Planet Bods Blog

Torchwood: Children of Earth

2009-07-13T16:09:49Z

Before I start, I'm going to say that if you haven't watched Torchwood: Children of Earth yet, I'm going to try to not put any spoilers in this post. Although frankly if you want to watch it and you haven't done so yet, what on earth are you playing at?

There was a fundamental problem with BBC One's scheduling of Torchwood: Children of Earth. And that problem was that it was on every single night of last week.

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It was perfect for the story - of that I cannot deny. However I was out on Wednesday evening and on Thursday evening too. The result was I ended up watching three episodes back to back on Friday evening which was, to be honest, a little on the intense side. It's a rather dark plot after all.

Afterwards I thought back to series one which hit our screens back in 2007.

Riding high on the glorious rebirth of Doctor Who, Torchwood was launched to provide a sci-fi programme in a similar vain but to an adult audience.

Whilst I watched the first series and enjoyed it, there was no denial that it hadn't found its feet, being a bit too heavy on over the top amounts of gratuitous snogging and swearing, and pictures of John Barrowman looking moody and standing on top of very tall buildings for no apparent reason whilst a helicopter swoops around him hoping he doesn't fall off until they've finished filming.

Series two began to find its feet. The sex and swearing was reduced, but the humour of the programme remained and really found its place. The characters, and the underlying humour really shone through and it had some excellent storylines to boot.

But series 3 - Children of Earth… What can I say? It was like Torchwood had gone up in another league completely!

Just about everything seemed spot on. A deep, dark, gripping storyline. Check. Top notch character development. Check. Creepy children standing still all chanting in unison. Check!

The single story plot also gave even the smallest of characters a chance to grow and develop in ways that Torchwood's normal single episode storyline just never would normally allow. And the ability to give five hours to a single story meant it could be a complex and developed story too. This was no two episode story stretched out over five nights - this was a story with real meat, perfectly crafted, and with a gripping storyline. Sod the sci-fi - this was pure, unadulterated drama.

It was an epic in television that the cast and crew can be justly proud.

There's been no official word on whether a series four will be commissioned, although the ratings and critical success of series 3 will no doubt leave BBC One bosses clammering for more. The one question is ultimately, how do you follow what was on our screens? The team have set their bar extremely high.

Torchwood's come a long way. And I for one can't wait to see what happens next.

More blog posts about: BBC, BBC One, Torchwood, television | Comment on this post, and read other comments

links for 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T13:04:38Z

BBC - Glow JavaScript Library

The BBC's JavaScript library, Glow, has now been released as open source and one of its big benefits is the BBC's legendary browser support. Great to see it entering the party finally, after what I know has been a long time coming.

(tags: BBC opensource javascript library glow ajax)

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In car radio - digital or analogue, you'll always get some reception problems

2009-07-08T10:36:14Z

Over on the BBC News website is a little video of Zoe Kleinman driving down the road playing with incar DAB radios.

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As someone's who has had DAB for years in his home and loves it to bits, I was interested to see what the car experience was like but I confess that I watched that yesterday and thought "bloomin' hell".

However this morning I cast my ear back to driving round the east of Manchester in my late teens.

Radio 1 on FM was always dropping out on 98.8 and you had to hastily retune to 98.5. Only to find that a mile down the road, 98.5 had dropped out and you had to switch back to 98.8!

It was a nightmare unless you had a radio which retuned itself. But that then gave complications of its own - specifically on Thursday evenings when the Session in the Nations was between 7 and 9.

For 98.5 is actually from a transmitter in Wales but is very strong in East Manchester (indeed I used it as my default at home). So you'd Steve Lamacq suddenly had disappeared and had been replaced by Huw and Bethan coming life from Cardiff. You'd enjoy a good track only to find it disappeared half way through.

Ultimately there will always be some problems somewhere when you're driving. Reception black holes, interference and the like.

However as someone who doesn't drive in London, what I can't say is if the drop outs on FM are fewer than on DAB - maybe we should send Zoe out to repeat the test!

More blog posts about: DAB digital radio, FM radio, radio | Comment on this post, and read other comments

links for 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T13:04:33Z

Kill or cure for pirate radio? - BBC News

What will happen to pirate radio when FM gets closed? Just how will people give a shout out to the man like Steve?

(tags: pirateradio radio digitalswitchover)
Coffee Republic in administration - BBC News

There's a wonderful bit in the Simpsons where Bart is walking through a shopping mall. He passes loads and loads of Starbucks to go into a shop called "In and Out Piercing" and asks to get his ear pierced. "Well, better make it quick, kiddo. In five minutes this place is becoming a Starbucks." As he leaves with his new earring, every store in the mall is a Starbucks. It's a brilliant piece of satire on what the coffee revolution felt like sometimes. But it couldn't last. And lo, Coffee Republic's now gone under.

(tags: TheSimpsons Starbucks CoffeeRepublic coffee creditcrunch recession)

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Wimbledon - an anatomy of a service

2009-07-08T13:09:03Z

If you've ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes for big red button services like Wimbledon, well there's now a little video to watch over on the Press Red Blog.

It's been put together by some colleagues of mine who put some time and effort into making happen, and explains how the video is transmitted, how the matches are chosen and includes a clip of Rob Curling. What more could you want?

And, after reading the credits, you wonder what an Executive Producer does on a video like this, well I can also explain.

The answer is not very much because I was on holiday when it was filmed… Still, I did "commission" it for the blog, and was the one who spent ages trying to get the relevant JavaScript and XML working so that it would play in the BBC's embedded media player. And if that's not an excuse for a grandiose credit, I don't know what is.

Anyway, what are you still doing here? Go watch... watch...

More blog posts about: BBC red button, Wimbledon, interactive television, television | Comment on this post, and read other comments

It's a 'What Have I Linked To?' fest!

2009-07-06T13:00:18Z

November 25 in the year of 2008. A date worthy of note and regard. Why? Well because it was the first day I published Daily Links on this blog.

Amongst the first links, a comment about milkmen, blog comments and Columbo eating chilli.

So if that's not a milestone to celebrate, I don't know what is.

Photo by Raveges. Creative Commons licensed.

Well okay, there's no milestone. No real reason to write the rest of this post right now other than the fact that it came to mind.

I was editing a link in Delicious, and I spotted the "Top 10 Tags" on the right of the page, and it gave me an insight into the kind of topics I've been linking to. Then it confused me as the number in the right column doesn’t always seem to match the number of links I actually have. But that aside, lets have a look, in the old time honoured countdown format:

10 - public transport

With 13 links, it’s a mixture of posts about railways, buses and even trams.

My favourite of the lot remains On A Bus which shows you London bus routes plotted on a Google Map. That said, I don't think the one for the 459 is quite right…

9 - buses

If I wasn't in London I might not get away with these 15 links. People would think I'm geeky and bus obsessed. Oh hang on...

Okay, I don't go around taking photos of the new Encrypo 1232er running on route X69, but as public transport is used in London by far more people than any other part of the country and huge numbers of Londoners don't have cars, it's something we frankly should pay a bit more attention and interest in.

Indeed surprisingly buses even beat London Underground. Most of the posts featured the supposed death of the "evil cyclist-crushing bendy bus" in London, to quote Diamond Geezer.

8 - BBC News

And with 16 links it's BBC News - a plethora of stories about BBC News, salaries, exclusives and Robert Peston related stuff. Lots of Robert actually.

7 - BBC Online

Lots of blog posts (well 17) in here from the BBC Internet Blog and blog posts about the BBC. As the nation's premier UK based content provider, I'm not surprised it's there. Surprising it beats BBC Red Button but lets not go there.

And a reminder too of Sophie Walpole proclaiming "Last time I closed something down on BBC Online I was described as a cow which caused my mother to splutter over her morning coffee. I've warned her that I'm closing something down again..." in a post for the Internet Blog

6 - Boris Johnson

Well he's Mayor of London and I live in London. Go figure. If I'd been doing this for longer, no doubt Ken Livingstone would be up there. As it is, he only has two links to Boris's 19.

5 - Mayor of London

Sneaking in with 20 links - not all the same as the Boris ones either. The wonders of consistent tagging, eh?

4 - radio

Have I ever mentioned I love radio? To be honest, think it's better than TV most of the time, and it's certainly underrated in comparison. Always wanted to work in radio - radio and new media would do me. I'd love it and my red button experience means I know a hell of a lot about visualising radio! Got a job going? Why not drop me a line?

So that aside… 21 links and none about Ross/Brand or indignant outrage about "dumbing down".

3 - television

You know all that stuff I said about radio being better than TV… Well you know the only reason there's more links about television (43) is because there's just more going on. Radio just gets on with it. TV has to make a big splash about everything. TV is just such a limelight hogger. Get lost television.

Top link from this lot, and one which might not be around for long as it's on Geocities, yes it's the The History of Tom Baker's Scarves! Doctor Who that is…

2 - london

Bods gets local. Well as local as you can in what is, in essence, a major city sized localness. Yep, I live here and I'm interested in what goes on here. And if you're not, well sorry. But it's my site and you can't stop me.

61 links.

1 - bbc

Okay this surprised me. A whopping 116 links and the main reason I started on this post in the first place. It's that combination of television, radio, media industry stuff, red button, online and it just shows that the BBC is big. And when you're big you generate stuff to link to.

It also helps that I'm interested in the media in general, and to be honest most of the big media stories these days involve the BBC or Channel 4. Indeed it's the reason I rarely contribute to the Transdiffusion Media Blog these days - just nothing I can write about that's not too close to home!

So anyway, there you go. Exciting eh? Well okay. It was a blog post. You want insight and a post at the same time? Well tough. I've been too busy drinking beer….

More blog posts about: BBC, BBC Online, Daily Links, London, Planet Bods, buses, internet, radio, television | Comment on this post, and read other comments

links for 2009-07-06

2009-07-06T13:04:01Z

Elbow's Guy Garvey launches his own Glastonbury lost property service - NME.COM

Top pop star and overall nice guy finds a digital camera in a field at Glastonbury. It's not mine. Cos I wasn't there. But is it yours?

(tags: GuyGarvey camera lostcamera Glastonbury)
BBC - Error 404

BBC Online finally has a new 404 page, to replace the one I did all those years ago. And it's a lot nicer, featuring as it does a testcard style motif, and that weird testcard doll. Geeky and incredibly cool.

(tags: BBC bbconline 404)
Lost BBC coding found - Bods's Blog

A reminder of the 404 page I coded for the BBC back in 2003 and which was one of only two pieces of my coding handwork which I knew remained on the BBC website.

(tags: BBC 404 bbconline)

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links for 2009-07-04

2009-07-04T13:02:54Z

Majority of BBC middle managers snub Salford move - The Guardian

I like the way that this article implies that the Guardian thinks I'm a middle manager.

(tags: Salford BBCOutOfLondon BBC theguardian)

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links for 2009-07-03

2009-07-03T13:03:51Z

Glastonbury 2009 - behind the scenes at BBC Red Button: BBC Press Red

Behind the scenes for red button at Glastonbury from one of my colleagues Chris Tangye.

(tags: BBC Glastonbury PressRed BBCRedButton interactivetelevision interactivetv)
London's new bus moves a step closer - Transport for London

If you've read this blog for a while, you might gather that I'm not a fan of the proposed "New Bus for London" that most people seem to think will have the magic and mastery of the Routemaster whilst looking pig-ugly. This latest press release shows some updates on this process. That open platform at the rear that is so necessary and loved? Well it appears that the open platform must have an option to shut it. Now I wonder what could do that? Hmm. Maybe some kind of door? Yep, we're on the way to a bus which has a door at the rear that can be left open if wanted! Of course! It's modern and functional at the same time! Why on earth did we not think of this before???!

(tags: busforlondon buses routemaster London LondonBuses mayoroflondon)
ITN newsreader Alastair Stewart calls for 'Beeching' inquiry into BBC - The Guardian

Given most recognise now that the Beeching report was deeply flawed, and that many services were killed off that shouldn't have been (so much so that even the railway companies have put forward suggestions to re-open some of the lines), I'm not entirely sure Alastair Stewart is really using the right example to sell his idea...

(tags: AlastairStewart BBC BeechingReport Beeching)

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links for 2009-07-02

2009-07-02T13:03:05Z

Once Again, Twitter Trending Topics Polluted By Spam (Or Not) - Techcrunch

Something that American's haven't heard of can actually appear in Twitter's trending topics - SHOCK!!!!!

(tags: Twitter MollySugden MrsSlocombesPussy Television AreYouBeingServed)
Tennis, a boon to Wimbledon - CNN

CNN piece about how Wimbledon residents make some extra cash out of the Wimbledon fortnight. Interesting even if the reporter just describes Wimbledon as a quiet suburb and a posh sounding interviewee proclaims there's no hotels in Wimbledon (err... there is one...)... Sadly we're too far from the action to cash in!

(tags: Wimbledon WimbledonVillage London)
BBC - Earth News

Have absolutely no idea when this launched - never come across it before - but it's a news site updated by the BBC Natural History Unit. Interesting idea.

(tags: EarthNews BBCEarthNews nature science enviroment BBC)
Credit card cheques to be banned - BBC News

Good. If for nothing else than I'm frankly getting REALLY fed up with Barclaycard sending me the confounded things. I've received SIX in the last month alone...

(tags: creditcards creditcardcheques banks money)
Daily Express - RSS Feeds

Ha ha! Hysterical! They want you to click a tickbox before you can "get" the RSS feeds. But all you have to do is just right click and "Copy Link Location" and you're away. Genius! Daily Express. Kings of the Feed.

(tags: DailyExpress RSS XML feeds newspapers)

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links for 2009-07-01

2009-07-01T13:04:33Z

Radio Broadcast Update June 2009 - Ofcom

Call me someone who gets amused at ridiculously small things but I love the fact someone decided to name a station "Voice of T Radio". It provokes images of Mr T running in loudly proclaiming "I ain't gettiin' on no plane!"

(tags: Ofcom VoiceOfTRadio radio)
Pub customers keen to hear Jackson hits - The Publican

"According to Soundnet, which has 10,000 digital jukeboxes across the UK there has been a surge in customers playing Jackson hits." Really? Why ever would that be the case?

(tags: MichaelJackson jukeboxes)
Brixton prison radio 'a Daily Mail story waiting to happen', says governor - The Guardian

"We have to make a choice – do we chuck people in a prison that does nothing with them, offers them no support, and makes no effort to rehabilitate them? If that's what we want, then that's fine, don't have radio stations, don't have educational departments, just keep churning out people who commit more crime." What always worried me more is that there's a significant batch of people who would rather we did just use a system that was harsh and didn't rehabilitate even if it did mean higher re-offending rates...

(tags: prison BrixtonPrison ElectricRadioPrison radio DailyMail theguardian)

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links for 2009-06-30

2009-06-30T13:05:17Z

A whole lot of nothing - Welcome To The North

Via James Cridland, this is a truly marvellous interview between BBC Radio Sheffield's Toby Foster and the new mayor of Doncaster, English Democrat Peter Davies. It's a fantastic interview in the way Toby very simply and easily picks out the very visible and impossible-to-deliver holes in Peter Davies's election manifesto.

(tags: TobyFoster Doncaster localgovernment BBCRadioSheffield PeterDavies)

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Pressing red turns the power off? Err... not most of the time...

2009-06-19T09:07:53Z

One of the comments that I occasionally hear about the red button is how people turn the TV off! Because, of course, most remotes have a red button to put them in standby.

Or do they?

After reading one such comment recently I decided it was time to look… And I started with the six remotes on my desk, before then scowling the office and home for other remotes to see what the result was.

Remote	Colour of standby button
Standard Sky remote	Black
One For All 4 device remote	Grey (but with red power symbol)
Sony 14" CRT TV remote	Grey with a turquoise circle around the button
Metronic Freesat set top box remote	Red
Pace Freeview set top box remote	Red
Humax Foxsat HDR remote	Black with green power symbol
Sky+ remote	Black
Sagem Freeview remote	Red
Humax PVR-9200T remote	Grey
Philips OnDigital remote	Red
Becko TV remote	Red
NTL remote control	Grey
Different NTL remote control	Turquoise
V+ remote control	Grey
Telewest remote control	Grey
Sony Freeview set top box remote	Green
Nokia OnDigital set top box remote	Red
Panasonic Freesat TV	Red
Hauppauge remote control for PC	Green

So that's a twenty and what a mixed bag. Only seven out of 20 had a red coloured power/standby button - that's just 35%.

The amount of green that's around is quite surprising, but it seems that in the main remotes either have grey or black power buttons, generally to match the colour of the remote control itself.

Of course my sample is only of a puny number of remotes compared to those out there, so I'd be interested in hearing what you find on your remotes!

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links for 2009-06-20

2009-06-20T13:03:25Z

Hotel chain launches £999 wedding - BBC Newsbeat

Funnily enough I was having a banter like conversation with a friend about how there's an obvious market for a "EasyWedding". Although perhaps we went a bit too far by suggesting everything would have to be orange. (Now over the top awaiting legal threats from the insane lawyers of Easy Group, for daring to "use" their "trademark".)

(tags: HolidayInn weddings creditcrunch)

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links for 2009-06-19

2009-06-19T13:04:12Z

'Bitter blow' over Oyster cards - BBC News

Apparently when Oyster Pre-Pay is introduced, pre-pay will be at National Rail fares and will not be based on tube fares. Whilst it's annoying, how this could possibly surprise anyone I don't know. Transport for London has absolutely no control over National Rail fares, and until that change no Mayor of London - of whatever political allegiance - will ever be able to get such a system implemented. To do so is just wishful thinking.

(tags: TransportForLondon London Oystercard NationalRail mayoroflondon)

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Finding a builder for the bathroom

2009-06-18T09:50:41Z

As I mentioned the other day, we've just had our bathroom done. It was, I must confess, something we'd put off for some time. That and the kitchen too.

Both really needed doing when we moved in back in 2004, however we didn't have the money at the time and over the months and years we just got too used to the way everything was. Eventually I put my foot down and decided that we just had to get at least one - and preferably both - done. I decided on the bathroom as technically it should be a simpler project (well one where there was less for us to decide…)

Then the BBC announced my role was moving to Salford and that there was the option of moving up this year.

So we stopped thinking about it for a bit cos if we were going to move up north in the autumn, there was absolutely no point doing anything.

Then we decided not to go so the bathroom got back on the agenda again. We went to our local branch of the Bathstore, got a catalogue and everything….

Eventually we decided what we wanted, saw it was in the sale and decided it was time to get cracking. Just one problem. We needed someone to do it for us.

Having never hired a builder, this was a minefield for me. I had visions of getting the kind of builder that would feature on Watchdog, leaving a disaster zone and running off with our money.

Bathstore had a list of recommended people they give out, and whilst they don't run on any financial benefit for such things, I was keen that we got some quotes from somewhere else too. But how do you find a reliable builder?

I asked a friend who had recently had her bathroom done who she'd used - personal recommendations and all that - only to find that when she'd tried to get another quote from the same people they didn't respond. But she said she'd got them through ratedpeople.com.

At the risk of sounding like an advertorial, the idea is that they have a load of people on their books and ask them if they want to quote. The first three to reply to that process are then put in touch with the customer. As well as getting their details, you can read reviews of their previous work to help you decide.

And so it came to pass that we had a parade of builders in. One who had got in touch via Bathstore; the other three from ratedpeople.com.

The Bathstore bloke was the first and was very good and put us at ease, and promised us a detailed quote which came quickly in the form of an Excel spreadsheet.

Quote number two came from someone who came in, took a look around, just said it would cost about £1,200 and then ran off. He was barely in the house five minutes and his quote was a third of the first bloke which seemed an insane difference. We didn't even get anything in writing, and he was also slightly lacking in reviews (having had two). We weren't impressed.

Third bloke seemed really good and with a high attention to detail. I was really impressed and thought he'd be a good person to go with. Or would have been if he'd got round to actually sending a quote… We gave him extra time just in case he would, but it never did turn up…

Fourth people - Four Corners Builders - again seemed to put us at ease and went to great pains as well to mention that their reputation was very important to them. They also had an almost identical quote to the first people, which made choosing between them a very difficult thing to do. In the end we went with them mostly on the fact that there were plenty of reviews to suggest they were going to do a good job.

As it happened, they did a fantastic job. So that'll be another glowing review for them and another plus for the internet. Sites like ratedpeople.com are a great example of something the internet excells at - using the collective mind to help you get the best possible result.

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links for 2009-06-18

2009-06-18T13:05:33Z

Massive new development for Colliers Wood tower site? - Wimbledon Guardian

Ah the old question mark at the end of a headline which basically says that the dreaded black tower of Colliers Wood ain't going anwhere... If you're wondering why this matters, this building was voted the ugliest in London in a 2006 BBC poll, and came 9th in Channel 4's Demolition which looked at the buildings people most wanted demolished. And THAT was when it was actually occupied! Now it's empty, boarded up and partially covered with green netting... And I have to walk past it every day... And sadly it can't be demolished because if they tried there is a serious danger of damaging the Northern Line tunnels which are nearby. One day it will get redeveloped. Well we can hope...

(tags: BrownAndRootTower TheTower ColliersWood Merton MertonCouncil)
IE6 denial message for Momentile.com on Flickr

Nice cartoon but there's a wider question of when will the web community get it into its head that just because a user has IE6, doesn't mean they can upgrade from IE6. People on corporate networks don't have a choice what browser they use. And messages like this will just annoy people, who may never come back... It's all in the tone of the language guys... All the design needed was a link that said "Sorry we can't support Internet Explorer. Here's why..."

(tags: InternetExplorer IE6)
Internet Explorer 8 treasure hunt: Microsoft Australia hides $10,000 on a website, find it, keep it - istartedsomething

"Personally I’m not sure if “get rid of it or get lost” sends the right tone, but I think it might reflect just how serious browser wars have become. I can definitely see different people reacting to this promotion differently, but I guess at least the person who scores $10,000 will be a big fan of IE8." Microsoft Australia show off the Aussie sense of humour in the browser wars.

(tags: browserwars InternetExplorer firefox)
BBC - BBC Internet Blog: The Green, Green Grass of Home

"Last night my Twitter alerts page for "BBC Homepage" lit up like a Christmas tree. On looking, I noticed that the sudden interest was caused by Tweets suggesting the BBC Homepage had changed its colour scheme to green to show solidarity with the Iranian protesters. This is not the case. The colour change was a pure coincidence and one that has appeared several times since the weekend, but only spotted and Tweeted last night." They say a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes...

(tags: BBC Iran IranianElections wrongendofthestick bbconline)

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links for 2009-06-17

2009-06-17T13:04:40Z

THE BATTLE OF THE WALLETS - Adam and Joe's Blog

Never before have I seen BBC staff passes providing so much material to a video clip. (Useless fact - Joe Cornish has an "old" style BBC staff pass, whilst Adam Buxton has a "new" style one. I have an "old" style one. They're nicer. Err. Yes. Plus there's some other funny stuff too.

(tags: AdamAndJoe BBC BBCRadio6Music radio comedy blogs)

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Old bathroom for new

2009-06-18T09:29:38Z

A couple of months ago I was trying to work out exactly how long we'd lived at our house - can't remember why but it probably was to do with filling in a form for a bank.

To get the information I did what anyone would do. I checked my blog. And whilst hunting I came across a rather throwaway comment - "the bathroom really needs a new bath".

That was five years ago. And now finally we have a new bath. A new bathroom in fact.

The old bathroom

It's a huge improvement on the original bathroom. The décor in that was all right because at some point the previous owners had put new tiles in (although they just put them over the original tiles - and put in a rather dodgy cabinet and matching mirror) but the plastic toilet cistern was rotting and the flush handle was wonky and wouldn't work properly. Oh and the bath had some strange marks that just wouldn't come off.

But worst of all was the fact that there was zero storage meaning we ended up with tubs and boxes everywhere as you can see from the photos (but I should say that we didn't keep a grey box on the toilet seat - that was just used for packing!

For the new bathroom everything got ripped out. The bath is the same dimensions as before, but is better designed so it's actually wider. The shower is a proper one - the old one was just connected to the taps.

The sink now has a cabinet under it, and is further back in the wall. The original sink was built out so it was in line with the toilet, but now it's set back in the wall which gives us more room in what is a rather small bathroom.

No more tatty shower curtain - we went for a four part folding screen instead (there's not enough space for a full one.) Oh and a bigger bathroom cabinet. And less tiled areas giving more colour.

All in all it's a huge improvement on what was there, even if the water pressure is a bit low for our new shower (and the old one for that matter...) Indeed the only problem is that now the kitchen is looking really shabby in comparison...

Now that's all done, it's time to start planning the Bathroom Launch Party. Well any excuse for a beer I think...

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links for 2009-06-15

2009-06-15T13:04:32Z

More from the BBC Red Button "What If..." files - BBC Press Red

Another of my "shots from the archive" series of Red Button posts which proves you can make some mileage out of the inability of people to actually clear up servers after themselves.

(tags: BBC BBCRedButton PressRed interactivetelevision interactivetv)

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links for 2009-06-10

2009-06-10T13:03:53Z

It’s the Tube strike drinking game! « 853

"Footage of Boris Johnson on a bike with other commuters (trebles all round). Footage of Boris Johnson falling off his bike (another round of trebles, chaps!) ... 33,796 England fans sing “Bob Crow, is a w*****, is a w*****” live on ITV1 (case of Stella, followed by 18, 453 and 53 buses home)"

(tags: TransportForLondon BorisJohnson mayoroflondon London tubestrike BobCrow LondonUnderground RMT)
'Most people without internet have no interest in getting broadband' - guardian.co.uk

I'm sure my granddad has absolutely no interest in getting a computer yet alone broadband.

(tags: broadbandbritain Ofcom Internet)

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links for 2009-06-08

2009-06-08T13:04:16Z

Big Brother phone vote charity donations scrapped by Channel 4 - The Guardian

Here's a question for debate. Should phone lines which are an integral part of the programme proposition, have to run at a profit - or at least cover the costs? Or should it just be covered by the programme budget? Well C4 have decided on the former now. Not that I care. I don't want Big Brother.

(tags: BigBrother premiumratephonelines Television Channel4)
Ashes to Ashes gets third series - BBC News

Yay! Not quite matched Life on Mars's genius, but Ashes to Ashes is still a fantastic drama.

(tags: AshesToAshes BBC BBCOne Television televisionprogrammes)
BBC Builders: Red-button TV software engineer Penny Churchill - Media Guardian

One of my colleagues gets the BBC Builders treatment. Personally I'm waiting for the next BBC related series, "BBC numpties who write word documents and try to tell people what to build", which I'm sure the Guardian will be starting work on soon.

(tags: BBC BBCBuilders TheGuardian interactivetelevision interactivetv bbcredbutton)

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links for 2009-06-05

2009-06-05T13:03:56Z

AB InBev axes Castlemaine XXXX - The Publican

Couldn't give a Castlemaine XXXX about everything else? Not in the UK any more.

(tags: beer CastlemaineXXX)

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links for 2009-06-04

2009-06-04T13:05:10Z

rail 619 the thinking man's copper - Christian Wolmar

Interesting and insightful interview of Andy Trotter, who is head of the British Transport Police. It turns out he's the man to thank for the fact that suspect packages now shut train stations far far less often, and why a "person under a train" no longer cancels services for 3 hours - they have a target of 90 minutes now.

(tags: BritishTransportPolice publictransport transport Police christianwolmar)

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links for 2009-06-03

2009-06-03T13:03:32Z

YouTube XL

New look YouTube designed for the TV screen. I haven't tried it on a TV set, but my work monitor is 21" so it's easy to get an idea. Would be nice if the video went full screen automatically when you play it, and some of the fonts are a bit small for my liking. However the way it scales when you change your browser size is really nice! And all without flash too.

(tags: YouTube YouTubeXL videoplayer tv video Television)
ludgatecircus.com

Entirely by accident I found this interesting use of the internet.

(tags: london internet)

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