In the inaugural episode of the UK Tech Weekly Podcast host Matt Egan discusses Apple's disastrous Error 53 with David Price, acting editor of Macworld UK. Techworld.com editor Charlotte Jee discusses the London mayoral candidates views on the UK tech industry, including Zach Goldsmith's anti-Uber statement, and online editor Scott Carey jumps in with some inane ideas around fibre broadband. Finally the team talk about YouTube licensing rights, despite knowing absolutely nothing about the subject.  

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In the second episode of the UK Tech Weekly Podcast host Matt Egan discusses the Mobile World Congress (MWC) with producer Chris Martin before he jets off to Barcelona, including what device launches we are expecting from the likes of LG, Sony and Samsung. Acting editor at Macworld.co.uk David Price chats about the row between Apple and the FBI over encryption (14:50). Finally Scott Carey from Techworld.com discusses challenger banks (25:00) what they are, what the technology looks like and why you should care.  

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In this week's UK Tech Weekly Podcast host Matt Egan is joined by PC Advisor staff writer Chris Minasians chats about Facebook's new like buttons, the team has contracted smartphone fever from the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona and finally, acting editor of Macworld UK David Price, discusses Donald Trump boycotting Apple.  

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In this week's UK Tech Weekly Podcast host Matt Egan discusses VR with Lewis Painter, staff writer at PC Advisor and Chris Martin, consumer tech editor at PC advisor. Then Chris Minasians, staff writer at Macworld UK vents about how technology is destroying social interactions IRL (11:30), light stuff for your weekend listening pleasure! Finally (23:00) acting editor of Macworld UK David Price and the gang chat about paid-for-streaming advocate Kanye West doing a naughty and pirating music software.  

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This week host Matt Egan is joined by Ashleigh Allsopp, engagement editor of Macworld UK and physical bookshelf enthusiast to discuss eBooks and eReaders following the big Nook and Amazon Kindle news in the week (1:40). Producer Chris Martin chips in to talk about the death of the father of email, Ray Tomlinson, this week and the growth of workplace tools like Slack that are trying to reduce the amount we use email (12:30). Finally regular contributor and acting editor at Macworld UK David Price talks about Apple ransomware (24:00).  

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In this week's UK Tech Weekly Podcast host Matt Egan is joined by first time podder Tamlin Magee (1:50), online editor at ComputerworldUK.com, to discuss the UK tech implications of this year's Budget, including rural broadband and driverless cars. Then Christina Mercer, assistant online editor at Techworld.com, chats AlphaGo (10:00) and board games following the AI's historic win over world Go champion Lee Sedol. Later, resident Virtual Reality (VR) enthusiast and PCAdvisor.co.uk staff writer Lewis Painter discussed "the big three" VR headset release dates, pricing and features from HTC, Sony Playstation and Oculus Rift (19:00). Finally, UKTW Podcast regular David Price, acting editor at Macworld.co.uk chats about Apple's big upcoming event (28:45).  

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In this week's UK Tech Weekly Podcast host Matt Egan is joined by acting editor at Macworld.co.uk David Price to discuss this week's Apple event announcements, from the iPhone SE to the iPad Pro and iOS 9.3. Then first time podder and staff writer at Macworld.co.uk Henry Burrell wades in to discuss Facebook dropping its support for Blackberry and the future of the under-fire mobile phone maker (19:45). Finally, online editor at Techworld.com Scott Carey chats coding in schools following the BBC micro:bit news and how it differs from the Raspberry Pi (27:40).  

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Editor Matt Egan sits down with staff writer at PC Advisor Lewis Painter to chat about Samsung's S8 rumours. Editor of Techworld.com Charlotte Jee discusses all the goings on from London Tech Week and if London is as much of a tech city as it says it is (12:00). Finally, regular guest David Price, editor at Macworld UK, comes on to discuss Mark Zuckerberg's webcam paranoia and cyber security (22:00).  

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For the second week running hosting duties are taken by Henry Burrell, who is joined by Techworld.com editor Charlotte Jee to discuss the impact of Brexit on the UK's startups. Producer Chris then jumps in to discuss the Pokemon Go launch in the UK and a debate breaks out over whether it is for adults (13:00) Finally, online editor at Computerworld UK Scott Carey brings the latest news around driverless cars, from Tesla's recent struggles and how it may affect the industry in general (25:00)  

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With regular host Matt Egan off ill, David Price steps in to discuss Microsoft Teams, the government's 'new' cyber security strategy and the collision of social media and insurance companies. First up, producer Chris is on to discuss Microsoft's recent Slack rival Microsoft Teams and wether it can win the market. Then Scott Carey, online editor at Computerworld UK, talks about the government's newest strategy for taking on cyber crime. Then Charlotte Jee, editor of Techworld, talks about UK insurer Admiral's misjudged attempt to use Facebook posts to offer discounts on insurance premiums.  

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Host Matt Egan is in a sombre mood this week as the tech industry comes to terms with a Donald Trump US presidency. Staff writer at Macworld UK dives into what this could mean for Silicon Valley, Apple products and wether social media is at fault. Then producer Chris comes on to discuss the latest addition to the VR headset market with Google's Daydream. Will it be held back by a lack of applications though? (14:45) Finally, online editor at Computerworld UK talks about the biggest data breach at a UK bank, as Tesco Bank suffers a £2.5 million cyber theft and what this means for the banking industry as a whole (25:00).  

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The first pod of 2017 explodes into view like your hangover on January 1st with host David Price probing the panel on its blurry eyed take on tech in the New Year. Ashleigh Macro, Engagement Editor of PC Advisor and Macworld UK returns to the pod to recap the expected and unexpected tech of 2016. Will Apple and Amazon reign supreme? Then Chris Martin, Consumer Tech Editor at PC Advisor, hot off the plane from CES in Las Vegas to discuss what was hot and what was really not at the largest tech show in the world. To top it off with some New Year optimism is pod debutant Tom MacAulay, Online Editor at Computerworld UK to let us know all the good (but mainly bad) things we can expect in warfare tech in the next decade.  

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We finally get the IoT acronym the pod has been waiting for as we discuss Bitcoin and 17th century Dutch finance. Charlotte Jee informs Henry Burrell, David Price and Scott Carey.

Scott then leads us down the winding road of the so-called platform wars, in a week when Google blocked the Amazon Echo Show from streaming YouTube. Is this a bump in the road or will services be cut from rival hardware?

And finally, led by David, the pod discusses its favourite tech of the year and what you might consider buying for friends and family for Christmas.

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World Cup fever is upon us, and this time round is tech-heavy. The VAR (video assistant referee) makes its (their? know know) debut at a major international football tournament. Is it for the good of the sport?

We’re already used to Hawkeye and goal-line technology, so what makes it different in football? Henry Burrell resides as David Price, Christina Mercer and Sean Bradley set the record straight. NB: David loves cricket a lot.

And of course, the most tech sport of all, Formula One. Is there a balance the sport misses when it comes to safety and competition? We discuss some of the finer points in a lively debate.

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Episode 101 is a second special in a row as we take tech to trial and consign our least favourite digital surplus to Room 101.

The Orwellian nightmare is compered by Henry Burrell as he, David Price, Tamlin Magee and Scott Carey each pick two things to banish forever. Cue a a bumper edition where we throw people, buzzwords, fads and entire companies down the trash chute.

May contain arguments.

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This week our host Scott Carey catches up on the Google+ breach news and the final demise of the doomed social media network before being joined by consumer technology editor at Tech Advisor, Henry Burrell, to talk about Google's latest batch of smartphones: the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL.

Then Techworld reporter Tamlin Magee joins to talk about the technology-related films screening during the London Film Festival this month and his hopes for more utopian tech-flecked stories in the future.

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Scott Carey is in the hosting chair this week as we have a rotating cast of staffers from across Macworld, Tech Advisor, Techworld and Computerworld to discuss our two favourite techie things of the year, from the best games and films, to our favourite devices and even, microchips.

Thank you for listening this year and for your continued support for the UK Tech Weekly Podcast and we will see you in the new year.

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Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a common, inflammatory rheumatic disease, which primarily affects the axial skeleton and is associated with sacroiliitis, uveitis and enthesitis. Unlike other autoimmune rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus, autoantibodies have not yet been reported to be a feature of AS. We therefore wished to determine if plasma from patients with AS contained autoantibodies and if so, characterize and quantify this response in comparison to patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and healthy controls. Two high-density nucleic acid programmable protein arrays expressing a total of 3498 proteins were screened with plasma from 25 patients with AS, 17 with RA and 25 healthy controls. Autoantigens identified were subjected to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis in order to determine patterns of signalling cascades or tissue origin. 44% of patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis demonstrated a broad autoantibody response, as compared to 33% of patients with RA and only 8% of healthy controls. Individuals with AS demonstrated autoantibody responses to shared autoantigens, and 60% of autoantigens identified in the AS cohort were restricted to that group. The AS patients autoantibody responses were targeted towards connective, skeletal and muscular tissue, unlike those of RA patients or healthy controls. Thus, patients with AS show evidence of systemic humoral autoimmunity and multispecific autoantibody production. Nucleic Acid Programmable Protein Arrays constitute a powerful tool to study autoimmune diseases.

The development of the HUPO-PSI's (Proteomics Standards Initiative) standard data formats and MIAPE (Minimum Information About a Proteomics Experiment) guidelines should improve proteomics data sharing within the scientific community. Proteomics journals have encouraged the use of these standards and guidelines to improve the quality of experimental reporting and ease the evaluation and publication of manuscripts. However, there is an evident lack of bioinformatics tools specifically designed to create and edit standard file formats and reports, or embed them within proteomics workflows. In this article, we describe a new web-based software suite (The ProteoRed MIAPE web toolkit) that performs several complementary roles related to proteomic data standards. Firstly, it can verify the reports fulfill the minimum information requirements of the corresponding MIAPE modules, highlighting inconsistencies or missing information. Secondly, the toolkit can convert several XML-based data standards directly into human readable MIAPE reports stored within the ProteoRed MIAPE repository. Finally, it can also perform the reverse operation, allowing users to export from MIAPE reports into XML files for computational processing, data sharing or public database submission. The toolkit is thus the first application capable of automatically linking the PSI's MIAPE modules with the corresponding XML data exchange standards, enabling bidirectional conversions. This toolkit is freely available at http://www.proteored.org/MIAPE/.

As the capability of mass spectrometry-based proteomics has matured, tens of thousands of peptides can be measured simultaneously, which has the benefit of offering a systems view of protein expression. However, a major challenge is that with an increase in throughput, protein quantification estimation from the native measured peptides has become a computational task. A limitation to existing computationally-driven protein quantification methods is that most ignore protein variation, such as alternate splicing of the RNA transcript and post-translational modifications or other possible proteoforms, which will affect a significant fraction of the proteome. The consequence of this assumption is that statistical inference at the protein level, and consequently downstream analyses, such as network and pathway modeling, have only limited power for biomarker discovery. Here, we describe a Bayesian model (BP-Quant) that uses statistically derived peptides signatures to identify peptides that are outside the dominant pattern, or the existence of multiple over-expressed patterns to improve relative protein abundance estimates. It is a research-driven approach that utilizes the objectives of the experiment, defined in the context of a standard statistical hypothesis, to identify a set of peptides exhibiting similar statistical behavior relating to a protein. This approach infers that changes in relative protein abundance can be used as a surrogate for changes in function, without necessarily taking into account the effect of differential post-translational modifications, processing, or splicing in altering protein function. We verify the approach using a dilution study from mouse plasma samples and demonstrate that BP-Quant achieves similar accuracy as the current state-of-the-art methods at proteoform identification with significantly better specificity. BP-Quant is available as a MatLab ® and R packages at https://github.com/PNNL-Comp-Mass-Spec/BP-Quant.

Protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) play key roles in cellular signal transduction, cell cycle regulation, cell division, and cell differentiation. Dysregulation of PTK-activated pathways, often by receptor overexpression, gene amplification, or genetic mutation, is a causal factor underlying numerous cancers. In this study, we have developed a parallel reaction monitoring (PRM)-based assay for quantitative profiling of 83 PTKs. The assay detects 308 proteotypic peptides from 54 receptor tyrosine kinases and 29 nonreceptor tyrosine kinases in a single run. Quantitative comparisons were based on the labeled reference peptide method. We implemented the assay in four cell models: 1) a comparison of proliferating versus epidermal growth factor (EGF)-stimulated A431 cells, 2) a comparison of SW480Null (mutant APC) and SW480APC (APC restored) colon tumor cell lines, and 3) a comparison of 10 colorectal cancer cell lines with different genomic abnormalities, and 4) lung cancer cell lines with either susceptibility (11-18) or acquired resistance (11-18R) to the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib. We observed distinct PTK expression changes that were induced by stimuli, genomic features or drug resistance, which were consistent with previous reports. However, most of the measured expression differences were novel observations. For example, acquired resistance to erlotinib in the 11-18 cell model was associated not only with previously reported upregulation of MET, but also with upregulation of FLK2 and downregulation of LYN and PTK7. Immunoblot analyses and shotgun proteomics data were highly consistent with PRM data. Multiplexed PRM assays provide a targeted, systems-level profiling approach to evaluate cancer-related proteotypes and adaptations. Data are available through Proteome eXchange Accession PXD002706.

Ion mobility can add a dimension to LC-MS based shotgun proteomics which has the potential to boost proteome coverage, quantification accuracy and dynamic range.  Required for this is suitable software that extracts the information contained in the four-dimensional (4D) data space spanned by m/z, retention time, ion mobility and signal intensity. Here we describe the ion mobility enhanced MaxQuant software, which utilizes the added data dimension. It offers an end to end computational workflow for the identification and quantification of peptides and proteins in LC-IMS-MS/MS shotgun proteomics data. We apply it to trapped ion mobility spectrometry (TIMS) coupled to a quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF) analyzer. A highly parallelizable 4D feature detection algorithm extracts peaks which are assembled to isotope patterns. Masses are recalibrated with a non-linear m/z, retention time, ion mobility and signal intensity dependent model, based on peptides from the sample. A new matching between runs (MBR) algorithm that utilizes collisional cross section (CCS) values of MS1 features in the matching process significantly gains specificity from the extra dimension. Prerequisite for using CCS values in MBR is a relative alignment of the ion mobility values between the runs. The missing value problem in protein quantification over many samples is greatly reduced by CCS aware MBR.MS1 level label-free quantification is also implemented which proves to be highly precise and accurate on a benchmark dataset with known ground truth. MaxQuant for LC-IMS-MS/MS is part of the basic MaxQuant release and can be downloaded from http://maxquant.org.

Quantitative proteomics by mass spectrometry is widely used in biomarker research and basic biology research for investigation of phenotype level cellular events. Despite the wide application, the methodology for statistical analysis of differentially expressed proteins has not been unified. Various methods such as t-test, linear model and mixed effect models are used to define changes in proteomics experiments. However, none of these methods consider the specific structure of MS-data. Choices between methods, often originally developed for other types of data, are based on compromises between features such as statistical power, general applicability and user friendliness. Furthermore, whether to include proteins identified with one peptide in statistical analysis of differential protein expression varies between studies. Here we present DEqMS, a robust statistical method developed specifically for differential protein expression analysis in mass spectrometry data. In all datasets investigated there is a clear dependence of variance on the number of PSMs or peptides used for protein quantification. DEqMS takes this feature into account when assessing differential protein expression. This allows for a more accurate data-dependent estimation of protein variance and inclusion of single peptide identifications without increasing false discoveries. The method was tested in several datasets including E.coli proteome spike-in data, using both label-free and TMT-labelled quantification. In comparison to previous statistical methods used in quantitative proteomics, DEqMS showed consistently better accuracy in detecting altered protein levels compared to other statistical methods in both label-free and labelled quantitative proteomics data. DEqMS is available as an R package in Bioconductor.

Post-translational modifications play a critical and diverse role in regulating cellular activities. Despite their fundamentally important role in cellular function, there has been no report to date of an effective generalized approach to the targeting, extraction and characterization of the critical c-terminal regions of natively prenylated proteins. Various chemical modification and metabolic labelling strategies in cell culture have been reported. However, their applicability is limited to cell culture systems and does not allow for analysis of tissue samples. The chemical characteristics (hydrophobicity, low abundance, highly basic charge) of many of the c-terminal regions of prenylated proteins have impaired the use of standard proteomic workflows. In this context, we sought a direct approach to the problem in order to examine these proteins in tissue without the use of labelling.  Here we demonstrate that prenylated proteins can be captured on chromatographic resins functionalized with mixed disulfide functions. Protease treatment of resin-bound proteins using chymotryptic digestion revealed peptides from many known prenylated proteins. Exposure of the protease-treated resin to reducing agents and hydro organic mixtures released c-terminal peptides with intact prenyl groups along with other enzymatic modifications expected in this protein family. Database and search parameters were selected to allow for c-terminal modifications unique to these molecules such as CAAX box processing and c-terminal methylation. In summary, we present a direct approach to enrich and obtain information at a molecular level of detail about prenylation of proteins from tissue and cell extracts using high performance LCMS without the need for metabolic labeling and derivatization.

The presentation of post-translationally modified (PTM) peptides by cell surface HLA molecules has the potential to increase the diversity of targets for surveilling T cells. Whilst immunopeptidomics studies routinely identify thousands of HLA-bound peptides from cell lines and tissue samples, in-depth analyses of the proportion and nature of peptides bearing one or more PTMs remains challenging. Here we have analyzed HLA-bound peptides from a variety of allotypes and assessed the distribution of mass spectrometry-detected PTMs, finding deamidation of asparagine or glutamine to be highly prevalent. Given that asparagine deamidation may arise either spontaneously or through enzymatic reaction, we assessed allele-specific and global motifs flanking the modified residues. Notably, we found that the N-linked glycosylation motif NX(S/T) was highly abundant across asparagine-deamidated HLA-bound peptides. This finding, demonstrated previously for a handful of deamidated T cell epitopes, implicates a more global role for the retrograde transport of nascently N-glycosylated polypeptides from the ER and their subsequent degradation within the cytosol to form HLA-ligand precursors. Chemical inhibition of Peptide:N-Glycanase (PNGase), the endoglycosidase responsible for the removal of glycans from misfolded and retrotranslocated glycoproteins, greatly reduced presentation of this subset of deamidated HLA-bound peptides. Importantly, there was no impact of PNGase inhibition on peptides not containing a consensus NX(S/T) motif. This indicates that a large proportion of HLA-I bound asparagine deamidated peptides are generated from formerly glycosylated proteins that have undergone deglycosylation via the ER-associated protein degradation (ERAD) pathway. The information herein will help train deamidation prediction models for HLA-peptide repertoires and aid in the design of novel T cell therapeutic targets derived from glycoprotein antigens.

7 November 2019

The current dispute between the US and China goes far beyond trade tariffs and tit-for-tat reprisals: the underlying driver is a race for global technological supremacy. This paper examines the risks of greater strategic competition as well as potential solutions for mitigating the impacts of the US–China economic confrontation.

Invitation Only Research Event

Event participants

Sir Simon Fraser, Managing Partner of Flint Global; Deputy Chairman, Chatham House
Chair: Marianne Schneider-Petsinger, Senior Research Fellow, US and the Americas Programme, Chatham House

The University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) fraternity has been plunged into mourning following the death of lecturer Jamar Thelwell. The 34-year-old passed away yesterday from cancer. His colleague Jerome Shepherd said Thelwell’s death has...

Like so many pitchers in Major League camps, Orioles hurlers have extra sets of eyes on them this spring. The Edgertronic cameras, perched on tripods, are set about a stride's length beyond the backfield bullpen mounds at the club's Ed Smith Stadium complex, as conspicuous as the coaches standing cross-armed behind them.

The NHS is about caring for people, free at the point of care, creating a safety net which catches the most vulnerable. Tech has been defined by the facebook maxim "move fast, break things" - looking to disrupt a sector, get investment and move on.  We want to be able to harness the potential utility of digital tech in the NHS - but how can those...

21 July 2014

FOUR MORE applicants are vying to provide mobile payment services in various formats, including one applicant seeking to use phone credit as a cash equivalent, but successful applicants will fall under a new framework the regulator calls its “...

3 March 2020

To the extent that perceptions of a crisis in liberal democracy in Europe can be confirmed, this paper investigates the nature of the problem and its causes, and asks what part, if any, digital technology plays in it.

Guillermo E. Umpierrez
Aug 1, 2018; 41:1579-1589
Diabetes Care Symposium

Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine opened Dec. 5 its Center for Implant and Digital Technology, which will serve as a state-of-the-art space for digital dentistry-focused education, patient care and research.

The American Dental Association Standards Committee on Dental Informatics has approved two documents for circulation and comment.

The ADA Standards Committee on Dental Informatics has approved the technical report for circulation and comment.

Technology has changed a number of aspects of our everyday lives and has led to increased efficiency. But when it comes to driving, has it helped or hindered the process? In this article, we will be looking into some of the ways that technology has improved safety on our roads in the last 10 years. […]

Lockdowns and “social distancing” guidelines are changing our intimate lives in major ways. For example, think about people living alone in heavily restricted areas right now. What we’re seeing in our research is that many of these folks are turning to sextech to fill the void in their sexual lives, such as by increasing their participation in activities like sexting and cybersex—and many are trying these things for the very first time. In order to explore the various ways that people are leveraging sextech right now, I spoke to two sextech experts: Dr. Erin Watson and Tasha Falconer.

What if the government ran more like Silicon Valley? Engineer Matt Cutts shares why he decided to leave Google (where he worked for nearly 17 years) for a career in the US government -- and makes the case that if you really want to make an impact, go where your help is needed most.

The world is more connected than ever, but some communities are still cut off from vital resources like electricity and health care. In this solution-oriented talk, activist Johanna Figueira discusses her work with Code for Venezuela -- a platform that gathers technologists to address Venezuela's needs for information and medical supplies -- and shares ideas for how it could be used as a model to help other communities in need.

A new study published in the Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis journal found that there is potential for 1-to-1 technology programs to increase achievement in the short term, but more so in the medium term.

Montana Superintendent Denise Juneau said it would be "in the best interest of our students" to let districts cancel Smarter Balanced testing if necessary.

State education departments' finance technology can cost millions to replace, but those systems are crucial for fiscal transparency and efficiency. Hawaii's is replacing its long-troubled system with a new one to go online this summer.

New Jersey is one of many states that have experienced problems with the online administering of standardized testing this year.

Educators are struggling to learn how to use new tech tools—devices, apps, software, and online textbooks—in greater volume than ever before.

Educators are struggling to learn how to use new tech tools—devices, apps, software, and online textbooks—in greater volume than ever before.