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Sky v Virgin Media
Over in Broadcast (no link, sorry), Guardian Unlimited’s Emily Bell writes that she thinks Sky has no intention of really launching a new DTT box and removing channels like Sky News and Sky Sports News from the Freeview platform. She believes that it’s a move to muddy the waters around the time that Setanta are…
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Why I Won’t Be Getting A Playstation 3
(At least not yet). I got a PS One when they first came out – although I must admit I did win it. When the PS2 was released I’d reserved one at HMV and duly trooped down there on day of release to pick it up. I was very excited, and like my PS One,…
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New Band’s Web Presence
It must be awfully difficult being an up and coming band. Sure, making the records and touring must be hard work, but maintaining your online presence is truly daunting. Since taking an advantage of an offer on the Virgin Radio site for a free track from the band Ghosts, I’ve ended up on their mailing…
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Tesco
Which supermarket do you use? Is it Tesco? The chances are it is. We’ve all heard that one pound in every eight of money spent in shops, is spent in their stores. Is this healthy? Last Friday, Shopping the Supermarkets concluded a week of programmes with a detailed examination of Tesco’s attempts to get a…
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I Hate The Brits
Wrote this last week, but I forgot to put it live, so better late than never. And there’s yet more original research in this! I hate the Brits. I hate hate hate hate hate hate them. I really don’t like them at all. Now this is completely irrational, and I can’t exactly explain why. I…
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Five Live
A very interesting piece on BBC Radio Five Live by Tim Luckhurst in this weekend’s Independent on Sunday. He was an assistant editor of the station when it launched in 1994. I’m not sure that I altogether agree with everything Luckhurst has to say about the station. The basic tenet of his argument is that…
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The The
No, not the band. But the current obsession with bands whose names begin “The —-.” It can’t just be me, but there seem to be evermore of them – particularly in the indie/rock genre that my employer plays. It’s certainly true that there have always been bands with names that start “The”. Most obviously bands…
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Next…
We escape Valentine’s Day, and this morning an email drops in my inbox: “20% Off Mother’s Day Gift Ideas” It’s one after the other…
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Commenting
OK. I’ve been playing around with the commenting system on this site again. I know that in the past it’s been a bit of a pain, and it’s down to me to publish comments when I finally get around to seeing them. I’ve used a plugin called CommentChallenge by Jay Allen to force you to…
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White House Printer
Well according to 24, I’ve got the same printer as the White House! It does print lovely photos, and I highly recommend it, but I’d have thought that big offices would be more likely to have lasers rather than inkjets…
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DRM Again
A bit more on DRM. Sorry. It’s interesting that at about the same time as Steve Jobs becomes a sudden convert to going DRM-free, the BBC Trust reports back its conclusions to the BBC’s on-demand proposals and in particular the iPlayer. One of the key things they want the BBC to ensure is that DRMd…
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Sky’s New Tactics
First Sky announces on Virgin Media’s launch day that they’re pulling off Freeview and encrypting their channels with their own box to serve premium content. Now we learn that Virgin Media cable customers were shown this advert over the weekend. It suggests that Virgin Media (or “ntl:Virgin” as the ad would have it) is “doubting”…
Podcasts, Radio, TV, Books, Cycling, Photography and More
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Yellowface/All The Lovers In The Night
Yellowface by R F Kuang I first came across R F Kuang with last year’s very enjoyable Babel, an alternate history of the British Empire told in a world where magic exists and is controlled by an elite group of individuals. Yellowface is very different, but no less enjoyable. It’s a book about books, and…
Hadrian’s Wall
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