Anyone who works in events will understand why me (Kerry) and Chloe are very tired this morning! However, I must say we are rather pleased with ourselves…

Over 2 months of planning, 6 weeks of promoting and 1 day of printing, producing and organising led to one good Tech Talks!

(For those who haven’t been, Tech Talks is a technology themed event for small business to learn, network, and be inspired).

The first of our speakers was Jo Reid of Calvium who spoke to us about mobile phone apps. Jo gave us some great ideas about how we could go about having a mobile app for our business and of course, why.

Some tweets throughout Jo’s talks:

#techtalksbristol over 50% of uk now have smartphones! (@arthursoft)

Jo Reid @appfurnace talking about app games company RedWasp & their new gameow.ly/1HmVRA #TechTalksBristol (@DickieArmour)

#techtalksbristol excellent parallel between the liberating effect of the early PCs & now with smartphone apps. (@kevleighton)

#techtalksbristol Great to know Bristol is such a creative and technology hub!!! (@IanThorneBrown)

Up next was Fred George who came across from London to deliver his talk: Developer Anarchy.  He spoke about the organisation Forward, and their approach to management systems; which is, they have none. This one sparked a lot of intrigue!

Some tweets throughout Fred’s talks:

#techtalksbristol I am glad there is a development methodology that describes the way I work. Anarchy. (@JeremyBassett)

@fgeorge52 talking about ‘programmer anarchy’ at#TechTalksBristol – looks and sounds crazy! (@mattrowntree)

Programmer anarchy! Awesomeness!#techtalksbristol (@CVC_Wizard)

Loving Fred George’s passion for his developer anarchy!! #techtalksbristol (@DickieArmour)

Our final speaker, Geoff Roberts, gave an information-packed talk about the vast opportunities in data.

Some tweets throughout Geoff’s talks:

The greatest barrier to success is fear of failure! Like it! #techtalksbristol (@KevLeighton)

Geoff Roberts recommending NetBase for social search ow.ly/i/u5i3 #TechTalksBristol (@DickieArmour)

How to maximize revenue using the RFM model at#TechTalksBristol (@Mattrowntree)

And the tweets continued!

Sadly the venue needed us to vacate at 6 so networking was cut slightly short. Some ventured to the pub afterwards though, Chloe and I included (can we get away with claiming that as expenses…?).

If you wish to get involved in the next Tech Talks on the 25th April you can book your place now, the line-up is a little special…

Thanks to all that came to Tech Talks #2 we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did… And our under-eye bags are not in vain

We say: Cloud Computing is the future of your business.

You say: what the hell is it and how much is it gonna cost?

Cloud Computing is slowly moving beyond the hype stage as more and more people start to grasp what it is.

(But just in case, here’s a very quick summary: Cloud Computing involves storing your data/work over the internet. This means you can access your software and your documents from any computer. This has become a revelation for business owners, who are no longer tied to one office or one computer. Staff can work from home, in meetings, even whilst travelling. Documents & calendars can be shared easily; all thanks to the Cloud.)

Its flexible; its scalable; its secure; its green. But is it expensive?

For large corporate companies a move to the Cloud isn’t going to be cheap – and it’s not very likely to save you a great deal of money, however it should match the cost of your current IT expenditure and yet the extra benefits should be enough to persuade a move.

SME’s, depending on the size of your business and its requirements, Cloud Computing comes with varying costs:

There is nearly always a set up fee simply because the Cloud requires a change in your current infrastructure. The integration of Cloud into your business takes time so most cloud providers will charge for this.

Where you are likely to save money is on software, updates, back-up, IT Support, server replacements, disaster recovery, electricity – though of course it does depend on the provider! For example while some CC companies offer free 24/7 support, others such as Amazon charge from $100 per month.

I know, it’s confusing, but here are some tips on what to ask yourself when weighing up the costs of Cloud Computing:

• Do I wish to pay per user, per GB or per hour?
• What are the set-up costs?
• Does it include support?
• Does it include back-up?
• How much will it cost when my business expands?

At SpiderGroup we charge per user and we’re currently building a system which will allow freelancers, sole traders and small businesses to join the Cloud without a set-up fee and a monthly payment plan starting at £30 per user. We are constantly looking to tackle the cost of Cloud Computing in Bristol so that more businesses can benefit from the vast advantages of the Cloud.

So, will it save you pounds? Probably not.

Does it add value? Definitely.

(Image by Salvatore Vuono)

With only a few weeks until Apple is supposedly to unveil their new iPad2, the release date, specs and price are still secrets. But does that stop rumours – No.

Reports indicate that Apple is anticipating a huge demand for their second generation iPad, so much in fact that they have ordered six million units per month.

So what do we know so far?

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Seattle Times claim that Microsoft are planning on unveiling a version of Windows which has been specifically created for IPTV’s.

Aimed to obviously compete against Apple and Google TV, Brier Dudley, reporter for Seattle Times reported that Microsoft plans to show off at CES a ‘stripped down version of Windows’ which has been tailored for internet connected TV’s and set-top boxes.

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HP has announced a CES press conference on January 9^{th -} possibly suggesting more webOS products.

With invitations being sent out to select journalists at CES, the invitations encourage you to ‘Think Big. Think Small. Think Beyond’.

The conference could possibly hold the release of a new HP webOS tablet – the Palm Pad or maybe even a new range of mobile phones.

We shall have to stay tuned at what happens on Sunday at CES 2011.

-Via PMABox

According to new research conducted by CA Technologies, businesses are deciding to change the way that they think because of cloud computing.

‘Cloud Thinking’ is making companies consider cost and efficiency as a feature of their IT infrastructure.

More than eight in ten smaller businesses surveyed claimed to be using at least one cloud service – this could be anything from Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Dynamics 4.0 through to Microsoft Exchange 2010. The figure increased to above nine in ten (92%) for bigger services – this would be expected due to the scalability of cloud computing.

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