Somewhere to write, discuss, reflect, ponder, muse and mull over life, stuff, things and anything that takes my fancy.
I forgot to add a link to an earlier post about the UK’s move to Digital Britain.
Sam Knows provides a great site where there is an abundance of information about Broadband Britain and has compiled a report that looks at the performance of Broadband Britain.
It’s well worth a read and will tell you a great deal about why we are where we are with Broadband Britain today.
What is it about government IT projects? So many of them seem to be doomed to failure and never really deliver of their promise.
Here’s an interesting article that reviewed a number of IT projects last year that have suffered a number of failures.
However, it seems that government IT failures are not limited to the UK as this report from California seems to indicate.
I’ve been doing some work recently for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (used to be the Dept. of Education) and through some peripheral conversations came across the latest government thinking about Early Years development for children from pre-birth to the age of five.
I remembered reading about this in the general press when it was first discussed but had not realised how much the thinking had developed.
It makes interesting reading and although much of it is common sense, I suppose it doesn’t do any harm to get it down on paper.
However, as with so much good information today; I do wonder how many of the people that really need this sort of information actually manage to get hold of it?
Some more background information can be found here.
I was reading an interesting article over the weekend about the Arctic and who has rights to it’s vast mineral reserves that are supposed to lay under its surface.
It’s an interesting question bearing in mind that Russia successfully planted a flag under the surface in 2007 laying claim to part of it.
There is an updated report by Durham University’s International Boundaries Research Unit here about who has laid claim the the various part of the Arctic. Might this be where the next war starts?
Another ridiculous start by England in the Six Nations Tournament, no wonder Martin Johnson was shaking his head so many times during the match.
England despite their tries seemed to be all at odds with now real plan as how to play attacking rugby against Italy. However, I was equally disappointed in Italy’s performance, why Nick Mallett did not change the scrum half before half time is beyond me!!
However, the Irish once again showed how good they are by beating the French showing some of their old style and flair.
Can’t wait for tomorrows 1st meeting of Wales and Scotland!!!
I had a failure of one of the new Energy Saving Lamps last week, only two weeks after buying it!!!
Not a good start to using these, as I understood that they were supposed to last for quite a few years!
Clearly, after I try and get my money back, it is going to have to be disposed of. I have heard so many different things about these lamps, thought I would look into what was really needed.
Here’s what DEFRA says about Energy Saving Lamps. A note from Which Magazine also has some advice about them as well. Although there have been some dire warnings [1], [2], about Energy Saving Lamps and how they themselves might affect the environment!.
It makes you wonder if it’s really worth it?
Seems that the furore over Thatcher has resulted in her being sacked from the One Show, but not from the BBC as I first understood.
Quite a bit was written about the subject, but I came across these comments which discuss the wider aspects of the affect that these sort of comments can have on various people.
Another good month with a steady increase in download speeds.
Well done to whoever maintains the Reading South exchange as no drops out at all this last month.
I hope that when we get to the Governments Digital nirvana in 2012, my speeds don’t take a backwards step to 2 MB!
I reran the BT Speed Test in January as well as my others.
I sometimes find that this in mostly off-line but was very pleased to find that it was on line and gave a very good report for my location.
Lets hope it continues.
I work from home for my business, so was not greatly affected by the weather this last week and luckily, have a very good broadband connection through BT which on average keeps up around the 4.5MB mark, though I would like to have a better upload speed.
So it was with some interest that I read the coverage of Lord Carters Broadband for Britain plans and the various reactions to them. Seems to be very big on ambition and to my amazement still only talking about getting a minimum of 2MB’s (that is download only of course) to most users across the UK sometime in the next five years. What is strange about this is that the majority of UK broadband users already have an average speed above this. Maybe it was a printing error and it should have read 12 MB!!!
We will have to wait and see what technology is going to be used to deliver this to users, there is still a lot of talk about fibre, but as that is really unreasonable for every user, it really is about what will be used for that last ‘mile’ to the house.
Sure many companies will be able to offer fibre right to your door! But the majority will either have to continue to use their current copper lines or as has been suggested a local Wifi hub broadcasting from local fibre driven hub!
I still think that Ofcom need to tackle the miss-selling of broadband speeds, I still find it hard to believe that non of the ISP’s have been prosecuted for misleading adverts with regards to the ‘up-to-8Megs’ claims.
Still, if Ofcom is as weak as the other so called watch dogs (the FSA is a another good example), is it any wonder?
Some articles that I found during the week worth reading were:
According to news reports tonight, Carol Thatcher has been banned by the BBC.
Coming on the back of the Jonathan Ross suspension for bad behaviour, Thatcher is accused of using a racist comment when describing the hairstyle of a Tennis player. Perhaps she should have chosen her words more carefully perhaps using Afro as a more acceptable alternative.
I would not use the word that she used myself as it is an offensive comment, however what is strange is that the comment was made in an unrecorded private conversation with One Show host Adrian Childes and Comedienne Jo Brand in one of the BBC Green Rooms after one of last weeks nightly shows, unlike the Jonathan Ross comments, which was broadcast to some six million listeners!
It now appears that Adrian Childes and/or Jo Brand reported her to BBC managers and it has resulted in her being banned from the BBC!
Yes, Thatcher should not have made the comments (and has since apologised); however, I bet anyone that works with either Childes or Brand will now be watching their P’s and Q’s.
It’s very dangerous when people who themselves are not above making mistakes, suddenly adopt a higher moral tone. I think both of them will come to regret how they ran and told tales to teacher!
Beasley's Place 