A national poll for Asda indicates that parents and kids are increasingly communicating within the home via mobile phones, laptops, PCs and tablets.

• Asda Pulse of the Nation poll finds that one in five parents routinely use technology to communicate with their kids within the home.

• Mobile phone calls, Facebook and texting are the most common methods.

• “Dinner’s ready” is the most frequent electronic message exchanged between parents and kids at home!

One in five parents polled said that they routinely use gadgets to communicate with their kids at home.  Many of the messages exchanged are requests.  The most common message is “dinner’s ready”, the poll found, with 13% of parents passing this message on electronically.  Other common messages include friendly “clean your room” and “do your homework”.

Asda’s technology expert Nathan Mills said: “The fact is that technology puts us in touch with more people more often than ever before – and this is as true at home as it is when we’re out and about.  Communicating with teens, for example, has never been the easiest thing for parents, and now low-cost gadgets are giving us a hotline to their rooms.”

The study found that texting is the most common in-house form of electronic communication with kids, used by 55% of parents, followed by Facebook (20%) and mobile phone calls (16%).

Television programmes on Saturday nights such as the X-Factor have also seen a huge increase in so-called “two-screen viewing” as families congregate in front of the TV and tweet or use Facebook at the same time.

Nathan Mills added:  “The good thing about social networking is that encourages dialogue between viewers, whether they’re inches away or hundreds of miles away.  It isn’t instead of conversation.  It’s in addition to conversation.”

Asda is offering a range of affordable devices this Christmas that are sure to be in demand with kids and teens.

T-Mobile Rapport Android Smart Phone – £49.00

This great value Smart Phone comes with 6 months of free Internet access and £20 worth of free apps.  Built in Wi-Fi means you can check Facebook, tweet and send email wherever you are.

Blackberry 8520 – £99.00

At the market leading price of £99, this feature packed Smart Phone comes with £10 of free air time on the Orange network. Blackberry messenger enables unlimited free text messaging between Blackberry users.

iPod Touch (8GB) – £150.00

Not just a music centre, the super sleek iPod Touch is crammed full of applications including Facetime for free face-to-face video calls with friends and family. Complete with Wi-Fi connectivity and free text messaging with iMessage.

Dell Inspiron M5040 Laptop – £279

The Dell Inspiron comes with a 320GB hard drive, built-in webcam and microphone and provides over 6hrs of battery life when fully charged

Asus Eee Pad Transformer – £397.00

With a slim profile that weighs only 680g, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is comfortable to hold from any position.  This is the perfect tablet for browsing online whilst the battery can last for up to 16 hours when docked.

In the US, women account for just 6% of the chief executives at the top 100 tech companies and 22% of the software developers according to the National Centre for Women and Information Technology (http://www.ncwit.org/). But this belies the fact that there are millions of successful female IT professionals, many at the top of their field.

What type of technology jobs are there?

If you’re thinking you’d like to work in tech, but don’t really know what’s out there, here’s a run down of the main career choices.

Website developer/graphic designer

Skills required: HTML, Flash, JavaScript

If you’ve got an arty side, website design allows for practical application of your design skills across a range of businesses.

Software developer

Skills required: .net, Java, Ruby, varieties of C (from C++ for games to Objective C for iPad applications)

A job as a software application developer might suit you if your background is in an area involving logical thinking e.g. maths, science or finance. You can choose to specialise in a particular language or be a generalist.

Sysadmin

Skills required: Windows, email servers, networking

A real techie job, system administrator will have you setting up networks, helping out your colleagues when the tech doesn’t go right and maintaining central servers. Don’t even consider this job unless you can keep calm, with a smile on your face, while the whole company can’t access their email.

Technology journalist

Skills required: research, writing

If you’ve come from an arts background, you might be more at home writing about technology, rather than putting together computers or developing applications. Technology news is always in the media, so keeping on top of developments could help you get more of your articles published.

Consultant / Technical sales

Skills: problem solving, high level knowledge of technologies

A great way to stay on top of technology at a high level is to work in sales or consulting. You’ll need to not only be good at communicating, but also have the latest knowledge so you can advise clients how technology can solve their business problems.

Project manager

Skill required: organisation, people skills

Are you a super-organiser? Technical companies always need project managers to liaise with customers and organise the project while the geeks have their heads down writing code.

What training do you need?

Both the training you need and the training provided varies across roles and companies. Many tech firms offer graduate roles that come with all the training you need. If you’re changing careers this is a great place to start.

Otherwise, better than formal training is to run your own small project before applying; as a senior interviewer with a software development company I can tell you that nothing impresses like a self-starter. If you want to work as a developer, read a book on the latest technology and set yourself a challenge to develop a simple application to demonstrate your skills. For a journalism or sales role, why not do some research and publish a article in a well respected technology blog?

Where can you get help?

First, take a look at some job boards and see what roles are out there. A good start might be http://www.womenintechnology.co.uk/, which not only has a job board and personalised recruitment services, but you can also catch up on the latest tech news.

Secondly, no one gets to the top on their own – get a mentor to tell you where to focus your energies and how to get to the next level. Don’t forget that mentoring works just as well by skype – you no longer have to live in the same town to share experiences.

Or finally, why not go networking? You’ll meet all kinds of contacts, either in your area or a complementary one, and learn about what’s going on in the industry at large. Maybe have a girl geek dinner http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7682315.stm?

Until next time

Zoe

Microsoft has recently launched a new campaign GO ON: Give someone their first time online (www.get-someone-online.com) which is appealing to the public to encourage non-internet users to give the internet a go. The campaign is in support of the Race Online 2012 initiative, led by the UK’s digital champion Martha Lane Fox.

The idea is to give people the gift of the web this Christmas, whether it’s pledging to help a family member set up an email account, registering someone they care about for a free internet training course, donating their old PC or actually gifting someone a low cost web ready PC for Christmas.

Research from Microsoft to support the campaign has found that there are an estimated 30 million PCs and Laptops lying around homes in the UK which could potentially be given a new home. And to make it as easy as possible for internet users to do their bit, Age UK will be making their 475+ charity shops across the UK available as donation centres for old computers for the duration of the campaign. The campaign ends on 31st January 2011.

In the UK there are 9.2 million adults that are currently offline, and who are missing out on the huge range of benefits the internet provides. The research went on to explore how the internet has been changing people’s lives and found: 29 per cent have found a job, a romance searching 13 per cent have found their partner or spouse online and more than one in ten people (12 per cent) have found their dream home. Furthermore, 19 per cent have found their dream holiday and a lucky 5 per cent have won a significant amount of money through an online game or competition.

It also explored how reliant on the internet we have become,, in fact 10 per cent of Brits say they would only be able to go about their normal lives for 12 hours without the internet

To support the campaign there is a Facebook page:

 First Time Online – http://apps.facebook.com/firsttimeonline/ which includes a cool game which people can play.

Straight out of the University in Utah is a lie detector that analyses your eye which can detect if you’re telling porkies or not! It differs to other tests out there like the polygraph test that most people are familiar with, whose results are dependent on factors such as blood pressure, pulse rate and respiration. This simply uses your eyes to detect whether or not you are fibbing. So how does it work? Well, when you lie your eyes apparently move in a certain way and the pupils dilate and behave differently to when you are telling the truth. One of the lead researchers, John Kircher, claims results so far have been as good as or better than those obtained with polygraph testing, though he admits the project is still in its early stages. It all sounds pretty futuristic and the things films are made of but it certainly adds another meaning to someone staring longingly into your eyes!

- With over 64,000 downloads – 40,000 in the six weeks after its launch- the Guinness Premiership iPhone application, in association with Land Rover, is proving to be one of the most popular sport applications both in the UK and internationally. It provides the latest rugby news, fixtures, scores and results about one of the world’s most competitive leagues as soon as the action happens and has, to date, been downloaded in 42 countries worldwide including Singapore, United States and Saudi Arabia. Fans and iPhone users have welcomed the access to live news, hailing it as: ‘the best sports news app’ and ‘a must for rugby fans.’Designed with fans in mind the app is globally available on the iPhone and iPod touch ensuring that rugby fans all over the world have free access to the live facts and figures. The app is free and available to download now. Visit: www.guinnesspremiership.com/iphoneapp.php to download it and enter a competition to win a VIP experience at the Guinness Premiership Final.

A must if your other half loves rugby and his iPhone! The app is free and available to download now.

Visit: www.guinnesspremiership.com/iphoneapp.php to download it and enter a competition to win a VIP experience at the Guinness Premiership Final