BT’s customers are expected to spend over a billion minutes on Wi-Fi this year, thanks to a not insignificant amount from iPhone users.

Hotspots include the BT FON Wi-Fi community of ordinary users sharing a separate part of their home connection with the public, plus BT Openzone nodes.

To celebrate, BT is running a competition in which you have to locate the millionth hotspot.

It seems as if News International, the British newspaper publisher owned by News Corporation, has decided it doesn’t want the patronage of visitors to NewsNow, a UK-based content aggregator.

News International has told NewsNow that it is no longer to link to content on The Times website (no link, for obvious reasons) despite the fact that some two million visitors would have benefited from seeing the content.

They’ve done it purely by using the robots.txt file, and because NewsNow is a reputable service, it has honoured that block.

What’s interesting is that no other aggregators have yet been targeted. That includes Google, whose news service has been attacked by a number of European newspaper publishers.

News International has the right to determine how its content is served up, and who to, and I have no problem with a site seeking paid subscriptions, but it still seems incredibly short-sighted to block a high-traffic site from indexing and sending visitors.

The overall winner was the woZZon search engine application that gives access to a 60,000-strong database of geocoded venues and 90,000 unique events.

When used with Ovi Maps, it makes it easy to find local events, whether they’re huge stadium gigs or small, local shows.

The winning company wins £20,000, a place in the Ovi Store, plus ticket and travel to a Nokia developer event in Spring 2010 and one year’s membership to Forum Nokia Launchpad.

Runner-up apps were Little Spender, which tracks spending behaviour; Live Talkback that offers live audience interactivity tools; Virtual Scorer that uses advanced handset features and state-of-the-art motion detection for a virtual gaming environment; and MoviesNow that offers local film information.

Nokia intends to run similar competitions in other countries, with winners getting their apps in the local Ovi Stores.

It’s a good idea, but it does suggest that Nokia’s store is not nearly as popular as Apple’s app store. I can’t imagine Apple running anything similar, because so many developers are already creating apps for it.

Of course, running such schemes means that you’re more likely to get quality apps, rather than just quantity.

I don’t know what TV ads are doing Stateside (or elsewhere) at present, but in the UK there’s a resurgence of ads from the 1970s and ’80s. I think it’s probably because the kids who grew up with these adverts are now in nostalgic mode and have kids of their own.

Narrated by the late, great British comedian Tommy Cooper, it shows off the versatility of LEGO (assuming you have a lot of it) in a humorous way, with various LEGO creatures and objects pitting themselves against each other.

This is from the days when you really built your own stuff from LEGO, and the kits even had suggestions for making up your own models, rather than blindly following a formula.

The days before LEGOland when you went to conference centres hosting what felt like almost impromptu exhibitions, with people showing off humungous models, some animated, and you could play amongst huge piles of the multicoloured plastic bricks.

Great stuff.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced that the 50p per month tax will be added to the bill of every household with a fixed line telephone. Given that many broadband users have to keep a landline in order to use the Net, even if they don’t make phone calls with it, this will be sure to raise a fairly substantial revenue.

The £6 (about $10) per year tax will be used to fund “super fast broadband”, particularly in rural areas which could otherwise miss out.

The Government wants 90% of the population to have access to this super-fast-but-unspecified-speed broadband by the end of 2017.

Who said the Government doesn’t move fast?

The opposition Conservative party have said that they will scrap the tax if they win the next election.

Brits already pay a heavy price for their broadband, and often don’t get decent speeds, so having to pay more probably won’t be welcomed.

Unfortunately, consumers are likely to end up paying for improved broadband whoever ends up pushing for a better service.

Via

The Great British public has no imagination.

It has plumped for the technological equivalents of underwear for its top ten list of Christmas presents this year.

Name a really exciting gadget that you would really like for Christmas, and it won’t be on the list. Not the list compiled by publisher CNet UK, anyway.

1. Ooh, look, Sony has brought out a slim version of the PS3. That’s number one. Don’t worry that you’ve already got a PS3.

2. The iPhone isn’t on the list, but the HTC Hero smart phone is. Maybe it’s because it’s cheaper.

3. Those who don’t want a PS3 Slim still want the Blu-ray player, and have picked the LG 370. Honestly, the present is a boring as the name.

4. The Kodak Zi8 camcorder is for people who suddenly think they need to shoot in high definition (it’s in, right?) and yet don’t realise that with this sort of equipment their videos aren’t going to be much better than with a more feature-rich standard definition camcorder.

5. People who want to pretend they’re good at photography yet won’t invest in even a basic DSLR have been wowed with the megapixel count of the Samsung ST1000 and its touchscreen. Yawn.

6. I’m not a fan of Acer laptops, and sticking the name Ferrari on it doesn’t make it any better. If anything, it cheapens the name of Ferrari (not in reality of course).

7. I do like Sennheiser, but I’m surprised to see the cheaper end of their range (CX400s) in the top 10. Given that many people have said they are going to be spending more this Christmas, at least pick some Sennheisers higher up in the range.

8. When memory storage cards appear on a top ten list, we really are in trouble. OK, so the Eye-Fi card works over wireless, but when was it really a hassle to plug in a camera via USB or card reader. Anyone who says they need to share photos online instantly, without editing (censoring), is just asking for trouble. Especially over Christmas.

9. I predict a lot of disappointed people who get their 46-inch Panasonic Viera G15 home and then realise it’s too big for their front room. Honestly, most Brits don’t live in houses big enough for such a huge TV. Take a wander down a typical suburban street of terraced or semi-detached houses, look at the gargantuan monsters of black plastic and metal hogging the wall or window space, and then tell me I’m wrong.

10. Finally, we have the mutant pairing of an 8GB iPod Touch (whoa, don’t overdo the capacity) and a 5GB MiFi (wireless modem) that gives it Net access. One word. iPhone. OK, the iPod Touch is faster, but just use it with Wi-Fi.

Come on Britain. Let’s abandon our “sensible gadget” heads and stock our Amazon Wish Lists with more exciting gizmos.

Now, either I spend way too much time online (read, just the right amount of time) or people are underestimating, because the figures from a survey by a price comparison website found that Brits spend just three days per month online.

I spend three days a day online. (Yes I did mean to type that, it was supposed to be humorous.)

UK peeps say they’d struggle to organise their lives without access to the Internet, and that they’d contact their friends and family far less without the Net.

If I find out my Net connection isn’t working, I don’t even bother to get up. Quite frankly, what’s the point?

(Photo credit: believekevin)

Does that surprise you?

Of course, “IT worker” isn’t particularly specific, and where there may be some highly paid techies who are eating salads, running to work and not boozing or smoking heavily, there are sure to be some others who are glued in front of their computer screen with only caffeinated drinks and fast food to keep them going.

And exercise?

We don’t even have the need to visit the mall now that we can just download our software.

So what do you think? Are IT workers only pipped on healthiness by ad reps, teachers, HR assistants, accountants, lawyers and secretaries?

And what about gamers?

Ahh, I’ve never grown tired of the notion that everyone who lives in Australia stands on their head because it’s on the other side of the world from Britain (not exactly, of course).

It’s all in celebration of The Ashes series which starts next month. Cricket is a sport that both Brits and Aussies understand but the former seldom does particularly well at.

Anyway, back to the remote control unit itself. You’ll notice that Sky hasn’t gone to the effort of rotating the entire design through 180 degrees, or even flipping every button, because some items like the central “play/pause” button have obviously not been fully rotated because of their odd shape.

I’m sure Sky could’ve gone much further with this – maybe sending a new version of the EPG to the set-top box without the user’s permission so that all the programme listings are upside-down as well. Or transmitting the programmes upside-down or played backwards. Yep, I think that’d be really good for business.

There’s no mention of how you can get your hands on one of these funky new RCUs. I bet with a Stanley knife and some glue you could easily make your own version (albeit one that doesn’t work when you reassemble it).

I wonder if the Australian Broadcasting Corporation will consider doing the same.

For those that haven’t quite worked it out, below is what the original Sky+HD remote looks like.

Last year, the UK’s Museum of Computing had to close because the University of Bath moved out of a campus in Swindon where the collection was housed.

Now, though, it’s received a new lease of life thanks to Swindon Borough Council which has offered the museum a three-year lease in the heart of the town.

Museum founder Jeremy Holt said that the new venue would be much easier to get to and could encourage more people to visit.

In particular, the staff are thinking of setting up championship league tables and online competitions in the gaming exhibition. Some 80% of the gaming collection is in working order and means it’s possible to trace the history of video gaming around 30 years back.

The venue means there’ll be more room to spread out and house themed exhibitions. It’s sponsored by Intel whose European HQ is also in Swindon.

She’s being sponsored by Memset, the aim being that her involvement will encourage more women to get into the IT industry.

“I could honestly not hope to find a better role model than Sophie; she has brains, beauty and talent, and hatters the outdated preconception that technologists are all sandal-wearing blokes with no social skills!” said Memset’s MD, Kate Craig-Wood.

The Miss Universe GB competition is organised by Vibe Models and takes place in London on the 3rd May 2009. Forty women from England, Scotland and Wales will compete for the coveted title. Proceeds from the competition go to The Joshua Foundation.

Sophie has set up a donation page. Brits can vote for Sophie by phoning 0901 656 1555 followed by 25 or texting Sophie Johnson to 84205. Deadline is this Friday, 1st May, so be quick!

I don’t know if you’ve heard of Spotify but if you consider yourself a techie, a geek, or whatever name you want to call it, then you probably have at least got wind of this new service.  Spotify seems to be a promising music service – it offers FREE music streaming anywhere in the UK. More than being free, Spotify is now accepting sign ups without the need for invites!  This could very well be your ticket to endless hours of music without having to spend a single penny!

So what’s the catch? (I know that you were thinking of that once you spotted the word FREE up there…)  Well, for the free service, you have to endure the occasional ad.  If you are that particular about your listening experience and you do not want to  be interrupted even for a minute or less, then you might want to sign up for the premium service, which gets rid of the ads.  The premium service will cost you €9.99 a month, which is actually not that bad.  Personally, though, I think I would not mind enduring an ad here and there and NOT spend anything.

Another thing, the official Spotify blog has announced that while they are accepting sign ups without invites, they will have to see how the service grows.  The team has stated:

However, we want to make sure that everyone who uses Spotify gets the same fast, uninterrupted experience so providing a stable service is our priority. If growth happens too fast and it starts affecting quality we may have to re-instate the invitation system, hopefully this won’t happen.

Sounds reasonable to me.  After all, it is FREE. So why not check this out?  They are accepting registrations  in the Spotify web site.