Mary Blighthouse

Spooks

2008-10-28T13:26:00.001Z

I thoroughly enjoyed the new episode of spooks last night!

Wasn't expecting the ending, although I should have been given they were sporting the new guy round!

Free and Legal Film and Movie Downloads

2008-08-12T17:19:00.001+01:00

Without getting into too much of a debate, about downloading films for free illegally, it is possible to download and watch films that are out of Copyright, or in the Public Domain for free.

There are a lot of sites that host the films

As such, I hope the below list of sources help if your interested in looking for out of Copyright or Public Domain films.

Wikipedia - A very robust list of all films out of copyright, with such classics as It's a Wonderful Life to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Click on the film you want, and view its information. To the bottom of the page you should find a link to the film online.

BFI - The British Film Institute, offers a variety of free films and shorts to watch.

Internet Archive - A slightly American tang, but very good all the same. From movies to Public Service Announcements.

OpenFlix - A directory of films all thought to be in the Public Domain.

Cadbury's US Creme Egg Advert

2008-08-12T15:56:00.001+01:00

I was laid in bed the other night, and my other half asked me a question about the Cadbury's Creme Egg.

Not knowing the answer, I looked up the answer on Wikipedia.

Having got my answer, I carried on reading the page, and eventually we got onto advertising.

Much to my amazement, the American audience get an advert featuring a real floppy eared rabbit, that clucks!

Not believing this, I went to look on Youtube to find the advert and its true!

Ways to save money during the Credit Crunch

2008-08-12T15:23:00.001+01:00

There is a lot of talk at the moment, about rising costs and the likes.

While it is clear the cost of oil and food is rising, not many people are talking about the savings that can be made from your budget, without having to feel a cut in your daily life.

Below, I am going to provide you with some useful tips on how to make some real savings on everything from Groceries and Supermarket Shops, Petrol, Utilities, and your TV Package.

How to save on Groceries

Firstly, I shop at Tesco Online, I have used Sainsbury's and ASDA Online, ASDA was cheaper for the goods, and especially there in store bakers goods were better value, what let ASDA down was the actual service, I don't use Sainsbury's, as they were more expensive, and while the methods I'll explain below can be used at Sainsbury's or ASDA, I chose to shop with Tesco Online, and I would recommend them.

So how to save cash off your shopping. The method that I use, is to review the discount area of the store first, to make it easier you can browse each isle, and see what offers their are, I'll fill my basket with all the goods I want at this point, and often end up with three or four of the same types of items whilst going through the store, I take this approach given that some offers appear around the store on different isles, so if I was looking for a pizza, I may find good offers on both the frozen and fresh isles.

Now I have shopped at Tesco for almost two years now, and I have a good favourites list built up - this is a list of all items I have previously bought, which I review and add all the usual items that are bought each week, again looking out for offers I may have missed.

I check the isles for some items, on a monthly basis to ensure I am still getting the best price, this is useful with vegetables where the prices may change seasonally, and is also useful when you realise you need washing powder, as I'll wait till I come across our usual, if its not on special offer price I'll see if there is something that is cheap.

Buy One Get One Free Offers. These are good offers, but it has to be used carefully with items such as food. I buy items such as washing powder in bulk when it is on special offer, the best offer to get is a BOGOF, but there are often Save Discounts, where you can buy two products at a cheaper price, and obviously half price discounts are great too. So I'll fill my store cupboard with a couple of months supply of these items, by rotating the purchases with other bulk buy areas such as rotating the purchases of Shampoo, Washing Powder, Shower Gel, you'll find your paying half price for some of the more costly items.

Once I have gone through the above, I then click checkout, and add coupons. I then do a quick Google search for terms such as "Tesco Voucher Codes" and visit sites such as The Tesco Voucher Code Blog, or Money Saving Forums, with my ultimate aim being to find a voucher of a decent enough value, the minimum I intend to leave with is enough to cover my delivery fee, however I tend to manage to find £10 - £15 per shop by spending a little time looking. Generally searching Tesco Voucher Codes will bring you a list of sites that are up to date, and showing decent codes. Now you can only use one XX code on Tesco, however if you added an £8 voucher, followed by a £10, and £12 one, the site will save the two lower valued tokens to your account, and use the higher value voucher. It is always worth looking for additional vouchers you can also add, such as 1000 extra ClubCard points is always nice - We've now got enough ClubCard Points for a weekend break, and trip to the Chester Zoo.

Its at this point, I can work out how much I want to spend, I generally want to spend £100 a fortnight, so I work through my basket adding, and removing items until I get it to the price I want. Choosing the cheaper item from the two pizzas I added. Its easier to work with the basket as it groups similar items, so if you've added several blocks of cheese while looking through the various bits on the site, they will all show together.

Its worth noting as well, I review all the offers I have added, for example a recent Buy Two for £2 promotion, offered a saving of 6p, I didn't need two of them, so I took one out and saved a pound.

To make the shopping easier as well, me and my partner produce a meal list, covering the two week shop. We don't have to stick to it religiously, as there is always other food in the house, but it ensures that we have two weeks food in.

By the time you have got your shopping down to the amount you want, its time to place the order. Now I tend to tot up all my savings from multi-buys before checking out, but its always nice to see it on your bill, but if your on a tight budget its another way of factoring in savings to buy more goods.

Now if your working it right, and not getting multi-buys when you don't need two items etc, and are working through your list to make sure you actually need everything, adding vouchers, and making multi buys work for you, you should be able to make savings of about £10 - £15 in voucher savings, and if you start working multi-buys like I do, I tend to save another £10 - £15 per shop, with my average fortnightly bill coming out at around £120 - £130 for two of us, were saving a good 23%.

Its also worth noting, sites such as mySupermarket.co.uk offer price comparisons between all the major super markets, and I often use this site to ensure that I am not missing out on savings by shopping at another supermarket.Using this site, you can save as much as 20% off your shopping bill, they import your favourites and show suggested offers and savings, which when used in conjunction with voucher codes, and by using BOGOF offers correctly you could be looking at some pretty hefty savings.

How to Save on Petrol

Now I don't drive, so I'm probably not the best person to ask how to save money. But, then again I get 5p per litre off vouchers with every shop which I generally give away at work. Add to this, that petrol is generally cheaper at Supermarkets its worth a look in.

You can also use sites such as www.petrolprices.com which search local fuel prices, and show you the best results for getting cheaper petrol.

How to Save on TV

I've raved before about BT Vision before, and this was a massive monthly saving of £23* a month for me.

I use to subscribe to Sky, with their 4 Mix Pack. Total monthly price £19, which I think has since gone up to £21. I also had Tivo, which was another £10 a month** which effectively gave us Sky+, so the total monthly bill was £29 a month. Although we had hundreds of channels, me and my partner tended to watch only several channels on a regular basis. This had previously raised the should get rid of Sky issue, and we set about working out what channels we actually watched - This was the hard part, we couldn't organise ourselves. To our joy, a problem with the Sky feed into our flat and a couple of weeks later, we came to the decision that we didn't need Sky, we had survived on Freeview without noticing any difference apart from not having Tivo record all the shows we watch.

At this point we could have saved £29 a month, but we missed Tivo, as it didn't work on Freeview, and we missed a couple of the movie channels so we started to look around for an alternative.

We then stumbled upon BT Vision. We could take a BT Vision box for free, which acts live a Tivo Box, or Sky+, and it will have HD content by the end of August 2008, without the need for us buying an expensive piece of equipment or set top box. We the subscribed to the TV Mix package for £6 a month, which has been discounted for the next 6 months at least to £3 a month (I think we have 15 months half price TV Mix package for signing up to the package at the time of getting the box.

With a movies package, from £1.99 a month, or a Movie Package from £6 a month, which we didn't take as we felt it would be more economical to watch films as we need, and subscribe if we feel were paying too much or missing out too much. However, had we had films with Sky, this would have been another £10 a month.

Similar with Sports, we don't subscribe to them, but there is a Sports Package showing all 242 Barclays Premier League and 28 Clydesdale Bank Premier League same-day games per season for £4 a month. Or with Setanta Sports for £9.99.

* Saving of £23 does not take into account that you require a BT Line, and BT Broadband Package which we already had, that said savings still be made by taking up BT's basic package, of Broadband and Phone Line along with BT Vision.

** I could have opted for a one of payment of £199 for my Tivo subscription, however, and with hindsight it was better value for me to pay the £10 a month option.

How to Save on Glasses, Frames and Contact Lenses'

Whilst the cost of an eye examination generally costs up to £15, you can often get a voucher from your employer if you work with VDU's on a regular basis. The real cost comes when choosing your lenses and frames. What most people forget, is that they do not need to buy their lenses from the same store where they had there eye examination.

Me and my partner recently saved over £120 on a pair of Vivienne Westwood Glasses, you can save up to 70% by entering your prescription into online Optical Stores, and and getting our lenses and frames online. We've found service to be great, we did receive one faulty frame which was due to the coating applied, but one email to support, and free postage back to them we found that a couple of days later we had a perfect pair.

Vision Direct - Online Frames, Lenses, and Contact Sales

If you know of any other great money saving offers, post them in the comments below.

Summer Heights High

2008-08-12T15:17:00.001+01:00

I'm a couple of weeks behind on posting this, given that the series has now finished airing on TV, however I'm sure you could find them online with a quick Google search if you have missed it and if not, the BBC will be sure to repeat it!.

Anyway's, we have been watching the exploits of Mr G, Ja'mie, and Jonah of Summer Heights High on BBC3 and it has to be said, its the best comedy show we have seen in recent years, in fact we have decided to buy the DVD!

Summer Heights High is an outrageously funny Australian high school comedy created and written by Chris Lilley. The mockumentary series documents the ups and downs of three different characters, all played by Lilley, over one school term at Summer Heights High

Jonah, a 13 year old delinquent breakdancer from Tonga;

Mr G, and ego-driven Drama teacher with delusional showbiz dreams

Ja'mie, a stuck up private schoolgirl on a student exchange.

The show revolves around the lives of the aforementioned, however in our opinion Mr G is the most significant character, and produces the most giggles. Throughout the series he is producing the Summer Heights High Play, or should I say "Arena Spectacular". The show starts off being a rather simple production, however after the death of a student due to taking a drugs overdose, and the sudden departure of the head of drama, Mr G takes things in a whole new direction deciding to make a play about the deceased students life, and even though he couldn't remember her, how important a part he played in her life. This is where the fun starts

Below Chris Lilley, as Mr G is at the Logie awards, where he performs numbers from his Summer Heights High "Arena Spectacular". Enjoy!

PS.. Look out for the highly un-PC "Special Child"

How to Remove Kontiki (4OD, BBCi Player, Etc)

2008-08-12T15:13:00.001+01:00

When I view the incoming searches on this blog, I come across a lot of terms such as "Remove Kontiki", "Kontiki Delivery Manager", "KClean" "Remove 4OD", "Remove BBC iPlayer", and so on, and they land on the review of Kontiki that I did a while ago.

That page, didn't really explain how to remove the software, so here goes.

1: You need to un-install the software that you have installed, be that BBC iPlayer, 4OD or Sky Anytime.

Win 98: Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add/Remove Programs.

Win XP: Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add or Remove Programs.

Vista: Open Programs and Features by clicking the Start button , click Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Programs and Features.

All Systems: You should now have a list of programs in front of you. Find the program your wanting to uninstall, say 4OD, and click on it. You should now be prompted to update or remove the program. Select Remove, and the program will uninstall. If you have installed more than one player, e.g. BBC iPlayer, and 4OD it is advisable to remove all programs.

You now need to run the KClean Program. You can download the KClean program file from Sky at http://static.sky.com/kclean/KClean.exe as it is no longer available on the BBC!

Once you've downloaded KClean.exe, run the file - you might need to confirm the file is allowed to run, in which case allow the file.

You'll now see the following screen, although yours will show that the Kontiki Delivery Manager is running.

You can save your settings if you want, by selecting the tick box at the bottom, although I have never felt the need to do so, as installing one of the Players again would re-set your settings, additionally if you keep your settings you may end up keeping loads of downloaded files on your PC using up valuable space.

Finally, click continue.

You'll now be Free of the Kontiki Delivery Manager!

Besides, who needs to download the BBC iPlayer, 4OD or Sky Anytime when there are these Online Video Alternatives.

Heroes Series 3... Its coming!

2008-08-12T12:04:00.001+01:00

Heroes Season 3 launches over in the US September 22nd 2008, it wont be long before it hits over here in the UK.

I can't wait, I probably wont wait (Yes, I will be watching it online!)

Stars In Their Eyes

2008-08-02T13:59:00.001+01:00

Perhaps its the Summer Sun going to my head, but this is just hilarious!

Tivo & Amazon team up to sell through your TV

2008-07-23T19:26:00.001+01:00

I just have to share this with you, from the BBC dot.life blog.

"You gotta hand it to those bods over at TiVo land. First of all they invent a brilliant dvr for recording TV programmes that lets you skip adverts and gives you ultimate viewing power. Well now, they have turned that on its head and have incorporated a feature that lets you buy products you either see on a show or on a commercial all from your couch."

Original item here

The tickets are booked...

2008-07-21T21:58:00.001+01:00

The tickets are booked for Batman: The Dark Knight. At the IMAX yet. I am beside myself with excitement, Batman being the only super hero franchise which appeals to me. And I have never been to the IMAX. It's usually documentaries about fish or some such nonsense. Which always makes me feel uneasy anyway as well as boring me to death. So this will be extremely exciting. Three p.m on Sunday. I don't want to be too excited in the evening at my age.

I like Batman because it is dark and gothic. I don't much care for the old TV series or movies (Although I love Adam West who is hilarious in Family Guy and Eartha Kitt made a terrific Catwoman) and I have never read what are now so fashionably called graphic novels. However I do love Tim Burton and thank him for resurrecting Batman in such an interesting way in the Eighties. Roll on Sunday...

The future of TV

2008-07-20T18:41:00.001+01:00

I've tried all the main TV platforms in my time, for normal terrestrial, analogue cable TV (I hated it), Sky, Sky Digital, Sky+, Tivo, Virgin Digital TV, Freeview and BT Vision so I have a pretty good understanding of the capabilities of each one and what they can offer.

A couple of months ago, had you asked me what was the best TV Platform, I would have, without hesitation said Sky+, however all that has now changed!

So what changed, well for many years I have known that on Sky with its multitude of channels I watched at most a tiny percentage of what was available, the mainstream channels etc. However as Sky grew, the trash channels grew, and no real value had been added to the line up in my opinion since it launched - Names of Channels may have changed, Film 4 may have become free to air, and listings were moved about - but nothing was really exciting me.

Then the unthinkable happened, the flat that I live in, something happened to the line for the Sky in... I managed the first week, had engineers out, had errors with the management company, and nothing, week two passed, week three passed - by this time, I had switched to a mix of online TV such as the iPlayer, 4OD, other stuff I can find, and Freeview. You know what, I wasn't missing Sky at all, the shock had worn off, at most I was missing one decent film on the Horror Channel or TCM every week, but what I did find, was that I was finding better television on the Freeview Channels.

So I decided to find a better and cheaper alternative to Sky, and I found it hands down.

For me, the future of TV, will be several live streaming channels, much like your BBC1's and ITV1's, companies who invest and produce premium quality television, you then have companies who produce content, such as Kudos who makes Spooks for the BBC, the next piece of the jigsaw would be online content, but streamed to your set top box, this would include content for all partners, I hasten to add I wouldn't add user generated content, but this would be in keeping, and a YouTube section wouldn't be out of place, but I don't like it! Advertising could be properly targeted through your viewing habits, location etc so revenue streams would remain probably increase, and there would not be a need to pay the, currently extortionate prices for content - or at least a massive reduction. For the end user, you would have archives of TV shows, a library of films, radio, live TV, and if they must, user generated content - if you were so inclined you could add live feeds for sites such as Justin.TV and webcams.

So, there I was, stuck without Sky T.V. and this idea of how TV should be. Well then I came across BT Vision (And Virgin Digital TV, but that's not in use at my main residence) - all my prayers were answers, well almost, I can see them being answered eventually with this system its lacking the live streaming, and I think it could include IPTV in the future.

So what was so good? Well, BT Vision, is effectively, Freeview with View on Demand, but its plugged into my broadband box, and makes good use of it. There are hundreds of shows available at a low cost (£6 for TV shows for example), it has a dual recorder like Sky+, it makes my old Tivo box look as old as it is.

I'm going to write a full post on the BT Vision box, but if your looking for to save money and think your up for breaking free from Sky, then I would highly recommend BT Vision.

Why I didn't opt for the iPhone

2008-07-20T18:14:00.001+01:00

When I tell people, I have got a new phone, I get asked is it the iPhone as people seem to think its the new all spangled mobile phone, and that I would certainly have one. Well I usually disappoint them, and say No.

But Why!

That's a good question, for me personally, to upgrade to an iPhone would have been £20($40) cheaper so why did I go for a T-Mobile Touch (HTC Nike), with Windows Mobile 6?

Well, I suppose the first reason is that I have had HTC, Windows Mobile based handsets for about the past 9 years now, my second phone was a HTC Windows Smartphone that ran Windows CE from Orange (I'm thinking it was the C500, but that was another handset I had) - that phone still works, its actually still used by a friend of mine to this date (Out of interest, the first phone I got free from work, when I worked at Barclays - I thought it was fabulous, it was the Motorola Startac, which was very Star Treky as you could flip it open like the Star Trek Communicators, and I also tried a Nokia Matrix Phone but that didn't survive a drop in the bath, and cost me all my contacts).

So I have a long history with the manufacturer, and OS builder, which some might say that is a good enough reason to stick with them, the handsets are usually built well (I tend to return one faulty handset per contract, which tends to be more of a fault caused due to shipping or my initial play with it, as appose to a hardware of software failure), and as I mentioned earlier, all the handsets still work well to this date, infact I still have 3 of them, well 2, a friend has one of them, and I also sold one.

But truth be told, I was ever so slightly torn between the two phones, and I had to seriously think which phone I wanted and I ended up going through the pro's and cons of an iPhone.

To start with, I went to the iPhone Features Page to see what it had.

Home Screen

The Home Screen... Ok, its nothing special really, it shows a collection of icons, all of which take you to an app on the phone. I get a nice clear clock (your telling me you don't use your phone a watch?) .

Above shows the iPhone homepage on the left, and the HTC Standard Homepage on the right... Difference is, that the HTC Homepage is fully customisable, with a downloadable homepage creator. I could have a bright bring homescreen, or an homepage based on the iPhone if I wanted. So more customisation, something familiar, I decided this point didn't go to the iPhone.

Phone

Is a phone, actually a feature of a mobile phone? If I was buying a laptop, that had a phone in it, then I would consider it a feature... But not on a phone. I'm bemused that Apple consider a Phone on a phone as a feature.

Oh and incase your wondering, I have similar contact managers, I can shout names at my phone and it start calling people, I can have Incoming Photo Caller ID, I can Video Call......

Mail

Good one, the iPhone does have better internal mail management. But I use gMail and Google provide apps for the Windows Smartphone, as do Windows, Yahoo and so on... So you can have a decent mail too, besides which, I prefer the online view for Gmail which is undoubtedly the best mail tool around at the moment, as such to me this feature doesn't matter.

Safari

Another good one, the standard internet explorer on a Windows Smartphone isn't the best, it serves its purpose though, I can read most webpage's, including Youtube through it and it works fine. In addition, over the years I have used about 5 alternative browsers from Mozilla, Windows, SkyDrive and so on, and the web can be so much better, and from reviews I have read Skydrive is the best mobile browser at the moment. Its free, and I have it on my Windows Smartphone, so I suppose Windows Smartphone wins this one, although its not using Windows own Browser - but this goes to show how flexible the Windows Smartphone is.

iPod

I have a 1gig Memory card in my Windows Smartphone, it acts like a harddrive, and can be used in a pendrive converter and become my true portable office taking my office from the home PC, Mobile, and finally to work.

But! What is interesting, is that I can get a 8gig Memory card, and I am sure the capacity of these cards will grow.

Now back to the feature, Music... OK, I cant fit 8gig of music onto my Windows Smartphone, but I could very easily. I have Windows Media Player, amongst others which let me play any file type, from MP3, to MPEG video, add to that Real Player which lets me stream radio stations, and the Last.fm program for the Smartphone, and I can have anything I want... Much more that the iPhone.

Again, I each to their own, but Windows presents emails in 2 ways, one message one view, or one recipient one view, a little like a chat window. The iPhone offer the chat view, so I would say even scores here.

Maps with GPS

Got it, in fact I have the same one as used on iPhone.

iTunes

We've spoken about iPod, I could if I wanted sync my music folder with my phone and do it that way, or I could just visit a site like amazon MP3, or Tesco Music and download music cheaper?

App Store

Don't get me wrong, I may be mistaken on this one but I am not very excited about the App Store. I have for years been able to visit sites and install software to my phone to enhance it.. It seems to me all that's different is their is probably more cost, its written in a different code, and is called an App, and not a program file?

Calendar

Yawn.. Got 2.

Youtube

Got it, had it way before the iPhone

Photos + Camera

Got it...

Stocks, Weather, Notes

Got, Got and Got.

Calculator

Got. (Actually, I tell a lie here, I have not got a calculator at the moment, but that is purely because I switched the ROM on my phone, and chose one that didn't come with a calculator)

Add to that, I have a video camera, and can live stream to the web, turning my phone into a decent webcam as well.

Oh, and add to the above, I have Mobile Office, which lets me open any word document, PowerPoint Presentation, One Note, Email, PDF and so on, which I believe iPhone doesn't support

Oh, I also have mobile TV...

So just from the feature above, I was not entirely won over, then I remembered, it comes with 3G the uber fast mobile network. Oh, hang on a minute, my handset comes with HSDPA which is faster, and is actually a mobile broadband network, which in turn means that I can plug my phone into the laptop, and have the phone power the internet, so I can browse, while taking calls - Its looking like a very mobile office if that's the kind of thing you want!

The fact is, I have a pretty tame mobile phone now. When I was younger and more adventurous, I use to pimp my phone to the max, it I wanted a game to play on the train home, I would get what ever game I wanted, software was always easy and usually free to come by, and utilities, you name it, I can get it which in effect meant that my phone could take over as my PC, when my PC was in pieces which happened a lot when I was younger. Finally, to add the cherry to the cake, I can remotely take control of my PC, from my phone (Its very handy as a remote control for you PC) so I could be laying on the beach, while controlling what my PC was downloading.

So back to the purpose of the post, when it came down to it for me, the iPhone was offering nothing new, in fact I would have lost features, and much like the Blackberry, the iPhone didn't cut it for me.

And before anyone asks if I even tried an iPhone... The answer is yes, and I got to play with one before it came out in the UK, as a friend works for o2, and was testing it, so I got a good play with it.

Downtime... Error 502

2008-07-20T12:54:00.001+01:00

Hey all, I'm sorry about the recent downtime. I've reset my DSN and everything appears to be back up and running now.

I was playing about with some of my site settings a couple of days ago, and it appears I broke something without realising... ooops!

I Got My New Phone...

2008-07-05T15:10:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago, I asked what phone I should get, well not one bloody person answered, so I made my own decision!

I decided to opt for the T-Mobile Touch Plus (also known as the HTC Nike), although its not an iPhone, and its the same old Windows Mobile 6 that I have been using for months, I decided it was the best option.

Why is it the best option? Well, for one the data package with T-Mobile is ultimately better than o2 are offering, I actually use to work for o2, and dropped my staff tariff to move over to T-Mobile as it worked out so much cheaper (in my particular case, I saved about £75 a month, with my mobile phone bills dropping from £120 with o2, down to £45 with T-Mobile. The phone also comes with mobile broadband which is really good when out and about with the laptop, and I hate to say it, but I'm an old stalwart, and knew the iPhone was not going to live up to my expectations especially since all the features that the iPhone offers are on my WM6 Touch.

The Best Legal Online TV Services

2008-07-05T14:40:00.001+01:00

I've wrote a couple of times about my Online TV watching, and not so long ago I wrote about zattoo. However one thing I always find when looking for decent TV online, is there is no guide to help you out.

So here goes, I'm going to share some of the tools and software I used for watching television online.

For years there has been video online, sites such as Youtube providing user generated content, and in the beginning these use to include shows too, but then with all the copywrite actions that took place much of this has calmed down now, and content makers are now slowly starting to adopt to the digital / computer age.

In China and the Far East, a lot of Youtube clones are knocking about, that carry a lot of content that shouldn't really be there and are in breach of copywrite of some form of another, an example of these is Youku which has lots of TV shows and films if you know how to find them, given the website is in Chinese - I'm not going to go into detail on how to find this content, as I assume most of you know to use a decent search engine, and queries such as "Film Online" will often result in a site that agitates the videos available, and displays what's on offer in English.

There is then obviously torrent sites, which are currently the subject of much of the legal fights that are happening around the Western World.

We then come to legal services, such as iPlayer in the UK and Hulu in the US are changing the way we watch TV, and I wouldn't be too surprised if in the next decade or so, terrestrial Television is no more or is reserved for Local Channels, and that most content is viewed online via vast catalogues of content, and streaming channels are all pumped through a PC or Set top box, similar to the BT Vision offering which I love so much, although the content needs to increase and I still feel the cost of a film for a 24 hour rent is high.

Unfortunately, the utopian TV age isn't here yet, and I don't think the UK could support utopian TV without better a better broadband network, for example last night I was unable to watch streaming Television as my supposable 8Meg BT Broadband connection didn't want it, and in addition to that the iPlayer v.s. Broadband Company's arguments continue, with Broadband Suppliers asking content companies to stump up cash for better quality connections.

But less of the problems online TV faces, here comes a list of some of the best Online TV Resources available online at the moment. And my views on how they'll evolve.

iPlayer

I don't think, being an English blogger, I could have started to list decent TV software, without starting with the iPlayer.

I was an early user of the iPlayer, and sulked from day one, I have Tivo to record everything on there that I want to watch, so there was little chance of me missing something, and then issues with the software which included the nasty Kontiki software really put me off. However come Christmas 2007, and a dramatic new launch alongside the Dr Who Christmas Special with Kylie, the iPlayer had upped its game, and started embedding videos directly in the webpage. This was a good choice to make, and it worked. The iPlayer took off.

The content is the BBC's own output, and doesn't include any films or shows such as Heroes which is unfortunate, however that said I can get my Heroes fix on Hulu - where come September I'll be settling down to series 3.

I find that I often visit the site, and end up leaving without seeing a single video, I suppose the reason for this being that it only has a 7 day catch up. I think if the BBC want to really build a platform to be rivaled they should include the back catalogue of content they own, and then it will be something truly exceptional. I suppose a lot of this comes down to the fact that the BBC is one of the few broadcasters in the UK, and I'll watch it first live on TV, and a 7 day catch up doesn't work for me.

The way I view iPlayer is that it is still in its infancy, and needs to grow up to become something bigger. The new joint venture that the Beeb is building with the other traditional broadcast channels, ITV and Channel 4 over here sounds promising, and I cant wait to see what they come up with - perhaps a new online / digital broadcast platform to rival that of Sky now that would be something?

The BBC could use this opportunity, to develop, build and maintain a new content delivery platform, mixing live TV broadcasts with catalogues of content - I'm thinking iTunes on speed. The BBC Trust should also approve of the spending, and development, because they could open up the platform, allow other channels to come onboard - eventually creating a platform for broadcasters to get there content out.

I'd say this is something with potential, however it needs to improve on content in my opinion.

ITV : Catch Up

This goes to show how quickly the online TV market is changing, I started writing this post several weeks ago, and ITV Catchup has changed.

I have to say, I was going to be very negative about ITV, and moan about how slow and cumbersome it was.

However, they have since upgraded the platform they use, and by using Microsoft Silverlight, I have to agree they are now offering a good service, especially when it comes to content.

I would still like to see a better interface, and possibly some removal from the ITV.com website, as at present the catch up service doesn't seem to have an identity.

4OD

This one recently got a saving grace, however not going to fully save the platform in my opinion.

My issue with this one is, and has always been the 4OD delivery manager, or Kontiki software which it is built on (this is the same software used for the iPlayer, however the with the BBC you don't need to download the software and can watch all their shows online). The Channel 4 programmers have managed to make it worse, as its very very sloooooooooowwwwww, even on my machines which are both very nippy and fast computers, even if I do say so myself.

Again, there are issues with finding content, if you want to download a series, then you have to go to the homepage, find the show, select the episode, download the episode, confirm your old enough to watch it, and then start again from the home page... Not too bad if your talking 1 or 2 episodes, a nightmare you want to catch a series you missed

On the plus side for this one, they do have a good catalogue of content, and there is plenty to watch provided you don't mind downloading the afore-mentioned 4OD delivery manager.

As I said, there was recently a saving grace with this one, and that is they have followed the BBC's move, and made some content available directly online without the need to download software. although, problem being, you only get the 7 day catch up online, which is pretty lame given the problems that currently face Channel 4 (namely lack of funding, and its BB Summer which means no channel 4 for 6 months).

I Just Love Hulu, and I shouldn't even have it in the UK! There are ways to obviously get to the content, you just need to know what to do.

Basically the easiest way to watch Hulu in the UK is to set up a VPN which in really simple terms, creates a pipe for your broadband to wherever the VPN company operate, you then access the site. This is also a good way to protect yourself when downloading from torrent sites, as your visible IP address and location are that of the VPN company.

Back to Hulu, its got a great catalogue of content, a nice browse and search function, and the quality is decent, with no software to download. Their is also a HD trial being run at the moment.

Hulu are apparently, trying to open to site up to the UK and other countrys, but the process is painfully slow due to copywrite laws etc (a little like why the iPlayer cant be viewed in the UK).

I know there are lots of other services out there, if you know of a good site, let me know in the comments and I'll have a look and maybe review it.

Anyone for a take-away?

2008-06-29T14:38:00.003+01:00

Don't you just hate having to find the take-away menu's?

Then when you find the one you want, you end up rummaging through the menu thinking what did I have last time that was nice, and add to that the dreaded forgetting the take away was actually crap, and you were sick last time you went.

Well, for about a year now I have been using Justeat, an online take-away ordering service, which covers most of the UK and Europe and I think its absolutely smashing!

It saves all your previous orders, letting you rate the food, save orders as favourites, and it stops the awful conversation with the take away shop trying to explain you want to order.

You can pay online with a debit or credit card, which is often a lifesaver when you don't have ready cash.

The good part about the site, is that there is no price hike for buying online, and we tend to order less since we know where we went wrong on previous orders, when we've ordered too much food!

www.just-eat.co.uk

Online Security

2008-06-18T12:40:00.002+01:00

I read an interesting article from the Web Worker Daily blog today, about online security, and protecting yourself online.

Basically, with so many sites popping up, and users trying this and that out – should we be worried about it all?

The short answer to that of course is yes. Nevertheless, how should you protect yourself?

Well, many years ago, I worked on a user panel for a Bank Websites, Security system (this was in-between my daily role of as a Branch Manager in the same bank, and its also how I got my first "proper" PC). Obviously security was a high priority, and it was this early intervention that created my unblemished security record online – and I have been on some fairly dodgy sites in my time, sites that have spewed out user details, and sites that I have known to be dodgy, but purely because I wanted to see what the issue was.

My first step is that I have and use two email accounts. When I sign up for the various websites that are around, I initially join using my secondary email address, this gets instantly forwarded to my new email address, and provides an handy "spam trap" should I start being flooded with rubbish from the site.

Secondly I have several passwords, which I use based on the site I am using. My first and most important password is my "Master" password, a strong alphanumeric password. I use this for sites I deem secure, sites such as EBay, Google, and Paypal – basically anywhere that I wouldn't want to be compromised due to them having my credit card details included.

I then have a secondary Master Password, which is used to protect my "back up" email account (all my mail forwards to a secondary account for back up), and for sites such as Facebook or Myspace, essentially sites that contain personal date, or can communicate to friends and family with.

By controlling the use of these two passwords, to only trusted names, such as Google or Paypal, Amazon, or my bank it ensures that there is a much reduced risk of this password becoming known to a third party, and ultimately stops them from accessing my data.

Finally, I have a third set of much simpler password, e.g. Smith1 which I use for sites which are new, or don't hold my credit card details – basically I use this level of passwords on sites that I am not worried about being compromised, they would have my incorrect email address, and a password that is useless to any site that contains important information, so they cant go poking around trying to sign into my bank with this password. I use this set of passwords for sites such as forums, or sites where I am not 100% certain on the owner, ethics, or simply if I do not know that I'll have use for the site, and there is a chance I'll forget it.

As websites grow, and if I continue to use them, or input my credit card into them, then the security increases with it.

So for example, if a new start up came along with a great service, I would register, using my secondary email address, and a simple password. If I then found that this site grew, and needed profile information or credit card details it then jumps up a security notch, and takes a level one password.

Additionally, I change my "master" password at least every 6 months, It may not be a full change, but I might change one letter or number, so that it is still easy to remember, just needing to change the character I have changed – e.g. lets say my password was A123, I may change this to B123 (Obviously I do not use such a simple password, and I would not amend from A to B)

By using a tiered password system, to date, and I hope in future I have managed to keep my information and data secure.

Fuel Prices here in the UK, and possibly others

2008-06-16T19:00:00.003+01:00

With so much being said about the cost of fuel recently, not just here in the UK, but around the world. I thought it was about time, for my opinion, for what its worth.

First on the list, the rising cost of petrol, I don't drive but the last I heard it was about £1.15 ($2.30) a litre. Now it is all very good our Prime Minister going cap in hand to the Saudis Oil Barons and beg for them to increase production, but I think we should look a little closer to home first.

Now every budget in recent years, in fact, as long as I can remember includes an increase in fuel duty, two pence here, a penny there etc...

Around 70% of the price of petrol in the UK is fuel duty. Meaning that if Mr Brown really wanted to ease the pain for the Millions of drivers, whom he says he "feels" for he could easily make his feelings felt, and cut the cost of fuel duty, so that we all "feel" how much he "feels" for us, because the true cost of fuel is about 46p per litre (Pre VAT/Tax/Fuel Duty) which is actually cheaper than a similar quantity of Mineral water.

The same applies with Gas and Electricity prices, a few years ago the government themselves bumped up the cost of Gas and Electricity by adding 5% fuel duty. With the large price rises seen since this was added, the Government are collecting even better revenues.

Think of it like this, if the price of electricity or gas was £100 per unit when the government started adding tax, the government then come along and add 5% tax meaning you end up paying £105 per unit, with the government taking £5.

Now, say the price per unit went up by 20%, and the cost in fuel in recent years has probably far exceeded this amount, but for our example, the unit cost is no £120, the government have not changed the tax rate, so 5% tax still applies, but due to the increase in price, the amount of tax the government take is going to go up as well. So instead of the government only taking £5, with the 20% increase in unit cost, the amount of tax they take goes up by 205, so Mr Brown and his government are now taking £6.

The only issue with lowering one tax, it means Mr Brown will have to replace it from somewhere else!

Time for a revolution I thinks, at least a social and political revolution!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....

2008-06-14T15:56:00.003+01:00

I was browsing online today, and decided to check if my mobile contract was up for renewal. Well, I've served my 18 month contract with T-Mobile, and I'm allowed my freedom.

But should I switch?

I could get a swanky new Apple iPhone from o2, contract costs would be similar to what I'm on already and if I wait a couple more weeks I'll be able to get the new 3G handset.

Or, I could stick with T-Mobile and get the T-Mobile/HTC Touch with Windows Mobile 6 (I'm already running WM6.1 on my HTC Artemis)... The only issue is that the upgrade would mean loosing features such as GPS.

Comments welcome, I'm in a bit of a quandary...

Zattoo

2008-06-03T22:29:00.003+01:00

Image by svofski via Flickr I few months ago, I downloaded a program called zattoo, I ran it once, but given my main PC is in the living room, and is wired into the television, I didnt find much use for it.

However, my better half recently purchased a new Laptop, and after a spot of bad weather, our sky is broke, which means that we dont get any television in the bed room.

So, I decided to give it a go again, and I am quite happy with the results, a small selection of free to air channels, including all the usual BBC channels, ITV, Chanel 4, five and then a selection of lesser known channels.

You can download the program from their site www.zattoo.com, I recommend it, if you spent a lot of time looking at your monitor, and not your TV.

I couldn't resist filming this for you all....

2008-06-03T00:12:00.001+01:00

Miss Liza Minnelli, Live from the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, where we have just finished watching her live!

Apologies for the quality...

We also saw Vernon & Sean from Coronation Street... Vernon was their with his Aunt, and we have better seats than both!

Manchester has been invaded by Rangers fans..

2008-05-14T16:39:00.003+01:00

Below is the view of Piccadilly Gardens, now that the Rangers fans have invaded!

I wouldnt mind, but I have to try and walk through that to get home tonight.

Virgin Media CEO Says Net Neutrality is “A Load of Bollocks”

2008-04-16T11:33:00.003+01:00

The new CEO of Virgin Media (formally NTL) has put his cards on the table, branding net neutrality "a load of bollocks" and claims that he is already doing deals to deliver some people's content faster than others.

If you aren't prepared to cough up the extra cash, he says he'll put you in the Internet "bus lane".

Net neutrality which I blogged about recently in connection with British Telecom, really is the hot topic at the moment, especially in the USA where it was ignited by the Comcast fiasco; the concept of net neutrality has certainly been brought into the mainstream.

Most ISPs are never quite forthcoming about their throttling, capping and otherwise interfering behaviour, but that crowd certainly doesn't include the CEO of Virgin Media, the UK's second largest ISP.
In an interview with the Royal Television Society's Television magazine, far from covering up their intentions, Virgin Media's new incoming CEO Neil Berkett - who joined the Virgin Media Board just a few days ago - has launched an attack on the ideas and principles behind net neutrality.

"This net neutrality thing is a load of bollocks," he said, adding that Virgin is already in the process of doing deals to speed up the traffic of certain media providers.

With around 3.5 million customers here in the UK, and already traffic shaping due to lack of capacity, it's a sobering thought that at the behest of "content providers" with deep pockets, Virgin is prepared to speed up their traffic, which would presumably have a negative impact on those at the bottom of the ISP's priority list, namely bandwidth hungry file-sharers.

Berkett then turned on the BBC and their iPlayer service, telling them - and other public broadcasters like them - that if they don't pay a premium to gain faster access to Virgin Media's customers, their service would be put into "bus lanes".

It shows, that just like I said in my earlier post on net neutrality, some ISPs are happy to throttle just about anyone in the name of profit, it's just that most aren't as open about it as Mr Berkett.

It is my opinion, that the Government here in the UK should adopt similar laws to what has been done in the USA when it comes to Net Neutrality. The downside of what Virgin is proposing, means that you and me (the users) could end up with not being able to access Youtube for example, due to its bandwidth use, or in the extream we could end up with only being able to access websites which our Internet Providers let us access, much like mobile phone companies do when your browsing the mobile web.

P2P IP Block List Using PeerGuardian 2

2008-04-07T19:41:00.001+01:00

To help keep yourself safe when using P2P programs such as uTorrent, Limewire or any of the various BitTorrent/P2P programs I would suggest using Phoenix Lab's - PeerGuardian2.

When using P2P software, your computer makes a direct connection with the person you are downloading from, and since most of these applications force you to share your downloads the RIAA BPI etc can log on with various tools, obtain your IP address, and then serve a notice to your ISP asking for your details.

In addition to the RIAA etc, when downloading and sharing files this way, computers are vulnerable to unwanted downloads, spyware, viruses and having your IP address collected and harvested.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, an IP address is the numerical address assigned to each computer on the Internet - an easy way to think of it, is that your IP address is a little like your phone number. It is important to use IP blocking software that keeps lists of dangerous locations and prevents any connections to or from them.

A highly recommended application to use is PeerGuardian 2 which maintains a large block list of IP addresses known to contain bad downloads and other intrusions. These are updated daily. PG2 allows you to select each block list which you want to use.

If your using Windows Vista - there is an Alpha version of the software, and being Alpha, it does have the odd bug - but this can be downloaded from http://phrosty.phoenixlabs.org/pg2-rc1/

The set up for PeerGuardian is really easy, download the appropriate version, and follow the on screen instructions.

To add new block lists, do the following:

Open PeerGuardian and click the 'Disable' button.
Click 'List Manager'. This will open the list manager.
Click the 'Add' button. This will open the Add List window.
Under 'Description' you can leave the text field blank
Under 'Location' click the 'Add URL:' option and enter the address of the blocklist in the text field.
Under 'Type' make sure 'Block' is selected and NOT 'Allow'
Click 'OK'
Close the 'List Manager' window.
Click the 'Check Updates' button if the lists are not updated automatically.
Click the 'Enable' button to re-enable PeerGuardian after updating.

I have my own block list which I have put together through various sources this can be found at:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pz4C1TUYPZERCgc2C59DkNA

I additionally have my own "allow" list which can be found at:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pz4C1TUYPZESB2gsV56z7Fw

I would also suggest adding the following lists. Each one needs to be added one at a time by repeating steps 3 through 7 for each one:

http://www.sublimestylee.com/other/mpa_trackers.p2p
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/ads-trackers-and-bad-pr0n.gz
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/dshield.zip
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/edu.gz
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/fornonlancomputers.zip
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/hijacked.zip
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/level1.gz
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/level2.gz
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/spider.gz
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/spyware.gz
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/trojan.zip
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/config/bogon.zip

Are British Telecom Traffic Shaping?

2008-04-01T20:41:00.003+01:00

Last year, BT said they were not traffic shaping, however from my experience I think they might be. In fact, after doing the research for this post, in my opinion they are.

What does this mean for me? Well, if I start downloading a torrent file, my download speed on uTorrent is appallingly low, usually around 20k if not lower. This doesn't happen all the time, and usually occurs from 8am until sometime in the early hours - however there is a distinct drop in service.

I thought when this first started to occur that it was because it was a peak hour and there were a lot of users on the internet - which is how I understood BT's systems worked. They advertise their internet speed as 8MEG, however this is dependant on the number of users on the internet at the time, and the distance from the exchange.

I actually recorded my speed at around 600k going even higher at one point, however only at certain times - even though we should have 8MEG internet speed, its a lot lower, which I generally accept is due to the distance from the exchange.

So up until a couple of weeks ago I was reasonably happy with everything as I could explain the speed difference - however appalling.

However, recently I started using a VPN, and on one occasion uTorrent was running in the background and my download speed increased to around 2MEG. What was more amusing was that I could switch the VPN on and off. and my download speed would drop and increase.

I went and reviewed my VPN details, and the speed of my VPN was limited to 200k - which I would take as a very good reason for my download speed not being higher than 200k while using the VPN.

So back to the point, Traffic Shaping is where a broadband supplier prioritises certain types of data over others to avoid network congestion. The practice is at the heart of the debate over so-called "Network Neutrality", as some see it as a way to protect time-sensitive applications such as VoIP, while others see it as a way for operators to promote their own services over those of rivals.

So, as stated above, British Telecom says they do not do Traffic Shaping... However, BT's own "Usage Allowance Guidelines and Fair Usage Policy" seem to suggest different.

Peer to Peer (P2P)
11. What is BT's policy on P2P?
P2P is the sharing of files and programs between groups of people who are logged on to a P2P network. It consumes a significant and highly disproportionate amount of bandwidth even when it's being used by just a small number of customers.
Because of this, we restrict P2P speeds if it's having a negative impact on the online experience of the majority of our customers. We normally place restrictions in the evenings at peak time, but we do apply them during the day if a lot of customers are using P2P at the same time.
Without these limits all our customers using their broadband service would suffer, regardless of whether they are using P2P or not. It's important to remember that P2P can be used at any time, and even when restrictions are applied it is not restricted completely, so is always available to use.
12. Does this mean I can't use Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications?
No, we are not stopping you from using any P2P service. P2P will just be slowed down in the evenings and during the day if a lot of customers are using it.

Source

Its stated in BT's "Usage Allowance Guidelines and Fair Usage Policy" that they will in effect cut the speed of their users using P2P. Can someone please explain, how this can possibly mean unlimited internet? And how this policy does not indicate Traffic Shaping?

Why is this such an issue? Well what happens if British Telecom decide in their god like wisdom that they are going to pull the plug on Google or Youtube, as too many people are visiting this site, and it is causing too much traffic on BT's network? Or what about if BT decides that they no longer want users to use any other providers VOIP, such as Skype - preferring their own instead?

Over the pond in the United States, Comcast - which is one of the large internet providers - caused an absolute uproar when it was uncovered they were shaping peoples net traffic to fit their needs. Don't believe me? See here for some of the coverage via Google News. The effect of this was so large that the Law in the States has been changed ensure that the internet is always open and free - Network Neutrality Laws as mentioned above.

I personally believe that British Telecom should not be allowed to do this, as do a lot of others. The fact that I am able to obtain higher speeds, only limited by the speed of my VPN means to me that there is the network capacity there.

UPDATE: I've put an email into British Telecom to ask them if they do, or don't Throttle Bandwidth, lets see what they say... provided they respond!