I’ve always felt sorry for people who are born on 29 February. I mean, it’s hardly fair on the present front at the very least. But there’s one man I feel particularly sorry for, given that as well as being born on that day, he’s also the much unsung hero of the IT world.

Herman Hollerith was born on 29 February 1860. He was a German-American statisician who created the forerunner to the computing systems we use every day without a second thought.

His mechanical punch card-based tabulator was an absolute treasure in its time. Using his system he was able to speedily tabulate stats from millions of pieces of data – where would our modern-day transactional machines be without this man’s invention, eh?

According to Wikipedia, he was awarded a patent (no 385,782 to be precise) for his work. It read:

“The herein-described method of compiling statistics, which consists in recording separate statistical items pertaining to the individual by holes or combinations of holes punched in sheets of electrically non-conducting material, and bearing a specific relation to each other and to a standard, and then counting or tallying such statistical items separately or in combination by means of mechanical counters operated by electro-magnets the circuits through which are controlled by the perforated sheets, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.”

It would be an understatement to say that Hollerith’s invention was marvelous. His work for the Census office, for example, ensured that the 1890 Census could be completed in just one year, compared to the eight years that the previous Census (in 1880) took.

Fueled with that success, Hollerith branched out on his own and created the Tabulating Machine Company. His tech was leased by major census creators and insurers around the globe.

Several evolutionary changes occurred to his system over time, including the invention of an automatic card feeder and a keyboard-operated punch mechanism.

In 1906 he also dabbled in a bit of early programming by creating a wiring panel for his Type I Tabulator to ensure the same model could handle a varied array of jobs.

In 1911, a merger occurred with three other businesses, resulting in a giant called Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR). Not familiar with the name? Perhaps the name IBM rings more bells. For that’s the name the company has been known under since 1924 when it was renamed by then president Thomas Watson.

Whatever anyone thinks of Big Blue these days, good or bad, Mr Hollerith, we salute you sir.

I’m not a very good friend am I? I missed a friend’s birthday yesterday. And that friend has brought a lot of good things not just to my life, but to the lives of many others around the world too.

That all sounds a bit too gushing so I’ll stop there and get straight to the point. Yesterday, Steve Jobs (yes he of Apple fame) turned 54.

Together with Steve Wozniak (and a host of other bright sparks since), Jobs has served up more than a big chunk of tasty Apple pie to a nation hungry for something other than the PC. And once you’ve had a bite of said Apple, it’s very hard to go back.

I had used a PC since I was at school. I knew all the shortcuts and life was good. Then, during my secondment to sister title iGIZMO last year I started using a Mac every day. Now I flit between a Mac and a PC. The best of both worlds some might say.

That said, I’d like to publicly apologise to Steve for not sending him a card. The thing is, I rarely buy stamps these days and the thought of visiting a post office and queuing for eons (although us Brits have turned queuing into an art form) made me feel a bit queasy.

I don’t have access to fax machine and e-card websites just make me want to inflict pain. I would have sent you a simple email message, had Entourage not had a few ‘moments’ in the last few days. On the latter point, don’t worry, I sent a report to Apple on the issue so at least you’ll know I was thinking about you on your birthday even if I didn’t express my feelings directly to you on the day.

There’s always next year too Steve. I’m guessing you’re not on Facebook or Twitter, but if you email me your number, perhaps I’ll try a Happy Birthday text next year instead?

…They’d be the best in the world.

It was unfortunate that technology was the thing that let the electronics giant down during its big press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

After a massive scrum (same thing every year) to get into the conference itself, the lead executive was just hitting his stride when he paused fairly abruptly. An aide rushed to his assistance with an old school paper script and then it was a case of business as usual.

Don’t get me wrong, Samsung announced some cool stuff (Ultra Touch and Blue Earth) during the press conference. It’s just the company was talking up the fact that it’s the only company that can truly ‘do’ convergence due to the breadth of its portfolio (which spans, MP3 players, TVs, cameras, phones and more). If only it designed and developed auto cues too, eh?

It’s that time of year again. I write this while sitting in Starbucks on the Carrer de Pelai in Barcelona. In just a few hours, I’ll be heading off to a Sony Ericsson event to see what the mobile giant has up its sleeves for the coming months and years. Then, there’s a whirlwind of press conferences and meetings over the next few days before heading back to Blighty on Wednesday night.

Yep, you guessed it, today is the eve of Mobile World Congress. The biggest and brightest event in the mobile industry’s calendar.

The masses will be descending on the Fira de Barcelona tomorrow morning, armed with press packs, delegate briefing documents and a collective thirst for mobile knowledge. And I’ll be one of them.

Stay tuned to see what the week ahead holds.

Fresh from the high of his well-received talk at Apple’s Regent Street store, Stephen Fry found himself stuck in a lift on the 26th floor of London’s Centre Point building.

He soon started tweeting about his experience (hence how I know as I clearly wasn’t there!) and was kept amused by a steady flow of chirpy (sorry!) comments from his followers to keep his spirits up.

Fry was clearly not amused by the in-lift technology pointing out the bleedin’ obvious to him during his unscheduled stay in said elevator.

Pictures below from Mr Fry’s Twitpic feed - a presumptuous thanks in advance to him for letting me share them with you.

It’s nice to be popular isn’t it? Stephen Fry would know, as he is single-handedly taking over the Twittersphere. Or at least his followers are. All 100,000-plus of them.

At the time of writing this post, Fry was being followed (gosh, sounds like stalking doesn’t it) by 101,602 followers, was himself following 32,058 people and he’d posted 1,045 updates to his feed. As an avid Twitterer or Tweeter (whatever the de rigeur term is these days), those figures won’t stand still for long.

I’ve only recently got into Twitter. I’m not as ‘on it’ as many people I know but I do find it a great source of both amusement and information. I’m also following Fry’s feed as he is an incredibly witty, knowledgable and charming individual. I’m also following Jonathan Ross’ feed. He posts with the same gusto and frequency as Fry and his feed is palatable for exactly the same reasons.

No, I’m not a celebrity Twitter following addict. In fact, I quite dislike the whole notion of celebrity. Granted, Fry and Ross are two gents who appear on TV/in the papers/insert media medium here a lot but their appeal goes way beyond what good lighting, stage directions and being seen with the right people achieves. They’ve got a bit of substance too.

Although Twitter’s been around for a while, there are many people just like me who’ve only recently started to dabble and I’m quite intrigued as to where it will all lead.

Update: This post has only taken 5 mins to write and already Stephen Fry’s Twitter following has reached 101,650. That’s a whole lotta followers per minute.