A free guide from around Britain for your mobile providing you with the best destination guides, maps, attractions, events and accomodation listings live and completely free for your mobile phone!
Once you’ve got mobiEXPLORE UK on your phone you’ll be able to view UK maps including street maps and transport maps like the London Underground map. You’ll also be able to search local ‘what’s-on’ guides and lists of the best local restaurants and hotels, access real time weather reports and receive discount vouchers. And you can do all this from your mobile phone, which means no more carrying around heavy guidebooks.
Easy-to-use, mobiEXPLORE UK with VisitBritain.com offers you up-to-the-minute news on the best places to eat, drink, sleep and visit – all at the push of a button. It gives you best parts of traditional guidebooks combined with internet search in the palm of your hand.
To access Britain’s largest online directory of destination guides and quality-assessed accommodation providers direct from your phone, simply go to mobiexplore.com/visitbritain and download the free mobiEXPLORE UK mobile application.
Google has chosen, Shoreditch, home of the ‘Silicon Roundabout’ to open an Internet University called ‘Campus’ right in the heart of our vibrant community. We brought you news that Google had signed a lease on multi-storey building in Shoreditch back in September. We can now reveal further details about the usage of the building as Google opens up an internet university. The Google Campus opens in Shoreditch next month and will be used to provide support and opportunities for tech entrepreneurs and start-up businesses.
Google are committing themselves to being very much part of the East London Tech City vision and they are showing their support by providing a building with:
Over 200 desk spaces for rent
Booths for private working on projects
Meeting room, event and presentation space
Entertainment and refreshment facilities
Google has officially announced Campus London via the website campuslondon.com and you can find out more details and apply for desk space there.
Shoreditch-based moo.com is bringing Facebook to the real world in the form of business cards based on the new social network’s timeline redesign.
The silicon roundabout company creates business cards, postcards and minicards helping people share information about themselves in the real world.
The tailored cards are based on your facebook profiles and includes your name, company or college, where you live, your Facebook url, phone number and e-mail address. On the back on the card there is space for a quotation or sentence about you.
“Working closely with the Facebook Timeline team, we translated their Cover Photo concept to our Business Card format by mirroring the fonts, layout and iconography of the Timeline.”
Check out the video on how to get your business cards.
For some time now the Tech City initiative has been home to some of the most enterprising tech start-ups the city of London has to offer. Next year sees a showcase of the initiatives growth, as from May 21st to the June 2nd the Digital Shoreditch festival will be celebrating the outstanding creative, technical and entrepreneurial talent of East London and Tech City.
Digital Shoreditch aims to be East London’s answer to the popular South by South West festival and eventually rival the event in four years. The festival hopes to shine a spotlight on the ever flourishing digital community of East London, specifically the areas of;Clerkenwell, Stratford, Old Street, Bethnal Green and Dalston. That being said the festival promises to be an all-inclusive experience that celebrates London as a whole.
What is also interesting is the depth and diversity of local companies and organisations that comprise Digital Shoreditch’s list of founding partners, a list which includes;Unruly, Sports Interactive, Taylor Wessing, Hackney Council, PlayGen and Queen Mary, University of London.
Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive had this to say about his companies involvement with the event:
“We’ve been on the doorstep of the digital roundabout since it was just, well, a normal roundabout, and over the years have seen so many tech and digital focused companies moving to the area. We’re delighted to be able to support Digital Shoreditch in what is our 20th year as a games studio so that we can learn, teach, admire and get to know lots of the people in the area doing great things with technology, and meeting those people from afar who will come into the area to attend the plethora of events that will be happening.”
Digital Shoreditch’s inaugural festival in 2011 attracted contributions from 180 companies, where 2,000 people attended 50 events in the first week of May. The festival is seeking to build upon their established success by enlisting 500 companies and individuals, attended by over 50,000 people in 2012.
The 14-day programme for 2012 will include talks, educational workshops, open studios, exhibitions, family days, awards and parties that will engage, inspire and celebrate the cream of the digital crop. There promises to be something for everyone, from the tech-head to the merely curious.
Shoreditch is rapidly becoming a focus for technological advancement in recent times. What with the newly designated Tech City being located within the borough, and the wealth of Web 2.0 start-ups that already reside there.
This burgeoning hub of technology will be adding another web based interest to its impressive portfolio of residence. ECS professors Nigel Shadbolt and Sir Tim Berners-Lee will be co-directing the establishment of the world leading Open Data Institute.
Established by the UK Government to ‘innovate, exploit and research Open Data opportunities’, the Open Data Institute seeks to demonstrate the commercial viability of public data and how current open data policies effect said viability.
Though primarily an academic and research facility the Institute will also be working hand in hand with UK businesses to exploit open data opportunities, as well as the public sector.
Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, Public Sector Transparency board member and new director of the ODI, would further elaborate on the primary value of open data saying:
“One of the reasons the Web worked was because people reused each other’s content in ways never imagined by those who created it. The same will be true of Open Data. The Institute will allow us to provide the tools, skills and methods to support the creation of new value using Open Government Data.”
Co-director Nigel Shadbolt would further add:
“Data is the new raw material of the 21st century and the UK is world-leading in the release of Open Government Data. Open Government Data not only increases transparency and accountability but also creates economic and social value. The Institute will help business to realise this value and foster a generation of open data entrepreneurs.”
The new Institute is one of a number of measures that the Government announced as part of a larger initiative to boost UK economic growth, which requires them to invest £10m over five years to support the Open Data Institute through the Technology Strategy Board – in a match-funded collaboration with industry and academic centres.
Scandinavian 3D Company Stereoscape have moved into Tech City to open a Shoreditch showroom and sales office as they look the expand into new territories. The company based on City Road is renowned for their 3D production services for films, entertainment, experimental marketing and communication. Their Portfolio of work includes a 3D conversion of the Moomins and the first S3D stereoscopic 3D commercial released in Finnish cinema.
Check out the YouTube video below where you can see the company decides to take a humorous approach to horror, think modern day Norman Bates shower scene!
Prime Minister David Cameron today unveiled a map of the Tech City which plots the location of 800 technology companies based in East London. Celebrating the anniversary of the ‘Tech City’ project for East London businesses, the Prime Minister hailed the growth of the area which has expanded massively from around 200 companies last year to a figure of around 800 which is rapidly rising.
Other key technological announcements included Cisco partnering with University College London and Imperial College to create a ‘Future Cities Centre’ in Shoreditch, which will have a particular emphasis on research and development. Cisco have also pledged money to assist start-ups with human resources and technology infrastructure.
Intel will also be launching a cluster of computers to be used by Tech City companies.
New York based General Assembly is planning to soar across the Atlantic into East London’s Tech City. General Assembly is a technology, design, and entrepreneurship campus which provides educational programming, work spaces and collaborative community spirit for entrepreneurs.
The FT is reporting that General Assembly is planning on opening a 20,000 square foot base in Clerkenwell after receiving funding from Russian tech investor, Yuri Milner, as the appeal of East London’s Tech City continues to expand.
This is another welcome boost for the ‘Silicon Roundabout’ and its tech start-up companies who will enjoy the additional meeting and working space as well as the support for the entrepreneurial community.
The Angels in the city scheme aims to generate £10 million a year to help fund tech start-up businesses in East London’s ‘Tech City’ also known as the ‘Silicon Roundabout’. The scheme is looking to attract some 125 investors from the city’s square mile who’s cash will be absolutely vital supporting some of the UK’s fastest growing and innovative companies. Tech City continues to expand and back in September it was announced that Google would be leasing a seven storey building to provide office space and support to new technology companies on the Silicon Roundabout. With Government and also Prime Ministerial backing, Tech City is well placed to establish itself as one of the world’s greatest technology centres.
Last weekend also saw the Silicon Milkroundabout recruitment fair take place where technology developers and employers came together to tempt University Graduates to consider careers in technology and show it as a viable alternative to career in Financial Services. East London’s Shoreditch already has a number of tech start-up success stories which include Songkick and last.fm
It is widely being reported that Beats By Dre is to open it’s first UK store in Shoreditch following on from the company announcing that it will be opening it’s first retail outlet in New York over the Christmas period. The popularity of the iconic, but expensive headphones continues to increase rapidly and shows no signs of slowing down. Omar Johnson, the Vice President of Marketing for Beats by Dre is reported to have said “ ”We’ve been looking at the Shoreditch area of London,” he said. “We’re very excited about how much the UK has embraced Beats.” This is further exciting news for the area which continues the to be at the heartbeat of London’s technological revolution. With the ‘Silicon Roundabout’ being home to many of the UK’s most innovative tech start-up companies.
