Ben Popplestone

Ok, I’ll be the first to say they’re not the same thing. Microsoft Bing is a new search engine with interactive functionality and Google Wave is described as a replacement technology for email. But, strange coincidence that they were both announced within a day of each other at the end of May. Bing was presented by Steve Balmer to an audience of executives at the SMX Advanced event and the following day, Wave was demonstrated by the charismatic Rasmussen (of Google Maps fame) to a community of 4000 developers at the Google I/O conference.

So, these two giants of technology, who have been looking for ways to eat each others market over the last few years (Google creating apps to rival MS Office and Microsoft attempting Yahoo! takeover for greater web search / advertising presence), decide to innovate and strike a blow to the other company.

Will their new developments succeed? And how do they compare as competitive strategies? (more…)

I love hearing about new technology developments and I’m generally a sociable guy so enjoy meeting fellow digital and web enthusiasts, but I’ve never been one that has to be at all the happening events going on. I decided to miss Media140 a couple of weeks ago as it seemed at the time to be aimed more at journalists, however the live tweeting was pretty extensive and I managed to follow some of that. That said, there are a couple of events within a week of each other that I’m planning to go to in the next few days. (more…)

Today, Sir Jim Rose, the former head of Ofsted, has released a review of primary schools, encouraging more teaching on technology and ICT. According to Becta, the government’s technology agency, there is a risk that if ICT is not included on the curriculum, even at this young age, a “digital underclass” will emerge. However primary schools only have responsibility for children 24hrs per week, so there is an obvious challenge here for parents as well as schools in bringing kids up in a digital world with all of the associated opportunities and ‘dangers’.

Yesterday, I attended a primary school parents evening, not to evaluate children’s progress in classes, but to learn and discuss the growing implications of raising kids in a digital world. I was there as a techie advisor on the panel and answered questions about blocking/monitoring content online, but not being a parent myself, it was a learning process for me too and thought I would comment here about some of the best practices I’ve picked up from the evening and various other places. (more…)

Starting a blog was one of my resolutions for this year. New posts coming soon!