Monday, December 17, 2012

Bitbuzz Freedom Expands to Further Dublin Locations



Following the recent successful Dublin launch of Bitbuzz Freedom on Grafton St, the service has now been expanded to parts of Henry Street, Temple Bar and the Hibernian Way. Bitbuzz Freedom allows smartphone users to use practical shopping apps and social networking sites to stay in contact with friends and family. This service is complimentary in multiple 20 minute Wi-Fi sessions on Dublin’s busiest shopping streets.

Since launching in June this year Bitbuzz Freedom has already recorded excellent levels of usage on Grafton Street. Shane Deasy, Managing Director, Bitbuzz, said of the expansion to further Dublin locations: “We’re very pleased with the uptake of the service so far and this expansion to other busy outdoor cultural, shopping and socialising destinations throughout the capital is a natural progression. The launch of Bitbuzz Freedom has brought Dublin on a par with many leading cities worldwide, and indeed ahead of others in terms of Wi-Fi deployment.”


“We believe that complimentary Wi-Fi is especially important for international tourists visiting the city. In this respect Henry Street (Dublin 1), Temple Bar (Dublin 2) and the Royal Hibernian Way (Dublin 2) are ideal locations for expansion of the service and we would like to thank the business owners in these locations and on Grafton Street for their continued support. We anticipate further pick-up of this new service in the run-up to Christmas and look forward to expanding Bitbuzz Freedom to other locations throughout the country over the coming months.”


Bitbuzz Freedom is an expansion of the Bitbuzz service and offers the same quality of service the Wi-Fi company currently provides in hotels and coffee shops. Bitbuzz uses multi-band wireless point-to-point backhaul technology to provide a much better performance than traditional "mesh" solutions, enabling users to move around and continue surfing the internet as they walk down the street.


Bitbuzz recently announced that it now has over one million registered users, which was in part attributed to the launch of Bitbuzz Freedom earlier this year.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Sony World Photography Awards 2013 - Last call for entries




----- Press Release -----


All competitions close 4 January 2013 except Professional categories which close on 9 January 2013. Case studies of winning photographers plus entries from the 2013 awards available for publication.


04 December 2012: The World Photography Organisation (WPO) announces the countdown to the close of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards, one of the world’s leading photographic awards programmes.


There is just one month remaining for professional and amateur photographers from around the world to select and enter their best images of the year. Professional photographers will compete for the coveted title of L'Iris d'Or/Sony World Photography Awards Professional Photographer of the Year 2013, plus a $25,000 (USD) cash prize. Amateur photographers will contend the Open Photographer of the Year 2013 title, plus $5,000 (USD). All category winners across the awards will receive the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony.


Both winning and shortlisted photographers across the many competition categories receive worldwide recognition and exposure as a result of the awards.


British photographers Palmer + Pawel, 2012 category winners, commented: “The awards allow you to reach a much wider audience, they open doors and enable you to take advantage of opportunities that otherwise might not be available. Winning the Professional Sport category not only allowed us to gain more exposure but it also resulted in us being funded to carry out our Sao Paulo Nights project - we shot the first part when we were invited by Sony Brazil to the city to talk about our work.”


Argentinean photographer Irina Werning described the support of the World Photography Organisation to its winners as “invaluable”. Following her win at this year's awards, Werning spent November 2012 on a five-country tour of Latin America, made possible by Sony Latin America and WPO. Alongside an exhibition of her images, Werning gave master classes and had the opportunity to shoot new pictures for her series ‘Back to the Future’ (which won the 2012 Professional Portraiture category) in each of the five countries.


All 2013 winning and finalist photographers will receive an exhibition of their work at Somerset House, one of London's historical landmarks, from April - May 2013. They will also be featured across the WPO website and all winners, as well as a selection of shortlisted photographers, will be published in the annual Sony World Photography Awards hardcover book.


The deadline for entries for the ten Open categories, for amateurs and enthusiasts, is 4 January 2013. The Professional competition, with 15 categories for serious photographers, will close on 9 January 2013. All entries are free via www.worldphoto.org and the shortlist will be revealed on 5 February 2013.


The 2013 Honorary Jury, who will judge the professional competition, is chaired by leading American agency director and newly appointed Magnum Foundation Director, Catherine Chermayeff. The panel comprises photography professionals from the World Photographic Academy including: travel photographer Macduff Everton; Guardian picture editor Fiona Shields; Magnum photographer Chien-Chi Chang and Director of the Moscow House of Photography, Olga Sviblova.


Further details about the Sony World Photography Awards and the World Photography Organisation can be found at www.worldphoto.org