Podcasts, Radio, TV, Books, Cycling, Photography and More
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HBO Max and Paramount+: What It Might Mean For Sports
Today the deal was done, and Paramount took over Warner Bros. Discovery in a massive deal that has much of Hollywood quaking. There were some last minute wrinkles with a deal being struck a couple of weeks ago with a group of US Attorneys General, with the general view being that they folded and didn’t…
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How Effective is the Charity Single in 2014?
In the last full series of More or Less, there was a really interesting episode that looked at charity giving and what is the most effective way to give money. It is not an easy question to answer as the programme clearly addresses. I was thinking about this over the weekend when Bob Geldof was…
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Podcasts – A Rebirth?
Earlier this year, I was sad when The Guardian shut-down a number of podcasts including the Media Talk Podcast (Phoenix style, an entirely independent-of-the-Guardian podcast, The Media Podcast, rose from the ashes through a Kickstarter – I’m a backer). But with a certain amount of irony, the final episode of the Guardian’s iteration included contributions…
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The Future of The Radio Academy
On Friday, The Radio Academy released an unusual press release that detailed how next year’s Radio Academy Awards were being cancelled, as was the Radio Festival. Furthermore, buried at the end, was news that the “Executive Unit” was being closed down. A new, unspecified London-based event, would replace both the Awards and Festival in due…
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A Lovely Day To Be Out On A Mountain Bike
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News by Email
On the one hand we keep hearing that email is dying. The young don’t use it, and anyway, we have an app for that. On the other hand it still feels pretty much impossible to do a lot of things without email. Where do your online purchase confirmations go? A myriad of apps? What if…
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Bad Visualisations
There’s a really interesting piece to write about Taylor Swift, Spotify and iTunes revenues, and the music industry in general. But this isn’t it. I’m writing this because TechCrunch has an interesting piece about European Spotify earnings overtaking iTunes earnings. The piece reports that Kobalt, a publishing company that collects music royalties on behalf of…
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The Helmet Debate
I have a confession to make. On my daily commute, cycling on my Brompton from King’s Cross Station to work, I don’t wear a cycling helmet. Come to that, I don’t particularly “do” high-vis either. I realise to some I must be dicing with death by behaving so recklessly. Part of my reasoning is that…
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Interstellar
A new Christopher Nolan film is always something to welcome. He’s been on quite a winning streak for a while now. And while I might prefer the original Norwegian Insomnia to his perfectly fine remake, and think that Christopher Priest’s novel of The Prestige is better than the film, I’m actually a fan. Interstellar is…
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Playlist Reversal
Since I got a Chromecast, one thing I’ve found really useful is the “Watch Later” playlist feature on YouTube videos. Someone sends you a link to a video, but you don’t have time to watch it now, and anyway, you’d prefer to watch it on a big screen. You simply click “Watch Later” and you…
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Serial
Back in 2005 there was a terrific series on BBC Four called Death on the Staircase (known elsewhere as The Staircase). Here’s what I wrote about it at the time, and what I wrote about the follow-up in 2013. Essentially a French film-maker spent many months following the real-life prosecution of Michael Peterson, a crime…
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Payments and Data
When Tesco first introduced its Clubcard in 1995, it was to enable it to capture data on its customers. Most people who use loyalty cards realise this. In return for the retailer being able to tie specific sales to an individual, that individual earns some kind of loyalty points. It seems to be a win/win.…
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Selling Your Sport Short
There’s an interesting piece in yesterday’s Guardian hypothesising that by selling itself nearly completely to pay-TV players, rugby union could be very short sighted and diminish the appeal of the sport. Regular readers of this blog will know that I think the English Cricket Board has done precisely that, and we’re ending up with a…
Hadrian’s Wall
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