Visit speed website Speed blog home
January 5th, 2010 by Lisa Francis

Daily News: 05/01

CBR – Innovation suffers at hands of IT cuts
Recessionary budget cuts in IT have damaged innovation and cost companies their customers, according to an international BT Global Services study.

Computer Weekly – Conservative manifesto would revamp NHS IT
The Conservative Party has published a draft manifesto for the NHS, which could have a material impact on the NHS National Programme for IT.

Computing.co.uk – Chrome passes Safari to become third most popular browser

Google’s Chrome browser continued its impressive growth in popularity by leapfrogging Safari into third place last month.

BBC – Speculation rife on Google phone

The web is awash with gossip and rumour about the imminent arrival of a Google-branded phone. The search firm is widely expected to unveil the Nexus One phone at a press conference scheduled today at its California HQ.

The Times – Philips tests ‘Big Brother’ health checks
The scope of a new global healthcare market worth billions of pounds is being tested by Philips, the electronics group, in the UK with the world’s biggest trial of distance monitoring of chronically ill patients in their homes.

CRN – Netintelligence wins Home Access contract

Internet security firm Netintelligence has won a contract to supply the government with e-safety software for its soon-to-be launched Home Access Programme. The programme, which will be formally launched early this year, aims to supply 270,000 low-income households containing children aged between seven and 13 with internet access by March 2011.

November 10th, 2009 by Chris Measures

Fantastic Mr (Fire)Fox

FirefoxIt is five years since the launch of the open source Mozilla Firefox browser, so cue celebrations in cyberspace. Given we now live in a multi-browser world (albeit one still dominated by Internet Explorer) it is difficult to understand the internet landscape before Firefox.

First, a quick history lesson. After launching Internet Explorer, Microsoft poured millions into the product. This meant it successfully squashed the first independent mainstream browser, Netscape. Job done, it disbanded the development team, leaving users stuck with the same technology and little chance of upgrades.

Enter Firefox and the not-for-profit Mozilla Foundation which provided a clear, and function rich alternative. The result? 24 per cent of surfers now use Firefox. While it isn’t likely to topple the inertia that keeps IE at the top of the charts, it has stimulated diversity in the browser market – witness the introduction and growth of Apple’s Safari, Opera and Google Chrome in recent years.

In fact, it provides a template for what can be achieved with open source collaboration, listening to users and providing innovative solutions. Here’s to the next five years!