Archive for the ‘Science & technology’ Category
The need to test claims – or else
April 23rd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
All the time, people are making claims that are not challenged and tested. Sometimes the results can have life and death consequences, as revealed in this astonishing story of how fake bomb detectors were sold in strife-ridden Iraq. It is outrageous that someone should sell a device intended to save lives knowing that they did […]
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Prediction not an exact science
February 12th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Forecasting technological change is not just about whether, but when and how, such change will happen. This is the headline message of my latest column for the trade union Prospect. You can read it here. I have been writing articles on information technology for the trade union movement since 1978 and all the ones written […]
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Why is the freezing point of water 32F and not 0F?
January 14th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Believe it or not, this was a question put to me by a colleague today. She had been asked by one of her children and did not know the answer. Neither did it – but I resolved to find out. The short answer is that the Dutch-German-Polish physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736) chose to make the zero point of […]
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At last … I obtain the iPhone 5
January 13th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I must be the only person in Britain who has used the original iPhone for more than five years. I took possession of the iPhone 1 on 13 November 2007 and it has served me brilliantly ever since. I have looked after it and someone in my local O2 store called it “immaculate”. But, for […]
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Happy 150th birthday to the London Underground
January 7th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
For about 30 years, I travelled on the London Underground every working day. For the past decade as a portfolio worker, I have continued to use the tube – as everyone calls it – an average of three or four days a week. So it is a big part of my life and that of […]
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Five innovations that might change our lives in the next five years
December 30th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Every Christmas since 2006, the computer giant IBM has announced what it calls “5 in5” – five predictions of things that will be possible in five years’ time. You can check out this year’s list here. My favourite is the suggestion that we will be able to interpret the meaning of a baby’s cries.
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Sense and nonsense about science
December 28th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Celebrity figures can influence others in attitudes to science but many have such fragile egos that they are ready to believe all sorts of nonsense. My favourite this year was Simon Cowell employing someone to introduce good energy into his new home. Every year, the organisation Science About Science publishes a review of the previous […]
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Happy 20th birthday to the humble but ubiquitous text message
December 3rd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
The first text message was sent 20 years ago today and Ofcom has some interesting facts and figures here. I’ll always remember my first text message. It was about 15 years ago and my then colleague Beth Lamont – about 30 years younger than me – showed me what to do.
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My latest appointment in the comms sector – or how a damsel is coming to help those in distress
October 30th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Today 4G mobile services arrive in the UK delivered by EE using its existing spectrum. This initiative has acted as a spur to bring about an agreement that the auctions for new spectrum for 4G will be brought forward to the New Year so that EE should have competition by the late summer of 2013. […]
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Tom Scott’s vision of the future
October 29th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Last week, I attended the seventh annual ‘Parliament And The Internet’ conference which was addressed by two Government ministers: Chloe Smith from the Cabinet Office talking about cyber security and Ed Vaizey of DCMS talking about communications policy. By far the liveliest talk, however, came from a young futurist called Tom Scott who presented a […]
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