EdgeCase, the leading Ruby on Rails software company, has announced its acquisition by Tokyo based technology company Digital Garage, creating a global consultancy – New Context.  New Context will operate out of the US, the UK and Japan and signals a change in the way startups are supported.

Through acquisitions of leading companies like EdgeCase, Digital Garage hopes to expand its capabilities and offer a full service for startups. Targeting the Lean Startup movement, the consultancy will assist with the design, development and delivery of web and mobile applications based on lean and agile methodologies.

Digital Garage, since its establishment in 1995, has pioneered various domains of Internet business in Japan, including portals, media representation, e-Commerce, mobile communication and blogging. An investor in Twitter and Path, Digital Garage has created partnerships to customise the Japanese versions of Technorati, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Paul Wilson, EdgeCase UK MD explains:  “I am delighted that we will have the opportunity to bring the Lean Startup Methodology to established businesses, as well as startups, as it is the most important business development of the past five years. This is an incredibly exciting moment for EdgeCase and I am absolutely thrilled to be part of it.”

Since its launch in 2006, EdgeCase has specialised in the development of mobile and web applications for both startups and Fortune 500 companies. The company currently employs 33 people, from offices in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio and Edinburgh, Scotland.

The acquisition follows a period of sustained growth, and will see Paul Wilson become Managing Director of EdgeCase UK. Founders Ken Barker and Joe O’Brien will continue in their previous roles as President and CEO respectively.

Joe O’Brien, CEO and co-founder of EdgeCase comments:  “We have always excelled at building software and teams. We help startups get on their feet technically and by hiring and training teams for them. For our Fortune 500 clients we are able to translate the lean and agile concepts from our startup clients, as well as train their existing teams on the newer technologies for maximum impact.  Forming New Context gives us an incredible platform to help take our work to the next level and offer clients a broader set of capabilities and strengths as well as reach places we have not been able to yet, such as the Asian market.”

New Context President and group CTO of DG, Ian McFarland comments: “We’re excited to bring together so many thought leaders from the design and development worlds under one roof. EdgeCase has a proven track record in eliminating risk in the areas of design and implementation. Combined with Digital Garage’s strength in operations and finance, we see huge potential to reshape how software is designed, developed and delivered. This is just a first step, but we think it’s a big one.”

The acquisition has already drawn attention from leading industry figures. Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, Inc and the Obvious Corporation, says: “I’m really excited about the vision Ian has made for New Context. I think it has the potential to transform how software is made, and really help their clients to take Agile and Lean to a new level.”

And Eric Ries, author of New York Times bestseller ‘The Lean Startup’ lends his support:  “I’m excited by the birth of this new company, dedicated to lean startup principles, and addressing both design and development.  This integrated approach is both powerful and unique.”

http://edgecase.com/

For more information contact:  Lauren Cormack

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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.

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Facebook announced this week that they are rolling out Timeline to all users. It will be compulsory in February for user’s entire history (the ‘story of their life’) to be exposed in reverse-chronological order on their profile. That includes status updates, photos, marital changes and other major life events. In a nutshell it means that those embarrassing posts and photos that you had forgotten about will resurface. Yikes.

Not surprisingly Facebook has received wide criticism for this. Key tech site Mashable said, “Facebook must know that putting a ticking clock in front of users is bound to make very few of them happy, yet here it is, stop watch in hand.” Until recently users had the choice to opt-in to Timeline, now they will be automatically switched over – whether they like it or not. However you are given seven days to delete the content that on you profiles and hide what you don’t want to display.

We have taken a peek at the new look and played about with it. It looks fairly slick with the cover photo and new layout but it is also quite cluttered due to the massive amount of statuses and photos now displayed in the Timeline.

To tie up with the new feature, Facebook are also introducing apps to personalise your page with interests such as cooking, listening and reading. A user listening to Spotify on a smartphone, for instance, will default to posting every song to their Timeline for all their ‘friends’ to see. So it’s crunch time, is Facebook’s new Timeline a yay or a nay, a Tin or a Bin? It’s an interesting idea but the fact that they are forcing their users to change to this radical new feature leaves a bitter aftertaste. It would have been nice to have a choice in the matter.

For now it’s a Bin It.

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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.

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This week we are looking at an app called Situationist, which apparently aims to create extra-ordinary situations in your everyday life. Sounds exciting but it is quite a big claim to follow through on.

The app uses geo-location and looks to make your every day life more exciting and random by alerting you to other user’s proximity and encourages members to interact with each other in unpredictable situations. The situations can vary from things like hugs, compliments, scare tactics, or even…revolutions. Users upload their photo and pick the situations they want from a list, knowing that those choices might then occur anywhere, and at any time.

It’s certainly intriguing but possibly not for the right reasons. Stalker tool perhaps…?

One of the visionaries behind the app, Ben Carey states that this is the complete opposite of what they are fighting against: “When the media deliberately demonise strangers as paedophiles, stalkers or terrorists, it is time to fight back and reconnect with our fellow citizens and human beings”.

This idea is certainly great in theory but when you look closer, it really just boils down to strangers doing random things to you.

Despite the best intentions this app is just plain weird and that’s why it’s probably banned from the app store. This is a BIN IT.

A family faith, Generation Magazine, December 2011.

A burden shared at Acorns, Inspire Magazine, September 2011.

New office for funeral firm, Edinburgh Evening News, 29 August 2011.

William Purves opens first funeral directors in Craigmillar, STV Edinburgh, 29 August 2011.

Top ten tips: Funeral finances,The Scotsman, 11 July 2011.

Funeral directors William Purves hires Hot Tin Roof, The Drum, 3 May 2011.

Acorns,  a new unique bereavement programme launches in Edinburgh, Lothian Life, 25 April 2011.

Unique bereavement support service launches in Edinburgh, STV Edinburgh, 11 April 2011.

Grieving service comes together to deal with loss, The Scotsman, 6 April 2011.

Create an awesome cinemagraph in Photoshop, .net magazine, 4 January 2012.

Haggis Adventures look to online video to engage with youth market, The Drum, 18 November 2011.

University of Stirling add cinemagraphs to website with Heehaw Digital, The Drum, 16 November 2011.

Stirling is the first UK University to use cinemagraphs, Creative Boom, 11 November 2011.

Top Ten Digital Marketing tips for travel & tourism businesses, Travel Bulletin, 11 November 2011.

Powerful online video for Haggis Adventures, Coach Holiday News, 1 November 2011.

Heehaw launches online video for Haggis Adventures, Travel Bulletin, 31 October 2011.

Pagan Osborne tasks Heehaw with website overhaul, The Drum, 4 October 2011.

Heehaw Digital appoints head of digital development, The Drum, 23 September 2011.

Design agency Heehaw Digital recruits head of digital development, The Scotsman, 23 September 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.

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After a brief break we are now back in 2012 with your weekly social media need-to-know.

We have been looking at a free iPhone app called Wander, which connects pen pals and Instagram to allow users to look at and take part in the lives of others all over the world, whilst also interacting and sharing with them.

Not everyone has the money or opportunity to go travelling around the world, so this free app can help to satisfy your curiosity for other cultures and help you become closer to the lives of others.

Wander creates connections with people you have never met through photo based conversation threads and provides the opportunity to explore different surrounding in an interactive, expressive way. Magic.

Each week, you can explore a new part of the world with a new user acting as your local guide. The app works by highlighting a new guide, from over 80 countries and across 6 continents that you can choose to connect with.

If you connect, the app will then suggest photo-based missions to start the interaction. You then upload them to the conversation. No worries if you don’t speak the same language, as there is a built in translation feature to aid your communication.

Wander currently has 12,000 app downloads and nearly 1,100 photos shared each week.

The only downside appears to be that is it currently just available for iPhone users, however the app will soon be rolled out for Android devices. Hurrah!

Wander seems to be the natural step in social networking and for that reason it’s a TIN IT.

C2 Software help Durham police to launch ‘real time’ neighbourhood website, Durham Times, 24 November 2011.

C2 Software use social media to connect Durham Constabulary with community, The Advertiser, 24 November 2011.

Watch crim crackdowns on live plod blog, The Register, 24 November 2011.

Durham police to launch ‘real-time’ neighbourhood website, Darlington & Stockton Times, 24 November 2011.

Durham police plan for real time information, The Guardian, 23 November 2011.

Steps to design a user friendly website, SME Web, 8 November 2011.

The social side of CRM, Microscope, 7 November 2011.

Samsung puts bite on Apple in phone wars, The Scotsman, 27 October 2011.

Designing your website, don’t forget your users, Fresh Business Thinking, 5 October 2011.

Seven steps to a user-friendly website, Enterprise Nation, 30 September 2011.

How to get the best website through user-centred design, Real Business, 28 September 2011.

Guide to new EU cookie laws, SME Web, 9 September 2011.

The cookie crumbles, IT Donut, 12 September 2011.

C2 make sense of the EU cookie legislation, Bitsy, 30 August 2011.

Making sense of the new EU cookie regulations, EN For Business, 16 August 2011.

C2 Software examine the new EU cookie legislation, The Marketing Lounge, 16 August 2011.

EU cookie legislation, Fresh Business Thinking, 4 August 2011.

Making sense of the EU cookie legislation, Real Business, 3 August 2011.

Student teachers to manage their own online profiles, M2, 11 July 2011.

C2 launches Scottish Prison Service website, The Drum, 6 June 2011.

C2 Software release Scottish Prison Service website early, ScotlandIS, 1 June 2011.

http://www.c2software.com/

Steps SMEs can take to manage salaries in light of stratospheric bonuses, SME Web, 2 February 2012.

Your HR Calendar for 2012, InspiresMe.co.uk, 1 February 2012.

SME Focus, The Herald, 30 January 2012.

2012: The key dates of the year ahead, Business Matters, 9 January 2012.

Bonuses: Are they worth it, Business Matters, 7 December 2011.

How to avoid pitfalls and make the most of the holiday season, Fresh Business Thinking, 1 December 2011.

sportscotland outsources HR services for 50 governing bodies of sport, HR Magazine, 21 November 2011.

10 tips to enjoy the festive season at work, Inspireme.co.uk, 17 November 2011.

Gravitating toward sporting excellence, The Scotsman, 16 November 2011.

Get your business ready for winter, SME Web, 25 October 2011.

Preparing for winter, EN For Business, 14 October 2011.

Is your business ready for winter, Business Matters, 12 October 2011.

Get ready for winter, Fresh Business Thinking, 5 October 2011.

Ten ways to prepare your business for winter, Real Business, 27 September 2011.

http://www.gravitatehr.co.uk/

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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.

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For all the literary lovers out 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.

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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.

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Twitter is great and we sure love to tweet, but lets be honest, it’s sometimes pretty difficult to be consistent with your tweets. It seems to be that you either post lots at once or don’t tweet enough. This is where Buffer comes in.

The app, co-founded by Leonhard Widrich and Joel Gascoigne, builds a ‘tweet queue’ and spreads your updates out over time, meaning that you never have to flood your followers again with tweets. You simply add your tweets to your ‘Buffer’ and they spread them out over the course of the day. Simple.

Now, when you’re browsing the net and you come across lots of great content, you don’t have to post it all at once – this handy little tool will spread it out so you don’t tweet eight things in a row and annoy your followers.

Conveniently Buffer also has an analytics feature for every tweet you send so you can see exactly how many people your tweet has reached and how many followers have re-tweeted.

Another advantage is that Buffer has extensions for every major browser so you don’t even have to visit the website.

We think scheduling tweets is definitely the way forward, however we would not recommend scheduling all of them. Finding the right balance between ‘Buffering’ and live tweeting seems to be the best and most efficient way to use Twitter.

Buffer is a TIN IT.