O2 and Vodafone…Till Death Do Us Part

by tahera on March 23rd, 2009

filed under Techonolgy

Vodafone and Telefónica (the owner of O2), are to pool their two networks to share costs on infrastructure, sparking talk of a price war…

The formerly bitter rivals are expected to fund cheaper calls for customers with their savings of “hundreds of millions of pounds” in this current climate.

As they become one, thousands of masts will be decommissioned as they share antennas and base station sites in Ireland and masts and power supplies in Spain and Germany. In Britain They will be consolidating their 2G and 3G infrastructures, providing better call coverage, and much more choice with services such as mobile broadband for their customers (with the hopes to supersede an unsuccessful deal that Vodafone had previously struck with Orange).

Competition regulators are keeping a close eye on this merger; it is initially set to cover the UK, the Irish Republic, Spain and Germany. However the two companies are insisting they will still be competing fiercely on services and price, and will keep their total of 549 million customers worldwide separate.

Although both Vodafone and O2 insist that competition on the retail side of the business would remain highly competitive, however it’s important to note neither has actually committed to using the savings to cut tariffs for customers…..

Microsoft Launches Its New Browser

by tahera on March 19th, 2009

filed under Techonolgy

Welcome Internet Explorer 8 (IE8)

Prettier. More Secure. Time Saving.

Im not so sure.

Yes, although Internet Explorer is still the most popular browser, Firefox, Google and Opera are right on its heels. They’ve been testing the new browser for over a year now, and it has finally been released. It’s the first update to IE7 since 2006. Mozilla Firefox, widely known for its safe and secure aspect, nudged Microsoft to up their game.

“With Internet Explorer 8, we are delivering a browser that gets people to the information they need, fast, and provides protection that no other browser can match.” Microsoft boss, Steve Ballmer

Internet Explorer was seen as big on features but poor on delivering performance. However this new version, can apparently spot dubious websites and alert you if you’re about to get sucked into a phishing website, the beauty being it constantly updates its list of dodgy sites.

However I find a browser is still very much a personal choice. Some may like it simple and fast, while others like me like features to make life easier, all the while being relatively fast. This is why my tried and tested browser remains Firefox, but I may try out IE8 one of these days, as it’s relatively new, I think waiting until all the bugs have been ironed out may be the way to go….otherwise I’ll be put off forever!

What am i doing here?

by tahera on February 21st, 2009

filed under Chit-Chat, Twitter

So the other day I decided a blog would be a good idea. You know a place to inform, entertain and let me communicate my view to the world, and of course hear other peoples. So off I went into the big world of the inter-web, and found the perfect URL.

My first name. Couldn’t believe it was still available….So I snapped it up like a starving piranha, in a public swimming pool.

I bought the domain, and found hosting. Now for the content.

Absolute Blank.

What was I going to write about? Who was going to be interested? Wait a minute, what was the big deal about a blog anyway? So I started thinking ….. blogs are a vital role in social media, news coverage and analysis of stuff.

OK so they don’t provide up to the minute breaking news like twitter, the newest craze of social media, – but blogs give you more substance, thought and depth than those afforded by a 140 character text box.

So I figured I’d use this space as a personal brain dump, and general word vomit…if not I’ll sell the domain on…maybe to the diamond corporation that has the .com of my name!

Under Construction

by tahera on February 19th, 2009

filed under Uncategorized

tahera is currently undergoing a cosmetic enhancement….. she’ll be up and blogging soon (i hope!)