Quote of the Week!

"They can because they think they can."



Virgil

Quote of the Week!

“If you keep on doing what you've always done,  you'll keep on getting what you've always got.”

W.L. Bateman

Microsoft Office 2010 Worldwide launch

Unless you were asleep all day, visiting Mars or living in a bubble you will already know that yesterday, Microscoft launched the 2010 version of Office worldwide. But is it any good?



Despite the growth of its rivals such as Google, Adobe and OpenOffice who provide a wealth of web-based office software alternatives, Microsoft Office is still dominant inside businesses. With Office 2010, that dominance may grow even further with the introduction of Microsoft’s own web versions of the popular programs.


Alongside the launch of Office 2010, Microsoft has released cut-down versions of Office programs for the web and handsets that can be used by those who do not possess the "full" version. The release concludes a long trial programme which saw details of its web-friendly features widely previewed. They have even included features that hook into popular social networking sites such as Facebook.


Office 2010 is being made available in a variety of formats suited to different groups of people. Microsoft said it expected the Home and Student version to sell for about £109 and the Professional edition for £429. Stand-alone versions of the programs making up Office are also available.


They have done what they can to make functionality as consistent as possible on the PC, web and mobiles.



So what do you think? Post your comments here!

Quote of the Week!

"The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes."

Earl of Beaconsfield

BT workers facing strike ballot

The telecoms giant could suffer major disruption as the trade union is set to “press ahead” with its ballot for industrial action. BT has been locked in a pay dispute with the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represent between 50,000 and 60,000 BT employees including engineers, retail staff, and call-centre workers.
The union, which is pushing for a 5% pay rise, following BT's annual results last month showed a 162% increase in cashflow, and profits of just over £1bn. Leading union leaders argue that their 5% claim would account for only a small fraction of BT's wealth.


BT however, is offering a 2% pay rise this year, followed by a further 3% rise next year. It is also offering a £250 bonus and a further £250 in performance-related pay. The previous offer was a one year deal of a 2% rise.
BT has also pledged not to make any voluntary redundancies until 2011 if staff accept the new terms. It also plans to bring call centre jobs and office work back from India.
Union leaders have accused BT of "blatant double standards" in its plans to award bumper bonuses to senior management after a rise in profits. Union leaders were further enraged when BT's annual report revealed that the company's chief executive, Ian Livingston, saw his bonus more than triple last year, taking his total pay package, including shares, above £3m.
It also emerged that Livingston's salary was to be increased by £50,000 to £900,000 this year, although he pledged to limit the rise to 2%, equivalent to what is being offered to BT's staff, and donate the rest to charity.
"We've made our position very clear: 2% is not good enough when the company is making profits of over £1bn, paying shareholders a 6% dividend and paying out large sums to senior executives while inflation is at 5.3%," Kerr said.
Ballot papers will be sent out on the 18th June and the ballot will close on 5 July with the result expected the same day.

Suicides in China as the iPad hits the shelves in the UK

Despite the recent Global release of the iPad, one Taiwanese electronics company has been in the news for all of the wrong reasons. Foxconn has recently had a number of its workers committing suicide amongst complaints of feeling lonely whilst at work.

In an attempt to prevent any further tragedies, Foxconn has brought a counsellor in to the firm and upped wages by 70% to boost morale. They are also introducing more leisure facilities, although the facilities that are already in place are rarely used. Some workers do up to and above 100 hours a month overtime, one Foxcomm employee claimed.

To get the suggested pay rise that is set to start in October, workers first have to pass a performance test lasting three months.

There have been 10 suicides at the Taiwan firm's Shenzhen factory in 2010.

Google Street View in the hot seat again

Google’s highly contentious “street view” is under scrutiny again, this time in Australia as police have been ordered to investigate Google for possible breach of privacy.

The accusation is that Google has gathered personal data from some unencrypted wi-fi services. An accusation that Google has admitted and apologised for, but as a result of public complaints Attorney General Robert McClelland has asked the police to probe the internet giant.

Australian law prohibits people from accessing electronic communications for unauthorised purposes. As such the recommendation from the Attorney General is that the police should investigate possible criminal breaches of the telecommunications privacy laws.

Google have been quite outspoken in recent times about Australia’s plans from internet filtering. They claim that plans to block illegal internet material will slow user speeds and inadvertently block legitimate content.

Google has said that it will co-operate with a police investigation.

Happy National School Grounds Week!!

7th – 11th June 2010 Every year around 8,000 schools and early years settings get involved in National School Grounds Week and for many it’s a regular event in the school calendar. This year schools are being encouraged to get involved in an ‘Exhibition Mission’ to exhibit the benefits of outdoor learning by turning their grounds into art galleries.

Find out more here

Quote of the Week!

"The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen."

Frank Loyd Wright

Facebook’s biggest rival’s are now fully funded

Four Student’s from a New York University have just raised $200,000 (£136,000) to build an open alternative to Facebook called Diaspora.

Describing itself as a "privacy-aware, personally-controlled, do-it-all, open source social network", the project came to light amongst the international privacy attacks on Facebook.

Over the summer the team plan to write the software that will permit the creation of a social network where each user stores their own data and, crucially, has control over that data and who it is shared with.

Learn more here

Hewlett-Packard cutting jobs worldwide

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is aiming to create fully-automated commercial data centres. To do this, they are going to have to spend $1bn (£686m) and sacrifice 9,000 jobs over three years.


It is predicted that the drastic changes will increase productivity and automation at the world’s largest technology company. HP claim that this would result in huge benefits to "next-generation services".


The new commercial data centres, according to HP, will help their corporate clients run their businesses faster and more efficiently.


HP added that it would replace about 6,000 of the jobs that were lost, adding that the changes to the workforce would be made over time and would vary by country.


The latest job losses come after 6,700 posts were shed last year to make savings.

Quote of the Week!

"Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom."



Euripides