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I thought I'd write a quick blog post on London Fashion Week and what the trends are going to be (mainly because I get the chance to enter a competition and be there).

Well what are the trends this year? Of course it's going to be iPhones, they'll still be the phone of choice of the discerning fashionista. There will also also be a smuttering of Android phones (though more on that later) and even some Microsoft WP7 devices. Of course it isn't really the phone that counts, but the bling case you bring it in!!!

Though iPhones are still King of the Hill (only iPhone 4's of course, none of the curved back 3's or 3GS's, don't even pretend they're hip), there's bound to be a smattering of tablets (well they'll be a lot of those there - they call them "diet pills" or even "disco biscuits") but of course it's the computing kind we're talking about. Many still think Apple's iPad is still be d's b's, but Android is starting to topple that crown and the Samsung's Galaxy Tab (we're still talking tablet computers here, don't go all psychedelic) has a Super AMOLED display that is to die for and new devices are appearing every day, shame HP's Touch (maybe a bad name considering past allegations of senior management behaviour) won't be ready in time, or it be the one.

If you want to win The Ultimate London Fashion Week Blogging Experience with WIWT.com and Vodafone VIP, visit Poppy Dinsey's blog.

Labels: London Fashion Week, Poppy Dinsey, Vodafone VIP, WIWT

There's quite a few people in the London tech scene who like technology and are willing to pay for it. Many will buy retail products as they wish to have instant gratification in getting the latest tech products.

However there's a lot of people that while still wishing to get the latest and greatest will wait and search around on the Internet to get the best bargains.

There's potential for a site, which is set-up as a member's only site and members can refer friends. The site would make deals for high value white goods such as flat screen TVs, cameras, HiFi.

The site would go direct to manufacturers and commit to buying a certain amount of product (of a specific type) and agree to pick-up and distribute. Product would have a full manufacturer guarantee.

The offer would be put on the site and members would commit to purchasing (money would be collected to escrow or they'd agree to allow card purchase to go through when offer activates i.e. minimum number of orders received).

Since the offer would be the price wholesalers get, savings could be considerable (generally wholesale make 100% and retail at least 40%). Therefore savings (to the end-user) could be 50% retail and the site would still make a profit (this doesn't go for all products i.e. Apple are notoriously low margin).

the model would work as people with a high disposable income refer their friends who would also be interested in this type of offer and so it spreads virally.

Products such as say a high-end Plasma TV mat retail for £4,000 - 5,000 and if they were sold at £2,500 that would be attractive. However to buy direct from manufacture, you'd need to commit to the hundreds of items. Also you'd have to commit to a single product.

This could also extend to very high value items such as cars (being aware that you'd have to pick car companies that didn't mind going against existing dealerships, but some would) and again you'd have to pick a specific model/configuration, but discounts could be worth it.

Labels: Launch48

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Moyles show tops UK podcast chart

Podcasts are now mainstream. Chris Moyles' breakfast show is being podcast (well the best of the week) and has instantly (or at least within 10 hours) has gone to the top of Apple's podcast directory.

Users still need to sync their iPods with iTunes or another podcast client in order to realise the benefits from podcasting.

Here's an opportunity for someone to make a device that can connect over WiFi or even DAB and download RSS/Atom feeds and podcasts so a user can read/listen to information whenever they want and it will always be current.

Time support site is shut down - Desktops - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com

Demon vs Godfrey (1999) hits another site. The tinycon.com (unofficial) site for ex employees of Tiny.com and Time Computers and customers disappeared off the Internet.

It seems the hosting cmpany SiteHQ worried about defamatory content pulled the plug.

The Godfrey/Demon case puts liability on the ISP/hosting company if they are made aware of potentially defamatory content, and they have to make a judgement call if it's defamatory or not. If they decide it isn't and a court decides it is, they can be held liable. So ISPs will just make the content unavailable so they cant be sued (or only put it up with legal disclaimers or get-outs).

BitTorrent goes upmarket

BitTorrent could be the answer to on-line content delivery it's demise. The latest version doesn't require centralised torrents making it difficult to shut down sites.

BitTorrent is very clever decentralised peer-to-peer (p2p) software that ensures data is actually downloaded from a variety of sources and the client puts the pieces together again, so it may only pull a few KB/s from individual peers but several 100Kb/s from the aggregated peers.

Each client then also serves the content it's pulled to other peers.

This actually makes very efficient use of available bandwidth and eases content delivery and piracy, though there are DRM (digital rights management) systems that can work with BitTorrent.

BitTorrent accounts for a large percentage of p2p traffic, if the DRM issues can be sorted it could change the way content is distributed.

802.11n rivals agree to merge | The Register

This is a good thing hopefully allowing network speeds of up to 540Mb/s. The proposals would still require European approval through ETSI (802.11a though an IEEE standard isn't approved for EU use so there's an 802.111h standard which is 802.11a modified to meet EU standards). So even though 802.11n sounds like a good idea, it may take a while for equipment to be available even after the IEEE ratifies it.

Techworld.com - Ofcom auction opens low-cost mobile calls

Unfortunately it's not quite as plain sailing as the article makes out. Though Ofcom is auctioning between 5 and 10 licenses for national UK coverage, there's no guarantee that roaming off traditional GSM networks will happen, that would mean cooperation from the MNOs (mobile network operators) which isn't guaranteed.

Hopefully Ofcom will mandate roaming allowing existing handsert users to easily move off a GSM network onto a local pico cell which could significantly reduce call charges which would suit in-building "hotspots" within a business or local area.

Of course a licensee could elect to use the spectrum for another purpose complietely like fixed wireless (broadband) access, though the bandwidth is limited.

Reserve pricing is set at £50,000 to stop "frivolous" applications.

Microsoft to side with HD DVD for Xbox 360

There's not really much of a suprise in the article, MS adopting HD-DVD rather than Blu-ray. It's even less of a suprise Sony are going with Blu-ray (as the article implies) as they developed the format!!!

Net4Now :: News Story

LINX, the London INternet eXchange which was started when BT joined the ISP foray many years ago (as previously the 4 UK ISPs maintained a mesh between themselves and having a 5th company come along meant 4 new connections to the existing 4 ISPs) has grown at an astounding rates and is now one of the biggest (if not the biggest) peering points in the world.

They are now offering 10Gb/s Ethernet connectivity and Limelight Networks are the first company to take on a 10Gb/s port. Limelight are a content provider rather than an ISP so potentially need to have enough bandwidth to supply all the other peers taking content, which means we'll likely see 100Gb/s connections in the future.

Net4Now :: News Story

This is not unexpected, Easynet have been "pushing" their LLUStream service for a while and One.tel like every other broadband supplier will be looking to reduce costs.

Though the LLUStream is a workable wholesale offering, there could still be issues in provisioning and/or customer faults as Easynet still utilise BT for the copper infrastructure and there are potential problems when things go wrong (i.e. customer complains to One.tel/Easynet who say it's a BT fault, BTsay it's the LLU operators fault). Though most of the process is there, it's still relatively new and there will be teething issues which will be worsened with a 3rd party reseller.

Net4Now :: News Story

Another VoIP offering. It's all very well offering sophisticated VoIP services (in this case virtual PBX services) but there are many hidden costs that customers should be aware of.

Replacing a traditional phone system with an IP one is not necessarily an easy process. Firstly the LAN probably needs updating so that it supports QoS to the desk, then there's the cost of the IP phones themselves and connectivity back to the ITSP (Internet Telephony Service Provider) itself.

Many offerings are over standard DSL links, which don't support QoS and even leased lines may well hit the ISP on a contended backbone.

Adding all these costs up may make the service suddenly very unattractive (especially for single site companies) and traditional forms of telephony may work out much more cost-effective using IDA or CPS type services.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | BT quits race for broadband share

This only applies to BT Retails, BT Wholesale still accounts for the bulk of DSL in the UK (6m+ customers and LLU 60k). Cable accounts for another 2m'ish but that still puts BTW way out in front.

On Tuesday night I drove back from Bristol, it was late and I dropped a friend in Bethnal Green. While driving through Islington a Police car turned into the road that I was stationary on (waiting at some traffic lights) drove past, looked at me and did a U-turn.

They then proceeded to follow me for about 1/2 a mile (actually they were a few cars behind me) and then the blue lights came on.

I stopped and a nice Police woman tapped on the glass so I got out. Then a Policeman came over doing the DVLA check etc.

They did the usual of "Is this your car? Is it registered to you, name address?" etc. The woman notified me that they she was going to write down where they'd stopped me and asked if I had any ID, so I produced my driving license. I asked why they'd stopped me and was told "because of what I was wearing and I was hunched in the seat and looked suspicious".

All they would have been able to see was a black jacket and maybe my hoodie, and I'd just driven for almost 3 1/2 hours so was knackered, which I did explain to the woman.

Anyway the radio obviously reported back that the car was registered to me, so they actually apologised and sent me on my way.

Moral, don't wear hoodies and don't drive through central london late at night ...

Last Saturday I was having a quiet drink in the pub for a friend's birthday when suddenly blue and white "Police Line - do not cross" tape started appearing everywhere.

It was a bomb scare. The Police guarding the area didn't know what was going on except that the area was a no go.

All in all there must have been about 50+ Police, a bomb squad unit and 3 fire engines. The bomb squad had a truck with what looked like a sealed rear section with a periscope coming out the top.

They suddenly announced that the streets had to be cleared and we were locked in the pub, unfortunately no free drinks which was disappointing.

They then proceeded to unroll a large drum of wire and connect it to what looked like a tube on a car jack (a detonator?), but quite quickly rolled it back in and declared the area safe.

Today (Thurs) it seems there was a large Police presence on the underground and even sleepy Belsize Park had two stationed there all day (Kentish Town seemed to have at least 3 or 4).

Still not found a permanent job. I've been doing some consultancy, but need to find some more. So if anyone is looking for someone in the Internet/telco space do drop me a line.

Fred sitting/lying on his back which he quite often does. He's cute though.