Category: General

BBC News => BBC moves to file-sharing sites

You know, I would gladly pay the £131.50 ($255.87) television license fee that everyone in the UK with a TV is required to pay that funds the BBC if only I could get the BBC programming. The technology exists, but it is political and contractual barriers that prevent it.

BBC programming is far more interesting to me than the existing pay networks we have in the US like HBO or Showtime. Of course, we have BBC America, but that’s only a small subset of the programming and it’s often months or years behind the actual transmission. It’s also cut and heavily loaded with commercials.

The programming never includes BBC Four material, like Dr. Iain Stewart’s Journeys from the Center of the Earth or Journeys Into the Ring of Fire – two excellent documentary series on geology that would probably be considered too arcane even for the Discovery Science channel over here.

That’s why I applaud the BBC’s commercial arm for attempting to setup a bitorrent distribution system through Azureus/Zudeo. I have just have two cautionary things that hopefully the BBC will not stumble over. They have to distribute the files fast (within, if not a day, than no later than one week after original transmission) and they need to price them reasonably. The second series of the new Doctor Who sells on DVD for $70, that’s about $5 per episode and it’s already rather pricey for DVDs. Copy-protected digital media can’t be anywhere near that expensive. It’s going to have to be in the range of iTunes’ $1.99 or less.

Even at $1.99 the numbers add up too fast. That’s $25 for Doctor Who, $25 for Torchwood, $25 for Robin Hood, $16 for Life on Mars and that doesn’t touch on other shows like Planet Earth, My Family, Worst Week of My Life and many other programs.

Most importantly, their DRM better work on Macs.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Commentary, Doctor Who, Dr Who, Mac, MacBook, OSX, Robin Hood, Technology, Torchwood, Video

It was a cold, dark, dreary, rainy day.

It’s not very often a story about Phoenix starts that way, but that’s what it was like today.

I had to go out at lunchtime to try to find a DVI cable for my new monitor. I also needed to get an Apple mini-DVI to DVI dongle for my MacBook. With a little luck, I thought perhaps Fry’s Electronics would have both the cable and the dongle. I was sure they’d carry the cable, but the dongle was more of a question mark. They carry Apple products and a few accessories and apart from the Apple store, they were the only place that might carry it. (I knew the Apple store wouldn’t carry the DVI cable.)

Fry’s only had the cable (and 135 people in line in front of me) so I had to make a trip after work to the Apple store. The city was practically gridlocked, between the holiday traffic and the rain, it was brutal. A trip from my office to the Apple store normally takes 10 minutes, today it took an hour. The parking lot was a log jam, and the Apple store was doing a ripping bit of business.

The guy ahead of me was buying eight 30Gb iPods!

I wish I had that kind of money for XMas (or even Saturnalia) presents.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Blog, Christmas, xmas

My wife is so thoughtful. She goes out of her way to try to surprise me Christmas. I really bad when it goes wrong… but on the other hand, as those wise sages, Morecambe & Wise, once said, the secret of all great comedy is timing.

Last night, my wife had to go pick up the ham. (I refused to pick up the ham because of last year’s tale.) Ten minutes after she left, someone showed up at out door. It was the UPS guy, which surprised me because I wasn’t expecting any packages. He was holding a small box from Amazon.com and he held out the electronic clipboard for me to sign.

I signed my name and reached for the package, which he pulled back to indicate he wouldn’t give it to me. Instead, he just pointed down at the ground next to the door, where I saw this: A new Sceptre 20“ wide screen monitor. (The one I thought I wasn’t going to get because I had already found my XMas gift and it wasn’t big enough.)

There wasn’t much I could do, it was packed just as you see it, so I couldn’t leave it outside and I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know what it was.

Still, it’s a wonderful present and it leads me to my next post…

Technorati Tags: Blog, Christmas, xmas

Every year, the neighbors on the corner put up the ugliest nativity scene ever!

You can practically see the fleas leaping off the mannequins, and they’re always at least one or two wise men short. Joseph is often missing for days on end. (Well, what with the baby crying all the time and their marriage is a bit strained since he isn’t the father – who could blame him?)

I think this year, they got a new lamb and may have re-upholstered the donkey. Either way, my main complaint isn’t the display, it’s the fact that this is on the corner of a major thoroughfare and when you’re coming off our street (heading left in this picture) you cannot see the oncoming traffic because of that damn manger.

(They did move it back from the street some this year, which does help.)

Technorati Tags: Blog, Christmas, xmas

The new server got put into place yesterday, and hopefully there’s nothing too wrong with the site. A few of the backup files may have been corrupted on upload, so if anything doesn’t appear to be working, let me know.

Technorati Tags: Blog

This is the worst hiding place for an Xmas present ever. My wife left my “secret” present on our bed. On MY SIDE of the bed. And I was not supposed to notice this how?

Why do I have a sinking feeling this is not a 20“ wide screen monitor?

Technorati Tags: Blog, Christmas, Family, xmas

Wired => Fantasy Love Hotels

For decades Japan’s love hotels have provided a place for couples to enjoy anonymous, uninterrupted sex. Politician and secretary, teacher and student, husband and hooker — all are welcome, as long as they pay in cash and leave when the time limit is up. But 2006 spawned a new type of love hotel. Decorated with theme park interiors and equipped with game consoles, karaoke boxes and sex machines — these establishments provide kinky fun for all types, from fetishists and sadomasochists to the ordinary couple seeking sexual adventure.

I can’t help wondering what sort of alien probes come standard in the “Alien Abduction Play Area” pictured above. You have to go see the other “themed” rooms. I think the Hello Kitty one may give me nightmares for years to come.

These pictures are all by Misty Keasler and are part of her book Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan

“Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan”

Technorati Tags: Blog, Japan, Japanese

The Daily Mail => How one leopard changed its spots … and saved a baby baboon

Great story, lousy ending.

“She had killed the mother primate, but then found this live new-born on the ground. The little baboon called out, and we thought we were going to hear a major crunch and the leopard smacking its lips, but instead the baby baboon put its paws out and walked towards the young leopard.

”Legadema paused for a moment, apparently not knowing what to do. Then she gently picked it up in her mouth, holding it by the scruff of its neck and carrying the infant up a tree to keep it safe.“

Read the rest…

Technorati Tags: Blog, Natural Sciences

When I don’t feel like writing, I just cross-post other people’s blog entries I like, so that way they might get 3 extra hits.

Like all modern organizations, everybody gets an annual review. How does that work at Torchwood?

On Jack Harkness:

…His unquestionably unique management style, based largely around groping or threatening members of his team and going off to stand on tall buildings, is of dubious efficacy. His team are dysfunctional and disorganised, and he is quite unpopular. One team member describes him as a monster, whilst another shot him in the head….

See the rest at Little Storping-in-the-Swuff => Torchwood Appraisals

Technorati Tags: Blog, Torchwood

National Geographic => Grand Canyon’s Glass Walkway to Open Next March

A see-through walkway with a 4,000 ft drop under it? They’ll be cleaning the puke off it daily.

The 1,500-member Hualapai tribe announced last week that the Skywalk—a giant, 30-million-dollar steel-and-glass walkway—will open to the public in March 2007.

The Skywalk will jut out 70 feet (21 meters) from the canyon rim, allowing tourists to go for a stroll with nothing between their feet and the Colorado River—4,000 feet (1,220 meters) below—except for four inches (ten centimeters) of glass