Networked Nation Manifesto
Filed under: Community, Conversation, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services
Martha Lane Fox, the UK Digital Champion, today launches the Manifesto for a Networked Nation.
This is a rallying cry for the use of existing technology and networks, both technical and community, to be used to get people online.
Depending on the source, it it estimated that there are between six and ten million people in the UK who have never used, or do not have access to, the internet.
The Manifesto has two overarching and simple aims.
1. By the end of this Parliament, everyone of working age should be online.
2. No-one from now on should retire from work without web skills.
Lane Fox argues in the Manifesto that there is, in the current climate, no money available. However, the existing infrastructure in schools, libraries and JobCentres could and should be exploited further.
The Manifesto also argues that informal social networks and support groups have a strong role to play in getting everyone online to exploit the possibilities of e-communication for employment, citizenship, health and leisure.
In summary, the disadvantages of being offline are becoming so great, and growing at such a pace, that for reasons of social justice and economic necessity we must act now…
A loud cheer will go up throughout the Third Sector – and we can only hope that all the good work done in the sector to promote digital inclusion already is built upon.
You can find a copy of the Manifesto for A Networked Nation here.
Third Sector Web home page - find it here.
Can you handle a Zettabyte?
Filed under: Conversation, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services
Researchers for the company Cisco have recently published their forecasts on how web traffic will look in the immediate future.
Their findings indicate that all global web traffic will soon exceed half a zettabyte in just four years.
Cisco determine that web traffic will double every two years until 2012. This means that the internet will be 75 times larger in 2012 that it was in 2002.
Cisco also find that web video is an enormous driver for growth in traffic, both now and in the near future. This growth, in the conjoined ‘image and sound’ context of the web will create surprising web usage and reaction.
They don’t know, but it will have massive impact – perhaps more clearly put?
You can read the executive summary of the Cisco findings here.
The numbers related to internet usage and take-up continue to grow. Use the links here to find out what an exabyte or zettabyte is – we didn’t know either.
You can find the Third Sector Web home page here.
Google Docs extended and improved
Filed under: Community, Conversation, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services, google
Google have recently updated the features in Google Docs. Making collaboration easier and more effective, as well as adding a number of individual features in response to user requests.
Docs now has margin rulers and much easier image placement properties. In spreadsheets you can now drag and drop whole columns of data.
This movie gives you more detail into the new Google Docs functionality.
You can find more details of Google Docs development on the Google Docs blog. You can now collaborate with up to 50 people at once on one document and see the changes in the document in real time.
Google have added the latest java script developments into their product, offering faster and more effective ‘cloud’ documents.
You can find the home page of Third Sector Web here.
Lessons in iPad
Filed under: Apple, Conversation, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services
Apple have just released a set of illustrative tutorials that are designed to show you how slick and intuitive it is to use your forthcoming iPad.
We don’t care what the nay-sayers are up to – we think the iPad is an innovative and user friendly way to get web information. We did feature a test run for the iPad in a recent blog entry.
It isn’t designed to be a mass data engine, a gigantic generator of codes and complex graphics. It isn’t meant replace, at the moment, all the kit that is sitting on your desk at present.
Writing this piece we are facing three screens, two printers and assorted speakers, cables and external storage devices.
But if you want a fast, portable web reader with communication facilities then the iPad will, if you are like us, be a key purchase for us this year.
There are alternatives available already – like the Archos 9 netbook – a small, slick mobile solution. But does it have the wow factor that Apple offer?
You will probably need the Safari browser to get the best from your iPad tutorial experience. You can get it here.
You can visit the home page of Third Sector Web here.
The Internet of Things
Filed under: Community, Conversation, Microsoft, New Web Creations, New technology, Web services
We looked recently on this blog at where Microsoft thought the direction the technological world was going.
Below, this short film The Internet of Things is a vision of the same future from IBM.
Sensors will be linked to hardware and information generated will be filtered, analysed and used to make wise choices about our lives and activities.
IBM see the internet as the nerve backbone of the globe, which will generate a new concept of the Earth. A giant information generation system.
Welcome to the e-world. Whichever vision you cleave to, we are in for an interesting ride in the next twenty years.
What’s your agenda?
Filed under: Conversation, New Web Creations, Web services
We thought this new service from MeetingMix was a useful way to automate the subjects to be discussed at meetings.
Letting everyone know what you will be talking about and give them an opportunity to contribute to the proposed debate or business of the day will undoubtedly increase understanding and ownership of projects.
Shorter, faster more tuned in meetings must be right? Even for techies who can talk for weeks on one line of code…surely we don’t have anyone like that here?
MeetingMix lets you track time spent on agenda items, write the notes of the meeting and record the allocated action points.
If the debate wanders, you can even use the online system to ‘park’ items for future meetings.
A paid for service but at ten dollars a month, if like us you generate a lot of meetings, then MeetingMix is a good value, easy to use service. There is a free fourteen day trial offer on the website currently.
You can find the Third Sector Web home page here.
The WordPress Foundation
Filed under: Conversation, New Web Creations, Web services, WordPress
Matt Mullenweg has recently announced the establishment of the WordPress Foundation. Having created WordPress, the software this blog is running on, the WordPress Foundation takes the concept of the freely available platform another step forward.
Below are the philosophical principles that the Foundation seeks to apply. The aim being to preserve source code for future generations and to develop other freely available open source projects that themselves are perpetually available.
The software should be licensed under the GNU Public License.
The software should be freely available to anyone to use for any purpose, and without permission.
The software should be open to modifications.
Any modifications should be freely distributed at no cost and without permission from its creators.
The software should provide a framework for translation to make it globally accessible to speakers of all languages.
The software should provide a framework for extensions so modifications and enhancements can be made without modifying core code.
We love WordPress- we build both our own blogs and those of clients with it. Good luck to the Foundation and long may its aims thrive – stimulating creativity, contact in multiple languages and a better informed world. A great start to 2010 we think.
You can find the Third Sector Web home page here.
Using Apture on our blogs
Filed under: Conversation, New Web Creations, Web services
As a partnership we have cultivated over time a family of blogs to add extra value to our web pages and musings, including Dolphinbooksellers, and our partnership blog Changethinking.
We have been using the Apture service for a while now and particularly like the way that using it to link to Wikipedia articles opens up a wealth of new information around topics that readers can explore.
Did you notice the small summary icon in the top left of the Apture window, which opens when you hover your mouse over the link ‘little book’ icon next to our links?
You can click this and expand the detail of the Wikipedia page you have in view to see a full contents summary of the article related to the specific Thirdsector Tech link you are viewing.
We really love this service – a great way to dip into the pool of published knowledge as deep as you want to go, directly from our blog post.
You can find the home page of Third Sector Web here.
Apple iPad – can anything touch it?
Filed under: Apple, Conversation, New Web Creations, New technology
The Apple iPad has been revealed. Is it good? Yes it is. The video below shows how the machine works and how the innovative display is truly an advance on the laptop.
We were a minute or two into the presentation and beginning to be a little uncomfortable with the plethora of greats and fantastics (we are cynical here) – then you see the book store that just flips out from behind the book you are e-reading.
The calendar, maps and email functions look good and the battery life and movie experience on the iPad look great too.
‘How can something so thin and so light be so capable’ says a person in the film. We could become converted to Apple in our PC production world on the strength of this presentation.
For more detail you can find the press release about the iPad from Apple UK here.
Enjoy this movie from cnet.
You can find the home page of Third Sector Web here.
Internet explorer updates…continued
Filed under: Conversation, Security updates, Thirdsector Systems, Web services
Following on from our recent post about vulnerabilities in IE Microsoft have now published details of an out of sequence update for the range of IE browsers.
Having published details of recent attempts to use IE6 as a vehicle for attacks, Microsoft is now issuing security updates for all extant versions of its browser.
You can read the Microsoft advance warning here.
Visit the home page of Third Sector Web here.
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Tech news from CNN
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Although as old as gaming itself, software piracy has been making headlines lately, seen by many as a growing danger to a business just coming to grips with the transition to digital.
- Google Instant feeds real-time addiction
We use Apture
Our Thirdsector Tech blog uses the Apture service to add extra content to our posts.
You can hover your mouse over the 'little book' or 'mini-page' icons next to our links to access the additional information.