If you were to ask my colleagues and friends the type of people I tend to idolise, there will probably be an even split in responses between organic farmers and Ray Mears.

I have become quite adept at stalking organic farmers at various markets up and down the country; however tracking down Ray Mears has been more of a challenge.  A couple of weeks ago I found the king of bushcraft at the Outdoors Show and attended one of his lectures.

The lecture was, for me, fascinating.  However one thing that really stuck in my mind was one of Ray’s trips to the Arctic where, despite still retaining their hunter/gather skills, the indigenous people had access to a high-speed Wi-Fi network, Playstations and other technology you wouldn’t necessarily associate with living in the Arctic wilderness.

There were of course gasps and shaking of heads in the lecture theatre. Especially as the Wi-Fi was provided by an oil company that had set up shop nearby. While this was undoubtedly a bit of CSR by the oil company, it has had a profound effect on the local community.

Vital supplies can now be ordered over the internet, emergency services can be accessed but perhaps more interestingly a world of information can be found. While these are positives, I imagine the gasps and disapproving whispers upon hearing this news was due to the belief that the key skills used by the local population for centuries, would be lost in a sea of World of Warcraft and tweeting.

Or will they? As the local community becomes more proficient in finding and perhaps adding to information on the web, will we see those that retain the ancient skills post Wikis for all to learn from? Could a geo location map be uploaded highlighting the key hunting areas for other local communities? Perhaps an online charter of how to make sustainable use of the land and its resources could be drafted and adhered to.

Personally, I do get a warm feeling when hearing about the more traditional way of handing down knowledge from father/mother (no Andy Gray here) to son/daughter. However, access to the online world could help those living the more ‘pure’ life cement their legacy and teachings online. And perhaps teach the rest of the world something in the process. I’d love to learn from them and I’m sure others would too.

This morning Rachel Armstrong tweeted about whether cities of the future will be designed around energy. The article linked from the tweet discussed how there are two operative principals historically considered when building cities: transportation links and defence. The reasons around defence are a given, and transportation links were important to connect agricultural sites and sources of trade to the urban people.

Now that war machines have the capacity to travel around the globe and supply chains have the ability to deliver fresh produce pretty much anywhere (I bought tofu in the Arctic a couple years ago), what will be the main principal considered in designed cities of the future. General Electric’s Ecomagination blog suggest it is energy, but what about internet connections?

A report that went live this morning, commissioned by Google UK, found that the Internet economy now represents 7.2% of UK GDP, which is more than construction, transport or utilities. The FT said that Britain has become a “nation of digital shopkeepers.”

With an internet connection vital for 250,000 jobs in this country, is fibre optic cable the new trade route?

Photo by Flickr user ILMO JOE, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

BBC – BT to complete super-fast broadband network by 2012
BT’s superfast broadband network will be completed in time for the 2012 Olympic Games, the firm has announced.

BBC – India survey says Facebook affects productivity
Indian firms are losing productivity because office staff spend too long on social networking sites, a survey says.

FT.com – Avatar takes $242m globally in first weekend
Hollywood’s heavy investment in 3D has passed it s biggest test yet, analysts and cinema executives said this week, as they tallied the takings from Avatar, James Cameron’s 3D epic.

The Register – Microsoft AV advice may aid attackers, researcher warns
A security researcher is taking Microsoft to task for advising customers to exclude certain files and folders from anti-virus scanning, arguing the practice could be exploited by pushers of malware.

Guardian – Vodafone to offer iPhone from January
Vodafone will start selling the iPhone in Britain next month, offering customers a free handset for £35 a month on a two-year contract, disappointing consumers hoping for a high-street price war over the device.

Computer Weekly – Dell increases Twitter sales
Dell has sold $6.5m worth of equipment by using microblogging website Twitter. This represents a late surge because in June this year the company said it had made $3m of sales on Twitter over the previous two years.

IT PRO – Retailers geared up for ‘Mega Monday’
Online retailers face major traffic volumes on Monday 7 December, what e-retail body IMRG says will be the busiest online shopping day of the year for the UK. Retailers like Amazon, Play.com, Tesco and Argos will be expected to deal with hoards of online shoppers looking to buy gifts for Christmas, with a prediction that £350 million will be spent on Monday alone.

The Register – Mozilla lights fire under Thunderbird
Mozilla will step up the pace of on its Thunderbird mail and communications platform next year, to re-invigorate a “stagnant” email client scene.

The Financial Times – Apple buys internet music site Lala.com
Apple bought internet music site Lala.com late on Friday for an undisclosed amount, a development that could lead to the addition of streaming songs and new payment systems at Apple’s iTunes, the world’s biggest music retailer.

After buying the UK rights for the game, Setanta, the pay-TV firm collapsed. So, digital sport specialist Perform stepped in to stream the match exclusively online.

This raises the question of whether the Internet will prove robust enough to cope with the volume of subscribers logging on to watch the game. If the feed drops then how long will it take to fix, if at all? It was only last week that research from Cisco found that the UK’s broadband is ‘not fit’ for future demands and ranked it 25th out of 66 countries in terms of the quality and reach of its network – Can football fans nationwide put their faith in the country’s broadband offering to watch Saturday’s match seamlessly? I guess the proof will be in the pudding. If the network copes then this could see a new trend of exclusive sports fixtures being streamed online, but if it fails to make the grade then Perform will have a lot to answer for.

At their simplest, femtocells will improve in-building mobile reception for the large number of people outside urban areas/in thick walled buildings (me in both cases). But what’ll be interesting is how they develop. The opportunity is for service providers (whether mobile, fixed line or broadband suppliers) to deliver a one box solution that brings femtocells together with wireless streaming of content, broadband, fixed and mobile telephony to create a truly interoperable wireless home. I think this will drive wider adoption rather than tracking down errant offspring………