Friday Tech Round Up – Episode 84

And we’re back in the front of the camera for another episode of the Friday Tech Round Up!

Each week we say lights, camera, action and report on the biggest piece of tech news from the past week. From chatting about advances into AI and investment into big data, to the biggest hacks of the century and hottest programming languages of the year.

Interest piqued? Check out the latest episode of the Friday Tech Round Up by clicking the link below:

You can also listen to our colleagues, Eloisa Tovee and Andy Tebb take a deep dive into each of the news pieces – discussing the reasons for trends and opinions on the industry. Check it out on Spotify here.

Prefer to scroll? We’ve got you covered…

The Government is opening a £2billion chest for big data analytics.

The Crown Commercial Service has earmarked £500million per annum for big data storage and analytics projects over a four-year period, from 2022 to 2026.

This funding will be for central government departments and the rest of the public sector, including local authorities like the police and education.

This initiative has five main missions to achieve:

1. To unlock the value of data held across the economy
2. Secure a pro-growth and trusted data regime
3. Transform government’s use of data to drive efficiency and improve public services
4. Ensure the security and resilience of the infrastructure on which data use relies
5. Champion the international flow of data

 

Python is set to be the top programming language for developers in 2021

A survey by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Spectrum magazine revealed that Python was the leading programming language to learn for developers.

Whilst C, C++, Java, and JavaScript are also at the top due to their large bases of existing codes and individual merits.

The study also showed that the reason behind the surge of programming languages was that legacy mainframes originally used to run unemployment systems were overwhelmed during the start of the pandemic.

 

A JavaScript NPM library with three million weekly downloads recently exposed apps to hijacking

Pac-Resolver has received a patch to address a high-severity remote code execution

(RCE) bug, but this incident means a significant number of apps relying on the open-source dependency are at risk.

‘Essentially, any app using the faulty code to handle internet proxies can end up running malicious code if an attacker gives it specific booby-trapped proxy configuration information’.

 

A Lords committee is calling for evidence on digital regulation

The Lords Communications and Digital Committee wants to investigate how effective digital regulation really is, following its 2019 report.

The report found that regulators had not kept up with advances in digital technologies, that it was a fragmented space, often with gaps and overlaps in regulation.

They’re also looking at how effective digital regulators’ horizon scanning is, how effective Parliament is in overseeing digital regulation and how UK regulators co-operate with international partners.

 

Jeff Bezos is to fund a new age-reversal company opening in the UK

The new start up, Altos Labs, has raised at least £231m to develop biological reprogramming technology, a way to rejuvenate cells that some scientists think could be extended to revitalise entire animal bodies, ultimately prolonging human life.

Although reprogramming can make cells act younger, it is still too dangerous to try on humans because it can also cause changes to their identity.

Shinya Yamanaka, chair of the company’s scientific advisory board says…

“Although there are many hurdles to overcome, there is huge potential,”

 

ECS Shoutouts:

 

51 stories of black women in tech

We’ve stumbled across an exciting initiative that we wanted to squeeze into this episode.

TLA Black Women in Tech is launching a book filled with stories about 51 black women in the tech sector, aimed at giving young people access to the role models they might need to encourage them to pursue a tech career.

The book is called the Voices in the Shadow and will launch date on the 28th October, falling on the UK’s black history month.

During that same month, TLA Black Women in Tech is going to distribute copies to 300 schools across the UK and Ireland, which should reach more than 120,000 students.

 

ECS Academy – still time to apply

Whilst we’re talking about getting into technology, there’s still time to apply to our next ECS Academy. This is a fully paid, 3-month intense training course that helps fast track individuals into a career in digital transformation.

 

Register for our Amazon Connect Immersion Lab

Also, make sure to register your interest for our Amazon Connect Immersion Lab, in partnership with AWS. This is on the 28th and 29th September and will give you hands-on experience with ground-breaking cloud-based contact centre services.

That’s all for now – make sure to come back next week for even more tech news!