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Join the Perseids tweetup on Twitter

Continuing our current series of posts on Twitter, Newbury Astronomical Society is organising a Perseids tweetup to mark the annual meteor display as the Earth passes through debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet. The visual display occurs every August, as the Earth passes through debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet, creating a spectacular meteor shower known as the Perseids.

The peak viewing time is Tuesday 11th August, but you should be able to watch over several nights if conditions permit. If you want to participate, add the hashtag #meteorwatch to your tweets, to share your observations and ask questions of other stargazers.

Hashtags are a Twitter community convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets, which you add in your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag.

For more info on the event click here to see Guardian: Tweet a falling star

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Whitehall Publishes A Guide To Twitter

The government has published a 20-page guide to explain how Whitehall departments should use Twitter as part of their communications strategy. The Power of Information taskforce set up by the Cabinet Office has recommended greater use of social networking tools to help broaden government communications beyond traditional routes. Now Whitehall can Twitter away even when they are on holiday!

However, even its author admits that a 20-page strategy paper for government departments on how to use Twitter might be regarded as “a bit of over the top” for a microblogging tool with a limit of 140 characters a message.

If you want to check out a guest post on the subject by Neil Williams, head of corporate digital channels at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, on Cabinet Office blog, Click here to read the Template Twitter strategy for Government Departments

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Twitter Hit by Denial-Of-Service Attack

The popular social networking site Twitter has been hit by a denial of service attack, according to Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. In an e-mail to CNN.com, Stone said this morning’s attack is not related to a recent incident in which a hacker stole internal documents from the site.

“There’s no indication that this attack is related to any previous activities. We are currently the target of a denial of service attack,” Stone said in the e-mail. Approximately 45 million people worldwide now rely on Twitter as a communication platform, and a number of them will be greatly inconvenienced.

Denial-of-service attacks are a common weapon employed by cyber criminals to disrupt the working of Web sites. Perpetrators enlist millions of computers to attempt to access a particular site. The site cannot handle the massive increase in traffic, and is rendered inaccessible.

While disruptive and hard to trace, this type of cyber attack is considered by experts to be a relatively unsophisticated technique. The attack itself doesn’t attempt to infiltrate the internal operations of a company’s computer infrastructure. It simply renders its Web site inactive.

Twitter’s status update said: “We are defending against a denial-of-service attack, and will update status again shortly.” The millions of Twitter fans who have been disrupted by this attack will no doubt give vent over the next few days. I confidently expect to see Twitter and Denial-Of-Service at the top of the Google hit chart shortly!

For more on the CNN story Click Here to visit CNN Money

To follow me on Twitter when it is back up, Click on BGT666

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Twitter May face lawsuit in US Court

The popular Social Networking site Twitter is being sued by TechRadium, a Texas-based firm that developed a mass notification and emergency response service that delivers messages to multiple contacts simultaneously. TechRadium has filed a lawsuit in a US district court against Twitter for infringing three of its patents, alleging that the patent it holds for its IRIS (Immediate Response Information System) emergency notification system is being infringed upon by Twitter.

The IRIS system seems to be capable of notifying large numbers of people simultaneously, via different media in a way similar to microblogging sites. Micro blogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, digital audio or the web. Twitter are not the only site capable of doing this, so perhaps the defence lawyers will be able to cite common practice or public domain.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, seeks among other things unspecified damages, recovery of attorneys’ fees and a permanent injunction against Twitter. Is it me, or does it seem that when ever something really obvious gets to be successful, and have mass market appeal, then the lawyers start lining up for a piece of the action. I confidently predict that someone who has patented a content management system will be filing against WordPress shortly.

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Bidding for Lower Value Public Sector Contracts

Selling to the public sector is often considered too difficult for many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and such opportunities too remote by many companies that could and should be considering the public sector as a key potential customer.

Public sector organisations are good customers because they:

  • have to be fair, honest and professional in the way they choose suppliers and in any dealings with them
  • are less likely to be subject to fluctuations in the market
  • pay promptly and in line with agreed contract terms
  • pay accounts within 30 days (or any other agreed credit period) of receiving a valid bill or invoice

Trading successfully with the public sector will also give you added credibility when dealing with private sector customers.

If you are interested in looking at selling to the public sector, but have no idea how to start, you should visit supply2.gov.uk and fill in the registration form. It will take you about ten minutes, so what have you got to lose?

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Are you a South West Fast Tracker?

Are you one of the elite group, known as the South West Fast Trackers?

The South West Fast Trackers are a highly motivated group of business leaders, visionaries and philanthropists who have achieved a common standard of excellence by completing the Christopher Howard Fast Track to Success. While you are as likely to find them in Maui and Cannes as in the boardroom, you will no doubt recognise their solution focused approach whether it is at a Billionaire Bootcamp in St Andrews, or pounding the corridors of power in London or New York.

TechCo Systems are pleased to be providing IT support for South West Fast Trackers and are looking forward to an invitation to the next reunion. Will that be in Portugal or Fiji? Check out their website by clicking on The South West Fast Trackers

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TechCo Support the Rock Solid Project

TechCo Systems Ltd is supporting the Rock Solid Project, which is a Bristol based initiative to divert people from crime by providing support, education and role modelling. Their vision is a society where every school leaver has the opportunity to lead a successful and fulfilling life, and has the desire to contribute positively to their community.

The mission of the Rock Solid Project is to bring the skills and experience of the best business leaders, visionaries and philanthropists to every school leaver across the South West, to ensure that successive generations have the chance to succeed. A worthy goal if ever there was one!

If you want to find out more about this project, or offer your services, Click here to visit the Rock Solid Project

They are bidding for some funding from the community cashback scheme to provide a decent PA system. If you are interested finding out about the Community Cashback scheme, and have your say on a project suggested by someone in your community, you can find out more by going to the Community Cashback website and select your area from the list.

If you want to place a vote for the Rock Solid Project Click Here

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Are You On The Fast Track?

TechCo management have just completed Christopher Howard’s Fast Track and are now empowered to achieve even more greatness.

We also were serving as crew at Billionaire Bootcamp in St Andrews, Scotland which is a great experience, both for the participants and crew alike. We heartily recommend it! During this time we renewed our association with Clinton Swaine, and his Entrepreneurial Empire – it is great to see the changes that people undergo through this exercise.

For those who do not yet know him, Clinton Swaine is the world’s number 1 business games expert. He has a vast following in the US where every year thousands of people attend his Play to Win seminars seeking the golden grail to rapid business growth.

Clinton’s philosophy is based on Plato’s observation that “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation”. He has currently produced over 90 games and written multiple music CDs. He owns over one hundred trademarks and copyrights and is constantly innovating on the cutting edge of business development. Last year he spoke in 9 countries including China, Australia, Malaysia, South Africa and the US and he is in high demand with Fortune 10 companies such as Chevron and Warner Bros. His games are currently being used by Toyota.

If you want to find out more about Clinton’s Games, click here to register for your free ticket to Play to Win via our Champions link – The Clinton Swaine Affiliate Program.

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FSB Presentation Bristol

If you enjoyed the April FSB Presentation given by Bruce Thompson in the Aztec Hotel and Spa, Bristol, there are a few links on this post which you may find useful.

If you want to engage Bruce to speak at your own events, or to discuss a collaborative venture, click here to visit Bruce Thompson Events website.

If you are interested in learnng more about WordPress or attending the TechCo Systems training entitled Get Your Business Started on The Internet please Click Here to Contact Us

WordPress
For details on the features of WordPress and the development and support documentation visit WordPress.org
Visit WordPress.com to start a Free WordPress Blog

Demo Sites

Other Usefull Links
Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) website
FSB Forum

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IAP Spring Seminar

The TechCo management team has just returned from the Institution of Analysts and Programmers Spring Seminar, which was held this year at the Museum in London Docklands. The company was august, the presenters erudite and entertaining, the food mouthwatering and the after-dinner chat was scintillating.

As a networking event alone, the price of admission was justified. Where else can you get to sit between Microsoft’s Chief Security Adviser in UK and a Gartner consultant, and argue the toss about the next big thing in IT?

Before the main presentations I was chatting to Peter Green, Technical Director of the Telegraph Newspaper Group. Peter is a Fellow of the Institution of Analysts and Programmers, and a rattling good speaker. It turns out that we are in the same business more or less; the only difference is volume, the Telegraph site just gets a few more hits!

If you want to find out about the next event from the IAP, make sure you contact them via the IAP Website