Jon Cassidy

A new season

2015-09-07T18:52:00.000+01:00

It's a strange feeling as all the sport restarts. all the hype, the expectation, the ups and the downs. THIS WILL BE A BETTER SEASON!!!!!!!!! you are ready for the celebrations and the hurt. For me it means more long days, more people to meet and more faces to remember as RockSport keep moving forward. I have been paying particular attention to Ice Hockey, It's a sport I love watching but lost my with when I was younger Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks all the way.........I've always made sure to give the sport a lot of time on air.

We have been doing a lot of work with Braehead Clan lately since they are in the Champions Hockey League. Trying to get more players into the studio

Braehead Clan's Stefan Meyer joined us in the studio earlier today.
A photo posted by Jon Cassidy (@joncassidyrb) on Aug 26, 2015 at 7:23am PDT

Stefan Meyer is forever a funny guy.

I have to admit when The Clan signed Ric Jackman I must have floated to the moon and back, Former Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks defenceman who won the Stanley Cup, Epic right? We had to have him in!

Had Braehead Clan's Ric Jackman in the studio today. #ricjackman
A photo posted by Jon Cassidy (@joncassidyrb) on Sep 2, 2015 at 7:52am PDT

Well Braehead got their first CHL win on Saturday against ERC Ingolstadt, 6 - 4. really amazing game. I spoke to Alex Leavitt and Chris Bruton after the match and you could tell how much it meant to them.

Last week we also had Will Hall and Jonny Bunyan in from Glasgow Rocks

Jonny Bunyan and Will Hall of @glasgowrocks joined us in the studio earlier.
A photo posted by Jon Cassidy (@joncassidyrb) on Sep 3, 2015 at 9:26am PDT

Despite his age Jonny is a Rocks Veteran whereas Will is new to the team, Although he is from Sheffield he has family ties to Paisley. I have to admit I am looking forward to the new BBL season, I love basketball. Playing it, watching it....anything. The Rocks are our only professional team so it's great to support them, I expect big things from them too, they have a young fast squad this season.

The Rugby World Cup starts soon, C'mon Scotland and oh yeah..........football

I am very much looking forward The Davis Cup too, I will be there for RockSport, Yeah me interviewing Andy Murray.....Who will smile first?.....HIM lol

Speak Soon........Jon

Back with a vengeance

2015-08-14T17:01:00.000+01:00

What can I say? I haven't posted in a long time due to being ultra busy. It's barely an excuse, I know but I have a good reason. For over a year now I have been working on commercial radio. I can imagine all the whooping, cheering and hollering......NOT!!!! Truth is this is barely the first rung on the ladder. It started way back last year when I got an email, Asking if I would be interested in working for a new radio network, at that time named Eklipse Sports Radio.....Bit of a mouthful? lol. The idea was to broadcast sporting news and updates throughout central Scotland on DAB, online and on your smartphone. It started off ok, I found myself being idealistic about radio for the first time in a while. I wanted to lead the charge head on. The hours were and still are tough at times. The tougher thing has been seeing some people come and go, even those you had regarded as friends. Radio is a tough business and if you can't cut the mustard then you can't stick around. That goes for me too.

Being the producer here I have found myself grow, from the beginning sticking my head down and working hard and pushing content, content, content to refining the content and and scheduling and so on. I have had my creative differences with people, I think about ideas and weigh up situations and sometimes they work, sometimes they don't get off the paper they were written on - I have learned not to take it personally. if it doesn't work then it doesn't work.

I then went off to work in production at the Commonwealth Games which were in Glasgow, Oh boy that was fun....Long hours working, presenting pieces for their official channel, logging sports and working at the Field Hockey. I also got to watch many events and have good memories. some that stand out are seeing my Brazilian friend accidentally walk through the judging box at the Gymnastics, collecting various nations/broadcasters badges and ending up at a fast food restaurant with some of the Scottish Netball team and a Barbadian actress at 5am - I still made Eklipse the next day.

Commonwealth Games 2014
A photo posted by Jon Cassidy (@joncassidyrb) on Aug 11, 2015 at 4:11am PDT

When working at the games you were treated as one of the team and expected to act like it, I took this back with me to ESR, I was intending doing my fourth year at university but I decided against it - I already earned my degree. I hit the ground running coming back to Eklipse, I was more confident to do more. I found myself volunteering to go to events like the Scottish Open Grand Prix - badminton event (it's broadcast live throughout Asia and yet despite Scotland doing well in the sport no one else here really covered it) I also decided to take on the mantle of basketball correspondent.

In January we became RockSport....well we play Rock and talk about Sport.......so the name does exactly as it says on the tin. The launch day was fun, we had former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson in the studio along with James Wallace from Edinburgh Capitals, Matt Haywood from Braehead Clan and Jamie Farndale of Edinburgh Rugby....nice people, fun times.

It still gets me occasionally when I speak to famous sport stars, when they answer the phone saying Hello Jon and how are you.....what I matter? lol it feels nice to be making a mark in radio. I find myself working a lot with various organisations, just the other day we had Braehead Clan captain Matt keith and head coach Ryan Finnerty live in the studio.....really nice,funny guys.

Just had Braehead Clan's Matt Keith and Ryan Finnerty with us on RockSport.
A photo posted by Jon Cassidy (@joncassidyrb) on Aug 13, 2015 at 9:05am PDT

The weeks seem to fly by these days, long hours and a lot of work. I love it and hope it continues. Every day is a new learning experience and I aim for that to continue for a long while to come.

My my what a busy time!

2014-04-06T17:48:00.000+01:00

Hey you been way too long hasn't it? I have been busy busy busy and rather neglected the website. Now I’m sure you haven’t noticed lol but in that same vote this is rather important to me, Very web 1.0 I know, or at least web 1.7 (if that is a thing). It’s all very therapeutic to put down my thoughts, feelings and my soon never to be serialised life story. The 25th birthday of the internet has not long passed and we are more connected and closer together but somehow further apart, lost in translation.

I have been run off my feet with university and other work as well as having had my computer broken. Now I must first admit want to set up or at least join a procrastinators anonymous group because I seem to be like that with uni work lately. March was a particularly hectic month for me....was I coming or going, I just don't know! Between family members in hospital (they are fine now) and five different HBSA Radio roadshows ( I attended four) along with commonwealth games orientation (I may be part of it through the Host Broadcast Training initiative...we will see) I was also attending and interviewing at a gig in King Tut's, Glasgow, Attending both days of the Creative Loop, New opportunities and a whole load of radio shows........I had rushed some of my university radio work though because of this, and rushing is never a good thing. I am however determined to keep you all up to date on here, Mixcloud and everywhere else possible.

So yes my Christmas was a quiet one which I prefer, as was my birthday. December was when I started broadcasting on HBSA Radio it's been a blast, In February I started back at university for my second term, It's been pretty hectic. The Host Broadcast Training initiative has been really good, I have learnt a lot I now have a "health and safety passport" and my first sticker is for running outdoor broadcasts, This is valid for five years and totally invaluable for me. The health and safety seminar was held at the city of Glasgow college which I had never been to before, It is very easy to find being right next to Queen Street train station and Buchanan bus station. I knew I was going to be quite early in the morning so I walked from Bothwell street to North Hanover street easy walk and I was still quite early. The day felt long but that was probably because of the early rise.

The commonwealth orientation event was pretty epic, I picked Saturday morning as I had a slight dilemma. I could either attend on the Friday evening and miss my HBSA radio show (Boo!!!!) and make the Irvine leg of the HBSA #BigBadRoadShow (YAY!!!!) or Do my HBSA radio show (YAY!!!!) and Miss the Irvine leg of the roadshow (Boo!!!!) I decided to do the radio show and miss the roadshow (You are welcome one person!). For the orientation event itself I was early...One of the first in the queue at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, It was raining so I was glad to be one of the few under the shelter of the building, They let us in early though (games makers spirit and all that).

The HBSA Big Bad Roadshows took place throughout Ayrshire in march in Kilmarnock, Irvine, Greenock, Ayr and Kilbirnie as I said I couldn't make Irvine however i made the rest of the roadshows and they were pretty fun, In Kilmarnock I dressed up as Batman *Insert Fat man Joke here* I got lots of attention walking around kilmarnock as the caped crusader as well as people wanting pictures with me however I must bow down to the supremacy of the Stig, All he had to do was stand there and people would want pictures with him and give lots of money to us. Through the weeks I came up with the idea of a mascot dance off between our Zingzilla and elephant, (luckily I was not in the costumes at those times). We got to meet some characters during the roadshows like the two girls who would not leave me alone in Ayr, One of them was really jammy though as she kept winning prizes in our tombola....her friend kept losing which was kind of funny.

We are in Ayr today....In the Kyle centre....come join us! @HBSARadio #BigBadRoadshow pic.twitter.com/o7PHo3Wjqq
— Jon Cassidy (@joncassidy) March 22, 2014

I attended the creative loop, this year mainly for the HBTI and it was pretty fun, I got to meet people from Sunset and Vine as well as Global TV. SVGTV are the host broadcasters for the Commonwealth games in Glasgow.

at CCA for my second day at @creativeloop #CLSMF #HBTI2014 pic.twitter.com/HkFGl59ZCp
— Jon Cassidy (@joncassidy) March 20, 2014

The Creative Loop is always fun, The HBTI finished early on the Thursday which meant I could attend some of the radio events, I also got to meet some old radio buddies and my flowery shirted college lecturer John Collins how is Legend...for real. We a group of us including John were sitting at the bar while the award ceremony was taking place (he got like one million mentions). After the event we got to mingle with all the award winners including someone I know from university, She looked pretty lost as her friends couldn't attend the ceremony and went home so I introduced her to my old college crew (I think she is still ok!)

I had also before the creative loop, attended a gig at King Tut's in Glasgow...it's easy to see why it's the best gig venue in the UK. I went to see Polar bears in Purgatory and Your Favouite Enemies, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Beaulieu of Your Favorite Enemies before sitting through the sound checks....I was blown away by the bands even then. and of course the gig itself was A-mazing!

.So yeah things have been busy, I am going to be updating here and Mixcloud with my HBSA Radio shows, This year like last I had the March blues where things happening one after the other and I never felt good about most of what i was doing but now I can already look back in hindsight and be happy that things are coming together...Also look out for my news on a possible new opportunities I have....More to come!

Year Three: Week Six

2013-11-02T16:38:00.000+00:00

Halfway through the first term.

This week has been an odd week....as so many others are,

Monday was a lazy day for the first time in a fortnight. I was researching for my GCI submission. I also got this weeks YFS content from the west sent to me. For whatever reason I couldn't sleep. I remember speaking to King Keytan on facebook at one point early in the evening (he had his research pitch the next day) I couldn't sleep so went back on to Facebook just after 5am, He was still online. I guess he was just getting himself in the mood for Halloween by becoming zombie keytan or something. I felt embarrassed to be yawning away in class the next day when there were people there who had stayed awake for two days straight finishing off their pitch. We had a lecturer in discussing content for our exam in December. YAY an exam!

On Wednesday I was in uni all day In the morning we were to record our voice overs for the five minute news item....I already had! Next week we are to collect Voxpops (Latin for voice of the people) I already have!..It's not that I'm a brown nose or anything but at college we always had tighter deadlines so I am more used to being able to do high quality research, get access, interviews and Voxpops fast. It all bodes well though as it's just ever more experience on the long road we call life....or something like that anyway.

In the afternoon I had studio lab, I went down early as always. The studio was locked as it sometimes is. One of the actors knows a 'not so secret' passageway into the studio. I was following him to this stargate-esque portal when I ran into Mitchy, He was looking for a meeting room, Like all good presidential west wing walks the subject suddenly changed. We eventually found his fabled room. I walked back to the studio expecting the actor dude to have opened the door but the handle from the inside of the door had fallen off so I had the pleasure of walking all the way back round and using the hidden entrance..as I was going through I did jokingly say "If I end up in Narnia I will kill you"....It was as anti climactic as you knew it would be though...What did I find but the studio I was trying to get into in the first place. It wasn't long before everyone else arrived.

I was asked to change the file name for this weeks recordings, I dutifully did, I then went back into the tricaster system to double check (because I'm like that) and as soon as I clicked the mouse an alarm went off, for one brief weird second I thought JAnet had turned into skynet, It was the fire alarm. Of course I got up and out the room without thinking about my jacket...I had to stand out in the pouring rain, I made a point of not standing under the shelter of the building though just in case it was a real fire.........It wasn't.

We eventually got back in and set up the scene for the first group of actors, A German counterpart in Studio lab....(She is so efficient!) brought her Portuguese friend in to take photos, She was nice but it was the worst possible day for her to come in as half way though the first groups scene the fire alarm went off again. I made a point of getting my coat this time. Myself and the director we stuck outside for ages, by the time we got back they were just about to restart the scene. We got back to our positions and as I sometimes do I said the cheesiest thing possible at that given time as I told the actors "you guys were doing so well, You were so on fire that even the alarm picked it up"....I got laughs if even only for pity...You know like the laughs "comedian" Justin Lee Collins would get because "at least he tried". We were doing great. Our Greek director then decided it would be fun to randomly start saying German words to our floor manager/camera-person. Who is German (she is so efficient!) Mine was schadenfreude.....Yes I know what it means! No it's not a swear word! :p.....I was proud of it anyway.

I got home after a long day and started preparing my pitch for the 5th.....Yes on the same day as bonfire night, Lets just hope it doesn't go up in flames although if the fire alarm goes of during my pitch I will take it as a good sign :p...I'm on fire!

Oh and here was my Halloween costume.

The costume is some sort of post apocalyptic death lol

Year Three: Week Five

2013-10-28T20:57:00.001+00:00

The week I realised my post titles were boring.

I written this on Sunday but went away to do stuff and didn't post it lol

Of course last week I posted on Monday, due to laziness but this week has been very different. As you know I had my radio class on Monday and met a friend in Glasgow too and got some yummy stuff from the Chinese supermarket.

Tuesday was a great day, I went into uni with an amazing idea for my pitch in research class...it was like a moment of clarity really, We also had a guest lecturer. I stayed back after class to both annoy David and research for my graded radio segment and pitch for research class......I hit on some pretty good stuff and I guess got lucky with it too as you will find out.

I also edited The West Region Podcast - Episode 7 for YFS

On Wednesday I was in studio lab and was working behind the Camera. It was a good

I also edited The Central Region Podcast - Episode 7 for YFS

Thursday was a very long day, I was procuring interviews and access for my radio piece. It took a while but I got it sorted.....I was really happy as I would be able to test my new Zoom H4N recorder.

I was part of the crew that was filming Kickin' the Baws for Youth Football Scotland in Ayr......Last week I spoke about how I sometimes love the 'flying on the seat of your pants' attitude....Well at times we were doing that here...it was their first time filming the show so they wanted to take risks and try some stuff out. I was all things to all men, Set design. Camera operation, vision mixing, some directing and sound engineering (especially when the band performed) It was a great night, a long night but a good one. We had a Hibernian "star player" in for an interview too. At one point he was asking for advice, I thought he was meaning on interviews and media but I now genuinely believe he was asking how to play better football.......Goodness knows Hibs need to learn how, and fast........ :p. I didn't get home until after midnight.

On Friday I was in Troon......Yes really! I was there for my radio shizz. I had to go into university first to print off some release forms so I missed breakfast, I thought I would miss lunch too.....I know I know I could be doing with missing a few meals lol........When I got to Troon I had to go to the episcopal church...really easy to find, I also found they laid on a spread too.....Not for me (Troon are hardly that desperate for Tourists).....I felt like I was in Calender girls or Hot Fuzz....One of those places with cricket stumps in the village green and where the women's institute who are having as a guest speaker. A man who was captured by Somali pirates get it horrifically wrong by dressing up as pirates to meet him (True Story). I was hobnobbing with local politicians and reverends alike. I was given free reign of a massive room too where I conducted interviews. I set three chairs on a stage and my H4N on a mic stand, I felt like Andrew Neil or David Frost (although nowhere near as worthwhile) I interviewed the two politicians who were there, Labour and Conservative....( When I heard this my eyes lit up with beacons) I covered a lot in the interviews....My story is mainly of the now and lots of key issues had to be discussed. I felt I done ok (at best) I interviewed Reverend Tom Montgomery too. A really great guy who basically gave me the access and the rights to do what I wanted to get done.

The day wasn't over yet as I still had to get a costume and go to a Halloween scare night or as my friend called it "cavorting in a field" I told her there is no cavorting....she doesn't believe me!

My weekend was spent recovering lol....oh and watching formula One

Year Three: Week Four

2013-10-21T22:17:00.000+01:00

The Week that I wrote a week later,

There had been a rather nondescript start to the week, More boring if anything. I was in on Monday with my radio class being moved for a couple of weeks from the Wednesday. (the class I was talking about being the early start in my last post)

There were only three of us in the class, There are normally eight. It was a good class, We were listening to different features and news shows. After class I had to go up to Glasgow to collect my Zoom H4N and 32GB SDHC card I reserved at maplin. The Zoom H4N is a top of the range audio recorder for all situations.....And for me it's been three and a half years in the waiting.I also got a new Jacket and shoes (fun right?)

On Tuesday our research class was taken over by a library skills class....The class is basically how to reserve a book from the UWS library and online as well as how to Harvard reference different types of writings. We get the library skills class every year to help refresh our memory however......It seems to go over my head. I try and listen and can understand everything but I'm been given a wall of information that I can't breakdown. We had to do an exercise on the references which myself, David and King Keytan (No really!, He only wishes to be called this) worked together on. We also watched each others short films again. I survived this weeks King Keytan Pokemon lecture......I believe he calls himself King Keytan because he gets confused between Craig and Craggy Way. Well that's what I was told anyway......

I also edited the West Region Podcast for YFS

YFS West Region Podcast: Episode 6

Wednesday was Studiolab day....I was only in on the afternoon. I spent so much time in a daze during the morning that I completely missed the earlier bus and train. I was going to go in earlier so I could go buy someone a birthday present.....I did however get into Studiolab just on time ;). This week in Studiolab I was the vision mixer, I was working with a first year as director...She was very good! The actors were taking their improv to a whole new level with 'place' being their main thought. We had cues to work with as well. There is nothing like flying by the seat of your pants...It's scary at first then somehow exhilarating as you wait for the actors every move and especially their cue.

I randomly met a friend on the train home which was nice, Although I must have been a nuisance, I kept on yawning (Not out of boredom that is for sure).

on Thursday afternoon I had GCI, We are starting two weeks of moodle discussion board classes, We have to discuss and argue against a specific view on globalisation. The class only lasted an hour but it was a good class as we got to understand the workings of how this discussion board would work. Half way through the class I almost bust out laughing, I noticed Myself, David and King Keytan were inadvertently sitting the same way, We were sitting up straight and arms folded....(it wasn't really funny.....I know!

Because of the early finish Myself and David had to wait around the train station for ages.....

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were spent doing very little, I felt that after my sound production heroics from Ravenscraig last week I deserved a rest (I was just being lazy)

Today (Monday) I was rather busy, I had radio production in the morning (which was a fun class), I also traveled up to Glasgow to meet a friend, I hadn't seen her in forever basically. It was great fun chatting with her about life and other stuff :p....

Before I met up with her I decided to give the Chinese supermarket a visit. I think I could have just about bought the whole shop to be honest. I ended up settling on three things

Seafood flavoured noodles, Taro Mochi and a bottle of cold milk tea.
Yes I know I could have done better but hey I was in a rush because I was meeting my friend :)

This has been a weird week, I thought I was making headway but that was superficial, I need to get my head down and try and work hard.

Year Three: Week Three

2013-10-14T00:37:00.000+01:00

The week of....I don't know what...lol

This week was yet another busy week indeed, So much so I haven't had much time to think let alone reflect on this very late in the day post Monday was my usual very boring Monday, I did find out that my Wednesday morning radio production class was moved to next Monday (as I write this tomorrow) morning at 10am....So an early start to the week for me :p

This Tuesday I had my research class again and it was great, I got some feedback on my pitch idea and I feel I know where to go with my idea now. I also got a three hour lecture on the power rangers...Well it felt like three hours anyway...I started editing for the YFS West Region podcast too.

West Region Podcast: Episode 5

On Wednesday I only had a half day, I was in for Studiolab, I was floor manager this week, I love being floor manager especially when the gallery are on the ball and I don't have the curse of the walkie-talkie....but it's an experience to learn from. Later on the train I also got to speak about radio as the theatre of the mind...so I was happy :)

On Thursday I had GCI, I almost missed my bus stop to the train station because the lecturer posted a link about maps...Now it wasn't just a map of the world, The maps were looking at things like countries that use the metric system and countries the UK haven't invaded and such like. I had a quiet lunch at the train station...yes that's my life at the moment :p. When I went into class my friend David and I had a slight Facebook squabble, He added someone and had to find someone else through their friends list (he insists it's in no way stalking..and in fairness it wasn't) Anyway it turns out I had added the person he was trying to add....He just added a random person and they accepted :p. I also edited the YFS East region podcast too.

East Region Podcast: Episode 3

Friday was just another boring day where I was getting ready to help YFS cover the the Girls cup semi finals on the Saturday, I had lot's planned but never got anything done...I guess I really overslept.

On Saturday I was up really early to go to Ravenscraig near Motherwell to be the sound engineer at the Girls cup semi finals, It was a long day spent outside in the cold. I was the Outdoor sound engineer and worked on three games...It took a lot out of me nonetheless, I went home and slept for three hours and yet I still managed to sleep all that night too.....

Ah the joys of an early morning Monday start....I shouldn't complain, I'm relatively certain I can't complain, But I will anyway.

More to come next week...stay tuned, or whatever else they say......

Year Three: Week Two

2013-10-05T17:56:00.001+01:00

Week two, the week things start to settle. Well you would think anyway. Due to some unforeseen circumstances I got some of the YFS content later than normal which meant I was up until the wee hours of wednesday and thursday editing the west and east region podcasts....I'm sure I didn't have to be but once I get audio to edit time becomes non existent.

Tuesday this week was a simple enough day, I had to hand in my first draft idea for my pitch in research class. I am pitching my TV show idea on the 5th of november....so remember remember the 5th of november has a whole new meaning this year lol.

On wednesday because I was editing most of the night before I only had a couple of hours sleep, Now this was not a major issue in the morning as I had my radio A class with the seven other students in it . Another class tried to hijack our room but Chris my lecturer eventually told them where to go......The cafeteria lol. One of the things we had to listen to on wednesday was the shipping forecast, Now the shipping forecast is a good example of radio but try listening to it when you are tired!. In the afternoon I was doing studiolab with the actors for a second week. I was hoping to maybe do sound again or be a camera operator but I was thrust into the role of director....Week two was the week many of the production staff had other stuff on so there was only a few of us. I had a Floor manager whose first language was not english, Now he was very easy to communicate with that was not a problem although he sometimes found the accents a slight issue. He had to be floor manager and a camera operator......we were running that short. So he had a lot put upon him and the actors at times were not very forgiving. We were running so short our producer who is also a member of university staff had to also become a camera operator halfway through the day. Everyone is starting to understand their roles so studiolab should run smoother as time goes on.

As I previously mentioned I was editing a podcast for wednesday:

West Region Podcast - Episode 4

Thursday was slightly more relaxed as I had Global Cultural Industries, Although I was waaaay more tired, I felt like a zombie (or at least how I imagine it would feel like to be a zombie).....I wonder though if I was the most tired of my friends as on the way home David was trying to get us onto the Kilmarnock train....I'm really not sure why either.... I forgot to mention last week but David kept almost getting juice (soda) down him on the train....only once by me!...The other time by actresses we met.

I edited a podcast for thursday too

East Region Podcast - Episode 2

Since #BreakingBad is finishing tonight I think I might start watching it tomorrow #HEATHEN
— Jon Cassidy (@joncassidy) September 29, 2013

Yes it's true, I've been waiting for a chance to start watching Breaking Bad before it finished but alas it never came so I decided to start watching the day after it finished. I've finished season one now. Very good indeed

and as far as I am aware (don't tell me!!!!!!!!) It gets better :p. This is when all the good shows start and I'm sure I will miss most of them due to being extremely busy.

Next saturday I will be working at the girls cup semi finals in Motherwell for Youth Football Scotland. Will be interesting to work on the commentary production side and busy I'm sure. I will also be working on the recording of Kickin' the baws for Youth Football Scotland on the 24th too...The 24th will be a long and fruitful day.

I'm supposed to have relatives coming over from America in the next week or so. One does wonder if their government shutdown goes any further if they will be able to get back when they plan too. (Just a random thought so no politics please!!!!!!!)

Bring on week three!

Year Three: Week One

2013-09-28T17:00:00.000+01:00

Hey guys, Well my first week of classes finished this week, I have a good idea of what is expected of me this year :p I also have a lot of work to do. My first class was a tuesday afternoon class called research. Now I guess research is self explanatory and probably seen as quite simple but it truly is the foundation of the media industries. My Lecturer is Lynn Sinclair....Lynn is a lecturer I like because she doesn't take any rubbish but also because she explains things so well. I have to create a ten minute pitch for four weeks time, I need to pitch an idea for a show by myself. Such a good challenge!

On wednesday..well now wednesdays are a long day this term indeed. In the morning I have radio production A, In this course we have to make a graded news item, Radio show, Adverts and documentary. These are all things I've done before so I at least know what is expected of me. The radio module this year only has eight of us in class, I think this is a good thing because I can have more time with the lecturer and that all the egos have gone to the TV module. I volunteered for the Studio Lab this year too. Studio lab is basically a collaboration between acting students and production students with the actors taking centre stage.....(They have the ideas first then we work out how to film it). I was working on sound this week.

I have to sit about for one and a half hours between my radio production class and Studio lab...an extended lunch if you will lol. This week was freshers week. There were lots of stalls so I got many pens, erasers, wristbands, bottle openers and eventually some free pizza. I used my time to talk to some of my film student friends and the manager of Ratios.....a great band that I am trying to feature on YFS Radio and Kickin' The Baws. I happened to be chatting to their manager when suddenly I blinked and he seemed to disappear.....This is when I knew the Dominos Pizza stall had got a new delivery.

As I was going home after a long day I got an email from Niall the YFS West Region presenter. His show was ready to be edited. We had been speaking over the past couple of weeks on how to improve the show and presentation styles. Niall has worked really hard and taken on my hints and tips along the way. To create a fantastic show with great/unique segments and a presentation style that is constantly getting better.

West Region Podcast - Episode Three

I am really excited to be working with Niall to eventually create the dream of a slick, well paced, multi voice extravaganza that is both Informative and fun! With interviews, match reports, discussion and special features along with our key player, team and "wild west" features.

I also aim to be doing the same with Mikey in the east region.

I was up until 3am editing Niall's show, I didn't have to be but once I get audio to edit I forget time exists and it's just me and the audio...Thats the way it's always been especially when creating my own podcasts.

On thursday I was in for my Global Cultural Industries class at 1pm, The course seems to take in a lot of sociology and philosophy too. It is a very interesting course with a self confessed dudeist lecturer.....no really and no it's not a typo. The lecturer is funny and he seems to be able to break the lectures down really well.

Rock on dudes! *dudette is both sexist and grammatically wrong, So we are all dudes lol*

How I Met Your Mother Started this week in the USA, I really cannot wait for season nine to air on E4, It's the last season and an end of an era surely!

On friday channel four aired a special one off episode of The IT Crowd....The last episode in fact. It was a really good send off for the show and in a way it left us wanting more. Taking in story arcs about abuse on social media, a jibe at news international, Moss wearing women's slacks and "small person racism". The show was both extremely funny and poignant at times too. especially the ending where Roy says his catchphrase "have you tried turning it off and on again?" before Moss turned off the basement lights and hearing the shows creator Graham Linehan over then end credits (his was the last voice heard) was the cherry on top.

Also More news I'm happy about:

We're Back!!! #DumbTo pic.twitter.com/u2u42yM2hk
— Jeff Daniels (@Jeff_Daniels) September 24, 2013

Dumb and Dumber is coming back, I loved that film as a child and can't wait for the new film. Why are people calling Jeff Daniels' emmy win of best actor in a drama series a surprise? I get that he was up against an extremely strong field, Bryan Cranston (another actor from my childhood in Malcolm in the Middle) is a legend but Jeff Daniels portrayal of Will McAvoy in HBO series The Newsroom is exquisite to say the least.

Next week will probably be a more hectic week, I know I will be making a start on all my modules reading lists...Although I kind of already have. Can't wait to see what next week brings!

Year Three: Induction Week

2013-09-22T23:25:00.000+01:00

Well what can I say. It's finally here. Year three at university, My degree year. I had a very busy week although I doubt it will be my busiest this year. On tuesday I had my induction day, this year was just a thirty minute one but it was very informative nonetheless. I have two radio production modules, Global Cultural Industries, Rights and creative industries and Research and last but not least sitcom writing for radio and TV.

My phone broke during the summer which was of course very annoying but hey it was a blackberry so no loss. On tuesday I bought a Samsung S4 mini.....Well I don't want to be an iPhone slave, Nothing wrong with the phones or most of their owners but some of them really grate me

"OMG IOS7 is out #Geek"

First of all you are not a geek, you know nothing about coding (as an example) and you only use the word geek because you are trying to be cool which further demeans the word and it's meaning.

***RANT OVER***

On wednesday I got a new cover for the phone (can't be too careful) and bought presents. On thursday I celebrated a birthday within the family. Friday was a great day though, Really good day. I attended the host broadcaster training initiative for the commonwealth games in Glasgow 2014. It was so much fun and extremely insightful. I met amongst others BBC Sport and Sportscene host Jonathan Sutherland. I am really keen to be part of the commonwealth games in some form as not only would it be an amazing experience but also a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was also great to get back with some old friends from second year, One doing TV studio modules and the other filmmaking and screenwriting and a new one from the journalism course in Hamilton. I also told my old film and documentary lecturer Ian I would still make sure to annoy him throughout the year....Ohhh how jokes work themselves out.

On Saturday I was going to the WIRED Music Festival in Ayr, I cannot be someone who turns up on time or late for any events so was their early. As I was walking to the venue my former lecturer Ian was walking towards me. As our eyes met we both took a double take in surprise then he remarked "I know you said you would annoy me but this is to far" We both laughed.

The Wired Music Festival was a 12 hour event with 27 bands on two stages. It was a lot of fun. I even got a limited edition felt tipped designed Twin Planets EP. On the train home I had to stop a load of drunken lecherous salary men in suits from coming on to and annoying a female passenger too, Ah the joys!

Check out some of my pictures from saturday below!

I'm working on getting more radio time on air and podcast content, I'm also working on a new site design...So watch this space!

Post image by Brian Digital, Flickr

£1 GBP for MySpace?

2013-09-11T15:23:00.000+01:00

Hey guys…….and dolls, I know it’s been a while since I last posted, I do have an excuse! I have become producer for the east and west regions of Youth Football Scotland’s radio and podcast Output. As you can imagine I am overjoyed to land such a role because I get to use my awesome skills more, but also because Scottish football is constantly going in and out of crisis and no one is really paying attention to our youth system, Our youth players need credit. My guys cover both the girls and boys leagues in our regions. The national YFS output also covers live commentaries too.

Aside from all of that I had my head up my backside trying to do a module resit for university, I passed it second time round at least…..PHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

I will be starting 3rd year at university very soon and I really look forward to it as I am able to really concentrate on radio this year. I have two terms of radio broadcasting weekly on UWS Radio (More details to come soon), I really hope to push a live oriented show with lots of interviews live bands and general shenanigans. There will also be modules on research, rules and regulations as well as looking at radio globally. I’m looking forward to the Situation comedy: Radio and TV module as well. I am also hoping to start broadcasting weekly radio shows for YFS Radio soon too. I am going to be looking for lots and lots of opportunities out there and will be releasing some (old) New and (new) New podcasts too So watch this space!.....Please :p

A thought entered my head today! No it’s ok it’s a normal thought, Nothing about aliens or killer robots. You know MySpace?...Yeah!...Well a source told me (I’ve always wanted to say that lol)

"Just heard the Vanderhooks are laying off more Myspace people starting with President Roger Mincheff."

Now I’m not strictly sure what this means. Are they bringing someone new in? Usurping Mincheff’s job or are they getting ready to sell the old boy yet again? One thing I do know is that:

Tim and Chris Vanderhook I will buy MySpace for £1…..no really! The site you want to create is being done a million times over and better by other networks, Crowd sourced Radio is extremely common. I have said in the past that the only way your idea would work is if you concentrated more on or only on unsigned bands based on the NRK Untouched model. If you used that model then you could gain huge amounts of advertising revenue plus have slots on TV and Radio networks worldwide and be back to being cool MySpace but also a MySpace that is doing something different.

Is my proposal cheeky? Yes! Is it necessary? I believe so!

I believe MySpace could be a major media network broadcasting on TV and radio one day. MySpace may not have it’s own national channels but an app for connected TVs where the user controls the content. Connected TV’s will probably be the biggest challenge of all as now you will be able to affect what people watch 24/7. A MySpace channel would be the route to go down as there will be many apps to promote user submitted content and indeed curated content from around the world.

MySpace would be 100% social with social media playing a central role to the channel but also one that affects the channel content itself. I know you guys, Tim and Chris want the fourth estate to have a big say in how your site is currently run. With a 100% social channel you become the channel for the people by the people. You could also look to create internships through colleges or Universities and give the next generation of content creators a chance to shine.

Also as a side note what the heck is the deal with twerking? I mean come on!, Seriously we have bigger things to worry about than twerking. Not all that long ago I seen something shocking on Twitter and it was that twerking was trending higher (In the UK) than either Assad or Syria. I’m not going to talk about Syria here but surely something is wrong when a publicity stunt trends higher than another possible war.

Eurovision Song Contest 2013

2013-05-18T19:32:00.000+01:00

Tonight is the night we've all been waiting for, It' time to find out what our neighbours across Europe REALLY think of us. This year representing the UK is another "oldie" Bonnie Tyler with Believe in me. I wasn't convinced on this song at first I thought Oh great another Engelbert where the song doesn't capture our imagination. Believe in me is slower than we are used to from Bonnie but powerful. Now I have thoroughly staked my claim in team #BelieveInBonnie we should take a look at who is in the final*

Armenia

Back after a year out due to political tensions with their neighbour and then host Azerbaijan Armenia will be looking to do well in Malmo.
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan are back after hosting last years competition and want to bring it home again.
Belarus

Belarus haven't reached the heights of Dima Koldun a few years ago with his bond inspired song Work your magic however the hopes of a nation are on Alyona in Malmo
Belgium

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

Still in a Eurovision hangover since Lordi Finland will want a good showing this year
France

Georgia

Germany

Germany are pulling out all the stops this year with Cascada and if anyone can do it they sure can
Greece

They have major economic problems but still want to put on a show, We are waiting on our first Eurovision Song Contest supplied by Lidl.......
Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Our brothers in the Emerald isle have won the ESC the most and Ryan Dolan wants to do it again.
Italy

Lithuania

Malta

Moldova

Moldova always have the ingredients to pull off a surprise at the ESC, Could this year be their year?
Norway

Margaret Berger is the outside chance in my mind with a great song, Could she be Norway's first winner since Alexander Rybak...Either way they want to show face after last years last placed Eric Saade rip off
Romania

The highest male voice in Eurovision since his fellow countryman Mihai Traistariu could have a good chance for a top eight finish.
Russia

Spain

Sweden

Sweden have had some big songs over the past couple of years from Eric Saade and last years winner Loreen. Robin Stjernberg has a massive job ahead to try and keep the title in Sweden
The Netherlands

Ukraine

United Kingdom

Come on we believe in Bonnie....Don't we? Just as long as our Welsh wonder doesn't come home with Nil Poi we will be happy

Sit back and get ready for the ultimate "cheese - fest"....see you on the other side.

*(I would have done this for the semis but I was in Berlin for the first one)

*********************************************************************************
Denmark won

with such a great song only teardrops.....They deserved it but I do think Norway could have done better

Flipside - Short Film

2013-05-16T21:13:00.000+01:00

As you guys know I started university this year and one of my modules was to create a short film. Now I have done my fair share of creative work in the past from being in Operas to radio/Podcasts and making documentaries however nothing could have prepared me for the work involved in making this short film, I made sure to constantly be one step ahead and was very very very very lucky that just about everything fell into place in terms of getting actors and what not, indeed Claudette Baker Park and John Willow were fantastic to work with which was great for a first time director like myself. I got everything to look how I wanted it, had issues with the sound and a couple of post production problems but otherwise I'm okay with my effort, Not completely happy but then I doubt I ever will be about any creative work I ever make.

Flipside is about a waster that lives life by the flip of a coin. I would also love to thank and indeed keep thanking Shaun Bartlett forever for giving the production permission to use his fantastic song Love Give Take as it really adds that extra dimension the film needed.

Please don't hesitate to talk about it in the comments box below!

Candy Box the next best waste of time

2013-05-05T19:37:00.001+01:00

Candy Box created by French indie developer Aniwey is the next big "waste of time" since Facebook game parody Cow Clicker, This ASCII art browser game at first seems like nothing, I mean all you have to do is either eat candies or throw them to the ground but we are a strange bunch us internet users, We get curious over the smallest things so we eat the candies,

we throw the candies or we just wait and see how many candies we can accumulate while we chat to friends on Facebook via another tab and before you know it.........Swords become available, we can go on epic quests and buy lollipops and get questioned by a logical frog. This appeals to our askew sense of capitalism as we are getting something for nothing and doing nothing to get it. We become mindless zombies every so often clicking on the candy box browser checking how many candies we now have, what we can buy and going on yet another quest. At this moment in time we don't know who Aniwey is (yet) but what we do know is some statistics Aniwey openly shares about the game, These statistics are updated everyday however I am taking them from the Last update at : (2013-05-05 01:04:36) which shows 343088 saves had been made, The statistics also show the favourite weapon amongst users as well as how many "saves" have killed certain beings and interestingly (maybe) How many "saves" which have finished the game (currently 6829). Aniwey is looking to build a sequel and is looking to have his very own ASCII artist for the game as right now the art shown is either taken or derived from elsewhere. The sequel will include some suggestions sent from users like an autosave feature, offline/Smarphone versions, easter eggs and of course squirrels.

Currently there are no adverts on the website or a Zynga style freemium pay to play more model. Both the python (Linux OS) server and the javascript client will be on a public repository and they will both be free software, Aniwey cites "free as in freedom" and links to the Free Software Foundation. The FSF was founded in 1983 by Richard M. Stallman and is aimed at promoting totally free software that is available to the public and anyone can copy and derive it without fear of their personal information been taken or used without permission, Ethical programming if you will. We shall see how this game progresses and what the sequel will hold when it arrives.

On a random note I am off to Germany on Friday with this week being my hand in for two university modules (Short Film and Studio Production) We recorded our show for studio production on Thursday, It was a very long day but also very fruitful. Alas now is time for the dreaded paperwork and essays and having my nose in many books before my broadcast drama exam. After many close calls this year I finally got an A and it was for a group presentation, Still happy about it!
It's Eurovision very soon and Bonnie Tyler is flying our flag....bring on the Nill poi for Bonnie.

Psy is Back, Thatcher and Berlin

2013-04-13T14:19:00.000+01:00

Perfect timing Really as the world is watching the Korean Peninsula and all the rhetoric and war talk from Kim Jong Un and Co, Last years YouTube sensation Psy is back with new single Gentleman (I was according to YouTube viewer 302). Gentleman is a very hypnotic tune and very pleasing to hear as a listener. I think Psy is going into be in for a very hard time because many Bandwagon passengers will instantly say Gentleman is not as good as Gangnam Style rather than look at the bigger picture.

UK MUSIC NEWS

Music news in the UK this week has all been about a song from the Wizard of Oz called Ding Dong the Witch is dead and an online campaign to get the song to number one as a way to mark the passing of Margaret Thatcher. I can't say I was ever a fan of hers but then again I was born in 1990 so can't really have a meaningful opinion on her politics, What I can say is sheer respect should be in order as someone has died and no matter what you think of her it was a watershed moment in UK history when she became our first female Prime Minister. Since our official top 40 chart is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 they are naturally stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to what to do about this song, The BBC decided that they would not play the full song as that would be disrespectful but they would play a few second sample within a news item telling listeners why the song is in the charts, I personally believe this is the best way to go as most of BBC Radio 1's remit would be my age or younger therefore don't know her or her politics so therefore this would be a case for informing and educating listeners and that is what the BBC aim to do.

Me News

The next few weeks will be big for me as I have been helping German students from FH Brandenburg with a project taking pictures of Glasgow and merging them with pictures of Glasgow from the past, I was more or less their guide taking them around the city (And I mean around as I think we all have sore legs now). They were very attentive with their work and very nice people but you do sometimes curse the language barrier when they have set up their tripod and camera in the middle of the road on Renfield Street and a double decker bus is barrelling towards them and you are trying to shout MOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!!!! and they don't seem to understand. I am hopefully going to Berlin next month to do the same there. Next week I will be filming my short film with cast, crew, Location and equipment ready and writing a third draft of my script as well. I am hoping (naively I'm sure) for a fast turnover so I have a good amount of time in post production. I started out by trying to write a comedy but it quickly morphed into a serious drama....Weird how these things happen. Yes when it is finished I'm sure I will find away to annoy you with the film on here so don't you worry :)

A Google birthday surprise

2013-01-18T10:14:00.000+00:00

Yay it's my birthday!....So I log on to my computer to see if anyone on Facebook noticed but before I get there I saw this Google doodle when I went to the Google homepage (I was still logged in from my last time online), When I clicked on the doodle I was taken to my Google+ profile. Now I didn't feel all warm inside when I seen the doodle if anything when I spoke of this on my Facebook I joked about them being Skynet.

I get why Google are doing this, I mean it is nice to be made special on your birthday and hey it will make people share more information on their Google+ page. Although it feels weird to be getting a birthday doodle from Google it is by far a more enjoyable birthday message than the automated Emails I get from companies that say Happy Birthday and try and up sell you stuff or make it clear you should be listening to them on the radio right now!!!!!!!. All in all a great piece of marketing and a step towards a more personalised browsing experience.

and I can say OH Yeah well Google remembered it was my birthday! why didn't you? :)

It's Christmas! 2012

2012-12-24T15:32:00.000+00:00

Hey it's been a long year hasn't it? Now all you want to do is just let Christmas cheer take over, In a year that hasn't seen the world end like predicted, a not so close US election, Superb home Olympics in my native land (commonwealth Games on my doorstep in 2014), continued strife in Syria and more horrific gun crime in the USA. On a personal level I started university and I enjoy it however my time management has not got any better so I've got lots to learn indeed, I shall prevail somehow.

Tell you what I am gutted we never got the zombie apocalypse...Not that I prepared for it being busy with uni work and all, I am looking forward to Christmas and I hope I get my presents on time ;) If your kids are worried about getting their presents on time then they should check the North American Aerospace Defence Command yep that's right...And no you don't need to hack them (as that would be bad lol) instead head here to the Norad Santa Tracker where you can get a realtime update of events (as I write this he is in China).

The origins of the Santa tracker are the kind I love the most being that it happened by accident. Over 50 years ago in Ye olden days when there was a wall separating Berlin and Cold War "shenanigans" were afoot and NORAD was CONAD someone at Sears in Colorado springs created an advert for children to phone Santa, The number that was printed on the ad was the wrong one, The number was actually the hotline for the continental air defense's director Colonel Harry Shoup. Shoup after the second call realised what was going on and asked his staff to give the polar coordinates of Santa to every child who called.

Such a sweet story when you consider the troubles between east and west at the time and the fact it is still happening today I guess is a tribute to Colonel Shoup and NORAD's seasonal goodwill.

Image by Recon Cycles, Flickr

Facebook accused of dodging tax

2012-12-23T19:40:00.000+00:00

Facebook have unsurprisingly joined the ever growing list of major international companies that have been accused of tax dodging in the UK. The are accused of only paying £2.9 million in corporation tax in more than £800 million overseas profits £240,000 of which went to the UK tax man. Facebook are using their Ireland HQ to avoid having to pay full UK tax and channelling the money to a company in the Cayman Islands. When you pay for an advert on Facebook (which we have) You do so via their Ireland operation. Facebook joins a list that includes Google, Apple and Starbucks.

A Labour MP had recently spoken on the matter calling facebook "disingenuous and immoral". John Mann MP also said "They benefit enormously from the country and the Internet infrastructure but do nothing to fund it.".

OK OK so before you decide to boycott Facebook!...Which would be a much harder thing to do than to change which coffee shop you buy from. The problem here is that there are many loopholes in aid of avoiding payment of Tax so it is in my humble (yet naive I'm sure) opinion that the ownness is not on multinational companies to change how they do things but on the governments of the world to close the loopholes because once the loopholes are closed then the companies HAVE to comply. There is no point going on about their practises if they are not illegal.

Image by Sean MacENtee, Flickr

Gangnam Style beats the billion mark

2012-12-22T14:48:00.001+00:00

To many Jae Sang Park has created a monster, Gangnam Style is the song that just doesn't want to go away and to think all those months ago I (who love K and J pop) was trying to get all my friends into the song, Of course my friends didn't listen yet a couple of months later they were trying to convert the converted over to Psy.

As of writing Gangnam Style currently has 1,013,951,644 views on Psy's official Youtube channel and overtaken Baby by Justin Bieber on Youtube....Yes really someone finally knocked The Bieber of number one so he shall forever be loved by many lol.

Here are the most viral videos on YouTube with the official mash-up.

Image by Korea.net, Flickr

Google explains why Gmail went down

2012-12-12T17:57:00.000+00:00

Google have blamed the disruption of 170 million Gmail users on a faulty update. Google have since apologised. The problem had been traced to a bug in a routine update to its load balancing software. The update had detected that some data servers were offline so triggered a failsafe mechinism which is designed to stop all google services from being cut off.

Google engineers have corrected the fault in the load balancing software now but they are changing the way they introduce new updates to avoid similar problems arising in the future.

Google have said that the bug affected 40% of the 425 million paid for and free Gmail users

Facebook Down, Google Problems and not to mention Podbean moving

2012-12-11T00:11:00.000+00:00

I'm Pretty sure most of the population thought the world was ending while Mark Zuckerberg was having a coronary! Facebook was just down due to a DNS error by the looks of things. Also Gmail was down earlier and Podbean changing over to the amazon web service (seemingly without prior notice).

Just think we are not long now from the supposed end of the world (no the Mayans did not predict this would happen lol).

More to come on the matter I'm sure

Image by Allesok, Flickr

What do you think of the events of the past few days?

Do you think it is possible for Facebook and Google to be up 100% or the time?

Social Media news 23nd to 27th April

2012-04-28T00:00:00.000+01:00

Social Media news 23nd to 27th April

Jlori, Flickr

Hellooooooooo! How are you? sorry it’s been a while! I’ve been busy making lots of audio for you which will be out very soon, More news of which will follow in the coming weeks :)

Well what can I say but things don’t always move fast in tech world, Google’s long awaited file storing system Google Drive has finally parked up and is ready to use (I am right now!). so here are some facts about the service.

With Drive you get 5GB free storage but let’s face it most people that use the service will need more space so for an update to 25GB you pay £1.54 ($2.49) a month and for extreme users you can get 100GB for £3.08 ($4.99) a month and for big businesses you can get 1TB for £30.80 ($49.99) a month.

Drive fits like a glove into google’s already bulging stable of products and works seamlessly with Gmail and Google+ being able to share photos via drive to either service. Now you can store and view your files offline as well. Google Drive allows live multi author updating meaning a group of people from different parts of the world can work on a research document in live time and changes will be automatically synced to the desktop file of every user with the ability for them to leave comments I.e reasons why their research findings have changed and a notification will be sent to everyone about the change.

Google has massive hopes for the cloud as I written about last year.

The Future’s Bright, The Future’s Cloudy

Google are facing stiff opposition from their longtime rival Microsoft with Skydrive changing profoundly to compete with them. Skydrive will work out cheaper and now once you upload a file to them you can send the link out via email and social media to tell people you have content up you want them to see. You don’t need a Skydrive account to access the file. (As far as I am aware everyone gets the same link to the same file so if there were any copyright infringement it would be easily dealt with!)

My Thoughts

I don’t see Google pushing to open up files on Drive to non users or at least if they did it would be of a token read only functionality. Google will use Drive as a backend product for users to store photos, videos, word documents and audio files on the cloud. I personally hope to see more integration with Blogger, Feedburner and maybe even Youtube but mainly feedburner as then their Blogger service can fully compete with Wordpress as you would be able to store your bands music or companies podcasts on the service. With Drive as the host and add a timed release function to simultaneously upload to iTunes and your website at the same time and add the new episode to the Google Listen directory amongst others providers, while sending out an update on social media (like you can do with new blog posts) to tell everyone that it’s up.

Both services are available on mobile phones Google on Android with and iPhone/iPad version coming soon but Microsoft are ahead with a windows phone version and iPhone/iPad version already available. Both have desktop/offline capabilities. I think Microsoft are the early leaders with more free space, being able to have more in place with phone apps, is a cheaper service and non skydrive members can have access to files however I believe Google drive offers more longevity with the ability to multi author documents, Google having a much bigger share of Cloud storage and what the future may hold with the possibility of great fluidity between Drive, Feedburner and Blogger. Things have just got interesting!

What do you think?

Will you be storing more on the cloud?

Do you use any existing services?

Have you given the service a test “Drive” yet?

Social Media News 12th to 17th February

2012-02-17T19:40:00.001+00:00

Hmm to trust a tweet?

We've all been there before you know you see a tweet that a random celeb has died. In the olden days (well not that old!) you would have been like a midge to a lamp and retweeted or posted an R.I.P but things have changed, you've been burned once to often, Jeff Goldblum was alive! Now you wait for the BBC or CNN to post it or check their website. Most of us heard the news of Whitney Houston's death before AP tweeted it but we didn't trust it. I give two reasons first we've been burned before and also I'm certainly not likely to trust an account by Big Chorizo (simply because the name questions legitimacy). Twitter seems to be the biggest news source out there but with the lack of verification there is still hope for the traditional media outlets.

MySpace 2.0

MySpace is back baby! and it seems they have been listening and changed focus towards music 11 months ago they lost 10 million users in 1 month but according to them they are gaining 40,000 new users every day since the launch of the new music player in December and the largest free music collection in the world of 42 million tracks. They are clearly going after Spotify and with the same level of Facebook integration. Important things to note though are that the new users may actually be old users re joining and it is harder to revitalise a company that has fallen from grace than building a new start up in the Tech world.

Is This The End of MySpace?

but at least this is a step in the right direction and part of what I said I wished for in an article last year.

Are you Pintrested?

Information overlord Mark Zuckerberg sure is and has set up a page for all his pins here www.pinterest.com/zuck. Pinterst is by far the hottest start up of 2012 and has already reached 10 million users incidentally al'lot of which (including Zuck of course) have connected through their Facebook account and over 100 brands are connected from Sesame Street to UNICEF.

Does Mark Z's profile mean Facebook are interested in buying the company or adopting the idea for the social network?

www.pintrest.com/joncassidyis where I'm at!

Facebook Verified

While we are on the subject of Facebook adopting ideas! It's been announced they are to offer verified accounts for celebrities and other public figures. This is something Twitter and Google+ already do while showing a badge on the profile. Facebook are not going to show a badge on the accounts but they will give the users an option to display a nickname rather than their real name, they will also appear in your people to subscribe to more often. The feature will start as invite only to those users with high subscriber counts and the user will have to supply two forms of identification such as passport and birth certificate to ensure it is them.

msnNow

Last year there were rumours that Microsoft were building their own social network, rumours I didn't agree with as they are making too much money from Facebook it would be stupid to cut ties. Microsoft have created a website and Facebook social reader as an aggregator of social media trends across Bing, Facebook, Twitter and their venture with NBC BreakingNews.com but not Google+.

How will that work out for the 17 year old Web Portal?

Microsoft Phone Scam!

I finally got a call from this scam. This is an India based scam that where a “Microsoft Technician” phones to to alert you that there is a'lot of malware on your computer and they direct you to a part of your computer called eventviewer this is a log of each time you send an error report. Say iTunes was running slowly and you try and close it down and you get the option to end now via a popup and another one appears saying send error report to microsoft. this does not relate to viruses. They ask to gain control of your computer remotely DO NOT ALLOW THIS!!!!. They then try and hard sell you software that you can actually get for free online. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR CARD DETAILS!!!!, Once they have your details they can and will keep taking money from your account.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of the scam then go to this site http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/

Microsoft will never phone you to report any problems!

Social Media News 6th to 10th february

2012-02-10T17:36:00.001+00:00

Image by qmnonic, Flickr

Fancy a toy farm?

If you love Zynga's games then you will love the news that Zynga and Hasbro have struck a deal to create real life Farmville toys. The toys are expected to be released by Autumn 2012 just in time for Christmas weirdly enough.

Will it be in the form of a toy farm or will it be cuddly cow toys?

Facebook turning Listen stories into Adverts

For a while now we have seen sponsored stories about what page your friends likes but Facebook are moving a step closer to their goal of 100% Social Ads. This week we see the beginning of a trial which sees your listens been promoted I.e If you have listened to Lana Del Rey's new album on Spotify this can be shown as an advertisement on your friends news feed. I don't see this as a bad thing as we already see what our friends are listening to on Facebook and let's face it I would rather see what my friends are reading, watching or listening to as an advert than being bombarded by a load of irrelevance. This will allow advertisers to reach the most relevant people and for them and Facebook to make the more money.

Satellite Tweets

Twitterhas partnered with major Satellite providers Iridium and Thuraya so that more people can use Twitter SMS (The companies original set up) Worldwide.

“Now, even if phone lines and the Internet are inaccessible — for example, in a war zone or after a natural disaster — people will be able to share news and stay informed via Twitter,”

Twitter Statement.

The company have set up long codes which you add as the recipient and twitter will tweet the tweet this like their statement says is very helpful in places with little or no bandwidth where there is war or a natural disaster.

Google Love!

At Christmas time google made their sites snow and now someone has found a way to get some Geek love from Google search, just type

sqrt(cos(x))*cos(300x)+sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)*(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(6-x^2), -sqrt(6-x^2) from -4.5 to 4.5

into google search (or copy and paste) for some google love before valentines day.

Social Media News 30th January to 5th february

2012-02-06T00:01:00.003+00:00

Image by L2F1, Flickr

Hey you, I decided to leave it an extra couple of days this week to take in the Super bowl in America. This post will be by in large a Facebook free zone, Even though the IPO is massive news I think the story has been done to death already.

Kim Dotcom and his lifestyle

A few weeks ago I reported that MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom was in jail for copyright infringement well more facts are coming out about his lifestyle. The German/Finnish Computer programmer lived in a Mansion in New Zealand said to be one of the most expensive in the country. He did not always own his house though because he failed the New Zealand "Good Character" test that every migrant has to take to be granted residency and only got his residency in 2010. When granted residency in 2010 Kimble celebrated by shelling out for the new years fireworks display over Auckland, He watched the display 200 metres away in a helicopter. On a Youtube video of the display of the event there is a graphic that shows everyone where the helicopter is.

Until recently Kim was top of the leader board on Modern Warfare 3 and in the 2005 Gumball rally made a bet with two women that if they beat him they would get half a million dollars and if he won he would get a threesome with them. He is a Video Junkie filming many events in his life. It is said he once put up a bounty of $10 Million for Osama Bin Laden and offered the authorities his own advice "Try looking in Kandahar he visits his wife and daughter there at least once a month". He is a man all about creating a spectacle with 21 cars including a pink Cadillac and a Rolls Royce.

When the cops forced their way into Dr Evil's house to arrest him they had to break the electric locks and cut there way into his safe room where they found him holding a shortened shotgun.

(When I refer to him as other names these names are nicknames his friends have already given him)

Super Bowl Whoops!

Jeff Frias, Twitter

The New York Giants may well be a bit over confident this time against the New England Patriots as they accidentally posted that they were Super Bowl champions 24 hours before the big kick off. Hoping for a good game guys :)