Brief: UK Businesses are buying over Web

The number of UK businesses that use the internet to make purchases has shot up, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS 2003 e-commerce survey of business ICT usage found that 29% of businesses bought goods and services using e-commerce in 2003, up from just 13% in 2002. Use is growing faster among smaller businesses, which have traditionally been slower to adopt B2B shopping on the Web. They also show the biggest rise in access to the internet (from 59% in 2002 to 62% in 2003). And a third of businesses reported having a website in 2003, up on 29% in 2002.

The Future of social networking: Mobile Phones
Source: Times Online, 14 May 2008
 
The future of social networking is the coming together of internet-connected mobile phones and location or proximity technology.

Usability for Fun and Profit
Source: The Herald, 13 May 2008
 
An interview with Chris Rourke, owner and director of Edinburgh-based consultancy, UserVision.

Caroline's Corner: Usability of Content is Plain Language
Source: Caroline Jarrett, 12 May 2008
 
An exciting thing happened in the USA on 14th April 2008. It didn't quite manage to make it onto the national news - that day, we were mostly hearing about the Pope's visit to the USA. Any ideas? Any clue from my title? Give up?

HP Labs opens doors to Academia
Source: VNUNet, 10 May 2008
 
HP has unveiled an initiative allowing academic institutions to collaborate with HP Labs in joint research through an open and competitive process.

Email: is it time to get some Training?
Source: UN, 9 May 2008
 
How hard can it be? Apparently lack of email training is costing employers dearly.

Book Review: Mental Models by Indi Young
Source: UN, 8 May 2008
 
A practical, readable and relevant account of key processes in the vital task of researching, building and applying mental models to product design.

CHI '08: What makes a really Great Designer?
Source: System Concepts, 7 May 2008
 
What qualities do elite designers share, and what do they know that other members of the HCI community could benefit from?

Raising the standard of websites worldwide: BSI and Magus launch a new specification
Source: UN, 5 May 2008
 
BSI and Magus have released Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 124 to help organisations manage website standards efficiently and harness their full potential.

Emporia Life Plus phone for the over 50s now available in the UK
Source: UN, 3 May 2008
 
Accessible Handset Distribution (AHD) has announced the availability of the much anticipated Emporia Life Plus mobile phone.

New Ergonomics Society President promotes an ergonomic approach to Usability
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 2 May 2008
 
Tom Stewart,recently appointed President of the Ergonomics Society explains his approach to ergonomics and usability.