Category: Analysis
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Hurting your partners the Basecamp way
I was recently pointed towards this thread on github which I read with growing horror as the thread developed. Now, fair disclosure – I’ve never really liked Basecamp. In the words of an old friend, they appear to have confused “simple” with “simplistic” and released a product that left me in the position where I…
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Police misleading the public to pass the Investigatory Powers Bill?
I was browsing twitter this evening when I came across the following tweet, published by an agency that I have a lot of respect for, the National Crime Agency. They’ve been doing some work with Channel 4 and are publicising an upcoming documentary. Part of that campaign seems to have led to this tweet: The…
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Specialist operational teams: a thing of the past?
Almost two and a half years ago I wrote an article about the changing face of recruiting engineers and how vendors were talking about automating the configuration of networks. I had some doubts at the time but things have moved on from there. This week I’ve been attending the Oracle Communications Customer Advisory Board in Paris….
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Save harbour agreement threatened?
Edward Snowden’s revelations to the world about the US’ monitoring of communications is the gift that keeps on giving. The Advocate General to the EU Court of Justice has today issued a legal opinion which makes two findings: 1. That the Commission’s acceptance of US safe harbour arrangements does not override the ability of local…
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Have Tom Watson and David Davis inadvertently made things worse with DRIPA?
I was all ready to pen a nice article about The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA) after I attended a Home Office briefing Thursday at the ITSPA summer forum, however I’ve just seen this article from the BBC. Personally, I agree with both the courts and with Tom Watson, MP and David Davis, MP. The…
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Moving forward at the speed of technology
When companies I buy a service from send newsletters out they occasionally have some interesting tidbits and so I saw today’s newsletter from EE telling me that I could now make journeys through public transport in London by paying with my phone. I was a part of the recent TFL trial using contactless payment cards,…
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How Starbucks have ruined their brand
I am what people politely refer to as a “prosumer” when it comes to coffee. Suffice to say, Google Now tells me about driving time to two locations on a Saturday morning – the St John Ambulance operations center and the Starbucks Dunleavy Drive Thru and I will invariably have gone to at least one if…
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DRIP passed through first phase
It seems that the new Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill is going to get rushed through without any serious challenge. I’ve held back comment on the bill so far, unlike a range of people far more learned than I am, like David Allen Green, Lillian Edwards and even an FT Editorial [requires registration, free]…
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Is the field changing for Network Administrators?
Going through my news feed recently, I came across this interesting little gem: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/24/network_configuration_automation/ For those of you who can’t be bothered to read it, it’s an interesting piece on how the industry thinks the significant expense in running networks these days is in the administrators hired to configure and run it. Mike Banic, marketing VP for…
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Snowbound
It’s as much a certainty that this country descends into chaos when the white stuff hits the ground as it is that you’ll find hundreds of people ranting about how badly we cope with the snow. With our new HQ and Technical Centre of Excellent in Cwmbran, in South East Wales, there was significant potential…