Recent Blog Posts

I have been emailed an e-petition that someone has created. These are the online petitions that get discussed by the government if they get a certain abound of signatures. I think it is 5000.The ...

So the Apple gestation period seems to be just over six months, they're popping them out quicker than us humans can produce babies.As well as the iPad mini, Apple also launched the "new-new iPad" ...

One of the big stories recently concerning outsourcing IT is one about doing the opposite. GM is in the process of insourcing its currently heavily outsourced IT.The plot gets even thicker when you ...

Entando, Jaspersoft, Infobright, Green Vulcano and Red Hat have announced a joint product offering for public sector organisations called OpenITGov.

How many bicycles were sold in the UK last year?''How do you weigh an elephant without a weighing machine?'Yes, they're genuine interview questions! These rather bizarre types of questions are much ...

Last night at an event in California, Apple revealed a 7.9in tablet, the iPad mini, which fits in the hand.The newest device to join the Apple ranks is 7.1mm thick, weighs just over 300g, (around ...

Interesting story on Computer Weekly this week about CSC and its 10 year loss making outsourcing contract with Royal Mail.It seems the contract which won the National Outsourcing Association's ...

As I wrote yesterday Cornwall council has put its planned outsource on hold pending further investigation. Recent weeks has seen drama at Cornwall council with the council leader being voted out as ...

Computer Weekly talked to Anand Krishnan from Microsoft's UK developer and platforms group in the run up to the launch of Windows 8 and we published a video on why to develop for Windows 8 earlier ...

The Internet Watch Foundation has really been scraping the barrel for press coverage this week so who are we at Downtime to ignore their plea? The online safety specialists have warned the youth of ...

Female undergraduates, thinking of a career in IT, will gather for a day of skills and discussions with females that work within the technology sector at the IT's not just for boys! event.

Many a lunch hour in the 1980's was spent crowded around the Atari game console while a digital Daley Thompson powered through 10 events using the wrist power and timing of the gamers of the ...

Today is a memorable day in the worlds of television and mobile. It may not be one celebrated with balloons or mourned with Robbie Williams' songs but it does mark a significant change in the ...

Thanks to Nathalie Nahai, The Web Psychologist, for this guest blogpost. You don't need to be a designer to understand the impact that colour can have on first impressions.Whether it's the ...

The savage cuts on public sector budgets have been controversial to say the least but now that the hits are really beginning to be felt in local government it has gone up a level.Some local ...

Even after the collapse in trust in financial services, they are still more trusted than the politicians who seek to regulate them.

I have written loads about the controversy at Cornwall council regarding a plan to outsource services. It led to the downfall of the council leader Alec Robertson, who was replaced by his former ...

Big data is everywhere. Yes Gartner predicts that big data spending will grow from $27 billion in 2012 to $55 billion in 2016, but what is more interesting is what we are doing to be productive ...

Last week in Rio de Janeiro saw a gathering of the "informed elite". That phrase is in quote marks because it's not one that I would ordinarily use, nor in fact is it one that even the person who ...

Back in September I did a series of blog posts about IT outsourcing contract re-negotiations. It seems we are amid a period of increased renegotiation activity.I did several blogs, which are all ...

The technology landscape is changing fast, bringing much disruptive change that provides organisations with new ways to streamline their businesses, reach out to customers more effectively and keep ...

I have been blogging extensively about a controversial outsourcing contract at Cornwall council, which has led to the sacking of the council leader.As a result I have been asking people about their ...

By then I hope that we will have been able to make progress in recruiting those who are serious about helping small firms, especially those in the most vulnerable sector, large enough to be worth ...

The public sector's global use of open source technology is growing.

My partners believe that government has no role in this process. I fear they are wrong. It has to get out of the way - actively removing both regulatory overheads that get in the way of trust and ...

15 Mbps DL and 10 Mbps UL - Free WiFi @ Poetto beach (Photo credit: zipckr)I have been writing a feature about wireless connections (you will love it, I promise) and as a result got to have a catch ...

The subject of this blog is a briefing this week with Scale Computing. And a major factor in why it's getting written about here is the laughable levels of chutzpah involved on Scale's part. The ...

There are only a few weeks left to enter the 2013 FDM everywoman in Technology Awards.The awards are designed to recognise the achievements of women working within the technology sector, so if you ...

Earlier news that General Motors (GM) was bringing its IT in house and in the process looking to hire 10,000 IT professionals is gathering pace as 3000 HP workers join GM's ranks. These are staff ...

With the ongoing breaches of personal data by public sector organisations and resultant calls by the privacy watchdog for greater penalties, it seems the UK is making no progress on data ...

According to Duracell, one third of discarded alkaline batteries away could still have 67% of usable power left inside. East London designer Dave Cranmer, created a 6ft 3inch Duracell Bunny light ...

Those who mouth de-regulation but do nothing to make it happen should remember that the revolution was brought about by those who not only turned up but joined and helped pay for the ammunition..

As power politics takes a back seat these days there seems to be a lot of unused spy equipment lying around.So SpyGadgets4U is flogging them as a way for happy families to capture those happy ...

Downtime was contacted earlier this week by someone representing a Chinese printer company, that will now be selling in the UK.After Huawei was found dodgy by White House security review, one ...

Recent weeks has seen a controversial outsourcing contract at Cornwall council in the news. The controversy has led to council resignations and a vote of no confidence in the leader.Read this blog ...

Oracle is well and truly pushing engineered (ie proprietary) systems.Speaking yesterday in London, Oracle president Mark Hurd claimed that Oracle's vertically integrated stack combining hardware, ...

A Furby accused of divulging important US military information has called on the UK government to block its extradition to the US. Back in 2000 the Furby repeated a conversation it overheard when ...

Newly launched this week is the HANA Academy, a free online resource with instructional videos and live and recorded webinars designed to teach "anyone" to learn how to operate the SAP HANA platform.

Obviously most readers will now the importance of mobile technologies with their inherent use of "touch" technologies used to drive our interaction with modern applications.

I regard the response to this consultation as critical to to the future of the Internet. Will it be ignored by all save the enthusiasts and those with vested interests. If so, we will have to live ...

So Gary McKinnon stays free - for now. At Computer Weekly, we've followed the self-confessed hacker's story for the 10 years it's taken to fight his extradition to the US. Along the way we've seen ...

Almost exactly a year ago I spoke to Overland Storage about their then-new DX1 and DX2 traditional NAS boxes. At the time I questioned why clustered NAS capability had been omitted. After all, it's ...

United Kingdom: stamp (Photo credit: Sem Paradeiro)I will admit I am not normally one for a passionate conversation at trade shows like IP Expo. Trudging out to Earls Court is a pet hate and the ...

It would seem strange if your IT service provider didn't provide its own internal IT services.Mind you it would be less surprising if it had a different version of IT service for itself.According ...

It has been an interesting couple of weeks at Cornwall Council. We have seen the political ramifications of outsourcing public sector services played out at the council.At the end of last month I ...

Among the many challenges that telecommunications providers face are the need to transform and consolidate their businesses. They need to adopt new business models that allow them to move away from ...

The past week has seen a surge in media coverage of the government's new Identity Assurance (IDA) programme, as the Department for Work & Pensions prepares to announce the first group of ...

It might seem that job interviews are all about answering questions but in fact most interviews conclude with ""Do you have any questions?"

So it's official, the long-awaited Microsoft Surface Tablet will be available next week on October 26, the same day as the company's new operating system, Windows 8, is released.Back in June, when ...

The proposed outsourcing strategy at Cornwall council looks doomed to fail as the new leader is voted in because he is against the proposal. Earlier today Cornwall Council's leader Alec Robertson ...

Today is Ada Lovelace - a day to celebrate the first computer programmer (who just so happened to be a female, by the way!) - and it is also a day for FDM to celebrate a one year anniversary for ...

Finalists for the 2012 Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards have been announced, by The Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET).

If you think outsourcing isn't controversial think again. I have been writing about Cornwall council's plan to outsource certain services, including IT, recently. The proposed deal with either BT ...

SAN JOSE, CA - AUGUST 10: A sign is posted in front of the Cisco Systems headquarters on August 10, 2011 in San Jose, California. Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)There have been a lot of ...

SAP is logically focused on its customers' IT departments, as this will be the primary target for the implementation of its software. But if systems of record are used right across the business, ...

I wrote an article yesterday about Banco Santander's decision to pull out of a multi-billion pound deal with RBS to take over 316 branches and the accounts tied to them.There were several reports ...

As Cornwall Council leader Alec Robertson faces a vote of no-confidence today over plans to outsource £800m of public services, the proposals are looking weaker than a my-dog-ate-it excuse for ...

As company secretary of Capgemini UK, my days are full, structured and fulfilling but I make sure I still have time to mentor 3-4 women, and do it carefully and with total confidentiality - even ...

Earlier this month I wrote about how a plan to outsource services, including IT, at Cornwall Council was causing serious friction.The council leader Alec Robertson was proposing an outsourcing deal ...

As a technology journalist, I have spent many years being the personal helpdesk of friends and family who are having issues with their IT. From the emails asking, "why won't my phone switch on?" to ...

It's October, the time of year when another intake of students are released from school into the adult world of university, and fill the pubs and clubs of university towns. These establishments are ...

London eye tilt shift fake miniature (Photo credit: hpmnick)There is no question in my mind that London is the greatest city in the world. Biased as a resident? Perhaps, but I chose to live here ...

Location-based service (LBS) technology has been growing in line with the development of both the mobile devices we use to connect and the wider proliferation of cloud computing services which we ...

For those of you who couldn't make RSA's latest thrash in London I can report that there were, as expected, no real surprises. It's a shame as cyber security is booming at a time when emerging ...

NEW YORK, NY - Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)Ovum has been the latest analyst firm to point out the obvious today - mobile operators are in trouble because of 'over the top' services. ...

Employing and retaining strong and capable managers is becoming increasingly difficult as there just aren't enough candidates with the right skills or levels of experience. Figures released by the ...

Last night we held another successful Women in IT event in London. We were lucky enough to have three wonderful speakers in addition to our own COO Sheila Flavell, and got a chance to view our ...

I recently blogged about opposition to plans at Cornwall Council to outsource services, including IT.I took the opportunity to do a survey to find out people's views on local government ...

Yes banks are more interested in their IT suppliers understanding core business processes than the cloud or specific software. This is a warning to suppliers.I blogged recently about how banks are ...

I met with Violin Memory at VMworld Europe last week in Barcelona. It's always good to spend a bit of time talking with vendors and get to see under the skin of the company a bit. Chief impression ...

Whiptail, MLC, SSD, Intel, commodity, RAID level

On the streets around VMware's VMworld Europe 2012 event this week you could see a mobile advertising vehicle bearing a hoarding that declares: "NetApp Data ONTAP is the world's #1 storage OS? ...

Everything is moving to the cloud. Applications, data storage blocks, software along with software services of every kind and every infrastructural element of computing that care to stick a label on.

As someone who regularly struggles to bring my own lunch to the office (despite numerous New Year's resolutions and Tupperware pEnglish: iPad with on display keyboard:iPad with on display keyboard ...

Motorola's latest offering in the form of the RAZR i, comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and what Intel claims to be the fastest chip ever placed in a smartphone.It is Motorola's first phone ...

When outsourcing IT we all know that the challenges go far beyond choosing technology and suppliers.Getting internal acceptance of an outsourcing agreement is, to the executive driving it what The ...

I met up with Accenture's CIO today. Frank Modruson is the person responsible for the outsourcing giant's internal IT. I will be writing a long interview piece for Computer Weekly but I will blog a ...

Last night, Sony showcased several of its new products built specifically to run Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 8, to be released later this month. The two devices that stood out for me ...

When will the traditional model of software licensing die? Surely it is only a matter of time. This week alone, we've seen Oracle accused of costing customers millions of pounds through its ...

While formal definitions of DevOps are somewhat thin on the ground, we can reasonably define this term to describe the interrelationship of the programmers and IT operations staff such as systems ...

A Berlin-based company has just announced a product that could be a real game-changer in the e-reader market. Predominantly dominated by Amazon and at a push Kobo, these companies may have a MUCH ...

I have blogged recently about the trend for companies to outsource software testing. IT services forms are increasingly investing in their software testing capabilities.This involves resources used ...

Lenovo have revealed a new fleet of convertible PC devices designed for use with Windows 8 and Windows 8 RT. While all the other big names were launching hybrid devices at the end of the summer, ...

Huawei E220 HSDPA USB modem. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)So, this week the US rattled a few sabers again with a report claiming ZTE and Huawei were not to be trusted. Apparently, using their kit could ...

"No matter how angry you are don't smack your IT suppliers and make sure they don't play with each others' toys"Multi-sourcing is embedded within most IT departments within large companies. Today ...

Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst used his company's Boston user summit this June to explain the core concept behind open source innovation and Computer Weekly reported on the former Delta Airlines ...

In the press a couple of weeks ago was news that Amazon has 2,000 vacancies for new staff. Of course not all those vacancies will be in IT but it's still great news for workers in the IT industry ...

Cornwall's council's unpopular plans for back-office privatisation are hanging in the balance after councillors complained they didn't know enough about it to give it their consent.The proposal to ...

I was with Caroline at the T3 Awards last night and I was just as shocked/angered/surprised (I can never read female emotions very well, I'm sure I'll learn one day) as her when the iPhone 4S was ...

This year's Global Economic Symposium (GES) takes place in Rio de Janeiro next week, on 16-17 October. GES is an annual event that invites stakeholders from around the world to discuss global ...

I was lucky enough to attend the T3 Gadget Awards last night, a lavish affair, I was told to "dress to impress" and was welcomed with endless champagne and a slap up three course meal.But enough ...

We have all seen enough 'Minority Report' films or gotten over excited enough playing the Nintendo Wii to continue to daydream about when we can control technology merely through gesture. Yes, ...

I attended day one of Gartner's annual outsourcing summit in London.I have been every year for about the last 5 years. The first thing I must say is that it was very busy.So busy that another room ...

How we could/should handle situations where current "identities", including mobile phones and passwords, may be used by any member of an "extended" family, including the "lodgers" and their friends .

The Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) has recently been established in the San Francisco "bay area" as an independent non-profit org

English: Sourdough Bread (Photo credit: Wikipedia)As a keen local food blogger in my spare time as well as a day-to-day tech junkie, I had to tell you all about a 24-hour hackathon which encouraged ...

I've long been committed to the issue of developing IT skills across Britain's schools and universities. In such a fast-paced, continuously evolving industry it's of the upmost importance that we ...

This is a Powerpoint slide I've used a lot lately when I've been asked to give talks on the state of IT or "the next big thing", and it usually seems to raise a smile from the audience:The aim of ...

A New Hampshire USA based software application designer has produced a free font designed to provide "weight and gravity" the letters it presents in order to solidify their position in reader's minds.

This Tuesday marks the start of RSA Europe 2012. It's a leading brand and a major event. US vendors will be there in force, as will the cream of the European security community. The formula has ...