Bumper Bytes ‘n Pieces

(+) Evert Bopp has been on a roll since backing Chris Byrne's idea for mentoring ex-Dells. Now he's laid out his vision for how a new kind of incubator / co-working center / tech hub might work in Limerick. Matt Johnston from the Belfast coworking group offers his views.

(+) But before any layoffs were announced Limerick-based Goodbuy launched and achieved 500 sign-up in only two weeks. I asked founder James Donelan what his plans were and he told me –

Our goal for Goodbuy is two-fold:

1. Provide a site where Irish consumers can find great deals in stores and businesses nationwide.
2. Provide Irish businesses with a powerful advertising and sales platform.

Our initial focus was on the consumer side of things – allowing users to post great deals they found in stores and businesses. Just yesterday we released our new business features for businesses which offers the following unique features:

• Participation in the Goodbuy network.
• A personal online storefront for your business, created automatically for you in seconds.
• A unique web address for your business http://yourbusinessname.goodbuy.ie that can be used for advertising and marketing.
• Advertise your deals and promotions to consumers nationwide.
• Inclusion in our business directory.
• We're currently offering a free 30-day trial membership to all businesses http://www.goodbuy.ie/business

Over
the next couple of weeks we're adding some great new user features
including alerts and notifications. Signed-up businesses will can also
get the ability to receive qualified sales leads as well as tools to
help improve sales and online visibility.

(+) Joe Drumgoole tells us more about Bizspark, the new program for Startups from Microsoft.

(+) Great Twitter success story for the Dublin based Rose Project –

"Someone from Amazon became a follower of The Rose Project.  That’s
how they found out about The Rose Project’s wrapping paper.  And now
Amazon are in discussions with The Rose Project on distributing the
wrapping paper.
Now that’s a good news story if ever there was one."

I've asked Brightspark Consulting for more details because this is a story all Social Entrepreneurs need to hear. But they're not the only ones…

(+) Irish teachers' attitude to Web 2.0 –

"I was disappointed, but not surprised, by the low percentage. There seems, at least in the education sector in Ireland, a small cohort that have succeeded in scaremongering the idea of a blog. Every time I give a course or a talk about blogs, I am asked about how secure they are. I find this question odd as they are no less secure than any other web application or site. In fact, I have heard on discussion fora several times that a teacher decided to “put up ‘an ordinary’ web site rather than a blog” as (s)he feared for the safety of the school."

Crikey, that's some truly frightening misinformation. Maybe these teachers need to read more about the likes of The Rose Project.

(+) Ken McGuire notes that 2009 is already looking like the year of video blogging (in Ireland at least)

(+) As if to prove the point Niall Harbison of iFoods.tv gives a great motivational talk on being an entrepreneur, and post about small man mentality. Which sparked off some fiery debate in the comments and self-reflection by Robin Blandford. He picks fame and force. I pick family and force. What do you pick?