Phishing...

Given the people didn't seem to know what it was the other day: try this BBC article, especially given the spate of hotmail and gmail phishing problems.

Technology for the visually disabled

Just a quickie - but an important one.

A slideshow of stuff at a recent Technshare exhibition run by the Royal National Institute of Blind People. Lots of ways technology can make people's lives easier if they have a visual impairment.

And (and this is two for the price of one territory here...) a gizmo which allows people to read audio labels - little sticky labels with data in them. Potentially a brilliant way of using the potential of data stores to get smaller and smaller and employ an effective interface.

Cool.

Might be v useful to know about this sort of stuff.

We don't need no school (we got a learning platform)

Fantastic! The government is at least considering extending the summer holidays to reduce the spread of swine flu. Or maybe temporarily closing schools in the autumn (quick, everyone cough and complain of a sore throat!).

So, what do we do about the education stuff then?

Easy - use the interwebz.

Teachers can just set work via e-mail or on the web or on a learning platform and it can be done and sent back, checked and whathaveyou. Hey, we coul duse podcasts, quizzes and all sorts of stuff. Look, at what Becta (a government sort of agency) is thinking:

Becta's advice would include that schools make sure they have email addresses for parents and that teachers have access to the schools' websites from outside school, so they can set work.

Now, I know what you're thinking - there are some teachers (no, I won't name them, we all know who we're thinking about) who might find this rather complex. Well, yes, but think of the fun they'd have trying it out! Think how much they'd, err, learn...

Cackle.

And, you never know, this thing about using technology to help people learn might catch on. We might be bluetoothing video from mobile phones and listening to podcasts on iPods before we know it...

How the net keeps going (Holy webserver Batman...)

Interesting article from the BBC website summarising some thoughts on how the interweb keeps going. Happened across it on a ferry - now there's an example of increased connectivity.

The way data is divided up and sent around the internet in many jumps makes it "delicate and vulnerable" to attacks or mistakes.

However, Professor Zittrain added, the "random acts of kindness" of these unsung heroes quietly keep the net in working order.

"It's like when the Bat signal goes up and Batman answers the call," Professor Zittrain told BBC News.

The ferry was on it's way to Denmark from where I was going to Sweden - where there be pirates (letter's in the pirate alphabet? 1 - Ahhhh...), Some interesting points in a Newsnight article about the whole file sharing issue, which is becoming a fairly important political issue in Sweden.

It raises lots of questions - not least about the impact of fast internet connections on society. We can share files now, because of fast internet, so we do, so what impact does that have on our views about stuff like intellectual copyright and the ability of things like record companies to make money (or, logically, my words and pictures to be controlled by me).

One of the key things to realise is that Sweden, because of it's nature (big country, population v spread out) has really great, fast internet access. File sharing has become easier there quicker, so there's a more immediate impact on Swedish society. Perhaps.

Hmmm, that may be too deep for this time in the morning on ferry after about 8 cups of coffee. But important perhaps.

The technology of Wimbledon

Some interesting bits in this BBC news report.

I'll add some stuff to this when I can...

Copying? That's fine for reports.

OK, so you have a report which you want to use for more than one query.

You could make the report several times, but that's complex and time consuming and boring. And they probably won't end up looking the same because reports are a bit of a pig.

So, the easy thing to do is to copy the report

1. Copy and paste the report, renaming it as you go


2. Opening the report shows you that the same data is attached to it. Easy enough to solve if you know how - so open it in design view first.


3. Now click on the properties button on the toolbar

4. Make sure the All tab is selected and click on the name of the Data source in the first row.

5. Use the drop down at the end of the box to choose the name of the query you want to attach the new report to.


6. Close it all down, saving as you go and test it out.

Pips.

Who can't read this?

People without access to the web of course - who are also, as it happens, missing out on cheap rail fares.

But who is that? Who isn't online in this shiny, nearly brand new 21st Century?

Official statistics seem to show that the group of people who don't have web access include:

• the elderly
• the less educated
• women (no, really)
• possibly the more remote

In particular, the over 65s have less web access than anyone. Around 70% of this group have never accessed the web. That drops rapidly when you get to 55-65 year olds, but at present the retired element of the population - the group which is increasing, has more leisure time and an increasingly disposable income - is the worst off in terms of accessing that "so called information superhighway" (quote TM BBC news circa 1995...).

And not all the internet "have nots" are unwillingly so. When asked why they didn't have the internet almost 60% said they didn't need it or want. Twenty-seven percent cited the cost of equipment or internet access as too high while 15% thought they didn't have the requisite skills.

From Who doesn't have the internet?, from the BBC Magazine

The less educated is interesting. It seems that 93% of university graduates have home internet access, but that figure drops to 56% of those with no qualifications. I suppose this could be related to income and not having access at home doesn't have to cause an issue for people nowadays (libraries, schools etc...), but it is an interesting disparity. Interestingly we know from our own research at work that about 95% of Year 9 children have some form of internet access at home.

Ah, women. Really. 29% have never used the interwebz, compared to 20% of men. Honest. It says so.

The remote group is also interesting - probably it's because of a lack of infrastructure (the wires and whathaveyou) which slows or limits access to people who live in really, really remote areas (even more remote than Eastbridge, put it that way).

The numbers come from Who doesn't have the internet from the BBC.