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Loosing the talented to others

When I looked around for somewhere to work while still working for Ravensbourne college, one of the things which really attracted me to the BBC was one cutting edge projects they were working on and two the creative people it employed. Tom Coates was one of the those people whos name would popup at many events I attended and I became a reader of his blog well before I joined the BBC. So with all this in mind its a real shame to say he's now leaving for a job at Yahoo! Tom was monumental in pushing the BBC creatively, technically and with his stance on blogging, politically. He will be missed by the BBC, just like Matt Biddulph who only left a month ago too. You have to wonder what Yahoo! has or offered which the BBC doesnt. I could guess, but then I would need to kill you.

For those who dont know Tom, I wanted to quote a comment which was left for him in his next entry about the daily show on more 4.

I'm sorry. Was this supposed to be even remotely interesting? I don't mean to be rude but like what the **** are you writing about? Don't you have anything more interesting to say? Jesus Christ Almighty, aren't blogs supposed to be of even remote interest? Obviously not.

FA

– Posted by: Faustino Asprilla at October 18, 2005 12:07 AM

And Tom's reply

Wow. Well, you may not have wanted to be rude, but I think you kind of were anyway.

Let me make something clear. I write my site because I enjoy writing it, and because it gives me a platform to engage in conversation with my peers. I do not set out to entertain people, and I have no obligation to you whatsoever to make my site appealing to you. I'm not writing for a mass audience. I don't want my weblog to make me famous. I'm not making any money out of it – there's no advertising anywhere. I write for the same reasons I speak, to express my opinions, engage in discussion and respond to things going on in the world.

If you don't like what I write, or you find it boring, then that's fine. There are an enormous amount of other sites out there on the internet that you could explore – on every subject imaginable. I'm sure there's something there that you'll find exciting. In the meantime, you may find what I wrote dull, but at least I didn't set out to be rude to anyone, I didn't try and piss anyone off or ridicule anyone else's creative work. I have only one example of your writing to examine, and it looks like the same could not be said of you.

– Posted by: Tom Coates at October 18, 2005 01:00 AM

How could we have let Tom go?

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Messy haxoring with metasploit caught on iptv

Its not quite as cool as it may sound from the title. I just watched epioside 13 of my lame-ass iptv soap, The scene. yes everyones got there weakness but if you put this against other soaps like Hollyoaks then it comes out quite well. Anyhow, I got a real kick out of main character trying to get root on windows box hosting a FTP server. They used the well established metasploit to find a flaw and exploit it. To be fair its one step up from the hack in the matrix reloaded and they did do a little homework to use the nice opensource framework metasploit. Its certainly a fine line between security tester and exploiter but the best tools always are.

Talking of which if you didnt catch the Security now podcast number 9 about rootkits, please do as it will give you a good old wake up call. I've been personally aware of rootkits for quite a long time but I didnt know spyware, adware applications were starting to use them just so they cant be removed from a computer. Its crazy, but its true. Honestly I wouldnt wish a rootkit on my worst enemy, I just cant imagine anything worst. Anyhow, Steve and Leo do a great job explaining how rootkits work. It is however really good to know Microsoft and Sysinternals are working on the problem. I did try out SysInternal's Rootkit Revealer on all my machines and I'm clean as expected but its good to be sure. I suggest everyone should give it a try, at least till Microsoft add rootkit scanning to there malicious software removal tool. No one likes to be rooted…

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I kind of wish the Orange RSS buttons would die

If you have not seen the huge debate about the RSS Orange buttons for Windows Vista and IE7, go check it out.

I do agree with Jane in this statement.

The choice of what icon to use is challenging because it should be universally symbolic, but today there is no single icon for that represents feed. Instead there’s a variety of mostly orange rectangles with the words “XML”, “RSS”, “ATOM”, “FEED”, or “Subscribe.”

and it sounds like the Microsoft RSS team really is starting to get the i18n (internationalisation) message loud and clear.

Our goal is to make sure that the icon is something that is understandable by all of our users: novice, advanced, developer, business, international, etc. These are the principles that we are using when selecting an icon:

3. It avoids the use of text. Icons that have text do not generally work well for a global audience. For example, an icon with the text “FEED” may be cryptic to users whose primary language is non-Latin based. Text is very important to support an icon (in tool-tips or accompanying text). In English, we will be using the verb “subscribe” fairly widely whenever text is appropriate.

But I dont think there quite there with the 5 orange icons jane is presenting on the same entry. We have opted for the Orange RSS button on all our language sites across the BBC Worldservice now. There was lots of talk about changing this, for example BBC persian has the orange button which might be better written in Persian like the rest of the navigation side bar? But if you look out on to the web, you rarely find such examples to follow. I'll be interested to see what else Jane and the Microsoft RSS team come up with in the future, but I do wish the orange aspect would die away. I see RSS as more a red thing than Orange now.

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Hosting Tim O’Reilly’s Geek Dinner

So first rule of hosting anything, dont turn up late. I broke that rule by about 15mins, but I have a good reason or a good way to shift the blame. Tim O'Reilly had talked in White City only a few hours before the Geek Dinner and spent sometime talking to people afterwards. So by the time I had left White City it was already 18:40 and I still had to ride into Central London with the crazy one way systems and find somewhere to park the scooter. Luckly Hanover square is full of parking and it was after 6 so finding a space wasnt so bad.

When I finally arrived at the Hogs Head (venue for the geekdinner) I was kinda of suprised by how people had already turned up. I would say at 20 people were already sitting around drinking and chatting. After a little talk with the bar man and some pre-printed signs up here and there, we were off. I actually believe Tim and Josette walked in and sat down around about this time, which was perfect timing. Before you knew it a few people had hovered around Tim and pinned him into a corner. I dont believe Tim really got a chance to walk around till the Questions and Answers point later.

I was doing my best to keep the room cool (air con was a little tempermental) and collect the one pound for the buffet later. Honestly going around the room was a joy and although my voice was starting to go, I kept going because everyone I met was interesting and a joy to talk to. Everyone was happy and remarked on how great it was that I was doing this geek dinner. I did many times say that I was helping Lee out while he was away, but people kept asking me if I was running the Scoble one too. More on that later.

The venue was quite warm if a little too hot sometimes due to the packed up Air con and at first it seemed a little small for 60 people but people were quite tightly grouped and there was more room by the toilets and staircase. The bar man, was a young guy and was actually really interested in what geek dinner was and why it existed. He did comment that although there were a high percentage of males in room, they didnt seem very geeky, just normal guys out drinking. I wasnt sure what to say to that, but it came across as a compliment not a insult. I had asked everyone to tell me what they felt about the venue and on a whole most people were quite happy with it, remarking it was so central and easy to get to from the tube. But the noise from upstairs was a little too much and made things a little difficult when Tim did the Questions and Answers session. I guess it didnt help having another party just up on the landing and the quite busy pub above us. The Buffet was actually not bad at all. It did all disappear by the end of the evening but honestly there was more than enough to go around plus there was something for everyone. I feel it was well worth the 1 pound per head cover charge, and I didnt find anyone who disagreed.

Tim's Question and Answer session came a little late in the evening and was difficult to hear with the noise I mentioned earlier. I dont believe anyone got it recorded correctly, the recording Nokia which I was holding for Improbulus didnt record anything and a guy with the video camera was not close enough to get the audio clearly. (Kosso where were you?) Which I'm sure Tim will be happy with because he revealled a new service from O'Reilly which there still working on. The question which sparked the disclosure was "what web 2.0 services does O'reilly have?"
Tim did talk about the good stuff they were doing with O'reilly Safari but then talked about this other project, which I cant remember right now.

47 (not including me) people attended this geek dinner. This is a exact figure because I collected the money from everyone.

I'm not the biggest fan of name dropping, but I have to say thanks and hi to everyone and here's some of the people I remember who were there and I talked to quite a bit or not enough. Suw Charman and Kevin Anderson (geez you guys are cute together, good one Kevin), Alan Wood, Improbulus, Dave from NTK, Richard Sanbrook, Euan, Lianite, Ryan Carson, Jeremy from HP and of course some work mates Sherwin, Henrik and Dharmesh.

Big thanks to everyone who helped and turned up…

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Video ipod is official, but is this it?

I'm following the coverage from Engadget, Gizmodo and believe it or not Stuffmag

The new iPod, as speculated, features video capabilities and the wider display, but it�s still a music-first device.

The device will feature a 2.5-inch display, QVGA resolution (320 x 240), and will MPEG-4 h.264 (natch), and presumably Quicktime.

The new iPod will be 30% thinner than the current 20GB iPod (making it 0.44-inches thick�say wha?), and will feature a 60GB version and editions of both in black. The 20GB should go for $299, and the 60GB for $399. They�ll be shipping next week.

I'm not sure this is the actual video ipod, more a inbetween ipod.

New news just coming in…

You'll be able to buy TV shows from the iTunes Music Store – Desperate Housewives, Lost and more shows from ABC and Disney. Five shows will be available to watch on iPod or computer: Lost, Desperate Housewives, Nightstalker, The Suite Life and some other Disney thang. $1.99 an episode.

So its over, the apple index page has been updated and world now has a Video ipod to play with, we already knew about iTunes 6 before.

Here's the complete list

iMac: faster, larger disk, built in iSight. Includes FrontRow (app)
iPod: 30GB/60GB with Video – realtime decoding of MPEG4 and H.264. 260,000 colors. Video out, perfect for the car?
FrontRow and PhotoBooth Apps.
30GB iPod: $299 – 31% thinner than current 20GB; – 60GB iPod: $399.
New video iPods avail next week.
New TV adverts for video ipods
iMac: $1299 for 17″ model with 1.5GHz, $1799 for 20″ model with 2.1GHz
iTunes 6 to be released with video support, You will be able to buy TV shows from iTunes Music Store. $1.99 per episode. ABC on board esperate Housewives, Lost)
Front Row – comes with new iMacs. Lets you enjoy video/music/pictures from sofa. Everything still displayed on iMac screen. iPod-like remote. 6 button remote.
Photobooth – appears to be slide show application.
Music Videos. 2000 available to buy. $1.99 each.
Can “gift” music to other people. Peer reviews and recommendation service.
Videos have Digital Rights Management built in. Can play on up to 5 computers.

Ok wheres the HD laptops and Video enabled airport express? (airport express video anyone?). Engadget has the first lot of real screen shots of the new vido ipod including the black version. Also wheres the UK video store? I'm sure the BBC could have a role to play in that, its fits with our licencing and its a little more flexable than the imp right now.

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online RSS reading just turned 100 degrees

The Google, just put its foot down in the personal RSS aggreagtion space. Look out Bloglines…

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Serenity, a cracking example of the long tail?

So I went and watched Serenity the movie yesterday with a friend and Sarah. And honestly I was very suprised at how entertaining and enjoyable the movie was. A few weeks before I was reading about the movie and how it actually comes from a TV show called Firefly which was cancelled before the 1st season ended. But the upset fans and got together and planned many ways to express there views on the cancelling, including a advert in Variety magazine. Theres a better overview in this wired article titled Serenity Now!.

What I find not so much amazing, but impressive is the coordination of the 1000's of fans. Its so impressive that I was driven to watch the movie and maybe even buy the DVD in the near future. Fox were really not paying attention to the conversation happening in the long tail. And credit to Universal because they must have been, why else would you screen sneak previews of Serenity in 35 cities. Except to thank the loyal fans for a money spinning series and a movie tie in?

I didnt know till I got online again, that all the actors and actresses are the same as in the TV series. And can I just say one of the actresses, Kaylee played by Jewel Staite is one of the cutest women I have seen (next to my wife of course). Dont get me wrong Zoe, Inara and River are also beautiful.

Anyhow, back on topic. We are already seeing a hell of lot more of this grassroots driven influence, like the cluetrain says #57 – Smart companies will get out of the way and help the inevitable to happen sooner. Fox just learned #60 This is suicidal. Markets want to talk to companies.. Let the revolution continue, and dont forget to check out the pictures of the UK premiere online and the personal email from Joss Whedon (the director of both Firefly and Serenity).

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BBC accidentally reveals video iPod?

Photoshopped made up version of the video ipod

Steve Jobs is not going to be happy with us at the BBC. See there's a big date of the 12th October crossed in Apples diary and there were rumours of some Apple run BBC broadcast at TVC (BBC Telelvision centre) on the same day. Then there was other clues.

http://www.apple.com/movies – Forbidden, usually Apple has a nice redirect like this http://www.apple.com/geekdinner. The hidden video buttons in iTunes. Plus you've got the Nano disappointment (yes you heard me correctly) and the PSP's mass takeup and adoption across the world.
The evidance is growing everyday
Google Cache of iTunes + ipod video page

So we were all scratching our heads till BBC 6 accidentally let slip yesterday.

Apple is set to unveil a new video iPod at the BBC Television Centre in London on October the 12th

Ahh ha, so its a dead set now then. The specs may still be up for debate but I'm wondering if the iMP trial will extend to the video ipod and give the worldwide audience the ability to pay for BBC programming? Its all very fitting when you listen to Paula Le Dieu's talk at Emerging Massive media.

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Would you give up your Browser or your Applications?

A Interesting thought around the web as a platform, via jeremy zawodny. Jonathon Schwartz from Sun recently wrote this…

Or finally, as I did last week at a keynote, ask the audience which they'd rather give up – their browser, or all the rest of their desktop apps. (Unanimously, they'd all give up the latter without a blink.)

Like Jeremy and Johathon, I too would easily pick the browser over the rest of the applications. I pose the same question to a few people at work and Tom disagreed and came up with the clever answer of the rest of the applications because he would build his own browser. Deborah alerted me to the fact that Sun are very much in the thin-client space and that this entry may have something to do with that (I believe shes right). But its still a interesting question.

I think with a decent browser such as Firefox with mediaplayer plugins and the ability to install extensions there a much smaller need for the rest of my applications. Realisticly if you include Greasemonkey your able to program any rich applications like how widgets work now.

This whole discussion can be taken a step deeper, but I'll revisit it when I have the time.

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The Daily Show coming to UK Digital TV soon

I'm sorry but the fact that the Daily Show is downloaded and viewed more times online that there are viewers of the comedy central cable network, has got to have a influence on Channel4 picking up the Daily Show for their new Adult Digital TV channel – 4more. A recent quote from a wired interview with Jon Stewart and Ben Karlin (The Daily Show's executive producer).

The Daily Show really exemplifies that sort of new model. It's on a cable network, not broadcast. It's among the most popular shows traded online. People download and watch the whole thing, every day. Were you guys aware of that?

Ben Karlin: Not only am I not aware of that, I don't want to be aware of that.

Well, don't go shutting it down.

Stewart: We're not going to shut it down – we don't even know what it is. I'm having enough trouble just getting porn.

Karlin: If people want to take the show in various forms, I'd say go. But when you're a part of something successful and meaningful, the rule book says don't try to analyze it too much or dissect it. You shouldn't say: “I really want to know what fans think. I really want to understand how people are digesting our show.” Because that is one of those things that you truly have no control over. The one thing that you have control over is the content of the show. But how people are reacting to it, how it's being shared, how it's being discussed, all that other stuff, is absolutely beyond your ability to control.

I'm pretty sure the daily show on 4more will not be the Global edition which I saw on CNN Europe when I was last time in Germany. The global edition is funny too but is not as long removes the interviews and is more a round up of the Daily shows of the week. On the same tip 4more will also have 30 days which was on the subscription only FX channel a while ago. Although, me and Sarah have seen 30 days and download the Daily show automaticly every week. Its going to be great to actually say to our friends “did you see last night's daily show?”

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New social software i’m using

I've been checking out the huge range of Web API's available recently for a project I have in mind. But I've been sidetracked by two new social software/networks.

The first one is upcoming.org which is a place to publish events. It support RSS syndication through-out and ical for events which are easily synced with modern Calendar applications like Sunbird and Apple iCal. Like most social software my events and stuff is public. I'm now checking out eventful which someone recommended to me over upcoming.

The second one is SIMAC: Semantic Interaction with Music Audio Contents. Its self described as “foafing the music.” I call it Audioscrobbler with extra semantic meaning. Interestingly, it actually uses Audioscrobbler, webjay and your live journal or home made foaf profile (Its about bloody time!) to build up a profile of you. I'm sure someday it will be possible to enter your blog url and it will work out the rest – maybe? But back to audioscrobbler a second. Simac, actually uses your standard audioscrobbler plugin to collect your music information. Which for me is great because I can now update last.fm and simac at the same time but also still use the audioscrobbler webservices.

The transision from Audioscrobbler to Last.fm has been a odd one, and honestly the recommendation and tagging in Last.fm is ever so backwards. On the other side, Simac is much more logical and is doing a much better job recommending new music to me. However the interface for Simac really needs some greasemonkeying around. Unlike other social software, there seems to be no rss, webapi or public profile, but then again Audioscrobbler has all this. Now if only pandora was built on top of simac and acted like a plugin in iTunes we would have something very interesting.

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More than enough memory formats to ponder on?

Ok so correct me if I miss one.
CF, SD, SM, MMC, XD, RS-MMC, miniSD, MS, MS pro, MG, MG pro, ATA and of course MS duo. All make up the complex, confusing and nightmare eco-system of Flash memory.

I personally think Sony memory stick is the worst of all of them with 4 different types of Flash memory formats which seem largely incompatable with each other. The licencing also keeps Memory Stick(s) prices quite high and I believe there are only 4-6 makers which can actually legally make them. I like what Sony do sometimes (psp and playstation) but come on now, its time to let go of memory stick and let the market decide. Ok enough about Memory stick for now. MMC, ghezz dont start me off. Why didnt it just merge into SD? MMC looks the same, acts the same but has odd voltages which dont work with certain devices, SD just works plus it has IO capbilities. Honestly I dont care if its called SD or MMC but they should have sorted it out before the mini's were produced. MiniSD fits smoothly into SD but is the true of Reduced sized MMC? I've not seen any sign of such a smooth interchange. Oh well, at least Smart media is slowly going away but the very odd xD has replaced it. I dont know why xD is around, what advantage does it have over SD and MMC? Lower voltage? What's the point?

On a positive finishing, Flash memory is getting really cheap now. 1gig SD and CF is about 35 pounds now and USB thumb drives are really becoming ubiquious. The 4 gig Flash memory in the ipod nano sounds like a lot now, but Samsung have already showed off 4x the space (16gig). With all this in mind, 2-4gig could be just around the corner but I assume other formats are also just around the corner too. Some suggestions for new names. xD nano, SD micro, SD-MMC, Mini Micro MMC, reduced micro sized SD, Memory stick super duo magic gate pro. Nahh, it will never catch on.

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iTunes on windows mobile

So when I first saw these screenshots, I was thinking those guys at Aspect software have done a great job with wifitunes. But no the screenshots are actually from a special build just for Windows mobile 5 devices. Apple are really gunning for the mobile market.

Looking at the blog post, there seems to be no iTunes sharing (zeroconf) but iTunes store ability seems to be just around the corner. This is all pretty straight forward when you consider that iTunes has had Mobile phone syncing cabilities since 4.9. But lets step back for a moment, maybe the whole thing is a hoax? Engadget are certainly considering it. I personally think its a early build and maybe true, specially if you consider the next Razr could include iTunes.

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