thelump.net

This Week in Lumps
#32 [01/01 - 07/01]

· The BBC removed the ‘beta stabilizers’ from the much talked about iPlayer on the 25th, and in doing so unleashed what could turn out to be a big step forward in the inevitable move away from TV schedules and the move towards downloadable shows and a much greater interactive service. The iPlayer – which if you’ve not seen any of the BBC adverts recently, is software on the beeb’s website that allows users to watch BBC branded programmes at a time of their own choosing, has been in beta mode for a year or so now, and has had it’s up and downs, but is finally let loose on the masses. This story can be considered a step on from my initial mention of this topic from last year covered in week 2, and is something that I love to discuss with friends, and read news stories about when they appear. Speaking of which, I was glad to see Mark Lawson covering it in the Guardian website on the 3rd; Mark shares a viewpoint similar to mine, in that the sooner we get away from the ‘clock-checking’ and social-time shifting to suit whenever X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing starts, the better.

“…it’s appropriate that the service became generally available on December 25, because that day’s schedule represents the zenith of old-fashioned ideas about what kind of programmes should be watched when: the Queen at 3pm, a big film at 3.15, comedy at 9pm and so on. If by next year iPlayer becomes commonplace, the question, “When is the Extras Special on?” will become as much a social antiquity as, “Do you stock spats?”"

The iPlayer is mirrored by other channels, such as Channels 4′s 4 on Demand, and even though it boasts more shows and longer to watch them, it doesn’t involve the underestimated feature of watching them direct from the website, and instead involves a download of useless software. Similarly to the P2P offerings from the BBC, 4OD is only suited for users of Internet Explorer, which is annoying for everyone else who jumped off of that boat as soon as they could. However, anyone using any browser seems to be able to use the BBC embedded version.

So why is this a step in the right direction? Firstly, you need to take stock of the current technological environment that surrounds us. With Digital Video Recorders becoming more an more popular, bigger and bigger Hard Disc Drives becoming available, and nearly every household in the UK running a fast computer and Internet connection, the human race is turning into a species of “now, not later”, and rightly so. Look at YouTube, a website that was unknown merely 3 years ago has become the biggest source of video on demand the world over- If the iPlayer can achieve only a tenth of the success to YouTube, it will still be a great achievement.
Secondly, it will hopefully see the end of organisations like BARB (the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board), who are the one’s responsible for compiling the view ratings and figures. BARB have approximately 5,100 homes participating in this method, and each person who is sitting in front of a television fitted with one of their devices represents about 4,500 units, so if ten people in five households are sitting watching Big Brother, that means 45,000 to BARB. A slightly unfair method of data gathering, if you ask me.

In essence, the iPlayer is a trendier VCR or Sky+ box, and once the nation catches onto this and the popularity of the technology advances, it will be the beginning of the end for TV schedules, TV ratings and, fingers crossed terrible TV shows.

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· If there’s one website I love talking about here, it’s Last.fm. Nearly all news is good news in regards to the popular music scrobbling website, and this week is no different. However, instead of finding them writing a blog entry from ‘puddle-city’ known as London, we find them in the sparkly surroundings of Las Vegas, at The Consumer Electronics Show 2008. At the show, many previews of products are introduced, or new products are announced. In 2007, Crysis was put on show, and everyone fell about with open jaws proclaiming it to be the best game of our age (which I cant comment on, as I don’t have a £6000+ PC to run it on). It’s at this years show that last.fm have made public the news that they are now officially partnered with Logitech, whose Squeezebox and Squeezebox Duet network music systems will carry the ability to scrobble the tracks you’ve listened to.

This may not seem like such a big deal; one big company paired with another up and coming web 2.0 company to line each others pockets a little more. However, when the surface is scratched, underneath you will see the genius behind this decision, and how you may end up spending your own money on it.

Last.fm works by scrobbing the music you listen to on your laptop or PC. If your nifty with technology, you can also install plugins on your mp3 player, that scrobbles what you listen to on the move. Now there’s a method of scrobbling songs you listen to when you’re home, and not around the PC. The Squeezebox designed to play Internet radio or digital audio streamed to it across a home network, either WiFi or Ethernet. So now you can cut out the middle man of your computer, and scrobble music you have at a house party, or what you listen to when you want a full speaker sound effect. Last.fm note:

“This is just the start of our master plan to allow you to scrobble music wherever you’re listening to it.”

That’s one master plan I really like the sound of.

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· It’s around this time of year that numerous news sites start making lists of rough predictions on what to expect in 2008, either in news, new technology, changes in fashion, and so on. As I am not Mystic Meg, nor do I have any kind of psychic power, I can only comment on what others have written. With that in mind, I started looking around, and it wasn’t long before I found some bold comments on the BBC site.

Touchscreen Mobile Technology advances
So 2007 was the year for Apple, with the release of two vastly popular touchscreen products in the iPhone and the iPod Touch. 2008 will see this type of technology progress onwards, with a handful of companies expected to announce plenty of touchscreen phone products. Mobile phone fanboys should also keep an eye out for the next set of smartphones, which add multimedia, e-mail, web browsing and personal organiser functionality to the standard voice and text of mobiles. Last year was a big one for mobiles, with the release of Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows Mobile 6, which in turn ushered in a clutch of new handsets from the likes of Samsung, Motorola and HTC, whilst touch products will not just dominate phone technology, according to Bill Gates.

Web on the move
With regards to the impressive progression of the Internet over the last 15 years, one thing has yet to be worked out: how to be online when you’re offline. Although mobile working is becoming increasingly common, ubiquitous connectivity is still a long way off, however there are tools that are beginning to connect those who are not connected. From the BBC article:

“Search giant Google announced its Gears application, whilst Adobe launched Air and Microsoft released Silverlight. All the technologies have the ability to take rich web content and make some of it available offline. 2008 should see more examples of applications built with or using one of the three tools to make a truly seamless computing experience.“

Also worth mentioning again is the Consumer Electronics Show. So apart from the above last.fm news, what else is on show this year? According to The Telegraph, its Evolution, not revolution, whilst many feel this year will struggle due to the poor US dollar.

Wireless HDTV
LCD TV manufacturer Westinghouse, working with networking firm Pulse-Link, have shown off what they claim is the world’s first integrated wireless HDTV. The (stupidly large) 47″ TV looks as normal as usual, but has an built-in receiver that takes a signal from an ultra wideband transmitter plugged into a high definition DVD player. Confused yet? The setup in Las Vegas is streaming Casino Royale for all to see. The two firms boldly claim that the connection has no lag, and is able to stream a range of high definition formats including the highest resolution TV format available today, known as 1080p. Sadly you wont see it in your homes until the technology becomes cheaper.

Robot Toys
Woowee, the vastly intelligent company behind the best selling Robosapian robot, launched a series of robots packed with stupidly clever gadgetry. Its wi-fi enabled “Rovio” robot packs an omni-directional webcam which can be controlled remotely using any web accessible device, such as a cell phone, PC or games console. The 21st century equivalent of sticking a camera to your pet cat, it would seem. The wheeled robot also features a stripped down GPS system that allows it to locate itself and navigate around its environment. So, a cat with a camera and sat-nav: all you’d need is a last.fm scrobbler plug in and you’d be sorted.

More next week.

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That was the week in lumps, a week in which: Radiohead said OK Computer to iTunes, Junk food adverts have been banned, which is a relief considering how much we rely on it, Christian Bale started talks to star in the next Terminator movie, a superthin laptop is coming soon, and Thom Yorke dissed the Internet.

That is the end of my first entry for 2008, see you all next week. Oh, before you go, time to stop daydreaming about Claire from Heroes: she’s no longer single, and if you must know, she’s now dating Peter Petrelli. No, really she is, honest.

That’s the last bit of celeb gossip you’ll see from me this year.

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