AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 4/07/2003 10:49:00 am ----- BODY: Currently working on my new website, Betaroad (not yet live) and due to replace this blog too... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/27/2003 02:10:00 pm ----- BODY: iWire: Lassie theory of governance Lassie theory of governance Ideas from this LSE event and the 'Emergent Democracy' paper have continued to swill around, leading me to the 'Lassie Theory of Governance'... As political figures go, Lassie had two problems: 1. she/he/it couldn't talk. 2. she/he/it was a dog. According to Aristotle, a human being was a zoon politikon (a political animal) because: 1. she/he/it could talk. 2. she/he/it tended to make moral judgements. One thing to say about Emergent Democracy which hadn't occurred to me until the LSE event last week was that actually we already witness several traits of emergent democracy, and they're actually really rather undesirable. New Labour has far more interest in direct democracy than it does in representative democracy, and 'emergent democracy' gives it even greater scope to extract some notion of the immediate popular will through a combination of top social scienceand interactive, consumer-oriented discussion. What becomes clear is that emergent democracy requires experts to read what the collective will is, because there is no formal system of representation to do this for them. A combination of the focus group and the sociologist end up deducing the will of the people, the assumption being that the people themselves don't know what it is because any formal representative system can only dilute it. (This is rather like the way the children would say "I think Lassie's trying to tell us something" and then leap to any old conclusion as to what that was; being still mute, Lassie really didn't have the chance to disagree. And frankly, how much chance does a focus group ever have of being reformed to say "actually, we never said we wanted foundation hospitals...") And secondly, the tyranny of biology is a breaking trend and is growing unpleasant. Atomised is a pretty insightful study of what happens to society once it comes to understand itself as chiefly biological, but Darwinism is creeping up in politics, not only through emergent analogies but through literal understandings of meritocracy and 'talent'. A point raised at the LSE lecture by Anthony Giddens was that think tanks like Demos act as farms to breed the policy entrepreneurs for future governments - what he didn't add was that their careers are fast-tracked not because of knowledge or skills (social phenomena) but because of an idea of innate talent (a biological phenomenon). Take the cult of talent (see the excellent Gladwell article) as a bio-political article of faith, combine it with emergence as an increasingly attractive bio-political analogy, and you end up with an oligarchy presiding over a vast kennel full of Sheep dogs (or whatever Lassie was), claiming to be giving them what they actually want. The danger stems from a failure to recognise that politics is wholly linguistic and therefore wholly representational. I think Laclau argues that all democracy is representational - claims to direct democracy are therefore always a sham. If we stop formally representing our views (which normally involves representatives), we end up having some special advisor deducing them for himself on the back of a) his genetic advantages, and b) his understanding of complex adaptive behaviour. So if anyone does get to say "we never said we wanted foundation hospitals" the reply can come back "no, you never said it, but I can tell that its what you actually meant". Making a simplistic call on this - isn't this a Soviet Marxist / Fabian view of the world - in that an elite have a better understanding of the will of the people than the people have themselves? Isn't direct democracy today more in the case of people taking direct action on a specific issue i.e. NIMBY behaviour or pressure group membership (which I suppose is representational)? My simplistic views in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the point here. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/26/2003 01:26:00 pm ----- BODY: This is an interesting article and one which certainly strikes a chord given that this is my main role in life i.e. to effect change. Methinks a trip to purchase Kotter's book.
Creating Change from Seb's Open Research From Dave Pollard's excellent new blog, How to Save the World, comes a piece of advice that could be helpful for people who want to effect change in just about any sphere of activity. It also hints at the challenge inherent in such an agenda. [...] Change Management is all about getting people to do different things, or things differently. In business, the guru of the moment on this subject is John Kotter. In his book Leading Change he describes the eight steps to getting people to do different things or things differently, and they are irrefutable:
  1. Establish a sense of urgency
  2. Form a powerful guiding coalition
  3. Create a vision
  4. Communicate the vision
  5. Empower others to act on the vision
  6. Plan for and create short-term wins
  7. Consolidate improvements
  8. Institutionalize the change
The underlying principle here is that, in business as in real life, you don't bring about sustained, meaningful change by edict. You need to persuade, enthuse, and engage people in sufficient numbers to change behaviours, laws or processes. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/24/2003 04:01:00 pm ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Aim to create 'sensitive' PCs Well, my PC could certainly do with being more sensitive - I mean doesn't it know I need more tea? :) The idea that technology could interpret my moods and act accordingly seems to fanciful even for science fiction - not because I don't believe that technology exists for sensing (i'm sure it will soon if not now) but rather how to act upon that input. How will technology work out that because I am tired I want stirring music to wake me up not lullabies to send me to sleep? I only get my wife's moods correct 40% of the time and then only react to them appropriately 80% of the time... would a computer be better? Could it learn? It certainly would be an amazing tool if it could. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/21/2003 04:53:00 pm ----- BODY: Why PCs Will conquer home entertainment
Yep quoting directly from the CNET piece by David Coursey,

There are three ways to look at the future of home-entertaiment technology.
One supposes that the PC will maintain its role as a work tool, but also become your primary entertainment device. The second supposes that your existing entertainment system will continue to reign over the living room, and the PC will play only a supporting role. The third presumes that nothing changes, and PCs continue pretty much as they have.

Good overview and one I have talked about previously still think the first will become dominant as does David,

...the PC-Industry model of interoperable hardware and binary compatible software will provide technology more effectively than the CE [Consumer Elcetronic] Industry's penchant for closed boxes and proprietary features.

Absolutely - this relates very closely to Marc Canter's views on open standards for multi-media applications. I think I am beginning to get this stuff! --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/20/2003 03:01:00 pm ----- BODY: It's simply about power says Paolo Valdemarin Weblog via Matt Mower's Curiouser and Curiouser Couldn't agree more about this. I can't remember who said that War is the ultimate form of Politics but George W Bush seems intent on proving it. It is worrying that a person elected with such a small mandate is engaging in a war against a foreign power without the authority officailly or morally of the International community. Bizarrely recently watching Eddie Izzard's Circle recently he comments that the USA are now the Roman Empire and quote 'You know what happened to them' certainly feels like a prophetic warning from here... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/20/2003 02:52:00 pm ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Sony, Philips push home networks Looks like the main consumer aplpiances companies are putting Home Networking mainstream... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/17/2003 09:07:00 am ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Alcohol-powered laptops ahead Its enough to turn you to drink! Good to see maufacturers looking for alternate fuel for any electrical equipment. Perhaps Human sweat could be the next fuel, seeing as laptops tend to have sweaty hands on them most days :) --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/13/2003 05:21:00 pm ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft looks to the living room Saw a Microsoft presentation on this last year - wasn't convinced entirely by its implementation then and I will reserve judgement now. I think (personally) that its moving in the right direction but don't feel its really there yet as an integrated entertainement hub/nexus... Media Center Edition isn't really a catchy title either! --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/13/2003 11:41:00 am ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Music downloads on your mobile O2 (the BT mobile network) has announced a music download service via a MP3 / Mobile Phone device. Two things which strike me... is this to test the market place prior to a full launch of O2's 3G service later in 2003? And good on them for making it a permanent music download - so many other music services merely rent music which from my perspective is utter rubbish... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/13/2003 11:30:00 am ----- BODY: I obviously missed this (further to the earlier post) silicon.com - Tablets popularity catches makers on the hop Tablets are obviously doing better than I thought... Broadband Towers head honcho will be surprised - he thought they were going nowhere (ever)... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/13/2003 11:23:00 am ----- BODY: silicon.com - Intel rolls out red carpet for Centrino I was meant to be at the launch party for this in London but got pulled back to Broadband Towers on one of my projects (ho, hum!) Whether it is the Centrino chips or the Pentium-M that wins, its good to see the view that wireless products such as these are the way forward. I've certainly noticed a slew of people presenting to us having at least a 802.11b PCMCIA card in their laptop and even some with embedded adapters e.g. Compaq tablet PC. The intriguing thing about it is that it seems mostly aimed at the business community which is fairly obvious however its the applications at home that most intrigue me. Using such a device to read the news over breakfast, whilst listening to Internet radio are the kind of 'lifestyle' attractions which I think push this and Broadband mobile technology far more mainstream. I certainly wish i had more time to work on this type of product than the current 'stuff' I'm doing... BTW I'm always open to reviewing new gadgets (hint, hint ) :) (he says debasing himself openly) --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/13/2003 09:11:00 am ----- BODY: Martian Technology The NetDrive Wireless is something I've been meaning to blog for several days - I think I should ask when I can get one for the UK. A wireless hard-drive is just what I need to store all my multimedia files without clogging up my PCs and would bring me one step closer to my utopia of a household entertainment network. Now where's that email address...biz@martian.com --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/12/2003 09:55:00 pm ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Tech slump coming to an end It took me several re-reads of this to understand exactly what it was saying. A slump in my mind was the downward bulge in the economic cycle the boom being its opposite. What I didn't consider was that ending of slump does not equal being of new boom... Still Cebit itself should provide some fun gadgets and I shall be keeping a close eye on news from the event - disappointed yet again not to be there... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/12/2003 05:12:00 pm ----- BODY: blogrolling.com Just added a blog roll couresy of blogrolling. Thought it may encourage me to update the site more often. Lots of very interesting content all over the web... :) --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 3/11/2003 10:01:00 am ----- BODY: World of Ends More thoughtful commentary on the web and what its for from half of the Cluetrain manifesto authors. I think this is similar to Clay Shirky's view on Zapmail in that the web is the web - don't try to make it something it isn't but do make use of what it is... a communication network that you can offer services over. The number of opportunities available here is unbounded however the industry does seem hidebound at present - investment being a particular problem. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 2/18/2003 01:52:00 pm ----- BODY: Far too much work to do at the moment and not enough time to surf. Its been interesting time at Broadband towers (or the Office) this week with lots of difficult times around and ahead. One good thing that has perhaps come of it is the debate around bandwidth and costs which has suddenly risen up following last week debacle. (If this is all a bit cryptic, apologies). Usage of data is high on the agenda which can only really lead to charging per byte (or some derivative thereof). For some this is going to mean (perhaps) that things get cheaper. For others (those making the most fuss unsurprisingly) things are going to get so much more expensive. So, there is no such things a a free lunch (or peer to peer sharing)? Its no real shock to those in the know however it won't stop longer term from remaining an issue. Volume based billing is coming - get used to it - no one pays a flat fee for electricity or gas.... Is Broadband a utility? Not yet but its only a matter of time. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 2/04/2003 12:44:00 pm ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Chatroom provider fails safety test I'm blogging this not so much because of Yahoo's failure to implement the guidelines but rather to highlight certain differences in views, as the BBC suggests, 'America has a very different attitude towards how the net should be regulated.' and the article goes on to add via a Mr Carr that, '...the internet is the Wild West - the last frontier'. Culture in of itself acts as a barrier to some sensible suggestions (and I am guessing that cost maybe an issue too.) but it begs the question over how far can you go with free speech before acting as a Government. Degree in Politics kicking in about the role of the state...sorry! --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 1/31/2003 01:41:00 pm ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Web hijacker snares victims Beware - technology for evil - not good! Okay make sure you install a firewall, anti-virus and privacy controls and even then take a look at other utilities! --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 1/31/2003 11:57:00 am ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Video games without frontiers Cool stuff! Give me more... Back to a more intellectual thought process... use of the narrative is extremely powerful and not just in this context. I think this whole area is underdeveloped in terms of what it could allow... training, research, knowledge management plus of course as the article suggests games. Mental note - find out more on this! --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 1/22/2003 11:29:00 am ----- BODY: Fairvue Central >> Features >> Third Annual Weblog Awards Weblog awards excellent! I am really new to the world of blogs despite being advised 18 months ago to take a look at the whole blog scene (Stu you're finger is on the pulse) and it certainly is an eye opening experience to be able to see the amount of information (and amazingly its quality) in certain blogs. On a related note I bought a web domain in January but have yet to sort out building a site or transferring the blog... have to give it a go soon though. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 1/13/2003 12:04:00 pm ----- BODY: The Register Thanks to Steve who pushed this my way... It kind of looks like everyone is on a convergence kick at the moment and like I said before I don't care if I can connect this up to multiple output devices and have it play concurrently. Somehow I don't think Tivo envisage this happening! I wonder when this will be available in the UK? --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 1/10/2003 05:57:00 pm ----- BODY: You'll note the 'loving it' tag in the title line above... Well one of my colleagues, Jon pointed out that this was not entirely true... and he is right I don't always enjoy where I work or the bizarre decisions that sometimes happen or the usual corporate bullshit, mismanagement etc. What I do love is the opportunity to work in Broadband, the fact that I can shape how the industry presents itself to the consumer (admitedly in a small way) and get to play (seriously) with some very cool toys... Its a balance sometimes weighted heavily one way but I keep telling myself to be positive so yes it is loving it! So if you do read this Jon, have I qualified it enough for you? :) --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 1/10/2003 05:44:00 pm ----- BODY: So is it the TV or the Computer that is the centre of the Technology revolution? Micheal dell - quoted by the BBC
"I would stick by my belief that the PC is becoming the centre of the entertainment experience." And Mr Dell gave his vision about how computers would be changing, talking about PCs coming with built-in TV tuners and software to allow them to become personal video recorders. Is it TV's a la Sony's vision (see previous post) or is it Dell's vision? I think I would rather have one computing device (or devices within one box) and then use other devices e.g. TV to display and view the contents. I don't think convergence is about the screen but rather about the hub... after all I currently have four devices on one TV and three devices on another. If I could have one network with one or multiple devices and then link those to multiple outputs e.g. TVs, Audio, monitors - I don't really care what so long as I am not constrained by having to purchase multiple versions of the same device to carry out the same function in different rooms of the house... Imerge get this. I think Home Networking equipment manufacturers realise this e.g. Linksys Does Dell, or is that simply bullshit because he produces computers and Sony's is similarly about TVs because they produce consumer electronics... Well, we'll have to wait and see... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 1/10/2003 03:00:00 pm ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Sony offers vision of 'reborn TV' I want some of this! I like Sony electronics (for some bizarre reason - maybe its marketing hype) and my desire to have a networked house could come one step further with this. I think its the kind of product that i should also be looking at at work and figuring out how to sell (or maybe how to support and what to sell with it?) Not particularly profound thoughts today, but Sony's vision seems sensible, its not a million miles away from Microsoft's Bill Gates either. Next year I think I should go to CES. I wonder who I can convince to pay for me to go :) --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 1/09/2003 11:17:00 am ----- BODY: f r e e g o r i f e r o | thoughts | article | connectedland More deep food for thought - anyone whowas pointed in the right direction by Fritjof Capra's, "The Web of Life" deserves some attention, and this still has me thinking. I remember reading Douglas Adam's Dirk gently's Holistic Detective Agency and the phrase, 'the fundamental interconnectedness of all things' - which, although a bit simplistic, gets the point across nicely. Anyway read Connectedland and also take a look at Anne Galoway's blog where I found the link. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 1/09/2003 10:56:00 am ----- BODY: Shirky: Customer-owned Networks and ZapMail oh how true! This kind of thinking is still prevelant within Telecoms, even when looking at sexier things than VoIP. Convincing people of this kind of zapmail thinking is almost impossible - well I have found it so anyway. Important distinction Clay makes here is Service Vs Product - I tend to use these interchangably so maybe its time I had a re-think about what that actually means. BTW - leeching off of isociety again :) --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 1/08/2003 11:16:00 am ----- BODY: Ryze - business networking community I found Ryze through Ecademy but find it far more useful and interesting. Lots of different types of people appear here and its much easier to use. I would highly recommend going there :). Networking is cool :) --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 12/23/2002 11:12:00 am ----- BODY: iWire: Broad bandaid Read this a few days ago but finally getting time to think about it, and wholeheartedly agree from a personal viewpoint. I would love to leave the PC on all the time but its in my bedroom (and for some reason my wife objects...!) and it makes 'the whirring electrical noise' not to mention the odd whistling from my delightful wireless router. Never really going to have ubiquitous or all pervasive computing with this background noise. Perhaps I should talk to some manufacturers? --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 12/23/2002 11:01:00 am ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Voice holds the key Does it indeed? Well according to this article its just around the corner... but I'm not holding my breath, after all I think we have all heard this one before. (Anyone seen Sneakers for instance? :) ) Still personally I would love this as I am sure would many individuals and companies. It would certainly make secuirty easier and simpler. I would need to be convinced that it is secure however... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 12/20/2002 02:54:00 pm ----- BODY: Ryze - business networking communityJust been conversing with Bala - read this stuff my mind has been expanded! --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 12/13/2002 08:51:00 am ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Software takes on tipsters Hmm... 66% correct. I feel like a flutter where can I get my hands on this? On a more serious note could analytical tools like this predict the success of other types of venture, not just sporting results? How about Investment appraisal, a interviewee, a new product, a new relationship? Unlike me I'm suddenly feeling like a technophobe; could organisations begin using this type of technology in this way? Let's hope not... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 12/13/2002 08:41:00 am ----- BODY: Not many postings for a while but a very happy me, given that I have just delivered a couple of Products. Quite an achievement in that where I work, it has been extremely difficult to deliver anything for a long time! Sparked by iWire I joined eCademy yesterday, a site for networking online. Interesting premise as networking is always something I find difficult in person but by electronic means or the written word, much easier. I am going to see how it goes and will keep my dear blog informed. Actually managed to find some data on multiple PC ownership this week too! Apparently 29% of people with PCs have more than 1. Quite an incredible statistic really when compared to some of the iSociety ethnography which suggests people don't really like their PCs and seek to hide them away, uncared for and unloved... personally I have my two in my bedroom... read into that what you will :) --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 12/05/2002 10:35:00 am ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Technology | Novel fridge cools with sound Not really Broadband but its new technology and its being sold here as being more environmentally friendly than existing Fridge technology. I would certainly like one - not only will I pollute less but it will last longer! What more could you want (other than an Internet Fridge of course :) ) --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/27/2002 01:30:00 pm ----- BODY: Gosh! Is it that long since I posted. Very short time for a blog burnout methinks :) Well it might be soething to do with having lots of pieces of work to deliver in a short space of time... or maybe I'm just lazy! Still looking closely at Home Networking. So far its easy to identify vendors of good networking equipment e.g. Linksys amongst others. Where I still struggle is to see the so called 'killer app'. What will drive the take up of home networks? Is it going to be online gaming via consoles? Xbox live is certainly an exciting development, one which does expand the possibilities of gaming and use of Broadband connections, but its not really new. PC Gamers have been doing this for yonks. Or will it be the Internet Fridge from South Korea... Hmmm... Think I'll probably put a small amount of money on the consoles for now and keep investigating :0 --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/22/2002 02:36:00 pm ----- BODY: BTo launches broadband sports service from The Register A sports service - well that's certainly something I think I woud be interested in. However i have noticed that compared to the US expereince where 'matches' are broadcast live solely on the web, most UK based sports services tend to show edited highlights from matches shown elsewhere on TV. Rugby is served by rfu.tv in the UK (despite the .tv suffix :) ) which for a new (ish) enterprise is good. You can see all English domestic top level games and England games played at Twickenham. But its all after the event not as its played. I appreciate that this would be a difficult and expensive undertaking but nevertheless worth doing. And BTW i think the £20 fee for the season is a barrier - make it £2 per month and you would get far more people taking out subscriptions. Perhaps I'll have a look at the BT package. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/22/2002 02:03:00 pm ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | South Korea's gaming addicts "We diagnose internet addiction as a compulsive disorder like pathological gambling or eating disorder," said Lee Sujin. Scary stuff - playing games is addicitive and bad..:( oh dear! I don't think I will ever get that addicted but its very sad... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/22/2002 09:14:00 am ----- BODY: Business 2.0 - The Wisdom of the AnthillEric Bonabeau has gotten Swarm Intellignece to work in a business context. I am impressed. I thought it would be far too much effort to get any senior management to buy into this... I'd love to get swarming working where I work but the company just doesn't have the maturity or the money to experiement with something like this. Oh well... I just have to use enthusiasm to get people to run to the cause :) --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/22/2002 08:52:00 am ----- BODY: BBC NEWS | Business | Lastminute breaks into profit Iconic online retailer Lastminute.com has announced its first pre-tax profit, and said it is confident of "sustained growth" in 2003. Nuff said. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/21/2002 02:00:00 pm ----- BODY: Sometimes things which I thought we a long way off suddenly leap up and seem to be nearer than you think. Just saw an article on Microsoft's MyLifeBits Project, which aims to capture every aspect of a person's life electronically. It seems to be starting with email and other forms of communication e.g. telephone calls, but will also be looking at other type of data. I think I will need to have a look at this in more detail. Is this the kiler app? --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/21/2002 01:11:00 pm ----- BODY: Universal Music bites back! After Tuesday's little entry about music and its commercial survivial, I noted this from Universal. These music types really want their cake and to eat it! Personally I don't want to 'pirate' music or lose artists the royalties they deserve. However I don't want to support artificially high profits for Music companies either. Especially when you note the majority of their costs go into marketing and promotion NOT artists...They had better sort out their online strategy fast and make it worthwhile to its audience and its artists... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/21/2002 12:44:00 pm ----- BODY: Had the day off yesterday because of my birthday! Went to Marwell Zoo -(of which I am a member), a small Zoo in Hampshire, UK. They have recently installed webcams in their Giraffe House and their Okapi house. Not particularly impressive perhaps but the animals are beautiful and Marwell does a lot of good work with regard to conservation and working to put 'endangered' specieis back into the wild.
The Treetops Restaurant does a mean poached egg as well! Thanks to the staff who made those for myself, my wife and son yesterday! --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/19/2002 04:45:00 pm ----- BODY: BBC NEWS - EMI warns over music sales while this headline is not strictly Broadband or Internet, the implication is that P2P sharing of music is to blame. It must be difficult for the music industry to realise that its old busienss models are dying and that now is the time to try out something radical. Maybe the Robbie Williams contract is a clue - "We not only profit from album sales, but also participate in revenue generated through other music-related activities such as touring and merchandise." - and perhaps the touring and merchandise is the way forward.. maybe the music is a loss leader. I think I read somewhere that the Grateful Dead worked on that business model - extremely successfully for a long time. I await to see as i am sure it will have a powerful effect on Broadband usage and applications in the long term. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/19/2002 04:39:00 pm ----- BODY: The Register has an article on today's eSummit. (Shouldn't an eSummit be virtual?) Most interesting thing for me here is that they are going to target a 128k service in spring 2003. They finally woke up to the fact that the leap from dial up to 512k is too great in terms of cost and decided to copy ntl - there is a first time for everything... this is probably BT's 4/5th time. Wonder what solution they will roll out to target 'rural' subscribers? --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/19/2002 10:13:00 am ----- BODY: The Register reporting on a new BT ADSL wireless modem. and suggesting that 1in 4 (25%) of households have more than 1 PC. That's an incredible figure and one which shows just how far the UK has come this year in terms of IT usage. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/18/2002 03:37:00 pm ----- BODY: The EU are doing lots of work on networked homes . Hopefully I'll be investigating this more in future... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/18/2002 02:31:00 pm ----- BODY: Although this is an American study publicised at ZDNET, it makes for interesting reading. Children are leading the Internet revolution and dragging their parents with them. In addition they are enthusiatic about the Internet but actually use it less than non-parents. If you're an ISP with an unmetered product you have got to target the parents... --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/18/2002 11:12:00 am ----- BODY: SPOT - a dog? a pimple? No Bill Gates latest brainfart Small Personal Object Technology. Like a lot of Mr Gate's ideas it looks very interesting but will people pick up the baton? I like the idea about actually using a stylus to write things and this automatically going into electronic format (so long as its accurate and fast) but then my typing isn't too basd so would I use it? Well I might on the move or in a meeting or to update this blog... Wonder if I can persuade Microsoft to part with one? --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/18/2002 10:40:00 am ----- BODY: And just having looked at this I note that UK broadband is finally taking off! (Thanks to iWire and Crabber for that!) And his comments on Technology and toys hit the nail with me. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/18/2002 10:35:00 am ----- BODY: I should make mention on my first day of the iSociety site which got me to blogger in the first place. I came across this while looking for some information on UK PC ownership but it has some really interesting pieces of information and I love their blog. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/18/2002 10:20:00 am ----- BODY: UK legislation which allows firms to spy on their staff could be more tightly regulated. About time! I mean I need to plan my highly profitable online business (I wish) at work rather than doing the things I'm paid for! Seriously though hopefully a breakthru for employee rights against corporate nonsense. --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/18/2002 09:21:00 am ----- BODY: Another example of innovative and exciting use of technology, web radio. This time being stifled by US legislative nightmare. Lets hope the US senate comes to its sense! --------- AUTHOR: Paul Goodison DATE: 11/18/2002 09:15:00 am ----- BODY: This is my first post and hopefully the first of many. I work for a UK Cable company within their Internet Product Development team and I like to keep an eye on developments in the Broadband, Internet and technology arenas. probably there will be people that do it better than me but hey, this is my opinion :) Last week I spotted an interesting article on BBC News here. The Spanish have developed an fascinating use for the Internet - to get older people with plenty of time to make younger people with no time, food! Personally I'm wondering whether i can get them to deliver to the UK? However being vegetarian leaves little room for manouver with this type of thing... Excellent idea though! ---------