Once in a while we like to point you to events that may be interesting to European tech entrepreneurs. We’re not necessarily endorsing them. Buyer beware and all that. We’re just saying you may want to check them out. We’ve added events where there will be a TechCrunch Europe writer attending, or those we are running. And please definitely put December 15 in your diary for “TechCrunch Europe’s ChristmasCrunch – It’s A Realtime Holiday!”
TechCrunch Europe threw a dedicated startup pitch event yesterday in London and – if we do say so ourself – it was a great success. We plan to do more of these kinds of events and, as I pointed out at the time, we will NEVER charge startups to pitch. They are selected by editorial, on merit only.
When Seedcamp, the rolling European startups programme, runs its week-long event in London we like to turn up and cover the startups pitching the mentors and judges during the week. Seedcamp is built around its network of mentors and tends to attract a lot of CEOs and VCs, so we hate to waste the opportunity. Thus, with their collusion, we’re piggy-backing alongside their week, running an afternoon event [tickets here] of our own (as we did last year), and throwing their official party [tickets here] to boot. We’re calling the event TechCrunch London.
We’ll be putting on an afternoon featuring pitches from early stage startups selected from the sector right now, alongside startups which have been tutored on the free pitch-training programme run by the UKTI, which we’ve been supporting for a while now (see below for details). We’re also featuring some great presentations by a bunch of speakers. It’ll be on 24th September in central London.
So far this year TechCrunch has run roundtable meetup events for startups in Barcelona, Paris, Prague and coming up we’ll be in Stockholm in 27 May, Berlin on 10 June and throwing a huge summer party in London on 9 July (come meet The Travelling Geeks). But next week will be TechCrunch Europe’s first day-long conference in London and it’s shaping up to be pretty cool. After-all, over 200 people are already coming and there are only a handful of tickets left. [UPDATE: NOW SOLD OUT - Only tickets to the evening party still available]
Geek ‘n Rolla – the day for European startups old and new to network, learn from each other, meet investors and party – will have a full day of speakers, startup pitches and will also have a dedicated exhibition area. Get your ticket today.
The event will be from 10am, all day at RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), 66, Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD. Map
Geek ’n Rolla is sponsored by Viadeo one of the largest professional social networks in the world, and supported by UK Trade and Investment, as well as NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts. And not only will we be having a great day of fantastic content for tech startups, we are planning the mother of all evening networking parties at one of London’s premier venues, Cafe de Paris kindly sponsored by Winston & Strawn’s Bootlaw.
What’s there left to say? Just this. Are you Old School, or New School?
You see, people ask the question, what’s a real Geek ‘n Rolla? And I tell ‘em: We all like a bit of the good life. Some the money, or the fame.
But a real Geek’n Rolla – wants the lot.
Sponsors
We still have a few sponsorship opportunities and there will be a dedicated exhibition area available for companies to show off their products. If you are interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at the event, please contact Petra Johansson on petra[at]twistedtree.co.uk
Viadeo
Founded in June 2004, Viadeo quickly established itself as the place to be for professional networking in Europe and beyond. Since then, with more than 7 million members (as of January 2009). Follow them on Twitter @viadeo. Viadeo is essential for those who want to:
• Increase their business opportunities (to discover new clients, staff and business partners)
• Enhance their visibility and their online reputation
• Manage and develop their network of professional contacts
Viadeo’s members consist of business owners, entrepreneurs and managers from a diverse range of businesses both start-up and well established. Each day Viadeo attracts more than 10,000 new members; 40,000 new connections are made and over one million profiles are viewed. Based in Paris (head office), Viadeo also has offices and teams in the UK (London), Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), Italy (Milan), China (Beijing), India (New Delhi) and Mexico (Mexico City). The company employs 200 staff worldwide. www.viadeo.com
As part of their sponsorship Viadeo are delighted to offer all delegates the opportunity to be prominently featured around the venue. You are invited to create a profile at www.viadeo.com – the 10 most interesting profiles will be part of a rotating Viadeo display visible to all attending VCs, business angels, journalists & geeks for the duration of the conference. Additionally all delegates signing up to Viadeo prior to April 21 (with the email you used to register with amiando) will be given a 3 month free premium subscription in order to get your European networking kickstarted… To qualify for exposure at the event profiles must be completed by midnight on April 19th via the link/ URL above.
UKTI
UK Trade & Investment is the government organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy. We also help overseas companies bring their high quality investment to the UK’s dynamic economy – acknowledged as Europe’s best place from which to succeed in global business.
UK Trade & Investment offers expertise and contacts through its extensive network of specialists in the UK, and in British embassies and other diplomatic offices around the world. We provide companies with the tools they require to be competitive on the world stage. For further information please visit www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk or telephone +44 (0)20 7215 8000.
NESTA
NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts. Its mission is to transform the UK’s capacity for innovation. NESTA Investments has the largest portfolios of early-stage businesses in the country and is a leading authority on how to grow new ideas. We have strict investment criteria, and work with companies that have high potential for growth, are at seed or start-up stage, and have the potential to attract syndicated support. When we do invest, we aim to maximise our investment by assigning mentors, part-time managers or specialist support. We also stimulate imaginative solutions to pressing social issues and shape policy to help the UK meet its national innovation challenges.www.nesta.org.uk
After-party sponsor: Bootlaw
Bootlaw is a free boot camp for emerging technology, internet and digital businesses and the professionals working in them who want to learn more about the legal issues they face. Its brought to you by Barry Vitou and Danvers Baillieu the friendly lawyers at Winston & Strawn in London. For more information go to www.bootlaw.com
School for Startups
Geek’n Rolla is also supported by School for Startups. The inspiration of serial entrepreneur and angel investor Doug Richard, School for Startups is the UK’s leading provider of business training for entrepreneurs. Anyone attending Geek’n Rolla may claim a 5% discount on all current School for Startups events – currently 2 in London and 2 in Scotland. Simply go to www.schoolforstartups.co.uk quoting the discount code TECHCRUNCH to qualify for this discount.
Later this month Virtual Worlds Forum Europe (VWFE) is going to be the first major conference in Europe, let along the UK, about – guess what – virtual worlds. It’s odd that it’s taken this long to have a major event about this most fascinating of areas, of interest both to everyone from technology entrepreneurs to media/marketing people.
Of particular interest to TechCrunch readers is going to be the VC panel on day two (Thursday 25th October) at 16.00 – 16.40, featuring a venture capital take on monetising virtual worlds, with the likes of Ben Holmes (Index Ventures), Nic Brisbourne (Esprit Capital) and Sean Seaton-Rogers (Balderton Capital).
Plus, on the evening of Tuesday October 23, there are Drinks with SXSWi in association with VWFE.
Overall, VWFE looks pretty interesting (though I must declare an interest, as I sat on the advisory board). From October 23rd to 26th the show will pack in 60 leading speakers, tracks on enterprise virtual worlds and the consumer perspective, workshops, networking opportunities (and parties). And something I think is pretty cool – a four day member pass to The Hospital a private members’ club for delegates.
The event will also bring the X|Media|Lab – the internationally acclaimed think-tank and creative workshop for digital media professionals – to London for the first time on the Friday of that week.
TechCrunch UK has a VIP code for anyone wanting to get which will get you of 15% off the conference fee. Just quote “VIPS011″. See you there.
Fancy learning a little more about Facebook? Those nice people at BIMA have given us two free tickets to The Great Facebook Debate (currently sold out at £25 a head) on Wednesday 17th Oct 2007, 16:30 – 21:00 in London. The debate’s speakers will aim to explore and challenge the various ideas currently being touted in blogs and mainstream media about the all-consuming Facebook, as well as bring you an insight into the plethora of Facebook stories, such as brands who have worked within the Facebook walls effectively and those who have, well… not. To win the tickets all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. Best comment wins (Judge’s decision final etc).
If you’re at the Future of Web Apps conference in London today look out for me (Mike Butcher, TechCrunch UK & Ireland) as I’ll be hanging out and looking for things to write about. My contact details are here. We’re also delighted to have Mike Arrington, TechCrunch editor-in-chief and founder, over here too. This morning he appeared on a morning panel and he’ll be around much of the day as well.
It’s highly arrogant. Utterly selective. And slightly random. We present for your enjoyment our selection of the best web and mobile events coming up in the UK and Ireland (with the odd wild-card thrown in here and there). To flag up your event for consideration, just get in contact. Tuesday, September 25 Mobile Transactions Forum 2007 A 1 day event for payment companies, retailers, content providers, tecnologists and entrepreneurs
Saturday September 29 mobileCampLondon
mobileCampLondon is a barcamp for designers and developers working with mobile technologies.
Tuesday October 2 mashup* Demo
13 startups pitch before an audience of professionals who would include:- investors, media journalists and bloggers. (TechCrunch UK is a media partner)
Geektails
A new monthly evening networking event in London for everyone interested in internet startups
Wednesday October 3 Future of Web Apps
The UK’s premier web 2.0 event returns to London
PHP London
Meet PHP users, professional developers and recruiters
Saturday, October 13, 2007 Multipack
Midlands UK web geek gathering Monday, October 15 Mobile 2.0
A one-day event focusing on the mobile web and disruptive mobile innovation
Wednesday, October 17 The Facebook Debate
A debate hosted by the British Interactive Media Association. TechCrunch has some tickets to give away for this so stay tuned….
Wednesday, October 24 Virtual Worlds Forum Europe
Bringing together leading European brands and corporates to share their thinking about the virtual worlds emerging space. To get 15% off the conference fee use the special TechCrunch UK VIP code: VIPS011
Tuesday 20th November Essential Mediatech 2007
Investors, corporates and entrepreneurs. Pitches from 30 of Europe’s most innovative media technology companies. Expert panels.
Monday 26th November mashup*
The Business of Social Networking (London) Wednesday 28 November
it@cork Technology in Business Conference 2007, Ireland
Mark your diaries for the 9th Annual Conference
Tuesday, December 11 LeWeb3 conference 2007
A mission: grow the european internet sector and have fun!
LeWeb3 is now firmly established as Europe’s ‘answer’ (if you will) to any number of startup and Web 2.0 events in the US. Held on December 11/12, it offers a platform for Europe’s hot new start-ups to present their business and technology to some of the most influential players in the technology market. Last year’s program had, it must be said, mixed reviews due to issue with WiFi and an unwise wheeling-in of a French presidential candidate (who later won) overshadowed the event, among other things…
However, onwards and upwards.
This year the whole thing has been re-vamped and will feature a substantial stage dedicated only to start-ups. Thirty companies will be selected from the applications submitted, and will demonstrate in front of a panel of expert judges. Three winners will be selected to then present on the main stage, and thankfully there is no fee to participate. So register your startup to pitch. To actually come as a delegate, then fill out this form to attend.
TechCrunch UK is backing a pitch-style event for startups in October called Mashup Demo. Mashup is a regular event in London looking at digital business, but this is their first ‘demo’ style event.
It’ll be on the afternoon and evening of 2 October in London, presenting 15 companies who will each get a 5 minute slot. It costs £35 to attend, and £350 to be a demo company, but this mashup event is “not for profit’ so twist their arm if you think that’s too much and you have a great idea you want to present. See you there.
According to the New York Times and Yahoo the future of web advertising is here in Britain!
“Online advertising is racing ahead in Britain, growing at a roughly 40 percent annual rate, and is expected to account for as much as 14 percent of overall ad spending this year, according to media buying agencies. That is the highest level in the world, and more than double the percentage in the United States.”
“The U.S. is so far behind,” said Terry S. Semel, the chief executive of Yahoo, in a recent speech in London. “It’s certainly lagging the U.K. by at least a year or two.”
So it’s very timely that the theme of the next mashup* event will be on Advertising 2.0 – hear how online advertising is evolving, becoming personalised, targeted and relevant. Learn what this means for online services, media businesses, marketing departments and how personal publishing, social networking and digital lifestyle aggregators are evolving to provide highly effective marketing platforms.
The event will be held on Wednesday 13th December from 6pm in The Captain’s Room at Lloyd’s of London, 1 Lime Street, London, EC3M 7HA – details here.
The Speaker, Panel members and Contributors are now finalised. The panel includes Michael Bayler, Co-founder and Creative Director, The Rights Marketing Company. David Burrows, Head of Ad Technology, Yahoo! Europe and Esther Dyson, “editor-at-large” CNET – the full list of speakers and panelists is available here.
Last week was a great week for catching up with a few people. Wednesday I caught up withEuan Semple, until then I had resisted Twitter but sadly I have been drawn into this backchannel web craze. Thursday was Media Tech 2006. Congratulations to Richard Youngman from Library House for his hard work in getting the event together.
One of the highlights for me was the VC panel session with Jonathon Wolf(Director of Corporate Development) Yahoo!, Ben Holmes from Index Ventures,Anil Hansjee, (the new European Head of Corporate Development) Google, all discussing the current investment market trends with mobile taking front and centre of the conversation, especially after Jonathon’s recent acquisition of Swedish mobile company Kenet Works for EUR 16.6 million or $21.28 million.
The other highlight was the presentation from Ian Valentine (ex-Technical Alliances Director, SKY) who presented his new company idea for a TV Microbrowser which uses Sky Interactive’s new WTVML (WebTV Markup Language). Although Ian was instrumental in getting this new webTV standard adopted, it seems he may not be the first to market with the technology.
The lowlight of the event was the over use of the SMS backchannel. It meant people could not ask questions directly, instead we could only text in our questions to the panel moderator(s)? The questions were not even put up on a screen for everyone to see. By not taking questions directly, it killed the debate and audience interactivity. In fact it felt almost surreal to sit there listening to the questions being posed to the panel by the moderator and then hearing the answers, a bit like watching TV. I am a big fan of the backchannel when used properly in combination with a live QnA.
Twelve months ago I was not so sure because at Les Blogs the backchannel was publicly displayed behind the speakers and some of the comments from the audience were a little bit edgey and rude; anyone remember Ben Metcalfe and Mena Trott’s fall out over comments made on the backchannel. At the time I was totally opposed to the backchannel but looking back Ben you were right! I might not have said it in the same way as you did but the sentiment was right.
Boring speakers spouting sales & marketing crap should know what the audience think; a bit like a dragons den for speakers. i.e if you want my time and attention (and in some cases money) then make it interesting or get off. I don’t want death by Powerpoint, I want your original thoughts, opinions and then a debate that moves the topic forward or don’t volunteer to speak if you have nothing original to say. Events should be more like live blogging with the speaker giving their opinion and the counter comments coming in think and fast.
I wonder how many speakers at LeWeb3 this year will be original, please Loic put up the backchannel again so we can praise the good ones and comment on the other speakers!? I guess if Loic doesn’t do it then we can all use Twitter anyway, either way the audience will have its say.
Hugh also told me about his video interview with Microsoft UK’s Steve Clayton (the new Scoble?).
I also meet up with Tristan Nitot, the CEO of Mozilla Europe (my ex-Netscape colleague) at the party. If you think about it, Firefox has become the WebOS, I can now use it on the Windows, Mac and Linux OS’ and the experience and plugins work the same. Netscape had this idea 10 years ago but Microsoft killed that but I don’t think Microsoft can kill Mozilla.
This week is hopefully quieter and therefore I have more time to review the companies currently sat in my inbox but the end of the week sees the BBC Backstage Party and LeWeb 3.
Update from John Wilson: Ivan Pope from Snipperoo who was on the pub crawl has made video.
Although tomorrow MediaTech 2.006 is now full, organisers Library House have kindly extended an invitation and media/tech firms who want to come to the evening drinks from 6pm to 8pm. The venue is the IMAX Theatre, Waterloo, London. The networking drinks are sponsored by Cobalt Corporate Finance.
MediaTech 2.006 will include contributions from Google, SKY and Yahoo, entrepreneurs like Bob Young CEO, lulu.com and co-founder of Red Hat, Russell Buckley of Admob, Sequoia’s latest investee company, and investors such as Index Ventures, one of the founder investors in Skype. The day’s speeches and panels will be also feature 17 young ‘upstart’ mediatech companies and some leading bloggers (possibly Robert Scoble as well).
Registered attendees include representatives of leading VCs and corporate names and some of the top entrepreneurs and innovators from the convergent space of Media and Technology. So far the list included people from from 3, 3i, Acacia Partners, Advent Venture Partners, Albany Venture Managers, Alegro Capital, Amadeus Capital, BBC, Benchmark Capital, BT Group, Celtic House Ventures, Esprit Capital Partners, Eden Ventures, Google, Guardian Media Group, Impetus Partners, Intel and Intel Capital, Logitech Europe, Microsoft, Mitsui Capital, Oracle Corporation, Orange, Partech International, SKY, Siemens Venture Capital, T-Mobile, TLcom Capital Partners, Yahoo, and more besides.
TechCrunch UK & Ireland will be covering the event.
Sadly I couldn’t go but last week I met Ian Hayward of Glaxstar - UK developers of Firefox add-ons (Yahoo’s delicious add-on) and the organiser of the Firefox party, which I will be going to this Friday. Attending the party will be several of the Mozilla developer team, if you have any questions.
Speaking briefly with Ian and others about the summit, it seems the key take-away were the number of concerns & challenges facing Mozilla as is starts the countdown to Firefox 3.0, the first being how to avoid becoming bloatware.
“we need to shed some ten year old platform baggage while retaining our (large) lead in web compatibility.”
Personally I prefer Firefox 2 to Internet Explorer 7, not just because of the faster rendering engine or the better standards support, not just because of the extensive 3rd party add-ons but simply because it looks and works the same on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms, as do most of the add-ons. So my user experience is the same irrelevant of the underlying operating system. So when people talk about the possibility of a GoogleOS, for me Firefox is already the WebOS but I do agree that Mozilla needs to stay lean and mean, shed a few Netscape Gecko pounds and ensure that the additional “nice to have” functionality is delivered via the extensive add-on marketplace and/or greasemonkey scripts.
The second challenge facing the Mozilla project is in the mobile space, especially given the new challenge following today’s announcement of Opera mobile/mini and the recent news from 3 of their x-series mobile broadband initiative. One proposal discussed was the development of a new version of HTTP to address solely the mobile community.
“Another problem with the mobile Web is HTTP. We would like to start work on something similar to Waka as soon as possible.”
Although there are other web protocols such as FTP, I suspect Sir Tim Berners-Lee will be hanging his head at this thought. I would not like to see a new protocol but better Mozilla support for the new W3C Mobile Web Best Practices Proposed Recommendation.
The third issue raised concerning the Mozilla project is the continued release of Linux builds that now run on an extremely wide variety of distributions. This is a large burden, because claiming a release runs on “Linux x86″ requires compatibility with extremely old libraries and forces a lot of checks to happen at runtime which slows down Mozilla.
“The various distros can do a better job at this than we can, and they also happen to have most of the users, outnumbering Mozilla builds by more than 10-to-1. For Firefox 3, there will be no release Linux binaries, but nightly builds will continue, on a single, relatively modern reference platform. getfirefox.com will still have options for Linux users, but they will be in the form of packages from Red Hat, Ubuntu, Novell, etc. The same arrangement will be made for OpenSolaris and other Unix versions.”
Mozilla is about to start a Firefox TV campaign (flicks) with Spot Runner, the first Internet-based ad agency that makes it really easy for companies like Mozilla to advertise on TV. Spot Runner does TV advertising — commercial production, media planning and buying. This is one of Saul Klein’s (VP of Skype and founder of Video Island) favourite companies and a potential acquisition for Google. I wish there was an equivalent over here in the UK.
Below is a list of flicks that meet the three criteria set out by Mozilla for their flicks:
And finally for those of you who have not seen this humorous spoof site http://www.msfirefox.com please do so before Microsoft’s lawyers get it closed down.
I’m still astonished how quickly Second Life has mainstreamed, Duran Duran gigs aside, there’s a surprisingly rapid corporate adoption of virtual presences by the likes of IBM, Reuters and American Apparel. Recently I learned that Theakston is also seeking to establish a virtual pub in SL!
Linden Lab’s creation is giving rise to a interesting secondary economy of real estate, avatar accessories, in-life artefacts and indeed an emerging consultancy market on how best to exploit SL. Next month, Linden is hosting a pair of workshops, in London and Boston, for agencies looking to help their clients establish projects and presences in Second Life. The London event, How to position Second Life to your Clients, will take place on 13th December.
I wonder if I can convince Sam and Mike to hold a future TechCrunch event in SL
I just updated the TechCrunch UK event listing and realised I missed off the Geek Girl Dinner number 9 which is this Wednesday with special guest stars Robert and Maryam Scoble along with Hugh MacLeod. Sadly the event appears to be full with a waiting list forming already. Apologies to the A-List bloggers but I think the most interesting speaker will be Nicholas Ampazis from Feeds 2.0 who will talking about the future of RSS and its relationship to attention metadata.
Also a quick congratulations to Sarah Blow the organiser for the successful launch of the Barcelona Geek Girl dinners. I had suggested to Sarah that possible she could organise a Paris Geek Girls Dinner before Le Web 3. If you are interested let her know (send an e-mail to info [at] Londongirlgeekdinners.co.uk) and if there is enough demand you never know.
Robert says “I have my video camera and would love to meet up with anyone who has interesting technology to show me.”
Robert and Hugh McLeod are also trying to organise a geek event in London. I have left Robert and Hugh a message which I hope they will pick up because there is of course the Firefox Party at The Lane Bar on Friday. Tristan Nitot – the head of Mozilla Europe – and several other key Firefox developers from the US will be there.
Robert sadly won’t be going to the IT@Cork conference but Hugh McLeod will be there speaking along with Marc Canter. I don’t know how long Robert is over in Europe but there is Le Web 3 on the 11th December (764 people already registered and closing fast) and the London Geek’s party (they hit 400 sign-ups in exactly 35 hours).
For the last few months I have been talking with Manoj Ranaweera and Ivan Pope of Snipperoo to create a series of entrepreneurial networking events outside of London. I am pleased to say that on Thursday night the first NW Startup 2.0 event took place in Manchester and over 30 people attended.
I was going to write a post on this but one of my fellow speakers David Terrar of Twinfield and the Enterprise Irregulars (a must read if you are interested in Enterprise 2.0) has done such as sterling job that I will let him tell you more. Below is an edited snippet from David’s post.
I met some really interesting people. I spoke with Stephen Tominey, the MD of acrticPigs. He told me all about the interactive, 3D animation that his company does, particularly applied to the education sector. Philip Hemsted and Anish Kapoor are the founders of Yuugoo. Phil and Anish have just secured VC funding for the next stage of their company from Rising Stars. Their product allows you to collaborate with IM, VoiP and to share screens instantly, and working in and out of the office through firewalls and across different platforms.They seem to be addressing the issues for the enterprise and platforms in a way that the guys at Blogtronix are too – they should get together. I met Ian Eddison, who works for Chamberlink advising business in the North West. I met David Thomas, Director of D-Geo, who have a product that helps a potential innovator through the key steps of analysis in evaluating their idea – i2m. And I also met Steve Livingston of KPMG. Steve get’s a special mention, mostly because KPMG were kind enough to pay for the food at the event.
Like David I enjoyed speaking with several of the people mentioned above. I also spoke with Chris Leigh from RealTime Race’s. One thing I would take away from the evening was the fact that it felt a bit like London in 2005. There was lots of positivity and lots of energy but most of the entrepreneurs were still struggling to find a good Angel or VC i.e one who could understand their opportunity and not talk to them like a banker with one eye on a short term ROI.
But most of all they were keen to talk to fellow entrepreneurs, create a community and learn from each other. This first event hopefully will facilitate that.
Finally regarding the next event, it is already in the planning and will hopefully take place in Leeds early in the new year. There will also be a similar event started in Brighton called SW Startup 2.0, the details of which will be announced here shortly. I am also working with other people to start similar events in Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, Bristol and Cardiff – “from an acorn an oak tree grows”.
I would like to add that these events are not TechCrunch events but I am certainly keen to help the organisers get them started, help promote them and attend if asked. If you would like to sponsor (£500) or host one of these events please let me or one of the named organisers know.
Quoting: “Some people may choose to present a 5 minute lightning talk on what they’re doing. Then little groups will form and people will work together on code! We’ll encourage contributing good things back to open source projects, or maybe the launch of new projects.”
BYO laptop and just ask for the Open Source Jam event at reception but note that there are only 8 (eight) places left out of the 53 places made available and the first 45 filled up in half a day.
Signup by creating an account and editing the page here.
I have been speaking with Ian Hayward – MD for Glaxstar - about a Firefox 2 launch party here in London for a few weeks now. As yet the party venue has not been confirmed, nor sadly the date, due to a few changes in the flight arrangements of the Firefox keynote speakers coming over.
But one thing I can confirm is the venue will be “somewhere cool” in central London (able to hold approx 200 people) and Mozilla are sending across merchandise (T-shirts, mugs, pens etc) to give out on the night!
So why even mention it when the date and venue have not been confirmed!? Well to help the organisers of this London event, it would be great if you could register your interest on the Firefox party planner site. Of course if you cannot make it down to London, then there are currently 620 parties across the world being organised and over 5,000 people have already registered their interest in attending one or several of them. I myself will also be heading to Dublin fo their party on the 14th November. Of course you could start your own party and if anyone wants to run one in the Midlands or further North please let me know.
Finally who are Glaxstar? They are a Birmingham based developer company who specialise in building Firefox pro-extensions for blue-chip companies. Recently they built Yahoo’s awesome new delicious bookmark replacement which I now use in Firefox 2. Until this extension came along I had forgotten about delicious and the value of tagging.
Once in a while we like to point you to events that may be interesting to European tech entrepreneurs. We’re not necessarily endorsing them. Buyer beware and all that. We’re just saying you may want to check them out. We’ve added events where there will be a TechCrunch Europe writer attending, or those we are running. And please definitely put December 15 in your diary for “TechCrunch Europe’s ChristmasCrunch – It’s A Realtime Holiday!”
TechCrunch Europe threw a dedicated startup pitch event yesterday in London and – if we do say so ourself – it was a great success. We plan to do more of these kinds of events and, as I pointed out at the time, we will NEVER charge startups to pitch. They are selected by editorial, on merit only. 
The winner of the pitch competition was 
UK Trade & Investment is the government organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy. We also help overseas companies bring their high quality investment to the UK’s dynamic economy – acknowledged as Europe’s best place from which to succeed in global business.
Bootlaw is a free boot camp for emerging technology, internet and digital businesses and the professionals working in them who want to learn more about the legal issues they face. Its brought to you by Barry Vitou and Danvers Baillieu the friendly lawyers at Winston & Strawn in London. For more information go to 
Later this month 
Fancy learning a little more about Facebook? Those nice people at 
LeWeb3
“Online advertising is racing ahead in Britain, growing at a roughly 40 percent annual rate, and is expected to account for as much as 14 percent of overall ad spending this year, according to media buying agencies. That is the highest level in the world, and more than double the percentage in the United States.”
Last week was a great week for catching up with a few people. Wednesday I caught up with 
One of the highlights for me was the VC panel session with Jonathon Wolf (Director of Corporate Development) Yahoo!, Ben Holmes from Index Ventures, Anil Hansjee, (the new European Head of Corporate Development) Google, all discussing the current investment market trends with mobile taking front and centre of the conversation, especially after Jonathon’s recent acquisition of Swedish mobile company 
Friday was time spent with Robert 
A few weeks ago, 
I have been speaking with Ian Hayward – MD for 