Earlier today Bristol Wireless volunteer Sam alerted the co-op to the launch of Whitehall’s action plan for open source, including support for ODF. The action plan has a foreword by Digital Engagement Minister Tom Watson MP, which starts: Open Source has been one of the most significant cultural developments in IT and beyond over the […]
Pete, the Chair of Bristol Wireless, has posted details to our daily mailing list of a petition on the 10 Downing Street website, requesting the British Prime Minister to promote greater use of open source software in UK schools. At present, use of free and open source software in schools is very much a minor […]
Muniwireless.com writes that Lincoln has issued a request for proposals for bids for the installation of a city centre wireless network. Lincoln Business Improvement Group (BIG) has received a grant of £150,000 to be used to help fund the cost of building the network; BIG regards this grant as seed money to encourage a service […]
The weekend after next, on Saturday 13th September, Bristol’s first anarchist bookfair for 15 years will be held at St Werburgh’s Community Centre in Horley Road (home of the Bristol Wireless lab) and we’ll be there! We’ll be out in the foyer, keeping company with the bookfair itself, the Kebele Cafe and a constantly running […]
In its 2008 Internet Access report, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that in spite ofthe rise of broadband, more than one-third of UK households are without a web connection, ZDNet reports. According to the ONS’s 2008 Internet Access report, 65% of homes – some 16.46 mn. households – have internet access, an […]
ITPro reports that pre-installed Linux has arrived on the mass market and is growing rapidly, according to new market research. Figures from market researcher Context show that, based on sales of PCs shipped with a pre-installed operating system in the UK over the past 18 months through traditional distribution channels, Linux could only claim a […]
Gill Adams of Digital Unite has emailed us to let us know that the closing date for nominations for this year’s Silver Surfer of the Year Award has now been extended from the original 19th July to 31st July, giving people a bit more time to think of a deserving nominee aged 50 years or […]
Yesterday, Saturday 28th June, saw “An Adventure in Technology” come to Trinity Community Arts in Bristol (news passim), followed by an after-party at some city centre hostelry (although I missed the latter). It was wonderful to see the event so well supported by the local tech community: I spotted familiar faces from both the Bristol […]
Mike Harris writes: Hi All, Just writing to say a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to all for coming to HacktionLab and making it a success, not only did it seem to be good fun, but it also felt very productive and useful. I do hope you all got as much as I did from it. […]
This piece, the second on Hacktionlab, was supposed to have been written on Sunday, but that didn’t happen through a combination of circumstances, so it’s being scribbled first thing on Tuesday morning following the return home of Bristol Wireless’ final site tat-down crew yesterday afternoon. My last post ended as Saturday’s lunch was arriving. Following […]
It’s summer again (allegedly) and Bristol Wireless is sitting in the countryside playing with technology. We’re providing the technical infrastructure and running some of the workshops at Hacktionlab (news passim), which is being held this weekend at Stepping Stones Housing Co-operative, Highbury Farm in the picturesque Wye Valley. We’re using the barn as a dining […]
The last 2 weeks yer ‘umble scribe has been to 2 events organised by DC10plus, a collaborative project that has grown up between the finalists (Bristol, Birmingham and Shropshire, Ealing, Hull, Norfolk, Nottingham, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Stratford on Avon and Sunderland) of the Government’s Digital Challenge, who have formed an alliance to spend £2 million […]
Digital Inclusion Conference, The Brewery, London, Tuesday 30 April 08 Only two-thirds of people go online in the UK. The remaining third don’t use the internet at all. That’s 17 million people who are ‘digitally excluded’. This conference set out to address this remaining third. The government are so keen to address this issue that […]
Another date for your diaries folks! Richard Blackburn has written to inform us of this year’s UK Embedded Masterclass – a workshop dedicated to using Linux on embedded devices. Working with an ARM processor, the workshop will combine theory and practice and give delegates an insight into the working of Linux in the embedded environment. […]
Following on from Bristol Wireless’ sale of internet-ready Linux computers for £50, news reaches the lab that well-known supermarket chain Tesco, once described by a TV comedy programme as “the world’s first retail state”, has now commenced sales of entry level PCs with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed. Tesco’s Linux machines cost slightly more than ours do, […]
The “damning” results of a survey of local authorities by Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh show that the majority have no idea how much money is being spent on IT in their schools. Of the 59 respondents, 37 local authorities keep no information on the amount spent by schools on IT provision and procurement. With […]
iT4 Communities, the national IT volunteering programme of the Information Technologists’ Company, is accepting nominations for the 2007 IT Volunteer Awards, which aim to recognise the best, most innovative examples of IT volunteering and projects. Charities can nominate themselves and/or their IT volunteers by submitting an application by 6 October. Anyone who has volunteered their […]
The Silver Surfer Awards 2007 are now open for entries, looking for outstanding internet users over the age of 50 across the UK. The awards, now in their 6th year, highlight older peoples’ contributions to cyberspace to inspire anyone thinking about using the internet or email for the first time (and if my Mum can […]
Psand.net, one of Bristol Wireless’ supporters, is now hosting and supporting #openitup, the IRC chat channel launched as part of the Openitup initiative funded by the National Computing Centre and the National ICT Hub. One promise from Openitup was to establish a channel of support voluntary sector workers could go to get real-time support and […]
Richard Higgs reports: “Sam Rossiter, Mike Harris of Psand and myself went to the Emirates Stadium for the second ICT Hub National Conference with about 270 reps from the voluntary sector. The day was organised into workshops and presentations for various levels of ICT skills. Some of the speakers were there to promote open source, […]