Nomophobia anyone? Home office hotspots Work life balance Older but not old! Freelancing for SMEs Social media myths

Transcription

1 Nomophobia anyone? Home office hotspots Work life balance Older but not old! Freelancing for SMEs Social media myths Technology: Energy footprint Barcode yourself Intelligent search Loude phone Stronge car mount February 2012

2 Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 Welcome This edition has a rong technology flavour, moly relating to mobile technology. In the la couple of months I seem to have been inundated with information about new gadgets, or new takes on old gadgets or ways to make an exiing gadget more efficient, longer laing or more intereing. Or maybe it ju seems that way because I ve recently acquired a smartphone after resiing for a long time in favour of a raightforward phone plus a PDA organiser - remember those? Anyway, after a month I m a complete convert and am finding lots of apps to help me organise my life and keep me better informed. Of course I ve also discovered lots of lovely new creative avoidance techniques and ways to wae time. As well as technology, or maybe because of it, there s a new phobia out there and our fir article explains it: Nomophobia - the fear of being without your phone! Other articles cover social media, Google s energy footprint, the increase of freelancing in small businesses and the top counties for home offices. We ve also a piece about web accessibility for disabled users, a review of a book about getting older - but not old - and information about the government s big invement in e-infraructure. Tucked in there too is Britain s position in the work life balance charts. I hope you find something here to intere you and as always, please send me your feedback and Welcome...2 Nomophobia fear of being phoneless...3 Surrey Top Home Office Hotspot...4 Friends, Fiends and Facebook...5 'Older? Yes. Old? Never!...6 Freelancing now mainream for SMEs...7 Users...8 Britain tops work-life balance charts...9 Energy footprint - a positive picture...11 Time to dispel Social Media myths m invement in e-infraructure...13 Barcode yourself with scan-me app!...15 Battery Case with Solar Panel...16 Meet Evi intelligent search?...17 Eco-friendly mobile device charger...18 The Loude Phone You'll Ever Own...19 Gadget Show Live...19 The World's Stronge Car Mount...20 suggeions for the future. Page 2

3 Nomophobia fear of being phoneless Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 Fir identified in 2008, it would appear nomophobia because more men have two phones, they re less likely to the fear of being out of mobile phone contact, is sharply misplace both and therefore be left phone-less, said Andy increasing in the UK. A recent survey of 1,000 people in Kemshall SecurEnvoy CTO and co founder. There is another employment, conducted using OnePoll, discovered two udy into mobile phone use that found people check their thirds of respondents fear losing or being without their phones, on average, 34 times a day so it wouldn t take long mobile phone. The udy, sponsored by SecurEnvoy the for you to realise if you d misplaced your device. global leader of tokenless two-factor authentication, Another intereing revelation from this udy is that, reveals that 41% of people interviewed, in an effort to ay with 49% of people getting upset if their messages and texts connected, have two phones or more. When asked if they d were viewed by a partner, they re ill lax at securing these be upset if a partner looked at the messages and texts on devices. Forty-six percent do not use any protection at all; their phone almo half said that they would. 41% use a four pin access code; and ju 10% encrypt their Digging a little deeper, more women worry about device. A security conscious 3% use two factor losing their phones than men - 70% of the women authentication. Andy sugges, With 58% of the surveyed compared to 61% of the men, yet it is men that respondents using at lea one device for business use, this are more likely to have two phones - scoring 47% and 36% lack of security is a worrying trend that needs addressing. respectively, perhaps in an effort to ay connected. What this udy does highlight though, concludes When split by age it is the younger age group (18 Kemshall is the extent that people now rely on their mobile 24) that are more nomophobic at 77%, with the phones. At SecurEnvoy we have certainly seen a huge spike age group second at 68%. Perhaps a little more in demand from local government and the private sector surprisingly is that third mo nomophobic are the 55 and looking to turn their aff s phones into security devices, overs! where they can use SMS tokenless two factor authentication The fir udy into nomophobia, conducted four to access data securely and easily whil on the move. years ago, revealed that 53% of people suffered from the condition and our udy reveals this has now risen to 66% in the UK and shows no sign of abating. A reversal on the 2008 findings is that, back then, it was men that were more afflicted yet today it s women. I d be inclined to 66% of the population suffer from Nomophobia. the fear of being without their phone SecurEnvoy are the inventors of tokenless authentication - to find out more visit draw the conclusion that, perhaps Page 3

4 Surrey Top Home Office Hotspot Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 A new analysis of home enterprise places the dirict of Surrey as the primary 'hotspot' for home offices among the 174 Principal Authority areas in England & Wales. Smart Growth Analytics' findings demonrate the economic importance of home offices in regional economies across the country. The 'hotspot' analysis ranks all the Authority areas on their volumes of home offices and their percentage of home offices as a proportion of all those in employment in the area. It shows that, with some 27,000 home offices and almo 5% of total area employment working in home offices, Surrey marks itself out as the nation's top home office hotspot. In contra, the 'average' Principal Authority in England & Wales, is home to around 5,000 home offices, and they account for around 3% of employment. The Top 25 home office hotspots are dominated by the Greater South Ea (an area that comprises London, the South Ea and Ea of England). Ju under two thirds (64%) of the Top 25 are in the Greater South Ea, despite the fact the area only accounts for ju over one third (36%) of all Principal Authorities in England and Wales. Despite the dominance of the Greater South Ea, home offices are an essential part of every regional economy and Principal Authority area across England & Wales: Three of the Top 25 home office hotspots are located in the South We (Devon in 9th,Glouceershire in 11th, Wiltshire in 18th); Two of the Top 25 hotspots are located in the We Midlands (Worceershire in 14th and Staffordshire in Joining Surrey in the Top 25, are the following Authorities from the Greater South Ea: Hampshire (South Ea, 2nd) Hertfordshire (Ea of England, 3rd) Kent (South Ea, 4th) Essex (Ea of England, 5th) Oxfordshire (South Ea, 6th) Buckinghamshire (South Ea, 7th) We Sussex (South Ea, 8th) Cambridgeshire (Ea of England,10th) Camden (London, 13th) Kensington and Chelsea (London, 16th) Ea Sussex (South Ea, 17th) Suffolk (Ea of England, 21) Barnet (London, 22nd) Norfolk (Ea of England, 23rd) Weminer (London, 24th) 15th) and a further two are in the Ea Midlands (Northamptonshire in 20th and Leiceershire in 25th); Also represented in the Top 25, are North Yorkshire, in Yorkshire & The Humber, in 12th, and Lancashire, in the North We, in 19th; Wales has three Authority areas which make the Top 25 in the 'percentage only' subcategory of the combined home office score (Monmouthshire, Ceredigion and Powys). These areas demonrate significantly above average Page 4

5 Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 Home office hotspots Friends, Fiends and concentrations of home offices again the national average; The North Ea, whil not represented in any of the 'Top 25' liings, has some 25,000 home offices, with almo 5,000 in County Durham and 4,000 in Northumberland. Jim Plunkett-Cole, Principal Analy at Smart Growth Analytics, commented: ''The findings demonrate the economic importance of home offices in regional economies across the Country." "They begin to help us underand the increasingly important home-based economic functionality of the more rural and residential areas outside of London, and particularly the Home Counties and Shire Counties across England & Wales." "They provide rong supportive evidence of a need for home office support across these areas in order to maximise their economic contribution. In particular, they demonrate a need for higher speed broadband, 'virtual' business support services and networking.'' Demonrates the economic importance of home offices in regional economies Smart Growth Analytics Ltd is an economic research and intelligence consultancy that specialises in the provision of local area information concerning enterprise and entrepreneurship. Find out more at Facebook a white paper Bitdefender, an award-winning provider of innovative internet security solutions, traces the front lines in the new battlefield again scammers on Facebook and teaches account holders to avoid the landmines of account theft, malware and more in a white paper released recently. The white paper draws on one year's experience in udying and detecting social e-threats with Bitdefender Safego, which places Bitdefender in a uniquely informed position to gauge the effectiveness of current scams and project future attack forms. The white paper Friends, Fiends and Facebook: The New Battlefield Again Scammers examines the flurry of recent changes to Facebook and sees a likely future of bigger spam waves and heightened precision of targeted attacks. The research also details exiing Facebook scams that are likely to survive the overhaul announced la year. From password policy and private browsing to hijacking recovery, Friends, Fiends and Facebook sets out user guidelines to prevent or minimise scams that take advantage of increased openness on the new Facebook. The white paper can be downloaded at rials/white-papers/en/facebook-whitepaper.pdf Page 5

6 'Older? Yes. Old? Never! Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 Peter Carvell's new book is Peter Carvell has been Deputy Editor of the Weekend required reading for the over 45 market, debunks the Telegraph Magazine; Feature Writer for The Sunday myths of ageing - and welcomes the Government's ending Times and DailyTelegraph; Property & Finance Editor of of the fixed default retirement age after 100 years. both Harpers Bazaar and Conde Na. "As of la October no one can ever again be thrown He was also Marketing Consultant to the United out of work on grounds of age only whether that be 55, Nations and Crown Agents - taking missions to 60 or 65," says Peter Carvell. This means that anyone can Indonesia, India, Greece, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand continue to work on, as long as they can do the job, for as and Kenya. long as they want." His fir book on Personal Finances, 'Everything you This Social Revolution will not only change the lives of wanted to know about money' was published by Leslie all those over 45 today, but also those 30 years younger, Frewin; and 'Silver Wolf' his be-selling pioneer guide for who were hoping to, as Charles the 50+ generation, was published by Delancey Press in Dickens wrote. October This is an enormous social change - but with the right attitudes from all quarters, every group wins," says been a better time for those over 45. We are fitter, healthier, Peter Carvell. richer, younger than any previous generation. And, with the Older people win because they can now work on, effect of inflation ruining so many pension plans, we need earn more money and ay in a social working and want to continue working environment. to earn enough money to see Employers win because they get to keep the people us through to our eighties." with the mo experience and mo knowledge of the business. the revolutionary new book by Young people win because they can be given more Peter Carvell, is aspirational, training and education into their twenties, before user-friendly, practical and they art to work. filled with advice on how the And society wins because the older generation will over 45s can make their Third continue to pay taxes, buy more goods and remain Act richer and more enjoyable. part of the productive process." (Published by Delancey Press. Peter Carvell calls this Third Act the dawning of a New ISBN Golden Age - which could change the attitudes of millions, 6 ). as much as the changes of the Sixties. There has never Page 6

7 Freelancing now mainream for SMEs Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 This year s PeoplePerHour.com Small Business Survey revealed that 2011 was the year in which hiring freelancers turned from an occasional activity to a regular necessity for a large proportion of the UK s 4.5 million small businesses. Of the 1300 small business owners polled in the survey, 80 percent felt freelancing had become more common in the UK small business community over the pa year. 32 percent of respondents had arted using freelancers for the fir time in the pa six months, with 33 percent reporting they now use freelancers on a weekly basis. According to the report, the primary driver of this trend is technologies that give small businesses better access to reliable freelancers. 41 percent of respondents believed websites like PeoplePerHour.com had made finding various skills online easier than ever before, with 64 percent feeling that hiring freelancers had become more reliable in the pa year. PeoplePerHour.com has seen its regiered user numbers double from 120,000 to more than 240,000 over the pa 12 months as result of this trend. For many years now, small business owners have been able to source freelancers online. As the survey findings sugge, hiring freelancers has become the recruitment rategy of choice for thousands of small businesses across the UK. And the trend is showing no signs of slowing down. says PeoplePerHour.com Founder and CEO Xenios Thrasyvoulou. However, it s only in the pa couple of years that you can hire freelancers across a wide range of skills with 100 Launched in 2007 only for the adminirative services sector, PeoplePerHour now has in excess of 180,000 service providers, across 150 countries, and serves over 61,000 small businesses clients 88 percent of the work completed on PeoplePerHour.com gets a five-ar rating by the client, validating the fundamental belief that talented professionals, when working for themselves, have both a co advantage but are also more motivated, productive and accountable to the quality of their work, delivering better value to the client all round. percent confidence, thanks to platforms like PeoplePerHour.com which enable businesses to accurately assess freelancers reliably. The suggeion that small businesses are increasingly choosing freelancers over in-house aff is supported by the Small Business Survey, which finds that 41 percent of respondents planned to increase freelance hiring over the next 12 months. In ark contra, ju 16 percent expected to hire in-house aff. Page 7

8 Users Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 An innovative North Ea business that allows dyslexic simple line of code on the client s website, providing a and sight impaired users to access the web with ease has simple off-the-peg solution. signed up another regional success ory as one of its As a company that caters to the needs of disabled newe clients. people, we are always looking for ways to improve the Gateshead-based Recite, which offers a simple and cuomer experience and I have been hugely impressed by co-effective platform that can help users with certain the capabilities of the Recite platform, said Chris Quickfall, disabilities to use internet sites, is working with Invate, Managing Director of Newcale-based Invate. It has not one of the UK s leading suppliers of speciali products for only enhanced the usability of the site, but has also disabled people, to make its website fully accessible and increased our accessibility for visually impaired cuomers. compliant with government regulations. Recite is accessed by a simple button, prominently I love the fact that one of our fir clients is a placed on the client s website. Once the user clicks on this, business that shares a similar market and outlook to a bar will appear at the top of the page giving access to the ourselves, said Ross Linnett, Founder and Managing Recite tools, including magnified plain text view, text-tospeech capability and translation into 52 languages. It s Director of Recite. Invate offers a full range of products to people with all types of disability. By using the Recite even possible to change the colour and layout of text to suit platform, more of those people will be able to go online, certain specific conditions. explore the site and order the products for themselves. There are over nine million people within the UK who Recite is an easy to use and co-effective web based have dyslexia and there are a further 2 million that are solution which provides a set of tools like text- to-speech regiered with visual impairment, so we ve put a lot of to read websites out aloud, and thought into the Recite product, making adjuable text-only-view to make sites easier to read. The syem offers a simple solution to the issue of meeting W3C guidelines, which ipulate that reasonable eps mu be taken to make all websites universally accessible. Unlike traditional products, which require downloading and inalling of software, Recite can be added using a Recite has increased our accessibility for visually impaired cuomers it simple and intuitive for both website owners and their cuomers, added Mr Linnett. It s really easy to use, has an intuitive user interface and works on a simple yearly subscription model. When it comes to assiive technology, using Recite could change the lives of people with dyslexia or visual impairment. To find out more about Recite, visit or call (0191) Page 8

9 Britain tops work-life balance charts Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount % Countries lied in order of primary motivation to move jobs for work-life balance: loyees look for new opportunities TOP 5 BOTTOM 5 Britain is leading the way in Europe with regards to how employees view work-life priorities, according to new Chile 32% Switzerland 4% global research from Robert Half International. The research, which surveys executives from across businesses UK 29% Brazil 6% in South America, Continental Europe, the Middle Ea, Asia and Auralia/New Zealand, shows that nearly three in Dubai 28% Netherlands 6% 10 (29%) HR executives in the UK - the highe across Continental Europe - cited work-life balance as the Auralia 23% Luxembourg 8% primary motivation for employees leaving their company for other opportunities. Employees in Switzerland are less concerned about France 21% Czech Republic 8% this balance, with a low 4% ating that work-life was a priority, followed closely by the Czech Republic (8%). China (12%), Singapore (12%) and Italy ( 13%), inead salary Remuneration is ill the top reason for employees to is seen as the main factor when choosing a new role. leave their jobs, according to 32% of UK executives, Phil Sheridan, Managing Director, Robert Half UK said: although work-life balance is the top response among The work-life balance topic has always been highly debated London-based respondents, with nearly four in 10 (38%) with many employees looking for ways to balance both indicating so. professional and personal commitments. Companies Worldwide, remuneration remains a primary looking to attract and retain the be aff need to op motivation for employees sourcing other jobs, with focusing solely on remuneration but on other aspects of the Singapore (58%), China (52%), Brazil (50%), Italy (45%) and work-life environment which are important to employees, Auralia (40%) all favouring salary benefits. Conversely, such as career development and flexible working. career advancement is moving up the ranks with countries Intereingly, Britain comes a close second in the such as Germany (39%), Luxembourg (34%) and international rankings next to Chile, with one in three (32%) Netherlands (33%) all preferring this factor. On the other hand, career advancement is not seen as a deciding factor in countries/ates such as Dubai (11%),...continued on page 10 Page 9

10 Work-life balance charts. cont d Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 HR executives admitting that Robert Half offers the following 6 tips to retain business-critical professionals: work-life balance was a priority for Re-recruit top performers: Before your competitors have a chance to employees when evaluating other jobs. lure those workers away, you mu re-recruit them yourself. This means Sheridan continues, Employee selling them all over again on the advantages of working for your retention has become one of today s company, highlighting what s unique and special about it. Provide mo critical affing challenges in a well-defined career paths: In the context of performance reviews, talk to fa changing environment and nearly your employees about their aspirations and goals. Using their input as a three in four (73%) UK HR directors are point for discussion, brainorm ways you might ructure job concerned about losing top employees descriptions and positions to accommodate and advance those goals. in the coming year. Stable employment Foer skill building through cross-training: If your company is a small and lucrative compensation no longer one with limited upward mobility, you may want to offer cross-training as have the influence they once did to a way to help aff develop new skills and ay motivated and intereed in keep workers with a company for the their work. Your employees will value opportunities to gain exposure to long-term. Employees are looking roles and projects not necessarily in their job descriptions or current for more. They want varied and competency areas. meaningful work, challenging Initute comprehensive mentoring programmes: In addition to traditional assignments, opportunities for career one-on-one mentoring relationships, consider setting up groups of development and help with balancing mentors from various areas of the company who will focus on highpotential employees. Each group will meet regularly to brainorm ways work and their personal lives. If mo of these boxes are not ticked, then to help a specific top performer build on key rengths and achieve organisations run the risk of losing professional goals. that ar employee. While the Explore flexible work arrangements: A rategy be reserved for top tendancy to retain employees through performers, flexible work options can help you hold on to valued counteroffers is on the rise, this is employees who might otherwise be tempted to leave. While some often only a temporary fix. employers are wary of non-traditional arrangements, it is possible to set up mutually-beneficial situations. Improve and adju remuneration: Money isn t everything, but it ill holds considerable importance for mo employees. Periodically review your salary and benefits ructure to ensure that you are offering competitive wages and the types of benefits that are mo valued by today s workers. Page 10

11 Energy footprint part of a positive picture Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 Reports that Google has revealed its massive cloud wrong. They are power efficient and computing energy footprint which is notable for the don t get red hot. They don t potential size of the IT service giant's energy bill miss have to be housed in airconditioned the point! Cloud computing offers businesses, not ju a luxury anymore number of key advantages over conventional data centres and the only people who are and orage platforms, says Coas Galonis, Chief yet to realise it are Technology Officer of Cirrus Stratus, It also offers a those paying the fundamentally greener, planet-friendly agenda. bills. There are healthy savings to be made in direct cos, In many ways, as well as energy, since Google is effectively operating its said Galonis, own private cloud, running key aspects of its IT syems Google's behindthe-scenes on a carefully planned and centralised basis. IT syems The sheer scale of Google, which is currently management mirrors the processing around 24 petabytes of data every day is operations of the increasing number of companies that beyond mo IT manager's comprehension. The reality for make extensive use of cloud resources - and in doing so, Google is that cloud computing saves both money and cut the co of their IT operations and their energy footprint reduces that organisation s energy footprint, said Galonis. into the bargain. Google used 2.6 million megawatt-hours of These organisations also have the advantage that if electricity la year, but we also know that the IT services any aspect of their local IT resource fails, for any reason, giant ensures its IT operations use as little energy as they can turn to the disaer recovery and business possible around half that of a typical data centre. But continuity services now available, he said. media reports on these atiics miss the other key With other welcome advantages such as the ability to advantage that the cloud brings to the better business te patches and software upgrades in a virtual cloud table: syems resilience, he added. environment - before unleashing them on to their valuable Galonis went on to say that, with a million-plus local IT syems it's no wonder that more and more servers around the world, Google clearly load balances and organisations are following Google's lead and tapping the mirrors its data, because hard drives will fail in the longer power of the cloud for the valuable additional IT resources it term, no matter how carefully controlled its cloud data offers, he added. centres are. But this is what all Cloud providers do. Today s Cloud providers use servers which have no moving For more information parts no fans and no old-fashioned hard discs to go Page 11

12 Time to dispel Social Media myths Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 One of the key findings of research from ContactBabel is that only 16% of organisations see social media as a key Large contact centres are indeed leading the way in cuomer service channel. Whil businesses recognise the their adoption of social media, but there is also a real need to move beyond simply 'monitoring' what happens on advantage for smaller contact centres to look at this channel social media, they are not yet geared-up to act on social as a cheaper and more effective way to communicate with media activity with anywhere near the same quality of both exiing and potential cuomers. cuomer service as offered through more traditional According to ContactBabel, 83% of small contact centres channels. A number of myths are holding companies back are using two or more social media channels, compared in integrating social media as a cuomer service channel. with ju 67% of large. The popular image of a social media user is someone The bigge users of social media are retailers and in their teens/twenties, using Facebook to communicate outsourcers, But 95% of the public sector and utilities and share info with their friends probably over a mobile organisations surveyed were using at lea one social media device. But only 53% of Twitter users and 37% of Facebook channel, while 64% public sector and 40% of utilities bodies users are under 35 years of age. Companies mu were using two social media channels to communicate with underand and act on the fact that it could be the over their cuomers. This research clearly shows that it's not 30s those who are the mo important to the majority of ju retailers who are using social media to communicate businesses that are the mo active in social media. with cuomers. It can be used as a channel for any kind of organisation, provided they use it in the correct ways as Almo one fifth of companies view social media as outlined above. 'ju another outbound channel' to push information, such as coupons, special offers and other company news to So why should companies, across a range of markets, exiing communities of cuomers. be putting time and effort into social media? The simple Whil outbound social media can help the cuomer answer is because their cuomers are. Businesses mu service department to reduce the number of calls into the go where their cuomers are and social media is where contact centre, the reality is that social media has to be a more and more of them are. Consumers are talking online, two-way conversation between the company and the looking for answers to queries about products or service, cuomer. Cuomers will vent frurations and negative and the fir place they look for such answers is social views and these issues should be liened to and acted media. upon quickly, and using the same channel. Page 12

13 Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount million invement in e-infraructure UK scientis and businesses will have access to the mo sophiicated technology keeping them at the cutting edge of research and development, as details of the Government s multi-million pound e-infraructure invement were announced recently by David Willetts. The invement includes 43 million for ARCHER, a new national supercomputer to support advanced research, such as complex chemiry and climate science, while helping indury design new products. For sectors such as aerospace and automotive, this could lead to better analysis of car incidents, helping indury build safer vehicles in less time. E-infraructure also supports the world s be researchers ambitious and forward-looking programme of invement will be vital for businesses and universities alike. It will improve research and manufacturing processes and reduce the time Case udies include: 1 Weather forecaing 2 DNA sequencing 3 Aerospace & automotive manufacturing 4 Digital media and money it takes to bring a product to market. This will drive growth and innovation across a whole through increased range of sectors and ensure our leading initutions and What is e-infraructure data orage and companies are able to exploit the very late technology. faer networks. The following projects will also benefit from the 158 and HPC? Minier for million invement: E-infraructure consis of data Universities and 30 million for the Daresbury Science and Innovation orage, faer networks and large, Science David Campus, supporting research into the late product high-performance supercomputers Willetts said: We development software; (HPC). should not think of 24 million for high capacity data orage across the HPC is the use of powerful and infraructure as Research Councils, ensuring researchers can easily massively parallel processors to ju roads and access complex information from experiments; tackle problems that are very railways it s also 31 million to improve high capacity networks, computer or data-intensive. The the networks and including JANET, the Higher Education Funding Council large supercomputers containing syems that for England s syem that helps the higher education hundreds of thousands of processors underpin our community share large amounts of research data more can operate at around world-leading easily; 1,000,000,000,000,000 operations science and per second. research base. This...continued on page 14 Page 13

14 Invement in e-infraructure..cont d Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount million for speciali supercomputers in areas such as particle physics and aronomy, weather forecaing and climate change, and genome analysis; 4.75 million for the UK Space Agency to support the collection and orage of data from satellites; and 6.5 million to eablish a research fund for collaborative university projects to improve access to e- infraructure. Welcoming the news, Chair of Research Councils UK (RCUK) Professor Rick Rylance said: This invement is especially welcome in the challenging economic times we all face. Invement in high performance computing and increased data orage capacity is essential to ensure research in the UK remains at the cutting-edge in the mo advanced areas and is capable of imulating growth. It signals once again RCUK s commitment to DIGITAL MEDIA CASE STUDY The entertainment and media indury is a $1.7 trillion market, and the production engines of TV, films and gaming are making increasing demands on computer processing. The creative induries have always pushed the boundaries of hardware and software to ensure maximum realism in representing the world, and DreamWorks (producers of Shrek and Moners Versus Aliens) considers HPC to be one its mo vital rategic assets. The UK Visual Effects (VFX) and po-production indury is one of the top three in world, and to remain so it will have to be at the forefront of technological development, including HPC. Currently, VFX work is a very slow process for the creation of a high quality image. Real time rendering, driven by HPC, will be a major commercial driver when film udios and production companies are choosing their po-production houses. Game developers already use real-time rendering - even at TV HD quality - but to improve image quality and match those of film and future TV resolutions, these developers will need HPC - especially as content is transferred from one medium to another. The introduction of ereoscopic and auto-ereoscopic (glasses-free) 3D, particularly for live events, is currently hindered by the lack of good and reliable real time processing for the alignment of the left and right eye image channels. This can only be resolved by HPC. supporting the be and the mo innovative work and ensuring the future prosperity and wellbeing of the UK. This invement is in addition to the ring-fenced science and research budget and is subject to business case approval. Page 14

15 Barcode yourself with scan-me app! Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 Ju like a loaf of bread or a bottle of milk, you too can now have your very own barcode. Inead of a price check, your unique barcode ores your personal contact information and links others to your social network profiles with one quick scan. Available to download from the Apple App Store now, the new free app from ScanMe is a convenient and simple way to get arted. The ScanMe Barcode app lets you create your unique ScanMe barcode and set up your cuomisable scan page. You can control and manage your scan page over at ScanMe.com to choose what people see when they scan you (such as your telephone number or current atus on your social media profile) and your unique barcode is for life no matter how many times you amend your details. Using the ScanMe Barcode app ensures that you carry your barcode with you wherever you take your iphone - you can even set your barcode to be your 'lock page' wallpaper so if you are in a hurry you can display your barcode ready for scanning with ju one tap. Your barcode is universal so it can be scanned by BIRTH OF AN IDEA John Harrison and Adam Filipowski, the co-founders of ScanMe.com.com have always set each other challenges for a bet. In mid 2010, John had been researching the growing trend for QR barcodes, and thought he could use it to his advantage to win a free drink. Without telling Adam, he created a QR barcode that simply contained a link to his facebook page. When he met Adam at a crowded local bar, John challenged him to see how many people he could get an invite from in the space of one hour. 30 minutes pa, and John already had four invites from people scanning his barcode! Adam was ill with the fir person, fiddling with their Smartphone, ruggling to find which 'Adam Filipowski' he was, out of the thousands via facebook search. Adam bought the round, and they spent the re of the evening talking about the possibilities of controlling a whole heap of connection details from one, unique barcode. virtually any Smartphone with a New Year. The ScanMe Barcode App scanning app. also allows you to art scanning all The free app also includes a those barcodes you have seen on the barcode scanner that uses your iphone telly and in magazines to connect with camera to lock on to other peoples' product information, recipes and QR barcodes. It's a fun, quick and easy more. No internet connection? No way to hook up online with new people at parties this Chrimas and...continued on page 16 Page 15

16 Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 scan-me app! worries, you can scan other ScanMe barcodes offline! The app includes a 'hiory' feature that will ore the information of the barcodes you scan which you can then access as soon as you get back online. You can also use the hiory feature to review who and when you have scanned someone - ju in case your memory is a bit sketchy after a night out! John Harrison, co-founder of ScanMe commented: "It's not essential to have the app to join the barcode revolution, we already have over 150,000 accounts and have created over 500,000 QR barcodes via the ScanMe.com website - some of which have been created for businesses and are being included on marketing material and business cards. We also have a range of interactive merchandise such as T-shirts that our members can have their barcode printed on - but the ScanMe Barcode app simplifies the barcode experience for new users, has many useful features that are convenient on the go and is free. It's a no brainer!" Visit to find out more and download the ScanMe Barcode app. iphone Rechargeable Battery Case with Solar Panel case. Only one hour of solar charging provides an additional 25 minutes of talk time, 20 minutes of internet use, 35 minutes of video playback and This neat rechargeable battery more than two hours of audio case has been designed for the iphone playback. Mobius can also be charged 4, featuring a solar panel that needs via computer using the Micro-USB only one hour in the sun to provide an cable and will sync with itunes. Once additional 25 minutes of talk time. the battery has been re-charged, the Mobius features a quick charge user is in control as to when the extra time and the ability to ore charge battery power is used. Mobius until you need it. The high-efficiency features a andby switch to turn off monocryal solar panel re-charges direct power transfer to the iphone 4, the 1800 mah Rechargeable lithium allowing the case to charge and ore ion battery pack on the back of the energy in its own battery - only using the power when you need it. The durable and ergonomic battery case has both a battery charge and solar charge indicator, so the user always knows the power atus of the Mobius. Weighing only 3.4 ounces, and the proprietary snap fit design protects the glass on the back of the device. Find out more at or hones/eton-mobius Page 16

17 Meet Evi intelligent search? Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 This month sees the launch of Evi, a revolutionary new artificial intelligence here to help with all of your everyday information needs. Evi, created by Cambridge based developers True Knowledge, is a free mobile app for Android and is 0.69 on the iphone, which uses cutting edge semantic search technology to bring essential information directly to a user's phone without the need to search the web or navigate websites. Evi differs from andard search engines in that she does not simply trawl the internet to find websites which match the given phrase. She is able to not only underand natural language, allowing users to speak or type a queion as if they were speaking to another person, but she is also able to underand the desire behind the queion and present the essential information. For example, if you were to ask a search engine "where can I get a coffee around here?" then you would be presented with a li of websites whose content contains the words included in that queion, but with no actual intelligence, resulting in links to blog articles, discussions about coffee growing and Wikipedia articles. Ask the same queion of Evi and she will present a li of coffee shops nearby, their diance from your location as well as maps. Evi knows what you want and is able Every queion is an education: The more queions you ask Evi, and the more you rate her responses, the smarter she becomes and learns about the world. to give you the exact information you need. Evi is able to answer a va array of queions using her own growing database of nearly a billion facts but also knows when she needs to use external sources for information. She can intelligently interact with services such as nationalrail.com, Amazon, top-table, Yelp and more to give you all the information you need from within one single app. Evi is freely available on both Android and iphone. Ask Evi queions by talking or typing, and she can present her answers in the same manner. Evi is an evolving intelligence. As she grows she will learn more about the world and thus be even better at answering your queions. For more information see Page 17

18 Eco-friendly mobile device charger Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 Osun Goods has launched the Mushroom Green Zero, a ylish new eco-friendly mobile device charger, set to help consumers reduce their energy cos by 30%, while lengthening the battery life of mobile devices. Mo chargers for gadgets such as iphones, ipods, ipads and mobile phones will continue to draw power long after the battery is fully charged. This waes money, shortens battery life, and consumes excess energy, adding to greenhouse gas emissions. The Mushroom Green Zero is a travel charger that is both diinctive and practical with zero idle power consumption, offering an ecofriendly and co effective solution to the problem of and-by power use. Designed to combine smart technology with aehetic appeal, the compact design boas smooth, elegant curves with a high glossy white, smooth silicon finish. Darren Hicks, sales director of Zero 50 UK diribution, the company launching the new gadget into the UK and Europe, said: "The Mushroom not only looks great but it also saves money and lengthens the life of any mobile battery device. The really great thing is saving all that electricity and reducing energy consumption. We live in a fa paced world and we need the devices that we Mushroom Green Zero features include: ZERO and-by consumption High level with Energy Star V Input voltage Vac, 50Hz / 60Hz Output voltage 5Vdc, 1000mA Compatible with all USB cables for mobile devices, iphone, ipod, MP3, cameras Includes silicon cable winder doing so doesn't have to co the earth." It's eimated that if 70 million chargers were switched to zero and-by consumption it would save 47 mega tons of CO2 annually, or 88 mega watts of electricity. The Mushroom Green Zero retails at For orders, full specifications, and additional information, visit or rely on to make our lives that bit easier, to be charged and ready when we need them. Now Page 18

19 Freelancing mainream m e-infraructure...13 The Loude Phone...19 Stronge Car Mount...20 The Loude Phone You'll Ever Own Gadget Lien to calls as loud as 110dB's, ONLY amplified phone with the a Ring Tone up to 100dB's and a Bone highe Hearing Aid Compatibility Rattling Vibrate. rating M4/T4 in the UK. Network Whether your hearing isn't what it ready with Pay As You Go SIM card or used to be, or you can't hear your contract billing.(supplied without a phone because it's buried in your bag, SIM card.) it won't be a problem with THE loude Mobile Phone out. Available at: With a volume booer button that'll make the call volume as loud as cessories/mobile-phones/amplicompowertel-m6000/ a Vuvuzela at 110dB's, and a ring tone to match the Welsh Male Voice Choir, hearing a call won't be a problem. ts/amplicom-powertel-m6000-big- With a bone rattling vibrate that's Button-Mobile-Phone.html extra powerful, the PowerTel M6000 is ideal for those whose hearing isn't what it used to be. Simplicity Not Gadgetry, the M6000 has big buttons, loud handfree speaker, text messaging, 500- name phone book and Bluetooth. Not only does this phone feature up-to 100dB ring tone and 110dB loudspeaker, the "Man Down" fall detector and hidden "SOS" panic button are great for those who are living independently. Both activate hands-free operation and preprogrammed emergency numbers. With quick dial buttons and easy to read large screen the M6000 is the Show Live The Gadget Show Live takes place at Birmingham's NEC from 11 to 15 April and, in addition to the live age show, offers more interactive features than ever before and the chance to te out and buy the late gadgets. Now in its fourth year, the event is widely recognised as the be place to see, try and buy the late consumer technology. With three of the five days already sold out only limited tickets remain available for the 11th and 12th of April. Tickets can be booked online at Visitors to The Gadget Show Live can also sit on the famous red sofa from the TV programme and present their own short version of the show, which will be filmed and then appear on the Gadget Show Live website. The Super Theatre, featuring all five presenters, Jason Bradbury, Pollyanna Woodward, Suzi Perry, Ortis Deley, Jon Bentley, at The Gadget Show Live has been extended this year to cater for 2,000 more people per show (each show seats 6,000 people and takes place three times daily), following increasing popular demand. Page 19

20 CONTACTS: The Telework Association: Shirley Borrett Development Director & Magazine Editor Chris Ridgewell Chairman Peter Thomson Director of Research ADVERTISING If you are intereed in advertising in this magazine, in the Telework Association weekly jobs bulletin or on the website please or call Our mailing li is NOT available to third parties. The World's Stronge Car Mount Drivers plagued by the annoyance of their this conruction are two fold: it offers the same sense of smartphone or GPS syem falling in to their lap whil security that comes with permanent dash mounted fixtures, driving, or those who fall victim to criminals who are but adds a degree of simple mobility. attracted by the mark left on their windscreen by mo car Exomount's versatility isn't ju limited to compatible mounts, can now sleep a little easier. surfaces. The mount's spring loaded clamp and large grip The Exomount available from Exogear, which makes securing a wide range of devices very easy. Pretty launched in the UK today, is the ronge vehicle mount much any gadget with up to a 5 inch screen fits snugly in in the world. Not only does it have the rength to lift a the Exomount, and the clamp's soft polyurethane lined grip microwave oven, it also leaves a drivers windscreen free keeps devices eady and scratch free. Obtuse angles and from any residue marks, which attract thieves who target unconventional mounting locations aren't a problem either, vehicles that show evidence of device usage. thanks to an integrated ball joint for rotation and a Crime Reduction Officer PC Ged Kirkbright, from the swiveling arm. United Kingdom, said: "Think about the tell tale signs that The Exomount retails for 21.99, and is available in show you have a Sat-Nav syem. Don't leave the cradle black. For orders, full specifications, and additional on view and wipe the suction marks off the windscreen - information, visit because that's what the thieves look for. Please don't think hiding things in the glove box will make a difference, because that's the fir place they look! He added: "Remember to note the serial number of all your possessions and mark them with your pocode house number. Remember to remove valuables from vehicles, otherwise... someone else will!" At the heart of the Exomount is Exoger s patented suction technology. Inead of relying on messy adhesives or complicated clamping mechanisms, the Exomount's revolutionary design allows it to create a low pressure vacuum which faens it securely to a number of surfaces. After positioning the mount, all it takes is a flick of a lever to snap it into place. Removal is ju as easy, there is no icky residue or tug of war necessary. The benefits of