April 2009 Archives - Ken McGuire

Off To BarCamp Belfast

April 25, 2009 By Ken McGuire 1 Comment

I’m off to BarCamp Belfast this morning, been around Belfast since yesterday and liking it so far. My last trip here was 2-3 years ago but went nowhere near the city. Next time around I’ll book a hotel with parking (point to note for those thinking on booking the Premier Inn on Waring Street) – nice hotel, but lack of parking is a pain.

Parking gripes aside BarCamp Belfast kicks off later this morning, registration underway in just under an hour, talks from 9:30pm to 5pm or so and it all takes place at the York Street campus for University of Ulster. Looking at the site this morning there’s over 370 people registered to attend 36 or so talks, panels and breakout sessions throughout the day.

At least I remembered to bring a notebook with me. If you’re in the vicinity, drop in, if we’ve not met yet then say hello. No tricks to identifying me but I’ll be there all the same and I’m looking forward to it. Rumour is there’s drinks afterwards in McHugh’s or the John Hewitt bar but I’m sure all will be revealed later.

Filed Under: Bar Camp Tagged With: barcamp, barcamp belfast, belfast, unconference

Go Mobile, Not Broke with Cubic Telecom and Qik

April 14, 2009 By Ken McGuire Leave a Comment

Qik Go Mobile, Not Broke. You’ve got to love the tagline. And you’ve got to love the fact that an Irish company keeps getting bigger and broader. The mail this morning brings news that Cubic Telecom in Cork have followed their already existing partnerships with Dopplr, GetCover Insurance, Big Red Book and others to partner up with Qik.com. It was the likes of Pat Phelan (Cubic) and Bernie Goldbach that got me into using Qik to stream videos from my N95, a practice I’ll admit I don’t get to do all that often but when I do, they seem to make a good impression, traffic-wise.

The blurb…

The partnership with Cubic Telecom will see Qik give its users the opportunity to purchase Qik-branded SIM cards enabling them to stream video live from all corners of the planet – without coming home to an astronomical phone bill. The Qik SIM also provides massive savings on voice calls, email, web browsing and texting while they travel. Under the tagline “Go mobile, not broke,” Qik is offering its users a simple, inexpensive way to share live video no matter where they are. The Qik pre-paid SIM cards with full voice and data can be purchased from http://qik.com/roam. This is also where customers can manage their accounts.

“Travelers can now share their world journeys with videos, photos, text, and calls from their mobile device without it costing the earth.” said Pat Phelan, Cubic Telecom CEO “We’ve heard of the horror stories of travelers returning from a trip abroad to cell phone bills in the thousands of euros. The Qik SIM eliminates this worry for our customers.”

â€œWe are excited to partner with Cubic Telecom to offer Qik SIM cards to our users,â€ said Ramu Sunkara, Qik CEO. â€œWith the Qik pre-paid SIM cards, Qikkers across the world can now share their moments when they are traveling without having to worry about voice or data roaming costs. Itâ€™s like sending a live video postcard to your friends and family from wherever you are.â€

Post-blurb…

I gave an outline of the Qik service to a potential client last week as a means of using live video streaming and interacting with an audience during a presentation, which got me to thinking why am I not Qikking the gigs that I’m involved in running in Kilkenny and elsewhere. For those not on any kind of stellar data plan or those operating outside of a wifi area, the partnership with Qik and Cubic Telecom, particularly when roaming out and about, could well breed a whole new line of Qik.com users.

I’ve got plenty of trips lined up this year where I would like the opportunity to stream from my handset without blowing an incredible hole in my wallet – Amsterdam, Belfast, Portugal, Dubai… where do I sign up?

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: cubic telecom, n95, partnership, qik, Roaming, sim card, streaming, Technology, video

Mocks.ie, Online Exam Corrections, Maths Help

April 10, 2009 By Ken McGuire Leave a Comment

I’ll guess that the mock junior and leaving cert exams have come and gone but I stumbled across Mocks.ie in the paper this morning, which should help students right up to exam time in June.

What is it?

Mocks.ie is an affordable online exam and correction service that gives you an easy and effective way of ensuring you are ready for the Junior and Leaving Certification Exam. With Mocks.ieâ€™s unique service you can practice exams, monitor your progress, improve your exam performance and technique so that you achieve the results you desire.

I’ve never gone down the grinds roads but did take an easter revision course in Waterford the year of my leaving cert (2001), aimed at one side of the honours maths paper. Between everything I was doing that year and getting involved with theatre at the time, I was leaving things a bit late to get the head down and focus on the subject I needed for my course. While the revision course was good, it lasted a few hours, or maybe over two days, I can’t remember at this stage, and that’s it. For â‚¬40 with Mocks.ie, you could sit the maths paper as often as you wanted over the course of a month, get your results, get your feedback, something that could prove quite valuable to students, and possibly something I would have taken up myself had the opportunity presented itself (though the revision course did the trick).

Junior cert topics start from â‚¬13.95 per subject, with leaving cert topics starting at â‚¬19.95. In the case of the maths paper, the results are instant once your exam paper has been received by email / mail, with up to a seven day wait on other subjects.

If you’ve got a junior or leaving cert student in the house or the family and they’re looking for an extra bit of help in the run up to June, it might be worth a look.