Beeb go pod happy

I’ve just been reading on the BBC Radio 4 site that the News Quiz with Sandi Toksvig, Alan Coren, Jeremy Hardy and Andy Hamilton is going to be published as a podcast - this can only be a good thing.

I love what the BBC is doing for podcasting and the fact that they’ve accepted and embraced it as the ‘completely’ new medium it actually is and not just seen it as an extension of the web.

In fact the BBC Podcast page is a great example of a podcast directory and the BBC Podcast section of iTunes is one of the best on the platform.

I know many see me as a BBC Evangelist and I am, I’m not ashamed of the fact - I’ve always been a big BBC fan but this is one area where the corporation really does deserve praise.

OK so some have issues and raise complaints about the podcasts - a lot of those complaints came about after the last series of The Now Show wasn’t made available as a podcast but the reasons were explained and there wasn’t much that could be done.

Others complain about the fact shows disappear or aren’t updated anymore - often Americans that don’t realise that once a series has finished there are no new shows TO update but that when the new series begins they will start to appear again.

That is one of the real downsides of ‘radio’ and it’s series based concept being applied to podcasting and its always on concept.

Maybe the solution is to remove listings for shows from iTunes and the BBC directory or for iTunes to have a ‘This show is currently off the air but should return in May’ statement - maybe something that removes the list of available downloads.

120 and counting

There are now 30 podcasts from BBC Radio 4 alone - some are full shows, some are parts of shows - some comedies, some news - others long and a few short - but they’re all pretty good and worth the time it takes to get them on your iPod.

In total there are 120 podcasts from the BBC so far with many more likely to join that number in the not to distant future - expect to see podcasts of other regular comedies on Radio 4 as well as dramas when the BBC gets the rights and more news/feature content from across the BBC Radio network.

To break it down further there are currently six podcasts from BBC Radio 1 which include two from Chris Moyles, one from Scott Miles, entertainment news, documentary and a new music podcast from Huw Stephens which is very good.

Radio 2 also offers six podcasts including Chris Evans Jonathan Ross, Russell Brand, Steve Wright, Wogan and Matthew Wright.

Radio 3 only has the one - Arts and Ideas a pick of short features and portraits from across BBC Radio 3.

We’ve already been into the numbers on BBC Radio 4 - 30 in total so far. These include everything from the Best of Today to Broadcasting House on the political side and Beyond Belief on the religious.

Other personal favourites are Start the Week (when it’s on air), Thinking Allowed and File on 4.

Five Live is giving us 17 podcasts - mainly sport and news stuff but also includes the best film reviewer on the planet - Mark Kermode as well as the brilliant Pods and Blogs.

The digital networks have less with one from 1Xtra - Home Grown Mix, two from 6music - including Music Week and Russell Howard, two from BBC 7 - Cbeebies best bits and Heroes and just one from The Asian Network - Love Bollywood.

There are 25 very good podcasts from the World Service - my favourite being Digital Planet and World Have Your Say.

Then there are nations and regions - a part of the BBC output often overlooked nationally but still producing some amazing stuff.

Seven podcasts from BBC Radio Scotland, six from Radio Ulster, seven from BBC Radio Wales and so far five from English Regions.

There are also four podcasts that pull in content from across the BBC Radio network including NewsPod, World of Business, UK Black and World Football.

Oh and this post did start life as praise for Radio 4 but turned in to a full blown BBC Podcast Praise fest.

Charts

Oh and as of this moment in time BBC Podcasts count for 12 of the top 25 Podcasts on iTunes - ok so when you publish 120 podcasts and they’re all from shows broadcast nationwide it’s easier to get in the top 25 but still impressive.

From what I can work out there isn’t a single podcast in the top 25 on iTunes that isn’t produced by a major production company - with the exception possibly of the Best of You Tube by Plankton.

The rest are by magazines, newspapers, television channels or celebrities.

Code

This isn’t the most elegant code in the world and I know it uses horrible tables - I’ll produce a better version when I’ve got time - but here is the code I created to generate the little BBC Podcasts box on the sidebar.

It basically has a drop down of catagories (like the one on the iTunes podcast directory) and opens iTunes on the relevant BBC section.

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript"> <!-- function jumpMenu(targ,selObj,restore){ //v3.0 eval(targ+".location='"+selObj.options[selObj.selectedIndex].value+"'"); if (restore) selObj.selectedIndex=0; } //--> </script></p> <table width="125" height="90" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" background="http://www.upyourego.com/blog/images/bbc_box.jpg"> <tr> <td align="center"> <form name="bbcpods" method="post" action=""> <select name="bbcpodsmenu" onChange="jumpMenu('parent',this,0)"> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=121676617&id=33" selected>All</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225270&id=33">Arts</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225472&id=33">Business</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225502&id=33">Comedy</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225588&id=33">Education</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225618&id=33">Health</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225639&id=33">Family</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225649&id=33">Music</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225752&id=33">News/Politics</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225778&id=33">Religion</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225797&id=33">Science</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225865&id=33">Society</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225880&id=33">Sport</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225895&id=33">Technology</option><br /> <option value="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=262225971&id=33">TV/Film</option><br /> </select> </p></form> </td> </tr> </table> <p>

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Tracks for 10p?

How much does it cost you to send an SMS message? 10p, 15p - 20p at most?

Or even less if you have a big chunck of free texts because you went crazy and ended up paying over the odds for a service you don’t need to get a better ‘free’ phone.

Now you can use one of those free texts to get yourself a ‘free’ song from the iTunes music store and it apparently also applies to the 99p DRM free tracks as well.

If you text “ROCK” or “POP” or “LIVE” or “ITUNES” to the short code 85100 within the next two days - you’ll be sent back a code you can use to ‘purchase’ a song on the iTunes store.

Thus saving yourself upwards of 60p - now the rules say you can only have one code per phone number but I’ve heard that people have used it to get more than one - in fact up to 20 so who knows.

Depends whether you like breaking the rules or not.

I can’t personally try it out as short codes don’t work in Jersey and as I use a Jersey mobile network they won’t work for me. But if you get it to work give me a shout.

Apparently the code has to be used by 30 September and I’m sure everybody already knows about this but me.

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To me - to you - to me

I was shocked this morning to hear a story about the legendary Chuckle Brothers on BBC News 24 - not so much because a ‘News’ service has a story about a pair of childrens entertainers - I’m used to that - but because of the point of the story.

The Chuckle Brothers have been going for 20 years, well the Chuckle Brothers have probably been going a lot longer but Chucklevision, their most famous show has been going for 20 years.

I mean - I remember when they first started - I remember watching TV on a Saturday morning in 1987 (aged six) and saw these weird blokes with mustaches prancing around like idiots - I loved it - it felt like something out of the Beano come to life.

And it is a testament to their comic timing and genious that they’re still loved and enjoyed 20 years later - including by my six year old daughter.

Also - the amazingly brilliant Charlie Brooker likes them - describing them as “Britain’s most wizened comedy duo”.So I say “Oh dear, Oh dear” and done a fake mustache in salute to the greatest childrens comedy duo in Britain and possibly the world - stick Barney up your arse and ride the wave of Chuckle mania - I give you 20 years of the Chuckle Brothers.

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Political comedy

I’ll be honest with you - I don’t really listen to the sort of radio shows or watch the sort of television programmes expected of somebody ‘into’ politics and specifically the British political system.

For the most part I’m bored silly by the News, and yes that includes Channel 4 News and the Today programme and I have every intention of watching Newsnight but never get beyond ten minutes before my finger gets restless and press the channel up button.

I sometimes watch a few minutes of Question Time before I’m drawn away by a mindless sitcom on BBC THREE (yes I watch BBC THREE and so do more people than are prepared to admit).

You see - the problem is - at work I have to think, I have to concentrate and know whats going on - at home I don’t. At home I can chill and do sod all - I can be the brain dead idiot in front of the box.

That’s why I got an iPod - I love listening to politics, I just don’t want to do it during my TV time. So I use podcasts and listen to the shows while walking to work in the morning.

Alternatively - I turn to political comedy, to satire, to the greats such as Yes, Minister, The New Statesman and Absolute Power (the radio series not the TV series).

Drop the Dead Donkey, Spitting Image, Not the Nine O Clock News, The Now Show, The Thick of It, Have I got news for You, Dead Ringers … and the list goes on.

In fact it was the brilliant satire of the great British PolCom that got me ‘into’ politics in the first place.

It’s lines such as “Two kinds of government chair correspond with the two kinds of minister: one sort folds up instantly and the other sort goes round and round in circles.”

Or the brilliant “If people don’t know what you’re doing, they don’t know what you’re doing wrong.” Both from Yes, Minister that inspired me to find out more.

Or how about “Trevor McDonald: What did Blair tell the NHS staff to do? Paul Merton: Go private?” from the wonderful Have I Got News for You?

Maybe even one from The New Statesman “Why should we, the country that produced Shakespeare, Christopher Wren, and those are just the people on our banknotes for Christ’s sake. Cower down, to the countries that produced Hitler, Napoleon, the Mafia, and the the the, the the the, the the the Smurfs!”

Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It was also good for a comment “Sam? Can you get me Terri Coverley and Glenn Cullen? Make them an appointment to come over? I think I got to shout at somebody, you know? Oh, actually, get me John at Culture on the phone, I think I’ll have a bit of a shout now.”

And finally “Martin McCabe: …the people’s Morris says speech writers are the parasites of democracy, a politician should say precisely what he thinks in the way wants to say it. Charles Prentis: God lord, thats appalling!”

What are your favourite political comedies?

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My new look

As regular readers, who don’t read through the RSS feed, might have noticed Up Your Ego has changed, and excuse me as I paraphrase the almighty magician Paul Daniels here - it’s changed a bit, not a lot, but a bit.

And that is exactly what I’ve gone for - the layout, link positions and page structure is exactly the same as before - all that’s changed is the colour scheme and top banner.

I was going to go for a full new look to celebrate my !!!triumphant!!! return to regular blogging, you know - something splashy and completely different - lots of web2.0 etc…

But then I decided I couldn’t be arsed and it was better to go for a slight change to announce my current spate of being arsed to blog.

What do you think?

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Ask Not…

Ask not what you can do for your search engine but what your search engine can do for you. Appologies to any John F Kennedy fans for the bastardisation and reversing of that famous quote.

Here is the full quote in full as an apology:

“And so, my fellow americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
~John F. Kennedy, Inaugural address, January 20, 1961

I’m a Google man, I’ve been using Google as my search engine for longer than I can remember, I like the simplicity of Google and I like the fact that it actually provides me with results.

Or at least I used to - until the Blogosphere rolled up, until Flickr, You Tube and Facebook joined the scene - now Google doesn’t really cut the mustard - its results page is limited at best and empty at worst.

Yes it delivers on results but there is nothing ‘value added’, there’s no meal deal, no fries with my veggie burger or shake with my wrap. And I like fries and shakes.

This is why I’m warming to Ask. OK so the results aren’t as good but the interface is pretty and it gives me French Fries on the side.

If I search for Jersey on Google I get a good set of results - I get Jersey Tourism, I get Jersey’s Wikipedia entry, I get the Jersey Government and I get Jersey Airport but thats about it on the first page (apart from a few adverts).

If I search for Jersey on Ask, ok the results aren’t as great but I still get Jersey Tourism, Jersey’s Government and a lot of Tourism related links but I get more as well.

I get links on the left to expand or narrow my search, I get a box at the top giving me the CIA factbook info on Jersey and a combination of photos, dictionary definitions and videos on the right.

OK so it is horribly American centric, even on ask.co.uk, compared to the More brit friendly Google although Google isn’t blameless. If I search Google News for Jersey I get New Jersey or Sports Jersey - little about ACTUAL Jersey.

There are Good and Bad sides to both sites but at the moment Ask is winning. Especially given, with a single click I can restrict the Ask results to UK sites only - thus giving me a BETTER set of results than Google.

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The first Virgin

No this isn’t a religious post, did you really expect a religious post? Sorry to disappoint you. No this is a post about the new Virgin 1 channel from … well Virgin Media.

Is it just me or am I the only one R E A L L Y not particularly excited (sarcasm doesn’t come across well typed out so I’m not going to bother) by the prospect of YET ANOTHER channel full of American shows?

If commercial channels invested some of the money they spend giving to American networks in British talent then we would be selling our shows, as they stand now (not a re-make) to the major American networks.

Why does home grown production have to be the stomping ground of the ‘big three’, BBC, ITV and Channel 4 ?

Surely one of these major digital networks - mainly SKY (SKY ONE - THREE) and VIRGIN (VIRGIN 1, Living, Bravo, Trouble) could spend a bit of money with British production companies?

There are plenty of great ideas in the UK, there are some gifted story tellers, actors and production houses - so why do all the big digital networks buy American?

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Spam Spam Spam Spam

Spam for lunch, spam for dinner, spam for tea and spam for pudding.
Spam in my inbox, spam in my outbox, spam in my deleted files and spam on my head.
Spam, spam, spam, spam and more sodding arsing bollocking piece of hairy arse spam!

I’m sick of sodding spam - not only do I get it by e-mail but I also get so much of it through my blog that I’m on the verge of calling it a day - or at the very least disabling comments - which for a blogger is much the same thing.

I already get several hundred spam messages a day on up your ego but Aksimet picks most of them up and I never need see them - but for the last two weeks or so around 100 a day have been seeping through to the normal moderation queue.

This is a pain in the arse - especialy as, until last week, I used to have the e-mail me when a comment is posted box checked. That’s off now so the e-mails have died down but the spam is still there.

It’s got to the point where checking it is a pointless excersize as it all just piles back on again.

I’d just like to apologise to anybody who was trying to post a comment for the first time (if you’ve been approved once your comment will get through fine) as it’s unlikely your comment will ever get posted.

I’m going to have one last go at getting rid of whats there (labelling it as spam) and if it still keeps coming then I’m going to disable comments for a while.

If they still come when I put comments back then I’m going to delete this blog and start again!

I do have a few ideas for blog posts but can’t be bothered as I know it will just trigger more bastard spam.

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Don’t blog enough

When I first started this blogging thing about three years ago (not in this form) I would blog several times a day with the frequency of posts never getting below one-a-day.

However, for the past few months I’ve been so busy that blogging has been an afterthought and so blog posts will either come in the form of four in one day and nothing for a week or, possibly worse, one every three or four days.

I’ve always felt that the ’successful’ blogs are the ones that have at least a daily post on a very regular basis - not a daily post for a week or two, nothing for a week or two and then back to daily for a bit.

If Up Your Ego is going to get any ‘bigger’, not that I do it to become blogfamous (a form of fame that exists in this tiny little world of bloggers and people looking at blogs) then I need to up the frequency.

But I’m not sure I have the time or dedication to up the frequency of my blogging - I still enjoy writing the odd post every now and then but the commitment required to make a daily post or more is something I struggle to find.

In fact it has almost got the point of becoming a chore - I don’t want to say goodbye to blogging completely as I often have this burning issue bugging me - something I have no other platform to vent with than this blog.

But finding something to write about every day to keep any minor level of readership is difficult.

So what should I do?

• Just give up blogging and post my vents to howtobeageek.net/jaiku and pownce as they bug me?
• Keep things as they are and just write on upyourego.com as it comes to me?
• Give up blogging completely and keep my pointless thoughts to myself?
• Work through this busy patch and ‘try’ to post every day?
• Turn Up Your Ego into a video blog and post my thoughts through vision?

I don’t know. What I do know is that, much like DoctorVee, blogging has helped me improve existing skills and develop whole new ones.

When I blog on a regular basis my writing skills improve a considerable amount, my web promotion abilities increase and so do my coding and design talents as and when I enhance the interface.

So would turning Up Your Ego into a video blog help improve my video skills? I’ve just got back, in fact as I write this I’m at the airport, from a Video Journalism course - where I’ve learnt the basics of shooting and editing.

Should I apply those skills to my blog so I can use them more than I would in my day job? Should I just turn this into a photo blog and improve my picture editing and image selection skills?

Should I turn it into a place to host the show notes for a new podcast? Or should I introduce all of those things as a way of getting ‘more’ out of my time?

Would having a combination of photos, videos, audio and text in alternate posts be confusing or interesting?

I don’t know. What I do know is that I don’t blog nearly enough!

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