A Look Way Back
Since August, many folks over at the forums have pointed others to the way back machine to get an idea of what Steorn was up to before free energy. First up, February, 2001:
 | "Steorn is a specialist service company providing programme management and technical assessment advice for European companies engaging in e-commerce projects." |
Soon after in March, 2001:
 | "Steorn is an expert in the field of technology risk management." |
In February, 2003 we see another shift:
 | "For Technology Buyers At Steorn we provide a range of services for organizations that wish to outsource their technology needs. From supplier evaluations to a fully managed service Steorn is the only technology partner you will need. For Technology Inventors Technology inventors face many different challenges. At Steorn we provide a full range of services that enable you to achieve your vision. From rapid product development to technology strategy, Steorn is the only technology partner you will need." |
Also note at this time they launched a web hosting service called HostMe.com:
"From domain name registration, site design, build, hosting and support, HostsMe.com provides the most cost effective solution to your website needs."
After spending over a half of a year in "under construction" mode, Steorn updates again in March, 2004:
  | "steorn helps organisations create value through the application of innovative technology steorn provides services to assess, develop and implement technology to organisations ranging from early stage technology ventures through mature public limited companies steorn has a successful track record and can offer the only insurance backed guarantee outside of the USA" |
And then in July, 2004 we go back to under construction and a different logo:
And finally, in November, 2004, we have a recognizable logo from Steorn:
Steorn has been up to a very diverse set of activities over the past few years, including e-commerce, technology risk management, technology outsourcing, rapid product development, and so much more. Thanks vox_causa for the suggestion!
10 comments:
Have they ever successfully developed any products or services? I don't see any records of it even though their current website claims they have "an enviable track record" and that their work has "been instrumental in delivering many of our complex projects and technologies".
Here's another one that seemed to go nowhere, a website development service:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030713222732/www.hostsme.com/about.html
And Fraudhalt has claimed that they are about to unleash their CD/DVD/credit card anti-counterfeiting tech for a few years, but seemingly haven't had anything to show from it. An article last week in SiliconRepublic.com stated they "recently closed a funding round from private investors", outlined the anti-counterfeiting tech, and said that "FraudHalt is finalising a deal with one of Ireland’s largest banks to roll out an ATM surveillance system that can detect if the machine has been compromised by criminals".
So were Sean and Mike working on Fraudhalt's new cameras when they "discovered" the Orbo effect? Would Fraudhalt have had first refusal on the invention? I'm not clear as to how those things work.
I still think that Steorn were running out of ideas that didn't work, had their backs against a wall, and couldn't help throwing all their eggs in this dubious basket. It was easy for them to believe given their past, which seems rife with wishful thinking and exaggerated effectiveness.
They have never had a decent business plan. I would never trust a company like that.
I find it strange, that a healthy company shows "under construction" in their web-page for years.
Why is that?
Could Steorn be a profit shading scheme or some sort of tax shelter? Could it be a way for relatively small players to take advantage of Ireland's tax system, paricularily the patent exemptions, the way the big boys do? Check this out:
http://tinyurl.com/3byce3
This is wild speculation only, something to fill the time until July and I'm not sure what to make of this, especially since Steorn apparently makes no profits. But this really caught my eye:
""Individuals or companies interested in knowing how to maximise benefits available under the patent royalty exemption should consider the following":
• establishing a separate company to do research and development work for the qualifying patent which will apply for, and hold the relevant patents; and
• this company should so far as is commercially viable, grant licences to unconnected third party users.""
Sound familiar?
Could income taken in Ireland by an offshore entity be parked with Steorn as "research and development" expense but still be reported as income to stockholders off shore and also be tax defered???
At the least this history shows a continued effort to market themselves as a business technolgy firm, not as a true inventive/engineering style firm.
You see, it is not common for a very small IT shop specializing in these types of activities (web hosting, business application software, etc, to also have resources specializing in complex engineering tasks. At the least it shows a dramitic shift in the type of resources they began employing leading up the the big "discovery".
From an investor's persepctive, the constant change in business plans by any standard shows desperation and weakness. From the public's perspective it is hard to take them seriously.
"Have they ever successfully developed any products or services? "
----
More to the point: have they ever sold any?
Nice work there chili and tracker. I think we can safely say what Steorn's core business is now: raising investment. They don't seem to have had any form of revenue over the past 6 years, apart from what people give them.
It looks like sometime in 2003 though the juice ran out, as they only had 64 euros in the bank. They must have been effectively bankrupt. You wonder how much Sean was into the whole thing - he could well have mortgaged his house up to the eyeballs.
The old PMM looks like Sean's last desperate bullshit attempt....
This is really starting to look like Sean is a serial failure. ADD maybe?
The pattern of starting new projects and never seeing them to completion is very evident.
There also seems to be no closure to these failures. There are no statements of completion or failure; the plans just seem to fade into oblivion. Will this be the case for Orbo? Based on history and Seans claim of a 80-90% complete continuous motion device, I think it is safe to assume that the last 10-20% will never be completed. Is there ANY product or service that Sean can show as being a success or at the very least completed?
very interesting information.
At this point it looks like the funds required for a "scam" are in place so that should eliminate 007's lack of undersatanding there.
It seems odd to me but I have no feeling that this was/is intended as a scam except the two big markers - free energy and CoE violation.
I suppose deliberatly setting up an investment situation and taking a salary from it until the bank account bottoms out is a scam.
I think most steornites are looking for an enron or bre-X high return short exposure set up rather than a low output long term cash cow.
I am continualy amazed at how the believers feel that this is an instantly earthshaking technology that is being closely monitored by the world power moguls.
Don't they realise that 14 million euros is not even a drop in the bucket for most of the large research institutions.
If any of them were even concerned they would put 10 times that funding on top of 25 world class researchers and leave steorn eating dust.
They might even power recruit a couple of non key steorn employees and brain pick them. Lab rats or junior engineers with sufficient exposure would know enough to jump start any well funded competitor.
That does not even include the less ethical operations that do practice cross border industrial espionage.
The only thing I have seen that sean seems to have completed is the indoctrination of babcat et al:)
Terry Lingle
You may notice a slow down on the posters here.
A concerted effort has been made to get recent posters on here away from here and back to the steorn forums.
Many of the banned are now not banned ! (under new id's of course)
Curiouser and Curiouser.
AFAIK People are unable to change their user-names on the Steorn Forum, at this time.
Those new people that you see, are people who have contacted the moderators/admins and have been "verfied".
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