Author: Carrie

  • Why Firefox is blocked dot com

    Some webmasters are apparently redirecting Firefox users to WhyFirefoxIsBlocked.com, although I’ve no idea how many sites are doing it [Update: as Charles Arthur points out in the comments, the answer is “one”]. So what’s it all about? The evils of Adblock Plus. The Mozilla Foundation and its Commercial arm, the Mozilla Corporation, has allowed and…

  • Wit, talent and style? On a satellite music channel?

    Watching music television is usually a profoundly depressing experience, but I stumbled across something wonderful this evening while trying to see the new Girls Aloud video: “Be good or be gone” by Fionn Regan. Doing something interesting with music videos is tough enough at the best of times, but when you’re making a video for…

  • ASA clouts Clarins for phone fear nonsense

    Remember those Clarins ads for face cream to protect you against evil electromagnetic fields? They’ve just been spanked by the advertising standards authority. We told Clarins not to state that electromagnetic waves generated by modern-day devices or domestic communications equipment could damage or age skin or to imply anti-ageing and pro-health efficacy claims for Expertise…

  • One for the podcasters/music makers

    Decent microphones are brilliant. Laptop inputs, not so brilliant. The answer? A proper mic with a USB connection instead of a traditional mic plug. The one I fancy is the CO1U by Samson – fifty quid for a condenser mic that makes you sound like God is a right bargain, I reckon. I’m ordering one…

  • The Bourne Ultimatum

    …is superb. I’m trying to think of any other trilogy where all three movies were great, and I’m coming up with nowt. LOTR doesn’t count – it’s disqualified on grounds of (a) numb arse syndrome and (b) the final film going on and on and on and on and…

  • Advertising

    Google’s context-sensitive ads on this very blog have been annoying me for a while, so I’ve dumped them in favour of something a bit more relevant (and UK-centric). The ads are coming via Affiliate Window, who handle the affiliate scheme for Future’s various magazines – I figured it might be an idea to promote the…

  • Making rock in the hot sun

    Philosophyfootball.com’s 1977 range helps fund musical instruments for prisoners and demonstrates that you have superb taste in music. What’s not to like? Basically a cut of the profits go to the Jail Guitar Doors charity, which provides musical instruments for prisoner rehabilitation. According to founder Billy Bragg, re-conviction rates for people involved in the project…

  • Bioshock is beautiful (and bloody scary)

    If you can stomach the download – it’s over a gigabyte, and thanks to my patchy wi-fi it took eight hours to download – the Xbox 360 demo of Bioshock is stunning. You get about an hour of gameplay, and if that’s representative of the game as a whole it’s going to be incredible. The…

  • I hate to say I told you so: DRM strikes again

    Google Video is shutting its download shop. Thanks to DRM, anyone who’s bought downloads from it will soon discover that their videos have ceased to be, are ex-videos, etc etc etc.

  • On game save points and the tyranny of console game prices

    Dear game developers: could you make it easier to save game progress, please? I’ve gone from loving Resident Evil 4 on the Wii to loathing it, the people who wrote it, and anybody who’s met anybody who knows the people who wrote it. The culprit is a section where you’re inside a house as the…