Month: October 2014

  • Interstellar

    A new Christopher Nolan film is always something to welcome. He’s been on quite a winning streak for a while now. And while I might prefer the original Norwegian Insomnia to his perfectly fine remake, and think that Christopher Priest’s novel of The Prestige is better than the film, I’m actually a fan. Interstellar is…

  • Playlist Reversal

    Since I got a Chromecast, one thing I’ve found really useful is the “Watch Later” playlist feature on YouTube videos. Someone sends you a link to a video, but you don’t have time to watch it now, and anyway, you’d prefer to watch it on a big screen. You simply click “Watch Later” and you…

  • Serial

    Back in 2005 there was a terrific series on BBC Four called Death on the Staircase (known elsewhere as The Staircase). Here’s what I wrote about it at the time, and what I wrote about the follow-up in 2013. Essentially a French film-maker spent many months following the real-life prosecution of Michael Peterson, a crime…

  • Payments and Data

    When Tesco first introduced its Clubcard in 1995, it was to enable it to capture data on its customers. Most people who use loyalty cards realise this. In return for the retailer being able to tie specific sales to an individual, that individual earns some kind of loyalty points. It seems to be a win/win.…

  • Selling Your Sport Short

    There’s an interesting piece in yesterday’s Guardian hypothesising that by selling itself nearly completely to pay-TV players, rugby union could be very short sighted and diminish the appeal of the sport. Regular readers of this blog will know that I think the English Cricket Board has done precisely that, and we’re ending up with a…

  • Inbox from Google – Quick Thoughts

    I’ve been playing around with Google’s new email solution – Inbox – for a few days now. As is usual with these things, it’s invitation only at the moment (and no, I don’t have any invites right now). But registering directly with Google doesn’t seem to take too long. But what do I think of…

  • Digital Powerhouses

    This post is brought to you in association with RALF from DP Software and Services. I’ve used RALF for the past 6 years, and it’s my favourite RAJAR analysis tool. So I’m pleased to be able to bring you this analysis. For more details on RALF, contact Deryck Pritchard via this link or phone 07545…

  • Hrafn: Conversations with Odin

    What did you do as the sun set on Sunday evening? I found myself lying under a pine tree at the edge of Kielder Forest in Northumberland, near the village of Stonehaugh, listening to a roost of ravens. The sun went down, the wind was up, and a soft rain fell. But about 80 of…

  • Putting YouTube and Twitter Into Perspective

    Recently Enders Analysis released a report detailing why television advertising isn’t likely to be losing out to the internet in the near term. Enders believes that television will remain the key advertising medium for the foreseeable future. Part of that reason is that its scale is unmatched. Ray Snoddy, on Mediatel, expanded a little and…

  • Jumping the Gun

    Over the weekend, there was something of a kerfuffle in cycling circles over some allegations that a cycling company had ripped off someone else’s designs. You can read the story here at road.cc. The accused company, Wiggle (who I’ve bought a decent amount of cycling accessories and clothing from), has responded on Facebook, and have…

  • Why I’m Giving Up On The Apprentice

    This started out as a Tweet in support of a Stuart Heritage article in The Guardian today. But I ended up developing it a little on Twitter and Facebook, so I suppose it might be good to spell it out here. Basically, I’m tired of The Apprentice. It has always been a bit of a…

  • RAJAR Q3 2014

    This post is brought to you in association with RALF from DP Software and Services. I’ve used RALF for the past 6 years, and it’s my favourite RAJAR analysis tool. So I’m delighted to be able to bring you this analysis. For more details on RALF, contact Deryck Pritchard via this link or phone 07545…