December, 2008 Archive

We’re on the final day of the year 2008, and it’ll be a long day! Since 1972, a “leap second” has been added, to correct differences between the atomic clock and the earth’s rotation, with one planned for 31st December 2008. In 2011, the International Telecommunications Union plan to vote on abolishing the leap second. [...]

Now you’ve got an HD TV… what’s next? Well, it could be 3D. You may remember the various experiements with three dimensional TV transmissions. Now, Sky’s looking seriously into providing a 3D TV service. They’ve recently demonstrated a test of 3D TV using an exitsing Sky+ HD box. The service has to be connected to [...]

The third of our December trials of a weekly podcast has just escaped from the studios. Carl’s almost back on form, and Pete runs through some Virgin Broadband, BBC DAB and movies news, plus the bit where we read your emails, in our “Bit where we read your emails” section. Download from our FrequencyCast Latest [...]

FrequencyCast Update 21 Dec 2008 [ 11:28 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As reported recently, Global Radio is planning to scrap a bunch of local radio station names, replacing them with the generic “Heart” brand. Phase 1 of the re-brand kicks in at the start of January. The following nine stations will be “Heart” by Monday 5th January 2009: Chiltern FM, Bedford – Heart 96.9 Chiltern FM, [...]

As part of our promise to get a new Tech podcast out each week in December – here’s this week’s show – covering a new handset release. Carl (suffering from a bout of scurvy), sits in a studio with Pete and looks closely at the new INQ1 phone from 3, better known as The Facebook [...]

FrequencyCast Update 14 Dec 2008 [ 9:42 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As we’ve covered in recent podcasts, all is not well with DAB in the UK – specifically with commercial radio stations on DAB. The commercial national multiplex, owned by Digital One, is sounding decidely empty since the departure of the GCap stations, and with Channel 4′s decision not to launch the Channel 4 Radio stations… [...]

Rock and Roll on May 2009… there’s a Britcom about Pirate Radio coming soon. “The Boat That Rocked” is a comedy film based on a 1960′s pirate radio station ship moored off the UK coast. The film’s from the makers of Four Weddings, Notting Hill and Love Actually, with an all-star cast, and if the [...]

As an experiment for December, we’re aiming to release a weekly show. Here’s the first – three news stories and a couple of letters. Pete and Carl have some unofficial fun in this 10 minute audio update.

FrequencyCast Update 07 Dec 08 [ 10:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We mentioned the INQ1 Facebook phone in Show 34, but this phone is now available, and well worth a look. If you’re into your social networking, as we know many of you are, then the INQ could be what you’re looking for – this phone links your phone’s address book, Skype account, facebook account, Windows [...]

Who’d believe that it’s 50 years since the first national direct dial phone call was made. Prior to December 1958, if you wanted to call long distance in the UK, you’d have to go through an operator – and to get the billing right, the operator would write down your details in longhand. The Queen [...]

Want to watch Sky but don’t want a dish? Sky has just launched “Sky Player TV”. This is a subscription service that lets you get access to some of Sky’s live channels plus on-demand content from a computer without needing a satellite dish. Channels include Sky News, Disney, Eurosport and the Sky Sports channels. More [...]

Show 34 of FrequencyCast, the UK’s TV and Tech podcast, has just been released. In our regular online radio show, we discuss all that’s new with digital TV. Here’s what we cover in this show: News Updates: ITV joins BT Vision, phones for a fiver, new channels, and the imminent Facebook phone. Focus: A round-up [...]

FrequencyCast Show 34 [ 31:02 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download