My Week in Media

My nice colleagues over at 77 have started a meme. It seemed like the right thing to do to join in...along with the many others who've already done theirs. Hats off to them.

What I've read
Where to start? What with it being the week after New Year and all, it hasn't been a normal week. But here goes.
Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday at my parents' - both cracking examples of strong writing, but following their own agenda. Not mine. For that I have the Guardian, which, I must admit I tend to only buy on a Saturday and then read it at leisure (or at least flick through the Guide and the Magazine, which has been excellent recently) during the week. Though I skim it all day online at work. I am a fan of Metro for those days I get the tube to work rather than cycle (every day this year so far) and the London Paper for news in bite-size chunks. Though I can't stand the celebrity culture they espouse. I flick through the tabs in the kitchen at work. Ditto.

Magazines - I guess the only non-work (or maybe it is work?) one I read, rather than flick through is Wired, which I especially like for the fact it's not English.

Books - just finished the Blair Years which I wanted to hate Campbell for, but actually really liked. There's a lot to be said for getting your version of History out there first of all. Getting into Herd very slowly, and also just started Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem which mixes funk lyrics and late 1970s Brooklyn culture into a great read. But nothing beats helping my 4-yr old with his latest phonics book.

What I've watched
Having tinkered with V+, I'm now a Sky+ convert. Live, I'll find time to watch the BBC 10pm News and any Arsenal game that's on. Recorded, it's the Boosh or Conchords. Huge fan of both. West Wing, Lost, 24, and Heroes were also appointment to view programmes. I also record QI and King of the Hill for a little light relief, and Sky.com/news to see who else they have on and how they deal with it (I'm an occasional pundit for them). I have always been a massive Spaced fan. I don't know much about films, but know what I like - very much looking forward to the new Coen Brothers this year...And delighted that my boys like Star Wars 4 - 6 and still have no concept of 1 - 3.

What I've listened to
The Today Programme is on pretty much every radio in the house every morning, and I really like Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show when I'm cooking, or a bit of BBC 6 or XFM. It sounds cheesy as hell for a 30-something white man, but I've been a fan of Westwood since he was on LWR in mid 80s. Just to even things out a bit, I've also liked Jonathan Ross since about the same time...

On my way in, if I'm not on the bike, it's my Ipod. Essential. At work it's my own last.fm station, or nutsie (great app for streaming your own itunes playlist anywhere, including on a mobile). I do live for music. Always have, and hopefully always will. As for podcasts, I subscribe to Sunday Best, Erol Alkan, Solid Steel, and also Radio 4's Friday night comedy.

Where I've surfed
Pretty much everywhere. Netvibes and delicious made my life so much easier. I skim all the major news sources, as well as the uberbloggers and a lot of the comms bloggers - must update my blogroll now I come to think of it. The kids love YouTube (we did a video Christmas Card of them this year) And I do like a little surf on my phone - live football scores, twitter and facebook.
Got me into a bit of trouble with my Mother in Law over Christmas though...

I think that about wraps it up. I just wish I had more hours in the day to consume even more.

In praise of the BBC

Firstly a disclaimer, I used to work for the BBC, and TV Licensing is one of my clients

But having got that out of the way - the iPlayer is a truly fantastic application.



So much better than the beta which I tested a while back. And it does appear to work fine on my Macbook Pro - despite the disclaimer saying it won't. The kids will never have to miss an episode of Mr Maker again.

Now, if only they can get the screen quality up to that of Joost...

And while we're on the subject, I quite like the Beta of the BBC's new personalised homepage - though it's going to have to be even better when released to drag me away from my netvibes...

Watching TV online

Couple of stats worth sharing:

• More than a third of US TV viewing is now online - according to Deloitte and Touche and reported on Ad Week and by the World Advertising Research Council
• And over a half of connected TV viewers also watch television on other devices - according to the ChoiceStream 2007 report, reported in Mediapost.

OK, so it's US data, where they are a bit further ahead than we are - but the ramifications of this, and the speed at which things are changing (changes of 50% in 8 months of people using mobile phones to watch TV) are going to change the landscape significantly in the not too distant future.

I'm looking forward to Kangaroo taking off over here - but hope it's quicker to get on my Mac then iPlayer was...

The best music of 2007

An audacious title, but a well-deserved one. Here's my compilation of the year. Most of it was released last year. All of it I heard first last year.

Ginger and Proud

Cracking letter in today's London paper on a subject close to my heart, though can't find the original article it referred to.

To your Gay Guy About Town (“Gagging for ginger”, yesterday): at last somebody tackles the issue of gingerism. I have often been on the receiving end of insulting comments for having a socially stigmatised hair colour. Such insults seem to be routinely accepted as OK, rather than being seen as a form of bullying – which it actually is. I have often wondered why Brits are taught from a young age to despise this colouring and brand anyone with it as ugly, as that is definitely not the case in other parts of the world. At the risk of unleashing massive debate, is it something to do with the fact that it is a typically Irish colouring and we are acting on historical insecurities now engrained in our national psyche?
Eleanor, Holloway

But hey - get a life. It's not bullying. It's not racism. Though it is something you have to learn to live with.

Sorry though, Gay about town. I'm spoken for....

A Manifesto for the new PR

Americans love White Papers and Manifestos - this one is worth a read if you're in the corporate PR business. The Authentic Enterprise: Relationships, Values and The Evolution of Corporate Communications is pretty well sourced.

The standout points for me are the increasing importance given to authentic and transparent communications. On one hand, it's pretty obvious. And on the other hand, it's pretty obvious. But good to see that sort of thinking resonating around some of the USA's biggest boardrooms.

Paul Gillin's blog has a decent summary of it. Apologies - I can't remember who put me on to it in the first place.

Twitter is dead, long live Twitter

I seem to have spent much less time blogging recently, much more time on Twitter. Really getting back into it, using it for all sorts of news feeds as well as a bit of chat. And have also been tracking clients on it for work...

Just having trouble persuading my non-geeky friends why they should sign up.

In the meantime, hello a few people I'm now following - @r_c, @stedavies, and @davidbrain

Looking for satisfaction? Look no further...

Getsatisfaction is a great little customer service, expert advice, crowdsourcing tool which, by the looks of things can be adapted for pretty much any brand/product.