The Big G announced completion of a new web indexing system this week that is said to provide 50-percent fresher results for searches than its predecessor.

Called 'Caffeine’, the system ensures that users can find links to relevant content – such as a news story, blog or forum post – much sooner after publication than was previously possible.

When users search Google, it is not live content being trawled, rather, it is the search giant’s index of the web which, like the list in the back of a book, helps users pinpoint the information they need. The company’s previous index had several layers, some of which were refreshed at a faster rate than others. With Caffeine, it analyses the web in small portions and updates the search index on a continuous basis, globally.

Google says Caffeine was built in response to not just the burgeoning volume of content, but to reflect the fact that the average web page is richer and more complex.

Certainly, Tech Copywriters has noticed the benefits of recent changes to the mechanics of Google’s search engine, and if you are reading this, then it is very likely that you just have too.

2010 FIFA World Cup menaces corporates

It seems that fears expressed by service providers and employers regarding the impact of the World Cup on corporate networks continue to grow.

Ipswitch Inc.’s 'World Cup Network Traffic Calculator' (see our recent post) has collected more than 1,000 responses related to average bandwidth use and the predicted increase during the 30 days of the tournament. Key findings include:

• During matches, bandwidth use is expected to hit almost 87 percent in participating nations
• In Europe, average use is expected to double to 78.7 percent during key match times
• In host nation South Africa, IT managers are bracing themselves for network bandwidth to be completely maxed out to 100 percent

Ipswitch warns that while service providers struggle to maintain adequate access for customers, organisations face multiple problems during these artificial demand peaks within the LAN, such as constrained WAN connectivity and heightened security risks created by users venturing to un-trusted and unknown sites in search of video content not available from official broadcast streams [surely not such an unusual activity?].

During the world cup, IT Managers are invited to contrast their actual findings with those predicted.

And goes increasingly digital…

The World Cup will be watched online by nearly a third of British football fans, more than in any other World Cup, according to a study by PC World.

The retailer questioned over 3,000 Brits in the run-up to the tournament following a surge in sales of its wireless networking and video streaming gadgets. The study found that:

• 30 percent of fans, which equates to over 14 million of those expected to watch the World Cup live, are planning to do so over the internet
• Nearly a quarter revealed they would be using laptops or desktop PCs
• One in ten expect to follow the action using a smartphone

In addition, viewing on the move is said to be behind a 30-percent surge in demand for Slingboxes at PC World over the last couple of weeks. The Slingbox allows users to stream live TV to a laptop or mobile phone anywhere in the world via a broadband internet or WiFi connection.

…And mobile

Indeed, mobile TV is touted to score big in Europe by Pyramid Research. The proliferation of smartphones and the increase in mobile internet bandwidth means that many Europeans may watch matches on their mobiles instead. More national representation, commuter-unfriendly kickoff times, and [surely mis-guided] optimism about the caliber of western European teams will drive adoption across the region, says the company.

“Events of this magnitude always present a sizable revenue opportunity for traditional pay-TV providers,” commented report author and senior analyst Stela Bokun. “The last World Cup, however, demonstrated that mobile operators that provide mobile video and mobile TV service also stand to benefit from such events.”

But whilst footie fans may be poised to cut the wires and go mobile, the market watcher warns that operators are poised to ‘pull the plug’ on unlimited mobile data tariffs.

Operators kicking ‘all-you-can-eat’ into touch

Pyramid Research argues that despite data accounting for the vast majority of traffic on mobile networks by 2014, it will still constitute only 37 percent of total revenue – illustrating the challenge operators are facing to monetise the rising appetite for bandwidth-rich applications.

Mobile Data Pricing Plans: How Operators Can Escape the ‘All You Can Eat’ Trap analyses the evolution of pricing for mobile data plans and the impact on subscriber adoption and usage levels.

“AT&T’s recent announcement that unlimited data plans will no longer be available for its new customers confirms Pyramid Research’s assessment that operators will move away from the unlimited pricing model since it is becoming unsustainable,” said report author Ewa Romaniuk Calkowska.

Er, just one more thing…

Cheating not limited to MPs [or Maradona]

While MPs are promising more transparency and honesty in politics, it was revealed this week that one in ten IT professionals admits that either they or a colleague have cheated to get an IT audit passed.

In a survey of 242 IT professionals, mainly from organisations employing 1,000 to 5000+ employees, Tufin Technologies found that:

• 31 percent audit their firewalls just once a year
• 7 percent never audit their firewalls
• 36 percent admit their firewall rule bases are a mess, increasing susceptibility to hackers, network crashes and compliance violations

Perhaps some of the IT professionals surveyed may find solace in CheatConfession.com, a forum created to allow people involved in cheating to absolve themselves of guilt, get advice from peers, or share their cheating ways by anonymously posting their confessions in 800 words or less.

One wonders whether the site's moderators check the word-count of its users' posts.

Can coalition Government create ‘super-fast broadband Britain’?

The Conservatives and coalition partners the Liberal Democrats will help to get the UK online if they stick to the Conservatives’ pre-election plans to make the UK a European hub for hi-tech, digital and creative industries. But the spectre of the rural broadband challenge lingers.

According to Elfed Thomas, ceo at fibre optic infrastructure specialist, i3 Group, the Conservatives were the only party to deliver a ‘structured and believable’ strategy for super fast broadband, with pre-election plans to build a nationwide network by 2017.

However, Thomas warned that the rural broadband issue persists, and that it won't be solved without the aid of public spending. “Often, the figures to build a commercially-viable infrastructure just don’t stack up. I am in favour of their idea to use the BBC licence fee to fund connectivity in areas with limited access,” he said.

The question now is whether super-fast Broadband makes the cut [as it were], with the axe soon to be taken to the UK’s public finances.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the UK recorded a general government deficit of £159.2 billion in the calendar year 2009. This was equivalent to 11.4 percent of GDP. And at the end of December 2009, general government debt was £950.4 billion, or 68.1 percent of GDP.

The Maastricht Treaty’s ‘Excessive Deficit Procedure’ sets deficit and debt targets of 3 percent and 60 percent respectively for all EU countries.

Cloudy future for data

The amount of digital information created annually will grow by a factor of 44 between 2009 and 2020, as all major forms of media complete the journey from analogue to digital. The number of files, images, records and other digital information containers is also forecast to grow, by a factor of 67.

These are the findings of an EMC-sponsored study by IDC, which predicts that more than a third of all digital information created annually will either live in, or pass through the cloud by 2020. The market watcher expects cloud computing to stimulate more than $1 trillion in incremental business revenue by 2014.

“This year’s ‘Digital Universe’ study exposes many of the most pressing short- and longer-term strategic issues CIOs grapple with as they map out their IT strategies and investments,” commented Joe Tucci, chairman and ceo, EMC Corporation. “They’re quickly discovering that, to remain in the game, they need to do things differently, transforming traditional infrastructures into private cloud data centres that offer internal and external customers IT as a service.”

Clouds gather

IBM is one major player to have advanced its cloud credentials this week, with its acquisition of Cast Iron Systems, a provider of cloud integration software, appliances and services. Although financial terms were not disclosed, IBM said the acquisition gives it the ability to help businesses rapidly integrate cloud-based applications and on-premise systems.

“The integration challenges Cast Iron Systems is tackling are crucial to clients who are looking to adopt alternative delivery models to manage their businesses,” commented Craig Hayman, general manager, IBM WebSphere.

The IBM Software Group has acquired more than 55 companies since 2003, with its latest purchase advancing its ability to offer a ‘hybrid’ cloud model, whereby enterprises can blend data from on-premise applications with public and private cloud systems.

True hybrid hosting with easy server upgrades is the promise now being put forward by managed Web hosting provider, Liquid Web. The company’s ‘Storm Bare Metal’ is claimed to be ‘a revolutionary server technology’ that allows users to provision and manage private dedicated servers with cloud hosting features.

Users can deploy flexible hybrid hosting configurations that contain a mixture of ‘Storm Cloud Servers’ (cloud servers managed from within a Web browser) and Storm Bare Metal dedicated servers. The latter enable users to specify the exact processor, memory and hard drive configuration that is right for their project.

Er, just one more thing…

A thought-controlled software application known as ‘Jedi Mouse’ is being submitted as a patent application to the United States Patent and Trademark office. The software, which sells for $99.00 and requires the use of a wireless headset, allows users to navigate the computer, click and double click to open programs, compose email and send, ‘using the power of their mind’.

The neural processing technology is being developed by Jedi Mind, who claims it is on pace to create one new thought-controlled application per quarter. Jedi Mouse is aimed at typical PC users, associations for the disabled, clinics and non-profit organisations.

The company also said that it intends to patent all of its proprietary products to provide a stable of intellectual [sic] properties.

Forget red, yellow and blue, it’s the green vote that will make or break the 2010 election

So says British energy saving specialist, Energenie, who claims that voters are tired of half-hearted promises and spin when it comes to green policies. Research conducted by the company found that 50 percent of people intended to vote for a party specifically because of its green policies, leading Energenie to conclude that the election could hinge on whether politicians play the green card with conviction.

“The message to politicians couldn’t be simpler, don’t just talk green, be green,” warned Alan J. Tadd, md at Energenie.

Although some politicians may not be living up to their ‘green’ credentials, a number of businesses are. Construction and housing company, Willmott Dixon, said this week that it has issued 1,300 ‘ecobuttons’ to clients, and is planning a further 2,500 for its own staff nationally. Supplied by Greenfield Print and Promotion, ecobuttons are power-saving devices that plug into PCs and, when clicked, reduce electricity consumption when the machine is not in active use.

Savings resulting from the use of each ecobutton have been calculated at over £25 and 85kg of carbon per annum.

Web-based managed services provider, Akamai Technologies, has also announced a new sustainability drive, focused on enhancing the carbon efficiency of its global delivery network of 61,000 servers. This will be achieved (in part) by improving the efficiency of the hardware and code employed. Last year, a similar initiative by Akamai saw an 86 million-pound reduction in CO₂.

“Moving forward, and in collaboration with our customers, we plan to use the information we collect to identify and implement additional best practices,” said Paul Sagan, president and ceo, Akamai.

Cable wins political broadband challenge

In rather more dubious election/technology ‘news’, broadband comparison service Top10.com released the results of its challenge to find the senior politician with the fastest broadband in their constituency.

The somewhat aptly-named Vince Cable of the Lib Dems topped the charts, with constituents in Cable’s Twickenham receiving broadband speeds averaging 9.38Mbps. This was over two megabits faster than the 7.03Mbps enjoyed by residents in Alistair Darling’s constituency of Edinburgh South West, which came second. With 6.05Mbps, North Southwark & Bermondsey, the constituency of Simon Hughes, Shadow energy spokesman (Lib Dems) came third. The national average for broadband, according to Top10.com’s speed test, is 5.25Mbps.

And in what could prove to be a somewhat self-fulfilling prophecy, Nick Clegg pushed Gordon Brown into third place in the ‘broadband battle’ of the party leaders. Clegg’s constituency’s speeds (4.90Mbps) were 1Mbps ahead of those of Gordon Brown (3.91Mbps), but behind those of David Cameron (5.91Mbps).

Spooky or what?

End of the floppy, but beware digital black hole

With audio cassettes, video tape and vinyl already largely consigned to history, the 3.5-inch floppy disk has become the latest victim of technology’s unremitting evolution. eWeek reports that Sony will cease production of floppy disks by March 2011. Sony first launched the 3.5-inch floppy in 1981.

One technology attempting a comeback is that of the Polaroid camera. Three years after the last Polaroid camera was made, Polaroid Corporation launched the Polaroid 300 this week.

Although it bears some resemblance to older models, it has undergone a major face-lift overseen by Lady Gaga, who was appointed creative director in a bid to ensure the camera’s retro chic [just like Lady Gaga’s?] appeals to a younger generation.

The Polaroid 300 comes with an automatic flash and four scene settings, but uses self-developing film – just as its iconic predecessors did. Polaroid Corporation was co-founded in 1937 with the first instant camera launched in 1947. It became so successful that by the 1960s about half of all US households owned a Polaroid camera.

News of the Polaroid’s return will no doubt be met with enthusiasm by one scientist, who has spelt out the dangers of digitalisation.

Jerome P. McDonough, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, warns of a looming ‘digital dark age’ originating from the mass of data spawned by the ever-growing information economy – at last count, 369 exabytes worth of data, including electronic records, tax files, email, music and photos. An exabyte is 1 quintillion bytes; a quintillion is the number 1 followed by 18 zeroes.

McDonough’s concern is that, with ever-shifting platforms and file formats, much of the data produced could eventually fall into a ‘black hole of inaccessibility’. For example, whilst the framed [Polaroid?] photograph will inevitably fade and yellow over time, the digital photo file may be unreadable to future computers – an unintended consequence of the rapidly digitising world that may ultimately lead to a ‘digital dark age’.

“If we can’t keep today’s information alive for future generations, we will lose a lot of our culture,” ” McDonough warned. “If we want information to survive, we really need to avoid formats that depend on a particular media type.”

Er, just one more thing…

Ash cloud sparks adultery spree 

Ash from the recent Icelandic volcanic eruption may have grounded planes and brought whole airports to a stand-still, but it doesn’t seem to have stopped thousands of Brits embarking on extra-marital affairs.

IllicitEncounters.com, the ‘dating site for married people’ [yes, you read that right] reports an unexpected surge in members and non-members logging in from mobiles. The site suggests the increase can be attributed to the thousands of Brits stuck here and abroad.

On average, IllicitEncounters.com receives around 7 percent of its traffic from mobile devices; on Friday 16 April, this figure had risen to 15%. Over the weekend, the site received over 8,500 visits from mobile devices; traditionally, this figure would have been around 2,900.

“Boredom and frustration mean that those stuck in airports across the world will be looking for the most stimulating, exciting thing they can get away with on their mobile,” said Adam Scott, ceo, IllicitEncounters.com. “And what’s more exciting than the idea of having an illicit affair?”

I would not like to hazard a guess, but I suspect there are certain premier league footballers that may have an answer.

Amid the doom and gloom of a poor summer and the credit crunch, increasing numbers of Britons are choosing to spend their hard earned cash on holidays in less than traditional locations. According to online travel agency Holidays Direct there has been an increase in the number of people booking holidays in destinations more traditionally associated with the luxury end of the market.

This 'summer' has seen higher than average sales for holidays in the Caribbean, Dubai, Thailand and Tunisia, says the company, with British holidaymakers making sure they get a holiday to remember.

“Each year the number of people booking their summer holidays two months or more ahead of the departure date has grown. Following this trend we’ve seen an uptake in bookings for holidays in the Caribbean and Thailand, along with other long haul destinations,” says Holidays Direct spokesperson, Jon Pearce. “This suggests to us that a lot more people are planning ahead and saving up for their holidays somewhere special.”

However, it could be argued that there is another factor at play here - the strength of the Euro against sterling. Anyone that has been on holiday to Europe recently has no doubt been shocked at the subsequent expense of their jaunt. Given that the quality of food, accommodation and customer services has certainly not risen on the Continent, I would argue it is little surprise that Brits are seeking foreign climes further afield. The flights may cost more, but at least we are guaranteed to get more for our hard-earned buck.

And hard-earned bucks they are too if the latest survey from hospitality recruitment website Caterer.com is anything to go by.

Nearly 70% of people are miserable at work

According to Caterer.com, nearly 70% of people are completely miserable at work and one in two think about quitting their jobs on a daily basis. Indeed, 43% of people go as far as saying they dread waking up in the morning. Surprisingly, hospitality workers, despite the long hours and stressful reputation, are the happiest and most passionate about their work.

The survey reveals that 49% of hospitality workers thoroughly enjoy their job, with only 23% admitting to the occasional thought of changing sectors and 19% claiming to not feel any job satisfaction. The complete results show the various job sectors and the percentage of people who are not only happy with their career, but feel genuinely dedicated and enthusiastic about their job:

1)  Hospitality – 49.16% of hospitality workers are happy with their job
2)  Health Sector – 48.89%
3)  Charity – 34.06%
4)  Education – 30.88%
5)  Care/Social work – 29.92%
5)  Forces/Police – 28.57%
6)  Skilled (designer/electrician) – 20.43%
7)  Sales (phone/door2door) – 16.98%
8)  Labour – 11.00%
9)  Office-based – 10.01%
10) Retail – 7.17%

“Hospitality employee’s work extremely hard, especially at this time of year and it’s fair to say the industry is rarely associated with passion or fun," comments Ian Burke of Caterer.com. "For us, these results just confirm what we see every day; that hospitality workers really do love their jobs.”

I wonder whether the ability for instant revenge on a disagreeable customer is anything to do with it? "Is this potato mash now creamy enough for you Sir?"…

In mash-ups of another kind, the Met Police has launched a test version of a clickable crime map for London showing how levels of burglary, robbery and vehicle theft vary across the capital.

Met police in web 2.0 crime map mash up (read full story)

The beta map mashes up Google Maps with crime statistics for each borough, using coloured overlays to indicate varying levels of criminal activity - from patches of dark blue (for low crime) to red (high).

Apparently, Southwark comes out as the most crime-ridden borough, with Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest and Westminster all above average, while outlying suburban areas Bexley, Harrow, Merton, Kingston, Richmond and Sutton all have below average crime levels.

The site has been developed as part of a Home Office initiative to get more people involved with their local police and enable the public to hold local police forces to account. The Met said further features are likely to be added in the near future.

The Six Degree of Separation Has Shrunk to Just Three (read full story)

The impact of social networking and developments in technology has meant that the six degrees of separation has fallen to just three according to research commissioned by UK mobile operator, O2.

The research included over 50 hours of in-depth interviews with adults across three different age groups, (18-25, 35-45, 55+) and found that the conventional notion of six degrees of separation is out of date.

The term was made famous by US psychologist Stanley Milgram following a 1967 experiment. The six degrees theory was upheld in a 2006 Microsoft study of instant messenger conversations. However, the O2 study reveals that within a shared 'interest' network (i.e. hobbies, sport, music, religion, sexuality etc), the average person is connected by just three degrees.

Email and mobile phones were the technologies that had the most significant impact, with texting seen as a universally important technology, whilst social networking sites such as Facebook were highly rated by the youngest age bracket (although usage declined drastically amongst older participants in the research).

Congratulations ShoZu!

ShoZu Wins Gold in the Future Mobile Awards for their Contribution to Mobile Web 2.0 (read full release)

Mobile Web 2.0 innovators, ShoZu, have been selected by Juniper Research as the top award winner in the Future Mobile Awards - mobile web 2.0 category. The Future Mobile Awards are given to companies that have made a significant contribution to their sector and are poised to make considerable market impact in the future.  The gold award recognises ShoZu as being a leading light in the development of the sector.

“Supporting one-click transfer of digital content between mobile phones and 50+ social web destinations, geo-tagging, mobile-to-web messaging, and behavioural targeted advertising, ShoZu offers mobile network operators an established, all-round Mobile Web 2.0 on/off-deck turnkey platform. The average user is said to generate 20 network ‘events’ (i.e. content uploads/downloads) per month, with heavy users generating in excess of 100 events per month. This success demonstrates what can be achieved if users have the right tools available," says Ian Chard, panel judge and Analyst at Juniper Research. "ShoZu has partnered with Telecom Italia, Singapore’s StarHub and 3 (Austria and UK) under revenue-share agreements, while shipping as an embedded application on Motorola and Samsung handsets. By providing the mobile web equivalent of a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) and catering to the needs of the prosumer, ShoZu is a deserving Gold winner this year.”

In the news

The iPhone Kill-Switch Kerfuffle

Privacy advocates' concern over what Apple will do with iPhone user data may be overblown, industry experts say (read full story)

Bold, Thunder, Flip: BlackBerry Maker Begins Key Rollouts (read full story)

Is it a bird, is it a plane - no, its a trio of handsets from BlackBerry.

Research In Motion has begun what analysts call its most important BlackBerry rollout season ever, with its first touch-screen model and first flip phone on tap.

Disney Dialing Up Kids Again (read full story)

Disney is hoping that Tinker Bell - along with a collection of pirates and other Disney characters - can help breath life back into its mobile phone services for kids. [Why don't they just give it up?]

On the wire

ARCHOS 5 and ARCHOS 7 deliver the entire internet and multimedia world in a handheld tablet (read full release)

A new line of small portable devices is announced: ARCHOS 5, ARCHOS 5g and ARCHOS 7 deliver a new way for customers to enjoy continuous and instant access to the Internet, Media and TV.

OLYMPIC INTERNET TRAFFIC TO GROW AS BRITAIN TAKES TWELVE GOLD MEDALS (read full release)

ScanSafe, a provider of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) Web Security, urges companies to address bandwidth concerns as the interest in the Olympic Games grows due to the success of the British team.

Top 10 Broadband Awards 2008: O2 top the winner's table for comparison website inaugural awards (read full release)

Top 10 Broadband the UK’s broadband comparison site and guide has announced the results of its inaugural annual broadband awards. Winners included O2 as the fastest broadband provider, BT as the winner in the wireless broadband category and ‘3' won the award for best mobile broadband provider.

Er, just one more thing…

As the social networking revolution continues unabated, it seems that even the last bastions of good old fashioned fun are not safe.

ALMOST FULL HOUSE AS BINGO COMMUNITY GOES FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH (read full release)

The All Bingo Club, the online community-based Bingo destination launched recently, reports that Bingo goers have been ditching the halls in favour of playing online. All Bingo Club combines online Bingo play with community interaction, and 1000s of bingo players are said to have joined as the word spreads about its ease-of-play and fun features. “It would appear that our investment in game play and ease- of-use combined with a focus on community, is paying dividends as we have seen a massive surge in sign-ups over the past few weeks," says Mikki G. (brother to Ali?], All Bingo Club’s Manager. "Our ‘Recommend-a-friend’ feature is proving very popular.”

I guess you just have to accept it when your number's up.

Only in America… 'Wireless Devices may be at fault for certain health risks'

Hats [or should that be patches?] off to Yackie Telecom Inc., of the US, for what is quite possibly one of the worst examples of PR scaremongering and bandwagon-jumping I've seen in the last few years.

According to Yackie [a most appropriate name it seems], a European research initiative dubbed 'Interphone' has published "disturbing results coming especially from Northern Europe" regarding the potential health hazards of electromagnetic fields. Apparently, Interphone findings indicate an increased risk of cancer for heavy and long-time users of wireless devices [presumably mobile phones, although not specified until later in the release]. 

Luckily for us, Yackie has "taken a stand for consumer interests" by developing Yackie Safe - a simple patch comprising a series of micro antennas created to counter the effects of electromagnetic fields. Quite where users are supposed to put this patch is unclear, but I do have a suggestion for where Yackie should put this particular press release…

Will Guigle keep its cool?

Promising the biggest Web index with content-based relevance methods, results organised by ideas, and complete user privacy is Cuil - the latest challenger to Google's throne.

Launched this week, Cuil (pronounced 'cool') claims to have indexed 120 billion Web pages, three times more than any other search engine and says that its offering goes beyond today's search techniques of link analysis and traffic ranking to analyse the context of each page and the concepts behind each query. It then organises similar search results into groups and sorts them by category.

According to the company, it gives users a richer display of results and offers organising features, such as tabs to clarify subjects, images to identify topics and search refining suggestions to help guide users to the results they seek. Furthermore, it says that its methods guarantee online privacy for searchers, since pages are ranked on content instead of number of clicks, making personal data collection unnecessary and ensuring personal search history is always private.

It will be interesting to see how this latest development fares against the established search engine giants, and indeed, against Wikia Search - another search engine launched in January this year. The brainchild of Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, Wikia Search uses a five-star rating system that lets users rate the relevance of results and then applies the score for the provision of future results. Although it has been criticised for returning poor results, it is argued that the service will improve as it matures.

VoIP to become the telephony of choice?

'As broadband continues to grow, VoIP will become the telephony choice says Tan Aksoy, Telappliant'

The number of broadband connections will grow from 323 million last year to 499 million by 2012, which is a jump from 18 to 25 percent of worldwide households, the analysts predict. Tan Aksoy, CEO, Telappliant, believes that this penetration will allow the true benefits of VoIP to be seen and dramatically increase take-up:

“The market for next generation voice communications is firmly established, but there is still a long way to go. VoIP has had some minor hiccups along the way. These issues have been ironed out and businesses need to learn to trust the technology.

"VoIP technology is heavily dependent on the user's Internet connection and bad experiences usually stem from insufficient bandwidth to support all functions running over the Internet. With broadband now reaching new heights in the UK, these problems should be a thing of the past."

Hmm - talk of 'minor hiccups' and 'bad experiences' appear a little understated. Granted, insufficient bandwidth is an obvious bottleneck, but network infrastructure [for the enterprise user especially] continues to prove just as big a pain point.

Building on social media

Comms agency Brodeur Partners has stated its intentions to use a social media monitoring platform to track what is being said online about brands, organisations and issues.

The solution monitors all forms of social media, including: blogs, top video-sharing sites, opinion review forums, photo-sharing sites and emerging media services like Twitter. [In which case, I will be especially nice about this idea…]

Radian6 Technologies Inc., is the power behind the platform, providing PR and advertising professionals with a dashboard (GUI) enabling the monitoring of all forms of social media, with results appearing in real-time, as discovered. Various analysis widgets give users the ability to uncover the top influencers, as well as which conversations are having an impact online.

On the wire

British e-commerce Very Different From Elsewhere in Europe (read full report)

British online merchants are increasingly attracting more international consumers, according to a report published by Pago eTransaction Services, the international Acquirer and Payment Service Provider.

Whereas consumers from Germany make up over 95% of custom in German online shops, only 45% of customers in UK shops are from the UK. Nearly one third of international customers stem from countries outside Europe, like the USA or Asia.

Some of the e-commerce trends identified include:

• No real Christmas season in UK online business
• e-commerce slowdown by British consumers at weekends
• UK consumers buy online during office hours
• Credit card dominates European e-commerce
• New payment methods are becoming increasingly important for European e-commerce

Government likely to slash its own tax income through new attack on contractor and freelance expenses (read full release)

"The government could be about to score a spectacular own goal," warns ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin, discussing HM Treasury plans to further burden the contracting sector costs.

"The latest consultation from the Treasury is asking whether contractors who work for umbrella companies as employees should lose their right to claim travel expenses," explains Chaplin. "Our business models, based on nearly a decade of contracting industry experience, suggest that the net contribution to the public sector will fall if contractors lose their rights to claim for travel expenses."

High carbon IT Managers must act before legislation… (read full release)

IT managers who are not actively managing their energy consumption are introducing unnecessary business risk and condoning waste. The IT industry has received yet another wake up call as Chancellor Alistair Darling announced plans that could lead to the compulsory building of 'zero carbon' commercial buildings, including data centres, by 2019.

In the bloggosphere

WiFI Worries Still Going Strong In The UK (from the gotta-freak-out-about-something dept)

A more rounded perspective on yet more scaremongering about the wireless demon - this time the effects of WiFi radiation on children…

Why is Dell trying to compete with the iPod?

Is Google planning Adsense for games?

Er, just one more thing…

Don't ask about salary in an interview (read full story)

Techies are being advised to avoid bringing up the big salary question in interviews if they want to impress. Graduates seeking a career in technology should instead focus on swotting up on the ins and outs of the company and the technology industry says IT recruitment company ITjobsforgraduates.com.

Yeah - sure right! Does that mean that you cannot ask how much something is when you buy it? Note to recruitment consultants: people living in the real world work to earn money (in the vast majority of cases). Yes - job satisfaction is great, and a 'varied and challenging role' keeps you on your toes, but at the end of the day, it's what puts dollar in your pocket and food on your table that is important.

Knock Knock? And I thought the Doctor Who joke was old…

World's oldest joke traced back to 1900 BC [can somebody please tell Jim Davidson]

An apology

Firstly, apologies to those of you that have subscribed to this blog and not received notification by email of new posts. We are still getting to grips with the WordPress system and there appears to be a bug with IE so hopefully, thanks to Firefox, you have received notification this morning…

Thank Crunchy

As the so-called 'credit-crunch' continues to bite, it seems that not a day goes by without more doom and gloom on the global economy front. However, there have been some bright spots. It is reported that the IMF has lifted growth forecasts modestly for the world - including the United States but said the global economy is in a "tough spot" due to rising inflation amid a slowdown.

Global output is expected to climb 4.1 percent in 2008, up from its April projection of 3.7 percent, the International Monetary Fund said in an update of its April World Economic Outlook. That said, it also boosted the inflation outlook, forecasting 3.4 percent inflation for advanced economies - up from an earlier estimate of 2.6 percent - and warning that there is still a chance of a global recession.

Tough times are ahead no doubt, but in the tech sector, there are those bucking the  trend…

Wii will defy the credit crunch (read full release)

According to research from online voucher code portal (www.laughingdeals.com) sales of Nintendo Wii and its accessories have so far defied the credit crunch with 45 percent of all searches being for the iconic console and its associated games. The site claims it has been inundated with requests for voucher codes related to the Wii. Also…

Low-cost broadband defies credit crunch (read full release)

Broadband is the only household utility bill to buck the trend of rising household bills in the wake of the credit crunch, according to broadband comparison site Top 10 Broadband.

"Broadband bills have plummeted by over 60% in the past 18 months while gas and electricity have risen by 15% and are set to rise further by the end of the year" says Jessica McArdle, a spokesperson for Top 10 Broadband.

Of course, without electricity, it would be pretty tricky to access your broadband connection but hey, it's a start.

Meanwhile, ManageSoft is warning company directors:

"Don’t let the credit crunch send you to jail…" (read full release)

The results of a FAST (Federation Against Software Theft) survey has recently hit the wires – news that 79 percent of company directors would be happy to avoid buying legitimate software licences to save them money during the downturn is a shocking figure. With a penalty of 10 years in jail and an unlimited fine, that’s some risk to take, states the company, which just happens to provide enterprise software management solutions.

According to ManageSoft: "With software audits likely to be on the rise during a difficult period, businesses need to accept that keeping a control of their software licenses will be a necessity and definitely won’t be an area to cut costs. In fact by implementing a software asset management solution it will allow organisations to leverage existing IT systems, improve efficiency and reduce costs."

Given the shortage of prison space at this current time, one wonders just how FAST you would end up in jail…

On the wire

GSA Confirms Over 200 HSDPA Networks Worldwide Are Launched

More than 200 HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) systems worldwide have launched commercial mobile broadband services, according to the latest research published by GSA, the Global mobile Suppliers Association.

Shock revelation - IT sector carbon emissions set to soar above Aviation (read full release)

In a shocking revelation, the EU commission has stated that CO2 emissions from the Information Technology (IT) sector are comparable to that of the vilified Aviation sector and, it is reportedly considering potentially fierce legislation if the industry fails to take action. The Aviation and IT sectors each generate 2% of Global CO2 emissions and the threatened new legislation will deliver businesses even more gloom in a worsening economic climate.

Don't worry though, IT is fighting back…

Echelon’s Technology Lights up the Beijing Olympic Village (read full release)

Echelon Corporation says that the Olympic Village in Beijing is using Echelon’s LonWorks technology to create an energy efficiency lighting control system. The smart LonWorks based control system integrates all lighting subsystems to optimise energy usage while maintaining a safe and 'aesthetically pleasing' environment for the athletes – contributing to the government’s pledge to stage a "green Olympics."

In the bloggosphere

There are mixed opinions on the 'iPhone threat' to other handset makers:

Needham Cuts RIM Rating on iPhone Threat

UBS Analyst: Survey Shows 3G iPhone Poses Little Threat to BlackBerry

Motorola, Nokia, Palm, RIM Suffering iPhone Headache

Er, just one more thing… 

Poor Service From Call Centres Threatens UK Business - No sh*t Sherlock…

UK businesses that operate a call centre could be sitting on a demographic time bomb that threatens their future. New research shows that nearly half of 25-44 year old consumers have changed suppliers because of a negative call centre experience, significantly higher than the national average of 35%. And what makes things worse is that seven out of ten UK consumers say they would probably or definitely tell someone about a poor call centre experience.

The new research, carried out by leading market researcher GfK NOP Consumer, coincides with the launch of the UK's biggest ever industry-wide mystery shopping study to find the country's Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service. This independent initiative, led by Call Centre Focus magazine, aims to recognise good practice and raise customer service standards across the industry.

Top 50 UK-based call centres? All I can say is 'good luck'…