Recent Blog Posts
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Read all about IT!
BYOD versus BYOL (Bring Your Own Lunch)
A guest blog post from Adam Stringer, IT expert, PA Consulting Group As someone who regularly struggles to bring my own lunch to the office (despite numerous New Year's resolutions and Tupperware p:iPad with on display keyboard (Photo credit: Wikipedia)urchases), I have to confess that I think I may ...
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Inside Outsourcing
Internal IT teams are wired for negativity when it comes to change
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 Chair is to a horse running the Grand National.At the Gartner Outsourcing Summit this week analyst Linda Cohen...
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Inside Outsourcing
Desktop virtualisation just a stop gap - but an important one
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 selection of what he said.I thought his view on desktop virtualisation was controversial enough to blog about...
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Inspect-a-Gadget
Hands on: the Sony Vaio Duo 11 and the Tap 20
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 were the Sony Vaio Duo 11 and the Sony Vaio Tap 20, here's what I thought after getting my hands on them ...
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Computer Weekly Editor's Blog
When will the traditional model of software licensing die?
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 "non-transparent and complicated licensing policy". Legal experts say that firms are being forced to pay huge penalti...
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CWDN
What is DevOps anyway?
New buzz phrases in information technology come and go. DevOps as a portmanteau of 'developer' and 'operations' seems to have come to stay so far. While formal definitions of DevOps are somewhat thin on the ground, we can reasonably define this term to describe the interrelationship between programmers and...
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Inspect-a-Gadget
An e-reader for everyone?
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 cheaper competitor hot on their heels. Perhaps the internet giant will have bigger fis...
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Inside Outsourcing
Outsource the full software lifecycle and avoid unexpected software crashes
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 to test whether the functionality is right, whether it does what it is supposed to. Suppliers are buying into...
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Inspect-a-Gadget
Convertible devices from Lenovo
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, Lenovo only launched traditional Windows 8 tablets. It's great to see the company finally jumping on the band wa...
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The Full Spectrum
Look at the tech, not the post code
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 allow the Chinese to spy deep within US networks and pose a threat to national security. ZTE has now also con...
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Inside Outsourcing
How to successfully manage a multi-sourced IT environment - treat suppliers like kids
"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 it seems that the key question to answer for CIOs, rather than what to outsource, is: how do I manage multiple ...
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Open Source Insider
Open source computing started with the bicycle
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 chief's comments at that time. Whitehurst reminded us that it was only 100 years between the invention of the 'autol...
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ITWorks
Careers Clinic: Recruiting at Amazon
This is a guest blog post from Jeremy I'Anson, professional career coach and the author of You're Hired! 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 and po...
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Public Sector IT
Cornwall privatisation hangs in the balance
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 outsource £800m of council services to either BT or CSC would turn Cornwall into a pioneer for a radical new m...
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Inspect-a-Gadget
The real Work Gadget of the Year
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 announced as the Work Gadget of the Year. My money would have been on the Galaxy Note. That...
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Computer Weekly Editor's Blog
GES2012: Optimising information use through the internet and social media
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 issues, challenges and problems. It's a great coming together of politicians, business leaders, NGOs, and experts a...
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Inspect-a-Gadget
T3 Gadget Awards sees the iPhone 4S winning Work Gadget of the Year
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 with the bragging - it was all to celebrate the best technology with twenty categories including Innovation...
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Downtime
It's all in the flick of a wrist
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, there have been some attempts with the likes of Kinect, but nothing to really reassure us we have full control of ...
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Inside Outsourcing
Gartner outsourcing, the silly dance man and Apple's rubbish mobile phone
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 had to be made available so everyone could at least hear the keynote and the guest keynote slot.The guest spea...
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When IT Meets Politics
Has HMG given up on trying to impose an ID scheme?
Recent "leaks" appear to indicate that Cabinet Office has finally given up on trying to impose a uniform ID scheme on the warring tribes of Whitehall, let alone the rest of us. It is probably a very sensible decision. Howver, given the nature and scale of reported losses of personal details, codes and...
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Open Source Insider
Hello humanoids, this is the Open Source Robotics Foundation
The Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) has recently been established in the San Francisco "bay area" as an independent non-profit org to promote the development, distribution and adoption of open source software for use in robotics research, education and product development. The OSRF's self-confessed ...
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Inspect-a-Gadget
Wired for Food 24-hour hackathon
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 changes in the way we produce and consume food.Coders, hackers and designers gathered at the University of Br...
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ITWorks
Back to the drawing board for IT in schools
This is a guest blog from Colin Bannister, vice president and chief technology officer at CA Technologies UK&I, who looks at why the industry must play an important role in shaping IT education. I've long been committed to the issue of developing IT skills across Britain's schools and universiti...
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Computer Weekly Editor's Blog
Why CIOs need to Like the Facebook way of IT
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 the slide is to demonstrate to the audience - typically IT leaders - how the game has changed, and that user ex...
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Open Source Insider
Free OpenDyslexic font with "letter gravity"
A New Hampshire based software application designer has produced a free font designed to provide "weight and gravity" to the letters it presents in order to solidify their position in readers' minds. Abelardo Gonzalez's http://dyslexicfonts.com/ project has gained extra recognition today as Dyslexia Awaren...
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David Lacey's IT Security Blog
RSA Conference Europe 2012
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 been long established: keynotes by paying sponsors plus the odd guest or two; large scale technical programme wit...
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When IT Meets Politics
Towards a sustainable 21st Century Infrastructure
The need for infrastructure investment has become fashionable. It is one of the lobbyists topics at this year's party conferences. But only one event (18.00 - 19.30, 8th October, Austin Court, Birmingham) tries to knit together various Green, Energy, Transport and Communications threads. ...
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Inside Outsourcing
Is Lloyds TSB's managed service causing Co-operative problems?
Today Lloyds TSB is having problems with ATMs and online banking as a result of a yet to be identified system error.See the article I wrote.The interesting thing from an outsourcing point of view is the fact that back in July, when the Co-operative bank acquired thousands of Lloyds current account cu...
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Open Source Insider
Zenoss: open cloud computing is three horse race
Unified IT operations software vendors Zenoss has produced a new survey with the aim of determining what it calls "the prevailing sentiments" concerning open source cloud deployment. Based in the US state of Maryland, Zenoss develops free and open source IT monitoring tools for what it calls "cross-domain ...
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The Full Spectrum
Telefonica says bon voyage to *some* of its jet fleet
Gulfstream, G550 Business Jet. (Photo credit: dirkjankraan.com)It is hard to have sympathy for large multinational companies at the best of times, even when they are really going through times of woe, but I can have no sympathy for Telefonica which, according to Bloomberg, is taking action to cut costs tha...
