Last day...

So I've been savouring today as from tomorrow I'll be back in an office being a business analyst with Pilat Media in Wembley- I'm looking forward to it but I'll need to get up in the morning! (Not least 'cos I'll be on the 19th floor of the skyscaper on the left)


Radio Reality
Today while I was at the gym I heard on Capital 95.8 a rather alarming 'reality' feature called tell the truth, young lady (I presume) called in to tell her boyfriend she'd spent some time in prison - he was somewhat taken aback (I'm not sure it's a good idea to share such disclosures with a slice of London's radio listeners) - sting in the tail after the phone conversation was that he was said by the DJ to be in the Police force- perhaps the producers wull have a re-think (perhaps not!) .

Univ TV
Somalian TV will take a back seat now but one of the guys from Norway is coming over hopefully to run th project - Bill would like to see the project move forward not least becasuse of the terrible food crisis in Somalia now. I hope we can use his considerable skills to help get the problem noticed.

Future
Hope to keep the blog going but expect some bigger gaps between entries ...

Bath

Friday -Travel & Hotel

So a very nice weekend in Bath we had a good journey down on a train that was bursting with people and only about 10 minutes late into Bath Spa station and a return ticket cost just £19.00 each. On arrival a short wait for a taxi which was in fact, to the untrained observer a mobile disco, very little in the way of communication from the driver but an illuminated gear stick which seemed to have some link to the music a new experience for us both. Nice hotel

Saturday- David Soul

On Saturday we managed to see ashow that's been revived but has been around for over 30 years, it's called Mack and Mable currently starring the one and only David Soulwe saw it at the Theatre Royal in Bath - I was very impressed with both the talent and the production - we had prime seats in the front row - something about a live show (even more, one that included music from the ensemble). David Sould who is now proud to be a UK citizen is a great guy and has talent, he started off as a masked troubadour then found fame in the 70's cop show Starsky and Hutch, was a teen heart throb and is now a talented actor (character parts and lead in Jerry Springer the Opera). David give the impression of being a human being -the show's in Southampton this week and will go to the West End, catch it if you can.

After the show we had a meal/snack at a Harvesters - this was okay but amazed at how many smokers there are in Bath, new laws to limit smoking in public places are going to hit the residents of Bath pretty hard (but for their own good)

Sunday- Cinema

So on Sunday we saw the much heralded A Cock and Bull Story at the cinema- I think I need to see this again (perhaps twice more) to even start to understand it - lots of thoughts triggered on the blurring of reality as well as the main theme (I think) whiuch was about how life is hard to capture in art (??).
Great Cinema (not part of a chain)



Monday - Home and a 'Times' Lunch

Not a bad journey back (20 minutes late into Paddington) took advantage of the Times special offer for a £5 lunch before we left - very good too.

Lib Dems

Somewhat to my surprise the Simon Hughes campaign has come off the tracks even prior to Lembit Opik MP getting involved - if you suspected that politicians were hypocrites over the last few weeks the Lib Dems will have confirmed your views. Despite using such fraudulent tactics as 'your straight candidate' against the honest (in terms of sexuality anyway) Peter Tatchell during the Bermondsey by-election Simon has decided it's time to admit that he's been less than open about himself.

Now I have no wish to know what Mr Hughes gets up to but I do want to be able to trust him to tell the truth - It did not cause Chris Smith (Labour) or Alan Duncan (conservative) too much trouble to be open about their sexuality so why are the Lib Dems so different?

There's quite a lot of coverage around and the only sympathy I have for Simon is when I see things like this - From what I see here Peter C Glover's is not what I'd describe as a Christian.

Chris Penn

As I said I've taken a fancy to obituaries and it's sad to see that Chris Penn (Resevoir Dogs etc.) is dead but I was amused to see he'd been ejected from a nightclub after a fracas with a dwarf - he was only 43 , better to burn out than rust? Better than spending 30 years working in a bank (or perhaps not).

Next time you think it's cold

We went to Moscow last Easter and I thought it was cold then but now it's really cold -anyway I hope you have a nice bright sunny day today -we're off to the West of England's historic city of Bath for the w/e so nothing 'til late Monday but hopefully some good stuff then..... And Happy Chinese new year!

Amusing Names

I was in Uxbridge yesterday and noticed this place - which I thought mildly amusing - it also reminded me of Kevin G who was keen on hairdressers that had puns in their establishments names ..

So if you're like Kevin check out this site -you might even want to buy the book for someone as a present.

Steve Jobs

I'm not sure what drives a person like Steve Jobs but he's every inch a player and now that Pixar is becoming part of Disney I'm sure there'll be an Apple angle in it all - and on the the theory that there's an equal and opposite force I'll be watching to see what Microsoft does next.

ABC (part of Disney) has already done download deals of Desperate Houswives - more of this on the way I expect.

Google and credibility

Can Google afford to compromise it's credibility? (consider that the searchengine site is inextricably linked with the guys behind Google).

Can Google ignore what will soon be the biggest market in the world?

What Does 'Do No Evil' really mean? Perhaps yesterday was National Egg Day.

Send me an Answer do.

London's Docklands

I visited London's Docklands this afternoon to have a meeting with Adfero this part of London isn't an area I know well and it seesm like a totally different city from the London I know more efficient but rather lacking heart - where do you think it looks like (Asia or perhaps USA)? I know it was a cold day but the streets were pretty deserted and the guy I spoke to mentioned the 'tumbleweed effect' at weekends and during the evenings

Adfrero
Chatting with Adfero was interesting the company was started by
Adam Afriyie who is now MP for Windsor, the company provides News services for websites and can provide syndicated stories or customised reports, the use of original items helps raise 'traffic' levels and also enhances the Google rating. My interest is in using such a service is to help with the Univ TV news service for the Somali TV channel, it could be useful both on the web and as a basis for TV coverage -perhaps as a set of pages during night hours.

Sculpture

Talking of raising traffic levels , not far from South Quay Plaza 2 where my meeting was I saw what I at first thought was a rather confusing set of traffic lights, when I'm driving I often get surpised by traffic lights but generally I'm okay with them when I'm on foot. As I got closer to this cluster I realised they were out of sync with the more traditional lights around them and I came to the conclusion that it was actually a sculpture.

And to brighten you day..

I saw a rather amusing news story for those that thought all the domain addresses that were commercially worthwhile had been sold or landed by the mega corporate giants (or the BBC as the Media Guardian reports) I learn that sex.com has been sold for around $14 million - so get thinking, the only way to make money on the web is not Nigerian banking scams!

Privatise the bbc?

Now I’ve been a fan of the BBC for some time but in truth if I was a grasping politician living in No 11 Downing street I’d seriously consider selling it off, the reality of the matter is that in 10 or 15 years it’ll be worth a whole lot less than it is now – (and although we Brits don’t like to admit it it’s a state broadcaster) as for Channel 4 that would have gone long ago. Not sure who this guy is but check out what he says. To start the process I'd get David Elstien in as Chairman he seems to be able to at least think of alternative models for funding. More views on this here and if you'd like to let me know you're thoughts on the issue please mail me.

Holiday destinations
I spent a lot of time speaking to a travel agent today and as a result of our discussions I’ll be visiting Dubai in April – I’m trying to go to two new countries each year not sure where the other one will be but Iceland could be fun during the very long summer days – favourite holiday destinations of late have been the fantastic Cuba and Goa. The one thing they both had in common when we visited was nightmare airports ( I managed to take another guys bag at Goa which didn't help) perhaps getting out of the airport was what made the holidays so good -or perhaps it's the absence of the americanisation which generally adds McDonalds to the landscape?

Gigs 'r' us

Would also like to see some cool gigs in 2006 but it’s not so easy as you get older and less tolerant – I’ve seens a wide variety of act from Mud and 10cc to Tangerine Dream and Nash the Slash (covered in bandages), classic Gigs include Pink Floyd’s 'The Wall' at Earls Court, Bob Dylan in Lyon and Laurie Anderson (3 times).

Media stuff
Off to South Quay Plaza in London’s Docklands tomorrow so definitely be some progress on News Tickers (I hope) to share with you on Wednesday.

Somewhat surprised to see Lord Currie is staying on as Ofcom Chairman perhaps it’s ‘cos ( or so the smart money is saying) Carter’s leaving to join the Guardian .

Lib-dems

In case the Lib Dems weren’t in enough trouble Mark Oaten the Lib Dems Shadow home secretary stepped into the leadership race (presumably on behalf of the Tories and Labour), now that a somewhat murky past has been revealed he’s taken soundings and stepped down (also he’d only got one MP backing him up) Great to See Lempit Opik MP on the news with Mark, Lempit’s independence of judgement seems to know no limits – having explained the previous leaders problem with the truth being down to alcoholism it’d be good to hear his justification of Oatens’ behaviour. What I find really staggering is the thick skinned arrogance of so many politicians – Oaten had previously spoken out forcibly against a judge -to quote the online Independent …

Mr Oaten has been vocal in his condemnation of a judge who received a £1m pay off package after hiring rent boys for sex. In 2004, according to The People newspaper, he condemned the decision to allow the Crown Court Recorder Roger Davies to leave his job with a huge pay-off before an investigation into his behaviour was carried out. Mr Oaten said this was "a whitewash" and a "cover-up."

I suppose the real problem is that so often those who shouldn’t go into politics do and those should don’t – expect the crazy mixed up Lib Dems to do disastrously in this spring's local elections (as they deserve).
What is somewhat surprisng is that this is the sort of scandal the Tories used to specialise in but under Canmeron there's an amazing contrast, look at what vice-chair Margot James his latest rising star is not hiding .

Piracy or common sense?

I know that there's not meant to be such a thing as a victimless crime but I'm hardly surpised that people (who let's face it can hear music for free on the radio) prefer to download than buy - because large music companies are run by ostriches who think they have a god given right to fleece youngsters who care about music doesn't mean that they can ignore facts for ever more- let's hope TV and film can face the problem before they're looking at ruin.

Semiotics, Mise-en-scene and Freud

With the jumper of Evo Morales taking centre place on the world political stage - Semiotics is again generating interest.
When I studied for my MA one of the other guys on the course was considering producing his dissertation on the area of Semiotics and the messages that New Labour sent out in their wardrobe (specifically their ties). David Cameron and his advisers are careful to send clear messages
I reckon that a field of academic study that is worthy of some consideration is the conflusion of Semiotics, Mise-en-scene and Freud.
For students of media studies there's a fascinating web resource that Daniel Chandler has produced here. Hitchcock generates rich resources like this essay by Stephen F. Austin.

TV evolution (or revolution)

When Shaun and I met the other week we had a brief chat about where TV is going, there are, for me a number of tensions on how this will play out, the dichotomy
between global and local means that the global MTV now has regional and local varieties and the death of TV has often been overstated - look at what has happened to radio over the last years to get a feel for how it will go, there's a real danger of being overly technologically deterministic on how TV is used, TV means more than just the technology that enables it but IPTV does mean change . Neil Postman has a succint feel on how TV is used.

UK Rail fares (mild rant)

Now I'm a bit of a fan of rail travel (I don't like long boring drives on motorways) and of late I've been taking advantage of the great deals you can get when you book ahead, although the system that the stations use to locate cheap tickets seems a bit creaky the staff are usually keen to help and of late the trains I've been on have been clean, on time and had a buffet so look what the plan is! it makes you think the Labour government wants us all to use our cars perhaps these guys are right

And to help you here's a bit of wrap on the big Media stories of the week..

(We trawl the net so you don't have to)
1) ITV
Digital Spy tells us that ITV has extended its contract with Narrowstep for broadband services the deal will allow viewers to catch up with their own region wherever they are in the world
and
The Stage tells us that Simon Shaps of ITV has confirmed the new senior commissioning line-up.
And we're told by Brand Republic that ITV's interested in the Irish broadcaster TV3
2) Murdoch

The Economist looks into the succession and The Business Standard of India tells us that one of his lads (James) worries about mobile TV.

3) O2
Details of what has been found from the recent service trials in Oxford are in teleclik's story.

4) Radio
Despite a Telegraph story telling us that DAB doesn't measure up to FM, Media Bulletin tells us Channel 4 wants to get involved in the new non-steam radio.

5) Google
Now that Google's taking on the scale of a microsoft it's getting to be a target of Gov't and competitors - The Register reports on how things are hotting up regarding The US Department of Justice request for details of searches made.

And Film
Korea's the place that Cinema enthusiasts are raving about and if you want something to give you some credibility why not join the ICA and see their season of Brilliant Korea films from the home of (some say) dog eating.

Trails

When you're browsing across the internet do not think that you move without a trace, since starting blogging I've become aware of the intelligence that's available form vsitors -adsense tailors my advertising and my counter tells me where you come from and the links that brought you here, not only that be aware that Google keep your searches - not much privacy be careful.

Dead people

I’ve taken to reading the obituaries (not to check that I’m still alive) and saw one today of Rosamund Stanhope who seemed a great women and somewhat ahead of her time, a couple of quotes from the Times Obituary ..

Stanhope was not afraid of saying what she thought — on one occasion, embarrassed at having fallen over in the snow, she even told the man who rushed over to help her to f*** off.

And
At one stage, if she was not devising a quiz on Byron she was digging a hole in the garden. She once took her television apart just to see how it worked.

Sounds like quite a character eh? Here's one of her poems.

Channel 4

Not content with inflicting Big Brother on us all C4 is expanding into radio why-o-why does C4 sees itself as a media player, how about it being sold off and then competing fairly with the other TV and Radio companies that take advertising - Gordon Brown can spend the proceeds of the sale on something useful like a few renal wards. With talk of OFCOM supplying grants to other TV companies that produce Public Service Broadcasting content (PSB) I reckon C4's days as it stands are numbered - here's an interesting old piece on C4.

A joke

Following exhaustive research through detailed focus group meetings I've the impression that this could all be a bit heavy so something a bit light hearted for Friday ..

Recently I was leaving the barbers and met an old friend, I told him how having a haircut was a pickup for me and he said that 'when he was in the dumps he bought himself some new clothes'

'I can see that' I said. ( "Boom! Boom! Mr Roy " as Basil Brush would say)

Niché TV

So increasing problems around Univ TV (the Somalian TV outfit) despite my attempts to suggest planning and timetabling the project it looks increasingly like it will all come to nothing, for me this is very sad and I believe it could have been avoided if there had been more openness amongst the team -if you've a niché tv project I'd be happy to help, I've a few extra grey hairs from my recent experiences but it may help in the future.

Changing directions

Somewhat surprised that Mike Coe (who I have known for about 30 years!) is leaving ITN after a staggering 23 years there; not sure exactly what he’ll do (or if he is) - perhaps more with the record company him and Jim have set-up or perhaps freelancing with a TV camera?

Networking (people not devices)

Linked in is a term that sounds a bit cheesy it’s some sort of networking tool – not sure how effective it is but it’s another way of looking up old mates – I’m happy to help anyone who wants to use it get on to it anyway.

On a serious note

Currently one of the storylines in Coronation Street (UK's top TV soap opera) relates to Mike Baldwin one of the main characters having Alzheimers' disease '. The two ladies who live next door to us were teachers at local catholic schools for their working lives, both are now retired and one of them is suffering badly from Alzheimer’s disease. I popped in yesterday afternoon to help reposition her on her chair, it’s very sad to see someone who just a year ago was laughing and joking reduced to a fragile confused state – I’m not sure if (any) religion has an answer to this but for me I do ask myself why does (any) all powerful 'God' allow this to happen?

Site of the day

Got a link from here so should repay the favour.

Leicester

Yesterday I was in Leicester; spent most of the day in the University library researching for a couple of assignments and getting distracted by lots of other things. One of the things that ditracted me was a quote of Jack Welch (big US industry icon and management guru ) he says

"Neatness and orderliness are not what we are after.We are after getting information to people who can act on it"

I liked this.

I was also intrigued by a volume called The sex of things by Victoria de Grazia the bit I read described how British households had been slow to get domestic elecrical appliances between the World wars and what had made them get them was HP methods of payment - the reasons that they were slow to get them

1) The value of women's time was low
and
2) There were better things to spend the money on (like radios and other entertainment the book said )

interesting.

May be a sign?

Walking to the railway station I saw this - I just love the guys name.
Don't be too rude

Here's a jolly website to warn those of us who are rude to folks working in the retail trade.

Okay Tuesday is now media technology day..

Digital Radio

With DAB radios now available for around 70 of our 'English pounds'' you'd think everyone would want one but despite the success in the UK it looks like the DAB won't be a world standard for Digital Radio, there are now a number of systems vying for supremacy; in the US a subscription model satellite distribution system is making big waves one of the primary reasons for subscribing seems to be the alarmingly lavatorial Howard Stern. Howard's on Sirius Satellite Radio but there's XM Satellite Radio too I'm not sure how you choose between them, for me I suppose XM has the advantage of no awful Howard.

Also in the US a system called High Definition radio (sounds American doesn't it) is gaining ground. HD technology lets stations deliver digital broadcasts, using their current analogue signals. FM stations are said to have CD-quality sound and AM broadcasts supposedly upgrade to FM quality. Stations will be able to squeeze up to five extra channels in along with data services that display the song and artist information, for example, as scrolling text on a tuner, and multicasting niche channels of music and other programming (just like DAB). As you'd expect the recording companies are a touch worried that consumers will make copies instead of purchasing the music on an expensive shop bought CD or from a download service like iTunes.
The UK mobile phone trials carried out by BT indicated that people like listening to the radio on their phones so don't forget to include that in your media planning as a possibility too.

Cisco

I see too that Cisco Systems is moving into the consumer electronics market, selling phones, radios and home theatre equipment. Cisco reckons it can make money with devices that link to the Internet, previously consumer electronics companies have been able to compete with stand-alone devices , a Cisco big-wig said 'The Internet and new networking requirements are enough of a disruptor for us to enter a new market'- I hope the company is able to cope with tough competition (it's a jungle out there).

Video Podcasting

Is Video Podcasting the new big thing? Seems to be creating a bit of a buzz.


This weeks' book is

Charles Handy has a new-ish book The New Alchemists ; it profiles some important people, it's an easy read and it has some nice photos by Charles's missus.

Big Brother gets more coverage

Both George and Michael ( Not George Michael) are generating plenty of press coverage, for all the wrong reasons (they probably wouldn't mind tho').

And as for Somalian TV

Although I did say all would be okay on Monday 16th I did have my fingers crossed; still seems to be some delay with the money and the planning still leaves rather a lot to be desired, perhaps it's a Somali cultural thing?

Music?

Do you like the music video? Let me know - I can knock it on the head if you'd like or tell me the genre you'd prefer and we can choose something different.

ITN looks to the furture

ITN had a bad end to 2005 I'm glad to see that they're trying to move forward - to precis ITN are looking for investment alliances, hopefully this isn't just a story floated by the Daily Mail (as the Mail's owners; DMGT are currently one of the part owners of ITN) the UK needs more than one large scale commercial TV news provider (for sure when the other is Sky) - If ITV can get the ownership sorted out then that's fine; otherwise it needs some other backing from ITV.

I want to see the UK media opened up to a lot more voices and would like to see Channel 4 become an alternative voice again - the so called Celebrity Big Brother and the like should be dropped immediately. On this topic and for the promotion of alternative voices I'm even linking to the dreaded Garry Bushell.

BBC 1 Peak time Drama

It was great to see a film by Stephen Poliakoff on BBC1 prime time, last night it wasn't run of the mill 'Cops and Robbers' or set in a hospital and sought to tell us something about our times. The story highlighted the importanceof work relationships, the way people arwe influenced by 'mentors' and reflected on how work has changed over the last 20ish years. It was called Friends and Crocodiles and had care lavished upon it, it probably went someway to justifying the licence fee as a concept if you get a chance have a look at it.




Views on the Iraq liberation/invasion

It's revealing what various people think about Iraq, read what John Jirik thinks of it here I'm sure John has thought long and hard about it, I can't help but disagree on this one- I think that removing Sadam was the right thing to do (although there were a lot of lies told in the process), here's another view The truth about the Iraq war.

Competition 1
Now as promised here's competiton 1 ...
You've got over 2 weeks to enter (closing date 4th Feb. 2006) and I'll remind you every now and then.
As I said before the focus will be on getting some ideas and feedback for this blog.
3 categories :
1) Weirdest political story/rumour (any country) .
2) Most bizarre TV show that's been made (Japan seems to have a lot to offer here).
3) Strangest Photo on the world wide web (the odder the better).

I need an e-mail from you; please include a little about yourself like age ( under/over 30?), size (S, M L XL? could be something to wear), interests, sex (M or F don't need more) and muscial tastes - this'll help me choose a great prize for you .
Any Questions or enries to Competiton 1
Get entering!
Blue Man

Last night we went to the heart of London's fashionable West End to see the Blue Man show. ITV News's replacement for Sir Trevor, Mark Austin was there too and all tho' that didn't guarantee a good show the show was good. I'm not 100% sure what it was about, this might help you get an idea though . Bits of it I found slightly scary so I'm not sure what kids who were there thought of it but worth a visit (don't go if you've got a headache and don't arrive late).
On the subject of theatre - why do programmes worth about 50pence cost three ponds 50 pence? and..
The best play/theatre I've experienced of late was udoubtedly seeing Hitchcock Blonde at the Royal Court (something about saying Royal Court I like too), if they revive it or it's on where you live I'd urge you to see it (even more so if you've an interest in the man).

Link of The Day.
If any of you have a groovy link please e-mail me details and I'll make it my link of the day.

Story of the Google

Now I'm reading a great book about Google (it's called 'The Google story' and is written by David A Vise and I got it 50% off at Borders). A few things I've discovered so far in the vbook (about first 4 chapters) :-

1) Much of the preliminary work was indertaken at the William Gates Computer Science Building at Stanford University (Ironic eh?)

2) The guys behind Google were young when they started the enterprise and are now incredibly rich.

3) The philosophy behind the search algorithm takes into account the significance of the site rather than just the number of times a word or phrase is used (like "make money fast, make money fast , make money fast" several times) the method Google use is patented and they've called pagerank.

For those in the UK the BBC 2 Money programme on Friday 20th is about Google.

Google are hiring in the UK and have been advertising heavily in the Guardian newspaper amongst other publications, they want top people but look like a good company to work for, fun, ethical and time to follow your own projects. Interesting online story on Google's history here.

The other thing about Google (like E -bay too) which ties in with thinking about economic activity is that it makes it easier for us all to make more transactions.

Now this and other research I've done for an assignment (following the unusal practice of reading books rather than cherry picking from the index) has focused my mind on collaborative stuff a great example of this is Wikipedia - it's great. Commercial sites which have a similar advantage are e-bay (feedback) and Amazon (you might like advisories). The other area I've an interest in at the moment is Grokster - seems like a hot topic!

Somalia

Ploughing along with the TV project, have been looking for excel spreadsheets and the like to help us track costs and spending, somewhat surprisngly plenty around to fit the bill.

Viral Marketing

Now you may or may not have come across this term. I had an e-mail from Richard Stokes in Hong Kong and replied letting him know that I had a 'blog', Richard came back with the commnet oh gawd , not another site of textual garbage ?? which I can of course understand but letting Richard know had the effect of putting HK on my 'map' where I previously had no 'reach' (he must have had a peek and told others) see below.

Thanks Richard.

Easy counter give useful information about visitors and I now have some from the far east - I will target another country next week ad try to add another graph to show what happens.

If anyone has ideas about getting the blog viewed in Australia or Northern Europe drop me a mail.

Mobile Phones

Now having heard many 'players' in the mobile industry speak enthusiastically about the potential of TV on the mobile it'll be fascinating to hear the positive spin they put on this story, for me I've been unsure of how keen punters will be to watch TV while they move around but I did love the analysis which said that viewers were no longer constrained to be 'couch potatoes' but could be potatoes in 'various places'. In Italy a mobile phone company has already bought a TV station so expect further developments.

Somalia

So good news on the Somalia TV project, I'm told the money's there and it's all going to happen, various bills are becoming pressing and this means that a real service will start very soon.

Benefits from Economic Growth

Yesterday I had a mini rant about the fact that we cant just keep going for growth but being a reasonable sort of guy I decided to reflect on how we benefit from said growth. In the UK the national health service was set up look after the nation's health, it is funded by taxation and a National health insurance charge made to employers and employees and therefore relies on people working and paying taxes as the economy booms more is spent on health. To take a few (personal) examples of advances on health issues:

A friend who has Multiple Sclerosis (MS) - some hope with the use of drugs

A neighbour who lives with a lady with Alzheimer's, has rec'd amazing support and the possibility that the sufferer will be able to return home shortly.

Depression, one of the growing areas of concern but the use of drugs is consrtantly improving the lives of sufferers

This is not to downplay the problems of unrestrained growth but to see the upside too- expect to see more confusing thoughts on what 'growth' means to us and what we 'value'.

Skype

I'm a skyper - anyone out there want to try the video facility give me a call when I'm online (tjbourne is my identity). strangely enough I was chatting about skype with Shaun yesterday he reckons the fact that it costs nothing means it puts a strain on long distance relationships by being an open ended conversation (and of course women deal with conversation differently from men). By the way Shaun wrote a great article about teaching English abroad have a look

Economy

On most days I spend some money (more than one pound) why I certainly don't always need to? And this is apart from all the to-ing and fro-ing in my various bank accounts.

How can we balance our economic ambitions with sustainability? This seems to be a question we need to ask, economic growth in UK is currently around 2.5% but is continued growth desirable or relaistic? A map of the world showing economic activity as temperature would 50 years ago have had 'hotspots' over New York, London and other major European cities but now such a map would show much of Southern China as hot, India incresingly warm and Eastern Europe waring up nicely and the 'economic' temperature would be sustained at higher levels for more hours of the day and increasingly at the weekend too.
To use another analogy the economy's like a liquid that's getting hotter and hotter what happens when we get above boiling point?
Is this all good- 'democratic' states try to build economic growth but is it the way forward?
Are people happier?




Technologies

Despite my fears I can identify the technologies I expect to help with growth over the next 1-3 as :

1) Wi Fi
2) Radio Frequency Identification RFID
and
3) Further liberlaisation(?) of trading and immigration constraints.

These will lead tomost of us making more transactions. On Friday I will consider the advantages that come from a booming economy.

Video Search

With Google and Yahoo putting a lot of effort in Video Seems to be the battleground that the web is being fought on, Blinx have a good one as do Truveo Video Search and I see that they've been acquired by AOL.

REVAMP


So I've got a new look - what do you think?
I'll add some links at the side (suggestions?)
Feedabck gratefully rec'd


Somalia

I was contacted by Bill Ainashe who has a great Blog full of stuff about Somalia (and other things)asking me for more details of the Somalian TV service - if you're interested take a look here I will update this as I can. In town yesterday to pick up tickets for travel and theatre I noticed on my way home one of many local internet cafes - used heavily by Somali community. When I was in Norway a little while back I diuscussed this phenomenon with a Somali restraunt owner, he was of the view that there was little future in this type of establishment - I'm not so sure as they are far more than just places to access the internet - often functioning as a social space and bank.

Camera
Isn't technology amazing here's my new year's message to you all - I think I'll do some more of this.