Monday 12 October 2015

#SaveOurSteel: skignz supports local community

Over the last month or so the local community of Teesside, where skignz was founded and currently has its UK & European HQ, was hit with a heavy blow. 

SSi today announced it was closing its operations on Teesside due to the change in steel prices across the world and they do not see a future for Steelmaking on Teesside.


Much has been debated in the local, national and international press about if the plant could be saved, who might be interested in it and is their still a future for Steelmaking on Teesside.

For those of you who don't know much about Teesside, or familiar with its heritage. 

It's an area surrounding the NE of England town called Middlesbrough. Once termed the 'Infant Hercules' at the turn of the 19th Century, where a little town grew exponentially on the back of the Iron & Steel industry.

A Heritage that ALL Teessiders the world over are fiercely proud of, and they have a right to be. Steel from Teesside helped build some of the world's most Iconic Structures, including more recently they Wembley Stadium Arch, in London, UK, but going way back to the previous century when not only Teesside Steel built the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but also the expertise, knowledge and craftsmanship of the Teesside people. 

It's been said:
"Some of the world's leading engineers come from Teesside".

The skignz team wanted to show their support for their local community, many of which who have family or friends directly affected, by placing #SaveOurSteel campaign skignz's across Teesside and beyond! 

Below here is a selection of images that we have taken and others sent to us.

With some 7,000 jobs at risk, including employees of SSi UK and the immediate supply chain, this story unfortunately does not have a happy ending as it was decided today that SSi UK would be put into liquidation and the Blast furnaces and Coke Ovens will be allowed to cool down, resulting in the END of Steelmaking on Teesside.

Generations of Teessiders have supplied the world with steel and now it's finally supplied its last. 

Not only those who have lost their jobs, careers and especially their livelihoods, but the wider community that will feel the knock on effect. The last few years have not been kind to the people of the North East of England, especially those on Teesside. 

The steelworkers are not the only ones to lose their jobs, many other companies across the North of England are downsizing, laying off people in order to compete in a global market.

However one thing that won't be extinguished like those flames of the Blast Furnaces and Coke Ovens, is that of the spirit of the Teesside people.

#TeessideSteelLivesOn








skignz returns to the IGNITE Summit

Earlier this year skignz was voted the UK's Most disruptive Tech start-up at Ignite and now we will be returning for the IGNITE Summit on 16th & 17th November in London, UK.


skignz will be both exhibiting and speaking +Vinopolis , so if you are in London and want to meet our Co-Founder & CMO, Si Brown and discover more about skignz and why we have been voted the Most Disruptive Tech Start-up, then please check out the website

http://www.nimbusninety.com/ignite-november-2015

We looking forward to seeing you there...

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! ;-)