Comments for theitblogjobboard

Comment on Donating your unwanted IT for reuse in Africa by Mark Whitehead

Mark Whitehead — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 03:16:15 +0000

VSAT technology is now available in many foreign countries such as Africa. VSAT satellite technology not only helps teachers but brings new opportunities to small business owners in remote and rural areas as well. http://marksonlinemallsite.com

Comment on Watch out IT World! by Craig McCallum

Craig McCallum — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:19:49 +0000

So start investing in China and India investment funds!!

Comment on Blast from the past by Craig McCallum

Craig McCallum — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:00:01 +0000

What a youngster – a child of the 80s indeed. I preferred being a child of the 60s living and programming in London at the time – cutting my teeth on exotic beasts like the LEO 326 and IBM system 30/40s with bog all memory and disk storage. Happiness was falling down the stairs while carrying 4 boxes of 80 column cards to be compiled – just as well they were numbered and sequenced for the card sorter!! A really good day was at Mobil Oil at the Abert Embankment office (very handy for squash at Dolphin square and Zombies at Trader Vic’s at the Hilton with the American manager’s AMex card) when my pint of beer was balanced on top of the IBM N…. printer – I forgot that the lid rose automatically when paper ran out – for some reason they banned booze and coffee in the computer room when working late at night………………..

Comment on Current Trends In IT Contractor Positions by Craig McCallum

Craig McCallum — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:50:26 +0000

I started contracting 10 years ago after being made redundant by a major outsourcing company as a service integration manager for major outsourcing deals up to £70m pa in value. This was during the last recession and surprise, surprise the majority of the 300 people made redundant were over 50 and high earners (including myself and some directors), but there you go, life goes on. Contracting has its ups and downs and I have been lucky to have had a least one good contract a year varying in duration from12 months to 4 months at rates between £460 and £280. One of the contributors to this series of “musings” was spot on – you have to be mobile, flexible and highly adaptable to survive these days. My current speciality is IT reviews and cost cutting – last used in the 90s and very current today with CSR10. I have tended to work with central and local government but have also worked as an interim service and contract manager for major international companies. My biggest problemis not me old age (turned 64 last week) but my hearing which has deteriated over the years. My customers are generally ok with this but it will be time to hang up my laptop soon after 43 years in the IT business. AND I still have all my own hair, crowns and an MX5 (gave up the elctric guitar a few years ago when I wrecked my hand in an accident)

Comment on Donating your unwanted IT for reuse in Africa by Alexia

Alexia — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:06:31 +0000

If you do want to get in touch then please email me at alexia[at]computeraid.org, I’d be happy to answer any questions or accept donations. Thanks!

Alexia

Comment on Now Christmas has passed…. by Matt Miller

Matt Miller — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 01:10:21 +0000

Sounds like you have cornered the thoughts on what I understand to have been jargonised as Digital Inclusion. I have included (ha, ha) a discussion on things like this in a group I run on LinkedIn – which can visit at http://linkd.in/feM8xC if interested – and would be interested in how these charities you raise here are factored into that initiative. Certainly I know that Digital Neighbourhoods are part of that.

Comment on Where is that next great leap in IT technology? by Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:23:37 +0000

Hi Richard,

Thanks for your comment.

You’re right, the blog has evolved in it’s content since it’s launch. But if people also want to discuss the latest technologies and gadgets we are happy to provide the blog as a platform to do so. We still post updates about the job market as well. Are there any topics you would like to see addressed in particular? Or perhaps you would like to become a guest blogger yourself?

All the best,

Sarah

Comment on Now Christmas has passed…. by Jon Jarvis

Jon Jarvis — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 09:16:00 +0000

One charity I know, which is for the treatment and care of persons, primarily but not exclusively residents in Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire, suffering from mental illness of any description and members of any disadvantaged or socially excluded group of the community and can be found at http://www.recyclingunlimited.co.uk/ – this charity is called Recycling Unlimited, and I have done some voluntary work for them. This charity does accept old IT related stuff – as well as Furniture and Books. They also have the odd training course as well as making garden furniture, which they sell in their shops. Anybody is welcome to browse in their Newland Avenue, Hull shops.

Comment on Where is that next great leap in IT technology? by Roger Griffiths

Roger Griffiths — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:50:38 +0000

PC with a chip based OS? That sounds a bit like the old Commodore Amigas, Sinclair Spectrums, and Amstrad Plus4s. Ok some of them were not completely chip based but hopefully you get my drift. To me the Kinect thing is not that revolutionary (Flock of Birds or Camera based motion detection anyone?). Don’t get me wrong, it is great to see such technologies out in the market place but the latest openly marketed technologies don’t always reflect what is currently the state of the art. For instance, IBM had a re-writable optical media system back in the early 1990’s (sold for about £1000 but it was available) but now a rewritable DVD drive can be picked up for around £15.

With regards to Computer Viruses there are quite a few ways of minimising the risk of getting a system infected without resorting to anti-virus software, the problem is that many of these measures restrict how a system can be used. Allow users to install software, and there is the chance of trojan horses being introduced into a system. Allow the use of plug-ins in applications, and again there is a chance of viruses. Allow the use of scripting, and again there is another vehicle for malicious sofware. To make a computer completely ROM based is like taking a retrograde step to the likes of Nintendo 64s, and would possibly end up restricting innovation and increasing the cost of hardware and software.
Admittidly it would possibly result in considerably increased quality of product because people would expect it if the product can not be patched for free, but that quality increase could also be achieved by a change in the mindsets of the current marketting people and the consumer.
Software consumers in general should probably be more picky about the quality of the product they receive for their cash, from what I have seen to date many people are willing to buy a product (even if it is a pile of smelly stuff) just to keep ahead of the game rather than waiting for the first or second major patch which fixes the product to the level it should have been in the first place.

Comment on Stardate 2010.11 Is this the latest Hardware? by Roger Griffiths

Roger Griffiths — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:32:25 +0000

The problems with the IT department sounds like a familiar story that everyone with any experience has encountered at some point or other.

The progress you noted with pen-and-paper type exercises is a great point and probably causes more interaction in the class room because people tend to think more about the subject matter. With power-point presentations it is all too easy to ask “can we have a copy of the presentation” and for students to take the attitude that they can review points they have questions about out of the classroom and in their own time. Although, I guess being a good teacher can help mitigate the latter disadvantages of using IT resources.