Friday 9 October 2015

Web Summit 2015 - skignz is Alpha Class

skignz is delight to be chosen as one of the 'Alpha Companies' for the up coming Web Summit in Dublin.

The Summit has grown from 400 attendees to over 30,000 from 110 different countries in 4 years and is seen as the premier events for the global tech industry.

Especially for Start-up's as the world's leading VC's (Venture Capitalists) come from all corners of the planet to check out the latest talent and look for the next 'big thing' or as they say in the tech industry the next big 'unicorn'.

skignz will take their place as one of the select Alpha companies. Last year Alpha companies raised over $1billion in investment capital within 9 months. 

uber raise over $24m in a pub in Temple Bar 4 years ago! So we are sure you will agree; this seems to be the right place for companies like skignz to showcase our technology to a very specific audience, representing the most successful VC's, tech companies and brands from across the world. 

As an Alpha company this allows skignz the opportunity to showcase their tech to the whole audience with a dedicated 'skignz stand T158' on the Tuesday 3rd November 2015.



skignz is looking to meet with interested parties around partnerships, Joint Ventures and future investment with a number of meetings already in place for each of these key focus areas.

The skignz team will include both founders, our new 'Strategic Board Advisor' and the recently appointed Head of Sports and Head of DV (Data Visualisation) Partnerships. The team have been preparing for over 2 months and are really looking forward to going.





We will be updating all of our social media channels on a regular basis as we have decided to use all the key locations (relating to Web Summit) across Dublin as the 'live demo' of skignz for all 30,000+ attendees.

Anyone attending should download the FREE skignz app on either IOS or Android so you don't miss out.




We will be announcing closer to the Web Summit a competition that will certainly capture people's imagination and engage everyone in a new and unique way, ultimately enhancing their overall visit to the Web Summit.

We have already been featured on the Web Summit blog, here are the links to the articles:

http://blog.websummit.net/20-advertising-marketing-startups-coming-web-summit/

http://blog.websummit.net/fifty-startups-set-join-web-summits-alpha/

If you would like to visit us on Stand T158 at Web Summit, even set up an appointment, then please get in touch info@skignz.com

Friday 4 September 2015

sC: Join the Conversation

In July we revealed a number of upgrades, enhancements, new functionality etc. to the skignz App.

This month we felt that we would focus not only attracting people to using skignz, but focus on our existing users and try to understand what they want from skignz by way of functionality, design, aesthetics etc.

All of the previous few months upgrades and changes were done with the user in mind.

So with that we have decided to enhance the 'user group' by creating the 'skignz Community', where only people who have downloaded the app and created an account will have access to this information and more importantly can contribute to/help shape the future of skignz.

So what is the skignz Community? What will it do/be?

skignz Community ('sC') will provide registered account users with access to News, Information and Insights before they are available to the general public. 

Not only will you receive and email update from time to time, but sC will evolve within the app to provide you with an instant update of where there is interesting skignz content. Such as brands who are using skignz to give you new experiences, provide you with exclusive offers and so much more.

Like we said earlier we don't only want to 'tell/inform' you of what we are doing, we want you to get involved, so we have created a 'chat' element where you will be able to 'loiter, learn, suggest and share ...'

All of this you can access now, that's if you have not already tried it out. sC chat resides in your menu bar within the App.

When sC Chat is selected you are presented with a chat box with a few options. We have purposely not overloaded the functionality of sC Chat because we would like you, the sC to help us develop it further into something that's useful, helpful and relevant. 

We feel this will come from the content and what you guys want to talk to us about, for us that's where the value will come from, the open dialogue between users and developers, designers, technologists, programmers etc...





If you have not already taken a look please do! Let us know what you think of skignz, the app, What's good? Whats bad? Whats ugly?

We feel too many apps and technologies these days are built for the benefit of the developer (the team who builds it), they look for efficiencies, ease of build, or it can be through a lack of knowledge or skills.

The skignz approach is ALWAYS develop for the users benefit, not our own. The reason why skignz is so quick to download to your mobile device and the file size is so small (other popular apps like twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc... are around a file size of 13mB, in some cases even bigger!)

skignz is currently less than 1mB - yes you read that right ONE mB.) 

Your mobile device only has limited storage space and with a recent trend of 'operating system updates' eating into that memory, we want to reduce the impact we have on the photos and videos you want to take.

Unless it's needed to make skignz perform properly in each area of its functionality, then its doesn't go in the code, simple as that! We are constantly revisiting, revising and recoding areas of the skignz technology platform in order to improve its speed, quality, look, feel and ease of use for you - the sC!

We have not solved everything yet and we don't think anyone would expect us to, however with your input and feedback we can promise that we will constantly be evolving and improving. 

Which is the mantra for sC 'Constantly Evolving & Improving'.

Please take a look at our website and social media channels for more information about us, but if you really want to discover skignz and what it can do for you, download the app, have a play, test, try and try again, then let us know what you think? 

That's the real value of the sC... Please join the Chat! ;-)

skignz on the move: New UK & Europe HQ

As we reported earlier in the year skignz today moved into Fusion Hive, the new home for our UK & Europe HQ.



Over the coming weeks we will be improving the interior, putting our own stamp on the place and 'skignzing' it up to meet our needs. This week we have already had a number of deliveries of furniture and equipment with more scheduled over the coming weeks. 

Apologies if there is any disruption with regards to post, telephone calls etc. we are in the hands of third parties to 'transfer' our services across. 

We will 'hope for the best and plan for the worst' as they say.

We will provide more glimpses as we go along but in the meantime below here are a few photos of the blank canvas we have to work with and a few shots of the stunning building, that is now skignz's home at Fusion Hive.

















 


The new address for skignz in the UK & Europe: 

skignz
UK & Europe HQ

Fusion Hive
Northshore Road
Stockton-on-Tees
TS18 2NB
United Kingdom

As always if you want to find out more about skignz then please visit www.skignz.com or check us out on the usual Social Media Channels... or you can simply download skignz through the App Store/Google Play.

Wednesday 2 September 2015

#leedsfestival2015

Over this last bank holiday weekend many revellers have been attending one of a number of festivals across the UK, Creamfields, Notting Hill Carnival, Leeds & Reading Festival.

Our destination was Leeds, where skignz made its debut for the crowds, right across the whole festival site and we are delighted to say skignz managed the full weekend without a single error, hiccup or the ensuing hangover.

The same cannot be said for our founder, Si who decided they would also attend on the Saturday to do a range of 'live testing'. This included the recently launched changes and functionality within the app as well as one or two things the guys feel will further enhance the 'live event' experience.

Rather than sprout on too much about how good a weekend it was, what bands were awesome and who got in the worst drunken states, Si suggested that the old adage 'a picture speaks a thousand words' might be the right approach to outline skignz's activity. 

So as the powers that be have instructed we thought if 'a picture speaks a thousand words', how about a full gallery full of pictures? Now what would that say to our audience? 

We would like you to make up your own mind, please take a look through the below and feel free to let us have your thoughts, opinions, feedback and, dare we say it, a little praise for what we hope you will agree, is a pretty awesome addition to the #leedsfestival


skignz Capture showing skignz Never lose your car in a carpark
Never lose Your Car in the Car Park again, Si marking his, for later...

 Make sure we pick our tickets up and enter through the right gate...

Check out which Camp site we are located in?

Important things: Closest toilets to our Tent ;-)

 Whoaaa a sea of tents, glad we know which Campsite we are in?

We were wondering where the nearest stage was?

 Battery charging.. they never offered that 5 years ago... 
What will there be 5 years from now?

 Looking for the info point, whilst getting involved with #oxfam guys...

Wondering what the cocktail of the hour is? Press the 'skign' to find out

 Need the cash machine? Store some valuables? on more charge?

Finally the Main stage... Mumford & Sons were simply Awesome!

You always need to rehydrate at these events - Find the Aqua points ;-)

 and of course you must eat at some point!

 If for whatever reason you do have an illness etc... Find the Medics!

 Very Important place for everything you've lost or maybe found?

Interested to see what the other stages offer?


How about 'Who's up and coming?'

 or step inside one of the big Marquees for the rising bands...



Wrong campsite...

 Also not our campsite.... this place is HUGE!


Not that way either... try again!

Back to the Music... Thats what we are here for...

We hope our little sample Gallery of a festival through the lens of skignz has 'spoke more than a thousand words' to you... in fact it should have spoke more than 24,000 words....

Public Notice: No staff or directors were harmed in the making of this short gallery, although considerable time was saved finding each other, our tent, our car and everything we needed when we needed it! 

"Wouldn't it be great if we all had skignz?"

Plus the small matter of a hat being purchased to stop sunburn, plenty of liquids to quench thirst and many calories consumed all in the interest of product testing, enhancing the environment and improving the already overall AWESOME #leedsfestival experience.

*All Images were taken with the new skignz 'capture' button, including all posts to social media over the weekend were also using skignz capture and posted direct to our own twitter/Facebook/Instagram channel's - Cool or What?

We will be uploading the complete set of photos to a newly created Facebook Album aptly named #leedsfestival, plus we will be sharing shortly some real time footage shot through the skignz viewer as if you were looking through and interacting with the skignz whilst you were there... 

So instead of looking at our website etc or social media channels why not just click on this link and download the app http://www.skignz.com/downloads