Traffic Lights. Are they a burden on road users?

Today I read an article on the BBC News website by Martin Cassini of whom stated that traffic lights are or have become more of a hinderance to traffic safety rather than being a beacon of order and protection.

An interesting article, no doubt. It certainly got me thinking about a potential problem we may have on the roads that I was unaware of before reading the post. However, I couldn’t help feel the article was in some way incongruent.

I’d like to point out that despite the probable tone of the article I’m not necessarily opposed to the idea. Also, my point to this article is to unravel assumptions and poorly marked arguments, rather than argue for or against traffic light systems as a whole.

Read more…

Jack Kirby; Created The Silver Surfer as Marvel Comic character in 1966

The everyday wisdom is that although silver surfers are catching up, the kings and queens of new technologies are the under 30s, in the main. Nobody who is ‘old’ can surely navigate the web? And if, somehow, they do send an email, order something online, download a pdf file and open it…. they are frequently patted on the head patronisingly.

Of course for some older people, to do that would be a big achievement. Many fear it is all too complex for them and shrouded in mysterious jargon. However, to assume that all golden oldies are unable to master it, is wrong.

Equally to state categorically that all young people are at home with technology and that it is second nature to them, is false. New evidence suggests that the generalisations are inaccurate and due an overhaul.

Read more…

Visit Virtually Anywhere

Planning a summer holiday? Most people who will take a summer break away from home have apparently already made decisions and booked in some form. The May improvement in the rate of Euro exchange to pound sterling has concentrated even more minds on going to Europe for a break.

However, ever keep to help (and mop up more advertising revenue) Google has come up with what is in effect the virtual vacation. Just get as far as your laptop or device and the world is your oyster.

Read more…

Steve Jobs: Ruthless Enemy of Nostalgia

MBFBlog Review: An occasional series of reviews on exhibitions, books, films of interest to MailBigFile clients and readers. This one, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.

To set the scene for this play, here is what I wrote as a review for the Eastern Daily Press, (8 May 2012):
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs
Mike Daisey at The Cut, Halesworth

The prestigious High Tide Festival attracted US performer Mike Daisey to Halesworth. It was a scoop. His one man, stand-up (sitting down) comedy monologue about Steve Jobs and Apple has been contentious everywhere.

The late Jobs was creator, inventor and cultural icon, genius behind Apple-Mac’s business and technology phenomenon. From garage inventions to mega-business power plays with anecdotes about the evolution of devices, this was a tale for our times.

Read more…

It’s Friday and time to divulge into the recent MailBigFile news stories. Although news of late has been a little dry we do have some extra developments to bring to you this week. Also, did I mention it’s Friday?

1) MailBigFile’s Big Charity Day Brings Home A Big Charity Reward.
2) Want Business But Don’t Want The Cost? Try The New Business Lite Package.
3) Miscellaneous Changes To Business Accounts.

Read more…

Is Filesharing Always Illegal?

Eyebrows have been raised at the April 2012 announcement by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) that people suspected of infringing copyright laws by downloading digital material without a licence are unlikely to face anything much till 2014.

The Digital Economy Act (2010) was passed in the dying days of the last Labour Government after the voluntary agreements asked of the ISPs failed to stem the tide of illegal file sharing that was rampant across the web. It allows for a 12 month period of monitoring during which the freetards would receive warning letters from Ofcom somewhat stronger than merely ‘cease and desist’.

Read more…

Spare Time to Help Others Access Digital Worlds?

An ambitious new project has been launched in Britain with the declared aim: ‘Go ON UK aims to bring the benefits of the internet to every individual and every organisation in every community across the UK’. To state it even more boldly: to make the UK the technology hub of Europe!

Who Wants To?

On their website the organisation describes themselves as ‘a radical cross-sector partnership to make the UK the world’s most digitally capable nation where no one – old or disadvantaged- and no organisation – even the smallest – is left behind’. It is a mission statement with a powerful, and much needed, message.

Read more…

Obama Meets Zuckerberg; Steve Jobs’ Head Is Just Behind the President!

Just as Facebook gets set to ask investors for enough investment dollars to value it at $1000 billion, now they are asking for people to sign up to donate kidneys, eyes, heart and other vitals in the event of their deaths.

People can give blood while they are still alive. The two issues of cash and organs are not connected.

Facebook is to offer network users the facility to enrol for organ donation, giving a new dimension to their famous strapline: ‘Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life’.

Read more…

Source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Photography_g291-Art_Work_For_Travel_p39986.html

Knowing what works and what doesn’t when it comes to your website is unfortunately not as clear-cut or straightforward as you’d like. There’s a lot of statistics and analytics involved, and frankly, going through the data in these kinds of reports takes a lot of time and as well we all know, time means money.

Instead of putting together site reports and pouring through analytics data to find out why your conversion rates aren’t as high as they should be, you could consider doing some testing instead.

Read more…

The Cloud is a Business IT Solution

The case for both business and personal use of cloud services is becoming far less contentious or questionable as technology and processes improve, prices remain competitive and worries about computer security and system failures continue. Indeed, clouds are essential for businesses of every shape and size.

Business, especially small and medium ones, need no longer buy hardware and software licences or run their own in-house departments. They pay as they go for cloud-based services and what is do-able is fully comprehensive:

Emails, customer relationship management (CRM), payroll, application management, invoicing, web hosting, printing, collaboration, ecommerce platforms, spreadsheets, videos, music and online back-up.

Read more…