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

Speaking at an industry conference today in Barcelona, senior vice president of HP Eric Cador has finally confirmed that the company will be manufacturing new phones running the mobile operating system created by the recently acquired Palm.

Of course this is nothing unexpected, but it is the first time that we can actually say for sure that by early next year the Pre and Pixi will have some company when it comes to running Palm’s impressive OS that has thus far gone relatively unnoticed in the mainstream mobile market, with the majority of people favoring Android or iOS 4.

-For more information go to the original article source here at Zath

Via – Engadget

Although not entirely unexpected, Microsoft has confirmed in a press release today that all five major UK carriers will have Windows Phone 7 devices in their product line ups when the handsets start to hit the market in the coming weeks. This includes third party sellers, also, as both the Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U will be stocking the phones too.

“Microsoft has announced that all five of the mobile network operators in the UK – Orange, O2, Vodafone,T-Mobile and Three – will be ranging phones running Windows® Phone when it launches later this year. In addition, Windows Phone 7 will be ranged by the leading UK retailers The Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4u.”

This means that if you’re in the UK and really looking forward to Microsoft’s new mobile operating system, then you won’t have to switch networks to get your fair share of the goodies.

Of course the press release doesn’t spill specific details about which devices will be on which network, but to know that you will have a choice across the board is pretty exciting news – customers can now go for a more compitent 3G network or a reliable 2G.

Are you waiting for Windows Phone 7 handsets to hit the shelves so that you can treat yourself to a new mobile phone which isn’t Google Android-based or an Apple iPhone?

Do you think that this move by Microsoft will help aid their catch-up in the mobile phone market? Or are they already too late? Will you ever want a Windows Phone 7 handset after Windows Mobile 6.5?

I think it was pretty much safe to say that when HTC released the HTC Desire, it seemed to lack something to make it that little bit better to excel against its competitor – the iPhone. But news today is that HTC have announced the HTC Desire HD and as many people predicted, the handset looks remarkably like the HTC Evo.

The HD will have a 4.3″ display which is larger than the original Desire, but as we have seen previously, handsets such as the HD2 people did purchase a more chunkier handset and were content with it.

Spec, the HD will have its normal 1GHz snapdragon processor, a whopping 768MB of RAM and 1.5GB internal memory. Software wise, the handset will have Android 2.2 Froyo but with the newer versions of Android in the pipeline, who knows.

To compliment the display and better pixel density, the handset will have a boosted rear-facing camera which will now be able to shoot 720p and an 8MP camera with dual-flash. Only downside is this isn’t really ground breaking as Android lovers with the Nexus One have been able to hack their smart phone to record in 720p.

On the outside of the phone, the handset looks pretty much exactly the same as the EVO.

In terms of availability, the handset is said to begin next month but with the handset going exclusively to Vodafone.

What may need to be done to give the HD that edge, as previously mentioned, the handset does require a rather significant increase in battery – another benefits which Zath have pointed out is that you will actually be able to hold the phone without killing the reception or having to put a silly case on it.

-For more information go to the original article source here at Zath

Emails, diaries and intranets are easy with these services from SpiderGroup

What is Microsoft Exchange?

Microsoft Exchange is a program that handles email, diaries and addresses for businesses. Its benefits include:

I already have email, so why do I need this?

Many businesses rely on basic POP3 email accounts from their internet service provider or even web mail. These are not usually ideal for business use:

One user who have made the switch said:

“It amazes people who haven’t seen it before – it is way beyond what POP3 email could ever offer.”

What is ‘Hosting’ and Hosted Exchange?

Many companies run Exchange Server on dedicated server computers on their own premises. This can prove costly for small to medium sized businesses. However, thanks to new Microsoft technology, it is possible to outsource this to specialist hosting companies such as SpiderGroup, just like you might let someone host your website for you.

This can reduce the cost, risk, complexity and support burden associated with an in-house system. It is also quicker to set up than an in-house system and can reduce your up-front costs.

Why choose hosted Exchange?

There are several reasons why you might chose a hosted solution over an in-house email system:

What is hosted SharePoint Server and how can it help my business?

Just as you can outsource Microsoft Exchange Server, it is also possible to get Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services as a hosted service. This allows you and your colleagues to work more effectively by storing business information in a secure, private intranet website that is accessible anywhere.

SharePoint is useful for:

You can claim £20 back on your old router if you upgrade to a new Linksys by Cisco Wireless-N unit at PC World – the offer ends 27th August 2010. The offer applies to a number of qualifying products including the all-in-one WAG120N-UK, WAG160N-UK, and the WAG320N-UK and the router only WRT120N-UK, WRT160N-UK, WRT320N-UK, and the WRT610N-UK.

To check out the terms to trade up your old router head over to the Linksys trade up website.

It has taken us a little bit of time but we have put together a new site which we hope more appropriately reflects the company and the stage of development that we are now at. We have spent a great deal of time and effort working out how to express to customers and potential customers exactly what it is we do. We are technologists at heart so we cover a broad range of technologies but never the less we have subdivided our offerings into 3 clear areas of specialism to help describe how we can help you and your business.

You may notice that we have implemented some new ideas to ensure that we communicate better with our audience such as a blog to work alongside our news letter. We hope that the blog can server to inform people about important issues in the IT industry and keep people updated with exciting things that we are getting up to.

Enjoy!