Podcast: The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload – Episode 3

In this week’s episode of the Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast, Brian McKenna, Caroline Donnelly and Clare McDonald dig a little deeper into some of the past week’s biggest tech stories and trends.

• In 2018, Marks & Spencer partnered with Founders Factory to develop a retail-focused startup accelerator. Now it has announced the first startup it will be working with as part of the partnership, ChargedUp, which allows customers to rent a smartphone charger in one location and return it to another location once their device is sufficiently powered. Clare discusses the advantages for retailers and startups of working together in this way.

• Caroline covers a trio of Brexit-related stories, including IT spending being put on hold because of uncertainty, Fujitsu’s work with the government on vehicle recognition technology to eradicate the need for physical checks at the Irish border after Brexit, and the possible re-introduction of roaming charges. The team cautions on considering technology adoption a “silver bullet” for problems a business or country may be facing.

• Brian explains how Fujitsu’s ScanSnap technology has been used to create digital versions of around 80,000 watercolour paintings, so they can be viewed and appreciated by art lovers the world over via the internet without running the risk of the artwork degrading.