Month: February 2014

  • The Worst Place in the World for a Big Live Global TV Audience

    In a nice piece from Marina Hyde in today’s Guardian, she links to a New Yorker piece from a few years ago that disavows the idea that a billion people might watch the Oscars. Starting from the fact that only 15% of Americans watch their own movie awards, it seems incredibly unlikely that the numbers…

  • Battle of the Streaming Services

    This morning, Amazon UK announced a shake-up of its streaming offering, hitherto called LoveFilm. From next week, the service gets rebranded as Amazon “Prime Instant Video”, but perhaps more importantly, it gets rolled into the regular Amazon Prime offering. So far, so good, unless you were attached to the LoveFilm name. However there are price…

  • Viewing Habits

    On the train home this evening, I noticed an outdoor advertisement for Sky Atlantic’s big new series, True Detective. So I posted this on Twitter: Fascinating to see @skyatlantic advertising its new drama without an airdate. The way we watch drama now or niche? pic.twitter.com/SXYWihw5M4 — Adam Bowie (@adambowie) February 17, 2014 Now I was…

  • Mud in Trent Park

    Mud in Trent Park from Adam Bowie on Vimeo. Here’s a short video I shot yesterday morning to test my Sony Action Cam with the Joby Action Clamp and Locking Arm. I bought the Sony AS15 last year in a cheap deal on Amazon. In many respects, it’s highly specced compared with the Go Pro…

  • Branson: Behind the Mask

    Tom Bower is that rare thing – a writer who takes no prisoners. He goes where others fear to tread – or at least UK libel laws force others to fear to tread. His previous subjects have included Robert Maxwell, Bernie Ecclestone, Mohammed Al-Fayed and a previous book on Richard Branson. I’ve not read the…

  • TV Apps’ Shortcomings

    You know when something should be easy but it just isn’t? Well this is what I often find with apps on smart TVs and other devices. They’re just there to try us. While they function adequately for normal use, it’s those edge cases where they break. Here are two examples. Last weekend, I decided I’d…

  • Twitter Notifications

    The other day I was seething about my inability to turn off a particular type of Twitter notification in the Twitter Android app. I’m talking about ones that say something like “@user1 and @user2 are talking about #subject” and urging me to join the conversation. My problem is that these just aren’t intelligent. If there…

  • Changing From Real Radio to Heart Mightn’t Be All Plain Sailing

    Aside from the publication of new RAJAR figures, the big news in radio today was the sale of seven stations by Global, which was forced on them by the Competition Commission. Since Global finally gave up their legal challenges against the Commission’s ruling, this day was always coming, and it’s got to be of some…

  • RAJAR Q4 2013

    If it’s early February, it means it’s time for another RAJAR release. So what are the big stories? Well I reckon they Radio 2, Radio 1 and commercial radio in general in London are the main themes. But let’s go through things in a bit more detail. National The first thing to note is that…

  • Blaze Laserlight – A First Look

    Back in November 2012, I backed my first Kickstarter project – the Blaze Bike Light – and today it arrived fresh from manufacture in China. Blaze Laserlight – A First Look from Adam Bowie on Vimeo. Now known as the Blaze Laserlight, its description basically explains what it does. It’s a regular bike light with…

  • Muting Twitter

    The other day I moaned about what I consider a shortcoming in the current Twitter Android app – the inability to turn off notifications that tell you that some people you follow are discussing something. I might be missing out! I should get on Twitter right now seems to be the idea. That could be…