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Well, my first thought for most questions like this is “America”. But when you look at the Eastern countries, especially Japan, we see a technological development that they have embraced and that their cities are well set up for.

With our internet facilities still picking up, Japan are at a level where they can stream live TV through their mobile phones – how did this happen so quickly?! Because they have an efficient system, and when updates are needed, they get them done and leave room for future improvements.

Despite the weird and wonderful “H-Bouya USB Toy” and the man/fish toy, and many other things that just don’t seem right, Japan still leads the way when it comes to tech.

All over the UK, people go online every day – to check emails, to work, to shop, to chat to friends, to send out invitations, to order the food shopping – to do many different tasks that can save them time, money and keep them connected to those living further away than the bottom of the road.

But some people get way faster speeds than others. Why? Location, location and time of day.

With Digital Subscriber Line services running on the old copper wire telephone network, the signal strength is ultimately determined by physics – how far away you are from the exchange.

The survey found that for DSL services advertised as being “up to” 20Mbps, only 2% of customers got speeds in the range of 14-20Mbps. Of the others, 32% were getting a 8-14Mbps service and 65%, 8Mbps or less.

Add to this the rush hour traffic, and you have got a situation similar to a work day commute to London city centre – not much fun! Although there are talks of legislating how these services are ran, how can this realistically be improved without ripping up the old, and relaying new?

Over the last few years, Apple have risen as the phone to have. Nokia, RIM, Samsung, LG, Motorola, etc, have all seen drops in sales and profits, but Apple have steadily increased (not by percentage of units sold, but by percentage of profit made). The other manufacturers make valiant efforts every now and then to break back into the market, but rarely get further than the initial press release.

In this market, where multi-capabilities (where the user needs them or not) is the key to getting the big sales in, and to continue getting them in. So, without a music player, a PC or novel way of combining them all, how can other manufacturers even compete?

As an avid online shopper, I am still reluctant to purchase clothes or shoes online unless I have tried them on in the store first. The reason? Fear it won’t fit, and the disappointment of having to send it back, etc.

Well, help is at last (nearly!) at hand!

An Estonian firm have developed an “online torso”, that you can input your measurements, and have it “model” the item for you. At first the developers thought it wasn’t possible, but by starting off on the simplest form (the male of the species!), they have developed the torso to “shape-shift” into 100,000 different shapes and sizes to allow male shoppers to gauge a better idea of what the garment would look like before buying it.
It is not currently ran in real-time (someone has to dress the mannequin and take pictures, etc, for now) but once it is through the testing stages, we should see it used by a lot of online stores.

“Respect your elders” was a common phrase in my rural community when growing up; for a young person, being perceived as being disrespectful to the elderly would have gotten you an immediate telling off from the person who noticed, and a BIG telling off from the parentals.

These days, being old can be the coolest thing ever, and attract followers such as Chris Evans, an ex-PM’s wife and Peter Andre. For those of you in the know, I am talking about Ivy Bean, Twitter’s oldest (unconfirmed) Tweeter.

In the year Ivy was online (she has recently passe away), she gained 56,653 followers, and posted 1,000 tweets. Although the posts mainly consisted of her day to day activities, she seems to have engaged a wide variety of people, and touched a lot of people.

This is one of those stories where technology really can bring people together.

The government last week announced a new £17 million initiative to tackle the issue of trying to make homes in Britain ‘greener’. A series social housing units across the country will be fitted with a variety of energy saving technologies and data of their results made available to various groups.

Both the good and bad points will be made available to researchers, architects, builders and the like in order to evaluate whether or not to continue these projects into new builds and other social housing projects.

“If you’ve got 10,000 properties to upgrade in 20 years, what do you do? If you can look at 100 attempts in the database, you can choose,” said Miller. “We’re creating a library of solutions that people can use and adapt for their needs.”

Chinese authorities have announced stricter controls on internet use in the country, requiring anyone who wants to create a website to meet new regulator requirements and produce identification.

Personal website registrations had been banned since December after Chinese state media had complained there was not enough regulation in place. These new regulations have been set up in an apparent attempt to reduce the number of pornographic websites being set up, though activists believe it is just another set of censorship controls produced by the government.

Despite the levels of censorship in the country, reports suggest that internet activity in China is still vibrant and staying at least one step ahead of government controls.

A new initiative lead by computing giant Intel has pledged to provide financial funding to the tune of $3.5 billion to over 10,000 new graduates looking to work in the technology market.

Among the companies involved in the initiative are Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Dell, Yahoo! and more.

A statement by Intel CEO Paul Otellini read:

“We simply must have a clear, consistent strategy to promote innovation, investment and start-up companies.

There are things business can do, and ought to do, independent of what government achieves…Today’s announcements are both an investment in the country’s innovators and a signal to the global marketplace about America’s commitment to innovation and future competitiveness.”

British mobile technology companies have been described as being at the forefront of the world mobile technology industry by a leading government figure.

Trade minister lord Davies has said of the UK mobile industry:

“The growth in mobile has been extraordinary, and it is great to know that this is a British success story.

“This is a nation of innovators and we must strive to remain at the forefront of the industry.”

Mobile technology developed by UK companies is being used in all kinds of industries for all manner of reasons across the country and internationally, and growth continues to increase.

With the winter olympics well under way over in Vancouver, it is easy to see just how much the development of new technology can make all the difference between the competing nations searching for that gold medal.

From developing new streamlined helmets and clothing, to studying video footage of previous runs and that of competitors, each step forward in technology gets the team one step closer to beating their opponent.

There has even been controversy in some cases – with many accusing fingers being pointed at the design of British skeleton winner Amy Williams’ unusual looking helmet. Of course, it could just be sour grapes from the losing competitors!