Category: news

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BBC iPlayer to go HD

BBC’s iPlayer is to go HD.

The BBC’s iPlayer is to start offering high definition (HD) streams and downloads of some programmes. It will mean improved picture quality on streams to web browsers.

Read more.

Other new features include a new internet speed diagnostics page, the full release of the new BBC iPlayer Desktop, and a cross-platform manager that will allow Windows, Mac, and Linux users to download BBC programmes, including those in HD. 

Sounds good, but I do worry about those like me who have bandwidth caps, downloading HD video takes up a fair bit of bandwidth.

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iMac going slow

I now feel that my iMac is way too slow for how I am using it these days. It shouldn’t surprise me but it does, this iMac is (well should be) one fast computer, but I certainly push mine to its limits and notice slowdowns and memory issues.

I have 2GB of RAM in there, so it’s not a lack of RAM, much more running too many applications at the same time. Yes I should exit one application before running another, but I often don’t have the time and sometimes (as with EyeTV) it just isn’t possible due to scheduling issues.

I wouldn’t mind the odd delay here and there, but due to delays it is starting to impact on the performance of applications such as EyeTV and as a  result I am getting dropped frames on my EyeTV recordings.

My solution will be to get a new iMac, not to replace my current iMac, much more to have double the processing power. As a result I am going to get a bigger desk.

So which model, well it’s going to be the 24″ model.

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Lovely Vintage Retro Website from 2009….

I am a fan of The Vintage Web and I believe that I have found a wonderfully retro (currently active) site that fits their criteria perfectly.

I present the Wind and Wheels website.

From the wonderful Flash splash screen and animated gif enter graphic, you know you are in for a wonderful retro treat.

Lovely Vintage Retro Website from 2009….

Once you have enjoyed the Flash animation, onto the main site, where you can find a wonderful animated rollover menu, a weather widget, an additional expanding side menu and clever use of Comic Sans.

Lovely Vintage Retro Website from 2009….

Despite the website, there are some great photographs of wind powered action on the site, so well worth having a good look round.

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Robin Hood Series 3

Well I missed that one.

Last week saw the start of series 3 of BBC’s Robin Hood. Didn’t notice it was on, too busy watching Primeval I think!

robinhood2009

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Leopard running on a Dell 9 minibook

Andy Ihnatko (who I regularly listen to on MacBreak Weekly) in his column this week in the Chicago Sun-Times talks about his efforts to run OS X on a netbook.

Questions like “If a computer that isn’t made by Apple is nonetheless running the Macintosh operating system and Macintosh software…can we still call it a Mac?” are more up my street, and it’s been much on my mind lately. 

No wonder. For nearly a week, I’ve been running Mac software on a Dell Mini 9 netbook.

It’s an interesting article and does demonstrate how much easier it is these days to install OS X on a non-Mac computer.

I do like the netbook concept and having used a fair few they certainly have their place in the world (generally as a second or traveling computer). Problem is that these netbooks either run Windows XP or Linux. Not that I don’t know how to use XP, and I can even get by in Linux, but both lack the familiarity that I now have with OS X.

Am I interested, yes I am.

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‘Negative’ attitude to Robin Hood

BBC reports on new findings that show that not everyone thought highly of Robin Hood.

A Scottish expert has uncovered a medieval document suggesting negative attitudes towards Robin Hood.

The story of how Robin and his men stole from the rich to give to the poor has long been part of English folklore.

However, Julian Luxford of St Andrews University found a dissenting voice in a Latin inscription from about 1460 in a manuscript owned by Eton College.

The previously unknown chronicle entry says Robin “infested” parts of England with “continuous robberies”.

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Reached my bandwidth limit

Reached my bandwidth limit on my ADSL account with a day to spare!

I don’t normally get anywhere close to the cap on my ADSL connection, but some months I do get close.

The main culprit these days is the iTunes Store and BBC iPlayer. I seem to watch more video using these two services than anything else at the moment.

I do get a “free” window between midnight and 8am and I do try and schedule my video downloading during these times, otherwise I do find I use up all of my allocated bandwidth. Though sometimes you don’t want to wait!