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Posts from the ‘Technology’ Category

14
Aug
bitly

BBC and Bit.ly create bbc.in

What do you get when you take one of the worlds greatest content creators and mix it up with best url shortener?

You get bbc.in that’s what – If you head over to Bit.ly, or even through Twitter herself (got to be a women with all that gossip and bieber love in the trending topics) you’ll get something other than a bit.ly/[id] as the shortened url. Read moreRead more

13
Jul
androidsm

Making Android a useful life tool

I’ve been using Android for about three months now after getting my HTC Tattoo and for the first two and a half months it basically involved trying to make it do what I want.

It isn’t the greatest mobile phone in the world but it is small and has all the functionality I need from a phone. Read moreRead more

24
Jun
android

Tattoo might or might not get Android 2.1

Waiting for an upgrade to my Android phone and the delay is down to a couple of extra buttons.

OK that isn’t completely true. I’ve got a HTC Tattoo and it currently runs Android 1.6. The Tattoo is a low end Android phone with a smaller screen. Read moreRead more

24
Jun
iplayerprobem

Give me iPlayer back on my Android phone

The first thing I did when I got my new HTC Tattoo earlier this year was open the browser and visit the BBC iPlayer site – it was great – I could watch iPlayer videos without a problem.

Then I discovered BeebPlayer which made the whole process easier and much more user friendly than trying to navigate a full browser site on a mobile phone. Read moreRead more

17
Jun
phone

No more music on my iPod thanks to Spotify

I’ve had ‘the middle’ iPod in one form or another since the first iPod Mini was released in 2004.

And ever since, from the very beginning of my iPod ownership life, music and speech have been fighting for dominance of the limited space. Read moreRead more

12
Apr
android

In need of Android book library for HTC Tattoo

My most recent gadget acquisition is a HTC Tattoo, the low end small screen Android based handset from the Taiwanese-based manufacturer.

This is a great little phone, it’s easy to hold, fits in my top pocket with my iPod, feels great to hold and is actually pretty quick. Read moreRead more

30
Nov

Let me scrap my boxes of CDs with Spotify Stereo

I love Spotify, I love internet radio, I love podcasts, I love the freedom to just drop in and out of content as I see fit.

Whether that dropping in and out be in the form of music from almost any album ever released on Spotify or a speech based podcast show.

But I’m not overly keen on having to turn my computer on to listen to that same content when all I want is something to hear while washing up.

At the moment CDs and linear FM radio win out for the ease, cheapness and convenience of being able to push two buttons and be listening to ‘something’.

Broadcasting tower in Trondheim, Norway
Image via Wikipedia

What I’m really looking for is a reasonably priced (under £300) home stereo I can put in my kitchen that has WiFi built in with a VERY user friendly interface that gives me access to albums on Spotify, podcasts streamed straight to the device and on demand content possibly through the new UK Radio Player.

A simple device that had space for a CD at the bottom alongside a USB and SD (why are the cheaper ones still Compact Flash) card reader with a LCD screen just above that – and a speaker either side.

The interface would give me the choice of a number of services through a simple icon based menu system on the front screen.

These would be:

CD | OTHER | SPOTIFY | ON DEMAND | LIVE

CD would give you all the options for the CD player including the option of ripping the music straight to an SD card inserted in the slot below.

OTHER would give you access to the media on the SD card or any USB device plugged in.

SPOTIFY would give you access to the full Spotify library using a specially designed interface for a small touch screen based display.

ON DEMAND would give you access to the UK Radio Player on demand interface including the BBC iPlayer – so all radio content from the last seven days.

It would also give you access to the wealth of podcasts from around the world in a specially designed directory.

LIVE does what it says on the tin and gives you access to both the UK Radio Player and radio stations broadcasting live from around the world.

But obviously that wonderful dream device isn’t available at the price I’d be prepared to pay at the moment so I use a combination of the annoyance of powering up a computer just to listen to audio – at which point I find other things to do and forget what I started out doing.

And of course my iPod – I have music synced to it, I have podcasts on it and with the help of a little app I have on demand content ripped to it – but this isn’t exactly what I want or even nearly what I want.

The computer thing does still work sometimes though – normally for my children’s birthday’s we will have pass the parcel and other party games at home with family.

This involves me having a playlist of kids music in iTunes and stopping/starting as necessary – this year I used Spotify for the music and didn’t even need to load up iTunes.

I just want to finish my design of my dream stereo by saying – I love Spotify.

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27
Nov

A device for every purpose and then some

To fully understand this post you’ll need to appreciate that I’m a geek and so have the normal geek armoury hanging off my shoulder more or less everywhere I go.

Within that I have a camera, two mobile phones (one for calls one for internet), a NDS, a book, a notebook, a netbook, a video camera, an audio recording device and a few other bits and pieces.

That’s the reason I have a bad back BUT more importantly it’s the reason I rarely get bored – everywhere I go I carry a full on entertainment system with me and am ready to cover any news story that might break around me.

Because of always carrying a good camera I’ve managed to get photos of armed sieges, gas leaks, protest and more that I wouldn’t have got to in time if I had to go back and get a camera.

But I got thinking the other day – with mobile devices becoming more comprehensive in their feature lists and with each individual feature becoming more usuable – do I really still need all those devices.

I could get an iPhone or a new Android based phone that can take photos, video, get online, act as a mini computer, do video, let me read books, record audio and even let me send anything I gather straight to the internet.

But, it’s main purpose is the internet device, the mini internet device – it LETS me do all of the above but none of it to a standard a device designed with the purpose in mind can.

Do I think the dawn of the single device is upon us? No not even a little bit but I do think we’re entering an era where every individual device will be able to do many of the things every other device in my bag can do – to a limited extent.

It’s only a matter of time before my camera has internet access (some can already do video) and every other device can do a little bit of everything.

I see a world not so much built around one device doing everything reasonably well but a selection of devices each doing one thing really well AND a selection of other things reasonably well.

That was if you do forget one device there is something else that can fill in behind it – just not as well as it would have done on its own.

I’ll settle for mobile phone pics if I forget my camera, I’ll settle for reading on a netbook or browsing the web on my phone if I forget my book or netbook – but neither is how I’d CHOOSE to do it.

Interestingly – my wife who isn’t exactly a geek has a camera, mobile phone, iPod and NDS in her bag and carries them more or less everywhere she goes – even if they are all pink!

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21
Aug

Keeping movie magic alive

Kevin Lewis has been working with film for the last 40 years and his passion extends beyond what you see on screen.

For Kevin his passion is as much in the nuts, bolts and water cooled appature ring as it is in the moving pictures.

For the last 15 years he has been rebuilding the 50 year old projector that now brings the prints at the Jersey Outdoor Film Festival to life.

And despite telling me it is finished, he still finds himself tweeking, playing and cleaning it every day.

The projector in question is a Westar, is 50 years old this year and is one of the last to be made in Britain.

However, after being rebuilt over the last 15 years from spare parts and with the passion of a dedicated enthusiast it bares only a passing resemblance to the one originally built during the hey day of British cinema.

Old ProjectorOriginally built to play films in a cinema, the 35mm projector is now built into an old television outside broadcast truck called ‘OB2′ – Kevin wanted ‘OB1′ but two was in better condition.

And the truck itself, brought from a now defunct ITV franchise holder in the UK, gets the same level of care and attention as the project it carries around.

The ‘truck’ has now become a trailer, partly because having big metal bars makes it easier to ‘level’ when playing a film and partly because it makes it more portable.

It has been the centre piece of one of Jersey’s ‘hidden gem’ summer events.

OK so it is a bit of a stretch to call something attended by over 3,000 people ‘hidden’ but you won’t find it in the high profiles brochures or promoted in shop windows around town.

Every year Kevin brings out the ‘pearl screen’, the projector and makes use of his contacts as a former cinema owner to get the prints – so that thousands of islands and tourists alike can enjoy a film under the stars.

Despite being watched by thousands and appreciated by all, even those asking for the big grey truck to be moved, the event’s future could be in question if a sponsor can’t be found for 2010.

Kevin payed for it himself for the first four years, got a grant from Tourism after that and in the last four has found himself begging for sponsorship to keep the event going.

It would be a shame to see this great summer tradition come to an end over money. Even more so for the projector and truck that work so hard to keep its audience enthraled.

And the projector, the truck, and the screen – those vital ingredient in playing a film- they just sit there working away.

Despite technology that is nearly 50 years old they manage to keep the young, the old and everyone in between wrapped in the grip of the magic of the movies year in, year out.

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