Sky Movies App for Android

Sky Movies app to launch on Android smartphones and tablets

Sky has announced that it is extending its Movies companion app to Android handsets. The app, which is available to download for free, offers a one-stop destination with trailers, synopses and cast list for hundreds of movies currently showing on Sky Movies and Sky Store. The app also offers information on movies currently showing at the cinema. In addition, if you are a Sky Movies Pack customer, you can enjoy movies within the app at no extra cost.

The app also doubles as a home planner by allowing users to record movies to their Sky+ HD box while on the move.

Ian Lewis, Director of Sky Movies said: “A must-have for film fans, the Sky Movies app helps customers explore the fantastic range of movies available for them to enjoy at home or on the move as part of their subscription. The app complements the UK & Ireland’s most popular film subscription service and forms part of our continued commitment to offer customers ways to discover and enjoy more of the year’s biggest blockbusters than any online film subscription service.”

For more information visit www.skymovies.com. The Sky Movies app is free to download from Google Play.

Hailo To Be The Taxi Driver To The Silver Screen

Hailo to distribute €100,000 worth of taxi vouchers in partnership with Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

Hailo has teamed up with The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival (JDIFF) to giveaway 20,000 vouchers during this year’s festival. That's over €100,000 worth of taxi vouchers to be distributed throughout the festival’s venues; Cineworld, the Savoy, Screen, Irish Film Institute and Light House Cinema in Smithfield. Hailo will issue the vouchers for €5 off your first Hailo taxi throughout the eleven day festival.

Rob Cumiskey, Marketing Communications Manager, Hailo Ireland commented, “We’re delighted to partner with The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival as it will transport cinema goers from the television screen to the cinema screen. The line-up this year is stellar and showcases the talent and scope of Irish and international cinema. We feel the vouchers will encourage the Irish audience to try something new—the most essential app on the market and the best entertainment in film.”

You can pick the vouchers up in any of the participating JDIFF cinemas (Cineworld, the Savoy, Screen, Irish Film Institute and Light House Cinema in Smithfield.) To get €5 off your first taxi, just download the Hailo app from The App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android), register an account with a credit or debit card, enter the promo code on your card and choose ‘Pay With Card’ for your next taxi.

The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival is Ireland’s premier feature film festival taking place each year in February. This year it boasts acting legends Tim Roth, Gabriel Byrne, Frank Langella and Danny DeVito, directing heavyweights Costa-Gavras and Joss Whedon, and screenwriting big hitters Robert Towne and Tobias Lindholm all coming to town. And that’s on top of 130 feature films, shorts, master classes and special events happening over 11 days from February 14th to February 24th.

Founded by three taxi drivers and three internet entrepreneurs, Hailo has raised over $50M from the best investors anywhere, including Union Square Ventures, Accel Partners, Wellington Partners, Atomico Ventures and Sir Richard Branson. Hailo is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store and Google Play. Simply search on "Hailo".

Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Award: SmartThings

€100,000 prize awarded on main stage at the Web Summit

Yesterday, Thursday 18th October, Electric Ireland announced that SmartThings are The Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Award Winner 2012 at the Dublin Web Summit. SmartThings is the recipient of the Spark of Genius €100,000 prize.

With over 1,000 startups competing in The Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Competition, SmartThings battled with 3 other finalists, pitching to a panel of international investors and industry heavyweights in front of a full audience on the main stage at The Web Summit yesterday.

SmartThings makes it easy to connect the things in your physical world to the internet via your smartphone.  Using SmartThings you can control your air conditioning, lock your doors or get an alert when things go wrong. 

Speaking at the announcement, Margaret Colton, Head of Marketing, Electric Ireland, said, "We are delighted to present the Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Award to SmartThings. At Electric Ireland, we are committed to powering the innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit that is inherent in start-up companies. We wish SmartThings all the best of luck and congratulate the team.”

Dublin Web Summit Founder Paddy Cosgrave said, “SmartThings is a well deserved winner of this year’s Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Award. This competition is an incredible platform for startups to pitch to the world’s top investors and media and we are delighted the winner was announced at the Web Summit, one of Europe’s biggest tech events. On the back of winning the Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Award in 2011, Redeem & Get have enjoyed huge success with a launch to a global audience”.

“The Web Summit is committed to helping emerging technology companies get off the ground. As well as the Electric Ireland Spark of Genius final, we have also showcased 260 leading technology start-ups from Ireland and abroad at the Web Summit. The last two days have been an amazing opportunity for emerging companies to showcase their products to some of Europe’s leading technology figure”, added Cosgrave.

The Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Competition, now in its third year, focused on the most promising high potential Irish startups. 1,000 initial entries were shortlisted to a top 100, who then pitched from one of four separate stages – social, mobile, consumer and enterprise- to leading international investors (Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Atomico, Accel and many others), industry leaders, startup experts at the Dublin Web Summit. From these 100 finalists, four finalists were chosen for a final stage of judging before SmartThings was announced as the final winner.

Overall winners SmartThings were presented with a €100K prize fund supported by Electric Ireland, Mason, Hayes & Curran, Microsoft Bizspark, KPMG, Cawley Nea, Getty Images, PCH International and HT Meagher O’Reilly.

NASA: Spacecraft 3D

NASA has launched a new app that lets you get up close with NASA’s robotic space explorers. The ‘Spacecraft 3D’ app shows you how the robots work and in addition highlights two actual NASA missions: the Curiosity rover that will touch down on Mars on 5 Aug 2012 and the twin GRAIL spacecraft, Ebb and Flow, currently orbiting the moon.

Using your iPhone or iPad camera, the app uses an AR functionality to display the spacecraft and then overlays content and information directly onto the 3D spacecraft.

Download the app here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spacecraft-3d/id541089908

Three Launches ‘Support Works’ Campaign

This week, Three launched their latest campaign, ‘Support Works’. The campaign, which is focused on celebrating the vital role that fans play on the Irish Football team's journey to Poland, is part of Three's sponsorship activity for the Irish Football team.

The campaign features two new tv ads running on RTE, TV3, 3E, Sky packages, Living, and E4:
#SupportsWorks TV Ad - First Dinner Date
#SupportsWorks TV Ad – Greens

Credits:
Art Director – Bill Hollingsworth
Creative Director – Mal Stevenson
Director – Stephen St. Leger
Producer – Jack Armstrong
Production Company – H2


Alongside the tv ads, the campaign will also feature outdoor ads of 48 sheets, 96 sheets, golden squares and metro panels. There will be digital executions of rich media banners on key websites and social media. The campaign will also be supported by in store POS across Three's entire retail division.

Finally there will be an intensive programme of BTL and PR activity calling on the supporters to ‘Go Green with Pride’ and show their support for the team, featuring a number of the Republic of Ireland footballers, on-street stunt activity and exciting events for supporters in Dublin’s city centre.

As part of the campaign, Three Ireland has launched an exclusive limited edition Samsung Galaxy Mini with supporters kit. Priced at €89 the kit includes; a limited edition Samsung Galaxy Mini featuring a branded FAI supporters mobile handset cover, a watch, a ‘Support Works’ car sticker and Republic of Ireland football supporter’s pin.

The handset is preloaded with the 3Football App and Three Football Flick Kick game, and will be available from all 3Stores and stockists nationwide and online.

The campaign was developed by Irish International.

For further information on Three visit www.three.ie

Three Expands Free Bitbuzz Wi-Fi To All Smartphones

Pippa O’Connor revealing Ireland’s biggest Wi-Fi hotspots this spring

Today, Three announced that they will be expanding their partnership with Bitbuzz to provide free Wi-Fi to all their Smartphone customers. Since July 2010, all Three’s iPhone customers have been able to avail of free Wi-Fi through Bitbuzz, but today's news means that Three’s Android users can also avail of Bitbuzz Wi-Fi. The agreement marks the most significant data offload deal to-date in Ireland.

Elaine Carey, Sales and Marketing Director at Three commented: “Three are delighted to expand our partnership with Bitbuzz, offering free Wi-Fi connectivity to all our smartphone customers. Three is committed to leading the smartphone marketplace forward and see this enhanced offering as not only offering our customers more choice but also continuing to deliver on this promise.”

“Following our success with the initial offering for iPhones, we are confident that the demand for free Wi-Fi will increase with our expansion across Three’s other smartphone customers,” said Shane Deasy, Managing Director, Bitbuzz. “It is very clear that Three has a real belief in Wi-Fi, and this agreement underscores that. It is also a fact that handhelds are a significant force in the explosion in demand for Wi-Fi.”

The partnership, which features hotspots nationwide, including all Three’s thirty retail stores, is open to both Three prepay and bill pay customers. This also means that on top of Three’s iPhone Bitbuzz Wi-Fi App, Three will now also offer a Bitbuzz App in the Android Marketplace. Both these developments represent a significant strengthening of the strategic partnership between Three Ireland and Bitbuzz.

Click here for a full list of Bitbuzz hotspots in the Republic of Ireland.

The Appys Launch App of the Month

Today, The Appys announced their new plans for ongoing monthly activity throughout the year. In conjunction with Newstalk Breakfast The Appys will now be running 'App of the Month'.

What this means is that each month they will be appointing a guest judge and asking their App development community to submit their work. Entry will be by the same simple process as The Appys themselves and each monthly winner will be featured on Newstalk Breakfast, www.newstalk.ie, Digital Times and all the Appys and Digital Times Social Media Platforms.

The monthly winners will be also be entered into the main Appys competition and get a specially-engraved App of the Month Trophy.

For more information see here.

Chinese New Year And Kildare Village

It's hard to believe it's been a year already, but Chinese New Year is here again and Kildare Village is right in the middle of celebrations for the year of the Dragon.

This year, for the year of the dragon, Kildare Village has launched a really cool augmented reality smartphone app*, the “Chic Dragon”, to celebrate the festival. The app, which marks the first use of augmented reality by a luxury outlet retailer, is free to download and features an animated dragon that takes users on an interactive journey through scenes of the nine Chic Outlet Shopping Villages. Customers just scan the code on posters around the Village and watch the dragon come to life on their screens. In addition, everyone who interacts with the app and watches the “Chic Dragon” video are in with a chance to win a €500 shopping spree.

Beyond the app and competition, no Chinese New Year would be complete without the official ceremonies that surround the festival. Kildare Village is getting into the spirit again this year by decorating the pedestrian streets of the Village in their festive best. Fortune cookies will also be distributed in the boutiques, restaurants and the tourist information centre from Friday 27th until Sunday 29th January.

Over the weekend of the 28th and 29th January there will be a number of traditional and contemporary entertainment acts in the Village such as vibrant Lion and Dragon Dance displays and Chinese opera performers. For further information on Dublin Chinese New Year Festival please visit www.cny.ie and for events happening at Kildare Village please see www.kildarevillage.com.


* The Chic Dragon app for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android is free to download from the App Store and the Android Market from 16 January 2012.

TV Guide Ireland iPhone App

"What's small and smart and sits open on 40,000 sofas every evening? Yep, the new and improved TV Guide Ireland Version 1.1 from entertainment.ie which now includes programme reminders and is iOS5 compatible."

TV Guide Ireland, which launched two months ago and has over 40,000 users, has undergone an upgrade and released a new version. The latest iteration of the popular app now features integrated programme reminders. This is an awesome new feature and completes the app in my opinion - not only can you check TV listings for over 60 channels but with the new reminders feature you won't miss them!

The app includes a 7 Day TV listings guide with full programme details and descriptions. It also allows you to create a personalised channel list. The app's most popular section, "Now & Next", is still there and tells viewers what's on each channel 'now' and what's coming up 'next'. For those of you that are on Twitter the app is also fully integrated.

Managing Director of entertainment.ie Julian Douglas said, "It's fascinating to see how this app has become an indispensable companion to TV watching in the evenings. It's a really useful app, has strong usage and traffic and is a powerful tool for both users and advertisers."

Download the latest version of the app here.

ESB Electric Ireland Appliance Calculator App

Today, Monday 12th September, ESB Electric Ireland announced the launch of Ireland’s first Appliance Calculator App for Smartphones. The Appliance Calculator App allows customers to calculate how much their various home appliances are costing them to run. You just select your appliances and indicate their typical usage to pin point the energy guzzlers in your home and see their cost.

The Appliance Calculator App works with a range of over 130 different home appliances and enables customers to compare the cost of using those appliances in different ways. This could be washing clothes at 40°C versus 60°C or using a small ring on stovetop versus a larger one. They can then see the positive impact of using their appliances wisely. They can also estimate a complete breakdown of their energy bills by creating a full list of all their home appliances. In addition, the App includes a search function where a comprehensive list of individual gas and electric appliances from games consoles to hair straighteners, kettles to fridge freezers can be found.

The App is available to download for all Smartphones. For iPhones simply search “Appliance Calculator” on the iTunes App Store and for Androids, search “Appliance Calculator” in the Android Market.

Ken McKervey, Commercial Manager, ESB Electric Ireland commented, “The ESB Electric Ireland Appliance Calculator App is a fantastic tool to help control costs in your home to make much needed savings. The Appliance Calculator is already a popular tool on our website, but given 600,000 Irish people own a Smartphone, we wanted to bring the App to Android and iPhones.”

Ken continued, “The App will give users an understanding of how their appliances use energy, and how they can reduce their energy costs by making some small adjustments, For example by reducing their electric shower running time by just a couple of minutes per day they can make a significant saving on their bill.”

Scott Campbell Backs Bahrain Storm For Galway Plate

Unless you don’t own a TV or a smartphone you’ll know who Scott Campbell is. Well, Ireland’s new fresh face of weather and frontman to Budweiser’s current campaign - The Ice Cold Index - is down in Galway for the Races. Scott, a wealth of information and insight, has turned his weather foresighting skills to the horses for the day and named Bahrain Storm as his pony to win the Galway Plate race this afternoon at 3pm.

Being the generous man that he is, Scott has promised that all his fans can avail of a free pint of Budweiser Ice Cold if Bahrain Storm finishes in the top three of the Galway Plate. Nifty!

Speaking about his visit to Galway, Budweiser Ice Cold Index weatherman, Scott Campbell, said, “It’s all happening this week in Galway. I’ve been doing my research and I’ve heard great things about Bahrain Storm so I’m really hoping he comes through for me – my Budweiser Ice Cold fans deserve a free pint!”

Scott will be hanging out at the Budweiser tent at the Ballybrit race course to cheer on Bahrain Storm but he’ll also be delivering an update as part of the TV3 evening news weather report live from the Galway Races on Ladies Day tomorrow (Thursday, 28th July).

Scott has also extended an open invitation to join him for a special Galway Races Budweiser Ice Cold Index party in The Skeffington Arms Hotel, Eyre Square, Galway city on Saturday, 30th July from 4-7pm. Rugby star Cian Healy and his DJ partner Gordon Johnston will provide music and acting as MC will be RTE’s Jennifer Maguire.

As part of the party, Scott and his crew will be holding auditions to search for Scott’s co-star. Galway is the second of three heats in the search for Scott’s co-star. Scott will finish his search in Cork next month. Each finalist selected from the three heats will win €1,000 on the night and go through to the final heat to win the overall prize which includes starring alongside Scott on national TV and winning the ultimate holiday to Los Angeles. You can pre-register for auditions on www.facebook.com/budicecoldireland.

To check out Scott and keep up-to-date with the search for his co-star, visit the Facebook page where there will also be regular competitions, updates from Scott and invitations to the hottest events throughout the summer. You can also follow Scott on Twitter.

Be a Budweiser Ice Cold Index Weatherman

By now I’m sure you’re well aware of the Buweiser Ice Cold Index and its spokesman, Ireland’s newest weather man Scott Campbell. In an exciting development of the campaign, Scott has landed in Ireland and has announced that he’s here to search for his weather presenting co-star. Scott is looking for one lucky individual to star alongside him and present a weather bulletin that will be broadcast on national television.

Speaking about his visit, Scott said, “I’m excited to finally arrive in Ireland and begin the search for my co-star. I’m guessing it’s going to be tough competition as I’ve heard the Irish really have the gift of the gab and combined with that great Irish charm, these are the key ingredients I’m looking for.”

As the face of Budweiser Ice Cold Index, Scott is recognisable for his slick weather presenting style both on TV and on outdoor ads all over Ireland for the last couple of months. Scott’s co-star will need to be just as effortlessly cool, and exude a instant likeability, as well as bringing buckets of charisma and charm. Essentially, Scott wants someone who can inject that Index excitement into their weather bulletin and really help to make this summer in Ireland a whole lot more interesting.

To kick off the search and to celebrate the USA’s biggest holiday, Scott is hosting a 4th July party from 6pm in DTwo, Harcourt Street, Dublin 2 on Thursday 30th June. With help MC’ing from Today FM’s Ray Foley and music from Fourplay DJs (98FM’s Steven Cooper, Rory Lynam, FM104’s Killian O’Sullivan and Q102’s Ray Shah), this is your chance to put yourself forward.

Dublin is the first of three heats in the search for Scott’s co-star. Scott will continue his search at the Galway Races and also in Cork later in the summer. Each finalist selected from the three heats will win €1,000 and go through to the final heat to win the overall prize which includes starring alongside Scott on national TV and winning the ultimate holiday to Los Angeles.

To check out Scott and keep up-to-date with the search for his co-star, visit the Facebook page where there will also be regular competitions, updates from Scott and invitations to the hottest events throughout the summer. You can also follow Scott on Twitter.

Special Olympics Ireland launch iPhone App

---Press Release---

Special Olympics Ireland are delighted to launch their first iPhone app today enabling supporters to follow Team Ireland at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games. 126 athletes will represent Team Ireland in 12 different sports at the Games in Athens which will run from 25th June – 4th July. The Team will be accompanied by 49 coaches, 200 volunteers, and hundreds of family members and supporters. The app will also provide information on the ongoing work undertaken by Special Olympics in more than 400 clubs throughout Ireland. The Special Olympics Ireland iPhone app is available to download for free from the Apple App store from today.

“The app is a fantastic communication tool for us. This is a unique app for Special Olympics globally and for the first time people will be able to follow the World Summer Games on their iPhone.” said Sahra O’Neill, Special Olympics Ireland Director of Fundraising and Marketing. “Throughout the 2011 World Games, our iPhone app will provide athletes, families, supporters and volunteers with up-to-date information on the progress of each individual member of Team Ireland on their iPhone. The app is fully integrated with Special Olympics Ireland social networks and provides live blogs, results and news from the Games, as well as information on the ongoing work of Special Olympics. We look forward to adding additional functionality and updates to the app in the near future and hope the app provides hours of use for all supporters of Team Ireland.”

The Special Olympics Ireland app was developed free of charge for the charity through the collective efforts of Alan Haverty (www.outlier.ie), Cian Pas (www.creamgraphics.ie) and Roland Gröpmair (www.mapps.ie). Alan, who’s brother Ian benefits hugely from his participation in Special Olympics, approached Cream Graphics with the idea of developing an iPhone app to follow the 126 members of Team Ireland at World Games, and together they brought onboard long term app developer Roland Gröpmair to assist with the build of the app.

“We’d like to thank Alan, Cian and Roland for their enthusiasm, creativity and perseverance in making this happen for Special Olympics Ireland,” said Ms O’Neill. “It’s fantastic for us to be able to reach out and connect with people via their mobile phones, and raise awareness of the fantastic endeavours of the 126 Sporting Heroes who are representing Ireland on the world stage in Athens”.

Cream Graphics
Cream Graphic Design is a professional graphic design consultancy based in Dublin Ireland. A boutique agency, we bring together professionals from disciplines including design, photography, video production, illustration and web development to deliver tailored design solutions from the ground up, which are realised on brief, on budget and on time. www.creamgraphics.ie

Roland Gröpmair
Roland is a freelance software developer, specializing on mobile apps for the iPhone and iPad. His website is www.mapps.ie. He is an experienced IT project manager and technology consultant with more than 15 years industry experience. He has worked with several Fortune 500 companies in Europe, US and Canada.

Alan Haverty – Outlier.ie
Alan Haverty holds close to a decade of experience in consumer focused marketing. He is currently developing a business collaboration forum through his own website www.outlier.ie. His current responsibilities at Blueface lie in the development of customer propositions as well as, the continuous updating of the customer's online experience. Before joining Blueface Alan was a brand ambassador for Microsoft (Australia). He also spent a year as a Rugby Development Officer in Asia, and is a Patron of the Lao Rugby Federation.

iCook With Neven

Neven Maguire has just launched a brand new app, iCook, for the iPhone & iPad. The app includes 60 of Neven's favourite recipes and allows people to easily browse the various categories to plan meals while at home or on the move. Not forgetting the basics, the app also has an additional section that has 8 recipes for stocks, sauces and other miscellaneous recipes.

Broken down into straightforward categories such as Breakfast/Brunch, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks/Party Foods and Desserts, there is something for everyone and all the recipes are in Neven’s familiar user-friendly style. The innovative ingredients page on each recipe allows users to amend the number of people they wish to feed and the quantity of ingredients automatically changes too.

The app utilises beautiful full colour photography for each recipe, with eleven of the recipes also offering full length video from Neven’s television series to download. There is also an advanced shopping list functionality allows users to easily plan what they want to cook, to set up a shopping list and to email it or text it to themselves, partners or a friend.

In the Kitchen section Neven guides users through the ingredients and utensils that you would find in his kitchen, offers advice with respect to the do’s and don't's of stocking your fridge, freezer and larder and discusses the utensils that are available today and should be in every aspiring Home Chef’s kitchen.

Finally, and most interestingly, the app also brings together a strong Social Media element, allowing users to post comments, photos or videos to their Facebook or Twitter account and to Neven’s at the same time.

iCook with Neven is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad and is available to download from iTunes, price €4.99.

Budweiser Ice Cold Index

The hotter the day the less you pay for your pint of Budweiser Ice Cold all summer...

Today sees the launch of Budweiser Ice Cold's latest marketing campaign, the Budweiser Ice Cold Index. The campaign is driven by the Budweiser Ice Cold Index mobile application (available on both iPhone and Android) and aims to create an unmissable summer experience by matching real Irish temperatures to real discounts off the price of your pint. Essentially, the hotter day the less you pay for a pint of Budweiser Ice Cold.

The Budweiser Ice Cold Index App gives these discounts directly through your handset. On days the temperature reaches 20°C and over, you'll enjoy a free pint, if it's 18°C or 19°C you'll get €2 off, and if it's 16°C or 17°C you'll get €1 off. There are a huge number of participating 'Index bars' and you can check the app for daily offers too. The App will allow you to get offers right up until 31st August and to celebrate the launch of Index everyone who downloads the App will enjoy their first pint of Budweiser Ice Cold free, regardless of the weather!

The App also boosts a pub finder to help you locate a nearby participating Index pub and other great features including bar reviews and special rewards for loyal Budweiser Ice Cold drinkers. The App is free and can be downloaded on most smart phones but for all other phones you can free text the word ‘INDEX’ to 50400.

To kick off the Index summer in style, Budweiser Ice Cold have also created a free pop up urban beach experience in Dublin City Centre. At lunchtime today an actual beach appeared at George’s Dock, IFSC. The pop up beach included deck chairs, a hog on a spit, an ice-cream van, a live acoustic performance by Sligo band Túcan and the Irish volleyball team even dropped by for an exhibition match.

Moon man Ken Ring, New Zealand’s famous weather predictor and astrologer, has shared his predictions for the Budweiser Ice Cold Index summer ahead and it seems that Munster and Leinster will be hotting up this summer enjoying more than 30 days from 1st May to 31st August of 20°C temperatures or over. Ulster is expected to be 20°C or more for approximately 17 days and while Connaught is the coolest province, Ken still expects the temperature in the West to hit at least 20°C for 9 days.

Speaking about the Budweiser Ice Cold Index Campaign, Christopher Wooff, Senior Brand Manager, Budweiser, commented, “This is a really exciting time for Budweiser as the brand goes from strength to strength in Ireland. Budweiser Ice Cold Index is an innovative concept, which we feel will excite consumers and we are thrilled to be the first brand to bring mobile vouchering to the Irish on-trade. We have had such a positive response from our on-trade customers with over 2,500 participating bars nationwide. Weather has always been a sore point for Irish people but if Ken Ring’s predictions are true, this really will be a summer to remember.”

Consumers can find full details on the Budweiser Ice Cold Index here and also on the Budweiser Ice Cold Ireland Facebook page where there will be regular competitions, Index updates from the Index weatherman Scott Campbell and invitations to the hottest events throughout the summer. You can also follow us on twitter @icecoldindex.

The Budweiser Ice Cold Index campaign is supported by ATL, POS, Digital, and PR and the following TV commercial, which was shot on location in South Africa featuring the Index weatherman Scott Campbell.

Notes:
* The temperature is taken from Met Éireann, the Irish National Meteorological Service, and fans will be notified of their region’s temperature at 1pm daily via the Index App.
* On an Index day, consumers can redeem their free or money off voucher between 1pm and 11.59pm (or closing time of a particular bar) on that day. It cannot be stored and redeemed at a later date.
* Once consumers have download the voucher, the participating Index bar will provide them with a pub code and they will then have two minutes to redeem their voucher before it expires.

ESB Meter Reading App

The ESB have just launched a meter reading app for both iPhone and Android. The free app, which is available from today, is the first energy provider app for both iPhone and Android Smartphones and the first app developed by an Irish utility for electricity meter reading submissions.

The app allows customers to submit their electricity meter reading using their phone, effectively making estimated bills a thing of the past and giving them more control over their bills. The app is also capable of managing multiple properties and provides a Useful Contacts section with all the ESB emergency contact numbers at their fingertips.

I for one absolutely love to see utilities embracing technology in this, but also doing so in a way that is genuinely beneficial to their customers. I can think of so many times, especially living in apartments, that your meter reading gets estimated and you wind up hitting a huge bill the following month. I can't imagine any ESB customers who own an iPhone or Android and not downloading this! Get to it...

Buzzword Bingo

I got an email today from the folks at Modea, a digital ad agency in the US, about a new app that they have just developed, Buzzword Bingo. Modea describe themselves as being different in their approach and culture, and decided to create a free app instead of a regular 'Agency Christmas Card'.

Buzzword Bingo is a free iPad app designed to "end the workplace buzzword epidemic by turning meetings into an interactive, social game experience that allocates crucial attention toward inauthentic ad speak".

Definitely an interesting idea and something I thought worth sharing. You can find it at here.

Absolut's Drinkspiration Home Edition

About a year ago I wrote about Absolut's iPhone 'Drinkspiration' app. There was a huge amount of interest and I thought that you’d be interested to know that there is now a 'Drinkspiration Home Edition' app available exclusively for the iPad.

Where the mobile Drinkspiration was the perfect going-out bar companion, the iPad Drinkspiration app is the ideal at-home entertaining tool. With more than 3,000 drink recipes and images, six pre-installed drink collections, drink suggestions based on ingredients, a shopping list creator, social media sharing, and even 'how to' videos the home edition app is a totally inspirational resource for all party hosts and bartenders.

Fredrick Tallroth, Senior Manager Interactive Marketing, at The Absolut Company, said: "At ABSOLUT, we continuously want to make the most out of new technology, and learning to mix drinks has never been this fun. With its large high-resolution display, and multi-touch functionality, the iPad is the perfect platform for making drink mixing a social happening at the party."

Check out the app's promo video below and go here to download the app.

iCabbi - The Taxi App

I was sent on details about a new iPhone App, iCabbi, and thought that it was definitely worth sharing. Essentially it is a virtual taxi dispatch that allows real-time booking of taxis directly from your iPhone. While many people may make regular taxi trips either personally or for work, and therefore use a regular taxi company, the real benefit, as far as I can see, with iCabbi is that whenever you are in a situation that you may not be 100% familiar with the area you are in, you can confidentially order a taxi without having to worry.

The app works by showing the 'iCabbi's on a map and letting you know exactly where they are. When we are fully national you will only need to press iCabbi on your smart phone to get a taxi wherever you are. While the system id currently only live in Dublin & Cork, they are aiming to have nationwide coverage by the end of 2011. Similarly, while iCabbi is only available on the iPhone at the moment, a Blackberry app is expected to be approved very shortly with a Nokia app coming in the next few months.

The company bills its biggest selling point as security for women. They say that the app will allow customers to always know who is coming to pick them up, as well as allowing easy record management of pick up & drop off locations and routes through emails sent to two accounts of your choosing.

About iCabbi
Quick & Efficient - iCabbi allows people to get the closest taxi to them at the touch of a mobile phone button & to track its progress in real time – no need to speak to anyone, no need to call directory enquiries for cab company numbers, for multiple calls on busy nights or to check when your car will arrive.

Safe & Secure - When you book an iCabbi the details of the car & driver coming to get you are sent directly to your mobile phone. Your journey is then recorded and emailed to two email addresses of your choosing, a particularly attractive feature to women. Giving you and your loved ones greater peace of mind when using taxis, particularly late at night & also makes finding lost items a little easier!

Environmentally Friendly – allocating the closest taxi to the fare makes sense from an environmental perspective as less fuel is being burned while going to the pick up location meaning lower CO2 emissions. In our test market of Cork City drivers reported an average saving of up to 20% when using iCabbi compared to the traditional radio model.

All Inclusive – people with hearing & speech difficulties can now book taxis wherever they are whenever they want without the need to seek assistance.

A Good News Story – iCabbi will create up to ten new positions in Ireland in year one alone with the huge export potential offering even more opprtunities for jobs in the future.

iCabbi also provides a lifeline to those with hearing and speech problems who may have had difficulties or even found it impossible to book a taxi at home or while on the move – now they can simply book an iCabbi at the touch of a mobile phone button.

For further information please contact:
Gavan Walsh on 086 839 6858, or, Bob Nixon on 086 604 3668
info@icabbi.com
www.icabbi.com

Guinness Rugby iPhone App

Over the weekend you may have noticed a lot of 'My Friend Finder Location' messages popping up in your Facebook Newsfeed. Basically last Friday saw the launch of the newly upgraded Guinness Rugby iPhone app. Guinness, who are a partner of Irish Rugby, updated their existing iPhone app to, what they describe as, "allow Irish rugby fans to be at the heart of the game".

The app, which was initially launched earlier this year and is a free download, is already a hit with a huge number of fans and was the number one free sports download in the App Store. Following its relaunch, in the space of 24 hours, the app ranked at number 5 in the same category.

The Guinness Rugby iPhone app features all the latest technology, providing information and news updates from the best sports sites with news stories from Irish Rugby, Munster and Leinster, Irish Times and Breaking News to name just a few. The app also pulls in regular updates from the Guinness Rugby Facebook team. Even though this results in a huge amount of information at your fingertips, you can easily toggle between sources to stay informed with up-to-the-minute news from inside the Irish camp with Jamie Heaslip, Tommy Bowe, Johnny Sexton, and John Muldoon.

Key Features of the Guinness Rugby iPhone app:

• Live feeds to Guinness Rugby Ireland's Facebook page which features regular updates from the Guinness Rugby team
• News updates from Irish Rugby, Leinster Rugby, Munster Rugby, The Irish Times, Planet Rugby, Irish Examiner, Breaking News and the Irish Independent
• A unique and interactive Guinness Rugby Calendar, allowing user's access to the latest Guinness Area 22 Rugby Supporter Events, matches updates and key dates in the rugby international and domestic scene.
• Guinness Rugby Map. This uses Google maps to allow fans access Transport Services (Dart, train stations, LUAS), a pub finder including details on Guinness Area 22 Venues in the greater Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road and Ballsbridge neighbourhoods and Stadium Map for all relevant venues (Aviva, RDS, Thomond Park)
• A bespoke Guinness Friend Finder so fans can stay in touch with each other on match days. By selecting the friend finder option, fans can post their location on the Guinness Rugby map on match day and share their location with their Facebook friends.
• Further upgrades over the course of the rugby season, particularly ahead of the 2011 6 Nations.

For more info check out www.Guinness.com/rugby and
Guinness Rugby Facebook Page.