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Web Summit: Partner Startup Islands
14.11.2024Most of Web Summit’s startup stalls are grouped together by industry but there are also Partner Startup Islands, many of which are designated to a specific country (or city, in the case of Dublin). Presumably these are places whose governing body is partnered with Web Summit. A startup being grouped with their own industry vs. […]
Read MoreWeb Summit: Press Conferences
14.11.2024One big benefit to having media credentials at Web Summit is you get access to press conferences at the event. I miss the first half of Harry Nym and Chelsea Manning’s twenty minute talk at Stage 11. I found the chess stall. What can I say? Luckily for me though, they’re also booked in for […]
Read MoreWeb Summit Startup Spotlight: ZEN8
14.11.2024Once again wandering the startup stalls, I find something genuinely compelling. A swimming trainer app produced by Beta Startup ZEN8. This is something I’ve not seen before. They even have a prototype for new hardware they’ve designed! You can use these to move your avatar around a virtual environment and the app will give feedback […]
Read MoreThe Beauty of Web Summit
14.11.2024In The Picture of Dorian Gray, one of Wilde’s characters – I forget which – tells us that everything useful is ugly because it expresses a need. There’s something profoundly beautiful in the form of Web Summit. What could be more useless than the alpha startup searching for speculators to invest in their game where […]
Read MoreWeb Summit: The Start of Night Summit
13.11.2024The first full day of Web Summit is done. My plan is to drop stuff at my hotel and grab a jacket because, even in Lisbon, this is still a November evening. Maybe I’ll eat something too. Then I’ll be off to the first evening of Night Summit. My experience of Night Summit last year […]
Read MoreWeb Summit: Partner Startup Islands
12.11.2024Most of Web Summit’s startup stalls are grouped together by industry but there are also Partner Startup Islands, many of which are designated to a specific country (or city, in the case of Dublin). Presumably these are places whose governing body is partnered with Web Summit. A startup being grouped with their own industry […]
Read MoreWeb Summit: New Energy Summit
12.11.2024Stage 7 is hosting a discussion called “AI’s insatiable appetite for energy”. I take a seat at the media desk and regret wearing a “standing-up” jumpsuit. It’s a relief to get off my feet for a while nonetheless. These critics of AI are broadly correct but their presence here does nothing to counterbalance Web Summit’s […]
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Web Summit: The Startups
12.11.2024I wander around the startup stalls. Despite talk of AI robotic plumbers at Web Summit 2025 on the main stage, there are very few robotics startups. I do find a startup producing robotic care workers but, considering how poorly compensated human care workers are, I’m skeptical that the financial incentive is really there. The guy […]
Read MoreWeb Summit: Entering Day 2
12.11.2024I hypersleep and emerge blinking into the Lisbon sun long before my ADHD meds have kicked in but late enough to have definitely missed breakfast at Media Catering. I’ve already rememorized the journey from my hotel to the MEO Arena and don’t need Google Maps. Google Maps, incidentally, still thinks that pedestrians are subject to […]
Read MoreI’m going to Web Summit 2024
12.11.2024I’m writing this article on the plane to Lisbon for Web Summit 2024. I had hoped to make this article a review of my Logitech Keys-To-Go 2 – a bluetooth keyboard I bought with events like Web Summit in mind, so I could write articles directly on my phone. It’s easier to write on the […]
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