It's not very often that Shropshire gets a web conference and last nights ShropGeek Theory of (R)Evolution certainly didn't disappoint. The four speakers gave fascinating insights into their past and current projects and it was interesting to see the success and failure.

Jake Smith from JP74 spoke about app and systems development for creative awards organisation D&AD. Specifically he talked about the challenges they had to overcome to develop a system to allow judges to be able to use second generation iPod Touches for casting votes on entries at Olympia in London.

Neil Kinnish and Mike Kus gave a fascinating account into their start-up WorkFu and the highs and lows of the development process, attracting investors and eventually calling day on the project.

To end the evening Paul Annett, Creative Lead for the UK Government Digital Service (GDS), spoke about the challenges behind the new Gov.uk website and how integrating the many different services the government offers into one place. His focus on usability was especially interesting and how through feedback in testing the site has evolved into what it is today.

A big thanks to Kirsty Burgoine for organising the evening and I look forward to next years event!

Every once in a while a subject interests me in way that I like to blog about it. The art of Muay Thai or Thai Boxing to us in the West, dates back to the 19th century with the ascension of King Chulalongkorn to the throne in 1868.

Teachers in the art provided basics such as food and housing to students whilst training them in Muay Thai.

In the 20th century muay thai in thailand gained further momentum with the first boxing ring being built in 1921.

The basic techniques learnt in muay thai training include punching, elbow, kicking, knee, foot-thrust and clinch. Gloves and cotton coverlets over the feet and ankles are used for basic protection in the sport.

Muay Thai is a great sport to promote fitness and at a competitive level can promote a high level of toughness. It has been popularised by modern culture by actors such as Jean-Claude Van Damme and games such as Mortal Combat, Street Fighter, Tekken and Virtua Fighter.

The sport is open to anyone of any age and any level of fitness or martial art proficiency. Short Muay Thai courses are often taken as part of a holiday in camps in Phuket city. It is a unique experience and a great cultural experience.
 

As you reach the end of your contract for your current broadband connection, it is worth considering a different provide, who might give you a faster broadband speed for a better price. As demands increase on your internet connection, it can appear that your download speeds are slowing down and everything is working just a little bit more slowly.

Despite this very few people actually make the effort to switch. Even when neighbours and friends have already made the switch and can’t stop raving about how easy it is to download movies at super-fast speed, there is still a sense of loyalty that appears to work and a bit of a fear of the unknown. You assume that even after making the switch, after comparing all the deals, that after a few months, you will realise that nothing has really changed at all. Your Internet speed will seem to be more or less the same as the previous connection and you will simply be frustrated.

Surveys have shown that broadband customers, on an average, in the United Kingdom are using and paying for services that are as much as 40 % slower than what’s been advertised by the providers. In many instances, while paying for 12 Mbps (megabits per second); a customer is receiving only around 7 Mbps.

The kind of broadband connection and speed you will get largely depends on your postcode. If you are living in a big city, you will be able to avail more reliable, faster and varied services from your broadband provider. On the other hand, many rural and other small towns and areas don’t enjoy such services and have to make do with much slower broadband speed, sometimes even below 2 Mbps.

While the average broadband speed across UK is around 7.84 Mbps, a study conducted this year by uSwitch compared speeds across the country from January to June this year against the same period last year. The results showed that 29 % of UK postcodes (among those tested) received lesser than 3 Mbps speed, while 21 % received speed below 2 Mbps.

The study also revealed that postcodes in south east of England fare best, with five of its cities making it to the top 10 fastest broadband cities’ list. Postcodes that recorded the highest or fastest average broadband speed in the United Kingdom are:

1. London (13.362 Mbps)
2. Belfast (11.315 Mbps)
3. Liverpool (11.154 Mbps)
4. Milton Keynes (10.6 Mbps)
5. Swindon (10.415 Mbps)
6. Portsmouth (10.402 Mbps)
7. Luton (10.247 Mbps)
8. Walsall (10.025 Mbps)
9. Stockport (9.798 Mbps)
10. Southampton (9.55 Mbps)

Meanwhile, The Midlands and northern parts of the United Kingdom recorded the lowest broadband speed.

Therefore, before you sign up for broadband services with a new provider, the following are some of the tips that you should follow:

• Compare the different broadband service providers and their deals and offers in your area, along with their strengths and benefits. Check what these providers promise, against the speed that they actually deliver.
• It is advisable to check the coverage they provide, along with the average speed supplied in the area. There are many websites that are related to broadband speeds, which can help you find average speed in a postcode, using postcode availability checkers. A broadband speed checker will also help you ascertain if the speed provided meets your requirement and satisfaction.
• Assess and analyse what speed you require, before going ahead buying a new broadband connection. If you do not stream TV or use the Internet for downloading heavy files, a fairly reasonable broadband speed would be more than enough.
• In case you do not find the broadband speed satisfactory or much lower than what’s advertised, you can switch to another broadband provider without incurring any penalty.

Internet and broadband service providers are continuously working towards bettering their services by investing millions of pounds. The government has set the target of a minimum of 2 Mbps speed across the United Kingdom by the year 2015.

Written by:
Nathan Morgan has been an IT professional for 14 years. His work is currently focused on Linux servers. He has encryption experience including the deployment of True Crypt and similar packages, and detailed knowledge of document scanning solutions to transform off-line archives into accessible digital data.
 

Animated GIF images are a great way to attract attention to certain parts of your site. You can create simple yet funny images or creating images from movies in GIF format would just be a riot.

GIF Maker Online lets you immediately create Animated GIFs for free. Upload pictures or import them from your Flickr, Picasa or Facebook Web. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s a great way to have fun.

Here are 4 easy steps on how to make your GIF animation:

1) Choose your images
To begin, you should upload more than one image to create an animated GIF. You can choose to import the images from your own computers or from popular online photo sharing website such as Flickr, Picasa or Facebook. You can add as many images as possible by clicking the “Add one more picture”.
 

2) Finishing touches
You can change the size of your GIF animation, but smaller-sized files are preferred to larger ones, since they are easier to manipulate and play around with. You can choose the speed for your animation as well.

3) Click the button
Once you have chosen what images to upload and have chosen the size and speed that you desire, click on the “Create Animation” button at the bottom of the site. You can choose to add your file to the gallery for others to see your creation. If not, you can just uncheck the box and your file will be stored in your account as you register.

Enjoy!

Once you have created the GIF animation, you can click on the gallery located at the top of the home page or log in to your account to see your animations. It may take a while to create, depending on the images' file size. The reason for this is because the smaller the image size, the easier it is for your computer and the software to process.

Note: You can directly save your animation to your computer simply by putting your mouse pointer over the image, right click and choose “save image as”. Choose a folder to save your file in your PC and your done.