Scotland

Latest News for Scotland

One day after Azzuri launched its Azzurri Communications today launches Instant Retailer, an innovative new service that uses the 3G mobile network to deliver on-demand voice, data, fax and Internet connectivity wherever and whenever it is required, Martin McColl Ltd, claimed as the country’s largest chain of convenience and newsagent stores, has entered into a 5-year fully managed service agreement with East Kilbride based Azzurri and will adopt Azzurri’s Retail Application Network (RAN) across its 1300 stores including 160 stores throughout Scotland.

In Scotland, adopting or sponsoring a zoo animal is quite commonplace and elsewhere people are encouraged to adopt vineyards or olive trees, while Laphroaig offers a virtual piece of peat for its malt aficionados. Now in the US, two Maine brothers have found a way to offer consumers the chance to adopt a Maine lobster trap an idea which just might lend itself to the Scottish lobster industry.

Trying to extract the Scottish livewires from the great and the good is hard work. Gaberlunzie tried finding Scotland and Scottish, then realised that the whole needed inhalation to extract places like Orkney and Cupar, Fife. In the hopes that no-one got missed out, congratulations to all. But especially from Compute Scotland congratulation to Professor Richard Donovan Kenway, FRSE. Vice- Principal, High Performance Computing and e-Science, Tait Professor of Mathematical Physics, University of Edinburgh. For services to Science. (Edinburgh) and Duncan Mitchell. Senior VP Cisco Systems UK and Ireland. For services to Business, which one must suppose includes Scotland for keeping computing, hardware and software worthy of public praise. As Gaberlunzie has a soft spot for poets his picture is included too.

Upwards of 70,800 people live live in 42 broadband balck spot areas in rural Scotland. A Freedom of Information (FoI) response to the Press and Journal shows with 23 pieces of correspondence disclosed in the FoI that the officials behind the programme were told about about the problems of accessing a Rural Development Programme operated in main as a web-based scheme. One key part, is only accessible online. It was dubbed as 'a recognised strategy' to make it difficult for small operators to bid for funding being easier to administer a smaller number of large bids from farming businesses. Ironically of the critical 32 Rural Priorities, Priority 25 is Public Access Priorities and the SDRP is hailed as the first time a rural funding package has sought to deliver a Greener Scotland and to promote a Wealthier and Fairer rural Scotland

Log onto www.gtacademy.eu to start your journey in the ultimate driving competition courtesy of PlayStation, Nissan and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The ultimate competitive driving test is now live with the pan-European competition GT Academy activated this week in PLAYSTATION3 title Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The competition will see entrants compete for a place in a real-life racing academy at the UK’s Silverstone track.

Anyone who cares for Scotland's future scientific, mathematical and numeracy skills in its children should read the 11 page CfE_science_mathematics_numeracy.pdf report by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In its 6.5 pages of detailed appendix, the Society enumerates with care that the devisers of Curriculum for Excellence proposals have themselves paid "inadequate attention to the important disciplinary base of sound learning."A Scottish Government spokeswoman is reported as saying that Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop, "would meet senior members of the Royal Society to discuss the criticisms .... welcomes the support of the Society through their engagement with the draft outcomes and the constructive approach that has been taken in recent meetings with officials."

A computer-generated 'fly-through' and artist's impressions offer a sneak preview of what the revamped National Museum will look like from 2011 will be there this summer, as a new gallery Scotland: A Changing Nation, will bring together a range of Scottish stories, words, costumes, photographs, objects and film. Opening at the National Museum of Scotland on 11 July 2008, the permanent gallery will present a bold and innovative look at modern Scotland over the last century.
And if you can't get there, try an absorbing web-browse.

Patients with long-term conditions such as lung disease, diabetes and high blood pressure could soon use mobile phones to monitor their health at home. An Edinburgh University team is to investigate the impact of at-home monitoring services that connect patients directly to clinicians.The Chief Scientist Office has awarded Â£1m to the institution for a pilot project in Scotland. It is hoped such technologies may lessen the burden on the NHS. The announcement was made at a meeting of international e-health experts hosted by the Edinburgh eHealth research group.

The GeoInformation Group, publishers of Cities Revealed aerial photography (http://www.citiesrevealed.com) has completed an extensive consultancy project for the UK’s second largest gas supplier, Scotia Gas Networks (SGN). SGN operates two of the largest regional gas networks - Scotland Gas Networks plc and Southern Gas Networks plc, it covers over 50% of the landmass and its first priority is to provide a safe and reliable supply of natural gas to all its 5.7m customers.

A BBC Scotland investigation has claimed that Scottish newspapers are wilting in the face of competition from their London rivals. The claim comes as local newspapers ready themselves for the advertising hit they will take when local authorities shift their recruitment advertising from traditional media to an online strategy, a lead expected to be followed by the Scottish Government despite significant protests from press companies.

Doctors at the recent Scottish BMA conference in Clydebank are apprehensive over the Scottish government decision to cut £5m from the e-health budget earlier this year. The move, which was announced by the government in February in order to recruit more police officers, has angered Scottish doctors, who say it could endanger patients.

Scottish Water has announced its award of £120m to three international IT and telecoms corporations. This is to support the drive to improve standards in a move expected to generate £1m efficiency savings annually. It has awarded contracts to Tata Consultancy Services, Fujitsu and BT for services including developing new software applications, providing helpdesks for staff and running voice communications networks.

A search for ITI in pragmatic, global Google, will currently return ITI Scotland in fourth place. It ranks after the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, the Information Technology Institute, and manufacturer, ITI Ltd in India. Perhaps as ITI Alba it would have made it to the top slot. The one line descriptor reads: The company set up in 2003 by Scottish Enterprise with the support of the Scottish Executive to drive Scotland's ambitious plans... Good pedigree that, but not perhaps a puller? Try ITI in the shopping, buying, gossiping Yahoo (of Microsoft coveted fame) and ITI Scotland does not get a mention. Here the leader is Iteris Inc, appropriately in traffic management and International TechneGroup Incorporated in consulting and CAD software.

Scottish schoolchildren are to be taught how to design and develop electronic games and creat computer animations and feature films. It does not solve the problem of creating interest in science, systems and analysis expertise. The same schoolchildren are now ensured of not having 2 hours physical education loosing the art of team work games, the fun of winning and the art of loosing gracefully. It does not auger well for Scotland's most valuable asset, its children.

Scotland is slightly worse than the national average when it comes to disaster recovery. 74% of Scottish companies have a disaster recovery plan in place, and 53% of these have been tested in the last year. 2% of Scottish companies do not make any backups of their critical data. A further 7% make backups but do not take them off-site, says Chris Potter, partner PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, who led the survey.

Recognised as the most prestigious awards of their kind in Scotland, the competition showcases, rewards and develops the best student writing and publishing in Scotland. The contest this year will be sponsored by BT Scotland, the Glasgow Film Festival, Microsoft, Nikon and Bank of Scotland. The closing date for entries is April 28, 2008.

The Scottish Government wants to continue using the ballot form scanners, while admitting public confidence will require better preparation, helped by flawless execution. Ministers also want to introduce the same complex counting system for Holyrood as it introduced for councils last year, which would require e-counting for Holyrood too.

The cash from the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC), announced is against widespread unhappiness at funding levels for higher education north of the border. There have been fears that Scotland's institutions could lose out to their English counterparts, who have access to top-up fees for revenue, reports The Guardian.
Funding increases for Scotland's higher education institutions mean there is no need to rush into redundancy threats, according to a university staff union. Scotland's 19 universities and higher education colleges are to share more than £1.1bn in the next academic year. The cash, from the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, means funding rises of between 1.3% and 6.1%. The University and College Union (UCU) said there was "no obvious financial justification for staff cuts." according to BBC News, Scotland.

Strathclyde Police still fear that its operational ability could be damaged by handing over vital computer systems to the new Scottish Police Services Authority. So despite the changeover looming ever closer, and due to take place on April 1, a Strathclyde spokesman yet again confirms the handover remain on the Force Risk Register, which lists risks to operational effectiveness.

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