FreeAgent Central has launched an official affiliate programme for non-members following the runaway success of its Evangelist scheme for subscribers. The eagerly anticipated affiliate programme already has a waiting list of 20 companies ready to sign up.

Affiliates and Evangelists earn a one-off reward of twice the monthly subscription fee for each new referral – up to £50 – or an ongoing 20% share of the subscription payments from the new member.

Before becoming an Evangelist, members earn 10% off the FreeAgent subscription price for every referral and once they’ve referred 10 friends, subscription is free for life and they become an Evangelist. The top four FreeAgent Evangelists have already referred a total of 156 new members.

Ed Molyneux, FreeAgent CEO explains: “From the very early days of FreeAgent we have been thrilled by how happy we make our customers! Our subscribers genuinely want to tell the world about us because we make such an immediate difference to their business.

“Now we want to give something back to those ‘evangelists’ and also to help spread the word further. We are very excited about how powerful this affiliate scheme is and the impact it could have on our subscriber numbers.”

A growing number of proactive users are now using FreeAgent free of charge, and you can see John O’Nolan talking about it in his video testimonial here. It’s a win-win situation: users get FreeAgent for nothing and FreeAgent gets more customers.

Users don’t become Evangelists automatically so to sign up please get in touch and find out more. To find out more about the Affiliate programme get in touch here.

FreeAgent Central has made joining the affiliate programme as painless as possible and signing up can be done in a matter of minutes.

Tuesday 25 May 2010 :: 6 pm – 8.30pm :: Water of Leith Visitor Centre, 24 Lanark Road, Edinburgh, EH1 41T

Edinburgh’s young business people are preparing to get wet and muddy in the Water of Leith this Tuesday and it’s all in the name of conservation.

Up to 30 members of JCI Edinburgh are expected to turn out for the organisation’s first Water of Leith clean up. Volunteers will be pulling on wellies and waders and getting in the water to clean up litter and debris. They will also be removing invasive and non-native plants such as Himalayan Balsam in order to allow the natural habitat to thrive.

The event has been organised in conjunction with the Water of Leith Conservation Trust and the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. The clean-up will take place both in the river and along the walkway near the Water of Leith Visitor Centre.
JCI Edinburgh is part of Junior Chamber International, the worldwide personal development organisation for business people in their 20s and 30s. It offers a stimulating range of activities to enable members to develop communication, presentation, leadership, project management, networking and business skills.

Simone Medonos, JCI Edinburgh’s Communities and Environment Director, says: “This is a great way to make a difference to the community and get involved in some real conservation. It is our first environmental event but we are planning similar activities later in the year, including tree planting and beach clean ups along the east coast.”

She adds: “JCI’s personal development and training opportunities are incredibly valuable at a time when many businesses are cutting back on budgets in these areas. Our membership comes from a diverse range of backgrounds so an event like the Water of Leith clean up is a brilliant way to meet new people and learn about areas you might never come across at work.”

For an annual fee of £80, JCI members can access a wide-ranging programme of events, training and social opportunities. A voluntary organisation, JCI also has a long history of charitable work and fundraising. Recent projects have seen members volunteer at the Grassmarket Mission, a drop-in service, producing meals free of charge for those who need it most, as well as regular blood donor events.

In 2010, JCI Edinburgh is committing its resources to fund raising for the Barnardo’s Caern Project, a local charity providing short-term residential breaks and support at home, to children and young people with a profound learning disability and who may also have severe physical and emotional problems.

To register for the event, please email simone_medonos@jciedinburgh.org.uk. For more information about this and other JCI events, please visit http://www.jciedinburgh.org.uk or contact JCI Edinburgh President Kenneth Logan.

Scottish web-developers are playing their part in the clean-up effort around The Gulf of Mexico. A social media powered website for the public to collect and share oil spill data has been developed by EdgeCase: gulfcoastspill.com.

The site’s main function is to collect images, videos and reports from people impacted by the spill and to make them available to the public. People can upload images of oil on beaches, injured wildlife and volunteer activities among other things.

The goal of the project is to speed recovery by crowd sourcing information and making this information readily available to recovery teams. It is expected that Gulfcoastspill.com’s data will be used by emergency response teams, wildlife organisations, educational institutions and volunteer groups.

In addition to gathering and displaying reports, Gulfcoastspill.com will also provide information on the spill and recovery tools such as a business income loss calculator.

Paul Wilson, of EdgeCase Scotland and one of the lead developers on the site explains: “The potential of social media to aid the oil spill recovery effort by giving the public a platform to share images and the location of damaged wildlife is amazing.

“Ruby on Rails, the technology behind this website, allowed us to build a powerful social media site and get it live very quickly, so people can start using it. I am extremely excited about the potential of this technology to be rapidly deployed in response to emergency relief operations.”

“Over the coming weeks, we will be adding more and more functionality to the website” he continues. “The site that was launched today is just the first version of what we believe will grow and become a dynamic recovery tool. We hope that people will visit the site frequently to find the latest features and tools.”

Gulfcoastspill.com has been launched by Gulf Coast Spill Coalition, a charity formed in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Technology and web design experts, educators, legal and business professionals and ordinary individuals have come together to form the Gulf Coast Spill Coalition, with the aim of cultivating innovation in the use of technology for mobility and efficiency during crises.

It was developed by EdgeCase, a leading Ruby on Rails software development firm, whose team built the website; Intridea, a technology firm that developed the mobile reporting application; and Engine Yard, a cloud computing and hosting firm. All companies involved have donated their time and resources to the project for free.

Today in Edinburgh, Money Dashboard launched Open Beta to the UK market. The announcement was made at TechCrunch Edinburgh following Informatics Ventures’ investor conference, Engage | Invest | Exploit 10, as the company embarks on a new funding round.

Hailed as the next Mint.com, Money Dashboard is an easy to use, secure and free online personal finance service that helps individuals and families manage their money more effectively.

Levels of demand for the application have consistently exceeded expectations with closed Beta massively over-subscribed, despite the release of thousands of extra places.

Gavin Littlejohn, Money Dashboard’s CEO comments: “This is a significant milestone for the company and after many months of hard work it gives me a lot of pleasure to be able to open Money Dashboard up and see people start to benefit from it.

“Our awareness of consumer needs, coupled with our professional understanding of financial products means we can help consumers make better financial decisions each month, offer tailored solutions and help individuals on a journey from budgeting and into wealth.”

Money Dashboard aims to save consumers time, money and stress by bringing online bank accounts and credit card transactions data together in one place.

Consumers can access the Money Dashboard application from any computer and by using it for just ten to fifteen minutes a month it allows them to track spending, set budgets and helps them save.

As part of the launch a number of new features have been released including ‘Ways to Save’ pages. It is from these pages that Money Dashboard will monetise the application by offering access to financial products, on which it will earn a marketing fee from the provider.

Money Dashboard is clear that it will continue to provide a free service and remain impartial and independent of banks, building societies and lending organisations. Money Dashboard is the consumer’s friend, putting people in control of their finances and helping them identify suitable products and ways to save.

Over time Money Dashboard will personalise the ‘Ways to Save’ pages making them more relevant to individual members. Money Dashboard has pledged to be absolutely transparent about its relationship with banks and other providers and will help the consumer make financial decisions by explaining complex financial products in plain English.

Additional features released today include email alerts to let users know when they are nearing their spending limit in defined categories and to help avoid over draft charges.

Tester feedback received during closed beta testing has resulted in substantial changes to make Money Dashboard more usable and functional. With transaction tagging, navigation, help and account management all improved.

To sign up for Money Dashboard or for more tips on personal finance, visit http://www.moneydashboard.com.

A local youngster is to see her artwork on display across East Lothian after winning a competition to design this year’s 3 Harbours Seafood Festival poster.

The festival, which runs from 28-30 May at the Greenbelt, Prestonpans, celebrates great Scottish seafood and East Lothian’s coastal heritage. It also champions the work of community artists and organises arts and craft workshops for children.

The winning poster (pictured) for this year’s festival was designed by 19 year old Samantha Wright, a member of the Pennypit Special Needs Youth Group in Prestonpans. Last year the winner was from St Gabriels Primary School

Samantha’s winning poster features an under-the-sea theme and brightly coloured fish. She faced stiff competition from 60 other hopefuls but her entry was chosen because it summed up the event. Samantha will be invited to officially sign her posters on Saturday 29th May and sell them to raise funds for the group.

Adele Conn, organiser of the festival, comments: “We picked Samantha’s design because we felt it captured the spirit of 3 Harbours. It is fun and vibrant, just like the festival. I hope that Samantha is looking forward to seeing her poster on display around town.”

She adds: “Community interaction is really important to the growth of 3 Harbours and it is great to get young people excited about art and food.”

Chris McLeod, 11, from Longniddry Primary School and Sarah Mack, 10, from Prestonpans Primary School took second and third place respectively.

For more information about the festival, please visit http://www.3harbours.co.uk.

Money Dashboard has revealed it will be appearing at TechCrunch Edinburgh on Wednesday 12 May. It is understood Gavin Littlejohn (pictured), the company’s CEO, will make an important announcement regarding the ongoing development of the revolutionary personal finance site in the run up to its official launch later this year.

Hotly tipped to be the UK’s Mint.com, Money Dashboard is an easy to use, secure and free online personal finance service that helps individuals and families to manage their money more effectively.

The aim of the application, having undergone rigorous security testing, is to save consumers time and money whilst reducing stress. Money Dashboard takes the hassle out of budgeting by bringing online bank accounts and credit card transactions data together in one place.

Fighting firmly on the side of the consumer, Money Dashboard is impartial and independent of banks and building societies.

Gavin Littlejohn comments: “We are delighted to be appearing at TechCrunch Edinburgh alongside some extremely impressive companies.”

This is the first TechCrunch Europe UK event to be held outside of London and its programme has attracted a prestigious line up with speakers from Skyscanner, Cloudsoft and Rapid Mobile.

TechCrunch Europe is co-locating with Informatics Ventures’ annual conference Engage | Invest | Exploit 10. Informatics Ventures is Europe’s largest Computer Science Department and this is its third annual showcase of the most promising, high-growth companies spun out of leading Scottish Universities.

This year’s event is the biggest to date with an exhibition of 50 start-ups and spin-outs from the bio tech, clean tech, social media, gaming and mobile sectors.

http://www.moneydashboard.com

Three Harbours Seafood Festival has launched a Facebook app allowing users to send their friends a fish supper. And the more suppers they send, the tastier the suppers get, as users unlock higher levels.

And so the seafood guzzling facebookers move through the levels from plain old fish supper, to a monkfish super, onto mussels’ supper and then a langoustine supper, from salmon supper to a shark supper before finally reaching the ultimate – a lobster supper!

Everyone who reaches the top level of a lobster supper will be entered into a prize draw with the winner chosen at random on Wednesday 26 May.

The top prize is two tickets to the Italian seafood banquet at The Prestoungrange Gothenburg plus overnight accommodation at the Maitlandfield House Hotel in Haddington on Saturday 29 May.

But there’s something for everyone taking part and every week 3 Harbours is giving away two £10 seafood festival gift vouchers to friends playing the fish supper game, no matter what level they are on, in the run up to the festival opening on Friday 28 May.

Adele Conn explains: “We wanted to do something fun for all our friends on Facebook that would also help spread the word about eating healthy seafood and hopefully get people to put the weekend of 28 May into their diaries And who can resist a fish supper!”

Scotland’s seas teem with the best seafood in the world and Three Harbours wants to get Scotland eating more of that gorgeous seafood and exploring new tastes from the salty larder surrounding us.

Running from 28 – 30 May, the festival was established in 2009 to celebrate Scotland’s seafood and honour East Lothian’s seafaring history and the fishing industry of the three harbours: Prestonpans, Cockenzie and Port Seton.

Three Harbours is one of only two seafood festivals in Scotland and in its first year, it attracted over 3000 visitors in just one day. The organisers hope to build on that success in 2010, with twice as many stalls and events running across three days.

This year’s seafood festival kicks off on the evening of Friday 28 May with a good old-fashioned knees up led by the Islanders Ceilidh Band. It will also coincide with the fifth birthday celebrations of its sister festival, the Three Harbours Arts Festival, which runs over 10 days until 6 June.

On the Saturday evening, an Italian seafood banquet will be held at The Prestoungrange Gothenburg, one of the main supporters of the festival. Local chefs Andrew Laurie and Colin Gillespie will be celebrating the strong links between Prestonpans and Barga Italy and are sure to make mouths water with courses including grilled sea bass in a red wine jus and freshly caught mussels with garlic and lemon.

And if great seafood isn’t enough, the festival will also exhibit work by artists including Kerry Henderson, David Cohan and workshops run by community artists, Siobhan Lawson and Helen Gallogly. Children will be treated to a funfair, kite flying and other activities to keep them more than entertained.

Entry to the seafood arena costs £2 per person, children go free and free refrigeration will be provided to keep any purchases fresh while visitors enjoy the day.

RMD has won a five-year maintenance contract for power and cooling services at Freeman Hospital’s data centre in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Modern medicine’s reliance on IT networks means the data centre has become the life support system of all hospitals. It is imperative that power is kept running to the data centre constantly or lives would be put at risk.

Freeman Hospital’s data centre was originally designed and installed by RMD in 2008 and provides critical services to the hospital.  It supports clinical services including a new electronic patient record system,  providing a road map of a person’s journey through the hospital.

This roadmap is essential for the treatment and care of the patient while they are in the hospital and beyond.  Additionally the hospital’s radiotherapy database runs on the data centre, delivering dosage planning for individual patients’ cancer treatments.

Freeman Hospital’s IT Manager, Dave Brunt explains: “Normally we would ask a number of contractors to provide maintenance but because of the critical nature of the clinical systems the data centre supports, it is vital we work with just one company that we can trust implicitly.

“We have complete faith in the systems RMD has put in place and already these systems have been tested in real life incidents and there has been no impact to the smooth delivery of hospital services.”

RMD will maintain the UPS, air conditioning, chillers, fire suppression system and ventilation.  This will involve annual, quarterly and monthly inspections of the equipment, cabling and the structural integrity of the room.

RMD provide 24 hour emergency cover, 365 days a year and guarantee to have a rapid response team on site within four hours.

John Smykala, RMD’s MD comments:  “All hospitals are completely reliant on power to keep their IT and clinical systems going.  We understand that downtime is just not an option for the NHS and we do whatever it takes to ensure that power does not fail.  We are very aware of the importance of our work and we take our responsibility extremely seriously. We are incredibly proud to be entrusted by Freeman Hospital to carry out this essential work.”

Freeman Hospital has an international reputation for its pioneering medical care and treatment.. The UK’s first successful child heart transplant was performed at Freeman as well as Europe’s first single and first double lung transplant.

As part of the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Freeman Hospital delivers a wide range of advanced, patient-focused healthcare to patients from Newcastle, the North East Ireland and beyond.

Services at the Freeman Hospital range from General Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery and digital hearing aids, through to the latest developments in restoring hearing or treating complex liver, pancreatic and kidney diseases.

RMD is a leading force in the provision of innovative, integrated power and cooling solutions for data centres in the UK and Europe. The company has a powerful reputation in the industry and is one of only a handful of UK companies that can design, supply, install and maintain power and cooling.

Working in the public and private sector, for global brands as well as the SME, RMD’s clients include the NHS, Cairn Energy, Amazon and National Air Traffic Services.

ENDS

Barcaldine Luxury House Hotel swept the board at this year’s Scottish Hotel Awards scooping three awards, with Head Chef Craig Ferguson (pictured) winning Rising Star Chef of the Year.  This news comes just weeks after the hotel was honoured with the prestigious accolade of AA Rosettes, further highlighting the growing stature and reputation of this young chef.

At the awards ceremony held in Edinburgh this weekend, Barcaldine was also named Best Family Hotel of the Year, marking the hotel’s relaxed home from home feel, and won silver for the Turnaround Achievement Award.  The hotel was taken over last year by Managing Director Heather Buchanan, and although a lot has already been achieved, the new owners have a full programme of continuous improvement with more upgrades and refurbishments planned.

Barcaldine’s General Manager Susan Ferguson explains:  “We are absolutely delighted to receive this recognition from the industry after such a short time.  We have worked very hard to breathe new life into Barcaldine and this is a fantastic reward.  And now we are looking forward to making the experience at Barcaldine even more magical and to welcoming new guests into our beautiful hotel.”

Craig’s passion for locally sourced highland ingredients from local waters, lands and even from the Barcaldine Garden is the secret to his exceptional menu. With locally reared wild venison, succulent beef and tender game, as well as hand dived scallops from the Isle of Jura and hot smoked salmon sourced from top quality suppliers in Oban, Scotland’s Seafood Capital.

Strathlomond mineral water comes straight from Campsie Fells and sits on every dining table. For something a little bit stronger, there are award winning beers from Loch Fyne Ales and an extensive list of west coast whiskies.

Aromatic beauty products, made from Argyll’s home-grown botanical ingredients, complete Barcaldine’s luxury en-suite bathrooms and dedicated to supporting the local community, Barcaldine uses only local services.

The food is imaginative without being pretentious and delicious meals are served on plates made from slate which retain heat well and look fantastic.  Craig runs gourmet food and wine weekends as well as experiences like Foraging for Wild Food in the beautiful forests surrounding the hotel.

Barcaldine is a hidden gem, offering high service levels without being overbearing and stuffy and a “can do” attitude to service. It’s a place to “kick back” and unwind. Take your shoes off and sit by the fire or go for a walk in the enchanting walks surrounding the hotel.

Barcaldine House also offers self-catering accommodation set around a beautiful courtyard. The hotel is near Oban, the heart of the west coast of Scotland, the idyllic country house is set in stunning Argyll countryside and offers only the finest in hospitality.

The 1709 country house hotel is surrounded by enchanting forests and secret gardens – a joy for children and adults alike. Within the gardens are six comfortable self-catering cottages.  Barcaldine House makes a convenient base when exploring Argyll & Bute and the Highlands & Islands of Scotland, with easy access to spectacular mountains, beaches, lochs and glens as well as a range of superb activities in Argyll.

See the story here.

The techy carnival is coming to town with TechCrunch and its ‘digital power broker’ Mike Butcher, hooking up with Informatics Ventures for Engage | Invest | Exploit 10 in Edinburgh on 12 May 2010.

This is the first TechCrunch Europe UK event to be held outside of London and its programme has attracted a prestigious line up of speakers and a powerful delegate list of the great and good from Scotland’s tech community.

Informatics Ventures is based in Edinburgh University’s School of Informatics and Engage | Invest | Exploit 10 is its third annual showcase of the most promising, high-growth companies spun out of leading Scottish Universities.

This year’s event will be the biggest to date with an exhibition of 50 start-ups and spin-outs from bio tech, clean tech, social media, gaming and mobile all in one place and in one morning. EIE is Scotland’s biggest opportunity for Informatics entrepreneurs and investors to meet.

During the TechCrunch afternoon sessions, Skyscanner’s Lara Bayley will be presenting on “Why Scotland for Startups?”; followed by fast pitches from some early stage local startups. A panel of entrepreneurs with Adtaily, Onedrum and Cloudsoft will discuss linking Scotland to Europe.

Andrew Nutter looks at “How to turn on an investor”; Rapid Mobile will cover “Mobile innovation in Scotland and finally a panel of investors will discuss “Investing in Tech startups in and beyond Scotland.”

We’ve done a roll call of Hot Tin Roof clients who are attending and we are almost at a 100% hit rate with MoneyDashboard, FreeAgent Central, EdgeCase, Flexiant, Civic and Informatics Ventures (naturally) all signed up. And of course, there’s no show without punch, so we’ll be there too!

Don’t worry – if you haven’t got your tickets yet – it’s not too late – just click here.