Downtime

Downtime has nothing against eating healthily in principle - in principle - it's just that all the things that taste so good rarely seem to be calorie-light or good for the arteries. And, as an office-dweller, Downtime is all too familiar with the chain effect caused when the person next to you starts eating something deliciously tempting.

So, good news comes from the 3D printing front. Jeffrey Lipton, a doctoral candidate at Cornell University, predicts that in the future the technology may be used to create tailor-made food for the user and perhaps even calibrated to the number of calories you burn over the day.

Cornell University's Fab@Home lab printed what Lipton calls "data-driven cookies," where 3D printers were used to print two cookies that each accounted for 10% of their respective caloric deficits. The cookies were the same size but composed of different ingredients, based on nutritional specifics.

Resisting making a clever quip about cookies in technology (because we can't think of one), Downtime looks forward to the days of rustling up some experimental snacks without ever needing to leave our screens again.

The twitterverse has whipped itself up into a Hyacinth Bucket storm of indignation after the creator of the Graphics Interchange Format or 'GIF' protested that his invention is actually pronounced 'Jif'. Despite the, err, evident 'guh' sound in the first word of the acronym.

Inventor, Steve Wilhite, said: "The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations," He said "They are wrong. It is a soft 'G,' pronounced 'jif.' End of story."

As a Monty Python fan, Downtime is reminded of the famous pronunciation sketch, where Britain's leading skin specialist, Raymond Luxury-Yacht, insists on an entirely different pronunciation of his name.

Well Mr Steve Wilhite, that might be how your name is spelled but from now on we'll be insisting it's pronounced "Throatwobbler Mangrove"

We have all made the odd social network faux pas. From being it tagged in a picture on a drunken night out you didn't want your family to see through to tweeting negatives about your boss without realising they are following you - at Downtime we have experiences of both... - these online communities are no place to try and keep secrets.

But you would think a company worth £2bn may have a couple of employees at least making sure there are no slip ups to bring embarrassment on the firm? Wouldn't you?

Well, someone has just received their P45 at Manchester United. After Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement at the end of the season from the soon to be Premiership champions yesterday, speculation has been rife as to who would take over.

From rumours of a return to the UK by 'the special one' through to wishful thinking Alan Pardew would bugger off from Newcastle - there may be a couple of Magpies over here at Downtime too - everyone with an inkling of interest about the beautiful game was awaiting the news.

So, rather than a grand announcement, Manchester United managed to accidentally post the news that David Moyes will take on the position and leave Everton behind on their Facebook page, meaning within minutes the news was all over the web and links being retweeted on Twitter at a rate of knots.

Let that be a lesson to all companies embracing the social media revolution. You may think it is just a job for a wet behind the ears intern but Facebook and Twitter can make news, break news or lead to another member of staff joining the dole queue. Good luck in your next adventure social media guru 187...

Modern Britain is often losing its head over 'political correctness gone mad,' but it seems Facebook has more important bonces to deal with.

Up until this week the social network was allowing videos of decapitations to be posted online, claiming its users had the right to depict the "world in which we live."

However, it has now reversed its decision after the US Family Online Safety Institute complained to the site, claiming the violent videos "crossed a line."

Strangely, Facebook ignored a compliant from a Belfast university student, who reported a video sounding like something straight out of Sons of Anarchy, with two members of a Mexican drug cartel being attacked with a chainsaw.

In response to his submission, the website replied: "We reviewed the video... but found it doesn't violate Facebook's Community Standard on graphic violence, which includes depicting harm to someone or something, threats to the public's safety, or theft and vandalism."

Whoever wrote that email may need their head examining...

Oh well, we are sure you can find plenty of videos elsewhere on the internet if decapitation is your thing. We still stick to live streams of kittens and keynotes here thanks. 

Great minds clearly think alike, when it comes to the politics of information technology.

We been struck by the remarkable similarity between Lord Empey's speech in the House of Lords on the gaps in IT education in the UK on 26th March, and a speech by COO and  consultant, Yva Thakurdas, at the House of Lords six days early, on, er, the gaps in IT education in the UK.

Do you think they might be related ?


Thakurdas

The area provides 48,000 digital economy jobs, more than double the number of 15 years ago at the time of the dot.com boom. Yet its future progress is threatened by a severe skills shortage for the very same reasons as the other small businesses across the UK, namely an under-supply of skilled developers and specialist staff in the UK. These Technology firms blame ill-designed university syllabuses and a lack of understanding at all levels of the education system.



Lord Empey

In London, IT provides 48,000 digital economy jobs, more than double the number of such jobs 15 years ago at the time of the dotcom boom. This progress is under severe threat by a skills shortage, namely an under supply of skilled developers and technicians within the UK, and technology firms blame ill designed university syllabuses and a lack of understanding at all levels of the education system.


Thakurdas

The number of young people studying and choosing careers in IT has correspondingly decreased, and therefore not kept up with growing demand Graduates are becoming less equipped to enter the job market meaningfully in a competitive market, with overseas students often being better qualified;

Lord Empey

The number of young people studying IT has fallen correspondingly with the standard of ICT teaching from school to university over the past15years. Graduates have therefore become ill equipped to enter a competitive jobs market meaningfully, and overseas students are often better qualified.


Fancy that !

David Bowie's contribution to the computer storage industry has often been under-appreciated. But with a major retrospective at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and his first album for a decade, it is time to reassess Bowie's influence on the development storage arrays.

Bowie's  interest in storage began early in his career, with his 1967 debut anticipating the rise of the Massive Array of Idle Disks, some two decades before they become common place in the IT department.

Maid of Bond Street will always remain a landmark work in the history of storage innovation.

For many, Ziggy Stardust is the  apogee of Bowie's storage career.  Who can forget Bowie's prescient call for data deduplication technology  in his 1972 song Five Years. "My brain hurt like a warehouse," Bowie cried, "I had no room to spare. I had to cram so many things to store everything in there."

But to let Ziggy eclipse Bowie's influence on storage would be folly.  Aladdin Sane, inspired by Aladdin Knowledge Systems, has much to teach us.

As Sane, Bowie, took storage to a new level of theatricality. The lightening stripe Flash, which decorated Bowie's schizophrenic alter ego, heralded a new era of hyper-speed data retrieval.

Indeed, Sane, more than any other of Bowie's characters, reminds us of the vital role of  the Storage Area  Network Extension, in our fractured society.

It would be folly to disregard Bowie's Berlin period, when developments in data retrieval technology inspired Bowie to replace glam rock, with a harder techno-sound.

What starker reminder could there be about the dangers of poor disaster recovery planning, in Bowie's prescient song, "Always crashing in the same car"  ? We could indeed be hero's if only we had dual redundant data centres.


Next week we consider Tim Machine's impact on the Server Market.


What are your favourite Bowie storage tracks ? Email  me at wgoodwin@techtarget.com and I will publish the best entries.

Night driving can be an unnerving prospect at the best of times, but add some ominous rain to the mix and it can be quite a scary experience.

The traditional headlights offer some solace but the bulbs bounce off the rain drops, making your view akin to Niagara Falls rather than the road you want to focus on.

Fear not though, as the brains at Intel have been working on new technology to rid your vision of these pesky droplets.

Working with a projector and a camera, the system is able to predict where the rain drops will fall and project an image blotting out the water and showing you the road ahead, rather than the shower - check out the video on CNET.

With a latency of just 13 milliseconds, it is impressive how quickly the system can make these predictions and projections, but it will be much slower before the technology will come to market - Intel predicts it will be in new cars within the next 10 years.

We never thought we would look forward to driving in the rain but bring on the next decade and April showers!

The plight of the long distance lover has continued to improve over the years thanks to technology. From cheaper phone calls, free texts with WhatsApp, long, languishing emails and video conferencing to see your beloved's face, partners separated by deserts, oceans or just the M25 have been able to stay closer more than ever.

But, there is nothing quite like another's touch and so far this is something tech has failed to provide. Until now that is...

Durex Australia has developed a new type of underwear - we didn't say this was romantic, did we? - which links up with a smartphone app. Users are then able to control certain "touch-actuators" sewn into the fabric of the undergarments to, well, ummm, pleasure their partners from miles away.

Sound confusing? Fear not! Durex has even released YouTube videos to give couples a tutorial on how the 'Fundawear' works.

There is one snag though, it seems only Apple users will get to play with one another as the app only runs on iOS at the moment. As if those Apple fanbois don't have enough cool toys to play with... 

Here at Downtime we know tech is not just for boys; there are many girls who love their games, gadgets and GNU too. So it is great to see a US organisation stepping it up a gear to encouraging the next generation of developers from womankind.

The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles have introduced a new badge to go alongside the first aid or public speaking awards more commonly associated with them - video game development.

They are working with Women in Games International  group to help the scouts create their own games and encourage them to get excited about technology, realising there are jobs out there for women as well as men in the science and tech industries.

We hope the UK Brownies and Guides follow suit. Lord knows one of us used to ditch going along in her youth where she would have to sew patches or learn to work in hospitality to sit at home on her Super Nintendo and play Zelda. She did manage to get a job at Computer Weekly though... 

Activities in bed have never been limited to sleeping, but research has revealed that a growing number of Londoners are turning to gadgets.

Infosecurity Europe polled 1,000 Londoners and found that 29% are using smartphones and mobile computers to check emails or catch up on work while in bed.

Some 15% admitted to being at it with their computers at the same time as their partners were doing the same, and 75% of those who work in bed admit to spending more than 30 minutes a day at it.

That means they are spending three and half hours a week on work while in bed, and 22% spend more than two hours a day at it, amounting to an extra 14 hours a week. 

Nearly a third admitted that the first thing they do in the morning is check their smartphones for messages. Kissing partners was top of the list for a mere 6% of those polled.

Claire Sellick, event director for Infosecurity Europe said the survey highlights the dependence on technology, therefore it is increasingly important that data on these devices is protected.

Amazon has got a cheek. Not supporting the Welsh language on the Kindle. Admittedly most Welsh people can't even be arsed to learn the language, but the Welsh do seem to be victimised.

I mean Welsh cricketers are expected to play for England, Welsh football teams have to play in the English league, Charles in the Welsh Prince, the weather is shit and now Kindle won't support Welsh.

Don't get me wrong I love whales.

Amazon has no justification for this belittling of a nation. In contrast Apple would have every reason to ban Welsh from iTunes.

The key communication device between a worshipper and their God, or so I have been led to believe, is prayer or perhaps the odd ritual sacrifice. But it seems that even organised religion wants to catch up with the times and use some technological advancements to up their game.

St John's Church in Mickleover, Derbyshire, has done a deal with The Cloud - owned by Rupert Murdoch's BskyB so make your own conclusion who they did the deal with... - to hook up the house of worship for the modern age e.g. with Wi-Fi.

The Cloud has provided the Church with a slew of tablets and using the wireless connectivity can now provide the Church service in full over the devices, letting those struggling to see the small fonts commonly used in The Bible or hymn books to enlarge them and follow along with the service much more easily.

"First we saw the Pope tweeting and now this service via Wi-Fi at St John's - perhaps the church can teach others a few things about keeping up with modern technology," claimed Vince Russell, managing director of The Cloud.

Well, they may not believe in gay marriage or women as bishops, but at least the Church of England has some technological nous hey? 

Good news came to Downtime today. Dominoes, the popular game played by children and adults that want to kill time before gulps of beer, is available on smartphones for free with no adverts.

Not that downtime is particularly interested in playing the game, I mean Angry Birds is a step ahead, but the fact that people are playing dominoes on their phones might mean that manufacturers will stop making the pieces.

Why is this a good think I here you ask? Because sad people, with too much time on their hands, will stop carefully lining up millions of them to create pointless Domino Rallies.

Don't encourage people to do things like this. Imagine if that kid that created the Summly app, which he sold to Yahoo for millions, had been interested in domino rallies? Yes penniless and with piles.

Click the image to waste time watching a waste of time. Hold on! These are amazing.

The London Underground map is iconic in its own right, but how about merging it with another icon of a geekier persuasion?

Enter Reddit user NaturalBeats who has created a tube map of zone one in the style of Super Mario Bros 3 - click here for the full map. 

Mario dons his tanooki suit just outside of Russell Square, whilst Luigi appears to be checking the plumbing on the way to Liverpool Street in this Nintendo alternative to the old and stagnant A to Z we get on platforms.

We doff our caps to you NaturalBeats and now just want to get it in poster form to spread around the Underground network...  

Tory MP Gavin Barwell has had his embarrassing web browsing activities revealed to the world after a criticism of the Labour party backfired.

Barwell saw an advert aimed at those interested in dating Arabic people when he read a Labour party announcement. Believing Labour to be selling adverts to the dating sight he tweeted: "I know you are short of cash but having an invitation to 'date Arab girls' at the top of your press release?"

The Labour party press office then reminded him that the adverts are automatically generated by Google ads based on browsers' interests.

It is pretty obvious when someone has a pulse. It normally involves them being upright, breathing, chatting, acting like the average human being really. What you normally can't tell though is the speed of that pulse, just by looking at the person in front of you.

Technology has changed all that this week though with new software from Fujitsu making the clinging onto wrists of old school pulse taking look like an archaic method.

The Japanese firm has built a programme that uses a camera on a smartphone or tablet to examine your face. The creators claim blood flow through the area affects the colour of the face and this enables the software to identify how quickly haemoglobin is travelling, in turn working out how fast a pulse is.

The system needs as little as five seconds to work and Fujitsu has already begun touting ideas for where it could be used, from airport security to check anyone acting suspiciously through to music festivals to check the revellers are healthy.

However, it has promised the solution will be put into a practical use within the year and that has made the collective Downtime heart skip a beat!