Written on 25th June 2009
0 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Twitter has officially become the fastest growing website according to HitWise. The micro-blogging juggernaut has broken into the top 40 most visited sites in Britain, placed at number 38, whereas last year it secured 969th.
Robin Goad, Hitwise research director, says:
“The noticeable thing about Twitter’s growth is that the vast majority of it has occurred during 2009. Media coverage of the site has escalated significantly this year and high profile celebrity endorsements, by everyone from Stephen Fry to Ashton Kutcher, have come rolling in.”
Written on 16th June 2009
0 COMMENTS Martin Bryant, Co-founder, Social Media Café Manchester
Faster broadband and tougher anti-piracy laws were among the plans laid out this afternoon by the British government. The Digital Britain whitepaper outlines priorities for improving the nation’s connectivity and ensuring a thriving digital economy.
Unfortunately, many people have been left distinctly underwhelmed by plans that could have gone much further. While Britain is certainly no digital backwater at present, the plans still leave us years away from matching the technological wonderlands of countries like South Korea and Japan.
While the plans will certainly improve the connectivity infrastucture of the UK, they’re far from ushering in a bold new digital age. Among the plans outlined in a hefty batch of PDF documents are:
Written on 20th May 2009
1 COMMENT Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
A new free Wi-Fi service called FreeRunner launches today in the UK bringing free WiFi to individuals across the North East of the country.
Founded by wireless heavyweights Owen Geddes, Matt Heiman and Louise Pargetter, the company has solid experience within virtually every major wireless service provider in the UK. Along with an impressive pedigree, the startup has initial funding from NorthStar Equity – on face value at least – they appear to know what they’re doing.
So how does it work?
The service, provides free broadband access to individuals by installing free to use access points in public and commercial venues. Freerunner can be installed in community-oriented venues, such as public spaces, libraries, transport hubs, community centres and schools will receive the service completely free of charge.
In commercial venues, free access will be funded by the venue – but at supposedly a third of current costs from other operators like the cloud, T-Mobile and BT Openzone.
In Freerunner’s own words:
” You get free wireless broadband, in return the people paying for you, want to show the odd advert or get you to buy a cup of coffee. “
The company formally launches at the The Wireless Event, Olympia, London today.
Written on 3rd April 2009
5 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Google Street View appears to be causing more controversy in the UK than it did during launch in the US. When the Street View car was spotted in quiet Buckinghamshire village, residents blocked the driver car and told the him to turn around!
Police were called soon after, when villagers staged a protest accusing Google of invading their privacy…
Written on 19th March 2009
12 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
After spotting Google Street view on a UK Google map earlier today, I wondered how long the feature had been made available. However, after the awesome Google Operating System blog posted news of the update today – clearly it’s a very recent feature.
The restaurant just a few doors down from mine changed their name about 6 months ago, and the street view to my address at least shows the new restaurant name – therefore the Google van must have been by quite recently.
It’s unclear exactly which locations are available via Google Street View but Amsterdam, London, Liverppol, Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Amsterdam and Rotterdam are all confirmed.
In case you’re unaware, to access street view, drag the small yellow man icon (on the slider to the left) onto any bright yellow highlighted street on your Google map.
Written on 16th March 2009
10 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Mark Radcliffe owns a £700,000 pound home, a £150,000 Ferrari and a £188,000 Aston Martin. His company employs 19 staff and has an annual turnover in excess of £3 million. What you may be surprised to hear however is that Radcliffe’s success stems from an eBay shop he set up from his parents garage ten years ago.
Today, Mark Radcliffe is the UK’s first eBay millionaire, running the business from an enormous warehouse near Southport, he sells over 3,700 different items and with monthly orders of around 36000 – he is officially the 6th largest eBay business on the planet.
In 2003, he established his brand “First 2 Save” and left his parents garage to move into his current 30,000 sq ft site.
In an interview with the DailyMail, Radcliffe said:
“I could have continued working at Tesco and become a manager, which would have been a safe job but it would not have stretched me. I couldn’t have got where I am today without the right people to help. Also being aware of the latest technology has always been important,”
He ends with wise words that should ring true for many an internet entrepreneur:
“The internet means that virtually anyone can succeed in business from a low start-up point. All it takes is a lot of hard work and determination.”
After meeting some great people and hearing some good talks on stage, it was time for the startups to do their elevator pitches. I love startups and I love to hear them pitch! A good pitch should be brief and to the point but without losing sight of your companies message and with a hint of mystery.
It was moderated today by Sien Luyten, Founder & Managing Partner Oraura.
The jury and audience selected 3 startups from the group of 20 finalists :
The overall winner was Mendeley, based in London. They described themselves as the “Last.fm for research”. The startup essentially aims to enable academics to manage and sharing their research paper inventory and at the same time discover like- minded people and papers thanks to a recommendation and matching algorithm.
The People’s Choice Award went to Myngle, based in The Netherlands, pitched itself as a ‘new way to learn languages’. Myngle was founded by ex-eBay employees and operates a platform for online language education where teachers and students can virtually connect and determine if there’s a match for an online course to start between the parties (from both sides).
Written on 10th March 2009
10 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
As part of an “information revolution”, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that UK will soon be able to rate and review public services just as you would on online services such as Ebay.
People will be able to give feedback on doctors, hospitals, schools and councils, and Brown has specifically mentioned consumer sites such as Amazon, Tripadvistor and eBay for the inspiration.
“We have clearly got the balance wrong when online businesses have higher standards of transparency than they public services we pay for and support” Gordon Brown
A website comparing local council services is due to go live in May, and from this summer, patients will be able to comment on local services and provide feedback on GPs via the NHS Choices website. (more…)
Written on 27th February 2009
6 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
A report from broadband research firm Point Topic claims that around 90% of UK homes will have access to 32 Mb/sec broadband by 2019, in ten years time.
“Some people say this is too little too late, but we believe that investing to deliver 2Mb/sec could provide the platform for much higher-speed broadband services in areas where it wouldn’t otherwise happen for many years,” says Tim Johnson, chief analyst at Point Topic.
Scotland appears to be one of the poorest areas of the UK in terms of connection speeds, with almost a third of people incapable of receiving a 2mb/sec connection.
“Bandwidth seems to be increasing in the same way as computer power,” Johnson says.
“According to Moore’s Law, computer processors double in speed every 18 months – bandwidth has been increasing even faster than that.
“Under these conditions we expect the combination of cable and fibre connections to dominate in the future. If the USC and other announced investment plans are carried forward there will be over one million fibre lines in the UK by 2012,” he concludes.
Written on 25th June 2009
0 COMMENTS 
Twitter has officially become the fastest growing website according to HitWise. The micro-blogging juggernaut has broken into the top 40 most visited sites in Britain, placed at number 38, whereas last year it secured 969th.
Written on 16th June 2009
Faster broadband and tougher anti-piracy laws were among the plans laid out this afternoon by the British government. The Digital Britain whitepaper outlines priorities for improving the nation’s connectivity and ensuring a thriving digital economy.
A new free Wi-Fi service called 
Mark Radcliffe owns a £700,000 pound home, a £150,000 Ferrari and a £188,000 Aston Martin. His company employs 19 staff and has an annual turnover in excess of £3 million. What you may be surprised to hear however is that Radcliffe’s success stems from an eBay shop he set up from his parents garage ten years ago.
Written on 12th March 2009
it was time for the startups to do their elevator pitches. I love startups and I love to hear them pitch! A good pitch should be brief and to the point but without losing sight of your companies message and with a hint of mystery.
As part of an “information revolution”, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that UK will soon be able to rate and review public services just as you would on online services such as Ebay.
A report from broadband research firm 
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
