t2 business solutions blog

Photosynth by Seadragon

I know it sounds like a childrens book or something but its actually a very cool new piece of software that is being developed.

Its incredibly powerful and makes viewing masses of photos very easy and plenty of other amazing things as well.

Take a look at this jaw dropping demo by the lead technical guy.

Want more info? This is the site.

Lose Weight while you Work

Forget whistling, losing weight while you work is now possible. 

Designers in Minnesota have come up with the solution for people too busy to go to the gym after work.....work out while you work!  That is providing you need all you need is a computer to do your job, if you are an optician, doctor, dinner lady or dentist, then im afraid this solution isnt for you.

The workstation, which is designed to be used for two to three hours a day, comprises a computer, keyboard and treadmill (so basically they have taken a running machine and attached a computer to it - wonder how long it took them to come up wih that?)

Unbelievably, they have also taken the trouble to add slats to provide storage for personal items such as a flower vase, cup holder, pen holder or paper tray (they obviously gave this a lot of thought)

The desks cost £1000 each - not bad really, though it doesnt state whether you get the computer with it for that?  Personally I think it would be worth the money just to see the look on your boss' face when you start work each morning!

Read the full amusing BBC article here 

Dream Racer

A motion sensitive hat has been designed to enable disabled children to be able to control remote controlled cars.  The technology is to eventually be expanded into Playsations 1 and 2 giving disabled or partially paralysed children the opportunity to experience the fun of technology. 

The producers of the 'Dream Racer' Hat are also looking at solving some problems for disabled adults by extending the idea to PC capability - much like we operate a mouse, the hat will be used to control a cursor onscreen.  Some of these ideas are still in the generation stage but its good to see technology working towards developing solutions for everyone.

Dream Racer Cars and Hats are available on their website

To read the BBC article - click here

Business Networking - Internet Style

Looking to capitalise on them massive success that social networking sites such as MySpace & Facebook have had comes the next generation of business networking.

Linkedin according to the blurb, isn't networking - its what networking should be.

Anyone familiar with social networking will spot the similarities, straight away. For the unitiated - you set up a profile of yourself and begin to build up a list of contacts by requesting permission to link to each other. Any information changes are then reciprocally passed back and forth. As your network grows so does the amount of information that flows...

The benefits of working business relationships in this manner are obvious but surely the premium placed on relationships means that people will be less likely to so transparent with them?

This remains to be seen - Linkedin already claim to have 10 million registered users and most large organisation now have MySpace groups and Facebook networks - so lets see what happens...

Searching more popular than porn....

A report from the Seacrh Engine Strategies Conference in London last week iliistrated the domanence of Google - Worldwide and in the UK.

Google powers 77% of all searches in the UK and now has a market share of 80.25. With the exception of Wrigleys I'm sure everyone is rather jealous of that.

Best of all, the report proudly states that search engines now account for more internet traffic than "Adult sites". This is great and is obviously a major milestone of the internet age but by applying some lateral thinking and being completely hypothetical (I can't over emphasis the hypothetical bit) aren't most adult websites accessed by searches from search engines..... chicken and egg.

Welsh businesses caught out by party of a lifetime

More than 47% of publicly listed companies have risked the security of their business and customers by inserting an unidentified memory stick into their computers, according to research by IT security consultancy NCC Group.

The awareness campaign targeted finance directors from 500 of the UK’s plcs with a completely anonymous ‘invitation’, in the form of a USB memory stick, with less than 53% either thinking twice and rejecting the temptation to find out more about the ‘exclusive’ party or not receiving or opening the invitation.

Welsh based companies were the worst offenders. The NCC found that the first invitations landed on desks at 8am and by 11.30, 70 people had inserted the sticks into their computers, despite many needing to bypass a warning message asking them if they wanted to run the application.

This experiment really highlights the need for real security awareness as the possibilities are endless for a hacker with criminal intent especially when people can make it so easy for them to gain access to confidential and sensitive information. It also higlights the need for IT training and support to help raise knowledge and skill levels. A service such as t2's IT Doctor can provide you with an experienced, fully qualified IT trainer to work with you on any IT software issues and requirements that you may have. 

PC v Mac?

I don't know about the computers but when it comes to advertising, Mac wins hands down

Apple seem to have hit a nerve or two with their current television advert.  The advert features two people, one who seems normal and one or seems a little on the 'nerdy' side.  They introduce themselves, normal guy - mac, nerdy guy - PC.  The advert then goes on to use metaphors of why it is better to be Mr Mac rather than Mr PC.  I.e. Mr PC sneezes and warns Mr Mac away because he obviously has a virus, Mr Mac (very cooly) states that he wont catch it - because Macs dont get viruses and so on (you get the idea)

There are several variations of the advert - all with the same aim, showing the consumer why they should choose Mac over PC.  Bill Gates has slammed the ad (not suprisingly) and it has generated a many debate in forums all over the internet.

My opinion: What a great marketing campaign! Its got everyone talking, and the adverts are great, i've linked to some of them below - so take a look.

Out of the Box  Restarting  Fun Stuff  Viruses  Vista Upgrade

Free iPhone for everyone

Everyone seems to be getting very excited about Apple's new phone - especially us!

If you can't wait until christmas - click here to get to get your hands on the latest beta version.

An Apple a Day..........

It seems Apple have focused their attention on making sure every person in the world needs at least one of their products everyday, swanky computers, 'i'd die without my iPod' music players and now.....

Apple have finally unveiled the new and much anticipated iPhone. And if we are to believe Steve Jobs (the owner of Apple) the phone is a "magical device" and will "revolutionise the industry". (he would say that though wouldn't he?)

I'm not one for technology myself (she says while listening to her ipod nano with a brand new mobile phone at her side) but I can see why the industry are so excited about this new arrival.  With a widescreen iPod built in, a 2megapixel camera and photo application system (that is far more advanced than any other phone on the market, they'll have you know) breakthrough internet access, stock and weather reports, email..... oh yeah, and by the way, you can also make a phone call on it......

You, however can make up your own mind - by reading one of the (many) news stories on BBC News or visiting the iPhones (pretty cool) website.

Playstation 3 - Is it going to be worth the wait?

After revealing that the Playstation 3 isn't going to be released in Europe until March 2007, eager European gamers have had to rely on the opinions and views of our Eastern counterparts.

Obviously understanding this, a japanese gamer has given the first review of the Sony Playstation 3 on the BBC website.

It's very interesting to read about its capabilities even if (like me) you have no interest in ever playing one. 

The Playstation 3 website is also worth a look as that is pretty cool too.....