May 2012
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Supporting old systems
The recent Microsoft-sponsored whitepaper from IDC illustrates how businesses utilising Windows are navigating their infrastructure between significant versions. From the established Windows XP, skipping over Windows Vista, and ignoring the forthcoming Windows 8; it seems we should arrive at a place where Windows 7 dominates. There’ll be movement away from Windows XP as the 2014 support deadline...
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Celebrating Adult Learners’ Week 2012 #ALW12
This week (12 - 18 May 2012) is Adult Learners’ Week - a showcase of the opportunities available to people of all ages to develop new skills, whether for business or pleasure.
Adult learning and professional development is a subject that’s close to our heart. When you look at the stats, you’ll see why. According to e-skills UK’s Technology Insights 2011 report:
The IT & Telecoms sector...
April 2012
3 posts
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National Skills Academy for IT launches Training...
In case our DAPP announcement wasn’t enough, we’ve also got great news on our Training Provider Network.
Launching this week with 17 founding partners, the National Skills Academy for IT can offer IT professionals additional access to learning resources.
Online learning offers the opportunity for study anywhere, at any time, at a pace to suit the student.
Support from universities, colleges,...
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Results from our Programming Pool pilot
At the end of January, we heard from Christine Hodgson, chairman at Capgemini UK, about the issues faced by CIOs in recruitment.
With the development of new skills becoming ever more accessible with the increased availability of online learning, it seems difficult to explain why the UK’s IT sector isn’t exploiting opportunities to upskill the workforce.
Don’t fret - there are some shining...
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March 2012
7 posts
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“To have awards just for women is to patronise...
Yesterday, renowned figures from the business and IT sector recognised and celebrated the UK’s most talented women working within the technology sector at the Cisco everywoman in Technology Awards in London.
The winners were chosen by a panel of judges from the industry for having demonstrated excellence within their field and having acted as role models to future generations.
Commenting on...
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Use it or lose it - the sad truth about training...
Employees inevitably account for the biggest chunk of many organisations’ budgets. They are also any organisation’s greatest asset.
The benefits of offering staff training and creating an environment which encourages self-development are well documented: better skilled employees have better morale, and people valued and cared for are more productive, more committed, and are more likely to...
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Get Mentoring - Help boost capability and capacity...
via e-skills.com
Be part of a growing community of volunteer business people who are coming forward to mentor other small business owners, through the Get Mentoring initiative. Mentoring can be a great way of boosting capability and capacity within a sector or supply chain. Free training is available to help you develop the skills required to be an effective business mentor.
Get Mentoring,...
February 2012
6 posts
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“The API is designed to tackle high-value use cases related to gaming, and is not...”
– Vibration API Working Draft from W3C
Try it out at html5do.com
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Keep IT quiet
First time I heard the term Consumerisation of IT I thought, “Oh no, someone found me out!”
You see; new to my technician post I was greeted by the folks who never got on with the last guy, and who saw an opportunity to get their ideas aired and their most trivial of problems fixed.
Suggestions came as blunt as, “We need guest wifi in reception”, or as subtle hints like, “I’ve always said - we...
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6 key skills new IT grads are lacking
“It’s a horrible thing to say, but there’s just not enough time [in college to learn] all the skills that people need to be successful. We are expecting more and more, and universities are supplying more, but we’re asking for still more”
So says Greg Taffet, CIO of U.S. Gas & Electric in North Miami Beach, in a recent article in ComputerWorld which has...
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Computers have feelings too
Sensing input devices are a recent innovation, perhaps seeming like a flash in the pan. Microsoft Kinect made quite an impression, dominating in the press, and soaking up many many weekends for enthused hackers.
I admire the stance Microsoft took open sourcing the Kinect drivers. It takes courage to embrace any resulting crazy ideas born of your technology. Some truly inspirational hacks came...
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“The higher take-up rates for tablet owners make sense for an app such as Mint’s....”
– Why Mint on Android tablets could boost its user base - GigaOm Mobile
See also - Curl up with cloud computing
January 2012
4 posts
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Mobility - #ByteIT
by @mled
“How do I get email on my iPhone?” - so popular, it’s top of the intranet FAQ.
The abuse that email gets never ceases to amuse me. It’s a repository for many thousands of attachments, it’s a To Do list that others love to add items to in passive aggressive tones, and much more. We seem to crowbar in new uses for it all the time.
I hate the phone call that chases an email, probing...
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Site down for maintenance
We will be carrying out some site maintenance on Saturday 4 February 2012.
This will require a temporary shutdown of our e-Books section between 12pm and 6pm.
Should you have any comments, concerns or questions, then please contact us.
We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.
The National Skills Academy for IT
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Make IT Happy 2012
e-skills UK has just announced this year’s Make IT Happy, the annual technology competition for primary schools.
This year’s theme is Make IT Healthy, and we’re challenging pupils and teachers to show us how they’re using IT to improve their own or others’ health – whether that’s physical, mental or emotional. Any project on a health-related topic that uses technology could be a winner – why not...
December 2011
1 post
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November 2011
8 posts
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“Unfortunately for its practitioners, the perception of IT isn’t on the reform...”
– Contractor UK
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“…the only way out of the cybersecurity skills crisis is for a massive...”
– When the Cybersecurity S**t Hits the Fan - Computer Weekly Blogs
October 2011
27 posts
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“IT contractors, it seems, are rather more ‘cuddly’ in their approach to working...”
– Job Stability Tops the Wish List of IT Contracting Specialists - Crystal Umbrella
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Lenny Zeltser on Information Security: How... →
lennyzeltser:
Though endpoint antivirus tools may differ in their implementation of malware-detection approaches, the tend to incorporate the same 4 essential techniques. In an article for SearchSecurity, I described at a high level how these techniques function, covering:
Signature-based detection
Heuristics-based detection
Behavioral detection
Cloud-based detection
Read the full...
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Beyond the call of duty
by @mled
The job title “sysadmin” commands respect in certain circles, and symbolises a devotion to duty. XKCD illustrates this beautifully. As a young technician, I was inspired by war stories from the battle-scarred heroes of corporate IT.
Evenings in the pub saw these unassuming yet admired few recite tales that could have us hanging on every word, chuckle at the fate of the unfortunate...
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“The combination of new devices with pervasive connectivity and plentiful online...”
– Beyond the PC - Mobile digital gadgets are overshadowing the personal computer, says Martin Giles. Their impact will be far-reaching.
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Computeractive survey finds office workers lack...
Source: Computeractive
British office workers struggle with computers and other office equipment because they have a lack of basic IT know-how.
A survey of 2,000 office workers commissioned by Computeractive found that instead of making working life easier, technology can make it more difficult and a very large proportion of people blamed faulty IT devices for many of their woes.
A quarter...
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“The new fabrication process is said to increase the size of the LEDs available,...”
– Samsung makes LED breakthrough that turns windows into display screens (via thenextweb)
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.NET programmers in demand
Source: I Programmer
Are you a newbie programmer looking for a job? It seems your best bet is to opt for .NET.
According to technical jobs website, Dice.com, companies in the US have posted more than 10,000 positions requesting .NET experience - a 25 percent increase compared to last year’s .NET job count.
Alice Hill, managing director at Dice.com, describes Microsoft .NET as,...
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The Five Identity Management Settings Every Cloud...
Source: kinvey.com
Here is a list of the basic permission settings we think each cloud management portal should have:
1. Multiple user accounts/groups within a company account that can have different permissions
2. Permissions based on resource type (database, VMs instances, load balancers)
3. Permissions based on action severity (adding capacity or assets vs removing, read-only...
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“Happy employees who have lives outside of work are better than unhappy employees...”
– How to find, hire and keep top technical talent - The Next Web (via thenextweb)
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If Google’s Management Doesn’t Use Google+, Then...
Source: Mashable
One of the most important rules in software is to eat your own dog food. The concept is simple: If you have confidence in your product, you use it.
Perhaps somebody should tell that to Google’s senior management, because the people in it are not eating their own dog food when it comes to Google+.
During the madness that was the launch of the iPhone 4S, we stumbled across an...
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