More than 3 million Europeans are now officially classified as “telecommuters”. This is a small number compared with America’s 11 million telecommuters. However, according to the UK’s top Internet service providers, since September the rise in the number of newly wired households for the first time has surpassed the number of new connections for offices. …[ read more ]
A bunch of new PC game releases tempted me to the high street recently, with the goal of stocking up on digital entertainment for my nephews and nieces, who were coming to visit. Last year, they spent their time productively in front of my computer, so I thought we would continue this happy trend this …[ read more ]
Last week was a joyful time for all of us in the technology industry in the UK. Despite the Prime Minister’s love affair with Rupert Murdoch, it looks as if, thanks to the House of Lords, we will eventually get a Competition Bill worth its name. By voting to outlaw predatory pricing, the Lords gave …[ read more ]
The end of 1997 is fast approaching, and, after spending most of it caught in the Microsoft and Netscape crossfire in the electronic commerce trenches, I was quietly hoping for some peace next year. However, every a cursory glance at the technology tea leaves shows that 1998 will be another year of rollercoaster changes. If …[ read more ]
Snowstorms and Gigabit routing switches were the hot topics of the recent Forrester Forum in Boston. Rising to their established reputation as the ultimate prophets of digital commerce, the Forresterians put together a line-up of top rank superstars like Java-Queen Kim Polese from Marimba, and Jim Barksdale, chief executive of Netscape, to do some tea-leaf …[ read more ]
By the year 2097, we will have moved to the countryside, leaving cities behind us. Those were the Orwellian predictions that Jonathan Dimbleby made during the last week’s country Life Centenary debate. He fears that millions of ‘refugees’ fro the cities will invade the countryside and concrete it over with car parks, supermarkets and DIY …[ read more ]
The battle for innocent soles of British school children has started, with the opening salvo coming from that well- known specialist in computer-assisted learning, the Princess Royal. Addressing last week’s headmasters’ conference, Princess Ann warned against reliance of computers, preferring instead good old-fashioned teachers, and arguing that face to face teaching by given priority the …[ read more ]
Women area as interested in computers as men, and would play more games if there were more female-friendly plots, claims Brenda Laurel in a recently published study, conducted at UCLA and based on American females. The study attempts to break the generally held view that women deal with computers reluctantly and use them only as …[ read more ]
Something fishy has been going on with electronic commerce Web site for the past few weeks. I have been bombarded with complaints from the people who are having trouble completing purchases on retail sites that were once known for their reliability. One leading online retailer was alerted by angry customers who were suddenly getting messages …[ read more ]
Imagine that you live in Hawaii. You spend most of the days surfing and sunbathing, and in the evening you work for a London-based Internet consultancy on the biggest Web project in town. Outrageous? Well, perhaps, but a new bunch of transcontinental telecommuters are set to prove that the New Lifestyle is not only possible, …[ read more ]
