Transport for London (TfL) has awarded a supplier contract for the development and implementation of a new lost property system. IT services firm PDMS will carry out the work related to the platform, which is scheduled to go live in mid 2010.
Click here to read the full story: Transport for London to roll out lost property system
Business secretary Lord Mandelson has laid out the government's definitive approach for tackling illegal downloading online. He said that illegal downloaders would eventually be cut off from the internet, if other technical measures – including reducing bandwidth and imposing download caps – failed.
Click here to read the full story: Illegal downloaders will be disconnected - eventually
Coca-Cola is using social networking as the core of a global marketing campaign focused on cash-strapped consumers. The initiative is part of the firm’s wider promotional campaign "Open Happiness" – which focuses on "simple pleasures" such as drinking Coke – and will see three bloggers travelling across 206 countries in a year to find out what makes people happy.
Click here to read the full story: Coca-Cola wants to teach the world to social network
The government faces a demand for an immediate inquiry into problems issuing loans, which have plunged thousands of students into financial difficulty as they start their degree courses at university.
A Commons motion complains about "the failings of the Student Loans Company to deal effectively with student applications in 2009" and "notes that when most had commenced their courses, 175,000 were waiting for their loans, of which 136,410 were first time applicants".
Click here to read the full story: MPs call for inquiry into student loans delays
The head of the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has told delegates at the ITU Telecom World 2009 conference that the next big war will most likely be fought online. Hamadoun Touré said that countries are becoming increasingly dependent on the internet to control basic services, and that any future war could focus more on the online world, since such a battle would allow weaker adversaries to fight on a level playing field with larger powers. "The next world war could happen in cyber space and that would be a catastrophe," he said.
Click here to read the full story: UN warns the next world war will be online
A report from security vendor Garlik details how cyber criminals have adapted their methods to take into account the effects of the recession. Instead of opening new accounts with stolen identities – now more difficult because of tighter credit checks – criminals are taking over existing accounts.
The US government has launched a new service known as Apps.gov. The online storefront allows managers from other federal agencies and US government organisations to purchase and implement cloud computing services.
The Obama administration launched the site in the hope of lowering the cost of government IT operations. US chief information officer Vivek Kundra said in a posting on the official White House blog that the administration hopes to cut down on its $75bn (£45bn) annual IT expenditure by consolidating data to hosted services.
Click here to read the full story: US government moves into the cloud
Defence contractor Thales is to supply British infantry with a £150m surveillance and target acquisition (STA) package to enable soldiers to dominate the battlefield, as part of the Ministry of Defence's Future Integrated Soldier Technology (Fist) programme.
Click here to read the full story: £150m deal will equip an IT-enabled British Army
All police forces in England and Wales will computerise the issuing of tickets for traffic and minor offences by 2011. Currently Fixed Penalty Notices, issued for driving offences such as speeding, and Penalty Notices for Disorder, issued for offences such as petty shoplifting, are recorded on paper tickets and taken back to the station for processing by two different IT systems. But a new scheme instigated by the National Policing Improvement Agency will see police recording such offences on handheld mobile devices currently being rolled out to frontline officers.
Click here to read the full story: Minor offences to be recorded electronically
UK businesses could save up to £32bn a year in transport costs if the workforce of tomorrow were encouraged to work from home, according to research commissioned by Orange. The survey found that 16 per cent of respondents would be willing to take an average of £6,900 salary cut and 42 per cent would be happy to forfeit their company car if it meant they could live and work in their ideal location.
Click here to read the full story: Flexible working could change the UK - and save £32bn