Every British member of parliament is going to receive an iPad and the British tax payer is set to pick up the bill. The iPad roll-out is part of a major ICT upgrade and follows the completion of a successful iPad trial. The House of Commons administration committee has recommended that the iPad is given to all 650 MPs.

The idea is that by equipping MP’s with iPads or other tablets, it would reduce paperwork, save money, and would make MPs’ duties easier to perform. The scheme could cost the taxpayer between £260,000 to £429,000, with each device costing a minimum of £400 and a maximum of £660. At the moment, every MP already receives an allocation of three desktops and two laptops.

Source: TechWeek Europe, Image: The Telegraph

The standing committee on infrastructure and communications in the Australian House of Representatives will be launching an investigation into why digital goods (such as iTunes music and iBooks) are priced so much more highly in Australia than elsewhere in the world. Traditionally, shipping costs drove prices up for physical goods, but for electronic files you're downloading, there's really no good reason for such a price disparity. Stephen Conroy, Australia's Minister of Communications, said in a recent letter:

There is evidence to suggest that the innovative use of technology is not always matched with innovative new business models in the case of products and services distributed online... I agree that Australian businesses and households should have access to IT software and hardware that is fairly priced relative to other jurisdictions … the global digital economy is likely to make it increasingly difficult to sustain business models that are based on a geographic carve-up of markets.

iOS apps in Australia don't really cost any more than they do over here, but there's a pretty big disparity in music prices. For example, Jack White's newest album, Blunderbuss, and Adele's, 21, cost $10.99 in the U.S., but $16.99 in Australia. I'm sure there are different taxes to be paid over there, but they can't be that huge. As for iBooks, there aren't many textbooks that have found their way to the Australian market since the big educational update. Pricing for iBooks can sometimes be even more expensive than a proper paperback, a situation which is exacerbated by a pricing model which is currently under scrutiny elsewhere, too.

Of course, Apple isn't the only one in the crosshairs. Adobe is charging $1400 more than the the U.S. version for one software package in Australia. Microsoft will also be called to explain its pricing model to the government over the course of the investigation, which will be launching sometime this year.

Australians, who have you found to charge the most inflated prices for digital downloads? Have the higher prices stopped you from buying software, music, or e-books?

Source: SMH

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will soon be ditching their BlackBerrys in favor of iPhones and iPads. We've seen several examples recently of large enterprises, even major multinationals like Halliiburton, going all-in on iOS, and it's interesting to see the other half of BlackBerry's traditional base, government, do likewise.

According to Joseph F. Klimavicz, NOAA Chief Information Officer and Director for High Performance Computing and Communications, they will support the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 running iOS 5 and above.

Going forward employees will no longer be supplied with BlackBerrys but iPhones and iPads instead, though it's not specified when employees would the change over would begin.

Good enough used to be a mantra for both government and enterprise, and it used to mean user experience. Sure, the software wasn't the best, but it was good enough, cheap enough, and ubiquitous enough that no one would ever get fired for buying more of it. But that's begun to change, and Apple, with very little in the way of a business sales force, seems to be instigating that change.

I remember a few years back when I was working in a corporate environment that supplied BlackBerry, we weren't allowed to use our iPhones even if we purchased them ourselves. RIM had a stronghold when it came to corporate clients. Now those same companies are looking for alternatives, testing iOS and Android and more often than not choosing iPhones and iPads.

Predictability and security are still big for government and enterprise.

Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 devices will certainly have something to say about that in the future, but with almost all of the Fortune 500 companies already testing or deploying iOS devices in one manner or another, momentum is certainly in Apple's favor right now.

When you look around the desks and conference tables at your place of business, what devices are you seeing most often?

Source: The Loop

According to a group of hackers in India, Apple, RIM and Nokia could be providing backdoor access to the Indian government, allowing them to monitor user data. The Indian government might be insisting on this access in exchange for allowing Apple and other smartphone vendors to offer their products and services in India, they have allegedly given them access to cellular communications. The agreement appears to be called RINOA (Rim, Nokia, Apple).

Several documents have been found referring to RINOA and how information was gathered from some of these government bodies. I know India is a large country but I'm not quite sure what is more damaging -- not having a presence there at all or betraying your customers' trust by allowing the local government to access data without their knowledge.

Source: ZDNet

Indiana lawmakers are now considering buying iPads for their 50 senators and 100 representatives. Many schools and government bodies have already implemented iPads to replace certain physical media such as textbooks.

Republican State Senator Brandt Hershman says he already uses an iPad for personal and business use and that it may allow for more transparency in the legislative process. It could also allow easier communication and response from local government.

Given I live in Indiana and own a tech based company, it's great to see our local government adopting technology and keeping up with it. Not only does electronic media provide a great way to help the environment by eliminating paper waste but it also shows that technology is an important part of our society. The fact that our local government is starting to acknowledge that and is trying to use it in a more efficient way is definitely a step in the right direction.

[The Loop]

President Obama has started to relax some of the technology use policies within the government, as more and more federal workers have opted to use the iPhone and iPad in place of devices like the Blackberry and PC.

The flashy consumer products that have been adopted in the corporate workforce — upending BlackBerrys for iPhones, Microsoft Outlook for Gmail, and lately laptops for iPads — are now invading the federal government. The State Department. The Army. The Department of Veterans Affairs. NASA.

The list of supporting government agencies goes on and on. Federal workers have found they're more mobile and less tied down when using devices like the iPad instead of being strapped to a desktop PC -- some even preferring the tablet over working on a standard laptop computer.

Even Obama, a longtime CrackBerry user, now totes around an iPad for productivity and connectivity, suggesting a driving force not only from front-line workers, but also from top officials.

Any corporate or federal workers seeing these changes in the workplace?

[Washington Post via Daring Fireball]

The US Government seems to be a bit concerned about Apple's iPad, fearing its release in combination with the iPhone and other data-heavy devices, will wreak havoc on wireless networks.

Phil Bellaria of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau recently published in his blog his concerns about the future of our data networks.

"With the iPad pointing to even greater demand for mobile broadband on the horizon, we must ensure that network congestion doesn’t choke off a service that consumers clearly find so appealing or frustrate mobile broadband’s ability to keep us competitive in the global broadband economy."

He then brings us back to 1996 to remind us of the time AOL first introduced unlimited data and how that particular instance brought about major connection trouble for all of it's users. AOL, after the fact, then took the appropriate actions in beefing up it's network to allow for all of that traffic. In regards to the iPad it seems like Apple has been closely working with AT&T to make sure network improvements are made being the products release.

Does Phil have a valid point? Should we be worried about our data networks? Sound off in the comments below (especially if you life in SF or NYC...)!

[Via TUAW]

We're not sure if picking on the BlackBerry Storm is even sporting anymore, and you know, we probably wouldn't even bother if RIM hadn't styled it the "Apple Killer" even while bleating that they "couldn't type on glass". Well, according to BlackBerryCool.com, it turns out some other people couldn't type on the Storm's specific type of glass either: the US Government:

"The BlackBerry, to me, is a utilitarian tool,” said Rodell Mollineau, communications staff director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “It’s not easy to send e-mails on that thing. It is not a good touch screen, and it’s not like the iPhone, where there are so many other great features to it.”

Dear US Government, next time just read TiPb -- we could have saved you lots of frustration (and who knows, maybe even restored your childlike sense of wonder!)

Oh, and get more iPhones!