Well it's that time again when I take my customary look through the musings of my faithful audience. This month has been a fabulous one for discussion, and I was overjoyed to find that not all of it was calling me names!

 

The things that got the most amount of feedback were my opinion pieces this month, starting with Why the TV licence is a good thing.  Obviously this stirred up a real hornets nest:

 

Leeorg184: "You say the BBC are unbiased in their reporting of news coverage, however it has been stated many times in the tabloids that they are biased through news coverage of certain polictical news. The BBC news film crew also got asked to leave one of our aircraft carriers through biased reporting of the the second gulf war. That last little fact is probably little known, but the crew felt the BBC was biased against our armed forces. Sky news however reported the news fairly. I'm for the abolishment of the license fee, I wouldnt mind if the BBC started showing advertisments to bring in revenue."

 

I actually didn't say that they BBC were unbiased, merely that they strived to be so - but the advertisment thing came up time and time again.

 

Gubdigub argued conherently against the licence fee - saying: "Bill Gates doesn't get to charge us a yearly subscription if we choose to use something other than Windows on our PCs!  It is fine if the BBC want to charge for us watching their services but at what point did we lose the freedom to choose?  This system is outdated and it stinks!  You pay for the television and more than likely pay for other services from satellite or cable providers; if we chose to watch only these channels or free-to-air commercial channels then that is our prerogative.  The BBC have the technology to control access to their programming, which is certainly not of the quality that they proclaim.  My parents paid their TV licenses many years ago, which funded much of the repeat programming that I find myself paying again for today."

 

Many, many others made their points as well. This was always going to be a contentious issue - but I stand by what I was suggesting. I'm not saying that Auntie is perfect, but what it stands for is massively important. Nevertheless, was really fascinating to read people's arguments, which were often both passionate and well put (and I make no apology for stirring up debate when it is this good).

 

Less contentious, it seems was my piece suggesting that the humble ZX Spectrum is more important in the computer annals than the PS3. What did become a great debate - in a gorgeous shower of nostalgia - was what games were the best for the rubber-keyed quarter centurian.

 

Manic Miner was my suggestion, but there was a big call for the likes of Jet Pac, Football Manager and Chucky Egg. Great stuff.

 

I also managed to kill off common sense this week. Much of the feedback was good, although starting my forum post with a mistake was, admittedly, not my greatest moment. Couple of complaints that I was repetitive with sat-nav and Common Sense. The former was a calculated thing - considering that the prompt for CS's death was the sat-nav stories that are littering the press. Common Sense being repeated was, as I pointed out in an earlier blog, tricky to work around because I was trying not to use gender at all - losing one of the obvious references and stilting the writing a little.

 

I actually wrote one of my favourite opinion pieces this month, suggesting that the PC was still the king for games. This prompted a really good debate, with a lot of people taking my points, and just as many disagreeing wholeheartedly.

 

Okay - I'll finish with my look at what I think has been wrong this month and what I am trying to do to fix it.

 

 

 

Okay - progression! I am now fourth on google.com, and guess what did it? One of my blog posts with my name on it *giggle*

 

I'm also third and fourth on Live search and, wait for it, 42nd on Yahoo (42nd???? ten years as an internet journalist!)

Today's big article for me is an obituary I penned for common sense.

 

Like most articles I write, this started out as a very different idea, and evolved to its present state quite late on in the research process (yes, I research and everything...).

 

Because I changed the whole thing into an obituary, it threw up a lot of problems as far as making sure that it was 'tech' enough to be a good fit with the channel.

 

When I had decided to do a common sense obit, I actually found one had been done before (and spread across the web). Of course writing an anthropomorphic obit is not a brand new idea so I knew this was likely.

 

I was intending to do a lot more about the email hoaxes that people fall for as part of it, but that ended up making things a little dry so I stuck mainly to the sat-navs which are inevitably more amusing.

 

The home page team, who look after MSN UK's front page as well as hotmail and today on MSN, asked if I could flesh out the obit with some more factual references to the sat-nav stuff so, having diligently stored my research in the depths of my internet cache, I was happy to extend things a little.

 

One of the interesting things I was trying to do was keep common sense sexless. The last thing I wanted was for people to think common sense is essentially male - I'll let you read the sat-nav real life stories to see what gender you think common sense is...

Street crime is officially up, with the theft of mobile phones and portable media players squarely blamed by the government for the alarming 8% rise.

 

Although overall crime rates fell - the Home Office insisted that the increase in robberies reported to the police was more to do with theft of portable electronic devices, such as mobiles and iPods.

 

26,000 incidents in the last quarter of 2006, means that an awful lot of people are going throught the horrible trauma of muggings and the theft of their personal property.

 

I wrote quite a lengthy article about the rise in muggings for expensive electronics, and the couple of interviews I did with victims gave me real food for thought.

 

I gave some tips for keeping yourself safe, and I stand by them - but the fact is that I find it a little disgusting that I have to think about keeping things like mobile phones and iPods out of sight.

 

The absolute truth is that I take off my headphones when I walk back to my house at night, because I live in a poorer area of London, and I try to keep my mobile firmly in my pocket for the same reason.

 

But it leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth that I am having to modify my lifestyle because of petty criminals.

 

Where does it stop? Should we change into battered clothing to take a tube, like the main protaganist in Bonfire of the Vanities, putting on old 'sneakers' to ride the New York Metro? Should we keep our curtains closed to stop people seeing (and presumably then coveting) what we have in out houses?

 

It's a worrying sign for society when paranoia is necessary to keep yourself safe - but unfortunately it increasingly seems to be a fact of life.

 

I watched a video today called that has been floating around for a couple of years called making it happen. It's a very clever flash movie that posits that dynamic news feeds (specifically Google News, but you could roll the concept onto anyone) will eventually destroy the fourth estate (the traditional press) by serving customised news for everyone - doing away with the need to look at anything you don't find interesting.

 

Of course the conclusion it arrives at is pretty feasible - that in a world where you can get whatever you want from the news, stripping away the extraneous reports and topics. It also points out that you get a hollow, innaccurate and shallow world view - siomply because you don;t look outside your horizons.

 

I'll be doing a piece on the future of the media in the next few weeks.

Annoyingly - the changes to the header made a bit of a mess of the RSS feed so you may have to bear without my beautiful little branded banner until I can work out why.

I've had a play with the header for the blog today and managed to make it a bit more official looking (i'm an officious kind of guy.)

Wasn't actually that hard - so I'm regretting not trying to do it a bit earlier.

 

Ideally I'd like to get an image mapped image in with the traditional site navigation on it so that you can go out to sections and coming into the blog doesn't feel like you are coming out of the tech & gadgets world into spaces.

 

I may be making the banner a little bigger - but I think it looks a lot cleaner for the time being :)

 

Phew! Busy day yesterday, with loads of exciting stuff in the pipeline (honestly). I've been doing a side project to get a Windows validation tool on the site. You can find it here or linked off of todays safety and security article Computer Nasties: Worm.

 

I've been reading the excellent series of historical speeches in The Guardian this week. Churchill's on Saturday sent a little shiver down my spine, and today's is FD Roosevelt ('The only thing we have to fear is fear itself'). They are great reads, and well worth a look.

 

Some distressing news (also from the Guardian) is that more people are throwing out cats than ever before.

I remember just how amazed I was by the ZX Spectrum. I reckon I was about 5 when we got one and I had never seen anything more enticing in my life.

 

I've done a couple of pieces to celebrate as the Spectrum hits 25 (what a grand old age). Including one that talks about it being more important than the PS3. This is just a headline really - I think it's more important than all the consoles that are around at the moment because of the impact it had on the fledgling UK gaming scene.

 

I remember my dad hammering out programs from Sinclair User and being wildly unimpressed by the results - but fortunately it gave many people the blank canvas their imagination had been desperate for and created a generation of programmers.

 

Hopefully you can contribute to the 'favourite games' debate on the message boards as well!

 

 

"I'm not much of a tech head so please forgive my failure to use appropriate language! As the girlfriend of a tech and gadgets man it's inevitable that even a luddite like me gets to trial the latest in what I would term: boys' toys.

 

"Tonight I was presented with an Archos 704. To be fair I've never even heard of an Archos anything and wasn't entirely sure what this strange gadget was intended to do. However, I've now decided I want one!

 

"I've yet to find out all the functions of this nifty little toy but the screen is fab. Unlike the laptop which fails to give me a clear view of the screen when I am peering sideways at it when Patrick hogs it on the sofa, the Archos gives me a clear view from all angles.

 

"Even I can work out how to browse the internet without being taught, and I love the idea of looking at my holiday snaps and sitting comfortably as I show them off. This toy is even small enough that I would consider it truly portable.

 

"I'd happily pop this in my hand luggage and take it on holiday to keep up with my emails while I am away and can quite imagine sitting in a Wi-Fi cafe researching where to head next.

 

"The speakers are as good as you'd expect for something this small but they would do just fine for an occasional burst of song as you got ready for a night out.

 

"I'm sure that there is much more for me to explore but even in the short trial run this is the first gadget that inspired me to put pen to paper.

 

"I mean that literally - so if you are reading this then it's because it has been typed up for me! A luddite to the end."

 

Praise indeed!

Okay so I'm a shameless search engine whore - but if this headline doesn't get me nice and high then I don't know what will!

 

There's been a lot of discussion in our office about having a saints day holiday for England. It's probably similar in offices across the country, but the reservation seems to be that there are already too many bank holidays coming up at this time of year.

 

To which the obvious response is a) how can you have too many bank holidays? and b) Why would you want bank holidays when the weather's rubbish?

 

Anyway - clawing this back to the tech realm (as is my wont), I was thinking that the best way to make St George's day a bit different is to link into some of the new technology that is going on and make it a bit more than just going out and getting drunk (let's face it the Irish and St Paddy have already sown that one up worldwide).

 

So why not have St George's day as a day of tech rejoicement (and drinking). We could have St George's gaming day  - when everyone sits round (in pubs, drinking and) playing the latest console games and enjoying the likes of Guitar Hero, Buzz and Wii Sports (all easily accessible to those not too familiar with games).

 

Maybe we could have St George's CD burning day - when we get a day off to put together a 'mix tape' for our loved ones, or St George's iPod day when we gather in major squares across the land to dance silently to our own music, but together.

 

Or maybe we could just all have the day off to go down to the pub and talk about gadgets.

 

Whatever, it's only English to want a day out.

A superb little audio demo is doing the rounds shwing off a new algorithm for surround sound through headphones.

 

I can try to explain how good it is, but it's probably best if you just listen to it!

 

It works pretty much perfectly to the sides and back, but as an audiophile friend points out, because it is audio only, your eyes tell your brain it can't possibly be in front of you because you should be able to see it, so it isn't quite perfect at the front. Of course, if it was mixed with video that might be a different story.

 

A little site note as well: Sorry about the font change on the blog - I've had some head to head feedback from people who don't like it, but I should point out that it was part of a Spaces update (ie not my change) that brought some lovely little extra functionality which will be creeping into the blog over the next few weeks.

 

Like they say; every silver lining has a cloud.

I did a gallery this week called 'Pimp your kitchen' which started out as '10 great kitchen gadgets' and was given a 21st century makeover (the title at least).

 

But the things is - it's actually really difficult to truly pimp your kitchen. Oh you can stick a Philips iPod player under one of your cabinets and buy yourself a chocolate fountain or a Siemens Porsche designed 'nespresso' but I think there is definitely a gap in the market for bachelors (and bachelorettes, this is an equal opportunity blog) who want better kitchen tech.

 

Perhaps the biggest problem is that there isn't much pointlessly flashy technology for the kitchen. Most of kitchen bling is functional (apart from maybe a disney popcorn maker). Where's the back massaging aprons or the self cleaning worksurfaces? Where's the gull wing door kitchen cabinets or the disco light cutlery?

 

Anyway - I'll let you make your own mind up whether you can actually, truly pimp your kitchen whilst I wait to see if I can fit a Samsung internet fridge in my one-bedroom flat...

Hehe - I don't actually know what happened, but I have realised my dream of being top of google! Unfortunately this is only on google.co.uk dagnamit!

 

I've been doing bits and pieces but I couldn't tell you what actually pushed me beyond my golf coaching namesake, but the MSN profile page with me on is now sitting proudly at the top.

 

On other engines;

Live: No movement.

Yahoo: No movement.

Alta vista; first page (6th).

 

I shall keep the faith and be top of the lot by June!

Great picture just sent through to me by site friend Sii.

Sometimes it's good to be me!

 

This arrived for me today, and it's got to be one of the hottest gadgets around. First impressions? It's ace. It's heavier than I thought it would be somehow, but very solid feeling (it should be with the amount of stuff it's got on it!). The touchscreen is slightly laggy, but it's responsive enough to make it worthwhile having one - although I have managed to get a thumbprint on it within ten minutes.

 

As a wow factor it's pretty good - especially because it came with a dock that lets me record straight from the television. The screen is nice - although being touchscreen you get that inevitable slight graininess.

 

Problems: Doesn't seem to be anywhere to put the stylus - which is a shame, and you can't use the kickstand and the usb to computer cable at the same time because the port is on the bottom (presumably because of the dock).

 

I'll be doing a full on editor's review on Friday.

Those that read my mobile phone speaker rant...ahem article know that being subjected to other people's music is not my favourite thing in the world.

 

So after listening to 'Love can build a bridge' through my floor from 8am to 5pm yesterday I am now appealing for any inventor to invent something that either a) dampens all noise b) makes me enough money to move house!

 

Anyway, in all the hullaballoo you didn't get a post yesterday, so that's my excuse.

 

Joost is hitting the headlines again with their soon-to-be-unveiled TV on the net service. Now it would be far too easy to write this off as another company jumping on the bandwagon of VOD and bad streaming. However, the people behind this particular effort are also the people that came up with Skype - so they not only have a reputation to live up to, but also big name backing.

 

I'll be writing an article in the next couple of days. Also look out for a live maps collection on great English inventors for St George's Day (Should be a Bank Holiday!) and an article on Nintendo injuries (journalistic bandwagon #1223) coming next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You'll have to excuse the self-named post, but I'll explain why in a minute.

 

This week I have mostly been learning about SEO - Search Engine Optimisation. For the uninitiated, this is the process of making your web-pages friendly for the little crawlers that come sweeping through pages from search engines and make you appear at the top of the rankings.

 

Tech & gadgets is certainly in need of some help in this area - which is obviously my main consideration, but the thing which really, really galls me about search engines is that there's a golf pro in the US with my name who has stolen my top rank in search engines.

 

Now, I'm not one to complain (much) but I have been an internet journalist for all but one year since 1999. That's eight years worth of articles (and when I was a sports journalist on Skysports.com I was writing a hell of a lot of articles a day) plus miscellaneous bits and bobs that I have done elsewhere plus all my stuff on T&G.

 

Yet a golf pro is consistently ahead of me on the rankings.

 

Google - Golf pro safely ensconced in the lead, me in a paltry fourth

Live - Golf pro is nowhere to be seen, but a geneology website sneaks in - and it's a page I made at University that puts me in third and this blog pushes me into 5th

Yahoo - Well this one is really awful. I'm not on the first page but this guy is. (by linking to him I'm helping him dagnamit!). Amy sure does like him... Golf pro and geneology feature again.

 

So I am going to use my new SEO knowledge and reclaim my rightful place. I want top.

 

The campaign starts here (starting with my name as a blog entry title :))

 

 

 

Took advantage of the sunshine by going to Whitstable this weekend.

We sat on the wall looking at the sea and the dog pictured calmly wandered along the wall and stared at us until we gave him some fish.

Then he wandered off to the kids next to us and stared at them til they gave him some ice cream

 

Great start this morning when I got off the train at Victoria to find them giving out Office 2007 flapjacks. Now that's what I call advertising!

It says Day 1 on the packaging - so I'm holding out for free burgers on Day 2. I'll keep you informed...