Categories
Business social networking

Social media accounts for startups

I’ve started to separate personal social media accounts from the blog. Although trefor.net is named after me I want to depersonalise it so that downstream it wont rely on me. I ultimately envisage a small staff of developers and editorial types running the site whilst I swan off to conferences in exotic places, the golf course etc etc.

So far I have separated the google accounts – [email protected] is now a pure play gmail account (if I can put it like that) and have done some work on Twitter. @trefornet is the “official” business twitter handle though not one of those verified jobs you see with a tick – one can but dream 🙂

There is already a trefor.net Facebook page (like it if you will) though it will need some work doing to it and regular post upates. That will come more easily when I have a developer on board.

I have also enabled a Google+ profile for [email protected]. This will need some thought as to modus operandi. Google likes to recognise people rather than businesses. I suspect that we will end up with every bit of content frm the blog being linked to on the trefor.net page but only my own stuff on my personal one. There is already a trefor.net page on Google+ that hasn’t been updated for years.

LinkedIn will also need some work. I’ve updated my profile but will have to give some thought as how best to use it. LinkedIn, which I used to largely ignore as a vehicle for people to get jobs or sell things, is going to become more useful (now that I’m selling things). Networking is the name of the game really, in more ways than one.

Much of the development of the blog will rely on having a developer on board. So far there hasn’t been a rush of applications so I’m going to have to step up the activity levels there. Working out of a business innovation centre in Lincoln this seems to be a common thread. A business these days needs to work online and needs web development skills.

There is a good Computer Science Dept at the University of Lincoln so it isn’t as if there isn’t a supply of grads out there. Lots of students would like to stay in the town where they went to University if they could. They typically associate the location with having a good time. At least that’s how it was in my day :). Next week I’m going to pop round and have a chat with the prof. He’s just round the corner from the office.

The whole social media thing is important because this site needs to be a living organism, interacting with its readers in many ways. What’s more by “embedding” itself in social networks we will know more about the readers although I’m totally cool with people using anonymised credential when leaving comments. The value of a business lies with its customers and whilst they aren’t paying for anything,the readers are in fact customers.

As Trefor Davies over the years I have built up a reasonable sized network of contacts using social media. Trefor.net the business is tarting from scratch although obviously there is going to be a high degree of cross fertilisation to begin with. It will be interesting to see, for example, how the Twitter follower count for @trefornet, currently  0, grows compared with @tref, currently 2,572. @trefornet will be more informational and a feedback channel as opposed to the drivel that @tref often spouts:)

Anyway that’s enough waxing on. Got social media profiles to write etc and I’m off out to lunch at a posh restaurant in Nottingham today so must go.

tata

Categories
Business engineering google social networking

Google Apps update – trefor.net is now working

trefSince Monday I’ve been trying to set up a Google Apps for Business account for trefor.net. I kept getting rejected with a message saying that “the domain trefor.net was already in use”.

I was using it via my personal gmail account – picking up trefor.net emails pulled from my Timico POP3 mailbox. Deleted any reference to trefor.net in my personal mailbox then when Google continued to reject my efforts to register a new apps account I discovered you have to wait 24 hours for “things to filter through the system”.

Over 24 hours later it still didn’t work and I made a comment to this effect on Twitter. Twitter is a truly powerful networking tool.  @AndyCDoyle offered to help and this lunchtime, having started to raise a ticket with Google, he found that there was already a Google Apps account for trefor.net. Funnily enough it was one I registered meself years ago. I’d totally forgotten about it.

A password reset came through to the recovery email address, my own personal gmail account,  and hey presto I was up and running. Ish. It does take time to learn how to navigate your way around and I can see why a business might want to contract the setup out to an IT consultant.

One thing that flummoxed me was that in all the help guides it says you have to verify that the domain is yours. None of the relevant fields appeared on my screen so either I had already done it (certainly don’t recall that which I’m beginning to find out perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise) or when I signed up for Google Apps you didn’t need to do that step. I suspect the former is true.

Setting up email was easy. I just had to modify the Timico hosted zone files so that the MX records pointed at 5 google servers. Once that was done it worked straight away. Simples. I can now add aliases to my heart’s content and because the account was set up before Google started charging it’s all free. Result!

It would appear that I can have up to ten users in the free account which is going to do me for the forseeable future. Not figured out how much storage I get yet but I have over 100GB in my other account thanks to me buying a Chromebook so that should be fine for a couple of years.

I’ve already set up some aliases including one for use in tradeshow registrations that is automatically filtered and archived 😉

Important to make a bit of progress every day and this is progress.

PS As you may have noticed at the top of this post I’m experimenting with new profile pics. Have managed to change my personal gmail pic but struggling with  one for the new trefor.net account. Keeps telling me the jpg photo is an invalid file. Google Apps is great for many things but it ain’t perfect and seems to have plenty of bugs that need kluges to work around. Not figured out a kluge for the profile pic yet.

PPS big thanks to Andy Coyle. Was surprised to hear he has a broad Mancunian accent. Shouldn’t have been because he lives in Manchester but that’s Twitter for you. Andy there will be a beer waiting for you when I come up for UKNOF27. Also you might want to think about using his services especially if you are in the Manchester area. His website is here.

Ciao all.

Categories
Engineer engineering

Growth in UKNOF attendee registration suggests healthy industry

With a couple of weeks to go the regular UK Network Operators Forum (UKNOF) meeting is seeing very healthy growth in registrations.
uknofattendees2_545

Take a look at the chart. Waaay back in the actually not too distant past UKNOF1 in May 2005 had 47 folk in attendance.

If you are in the game you will recognise quite a few names there.

Today, at the time of writing and with a couple of weeks to go, there are 232 people signed up.

A fair bit of this growth has come in the last 12 months which must sure be an emulation of other economic indicators. Although not all companies are doing well the well run ones are. I’d expect the final numbers for UNKNOF27 to exceed 250.

UKNOF meetings are not for the layman but if you are in the business the agenda reads very well – indicators of what’s going on in the internet plumbing world.

This meeting includes talks on:

  • progress with the new generic top level domains by Leo Vegoda ICANN – remember the industry is expanding from the relatively short list of domain suffixes (.com, .net etc) to include hundreds more (/plumbing, .sexy, .photography etc)
  • 100GigE rollout at Janet by Rob Evans (ref yesterday’s post on Janet)
  • DDOS equals pain by Richard Bible

These are all subjects that, if you but knew it, affect everyone on the planet one way or another. We may all want a website that uses the new gtld (.plumbing might become cool:) ).  Faster home broadband means that networks need faster and faster connections to carry the traffic back and forth from the internet (etc). 100GigE which has been in development for years was first mentioned on this blog back in 2010 but still only has 2 organisations using it in the UK (BT & Janet).

You may not notice a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack but every now and again if you have problems accessing particular websites there is a fair chance that this is because of DDOS. Even an individual broadband connection occasionally gets attacked – usually if the person at the end of that broadband has upset someone else. The internet is certainly still in the wild wild west web stage.

The fact that sponsors line up to support these events is a testament to the quality of the meetings and of the attendees.

That’s it for now. I’m going to UKNOF27 and will perhaps update on final numbers on the day.

PS took me ages to get the chart exported from google spreadsheet. There is a known bug that has been at least 2 years in the fixing (not). In the end I had to take a screenshot!

Categories
broadband Engineer

Well Done, Rob Evans @rhe #Janet

janet_office_speedDay two in the big brother house new office (spoken with  Geordie accent) and I’ve just done a broadband speed test. For the moment my network connection is a WiFi hotspot on a 4 year old iMac which is in turn connected to an Ethernet socket in the wall. Tomorrow we will be bringing in a router.

With this setup I’ve just done a speed test and as you can see got 66Mbps down with an equally good 40Mbps up. Impressivo. Remember this is through the iMac.

speed_fast_smallThe iMac itself connected directly to the Ethernet port gets even better speeds. On this occasion 141Mbps down and a whopping (the Sun says) 208Mbps up.

This must be a GigE LAN. Will have to investigate. I’m told that in the wee small hours when most of the whole wide world is fast asleep it gets even faster. It’s likely constrained by the speed of the Ethernet card in the Mac. Clearly it’s must be locally shared bandwidth.

This is all because the network is run by the University of Lincoln who of course will be attached to Janet.

At this point I’d like to thank Rob Evans (@rhe), who runs the Janet network, for his efforts here. Rob doesn’t mess about down at 1Gbps speed I know. He is more into 100GigE but nevertheless thanks Rob 🙂

I had intended to do some trade study work into various broadband services as part of being able to recommend providers. In the case of the office this would be futile so I will at some point do it on my home connection. I currently use Timico and see no real reason to change seeing as I know the network.

However I sense that I will want to move to FTTP on demand and also as a consumer might want to avail myself of TV and or sport bundles which as a B2b pureplay Timico doesn’t offer so watch this space for news on that score.

Categories
Business fun stuff

Kettles and fridges

I bought a kettle last night, or at least Anne did when she was in Tesco. Uhuh I hear you say?

The new trefor.net offices (room 18 in Sparkhouse Lincoln) are in a managed offices building purposely built for startups. It’s great fair play. The only thing is that in finding one’s feet (if one may express it in that manner) one finds the little idiosyncrasies (I had to check the spelling of that word) with one’s accommodation. At least they are things that you have to get used to (slipping back into the vernacular).

This little idiosyncrasy is that the kitchen doesn’t have a kettle. I saw someone wandering along the corridor kettle in hand and thought oy oy, nicking the kettle eh? No as it turns out. Everyone has their own kettle. Fair enough.

Yesterday was my first day in the office. I bought a cup of tea from the caff downstairs. It cost £1.65 or something similar – large one of course. Not sustainable though. This is a start up for goodness sake. At umpteen cups of tea a day we’d very soon be going back to the well for refinancing. I’d rather keep the funds for beer.

For the rest of yesterday I contented myself with drinking water from the recycled cardboard cup that the caff had given me.

Today on the way down to work – it’s a 30 minute walk from my house – I’m expecting the pounds to drop off – I stopped off at Tesco Express and bought a pint of milk and a box of PG Tips. When I got in I made a cup of tea. In yesterday’s cardboard cup. I forgot to get a mug.

Later on I’ll pop out to Debenhams and treat meself to a new mug. You can do that when you work for yourself you know 🙂 ! It’s only round the corner. Handy.

I did wonder what the etiquette for leaving milk in the fridge would be. Will it get nicked if I leave it there? Others seem to have taken the risk so I’ve scribbled the letter T in biro on the lid and put in in there. What’s the downside? 60p? I could always pinch borrow someone elses 🙂

kettleAside from the mug buying decision I think I’ve also just about decided to invest in a small drinks fridge for the office. The sort with Budweiser branding etc. I’m not a Budwiser drinker but it looks cool enough (pun not intended – it just slipped out). That way I can also keep other forms of liquid in the office at the correct temperature.

The inspiration for this was Sir Terry Matthews who has, or used to have a drinks fridge in his office. V civilised I’d say. I’ll keep you posted re the fridge and the mug. I know it will be of interest. I’ll also have to get some trefor.net branded mugs done at some stage. We will have to get the megamug competitions going again.

Just to finish off on the right is a photo of the current brewing setup.

ttfn.

Categories
Business google

New business bank accounts for startups and problem with Google Apps for Business domain

Went to open a business bank account yesterday. It’s not opened yet. There are hoops to jump through, despite the fact that I have been with the same bank since I was a kid.

In fact the business bank manager was able to do nothing apart from record the details of the new business. Approval has to be gained by some examining committee or other. He couldn’t even look online to see what trefor.net was all about. There is no internet access at the bank. Quite a good thing really when you think about it.

It’s all about money laundering. I had the same issues in having to prove who I was at the accountant and the lawyers. In fact the lawyer, Helen, told me they had to reauthenticate my identity every three years. I guess a lot could change in three years. I might have a sex change. It isn’t without precedent in this industry.

My main concern in seeing the bank manager was the charges. As a start up it’s free for 18 months which is good. However preparing already for the future I had taken a quick skeet online to see what it would cost eighteen months hence. The numbers weren’t particularly attractive. Looking a bit closer whilst in at the bank I found that online banking was pretty much free. I don’t plan on doing much non online banking. It reaffirms that everything needs to be online and automated.

When starting Timico one of the first things we did was to take on an accountant, also coincidentally called Helen (highly efficient and top operator 😉 ). Pretty much everything is going to be outsourced at trefor.net so I’m intitially doing it all myeslf. I imagine the only skills we will really need will be editorial and web development (see ad – if you know anyone we are hiring).

Anyway the banking ball is rolling. Next up VAT  number.

The other bit of “progress” yesterday was to get an advert up on the Lincoln University graduate jobs board. I like the idea of creating local jobs. A developer could in theory work from anywhere. Anywhere with a decent internet connection and as long as it was within reasonable reach of Greenwich Mean Time. I want the developer to be in the same room as me. Ideas grow when you can bounce them off people.

trefor.net is actually going to be a partnership. More about Matt, the other partner, later. Sometime over the Christmas break Matt and I met in a pub for lunch and to work on the spec for the forthcoming website refresh. We sat next to each other working on the same document on our own laptops. We chatted about the content we could see in front of us and each made changes to the doc in real time based on our discussion.

Now this is also doable remotely using hangouts and video conferencing but on that occasion it suited us to “do lunch”. Google Apps is looking like an invaluable set of tools for us and trefor.net will be using a Google Apps for Business account.

In theory this is straightforward to set up. However in practice it hasn’t been so. This is because I already had  the trefor.net domain associated with my personal gmail account. After an initial flurry of investigation following a message that told me “this domain is already in use” I figured out a plan.

Stop mail forwarding from Timico’s mail servers & access mail via webmail interface, delete all references to trefor.net on my gmail account, set up domain in new Google Apps For Business Account and repoint Timico mail servers at that mailbox. Turns out Timico wasn’t forwarding the mail but Gmail was pulling it from the POP3 mailbox.

What’s more having done all this Google still wouldn’t let me set up the new account with that domain. Now I find I have to wait 24 hours. So tonight’s job will again be setting up the google Apps for Business account. In principle we could get away without a business account but I want the ability to manage multiple aliases from one gmail account.

One of the things that’s put me off email after nearly ten years at Timico is the amount of “legitimate” spam that comes through. With the new business I will be using a specific alias for all online registrations which I can then filter into a separate folder away from harms way and my line of sight.  I know that some people use different specific email aliases for different registrations so that they can see who is selling the contact database. I’d be interested in hearing any results of doing this. Naming and shaming.

Got to go. VAT number to sort out. Ciao.

Categories
Business social networking

twitter vs phone response times

Back in action proper today after the holidays with lots to sort out.  First day in the new office – Sparkhouse business innovation centre at Lincoln University’s Enterprise@Lincoln building. Day one jobs include opening a bank account and stepping up the staff search activity. Christmas got in the way to a large degree. In fact most of December did:)

Over the Christmas break I had occasion to order a takeaway from The Castlegate Indian Restaurant. You know the one. It’s by Lincoln Castle’s Westgate next to the Victoria pub. It was Boxing Day and our son Tom’s birthday. A curry is traditional on this occasion so I rang them at around 10.30 to check that they were open. Nobody answered! Huh!

I checked their website and saw that they didn’t normally open until 4.30pm. Fair enough I thought. I was six hours too early. As an afterthought I dropped them a line on Twitter @CastlegateLincs. We follow each other. Within five minutes I had a response telling me that yes they were indeed open that day.

This for me is a prime example of how communications are going to change, already changing in fact. I can see the day where @CastlegateLincs will hardly ever use the phone. Why should we bother with a phone? It clearly didn’t do the job for me on that occasion. I realise that calls can be forwarded but that didn’t happen.

The phone is also a medium where mistakes can be made, misunderstandings, not hearing someone correctly when they speak their meal requirements. It’s the reason why businesses automate processes, or they should do. Moreover paying someone to answer the phone adds to the overhead of your business. Automation is going to permeate our lives to the extent that we won’t bother dealing with businesses who don’t make themselves easy to interact with. Check out this oldish post re trying to book a dental appointment. Every business, no matter what type, needs to move online.

This blog is an online entity. We haven’t even got a printer. Will have to see how we get on with that one:) There will always be occasions where you need to speak to someone but that doesn’t have to be done using a telephone.

@CastlegateLincoln is a prime example of the trend. Using the telephone I got no response but Twitter worked in very short order. Now they just need an online booking system.

Categories
End User mobile apps

Death of the clock radio? #tuneinradio

image

A few weeks ago our expensive DAB clock radio died. It never worked  particularly well at low volumes which is what we need when lying in bed but it was useful in being able to easily tune into lots of different DAB channels.

We replaced it with the FM clock radio from our son Tom’s room. Tom no longer lives at home and he doesn’t need it. The only problem with Tom’s radio is that whilst it works find you have to manually tune it with the dial on the side of the radio.

So this morning, which is Sunday morning, we are lying in bed listening to the radio when, of course it being Sunday, the Sunday service came on (Radio4). This is always the cue to switch off.

At the same time @mrstevenallen who is a radio presenter and comedian I engage with occasionally on Twitter mentioned that he was on air on 107.5 fm somewhere in deepest Essex . I tried clicking on the links he provided to listen in but none of them seem to work very well on my android. The TuneIn radio app, however, worked a treat so in I listened.

I mentioned to Steve that I was listening and even got a mention myself on the radio (yay fame at last).

After listening for a few minutes I decided to move on – the music was not really to my taste. Instead of faffing around manually with the bedside radio i just tried a few channels  in the “recent” list on TuneIn radio. I hopped around a couple avoiding the inevitable religious content and settled on radio 3.

The clock radio will die off. With TuneIn radio on my phone  providing many more channels at the click of a thumb why should I bother? When I eventually get up the radio will just follow me, using the phone whereas before TuneIn radio I would have had separate radios in the bathroom the kitchen etc etc etc.

The only value the clock radio now provides me is a large digital display showing the time. Being nearly blind I can just about make this out through blurry eyes on the neon display first thing in the morning.

I can’t imagine our kids, who all have android phones, going out and buying a clock radio when they leave home.

Another household appliance destined for a museum display cabinet?

Time go get up.

PS this post was mostly dictated using the wordpress app for android.

Categories
End User fun stuff

The Christmas tree is dead, bring on 2014

xmastreeThese days Christmas, much to my wife’s annoyance, is technology filled. Life is, in fact, technology filled. Us kids sit around buried in our gadgets, often having more of a conversation online than in real life.

We still though like the romantic images of Christmas time. Carol singing round the Christmas tree (I do it even if you don’t), the parties with bright lights and clink of champagne bottles (yes), the excitement of Christmas morning running downstairs to see if he’s been (he came – I must’ve been a good boy).

However everything has its time and now it’s all over for another year. The decorations are coming down as I write and the dead, needle shedding tree lies a shadow of its former self on the wood pile at the bottom of the garden. In our case this is just in front of last year’s tree which is still in the same place as I left it 12 months ago.

The discarded tree seems a total non-technological contrast with everything else that goes on. Twitter, Facebook, tablets, smartphones, trefor.net (:) ) etc etc etc

We are getting our house back, once the noise of the hoover has died down. My body needs a break from its December-long abuse. A period of simple living in which we need to get on with what will be an exciting 2014.

See ya.

PS It’s raining, a lot.

Categories
Business ofcom Regs

Non-Geographic Villainy

Unless you’ve been in Outer Mongolia, on the Moon, or unconscious for the last few years, the trials and tribulations of the non-geographic numbering regime won’t have escaped you.

We’ve had the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (“BIS”) implementing the European Consumer Rights Directive which mandated the use of basic rate (don’t ask what that really means) numbers for post-contract queries. This came with a list of exemptions so long and complicated it’ll be beyond many on the coalface advising service providers on their telecommunications. The initial drafting also made it unlawful to use a freephone number for around 9 months between June 2014 and March 2015. Thankfully, BIS has recognised this as an issue and has apparently changed the drafting to say that you can use a higher revenue sharing number than just free to caller, geographic or 03 (the original proposal) but you have to offer a refund if you used a higher one. I am yet unclear whether that is a refund on just Ofcom’s proposed Service Charge or the combination of the Access Charge and Service Charge in the new regime coming into force in 18 months (more on that in a second).

We’ve also had PhonepayPlus intervening in requiring signposting services

Continue reading “Non-Geographic Villainy”
Categories
Business voip hardware

Time of Day traffic and the Patterns of Life by Colin Duffy

This is a Time of Day telephony traffic graph – I’ve been looking at them for most of my working life. For a normal business day they pretty much always look like this:


This is how business people use telephones on a normal working day.

They generally get into the office and start making calls at about 9am, work steadily up to about midday, then have a spot of lunch. They come back at 2pm and start calling again, then everything starts tailing off about 4pm as people start thinking of home – or beer, or both.

Telephone exchanges have to be built to cope with the traffic at the busiest hour of the day so since the very earliest days of telecommunications telephone companies have been trying to reduce the height of those peaks and spread the load more evenly.

A call at a peaks adds a cost but a call either side of a peak adds a profit.

As you can see, the network is doing practically nothing after 6pm

Continue reading “Time of Day traffic and the Patterns of Life by Colin Duffy”
Categories
Apps chromebook End User

Samsung Chromebook crash fix and print drivers – who needs em?

chromebookThe Samsung Chromebook was the subject of a number of blog posts in the latter part of 2013. The conclusion was generally good though not perfect with a specific mention of the touchpad locking up quite annoyingly on occasion.

Well in the last few weeks the good ole Samsung Chromebook has been hanging on me to the point where I almost considered it unusable. I figured this was just an extension of the touchpad problem. Don’t think it is. Googling comes up with lots of other people with the same problem with all sorts of suggested solutions that didn’t seem to do it. This included switching to the beta version of Chrome OS. Not sustainable.

One clue came with the suggestion of logging in as a guest to see if the same problem exists. This provides a “clean” instance of Chrome without any extensions you might have installed yourself. Maybe it was an extension problem. I figured I’d bypass the guest login stage and just see if there were any obvious rogue extensions, bearing in mind I’ve not had the Chromebook that long and am wary of sticking in extensions in any case.

Microsoft’s Ctrl Alt Delete doesn’t work for Task Manager on the Chromebook. It’s simpler than that  – shift esc. There was nothing immediately obvious. Then I looked at the list of extensions. I had Google Cast, Tweetdeck, Alexa Traffic Rank, Proxlet Tweet Filter (uh? must go with Tweetdeck?), Tweetdeck Launcher and rollApp File Opener. I installed the latter when I was having problems opening a Powerpoint file. I don’t recall it making any difference and have not used it since.

I zapped rollApp. The problem appears to have gone away. Sorted. There you go. All your Chromebook IT issues sorted. Anytime. Just let me know.

Just to finish off I had intended to write a post on how easy it is to print from the Chromebook. Supposedly you have to use the Google Cloud Print Service. I don’t recall setting this up. I just press print and the Chromebook sees my home printer and off it goes. None of this loading driver stuff one has to do with other operating systems. Simples.

Categories
Business ecommerce

Online Xmas shopping – delivery charges almost as much as the goods

I did most of my Christmas shopping online this year. Amazon. Who would want to face the elbow sharpened housewives and desperate present seeking husbands in the high street scrum?

The shopping, aside from actually deciding what to buy for individual relatives, was easy. The shock came in finding out the total bill when Postage and Packing was included.  Although I didn’t leave it till the last minute I wasn’t exactly an early bird shopper so to make sure the presents were delivered in time to ensure happy smiling faces on the big day I paid for first class delivery in each case.

Check out the costs below. I left out the items with free delivery as these were largely bigger ticket purchases with the delivery buried in the total cost. Out of the total cost of £63.27,  £22.06 was delivery!!!

Item(s) Subtotal: £15.75
Postage & Packing: £6.72
Total: £22.47

Item(s) Subtotal: £15.19
Postage & Packing: £3.34
Total: £18.53

Item(s) Subtotal: £7.99
Postage & Packing: £6.50
Total: £14.49

Item(s) Subtotal: £2.28
Postage & Packing: £5.50
Total: £7.78

Total items £41.21
Total Postage & Packing £22.06

Total cost £63.27

I think I’m going to invest in UPS shares. There is a service called Amazon Prime which provides free delivery on many items for an annual cost of around fifty quid. This starts to look good value all of a sudden.

The smallest item at £2.28 was a pack of 20 ear plugs for my sister. Never let it be said I don’t buy exciting presents #generoustoafault. Delivery was over 2x the cost of the ear plugs!!!

Interesting to see how the business model for postal services is changing. Other than Christmas cards I doubt that we send many physical letters anymore. Also most of our bills are received electronically. Since finishing work on 20th December I have sent 17 emails from my gmail account. That’s over the holiday period. There will also have been umpteen IMs and sms’. But I still spent £22.06 on postage!

Categories
End User wearable

Pebble Smart Watch – User Review by @djchug

If like me you are a fan of gadgets and new technology (yes I’m a bit of a geek)  no doubt you would have read in the tech media about the tremendous success that the ‘Pebble Smart Watch’ received through it’s Kick Started crowd funding. (if not Google it) it’s an interesting read.

I suspect through that media coverage led me to consider purchasing a Pebble, so what is it, in very basic terms it’s a bluetooth connected digital wristwatch that connects to your mobile and issues notifications.

As useful as that may be, there is however many other valuable benefits to ownership of a Pebble.  Music control allows the access of your music library on your mobile directly from your wrist, there are fitness apps. if you are that way inclined (I’m no runner) easy to set/review/delete alarms, changeable watch faces (analogue/digital/multi info screens) there are also many useful apps via Google Play or the I tunes store, ( new ones being developed via open SDK) that leads me onto one of the best things about Pebble, yes you got it, it works on Android or iOS.

For me using it for the last few weeks I have found that I no longer carry my mobile with me everywhere I go, I no longer worry if I will miss that urgent business call I’ve been waiting for, miss that email that confirms I have just won the contract or thinking before I jump in the shower that will I get a text any minute now saying my breakfast meeting has been cancelled. Yes you got it it’s also waterproof so now rather than getting out of the shower to answer that PPI call or “I’m calling about that accident you had’ I can now smugly dump the call directly from my wrist, this is the only way the watch communicates back to your mobile.

On to the money aspect, if you shop around you can pick one up off ebay for about £120 the retail I think is around the £160 mark, I have purchased a few apps. so far they are inexpensive I’ve got SmartWatchPro, Big Time, SmartWatch+ and SmartStatus. Big Time is what it says it is, very large clear to read 24 hr digital so it’s now saying 17 47 thats it, it wakes when you move your wrist quickly which conserves the battery but no worries with battery life although I have not yet run it flat but they say 5-7 days life much better that the 25 hours quoted for the Galaxy Gear (that only works with the Galaxy Note 3) I’m sure that will change when they realise they will not sell many with that restriction. What if you buy a Galaxy Gear and fancy a go with an iOS mobile or device (on ebay it goes for about £50)

The other apps. I purchased I did because I like the option of having more data pushed onto my wrist, with SmartWatchPro I get Twitter,  Calendar, Reminders, Weather, GPS, Battery indication for the mobile and a feature I find really useful is Find My Phone, how many times have you rang your own mobile to find it only to find it’s on silent, this will omit a beep on the phone when connected to the pebble.

As I have purchased the Pebble over the holiday period I have yet to use the killer feature for me at least, the amount of times I have found myself in a meeting with a client and knowing that I’m expecting a call to say I’ve just won another contract, obviously I’m not rude enough to keep looking at my mobile but now I will get a small vibration on my wrist with a brief note on the Pebble as to who is calling or who the text is off or who has just emailed the confirmation Contract Won. (I personally can’t wait to get back to work)

So what don’t I like, well not much really, the way you charge the watch is via USB but as it’s waterproof you cant just have a mini USB on the other end, instead you get a special USB to a unique connector, I suspect you can get another one if you lose it but I’m assuming it won’t be cheap to get a replacement, also it’s magnetic and I would like the magnet to be a bit stronger you do have to waggle it about to get it to connect but when it does connect it wakes up the back light, as I have a car USB and many USB plugs dotted about the house/office I’m never far from a charging opportunity but I do keep the cable under lock and key.

The only other issue is that they do say its sapphire glass but I have seen some reports of scratches on the screen so I have purchased and fitted a screen protector only £3.99 from Screen Knight easy to fit too, there are a number of different coloured screen wraps available so you can customise the look but I’m happy with just the black option you can get the watch in various colours but I went for jet black, can’t go wrong with black I feel, did not fancy the yellow option shouting off my wrist.

So all in all so far I’m really pleased with the Pebble and as more apps. become available I’m sure the functionality will  just get better.

Categories
End User fun stuff

Predictions for 2014

Wooooo ooooo oooo. Ooooo ooooo ooooo. I gaze deep into my crystal ball. The mists are parting. I can see something! Can’t quite make it out though.

Wait a minute. Yes, yes, it’s getting clearer. It’s a phone. Someone has introduced a new phone! I wonder who the manufacturer is? Hey it’s Apple, no no no it’s Samsung, or is it HTC or Nokia or someone else maybe? Oh I don’t know. It’s one of them. The logo is a bit fuzzy. It doesn’t really matter. The phone will look pretty much the same whoever makes it.

Hang on something else is coming into view. Strange. Looks very thin. Oh it’s side on. I think it is some sort of laptop, or tablet maybe. Yes that’s probably it. Someone must be introducing a new tab in 2014. Oo exciting eh?

Blimey the camera is zooming out. I can see hundreds of phones and tablets and, wait a minute there’s TVs in there too, lots of em. What’s going on? I seem to be getting sucked into the crystal ball. I’m going down, down, and under. I’m going to have to hold my breath. I’m sinking into the pile of gadgets. Help, help I’m losing sight with reality. I can’t see anything anymore. Only screens. Hundreds of screens.

Perhaps if I log on to one of them I can do a quick Google search to find out what’s going on. But which to chose? I don’t know. I don’t know d’ya hear me. I don’t knooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

Wakes up, rubs eyes, stretches out arms. Must have been a dream. Anyway, it’s all happening in 2014. Read it first (ish) on trefor.net.

Have a good Christmas break, be nice to the mother in law and see you in 2014:)

Categories
Business UC voip

CTO lunches

Headed to London again for my last CTO lunch of the season. Today I have Stephanie Watson, CEO of MZA Associates as my guest speaker.
Steph is a great girl and one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Unified Communications market.

For those unaware of the nature of my CTO lunches we have a guest speaker and up to 10 other invited guests, normally director level individuals with responsibility for IT operations, around a table for a highly informed and stimulating lunchtime debate. The format works brilliantly, the key being the fact that everyone in the room knows what they are talking about.

On this occasion with Steph on attendance the topic is clearly the Unified Communications market (the PBX of old).

UC has for some time been a boring, mature market subject to widespread industry consolidation. This however is changing as the likes of Microsoft and Google move in on the space. Although I’m leaving it until the new year to sort there is a strong likelihood that the primary means of voice connectivity to trefor.net will be via google hangout and Skype. During the process of setting up the business I have made extensive use of google hangouts for video conferencing and google docs for collaborative project work such as sketching out the initial functionality requirements of a blog template refresh.

Now I’m sure that the likes of Cisco and Avaya will have something to say about  who are going to be players in the UC space. Cisco has a compelling network integration case and Avaya have a huge installed base. This market is still very much a long game to play but it wouldn’t surprise me to see some real changes in 2014. The combination of Android and the still very much nascent chromebook could well be driving factors.

I doubt that I’ll be summarising the key points of today’s discussion – there are still too many parties between now and Christmas. However expect to see this subject debated extensively on trefor.net in the new year.

Tomorrow is my last day at the Timico desk. My wife briefly laboured under the impression that the new order in 2014 would see an end to, or at least significant reduction in jaunts to London for “networking” events and a corresponding shrinking of the waistline. Whilst the latter is undeniably desirable, the CTO lunches will continue in some guise or another. They are too valuable not to have.
If you are coming along today I look forward to seeing you. If not stay tuned…

Categories
End User fun stuff

Christmas Cards and Carbon Emissions

A title that conjures many eclectic images of what I might be writing about, I am sure.

In true “Bah, Humbug” style, I don’t send Christmas Cards. This started as a charity payment in penance for my apathy but the more I’ve reflected upon it over the years the more it seems like a chore. A relic of a pre-digital age. More latterly, I sat down and calculated (by extrapolating a BBC News piece) that the carbon emissions of the Christmas card making and despatching industry in the UK alone is equivalent to sending a laden jumbo jet around the world 280 something times.

Quite incredible that – a handful of posted cards multiplied up over the population reaches such a CO2 emission figure.

Which then leads to the emissions in telecommunications. I once heard that BT consumed 1% of the nation’s power. I have no reference for that but given the number of System Xs still around the network I can half believe it. We even recently went through a time when carbon trading was rapidly becoming a serious prospect for even moderate sized telecoms operators ….. thankfully that has at least been postponed unless you use more than 6,000 MWh on half hourly meters.

But what worries me is that the powers that be (pardon the pun) think we needed a stick to be more efficient. With rising energy prices, and 1kW of power needing, as a rule, 1kW of cooling, we are very well incentivised as an industry to minimise this cost. Regardless of what people may think of the climate change debate, energy efficiency reduces costs and improves profits (providing the capital investment is proportionate of course), which in our highly competitive industry we are all very focussed on.

The former incumbent has perverse incentives to cash cow inefficient legacy technology created by the regulatory construct; the rest of us have been on the case for years. Green levies on energy are just another barrier to incentivising the investment in technologies the Government is desperate to encourage, just like business rates which I have discussed before.

I sincerely hope that the rhetoric of the government of the day plays out, because I fear the alternative to achieving the ends they desire would be subsidies. And we’ve seen where they’ve ended up before.

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Categories
End User phones

Samsung Galaxy Gear – dummies on display – no test – time wasted trip

When my phone upgraded itself to Android 4.3 it told me it would now work with Samsung Galaxy Gear. Okaay. So I went to PC World where I had previously noted a quintet of the watches on display.

Malheureusement they were all dummy display versions. I asked whether they had any real ones in stock – after all who is going to buy something like that without kicking the tyres first. Testing it. Expensive tyres. Nope they didn’t carry stock. They thought there might be one available in the Mansfield branch. Fwiw.

Not worth driving to Mansfield to try one out. Anyone else got one? One wonders how many they have sold in the UK. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was in single figures. If Samsung were confident of the product they would be putting them into the stores. They don’t appear to be doing so. Innit?

Categories
End User wearable

Personal alarms and wearable computers – Samsung Galaxy Gear

Friend of mine James Firth posted on Facebook that he had rescued an aged neighbour who had fallen down the stairs in her home. She had been stuck alone for five hours before James heard her cries for help. Terrible experience for her but could have been a lot worse.

My first thoughts were to remind myself to get one of those personal alarms should I ever find myself living alone in my old age.

However the solution is obvious. Wearable devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Gear are going to become suitably advanced so that it can act both as my phone/intergalactic communicator and the alarm in case of emergency. You won’t need to press a button. There will be an app that distinguishes between snoozing in the armchair after lunch and falling down.

The current generation of older demographic, if I can put it like that, is by and large unlikely to own a smartphone or wearable phone. In fact hardly anyone has a wearable one yet, but it will come.

So we have to wait a few years before wearers of dual purpose phone and personal alarms become statistically significant (in the appropriate age range) but significant they will become and a significant dent should be made into casualty numbers for older persons falling down stairs and not being able to attract anyone’s attention.

You heard it first on trefor.net!!!

Categories
Business social networking

@ploughpub fires chef just before xmas

Years ago I worked for Marconi Electronic Devices. The company always struggled and a round of layoffs in the run up to xmas was a regular feature of the calendar. They would get the numbers off their books in time for the new FY in April.

Those were pre social media days. A number of unlucky people would be destined for a miserable xmas but it would not be world news.

These days thanks to Twitter bad news like that spreads like wildfire and you can bet your bottom Euro that the whole world would  know about it before getting up in the morning.

Witness the chef of the Plough pub at Great Haseley in Oxfordshire. He was a bit peeved about being given the push just before xmas and because he controlled their twitter account was able to tell tbe world – see @ploughpub or screenshot in case they have removed the “offending” tweets.

I reckon this could be a bit of a publicity stunt mind you. When I looked their website said they had had 3,009 visits in the last 7 days, 2,829 of which had been in the last 24 hours. Maybe they should take on their old chef in a new marketing role and get him to find a replacement person for the kitchen!

One assumes they have another chef lined up for the busiest time of the year. One can’t imagine the pub would have got rid of their old one without having this covered…

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Categories
Business events

Advanced notice – blogging suspended due to #trefbash2013

Trefor DaviesThis is to let you know not to expect anything coherent (ok ok I know what some of you are going to say…) out of this site until probably Tuesday. Technological revolutions can come and go and scoops, news, reviews, snippets, gleanings and gossip will pass by unnoticed.

This is because tonight is #trefbash2013. An annual event designed for the readers of this blog to let what hair they have left, down. There is no hidden agenda at these events. They are simply there to have a good time and this for a substantial majority of the attendees means drinking lots of booze. Last year having started at 5.30 we finally finished at 3am, somewhere in SoHo – anyone who knows me will know that it is a miracle for me to stay awake beyond 10ish – praise be.

This year we are planning to drink more champagne  than in 2012 with relaxation further aided by a vodka luge in the shape of an elephant’s head. The vodka comes out of the trunk. I have been told of other shapes that these luges can be sculpted into, for hen parties for example. This is not such a party or such a design.

In 2013 we are hoping to avoid the damages roll of 2012 in which suits were ruined whilst falling off Boris Bikes, heads split open and subsequently glued to bed sheets and trips to casualty. All separate incidents. But we shall see.

Being effectively a two day event you should expect no posting on Friday and seeing as I have a Lonap board meeting all day Monday that too will be probably be devoid of any new material.

I will have photos again this year courtesy of the magnificent Buzz from Timico engineering. If I get a chance before Tuesday I will stick them up.

Sorry if you are not coming tonight. The tickets go “on sale” sometime in September and you have to be fairly quick off the mark to bag one. Numbers are limited by the capacity of the venue and in any case there comes a point where you can have too many people at a party.

To those who will be there I’m looking forward to seeing you. There is a dress code but I have no idea what it is although I have been telling people it’s “pink tutus” so come in whatever is comfortable. I have a new bow tie for the occasion.

Categories
Business fun stuff

The trefor.net story

Once upon a time there was a bloke who wrote a blog. He did it on the quiet in the evenings because he wasn’t sure what people at work would think of it. Over a period of five and a half years he grew in confidence with what he was writing as the readership of the blog grew.

There came a time where the bloke would just start typing and he would publish whatever came out, regardless of what drivel it was. It was a lot of fun to see what did come out. There came a time, as it does for every bloke, where our bloke decided he wanted to spend all his time having fun, writing his blog.

Writing a blog doesn’t usually put bread on the table though so this bloke decided to turn his blog into a business. His kids are a very demanding lot and the bloke was very cognisant of the price of cricket equipment, trumpets and University accommodation fees not to mention Waitrose Aberdeen Angus aged rib-eye steaks and decent red wine.

So this is going to be the story of how the bloke turned his blog, trefor.net, into a business. The tale will cover how he chose to set up his business  from scratch. Although the blog had 1,700 post or more it was a very simple organ hosted thanks to the generosity of his employer, a well respected Internet Service Provider serving the business market.

In setting up his business the bloke took on a partner, more of whom later. He needed to find office premises, formally set up the business – a process that involved lawyers and accountants – and find a member of staff. The blog structure needed updating, it needed a long term solution for somewhere to live – in other words here it would be hosted, and it needed a means of bringing in money to pay for everything.

The story is going to be covered, step  by step, on the blog. How did the bloke decide what to do at each stage of the game? The process has already started with the advert for a developer. That bit of the story hasn’t ended yet but when it has you will be able to find out how it happened by reading the blog. In fact the whole story is like an ongoing blog post. It’s going to be an interesting journey. Although this process of setting up a business isn’t a totally new experience for the bloke the world changes and there is plenty to be learned by starting afresh.

Come along on the journey and find out how it all happened by returning to this blog on a regular basis.

PS Can’t carry on with that style of writing. It’s too hard going yaknow innit eh?

Ciao bebe

Categories
Business internet ofcom Regs

Business Rates

In the Autumn Statement, Chancellor George Osborne gave small businesses an early Christmas present with some relief on business rates. Welcome news, I am sure, for all of our high streets and favourite independent hostelries.

However, when you start to look into the rates regime in telecommunications, things starts to get a little more confusing. Yes, they are due on our data centres and our offices and whatnot, just as we would expect them to be if we were a bank, a pub or a newsagents. But they are also due on fibre and ductwork. Worse still, one council or unitary authority (specifically one in England & Wales and one in Scotland) is often the beneficiary of the whole liability regardless of its potentially national coverage, which defies logic, but that’s a story for another time.

I have a problem with how fibre and duct can be rateable in the first place. Keeping the receipts and expenditure method of valuation (otherwise known as the “profits basis” out of it for a minute), to my simple mind, a factory has a rates liability – i.e. the bricks and mortar, but the machines inside don’t attract it. After all, tax is levied on their product (value-added tax, for example, or other duties in the case of alcohol) and the company producing them is also levied taxes on their profits (corporation tax, or income tax for a sole trader). It would seem somewhat akin to “two bites of the cherry” to tax the machines…… of course that argument could apply to the building itself as well, though I would suggest that as business rates are meant to pay for local services, a building is a fairer demarcation than counting widget machines for example; one could say fairer than some duct in a field.

Anyway, that can all be debated ad nauseum. What I want to get across here today is that when we talk about incentives to develop telecommunications, say 3G coverage to address those so-called “not spots”, or dealing with the issue of slow speeds in rural broadband, one of the critical factors facing a telco in deciding whether or not to build masts, unbundle exchanges (those taking BT Openreach Access Locate space have to pay a room licence fee, which is code for “their share of the rates bill”) or dig up fields to lay fibre out to a rural community with dial-up speeds on their ADSL is how much that activity will increase their rates liability. Seeing as fibre in rated on a sliding scale per pair per kilometer (contiguous in your network) basis, and given the distances that can be involved, it can soon add up.

We have high profile government initiatives such as BDUK, to deliver rural broadband, but I wonder…… instead of spending to “stimulate commercial investment” for telecos to expand into these areas, how much could be achieved through some simple manipulation of basic levers such as business rates? After all, if it were profitable for a telco to expand into such an area (be it a 3G mast or high speed broadband), an economically rational profit maximising entity would’ve done so already. One can only assume the investment appraisal delivered a negative net present value…. perhaps, just perhaps, it may have swung the other way if the rates regime in telecommunications was different.

As ever, very interested in all of your views.

Google+

Categories
Business ecommerce

Job Vacancy – WordPress Developer for trefor.net based in Lincoln

trefor.net is a technology blog that is widely read by techies in the internet networking and hosting industries. For the last 5 years the site has operated as a non-commercial vehicle and has built up a base of regular readers and commenters. trefor.net attracts over 40k page views a month is linked to from some serious web properties such as the BBC, the guardian and the telegraph.

As of January 2014 trefor.net is changing to be a revenue generating start-up with big plans. Part of these plans include stepping up the rate of content generation but equally important is the underlying WordPress technology platform of the blog.

We want to invest a serious amount of time and effort into the technical capabilities of trefor.net. This isn’t going to be “just another WordPress blog”. trefor.net is going to be a leader.  A leader in technical content and a leader in the adoption/showcasing of internet marketing social media and communications capabilities. The business is going to be totally web based. No paper, maybe not even a phone number – why not just use Google Hangouts and Skype for example. We will need to integrate CRM, billing, advertising engines, a finance package, social media platforms – the list is almost certainly a lot longer.

To do this the first employee of trefor.net is going to be a developer. You need to be a geek with ambition. The rewards will be considerable in line with the success of the business and with your own effectiveness.

LAMP experience and specifically WordPress is pretty much a given but the successful candidate will likely be able to turn their hand to lots of different areas of technology. This is going to be a job where you will grow your own capabilities. There is an initial task list but this is all about innovative development and thinking. There is going to be plenty of scope for you to suggest new projects for the site.

The job is going to be based at the trefor.net offices in the Sparkhouse business incubator unit at the University of Lincoln Brayford Campus. We are looking for someone to start as soon as possible in 2014.

You can get in touch using the following media:

Twitter @tref

email [email protected]

Google Hangout +trefor

Skype trefor.net

Required skills:

  • WordPress, themes, plugins

  • PHP / MySQL (3+ years preferred)

  • Solid understanding of LAMP stack

  • OO & Framework experience (Zend, Symfony, CI etc)

  • HTML (inc HTML 5 and CSS 2.0, 3.0)
Categories
Business fun stuff

Bit of news – Trefor Davies to leave Timico at Christmas

Bit of news for you. Friday 20th December will be my last day working at Timico.

What’s going on do I hear you say? Nothing untoward. You may know that I was one of the founding directors of Timico and in the ten great years since we started the business we have taken it from four people in the stable block of a country house (it’s true – ask me about it when next we meet) to a nationally known communications provider with 244 staff at four different locations in the UK. In that time we have made 7 or so acquisitions. It’s been an interesting place to be.

Timico now has many thousands of customers including some listed in the FTSE100 – amongst the largest businesses in the country.

Timico is going great guns and we now have a terrific set of operational managers who are well qualified to take the business on to new heights. This is very satisfying on a personal level but I now also find myself wanting to move on to achieve other things.

For the past few years I have been writing this blog and despite it being somewhat of a hobby have seen a steady growth in its readership. My immediate plans are to make the blog more of a full time activity and to turn it into a business in its own right.

Although trefor.net will be physically located in offices at the campus of the University of Lincoln it is going to be a fully automated and fully internet based business. No paper. Maybe not even a phone number. Who needs a phone number when you can do a Google Hangout or Skype or just a mention on Twitter?

There is a new universe out there that is totally unexplored. The New World before Columbus sailed West. Will I sail over the edge? Well who knows but I can tell you that I’m going to cast off from the known world and go exploring. The new world of the web is a bit like a map of Africa before anyone entered the interior – at this point in time all we have is an idea of what is around the edges.

One of my first steps will be to find a developer who can work with me. Developers are the ship-builders of the new world. If you are a developer and are  interested in chatting about this please get in touch. No Recruitment Agencies please. It’s going to be a fun place to work with interesting personal development opportunities and the chance to make some money.

In the meantime I will be with Timico up until Christmas. If you are a customer, supplier, member of staff or someone I have dealt with in the industry I would be happy to discuss my plans. In particular the message to Timico customers is that I remain a shareholder in the business and you can be assured that your services are in good hands. Timico staff should also feel confident that they are working for a growing business that is going places and will provide them with great career opportunities. There will in any case be an ongoing relationship between Timico and trefor.net. You know it makes sense.

If you want to keep in touch follow me @tref on Twitter or keep reading this blog:)

Ciao, bebe…

PS for Timico staff in Newark I’ll be buying the drinks in a pub (spot tbc) somewhere in Newark at lunchtime on Friday 20th Dec – you are all welcome to join me:)

Categories
Business events social networking

#trefbash2013 update

phoenixbar_headerIn my original announcement for #trefbash2013 I said that I wouldn’t be providing any food but that guests could order from the standard menu and pay for their own.

Well I’m pleased to report that due to the generosity of sponsorship this year I have been able to chuck in some nosh so make sure you don’t eat before you come. The menu is below. Just what you need to line the stomach for all that champagne.

Beef Rogan Josh
Chicken Jalfrezi
Vegetable Dhansak

Coriander infused rice

Naan Bread, Mango Chutney, Mint and Yoghurt Raita, Onion, Tomato and Coriander Raita and Lime Pickle

We are also having what is being termed as a “Tref Special”: a separate vindaloo/phal curry sauce for those who wish to try their luck. If you don’t like curry I’m very sorry – there is a kebab shop down the road.

The evening will also feature a very “cool” item – you will have to wait until you get there to see what it is.

Starts at 17.30. Not sure what time to have the food yet – was thinking 20.00 but happy to take advice. Maybe 19.30. We will have the Jeff Brown Quartet to entertain us plus Colin Dudman filling in the gaps on the piano.

Note this event is sold out.

Categories
End User mobile apps

Samsung Hub – does anyone use it?

samsungappsLast night I was settling in for the evening when my phone asked me if I wanted to update Samsung Hub. I said “oh alright then” and accepted the update.

Then I thought “Samsung Hub?? I’ve never used it!”. Looking at it it’s just another shop. Thinking about it I did notice Samsung Hub when setting up a new Samsung Galaxy (I’m on my umpteenth inc replacements for faulty USB ports, “water damage” and other miscellaeneous manufacturing faults.

At the time I discounted it – I don’t need any more sources of apps or means of spending money online. In fact I’m happy to be proved wrong but I doubt that Samsung Hub offers anything that other online stores have.

So why use it?

Answers on a metaphoric postcard, magic carpet or any other means of entering into a discussion on this most unimportant of subjects.

PS I note from the screenshot it wasn’t last night it was 05.21 am. Must have been asleep – I do these things on autopilot. Bit worrying innit?

Categories
Cloud End User media video

BBC iPlayer growth – tablets shifting our viewing habits

Richard Cooper runs the BBC’s online platforms. He was guest speaker at the ISPA Conference last week and his subject was naturally iPlayer which with 245 million requests in September has enjoyed 23% year on year growth.

bbc_iplayer_request_growthI took pics of some of his slides – this first one shows the increase in requests. The step function in January is interesting. The BBC have labelled last Christmas as the year of the tablet. The growth in traffic is largely down to the increase in people getting tablets as Christmas presents. Apparently you could almost plot the rate of opening of presents based on the growth in the traffic on the day.

bbc_iplayer_trafficnov13The second pic shows the exponential month by month growth in iPlayer streaming traffic expressed in TeraBytes. Impressivo. Apparently, according to Richard Cooper, the perceived wisdom is that this rate of traffic growth is set to continue until 2025, based I think on the continued development of Video quality and usage until the point comes where the human eye can benefit no more.

bbc_iplayer_timeofdayFinally we have a chart that shows how TV viewing habits are changing now that people are watching programmes on more than just the TV. Internet usage peaks at approx 5pm – this includes all web browsing. TV watching peaks just after 9pm and iPlayer requests peak around an hour later. People are taking their tablets upstairs and watching in bed.

A few observations spring to mind. People are starting to do everything online. Music listening is moving to streaming, movies are moving to catch up TV and video on demand and why would you bother with physical copies of games? The time is rapidly approaching where people won’t bother with hard copies of anything (me excepted – I’ll be a book buyer until I pop my clogs – I am of a certain generation and won’t buy an eBook). On this basis there’ll be hardly anything left for people to open on Christmas Day – it’ll all just be brown envelopes with gift vouchers & subscription codes for downloads. The frenzied throwing of paper around the front room will become a thing of the past. Sad really.

The other snippet is that apparently with 4k video you need to be sat 8 feet away from a 10 foot diagonal screen to get the benefit. Screen tech is getting better than our own eye tech. Not sure I completely understand this one but it’s all to do with pixel counts of screens versus what your eye can interpret. Maybe someone can elaborate. Just maybe (I think that’s an advert for something – not sure what).

Whatever happens it’s going to be some time before traditional broadcast TV is replaced by streaming video – there just isn’t enough bandwidth available. Bring it on.

PS pics aren’t perfect soz – better than nothing as you can see the data.

Categories
End User gadgets

Chromecast footnote

I have to say that having bought the Chromecast just 11 or so days ago it is now in regular use in our house and I’ve watched more YouTube in the intervening time than in the previous year. Fwiw I particularly been watching old episodes of Hancock’s Half Hour. Timeless classics though clearly, from the quality, produced for much smaller screens than the 42″ job in our TV room.

Terry Hughes’ first review of the 25th October has replace the “how to bypass Virgin Media filters” as the most popular post on a daily basis.

What next gadgetwise?

Categories
Business ofcom Regs

The Single Market

At the recent Eighth Parliament and Internet Conference, at which I was privileged enough to be speaking on a panel extolling the virtues of an open internet for ITSPA, one of the preceding presentations had been by the European Commission Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (that mouthful is colloquially abridged to “DG Connect“) promoting the Commission’s new idea for a single market for telecommunications.

A slide was shown, seemingly promoting the United State’s competitive landscape of 3 major operators, alongside China’s similar landscape, against the European Union’s 250 major operators. The Commission’s proposals, in summary are “aimed at building a connected, competitive continent and enabling sustainable digital jobs and industries.“.

Hang on a second. I thought the European Economic Community established a single market for goods and services? I thought the Common Regulatory Framework introduced in 2002 harmonised telecommunications regulations and a general authorisation regime across Europe, negating the need to be “licenced” in each country (though as Skype recently found out, it doesn’t prevent “registration” necessarily)? Bluntly, today, if Deutsche Telekom wants to buy Jazztel, it can, subject only to the overarching rules of mergers and acquisitions and competition concerns common to any member state and any industry.

Yet they haven’t. All of these hundreds of telecommunications companies branded “major operators” by the European Commission are economically rational profit maximising entities. That’s regulatory/economist speak for “they’ll make decisions in relation to their resources that will always maximise their profits”, in other words if buying Jazztel was the best thing for Deutsche Telekom to do, that means they would’ve done so already.

We live in an era where mass consolidation led to “too big to fail”. The Banking industry is a shining example of how such growth through acquisition can go horribly wrong; but yet we seem to be promoting a regulatory and legislative framework to repeat it in telecommunications.

Theoretically, consolidation should lead to efficiency savings for the benefit of both shareholder and consumer, but there is empirical proof it didn’t in telecommunications; look at the cost of broadband in New York versus London. Take a moment to compare mobile tariffs across different countries on Google too. Within that article is a quote from a presidential adviser on technology;

“We deregulated high-speed internet access 10 years ago and since then we’ve seen enormous consolidation and monopolies, so left to their own devices, companies that supply internet access will charge high prices, because they face neither competition nor oversight.“

Instead of thinking that having 250 major operators is a weakness in our competitive landscape, or instead of thinking there are barriers to consolidation, maybe the European Commission should embrace what has been created under the framework we already have and the US and China should be looking to them for guidance, not the other way around.

These proposals, to me, are worrying. Unless I have missed the point (which, in all fairness wouldn’t be the first time) they seem to be a solution hunting for a problem. Ill-conceived and rushed (they are trying to get it through before this EU parliament ends) legislation rarely ends well. This is why I was heartened to hear Ed Richards, the Ofcom CEO, challenging this during the conference and have heard rumblings of concern in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Of course, there is always room for improvement…. and there are issues with the regulatory landscape across Europe today, but nothing insurmountable – certainly not beyond the odd evolutionary tweak as opposed to a revolutionary approach.

That said, this pack of proposals also contains the proposed Regulation on an Open Internet, a subject close to my heart, so hopefully that at least will survive the legislative process! What does everyone else think – interested in your views, but be kind on my inaugural proper guest post!

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