FrequencyCast UK - Show #54
The show notes to go with Show 54 of our online technology radio show.
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Listen to, or download, FrequencyCast Show 54 (31 mins)
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Show 54: NEWS
This show's news section covered the following stories:
- Faulty Freeview Recorders: Some Freeview users with recorders from DigiFusion, Inverto, Sony and Thomson are a little dis-chuffed as a result of the maker's contracts with InView coming to an end. This leaves boxes with no Electronic Programme Guide, making their PVRs next to useless. More: Freeview boxes lose EPG.
The BBC News app for iPhone and iPad is finally out, and has had over half a million downloads in its first week. A BBC Sport and iPlayer app are in the pipeline, and the mobile apps should be available for other platforms later this year. More: BBC News App in iTunes
- New Kindle Reader: Amazon will start shipping a new version of their eBook Reader, the Kindle, from the 27th of August 2010. The new eBook reader is smaller, lighter, has double the storage and improved screen contrast. One charge will give you a month's reading and 400,000 books will be available. This is a UK version, not a US import, and it comes with wi-fi and subscription-free Vodafone 3G as standard. And it's under £150.
The 3rd Generation Kindle, due in Aug 2010
For full details, see our new Amazon Kindle page. You can pre-order the Kindle for delivery at launch on 27th August 2010: Preorder the Kindle UK at Amazon.
New Livescribe Pen: Staying with updates, a new version of the Livescribe pen, the Livescribe Echo, is out now, with 8 gig of storage, micro USB and pencast support. We covered this in Show 40, and this pen that records what it hears when you write is still my favourite gadget of all time. To see what the Livescribe pens can do, see our Pulse Smartpen section.
- Sky news: Sky Sports News HD launches on the 23rd of August 2010, and Sky's just done a deal with the US TV company HBO, to become the home of HBO in the UK. Expect some exclusive top US shows soon.
- Channel news: In other channel news, Five HD has launched on Sky and Virgin, and Sky Sports and Movies HD channels go live on Virgin from early August.
- And finally... the end of the road for speed cameras? You might have though that speed cameras made a lot of money for local authorities, but some regions are switching them off. In Oxfordshire, the authorities can't afford to run them, so red light and fixed speed cameras will be decommissioned from the 1st of August 2010. Northamptonshire has also announced plans to scrap a percentage of theirs, with other areas set to follow suit.
One Oxfordshire village, Nuneham Courtenay, has announced plans to "adopt" their local camera to keep their village slow after the switchoff.
FOCUS: Sport on TV
We asked our lovely listeners to fill in a survey about sport on TV, and as of the 31st of July had 152 responses, with 82% of respondents using a sporting TV service.
For the survey results, or to take part in the survey, see our TV Sport Survey.
Here's our summary of the ways to get Sky Sports from August 2010:
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Pros: Widest choice, plus 5 HD channels Cons: Costs up to £58 a month |
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Pros: Fastest Broadband Internet Cons: Not UK-wide |
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Pros: Cheapest with Broadband (from £6.99 a month) Cons: No HD service |
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Pros: Cheapest if no broadband required Cons: No broadband or phone. Limited non-Sport content |
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For more on getting Sky Sports, see our How to get Sky Sports section and comparison table.
Hands-on: View Quest Wi-Fi Radio
We spent some time playing with what we believe is the world's smallest Internet Radio, the View Quest WiFi200....
A great bit of kit. You can see more pictures on our Transcript page
The View Quest Internet Radio is available from Amazon.co.uk and Firebox
Comment: The FM Switchover 2015
The UK Government is still planning to switch FM and AM radio services to digital by 2015. Many are understandably not impressed. Full details of the Ed Vaisey speech we referred to can be found on the culture.gov.uk site
More details, and a list of sites campaigning against this can be found at radioswitch.co.uk
Comment: Apple iPhone 4 Problems
Apple boss Steve Jobs has finally come out to confirm that there is indeed a problem with reception on his new ShinyPhone, the iPhone 4.
Free cases will be provided to all iPhone 4 customers so far, a new software patch has tweaked how the signal is displayed, and those still not satisfied can get a full refund within 30 days.
Got an iPhone 4 and affected by any of the issues raised in this programme? Go to www.apple.com/iphone/case-program
Listener Survey
We've updated our listener survey.
Tell us what you think of us: FrequencyCast Listener Survey 2010
Thirty Second Gadget
Our gimmicky Gadget for Show 54 was chosen by Carl, and it's a pull-string mobile phone and MP3 charger. The one we looked at was the Free Energy Pull String Phone Charger from the outdoor experts at Millets, but we can no longer find this on their website.
As a replacement, we'd suggest the PullString Power Supply, which is about half the price at Maplin.co.uk.
Cast 54: Interactive
Thanks to everyone who got in touch. In this show, we respond to the following mails and calls:
- iPhone 4 and broken apps: Hi to John Stamper, who got in touch about the iPhone 4. He's got no problem with reception, but does have a problem that some of his apps don't work, including Mariner Calc. He also looked at Copilot Live, but this seems to have stopped working too.
It's all connected with iOS 4, the updated operating system from Apple. There have been a bunch of changes with iOS 4, and many of these changes require rework by the developer, then re-approval by Apple. This can, obviously, take some time, so you may need to be patient. IN the iTunes App Store, each app should have contact details for the developer, so you can get in touch with them to check for an update. As a last resort, you can contact Apple for a refund if an app you've bought doesn't work as advertised.
Missing Freeview channels: We had a text from Sungmin - He's noticed some missing Freeview channels on his Samsung TV. Our advice is, first off, do a full "scan for new channels". If you're still missing channels, it would be the TV's not getting a strong enough signal on some of the multiplexes. Need help with missing Freeview channels? See the 10-point guide at the Radio and Telly Site: Dealing with missing Freeview channels
- Virgin, Freeview and Kidsco: Luke Spencer asks: "If Sky take over Virgin One, will they keep it on Freeview? When will the new childrens channel "Kid Co" be coming to Freeview?" Well, we have no definite answers on either of these. Sky's not announced their plans for Virgin 1 as far as we know. As for KidsCo... the kids service is available in parts of the world already, and it's due in the UK "later in 2010".
- BBC iPlayer on Blu-Ray: Thanks to Steven Masters for the Facebook message: "You should mention that many of the latest blu-ray players are compatible with BBC iPlayer and other Internet TV services via a LAN network or wifi". Done!
- Virgin Email Fiasco: We also heard from Paul Clements - He's with Virgin. He, along with other Virgin customers, has been confused by email changes. It seems Virgin have changed their email system, causing a lot of confusion. It seems that Virgin's consolidated their ntlworld.com, blueyonder.co.uk and virgin.net email services into one, and they're migrated over to Google Mail. If you have one of those addresses, you'll need to make some changes to your email software's settings. Virgin's released a tool to help make changes automatically, or you can enter the new settings manually. Need help changing your settings? Here's the link:
Virgin Email Help and Advice
- Deleting iPhone Calls: We had a podline call asking how to delete just one call entry from an iPhone's call list. We don't think you can do this. There were apps to let you do this on a jailbroken iPhone 3, but not on the iPhone 4 yet. If you know differently, please let us know.
Any questions for Carl and Pete? Call 020 8133 4567 and leave a message, or ask in our listeners forum.
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