IT News and Views – the Friday Collection

Local authorities save £675,000 with real-time data-sharing
Saving money the high tech way. Use an ERP system across authorities to share the processing and you will be spending less of the council tax. Read it, here.

ZDNet Asia: IBM’s social push indirectly benefits Lotus Notes
Interesting but brief Ed Brill blog about a news story which features, you guessed it, IBM/ Lotus. That said, it makes a good point. See what you think, here.

Got My Productivity-Enhancing Mobile Device. Now Where Am I Supposed to Use it?
An interesting article which speaks a different message to the one in the mind of the author. Complaining about the prattling of those using mobile devices whilst composing on such a gizmo shows that irony is not very well. See for yourself, here.

And finally…
Oooooooh, would you like me to lap dance for you?
Oh dearie dearie dearie me. Lapdancing robots was definitely on the list of things I didn’t ever want to see. Make your mind up, here.

IT News and Views – the Friday Collection

Windows 8: Make or break for Microsoft?

The new Microsoft operating system is at a point that this could make a decent charge for supremacy. Taking over the non-PC market is a place that MS has struggled. Read it, here.

Another Cloud outage: Insight and Reactions

A gartner blog notes that outages, whether fact or otherwise, are a pain. The change in the industry is definitely going to take some getting used to. Read the article, here.

IBM takes giant step to faster, quantum computers

IBM are using the little particles to help computing. It is a means by which a great deal of processing can be achieved quite ‘cheaply’. Read the article, here.

IT chiefs eye Google privacy dispute with interest

The bosses have been asked to look at the privacy policies it enacts. The sharing of information is to be decided. Read it, here.

And finally…

Less people listen to God’s messenger than Demba Ba

Football kicking man has more online popularity than God’s-own pontiff. We’ll find out soon whether the world has more Catholics than newcastle fans. Make your assessment, here.

IT News and Views – the Friday Collection

Heads of finance hate big-bang IT projects
At first blush this might look like the blindingly obvious but this is really interesting article. It all comes down to what you want your senior executives to do. Read it, here.

Advert on Oxford Street shown only to women
Bloke-averse advert is put on UK bus stop. This is to make a point and it is not, repeat not, a ruse by which maximum publicity made be achieved; it’s a good cause nonetheless… Read all about, whether male or otherwise.

ibm.com: IDC White Paper – The Future of Mail is Social
Regular readers will think I am something of a cracked record but this is another IBM salvo in the social media skirmish. The important part of this Ed Brill blog entry is the acknowledgement that social media sits as an addition to email and not necessarily a replacement. See what you think, here.

IT leaders cruising for a denial-of-service bruising, says security expert
Never happen to you? Well, DDoS attacks can and do happen and it appears IT leaders are woefully unprepared. It is fair to point out that it depends on the industry you’re in but it is worth thinking about defending against such an attack. Make you own mind up, here.

And finally…
US fast-food outlet turns to social media to catch thieves
Gawking, thieving idiots are being sought after raid on fast food outlet. Make a thousand dollars off the back of robbers who, apparently, stopped to pose for the photo. Roll your eyes, here.

IT News and Views – the Friday Collection

BYOD policy gives London university users network access flexibility
University provides a cloud offering to support a ‘use your own gizmo’ policy for students and staff. They are now going to offer a loan scheme for devices alongside laptop loans to buttress the offering. Read about it, here.

Information Week: Jive CEO: Social Tools Are Essential, Not Extras
Ed Brill blog reporting on the now established ‘fact’ that doing social business is the way forward. There’s quite an interesting little spat in the article, in case that sort of thing floats your boat. Read it, here.

Case study: Avon calls on business intelligence to tailor sales offers
Story about how cosmetics giant is using business intelligence to good effect. The information gained from its complex supply chain means it can offer a better service to agents. Read the story, here.

MIT launches free online ‘fully automated’ course
Massive university brand is now offering a free online course for the great unwashed the world over. This is part of an examination of what it takes to offer an outstanding online education. See the facts, here.

And finally…
Swedish Muppet sends visitors back to space so pray for Scotland
Story that I only include because of my enduring affinity for the Muppets. It’s something about Sweden wanting to be Virgin Galactic’s European hub but let’s not get bogged down in the detail and just watch the video. Do just that, here.

IT News and Views – the Friday Collection

Opinion: Why contractors can look ahead with some confidence
An opinion article that there might be a hint of light at the end of the bleak, economic tunnel (if you are a contractor). Plausibly, the piece argues that companies have reduced the skill sets inhouse but still want to implement some cutting-edge solutions. Decide for yourself, here.

US fraud investigators to examine CSC’s £2.9bn NHS contract
Just when you thought it was safe to read the words ‘government’ and ‘IT project’ in the same sentence, this story rears its head. I will make no further comment as it is under investigation as I type. See the story, here.

The Dark Side of BYOD – Privacy, Personal Data Loss and Device Seizure
Excellent summary of the pitfalls of employees using their own devices for work purposes. The upshot might be (although it isn’t in this article) that it’s much less hassle to continue using 2 devices. Read more, here.

Regional cybercrime hubs launched across England
The battle against online pilfering and other unsavoury activities has been given a boost in the UK. Given the scale of the problem, it could be argued that the sums committed are paltry, but it is a great deal better than no response. Read the story, here.

And finally…
The abbreviation NSFW was created for a reason
Another of those ‘why did they think they’d get away with it?’ moments. Casting their eyes over some skin- laden action footage whilst attempting to govern is really not a bright idea; wait a couple of hours and no-one will get to see what form of unhygenic pursuits they were ogling. Tut and read the story, here.

IT News and Views – the Friday Collection

Business gets Social 2012
IBM goes on the road to evangelise about social business and their offerings therein. The roadshow pulls up in London in May. Find out more, here.

Opinion: The importance of analytics in business intelligence
I’ve blogged about it in the past and I suspect I will in the future but businesses can really benefit from knowing exactly what information they have. Read a balanced view of the beneifts and challenges of implementing a business analytics solution from a Gartner employee. Read it, here.

Gov.uk service portal opens for public testing
The beta for a new online government service has gone live. Those behind it sound a celebratory blast on the trumpets whilst others gristle that it is a smoke and mirrors exercise in rebranding (or similar to that). Decide for yourself, here.

Mobile devices set to become company policy
You are now allowed to bring your mobile device in some enterprises. There is a security risk if someone lifts your ‘phone. Read it, here.

And finally…
Survival of the fittest, or should that be nerdiest?
You are out in the woods, it’s chucking it down and you don’t know what to do: where do you turn? You look at the documents you saved on the handy USB Swiss Army Knife. What could you lose by clicking, here?

IT News and Views – the Friday Collection

IT set for centre stage at World Economic Forum
Report that the World Economic Forum will be talking about the use of IT in their summit in Davos. Computing Magazine are betting that social media and the effects of the democratisation of connectivity in terms of policy will be centre stage. Read the story, here.

Lotusphere 2012: Mobility
Ed Brill blog update on the upcoming release of Lotus Notes Traveler. He reverses his previous statement that Windows Phone was not to be supported. Find out about what’s going on with our business partner’s mobile business, here.

Microsoft names ex-antivirus employee as botnet ‘suspect’
Microsoft releases to the world the name of the person they suspect of being behind a botnet attack. This online mischief dates back to last year and they claim that the threat was (quote) ‘neutralised’ in September. Click here to read, especially if you think you might be a victim.

What is your IT mindset?
How do you perceive IT? is a question that all enterprises need to ask and get some (possibly uncomfortable) answers. Thought-provoking Gartner blog which asks readers to think about these difficult questions and feedback to the author. Get involved if you want, here.

And finally…
The missing piece in your wardrobe?
The words ‘nerd’ and ‘well dressed’ are not necessarily perceived to be likely to be found in the same sentence. This prejudice is blown out the water as you can now carry documents on the end of your shirt arms. Learn about this massive (yes, I do mean MASSIVE) leap forward.

IT News and Views – the Friday Collection

Public sector IT staff see largest cut in 25 years
Useful article which brings together in one place some of the top stories of public sector IT in 2011. A reduced staff is using innovative methods to deliver value, such as the use of personal equipment and beginning the (seemingly) inevitable floatation off into the Cloud. Read the story, here.

Lotusphere 2012: Lotus Notes/Domino Social Edition
Ed Brill reports back from Lotusphere with some updates on the development of Notes. The vision is to have as seamless an experience using Notes on a browser as a client; oh, and there’s stuff to read about mobile devices. See the blog, here.

Analysis: Is there a need for social analytics in the enterprise?
In a hopeless attempt to claim that these news digests aren’t just thrown together, I offer a story that comes from Lotusphere, as mentioned above. There is an audible echo from inside this blog when I write the words ‘social media is on the up in enterprises’. Read the analyst opinion, here.

McAfee tackles ‘spam hijack’ flaw in anti-malware code
A botnet attack had caused affected users’ computers to be extremely active – spamming caused one user to have as much mail sent in one day as in a normal 10 month period. Oh, and don’t forget to ensure that you have updated your antivirus. Read about it, here.

And finally…
Status update: Six feet under
The rhetorical question ‘is nothing sacred?’ is comprehensively answered by a new online service. Still, if you have a partner with a well lubricated jaw, it might allow you to get the last word in for one final time. See what you think, here.

IT News and Views – the Friday Collection

Is Social Media a Corporate or a Personal Tool?
Interesting Gartner blog which muses about how enterprises can use social media. It draws a compelling distinction between the social company versus the social individual and how best to enable the benefits to be seen. See what you think, here.

Almost a third of BI projects fail to deliver on business objectives
Article that makes the rather obvious point that if you are going to fork out for a business intelligence solution, you might want to think about getting your money’s worth. Leveraging analytics isn’t easy but you can derive significant value by doing it properly and none if you don’t. Read it, here.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg takes coding course
Really interesting story about a famous politician joining thousands of others in learning the basics of coding. You can learn how to write Javascript for free: what’s not to like? Find out about it, here.

Apple chief Tim Cook in $378m pay package
It’s amazing: top cat in loadsamoney shocker. In these straitened times, it’s nice to know that Steve Jobs only earned a dollar a year; this pales in comparison to this proligacy. Read the actual facts, here.

And finally…
After its meteoric rise the iPad has come back down to earth with a bang.
Gadget chucked from 100,000 feet and wasn’t knackered after landing. From this we discover that some people will sell anything by doing anything. Read the story, here.

IT News and Views – the Friday Collection

Five ways to improve your IT project management
There shouldn’t be too much new here if you are doing your PM properly but this is an excellent brief guide to some best practice. Make sure you have proper backing from ‘the management’ and project resources, under no circumstances make promises you can’t keep and keep a keen eye on the bigger picture within the business. Read the detail, here.

Your Family’s Privacy and the Xbox 360 Kinect
If you or one of yours have an XBox Kinect, Trend Micro offer a rather good summary of things to be concerned about (albeit a year old). In short: read the privacy rules; understand the privacy rules; and, ensure that you adhere to these rules. Read the full Trend article, here.

Seven Questions With IBM’s Manoj Saxena About Watson and Cancer
Not content with winning a game show, IBM’s Watson computer has set its sights on helping in the battle against cancer. This is a good article as it ably illustrates Domain’s business partner, IBM’s, attitude toward innovation: perform research in one area and it may have implications elsewhere. Read the full article, here.

Microsoft sues retailer Comet
Strange story of a high street store allegedly breaching copyright of the mighty Microsoft. It seems that both sides have taken legal advice so the courts will probably have to pick the bones out of this one. Make your mind up, here.

And finally…
Apple iPhone malfunction leaves Tesco red-faced
Potty-mouthed telephone expresses distain for a 12 year-old. In fairness, most kids of that age will hear worse in the playground but you don’t expexct that sort of language in Tesco. If you are not easily offended, click here.