Grade attacks Google, Joost ‘parasites’

IBC 2008

I’m just out of a lively conference keynote session featuring a pre-recorded interview with ITV Executive Chairman Michael Grade and media commentator, Ray Snoddy.

Grade was insistent that the future belonged to companies who could create, own and exploit the right content, seemingly dismissing access technologies as merely ‘railway lines’.

There were audible gasps from some of those listening in the hall when he described companies like Google and Joost as ‘parasites who just live on us’.

“When they invest £1bn a year in UK content, then I’ll be worried.”

Why would I want to be friends with a corporation?

Sentry Parental Controls has just asked to be my Facebook friend. And this irritates me.

I don’t add people I haven’t actually met, and I don’t know Sentry from the Horseguards, so the answer’s a big fat finger on the ‘ignore’ button. But I’m annoyed that they would just send a friend request, to me in my personal space, without so much as an additional message explaining anything about them or why they might be relevant to me.

Sentry are friend-spammers.

I’ve no problem with marketing, but they’ve got completely the wrong strategy here. I haven’t heard of them before, but my first contact with them has been negative, so it’s likely that my first contact will be my last.

Why would I want to be friends with a corporation? Can’t think of many reasons, although Macfans will be able to tell you, but I bet an iPod lover’s relationship with Apple started small and personal and on the buyers terms and subsequently grew into something more meaningful. Like real friendships in fact.

Or is this the way digital relationships happen now? I hope not.

beeb.net stops completely

My only email account to never receive a single spam message will disappear

In 1999 with the sudden appearance of ‘free’ dial-up based internet accounts, I joined freebeeb.net - “Free internet access from the BBC”.

Here’s the original BBC News Online story (note the original publishing template - in all probability I worked on this story!)

Although I’m something of an email address tart, I’ve consistently used this address ever since (although I would only dial the access number about 4 times a year just to make sure the account stays valid).

The service is one of the few with full POP/SMTP access, which means I can use email software like Outlook and Thunderbird to access the email in my beeb.net account. I’ve been using it on my N95 phone most recently.

So I was a little bit sad, although unsurprised to get an email into that account last week telling me that it’s all finishing. Here’s the detail direct from Beeb.net.

Beeb.net has been through various stages of closedown since the dot.com bubble burst, probably the most significant happening in 2002.

It’s been a little bit of internet history, which I’m surprised isn’t being reported, perhaps because the number of beeb.net users is now so miniscule that no one has noticed that it’s been working up till now, even though it’s since offered broadband accounts.

At the end of June, spare a thought for a internet pioneer. There were many other free ISPs at the time (in the hundreds!) but none with quite the same name and brand associations.

It wasn’t the BBC Micro, but beeb.net did help tens of thousands of people to get online during a critical period of growth for the internet.

If you also found the full POP/SMTP access helpful, livehacker has a post of how to do the same thing with gmail.

Mobile TV: we just won’t pay

Make it free, or no one will watch

A survey featured in Business Week says what I’ve not so secretly been expecting for some time. Mobile TV users are a stingy lot.

Much-hyped operational trials (such as the DVB-H trial in Oxford a couple of years ago) have always ended with the operator judging that users will happily pay for the service.

Business Week is highlighting a report which says that users don’t want to pay anything like what the operators think they will, and to spur takeup, the services should be ad-supported and either much cheaper, or free.

I hope they’re not actually thinking they can begin to charge later on! Once a service goes free, it stays free. Look at web subscription models for general news and information. Oh you can’t, because there aren’t any anymore.

Here’s a RedHerring piece from the days of the Oxford mobile TV trial. Look toward the end and you’ll see that O2 were expecting consumers to pay £8-£10 a month for tv on the go.

I bet they’re rethinking that investment case now. It may not be worth bidding for the new spectrum, in which case OFCOM may as well let Big TV have some extra space so it can run a decent 21st century public television service on Freeview.

Otherwise Britain’s DTT ambitions might end up going the way of DAB.

Flat rate data on its way to the US

Unusually, Britain already leading in this area

Only 14% of US mobile phone users have a data plan. Now this surprised me as I expect America to lead in this area, particularly with the internet being much more entrenched.

I’ve had a flat rate data plan for the last year, and I could have had one before that, but there weren’t the devices to utilise all-you-can-eat data (at least ones I thought were useful to me, and at the right price).

The point is that when you’re not having to count every kilobyte, you use more data. This means mobile media, things like downloading audio and video will be used more, probably at the expense of live viewing and listening.

I’m not saying radio and TV will die, just the use of these mediums will drift away from the linear, and only gradually - a small percentage a year. Then usage will find a new balance between live and recorded media consumption, until the next wave of technology.

I love the audio download application on my phone.  I hardly ever use the FM radio on my phone (though I’m glad it’s there) but find radio downloads far more useful. I can listen to what I want, when I want.

If you got the right Nokia phone with flat rate data,  there a specific application you can download. There are probably others, drop a note if you know of any.

And when you’ve got it installed try out the Guardian’s weekly technology round up.  There’s an RSS link on this page, or you can just listen via the embedded MP3.

(Of particular note with Nokia’s app is the ability to start listening to a programme before the whole file has finished downloading.  That means I can start downloading when I leave work, begin listening when I get on the train and continue downloading when the train gets back within the coverage area again)

A sideways look at politics

I’ve just noticed this from a Times blog post from last month.

The perils of little cameras - you can turn them on their side.  They used it anyway.