PR Account Executive
Up to £22K

Creative thinker, plain talker, great writer, media junkie, good fun, massive energy. Is this you?

Hot Tin Roof is a public relations agency creating iconic reputations through concrete communication.

With big plans and a growing client list we are looking for talented people with the enthusiasm and vision to help us build on our success.

For more information email Sarah Lee.

And to apply just send your CV and covering letter (with your favourite film, book and icon) to sarah@hottinroof.co.uk by Friday 14 October 2011. Interviews take place w/c 17 October 2011.

Look no further!

TIN IT OR BIN IT is your weekly social media need-to-know.

Hot off the press we deliver the week’s most ground breaking social media news,
oh-no-you-didn’t stories, tips you can’t afford to miss or simply our opinion on trends in the digital landscape.

Lastly, we’ll tell you whether it’s tin material or bin material!

View them all here on our Facebook page.

———————————————————————————————————————–———–

Tin It Or Bin It – 23 September 2011 – Give Em This…

Sometimes finding the perfect gift for your nearest and dearest is, if we are being honest, a bit of a struggle. If you are stuck for ideas, then GiveEmThis.com might just be what you are looking for.

This free web app, by Imply Labs, is a personalised gift engine that algorithmically analyses your friend’s social media updates to recommend relevant gift ideas that your Facebook friends actually want.

The system connects to your social media and analyses your friend’s interests based on their likes, dislikes, interests and other data stored in their profile. GiveEmThis.com then recommends original gift ideas relevant to your friend’s interests and activity.

GiveEmThis.com doesn’t select one perfect gift (that’s up to you) but looks at countless options to show you the things they will love the most.

The app works by calculating your Facebook friend’s online data, behaviour and patterns. Events, status updates, shared links and “Likes” are all included in the algorithmic calculations.

It doesn’t just evaluate Facebook data. Twitter is also analysed, although the downside it that it isn’t as detailed.

The programme is still in its early stages, with only Amazon being used to generate gift ideas. However there are plans to expand, with companies potentially being able to add their products to the system, and Google+ and LinkedIn integration.

Now, don’t get us wrong, we really like the practical application of this gift generator…so we should TIN IT, but we are going to BIN IT purely because we don’t like Facebook and Twitter knowing so much about us. And Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without those weird and wonderful random presents we get but don’t want!

This gift generator is a BIN IT.

miiCard, the purely online digital passport, has been selected as one of just ten finalists for the Innotribe $100K StartUp Challenge at the Sibos conference in Toronto, Canada on September 19-23, 2011 with digital identity a key theme for the conference.

Sibos is an annual member event for over 8,000 financial services senior professionals and the trade media. The Innotribe session is held on the final day of the influential industry event and pits a selection of promising companies against one another, in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ atmosphere. Last year, miiCard was voted ‘Most Promising Startup’ at the same event and this year is one of ten selected out of 200 applicants.

miiCard, powered by Yodlee, is a unique digital passport for the consumer that proves “I am who I say I am” in real time, for the first time. Owned and managed by the individual, miiCard allows the consumer to track, monitor and so take control of their online identity for the first time. miiCard costs the consumer a nominal fee and is charged to the vendor on a transactional basis. miiCard supports the UK, North America, Western Europe, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Stephen Brannan, miiCard’s latest board member, will take the stage for the Innotribe contest, bringing his considerable business and financial services knowledge to the fray. With 13 years experience in the international banking industry, including leading the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Separation Business Services team for the past five years, Brannan knows the industry well.

Brannan says: “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to talk about what miiCard is doing, and show where the company is going. Joining the board will let me bring my experience and expertise to help miiCard move to the next stage – and this event gives me a chance to talk about the future of this great company to an international audience.”

A patent pending global solution, miiCard demonstrated initial proof of concept to the financial services industry at Sibos last year. Its aim is to eradicate the final barrier to global trade, the need for offline proof of identity, before a financial product can be purchased.
Innotribe, a SWIFT initiative, is a set of events, tools and initiatives that enables collaborative innovation in financial services. It provides the infrastructure to find, co-create and invest in new ideas and projects.

Ends

For more information contact: Sarah Lee.

About miiCard

miiCard is a revolutionary “digital passport”, powered by Yodlee, that enables users to prove their identity online for the first time to the same level of authority as a driving licence or passport would do offline. By creating trust in an environment characterised by anonymity and transient identities, miiCard will open up opportunities for business online and put internet users back in control of their personal information.

The inability easily to authenticate a user’s identity online has long been a significant problem. Between 70% and 90% of all online financial transactions are terminated when the customer is required to provide physical proof of identity so it is imperative that businesses find a solution.

miiCard is designed to support ecommerce and eradicate this problem by enabling customers to complete complex transactions online without supplying further proof of ID.

For businesses selling online to consumers, miiCard improves conversion rates, cuts operational cost and fights internet fraud.
miiCard also benefits users and vendors by creating trust between parties in a purely online environment, increasing convenience, consistency and simplicity of shopping online, speeding up transactions, reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction and easing regulatory compliance.

James Varga – Founder and CEO

James is a Canadian entrepreneur with over 15 years of innovative technology and internet marketing solutions. In recent years, he has focused on developing Rich Internet Applications and User Experiences for global audiences. James has worked with leading brands in a range of sectors including Winterthur Life, Centrica Business Services, Thomas Cook and Sky Sports.

Stuart Fraser – CTO

Stuart is one of Scotland’s leading digital security experts. Co-founder of specialist IT security consultancy DNS, recently sold to SecureWorks, Stuart’s early career began in the energy sector working for Conoco, BP and Scottish Power.

Stephen Brannan – Board Member

Stephen Brannan spent 13 years at Royal Bank of Scotland, latterly as director of Separation Business Services, where he led the separation of a number of businesses as part of the RBS Group’s strategy to return to stand-alone strength, and further disposals dictated by the European Commission in return for state aid. Brannan also ran the RBS Cards business, was a member of the Visa EU board from 1999 to 2004 and has extensive experience of international banking.

Graham Paterson – Board Member

Graham Paterson was one of the founding partners of SL Capital Partners LLP and played a major role in the growth of that business from a team of two, with assets under management of £200 million, to a team of 40 and assets under management of £5 billion.

David Ball – Board Member

David Ball has held board positions with Tesco Bank and senior roles at HBOS plc and Bank of Scotland, managing IT and business transformation programmes.

miiCard, a purely online digital passport service, has agreed a partnership deal for global sales and channel development with Simbiottik, a UK-based technology marketing company.

Under the agreement, Simbiottik will develop a channel partner network to promote miiCard – a unique digital passport for the consumer that proves “I am who I say I am” in real time, for the first time to Anti-Money Laundering, Know Your Customer Regulations and the Proceeds of Crime Act standards.

Owned and managed by the individual, miiCard allows the consumer to track, monitor and so take control of their online identity for the first time. miiCard costs the consumer just £1 a month and is charged to the vendor on a transactional basis.

miiCard is keen to reach clients around the world, and needs a strong partner network to reach potential clients. Simbiottik specialises in channel development, and ongoing management of the channel relationship, for technology companies and will boost miiCard’s profile internationally.

“Simbiottik will help us quickly scale our partner network to reach the right clients for miiCard – their connections will get us into markets across the world,” says James Varga, CEO of miiCard.

“miiCard has a powerful product that will transform online commerce and financial services, and we know we can help reach its potential,” according to James Donaldson, founder and CEO of Simbiottik. “We are extremely enthusiastic about this partnership to promote miiCard.”

For more information contact: Sarah Lee.

About miiCard

miiCard is a revolutionary “digital passport”, powered by Yodlee, that enables users to prove their identity online for the first time to the same level of authority as a driving licence or passport would do offline. By creating trust in an environment characterised by anonymity and transient identities, miiCard will open up opportunities for business online and put internet users back in control of their personal information.

The inability easily to authenticate a user’s identity online has long been a significant problem. Between 70% and 90% of all online financial transactions are terminated when the customer is required to provide physical proof of identity so it is imperative that businesses find a solution.

miiCard is designed to support ecommerce and eradicate this problem by enabling customers to complete complex transactions online without supplying further proof of ID.

For businesses selling online to consumers, miiCard improves conversion rates, cuts operational cost and fights internet fraud.
miiCard also benefits users and vendors by creating trust between parties in a purely online environment, increasing convenience, consistency and simplicity of shopping online, speeding up transactions, reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction and easing regulatory compliance.

About Simbiottik

Simbiottik is about “Promoting Technology, Globally”. With offices in the UK and North America, Simbiottik is ideally placed to make lasting and profitable connections between business-sector software developers and value-added resellers to drive revenues and profits for both parties. Simbiottik’s service however, goes far beyond a simple matching service. Simbiottik’s teams in Europe and North America include experienced and innovative channel and business development managers who are dedicated to ensuring that both developers and resellers achieve the full potential from the relationship. Our teams pro-actively manage channel relationships. www.simbiottik.com

miiCard, developers of a revolutionary digital passport, have been invited to attend FinavateFall 2011, the high profile banking technology conference, after a highly successful visit to FinovateEurope earlier this year. miiCard CEO James Varga has been asked to speak at the prestigious event, which will be held in New York later this month.

miiCard, which last year signed a strategic development and distribution relationship with Yodlee, the leading provider of online and mobile personal finance management (PFM) solutions, is set to launch in beta before the 2011 Christmas retail season. The product aims to fight internet fraud and protect the consumer by finally solving the issue of trust online. From buying a sofa or selling a bike, to finding a flatmate or applying for a new credit card through the Internet, miiCard allows the individual to prove ‘I am who I say I am’ and create trust when transacting online.

FinovateFall provides a showcase for the most innovative new financial technology products and ideas. The selection process to be accepted is exceptionally competitive and miiCard will appear alongside some of Europe’s most exciting emerging technologies. FinovateFall will provide a powerful platform for miiCard to reach new customers, as well as to form strategic partnerships.

James Varga is looking forward to the conference: “The Finovate events bring together the sharpest minds in financial technology– we thoroughly enjoyed FinovateEurope and it’s a great honour for us to be invited to FinovateFall. The timing is perfect for us at miiCard – the online commerce world is desperate for a solution to the problem of trust – and we’re here to provide the answer.”
miiCard aims to change the way we transact online, by providing a system where proof of identity can be validated entirely online and in real-time. miiCard will make online transactions easier, faster and safer.

Owned and managed by the individual, miiCard allows the consumer to track, monitor and so take control of their online identity for the first time. miiCard costs the consumer just £1 a month and is charged to the vendor on a transactional basis.

For more information please contact: Lauren Cormack.

About miiCard

miiCard is a revolutionary “digital passport”, powered by Yodlee, that enables users to prove their identity online for the first time to the same level of authority as a driving licence or passport would do offline. By creating trust in an environment characterised by anonymity and transient identities, miiCard will open up opportunities for business online and put internet users back in control of their personal information.

The inability easily to authenticate a user’s identity online has long posed a significant barrier to trade. Between 70% and 90% of all online financial transactions are terminated when the customer is required to provide physical proof of identity so it is imperative that businesses find a solution.

miiCard is designed to support ecommerce and eradicate this problem by enabling customers to complete complex transactions online without supplying further proof of ID.
For businesses selling online to consumers, miiCard improves conversion rates, cuts operational cost and fights internet fraud.
miiCard also benefits users and vendors by creating trust between parties in a purely online environment, increasing convenience, consistency and simplicity of shopping online, speeding up transactions, reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction and easing regulatory compliance.

James Varga – Founder and CEO

James is a Canadian entrepreneur with over 15 years of innovative technology and internet marketing solutions. In recent years, he has focused on developing Rich Internet Applications and User Experiences for global audiences. James has worked with leading brands in a range of sectors including Winterthur Life, Centrica Business Services, Thomas Cook and Sky Sports.

Stuart Fraser – CTO

Stuart is one of Scotland’s leading digital security experts. Co-founder of specialist IT security consultancy DNS, recently sold to SecureWorks, Stuart’s early career began in the energy sector working for Conoco, BP and Scottish Power.

miiCard has appointed three key board members, Stephen Brannan, Graham Paterson and David Ball – bringing heavyweight financial services and investment expertise to the company at a vital point in its growth.

miiCard has developed a purely online digital passport service that brings trust to the Internet by proving the user’s identity to the same level as a driver’s license or photo ID. It closed its first funding round and completed a management buyout earlier this month and plans a beta launch later this year. The three new board members recognise that miiCard is at a critical stage in its success path and will bring their own expertise to help it reach its full potential.

Stephen Brannan has spent 15 years at Royal Bank of Scotland, latterly as director of Separation Business Services, and has extensive experience of the international banking industry. After leading the separation of a number of businesses acquired under ABM AMRO as part of the RBS Group’s strategy to return to stand-alone strength, and further disposals dictated by the European Commission in return for state aid, he most recently managed the separation process necessary for Santander to purchase parts of the RBS retail network. Brannan also ran the RBS Cards business from 1999 to 2004, so has a thorough understanding of miiCard’s needs.

A highly respected figure in UK banking, Stephen Brannan will bring expert guidance to miiCard as it builds on its recent funding success and management buyout.

Graham Paterson was one of the founding partners of SL Capital Partners LLP and played a major role in the growth of that business from a team of two, with assets under management of £200 million, to a team of 40 and assets under management of £5 billion. An experienced and decisive senior executive, Graham brings extensive investment experience to the table.
David Ball has held board positions with Tesco Bank and senior roles at HBOS plc and Bank of Scotland, managing IT and business transformation programmes.

Together the three new appointments strengthen the miiCard board enormously, bringing insight and understanding of relevant industries and business management practices.

Stephen Brannan says: “There’s a huge opportunity here – there’s nothing else like this available, and, the timing is perfect – if online commerce is to continue to function properly we need to create secure identity procedures. I know my experience and background in financial services can help miiCard reach its potential, so it will be an exciting time, working with the team to find all the applications for this great product.”

miiCard, the revolutionary digital passport, closed its first funding round on September 1, 2011. Raising a total of £550K seed funding from VC, angel and the public sector sources, the round was significantly oversubscribed and completed within six weeks. At the same time, miiCard completed a management buyout, with James Varga appointed CEO.

James Varga says: “This is a big step forward for miiCard – with a board of this calibre we are ready to take miiCard to the next level. It’s an exciting time and I can’t wait to start changing the way financial products are distributed online. Consumers want convenience and with the help of Stephen, Graham and David we can help give them exactly that.”

Set to launch in beta before the 2011 Christmas retail season, miiCard aims to fight internet fraud and protect the consumer by finally solving the issue of trust online.

Changing the way we transact online by providing a system where proof of identity can be validated entirely online and in real-time, miiCard will make online transactions easier, faster and safer. miiCard can be used as an online equivalent to the normal driver’s license, passport or photo ID checks normally conducted not only in Financial Services but a range of industries such as online trading, dating, gambling and social networking. miiCard provides a new layer of trust previously unavailable in a purely online environment.

Owned and managed by the individual, miiCard allows the consumer to track, monitor and so take control of their online identity for the first time. miiCard costs the consumer just £1 a month and is charged to the vendor on a transactional basis.

For more information contact: Sarah Lee.

About miiCard

miiCard is a revolutionary “digital passport”, powered by Yodlee, that enables users to prove their identity online for the first time to the same level of authority as a driving licence or passport would do offline. By creating trust in an environment characterised by anonymity and transient identities, miiCard will open up opportunities for business online and put internet users back in control of their personal information.

The inability easily to authenticate a user’s identity online has long posed a significant barrier to trade. Between 70% and 90% of all online financial transactions are terminated when the customer is required to provide physical proof of identity so it is imperative that businesses find a solution.

miiCard is designed to support ecommerce and eradicate this problem by enabling customers to complete complex transactions online without supplying further proof of ID.

Owned and managed by the individual, miiCard gives the user security for their personal data, allowing them to track, monitor and thus take control of their online identity. For businesses selling online to consumers, miiCard improves conversion rates, cuts operational cost and fights internet fraud.

miiCard also benefits users and vendors by creating trust between parties in a purely online environment, increasing convenience, consistency and simplicity of shopping online, speeding up transactions, reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction and easing regulatory compliance.

The Agile Delivery Network – a collaborative network of SMEs determined to change the way the UK government buys IT – will formally launch this week, having already proven that it can deliver what it promises.

The government’s current supplier model for IT simply does not work, the Agile Delivery Network (ADN) contends, and the Network has already shown what can be done with its work on the highly successful e-petitions site.

Andy de Vale, co-founder of the ADN says: “I’m consistently horrified by the money we waste on government IT. IT delivery in the UK government is broken, and the current supplier model just doesn’t work. The ADN has been set up to tackle the gross waste in the way things are done, and to shake off the pervasive view that it’s just how things are.”

The government itself has recognised the problem and was keen to see the ADN work in conjunction with its recently established ‘skunkworks’ team, Government Digital Service, on the e-petitions site and on new ways of working together.

Unlike the majority of government IT projects, the e-petitions site was built quickly (within six weeks), flexibly and at a low cost. Once the team began to see usage figures rise, it was able to scale the site to match. The site can now manage over 1,000 concurrent sessions per minute without problems.

Throughout the development process the Cabinet Office was able to request changes and have them implemented immediately, rather than having to wait until the project was complete and then request costly alterations, as is normally the case with large suppliers.

ADN brings flexibility, quality, cost and short time-to-market to a sector that has become used to slow, complex and expensive development. Agile, highly motivated developers are collaborating to provide a viable alternative to the large Systems Integrators who usually win government contracts.

The team used Agile project delivery to deliver the working site on time, and used an open source toolset to keep costs low and to take advantage of the most up-to-date technologies.

Peter Herlihy of the Government Digital Service adds: “The Agile Delivery Network SMEs delivered beyond all our expectations. The flexibility and the quality of the service delivered by the team at ADN gives us real hope – and evidence of a successful model for delivery of digital services.”

For more information please contact: Lauren Cormack

About Agile Delivery Network

Agile Delivery Network is a not-for-profit organisation set up to improve access for UK SMEs to government contracts. It aims to change the way UK government procures IT, to reduce waste in project delivery and to advocate and improve the use of Agile techniques in government IT. It was founded by six companies: 2d Cargo, EdgeCase, Matt Wynne ltd, Rutherford Software, Think Code Learn and Unboxed Consulting and is recruiting other member companies to collaborate on UK Government projects.

miiCard, the revolutionary digital passport, announced today that it has closed its first funding round and completed a management buyout with James Varga appointed CEO. Raising a total of £550K seed funding from VC, angel and the public sector sources, the round was significantly oversubscribed and completed within six weeks.

miiCard, which is set to launch in beta before the 2011 Christmas retail season, aims to fight internet fraud and protect the consumer by finally solving the issue of trust online. From buying a sofa or selling a bike, to finding a flatmate or applying for a new credit card through the Internet, miiCard allows the individual to prove ‘I am who I say I am’ and create trust when transacting online.

Investment has been secured from angel syndicate Par Equity, venture capital group IQ Capital and the Scottish Investment Bank’s Scottish Seed Fund. miiCard has already generated a huge amount of interest from both financial and commercial sectors and over the coming weeks it expects to make a number of high profile appointments of expert advisors and board members.

The idea behind miiCard is to create trust online in the way that a passport or driving licence does offline, as CEO James Varga explains: “From buying and selling online to using social networks, we often need to be able to prove our identity online and in real-time. miiCard will do that by offering an alternative to the traditional offline checks of driver’s licence, passport or utility bill. There is nothing else on the market today that does this, giving miiCard a massive opportunity.

“That is why this funding round has been so well supported by investors. This is a hugely exciting time for the team at miiCard and we are extremely proud that so much confidence has been shown in us. We know that we have an incredible product with countless applications. We are all looking forward to the coming months.”

Changing the way we transact online forever by providing a system where proof of identity can be validated entirely online and in real-time, miiCard will make online transactions easier, faster and safer.

Owned and managed by the individual, miiCard allows the consumer to track, monitor and so take control of their online identity for the first time. miiCard costs the consumer just £1 a month and is charged to the vendor on a transactional basis.

For more information contact: Sarah Lee.

About miiCard

miiCard is a revolutionary “digital passport”, powered by Yodlee, that enables users to prove their identity online for the first time to the same level of authority as a driving licence or passport would do offline. By creating trust in an environment characterised by anonymity and transient identities, miiCard will open up opportunities for business online and put internet users back in control of their personal information.

The inability easily to authenticate a user’s identity online has long posed a significant barrier to trade. Between 70% and 90% of all online financial transactions are terminated when the customer is required to provide physical proof of identity so it is imperative that businesses find a solution.

miiCard is designed to support ecommerce and eradicate this problem by enabling customers to complete complex transactions online without supplying further proof of ID.

Owned and managed by the individual, miiCard gives the user security for their personal data, allowing them to track, monitor and thus take control of their online identity. For businesses selling online to consumers, miiCard improves conversion rates, cuts operational cost and fights internet fraud.

miiCard also benefits users and vendors by creating trust between parties in a purely online environment, increasing convenience, consistency and simplicity of shopping online, speeding up transactions, reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction and easing regulatory compliance.

Look no further!

TIN IT OR BIN IT is your weekly social media need-to-know.

Hot off the press we deliver the week’s most ground breaking social media news,
oh-no-you-didn’t stories, tips you can’t afford to miss or simply our opinion on trends in the digital landscape.

Lastly, we’ll tell you whether it’s tin material or bin material!

View them all here on our Facebook page.

———————————————————————————————————————–———–

Tin It Or Bin It – 2 September 2011 – Man versus machine

For all the literary lovers out there, there is now a website that can recommend you books using an algorithm. Launched last week by Aaron Stanton, BookLamp is to books what Pandora is to music.

The website analyses a book’s style of writing and assigns numerical values to the ‘Story DNA’, which is described as the breakdown of the settings, themes and characters.

We don’t know about you, but we choose books through human recommendations – from friends, family, colleagues, book reviewers in newspapers and Amazon user reviews.

Obtaining electronic recommendations from an algorithm that has not read and experienced the book just seems a bit dubious. We love technology but sometimes you just need a human touch.

BookLamp can’t distinguish between good prose and sloppy writing styles, so it is lacking the quality control that you usually get from someone you know and trust.

Also, the BookLamp engine can sometimes recommend a ‘zinger’ – which is a book that makes sense from an algorithmic perspective but not from a human view. This seems to be a major problem and something they will need to work on to perfect.

So far there are only 20,000 titles in their database, which means that your choices are fairly limited at this stage until more publishers come on board.

BookLamp is a work in progress. It sounds like a good idea initially, but on closer inspection there are some flaws.

We are not entirely convinced. Think we will just stick to old-fashioned book recommendations from friends and family for now, and come back to this once the BookLamp engine has had time to expand and fine-tune itself.

BIN IT…for now.