lacking in many government departments and serious constitutional changes will have to be looked into in rectifying this problem. The ability of the National Parliament (Oireachtas - President, Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann) to effectively and efficiently run the country has been called into question. Those with the desire to represent their local constituencies cannot be accused of a lack of patriotism or thirst for public life. However, the experience and education they possess for crucial ministerial positions must be assessed. If the required experience and education is not evident then the country must look to qualified alternative Irish citizens to hold ministerial positions, having not been elected but still being held responsible to Dáil Éireann (Constitution of Ireland 7.1 pg 38). So is debating the Irish consitution a possibility, and is it odds on to take a decade to provide any results.
The UK bears a very similar stale political position, but I believe the forecast early 2010 election will do much more to spur debate and interest in guiding their economy forward than in Ireland. Contrasting the differences between the two countries is now a constant exercise. Worryingly my contrasts are mostly negative from an Irish perspective. However I am keen to suggest solutions and not just focus on identifying problems.
On ending 2009, this isn't a case of sitting back and seeing what 2010 will bring us, we need to take decisive action immediately. In fairness the December budget was a step in the right track but only tackles Ireland's current problems and will need much more strategic public sector cuts and private sector initiatives. A general election in my view is badly needed, not just to change government, but to give local arenas the ability to analyse who in their community is actually capable of representing their current interests.
But let's wait until tomorrow morning, or how about 2012, my god!
Happy New Year All
Bleeding Talent
Over the past 4-5 months I've been recognising some demographic trends that make me a little bit nervous. Being based in London and travelling back to Cork frequently I have a good chance to identify changes in both environments.
The one which concerns me most is the amount of young talented Irish people making their way to work in London. I've been based here now for two and a half years and there has always been a steady flow of guys and gals coming over. But, the state we are at now is where people's entire groups of friends are now either based in London or travelling and upon returning, coming to London. The people that are already based here, also, once questioned see very little prospect of returning to work in Ireland in the coming years.
Now there will always be an attraction for the best grads and professionals to work in large global cities due to the industry positions available. However, what we are seeing now must be classified as mass emigration, and a repeat of the devastating 1980's economic situation.
I'm not a pessimist, and will always look for solutions to a problem. So what can be done to ensure that Ireland can not only maintain but also attract the creative class required to drive the country's economy forward. FDI from multinationals will neither be freely available or the required solution to this problem. Investment in national enterprises and supporting an ecosystem of national successful upstarts is where we need to be at. Now the government will profess that the smart economy is their focus, but they have no real prospect of achieving this.
1. The speed at which initiatives are implemented are frighteningly slow
2. It's difficult to run without maintaining the smart people in the country.
3. Zero confidence not only in the current government, but the entire political hierarchy and its oversight of the inflated public sector.
So if we can't rely on the government to drive initiatives to inspire and maintain Ireland's talented workforce, then it must fall on universities, existing industry and professionals. Free professional training, free office space, equipment sponsoring, mentoring, no strings seedfunding, inspirational talks, innovation events, drives to attract international talent, international experience trips.
This is not a banking position in London paying graduates £40,000, but it does at least provide exciting opportunities for a work hungry young population. I’ll be doing my part to drive some of these initiatives and I just hope some of the people with real power wake up and smell the bloody coffee.
Twitter Lists
I've been exploring the benefits of Twitter lists over the past week to see what value they provide. Personally I have no real need to create lists. Categorising offers little value over my stream. I've been creating private lists (groups) on tweetdeck for sometime now and they are rarely used.
So the buck is then passed onto people intent on creating lists that they believe offer value. They are being formed by people creating them without tweeters permission or alternatively by you actually submitting your profile to be included in a list. Types include.
Nick Kallen the list project leader states
"lists have the potential to be an important new discovery mechanism for great tweets and accounts. We started working on this feature because of the frequent requests we received from people who were looking for a better way to organize information on Twitter"
Some significant value and structure may start to emerge with the lists api
So list creators be they stupid or clever are now on the prowl, and we must begin to look at lists of lists, or do we?
Development Progress
After a huge push last week, we are getting to the final stages of development before our official launch on the 27th of October. Most of the work we are doing at the moment revolves around the creation of our first business support module. It's pretty intensive stuff, but the result will provide an excellent tool for businesses that are serious about their web presence.
I can now state that the name of Loopthing's first business module is "Open Score"
As for the specifics to the exact functionality of this business tool, everyone will have to wait until the 27th and check it out for themselves. At which point we will be happy to address any questions people may have.
In other developments, we are bouncing ideas around for the redesign of the Loopthing landing page. We’ve got some great ideas for the new layout and we look forward to implementing the design in the coming weeks.
Loopthing Launch Update
Bit by bit everything is coming together for the Loopthing official launch on the 27th of October.
Earlier this week we enabled Loopthing support for Youtube, Vimeo, Viddler and Flickr. We are also working on implementing other popular third party online media platforms that are utilised for business use.
Together this all forms part of the overall Loopthing development plan and provides the key elements behind our first business support module.
A further release will be made on this towards the end of week
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