U2 Tower architect launches slides app

DAVID Craig, the architect behind the ill-fated U2 Tower, has launched a new presentation app which aims to take on Powerpoint.

The Scriba Slides app complements a stylus tailored for iPads and other tablets that he launched more than a year ago. The app allows presenters to highlight and interact with their slides as they deliver their talk.

“Dynamic presentations are about so much more than just fancy transitions — success is getting your point across and keeping the audience engaged,” Craig said.

“Scriba Slides is the first app to feature virtual slides, allowing you to manipulate and tailor your presentation to your audience while you are presenting. Scriba acts as both a responsive presentation remote and a pressure-sensitive stylus.”

Users of both the app and the stylus will be able to make amendments or annotations mid-presentation. The pen also delivers tactile feedback, which delivers alerts and confirmations of on-screen actions to the presenter. It can also vibrate on a timer, notifying the user when they’re run out of time.

The Dublin-based architect turned entrepreneur has scooped numerous accolades for the design of his stylus, including runner-up in Google’s ‘Adopt a Start-up 2017’ programme. He said that he began to “look elsewhere” for a challenge after the slowdown of the construction industry in Ireland.

Craig was the designer behind U2’s tower, which was due to be sited in the Dublin Docklands before the project ran into difficulty.

Once due to be the city’s tallest building, U2’s plans for a 36-storey apartment complex with a recording studio on top ran into difficulty during the economic crisis.

The Scriba founder won a competition run by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority to design the building after he pitched a twisting tower along the quays. A consortium made up of Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore, Paddy McKillen, and the members of U2 were selected to construct and finance the project in 2002.