Tomorrow is the day that I shall attempt to conquer the dreaded weed again
Three times in three years and every time I go back my health gets worse. This time I must persevere, my asthma medication is double and I have had 2 really bad chest infections this year already.
So its patches, Allen Carr and what ever else needs to be done for the next few weeks to get me over the hump.
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Just getting back to normal and a 3GSM/MWC wrap-up post.
Well besides the amazing people I meet the whole event was completely underwhelming.

First to the Ireland stand, I know people including me give EI a bit of a hard time but this was excellent, the stand was 100 feet from the Microsoft and the build/layout was futuristic whilst allowing companies to chat, seriously, one of my favourite stands at the show.
For me Nubiq and Sentry Wireless stuck out by a long yard as ones to watch not only for their products but for the knowledge of the teams operating the stand especially Grace from Nubiq whose knowledge of the product and ability to smile at potential customers was a huge advantage.

As for the rest

Where were Apple?
Apple needs to engage the community and their absence from this event was a huge black mark against them in my opinion.

Batteries?
I walked and walked and couldn’t find a single company with a solution to this enormous problem, due to constant connectivity issues I used 3G most days and usually in the afternoon I had to head to the wonderful staff at the Nokia stand for a recharge.

Handsets
Lots of these but not of huge interest to me to tell you the truth, lots of other people tell this story way better than me.
Although I was hugely impressed by Modu and their modular phone for the fashion conscious.

Suits
If you weren’t in a suit you stuck out like a sore thumb, Mr Feldman stuck out like a sore fist.

Content
Where were the content providers?, lots of channels and streams but very little in the way of original content.

SpinVox’s stand got the overall international show winner in my opinion, I finally got to meet with SpinVoxer James Whatley who was kind enough to give me a tour, all the dolls you see below are actually spelling out live SpinVox messages.

Innovation
Where were the innovators ?, I was looking forward to the innovation section but it was plonked in building 7 in a tiny corner which looked like a complete afterthought.

All in all, a bit of a beano, lots of execs doing high fives and attending lots of parties but light on the stuff I went for, nevertheless we done a few deals with smaller providers at pre-arranged meetings but I think I will give this a miss next year.

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Probably of the most exciting days and nights yesterday here at 3GSM
The show yesterday appeared to be more about people and a lot more excellent contacts were made but the real deal yesterday was the MAXroam/QIK party. We were late getting there ourselves due to a crazy taxi driver but eventually made it.
The line-up was really cool and it stayed just right numbers wise, everybody got to talk to everyone and lots of news business contacts were made.
The line up was excellent with me finally putting faces to lots and lots of names

We ran a little contest which went excellent from our point of view as the only journalist attending won first prize, Congrats to John Collins and belated thanks for the huge article in The Irish Times which he hasn’t written yet , well done Jenny on that sleight of hand.

I could write all night about how really great it was for us to pull off the party and all the amazing people who attended but I’m exhausted and about to start another Barcelona day so I am just going to name all the great people. Alec Saunders, Andy Abramson, John Collins, Bhaskar Roy, Dave Evans, Martyn Davies, Jonathon Zar, Jason Curry, Graham Moss, Diarmuid Quinn, Niall Larkin (finally we met), Niall Cusack, Jenny Callicott, Richard Walsh, Daniel McCarthy, David Nash, Sharon Kiernan, Jonas Eklund, Jeb Brilliant, Paul Walsh, Zidan Nekmouche, Jesus Torrellardona, Jennifer Janson, James Body, Florian Seroussi, Michael Madden, Daniel Appelquist, John Wait, Grace O Dwyer. and Paul Kinsella

If I left you out sorry
Quick stop at Swedish beers resulted in a late night advice call.

From there it was a quick bite and onto a private party at The Buddha Bar, yes Loren and Paul that’s with two flippin D’s , anyways Michelle Oshen definitely Loren Feldman’s better half explains it way cooler than me below.

Final thanks to Mireia of QIK who sorted most everything out 

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This is turning into an amazing event, today was just huge, met Andy Abramson first, then Alec Saunders who has the skinny here on the new Nokia handsets, the N96 is visually stunning.
Loren has arrived and is shaking the city up, I cant wait until this guy gets loose at the event.

Tonight’s party was at the Picasso museum and was hosted by Advent Venture Partners, I had a long chat with partner Frederic Court.
Then who should pop over for a chat only Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, lots of plans for Twitter but I am sworn to secrecy, no seriously a real nice guy.
Don’t forget the party tomorrow night and here’s the Barcelona QIK page, QIK co founder Bhaskar Roy is also in the house, it kind of feels a bit MTV here to tell you the truth.
Jonathan Greene also dropped in to say hello tonight

Pat Phelan, Jack Dorsey, Florian Seroussi

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I saw this and thought of our own Hitchcock Mr. Loren Feldman who is going to be shooting at least a movie a day at MSW08 Barcelona.
What a really smart initiative, kudos to the VRINGO team.
Hope they will ship the 32-inch flat-screen TVs I don’t think Mr. Feldman’s PA would appreciate the load on the long haul back to NYC.

During the Mobile World Congress 2008, taking place here through Thurs., Feb. 14, Vringo, the pioneer in video ringtone sharing, is sponsoring the World’s Tiniest Film Festival. Vringo is inviting all mobile phone owners, filmmakers, videographers and people who just like impressive show give-aways to record and enter a 15-second “Vringo” video ringtone to be eligible to win one of three 32-inch flat-screen TVs being awarded every day during the conference. The contest is open to all—even if you’re not attending Mobile World Congress.

“We’ve heard for years that size doesn’t matter,” said Vringo CEO Jon Medved. “But I’m here to tell you that mobile phones are all about the small screen and short clips. Vringo is happy to give mobile phone users world wide the opportunity to think small and win big!”

Vringo will be at the Mobile World Congress to demonstrate its video ringtone sharing service that lets users take any content from anywhere and turn it into a visual ringtone. Vringo then enables users to share this content during every phone call. Vringo has combined all the aspects of online sharing and community with the central part of the mobile experience—the call. Vringo makes mobile Personalization 2.0 a reality.

You can find Vringo at the Mobile World Congress in Hall 7, Booth 7C35

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A number of people asked me over the past few weeks what were we doing for 3GSM?
Well we have decided to have a little get together on Tuesday night, details below
I think we will keep it quite small, hopefully under 30 as we want to get everyone talking and mixing and to avoid it becoming an uber event.

Attendees confirmed so far include.
Pat Phelan
Sean O Mahony MAXroam CEO
Florian Seroussi
Jenny Callicot
Bhaskar Roy Co-Founder QIK
Loren Feldman
Oliver Starr
Paul Walsh
Frank Hannigan
Dennis Howlett
Jeb
Dan Applequist
Alec Saunders
Matthew Stevens
James Whatley
John Collins Irish Times
Niall Larkin
James Whatley
Shane Mc Allister
Dave Evans
John Waite
Grace O Dwyer
Tony Fish
Paul Kinsella from the fantastic Ubcam
John Biggs
James Body
Our first virtual guest Moshe Maeir
Dan Ido
Eric Chan
Jack Dorsey
David Marcus
Frederic Court
Madelene Kornfehl & Jonas Eklund
Please leave a comment if you wish to attend.

MAXroam / Qik / twitter / blogger meet-up
Time: from 7 pm till 9 pm
5 mins from exhibition

Institut del Teatre,
Plaça Margarida Xirgu, s/n
08004 Barcelona
Join us for a beer and a snack, lots of surprise guests, relax with some of your fellow mobile twitter peeps
Meet a bunch of guys from the cutting edge of Telecom’s/blogging/ social media/videoblogging

Watch all the news live from our dedicated 3GSM video channel

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