FrequencyCast Show 67 Transcript - Part 2
Google buys Motorola, local TV coming to the UK, changes to Sky Movies plus new dictionary definitions - All explored in FrequencyCast Show 67. Here's our transcript of the show.
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Listen to FrequencyCast Show 67 - Google, Sky Movies, local TV and definitions
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Show 67 - Transcript Part 2:
Here, we continue the transcript from our September 2011 show:
Continued from: Show 67's Geocaching Explored - Transcript
Carl:
Next, I want to know what's going on in the world of technology - give me some news, Pete.
Pete:
Righty-ho, well the big news of the month has been Google. Now, they have bought a rather large company with their small pocket money.
Carl:
Let me guess - Motorola?
Pete:
Good boy - you've been reading your notes again. Yes, they have purchased Motorola for the cheap sum of $12.5 billion, and the purchase is actually of the Motorola Mobility division, which looks after handsets. Now, as you probably know, Google already have their Android operating system on phones made by HTC, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and a few other manufacturers. This means that they'll actually be in charge of their own destiny. They'll be owning a mobile phone hardware division, as well as the software. So clearly they're trying to take on iPhone and Apple here, so that is potentially big news for the mobile phone industry, and definitely one to watch: the first Google mobile phone, made by Google, powered by Google.
Carl:
Interesting ... what else?
Pete:
Well, I would like to talk to you about the latest from Symbian - do you remember them?
Carl:
Ah yeah - what do they do?
Pete:
Well, you still use one of those little Psion machines, don't you? That's powered by EPOC, which then became Symbian, and it moved from the PDA world into the smartphone world.
Carl:
All right - it's good to hear they're still about.
Pete:
Well, a new version of the Symbian operating system, called Anna, has just been released.
Carl:
Oh, I know Anna - she sits next to Tracy in Accounting, doesn't she?
Pete:
Symbian Anna has been released. This will run on the Nokia N8, C6, E7 and the C601 handset. Anna offers some lovely shiny new icons, an update to the web browser, portrait keyboard and various other updates and polishes. It also offers NFC.
Carl:
Er - Nantucket Fried Chicken?
Pete:
Very good - actually Near Field Communication, so this is this sort of wireless contact-type stuff.
Carl:
Oh right - so the new, pay for everything wherever you go with your phone?
Pete:
That'll be the plan - yeah, if you own a Nokia N7, NFC is coming to you. Now, if you want to get Symbian Anna, she is available from the Nokia Ovi suite, unless you happen to have a mobile phone that is operator branded; like say you've got a Vodafone version of the N7, you're going to have to wait until your operator releases the customised version, otherwise it's out there now. There's another one round the corner, Anna's younger sister, code named Belle.
Carl:
Bella, or Belle?
Pete:
Belle.
Carl:
Ding-dong!
Pete:
Enough of mobile phones - let's talk TV. What's your favourite TV channel?
Carl:
Ooh - Channel 4.
Pete:
How do you fancy Kidderminster TV, or maybe Burnley TV, or even Hemel Hempstead TV?
Carl:
No idea what you're talking about.
Pete:
Good. Let me fill you in on the story. There are plans afoot to have local TV stations all around the UK. They'll appear on Freeview channel 8, and have local programming for around about an hour or more a day. The government has released a list of 65 towns that could find themselves getting local TV as soon as 2013 - how's that?
Carl:
More jobs?
Pete:
More jobs, yes.
Carl:
More local community combined ... is this something to do with rioting?
Pete:
I think it's intended to bring the communities closer together. The government aim, according to Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, is that these TV stations can be set up for round about the cost of setting up a local newspaper, and if they're only broadcasting for an hour or so a day, in theory they could actually work.
Carl:
Well, sounds promising.
Pete:
We stuck out a tweet, just to see if any of our listeners had any thoughts. We heard from Neil Tomlinson, Paul Metcalfe and Peter Moss, who all said yes, in principle I like it. Mark Webb said, if the content was good, and by that he means local and regional-focused content, magazine shows, news, sport and user-submitted material. Caroline Geeseman got in touch to say, it would depend on the content and how interesting it was. If it's only going to be on air for an hour a day, I'd need to record it and watch it at a more convenient time. As there's so much media to watch already, I'm unsure. Paul Gulliver says, I live in Wiltshire; my nearest station would be Bristol or Salisbury. Perhaps rather than having local stations, you should have county stations, but my overall view - forget it. And we also heard from Andrew Barker - he said, not that interested, although I did watch some of Channel M from Manchester, which was up on Sky. Channel M used to do a really good job. They were locally resourced, with some interesting local programmes. However, I find it likely that any of the proposed stations will actually provide anything other than a basic news service.
Carl:
On the subject of local TV, haven't you got some new thoughts about local radio?
Pete:
I guess this is my worry with these little TV stations. If the same happens to these new TV stations as has happened to local radio, I'm just a bit worried that we might find these TV stations kind of start merging, or being taken over. In doing some research for this, though, I found some interesting stuff about community radio. One little interesting story tickled my fancy about one community radio station up in West Bromwich.
Carl:
Oh yeah - what happened there, then?
Pete:
Well, according to last month's Ofcom bulletin, which is a fascinating read, if you don't read it, a couple of listeners complained that Radio Sandwell in West Bromwich had stopped broadcasting. So the authorities turned up at the transmitter site, to see what was going on. What do you think they found?
Carl:
There was no-one home, and the aerial had fallen off.
Pete:
What they actually found was a laptop hooked up to the transmitter site.
Carl:
Doing what?
Pete:
After some investigation, it actually transpires that the station was being run for about seven weeks, all from a laptop with no live programming - not really what you want from your local radio station, is it? Now, there was one other one in the Ofcom report for last month that caught my attention, and that was a station called Boundary Sound that broadcasts to Newark-on-Trent. They went off air in June of this year, and when Ofcom got in touch to find out why, the answer was that the bailiffs had turned up and taken away the studio equipment. Yep - that would do it.
Carl:
Well, that's not fair, is it?
Pete:
So there you go - interesting times for radio, and of course, local TV. Now, it's time to talk about movies, Carl - you're a movie buff, aren't you?
Carl:
I like the occasional film, yes.
Pete:
Well, this story's all about Sky Movies. Now, the Competition Commission has been looking into BSkyB's dominance in the UK movies market, and it's ruled that it's non-competitive, and costing UK viewers far more than it should. Now, those of you that are on Sky, if you decide that you want the Sky Movies package, you'd be looking at £16 a month, okay?
Carl:
Kerching, of £16.
Pete:
In addition, you've got the £20 basic Sky service.
Carl:
Kerching - £36.
Pete:
If you want HD as well, that's another tenner a month.
Carl:
Kerching - £46!
Pete:
And that will get you up to 400 movies a month. Now, the Competition Commission has ruled that UK consumers may be paying £50 million to £60 million more than they should for movies.
Carl:
Ooh dear - it looks like the world of vinyl and CDs - they're overcharging everyone.
Pete:
Well, this is it, and the authorities are going to be taking action. There's a number of things they could do. They could restrict the deals that Sky have with the six main Hollywood studios, or they could be forced to do what they did with sport, which is make them available at wholesale prices to the like of BT Vision and Virgin, which would be good news for us.
Carl:
So when am I going to start getting cheaper movies at the Odeon?
Pete:
Well, don't expect to start getting cheaper movies on Sky just yet. The official ruling won't be in until August 2012.
Carl:
Hmm - another year.
Pete:
Right, Carl - are you up for a little bit of a test?
Carl:
Always.
Pete:
Okay, the twelfth edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary is out, and it has some new terms. Are you ready?
Carl:
I'm ready, I've been reading up in my dictionary, and I'm doing 150 a night now.
Pete:
The first one I'm going to test you on: retweet.
Carl:
That's a response to a tweet that you formerly had, so you retweet - you reply, basically.
Pete:
Not quite; actually you take somebody else's Twitter message, and you forward it on to your Twitter followers, but close enough, okay. What about this one: sexting?
Carl:
That's when you text with a sexual connotation, so it's a bit innuendo-ey or a bit sort of chatty-uppy?
Pete:
And any girls out there that would like to give it a try with me, the text number is 07 ...
Carl:
Let's leave that, okay. There are no psychotic women out there! Good grief, you're so desperate.
Pete:
Okay, the third word here: mankini?
Carl:
Mankini - that's like a bikini, but for a man - it goes over his shoulders. Doesn't Borat wear one?
Pete:
Spot on. Okay, how about jeggings?
Carl:
Is that a little bit like jogging - it's a new exercise?
Pete:
They are leggings that look like jeans.
Carl:
Oh right - those really tight fit ... I like girls in tight fit trousers.
Pete:
What about n00b, or noob?
Carl:
I'm guessing that's to do with a newbie - someone who's new to something?
Pete:
Yep, spot on, and that's from the world of these online multiplayer games; yep, n00b as in a newbie. What about nurdle?
Carl:
Well, that's a bit like a jerk or a geek, isn't it, a nurdle?
Pete:
A nurdle - any guesses?
Carl:
No idea - what is it?
Pete:
Well, nurdle is defined as "to gently waffle or muse on a subject which one clearly knows nothing about." I feel that's what I do on this show.
Carl:
I thought that's what I was paid for?
Pete:
And the last one: w00t?
Carl:
W00t? - isn't that what Hedwig does, the owl on Harry Potter?
Pete:
W00t is an exclamation or a cheer, and you say it if something good happens in an online game. I actually thought it was "want one of those", woot, but apparently w00t is a celebration or a cheer.
Carl:
Go on, listeners out there - give us a w00t!
Listen to FrequencyCast Show 65 - 4G & Freeview, plus BBC Alba and SeeSaw |
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