Archive for the ‘Digital Family’ Category

Birmingham Bulletin the City’s own e-mail alert service delivered a great news story today into my in-box which I have to tell you all.  Birmingham has got its very own digitally enabled news site.  You must visit www.Birminghamnewsroom.com as its a one stop shop for all the news from the City Council.  

No more do I have to go hunting for information across various websites to get the latest news.  It has rss feeds, video, twitter, flickr and links to Birmingham own Youtube channel.   It is great to see that the City is at the forefront of embracing new technologies and social media and this can only enhance Birmingham reputation as a leading digital city.

As the person within the team whose responsibility it is to carry out desk based research, I thought it is about time to share with you what I find, and find useful, regarding the digital agenda.

I am not an expert or even a researcher by trade – but I enjoy looking, have quite a lot of luck at finding useful material and my colleagues have cottoned on to this fact (and it is in my job description!).

More – Research – friend or foe?

From next week (w/c 13th July), a new directory will be launched containing up to 15 million mobile phone numbers. This will enable individuals to search for mobile phone numbers of other people, just by putting their name into a website. The telephone directories for landline phones has been around for years, but it is a surprise to many that this will now exist for mobiles.

The numbers have been obtained from three different sources, none of which are from the phone owners themselves.

More – Mobiles becoming like landlines

The regional launch of the Digital Britain event in Birmingham on 17th June was a great success. We would like to thank everyone who took part (sponsors, delegates and the organisers themselves) both at the ICC and Unconference at Fazeley Studios.

Many thanks to the expert technical support from Aquila TV and Rhubarb Radio at both the ICC and Fazeley Studios.

Our special thanks go to Lord Carter and his team for their time and for making the events possible. And to the Technology Strategy Board for their valued input.

More – A Digital Britain for Birmingham

I have recently returned from the USA, after visiting New York City for a week. We, obviously, didn’t watch television much during the holiday as we were too busy visiting as many tourist attractions as possible in the 168 hours that we had. But when we caught up with the headlines via CNN (UK news channels did not seem to be available) it was interesting to notice that every anchor, newsreader and journalist displayed their Twitter usernames, while reporting the daily news, ensuring the public could follow them to find out more.

I know Twitter is huge in the UK, but it is still up and coming i.e. a lot of people who use social networks like Facebook and MySpace are yet to make the move onto Twitter. However, across the Atlantic it is definitely second nature.

More – Across the pond…..

Anyone living or working in Birmingham can now take advantage of the Citysave credit union scheme from the comfort of their own home if they have digital tv.   Subscribers to Sky Digital, Virgin Media and Freeview broadband services in Birmingham can use their remote control to access information about the scheme by choosing “Looking Local”. More – Beat the credit crunch! Start saving through your TV.

Firstly, April Fools Day was nearly two months ago so this is not a joke. Secondly, it has been widely reported so it must be true! The sales of the humble cassette tape are on the rise, with 1 million blank tapes being sold in the first four months of this year by the market leader, TDK.

More – Cassette tapes? What are they?

Digital TV - Switching over is easier than you think

Had a good meeting with the Digital UK switchover guys yesterday, and all looks well for the Central regional switchover planned for 2011.  One region ‘Copeland Cumbria’ has already gone through switchover and everyone else will be learning from their efforts.  If you fancy a good read, (or just the summary) check out the report here - One interesting fact I learned from the meeting was that the oldest TV that has been successfully switched over was 78 years old (all it needed was an updated aerial). – there are however con-men galore, looking for the opportunity to swindle dosh out of our old and unsuspecting.  Switchover is far easier than most people think,  a twenty quid freeview box from your local supermarket will usually do the trick.    So get out there and sort your Grannies and Grandpa’s out, before the con-men do!

Listening to the BBC Breakfast News yesterday, while getting ready for work, didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know. Is that because I am always one step ahead when it comes to breaking news? No, it is because I am working at Digital Birmingham!

Wading through all the information about the ministerial expenses debate, Bill Turnbull and Susanna Reid turned their attention to innovation in the terms of smart metering and intelligent transport – both of which Digital Birmingham supports in the local area.

More – Keeping on top of new developments