The latest political showdown on unfeasibly large parenting forum Mumsnet looks like delivering a points victory for Gordon Brown. Apparently David Cameron, who answered questions on a live web chat on the site today, was criticised by some posters as taking too long to answer. Brown apparently answered 30 questions in his hour on the site (could have been 31 if he'd taken the biscuit challenge) while the Tory leader managed just 16.

As the BBC reports here though - Cameron did have a few technical hitches.

The BBC also noted that Cameron said two very interesting things

He said that the BBC was "a vital part of broadcasting" it had also got "very overextended and the licence fee is high".

The Tories have been talking for a while about cut backs of radio and specialist TV services like BBC4, reduction in number of BBC staff and salary for its stars and crucially rolling back some of the beeb's Internet plans. Maybe he'll even make you pay to view the BBC news site (in addition to the licence fee) - Rupert Murdoch would love that.

He also admitted to being a fan of the BBC political comedy series The Thick Of It, writing: "V funny... but only true about the other lot (not)".

Comparison site Broadband Expert has revealed figures showing that mobile Pay as You Go broadband sales have overtaken traditional contract deals for the first time.

53% of mobile broadband customers now opt for Pay as You Go deals compared to 47% who take contract deals.

The trend is set to continue, according to Rob Webber, Broadband Expert's commercial director: "We've seen Pay as You Go sales rise sharply since the end
of 2008 as customers realise that they only need to pay for the broadband
they use and don't need to enter into a lengthy contract."

He continued, "We expect that this trend will continue over the Christmas period when Pay as You Go mobile broadband and phones typically perform well compared to contract mobile services. Prepaid mobile broadband makes an ideal gift -
especially for the types of people who may not be able to get credit such as
the under 18's or the very old."

If you've ever suffered the crushing heartbreak of being cast asunder by an online pal, you're probably pretty familiar with the term "unfriend".

Well, it look as though even the internet-phobic are set to become accustomed to the phrase, as "unfriend" enters next year's edition of the New Oxford American dictionary.

The term, which originated on social-networking sites such as Facebook beat "sexting", "intexticated", "netbook", "funemployed", "hashtag", "paywall" and "greenstate" for the title of Word of the Year.

According to a senior lexicographer, the term has (we kid you not) "lex appeal"...

Via: Silicon Republic

Business-orientated social-networking site LinkedIn has today announced its new partnership with Microsoft.

Coming hot on the heels of their partnership with Twitter, LinkedIn and Microsoft aim to join forces on Outlook 2010. The planned integration of LinkedIn will see Outlook 2010 users able to maintain their professional network through the program, keeping up to date with all the latest developments and activities via Outlook Social connector.

The business network currently has 50 million users worldwide.

It's an important move for LinkedIn, with integration to a native Windows program offering huge exposure to the network.

To find out more, check http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/11/18/linkedin-microsoft-outlook/

If you want to get your kids web-aware at an early age, why not introduce them to the KidZui web browser?

KidZui are launching version 5.0 of their browser today, which is set to help parents and children share and discover new experiences through the Internet.

Children can send KidZui approved content to friends and parents with the browser's new "KidConnect" functions. KidZui have trawled the web to find over 2 million websites, games, photographs and videos suitable for children, jointly approved by parents and teachers who already use the service.

ZuiTube has also recently been launched, acting like a kid-friendly YouTube lite.

Parents will also be able to connect with one another through in-built Facebook support, as well as receive weekly emails reporting on their children's web habits.

For more information, visit http://www.kidzui.com/

Fingertips is a new free news service which allows its users to build a customised newspaper, delivering only the stories they are interested in.

It's a pretty simple set-up. Create a few log-in details, select a few categories and columnists you are interested in and Fingertips presents the latest news based on your preferences. It's a clean and uncluttered site and is certainly easy to navigate.

Fingertips gathers its news from over 300 sources, and delivers updated content to its users in real time.

Fingertips also features the News Buddies platform, the social element of the site where users can share opinions on the latest stories and open up discussions.

Similar in practice to news sites such as NetVibes and Meehive, Fingertips hope that its simpler interface will find favour with news readers worldwide.

"Fingertips is the most accessible site for people to enjoy their own personal mix of news and information", says Ian Hambleton, founder of Fingertips. "So many personalised news sites are unnecessarily complicated and don't have the everyday web user in mind. We really wanted to change that and appeal to a wider audience whatever their interest. And we're really excited to deliver this to consumers for free."

For more on Fingertips, check out www.fingertips.net .

Residents of Swindon are to be the first in the country to receive free Wi-Fi internet access.

The £1 million project has been co funded by the public and private partners, and will give 186,000 residents free internet access from 1,400 secure access points.

The concept originated from businessman Rikki Hunt who teamed up with the local council to form Digital City UK, the company responsible for delivering the service under the brand name Signal.

Line rental and connection charges will be free, with Digital City UK hoping that users will upgrade to a subsidised 20mb subscription service.

Speaking to The Guardian, Swindon borough council leader Rod Bluh said "Not only will residents in the borough be able to access the internet for free, the council and its partners will be able to use the technology to provide cutting-edge services to the areas or individuals who need them."

Via: The Guardian