Suddenly, it would seem, the UK has fallen in love with Twitter. IT Pro and PC Pro are reporting on it, the BBC are talking about it, The Guardian is reporting on it, and the Telegraph has reported on it, to name but a few.

Celebrities including Jonathan Ross (BAFTA Salad anyone?), Stephen Fry (stuck in a lift), Lauren Laverne (on The Culture Show last night), Robert Llewellyn (Carpool on Llewtube) and Phil Jupitus (How is that hand sign coming along?) are findings ways to incorporate it into their busy life styles. Other celebrities are quickly catching on (and up) with the benefits Twitter has to offer.

Even I have written about it (Is Twitter the new Id?) after recently rediscovering its Twitteriness.

The simplicity of Twitter is something that should not be underestimated and gives over complex systems a run for their money. I won’t go into the details of how it works other than to say once you start Twittering, and following other Twitterers you may discover some its deliberate limitations somewhat refreshing. Having to really think about what you want to say so it fits into the 140 character limit is something that only really comes with a lot of practise.

Twitter following is one-sided and unthreaded which can often give a beautiful chaotic nature to conversations where you will be party to disjointed messages from your chosen follower without the immediate benefit of seeing other Twitterer messages sent to them.

I have found Twitter to be great for sharing, and learning, tidbits of information and entering into a more immediate discourse on subjects that interest me at any particular time. Preparing articles and blog posts can be aided by discussing finer points or obtaining further insight. You could do something similar with Google, but where Google is often a lonely and solitary searching experience (trying to find the right words), Twitter offers a more human experience where clarifications and refinements can be made quickly and helpfully from a community of people who want to share.

Like all good sensations an economy has built up around Twitter offering all manner of add-ons, extensions, and analytics to try and plug gaps and offer features or combinations of services - I put ten of my favourite into this list (10 Must Have Productivity Tools For Twitter ) though this list has risen to about 15 since I made that post.

I am off for a Twitter now so if you are passing by say hello @jasonslater

I recently commented on a post by Rory Cellan-Jones, on the BBC dot.life blog, and the BBC removed it issuing me with a very nice warning

“Dear BBC Blog contributor,
Thank you for contributing to a BBC Blog. Unfortunately we’ve had to remove your content below. Postings to BBC blogs will be removed if they include contact details such as phone numbers, postal or email addresses…[snip]…Please note that anyone who seriously or repeatedly breaks the House Rules may have action taken against their account.”

The post titled Is blogging dead? talked about how social networking and micro-blogging is supposedly killing blogging which I don’t particularly agree with. Anyway my comment is here (hopefully IT Pro won’t pull it!):

“Twittering, or micro-blogging, often gives an interesting heads up, or lead in, to a fuller article the reader can follow if they wish. In this way there is room for both - for example on my Uk based technology blog at www.jasonslater.co.uk I post full articles but also provide a much briefer post to twitter.The platforms, languages, and levels of interaction may change but discussion is alive and well and its great to see you blogging about it.”

No phone numbers, postal or email address included - oh wait - I did include the URL to my blog - could that be the reason? There were about a dozen other posts all with URLs pointing back to blogs (some with names in) so at the time I didn’t feel I was doing anything out of the ordinary and I felt my post was in line with the subject matter. I asked the BBC to clarify exactly why they pulled my comment and thus far they have not replied.

So, is Blogging dead? The BBC are certainly do there bit to help.

I wonder what Rory Cellan-Jones would make of it? Oh, yes, I can’t ask him can I?

Monster.co.uk recently posted an important security message warning users that Monsters’ “database was illegally accessed” - you can read more about it in this post: Monster Has Been Munched.

Read more

Back at work and it feels like we have never been away! One thing I did manage to get round to over the Christmas break was catching up some tech reading.

“The End Of Mr. Y“, by Scarlett Thomas, is a good read for taking your brain out for a stretch and follows the (mis)adventures of Ariel Manto, a PhD Student, as she uncovers and explores the Troposphere. Next up is “The Blue Nowhere”, by Jeffery Deaver, a techno-thriller which follows an investigation into a master hacker (cracker) serial killer who socially engineers his victims - I will be writing a sum up of this shortly. “Daemon“, by Daniel Suarez, is a riveting page turner as law enforcement agencies attempt to locate and stop a seemingly intelligent software program as it crosses over from the logical world into the physical one. I recently read “Daemon” is heading for the big screen.

Next up on the reading lists is “Neuromancer”, by William Gibson.

Do you have any good tech reading recommendations?

Happy New Year for 2009 - and best wishes to you all. I have my fingers crossed for my annual technology predictions.

By the way, where did Christmas go or did I blink and miss it? It is the first time I have booked the time off over Christmas (At ages 3 and 2, the kids know what Christmas is this year!) so it was nice to take a little time away from everything and spend good quality time with the family. I didn’t make any New Year resolutions this year (apart from the usual ones I promise to myself - “Eat more healthily, exercise more, yada yada yada” then break them on January 2nd!) - did you?

Back at work there are lots of things to do, contracts to check, help desk calls to resolve and a good amount of New Year cleaning out of the drawers to be done. Whilst I work through these I am wondering what 2009 will bring for tech? Reading Asavins’ article What will next year hold in the ever-changing world of IT security? I feel a sigh building then I read that Microsoft may be planning a huge job cut - not a great start to 2009 - mind you according to Reuters 2009 may be one of the warmest years on record.

So, lets be positive - what good tech do we have to look forward to in 2009?

With the run up to Christmas it can be a good time to get through some of those little administrative tasks that you’ve been putting off for some time, so here are 10 things you could be looking at getting done before you tuck into your turkey (or preferred alternative).

• Clean out your electronic mail inbox and sent items to give you a good start to the New Year.
• Make a backup of your essential files just in case the Christmas gremlins run free whilst you are away.
• Check all your consumable supplies so you don’t get caught out early in the New Year.
• Uninstall all those “one-off” programs that you have been meaning to remove from your computer.
• Make a note of the makes, models, and serial numbers of all your important equipment and put this list safe somewhere.
• Sort out your document folders and archive very old stuff.
• Install the data encryption software, on your USB stick, you’ve been meaning to get round to.
• Check your privacy settings on those social web accounts you’ve signed up for throughout the year.
• Update your online/email calendar with your important events for next year.
• Label all your plugs and chargers so when they all get mixed up you can at least figure out what’s what.
• Before you go home for Christmas, switch off any equipment that doesn’t really need to be left on.

Merry Christmas

With the cold weather setting in and early mornings become frostier, online shopping clearly has some advantages. That said, I recently checked my Amazon recent orders list as I was wondering why the usual super efficient service still hadn’t delivered

Put 7th April 2009 into your diary - this celebrates fourty years since the first RFC was released.

Two months ago I had a brain wave -

I have to report the sad news of the closure of my local IT dealer who, after many years of building up a trusted relationship, has felt directly the pressures on the economy and the ever tight margins on IT equipment. This is the second time in my working life I have seen a local dealer go under like this, the last being some 15 years ago, and that too was a sad time for me.

Building a relationship with a small local business over a long period can bring its rewards as they appreciate all orders, even the low margin ones, and are often keen to assist in issues larger companies would prefer to avoid. Building a rapport with the same person to a point where they understand the needs of your business, and can prompt you when you haven’t checked your stock levels from time to time or let you know of new relevant technology that complements your existing infrastructure, is also of great benefit.

Margins, in particular, are so tight on technology equipment these days it’s a wonder any tech company

I need an espresso and I need it quick!