Oh God, BBC, What have you done?
If you see Alexander Armstrong unshaven talking to an imaginary audience, in front of a green screen telling jokes to canned laughter… you know something is seriously wrong.
This is the BBC’s latest web venture, and it’s awful. At least that’s what I think…. you?
BBC Persian – The new ‘ilegal’ TV channel from the beeb.
Very cool, makes me want to speak Persian.
The new channel is financed by the Foreign Office, and is designed to cater to Iran and the surrounding area. These areas are filled with young people with televisions. Though the Iranians are currently calling it an ‘ilegal TV channel’ and threatening to label anyone who works for them in Iran as a spy, so all the content is currently made in London. The BBC is hoping they lighten up once they see how good it is.
More info (BBC Editors blog)
Tutorial: Make BBC graphics even more AWESOME!!1
2. Add lens flares!!!1
3. AWESOME!!!1
What you need to know: China tricking Africa? (Dvorak)
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John C Dvorak has a great blog post about a how a new ‘win-win’ deal the Chinese have done with the Democratic Republic of Congo could cause untold problems for the country. The deal (originally reported by the BBC) is to swap the Congo’s resources (needed by China) for much needed infrastructure. The deal, however, has numerous loopholes, such as the fact that the Chinese don’t have to pay any taxes until they complete the building work, and as Dvorak says “Any bets that they get started on the mining before the 32 hospitals?”
For more, check out the must read article here and the original BBC article and report here, please decide for yourself.
Dvorak will be discussing it on his podcast with Adam Curry ‘No Agenda’ later today, you can download that from here or on iTunes here (both free).
BBC News refreshes its look, and brand.
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The BBC has once again done a half million pound ($1 Million) renovation to their News division, changing and reinforcing their brand, and changing their look.
The BBC keeps refreshing their look based on the same basic idea that was concocted back in 1999, the beaming radio waves, spinning globes and the moving words. Oh the moving words.
So now, the BBC, asking for ‘Simplicity’ Lambie Nairn has provided the same answer as the designers of Special K did, plenty of white space to differentiate the product. As for the globe, instead of emitting radio waves, it is made of them.
The Telegraph seeks attention by saying the new look is nauseating, I wouldn’t go that far, but I don’t exactly like the new look. I would agree the look was a bit stale, but the new versions seem a bit strange.
What I do like is the brand changes. If you ever found yourself calling the BBC’s 24 hour news network ‘News 24′, or calling their 10pm News bulletin “The Ten O’Clock News’ the BBC wants to get rid of your kind. How? ‘BBC News 24′ is now called just ‘BBC News’, (which it should have been called all along) ‘24′ never matched the BBC’s other 4 numbered channels, so it makes sense to just call a spade a spade.
There is one problem however, being that nobody at the BBC knows what to call it. Is it BBC News, or the BBC News Channel? The website seems to be the centre of this confusion, and the word ‘channel’ reminds me of the ill fated ‘ITV News Channel’, so I think the BBC should avoid it at all costs. The other big change is that international channel, ‘BBC World’, is to be renamed ‘BBC World News’, the channel no longer contains as much general interest content like Top Gear, and it now tends to resemble BBC News with adverts, so it makes sense to have the change. Unfortunately the channel now has a terrible logo, but the name is good in my opinion.
Finally the 10 O’Clock News and the like are to be known as the ‘BBC News at Ten’ etc. All part of getting the ‘BBC News’ brand in your head, you see. It’s “dying” apparently, in a world of aggregated news where no one is sure where the source is.
Virgin Media CEO: Net Neutrality is “Bollocks”
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DigitalSpy.co.uk reports that the CEO of Virgin Media, Neil Berkett has attacked the principle of Net Neutrality, where ISPs stay hands off on the content they deliver, and not degrade the speed of any content, as “Bollocks”.
The CEO said that Virgin is already in talks with some providers to make their content delivered faster than others. This is a huge issue as was discovered by the BBC earlier this week when ISPs threatened to throttle the iPlayer if the publicly funded corporation didn’t help pay for additional bandwidth costs.
The United States seems to be on a fast track to Net Neutrality, with many politicians, such as Obama repeatedly stating it as an important policy measure, meanwhile in the UK and Canada, ISPs seem to be taking ever greater measures to make sure any such principle can never take hold. Ofcom (the UK’s communications watchdog) has sadly taken a “hands off” approach to the issue.
It can only get worse from here.
Pray.
Samuel L. Jackson to star in Virgin Media iPlayer Advertising
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I’ve been using the BBC’s online iPlayer for some time, and for the first time the on demand player is coming to proper television, via Virgin Media (formerly NTL). The big news, however, is that Samuel L. Jackson, star of Pulp Fiction (and the classic Snakes on a Plane) has been hired for Virgin’s advertising campaign!
This follows other big stars such as Uma Thurman (also of Pulp Fiction) who have taken part in campaigns for the newly rebranded network now headed by ever popular boss Richard Branson.
I look forward to seeing the ads!
Source: Dean’s Blog
For more info visit: DigitalSpy.co.uk
Earthquake: Exciting, Frightening, and OMG WTF!
That is a map I felt compelled to make when I heard about the earth quake that as recently as 2 hours ago completely shook my building and made me feel completely unnerved. I cannot sleep, I just hope it doesn’t happen again.
The map shows locations where the BBC (and my friends) said the earthquake affected. The BBC said it was the biggest earthquake in England for 20 years at 4.7-5 points on the richter scale.
I don’t think I can go to sleep now, that was really shaking. Literally. Enjoy the map.
Lack of a Television
I lack a television. A few years ago, I’m sure, this would be ridiculous for someone like me, so in love with entertainment to force myself to go without a television. There are a few simple reasons why I didn’t, which follow.
- The Television licence is like £130, and I’m not the type to try and get away with it
- Most of what’s on TV is crap that I don’t watch
- I can’t schedule myself for anything, I missed most everything I like when I was at home.
- Most of the TV I do like is on Sky, which I can’t get in student accommodation, and is a stupid luxury I really can’t afford.
- I have a laptop, and I get a lot of entertainment from it.
Read on to read what crap I watch…