Connect online by phone

by Sarai Fernandez on December 10th, 2009

It’s only hours for the Connector Christmas Party, one of the greatest events in the whole year and a must-be if you want to be connected.
As all you know Connector runs monthly meetings where people can make professional and personal connections offline. But we want people to keep their connections online as well and to encourage that, we will raffle two wonderful social mobile phones, and all the benefits will go to the Temple Street Children’s Hospital.

The winners will get an INQ Mini 3G, courtesy of the mobile network 3. This little treat that we are offering has an authentic Twitter application, which will let you be always on’ and send tweets and retweets via the internet rather than using SMS.
It weights only 90 gr., has a 2 megapixels camera, usb and bluetooth and it also includes a ‘plug and play’ HSDPA modem enabling high-speed wireless broadband on PCs and Macs. And all this things in a tiny candy bar shaped phone with the coolest design!

Diary of a Meteor Apprentice

by Rob Cumiskey on November 18th, 2009

Last week, we were proud to announce that one of our own, Izabela Zelazna, was chosen to compete in the Meteor Apprentice competition. Izabela has written a diary entry about her first task in the competition:

My first task in the Meteor Apprentice competition was all about social media. We were given a week to get as many fans as we could for Facebook fan page.

‘Use all possible social media and scream about your case’, my friend told me. Scream is good, I thought, however I didn’t want to create too much noise. I think that people are usually reluctant and slow to join Facebook Fan Pages these days, not wanting their News feed to be spammed.

First of all, I decided to record nice and friendly videos and post them on my Facebook page and YouTube channel. I wanted to spread the word through the networks and personal contacts that I have made so far. Knowing that Meteor is about entertainment, engagement and humour, I wanted to incorporate it all, and make people interact and smile.

The number of people signing in was not impressive though. Facebook may have had spectacular results in reaching 100mln users in 9 months but it was essential for me to understand that my audience is dispersed and the key is to have an interesting twist and share worthwhile content.

With that in mind, half way through the task, I decided to use another angle –to position myself as a foreigner, who aspires to succeeed and boldly goes for a high profile job. I sent this positive release to the press and it worked perfectly. My press release got coverage in two Polish newspapers in Ireland (Gazeta.ie, Polski Express) as well as Polish newspaper in Poland – Gazeta Krakowska. I also asked my international friends from Amsterdam for support.

So after all the effort and campaigning, I ended up with nearly 780 of the most diverse and multinational fans in the whole competition.

This has great potential. What should the next step be?

Connecting with the stunnalicious Dita Von Teese

by Conor on September 26th, 2009

I was at a great lunch reception in Bentleys on St. Stephens Green on Thursday at the launch of Vodafone 360.  Why was it so good ?  Well the amazingly stunnalicious Dita Von Teese was there along with loads of people I know including my ex-colleagues at Vodafone and bunch of fellow bloggers & tech journalists too.  Plus the food was great, location perfect and it was a sunny day in Dublin so thanks to Niall Harbison for the invite & Fred for the great video below.

Pictured is the internationally renowned burlesque star and style icon, Dita von Teese who is surrounded by a 360 degree wall of mirrors. Unfortunately she only seemed to be in the room for a couple of minutes and no attempt seemed to be made to accomodate photo bloggers to get photos of her or with her.

As for the service, it looked great on the touch screen devices it was demonstrated on and it defintely something I’d like to try as my operator O2 don’t have anthing quite like it.  In essence, Vodafone 360 is a brand new set of internet services for your mobile and PC which gathers all your friends, communities, entertainment and personal favourites in one place.  At its heart Vodafone 360 has the most personal address book available, bringing together all of your contacts from your mobile phone, social networks and other internet accounts.

Nokia – Re-Connecting Electric Picnic People

by Conor on September 1st, 2009

Nokia – ‘Connecting People’ has been slightly amended in the blog post today as we have some good news for all Nokia mobile phone users @ Electric Picnic this weekend.  Nokia are providing a great green solution for the dreaded problem of a dying or dead mobile phone battery at a music festival !  Now you can potentially save your festival, save on electricity & also get the latest information about the festival @ the Nokia Recharge Pod !

And don’t forget to go to Nokia’s ovi.com where you can register for ‘Ovi Synch’ & back up all your phone numbers & more for free – this is a smart move in case of a festival mishap where you lose your phone & all your numbers !

Here is the message from Nokia about the Recharge Pods -

“Nokia are delighted to announce that they are contributing to the Carbon Responsibility Policy of the Electric Picnic by bringing for the 2nd year, the “Recharge Pod”. This is an eco-friendly, freestanding wind and solar power mobile phone charging station, capable of charging up to 120 Nokia handsets an hour for free!

The Nokia Recharge and Information area will keep you constantly updated with up to the minute festival news, updates, and information on all the services on offer at the Electric Picnic, and all while charging your Nokia handset in the Recharge Pod.

The Recharge Pod has been specifically designed for use at outdoor events and festivals, as it doesn’t require a power supply; the entire system is self sufficient and runs from its own renewable solar and wind power sources.  The Recharge Pod also powers its own lighting; utilizing low power LED’s to illuminate the inside, the turbine and the branding.”

Sian Gray, Head of Marketing for Nokia Ireland comments, “We are committed to doing things differently and reducing our own energy consumption.  We are delighted to be bringing back the “Recharge Pod” to Electric Picnic 2009.

Connecting with TV3’s Total Xposure

by Jamie Richardson on August 10th, 2009

On the way in to Croke Park, we came across one of the contestants for Total Xposure, a competition to become the next presenter of TV3’s flagship entertainment show Xposé.

The show is down to 3 finalists, Ruth, Sean, and Simon. Simon Atkins was at Croke Park telling people to vote for him for tomorrow’s final voting as he is from Mayo. He was joined by two former contestants, Michael Coghlan and Daniella Moyles.

To vote for Simon for the Total Xposure competition, text SIMON to the 53307 or ring 1513 712 303.

Check out the the site for more information >here>>

Best of luck guys!

Connections made with Don Mullan

by Jamie Richardson on August 4th, 2009

“I’m an ideas man.”

 This is perhaps the most unmistakable quality about Don Mullan. Ideas. He is full of them. Social entrepreneur, humanitarian, author, world traveler, top mobile phone photographer, and ideas man.

The Connector Team had the pleasure of spending a couple hours with Don a couple of weeks ago. We chatted about his recent and highly successful exhibition of photos from his Nokia phones. The exhibition, called “A Thousand Reasons for Living” was the world’s first amateur photography exhibition based solely on mobile phone cameras.

The exhibition, put on by Nokia Ireland, was a huge hit. Look at Don’s photographs, and it’s easy to see why!

It was a great pleasure to meet Don and we hope to hear more of great work from the ideas man himself!

Connecting with U2 in Croke Park

by Andrew Sigle on July 28th, 2009

Last night I was privileged enough to join Conor for the U2 concert located at Croke Park. It was a great evening filled with many connections. The whole atmosphere of the concert really made for an excellent night. Of course we started out at Quinns for a pint before the show. Quinns was crowded with people waiting for the concert, so we chose to make our way towards Croke Park along with the rest of the restless mob.

Our tickets were scanned and we were in the concert!!! One last trip to the beer garden to get in the mood for the concert, and we were ready to enter the stadium. When I first saw the stage my mouth dropped and I could not believe my eyes. In front of me stood the largest stage that I have ever seen. It is hard to even describe the shape of it, so you will just have to look at pictures to determine for yourself.

A mobile movie from Conor before the gig got HOT …

Here are some pictures of the night …

Finally it was time for U2 to enter the stage. It was amazing the energy that went through that stadium when they entered onto the stage and began playing for the crowd. It is safe to say that we connected with all of Dublin in just one moment at the concert. Like I said the energy that passed through the stadium was a connection in itself, we were all united as one during that concert. I personally was a huge fan of the wave that took place before the concert even started. It continued for about 7 passes around the stadium, which was amazing.

U2 really rocked the stage and took the night away. The best part of the concert was the gigantic screen that they used. It eventually unfolded like an accordion for one of their songs. It was something that I will always remember, and that words can’t even describe. I am happy to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at U2 and will remember that show for a lifetime.

Check out the mobile phonelight milkyway !

Connector Weekly Video Blog No.1

by Conor on May 17th, 2009

I was watching Niall Harbison’s video blog post earlier and was thinking, why don’t I give video blogging a lash ? I suppose like most people I am reluctant to get in front of a video camera but after a year of photo blogging, it seems like the right time to try something new.

This video was made with a Nokie N95 mobile phone with the QIK.com application installed so the video is sent directly to my QIK profile page.  Then I drop the embed code into my Wordpress blog post.  Easy.

The new eMag is here and please check it out and of course see what you think of the video and please comment below.

Connect with Eoghan McCabe, Damien Ryan & Michelle O’Keefe

by Conor on May 7th, 2009

We made the following videos @ Connector No.9 featuring short presentations by Eoghan McCabe (Contrast.ie), Damien Ryan (Results International Group) & Michelle O’Keefe (Travel Affiliate).

Connect with Pieter & Ronan from locle.com

by connector on May 5th, 2009

Nice guys, nice idea and we wish them the best of luck with locle.com and well done to Pieter especially for making such an interesting presentation @ Connector No.9