Of mice, MPs and money

A survey conducted by the World Internet Forum (which is bringing its first annual summit to London in November) found that only 61 per cent of 101 MPs questioned agreed that the UK government's target of having all its services online by 2005 was achievable - a drop of 13 per cent since the last poll in January.

One of the main aims of the government is to make the UK the best environment in the world for ecommerce. But only 41 per cent of Conservative MPs and 60 per cent of Labour MPs think that the UK is leading the world in new technology and its adoption of ecommerce.

Commenting on the government's stated aim of getting everything online in five years' time, Robert Blaney, CEO of the World Internet Forum, said: "Viewing UK Online [the umbrella term for the government's initiatives] we can find no explanations as to how these figures are going to be achieved, or indeed how these figures were decided upon at all by the UK government." (see http://www.worldfinternetforum.com )

To defend the government a bit, recent initiatives, like offering some services through street-based kiosks and free IT training in 6,000 local centres, will certainly help.

But another leading high-tech figure has questioned the nature of the government's attempts to get more citizens online. Dr Simon Moores, director of the Research Group, claims the government is missing the point by promising net access and IT training to anyone who wants it.

He reckons a large sector of the population will find this channel intimidating and inaccessible. He thinks digital TV makes a lot more sense, as everyone is familiar with the good old goggle box.

He said: "The government wants to get people online as quickly as possible, but they are not technologists. I think we've been led down the garden path on the role of the PC in internet connectivity. There are more cost-effective methods of enfranchising people. I don't think adequate attention has been paid to the role digital TV can play for segments of society that cannot access the internet through traditional channels."

Some harsh words there, particularly from the World Internet Forum. But one has to ask: if the MPs (not all of whom were Tories) are blaming 'the government', who exactly is the government?

And there was me thinking the people I've voted for in elections had something to do with it.

Come on MPs - pick up your mouse and get busy with technology! If you think it's that important, do something about it.

One MP got in touch with us to demonstrate his commitment to the high-tech zeitgeist. His name is Robert Key, he is Conservative MP for Salisbury, and his charming website is at http://www.robertkey.com

One tip though Robert: that picture of you with Margaret Thatcher might scare the little children, and other youngsters of a nervous disposition (like William Hague when Michael Portillo's around).

Meanwhile, back in Labour land, Tony Blair has appointed a 'webmaster general' to co-ordinate e-government. He's called Lord Hudson, he's got a journalistic background, and will lead a team within the e-envoy's office to create content for the UK Online portal and help improve the quality of the 1,000 or so departmental websites.

And talking of the e-envoy, a new name has emerged from the pack as a potential successor to Alex Allan - Richard Barrington, the current director of industry in the office of the e-envoy. From the feedback we've received, he'd be a popular choice. We'll shortly be running an online poll on this issue, so log on to silicon.com next week to cast your vote.

BT's (oil)slick PR

BT reported a 290 per cent increase in the number of conference call bookings during the fuel crisis. At its peak, the number of calls reached 3,194 in one day. The number of new accounts opened increased fivefold, and web bookings on http://www.conferencing.bt.com and the demand for videoconferencing both increased by one third.

The splendidly named David Sales, general manager of BT Conferencing, said: "I believe the fuel crisis has helped change many people's perceptions about the necessity of face-to-face meetings. Increasingly, phone conferencing is being seen as a viable and efficient alternative. The typical manager driving to and from work and in business spends nearly 11 hours behind the wheel each week - to travel 232 miles... we are seeing more and more businesses meet by phone, swayed by the bottom line of time and cost savings."

So BT benefited from the fuel crisis... now wouldn't that be a conspiracy theory? (And that, BT lawyers, is definitely a joke.)

But this isn't: IBM has invented digital jewellery. They've come up with a necklace microphone, earrings which are speakers and another necklace that works like a computer screen (no, we're not sure how that works either. The press release didn't divulge any more than that. Do they mean it could be 17 inches wide, come in black and white or colour and crackles with dust-attracting static? Must get one for my mum to hang round her neck).

The boffins have also created glasses which allow you to take a picture of people you meet, stores their name and then brings up the information in front of your eyes when you meet again, a portable computer mouse ring and a bracelet that doubles as a computer screen.

For more on this wonderful stuff, see http://www.almaden.ibm.com .

Before you know it, men's jewelry habits will change dramatically. Either that, or women really will become the next master race (assuming they're not already) as us poor chaps, excluded from these truly pervasive communications media, can merely wonder in a combination of jealousy and awe at their silicon-packed baubles.

Unless you're Mr T from the A-Team. In which case you're laughing. He could end up with an entire video wall around his neck.

And finally...

Excuse the immodesty, but we have to mention that NMTV, the company behind silicon.com, secured an investment of £14m this week, from a consortium led by Bank of America Equity Partners Europe. This brings the total investment since we launched in July 1998 to £29.5m.

The money will be used to accelerate our expansion in Europe. silicon.de will be up and running before the end of the year, shortly followed by silicon.fr.

All of silicon.com's original venture capital investors also participated in this third round of fund-raising. These include Amadeus Capital Partners, Schroder Ventures, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Gilde IT and T-Venture.

Which is nice of them. We're all off down the pub (where we'll be buying our own drinks of course: boo.com didn't die in vain). Til next Friday...

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