Contracts can be fun

I never thought I would say this but reading contracts can be fun. OK, perhaps not fun but certainly interesting. They contain all sorts of mysterious things. When you enter into a new arrangement with a company, especially over the supply of services it is normal (and good) practice to enter into some sort of … Continue reading Contracts can be fun

Carbon capture

Apparently 97% of scientists agree that human activity is having an effect upon global climate. I am minded to agree with them yet my understanding of the issues is little more than superficial. In this blog I wanted to talk about how we could manage the problem in future. Before that though I will go … Continue reading Carbon capture

What I do is easy

I was up to my old tricks again and Guerrilla Working at Accenture’s offices in Cobalt. I had been there for a meeting and had some time before my next appointment and so blagged a desk. As it was the start of the year, the place was very quiet and I had the choice of … Continue reading What I do is easy

Nebulous Contracts

Cloud computing has been changing the shape of IT provision for several years now. If you include private cloud then you could argue it has been for decades. It has broken the link between the ownership of computing infrastructure and its use for many yet its economic argument is still to be proven. As with … Continue reading Nebulous Contracts

Why can’t I get the data?

I’m trying to help grow the IT industry across the North East. This is why I am a member of Dynamo North East, Digital Union and Socitm. All of these organisations have the same problem - a lack of meaningful data. I would like to know how many businesses there are in the industry across … Continue reading Why can’t I get the data?

A Nokia person

Someone once described themselves as a Nokia person. I think it was Chaditsa at the CyberFest event in Teesside University. Everyone laughed as they understood what she meant. She was not at the bleeding edge of technical innovation and was more comfortable with the simpler user interfaces that we used to enjoy. I realised that … Continue reading A Nokia person

North East Fraud Forum

I went to my first North East Fraud Forum event last week. There is such an overlap between fraud, cyber crime and business ethics that it was a natural fit with many of the other things that I am involved in. It was also the first time that I had been inside the Virgin Money … Continue reading North East Fraud Forum

Bitcoin free fall

Bitcoin is in free fall. Within a few minutes its price dropped by over 15%. Over the last month or so its value had been fairly stable at between £4,700 and £5,000. Not now, the last time I looked it was heading towards the £4,200 mark. It’s price may go up, it may go down … Continue reading Bitcoin free fall

Say R

My head is still hurting. I have spent all morning in an introductory session to R, the open source statistical  computing and graphics package. Now, I am no programmer and much of what was shown to us went over my head but I am blown away by the power of the tool set. It gives … Continue reading Say R

University Technical College

When I was asked if I would give a careers talk at the recently opened North East Futures UTC, I said yes. I’m always happy to help in whatever way I can to bring young people into the North East’s technology sector and also like to get involved in new things that challenge me. The … Continue reading University Technical College