There’s a mixed picture of the UK’s technological advancement presented by two government reports today. According to Ofcom, though we are behind on 4G and ‘superfast’ broadband adoption (greater than 24Mbps), we are the greatest online shoppers in Europe and the biggest users of the mobile Internet on smartphones. But according to Ofsted, we are failing to teach young people about technology in any useful way. Where ‘Information and Communications Technology’ or ICT is taught (despite being compulsory in the curriculum, it isn’t taught in 20% of senior schools), it isn’t taught well.

I popped in to 5live last week to talk about Twitter’s review of the year with Aasmah Mir. In the process I did some thinking about what it is about Twitter that has so captured people’s imagination. I didn’t get a chance to squeeze what I came up with into the chat on air so thought I’d put it down here. For me Twitter is a bit like the red button for your TV: rather than passively observing what’s happening in the world it gives you a feeling of interacting, of being involved. Getting your information...read more.

I’ve been trialling a watch that could replace your wallet. The device contains a small slot for what looks like a SIM card from a mobile phone. This is in fact a payment card that communicates with the till when then watch is held to a reader, now being installed in shops around the UK. There’s no PIN number, but there’s a limit on transaction size and the account has to be topped in advance, so that you can’t be cleaned out if the watch is stolen. This is, in short, a replacement for cash. It...read more.

Talking about 4G on 5live last weekend, one of the issues that was raised was that of coverage: even with the next generation of mobile network, won’t we still have the same issues that we do in rural areas with 3G? The answer is a complex one, but with a potentially positive outcome for users. It is pretty hard to give 100% coverage of the UK with a single network technology. There’s just too much terrain to cover and it isn’t economically viable – nor necessarily desirable to local residents – to stick in a base...read more.

The fab Jenny Culshaw invited me onto 5live Drive last night to talk about 4G. O2 is expanding its trial of faster mobile broadband into London, reigniting interest in the next generation of mobile technology. Here’s a little summary of my thoughts on the subject, assembled in advance. The term 4G doesn’t mean an awful lot. Is basically defined by a set of speed thresholds: a mobile network is deemed to be 4G if it can deliver 100Mbps to a handset on the move and 1Gbps (1000 Mbps) to one that is stationary or moving slowly....read more.

By all accounts the Victorians were pretty proud of their scientific and technological progress. To the point where some believed they didn’t have much more to learn: they thought they’d discovered most of nature’s secrets. How wrong they were. It feels like we’re at risk of a similar belief today. While the news media and great science broadcasting ensures we are all so much better informed about the latest breakthroughs, it doesn’t feel like we have any appreciation for just how much our lives will change in the next hundred years – or even the next...read more.

Predicting the future is never an easy task. But I’ve come to the conclusion that it is fun to try. Let’s face it: wrong guesses are more entertaining than right ones. Like the Replicator in the original Book of the Future, a machine that can copy just about anything atom by atom. According to the Book of the Future we should have these by now, and I’m pretty doubtful we will see such a thing commercially available in the next fifty years (though I’d like to be wrong). If you look much closer to the current...read more.

We've twice been reminded recently just how fragile or technology infrastructure remains. First of all BT suffered a massive failure in its broadband network, wiping out Internet access for thousands of individuals and businesses. Then just after 10:00 today, RIM's Slough datacentre had some unspecified failure, taking out the Internet, email and BBM access for Blackberry users across two continents. It's still not back up as I sit writing this close to midnight (at the 5live studios waiting to go on air).

I am pretty forgiving of lapses in social media etiquette. After all it is still being established. But one thing that has really started to annoy me is people selecting the ‘friend’ tab when making unsolicited connections on LinkedIn. This irritates me for two reasons: they are clearly not my friend, and they have ignored the other more appropriate options such as ‘other’. I can cope when people put in an explanation in the accompanying message but they invariably don’t. So, to avoid incurring my wrath, here is the proper way to make an unsolicited connection...read more.

We have become very sophisticated in our application of transistors and code in a wide range of fields. In many places the technology enhances and improves our own abilities to operate. But nowhere yet is the technology sufficiently advanced to operate without human supervision. What I’m saying is, for those of you worried about the machines taking over, you can relax for the time being. If we can’t even play through a two hour film without the sound dropping out yet, we’re a long way from our SkyNet moment.