Month: November 2007

  • Guardian on Usmanov

    There’s a longish piece in this morning’s Guardian about Usmanov accompanied by a profile and the full text of an email exchange between him and The Guardian. He is once again denying involvement in some of the allegations he’s been accused of. Make your own mind up…

  • Not Optimised For The IPhone

    With the recent launch of the iPhone in the UK, suddenly we’re getting a spate of “we’ve optimised what we do for the iPhone” announcements. For example, Sky News has an iPhone friendly home page, while the BBC has streamlined its podcasts page for iPhones. A couple of things to say about this: 1) Isn’t…

  • It’s A Kind of Magic

    There was an excellent long piece by Bad Science’s Ben Goldacre in yesterday’s Guardian about the perils of homeopathy. Not only is there no evidence that it works (mainly because it’s founded on nonsensical designs), but homeopathic practitioners have actually suggested using their remedies for such killer diseases as malaria and even AIDS. Don’t forget,…

  • Colossus Working Again

    It’s great to hear that the team over at Bletchley Park has finished its rebuild of Colossus. This was one of the first programmable computers ever built, and it was used for code breaking towards the end of WWII. The photo above was taken a couple of years ago now when I visited Bletchley Park.…

  • Ed Reardon – Series 4

    A little advance warning that my favourite Radio 4 comedy is returning for a new series on Friday 16 November at 11.30am on Radio 4. Yes, Ed Reardon’s back on air, and he’s not downloadable as a podcast! powered by ODEO

  • One Billion Viewers

    Not this again. Today’s Telegraph has a banner at the top of the front page proclaiming that one billion people will be watching today’s Arsenal v Man Utd game. What on earth are they on about. One person in six is watching a UK club match? I think not. As I’ve said time and again,…

  • Book Signings

    Did you know that Christmas is coming? I was so annoyed when I saw my first Christmas advert on the 20th October. I can really do without sleigh bells before the clocks go back. Anyway, the Christmas season is well upon us now, and the celebrity books are rolling out left, right and centre. On…

  • Voting on Strictly Come Dancing

    OK, OK. I watch SCD as it’s known to afficiandos. Anyway, I have a serious question. In these days of total accountability, why does the BBC not publish absolute voting numbers for the programme. The reason that I, or anyone else watching the programme, am interested, is that on Sunday, the two celebrities who faced…