Category: Media

  • Digital Britain: what you need to know, and what it means

    The long-awaited Digital Britain report is out, and I’ve taken a look at it twice. First up, the key points: We won’t be paying for a copyright quango, but our phones will be taxed to finance next-generation broadband – and while the government isn’t keen on criminalising file sharers, ISPs might have no choice but…

  • Opera Unite: very cool

    Opera Unite puts a web server inside your browser. It’s really very clever. When Opera promised to “reinvent the web” this morning, we were cynical – and when it started talking about inventing “Web 5.0” we set our word-guns to maximum mockery. Then it showed us Unite. We’re not sure about Web 5.0, but we’re…

  • Windows 7: How do you get a browser without a browser?

    It’s a good question… How do you install a browser when you don’t have a browser? The news that Windows 7 won’t include Internet Explorer in Europe has caused an outbreak of head-scratching – especially among those of us whose routers need a browser window to configure our connections in the first place.

  • Why does Trent Reznor hate the internet?

    A wee bit of whimsy on Techradar: …the news that Trent Reznor’s quit the net and that 43 per cent of people without a net connection wouldn’t get online even if it was free baffled me. Hang on, Firefox needs an update. 43 per cent? That’s…sorry, had to confirm that Firefox wasn’t malicious software. Where…

  • Viral marketing and technical tomfoolery

    Two of my recent PC Plus features have gone online. First, a look at viral marketing: The return of the Wispa is a classic example of canny viral marketing in action. In 2007, 93 Facebook groups spontaneously appeared, with 14,000 people demanding the return of the chocolate bar. When Iggy Pop played Glastonbury, crazed chocolate…

  • Google quick search vs Quicksilver (Mac)

    Me again: The new Google Quick Search Box (QSB) for Mac is designed to make things easier. Summon it with a quick key combination and you can use it to find and launch applications, track down elusive files, dig up contacts or search the web. It sounds very familiar, with good reason: apps such as…

  • The iPhone killer is… O2

    Me on Techradar: We’re told that it costs between four and eight times more money to get a new customer than to retain an existing one, and that the way to make big piles of cash in the long term is to keep your customers sweet. So why is O2 waving its corporate arse at…

  • When subs can’t be bloody bothered

    This is fantastic. No Rock’n’Roll Fun spots a couple of typos in a People story about Mel B: The ex-Spice Girl’s decision to move to the States had seemed liked a wise disappointed when Mum-in striptease six nights She with BELAFONTE, But enough Planet The who her career choice after she landed a lead role…

  • Hyperlinks to memories

    Another .net column has made its way online. This one’s about attention and the way that gadgets can remove you from the moment you’re filming, photographing or tweeting about. Photos and videos are hyperlinks to memories, icons that your brain double-clicks to bring back the full experience – the sights, sounds, smells and sensations of…

  • Opera 10 is too good to ignore

    I thought I’d say something constructive in an op/ed for once, so I’ve written about Opera 10. It’s moved from alpha to beta, and it’s really rather good. Internet Explorer 6, the gurning half-wit of the browser world, has nearly 17 per cent of the market. Opera, a truly great browser, has 0.72 per cent.…