Datasets:

Dzeniks

/

BBC-IDC-article

like 0

An exhibition featuring 'Slow time' photographs during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 has opened. Led by artist Janette Kerr, the six-month project featured 150 pinhole cameras scattered across Somerset. John Gammans, who worked on the project, said the cameras made out of recycled drink cans, gave a "very unique snapshot of what was going on in Somerset at that time". The exhibition will run until 21 May at East Quay in Watchet. The cameras featured light-sensitive material, eventually creating long-exposure photographs of the Somerset landscape. Each camera can captured light waves as they travelled through the air, passing through a pinhole and then onto black and white photographic paper. The photos were then processed months later by scanning the paper, uploading it onto a computer and then manipulating it using a photo editor. Dr Kerr said the idea first started after she made and gifted her friends and neighbours pinhole cameras for Christmas in 2020. "Everyone got excited about it and then I happened to mention it to Somerset Art Works and they asked me if I could extend it to the whole of Somerset," she said. Eventually over 100 participants took part, with each camera pointed at a different viewpoint, in places including Glastonbury, Minehead, Frome, Taunton and Stoke Sub Hamdon. "I think that because it was lockdown and because people weren't travelling so much, the emptiness of the landscape reflected that time because there was an absence of people," she added. While 170 images were captured and will be shown on screen during the exhibition, only 36 were selected to be printed, with Dr Kerr asking those that were chosen to write something to accompany their image - from what their experience of lockdown was to how the image made them feel. Mr Gammans, who works as an artist and helped coordinate the project said it was "lovely to see people's faces light up with curiosity on how it was all going to work". "The images themselves provide a really unique viewpoint - given the fact it was a very odd time where you could go out your front door and not hear cars, not see people, people were more aware of birdsong, you noticed how clear the sky was - it was a very very strange time and the little cameras encapsulated that perfectly," he said. Calling them "little time cameras", Mr Gammans said they managed to record their own perception of time. "We don't sort of notice the movement of the sun and we also take for granted everything moving around us," he said. "I do equate it to if a tree had any perception of what's going on around it." Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

A company that supplies airbag parts to about one-quarter of US vehicles has rejected a request to recall its defective product. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said ARC Automotive's airbag inflators had ruptured and caused injury on several occasions due to a safety defect. It urged the parts maker to immediately withdraw 67 million of its inflators. ARC replied that the agency's findings did not support a large-scale recall. Concerns over airbag inflators that explode and hurl shrapnel at passengers have long plagued the motor industry. ARC's products are used by several top car makers, including BMW, General Motors, Hyundai and Kia. GM on Friday agreed to recall almost one million vehicles. The driver of a GM-made SUV sustained facial injuries from a ruptured airbag this March. That incident is one of nine, dating back to 2009, that was cited by the NHTSA in a letter to the parts supplier that presented the findings of an eight-year investigation. "An airbag inflator that ruptures when deploying in a vehicle is plainly defective," wrote Stephen Ridella, director of the NHTSA office of defects investigation. Recommending an immediate recall for safety reasons, he warned the defect had created "an unreasonable risk of death and injury" to front-seat passengers. The company wrote back on Thursday that it "strongly disagrees" with the NHTSA's findings. "ARC takes any potential issue with its products very seriously," said Steve Gold, ARC's vice-president of product integrity. But, he said, investigators had failed to identify any "systemic or prevalent defect" in the inflators, instead relying on incidents that resulted from "random "one-off" manufacturing anomalies" that have already been addressed. The stand-off is likely to tee up a legal battle if the two parties cannot reach an agreement. The spat is reminiscent of the years-long recall of more than 100 million defective inflators sold by Takata Corporation. The sprawling recall was the largest in the history of the US motor industry and ultimately led the Japanese parts maker to file for bankruptcy.

A year after Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son was cleared of all charges of possession and consumption of drugs, the case is once again making headlines in India. An officer in charge of investigating the case against Aryan Khan - who was arrested in November 2021 - has been charged for corruption and extortion. Sameer Wankhede has been accused of asking for a bribe of 250m rupees ($3.04m, £2.4m) from the actor's family. On Monday, he was among the five people named in a complaint filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's leading investigation agency. The CBI said that Mr Wankhede had allegedly allowed his aides to threaten Aryan Khan's family, saying he would be framed in a drugs case unless they paid the amount. ‘Excessive’ media gaze on star son after drug bust Mr Wankhede has denied the allegations and said he is being "rewarded for being a patriot". There was no immediate comment from Aryan Khan or his family. Mr Wankhede was one of the three officers who led the October 2021 raid on a cruise in which the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) claimed to have seized drugs from Aryan Khan and 19 others, and arrested them. Aryan Khan was taken off a cruise ship that was on its way from Mumbai - the city where his family live - to Goa. The NCB said Aryan Khan and the others were detained under laws "related to possession, consumption and sale of illegal substances". The case made headlines in India and globally. The Bollywood actor's son spent nearly three weeks in jail and was later released on bail. A twist came in November when Mr Wankhede was criticised for mishandling the case and was transferred from his position as the chief of NCB's Mumbai zone. Nawab Malik, a politician belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which was part of the ruling alliance in Maharashtra at that time, accused Mr Wankhede of several irregularities, including extortion. Shortly after, the case against Aryan Khan - along with six other pending investigations - was taken away from Mr Wankhede and handed over to a special investigation team. Mr Wankhede's tenure with the NCB ended in December and five months later, he was moved to a tax department in the southern city of Chennai. Reports, however, said that he continued to spend most of his time in Mumbai on leave. In the meantime, the drugs agency cleared Aryan Khan of all charges in May 2022. Girlfriend on 'media trial' in Bollywood star's death In August, the case was back in the news after Mr Wankhede filed a police complaint, alleging that he was receiving death threats on social media. In another complaint the same month, Mr Wankhede alleged that he was being harassed by a top NCB official, who was investigating the irregularities in the drugs case. The CBI says it began investigating Mr Wankhede and four others after an NCB official accused them of impropriety under Mr Wankhede's supervision. It said that a special enquiry team of the NCB found several irregularities in the manner in which Mr Wankhede conducted the investigation. The names of 17 suspects had been dropped from the official documents filed in connection with the case, the agency said in its complaint. It added that Mr Wankhede allowed two civilians - KP Gosavi and his aide Sanvile D'Souza - to accompany the team of NCB officials on the raid as "independent witnesses", but gave the suspects the impression that they were NCB officials. "Gosavi was even allowed to come to the NCB office after the raid, which is against the norms for an independent witness," the complaint registered by the CBI said. "He also clicked selfies and recorded the voice note of an accused." According to the enquiry team, this allowed Mr Gosavi to demand 250m rupees from Aryan Khan's family as he threatened them with accusations of drug possession against their son. The amount was brought down to 180m rupees and a token amount of 5m rupees was taken as bribe by Mr Gosavi and Mr D'Souza. A part of this was later returned by them, the CBI said. Aryan Khan's family has not commented on the allegation. Why a film star's death trumped India's Covid story The CBI complaint also alleged that during the investigation, Mr Wankhede had failed to provide "satisfactory proof" of his assets against his declared income. On Monday, CBI officials raided Mr Wankhede's home along with 28 other locations in Mumbai city in connection with the case. Mr Wankhede denied the allegations against him and said he was being "rewarded for being a patriot". "They found 23,000 rupees and four property papers in my house," he told reporters after the raid . "These assets were acquired before I joined the service." On Tuesday, his wife said the allegations against him were wrong. "We are fully cooperating in the CBI proceedings. We have faith in law and order, and we are ready to cooperate with the investigating agency as a responsible citizen," Kranti Redkar Wankhede told news agency ANI. BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features. The life of India's gangster-politician killed on live TVTo kiss or not - the taboo around public affection in IndiaThe remarkable reinvention of cricket icon Dhoni at 41 'I lost 11 family members in Kerala boat accident'Broken dreams and burnt homes after India ethnic clashesIndia’s booming population needs more women at workDeaths raise fresh fears over cow vigilantism in India

Public cloud has been around since 2006, but some lessons learned are still not applied today. Lifting and shifting applications is not ideal as it also shifts past mistakes and rubbish, and costs 30% more. A cloud migration should be thoroughly prepared with an application-based approach. Public cloud makes it easier for application teams to manage the full application stack, but organizations may experience their cloud costs running out of hand due to a missing control mechanism. To address this, new practices are needed such as making application teams responsible for their cloud costs, creating guardrails by policies restricting them on instantiating overly expensive resources, and creating alerts that warn them when costs are getting out of hand. The Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) is critical in managing the cloud optimally by assisting and watching application teams, monitoring the cloud costs on an organizational level, managing discount schemes, and bringing knowledge on cloud billing, pricing models and governance.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/02/10/3-harmful-mistakes-companies-are-making-in-the-cloud-and-cloud-cost-management/

3 Harmful Mistakes Companies Are Making In Cloud Cost Management

IDC has updated their Worldwide Hard Disk Drive Forecast through 2026, integrating IT hardware and consumer electronics forecasts through 2027. Assumptions regarding HDD technology transitions affecting HDD areal density growth, product transitions, and HDD price-per-gigabyte declines are underpinning the forecast. COVID-19 safety stock inventory accumulations and macroeconomic impacts of inflation and interest rate hikes are negatively impacting near-term HDD demand into 1H23. However, critical demand drivers remain in place to support above-trend growth for enterprise and video surveillance HDDs in 2024.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50568323&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Hard Disk Drive Forecast, 2023–2027

IDC predicts a decline in smartwatch shipments in the US due to inflation and economic pressure, but expects a recovery shortly thereafter.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50545223&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

U.S. Smartwatch Forecast, 2023–2027: CY 2Q23

Customer experiences that create loyalty are becoming smarter and more dynamic, fueled by customer data. The shift towards collecting more zero- and first-party data is replacing unreliable third-party data, requiring a new approach to managing the customer data supply chain. Establishing a trusted relationship with customers and using technology to share and scale in real-time are key foundations. To increase the value of the customer data relationship, businesses should activate data using AI/ML and redefine KPIs that reflect the customer's point of view. This approach leads to benefits for both customers and businesses, including higher revenue growth.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/04/24/customer-data-the-revenue-engine/

Customer Data: The Revenue Engine

Businesses are having to move while flood defences are installed on Wales' coastline over the next 18 months. A seafood stall is among those relocating when the work in Mumbles, Swansea, starts this month. Gower Seafood Hut owner Chris Price called the timing "a concern" as the cost of living has already meant tough times for businesses. The Welsh government-funded project aims to protect business and homes threatened by climate change. Mr Price runs the seasonal seafood pop up between March and September, along with his partner, Sarah. But he said sales were down on previous years and is worried that having to move for the installation of flood defences may further affect sales. Climate anxiety to be eased with £214m flood fundsDoctor spends thousands defending home from floodsFears 9ft-high flood defences will destroy privacy "We don't get footfall of the promenade anymore," he said. "And with the land train and bike rack also being moved, it's causing concern." Mr Price said he recognised that the work was required due to climate change and rising tides, but was disappointed with the timing. "Businesses in the Mumbles are so reliant on the summer. Starting the work at the beginning of the season is not ideal." The work, which is due to end in 2024, will see 0.8 miles (1.3km) of flood defences rebuilt along the coastline. Another business, coffee van Bibby's Beans, has also been moved. Owner Marc Bibby said the move had been "disrupting" but he was "quite confident" about sales during the summer. "There's a lot of engineering going on and we appreciate that. "If they don't do it, Mumbles is going to disappear, so we understand." The Welsh government is set to spend £215m on managing flood risk over three years. Last year, £71m was spent, which increased to £75m this year. About 250,000 properties are at risk of flooding across Wales. In Mumbles, the defences will protect 120 homes. Natural Resources Wales operations manager, Ioan Williams, said the investment was a "step in the right direction" to protect homes, commercial developments and major road infrastructure. He added: "There's a conversation that we need to have here with governments, with local authorities and with communities around planning policy. "Where we build properties, where we build schools, hospitals, other infrastructure to make sure that they are resilient for the future."

A long-serving Conservative MP said NHS dentistry was at risk of "collapse", during a debate at Westminster Hall. South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon was opening a discussion on dental services in the East of England. No dental practices in Suffolk, Norfolk, North Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire were accepting new adult NHS patients last year, according to BBC research. The government says it has started to reform UK dentistry services. "I don't think the collapse of NHS dentistry is a phrase too extreme when we're seeing what's happening," said Mr Bacon. "We're talking about such piffling sums of money compared with the overall costs of the NHS that it's simply incomprehensibly we wouldn't deal with this." Mr Bacon claimed the "collapse" dated back 25 years to the "withdrawal of funding" under the New Labour government and was aggravated by the 2006 dental contract. The reforms were intended to simplify charging and make it easier to find an NHS dentist. "It will continue to get much worse unless the government decides to take a decisive step change and then matches that decision with the right resources, in the right places, within a contractual framework that incentivises the right behaviour," he added. The British Dental Association, which represents NHS dentists in the UK, has blamed the access problems on under-investment from government. NHS dental treatment is not free for most adults, but it is subsidised. Research by the Association of Dental Groups, published last year, suggested there were 38 NHS dentists per 100,000 people in the former Norfolk and Waveney clinical commissioning group area, and 44 in West Essex and Thurrock. NHS tooth care like a 'dental desert', MP says Patients in pain amid struggle to find dental careAre cut-price reality TV teeth worth it? The Conservative MP for South West Bedfordshire, Andrew Selous, said he had confidence in health minister Neil O'Brien to make reforms, but said: "This is urgent, it matters, please deliver." Waveney Conservative MP Peter Aldous also added: "East Anglia is probably the largest dental desert in the UK and what we do need to be doing, metaphorically at least, with immediate effect, is bringing in the irrigators and sinking the bore holes." Labour shadow public health minister Andrew Gwynne said: "You guys have had 13 years to fix that dental contract and it is of deep frustration that in the course of a decade and three years that has not happened." He said a Labour government would provide the staff, equipment and modern technology to bring down waiting lists and "ensure patients get the care they deserve". Tory health minister Mr O'Brien, speaking at the debate, said dentistry reform was the "number one issue" he was working on and the issues were most "acute" in the East of England. He said dentists had responded positively to the package of "initial reforms" introduced by NHS England in July and that the number of NHS patients had increased by nearly a fifth year-on-year. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

The powerful cyclone that hit Myanmar on Sunday has killed at least 40 people, locals have told the BBC, and the toll may rise further. Cyclone Mocha was one of the strongest storms to make landfall in the region this century, packing winds of about 209km/h (130mph). Most confirmed deaths are in Rakhine state, in central Myanmar, others in Sagaing and Magway regions. The military have announced 21 deaths nationwide. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll much higher, especially in camps where the internally displaced Rohingya minority live. It is thought those casualties are not being counted by the military junta which seized power in a 2021 coup. Hundreds of homes and shelters have collapsed. Communication has been difficult in the country, and people are still missing, so death toll estimates vary. In Sittwe, the capital city in Rakhine state, where many people live in low-lying coastal areas, roads have been blocked by uprooted trees and fallen power pylons. In other, less peaceful, areas of the country there are also reports of military attacks on locals following the storm. Thousands of people have fled their homes in the north-western Sagaing region as the army entered villages under cover of the cyclone. "It has been raining since 12 May, we had run from the overflowing streams," a resident in the region's Kani township told the BBC. "The soldiers also punched. [Residents are] fearing the danger of the soldiers more than the danger of the storm." Locals who the BBC spoke to estimate that some 15,000 residents from the Kani and Khin Oo townships have been affected by military attacks in the last two days. They said a four-year-old boy in Inpa village was receiving medical treatment after being hit by a bullet. "Myanmar is facing a storm on many fronts, with reports that the Myanmar army attacked villages in other regions while Cyclone Mocha unfolded in Rakhine state. The needs of families continue to be great," NGO Partners Relief & Development, which works in the cyclone-hit Rakhine state, said in a Twitter post on Tuesday. Communities in Sagaing have put up some of the strongest opposition to the military. The division also houses a large number of anti-coup militias, known as the People's Defence Force. There were no immediate reports of casualties in neighbouring Bangladesh, but the category five storm crushed thousands of shelters in the world's largest refugee camp at Cox's Bazar. It is home to one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. About 750,000 people fled low-lying areas ahead of Mocha's landfall last Sunday. It came 15 years after one of Asia's deadliest cyclones, Nargis, smashed into Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta and claimed 140,000 lives. Cyclones are the equivalent of hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific. Scientists say these storms have become stronger and more frequent due to climate change.

Organizations in all industries are struggling to attract IT talent, but benchmarking employee expenses can help retain employees. Salary isn't the only motivator, as satisfaction comes from working on cutting-edge technology. Optimizing existing employees and outsourcing are also options, but require a sourcing strategy and cost considerations. Rationalizing and consolidating the IT environment can reduce unnecessary complexity and size. IDC continues to help organizations navigate this challenge.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/09/13/winning-the-war-on-talent-with-it-service-cost-management/

Winning The War For Talent With IT Service Cost Management

Partnering across industries has become critical for organizations to achieve growth and stability. Ecosystem partners offer flexible resources and capabilities that are essential for innovation and meeting customer needs. In today's complex and disruptive landscape, no organization can thrive alone, making collaboration with industry ecosystems crucial for digital transformation. IDC predicts the top 10 trends for the future of industry ecosystems in 2023. For more information, watch the on-demand webinar, IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Industry Ecosystems 2023 Predictions.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/12/12/idc-futurescape-worldwide-future-of-industry-ecosystems-2023-predictions-draft/

IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Industry Ecosystems 2023 Predictions

IDC's study of the smartwatch market in 2022 shows slower growth and increased competition. Apple remains dominant with over two-thirds of total value.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50562923&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Smartwatch Market Shares, 2022: Apple Leads as Market Slows Down

Pupils left heartbroken when thieves broke in and stole their budgies have welcomed a new flock to their school. Brentry Primary School in Bristol has been given 20 replacement budgies along with a new aviary thanks to community fundraising after the school break-in. Two thieves were spotted on CCTV in March raiding the bird house at night and capturing the flock. "I was heartbroken, but now to have the chirping every morning again will bring a smile to my face," said Sasa, age 11. Speaking in March, Business Manager Hannah Jack, said they just wanted their budgies to be returned because they did not have a great monetary value but held "massive sentimental value" for the children and school community. The school took in its first budgie seven years ago, when pupils cared for a sick bird found stuck in one of the drains on site. Staff and pupils nursed the bird back to health and built an aviary for it to live in. Other budgies owned by a neighbour were rehomed at the school and they began to breed, growing to a population of 20. "We had them for quite a long time," said Minnie, 11, "they were part of our school, so it's really nice to have some more. It completes the school." The Year Six pupils take responsibility for the budgies, by feeding them daily and cleaning out the aviary. "It brings a smile to hear that morning tweet and to look at their lovely feathers," said Eliza, age 11. "It's nice because sometimes you see them playing and they're clumsy and it makes you laugh," she added. Ms Jack said: " It's the familiarity and the noise which is just so lovely, hearing the chatter as you come up the school drive. "We are so grateful to everyone for their kind messages and generosity supporting our fundraiser," she added. Avon and Somerset Police said there had been no significant update on the stolen birds. Anyone with information about the stolen birds is asked to call the police 101 non-emergency number. Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

IDC Cloud Pulse surveys cloud consumers on their response to macroeconomic trends. The addition of questions related to inflation, energy costs, and recession reveal the challenges businesses have faced. Companies are becoming more pessimistic about the business environment, impacting budgets. Inflationary pressure has led to budget constraints across IT, resulting in increased costs for professional services and application software subscriptions. Companies are migrating towards public cloud or Software-as-a-Service to find reductions in spend across their cloud estates. Trustworthiness is now the most important company attribute sought by cloud consumers. Many companies are taking stock of their digital transformation agendas and application portfolios to create leaner, more efficient IT responses to current business needs.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/12/14/macroeconomic-impact-on-cloud-adoption-for-businesses/

Macroeconomic Impact on Cloud Adoption for Businesses

Nine months after he was was stabbed on stage, acclaimed author Salman Rushdie in a rare public address has warned that freedom of expression in the West is under threat. Rushdie, 75, delivered the video message at the British Book Awards on Monday, where he was awarded the Freedom to Publish award. The attack at a literary festival in New York left him blinded in one eye. Rushdie is best known for his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses. The book, which some Muslims have decried as blasphemous, was banned in several countries within months of its publication and ignited protests at bookstores around the world. Iran's leader also called for Mr Rushdie's assassination in 1989 and placed a $3m (£2.4m) bounty on the author's head. Davina McCall and Sir Salman Rushdie win at British Book Awards As he accepted his award, Rushdie said he believes freedom of expression in the West is at a critical juncture. "Now I am sitting here in the US, I have to look at the extraordinary attack on libraries, and books for children in schools," he said. "The attack on the idea of libraries themselves. It is quite remarkably alarming, and we need to be very aware of it, and to fight against it very hard." The award-winning author also criticised the rewriting of older books in modern times to remove language deemed offensive, saying that books should "come to us from their time and be of their time." "And if that's difficult to take, don't read it, read another book," he said. He appeared wearing sunglasses with one tinted lens covering his injured eye, and looked thinner than usual. Before he was attacked on stage in New York, Rushdie was about to give a speech about how the US has served as a haven for writers exiled under threat of prosecution. The Indian-born, British-American writer was forced into hiding for nearly 10 years after The Satanic Verses was published. The British Book Awards recognised Rushdie with their Freedom to Publish award, which "acknowledges the determination of authors, publishers and booksellers who take a stand against intolerance, despite the ongoing threats they face."

Imagine being in court and seeing your son - a government critic - sentenced to 25 years in prison. Elena Gordon knows exactly how that feels. Last month Elena stood beside the dock - a glass cage - in a Moscow courtroom. Locked inside it was her son Vladimir Kara-Murza. One of President Putin's most vocal critics, he was convicted of treason and other alleged crimes and jailed for a quarter of a century. Elena, who lives abroad, had flown to Moscow for the verdict. "I was the only one from the family and friends to get into the courtroom," Elena tells me. "Vladimir hadn't been aware that I would be there. So, he was a little bit shocked, but hopefully pleasantly surprised. I had been prepared [for this outcome], although I thought they would give him 24 years and eleven months, as a kind of an insult. In the end they decided to act blatantly. They gave him the maximum." Since her son's conviction, Elena has managed to secure two meetings or svidaniya with Vladimir in jail. "He's become very thin," Elena says. "I'm worried about his health. But he's brave, obviously, and he says his spirit is unbroken. "He is surprisingly optimistic. He believes in the future of Russia, and he believes in his own role in the future democratic Russia. But in terms of his own immediate future he is realistic. He is getting ready to be transferred to a penal colony." "What about you, his mother?" I ask Elena. "Are you optimistic or pessimistic?" "I not only hope, I believe that I will see Vladimir free," she replies, "and I don't intend to wait twenty-five years for that." For more than a decade Vladimir Kara-Murza has been a high-profile opponent of the Kremlin. He helped persuade Western governments to impose sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, on Russian officials engaged in corruption and human rights abuses. Such persistent activism sparked anger in the corridors of Russian power. He survived two mysterious poisonings, which he and his supporters have linked to the Russian authorities. Kara-Murza's letters to the BBC from jail In the West he spoke out against political persecution at home and against the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Last year, in a speech to lawmakers in the US state of Arizona, he condemned the "dictatorial regime in the Kremlin." Soon after he returned to Moscow where he was arrested. "Vladimir must have known he was putting himself in danger by returning to Russia," I suggest to his mother. "Did you try to stop him coming back?" "I did," replies Elena. "It's a painful topic for me, as a mother. I cannot distance myself and see him as a political figure only. He is first and utmost my son. "I begged him not to go back to Russia. He promised to think about this. And as you see, the result of his thinking was negative." "Has he expressed any regret to you that he returned?" "No, never. Never," says Elena. "I regret it very much. I speak for myself. "He has principles. He really believes that he must be with his country and with his people, and that he would have no right to have a say in the future democratic Russia if he had fled and stayed in security." Vladimir Kara-Murza's fate is a reminder of the danger in which politicians, activists, individuals who challenge the Kremlin are putting themselves. Most of Russia's leading opposition figures have either fled the country or are now in prison. "I am afraid that Russia has turned into a dictatorship," says Elena Gordon. "To me it all looks rather grotesque, actually - that in the 21st century we see around us what was described in the anti-utopias of the 20th century. It's a terrible regression. It's a shame."

IDC introduced a new customer-centric marketing and sales approach called Adaptive Customer Experience (ACE), which replaces the traditional funnel model. ACE is circular and evolving, and it requires both marketing and sales to work together like an orchestra, rather than a relay race. IDC recommends implementing customer data platforms (CDPs) as enterprise capabilities and democratizing customer data. Companies should focus on building marketing data operations competencies in-house and creating interactive, immersive, and omnichannel content to meet B2B buyers' expectations.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/02/03/how-to-engage-with-buyers-today-your-questions-answered/

How Marketers Should Engage with Buyers Today. Your Questions Answered.

Digital Native Businesses (DNBs) are cloud-driven companies that use modern technology, data, and AI to grow and disrupt industries, creating new markets and jobs. They have five defining characteristics: innovation, customer focus, scalability, technology-driven, and disruptive. DNBs are the engine of growth and a major source of innovation. Vendors who engage with DNBs need to take a holistic approach and identify the type of engagement they require. DNBs are the lifeblood of the future digital economy and should be on the radar of any tech provider.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/12/16/how-to-engage-with-digital-natives/

How to Engage with Digital Natives

Falling birth rates are a major concern for some of Asia's biggest economies. Governments in the region are spending hundreds of billions of dollars trying to reverse the trend. Will it work? Japan began introducing policies to encourage couples to have more children in the 1990s. South Korea started doing the same in the 2000s, while Singapore's first fertility policy dates back to 1987. China, which has seen its population fall for the first time on 60 years, recently joined the growing club. While it is difficult to quantify exactly how much these policies have cost, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol recently said his country had spent more than $200bn (£160bn) over the past 16 years on trying to boost the population. Yet last year South Korea broke its own record for the world's lowest fertility rate, with the average number of babies expected per woman falling to 0.78. In neighbouring Japan, which had record low births of fewer than 800,000 last year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged to double the budget for child-related policies from 10tn yen ($74.7bn; £59.2bn), which is just over 2% of the country's gross domestic product. Globally, while there are more countries that are trying to lower birth rates, the number of countries wanting to increase fertility has more than tripled since 1976, according to the most recent report by the United Nations. So why do these governments want to grow their populations? Simply put, having a bigger population who can work and produce more goods and services leads to higher economic growth. And while a larger population can mean higher costs for governments, it can also result in bigger tax revenues. Also, many Asian countries are ageing rapidly. Japan leads the pack with nearly 30% of its population now over the age of 65 and some other nations in the region are not far behind. Compare that with India, which has just overtaken China as the world's most populous nation. More than a quarter of its people are between the age of 10 and 20, which gives its economy huge potential for growth. And when the share of the working age population gets smaller, the cost and burden of looking after the non-working population grow. "Negative population growth has an impact on the economy, and combined that with an ageing population, they won't be able to afford to support the elderly," said Xiujian Peng of Victoria University. Most of the measures across the region to increase birth rates have been similar: payments for new parents, subsidised or free education, extra nurseries, tax incentives and expanded parental leave. But do these measures work? Data for last few decades from Japan, South Korea and Singapore shows that attempts to boost their populations have had very little impact. Japan's finance ministry has published a study which said the policies were a failure. It is a view echoed by the United Nations. "We know from history that the types of policies which we call demographic engineering where they try to incentivise women to have more babies, they just don't work," Alanna Armitage of United Nations Population Fund told the BBC. "We need to understand the underlying determinants of why women are not having children, and that is often the inability of women to be able to combine their work life with their family life," she added. But in Scandinavian countries, fertility policies have worked better than they did in Asia, according to Ms Peng. "The main reason is because they have a good welfare system and the cost of raising children is cheaper. Their gender equality is also much more balanced than in Asian countries." Asian countries have ranked lower in comparison in the global gender gap report by the World Economic Forum. There are also major questions over how these expensive measures should be funded, especially in Japan, which is the world's most indebted developed economy. Options under consideration in Japan include selling more government bonds, which means increasing its debt, raising its sales tax or increasing social insurance premiums. The first option adds financial burden to the future generations, while the other two would hit already struggling workers, which could convince them to have fewer children. But Antonio Fatás, professor of economics at INSEAD says regardless of whether these policies work, they have to invest in them. "Fertility rates have not increased but what if there was less support? Maybe they would be even lower," he said. Governments are also investing in other areas to prepare their economies for shrinking populations. "China has been investing in technologies and innovations to make up for the declining labour force in order to mitigate the negative impact of the shrinking population," said Ms Peng. Also, while it remains unpopular in countries like Japan and South Korea, lawmakers are discussing changing their immigration rules to try to entice younger workers from overseas. "Globally, the fertility rate is falling so it'll be a race to attract young people to come and work in your country," Ms Peng added. Whether the money is well spent on fertility policies, these governments appear to have no other choice.

Ministers are trying to work out what to do about immigration, and quickly. Next week, the latest migration statistics will be published for 2022. Net migration - those arriving minus those leaving - is expected to be at a record high. "It'll be a challenging number," one government figure acknowledges to me, with understatement. In the year to June 2022, net migration was just over half a million people. Next week's number is expected to be bigger. UK net migration hits all-time record at 504,000Sunak considers foreign student restrictionsTrain fruit pickers to cut migration - Braverman There are so many questions for ministers to weigh up. How high is too high? How do you wrestle with the trade-offs - for the economy, public services, communities, society? And how do you justify your decisions, when you can't blame anyone else? One of the consequences of Brexit is that immigration policy is now entirely down to the government at Westminster. They can't blame anyone else - such as the European Union - any more. Opposition parties have nowhere to hide either: Labour's immigration policies will be keenly scrutinised too. The political backdrop is stark. In four consecutive Conservative election manifestos, big promises have been made on immigration - and four times they have been broken. David Cameron in 2010 and 2015, and Theresa May in 2017 promised to get net migration down to the tens of thousands a year. Neither managed it, or ever got that close. Boris Johnson in 2019 promised to get the number falling. Granted, it did, briefly, during the pandemic - but it has since rocketed. So what are ministers now considering? Take agriculture. The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has said the UK should train its own fruit pickers. The prime minister told Farming Today on Radio 4 the government was willing to expand the number of seasonal visas for agricultural workers. Then, there is education. International students are proudly welcomed by the UK: they bring in billions of pounds, help subsidise tuition fees for British students, and some in government argue, are crucial for the UK's soft power - leaving hundreds of thousands of young people with a lasting affection for Britain. So, there are some in government pretty sceptical about limitations here. One source said to me that 55 current world leaders were educated in the UK, and this is an influence to cherish. So ministers, including the home secretary, chancellor and education secretary, have been discussing what to do about it. It appears there is agreement to prevent those doing Masters degrees, which usually take around nine months, from bringing dependents with them. Discussion is ongoing about whether the restriction could be broader than that. But there is a resistance for it to include, for instance, PhD students, who tend to study for several years and whose qualifications and skills are more highly sought after in the jobs market afterwards. There has also been discussion about whether particular courses or universities could be valued more highly than others. But if you prioritise a particular course, you might incentivise poor providers to bump up supply. And if you prioritise institutions, on what basis do you rank them? Dilemmas abound. One final thought: to how many people is high immigration a problem? There is some polling evidence to suggest that since Brexit, the issue matters less to some people. And some want immigration to be higher. It is a mighty tricky policy issue for governments to get right - as the next week or so will illustrate.

Connectivity is crucial for businesses, as it enables data to remain in motion and supports digital resiliency. With the pandemic driving changes to workforces and workspaces, companies are prioritizing connectivity programs to drive agility and revenue. These programs will leverage 5G, edge, and cloud infrastructure to automate processes and improve customer experiences while providing real-time insights. As networks evolve, enterprise network and IT departments must align systems and processes to ensure business continuity. IDC has made top 10 predictions for the Future of Connectedness in 2023.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/11/15/idc-futurescape-worldwide-future-of-connectedness-2023-predictions/

IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Connectedness 2023 Predictions

An appeal has been launched for photographs depicting scenes capturing a city's unique history and culture. Historic England wants to add images of Norwich, Norfolk, to its growing permanent archive collection. Three winning photographs will join 65 others in a national touring public exhibition - Picturing High Streets. Tamsin Silvey, of Historic England, said: "The high street is an often overlooked part of our lives and it needs our support more than ever." Images of "favourite hang outs" and meeting places are also eligible for inclusion. The exhibition is part of a three-year project by Historic England and Photoworks, which the body said "tells the stories behind our shopfronts". It celebrates high street heroes, captures familiar scenes and invites audiences to consider the value and role of their local high street. The exhibition - which will take place by the Forum in Norwich from June - is part of Historic England's £95m government-funded Heritage Action Zones scheme. Historic England said it was "looking for people to photograph what makes Norwich special, from high street heroes to favourite hang outs and meeting places, and the historic features and buildings that give the city its unique character." England's high streets championed in photographs In other parts of England, budding photographers have been uploading pictures to Instagram since September 2022, creating an unofficial archive documenting a year in the life of the English high street. Isabel Johnson of the Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) said: "As the city of stories, Norwich has so many tales to tell. "This exhibition provides a vehicle for people who live and work in the city to tell those stories, for historical record. It has the potential to be both poignant and powerful." The Picturing High Streets exhibition can be seen in Norwich from 26 June to 5 July. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

A dedicated ambulance response car for mental health emergencies has been launched by the NHS in Essex. The vehicle is staffed by an East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) clinician and a mental health nurse from the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT). It is the first of its kind for mid and south Essex and follows a similar rollout in Norfolk in 2021. The NHS said the team could triage patients to mental health services. Dan Phillips, interim deputy clinical director and consultant paramedic for the EEAST, said: "This will also have the secondary benefit of freeing up ambulance crews faster and reducing pressure on emergency departments." 'I've got my daughter back after suicide attempts'Ambulances taking 90 minutes to get to 999 callsOn patrol with a mental health crisis team The car could be dispatched typically after a 999 call to the control centre. The NHS said the dedicated team would be ready for callouts between 13:00 and 01:00 seven days per week. Alex Green, chief operating officer at EPUT, said: "I'm really pleased to be working with our partners to launch such a vital service for people experiencing mental health crisis." The car began operation earlier this month and the team met media on Tuesday for an official launch. Find BBC News: East of England onFacebook, Instagramand Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

A Western movie, which was shot in Blackburn and believed to be the first, is to be celebrated with artwork. Kidnapping By Indians was filmed in 1899 in Lancashire by pioneering movie makers Mitchell and Kenyon. The artwork will feature 40 arrows embedded into the end of a terraced house where the film was made. A short film clip was found in a shop basement in Northgate in 1994. Artist Jamie Holman helped uncover the links between the film clip and Blackburn. He has now submitted the planning application with artist group Uncultured Creatives for the artwork which will be 19ft (5.7m) off the ground. Mr Holman said: "We are proud to commemorate that the world's first Western was made here in Blackburn town centre." He added: "It's an extraordinary story that I am proud to tell on behalf of Mitchell and Kenyon." Kidnapping by Indians follows the plot of a young girl being kidnapped by native Americans before being rescued in a gunfight. It was shot in fields close to Blackburn with local mill workers also used in the silent black and while film as well as local actors. Blackburn with Darwen Council's leader Phil Riley told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "This was the starting point of what would become a key Hollywood genre." He added the artwork will be "a lasting feature and a real talking point in the town". Most film critics had cited Edwin S Porter's 1903 The Great Train Robbery, based on a real raid by outlaw Butch Cassidy, as the first Western before the Blackburn discovery. Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk

Join us as we take a few moments every day to relax and enjoy the beauty of England through the stunning images you send us. Upload your images or email us at england@bbc.co.uk Upload your images or email us at england@bbc.co.uk. For inspiration, view some top tips from three of England's Big Picture photographers. When emailing pictures, please make sure you include the following information: The full name of the person who took the pictures (as this person owns the copyright)Confirmation that the copyright holder gives permission for the BBC to use their pictures across all its outputsThe location, date and time the pictures were takenYour telephone number so we can get back to you if we have any further questionsAny other details about the pictures that may be useful for us to know Please note that while we welcome all your pictures, we are more likely to use those which have been taken in the past week. Email your photographs to our colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Pictures can be found on Instagram, on the hashtags #BBCEngland and #EnglandsBigPicture and on our England's Big Picture board on Pinterest. If you submit a picture, you do so in accordance with the BBC's Terms and Conditions and the BBC's privacy policy. In contributing to England's Big Picture you agree to grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the material in any way that we want, and in any media worldwide. It's important to note, however, that you still own the copyright to everything you contribute to England's Big Picture, and that if your image is accepted, we will publish your name alongside. The BBC cannot guarantee that all pictures will be used and we reserve the right to edit your comments. At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws while collecting any kind of media.

Communications service providers are investing in IT systems and network operations for their cloud-native journey. The market for communications software solutions is expected to grow, driven by 5G and digital transformation goals. To monetize 5G use cases, SPs need to invest in real-time provisioning, assurance, and monetization capabilities. Network operational insights and customer data are key to their success, requiring robust software assets and a programmatic approach to AIOps while being open to partner ecosystems.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US47118721&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Communications Service Provider Operations and Monetization Solution Forecast, 2023-2027

A surgeon is leading a campaign to bring cutting-edge assisted robotic surgery to Cornwall. Nick Battersby, a consultant at the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust (RCHT), is helping organise a 5km (3.1-mile) swim across Falmouth Bay on 8 July to raise money for the technology. Robotically-assisted surgery involves the use of robotic arms to provide additional precision. Mr Battersby said RCHT's cancer unit needed a surgical robot to modernise. He said patients "deserved" modern surgical care without the need to travel out of the county. Across the UK, the technology has been credited with saving lives and helping cut hospital stays. Mr Battersby told BBC Radio Cornwall: "Cornwall was one of the pioneers for minimally invasive surgery 20 years ago - but obviously technology has moved on. "Of the top 20 highest-volume cancer units in the country, we're now the only unit that doesn't have this." After using a simulator, Mr Battersby said small robotic arms were "much more like hands" instead of the fixed instruments he normally uses. "That's what really gives us the additional precision and the ability to give what's called traction and counter-traction, which is really what we need to operate with minimal tissue trauma," he said. The robot is expected to cost £2.5m over a five-year budget and Mr Battersby aims to raise £50,000 through community efforts. Karen Murrish, fundraising manager for Royal Cornwall Hospitals charity, said the initiative was the beginning of the project. "Obviously to bring a robot of this nature into Cornwall is a huge investment, so there will be lots of other needs in terms of funding," she said. "At the moment it's exciting - it's a start and something born from a passion from one of our surgeons." The 5km (3.1m) Swim across the Bay challenge will involve a pod of up to 50 open-water swimmers including Mr Battersby, leaving from Rosemullion Head and finishing at Pendennis Point in Falmouth. Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.

IDC forecasts growth in spending for application management services market from 2023 to 2027, with service providers investing in automation and analytics to fuel growth. Despite varied economic challenges, the market is expected to rebound across all regions due to continued reliance on third parties for application management support.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50583023&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide and U.S. Application Management Services Forecast, 2023–2027

The article discusses the importance of a robust competitive strategy that includes understanding core markets, product differentiation, and customer demand. It provides a workbook to guide the process and recommends utilizing research and data, including predictions and customized research from IT research firms. Understanding macroeconomic challenges and supply chain disruptions can also inform strategic planning. The article emphasizes the need for a deep understanding of customer demand and suggests combining existing research frameworks with customized insights to develop effective competitive strategies.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/03/08/building-a-competitive-strategy-that-future-proofs-your-business/

Building a Competitive Strategy That Future-Proofs Your Business

The company behind the websites Vice and Motherboard has filed for bankruptcy in the US and is set to be sold to a group of its lenders. Vice Media Group - which was valued at $5.7bn (£4.5bn) in 2017 - could be taken over for $225m. The youth-focused digital publisher said it will continue to operate during the bankruptcy process. It added that it "expects to emerge as a financially healthy and stronger company in two to three months". Launched in 1994 as a fringe magazine called Voice of Montreal by Shane Smith, Gavin McInnes and Suroosh Alvi, Vice currently operates in more than 30 countries. It was once heralded as part of vanguard of companies set to disrupt the traditional media landscape with edgy, youth-focused content spanning print, events, music, online, TV and feature films. After a visit to the Brooklyn-based firm's office in 2012, media mogul Rupert Murdoch tweeted: "Who's heard of VICE media? Wild, interesting effort to interest millennials who don't read or watch established media. Global success." Past credits have included My Journey Inside the Islamic State, in which a Vice journalist filmed alongside the terror group in Syria. It also followed basketball star Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters team on a "sports diplomacy" trip to North Korea. More recent fare has included documentaries about controversial influencer Andrew Tate and a film about Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, by actor Sean Penn. Vice Media Group's investors include Fortress Investment Group, Monroe Capital and Soros Fund Management - the firm founded by fund manager and billionaire George Soros. The hope was that Vice would reap the financial rewards from attracting millions of younger readers through social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram. However, the company's revenues have been flat for some years and it has also struggled to turn a profit. Vice's plans to go public through a merger also failed. "The issue with Vice and all similar websites is that they never really worked out a business model for free online journalism," Joseph Teasdale, head of technology at Enders Analysis, told the BBC. Websites like Vice came along at the same time as the first dotcom boom was in its infancy and technology start-ups were springing up. "There was a tendency at the time to treat everything like software, where you do your investment up front, attract a bunch of users, and then eventually when you're big enough you become incredibly profitable," he said. "But it turns out content doesn't work like that - if you want people to keep coming back to your website, or to reach new people in new markets, you have to keep spending to make new content." And some of Vice's content was "pretty expensive journalism", Mr Teasdale said, involving global trips. Last month, Vice announced layoffs after its flagship TV programme was shut down. BuzzFeed, another pioneering online platform, also recently announced that it was shutting down its news division and laying off 15% of its workforce amid serious financial challenges and a slump in advertising revenue. Vice Media has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a procedure which postpones a US company's obligations to its creditors, giving it time to reorganise its debts or sell parts of the business. Announcing the bankruptcy move, Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala, Vice's co-chief executive officers, said: "This accelerated court-supervised sale process will strengthen the company and position Vice for long-term growth." Vice's lenders have approved $20m of funding to keep the firm going through the bankruptcy process. During this time, other firms can submit "higher or better" bids for the media company. If these offers are not successful, Vice Media's lenders will acquire the publisher for $225m. The sale process is expected to take about two to three months.

The UK's first full-sized driverless buses have started operating for passengers in Edinburgh. The autonomous vehicles, operated by Stagecoach, run across the Forth Road Bridge from Ferrytoll park-and-ride in Fife to Edinburgh Park station. Despite the "driverless" name, the buses operate with two staff on board. One will sit in the driver's seat to monitor the technology, and a so-called bus captain will help passengers with boarding and buying tickets. Stagecoach said the five single-decker buses have the capacity for about 10,000 passenger journeys per week. The vehicles have sensors enabling them to travel on pre-selected roads on the 14-mile route at up to 50mph. The AB1 service is the first registered autonomous bus route in UK. It is part of Project CAVForth, run by Stagecoach and funded by the UK government. Stagecoach worked with Fusion Processing Ltd and project partners Transport Scotland, Alexander Dennis, Edinburgh Napier University and Bristol Robotics Laboratory. The Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV buses can take on complex traffic manoeuvres such as roundabouts, traffic lights, and weaving between motorway lanes. The project has recruited 20 staff from Stagecoach East Scotland's existing driving team. Stagecoach UK managing director Carla Stockton-Jones said: "We are excited to introduce the UK's first autonomous bus fleet in east Scotland. "We are proud to be at the forefront of transport innovation with this project that marks a significant milestone for public transport."

You may have heard the name and might know his legacy, but perhaps don't know who Terrence Higgins really was. He was a charismatic, fun-loving guy, loved by his group of close friends, yet it was only after his death that his name became known the world over. Few know of his unique "wiggle legs" dance, the astrology book he wrote and that his sexuality was behind his move to the city where he could be himself. Terry, as he was known, became famous for how he died, but he also lived. His name is now synonymous with the fight against HIV and Aids, because Terry was the first named person in the UK to die of an Aids-related illness. Sam Smith's HIV stories podcast starts with Terrence Higgins' life'My story helped inspire hit TV show It's A Sin''By 25, I'd lost 50 friends to Aids' No-one had heard of the virus HIV when he passed away aged just 37 at London's St Thomas hospital on 4 July 1982 - and very few people had heard of him. But those close friends who knew him so well were determined to not only change that, but also change the way the world dealt with an illness few then knew much about. Superstars and royalty now regularly support the charity that immortalises a man whose death became the unfortunate catalyst for medical research and subsequent treatment that now ensures the illness that ended Terry's life is no longer considered a death sentence. Within 10 years of Terry's death, proceeds of two musical anthems - Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me by Elton John and George Michael - were donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust. It's gestures and support like this, alongside work to help people with HIV and promote good sexual health, that has helped the organisation that carries Terry's name become a world-leading HIV charity. The journey began just before the end of World War Two, in June 1945 in west Wales. Terrence Lionel Seymour Higgins was born at the old Priory Mount workhouse in the market town of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, to Marjorie - Terry's dad wasn't on his birth certificate. It was in the town's dance halls as a teenager, that school friend Angela Preston remembers him. "He would say to me and my friend 'come on girls, up you get', and he'd jive with two of us at the same time," she told BBC Sounds A Positive Life podcast, narrated by singer Sam Smith. "He was brilliant. I can see him coming down the high street now and his trousers would be flapping. He had a dancer's walk. They have that airiness, that floating movement. "To me, he was just Terry who I danced with on a Saturday night. "He had this air about him, he wasn't repressed, he got on with life and seemed to enjoy everything he did - and by heck he had a lovely smile. He was a lovely boy. "It was only when he died that I found out that he was gay. I was quite shocked because I didn't have an inkling." SAM SMITH PRESENTS STORIES OF HIV: From Terrence Higgins to todayBORN DEAF, RAISED HEARING: What it means to live in two different worlds When Terry was growing up in the 1950s, gay sex between men was illegal and you could be sent to prison. These laws only began to change in 1967 - even then only partially. "We'd play out in a field which was part of the council estate and occasionally Terry would come down," said Billy Yabsley, a neighbour who lived on Terry's street Priory Avenue. "I was, say 10 and he was 14. He wasn't really a mixer. It was very rare that Terry came out. "We were rough and ready kids, cricket one minute and football the next, then falling out and fighting - but Terry never got involved with any of that, he was a quiet boy. "I used to go to market hall and they'd turn it into a dance room and I can remember him dancing, he was out of this world. We were like farmers in boots but when he danced, he was light like a ballerina and used to sway his body." Terry also used to play the piano and Bill remembered "he was a very talented boy" who was a decent schoolboy athlete at the strict Haverfordwest Grammar Boys School, where he won the senior long-jump competition in the late 1950s. Terry started life in west Wales at a time when coming out as gay to friends or family could be considered a risky choice as attitudes towards homosexuality were different. "I would have thought it would have been dreadfully difficult because there was such a stigma attached," Angela added. After finishing school in the early 60s, Terry left Haverfordwest to join the Royal Navy and lost contact with his old school friends - but not before donating his books and stationery to the school library. "We would often get visits from Terry when he was in the navy," said Terry's cousin Annie Oakley, who now lives in Australia. "I thought he was so handsome because he had very dark hair and had creases in his trousers because of how they used to fold them over when they were in the navy. "My earliest memory was when he came to visit us and he was in the front garden, swinging us around... and letting us dance on his feet because he was always dancing." As far as Annie knows Terry - an only child - never came out to his family, but he did not completely hide his life from them. "When I was about 14, I stayed at auntie Marj's and Terry was visiting and he had a friend," she recalled. "It never occurred to me that he had sexual preferences and she said 'can you take this cup of tea up to Terry and his friend'. "I walked in the bedroom and there were these two males in bed, Terry and his friend, and I just said 'here's a cup of tea'. I was oblivious." Terry returned to his home-town occasionally to see his mum before she died in 1974. HIV diagnosis at 16 was like 'a wake-up call''You can't catch HIV from hugging me''My HIV got my daughter kicked out of school' "He didn't talk about his family much," said Linda Payan, one of Terry's few close friends from his life in London to return to Haverfordwest with him. "His mother was a female version of Terry, you could see they were mother and son. Great fun and she had similar humour to Terry. "She could be cutting and he could be quite rude to her, but she'd be rude back. They'd have that kind of relationship. It wasn't really close but they enjoyed each other's company." Linda said she imagined Marjorie knew her son was gay because she once went back to Terry's childhood home with him and his then boyfriend - but "nothing was said". "She'd have kept that silent, it was a different time and wasn't an accepted thing," added Linda. "It was very taboo." Terry had, by this time, made London his home where he'd enjoy dancing to disco music and felt free to live how he wanted - which could sometimes be like a wheeler-dealer. "Terry was either with money or without money," added Linda, who first met Terry in a Wimpy fast-food restaurant after a night out in 1969. "When he was without money, I'd see more of him because he'd have jewellery to sell. He'd say 'can you give me some money for them?' and it'd be a fiver or a tenner for all this silver. "But he was very kind. Whenever he had any money, it was for everyone." Terry worked for newspapers and wrote for Hansard, the official report of every parliamentary debate in the House of Commons - meaning he worked in the place that had made his sexuality a crime. "He was a bit paranoid about being found out to be gay," recalled Linda. "Once he said 'I've got some people from work coming over for dinner, could you pretend to be my wife?' So I did." Terry, a Gemini, had an interest in astrology and wrote a book on the subject called The Living Zodiac and he loved socialising. "I used to call him wiggle legs," added Linda. "He had these wiggly legs when he danced and it always made me laugh... his legs never seemed to part but his knees were together. "Life was so exciting for him, he was always looking for new adventures and was very funny. "I said to him 'you're either going to be very famous or end up on a park bench'. He laughed his head off on that one. But Terry did become famous." It was in the gay clubs where Terry became friends with Rupert Whitaker and Martyn Butler - two men who would ensure the name Terrence Higgins would one day become famous around the globe. "I liked him because he looked out and cared for people," said Martyn, who was 20 years younger than Terry. "If you were misbehaving, he'd tell you off. He was a bit motherly like that." Rupert was 18 when he started a relationship with Terry and was enamoured with his streetwise nature in a time where their community felt marginalised. "He didn't care about anything, he was completely unselfconscious," said Rupert. "He had a very healthy attitude of scepticism towards any pretentiousness. "I thought he was just gorgeous. This was the era of the clones... very short cropped hair, big moustache, strong five o'clock shadow, plaid shirts, tight jeans and builder's boots. "It was a hyper masculine look and I completely fell for it." They all became a "family" in a community in London that already felt on the outside - and it was about to get even more tough. Both had HIV when they met, but neither were to know. While no-one knew it yet, the wave of this epidemic was about to hit. Within 18 months of their first meeting at Bangs nightclub on London's Tottenham Court Road, Terry had died. "He never really talked about it," Rupert recalled. "It was like he was a very passive witness to his own deterioration." In the spring of 1982, Terry's illness became much more serious and he collapsed in London's Heaven nightclub and was rushed to hospital. Game-changer: 'I didn't know HIV drug existed''I had death threats after posting about my HIV''We were all Aids deniers - then it got real' "Only family could visit," said Rupert. "I said 'he doesn't have any family, I'm his boyfriend' so the nurses were cool with that, but the physicians didn't talk to me. 'Gay cancer' "At the time, a gay newspaper ran this report... about what was then gay cancer and pneumonia. We had an idea that this thing was in America but nobody had any idea it was in Europe. "I was pretty sure that's what Terry had. He'd gone downhill so quickly." Rupert had been celebrating independence day with some American friends on 4 July 1982 when he popped in with some "ice lollies, Lucozade and Tizer" to see Terry. Those drinks remained undrunk. Terry died that evening. "I knew very much that I had loved him - but I didn't know if he'd loved me," Rupert admitted. "I had to ask a couple of his friends and they looked at me as though I was crazy because they said 'oh yeah, very, very much'. "Just before he died, apparently he was calling out for me. It's a real regret that I was late. "The impact that had on me for the rest of my life has been incredible - it changed my life. And hopefully I've done useful with it to help somebody else." At the time, doctors were unsure how to diagnose or treat the new illness while there was fear within the community and wider public as to what this condition was. Within weeks of Terry's funeral, a group of pals who had nowhere to channel their grief and wanted to help fight this unknown illness formed a trust in Martyn's front room in Limehouse in East London. "I had this sense that I'm expected to be dead already," recalled Rupert. "I am expected to die. I expect myself to do die. What do I do? Do I just sit around and wait for this to happen or do I actually do something with the time I've got." Personalising the trust in Terry's memory, they thought that would give their cause greater impact. The Terrence Higgins Trust has since helped thousands and provided sexual health services like HIV testing, making it one of the world's oldest and leading HIV and Aids charities. If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, the BBC Action Line has links to organisations which can offer support and advice

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has been in the UK for talks with the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The visit came ahead of a Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russian forces, expected to begin in the coming weeks. Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the UK has been a major supplier of weapons and equipment to Kyiv, though on a much smaller scale than the US. So what exactly is being sent, and how much of a difference is it making? The UK confirmed that it had supplied Ukraine with long-range missiles earlier this month. The Storm Shadow cruise missile has a range of over 250km (155 miles), according to the manufacturer. By contrast, the US-supplied Himars missiles used by Ukraine only have a range of around 80 km (50 miles). Currently, Storm Shadow has the longest range of any missile available to Ukraine, and can therefore strike targets previously believed to be safe by Russian forces. Russia claims the system has already been used against its forces. The UK is the first country to supply cruise missiles to Kyiv. The UK also led the way in supplying Nato standard main battle tanks to Ukraine. In January the UK announced that 14 Challenger 2 tanks would be sent, alongside around 30 AS90 self-propelled guns. The Challenger 2 was built in the 1990s, but is significantly more advanced than Warsaw Pact standard tanks used by Ukraine. Following the UK's announcement, several others committed to sending tanks to Ukraine, including Germany with its Leopard 2 model. Many military analysts believe tanks, in co-ordination will other weapons systems, will be vital to any attempt by Ukraine to dislodge Russian forces from heavily fortified positions in the expected counter-offensive. On Monday, Downing Street said that it would supply "hundreds" of attack drones and air defence missiles. The statement did not reveal what kind of drones would be supplied, but it said they would have a range of over 124 miles (200km). It is anticipated they may be used to hit logistics and control facilities deep behind Russian lines. In 2022, the Ministry of Defence announced supplies of heavy lift drone systems to provide logistical support to isolated forces. Analysts say that drones can be very effective in getting supplies over the "last mile" to front line troops, particularly under threat of Russian artillery fire and in situations where there is a risk of encirclement. "It's the sheer quantity of stuff needed by troops," says Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi). "Every time you can use a drone instead of a soldier to get supplies forward is one less time someone is exposed to extreme danger." The donation of M270 multiple-launch rocket systems with M31A1 precision munitions to Ukraine was confirmed in 2022. The UK's M270 system is similar to the American Himars launchers. Jack Watling Rusi told the BBC: "These systems are precisely what Ukraine needs. They allow the Ukrainians to out-range a lot of the Russian artillery systems and also to strike with precision." The UK has sent more than 5,000 next generation light anti-tank weapons, or Nlaw, to Ukraine. Nlaws are designed to destroy tanks at short range with a single shot. Crucially for Ukraine's armed forces who need weapons immediately, the missiles are easy to transport and simple to use. A soldier can be trained to use them in less than a day. Many analysts believe they had a major impact on the course of the conflict in the days following Russia's invasion. "Nlaw was absolutely critical to the defeat of Russian ground thrusts in the early stages of the war," says Mr Bronk. The weapons have been "particularly effective" when used in combination with artillery, he says. Maritime Brimstone missiles were also sent to Ukraine in 2022. Brimstones can be used against tanks, artillery and some smaller vessels such as landing craft, according to Capt Chris Carlson, formerly of the US Navy. The missiles are normally fired from aircraft, but in Ukraine they are being modified to be fired from trucks. Launching them from the ground reduces their effective range, says Capt Carlson. When used as anti-ship missiles, Brimstones are far too small to sink larger vessels, but could cause substantial damage. "It all depends where you hit," he says. "If you went through an engine or near the water line, you could give an enemy some serious trouble." Britain has donated at least 120 armoured vehicles to Ukraine, including Mastiff patrol vehicles. Mastiffs were very popular among British troops in Afghanistan as they provide a high level of protection against landmines and improvised explosive devices. Analysts say that in an area which as been as heavily mined as the Donbas, Mastiffs are likely to be very useful. It is understood that both sides in the conflict have used landmines extensively. COUNTER-OFFENSIVE: Zelensky: We must wait before starting offensiveANALYSIS: What weapons is the world giving?READ MORE: Full coverage of the crisis Britain says it has donated at least six air defence systems, including Starstreak missiles. Starstreak is designed to bring down low-flying aircraft at short range. It ignores counter-measures such as flares and chaff deployed by many aircraft. "From a pilot's point of view, Starstreak is a very unpleasant thing," says Mr Bronk. "There's very little you can do about it." He says Russian forces may deem some operations too risky if they are aware that a weapon as deadly as Starstreak is on the ground. The UK has also supplied Stormer vehicles to act as a mobile platform for Starstreak missiles. Other equipment supplied by the UK includes: Javelin anti-tank missilesAnti-structure munitionsPlastic explosivesSmall-arms munitionHelmetsBody armourNight vision devicesElectronic warfare equipmentCounter battery radar systemsGPS jamming equipment Graphics by Gerry Fletcher.

Pope Francis has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he is constantly praying for peace after the two met privately at the Vatican. The pontiff also stressed on the urgent need to help "the most fragile people, innocent victims" of the full-scale invasion launched by Russia last year. Mr Zelensky earlier met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who assured him of Rome's support for united Ukraine. More than 1,000 police are deployed and a no-fly zone over Rome is in place. In a statement on Saturday, the Holy See said Pope Francis and President Zelensky "discussed the humanitarian and political situation in Ukraine caused by the ongoing war" during a meeting that lasted about 40 minutes. The Argentine pontiff and President Zelensky "both agreed on the need to continue humanitarian efforts to support the population". The statement added: "The Pope has assured his constant prayer and continuous invocation to the Lord for peace - since last February" - when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion. Pope Francis has often said that the Vatican stands ready to act as a mediator in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Earlier this month, he stated that the Vatican was working on a peace plan to end the war, saying that the mission was "not yet public. When it is public, I will talk about it." But the relationship between Ukraine and the Vatican has sometimes been uneasy. A few months after the war in Ukraine began, the Pope said in an interview that Moscow's invasion was "perhaps somehow provoked". And last August, Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican took the unusual step of criticising the Pope after the pontiff referred to Darya Dugina, the daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist figure, who was killed by a car bomb, as an "innocent" victim of war. Earlier on Saturday, President Zelensky had talks with his counterpart Sergio President Mattarella and then met Ms Meloni for a working lunch. Italy historically has strong ties with Moscow. Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the conservative Forza Italia party, is an old friend of President Putin. They went on trips together and exchanged birthday gifts. Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister, has frequently voiced pro-Russian sentiments and criticised military assistance to Ukraine. President Zelensky is not expected to meet either Mr Salvini or Mr Berlusconi during his trip. At the news conference that followed the meeting between Mr Zelensky and Ms Meloni, the Ukrainian leader invited "all the Italian political leaders and representatives of civil society" to visit Ukraine. He said they would be able "to see what a single person was capable of doing to us, what Putin was capable of, and you will understand why we are fighting this evil". Ms Meloni stressed that the war would only end when Russia stopped its "brutal and unjust aggression" and withdrew from all Ukrainian territory. She also pledged Italy's support for Ukraine for "as long as is necessary". Meanwhile, the German government unveiled its biggest military aid package for Ukraine yet, worth €2.7bn (£2.4bn). Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Zelensky, said the aid indicated that Russia was "bound to lose and sit on the bench of historical shame". Earlier this week, German media reported that President Zelensky was planning to visit Germany following his trip to Italy, although this has not yet been confirmed. In other developments: President Zelensky's visit came after Russia carried out a new wave of air strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnightMore than 20 people were injured in the western city of Khmelnytsky. Critical infrastructure, as well as homes and government buildings, was also hitExplosions were reported on Friday in the Russian-occupied city of Luhansk, about 90km (56 miles) behind the front line in eastern Ukraine. Russian-backed separatist forces in the region accused Kyiv of using Storm Shadow missiles, which the UK said it had supplied Ukraine with earlier this weekThere were also more reports of blasts in Luhansk on SaturdayA helicopter crashed in Russia's Bryansk region, on the border with Ukraine, injuring one woman. Footage circulating on social media purports to show an S-24 warplane also crashing in the region on Saturday - although the videos have not been verified.

IDC predicts the performance-intensive computing as a service market to reach $103.1 billion by 2027, with significant growth expected due to increasing demand for advanced technologies in Big data, analytics, AI, HPC, and engineering workloads.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50507923&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Performance-Intensive Computing as a Service Forecast, 2023–2027: Strong Growth for Big Data Analytics, AI, HPC, and Engineering/Technical Workloads

Enterprises are facing new challenges such as inflation, economic instability, and flattening growth after COVID. To maintain customer-centric business resilience, enterprises need to move beyond transactional-level experiences and tie business outcomes to relationship-based experiences. Customer experience (CX) and operational efficiency are equally prioritized by enterprises globally. CX executives need to leverage technology such as customer data, AI/ML, and zero trust architectures to build empathetic customer outcomes. The future of CX innovation will be led by brands that improve value for the customer through empathy and delivering outcomes for customer success. IDC's top 10 predictions for the Future of Customer Experience in 2023 can be found in their on-demand webinar.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/11/18/idc-futurescape-worldwide-future-of-customer-experience-2023-predictions/

IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Customer Experience 2023 Predictions

This IDC study reviews 2022 vendor revenue and shipments in the WLAN infrastructure market (excluding WLAN NICs) and shows the market's changes from 2021. Year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter changes are also shown. "Wireless connectivity is a key technology for enterprises around the globe, and Wi-Fi remains one of the preeminent forms of enterprise communication infrastructure. The enterprise WLAN market has seen growth rates outside of historical norms for two years in a row now, underpinning the importance of WLAN in organizations' digital and network transformation journeys," says Brandon Butler, research manager, Enterprise Networks, IDC. "Meanwhile, the enterprise WLAN industry is in the midst of a significant refresh to the Wi-Fi 6E standard, which opens up Wi-Fi for use in the 6GHz band. Combined with advanced automation capabilities and new use cases, the enterprise WLAN market continues to be strong."

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50592723&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Enterprise-Class WLAN Market Shares, 2022: Strong Growth Driven by Wi-Fi 6 and 6E as Supply Chains Normalize

Care homes in Oxford have been harnessing virtual reality (VR) technology to help improve the wellbeing of their residents. Forty people have been taking part in the trial that has helped them "walk" up to 3km (1.8 miles) using VR headsets attached to seated treadmills. The headsets allow them to explore real places and even meet up with friends. The 17-month trial has been run by Oxfordshire County Council's Innovation Hub and Oxford start-up ROVR Systems. The scheme has been trialled at Fairfield Residential Home in Summertown and Auditcare's Mon Choisy care home in Kennington. DeeDee Wallace, of the Innovation Hub, said: "It brings the world into them, making their world bigger - and if you think about dementia, they can access neighbours and unlock memories by having a VR experience." Charles King, CEO of ROVR Systems, said: "We need to live longer better, not just live longer, so we need to be active and the way we do that is maintain physical activity and social connection." Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.

People across Scotland have been celebrating the Coronation of King Charles. From big screen events to smaller gatherings, thousands turned out to mark the first occasion of its kind since 1953. BBC Scotland takes a look at a selection of images from a historic day. All photos are subject to copyright.

The PC industry struggled in 2022 due to poor macros and excess inventory, according to a study by IDC. The situation has not improved in 2023.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50475023&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide PC Market Shares, 2022 and 4Q22: -16.6% Marks Worst Annual Contraction Recorded

Sharing data purposefully can make enterprises and their ecosystem partners stronger, more resilient, and better able to serve customers. More than half of US and Canadian enterprises are already sourcing data from partners, with potential benefits including improved innovation rates, business agility, and digital operation. Sharing data can take many forms and tools are available to assist with curation, governance, and entitlement. Collaboration with external stakeholders could pave the way for more effective internal collaboration. Governance, change management, and inertia have been barriers to data sharing, but solutions such as Data Clean Rooms can help preserve privacy and competitive information while benefiting multiple parties.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/08/03/why-should-i-share-my-data/

Why Should I Share My Data?

Soroco Scout is task mining software that aids automation and process improvement by specialist teams such as automation COE or process mining team. According to Maureen Fleming, program vice president in IDC's AI and Automation Research practice, Soroco outperformed in key areas of IDC's competitive assessment of task mining software.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50433223&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

IDC Assessment: Soroco Scout Task Mining Software

ESG is crucial for organizations to incorporate sustainability into every aspect, as vague promises and checkbox actions no longer satisfy stakeholders. Operationalizing material issues can enhance risk profiles, lower capital costs, increase operational efficiency, improve innovation potential, and attract talent. IDC assesses sustainability maturity across four dimensions critical for transformation towards sustainable models. Around 30% of organizations have embedded sustainability, with improvements in operational efficiency, brand perception, customer loyalty, and employee engagement. Climate change remains a top priority, but social topics are growing in importance, including human capital and social capital issues. IT plays a critical role in enabling sustainable transformation through data management strategies and technologies such as blockchain, digital twin, AR/VR. This is the first post in a series of sustainability research by IDC.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/03/22/operationalizing-esg-how-can-organizations-move-up-the-sustainability-maturity-ladder/

Operationalizing ESG – How Can Organizations Move Up the Sustainability Maturity Ladder?

The government has reached its target to recruit 20,000 more police officers in England and Wales. It has employed 20,951 more officers since 2019 so the total is now 149,572. This means the number of officers is about 3,500 higher than it was in 2010, when the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats began cutting police numbers. But there are concerns that the rise hasn't kept pace with the increase in population since 2010 and that many experienced officers have left. Many of the new officers are replacing the approximately 20,000 who left between 2010 and 2019. The new headcount of 149,572 officers in England and Wales (including part-time employees) is higher than the previous record of 146,030 in 2010. The recruitment target, pledged in the Conservatives' 2019 election manifesto, was set for March 2023. It has been reached after a big rise in the first three months of 2023 - 4,000 extra officers - by far the biggest quarterly jump since the government's police uplift programme started. Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: "We have delivered on the promise we made to the British people which means more police on the beat preventing violence, solving burglaries and cracking down on antisocial behaviour." Police taking over five hours to respond to priority calls in England'More than 50,000 new police officers needed'Met chief has concerns over rapid hiring of officers Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tweeted: "the Tories are trying to take country for fools on policing... they CUT 20,000 police officers". That's a reference to the reduction in police numbers of about 20,000 between 2010 and 2019, after government funding was cut by 20%. Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: "Suella Braverman's boasts will ring hollow for communities that have seen community policing decimated under this government." While the number of police officers is a few thousand higher than 2010 levels, the population has grown - by about 7% - since then. If the number of officers in England and Wales had risen in line with the population since 2010, there would need to be thousands more officers. Ms Braverman told BBC News that in 2019 "we set that [20,000] target accounting for increases in population". We have asked the Home Office how they did this. In the year to March 2022, the number of full-time police officers leaving the force reached a 20-year high of 8,117. Half of those leaving retired - police officers can claim their pensions in their 50s. However, an increasing proportion resigned - about 40% in 2021-22, compared with a third the year before. About 9% of newly recruited officers leave during their two-year probation periods, a report by the Public Accounts Committee, which examines government projects, found last year. Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington, of Essex Police, said his force had received more than 900 new officers as part of the police uplift programme. However, he is concerned some will leave because of low salaries and the rising cost of living. "You can't arrest your gas bill," he said. To keep new officers, he said he would "speak up for them, and make sure they are trained and supported". There are now fewer senior full-time police officers than in 2010. The number of inspectors is down 14% to 6,245. The number of superintendents and sergeants has also fallen. Currently, a third of all police officers in England and Wales have fewer than five years' experience where the length of service is known. This is more than double the number six years ago. The Public Accounts Committee has linked falling levels of experience with the government's drive to recruit new officers. Dame Meg Hillier, who heads the committee, said: "The danger is if you go up and down with police numbers and then recruit very quickly, you end up with a larger number of more junior officers, without the experienced people above them." This could affect police force performance. In June 2022, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, the police watchdog, placed the Metropolitan Police in special measures. In a letter to the force, HM Inspector Matt Parr said systemic failures had been "amplified by the presence of a relatively young, inexperienced workforce - a consequence of the [Met's] increased recruitment enabled by the police uplift programme". The BBC has spoken to officers who joined a Met Police scheme to recruit graduates to be detectives without first serving in uniform. They describe being left to cope on their own with growing caseloads. One of them - who didn't want to be named - said he was given 12 cases on his first day in CID (Criminal Investigation Department). "From that point," he said, "I was swimming upstream." Another described his time as a detective as "the worst year of my life". He said his CID unit was staffed almost entirely by trainees and he was worried he might make a mistake that affected a case or a victim of crime. Both trainee detectives have now left the Met, and say about 10 of their 30 fellow recruits have done the same. The Met was the only police force that did not meet its recruitment target. It fell short of its 4,557 target by 1,089 officers. Additional reporting by Libby Rodgers

IDC MarketScape evaluates enterprise service providers for retail companies worldwide, assessing their ability to design and manage organizational change and implement a complete retail commerce platform, including core capabilities for customer experience differentiation, seamless commerce, operational efficiencies, profitability, and business model agility. Retail commerce platform technology service providers are expanding their offerings to include modern commerce frameworks, physical and digital integration, and AI capabilities to deliver seamless and personalized customer journeys that transcend channels.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US49436123&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Retail Commerce Platform Service Providers 2023 Vendor Assessment

IDC conducted a study of the 2023 worldwide hybrid IT consulting and integration services market to evaluate vendors' success factors. The assessment covers various vendors, including equipment manufacturers and global systems integrators. The evaluation is based on a comprehensive framework, including the perception of hybrid IT consulting and integration services buyers. Hybrid IT operating models are complex, and professional services firms with defined methodologies, best-of-breed tools, and highly skilled resources help enterprises make sense of the complexity.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50498923&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Hybrid IT Consulting and Integration Services 2023 Vendor Assessment

IDC's study provides an updated outlook for the SSD market from 2023-2027. Despite challenges in the near term, long-term trends are favorable for SSD adoption, with a projected 30% CAGR growth in capacity from 2022-2027.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US49401623&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Solid State Drive Forecast, 2023–2027

IDC conducted a study evaluating providers of high-speed inkjet presses in the production print market. The assessment is based on market demands and expected buyer needs, highlighting key factors for success in the short and long term. High-speed inkjet is driving growth and replacing offset and toner-based devices, while also creating new market opportunities.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50450723&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide High-Speed Inkjet Press 2023 Vendor Assessment

Cardiff is preparing to welcome thousands of Beyoncé fans eager to see the singer perform on her world tour. Wednesday's Principality Stadium concert, in front of about 60,000 fans, kicks off the UK leg of her Renaissance tour. People are expected to travel from around the UK and as far away as the United States, Lebanon and Australia. Cardiff council is warning concert-goers to plan their journey in advance and arrive early. People were already queuing at 07:00 BST this morning. Stereophonics and Sir Tom Jones Cardiff concertEd Sheeran's third Cardiff concert "I'm so thankful that this opportunity has come, that I finally get to see her," said George Crocker, 15, from Avoca Beach, New South Wales, Australia. "She is a goddess, she's my mother. She is my absolute queen... she's just everything in a person. "Everything about her is just perfect." A fan since the age of four, he has travelled with his mum Penny, and added: "I'm just going to bawl my eyes out the whole time, I just know that for a fact." The Renaissance World Tour is 41-year-old Beyoncé's first solo tour in seven years, and many fans have travelled a long way to see her in Cardiff. Giovani Tana, 20, arrived in the Welsh capital on Saturday, after flying to London from Beirut and catching a train. "It's my first time in the UK ever, so it's a great excuse to come," he said. "I think London is fully sold out and I thought I would explore a different city." He is looking forward to connecting with other fans, adding: "Her work is incredible. No-one puts on a show like she does. "I respect her work and what she's doing for the queer community is truly incredible. "For her to be on that stage representing a lot of different people is inspirational." It is not the singer's first time in Cardiff - she joined husband Jay-Z on the On The Run II Tour in the city in 2018. The show, which kicks off at 19:00 BST at Cardiff's Principality stadium and will end at 22:30 BST, follows appearances in Stockholm, Sweden, and Brussels, Belgium, in a tour that will end in the United States in September. The tour setlist includes 40 hits spanning Beyoncé's career as well as singles from the album Renaissance released in 2022, including Break My Soul and Cuff it. Over the next three weeks the singer will also play at venues in Edinburgh, Sunderland and London. Cardiff council has warned roads into the city will be "very busy". It has strongly advised people to plan their journey in advance and arrive at the stadium early. An Ed Sheeran concert in May 2022 saw 15-mile queues from the Prince of Wales Bridge towards Cardiff on the M4, causing some people to miss the event. Fans have been tweeting this morning as they take their place in the queue for the 19:00 BST show. South Wales Police have also said they will be using facial recognition in the city to help with policing. What to expect from Beyoncé's Renaissance tourBeyoncé fans battle to snap up tickets Beyoncé's Renaissance debuts at number one By road There will be a full city centre road closure from 16:00 until midnight. Those attending are advised to use a park ride facility at Leckwith Stadium, or park and walk spaces at County Hall in Cardiff Bay. Train Trains are expected to be very busy after the event and a queuing system will be in place at Cardiff Central station. Great Western Railway are running extra services to Swansea, Newport, Bristol and Swindon afterwards. Passengers are being advised to check the GWR website before travelling as industrial action on 17 May is likely to cause "some short-notice changes and cancellations", the operator said. Over-running South Wales Metro engineering works also mean there will be no trains north of Pontypridd on the core valley lines of Treherbert, Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare. Gates open to the public at 17:00, while the box office will open at 13:00. Officials say all tickets have been issued digitally and should be downloaded and transferred through the relevant app before arriving at the stadium. People are also being warned not to screenshot tickets as this could invalidate them.

A music festival is going ahead thanks to donations from supporters. In January, the future of Whittington Music Festival was uncertain, after its bid for £15,000 from the Arts Council was rejected. Following an appeal, about 80 people offered handouts and the performers agreed a reduced fee to keep it running. The event starts on Wednesday at Whittington Church and runs until Sunday. Ticket sales only account for a third of the cost of running the festival, which started in 2011, and organisers say funding for the event is reliant on grants and donations. Roderick Williams OBE, who sang at the coronation of King Charles III, is among the headliners set to perform. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

Australian police are investigating after at least 65 women received used condoms in the post. The letters, which also contained handwritten messages, were sent to addresses in south-eastern and eastern Melbourne. Police believe the victims are linked and part of a targeted attack. All of the women are believed to have attended the city's Kilbreda College private girls' school in 1999. The first victim came forward in March, and the most recent was reported on Monday, police said. Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported that the women suspect their addresses were obtained from an old school yearbook. Bree Walker told the paper she "didn't sleep" the night she received the letter, which contained a "very graphic (handwritten) message". She later contacted friends to see if they had received similar packages. Police believe that most of the women received multiple letters, all with used condoms enclosed. The investigation is ongoing, and police have urged anyone with information to come forward. They are expected to give an update on the case later on Wednesday. Kilbreda College, an independent Catholic girls school, was founded by the Brigidine Sisters in 1904 and has some 900 pupils enrolled.

Twitter's decision to block certain content in Turkey the day before its presidential election was wrong, says the founder of Wikipedia. Jimmy Wales told the BBC his organisation had spent two and a half years in court to avoid similar demands made by Turkey in the past. He said he believed the tech sector should stand together in defending free access to information. Twitter's owner Elon Musk said Turkey had threatened to block the whole site. In 2014, Turkish President Recep Erdogan did exactly that, vowing to "wipe out" the social network after corruption allegations about his administration were shared on the platform. Wikipedia was also banned in Turkey for almost three years after refusing to delete articles that criticised the government. Turkey's election will be decided in a run-off later this month, after no clear winner emerged from this weekend's voting. In a tweet, Twitter said four accounts and 409 tweets had been identified by the Turkish government in a court order, which the firm had then blocked. Twitter added that it would "continue to object in court" to it. The content is still visible outside of Turkey. But Mr Wales said Twitter should have stood its ground. "We have been blocked in various places around the world at different times, we have never given in to censorship and we never will," he told me on the BBC's tech podcast Tech Life. "If governments around the world believe that in order to get political advantage they can control what their political opponents are saying online or prevent them from speaking online, then they will try that." He said Twitter's actions would put pressure on other websites to comply with future demands. "I think people in the industry should really stand up and vigorously say no - actually an open internet, a free internet, the free sharing of ideas and knowledge is really crucially important," he added. Elon Musk has described himself as a "free speech absolutist" and has spoken at length about his commitment to giving everybody a platform to have their say. Twitter said it was told by the Turkish government that it was the only social network which had not complied with its court orders. The BBC has not been able to verify this. Wikipedia and Twitter are clearly very different services - there is no "tell us what you think" box on the online encyclopedia which Mr Wales said made moderation a lot less complex. Follow Zoe Kleinman on Twitter @zsk.

Some children in Kent are waiting up to four years to be assessed for autism or ADHD.Over 10,000 children and young people were on a waiting list for referrals for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), NHS Kent and Medway said. The National Autistic Society (NAS) said that without assessment, people were "left struggling" without support.The Department of Health and Social Care said a "timely diagnosis" was "vital" and it was "committed to reducing delays". The increase in waiting times comes after referrals increased by about 80% in 12 months.Ella Pitt, senior policy officer at NAS, said many children were struggling "at school, at work, [and] at home."Many go on to develop mental health problems," they added. The charity has called for more government investment in diagnostic services after a growth in ASD awareness in recent years. It said access to services was currently a postcode lottery, and that delays had been made worse by the pandemic. Beth Whatman, from Tenterden, said her five-year-old son Rufus could have to wait two years for an ASD assessment and four years for an ADHD appraisal. She told the BBC: "It is very frustrating. We know he is autistic and we need that extra support."There is only so much you can look at online to try to find ways to help him. " Charlotte Cornell, a Labour councillor at Canterbury City Council, said her youngest son was diagnosed with ASD after an 18 month wait. "I sat in front of the paediatrician and said that I wasn't leaving without a diagnosis," she said."But I have other friends [who] are absolutely desperate and they are being fobbed off with online appointments". A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "It is vital to have a timely diagnosis of autism and we are committed to reducing delays and improving access to support."The government invested £2.5m last year to improve autism diagnostic pathways, he added. Follow BBC South East on Facebook, external, on Twitter, external, and on Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk, external.

Labour tweeted about increases in council tax over the weekend. "The Tories are raising council tax by up to 15%," it said. Some emphasis needs to be placed on the "up to" in that sentence. Only one council, Croydon, which has no party in overall control, has raised tax by 15%. The highest after that were two councils that raised it by 10%. These were Labour-controlled Slough and Conservative-controlled Thurrock. Croydon raised council tax by 15% after declaring bankruptcy because it realised it faced a £130m hole in its budget. Although the borough has an elected Conservative mayor, the Tories and Labour both have 34 councillors in total. The Green Party has two councillors and the Liberal Democrats one. The mayor has blamed "the toxic debt and financial failures of the previous administration" for the financial problems. These are partly due to the funding plans for the refurbishment of a concert hall. A report into the financial problems in Croydon found "organisational dysfunction at the most senior level in the council". The former leader of the council and its former cabinet member for finance, both of whom were Labour councillors, resigned from their roles as did its former chief executive. Labour councillors in Croydon have previously said that the government should be providing more funding instead of allowing the increase in council tax. They have also said the current administration inherited an underspend as well as a £27m reserve. How much is council tax going up?Croydon approves council tax rise of 15% The government increased the amount councils were allowed to raise taxes without a referendum to 5% - if they have social care responsibilities - in November's Autumn Statement. Croydon, Thurrock and Slough councils were given special permission by the government to raise their taxes by more without putting it to a vote. Thurrock, which is Conservative-controlled, is putting up council tax by 10% after declaring bankruptcy. Leader of bankrupt Thurrock Council admits 'systemic weaknesses'Cash-strapped Slough Borough Council set to sell off housing land Slough, which is Labour-run, is also putting council tax up 10% having declared bankruptcy in 2021 as a result of property and land investments. Labour also said in its campaign tweet that Conservative councils charge £345 more than Labour ones. We asked Labour how it reached the figure but have not heard back. What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch Read more from Reality Check

One of the world's biggest carmakers has called on the government to renegotiate part of the Brexit deal or risk losing parts of its car industry. Stellantis, which owns Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat, had committed to making electric cars in the UK, but says that is under threat. It said it can no longer meet Brexit trade rules on where parts are sourced. The government is "determined" that the UK will remain competitive in car manufacturing, a spokesperson said. "If the cost of electric vehicle manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close," Stellantis said. It is the first time a car firm has openly called on the government to renegotiate the terms of the Brexit trade deal. It called on the government to come to an agreement with the EU to keep rules as they are until 2027, and it also wants arrangements for manufacturing parts in Serbia and Morocco to be reviewed. Nissan warns costs must fall to make new electric cars in UK Just two years ago, the world's fourth biggest car maker said the future of its Ellesmere Port and Luton plants was secure. But now Stellantis has asked the UK government to renegotiate part of the Brexit deal amid a "threat to our export business and the sustainability of our UK manufacturing operations". In a submission to a Commons inquiry into electric car production, the firm said its UK investments were based on meeting the strict terms of the post-Brexit free trade deal. These rules state that from next year, 45% of the value of the electric car should originate in the UK or EU to qualify for trade without tariffs, later rising to 65%. Stellantis said it was "now unable to meet these rules of origin" after the surge in raw materials costs during the pandemic and energy crisis. Why rules of origin are a headache for manufacturersHonda workers in Swindon to face 'reality check' after it closes If the government cannot get an agreement to keep the current rules until 2027, from next year "trade between the UK and EU would be subject to 10% tariffs", it said. This would make domestic production and exports uncompetitive in comparison to Japan and South Korea, it said. "To reinforce the sustainability of our manufacturing plants in the UK, the UK must consider its trading arrangements with Europe," Stellantis said. A government spokesperson said that Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch "has raised this with the EU". Ms Badenoch, who will meet with Stellantis executives today, "is determined to ensure the UK remains one of the best locations in the world for automotive manufacturing, especially as we transition to electric vehicles," the spokesperson said. The government has set up a fund to develop the supply chain for electric vehicles, and in the coming months will take "decisive action to ensure future investment in zero emission vehicle manufacturing", the spokesperson added. But Labour's shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said manufacturers had been let down by a "government in chaos". He said that "the jewel in the crown of British manufacturing is at risk without urgent action from the government", promising that Labour "will work with industry to build the gigafactories we need". The deal on electric cars and batteries was one of the very last issues settled in Brexit negotiations between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen in 2020. The Stellantis document warns that uncompetitive electric vehicle costs will mean "manufacturers will not continue to invest" and will "relocate manufacturing operations outside of the UK". It then lists Ford, and BMW's electric Mini, as well as Honda's investment in the US after closing its UK site in Swindon. The core problem remains a lack of UK battery plants, and a domestic supply chain that should be being built now, but is being dwarfed by developments elsewhere. At a time of some uncertainty over UK trading arrangements, now the US, China and the EU are pouring subsidies into this market. The industry-wide fear is that the UK is missing out on a once-in-a-generation tidal wave of investment around the electrification of cars. Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted Tesla's Elon Musk, who hinted he might invest in a gigafactory - which makes batteries - in France. The owners of the UK's biggest manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover, are currently being wooed by the Spanish government to host a gigafactory that had long been assumed to be being built in the UK. Andy Palmer, a former chief operating officer at Nissan and chairman of the battery start-ups Inobat and Ionetic, told the BBC "we are running out of time" to get battery manufacturing in the UK. "It's basically impossible to meet those [EU] local content rules unless you're sourcing your battery from a plant in the UK or in the EU," he told Radio 4's Today programme. He added that the cost of failure was clear: "It's 800,000 jobs [lost] in the UK, which is basically those jobs associated with the car industry." David Bailey, professor of business economics at the Birmingham Business School, agreed, saying: "If we don't make batteries at scale in the UK, we won't have a mass car industry." He added that although the government under Boris Johnson wanted a "gigafactory" built in the UK, "essentially there's no industrial policy to back that up". The Brexit trade agreement allowed a "phase in" of the strict rules on the origin for electric vehicle parts. The first stage comes in next year, and some in the UK car industry hope that the EU itself may want to renegotiate, if its own manufacturers are struggling to meet the origin requirements. But the requirements are hard-wired into the UK-EU treaty. The rules are then due to tighten again in 2027, and insiders believe UK exporters will find it impossible to export cars tariff free at that point, without UK battery production.

The tech buying committee consists of multiple personas with varying jobs and challenges. Sales reps struggle to communicate the value of their solutions to C-level buyers and finding qualified buyers. Value selling, which focuses on ongoing value generation, creates an iterative partnership between vendors and customers. Marketing and sales must work together using a persona-based approach for an ongoing relationship with buyers. A strategically crafted sales enablement strategy helps prepare teams for pre-sales, sales, and post-sales challenges. IDC offers tailored solutions from target market education to sales engagement.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/01/09/selling-to-c-level-buyers-and-todays-larger-buying-committee/

Selling to C-Level Buyers and Today’s Larger Buying Committee

Bus maker Wrightbus has received a £12m cash boost to produce green buses at its County Antrim factory. The NextGenZEBs project will develop battery-electric and fuel-cell-powered buses to replace diesel engines. It is part of a £77m joint government and industry-backed funding to develop zero-emission vehicles. Meanwhile, it's been annouced two NI firms will split £3.6m in government funding to cut down on their use of fossil fuels. FP McCann Ltd is getting £3.39m to improve the energy efficiency of crushing and concrete manufacturing at its Craigall Quarry in Kilrea. Natural World Products in Dunmurry produces peat-free composts and soil conditioners.  It will put almost £300,000 towards replacing diesel-powered equipment with electric-powered equivalents. The funding supports businesses which use high amounts of energy to clean up their manufacturing processes using low-carbon technologies. It's a portion of a wider pot of £24.3m funding awarded through the UK government's Industrial Energy Transformation Fund. A Natural World Products spokesperson said the funding had "allowed the company to make significant further greenhouse gas emissions savings at one of its key processing facilities". Wrightbus will work alongside Queen's University Belfast and Translink to deliver its NextGenZEBs project. It is hoped that it will fill a gap in supply for zero-emission, multi-axle vehicles, as well as creating and safeguarding 883 jobs. Jo Bamford, Wrightbus executive chairman, said: "When I took over the company, I was clear about my ambitions for it, both in terms of contributing to the UK's plans for net zero and in terms of supporting the British economy. "We have always said that we will continue to drive forward with our zero-emissions vision." In February, Wrightbus announced it is planning to develop a green hydrogen production facility. Two months later, the Ballymena business secured an order to deliver 48 zero-emission buses for use in London by the end of this year. In Northern Ireland, Wrightbus already supplies Translink with battery and hydrogen powered buses, the first of which hit the streets in March 2022. The NextGenZEBs project is one of seven schemes across the UK with joint government and industry backing, ranging from work on green fire engines to a hydrogen fuel cell version of the Ford Transit van. A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: "Zero-emission cars, vans and taxis are increasingly common but this cutting-edge work is going to mean clean, green vehicles designed and built in the UK can increasingly take on the toughest jobs too, from life-saving emergency services to haulage and public transport." The funding has been awarded through the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) Collaborative Research and Development programme, which aims to build an end-to-end supply chain for zero-emission vehicles in the UK. More than £38m of this investment comes from the government, backed by a further £38.7m from the automobile industry - taking the total to just over £77m.

IDC predicts that a global recession and inflation will disrupt the ICT market, causing investments to dry up and supply chain issues. As companies shift towards subscription-based cloud and as-a-service options, targeted reductions in IT spend will look different from the past. There is a skills shortage, making cutting labor a less feasible strategy. Organizations are taking an average of 3.2 months to find the right talent. IDC has updated its scenario for worldwide IT spending, and it's important to understand spending pattern shifts and changing buyer behavior. Buyers will be selective about where they cut. Agile and flexible planning methods can help businesses thrive during economic storms.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/11/28/a-response-to-recession-warnings/

A Response to Recession Warnings

IDC predicts that managed services revenue for private 4G/5G networks will grow at a CAGR of 30.1% to reach $2.28 billion by 2027, with mobile operators targeting complex use cases and scaling initial deployments across additional sites.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50092623&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Managed Services Private Mobile Networks Forecast, 2023–2027

IDC predicts a continued slump in the PC market due to inventory issues and poor economic conditions in 2023, but sees strong growth potential in 2024 and beyond thanks to an economic recovery and Windows migration.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US49474623&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide PC Forecast, 2023–2027

A council has been reprimanded for not responding to the public on time when asked for information held about them. Norfolk County Council repeatedly failed to meet the legal deadline of one to three months, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said. It has instructed the council to take steps to ensure that information is sent out within the statutory period. "We fully accept the findings and are working hard to ensure the backlog is dealt with swiftly," the council said. It pointed out that Subject Access Requests (SARs) to the council had almost doubled in the past five years. The ICO said it found the council had only responded to 51% of requests on time between April 2021 and April 2022, meaning that 251 residents did not receive a response within the legal timeframe. Director of investigations Stephen Eckersley said asking for information was a "fundamental right" and delays to the process could have a significant impact on people's lives. The council had recruited staff to tackle the requests but the reprimand outlines further steps to improve compliance with data protection law, the ICO added. It has asked for details of actions taken to address the recommendations within six months of the reprimand being issued. A spokesperson for the council said: "As of the date of the reprimand, less than 12% of the SARs submitted during the period in question remain outstanding, and in line with ICO recommendations we had already increased the number of staff dealing with these requests and are grateful to the ICO for recognising and commending the progress we have made." Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

IDC evaluated vendors offering cloud-based finance and accounting managed business process services. The assessment considered quantitative and qualitative factors to determine current market demands and buyer needs. Successful providers invested in process mining, advanced analytics, and proprietary platforms to drive transformation.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50527122&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Finance and Accounting Business Process Services in the Cloud 2023 Vendor Assessment

The US may already be in a recession due to the decline in GDP in Q1 and indicators pointing towards a further decline in Q2. However, economists tasked with labeling a recession are hesitant due to mixed data, including job growth and high inflation. The market is experiencing disruptions such as pandemic management challenges, supply constraints, skills shortages, cybersecurity threats, climate regulations, and digital sovereignty assertions. Business leaders are anticipating a significant economic slowdown, with the EU forecasting a similar situation by early 2023. IDC's recent poll shows that most CIOs expect a recession in their own country or important buyer countries within the next year. Cloud dominates tech spending, and IDC expects continued resilience in the enterprise space despite the uncertain demand climate.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/07/22/the-first-potential-recession-in-the-as-a-service-technology-world/

The First Potential Recession in the ‘As-a-Service’ Technology World

Ukraine says it shot down hypersonic missiles amid an "exceptionally dense" barrage fired at Kyiv on Tuesday. Kyiv said air defences intercepted six Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, which Russia has claimed can overcome all existing air defence systems. They were among 18 missiles of different types fired at the city in a short space of time, officials said. Russia denies its Kinzhals were stopped and said one destroyed a US-supplied Patriot air defence system. Ukraine declined to comment. The BBC cannot independently verify the claims made by either country. Russia has stepped up its air campaign in recent weeks - bombarding the Ukrainian capital eight times so far this month - ahead of an expected Ukrainian offensive. On Tuesday evening Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow had not fired as many of the Kinzhal missiles as Kyiv had claimed to have shot down. However if Ukraine's claims are true, Moscow will be feeling frustrated that the finest weapons from its missile fleet are now able to be intercepted. This is in large part due to the arrival of modern Western defence systems, including Patriots. Russia continues to insist that the missiles, which it says can travel at more than 11,000kmh (7,000mph), cannot be destroyed by any of the world's air defence systems. The Kinzhal, or "dagger", is an air-launched ballistic missile. Most ballistic missiles reach hypersonic speed - five times the speed of sound, or just over 6,000 kmh - at some point during their flight. Kyiv said it shot down a Kinzhal for the first time last week. In the past few days, President Volodymyr Zelensky has been on a European tour in which he has been promised several billion dollars' worth of military equipment by Western allies, including UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President Emmanuel Macron of France. During Tuesday's barrage footage showed air defences destroying targets over the city. The head of Ukraine's armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhny, said Russia attacked Kyiv from the north, south and east and that 18 air, sea and land-based missiles had been used. Serhiy Popko, head of the Ukrainian capital's military administration, described the barrage as being the "maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time". Gen Zaluzhny said that also included nine Kalibr cruise missiles, which were launched from ships in the Black Sea, and three land-based missiles. Residents on Tuesday were warned to keep away from windows as debris from intercepted missiles fell from the sky. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said rocket debris had fallen in central districts, including on the city's zoo. No animals or workers were injured. Kyiv resident Kseniia told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that she and her husband were asleep when they heard a "series of very loud explosions" above their building. She compared the intensity of the attack to a Star Wars film or an action video game. She also said that thanks to the support of its international allies, Ukraine is now capable of tracking down and destroying high calibre missiles. "It's such a relief to know Kyiv is under such a strong defence right now". Another resident, Yevhen Petrov, said Tuesday's attack was the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that his house had shaken from the force of an assault. Russia's resumption of strikes on Kyiv earlier this month came after a lull of over 50 days. The Ukrainian authorities believe Moscow's strategy is to exhaust the air defence systems, which have been extremely successful in intercepting most of the missiles and drones fired. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, thousands of civilians and combatants have been killed or injured, cities and towns have been destroyed in fighting, and 8.2 million Ukrainians have been registered as refugees in Europe with 2.8 million of them in Russia, according to data provided to the UN's refugee agency. Additional reporting by BBC weapons analyst Chris Partridge.

Organizations should view cybersecurity as a way to enable business growth, not just a cost center. Continuous risk management with proactive cybersecurity tools is crucial. The complexity of environments and growing number of vulnerabilities require a comprehensive approach to risk assessment. All risk exposures should flow into a singular system to prioritize efforts and maximize cyber-risk reduction across the organization. Consolidation of point solutions provides a weighted view of risk, simplifies automation, and reduces vendor management time. Cybersecurity risk management is a journey towards successful trust-building outcomes.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/04/03/advocating-for-proactive-cybersecurity-with-continuous-risk-based-posture-assessment/

Advocating for Proactive Cybersecurity with Continuous Risk-Based Posture Assessment

We asked our readers to send in their best pictures on the theme of "three colours". Here is a selection of the photographs we received from around the world. The next theme is "springtime" and the deadline for entries is 16 May 2023. The pictures will be published later that week and you will be able to find them, along with other galleries, on the In Pictures section of the BBC News website. You can upload your entries on this page or email them to yourpics@bbc.co.uk. Terms and conditions apply. Further details and themes are at: We set the theme, you take the pictures. All photographs subject to copyright.

North Carolina lawmakers have voted to override the governor's veto of a ban on most abortions after 12 weeks. The measure was passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature in early May, but was vetoed by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper over the weekend. Republicans overturned the veto in back-to-back votes, prompting chants of "shame" from onlookers. The law, which cuts the window for abortion in the state down from 20 weeks, will now take effect on 1 July. On Tuesday, the state Senate voted 30-20 and the House by 72-48 to override the veto. A single Republican defector could have tipped the outcome the other way. "Shame! Shame! Shame!" protesters in the statehouse started shouting. Officially known as the Care for Women, Children and Families Act, it was passed by the state Senate along party lines on 4 May, a day after being passed by the state House of Representatives. The measure was vetoed by Governor Cooper at a rally on Saturday. He said the bill would stand "in the way of progress" and "turn the clock back 50 years on women's health". The legislation bans abortion at 12 weeks except in cases of rape, incest and medical emergencies. It mandates that any abortions taking place after that period be carried out in a hospital. The exceptions in the case of rape and incest are until 20 weeks of pregnancy, or in the event of a "life-limiting anomaly", up to 24 weeks. For Supreme Court, the abortion battle is just beginningWhat comes next for the abortion pill in the US? The law also restricts use of abortions pills after 10 weeks of pregnancy and puts in place additional requirements, such as an in-person consultation with a doctor ahead of the procedure. The law includes $160m (£128m) in funding for contraception, foster and childcare and paid parental leave. Republicans hold slim supermajorities in both chambers of the statehouse, giving them the ability to override a veto from the Democratic governor. The party gained its veto-proof supermajority last month after a Democrat who had previously vowed to protect abortion access switched her party affiliation to Republican. Congresswoman Tricia Cotham voted in favour of the ban after promising last year to "continue my strong record of defending the right to choose". Republicans hold exactly three-fifths of seats in both the Senate and House, meaning that just one party defector could have scuppered the vote on Tuesday, allowing the governor's veto to stand. The razor-thin supermajority led Mr Cooper to launch a last-ditch pressure campaign last week to try to convince any Republican to cross party lines. After the state Senate voted to override the veto on Tuesday, four female Republican lawmakers released a joint statement saying the new law "brings to life a culture that cherishes motherhood and saves the lives of the unborn". One of the four, Vickie Sawyer, accused Democrats of "exaggerated and extremist objections". But Democratic state representative Deb Butler said the law would make North Carolina a "less hospitable place to live". "This regressive law will affect every single woman in the state for the entirety of her reproductive life," she said. Democratic state Senator Natasha Marcus said: "This bill is a slap in the face. It is a muzzle over our mouths, and it is a straitjacket on our bodies." Near-total abortion bans have been passed by 14 states in the US since the Supreme Court ended the nationwide right to abortion last year. North Carolina saw abortions rise 37% in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, according to the Society of Family Planning, a non-profit that advocates for abortion rights and research. The increase was largely driven by women travelling to North Carolina from other parts of the southern US, where restrictions are now largely restricted.

For 40 years, the disappearance of Brenda Venables had been a mystery in the rural Worcestershire village where she had lived. Finally, her family have some answers after her husband - who was living a double life with his mistress - was found guilty of her murder. Brenda Bolton was 23 when she met the man who would become her husband at a young farmers event in Worcestershire. Both from rural communities, they connected straight away. She was kind, unassuming and "good company", David Venables would later tell the jury on his murder trial. They "just got on well together", he added. After that first meeting at Droitwich Winter Gardens, Mr Venables juggled his time seeing her at her home in the tiny village of Rushock, with work on his family's pig farm. He would stop in for breakfast on the way home from dawn trips taking produce from the farm to Birmingham wholesale market. They married in June 1960, before a honeymoon in Jersey, and later moved in together at Quaking House Farm in Kempsey. Mr Venables' father had given him the land to build their marital home, which the couple moved into a year later. There, Mr Venables farmed pigs and the pair enjoyed a "magnificent view" of the surrounding countryside. To outsiders, their life seemed simple yet idyllic. But on 3 May, 1982, Brenda Venables vanished. Mr Venables reported it to police the following day. The previous day, he said, had been perfectly normal, with them sowing potatoes. His wife had also "seemed to be enjoying playing with the puppy" on the hearth rug and he noticed nothing unusual in her mood that evening, or after they went to bed. "I just woke up to find she had gone," he told a journalist from the Worcester Evening News. "She has never done anything like this before and I haven't the faintest idea what has happened to her." He said he had been "unable to sleep" since she went missing, adding that his wife had been suffering from depression as a result of a recent bout of flu. The village of Kempsey was soon overrun as the search for Mrs Venables got under way. West Mercia Police used a helicopter to aid with the search and tracker dogs checked farm buildings and derelict properties, but no trace of her was found. Vicky Jennings, a friend of the couple, later recounted Mr Venables "did not seem overly concerned", and "didn't appear to be actively searching for his wife". David Harrison, now a councillor on Malvern Hills District Council, ran the Farmer's Arms pub on Bestmans Lane in Kempsey at the time. "Everybody was surprised, it is the same with any person that goes missing, it becomes the talk of the village," he said. "There was lots of speculation and lots of things put forward and lots of rumours." A police search, he said, lasted two or three weeks, covering a four or five-mile area around Kempsey up to the M50 motorway, including his own nine acres of land. "[There was] a great deal of police, coming round searching everywhere to see if there was anything anywhere that would lead to finding her," he said. "They cut back all the growth on the ditches to see if there was anything in the ditches." For almost 40 years, Mrs Venables' family was left without a single answer about what happened to her. Until July 2019, when human remains were found in a septic tank in the grounds of Quaking House Farm. The new owners of the farm - Mr Venables had moved out in 2014 - wanted the tank serviced. To the horror of engineer Alistair Pitt, he found a "large clump of hair" before uncovering a human skull. A pelvis and thigh bones were also recovered - although it was impossible to determine cause of death. Remnants of clothing including half a pair of knickers, a pair of tights, a bra, remains of some shoes and a sweater were also in the tank. At the time of the discovery, a search was ongoing just seven miles away for estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, who disappeared in London in 1986. A site near Pershore had been identified after new information arose following a search the previous year of a property in Sutton Coldfield, which once belonged to the mother of prime suspect John Cannan. But police said there was no link between the remains and Miss Lamplugh. It took more than a year until detectives announced the bones had formally been identified as those of Mrs Venables, and her husband, who was then 88, was charged with her murder. At his trial, details of his double life were revealed, as prosecutors told how he had been in a long-term on-off relationship with his mother's carer Lorraine Styles since around 1967. But even though Mrs Styles had died in 2017, a statement she had given to police in 1984 after Mrs Venables had disappeared was read to the court. She said the day after he reported his wife missing to police he had telephoned her. "He seemed quite composed and suddenly told me his wife had disappeared the night before and he was phoning to let me know before I read it in the paper," her statement said. "He called round about two weeks later but didn't mention it. "I couldn't understand how he was so calm about the whole episode." Prosecutor Michael Burrows QC told jurors he wanted Mrs Venables "out of the way". "He wanted to resume his long-standing affair with another woman," he said. "He knew about the septic tank in its secluded location. It was for him almost the perfect hiding place. "And for nearly 40 years, it was the perfect place and he got away with murder." West Mercia Police constable Peter Sharrock, who was among the search teams, told the hearing how the septic tank was apparently overlooked during the initial searches. "At the time, it just looked like a pad of concrete and I didn't pay it any attention," he said. "The word is hindsight, really." Mr Burrows had said it was "beyond belief" that Mrs Venables took her own life by climbing into the septic tank and "somehow" shifted the heavy lid and put it back in place above her "so that there was no sign of any disturbance". He also said it was "preposterous to suppose" Mrs Venables walked out of their house that night and was confronted by someone outside the house. Giving his evidence, Venables told how he regretted his affair. He also claimed he and his wife's relationship remained sexual and that they continued to share a bed until she vanished. But the court heard evidence from notes made by Mrs Venables' consultant psychiatrist, who she was seeing for treatment for depression in March 1982, saying the couple had not slept together since 1968 and had not shared a bed for three years. In police interviews, Venables even claimed murderer Fred West could have been responsible for killing his spouse. But jurors rejected his claims of innocence and convicted him of Mrs Venables' murder. Following his conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said few people knew about the "very secluded" septic tank in 1982, and only two people had emptied the tank, Mr Venables and another worker who said it had been difficult to access. As such, the CPS added, it was its case that if anybody else had been responsible for Mrs Venables' death, they would not have known about the tank as a way of concealing her body and it was "unbelievable" she may have been killed somewhere else and her body returned home. Her family have said her disappearance had "devastated" them. "She was kind and caring and has been greatly missed," they said. "We, her surviving family, are thankful that Brenda was found and that we were able to lay her to rest with her parents in a place of security, calm and dignity." Marian Walters, who was a friend of Mr Venables' brother, said the trial puts an end to decades of angst. "Nobody could imagine what it must have been like for the family, you know it can bring closure to all members of the family," she said. "Until the news broke three years ago, you know it's been lying dormant really. "The family can hopefully - it won't be easy - but they can move on, they can move forward." Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

IDC predicts that G2000 CIOs will have to shift staff, budgets, and operating processes for over 35% of IT and data assets due to sovereignty assertions in sustainability, resiliency, and asset residency by 2025. Digital sovereignty has become a key priority for policymakers triggered by EU policies and regulations. CIOs and CTOs embed digital sovereign requirements in RFI/RFPs to enhance security, resilience, reduce compliance risks, ensure trusted data sharing across jurisdictions and with partners. IDC PlanScape provides public and private sector IT executives with a framework to make strategic choices regarding the type of sovereign solutions they should select.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=EUR150615923&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

IDC PlanScape: Digital Sovereignty Decision Framework for IT Executives

IDC's Future Consumer research identifies eight categories for analyzing the role of technology in a consumer's life. These categories include Entertainment, The Home, Travel and Dining, Personal Mobility, Money, Shopping, Lifelong Learning, and Wellbeing. The data and insights gathered can benefit a wide range of companies, not just those focused on technology. Key data points from each category are presented along with the types of companies that can use this data. For example, Gen Z and Millennials have a positive view of delivered food and value delivery services when it comes to dining. Mobility is multi-mode for most consumers, with micro-mobility services set to grow at a 26% worldwide five-year CAGR. Online transactions became the majority during the pandemic, with online grocery services set to grow at an 8% worldwide five-year CAGR. Online learning is popular among Gen Z and Millennials, with broad online services set to grow at a 15% worldwide five-year CAGR. Finally, home workout time has increased during the pandemic, with online fitness services set to enjoy a 19% worldwide five-year CAGR.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/03/15/leveraging-idc-data-and-insights-across-your-organization-to-reach-the-future-consumer/

Leveraging IDC Data and Insights Across Your Organization to Reach the Future Consumer

IDC's study shows that the worldwide DRAM market revenue decreased by 14.5% in 2022 due to a demand-driven market correction, resulting in inventory soaring and market pricing falling below cash cost. Players in the market are struggling for survival.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50498023&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide DRAM Market Shares, 2022: Demand Collapse Started Deep Downcycle

I'm sorry, there is no text provided for me to summarize. Please provide the text you would like me to summarize.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=lcUS50669723&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Wry smiles and sense of nostalgia aside, the appearance of crisp packets from the 1960s on a Norfolk beach is a potent reminder of the longevity of single use plastics. Can anything be done to prevent today's crisp packets returning to our shores 60 years from now? Chris Turner was staying at his holiday home in Scratby, near Great Yarmouth, when he started to find decades-old litter on the beach. His discoveries include pre-decimalisation packets of Golden Wonder crisps, marked with a price of 5d, and 2d Spangles sweets. According to Statista, the UK devoured 8.3bn packets of crisps in 2017. By 2030, the consumer data firm expects that number to rise more than 30% to 11.1bn a year. The volume of single use crisp packets has both environmental experts and the crisp makers themselves concerned. Tash Jones, of Fairfields Farm Crisps, near Colchester in Essex, said she found Mr Turner's discoveries at Scratby very "disheartening". "Packaging is a difficult one and I don't think anybody has quite got there yet," she said. Fairfields, she said, was committed to finding ever more sustainable forms of packaging for its crisps. The company has tried a number of different packaging types in recent years, including a single ply wrapper which was found to reduce the shelf life too much to be economically viable. Its move from a three-ply packet to a two-ply bag using thinner film from a net-zero carbon packaging producer, however, has worked well, said Ms Jones. What about compostable bags? "It is not a never," said Ms Jones. "But a lot of local authorities will reject compostable packaging." The biggest issue, she said, was that while many crisp packets are recyclable, they are not actually recycled because many people will put bags in the bin rather than take them to a dedicated flexible plastic recycling facility. Laura Scudder created in the first sealed packet of crisps in the US in the 1920s using waxed paper bagsHowever, such packaging was not airtight, which led to crisp makers using plastic bags insteadIn the 1950s and 1960s, crisp packets were made from single-layer of plastic, often with a transparent section so the buyer could see the crisps insideToday's crisp packets often have a number of layers and are usually made from polypropylene or polyethylene with an aluminium coating The environmental charity WRAP agrees. "There is still change that needs to take place for widespread roll-out of recycling collections at kerbside for plastic bags and wrappings," a spokesperson for WRAP said. "The infrastructure to recycle this type material at scale, is not universally available. "Every form of packaging leaves an environmental footprint, and packaging innovations must reduce these to be more sustainable." However, the organisation said consumers needed to do their bit too by taking their crisp packets and similar wrappers to recycling facilities at supermarkets across the UK. The charity said it understood the difficulties some people faced in recycling plastic wrapping but warned it was "a critical step in the pathway to building the infrastructure at scale". It said it would "continue to work with industry partners to prepare for kerbside collections of plastic bags and wrapping". The biggest crisp company in the UK is Walkers, which is owned by PepsiCo. "We plan to eliminate virgin fossil-based plastic in all crisp and snack bags by using 100% recycled or renewable content in all packets by 2030," a spokesperson said. In the meantime, the company said it was finding ways to cut the amount of plastics used in its packaging and encouraging customers to recycle packets. The recycling issue is entirely bypassed by the Herefordshire-based company Two Farmers, which sells crisps in compostable packets. Co-founder Sean Mason said his packaging is made of cellulose and uses plant-based inks and glue. An extremely thin layer of aluminium is applied to the inside of the cellulose wrapper to keep the crisps fresh. "The aluminium sprayed on the film is less than you would find in the soil and there is zero plastic," he said. The firm's bags will break down in a typical domestic compost set-up within 25 to 35 weeks. So why aren't all companies going down the compostable route? The first reason is price. A packet for a standard 40g bag costs independent crisp makers about 1.6p. A compostable Two Farmers bag costs 12.5p. "We launched with it and gave consumers the choice - they knew we were more expensive from day one." For other makers suddenly to increase their packet price by 11p to cover the compostable packaging cost could kill their business, said Mr Mason. The second issue is shelf-life. A typical plastic and foil bag has a shelf life of six or more months while a cellulose packet is about 4.5 months, said Mr Mason. Crisp packet from 1960s found on beachOceans littered with 171 trillion plastic piecesHow many other Hemsbys are waiting to happen? Plastic kills fish and sea animals and takes hundreds of years to break down into less harmful materials. Two Farmers' cellulose packets, on the other hand "completely break down in water", the end product resembling a slimy goo. If they were eaten by a sea animal the bags, Mr Mason said, would "break down in their digestive tract and pass safely through". "We don't want our bags littered anywhere, but if they were dropped at sea you wouldn't find our bags coming to shore from the water in a year's time never mind in 60," he said. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

IDC's new eBook, Blockchain, Crypto, NFTs, and Web3 explores the use of open technologies and protocols to support the exchange of decentralized data, knowledge, and value. Web3 is built on Crypto and NFTs to exchange value for content between creators, platforms, and consumers. The use of NFTs allows the secure tracking and equitable compensation for digital content and data. Data marketplaces can offer accurate insights for businesses and compensate all participants in the value creation process. Expect a rise in the use of NFTs beyond art as any digital information can be securely recorded and exchanged on an NFT.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/08/12/web3-and-you-how-crypto-and-nfts-will-change-the-way-you-do-business/

WEB3 AND YOU: How Crypto and NFTs Will Change the Way You do Business

The relationship between business and technology is evolving, with executives viewing technology as a strategic tool. Digital-first strategies are being adopted by a majority of organizations in Asia/Pacific, and digital initiatives are critical to achieving top business objectives. The use of digital channels has changed traditional sales and marketing economics, and businesses are leveraging data to improve customer experience. IoT, AI, and automation are democratizing data and facilitating better decision-making. However, only a small percentage of organizations have CEOs leading digital initiatives, and the C-suite must prioritize technology investments to succeed in the era of the digital business.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/11/11/digital-first-the-evolving-relationship-of-business-and-technology/

Digital-First: The Evolving Relationship of Business and Technology

The worldwide service provider router market for 2022 saw a steady YoY growth of 1.3%, driven by increased deployment of 400Gbps technology. North American service providers invested heavily in infrastructure to support growing bandwidth demand and surpassed other regions in router investment. Huawei and Cisco were the star performers in the market, aided by the buildout of 5G network infrastructure where their broader portfolios helped them gain share.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US49407522&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Service Provider Router Market Shares, 2022: Cisco Maintains Its Market Position, Juniper Shows a Strong Gain

The article discusses the importance of industry ecosystems and the benefits of expanding partnerships beyond the core industry. Many organizations do not collaborate with ecosystem partners, but expanding partnerships can lead to growth, resiliency, and meeting customer needs. The IDC MaturityScape model outlines different phases of ecosystem expansion and the supporting dimensions. Digital technology investments enable better communication, collaboration, data sharing, and innovation with partners. CEOs and executive leadership recognize the critical role of partners in ensuring business growth and stability. The next step is to incorporate partners from outside the core industry.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/07/20/extending-digital-first-with-a-diverse-industry-ecosystem-of-partners/

Extending Digital-First with a Diverse Industry Ecosystem of Partners

Enterprises transitioning to digital businesses need to innovate with differentiated and disruptive technologies, with data and analytics playing increasingly important roles. Organizations with excellent enterprise intelligence innovate 2.5x faster than those with poor intelligence. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the power of digital technology and innovation in delivering resiliency, revenue, and opportunity. The ability to scale development and delivery of digital innovation will be critical, with enterprises that deliver on such initiatives emerging as leaders in their market sectors. IDC has 10 predictions for the future of digital innovation.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/11/14/idc-futurescape-worldwide-future-of-digital-innovation-2023-predictions/

IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Digital Innovation 2023 Predictions

A pub in Cornwall has been crowned the winner of a competition set up to find the most nature-friendly beer garden.Eighteen tenanted St Austell Brewery pubs across Cornwall were in competition for the top spot.The owners of the St Kew Inn, near Bodmin, installed a pond and have grown a wildflower meadow to attract wildlife.Pub landlord Mike Masters said they also avoided cutting hedges and shrubs and have removed fences to attract hedgehogs. The competition was set up by researchers at the University of Exeter's Cornwall campus, St Austell Brewery and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.The idea was to get pubs to compete against each other in creating space for nature in their pub gardens.Mr Masters said: "We've actually put in bird boxes, hedgehog boxes, ponds, various different trees."He said making the beer garden more nature-friendly was a "win-win for everyone". He said: "If we can regenerate the biodiversity, it will effectively give our customers a better place to drink and eat their food."Speaking about the pub being crowned winner of the competition, Mr Masters added: "We're very lucky, there's been amazing pubs that have entered it, we're lucky to come out on top."As well as winning the title, The St Kew Inn also received a small cash prize to spend on further environmentally-friendly measures, and a barrel of beer.

Ukraine says it has recaptured ground in Bakhmut, a rare advance after months of grinding Russian gains in the eastern city. Kyiv said its forces advanced 2km (1.2 miles) in a week. Russia said its troops had regrouped in one area. The claims signal a momentum shift in Bakhmut - but more widely, there is no clear evidence of a Ukrainian counter-offensive. However, two explosions were reported on Friday in Russian-occupied Luhansk. Images posted on social media, verified by the BBC, show a big plume of black smoke rising from the city, which lies about 90km (55.9 miles) behind the front line in eastern Ukraine. The blasts come a day after the UK said it had supplied Ukraine with long range Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Kremlin-appointed officials said six children in Luhansk were injured in a missile attack alongside Russian parliamentarian Viktor Vodolatsky. The authorities there have blamed the attack on Kyiv. Luhansk is beyond the reach of the Himars rockets Ukraine has previously relied on for deep strikes against Russian targets. But Russian-appointed officials in the region said they thought Ukrainian-made missiles were responsible, hitting administrative buildings of two defunct enterprises. Earlier Russia's defence ministry said Russian troops in one Bakhmut area had changed their position for strategic reasons. It said units of the southern group of Russian forces had taken up a better defensive position in the Maloilinivka area, something which took into consideration "the favourable conditions of the Berkhivka reservoir". However the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin said what the Ministry of Defence was talking about "is unfortunately called 'fleeing' and not a 'regrouping'". As the intense, bloody battle has worn on, Bakhmut has become symbolically important - though many experts question its tactical value. In a post on Telegram, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar claimed Russia suffered significant troop losses as Ukraine gained 2km without losing any positions. Meanwhile Russian military bloggers reported Ukrainian advances or troop movements in several areas. The Institute for the Study of War also said Ukrainian forces had probably made gains of 2km in Bakhmut. The BBC has verified video of soldiers with Ukrainian-identifying markings posing in front of a gate and a tank in the distance, also with Ukrainian markings. The video, published on 11 May, has been located to an area around Bakhmut industrial college, until recently held by Wagner troops. Away from Bakhmut, the exiled mayor of Melitopol reported a large explosion on Friday morning in the centre of the south-eastern city, which has been occupied by Russia since the start of the war. It was not known what caused the blast, but the Ukrainian air force made 14 strikes on Russian forces and military equipment on Thursday, Ukraine's armed forces said. Alongside the air strikes, Ukraine said it destroyed nine Russian drones and carried out successful attacks on dozens of military targets - including artillery units, an ammunition warehouse and air defence equipment. After months of stalemate, a Ukrainian counter-offensive - helped by newly-arrived Western weapons - has been openly discussed. But Ukraine's president said on Thursday it was too early to start the attack. "With [what we already have] we can go forward and, I think, be successful," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview. "But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time." Despite President Zelensky's words, pro-Kremlin Russian war correspondent Sasha Kots claimed the counter-offensive had begun. Ukrainian tanks were on the Kharkiv ring road heading towards the border with Russia, he said, quoting "trusted" sources. His claims could not be independently verified. "There are low loaders in the columns carrying Western [tank] models among others," Kots added. "In other words," he said, "Kiev [Kyiv] has decided to aggravate the situation along the northern front in parallel with the start of offensive actions on the flanks of Artyomovsk [the Russian name for Bakhmut]." Another Russian war correspondent, Alexander Simonov, wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces had broken through near the village of Bohdanivka, close to Bakhmut, taking "several square kilometres" of ground. Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Musivenko said Kyiv recognised that the anticipated counter-offensive might not necessarily defeat Russia "in all occupied areas". He told Ukrainian NV radio there was every possibility the war could continue into next year. "It all depends on how the battles develop. We can't guarantee how the counteroffensive will develop," he said. An unnamed senior US military official told CNN that Ukrainian forces were preparing for a major counter-offensive by striking targets such as weapons depots, command centres and armour and artillery systems.. Ukraine's spring 2022 advances in the southern and north-eastern parts of the country were also preceded by air attacks to "shape" the battlefield. Daniele Palumbo and Richard Irvine-Brown contributed to this article Incident Room - Ukraine: How Will it End? Frank Gardner weighs up the possible outcomes for the war, as Ukraine prepares a counter-offensive against Russian forces. Watch now on BBC iPlayer (UK only)

Ukraine has no plans to hit targets in Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in Germany, where Kyiv secured a big new defence aid package. "We are not attacking Russian territory," he said after talks in Berlin with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. "We are preparing a counterattack to de-occupy the illegitimately conquered territories," Mr Zelensky added. Mr Scholz vowed to back Ukraine "for as long as it is necessary", promising €2.7bn (£2.4bn) worth of weapons. This includes advanced German Leopard tanks and more anti-aircraft systems to defend Ukraine from almost daily deadly Russian missile and drone attacks. President Zelensky described the new tranche as "the largest since the beginning of the full-scale aggression" by Russia in February 2022. The war has transformed Germany's attitude towards Ukraine, moving from being a reluctant supplier of military hardware to virtually doubling its contribution overnight, the BBC's Jenny Hill in Berlin says. Russia accuses Ukraine of repeatedly hitting targets inside Russia, including a reported drone attack on Moscow's Kremlin earlier this month. Ukraine denies the accusations, while also stressing that it has a legitimate right to use force and other means to fully de-occupy its territories currently under Russian control. These include four regions in the south and east, as well as the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014. Later on Sunday, President Zelensky travelled to the western city of Aachen to receive the prestigious Charlemagne Prize awarded this year to him and the Ukrainian people. The honour is given for efforts to foster European unity. "Ukraine incarnates everything the European idea is living for: the courage of convictions, the fight for values and freedom, the commitment to peace and unity," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the award ceremony. Previous winners include Winston Churchill, Pope Francis and Bill Clinton. In other developments on Sunday: Ukraine's air force says it destroyed 25 drones and three cruise missiles launched by Russia in yet another massive overnight attackSix people were killed and another 16 injured in the past 24 hours in Russian shelling of Ukraine-held areas in the eastern Donetsk region, local officials saidOne person was killed in Sunday's Russian artillery attack on the southern Kherson regionMobile internet is temporarily suspended in the Russian-seized areas of the eastern Luhansk region because of increased shelling by Ukrainian troops, Moscow-installed officials said President Zelensky flew to Germany from Italy overnight, his plane escorted by two German Air Force fighter jets. In Rome, the Ukrainian leader met Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He also had a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican. The Argentine pontiff said he was constantly praying for peace in Ukraine. The Pope also stressed the urgent need to help "the most fragile people, innocent victims" of the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, Ms Meloni assured Mr Zelensky of Rome's support for united Ukraine. Later on Sunday, the Ukrainian leader arrived in Paris, where he went to the Élysée Palace for a working dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron.

IDC study reports on revenue from in-app and in-game ads, direct user spending on mobile games and nongame apps. Mobile ad revenue is broken down by format and OS for 2020-2022. The study predicts significant growth in mobile app-based ads through 2027 despite challenges with privacy regulations.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50485823&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Mobile In-App and In-Game Advertising Forecast, 2023–2027: ATT Keeps Rocking the Boat as Privacy Sandbox Looms

IDC emphasizes the importance of understanding consumers' mindset towards technology, as their experiences as human beings increasingly dictate what they want and need from technology. IDC has developed a Future Consumer Framework consisting of eight primary segments to provide a holistic view of how consumers use technology. IDC leverages this framework in three primary research areas: The Consumer Pulse, Consumer Market Model, and Future Consumer Agenda. The data-driven products are enhanced by analysts' insights and aim to equip tech companies, governments, NGOs, and others with insights that drive long-term strategies. Younger generations view and use technology differently from older ones and will drive significant sea changes in the consumer and commercial technology markets. IDC is dedicated to covering the consumer space and the changes they see coming.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/12/07/the-importance-of-understanding-the-future-consumer-even-if-you-run-an-enterprise-focused-business/

The Importance of Understanding the Future Consumer (Even If You Run an Enterprise-Focused Business)

The study evaluates SaaS and cloud-enabled buy-side CLM solutions and highlights the important criteria for companies to consider when selecting a system. CLM providers now offer more than authoring and repository tools, with buyers seeking risk assessment, exposure analysis, and future event prediction capabilities.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US48785822&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Buy-Side Contract Life-Cycle Management Applications 2023 Vendor Assessment

Building work is yet to start for 33 of the government's 40 promised new hospitals in England, the BBC has found. Most are still waiting to hear what their final budget will be for the projects with a 2030 deadline. Only two are finished and open. Ministers aimed to have six ready for 2025 - but none of this group has full planning permission or funding yet. The government insists it remains committed to meeting the targets. Health leaders say they need urgent clarity. The BBC looked at the issue last year and since then there has been little progress. When the pledge was announced, in 2019, there was some controversy about exactly what counts as a "new hospital". What's happened to the 40 new hospitals pledge?NHS hospital buildings 'risky and need repair' NHS guidance says it can range from an entirely new building on a new site to a major refurbishment or alteration. By October 2020, the commitment was confirmed, with an initial budget of £3.7bn. Of the 40 hospitals on the list, eight were projects already planned. BBC News contacted them all, asking for a progress report: 33 said they had not started the main building work yet Five are under constructionTwo, the Royal Liverpool and the Northern Centre for Cancer Care, are finished and open to patients Investment seems to be a factor: Eight said they had full fundingOne hospital did not want to answer31 said they did not yet have the money to start the core building work but had received some cash to get the project going One of the six due to be completed in 2025 is Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, near London. Some parts of St Helier's site look more like a derelict building than a functioning NHS hospital. A makeshift wooden roof at the back is held down with sandbags. One of the three intensive-care units has a problem with ventilation, so it can be used only as a storeroom. In another, staff are working around a leak. In winter, it is not unusual for entire corridors to flood. When we met Chief Medical Officer Ruth Charlton outside a condemned ward, she told us: "It's not safe to enter - the foundations are crumbling and windows are falling out." She cannot see a new build happening by 2025. Her "optimistic" estimate is 2027. Ms Charlton would not be drawn on a realistic guess but was blunt about how sad and frustrated she felt. "I'm frustrated on behalf of our patients, their families or staff that they can't receive healthcare in the sort of facility that I would want my family to receive healthcare in," she told us. As we talk, we can hear the sound of a maintenance crew drilling. The trust says its backlog maintenance - to bring buildings and equipment up to standard - will cost £130m. Across the NHS in England, backlog-maintenance costs have more than doubled, from £4.7bn in 2011-12 to £10.2bn in 2021-22. In other words, it has become twice as expensive just to keep the doors open. Health think tank the Nuffield Trust chief executive Nigel Edwards says the government started with a "big and slightly vague promise - and it was never clear there was enough money available to do anything like the scale of construction that they wanted to". And ministers hitting their 2030 target is "extremely unlikely". "They've underestimated how long it takes to change the way they design, build, and plan hospitals," he says. "It's a great ambition - but I think a bit of realism is now starting to sink in." In 2019, Boris Johnson assured voters he could build the 40 new hospitals but only "because we're running a strong economy". The government has never explicitly allocated a budget for this project - but it has undoubtedly become more expensive. Inflation means prices have gone up sharply, especially in construction. Institute for Financial Studies senior research economist Ben Zaranko says: "Either the government sticks to that pledge and accepts it will need to spend more on hospital building or it decides it scales back the number and scope of hospitals." A Department of Health and Social Care official said: "We remain committed to delivering all 40 new hospitals by 2030 as part of the biggest hospital-building programme in a generation." The logic here is the New Hospital Programme is developing a new national approach to building these hospitals across England - and a standard approach should mean more a rapid process. But there is another - potentially dangerous - complication. Several hospitals across England are at risk of collapse, with roofs propped up with scaffolding and posts, because they were built using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) - a lightweight concrete with bubbles inside like "a chocolate Aero bar". The NHS has identified 34 NHS buildings in England containing RAAC planks - and it is believed about five need to be dealt with urgently. But only a small number of the hospitals with planned new builds are thought to be affected by RAAC, so it would make sense to expect new RAAC hospitals to be added to the list soon. Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents trusts, wants clarity, ideally in the next few weeks. "We are at a pivotal moment, a key point, where we cannot leave for much longer the scale of deterioration," he says. 'We need to know that if we delay too much longer, the scale of the problems in other hospitals and facilities will get to a critical level." Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he added there was an "absolutely dire need for decisions to be made about making progress... and tackling in the longer term the ageing infrastructure" of hospitals.

IT prices have been steadily increasing due to various factors such as supply chain disruptions and high demand for remote work technology. While hardware prices have stabilized, they still remain costly. Software costs are not influenced by supply but by demand, and vendors have found ways to extend user acceptance of higher prices through subscriptions. Labor costs continue to rise due to a critical IT skills shortage. Cloud computing services have a history of average price decline but are now enacting price increases due to higher costs. Technology buyers should be selective on new installations, expansions, renewal terms, and projects to conserve IT budgets and hedge against unfavorable buying conditions. Investing in spend management tools that specialize in the cloud can help control cloud consumption costs. IDC's Sourcing Advisory Services provides clients with price benchmarking and sourcing expertise to help drive savings and efficiency across all technology purchases.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/11/07/accepting-the-reality-of-it-inflation-and-ways-to-cope/

Accepting The Reality of IT Inflation and Ways to Cope

Hundreds more photographic images, saved from being dumped at a tip, have been unearthed and handed over to a city archive. Some of the glass negatives, rescued by former cameraman Ian Hollands, have lain unseen for more than 30 years. The collection, depicting the lives of people in Coventry as the city restored itself following the devastation of the blitz in 1940, was taken by Arthur Cooper. More information had also come to light about the photographer himself. Mr Hollands had previously sent thousands of the negatives he had rescued to publishing company Mirrorpix where they were digitised and made available to view as part of the Coventry Digital initiative. Following a BBC report highlighting the Coventry University scheme, Mr Hollands was prompted to hand over more boxes, containing about 500 negatives, to the project's director Dr Ben Kyneswood. Arthur Cooper, a freelance photographer, worked in the city from the 1930s to the 1960s, capturing weddings, award ceremonies and events as well as visiting celebrities and royalty for publications such as the Midlands Daily News and the Coventry Evening Telegraph. An "early look" at the collection showed it contained images similar to the 8,049 already digitised, Dr Kyneswood said. "I was really hopeful that there was more out there," he added, "so to find out that there was more out there and that they're in my office now - it's fantastic". Keen photographer Mr Hollands, 75, said he had been alerted to the fact the valuable negatives were about to be taken to a tip some time in the late 1980s, and he had to act quickly to save them. He had retrieved the thousands of glass plates from the garden of Mr Cooper's widow, Marjorie, where they had "just been chucked in rubbish bags". "I took them home and put them all in cardboard boxes, and they stayed on the shelf in my house for about 15 or 20 years," he explained. About ten years ago most of the collection he passed on to Mirrorpix via his son, Samuel Hollands, who worked for the Coventry Evening Telegraph at the time. "One day a Ford transit van turned up and we loaded all the glass plate negatives into the back of this van and that's the last I saw them until I've heard about them now," he explained. "I kept a few boxes back just so I could go through them, but they've been sitting around in my house ever since," he said, but had handed over the archive after being alerted to Dr Kyneswood's project. Samuel Hollands said he had been shocked to see the coverage of Arthur Cooper on the BBC. "When I told my father he didn't believe me, he thought it must be something else," he said. "But I just knew they were the ones that we'd given in all those years ago." "I'm pleased I did something about it, because I could have just ignored it and they would have gone," his father added." More details had also emerged about the photographer himself, explained Dr Kyneswood. "A family member had got in touch with some photographs of Arthur, and to say he had served in Egypt in World War Two, and detailed some of the military campaign medals he had won." Information from Mr Cooper's niece, 78-year-old Sandra Johnson, also revealed he had worked as a photographer to King Faisal II of Iraq when the ruler was just seven years old. He was also a Freeman of the city. He said since the story about Mr Cooper was published in January, about 100,000 people had viewed the photographer's images on the Coventry Digital website, which was "amazing". "We've had some great stories come out, people being able to point out friends and families," he said. "And they're able to tell me what they're looking at and give me some exceptional detail." The collection was significant because it gave people "a chance to tell their stories, because they can see themselves, and their life in these pictures," he said. After scanning the latest negatives they would be driven to the Mirrorpix archive in Watford "where they'll join the other Arthur Cooper archive negatives, and they'll be saved forever," Dr Kyneswood added. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

A 10-tonne beached sperm whale was so thin when it died its ribs were sticking from its side. The post-mortem examination on the mammal found at Porth Neigwl, Gwynedd also discovered it ate squid beaks. Experts said the whale was very poorly and underweight when it became stranded and had urged people to stay clear of the carcass. The adult female whale about 10.8m (35.4ft) long was the second to wash up on a UK beach in two days. It is only the second sperm whale to be recorded in Wales in the last century. The post-mortem examination was carried out by a team from the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme and marine biologist Rob Deaville said there were parasites at "several sites" but these were considered incidental to its death. He added that there was no evidence of recent feeding but the whale had consumed "small numbers of squid beaks". Mr Deaville said there was little evidence it had eaten plastic or other debris bar a "few fragmentary pieces". Sections of intestine were taken to be examined for microplastics. Two octopuses spotted walking on a Ceredigion beachDogs save tiny turtle from becoming gull's dinnerSailor spots 12ft shark lurking in sea off Tenby The marine biologist said on Twitter it was confirmed it was an adult female from "scars on the ovaries and the appearance of the uterus". It was, he said, in "markedly poor nutritional condition". "We were concerned about a potential mass on its side," Mr Deaville said. "Surprised to find on site that this was actually the ribs protruding." It had suffered significant muscle wastage and was "the thinnest sperm whale I've ever worked on". The age of the whale remains unclear. Mr Deaville said the interim findings were considered consistent with "marked nutritional loss and live stranding". The whale was far from home, he said, adding that more could be learned from further analysis. Mr Deaville said it was only the second sperm whale recorded in Wales over the last century and only the fourth female in the UK in the same period.

IDC provides an updated forecast for the worldwide augmented and virtual reality hardware market for the 2023-2027 period, with a return to growth expected in 2023 due to new devices coming to market, including Sony's PSVR 2 and Apple's first virtual reality device. However, growth may be limited by the lack of a killer application.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50544823&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Augmented and Virtual Reality Hardware Forecast Update, 2023-2027: CY 2Q23

Understanding your total addressable market (TAM) is essential for setting realistic goals and making informed decisions about marketing and product development. Despite economic downturns, it's important to maintain advertising spend and take a data-driven approach to understanding your customer. To remain competitive, consider branching out to new markets or demographics and leverage digital marketing strategies like PPC and display ads. Partnering with an analyst firm can also help you achieve your goals efficiently and within budget.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/04/10/grow-your-total-addressable-market/

How to Grow Your Total Addressable Market in Today’s Economy

IDC study ranks top IT consulting services vendors by global and US revenue, noting recovery from COVID-19 slowdown and clients adapting to post-COVID changes.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50488823&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide and U.S. IT Consulting Services Market Shares, 2021: Bouncing Back from COVID-19

Tom Hanks has raised the prospect of his career continuing after his death using artificial intelligence. The Forrest Gump and Cast Away actor said the technology could be used to recreate his image, ensuring he continued to appear in movies "from now until kingdom come". But he admitted the developments posed artistic and legal challenges. His remarks came as the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant said AI could be used by musicians to complete songs. Hanks, 66, was asked about the legal ramifications of the new technology in the latest episode of The Adam Buxton podcast. "This has always been lingering," he said. "The first time we did a movie that had a huge amount of our own data locked in a computer - literally what we looked like - was a movie called The Polar Express. "We saw this coming, we saw that there was going to be this ability to take zeros and ones from inside a computer and turn it into a face and a character. That has only grown a billion-fold since then and we see it everywhere." The Polar Express, released in 2004, was the first film entirely animated using digital motion-capture technology. Hanks said talks are being held in the film industry about how to protect actors from the effects of the technology. "I can tell you that there is discussions going on in all of the guilds, all of the agencies, and all of the legal firms in order to come up with the legal ramifications of my face and my voice and everybody else's being our intellectual property," Hanks added. "What is a bona fide possibility right now is, if I wanted to, I could get together and pitch a series of seven movies that would star me in them in which I would be 32 years old from now until kingdom come. "Anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are by way of AI or deep fake technology. I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that's it, but performances can go on and on and on and on. "Outside the understanding of AI and deep fake, there'll be nothing to tell you that it's not me and me alone. "And it's going to have some degree of lifelike quality. That's certainly an artistic challenge but it's also a legal one." Similar technology has already been used in the latest Indiana Jones film, for which Harrison Ford, 80, was "de-aged" for the opening sequence. Filmmakers trawled archived material of the younger Ford before matching it to new footage, creating the illusion of Indiana Jones in 1944. Hanks acknowledged that the technological developments could lead to an AI-generated version of himself appearing in films he may not not normally choose. He said: "Without a doubt people will be able to tell [that it's AI], but the question is will they care? There are some people that won't care, that won't make that delineation." Tom Hanks says he is not always Mr Nice GuyGrimes says anyone can use her voice for AI songsDrake and The Weeknd AI song pulled from Spotify AI is also posing dilemmas for the music industry, with conflicting reactions to its use to make music by artists. A song created using the cloned voices of Drake and The Weeknd was pulled from streaming services last month, but Grimes has encouraged musicians to use her voice to make music. Pet Shop Boys' singer Neil Tennant told the Radio Times he was excited about the potential of the technology. "There's a song that we wrote a chorus for in 2003 and we never finished because I couldn't think of the verses, " he said. "But now with AI you could give it the bits you've written, press the button and have it fill in the blanks. You might then rewrite it but it would be a tool."

The world's biggest storms, which whip the high seas into a frenzy or flatten buildings on land, have long daunted wind farm developers. But that is changing. Operators are increasingly adopting turbines designed to withstand tropical cyclones. One of the latest examples is a "typhoon-resistant" floating wind turbine, which will soon help to power an offshore oil platform in China. According to the manufacturer, MingYang Smart Energy, this 7.25 megawatt (MW) turbine can survive wind speeds of up to 134mph for 10 minutes. It has been installed at a facility 136km off the coast of the island province of Hainan. MingYang did not respond to a BBC request for comment but theirs is not the first turbine designed to face down such an onslaught. In 2021, US firm GE received typhoon-certification for its mammoth Haliade-X turbine. It is fixed, not floating, and has a capacity of up to 13MW. The blistering growth of the wind energy industry is pushing turbines to their limits and some question whether the pace of the rollout is wise. While components such as turbine blades are remarkably strong, they are not indestructible. And the forces of nature, especially out at sea, are notoriously unpredictable, meaning the pressure is on to prove that wind turbines really are hurricane-ready. Tropical cyclones - often called typhoons or hurricanes depending on location - are a familiar threat in certain parts of the world, including in the Gulf of Mexico or around much of Southeast Asia. Such storms can produce wind speeds well in excess of 100mph. The strongest one-minute sustained winds on record, of 215mph, were created by Hurricane Patricia in the Eastern Pacific in 2015. Despite the meteorological challenges in such regions, the expansion of wind energy is expected there in the coming years and decades. Today's turbines already put up with some powerful gales. Those positioned off the northeast coast of the UK in the North Sea operate in wind speeds of up to 50mph or so, after which point they are switched off, notes Simon Hogg at Durham University, who holds the Ørsted chair at the university, which is funded by energy firm Ørsted. Technically, such turbines are designed to survive even higher wind speeds. Leon Mishnaevsky of the Technical University of Denmark suggests that wind turbine blades are generally quite reliable. These days, they are made from strong but lightweight carbon fibre composites and automated manufacturing processes help to ensure the uniform placement of the fibres, which is important for the blades' robustness, he notes. Wind turbine makers also perform a range of stress tests on blades to ensure that they are up to scratch. This can include attaching large "exciters" to the blades, which bounce up and down, simulating the repeated stresses of winds on the structure. Giant blades are also sometimes bent to the point of breaking, says Prof Hogg, which helps to confirm the maximum loads they can bear. But the fallibility of turbines, especially the biggest ones, is becoming more apparent as time goes by. Insurer GCube notes in a recent report that offshore wind losses rose from £1m in 2012 to more than £7m in 2021. Plus, machines with capacities larger than 8MW can suffer component failures within just two years of installation, the firm says, more than twice as fast as 4-8MW devices. More technology of business: Why teaching robots to blink is hard but importantThe tech entrepreneur betting he can get youngerHow LinkedIn is changing and why some are not happyThe tiny diamond sphere central to a fusion breakthroughThe remote Swedish town leading the green steel race Some of the most dangerous forces to trouble turbine blades are torsion, or twisting, loads, says Find Mølholt Jensen, chief executive of Bladena, a firm that specialises in diagnosing and repairing large turbine blades around 60m in length, or longer. Repeated twisting of blades can induce difficult-to-spot fractures, he says: "The damage cannot be seen from the outside." The longer the blade, the greater the risk, comments a spokesman for Bladena. Current testing and industry standards are not sufficient to prove that the largest turbine blades can withstand these stresses, argues Dr Jensen. New designs could help, though. In Japan, Challenergy has been working on a turbine with tall, vertical blades that spin around a central tower. While currently much smaller and less powerful than the biggest traditional, three-bladed turbines in operation today, Challenergy's device is intended to cope with very high winds. When a powerful typhoon called Hin Nam No struck the Philippines and Japan last August, it passed over two of the company's turbines. One of the devices, at Ishigaki City in Okinawa, recorded wind speeds of around 64mph. The turbine continued to operate without any problems, according to Challenergy. In the US, a research team has taken a cue from nature in their design of an alternative hurricane-resistant turbine. "We were inspired by palm trees," explains Lucy Pao at the University of Colorado Boulder. "In high winds they kind of go with the flow, they bend with the wind." She and her colleagues designed a prototype two-bladed wind turbine design with flexible blades. Plus, the rotor faces downwind rather than into the wind, as is common in traditional configurations, helping it to absorb the impact of strong gales. During tests at an onshore site in Colorado, the blade tips were observed deflecting by up to 600mm, more than half a metre. "None of them snapped," says Prof Pao. Wind speeds in the area can reach 100mph in the wintertime, she adds. However, the wind energy industry has almost universally adopted the upwind, three-bladed design so selling a new concept is difficult, Prof Pao explains. Currently, her research in this area is on hold, pending further funding. She shares the concerns of other observers who question whether wind turbines are really ready for some of the strongest winds nature can hurl at them. "The novel materials, they are stronger, they are pretty amazing, but I don't know that they've been tested out as thoroughly as maybe they should be," she says. Then there are the tricky economics of siting turbines in places where winds are especially variable. James Martin is chief executive at Gulf Wind Technology, a company exploring the deployment of turbines in the Gulf of Mexico. In this area, low wind speeds are common for most of the year - with the occasional hurricane blasting its way through. "If you design that turbine to be strong enough to withstand the peak wind event, then you'll be carrying a lot of extra cost for the times that you've got light wind," notes Mr Martin. He declines to share details of the turbines or technologies his firm is considering. In the coming years, you can expect to see more and more turbines arriving in regions affected by cyclones, though. "We need [turbines] there as much as we need them in any other area of the globe," argues Prof Hogg. "I don't think we should shy away from it."

Scotland's councils have "gone beyond the point" where making savings is enough to balance their books, a spending watchdog has warned. The Accounts Commission said local authorities must radically change how they operate in order to maintain and improve the services they offer. Auditors warn budget constraints and cost pressures are putting councils' finances under "severe strain". Adult social care and housing are among areas of concern. These areas, along with environmental services and culture and leisure, are where a new Accounts Commission report concludes service performance was "at risk or declining". A "new deal" between the Scottish government and councils, which is aimed at allowing more long-term planning and could allow new local taxes, is "long overdue", the report adds. Tricky decisions as Scotland's councils face budget shortfallsCouncils say they face worst ever finance pressureExtra £100m for councils as tax-raising plans approved Council services across Scotland have been impacted by financial pressures in the last year. In Aberdeen, campaigners have been fighting the closure of libraries and a swimming pool, while in West Lothian a number of leisure centres are earmarked for closure. Tim McKay, acting chairman of the Accounts Commission, said local authorities need to have "open and honest conversations" with their communities and staff about how they will operate in the future. He added: "Councils have gone beyond the point where making savings is enough. "If the change needed doesn't happen now, some services will continue to get worse or deeper cuts will be made. "This will impact communities and individuals that are already at crisis point with the effects of inequality and persistently high poverty." The Audit Scotland report highlights how 23% of council budgets were ringfenced or directed for national policy initiatives in 2021/22 - up from 18% in the previous year. This type of funding supports the delivery of key Scottish government policies but "it prevents councils from making decisions about how funds can be used at a local level, to meet local need", the report adds. Analysis by Audit Scotland shows spending on children's services and adult social care has been protected and increased because of Scottish government policy directives over the last decade. However, the remaining "unprotected" services have borne a "disproportionate level of spending reductions", according to auditors. The Scottish government has said it will review all ring-fenced funding as part of the delayed "new deal" for local government. The Audit Scotland report calls for councils to be more transparent with the public about scale of demand, the extent of backlogs and the need to ration access to services. It also calls for a more collaborative approach between public bodies. Shona Morrison, president of council umbrella body Cosla, said this was demonstrated during the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. She added: "The report also recognises the huge challenges councils face due to budget constraints, increased cost pressures and demand, and increases in directed and ringfenced funding. "As we have all seen, increasingly difficult choices are required about spending priorities and service provision, given reducing budgets coupled with growing demographic and workforce pressures." The Scottish Conservatives said urgent action was needed to avoid cuts to local services that would have a "devastating impact on our most deprived communities and the most vulnerable people living in them". The party called on the first minister to "come good on his promise of a New Deal for local government as soon as possible". Scottish Labour said the report "lays bare the scale of the crisis facing local government after years of cuts and centralisation by the SNP and the Greens" and said the government should stop "robbing funding from communities". Local government minister Joe FitzPatrick said: "We recognise that the work of both local and national government is vital in delivering sustainable public services our communities rely upon. "That is why the Scottish government is committed to working with Cosla to agree a 'new deal' for local government that promotes empowerment and provides greater flexibility over local funding with clear accountability for delivery of shared priorities and outcomes."

The government has announced new funding to relocate more than 8,000 Afghans who are currently living in hotels in the UK. The government says this will help move refugees into permanent homes, but critics say it risks making some Afghans homeless. The government says that more than 24,000 people have arrived in the UK from Afghanistan as of December 2022, including British nationals. Of these, more than 21,000 have been resettled under Afghan refugee schemes. Most came as part of Operation Pitting, the British military operation starting in August 2021 to evacuate British nationals and Afghans from Kabul. About 2,000 came before Operation Pitting15,000 arrived during Operation Pitting 7,000 have arrived since In written evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee, Raphael Marshall, who previously worked on the Foreign Office's Afghanistan crisis response, estimated that between 75,000 and 150,000 people had applied for evacuation in August 2021. He estimated that 5% of these received assistance. The Home Office said another 1,400 former staff and their families had already been relocated since 2013 under an earlier scheme. In April 2021 - before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan - the government launched the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme. Under the scheme, Afghans who worked for the British military and UK government - for example, as interpreters - could apply to settle permanently in the UK, rather get five years' residency which was previously offered. The government also opened the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) in January 2022, which it says will allow up to 20,000 refugees to settle in the UK. This scheme focuses on women and children as well as religious and other minorities in danger from the Taliban. Immediate family members of those eligible under either the ACRS or ARAP schemes are also eligible for resettlement in the UK. In 2022, 4,629 Afghans were resettled under these schemes but most are people who worked for the UK before Kabul fell in August 2021. Only 22 were brought in because they were vulnerable or at risk refugees. As part of an initiative called "Operation Warm Welcome", local councils have been allocated funding packages of £20,520 per person over three years. The funding will help refugees to enrol in education, find work and integrate in their new communities. The government is providing an additional £10m in the first year for housing costs, then £5m and £2m in the two following years. The government has announced a new £35m fund to help local authorities move around 8,000 Afghans out of hotels and into permanent homes across the UK. It will also add a further £250m to the local authority housing fund. The refugees will be given three months to vacate their hotels for relocation. The Refugee Council has expressed concerned that some Afghans may be left homeless by the new measures. The Home Office says that more than 9,000 Afghan refugees are still living in hotels while another 9,000 have either been moved to a permanent home or are waiting to move in. In February 2022, the Home Office said that accommodating Afghan refugees in hotels cost £1.2m per day. Afghanistan evacuee 'feels stuck' in hotel room Afghan refugees in London hotel 'reject accommodation offers' They can come through the UK Resettlement Scheme which prioritises refugees from regions in conflict. In 2022, 36 Afghans came through this route. The other main way to settle is to seek asylum after arriving in the UK. However, proposed changes to the UK immigration system mean that people deemed to have arrived illegally could be sent to Rwanda for processing. The number of Afghans arriving in the UK on small boats having crossed the English Channel has increased sharply: In 2020, 494 crossed in small boats In 2021, 1,437 crossed in small boatsIn 2022, 8,633 crossed in small boats Home Office statistics also show that nearly 11,000 Afghans and their dependents applied for asylum in 2022. The US evacuated the largest number of people from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power. From 14 August to 28 August 2021, it got 113,500 people out. Other countries evacuated much smaller numbers over that period, according to official statements and press releases: Germany - more than 5,300Italy - more than 5,000Canada - more than 3,700France - around 3,000 Since August 2021, some countries have continued to carry out occasional evacuations. On December 3 of that year, France announced that it had evacuated 258 people from Afghanistan. There was also an increase in the number of Afghans who applied for asylum in some EU countries such as Greece, France and Germany.

IDC Metri consultants have observed that IT budgeting is challenging for organizations due to misclassification of costs, lack of domain knowledge, simplistic budgeting processes, shadow IT, and lack of consolidation. To address these issues, organizations should clarify definitions of IT and non-IT expenses, provide training to IT controllers, adopt agile budgeting processes, mitigate shadow IT by improving communication, and consolidate contracts with vendors. By addressing these issues, organizations can optimize resources and maximize the value of their IT investments.

https://blogs.idc.com/2023/04/14/addressing-the-complexities-of-it-budgeting-key-issues-and-solutions-for-todays-it-management/

Addressing The Complexities of IT Budgeting: Key Issues and Solutions for Today’s IT Management

Residents of a tiny Swiss village have all been evacuated because of the risk of an imminent rockslide. Brienz's fewer than 100 villagers were given just 48 hours to pack what they could and abandon their homes. Even the dairy cows were loaded up for departure after geologists warned a rockfall was imminent. Two million cubic metres of rock is coming loose from the mountain above, and a rockslide could obliterate the village. The development has raised questions about the safety of some mountain communities, as global warming changes the alpine environment. Brienz, in the eastern canton of Graubünden, is now empty. The village has been judged a geological risk for some time and is built on land that is subsiding down towards the valley, causing the church spire to lean and large cracks to appear in buildings. As the minutes ticked towards the deadline to leave, even Brienz's dairy cows were being taken to safety. The residents, some young, some old, families, farmers and professional couples, had two days to abandon their homes. They were asked earlier this week to evacuate the village by Friday evening. Swiss villagers told to flee monster rockslide Switzerland's Alpine regions are especially sensitive to global warming - as the permafrost high in the mountains begins to thaw, the rock becomes more unstable. This particular mountain has always been unstable, but recently the rock has been shifting faster and faster. Days of heavy rain could bring two million cubic metres of loosened rock crashing down the mountainside onto the village, scientists warned. Now the villagers must wait, in temporary accommodation, for the rock to fall - and hope it misses their homes.

IDC's study forecasts a 50.5% growth in the foldable phone market in 2023, with 21.4 million foldable phones expected to be shipped. The total foldable shipments worldwide will reach 48.1 million units by 2027, resulting in a CAGR of 27.6% for 2022–2027. New models from current and new vendors are expected to continue driving demand in the market, which is likely to outperform non-foldable smartphones over the next five years.

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50471323&pageType=PRINTFRIENDLY

Worldwide Foldable Phone Forecast, 2023–2027

The future of work requires a unified approach to disruption and adaptable teams. Hybrid work is becoming a mainstay, improving productivity and driving improvements in talent acquisition and customer satisfaction. Skills development in the flow of work is crucial for success. Organizations that capitalize on disruptions will define the next future of work. IDC has released its top 10 predictions for the Future of Work in 2023.

https://blogs.idc.com/2022/12/07/idc-futurescape-worldwide-future-of-work-2023-predictions/

IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Work 2023 Predictions