As he pointed out, a minority of consumers will leap at the idea of open data, but most will be left cold unless it is marketed skilfully.

BBC: Midata: Will the public share government's enthusiasm?

Dr Arias said it was looking increasingly likely that leap seconds may be voted out in January, but that the meeting at the Royal Society could help to thrash out ideas that could offset any problems this loss could cause.

BBC: Changes to the world's time scale debated

We sat down with Weisberg and Zakin at Time Warner Cable Media Studio in New York to find out how they made the leap from day jobs to bootstrapping a tech start-up.

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