Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

young ppl of uk - it’s kwl to vote

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Remember a time without Twitter? It seems hard to believe that it didn’t exist during the last general election. But just like your morning trip to Starbucks, it’s become part of our daily lives and has added a new dimension to political campaigns.

Live Leaders' DebateAs well as telling us what they had for breakfast, MPs can now broadcast their policies and views on a much wider platform, and with the recent televised debates being such a hot topic within the cyber community, MPs can also exercise their right of reply online. Together Twitter and Facebook have 29 million users, so it’s not surprising that the parties believe this election will be won or lost in cyber-space.

Young people need more encouragement than ever to engage in this election and it’s easy to see why parties believe social media is a good way to target them. After the expenses and MPs for hire scandals, the youth of today are understandably disillusioned, with many believing that a fair, well-meaning government may simply be unrealistic.

But is anyone really taking note of the online ramblings of politicians? As Harold Wilson once famously said, “a week is a long time in politics”. But with nowhere to hide in the online world, a day is now a long time in politics.

Ellie GellardCybernauts are a fickle bunch. Look no further than the blogger that Labour has elected to preach Gordon Brown’s manifesto online, Ellie Gellard. Ellie offers us an insight into the personality of the internet-users that the parties are concentrating on at the moment. Just two years ago, she urged Brown to resign writing “Brown, get your coat, time’s up” –was she really the most dedicated party member they could find to spread the word online? Or the only one who knew how to use these online outlets?

Furthermore, is investment in social media really worthwhile? Surely the parties should focus more on youth-friendly policies and less on youth-friendly presentation. Young people are more interested in rising youth unemployment and lack of graduate recruitment rather than the number of followers Harriet Harman has. After all, it’s policies not Facebook profiles that will drag the cyber population away from their computer screens long enough to actually vote on 6th May.

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Retro t-shirts from Manchester’s golden age.

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

MC2 loves the great new designs from independent Manchester fashion retailer No-Stalja.

Stone Roses at Manchester Apollo

Stone Roses at Manchester Apollo

The company produces t-shirts featuring prints of rare concert tickets from the golden age of the ‘Madchester’ music scene.

Famous names on the shirts include the Smiths, the Stone Roses, James, the Charlatans and Black Grape Black, appearing on tickets from venues such as the legendary Hacienda. As a resident of the Boardwalk, formerly one of Manchester’s most popular music venues, MC2 enjoys seeing these little reminders of the scene’s heyday.

The tattered, ripped tickets used to create the prints add a genuine feel of authenticity that would be difficult to emulate without this kind of original memorabilia. These are sure to be a hit!

Check out the latest No-Stalja designs at: at www.No-Stalja.com.

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ISPs should not be responsible for punishing file sharers

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

The Government’s plan to punish file sharers by strong-arming internet service providers (ISPs) to cut off persistent offenders, has been met with fierce opposition from internet and telecoms commentators.

Initially, an Ofcom study to decide the necessary measures to deal with internet piracy was to be completed, with recommendations implemented in 2012. However, the Government, and friend to the creatives, the dark Lord Mandelson, felt that this was too long to wait.

It was the business secretary who met hard-done-by Hollywood billionaire, David Geffen for lunch on 16 August, according to the Sunday Telegraph. The founder of Asylum Records and co-founder of DreamWorks is thought to have discussed the issue of internet piracy and the effects it has on the music and film industries. Now the Government has sprung into action, making hard-line recommendations before consultation on the matter has even been completed.

Does the punishment fit the crime? For me, cutting someone off from the internet for file sharing is harsh, particularly if the consequences are poorly communicated. Furthermore, isn’t it a little rich for the government to suddenly get hard-line on file sharing when for so long it has ignored the issue of internet piracy?

There are approximately seven million active file sharers in the UK. Kicking these people off the internet represents a considerable loss of revenue for ISPs. And for ISPs to carry out these plans, they would be forced to contravene various EU telecoms directives, including the need for court judgement before sanctions can be brought against an individual.

Malcolm Hutty, spokesman for the London Internet Exchange and for EuroISPA, the European association of ISPs, told Computer Weekly: “Some of the technical options mentioned could do real harm to all businesses that rely on the internet, for the sake of protecting the record companies’ obsolete business model.”

And that pretty much sums it up. It’s not the ISPs’ responsibility to punish file sharers - the responsibility lies with the Government and the music industry, which, as Mr Hutty indicates, needs to get creative with its business model.

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Illegal file sharing - not just an issue for music industry

Friday, August 21st, 2009

News that Leona Lewis has become the latest victim of a computer hack has hit the headlines today.  It is said to be the highest profile hacking case that the record industry has ever seen and could cost the former X Factor winner millions of pounds.

Discounting the cynic’s opinion that hackers are now in tune with Cowell’s PR schedule as the new season of X Factor begins on Saturday, such pre-release leaks are highly damaging to the music industry.

In this case hackers stole and leaked three of Leona’s unreleased songs, which had been recorded for her new album, due for official release in November.  It follows a similar case last month, which saw Alexandra Burke’s unfinished songs widely distributed over the internet.

Whilst the music industry has battled with the problem for a long time the issues of illegal file-sharing for the book publishing sector are just hotting up.

Google’s Book Search project, which has scanned ten million books in five years, enables any book on any weird and wonderful topic to be read and located with relative ease, rather than be confined to the dusty shelves of a distant library.

You would think this is great news for bookworms but publishers have reacted in horror.  Google has overturned the traditional publishing contract by putting the onus on rights holders to opt out of its scheme to digitise “orphaned” books – those that are out of print but still in copyright – rather than opting in and Google keeps 37 per cent of any advertising revenue created.

Whilst publishers are currently concerned that someone else is making millions from their typically unread titles, we will have to see how this story unfolds.  Perhaps, to avoid the problem for both industries, an allowance for digital book and music downloads will become part of mobile and broadband packages, which will ensure that they are paid for without having to rely on an individual to download within the law.

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A load of hype?

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

hype-chart1
Hot
3-D printing
Behavioural Economics
Mobile Robots

Not
Microblogging (Twitter)
Cloud computing
E-Book readers

Key technologies and trends are analysed every year by Gartner and the results released in its Hype Cycle Special Report.

A Hype Cycle is a graphic representation of the maturity, adoption and business application of specific technologies.
Gartner’s interpretation of a hype cycle comprises five phases:

1. “Technology Trigger” — The first phase of a hype cycle is the “technology trigger” or breakthrough, product launch or other event that generates significant press and interest.

2. “Peak of Inflated Expectations” — In the next phase, a frenzy of publicity typically generates over-enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations. There may be some successful applications of a technology, but there are typically more failures.

3. “Trough of Disillusionment” — Technologies enter the “trough of disillusionment” because they fail to meet expectations and quickly become unfashionable. Consequently, the press usually abandons the topic and the technology.

4. “Slope of Enlightenment” — Although the press may have stopped covering the technology, some businesses continue through the “slope of enlightenment” and experiment to understand the benefits and practical application of the technology.

5. “Plateau of Productivity” — A technology reaches the “plateau of productivity” as the benefits of it become widely demonstrated and accepted. The technology becomes increasingly stable and evolves in second and third generations. The final height of the plateau varies according to whether the technology is broadly applicable or benefits only a niche market.

So, as you can see in the picture, and by our handy ‘hot or not’ summary, things everyone has been talking about for ages, like cloud computing and twitter, are on their way to the ‘Trough of Disillusionment’.

This doesn’t mean that we’re all going to stop using these technologies, just that we’re going to stop talking about them.

Instead, we’ll all be bandying around terms such as ‘behavioural economics’ and, my favourite, ‘quantum computing’ if we want to be seen as ahead of the curve.

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Where is your data stored? Arizona? The Far East?

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

In what leading industry figures claim will be one of the largest technology product launches in history, Microsoft will begin rolling out its Azure cloud computing platform in November. However, delivered from data centres located in the US, Dublin and Singapore, how willing will SMEs be to see their data stored so far away?

Cloud computing undoubtedly has cost saving benefits, while being great for mobile and flexible working – particularly prominent at the moment as the UK economy braces itself for the impact of swine flu. However, as great as cloud computing (or software as a service as it is also known) may be, how keen would you be to have your data stored overseas?

Will the location of the data centres make UK businesses reluctant to use the Azure platform?

For most companies that are keen to use cloud computing, local data centres are preferable, removing worry around where information is stored, while providing a more personal, local service.

All in all, as highly anticipated as Azure may be, the majority of businesses are likely to utilise cloud computing locally, enabling them to draw on all of the benefits the service offers with the peace of mind that their data isn’t stored in a far-flung exotic location – the UK will do just fine.

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15% of UK homes still without broadband – is the government’s 2012 target too ambitious?

Friday, May 29th, 2009

The Digital Britain interim report published in January from minister for communications, technology and broadcasting Lord Stephen Carter, pledged that every home in the country will be broadband-enabled by 2012, with a minimum 2mbps speed.

Yet it was revealed this week that 3 million homes in the UK are still without a minimum broadband speed of 2mbps, with so-called broadband ‘not spots’ in suburban areas and even streets in major towns - indeed 1% of homes have no broadband capability at all!

So where does this leave the government’s 2012 promise? Is the target too ambitious?

SamKnows co-founder Alex Salter said decent broadband has economic implications for both consumers and businesses: “In some cases people aren’t able to shop online, aren’t able to view certain websites or use social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter and they can’t watch the BBC’s iPlayer.”

Although the plight of the 1 million Britons who can’t Twitter while watching Sir Alan fire the latest wannabe is unfortunate, the impact of these broadband not spots on the UK economy should be a major concern for the government.

The final Digital Britain report due next month will include proposals on how to upgrade the network and how not-spots can be eliminated so, as the Guardian says: ‘If you’re suffering bad connectivity, now is the time to raise a flag”.

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Over to you, Mr Osborne…

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

budget2So we were promised a Budget for jobs and, to an extent, that’s what we got. If you are out of work for more than 12 months, that is, then the Government will give you more help to find work. Hmmm.

Those who own or work in small businesses that operate in traditional industries, on the other hand, could be forgiven for feeling overlooked.

The heavily trailed credit insurance ‘top-up’ scheme was announced as predicted – but no word yet as to when it will be introduced or exactly how much will be offered. When will the Government learn that, for a struggling business, speed is of the essence? Even a few days’ lag could make the difference between success and failure for hundreds, potentially thousands, of businesses. Faster please, Darling.

Those companies with the money to spend will welcome the one-year increase in tax relief on capital outlay. But virtually every other measure aimed at businesses large and small – including the tax reclamation initiative for loss-making companies – constitutes little more than headline-grabbing tweaks to existing policies. Disappointing, to say the least.

For certain groups, the news is good. Start-ups involved in emerging technologies, for example, will see the launch of a £750 million investment fund, designed to increase the UK’s competitiveness in industries including advanced manufacturing, digital and biotech. But for enterprise investment schemes and VCTs, only limited improvements to be implemented in the forthcoming Finance Act. No tax breaks aimed at stymieing the current drought in venture capital funding. And, while we’re naming no-shows, a complete absence of empty property rate relief. The list goes on…

In fact, the Budget has thrown up more questions than it’s answered. What does the Government suggest for those businesses trying desperately to keep their employees in work despite falling revenues? Will the £500 million in extra support for the construction industry really be enough to enable the Government to meet its housebuilding targets?

The Government seems hell-bent on spending its way out of the recession. But projected debt levels of £606 billion over the next four years are unsustainable without serious fiscal tightening. We have already seen the Republic of Ireland’s credit rating be downgraded…will the UK be next?

The country needed strong decisions to be made today, but instead we got a feeble attempt to save face until next year’s general election. To be honest, Darling, we expected more.

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Predicting the future of technology

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

By guest blogger, Terry Bland, Managing Director Godel Technologies Europe Ltd

This is my first ever blog and creative writing was never my strongest talent. So I would like to make this potentially historic as you will see later…

I am always interested in seeing how wildly wrong some of the technology predictions, particularly in relation to telecommunications, computers and the internet, have been over recent years. Here are some examples of predictions that turned out to be a little off the mark with the benefit of hindsight:

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” - Thomas Watson Senior, Chairman of IBM, 1943

“Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years.” -– Alex Lewyt, president of vacuum cleaner company Lewyt Corp., 1955.

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” Ken Olsen, president and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.

(Google reveals many more amusing examples!)

So now it is my turn to make a prediction and take a chance on one day joining my unfortunate friends above in the internet dungeon of bad predictions.

I have watched video conferencing technology develop since the early 90’s when I was sponsored by BT at university. I now spend half my working day in HD video calls. In 2009 all the pieces have finally come together…screens are big, bright and cheap, internet is more than fast enough and compression technology is now full HD and easy to use. There have been a few false starts over the last 15 years but here goes…

“I predict that within 3 years making a video call over the internet will be as common as a voice call is today.” - Terry Bland, Managing Director Godel Technologies Europe Ltd, 2009.

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