FrequencyCast Review of 2010
In show 59, we looked back at the TV and tech events of 2010, and a look at what's in store for coming years. Here's part 4 of our transcript of the show.
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Listen to FrequencyCast Show 59 - Our look back at 2010
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Look Back at 2010 - Transcript Part 4:
Continued from Review of 2010 - Page 3
Carl:
Ah - so we'll move on to show 54, and this was August, and where we were talking about sport on TV.
Pete:
And of course the big news here was, for the first time, BT and Top Up TV were allowed to start broadcasting Sky Sports One and Two. Of course, Top Up TV worked out the cheapest, because you don't have to have their broadband service with it, and BT were doing a very good deal to try and undercut Sky, so a lot of cut-throat activities in August.
Carl:
And we also talked about that tiny little Wi-Fi radio thing you bought.
Pete:
Oh yeah - the View Quest. We first saw that when we were up at the Gadget Show, if I remember, but it broke. It's dead, it's no longer, it has ceased to be. The screen went on my little View Quest radio, and back it went.
Carl:
What - you haven't got another one?
Pete:
Ran out, and they can't send me another one. So I got my money back, but I have no world's smallest Wi-Fi radio any more.
Carl:
Was that a tear? Oh stop it, you snivelling little ...
Pete:
Well, we did manage to raise a smile in August, though. Dragons' Den featured something that we covered nearly a year before.
Carl:
Well, this isn't the first time they've been behind us, is it? Let's face it, we beat the Gadget Show with the sWaP Watch, and that Dragons' Den wand, well ... been there, done that, seen it. Where have you been? So we moved on to show 55 in September, where we discussed all sorts of things such as the Kindle - do you remember that?
Pete:
Of course, the Kindle - lovely, lovely device. Still highly recommended, it's definitely the best ebook reader out there for the money. £110, Wi-Fi and 3G built in, I'm actually doing an awful lot of book reading with this now, so would still highly recommend it. I would point out there's a couple of other things worth mentioning, if you are considering an ebook reader. Elonex have brought out a colour ebook reader.
Carl:
Really?
Pete:
Ah, you were talking about wanting a colour one, weren't you?
Carl:
Well yes, more than anything interested - are you going to get one?
Pete:
It's a very nice machine actually. It's out at Waterstones, you can go and see it in your local Waterstone's. It's an Elonex 5" colour, and it's only £80.
Carl:
Wow.
Pete:
Having said that, the Elonex colour isn't actually the cheapest - you can get an ebook reader now for £65. It's the Imagine 5" TFT device available from Smiths.
Carl:
Very nice. Did we do anything else in show 55?
Pete:
We talked briefly about Project Canvas, which of course is going to be YouView, which launches next year.
Carl:
Oh yeah, we've only just talked about that. We don't want to dwell on it. And show 56, of course - that gave birth to October, didn't it?
Pete:
And it gave birth to a headache as well, as we started talking about 3D and those lovely TVs and the different types of flickering glasses and active and passive glasses.
Carl:
Oh yes, we went and looked at quite a fair number of those, didn't we? What was that place that's like Chuck's Shop - what is it?
Pete:
Oh, The Buy More.
Carl:
Oh, The Buy More - we like that. Didn't see that blonde girl, never mind.
Pete:
We also talked about the world's first 3D website.
Jingle:
Emperor Rosko!!
Emperor Rosko:
Have mercy! This is the Emperor Rosko in Los Angeles, enjoying TV and tech news right here. It's FrequencyCast - what a blast! Check out my 3D site: emperorrosko.co.uk.
Pete:
Hey - thanks Rosko. We also looked at the Triax Tri-Link, that magic device that you can send TV around your house with, which was very impressive.
Carl:
Oh, very good, and of course we did some classic technology with calculators, as asked for by the listeners, so we did it straight away.
Carl:
And next up, our new look at classic tech, but first, a commercial break.
"Hey You. Do away with that Tally Stick... Now, you can upgrade to Abacus 1.0. Ten columns of addition power in a handy portable frame. Just slide the beans around to make adding and subtracting your 2700 BC tax return a doddle. The new Sumerian Abacus... Available from your local Babylonian supermarket 4,800 years ago."
Pete:
First off, a little bit of history. So there was the abacus. We had the slide rule in 1622. The first mechanical calculator was invented in 1642 by Pascal. The first hand-held calculator was developed by ...
Carl:
Texas Instruments.
Pete:
1967. It could add, multiply, subtract and divide, and its output was on a piece of paper.
And then there's your personal collection of calculators. Go on - sling that one over, I'm dying to know.
Carl:
Now this is my Melody calculator - I love this. This was by Casio. This one sounds a little bit like this - it's got this tune already in there ...
(it plays "And When The Saints Go Marching In")
Pete:
Oh, make it stop!
Carl:
But it's better than that, because if you press the numbers, look!
(it plays a scale)
I enjoyed doing that. Sure the listeners didn't want any more of them, but in show 57, which was November, we looked at the new Tom-Tom. That was the Go 1000, wasn't it?
Pete:
Indeed, yes. It's the new Tom-Tom device with built in HD traffic. We went out and we had a little bit of a drive.
Carl:
So here we are on a dark, cold and stormy night, sitting in Pete's car in the middle of nowhere, a darkened car park. You always take me to the most romantic places.
Right, let's give this a go - let's try setting in a route here. Navigate to, so let's try a spoken address, and Carl, I'm going to get you to do this.
TomTom:
"Please state city."
Carl:
London.
TomTom:
"City of London. Please state street."
Carl:
Downing Street.
TomTom:
"Downing Street. Please state house number."
Carl:
Ten.
TomTom:
"Ten".
Carl:
Done.
Pete:
And it says, "Warning - your destination is on a toll road." There we go, so that's one hour and four minutes from here.
Carl:
What's that flashing light there?
Pete:
That is showing you live travel data. Now I don't know if you remember, the old TomTom, on the bottom here, there's a little socket, and you'd have to plug in an aerial.
Carl:
Oh yeah.
Pete:
So this actually has a mobile phone built into it. It's getting live traffic information straight off the mobile phone network.
TomTom:
"Retrieving traffic information. Roadworks on the A1203 between Poplar and Tower Hamlets 49 minutes from here."
Pete:
There's also a nice little touch here, as you can select the weather at your target destination as well.
TomTom:
"Weather report for today: partly cloudy. Maximum temperature: 15 degrees Celsius. Minimum temperature: 10 degrees Celsius."
Pete:
OK, shall we go for a little drive, and see what it does?
Carl:
Definitely.
Carl:
Another cold night. How are you finding it now?
Pete:
The Go 1000, it's still a nice device. It still hasn't had all the updates that we've been promised, and mine's been crashing a lot. They've issued a patch to stop it crashing. But yeah, it's still not a bad device, but it's still missing a heck of a lot of features, which is a real shame. TomTom used to be really on the ball, but they seem to have dropped it a little bit with this 1000.
Carl:
Isn't there some sort of irony there, a Tom-Tom car navigator crashing?
Pete:
Also in November, of course, we covered the device that goes with this tiny remote control.
Carl:
Oh yes, the Mac television box thingy - what was it called?
Pete:
The Mac television box thingy - that was its official name.
Carl:
Oh, I got it right again.
Pete:
Or Apple TV, if you're not Carl, of course.
Carl:
And then of course show 58, where we talked about broadband suppliers and of course your favourite, Pete - the Big Trak Junior. Oh give it back, give it back.
Carl:
It's a Big Trak, but it's a miniature Big Trak ... it's a Micro Trak.
Pete:
And this one here is the Big Trak Junior. It does all the same stuff, and a lot more, and it's all diddy and sits on the desk. And for those that don't know, it's a six wheeler and it's got this lovely little keypad on the top. A couple of big differences: this one has all the stickers pre-done. This new one takes 3 double As, and this new one has a memory save, which the other one didn't have. Now let's get it to do something nice and simple, so what I've done, I've just switched it on. First off, I have to clear the memory using the CM button. Then I want it to go forward three units, so I press forward and then the number three. Then I'm going to want it to turn around, so I'm going to press the right key, and I have to tell it like a clock, so I want 30 minutes, which will be a full 180 revolution. Then I want it to fire its phaser three times.
(various beeps and whirring sounds)
Carl:
So we've got a whole year of technology ahead of us. Pete, tell me - what's coming up? What have I got to look forward to?
Pete:
Lots and lots of exciting stuff. We've got some new phones on the way. There's bound to be a new iPod or an iPhone, that's bound to happen.
Carl:
Wow.
Pete:
The first Google laptop.
Carl:
Oh yes!
Pete:
New digital TV services, and lots of fast broadband.
Carl:
That's a lot more information coming my way.
Pete:
And more mobile phone apps, including some rather clever ones.
Carl:
Wow, cleverness coming as well?
Pete:
As a reminder, FrequencyCast - sorry, the award-winning FrequencyCast - is your show, and we'd like you to tell us what you'd like us to cover. Get in touch - what would you like to hear? What sort of stuff would you like us to be reviewing? What sort of stuff would you like us to explain? What would you like us to feature in upcoming shows? Please get in touch.
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