Computer Weekly Editor's Blog

ComputerWeekly investigative journalist Tony Collins broke the story that the HMRC had been sending data online for months to the National Audit Office. See Tony discuss this story in our latest video

Last night Computer Weekly was at the BCS awards at London's Grosvenor House hotel, where over 1400 people gathered to celebrate achievements in IT throughout Europe. A good night was had by all.

It was the first time Computer Weekly has filmed the event and next week you'll be able to get a real flavour of what it was like from our video round up of the awards. I'll let you know when we post it up on the site.

You can also see who won what now by going to the BCS website.

We are going to be filming a video highlights of 2007 tomorrow.

What are the stories or online videos this year that have had the most appeal to you - send me an email or post a comment letting me know what and why.

This has to be one of my highlights - and it is surprisingly funny!

Continuing the slightly reflective theme of the previous post, ComputerWeekly.com launched its video channel last year.

These consist of a mixture of weekly news highlights packages and one off video interviews.

So far the most popular of our videos in 2007:

Steve Jobs has launched the thinnest laptop in the world, but is it important? Judging by the amount of web noise its generated then yes it is. Currently it's the most searched for term in technorati. And if you work in the enterprise space then you will probably have at least a passing interest or you'll be wondering how long it is before you'll be able to get your hands on one, or before employees start requesting them!

Well they only retail at £1199.

If you want to see the drama - then watch the first embedded video below. If you want to find out more of the technical specs of this new laptop then watch the product demo from a guy who works at Apple - so don't expect him to point out any flaws, but it's a comprehensive tour of the laptop.

I know its only been a short week, but it still feels as though its time for a bit of light relief. So laugh along with me while you watch these three videos, all selected from from YouTube, for being funny (well at least I thought so)... if you want more content from the lighter side of IT then see our Downtime blog!

Well kicking off this week's top three is Bill Gates praising the Mac... While it's not fall off your chair funny, but I still like it for it's irony... and how young is Bill Gates here and how ginormous are his glasses...... ???

This week is the 15th anniversary of the first ever spam email - the bane of our lives.

So this humorous weekly video round-up is dedicated to SPAM.

As a publishing business, I guess the debate over the BBC's iPlayer (which in a quick straw poll in our office is a highly rated service) and who should pay for it is a particularly interesting one. The figures are a testament to its success.

Project 366 2008 - April 10, 2008 - NO VIDEOS ON FLICKR!!!!
Originally uploaded by turtlemom4bacon

Thanks for all your comments. I can understand people getting anxious about their license fee and how the BBC chooses to use it, but I agree mostly with Andrew and Ian. Technology will continue to develop regardless of whether its the BBC or another broadcaster that supplies the market as the demand for online video is huge.

The infrastructure therefore must be able to support this development and not stifle it. I expect the ISPs will alter their business models to reflect consumers' appetite for video online.

This week's round-up focuses on online video.... well of course it does its a video round-up, doh! But I mean the platforms for different types of online video that was in headlines this week, such as the BBC iPlayer.

The most popular streamed programme since the iPlayer launched was the first episode in the new series of "The Apprentice".

See this clip of Nicholas being fired in the first episode below

The funniest video I've seen this week with an IT connection has to be this song about the woeful experience at Heathrow's Terminal Five.

We've been keeping a close eye on all the lastest sdevelopments at Terminal Five and if you want to catch up then see Heathrow Terminal five - the latest news.

This week we take a look at twitter.... my fellow CW blogger Ian White has been analysing social media stuff this week and has posted on twitter and has set up his own twitter stream.

Anyway while Ian is busy experimenting with twitter, some have had enough of it already. See this video from Rocketboom.com .......

Facebook was in the news again last week as the social networking site was used to organise a huge water fight in city centres across the country on Bank Holiday Monday last week.

The Facebook posting saw about 350 people gather at Leeds's prize-winning gardens that were named after former South Africa premier Nelson Mandela, the gathering and water fight caused thousands of pounds of damage.

Leeds council has vowed to find the culprits and the police may press charges for criminal damage after reviewing CCTV footage.

Of course, you don't need to be in the Police to see who was taking part - just go to to YouTube where they're several videos of the event taking place.... perhaps not the brightest way to hide the fact you've been involved in criminal activity!

Here's how to find out whether or not you spend too much time on YouTube. Can you spot all the Interent meme references in Weezer's Pork and Beans video? If so, you definitely need rehab...

But Weezer weren't the first US nerd rock band to take on this concept. The Barenaked Ladies got there first. See over the jump for more...

Normally on Friday the editor's blog attempts to bring you a round up of some of the funniest or most intriguing things we've spotted on the web, like the Internet meme rock videos on YouTube. But having been a wee bit late in this morning, I've been feeling the need to make up for lost time all day. No, Friday's no time for fun, it's productivity all the way for me, honest, guv.

So, first, I've been researching whether or not I should get an iPhone 3G when they hit the stores (conveniently forgetting the fact that price cut or not, you do still need to have some spare cash in hand, whereas my spending habits are rather more in line with the shopaholic IT consultant spotted on our Downtime blog...)

The 3G iPhone's enterprise ready, says Apple, despite some analysts raising security concerns. And okay, the company probably won't allow me to connect it to the corporate network. But would it help me do my job as a deputy web editor? You know, online content production, supporting our in-house digital journalists, that kind of thing...

Follow the link or scroll on for what the reviewer from Stuff magazine had to say:

Got yourself an online address? Good for you, because cyberspace is filling up like it was "on steroids", and there may not be enough investment to ensure further growth is possible... Watch this video for a warning on the possible failure of IPv6.

That means open access to social networks, blogs, twitters etc, because these are the online environments where young people have conversations and water cooler moments.

That means a non-proprietorial attitude to the work laptop - kids see their work laptop as their electronic wallet that stores all their photos etc...

It means a more enlightened approach to home-working and a more sophisticated approach to uniting diverse sets of employees across multiple time zones and regional boundaries of jurisdiction.