At Risk of Redundancy
Published on 2 November 2010 in BBC, Work, BBC, BBC Out of London, work
Baring the minor miracle of getting some dream job, it means I'm likely to be leaving the BBC next June, pocketing a redundancy cheque in the process.
Posts about "BBC"
I’m Proud of the BBC…
Published on 15 October 2010 in BBC, BBC
...so says the utterly fantabulous Mitch Benn in his latest track, and with music like this who can disagree?
Yet another BBC iPlayer launch
Published on 13 September 2010 in BBC, Work, BBC, BBC iPlayer, television, video on demand
I was off work last week with a disturbingly early-in-the-season bout of flu but whilst I was sitting on the sofa watching Star Trek re-runs on Channel One and CBS Action my team quietly launched a new version of BBC iPlayer.
Links for 13 September 2010
Published on 13 September 2010 in Daily Links, BBC, BBC iPlayer, BBC red button, interactive television, railways
I never seem to manage to keep these up to date these days. Does it matter? Do you care? Is anyone even reading… iPlayer, iTunes succumb to Web2.0rhea – The Register "Apple's iTunes merely needs the option to hide its half-baked social network. For the BBC, the next version of iPlayer should be designed by people who've never used Facebook or Twitter, and don't have an iPhone. Incredible as it may seem, they not only exist, but are the real majority." The Register makes a compelling argument, and as a colleague of mine said… "Watching TV with the family. Isn't that social?" Berney Arms – diamond geezer Ever since I read about this bizarre station in the middle of Norfolk, with its complete lack of road access and a path that goes to the local pub, I've wanted to visit it (and the pub). Now Diamond Geezer's been there and frankly I want to visit it even more (and the pub). Open Source Release of MHEG+ Toolkit – BBC Internet Blog: A couple of years after it was first mooted (whoever said the BBC was slow to do anything?) the MHEG+ toolkit we use in BBC Red Button to build... View Article
Links for 13 August 2010
Published on 13 August 2010 in Daily Links, BBC, BBC Breakfast, BBC Out of London, buses, London, Manchester, Merton, money, online banking, Salford, vending machine, web development
Hmm. Methinks this is less Daily Links and more monthly links! Giant Chinese ‘straddle bus’ drives over traffic Bonkers idea or genius new way at tackling congestion? You decide. Call to improve password security – BBC News Apparently we need to make passwords longer because shorter ones will be easily cracked. But frankly sod the cracking – people already struggle with passwords and if we make them longer, then people are going to struggle to remember them. Case in point – me. Halifax recently changed their online login requiring brand new "memorable data". They then pick three letters. The data they had me use is so long that to get the three letters I have to write down the password on a Post It note… It really is time the password died and something easier to use took its place. Why the US keeps minting coins people hate and won’t use – BBC News Apparently in the USA they're making dollar coins people won't use because they prefer notes. Personally I can't imagine still having a pound note in the UK – my wallet would just be full of paper… What makes a place worthy of World Heritage status? –... View Article
If you’re going to cover stories about London on TV and radio, you need to justify properly why you’re covering it
Published on 3 August 2010 in London, Radio, Television, BBC, London, radio, television
If there's one thing that seems to provoke irie from the BBC's viewers and listeners, it's doing anything about London on air. Well unless said viewer and listener is in London. Probably.
Links for 8 July 2010
Published on 8 July 2010 in Daily Links, BBC, cycling, DAB digital radio, fashion, London, radio
Haven’t done this for a while for various reasons. Most of which revolve on me not seeing any links I like. And then what happens? Four come along at once! BBC Mind The Gap: Bike hire etiquette: No animals allowed I'm not a cyclist myself, but I'd like to be (especially if I had a slightly shorter commute) but I can't help but notice that huge swathes of road near where I live have been painted blue. It's Boris's Cycle Superhighway, and it all looks rather pointless – a cycle lane merely painted blue. As can be seen in the report on the BBC London Mind the Gap Blog, there's certainly been a few problems. Still praise where praise is due – mirrors at traffic lights to help with HGVs blind spots are a very simple and a very good idea. Bashing the BBC: The peculiar rage inspired by the BBC – The Economist "Here is a curious paradox about British conservatives. Challenge them to defend grand British institutions, from the Royal Family to the House of Lords or the lack of a written constitution, and they argue passionately about the dangers of tampering and meddling with things that evolved... View Article
6music saved
Published on 5 July 2010 in BBC, BBC, BBC Radio, BBC Radio 6music, DAB digital radio, radio
Sssh! Don't tell anyone but I've always had this secret fantasy life. It was that one day I'd end up working behind the scenes at BBC Radio 6 music.
Daily Links for 10 June 2010
Published on 10 June 2010 in Daily Links, BBC, BBC red button, cycling, London, politics, shopping, supermarkets, Television Centre, Tesco, web development, White City
For some reason I haven’t got round to posting links recently so they’ve been sitting around in Delicious just waiting for me to get my backside in gear. So here goes… Why don’t more restaurants do this?- 90 Percent of Everything What? Put on the bill the cost per person? Bonkers. It'll never take off… Old and resistant to change? Why embeddable fonts make me nervous… – Martin Belam’s currybetdotnet blog "I'm sure there were people complaining that the introduction of <font color="blue"> in HTML 3.2 would unleash anarchy…" Well it did. For a bit anyway. That crass and overly commercial cycle hire logo – MayorWatch "I’m sure we’re all very grateful to the shareholders of Barclays for spending some of their marketing budget on slapping their logo all over the bikes and uniforms of staff but frankly this new roundel (pictured) brings crass commercialism crashing down to whole new levels of bad. […] Allowing the roundel – a true icon of London – to be absorbed into a glorified advert like this is pretty crass. Sadly, in order to show you how bad it is I need to display it on the site otherwise it wouldn’t get screen space."... View Article
Links for 25 May 2010
Published on 25 May 2010 in Daily Links, BBC, BBC Radio, BBC Radio 6music, Boris Johnson, gardening, radio, Sky News, television, weather, web development
GTmetrix – Website Speed and Performance Optimization For all the web developers out there in the hood, this is quite a nice tool that helps you optimise your website for faster loading. Judged on the results, this site isn't too bad already although it's given me some ideas to help just shave away a little at the speed, and you'll start seeing the results as I slowly replace some of the almost unmaintainable code that's running this site at the minute. Don't expect it to make a drastic change to the way you view Planet Bods, but overall it will make some small differences. 6 Music closure ‘defies belief’, says music industry | Media | guardian.co.uk "The BBC's own charter makes crystal clear that the corporation is specifically tasked with stimulating creativity and cultural excellence. It defies belief, therefore, that the BBC is proposing to close a radio station that excels at doing exactly this, particularly when 6 Music's audience is growing in leaps and bounds and virtually the entire UK music community is united in support of it." Boris Johnson urges Londoners to grow food in coffee cups – Wimbledon Guardian Pah. Rubbish. An old hiking boot is much... View Article