Can I get a freaking coffee please?
Posted: March 20, 2011 Filed under: Belfast, Business, Do something Now is good, Internet, Northern Ireland, OpenCoffee, Tech, Telecoms | Tags: Arizona, Coffee, mcdonalds, morellis Leave a commentLast night myself and some buddies had the pleasure of attending the Irish Blog Awards in the Europa Hotel, Belfast (great night, enough about that though).
Once the event and eating were over, we decided to head to a pub, then it became apparent that all 4 of us were driving, so no point in heading to a pub on a Saturday night . Let’s get a coffee I thought! The words ‘Great idea’ resounded and we headed to the hip and happening ‘Lisburn Road’ for a coffee because after all, it was only 10.30pm.
First stop, Starbucks by the uni. Shut
Next stop, Arizona (made famous as a place to hang out in the evening and drink coffee), they were open but it was for take out only……… Despite the people sitting down behind us.
On to Morelli”s then. Again, they were open and seemed at first to want us to sit down and enjoy their establishment but then as it turned out, we were only allowed to sit down whilst we waited for our take out coffee. Thanks!
Everywhere else was shut…………… So we went to McDonalds, had some coffee, chatted then went home. Mission complete.
Now you can slag McDonalds all you want but they seem to know how to run a business better than the artisan places we give so much kudos too, incidentally, OpenCoffeeLisburn is only held at McDonalds because it is the only place in Lisburn open at 7am.
Why is McDonalds the only place open? Belfast is supposed to be a bustling European city not a ghost town at 11pm…… Unless you want alcohol that is.
Belfast : City of the future, if you are of retirement age that is.
Walking around with my head (and stuff) in the clouds
Posted: September 4, 2010 Filed under: Apple, Business, Do something Now is good, Interesting, Internet, iPhone, Mobile, OpenCoffee, Social Networking, Tech, Telecoms | Tags: cloud computing, evernote, flickr, google, RT, spotify, youtube Leave a comment
When I was younger my Mother always said that I walked around with my head in the clouds. I guess she must have been onto something because the big IT pro’s went and made a whole industry and buzz word around ‘clouds’ or cloud computing as it has became known.
Last year whilst travelling on a regular trip to London, I took my laptop from my bag to place it on the scanner in the Airport. I set it on the wrong side of the roller’s and 30 seconds later it was on the tiled floor with a failed hard drive and smashed screen. I back up regularly so I was able to re-cover most of my stuff, however I lost around 4 weeks of important work.
What a nightmare, it was time to embrace cloud computing……… on a budget ! Read the rest of this entry »
Wine connoisseurs, coffee snobs and tea?
Posted: September 3, 2010 Filed under: Belfast, Business, Funny, Government, Interesting, OpenCoffee, Personal posts | Tags: coffee connoisseurs, opencoffee belfast, opencoffee derry, opencoffee lisburn, the future is tea, wine connoisseurs 5 Comments
10 years ago, it was acceptible in cities to meet up with friends and colleagues and bang the world to rights over a glass (or bottle) of wine over lunch then head back to work so finish the days work. That has changes somewhat in recent years with the Governement branding anyone who dare even think about a glass of wine an alcoholic or binge drinker. Culture has become that it is, now unacceptabile to have an afternoon tiple during work.
So what happened to all the wine connoisseurs? you know the type…… your probably used to be one, the so called wine expert that always knew everything about wine but actually just picked a bottle because it had a nice label.
The wine connoisseur quickly became a coffee snob. Lunch time’s became filled with conversations like. What beans are you using now? Have you tried….? I keep mine in the fridge, I get mine imported from colombia. I’m guilty of it myself but there it is.
Now however the coffee effects are beginning to be questioned by so called experts, telling us things like the caffeine will kill us all, blah blah blah. I predict that in 15 years time, we are a society will have moved on from coffee but (and there is always a but) we still need something to impress and bore our mates with.
The future is Tea. Herbals tea, normal tea, what you use your own leaves? I’m impressed tea!
It’s a theory, not a great one but a theory none the less, give it 15 years and you will see!
I’ve decided to become an ‘early adopter’ of the tea fad so when it really kicks it, I will be the man to have around at lunch time and in true Gerry Maguire style I stand and ask ‘Who is going with me?’
Silicon Valley says no to Wi-Fi
Posted: August 19, 2010 Filed under: Business, Do something Now is good, Government, Interesting, Internet, iPhone, Mobile, OpenCoffee, Restaurant Reviews, Retail, Social Networking, Tech, Telecoms, Web 2.0, Wi-Fi | Tags: bitbuzz, Free Wi-Fi, free wifi, hotel free wifi, limited free Wi-Fi, too bust for Wi-Fi, turning off wifi 1 Comment
“We had big parties or family groups who wanted to eat but had no room,” said Jean Paul Coupal, who runs the cafe with his mother, Nancy. “They were getting upset about it. They felt the whole place was being taken over by techies.”
Coffee shops were the retail pioneers of Wi-Fi, flipping the switch to lure customers. But now some owners are pulling the plug. They’re finding that Wi-Fi freeloaders who camp out all day nursing a single cup of coffee are a drain on the bottom line. Others want to preserve a friendly vibe and keep their establishments from turning into “Matrix”-like zombie shacks where people type and don’t talk.
This issue doesn’t just occur in Silicon Valley the mothership of all techies. It is an issue being encourted more and more by cafe’s and hotel lobbys here in Ireland and the UK. With the shift to mobile internet, the fact more of us are online now than ever before (The 5th Billion Internet device is about to connect to the ‘web‘) and with mobile opererators restricting the amount of data we can pull from cell towers, it is easy to see why more people are seeking out Wi-Fi hotspots during their working (and resting) day. Read the rest of this entry »
24 hours as a Porsche driver
Posted: April 27, 2010 Filed under: Belfast, car business, Do something Now is good, Interesting, Network Scouts, Northern Ireland, OpenCoffee, Personal posts, vRS | Tags: 911, 914, 924, 944, 977, Belfast, boxster, cars, fun, Hannah, Lyndsey McQuillan, personal, Porsche, Porsche belfast, vRS Leave a comment
I had the great pleasure over Friday and Saturday of driving and owning (for 24 hours) the new 2010 Porsche Boxster, kindly lend to me by the good people of Porsche Centre Belfast. I have been a fan of Porsche since a boy and whilst all my pals had dreams of winning the lottery and buying up Ferrari’s, Lambos and Astons, my eye was always on a Porsche, and not as a lottery winners car either, I wanted one for an every day car.
I have driven a few other the years and been taken out in others, every week I look at 924s and 944’s in the paper and think, wouldn’t that be a great weekender………… alas I never end up buying one. Read the rest of this entry »
50p Broadband Tax, gone …….. but not forgotten !
Posted: April 8, 2010 Filed under: Business, Government, Interesting, Internet, Northern Ireland, OpenCoffee, Social Networking, Tech, Telecoms, Web 2.0, Wi-Fi | Tags: 50p tax, broadband tax, governement, Internet, line rental tax, radio, tv budget 2 Comments
I won’t get bogged down with talking about the digital economy bill or whatever other title’s that have been thrown about for what is effectively the EU Data Retention Directive re-packaged to suit the British Government. I can’t, as an ISP, I’m too close to it and the outcome of whatever does eventually pass through law effects not only my company but my clients and end users as well. When the time is right however, you will hear my thoughts !
What I can talk about though is this 50p line rental tax. What Labour proposes is that a tax of 50p per month per line is strapped onto every phone line in the UK, the money it says will fuel a new super fast broadband product available to all, well not quite superfast….. What we are actually talking about here is 2meg minimum in rural areas (that is anyone not in a ‘big’ city) Read the rest of this entry »
Open Coffee Lisburn, new day and location
Posted: February 19, 2010 Filed under: Do something Now is good, events, Interesting, OpenCoffee | Tags: daltons, mcdonalds, oc lisburn, Open Coffee, open coffee antrim, open coffee banbridge, Open Coffee belfast, Open Coffee Lisburn Leave a comment
Numbers at the Friday meeting’s have been dropping of late so Simon McC set up a quick survey to find out what day suited people best. At the same time people were complaining about the venue. Daltons has been good to us but the feedback was that the breakfast was not up to scratch (being that its a sandwich bar) and the parking was not the handiest.
So we have came up with (based on the survey and feedback) what we think is a good plan, and we will trail it for the next two meets ups to see how viable it is. Read the rest of this entry »
Open Coffee Lisburn on tour / Open Coffee Banbridge, a new beginning
Posted: January 4, 2010 Filed under: Do something Now is good, events, OpenCoffee, Retail, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Wi-Fi | Tags: iCal / gCal subscriber tool, junction one, Open Coffee belfast, Open Coffee Lisburn andrewgribben.com, Open Coffee Lisburn on russellmcquillan.com, Open Coffee Lisburn on Twitter, starbuck Leave a comment
I am not sure if we should say that Open Coffee Lisburn is on tour or if we should just go right ahead and start calling it Open Coffee Banbridge, after all the Lisburn (cell / chapter / branch / franchise / who cares?) was started by a few of us that were attending Belfast Open Coffee.
Anyway to make a short story long a few of us were chatting about how to expand on our bi-weekly meeting, get more people involved and generally shake things up a bit in 2010 ( twenty ten / two thousand and ten / again who cares? ) and Open Coffee Banbridge was born (exactly one year on from Open Coffee’s birth) !
However rather than Belfast’s weekday evening or Lisburn’s Friday early o’clock, this will be on a Saturday at Outlet, meaning you can bring the family and make a day of it.
The first meeting will be on Saturday 16th at 9.30 at Starbuck’s, of course Open Coffee Lisburn still continues as usual on Friday mornings with our next meeting being on Friday 8th at 7.15am in Dalton’s Lisburn.
If you have never heard of Open Coffee, here are a few links to help you better understand what on earth I am talking about !
Open Coffee Lisburn andrewgribben.com, Open Coffee Lisburn on russellmcquillan.com, Open Coffee Lisburn on Twitter, iCal / gCal subscriber tool
I hope to see you there !!
Russell
Open Coffee Lisburn – 21st Aug – Seed Funding opportunity
Posted: August 11, 2009 Filed under: Business, Do something Now is good, events, OpenCoffee 1 CommentAt our next OC Lisburn Meeting, we will be joined by Diane from Invest NI’s Propel programme. (Daltons, 7.15am)
I’m Not sure if you are aware of it (was formerly Transform) but the aim is to
take 30 of the brightest knowledge/technology ideas out there in NI and give them the necessary mentoring, support and guidance to make progress ( as well as a salary support to help soften the financial blow!) with at least 15 of them getting seed funding at the end of the six month intense programme.
The programme will be delivered by Xcell Partners and officially launches on August 17. The founder and partner of Xcell Partners, Diane Roberts would be keen to come to your next open coffee meeting on 21st August and if possible give a five minute intro to the programme.
She has an interesting background having operated on both sides of the Atlantic specialising in guiding and mentoring early stage and venture start up companies. Prior to heading up Propel, she was based in Silicon Valley, California, where she was West Coast Director and Manager of Enterprise Ireland’s US Software and Services team. She has also enjoyed considerable success operating in sales roles for international telecoms companies in the UK, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Diane also acts as National Director for the Halo Business Angels Network (HBAN) in the Republic of Ireland (funded by InterTradeIreland and Enterprise Ireland.)
Spread the word and see you there.
Russell
OpenCoffee Lisburn – Next Meeting
Posted: February 4, 2009 Filed under: Apple, Belfast, Business, Do something Now is good, events, Interesting, Internet, iPhone, OpenCoffee | Tags: Cafe Latte, Cafe Latte Lisburn, Linen Hall, Open Coffee, Open Coffee Lisburn, OpenCoffee 1 CommentThe next meeting of OpenCoffeeLisburn will be on
Date : Thursday 5th February
Location : Cafe Latte Lisburn
Time : 7PM
Here’s a Map
See you there !
Russell McQuillan 