As we mentioned last week, we’ll be doing a quick round-up every Friday of some of the key happenings in French tech news. So wake up and check out what happened this week!
As we mentioned last week, we’ll be doing a quick round-up every Friday of some of the key happenings in French tech news. So wake up and check out what happened this week!
RUDE Startup News
Deezer goes to Belgium
After launching in the UK in September, Robert Scoble’s favorite French startup (yes, I’m being sarcastic) is planning to go live in Belgium at the end of November. A new team has set-up an office in Brussels and is apparently working closely with Belgian Telco Belgacom. The company that initially launched as BlogMusik and was partially acquired by Orange/France Telecom last year.
Ubisoft acquires Finnish RedLynx.
French gaming giant Ubisoft made it’s second acquisition this year. After acquiring French gaming company Owlient in July, the company purchased Finnish gaming company RedLynx. While many French companies are often criticized for being rather slow acquirers, Ubisoft has made at least one annual acquisition since 2008.
Deadline to vote for your LeWeb Startup!
Looking to support your local startup? Well LeWeb might be the only pitch battle that actually matters in Paris. Currently narrowed down to 32 startups, the voting for the final 16 startups ends November 13th. Of course, The Rude Baguette NEVER takes sides on which startups you should vote for; check out all the startups and vote your favorite after watching their competition videos.
RUDE Launch
Textmaster’s editor and translator community goes live
Textmaster, which is more or less the French equivalent to Seedcamp’s Wordy.com, has just gone live. The online platform founded by former Benoot founder, Benoit Laurent, is a community of freelance and professional translators and editors. With over 15,000 writing professionals currently registered on the platform, Textmaster’s services are currently available in 8 languages – including English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Dutch. So for anyone out there looking to cross a linguistic barrier, check out Textmaster and tell us what you think. (PS: I wrote about the beta launch on TCFR, check it out en français).
RUDE Events
Ubuntu Party Paris
November 11th-13th
Going on all weekend, the Ubuntu Party Paris is a free event intended to introduce people to the benefits of Open Source software. The event features various workshops, talks, and, I imagine, LAN parties in its 3-day program, and is located at the cité des sciences et de l’industrie in the 19th. If you’re looking to get your geek on, or just want to learn why your tech friends always laugh when you say you have Windows 7 OR Lion, why not head over during the weekend to check out what this “open source” thing is all about?
TWIST Paris
November 11th 3:30PM-7:00PM
By the grace of the gods, there are still some tickets left to TWIST Paris. If you are around this weekend, I don’t think there is a better way to get a small taste of Silicon Valley atmosphere than by meeting Jason Calacanis, a business angel and entrepreneur, during the 5th edition of his web series This Week In Startups coming to Paris. The big news this time? Jason will actually be at the event, speaking with startups and entrepreneurs at the event. Don’t ask him to lunch, though, ’cause he’s only here for one day.
Ideas on Stage
November 15th, 8:30AM – ~7:00PM
If there are two things that the RudeBaguette loves for RUDE events, it’s English as the spoken language and discounts for our readers. Well guess what? Ideas on Stage has got BOTH! With innovation, communication and entrepreneurship at the core of its creation, Ideas on Stage presents its first event this Tuesday, and tickets are still available here with a discount of 30% for our RUDE readers (just type ‘RUDE’). With speakers like HackFWD’s Talent recruiter David Bizer along with Presentation Zen author Garr Reynolds, this event promises to be a good kickoff to what may become the Ideas On Stage legacy.
Paris 3DS Tickets now available
Tired of Startup Weekend, BeMyApp, HackDayParis, and all these other weekend sprints that can’t seem to get the formula right for optimized weekend development? Well 3 Day Startup might just be your answer. The event distinguishes itself by including an initial application process of all potential attendees, which just opened this week (and is only open until december 7th). After the application process, the 3 Day Startup team will select the ideal combination of biz guys, developers, and designers in order to create optimal weekend teams. The actual event will take place from the 20th to the 22nd of January, 2012 – hopefully the world will still exist, otherwise this blog post was all a waste!
Other great events, like The Golden Blog Awards and Silicon Students’ une semaine, une école are available on our RUDE Calendar!
Check out some of our other great news from the week!
- I’m sorry, did you think French companies don’t acquire? by @RoxanneVarza
- Strength In Numbers – a review of last weekends events by @LiamBoogar
- Actually, maybe you shouldn’t speak English in your startup… by @RobertKelley
- French Policy prevents Netflix, but Encourages Illegal Downloads by @WillyBraun