30 Jul 10

The Edit

Our Future and Implementation team's monthly update

Bath Business Man Holds key to rebooting the internet
A business man in Bath has been given the responsibility of caretaking one of seven keys that are required to re-boot the internet. In the event of a catastrophic global event, if five of the seven keys are used in tandum it would be possible to restart the entire internet.

No more places left to hide
LogSat have developed an app for the iPhone 4 called Family Tracker. The app sends your gps signal to a web address where your loved ones can keep track of where you are.

Government plans a supped up mobile internet connection
Demands on mobile networks are increasing at an accelerating rate as more and more consumers use smartphones to connect to the web. Last month O2 stopped their unlimited data tariffs as their network struggled to cope. Mobile operators have welcomed the Government’s decision to auction off valuable spectrum that will increase their ability to deliver mobile internet at sufficient speeds to all. Analogue switch-off has freed up spectrum that will be sold to the highest bidder at the end of 2011.

Google and Facebook ogling at each others domain
With Facebook treading all over Google’s internet empire, rumors are that Google have set their wheels in motion to develop a social-networking gaming service, called Google Me. They have been spotted in meetings with renowned game developers and it is speculated that the social game plan is part of a bigger social networking project initiated by another company. Facebook not only "looks forward to seeing what others have to offer", but causally strides into the search domain as they trial their new search engine, Questions. Users can now ask their social connections questions and receive answers from people they can trust and use polls, pictures and tagging to enrich their search experience. Game on!

Identify yourself with your smartphone
Imagine a world where your mobile allows you to purchase tickets at a music festival by simply standing near the ticket booth or your laptop automatically logs off when you walk away with your phone. This is the vision of Enole, a company who endeavors to use a proximity based platform, that developers can build on, for phones to carry their own identity. Rather than being a mobile application, Enole uses a unique identifier such as Bluetooth ID for authentication, which would allow secure transactions and data exchange. It all sounds quite secure as long as the phone has a built-in thumb or eyeball scanner!