Here’s an amazing thought. Despite all the new stuff that technology and the Internet has brought us, the most popular thing we all use is email. And its forty years old.

Like surface mail, email has a message moving from writer to recipient. As soon its sent, you lose control.

Emails fly around just like letters. You mail one out, you get another, separate email back. Copy someone in and it becomes another one. And so it goes on. An unmanageable mess.

Well, Google wants to change all that with Wave. Wave creates “spaces” on the server. Everyone has a view of the same wave and collaborates with it. Simple.

So Wave offers single instance storage. Now that alone transforms our email experience. But Google has something more to give us. A lot more… (more…)

You know, there’s something rather unique about building societies. Think about the name. Building Society.

Unlike banks, with impersonal, often bored staff squinting out through bandit-glass screens, building society staff are part of the community. And that’s special.

On local high streets, they’ll wave to friends as they pass by, they share their customers aspirations, talk about when people get engaged, marriage plans or buy their first home. And customers send them thank-you cards and boxes of chocolates.

But all this sense of community, this colourful connection to the social network of everyday life is lost on the detached monochrome world of the Black Horse of the Apocalypse, LBG. (more…)

This one made me uneasy when I saw it. It’s a get out of jail card, sure. But just look at that interest rate.

But while at first glance these guys seem to be advertising interest charges that would make even a loan shark blush, just ask yourself. Why hasn’t a bank done this?

If you need money fast, Wonga promises you’ll have it in your bank account usually within an hour. You don’t need an account with them, just be a good risk. A very good risk... (more…)

OK, picture the scene. You’re looking to buy a product, or get some information about something on the Internet. Where do you go?

Well the odds are, it’ll be Google. Its fast reliable and offers two modes. One a ranked order of options or pay-per-click text adverts. Simple. What about “bing”?

Cue confused looks and raised eyebrows. bing is Microsoft’s contender in the heavyweight bar-knuckle boxing match that is search. And I have to say on my first look, I don’t get it. But can we dismiss Microsoft’s first one-on-one battle out of hand?

No, we certainly should not… (more…)

While banking is still shielding its eyes from the brilliant light of the Internet, the NYSE is embracing the benefits of social media.

The New York Stock Exchange has moved into The Cloud by launching Connect, a new social network that contains blogs, webcasts, survey results, product profiles and even an ideas forum.

Is this just a “suck it and see” campaign to bolster morale on Wall Street?

Joe Mecane, NYSE Euronext’s US Execution Executive Vice President and CAO says not. “Our customers want new pathways to access information and share ideas, to connect with stakeholders and to drive incremental business and revenue.”

Well said, Mr Mecane. I couldn’t have described social media better myself (more…)

With Mark Zuckerberg’s facebook passing the 200 million user mark, the question everyone has been asking is how does that convert to money?

It seems we may have found the answer to that. facebook is to get its own virtual currency, courtesy of card provider GroupCard. The service is designed to provide a cheap and easy payments portal for the site.

The “Pay with facebook” option answers the question many have asked about facebook monetisation, giving users a way of purchasing anything on the site for a very low fee.

The chance to sell to facebook’s 200 million users – up from 150 million in January this year is bound to attract a lot of interest… (more…)

OK, here’s a question. What name do you regard as synonymous with our Internet-driven lives today?

I know. The clue’s in the heading. With its absolute dominance we tend to assume Google just gets things right. Like our banks pre-sub prime, too big to fail. But it has failed recently. Spectacularly so.

So, is this a sign that Google is now out of its league, is this a step too far or just a stumble on the rocky path as it crosses the Rubicon towards Microsoft’s Rome? (more…)

Companies are cutting IT expertise and looking to savagely trim-back infrastructure costs. And virtualisation is usually the weapon of choice. But is a serious security breach now a real threat?

Well, IBM thinks so. And I agree. Given that “you can’t attack what you can’t see”,  PC-based servers flash like a tart on a drinking binge.

They all use Intel’s ubiquitous x86 processor or the AMD variant, but this cheap, one size fits all solution is weak and wide open to attack, unlike its bigger cousins.

IBM warns against virtualisation for any system holding critical regulatory compliant data. And that virtualised Intel x86-based systems are never used in a PCI DSS environment…

(more…)

Ever noticed how you always seem to find something really interesting when you’re looking for something else?

I was looking at the nominees for the 2009 Webby Awards this week. The Webbies are like the Oscars for web concepts and design. I came across two amazing new banking sites I never knew were there.

These two sites address two real pain points for customers. And while our high street banks bleat about how difficult it is for them to change the colour of the pens on their counters, two newcomers do something really fresh and well, innovative. (more…)

If anyone tried to access the blog this morning and found that it wasn’t available, I apologise!

I had to bring forward an upgrade that I’d planned for this weekend, because there were a couple of technical blog issues that I wasn’t too happy about.

I’m pleased to say it all went well. The blog was removed, cleaned up, upgraded to the latest version and re-installed in only 20 minutes. The roll-back strategy took a bit longer. Isn’t Open Source amazing – try doing that with SQL Server!

There’s a couple of new social networking plug-in features, along with the ability now to add more now the blog’s up to date, so I hope you’ll find the blog is a better experience. As always, I’ll look forward to your comments!

Once again, my apologies for any issues caused.

Neil