Posted in Local News on 20 August, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Hot on the heels of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe app by Loc8 Solutions, the team have been incredibly busy in releasing their second app related to the Festivals … the Edinburgh Festivals app!
This app covers all the festivals – from the International Festival, to the Book Fest to the Festival Fringe. It’s free, so there’s no excuse not to download it and remember, spread the word!
Posted in Local News, Opinions, tagged festival, hansard society, hard to reach, politics, Tweetminster, UK Youth Climate Coalition on 20 August, 2010| 3 Comments »
With the Festival of Politics taking place in Edinburgh 17-21 Aug, it has got me wondering about the use of technology, especially online tools, to titillate, amuse, connect and converse – in an attempt to engage with ‘hard to reach’ audiences in Scotland and beyond. How are these tools being used to engage audiences that are conventionally difficult to attract via traditional means in politics?
Answer: They’re being used simply, creatively, humourously and cleverly. This makes sense when you think that those who don’t engage in the political process often find politics complicated and difficult to get to grips with or extremely dull and boring. So the key is to make things simple – i.e. make it easier to access information and to understand stuff. Or makes things a little more fun. (more…)
Posted in Local News on 19 August, 2010| 1 Comment »
Professor Martin Tangney
And today, more Napier University news. This has been reported around already: the Guardian, Treehugger, etc.
By using by-products (pot ale and draff) from the Glenkinchie Distillery in East Lothian, scientists from the Edinburgh Napier’s Biofuel Research Centre have been able to produce a viable biofuel. The £260,000 research project was funded by Scottish Enterprise’s ‘Proof of Concept’ programme. A patent has been filed for the new type of biofuel which doesn’t require any modification to existing cars. The University now plans to create a spin-out company to take the new fuel to market and leverage the commercial opportunity, in the bid to make it available at petrol pumps. (more…)
Posted in Local News on 14 August, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Edinburgh Napier University has announced a new centre that is designed to help Scottish entrepreneurs, start up companies and SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) get their products to market. The first of its kind in Scotland, the Product Realisation Centres (PRC) will facilitate the production and testing of demonstrator and prototype products while providing guidance, support and advice in new product development and engineering management. (more…)
Posted in Local News on 13 August, 2010| 8 Comments »
We don’t usually cover events abroad, but as Ireland is just across the wee pond and this might be of some interest, there we go. A business planning workshop on the 27th and 28th of August in Galway.
Posted in Local News on 12 August, 2010| 4 Comments »
At StartupCafe, we love being the place where startups share news, jobs, events and embarrassing details to each other. Every day, we’re thinking of ways to make it easier for you to share news with us. But we know how difficult it can be to start from a blank sheet of email.
So, to make this process even easier for you, we’ve put together a few forms for our readers (read: YOU) to fill in if you want to get in touch with us. They come in different flavours.
Of course, should you need to get in touch, please email us on hello@startupcafe.co.uk!
Posted in Local News, tagged free, law firm, legal questions, mbm commercial on 11 August, 2010| 9 Comments »
Ever have a legal question that might take a lawyer 5 minutes, but would take you hours of research and uncertainty on your own? The online community is a great source of knowledge for a lot of FAQs, but sometimes you don’t want to gamble with the sites you trust and your attempts at interpreting the legal jargon secret code… Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just get an opinion face-to-face by someone who’s been there done that?
I’ve heard endless complaints that law firms in Scotland are too traditional, expensive, and lacking the startup-friendliness we hear about in the grass-is-greener Silicon Valley. And cheap Scottish stereotypes aside, most of us really just can’t afford hundreds of pounds every time we need some steering in the right direction, or reassurance that we’re on the right track.
Well I’m very excited to share that Dug Campbell of MBM Commercial is setting up a group to help tackle this problem. Aimed at helping tech entrepreneurs, the group will offer free advice and a chance for Q&A on a monthly basis. Not to mention (more…)
Posted in Local News on 7 August, 2010| 4 Comments »
In case you haven’t noticed, the Edinburgh Festival is truly upon us!
If you own an iPhone/iPad, you should have downloaded the Fringe Festival App written by Appleton Tower Level 6 residents, Loc8 Solutions. The app contains all the listings, a place to store your fav fringe shows and even though the screenshot doesn’t show it, the app also has a link to the offers from the Half Price Hut.
If you haven’t downloaded it, do it now!
Incidentally, if you’ve spotted any cool festival shows or been to any that you particularly recommend, feel free to comment below!
Posted in Inspiring/Motivating, Local News, tagged August on 4 August, 2010| 1 Comment »
August comes from the latin word Augustus which means great or very important. When used as an adjective it can mean ‘inspiring admiration’. And yet, the month of August has a terrible reputation…business is slow, work piles up on office desks and decisions get postponed as people take vacation. It can also be thought of as the deadliest month for hospital patients as it is when the annual intake of junior doctors arrives…remind me, how does August compare to other months in relation to death rates in hospitals?
American journalist David Plotz once wrote (more…)
Posted in Local News on 2 August, 2010| 1 Comment »
Last week, Birmingham startup QRky Ltd launched online sales of its new product: high-spec business cards featuring 2D barcodes.
Such barcodes, called QR codes, are not new. They’ve long been popular in Japan, where mobile phones are required to have QR readers. Earlier this year, at Austin’s SXSW, the codes were used extensively on conference materials including name badges and programmes . Closer to home, Edinburgh-based 2Dcode.me directs home-seekers directly to relevant online listings using QR codes on property signs.
(more…)
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