iGeneration

August 20th, 2008

UK CS graduates more likely to be unemployed

Posted by Zack Whittaker @ 5:34 am

Categories: University, Careers, Research, Workplaces, Discussion

Tags: Computer Science, Computer, Productivity, Zack Whittaker

People over the years have said to me, “computers are the future; you’ll end up getting a great job with wads of money.” I’m not a money person, to be honest; I think my CV over the last couple of years proves that to some extent. But with new information from The Guardian, it seems computer science graduates are less likely to be employed, than any other subject.

Now, this could mean anything to anybody; it’s just a list of graduate degrees with numbers attached. I’ll elaborate and explain, in my crazy student-minded ways.

The table represents the “percentage of UK and EU domiciled first degree qualifiers assumed to be unemployed by subject area, 2002-03 to 2006-07″. This roughly translated means, “the percentage of those who live in the United Kingdom and those in European Union countries, who have earned a degree and are presumed to be not in employment, with figures ranging between 2002 and 2007.”

“Unemployed” you say? What if you carry on earning another qualification? What if that graduate died? So many questions asked about the validity of the figures, so another explanation is needed.

The figures take into account what the student classed themselves as. Some are just out of university and need a break, some are looking for work, and some are going on to earn a masters or doctorate qualification. It also takes into account part-time study, research with fellow graduates or professors at the university, but also those who were presently unemployed - regardless of the fact they might actually be starting a job in the coming weeks.

So even with all this - why are recently-graduated computer science students so unlikely to get work in relation to other subjects? You know what… I haven’t got the foggiest. The results surprised even me. Leave comments, thoughts, opinions and ideas - because for the life of me, I don’t know why computer scientists with all their skills could possibly not be needed or wanted.

August 18th, 2008

A walk through the two new student tools for Office 2007

Posted by Zack Whittaker @ 7:31 am

Categories: Microsoft, University, Open source, e-Learning, Skills development, Downloads, Legal issues, Research

Tags: Creative Commons, Microsoft Office 2007, Tool, Creative Commons Add-in, Microsoft Word, Word Processors, Microsoft Office, Productivity, Office Suites, Software

Late last month I wrote about the five newly released tools designed for students and academics. I was on the phone last week to an old colleague of mine, a professor in his field over at Oxford University, who’d been trying out these two new programs that I wrote about.

So, instead of writing about them, I thought I’d try them out for myself as they’re now released to the public. The two which are available at this present time are the Article Authoring Add-in for Word 2007 and the Creative Commons Add-in for Office 2007.

The Article Authoring Add-in makes it easier for the author of an article, journal entry or research paper by simplifying some of the processes involved. From the release notes, the add-in will help and assist in:

• gathering information about the author and article at the time of article authoring;
• enabling journals to provide authors with templates containing the structure for articles, and provide information for self classification of the articles by the authors;
• enabling access to the author and article metadata contained in the Word file, through the use of the NLM tagset and Open XML document structure;
• enabling the editorial staff to have access to the article and journal metadata directly within Word;
• enabling two-way conversion between Open XML and the NLM format.

The other add-in, the Creative Commons Add-in, which I’ve already found incredibly useful for some of my extra-curricular work, gives more “oomph” to your work; probably because it makes a visual difference rather than the first add-in. The release notes make it more clear than I ever could:

When you insert a license into a Word 2007, Excel 2007, or PowerPoint 2007 document, you are associating a Creative Commons license with the document. Unlike Digital rights management (DRM) features of Microsoft Office, a license is a deed and is not enforceable, but does indicate the rights you are giving others with regard to your document.

The Creative Commons Add-In inserts an icon, text, and a hyperlink into the document to show that a license has been associated with the document. This visual element is retrieved from the Creative Commons Web site as a part of the license information, and it provides a link that points to the actual license. The add-in also inserts properties into the document’s metadata.

Why include the release notes? Well, everyone has junk on their system and no matter what research you do, you’ll never get closer than the release notes to the actual using-of-the-product. If anything, it’s a visual “try before you buy”, or in this case, “download and use”.

If you’ve ever written an article, a journal entry or even an essay, these two tools could well make your life just that much simpler; giving you an easier life and a head-start to the pub.

August 16th, 2008

MSE rises like a phoenix from the beta ashes

Posted by Zack Whittaker @ 8:15 am

Categories: Microsoft, University, e-Learning, Careers, Skills development, Downloads, Offers, Mobile computing, Windows Live, Research, Workplaces

Tags: Kind, Microsoft Corp., Beta, Web Site Development, Web Technology, Apple Mac OS X, Portals, Apple Mac OS, Corporate Communications, Operating Systems

Knock knock. Who’s there? A shameless self-marketing campaign, trying to throw anything Microsoft related your way. Well, not any more anyway, as the Microsoft Student Experience has been thrown out of beta with golden depth charges.

The website now looks what it actually is, Microsoft’s central portal for students. Not only does it have tutorials in how to get things done (naturally with Microsoft’s products), it has a wide variety of content for all kinds of students, needing all kinds of things.

It has input from students all over the world, studying at all kinds of universities, offering advice, thoughts, knowledge and stories on many-a-topic. The interesting thing, before when it was just a self-promotion, arrogant-almost website, this really is a valuable resource for students.

Covering studies, student life and your future, in three different categories, it’ll make easy reading and browsing through. It’s not necessarily something you should spend your time looking for something on there; more something you can read once in a while with no obligation.

Of course, they have all kinds of things to download and use with their own products. Templates for Office documents to help with writing bibliographies, different kind of letter writing templates, writing your resume/CV; but also interesting things to keep you organised with your finances, tracking your accomplishments, even a way to keep track of your grades.

They have a blog which will be updated semi-regularly by Microsoft staff, products and discounts to show and share, even those for Mac OS X systems can see what’s on offer.

For those interested in extra-curricular activities with your university and Microsoft, the “more sites” has much more to show you, from the different areas within Microsoft.

I guess it’s just one of those things you have to see for yourselves, really. After some experimentation (and a lot of drinking), there doesn’t seem to be any regional countries yet, but I’m sure they’ll throw something out in the near future. Keep up to date with their newsletter, which is free and available for anyone with a Windows Live ID.

August 14th, 2008

BBC News educates you as you read the news

Posted by Zack Whittaker @ 2:07 pm

Categories: e-Learning, Skills development, Web 2.0, Government

Tags: British Broadcasting Corp., Web Site, Web Site Development, Web Technology, Wiki, Internet, Online Communications, Zack Whittaker

I couldn’t think of a fancy title. Had I done so I would have called it “Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Book of Sudoku“; nevertheless it’ll do.

After my daily (hourly in some cases) browse through the BBC News website to quash my horrid addiction to current affairs and what’s going on in the world, I noticed on one article about a Roman head being discovered. (If you saw that title, you’re gonna click, right?).

They’re working with Apture; a service provided which allows websites to show rich multimedia content as well as many other things. Working with the BBC, they’ve added a way to allow the user to delve into parts of the story with history, other web content and suchlike, without leaving the page, complementing your reading experience.

The Beeb wrote on their help pages:

“We are doing this trial because we want to see if you enjoy exploring background material presented in this way. It’s part of our continuing efforts to provide the best possible experience.

In addition to background material from the BBC News website, we are also displaying content from other sites, including Wikipedia, You Tube and Flickr. We have done this to find out what you think about us offering you related material from other sources.”

Many academics will tell students not to trust Wikipedia; however this can be disputed until the cows come home, then disputed even more with the cows themselves. On the other side, you’ll hear academics saying “only trust websites of .gov, .edu, and .ac.uk”, being university and Government websites. That aside, when has anyone truly trusted their own government?

Students using news articles for research isn’t uncommon, and allowing those writing essays to have access to background knowledge through multimedia and website resources opens up the learning process to keep juggling documents to a minimum.

For pages selected, in a small “advertisement style” floating popup, it displays the content it finds on that particular thing. It works brilliantly in Firefox 3, Internet Explorer 7 and even seems to work alright in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 which is nice to know. Although not many “advertisement style” floating popup services do, you can easily switch it on and off.

I hold my hands up and say, bloody well done BBC. This will make life a lot easier for those researching articles.

August 11th, 2008

Students choose webcam over phone calls

Posted by Zack Whittaker @ 1:57 pm

Categories: University, Skills development, Hardware, Mobile computing, Social networking, Web 2.0, Workplaces, Industry connections

Tags: Phone, Webcam, Cell Phone, Telecom & Utilities, Zack Whittaker

Since many of you decided to whinge and whine about my previous article, I thought I’d go with something a little simpler for the masses. The first rule of mass media is of course, “give the people what they want.” [Tomorrow Never Dies, 1997].

After much thought and consideration, the “standard” technology students use hasn’t changed much in the last 5 or 6 years and it made me think why. Nothing really new has come onto the market which hails a significant difference to our lives. That is, until the webcam shot to fame in the late 90’s/early 00’s.

The Independent, well known for its impartial journalism, reported that instant messaging and webcam use, presumably also other online communications such as Facebook and other social networking, seems to be favoured amongst students as opposed to the phone call.

I have two theories:

1. Students have grown up in a world where text messaging, especially, is the norm. We don’t think twice about “whopping out a text” to someone - it is well and truly embedded in our society. Having to call someone worries many (from experience as a human) because you can’t gap-in-the-conversation; whereas texting and instant messaging allows a latency which seems perfectly acceptable.
2. It’s easier. Many who use instant messaging use webcams, sometimes for flirtatious reasons, but more common than not, it’s to personify the experience. By seeing the person you’re “talking” to adds a layer to the communication and makes it feel more personal.

If students favour the non-phone method of communication, this could have an impact on to the future generation. Considering students are the next generation of IT users and employees, if the next generation don’t feel comfortable talking on the phone, what’s the point in having a phone?

Having a cell phone has in recent times been a status symbol, an icon for fashion and celebrity. I personally like making phone calls; having full-blown Tourette’s makes it interesting at times, especially when you shout out a concatenated string of extremely offensive swear words to a member of the Royal family, but hey, whoever said a life-long neurological condition couldn’t have an upside?

The truth of the matter is, the cell phone is an amazing tool; a vital part of everyone’s lives, not just students. We use them everyday for calls, text messages, video calls and mobile web, but also if we get into a pickle-of-a-situation, an emergency call is seconds away - cell phones have saved lives. Even with the vast expansion in webcam use and online communications, nothing will replace a cell phone for a very long time.

It makes me think though, mixing webcams and phone calls - video calls. Why doesn’t that seem to have taken off? When 3G hit the world, there was all the hype about video calling from your cell phone, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use 3G for that; only getting a fast mobile connection, usually for another device.

Let me know what you think:

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August 9th, 2008

Windows Fiji: a world class failure

Posted by Zack Whittaker @ 7:44 am

Categories: Microsoft, Breaking news, Downloads, Hardware, Windows 7, University fun, Gratuitous rant

Tags: microsoft windows 7, microsoft windows vista, microsoft corp., tv, microsoft windows vista sp1, microsoft windows, microsoft windows vista (longhorn), tvs, operating systems, tv & home theater

Before I get blasted by the uber-nerds, I’ll tell you now. I’ve been playing with Windows 7 (6519) for a while, and Fiji, the new Windows Media Center TV Pack supposedly for Windows 7 for Windows Vista (ta, MJ) for a good few days.

For the life of me, I can’t see any differences in ‘Fiji’ anywhere. I’m not a big MCE user; I don’t have any need for it, my computer slows down to that of a dead tortoise when using it, and there are other programs out there I use instead. Why people are getting excited about something that’s been developed and tested in the darkest of shadows, I can’t understand - as far as I’ve seen through my own research, nobody knows outside Microsoft what the new features are.

Until now. And there aren’t any. OK maybe there are a few, but be my guest - take a look at the ‘Fiji’ screenshot gallery because I can’t see a difference between Vista RTM MCE, Vista SP1 MCE, Windows 7 6519 MCE and Vista SP1 “Fiji” MCE. The reason I installed it on my Vista SP1 machine is because the *.msu file used to install the patch (yes, a patch, and only 43mb too) doesn’t seem to work on Windows 7. For me, that was one of the many ironies I found with Fiji.

‘Fiji’, the codename of the new TV pack, derives from the name of the country. After some research, I’ve come up with this. Back end of 2006, a coup took over the government and was announced on national television that a new leader was out there. This is the only technological link - a new “leader” (of the marketplace?) and broadcast television. That’s it. Even on that account they’ll be very much mistaken. Engadget have a gallery showing the TV guide and the new features; a must see for “geeks of the green button”.

Students are world renown for lazing around, doing bugger all, drinking and pondering about life. What you don’t know, is we spend that time doing all and everything mentioned, whilst watching television. Most students don’t have a TV so are forced to use their laptops and computers.

Considering this update seems to have nothing new, why would something like this interest students? Most of the time we watch telly off YouTube or TV-Links, that is before it died a painful and excruciating death. If this is how Microsoft continues - not keeping the testers informed, not updating the beta software and providing little-to-no information on the product itself, it’s no wonder why Vista failed, and probably more than likely the likely demise of Microsoft’s next incubation - Windows 7.

The Fiji update comes as a 43mb MSU file, and has recently been displayed has having problems already in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. With the controversy that it’ll be an OEM release only, to those getting new computers, how difficult would it really be to pop it on the Windows Update servers? The MSU filetype is designed to be a hotfix, which is what Fiji is, if I’m honest. Microsoft aren’t just shooting themselves in both feet, it seems they’re doing the full Mozambique drill on themselves.

For media loving students, I’m afraid this could be one of your darkest hours. Just when my Microsoft-serotonin levels were raising after a long winter of discontent, they’ve just plunged me into a deep despair of depressing anxiety, with what I can only describe as “utter crap”.

[Update] for sake of ease, I’ve uploaded the Media Center Map - the menu layout for the Fiji pack. If there’s any difference or something new you see, leave a TalkBack and let me know. If there is something new in there worth looking at, I’ll do my best.

August 8th, 2008

Office Labs ‘target’ busy multitaskers

Posted by Zack Whittaker @ 7:35 am

Categories: Microsoft, e-Learning, Downloads, Research

Tags: video, corporate communications, wiki, web site development, productivity, microsoft office, marketing, online communications, internet, office suites

‘Targets’ - shameless pun. I apologise. Microsoft, admittedly, have done some good things over the last few weeks, and again they’ve rolled something out which could really benefit students. I’ve personally never seen anything like this; probably my naive nature or lack of research, no doubt they’ll be one out there, but this has really caught my attention.

Office Labs “Speed Launch”, codename ‘Crocuts’, is a small and simple shortcut manager which lets you access your current or to-do documents, links and files with a single shortcut key. It allows you to access what you currently need, but also common tasks which you may ordinarily use; search, wiki, common templates, videos and local addresses on your computer or network. It came out a few days ago, and (besides being rather ill) wanted to try it out for myself over a long-ish period of time to see what it was capable of.

It leaves a small semi-transparent target on the desktop, floating above the surface waiting to be used, although inconspicuous enough not to get in your way. You can assign shortcuts to a website, a video, any file or folder on your computer, and even start web searches through Wikipedia or Google. By pressing Windows+C on your keyboard or a double-tap on the floating target, again a subtle touch, brings up your shortcuts.

The best thing I’ve found so far though is the ability to truly multitask without confusion. It’s exam resit season, and those who want to work on more coursework or exam revision, this tool makes life that little bit easier. You can juggle your 5 or 6 documents which hold your research and notes, whilst be able to keep track of them and not get lost.

After much jiggery-pokery, I’ve found the optimum place to put the floating target; sitting on the taskbar directly vertical of the first icon next to the clock. Of course, if you don’t have your taskbar in the normal place it probably doesn’t apply, but there’s nothing more annoying then having something floating over a window which you need to access.

There’s a full FAQ on the Office Labs website, along with a video tour of the main features, and of course the download information. I promise in future not to use so many puns; it’s been far too easy to whop them out in this post.

August 6th, 2008

Vivaty rolls out ’student friendly’ development platform

Posted by Zack Whittaker @ 8:01 am

Categories: University, Open source, Software development, e-Learning, Breaking news, Skills development, Downloads, Social networking, Research, Web development, Web 2.0

Tags: 3D, Vivaty Studio, Party Creator, Zack Whittaker

I’ve written about Vivaty before, the new add-on to your existing social network, modelling your entire network in three dimensions. Before, they gave you your own blank scene and avatar, allowing you to mix and match your own virtual 3D “profile page” which interacts just as we would do in real life. Now the embargo lifted one minute ago, time to spill something for the student developers of this world.

Previously running a series of Yahoo! products including Groups and Photos, I spoke to the Vice President of Products at Vivaty, Mark Hull, about these two new applications. Today sees the launch of Vivaty Create and Vivaty Studio, previously known as Flux Studio. The first thing I asked him was what the difference is between the two.

“With Vivaty Studio, users can create content for Scenes, as well as any 3D model, but also optimises what content they make in other programs; using other professional tools. Studio uses COLLADA [an open XML format] so it can interact with 3D Studio Max, Maya, Blender and Photoshop [CS3 and above]. After that, it exports to X3D format to make it browser compatible.”

Vivaty Studio, previously Flux Studio, wasn’t originally designed for Vivaty. It’s a 3D development tool which can render imagery and more, and with the launch of Vivaty a month ago, it happens to tie in nicely with Scenes as seen on Facebook and AIM. The great thing is, if you’ve already made a 3D model, perhaps a design drawing for a university project or something to send to the architects, provided the file formats are the same, which in itself is highly likely, you can import it and make your virtual model a virtual reality… (pun).

I tried using it, and a “familiar face of software” appeared out of nowhere. It’s a design tool, similar in appearance to AutoCAD, so I knew for me to use this would be difficult. I asked Mark about the complicated nature of the software.

“Today, we’re focusing on the 3D designers, but we’re keen to make it more open and easier to use for others. The first step is the Studio beta, but the main priority is for the overall user community. We don’t have a time frame on this yet, but by allowing the users to create basic content soon, we’ll be able to see what the users want and need. It’s in the hands of the user community and the content they provide, and what they want.”

“Not everybody is has 3D development skills, but the 3D developer community has many backgrounds and skills. Not everybody needs animation or design skills, many in fact have a wide variety of ranging skills. Some have been self taught, and some have been multimedia students at university. Studio helps create content, not only for Vivaty. In the near future, you won’t need a technical background; it’s useful, but soon anyone with a basic knowledge should be able to use it.”

Vivaty Create is running this entire promotion; not only coinciding the release of Studio, but asking the community to use Studio to participate to the 3D web with incentives. Vivaty is encouraging those who use the community to send in new content, and even if you don’t have the technical skill to create a Scene, ideas and other content can still be provided. Everyone can give their opinions, every one is shared and seen, but also this is to shape the future of Vivaty.

Naturally being a student, I of course asked about student involvement in this; how the academic arena feels about Studio, formerly known as Flux Studio:

“Students and Studio work really well. ‘Flux Studio’ has been out over a year, but now it’s been rebranded as “Vivaty Studio” and added a few more features. Lots of people in universities around the world are using it as a de-facto program. It’s a great tool, and of course it’s free and in many users hands. We have universities all over the world; some US colleges signed up within the last 24 hours actually.”

From today, Wednesday, Create is launched, the pilot phase of developing content for Vivaty Scenes. Third party creators are vital to creating the whole thing, and developers by nature are there to create content for other users. Having something visually rich and expressive is the first stage - Vivaty are taking submissions and provided your content to Scenes to make it available for all.

August 5th, 2008

Why x86 is perfectly fine for now

Posted by Zack Whittaker @ 7:19 am

Categories: Microsoft, University, Skills development, Hardware, Major breakthroughs, Money, Virtualisation

Tags: 32-bit, Intel X86, RAM, X64, 64-Bit, Microsoft Windows, Network Technology, Processors, Semiconductors, Hardware

I, and most people use, a 32-bit (x86) version of Windows. “So what?” you may think, and rightly so. I’ve been looking into 64-bit (x64) Windows for a while now and I cannot see any advantages. Ed can, and his article has certainly made me think twice, but I can’t help think we’re not ready for it yet.

Many have said that Windows 7 will be a 64-bit only operating system, supporting only 64-bit systems. This is untrue, as Microsoft said they’re keeping 32-bit up until 2012 which gives us a while to prepare for these changes (although can’t find where it originally said that luna22, thankyou!). As far as I can tell from research and running a separate x64 system, with Windows XP x64 and Vista x64 in two virtual machines, there is only one advantage. x64 registers more than 4GB of RAM, where x86 doesn’t. That’s it.

Not many people really need more than 4GB of RAM, but if you were to buy a x86 machine, like you normally would, you could plonk in 8GB of RAM but it’d only register half of that, a quarter with 16GB and an eighth if you had 32GB, and so on. If I’m honest, most 32-bit systems don’t even top registering more than 3GB of RAM - the 4GB limit seems to be a technicality rather than anything else.

On the downsides of x64, there isn’t a full set of drivers out for x64 systems yet; you’ll still have a few missing, and if you use x86 drivers, it won’t offer the full 64-bit support, which defeats the point altogether. Not many applications are x64 compatible yet anyway, so why would you want to buy a brand new x64 machine and realise half of your essential applications don’t work?

I have a 64-bit processor on my primary desktop computer, and I chose to run a 32-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate on it. No driver issues, no compatibility issues, it’s fast, it works, and I don’t have or need more than 4GB of RAM.

Students run many high-end programs and applications; graphics, sound, processor intensive applications and suchlike. There is no doubt in my mind that by the time Microsoft switches over to releasing 64-bit software only, using x64 machines and software will be fine. For a single desktop or laptop computer, x86 is perfectly suitable for the time being.

64-bit machines at this moment in time and the very near future are there for high-end servers and mega-computers (one less than super-computers), and not really designed for home use yet. Once the bugs have been ironed out, such as getting the drivers to the hardware, x64 computing will transform our lives, our work and our computers, without a doubt.

x64 is amazingly powerful, and will make things faster, easier to do, better looking and better sounding. This will be a revolution in computing, similar in scale to “the computer mouse”, but for home/student use, we’re not ready just now.

For the time being, I think x86 is perfectly fine. In comparison, “64-bit” is still in “beta” as far as the hardware manufacturers and driver writers are concerned, and it’s up to them to iron out the bugs with them.

August 4th, 2008

NYPD recruit victims of crime, to fight crime

Posted by Zack Whittaker @ 11:27 am

Categories: Mobile computing, Security, Legal issues, Gratuitous rant, Government

Tags: Crime, Corporate Communications, Identity Theft, Homeland Security, Marketing, Security, Government, Zack Whittaker

I think it’s fair to say, many will agree with me, that some law enforcement agencies, departments and organisations are a mere haemorrhoid, dangling from the arse of our societies. Strong statement indeed, but what can be done about it? Policy shift, cabinet change, elect a new leader, revolution?

Not interested. Now lucky New Yorkers are given the opportunity to help out the world-renown NYPD by sending in photos and video recordings caught from cell-phones, directly to the central police computers. Of course this is a good thing; the two sides of it enable citizens to help out catching criminals, but also moderates the more “aggressive” police forces by catching police brutality and unethical behaviour.

Students have known to worry about where they live and the fears they face. Foreign students are especially at risk; without wanting to sound demeaning, they can be naive of other cultures, habits and behaviours, especially when it comes to crime that are different to their own.

Using the technology readily available to us, we’ve captured many criminals and felons, without even thinking twice about it.

There are many websites out there, collectively showing the world, glorifying in some cases, violence, crime and disorder. Instead of these helping the police catch those responsible, they provide entertainment to the sick masses.

The fact of the matter is no matter how good a law enforcement agency is, the bulk of intelligence used to help fight crime comes directly from the public and non-police officers. If it wasn’t for an inquisitive ambulance crew in the right place at the right time, London would have been counting the dead after two car bombs were discovered late June last year.

I was in London then, pulling an all-nighter at work to catch up.

Terrorism is a worry; staying vigilant and keeping your eyes open is important. However there is a much higher, substantial risk of “petty” crime - robberies, mugging, violent crime, fraud, and identity theft. Keeping on-guard shouldn’t be something we have to do, but let’s face it - we live in societies where people aren’t always so nice.

Although, on the flip-side to that - stay tuned for a post later this week. I’ll prove that there is good in human nature after all.