If you’re the kind of person who hates to see things wasted, a new set of trials being undertaken by some of the world’s largest technology companies will be worth a look.

Designed to overcome the challenge of improving broadband access speeds, the trials involve a new delivery mechanism that could make things like fibre-to-the-node networks all but unnecessary.

The idea is to make use of the wasted ‘white space’ spectrum that sits in between digital television channels. Proponents believe that the spectrum chunks, currently used for nothing, could be put to work to deliver high-speed data connections to people desperate to improve their internet speeds.

In theory such used of the white spaces makes a lot of sense. Digital spectrum is a very precious resource, so anything that can extract more from it has to be a good thing.

The only fly in the ointment is interference. Everyone from television broadcasters to users of sensitive electronic equipment (such as hospitals) fear using the spectrum for high-speed data transfer could lead to troubles.

To head this off, a range of companies are undertaking limited field trials of white space broadcast devices in an effort to show they can be made to behave themselves while delivering worthwhile speeds.

Just last week Motorola undertook a test in the United States that it claims was a success. The test used devices that scanned for existing signals (such as TV stations) in a certain frequency band and then automatically made use of spare capacity.

The tests are being watched closely by companies such as Google and Microsoft which are also keen to get in on the white spaces action. Google has made no secret of its desire to own internet capacity and Microsoft is also keen to position itself as a service provider in areas where it makes sense.

The technology still has a long way to go and much opposition to overcome, but if telecoms companies such as Motorola can successfully prove its potential, the impact on broadband access could be significant.

It’s a case of “watch this space”. It could prove to be the future for your internet connection.

It might be the latest entry in the “So they needed research to prove that?” category, but a new report from Gartner confirms what many desk-bound workers have known for years: technology is bloody frustrating.

According to the trend-watching researchers at Gartner, by 2013 more than 50 per cent of corporate IT users will be dissatisfied with the rate at which their IT systems are evolving. This will have jumped from the current level of 30 per cent.

The report says this rising dissatisfaction has a couple of root causes. First, there's the reluctance on the part of many organisations to embrace the web-based tools that individuals want to use as part of their daily personal and work lives. Second, there's the rising tide of 'Generation Y’ employees who want to make use of social applications and communication methods whereever and whenever they choose.

While the Gartner results may not be all that surprising, they do add weight to the thinking that companies need to be looking differently at the technology and systems they provide to their employees.

The days of the one-size-fits-all approach where monolithic, centralised applications are offered to everyone are rapidly coming to an end. Sure, staff might all need access to SAP or Oracle to do their jobs, but they need a host of other applications and services as well.

While it’s easier to offer just a few highly locked-down applications to staff, such an IT policy reduces productivity and increases frustration. It’s also likely many staff will find ways around it anyway, by bringing in their own devices or finding ways to use web-based services.

A smarter approach for organisations is to have a shopping list of applications and services available from which employees can select. While some will necessarily be mandatory to allow proper functioning of the organisation, others can be adopted by those who require them, when they require them.

Want to set up a corporate Wiki? Go for it! Feel like staying in touch with colleagues in a virtual world? Sure thing! Prefer IM to email? Not a problem!

While such an approach is likely to make life more complex for the corporate IT department, this will be quickly outweighed by the benefits that flow to the organisation as a whole.

Indeed, in coming years companies will have little choice if they want to attract and retain a new generation of workers who have never known a life without rapidly changing technology.

Just as mainframe computing made way for client-server and later web-based systems, so the management policies within IT departments must also evolve. Can your organisation afford not to change?

Actually, it won’t be this post alone that does it. It’s more likely to stem from the way you jump around the content on this site before heading off to others to get your daily fill of electronic information.

It seems our human brains are not wired the way they need to be to cope with the growing amount of information we’re pouring into them. Add the fact that many people surf the web while also listening to the radio, watching television and conducting instant messaging sessions and it’s little wonder our grey matter is getting a little overheated.

The idea is not a new one (I've written about it before on this site) but it’s been gaining more attention recently, due in part to a feature article written by Nicholas Carr in The Atlantic magazine. It's online at http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google . Carr first gained worldwide attention when he wrote a piece titled “IT doesn’t matter”, and it looks like he’s doing it again.

In essence, his latest piece argues that all the jumping around we do online these days is making it much more difficult when we want to actually concentrate on one thing for an extended period.

As an argument it makes sense. When was the last time you read a long feature article all the way to the end? How about a book? When you try, do you find yourself more easily distracted than you would have, say, five years ago?

Carr argues that widespread use of online news sources, email, IM and micro-blogging services such as Twitter is causing our brains to become rewired. We are starting to think and process information in a different way.

The big question, therefore, is whether it’s a problem. Does it matter if we’re no longer settling down with War and Peace or taking an hour off to contemplate the meaning of the universe?

It does. One of the key attributes that separates humans from other living creatures (apart from that opposable thumb thing) is our ability to think. Anything that dulls this skill can’t be good for either individuals or society as a whole.

So, do your brain a favour. Just for today trying doing a single activity at a time, and observe the difference it makes. You might not get to send as many emails or keep up with celebrity gossip, but you just might end up being more productive. And that has to be a good thing.

The decision by ICANN to open up unlimited top-level domain names is going to make life a lot more complex for any business with a web presence.

ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is responsible for controlling the internet’s naming structure. It decides which address extensions are allowed and oversees the global network of domain name servers that keep the whole thing humming along.

At a meeting in Paris last week, ICANN decided to throw caution to the wind and effectively remove any restrictions on what can be used as a top-level domain. So, rather than being limited to a .com, .org, .au address and the like, from next year you’ll be able to register anything you please.

Expect to see the likes of .pepsi, .microsoft and .google before too long, as well as a vast array of generic domains. There’s sure to be everything from .pizza and .florist to .melbourne and .porn. The options will literally be endless.

As if that wasn’t enough, ICANN has also given the green light to having domains in characters other that the current Latin alphabet. Those from other alphabets, such as Japanese and Chinese will also be allowed.

While this all sounds great for the liberalisation of the internet, it’s going to make things tougher for businesses trying to protect their turf.

As well as trying to secure the .com version of their address together with the country-specific version of wherever they happen to be operating, a raft of new addresses will soon be required.

If you’re running Joe’s Pizza shop with the address of www.joesbestpizza.com and have also registered the .com.au variant, what happens when someone registers the .pizza domain? And what about .homedelivery, .fastfood and .tasty to boot?

Businesses that need to capture as much web traffic as possible will have to dig deep and lock in as many variations as they can – another expense most can certainly do without.

Sure, it might mark the democratisation of the internet, but the ICANN decision will have a large sting in its tail.

If you’re anything like me, the first thing you do when you sit down at the desk each morning is wade through vast amounts of digital dross.

Aside from the interminable spam messages (most of which thankfully get caught by the filter) there are news summaries, press releases, event invitations, RSS feeds and general messages. By the time I’ve finished my email triage it feels like half the day has passed me by.

The problem’s not new, but it’s certainly not getting any better. In fact growing numbers of employers are becoming concerned about the amount of time their staff spend dealing with email, and they don’t know what to do. They might have been able to block Facebook and YouTube, but they can’t exactly take the same approach to email.

Now the very corporations that caused the problem in the first place are actively trying to find a solution. The likes of IBM, Microsoft, Intel and Google are putting their collective heads together in a concerted effort to make information overload a thing of the past.

The companies have set up a not-for-profit group that will embark on research and offer advice to those who feel they are drowning in the digital ocean.

Called, not surprisingly, the Information Overload Research Group the group’s stated mission is to “...build awareness of the world’s greatest challenge to productivity ...”. The group's site contains pointers to white papers on the topic as well as practical tips.

At the moment there are only five tips listed, but the group promises many more will be forthcoming. They include things like turning email notifications off, limiting CCs and replies and designating specific blocks of time to deal with messages.

IORG is planning an initial meeting on July 15 in New York. During the event delegates will review recent research and discuss the latest corporate ideas on how to deal with email and other online information flows.

I, for one, wish them every success. Looking at my inbox, I need all the help I can get.