Archive for February, 2012

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Raspberry Pi minimalist computer publicly available.

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

For the first time, a minimalist uncased computer - known simply as Raspberry Pi – has become publicly available.

Manufactured by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the low-cost computer is the size of a credit card and is being sold without a keyboard or a monitor.

It is hoped that the Raspberry Pi will encourage children to hone their computer programming skills with the device stimulating interest in both the educational and technological arenas.

Supporters will be able to get their hands on the device for just £22.

However, reports suggest that a £16 version of The Raspberry Pi computer will also go on sale later on in the year.

It is understood that thousands of the devices have been produced by the Raspberry Pi Foundation using a Chinese manufacturer.

Similar blog post - Pupils too cool for school ICT classes.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

Posted in Digital education | No Comments »

Businesses able to access tweet archive via Datasift.

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

Twitter updates from up to two years ago are now available to be filtered by businesses wishing to use the data for market research purposes.

Social networking giant Twitter has partnered with Data management company Datasift to offer this service aimed at businesses wishing to capitalise on the opportunities presented.

Until now, firms were only able to access the previous 30 days worth of tweets.

With almost 1,000 companies joining a waiting list to access the service, it is predicted that this product will see increased interest.

However, some critics have argued that this move goes against Twitter’s principles.

Gus Hoesin, Executive Director of Privacy International states:

“The fact that two years’ worth of tweets can now be mined for information and the resulting ‘insights’ sold to businesses is a radical shift in the wrong direction… Twitter has turned a social network that was meant to promote real-time global conversation into a vast market-research enterprise with unwilling, unpaid participants.”

It remains to be seen whether Datasift will see increased interest from companies over the coming months.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

Posted in Business Telecommunications, Social Networking | No Comments »

Oxfam QR codes detail ‘Shelflife’ of goods.

Monday, February 27th, 2012

Oxfam, the leading aid and development charity, is trialling a new mobile phone scheme called ‘Shelflife’ which allows prospective customers to learn about its second-hand items.

Using the Shelflife mobile phone application, customers are able to view photographs and read stories about a donated item, via a QR code provided on tags attached to each piece.

Oxfam has said that it believes that goods are easier to sell when there are ’stories attached to them’ as it makes items ‘more valuable’.

The technology behind the Shelflife scheme was originally developed for a project undertaken by academics at five UK universities named Tales of Things and Electronic Memory (Totem).

A large database containing facts and stories relating to more than 6,000 items has been created by Totem, with links to stories attached to tags.

The Shelflife scheme is being trialled at 10 shops around Manchester.

If successful, the scheme will be rolled out across all of Oxfam’s retail outlets.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

Posted in Charity, Mobile Apps Review | No Comments »

A million homes to ‘filter’ out 4G TV interference.

Friday, February 24th, 2012

Up to a million UK homes will require filters to be installed in order to prevent TV interference from 4G mobile signals.

Similarly, nearly 10,000 homes will need to change to satellite or cable TV services to ensure the channels they receive and picture quality remain uninterrupted.

Interestingly, homes that are unable to install these services due to location or other restrictions, will receive up to £10,000 each to find a suitable alternative.

These filters will be fitted to a digital TV box and will work to block out unwanted noise from the 4G signal.

The projected cost of this project currently stands at £108 million and will be paid by the winning bidder of the 4G spectrum auction in late 2012.

Towards the end of last year, a report issued by Ofcom revealed that a total of 760,000 homes could be affected by the move to 4G services.

However, the adoption of 4G services is still said to be essential for the growth of the UK’s economy.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

Posted in Business Telecommunications | No Comments »

Apple iPad 3 to be launched March 7 2012.

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

In tradition with the launch of any new Apple product, rumours have been rife regarding the release of the iPad 3 which is said to be scheduled for March 7.

Speculation suggests that the new iPad will offer:

  • The same size and shape of the current iPad range
  • A high-definition screen
  • A 2048 x 1536 retina display
  • A quad-core Apple A6 chip to increase speed and efficiency
  • Siri – Apple’s voice-activated personal assistant
  • An 8MP camera

It is understood that the hotly-anticipated device will be unveiled at an exclusive Apple event to be held at the Yerba Buena Centre in San Francisco.

Last year, at the same event, the late Steve Jobs announced the release of the iPad 2.

Industry experts have also predicted that a seven-inch iPad is due to be released later this year.

However, this move, if it goes ahead, is set to cause some controversy.

Steve Jobs remained against tablets of this size stating they would be “dead on arrival” offering a damaged user experience.

The countdown for the release of the iPad 3 continues.

Similar blog post - iPad 2 tablet is released by Apple.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

Posted in Tablet computers | No Comments »

Blind people able to send text messages via App.

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Brailletouch, a new app produced by Researchers at Georgia Tech, will help blind people to send text messages using touchscreen mobile devices.

To be released on Apple and Android devices, the app is based on the Braille writing system and users will be able to control it with six fingers and limited movement of the hands.

Users hold the device in landscape with the screen facing away from them. Then, they wrap the index, middle and ring finger in each hand around the phone.

Interestingly, using the app is said to be up to six times faster than the traditional method of texting without sight.

Throughout the blind community, there are growing concerns that the increasing amount of touchscreen technology available is making them “truly blind”.

It is hoped the Brailletouch application will go some way towards helping to break down the barrier of touchscreen communication for blind people.

Similar blog posts - Braille keyboard developed for touchscreen tablets. App brings assistance to visually impaired users.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

Posted in Mobile Apps Review | No Comments »

Government launches ‘Cloudstore’ to help SMEs.

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

The UK Government has launched its own app store which it hopes will assist small business to offer IT and technology services to the public sector.

Known as ‘The Cloudstore’, the app store will house over 1,700 applications provided by more than 250 suppliers.

50% of applications are being provided by small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and include services such as email, document processing, hosting, planning and record management.

By allowing organisations to purchase services via a “pay-as-you-go” system, lengthy contracts should become a thing of the past.

The Government has said that The Cloudstore will hopefully mean planned savings of £180m by 2015.

However, due to the constant changes in technology, a total saving has been said to be difficult to predict.

The Cloudstore is the first in a number of projects that have been developed to move more Government services in to “the cloud”.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

Posted in Cloud computing, Mobile Apps Review | No Comments »

Smartphone contacts copied by social applications.

Monday, February 20th, 2012

Social networking giant Twitter has revealed that it has copied entire address books from smartphones and stored the data on its dedicated servers without users’ knowledge.

It is understood that access to an address book is authorised when users click on the “Find Friends” tab on its smartphone application.

This tab will then search the users’ address book to identify contacts which use the same application and then notify the user.

Other social networking sites including Facebook, FourSquare, Instagram, Foodspotting and Yelp are also reported to have applications which scan users’ address books for details.

Interestingly, with these apps available on iTunes, critics have suggested that Apple has violated its own application terms.

Apple’s guidelines currently state “Apps that read or write data outside its designated container area will be rejected…Apps cannot transmit data about a user without obtaining the user’s prior permission.”

However, Twitter has now said that it will update the application in order to highlight its privacy policy for users.

It is thought that other social networking sites will follow suit.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

Posted in Social Networking | No Comments »

Cisco predicts 2012 will see more mobiles than human beings.

Friday, February 17th, 2012

According to an analysis of global mobile data traffic by network firm Cisco, humans will be outnumbered by mobile devices this year.

The report also predicts that by 2016, there will be 10 billion mobile connected devices globally and networks will be carrying 130 exabytes of data each year, equivalent to 33 billion DVDs.

Astonishingly, in 2011, mobile data traffic was eight times the size of the global internet in 2000.

With mobile operators already struggling to cope with the high level of demand for data services, it is thought this growth will cause further impact.

The report also found:

  • The average smartphone uses 150 Mb of data per month but this is expected to rise to 2.6 Gb by 2016
  • 60% of mobile users, equivalent to three billion people worldwide, will each generate more than one Gb of mobile data traffic per month by 2016
  • Tablet computers will account for more than 10% of global mobile traffic by 2016

These findings suggest that an explosion in mobile traffic growth is expected over the next couple of years.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

Posted in Business Telecommunications | No Comments »

Money to become truly mobile via Pingit.

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Barclays, the global banking and financial services company, has launched ‘Pingit’ – a system which uses a mobile phone application to allow cash transfers of up to £300 from one person to another.

Smartphone users who bank with Barclays are able to download the app, link it to their phone number and then transfer cash to anyone else who has also linked their mobile number to their bank account.

What’s more, from March 2012, anyone with a UK bank account will also be able to use the service.

Unlike NFC technology, Pingit does not require the user to have an NFC enabled handset and with many smartphone users already familiar with applications, industry experts have predicted that the service will become successful.

As with any financial system, security is paramount.

The Payments Council is in the process of creating a database of UK mobile numbers which are linked to bank accounts and users will have to ‘opt-in’ to have their details recorded.

Interestingly, whilst the launch of Pingit seems symbolic of a leap forward for mobile banking, it appears that the United Kingdom and other European countries remain behind the rest of the world when it comes to mobile banking methods.

This is particularly true when compared to countries in the developing world.

M-Pesa, the Kenyan mobile banking system, was launched back in 2007 and is now commonplace in African society.

Similar blog posts - Mobile banking is set to close the gap in poverty.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

Posted in Business Mobiles, Mobile banking | No Comments »

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