Archive for September, 2009

The iPhone has been named the most desirable brand in Britain in a yearly list of the twenty products that British consumers most want to own. The touch screen device overtook the Aston Martin as the most desirable product in Britain, moving up from its second place position last year.

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Demon Internet has become involved in an embarrassing security failure after a spreadsheet containing the personal details of more than 3’600 account holders was sent to customers as an attachment on an email. The customers who found their information was compromised were on the company’s paperless billing system, one of the purposes of which is, ironically, to increase security.

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As arguably the first British musician to properly harness the power of social networking to promote herself and her music, Lilly Allen’s strident stance against file-sharing might seem like a counter-intuitive point. However, the sometimes controversial singer is continuing her battle against those that would seek to download her, or anyone else’s, music for free with a brand new blog, idontwanttosavetheworld.blogspot.com which she uses to post messages of support for her cause from other musicians. Supporters include James Blunt, Gary Barlow and Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes).

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Yesterday PC manufacturer, Dell announced plans to considerably expand its operation by acquiring services provider, Perot Systems in a deal thought to be worth $3.9 billion dollars. The company has said in the past that they intend to step up acquisitions in the coming months, though it is unknown whether or not this is just the beginning. It is thought that the higher margins in the services sector are behind the decision to move into this area.

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With the graduate jobs market tougher than ever before and student debt spiralling out of control, it seems as if there are fewer and fewer reasons to for students to be cheerful these days. However, if you are currently studying there is one reason to be cheerful. In a move timed to coincide with the start of the university term, Microsoft has offered anyone with a .edu address (i.e., @aberystwyth.ac.uk) a special deal that allows them to purchase the Windows 7 operating system for a mere £30.

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According to reports, the BBC is ‘delighted’ with the success of its iPlayer service following the launch of a PS3 version as part of the most recent firmware update.

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#3. House Style

Another thing to remember is house style. It may seem like a chore but you really do need to sit down at some point and decide what kind of style you’re going for, is it friendly and informal or corporate and professional, there’s nothing more jarring than reading dry professional facts and figures on one page and informal, matey copy on the next. Also decide on the site’s interpretation of grammar and stick to it – does internet have a capital I? Do we use colons or dashes for definitions? This is all stuff that needs to be worked out in order to maintain a consistent tone.

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So, now that there’s going to be a giant single mobile phone provider, will Apple decide that they’ve hitched their star to the wrong wagon, or will they stand by their existing deal with O2?

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In a move that has had financial professionals rubbing their hands with glee (for the first time in a while), Orange and T-Mobile have announced plans to merge, creating the biggest mobile phone company in the UK, with approximately 40% market share. The move is thought to have been prompted by increasingly hostile market conditions and mounting difficulties when it comes to turning a profit from customers.

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Aside from slightly sinister fringe benefits like being able to vet and monitor employee’s social lives, it’s fair to say that facebook has been nothing but hassle for employers. With employees wasting company time poking each other and absent mindedly posting corporate secrets on each other’s walls left, right and centre, many employers could be forgiven for wishing that the social network had never been invented.

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As predicted, Apple have approved the unlimited online music app that Spotify have designed. It had been thought that the application would only be available to devices such as the T-Mobile G1, that runs on the Android platform, though overwhelming pressure from iPod and iPhone users would appear to have won out in the end.

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Today the influence of Twitter seems to have reached an exciting/depressing (delete as appropriate) new frontier, actual manipulation of the English language. Not content with simply dominating the celebrity pages, the social network is being credited with inspiring a huge percentage of the new words inducted into the new edition of the Collins English Dictionary this year.

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The small County Durham town of Shildon has been named the fraud hotspot for the UK, according to a report from security company, ‘The Third Man’. The report reveals that a staggering 24% of all internet purchases in the Shildon area were made with illicitly obtained credit card details.

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SEOs are well used to a fairly adversarial relationship with Google – fair enough really, we do exist solely to manipulate their carefully worked out system – so it’s always refreshing when they do something that makes our lives easier. A new change to advanced search features, entitled ‘creative commons’ is one of those rare instances. Creative Commons allows users to find free content that is available for use on your website at the touch of a button.

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