In this issue:

• Quicksilva at the races
• Father creates iPhone app that gives a 'voice' to his severely disabled daughter
• How lasers will light up the future of medicine
• US record labels win court battle against LimeWire
• Virtual Life After Death
• BT expands super-fast broadband network

The Team Works

As the Managing Director of a SME, I was recently invited to attend a reception and capability demonstration on board the Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose. It was good to hear the Naval Regional Commander talk of the integration of the regular and reserve forces and how much commitment the Navy is making to the conflict in Afghanistan. I was also pleased to hear of the commitment that reservists are making to current operations and the support they are getting from their employers. For me though, the theme that came through most strongly was team work, or to use a Royal Navy strap line - 'The Team Works'.

At Quicksilva, team work is an essential part of our ethos - whether it be in the development of new software, delivery of services or in our Challenger charity team. If Our Team at Quicksilva can be of assistance to you, then please give us a call. With the recent change of Government, there are both challenges and opportunities ahead... and we are ready to help.

Gayna

Father creates iPhone app that gives a 'voice' to his severely disabled daughter

From Mail Online

But after buying an iPhone last year, Mr Brooks had an epiphany. Remembering Apple's adverts that there are 'apps for everything', he decided to put the claim to the test.

Quicksilva thoughts...

A simple marketing message sparks some lateral thinking and provides a tool to resolve a well-known problem – communication. The wonderful thing here is that it brings benefit to one little girl and her family and is being shared with many in similar and completely diverse situations.

In our daily business life, we will come across communication barriers that need to be broken down. Often achieved by getting all involved around the table but this is a timely reminder that not all communication issues are so simply resolved. Whilst travelling abroad, we are famous for shouting at ‘foreigners’ when they fail to comprehend our English. Just imagine though the joy of being able to communicate with your family or carers again after some form of brain injury robs you of your speech so the simple shouting technique is not available to you.

How lasers will light up the future of medicine

From BBC News

A whole range of medical procedures rely on lasers, so much so that we don't even realise we're being treated using Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER).

Quicksilva thoughts...

Before I grew up, I thought a laser was something space cops would use to shoot evil aliens. They were futuristic and definitely belonged in space.

However, as the BBC reports, lasers are now parts of everyday life and are having an ever increasing role in providing unobtrusive medical procedures and tests. Lasers are even being used as tweezers to move microscopic particles – it’s like a very small Tractor Beam (another useful technology for capturing the evil aliens).

US record labels win court battle against LimeWire

From Guardian

Popular peer-to-peer platform found liable for infringing copyright of America's four major labels

Quicksilva thoughts...

Despite the growth of Apple’s iTunes, peer-to-peer file sharing remains incredibly popular. This could only be good news for the founders of LimeWire you would think? Wrong!

It seems like years ago that the media first reported that peer-to-peer file sharing (in particular that of music files) was likely to be made illegal. 340,000 LimeWire downloads in a week would suggest that there is still a huge number of people out there who are prepared to sit behind their computer monitors and share their music files. The question is then “Who, exactly, is breaking the law?” The US courts seem to have decided, for now at least, that the founder of LimeWire (Mark Gorton) is personally responsible. For me, fining LimeWire’s parent company $150,000 per copyright infringement seems a bit steep especially when LimeWire doesn’t even host any shared files on their own servers. Seems a high price to pay for optimizing your service to enable your users to download what they are openly happy to share with each other. The debate continues...

Virtual Life After Death

From BBC News

On 20 May 2010 an event known as "Digital Death Day" brought together the businesses of social networking, data management and death care.

Quicksilva thoughts...

Humans have been told that drinking from the Holy Grail will grant eternal life; if you have seen the Indiana Jones movies. However it's much easier than finding that illusive cup!

All you need to do is join Facebook, MySpace and Twitter et al (other social networking sites available).

The event known as "Digital Death Day" brought together the businesses of social networking, data management and death care sector to discuss how this data should be stored, thus keeping alive the memories of people who have sadly passed. Currently "There's no standard practice across the industry yet. There are no norms for how digital assets are passed on to heirs."

Many social networking sites have implemented their own policies which allows pages, tweets, blogs etc of people who have died to be stored and accessed by those who were close to them.

Experts however believe that it may be the case that these digital assets could one day have a real-monetary value. For example, domain names sold for large sums of money and even Twitter accounts can be monetised with "sponsored tweets".

So my warning to you about tweeting, poking or doing other random stuff to your friends is to think about what you are writing and doing online, as it could be worth millions one day but may cost your loved ones dearly in inheritance tax.

BT expands super-fast broadband network

From BBC News

BT has announced that it will expand its roll-out of next-generation broadband to bring super-fast services to two-thirds of the UK.

Quicksilva thoughts...

It's great to hear that fibre optic broadband is being rolled out faster than originally planned; with around 60% of the population having access to this service by 2015. As the world becomes more and more digitised, fast networks are central to the world economy.

This huge investment is required for Britain to remain competitive, but how long will it be until these new "super-fast" broadband services are no longer seen as fast and further investment in new networking technology is required?

"It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and THEN do your best." - W. Edwards Deming

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