skignz: In Boston MA, USA

By the time you read this our Co-Founder & CMO will be showcasing skignz to a range of esteemed audiences in Boston Massachusetts, US.

The trip organised through UKTi  and the British American Business Council of New England (BABCNE) is a great opportunity for skignz to demonstrate its technology to a range of audiences.

skignz is looking to establish a number of relationships through this trip that will ultimately help with skignz rapid growth plans. These growth plans have gone into over drive of late due to a number of key projects being finalised. More on this soon.

Back to Boston, some people refer it to as a Mini New York but after many discussions and much reading it seems like an extremely interesting and cultural city. Big enough to be a city but not to big that you can't take in a lot during a short trip.

After doing further research, we came across various ways to describe Boston,

"Boston, first incorporated as a town in 1630, and as a city in 1822, is one of America's oldest cities, with a rich economic and social history. What began as a homesteading community eventually evolved into a center for social and political change. Boston has since become the economic and cultural hub of New England.

As the region's hub, Boston is home to over 617,000 residents, many institutions of higher education, some of the world's finest inpatient hospitals, and numerous cultural and professional sports organizations. 

Boston-based jobs, primarily within the finance, health care, educational, and service areas, numbered nearly 660,000 in 2002. Millions of people visit Boston to take in its historic neighbourhoods, attend cultural or sporting events and conduct business."

We hope to take in some of the history, cultural and sport that Boston has to offer. 

But its the Business where this trip is focussed and with major US & global brands such as Microsoft, Acacia Communications, Hubspot, Wayfair, BAE Systems, Lloyds Bank, Virgin Atlantic, Astra Zenica, British Airways all supporting BABCNE and its efforts to increase and develop trade between the two nations.

skignz is looking forward increased exposure int he North/East of the US after previous successes in Nevada, in Southern America (Brazil) and in Europe & the Middle East. Our Far eastern promise increases as our Kathryn (our born Chinese team member) makes progress with interpreting skignz's activity to the Chinese people.

   

Hopefully when Simon returns he will be able to update us all on a wonderful trip, the experiences and the wonderful people he has met....with Christmas just around the corner it could be 2015 before you hear those tales.

If you want to find out more about our progress in Boston please check out our social media channels as we will be posting pictures & updates during the trip.

Support for Myplace Middlesbrough

Myplace is a state-of-the art £4.3 million venue and activity Centre for young people in Middlesbrough. It has amazing facilities and opportunities for young people including a theatre, TV and recording studio, Internet cafe, alcohol free nightclub, multi-sensory room and amphitheatre.

Myplace is for anyone between the ages of 9-19 years (or up to 25 with special needs).

There are many activities that you can do at myplace. It caters for everyone’s needs with a range of different activities from:

- Popping down for a coffee or game of pool with some friends,

- See what’s going on, or sign up for a future event, activity or group,

- Checking for job vacancies, volunteering, training courses or get confidential advice, information or guidance from a range of services.

and many more!

You can become a member of myplace for just £2.50 a year. You can then use myplace every day for 75p (£1 on the door for non-members). You can even get involved with deciding on activities, events and more!

skignz takes corporate social responsibility seriously and with being a small start up company we believe that we have shown just how serious and how active we are about corporate social responsibility. A big part of this was through the CMO of skignz who supported the local youth centre myplace. 

skignz wants to create a more sustainable future for everyone, so we decided to support myplace with their marketing activity generating the attraction to their youth centre and website. 

skignz wanted more people to recognise what a good deed myplace does, so we offered to help them increase their recognition. 

If you live in the local area then do take a visit to myplace. It has everything you need and it is there to provide a good time for everyone.


You will find a range of support and something fun to always do. You can never be bored and will never be alone. There are many services available for you to use which you can find out from their website.

For further information on Myplace then please visit their website at http://www.myplacemiddlesbrough.org/ 

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

Make your festival fun not a task!

skignz knows that each year, thousands of people attend festivals to have an awesome time and see some of their favourite acts. However you want that festival to be fun, not a struggle to find your friends, find the bar, know where the toilets are and so many other activities that many people find to be a drone when attending a festival.

So we decided to get a personal point of view from a 22 year old student who went to a festival earlier this year and realised just how many struggles there was during the whole event whilst trying to have a good time. 

"I attended a festival earlier this year in Milton Keynes called EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival). The event was meant to be a two day weekend which was better this year as it meant I could see more of my favourite acts on each day rather than being crammed all into one. However this got changed and it became a one day event. This didn’t bother me as much because I could still see some of my favourite acts although two of them would be playing at the same time on different stages which meant I had to choose between the two of them. I didn’t like this because it was a hard choice and I wasn’t sure what to do. 

Before I went to EDC I got to see who would be playing on what stage and when. However I didn’t take note of this so when I got there I forgot who was playing when and where on what stage. I could have found out but by the time I had searched around looking I would have missed out DJ’s that I wanted to see. So in the end I had to just decide to stay where I was and just randomly come across DJ’s that were playing close to the stage where I was near! 

After being there for a few hours and having quite a few drinks already (plus on the coach down – bottle of vodka between two never a good idea!) things started to get a bit “confusing” so to say. Things that I needed to do became a struggle. To start off with going to the bar and back constantly was a real task, having to make my way out of the crowd then back again to find where my friend was. 

This was okay at time as there was only two of us so near the beginning of the festival we went the bar together then back again to find a spot to wait for an act to play. However as the day went on, we had a good spot and didn’t want to lose it. So we decided to go the bar one at a time. Well this didn’t go to plan as you can imagine! 

I wandered off to the bar to get us some drinks. Thinking all was good, I then decided to head back to where I thought we were stood to give my friend his drinks. This didn’t happen! I l lost him. There was only two of us together so we had no one else to contact. What a nightmare. I did try ringing him but he couldn’t hear his phone in the loud music and crowd so I was now all alone (and even more drunk). Oh no. It then went downhill – literally, from here.

I decided I would just have to wait on my own for a while till I found him. So I thought I needed the toilets, although I didn’t know where these were and I couldn’t be bothered searching around for ages for them, I wanted to get back to the crowd and see the DJ playing that I had gone to watch! 

I then had a brainwave (or what I clearly thought it was at the time), I thought I would just go up this hill of grass and go the toilet around there in a more quiet area. What I didn’t think of what that it had been raining earlier that day and the day before so the grass was already wet. 

Having done what I needed to do I began to struggle to stand up a little, to which I then slipped over where I had just been the toilets and slid down the hill (as you can imagine where I had just had a wee)!. Now this was awful! I felt mucky and dirty and there was no way of cleaning myself. What a mess!

From then I decided to make my way back to the crowd to listen to a few more DJ’s and hopefully meet my friend. (That was a big wish in this crowd!) People were friendly so they did start talking to me however I think it obviously was the friendly drunk talking. Although one girl started talk to which I though she was being quite “overly” friendly with me however I couldn’t tell as I am a friendly chatty person too but I do have a girlfriend at home. 

So when I thought she may be starting to become “too” friendly I told her I had a girlfriend back home. To which she clearly was shocked and disappointed. By this I knew I was in the wrong situation and knew that I needed to find my friend because god damn I knew how much trouble I would be in if my girlfriend found out that to which I thought was a nice friendly girl talking to me was actually trying to make a move on me, I defiantly wouldn’t be getting a happy welcome home!

Then as the night went on I started to search and randomly bumped into my friend which was good for me. We then decided to stay together as we had now by this point been away from each other for a good few hours! This always seems to happen to us at events as well which was becoming more of a regular thing. 

The festival on a whole was a really good time. I did get to see some of my favourite DJ’s who I had gone to see although I didn’t get to see others that I really wanted too as they were on the same time as others and this was a pain that I didn’t know what time and where they were. However from that I enjoyed it loads and would defiantly go back again! EDC 2015 – hopefully Las Vegas this time!'

So now I look back over my time at EDC this year, I found out about skignz and realised just how much I NEEDED it at the event and how much EASIER it would have made my whole time. When I simplify it all down I could have used skignz a lot and knew the whole way around the event. 

For one I could have used skignz to help me know what DJ’s were playing when and where at the event. This way I wouldn’t have had to wait around at time for a DJ I liked to come on and play at a stage where I already was. I could have used skignz to show me where the other stages where and what acts were playing there and at what times. I could have made my struggle a whole load simpler.

Then I could have used skignz for when I lost my friend. Going the bar on my own and saying I will ‘find’ him again in the crowd was never going to happen. If we both had downloaded skignz before we went we could have placed a skign above each of our own heads and connected to each other.

Then that way when I had got the drinks all I had to do was scan my phone across the crowd and I was see the skign above his head and know straight away where he was and I would have been able to find my way back to him as easy as that! Then we would have not lost each other and I would have got into “bad” situations that I really didn’t and shouldn’t have been in! 

Lastly when I think of it my biggest embarrassment and regret was that I didn’t download skignz and skignz up the toilets where they were before I went to EDC. Everyone needs the toilet a lot when they go to any all-day drinking event so really knowing where they are is essential. 

If I had done this and knew where to find them then it would have saved me from falling over in my own urine and save the embarrassment of not looking or smelling too nice and from everyone seeing me like this. 

When I next go to a festival I will defiantly be downloading skignz and setting everything up before I go. I didn’t realise just the potential skignz had and just how much of a great impact it would have on me. I would still have the best time just made a whole load easier so I could enjoy it a lot more and with the people I went with.

I defiantly suggest you download skignz before attending any festival or event as you will see just how much of a great impact it will have on you!”

That was a great and funny statement we received from the student who went to Electric Daisy Carnival this year! It sounded like he had an awesome time although really funny. 

skignz is great for everything when it comes to festivals and live events. As you can read from above skignz can be used in many different ways and very useful. It is free to download and very simple to use! You can also use it to help you find where your tent is at a festival as it is very easy to lose it in the big crowd of tents and also to help you find where you parked your car if you drive to the festival!

For further information on Electric Daisy Carnvial please visit their website at http://www.electricdaisycarnival.co.uk/ 

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

Apple: Post Steve Jobs...

It's now been just 3 short years since the enigmatic Steve Jobs sadly passed away aged 56. With Apple launching a range of new products and their next operating system. We came across a couple of documentaries on Netflix focussing on different parts of his life. 

After watching these it made us think. How is Apple doing post Steve Jobs and will they have the same success without him involved?

The two documentaries - one by BBC - Steve Jobs: The Millionaire Hippy and  Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview (from 1995). 

The latter was especially fascinating and certainly took the skignz founders Gary and Si back to different parts of their lives. 

Gary was involved in software at the same time as the Apple v Microsoft battle was being established and the use of Punch cards.

Si however (being 20 years younger than Gary) remembers the early years for whole different reasons, using personal computers at home, being introduced to them at school then finally beginning or using a Mac at Art College. 

So both have very different memories of this time however back to our focus on Apple.

Both documentaries showcase Jobs's influence on Apple, before he was ousted and when he returned, but now he is no longer with us and without a 'figure head' the public at large can identify with, have Apple become another faceless corporation like IBM, Coca Cola, etc. ? 

We wondered how much influence Jobs had on peoples decision to buy Apple's products, there was a mystery and certain amount of magic around the guy that endeared him to millions across the globe.

Maybe like Pop/Rockstars who have died young, will his legacy and reputation actually increase - probably! But how do the people at Apple who are left post Steve Jobs deal with this?

During his tenure not only was he one of the pioneers of home computing, changing the user interface and the quality of design and product in the computer world. 

They also revolutionised the music industry with iTunes, with iPods, then the communications world with the iPhone even moving partly back into the computer with the introduction of the iPad.

Which now seems to have taken over from Laptops. Now we have the 'Phablet' iPhone 6+ Niche products in niches that didn't exist prior to Apple exploiting them. We are not saying they were first to market with iTunes - remember Napster, or the iPhone, remember Nokia? Or the iPod, remember other brands had MP3 players.

Apple simply took them to another level completely in quality, design & functionality. But as you can see with all of these innovations they realigned different industries and markets through their innovation. 

But and there is a but ... can Apple do this again? And if so in what sector, industry or market place.

They recently purchased Beats, much has already been written about this acquisition and it remains to be seen how this will affect how beats and apple come together for the benefit of the customer. Both awesome brands with quality products but will the Beats brand remain? But this does not obviously show an intent to transform a certain market place or existing industry, nor does it point to creating a new niche or market place.

So where will Apple go from here? Will they simply just keep evolving their existing range of products, tweaking enhance the design, functionality, shape size and form? Will iPads disappear and the phablet become the device of choice or will phablets not catch on due to their size and revert back to Phones & iPads? 

Will iPods continue? If so, in what format? This begs the question how will mobile devices evolve? Wearables, wrist or glasses based or a combination of both? Certainly with the expansion of Augmented Reality this could be a clear indication of where the market is heading in the near future. But how long will this take?

It's been 13 years since Apple launched the iPod, look at what has come since and how that has evolved? But all of that was with Jobs at the helm. What now for Apple, without him? Who is the visionary now at Apple? 

Surely if they just evolve with what they have others WILL come into the marketplace. Some of these companies won't even exist yet their future owners may still be in nappies or not even born. However there will be some still in their college/uni dorm who although are not planning to be bigger and better than apple, could end up that way.

But there begs another question. Would Apple let them get that big? Is it not easier for them just to acquire them at a very early stage and either use the technology themselves or shelve it so others can't. Certainly this is a possibility due to the ever increasing cash balance that Apple has. 

But not only Apple, what about FaceBook, Google, Microsoft etc. All of these big players can buy just about any start up or established business by throwing the right amount of money at it! Make them an offer they can't refuse so they can either use that hardware/software for their own gain or simply to stop one of the other big players mentioned above from having it.

You may think we have digressed quite a bit from the original question, but all the above leads us back to how will Apple proceed in the post Steve Jobs era? Even a big personality who comes in, from either internally or from the outside will ALWAYS be compared to Jobs, they cannot escape from that!

So surely therefore that would mean that Apple become seen more as a huge corporation eventually leading them to becoming the villain at some point in the future, rather than a uber cool 'tech movement or religion' as most of their customers perceive them at the moment.

You may think why we are writing this or how it may relate to skignz? When we started writing this blogpost we were not sure where it would end up? That may sound strange but we wanted it to develop through normal organic thought processes based upon what we know so far. 

We hope that it's actually provided more questions than answers as you will have your own interpretation on this! 

How do you think Apple will progress? Evolve what they have? Or Introduce disruptive innovation?

What we have done during our discussion whilst writing this post is understand how it can be related to skignz and we see the following key areas for where it does:

 - could skignz become the new way to navigate by replacing Apples Maps on their devices?

 - skignz is a tech company with next generation technology that could certainly improve Apples offering especially with potentially 8 patents pending.

 - skignz's technology would also be attractive to the other key players in the market, Facebook, Google, Microsoft etc.

 - due to the nature of the skignz technology, it has the ability to revolutionise a range of different markets, navigation being a massive one but also as a browser, even a whole new marketing channel for brands through to being an extension or new way for people using social networks to communicate.

One further question we have thought of is at what point of skignz development does it become of interest, exciting or even a threat to the above companies, depending on how they see skignz its benefit to themselves or to their competitors surely would vary between them.

I don't suppose we will know until the first of them engages with skignz in some way? This may have already happened but without us knowing, either way we will update you if or when any progress is made on this!

But back to our original question! In summary we believe that the way Apple will progress post Jobs is by aquiring new technology that is disruptive and delivering it through its channels or add to its own tech.

For further information on Apple please visit their website at http://www.apple.com

If you would like to know more about Steve Jobs then a good place to start would the wikipedia entry for him at: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.