Highlights
I hate this
But does it matter? I don’t usually say that sort of thing here. I try to be more measured, less personal. I’m talking about the police face recognition vans obviously. This might not surprise you: I mean that I don’t like them. I’m an old git after all, a man who’s written here before about […]
Nearly half a bicycle
The atomic theory in Kilburn This place (on Kilburn High Road) has been morphing steadily from dry cleaner’s to bike shop over the last few years. I remember being surprised one morning to see a few kids’ bikes lined up for sale outside but I’d say the shop is now approaching 50% bike shop. You […]
Where is my patriotism?
Come, love of country, fill my heart… I do love Britain. I guess I love England more. London most of all. I hope that in my life I’ve honoured the place I live and not disgraced it or undermined it (I support England and GB in sporting events – I fly a little flag on […]
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The BBC replies
I got a reply to my letter to The Today Programme – from Nicola Stanbridge, the reporter involved, in fact. I haven’t replied yet but will do so tomorrow. In…
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More excellent PR from the record industry
The BBC’s flagship daily news programme, Today, has, over the last few years, been a reliable mouthpiece for the music industry. Yesterday morning, Nicola Stanbridge interviewed Cliff Richard (yes, Cliff…
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A neat SMS application
Jag put me onto Spinvox. I love it, although I understand it hasn’t been a hit. Carphone Warhouse just took a 17% stake and I guess that might have been…
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Broadband access providers want to subsidise your business
There’s never been a better time to start an Internet business. In Britain, we’re about to have a broadband price war. This is of course a good thing. Clever Carphone…
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On getting old
So Paul sent me a link to a track by The Au Pairs, awesome feminist guitar-funk post-punks whose prickly, jumpy-up-and-downy sort of agit-pop animated our (Paul’s and mine) late teens…
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Microsoft’s turn for a kicking again
I know it’s always Microsoft’s turn but the ‘Microsoft=dinosaur’ stuff always intensifies in the run-up to a big Windows release. Search The Economist‘s archive and you’ll find a big ‘is…
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The next SMS?
A friend of mine just told me about USSD. Of course, you already knew about USSD – it’s been in the GSM spec since the beginning (like SMS). It’s a…
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An ad idea
Mark Cuban – who should get over himself, by the way – has had a brilliant idea: live TV ads. The more I think about it the more I like…
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The survivor…
In May 2002 I wrote this piece for The Guardian. In it I celebrated the unlikely survival of the big, dumb, general-purpose PC – over-determined, over-specced and over here. Four…
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You’ve heard of Jazz Hands…
This is a real product. What were they thinking?
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Calendar stuff
30boxes is awesome. Why did I hesitate? I have no good reason to use a desktop calendar any more – although I guess I’ll keep iCal synched up to 30boxes…
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Sort of weekendy blog stuff
Thinking about it, poetry might be the best application of podcasting yet. I suppose that poetry is about as close to music as language gets and listening to poetry in…