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. Instead, there’d be a leap-hour every 600 years.

The practical upshot is that the time we use would be UTC, not GMT, and it will become increasingly difficult to tell the time from the position of the sun and the stars. GMT would lose its status as a timezone.

Want to keep GMT? Sign the petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save_gmt/

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 a special 3D TV set. The screen needs a polarising filter, are you’re still required to wear a set of special viewing glasses.

Japan’s already running with 3D TV – just 2 hours a day, but it’s a start, and it’s believed that 3D TV sets will be debuted at Consumer Electronic Show in January 2009.

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 page

Share, enjoy, and rate us on iTunes

 FrequencyCast Update 21 Dec 2008 [11:28m]: 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, Dunstable – Heart 97.6
Hereward FM, Peterborough – Heart 102.7
Horizon Radio, Milton Keynes – Heart 103.3
Northants 96 – Heart 96.6
Radio Broadland, Norfolk – Heart 102.4
SGR FM, Suffolk – Heart 97.1 & 96.4
SGR Colchester – Heart 96.1
Q103, Cambridge – Heart 103

Hmmm

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 Phone.

Slick integration of Contacts, Instant Messaging and Social Networking, this is a surprisingly powerful little phone. Listen to our 9 minute audio review of this low-priced, high-spec phone.

More details on our INQ Review page.

The INQ1 is available free on a contract, or £79.95 on Pay-as-you-go at www.three.co.uk.

 FrequencyCast Update 14 Dec 2008 [9:42m]: 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… the multiplex is half-empty.

To help out the struggling multiplex, it looks like the BBC is considering lending a hand. The Beeb is considering shifting some of its digital channels to the commercial multiplex – this would allow space for more BBC channels, or to allow improvements to the quality of BBC stations, which are running on a low bitrate.

Good to see the BBC pushing on with DAB – just a shame that commercial radio can’t make a go of DAB

Back in Show 19, we looked at Energy Meters – gadgets that can monitor how much electricity your home’s using, and help you to cut down on your bills.

We’ve just seen online retailer Ethical Superstore drop their prices, meaning you can now get a meter for your home for under £30.

You can now get the Efergy Meter for £34.21, the Owl Electrisave for £29.31, or the stylish Wattson for £97.82.

For more on these meters, see our Energy Meter page at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/energymeters.html

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 trailer’s anything to go by, this could be a top film. The radio station’s called Radio Rock, and is a clear hat-doff to Radio Caroline and the good ships Ross Revenge and Mi Amigo.

You’ll find the FrequencyCast boys in the front row at a cinemaplex near you in May 2009. While you’re waiting, check out the movie preview… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnQc3lO4JDs

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 [10:00m]: 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 Live Messenger and your Last FM music together, so you can keep track of your friends.

Unlike the iPhone, this is a low-cost Internet-enabled device… under £80 on PAYG, or £15 a month on contract with unlimited Internet access.

The INQ1 is available now direct from www.three.co.uk, and we’ll be reviewing this in an upcoming show.

More on our INQ Facebook page

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 made that first historic call from Bristol to Edinburgh in 1958, and there’s a video clip on the BBC website

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 channels will be added soon. Sadly, no Sky 1 as yet though. The service is free to existing Sky customers with Mutiroom, or Broadband Max, otherwise packages are from £15 a month.

The new Sky Player TV service uses Microsoft’s Silverlight, and runs on both PC and Mac.

Details at http://skyplayer.sky.com/

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 of today’s digital recorders, plus some new Denon headphones.
• Your Questions and comments on Freeview HD, PVRs and Slingbox.

You can download Show 34 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html. If you have an iPod or iPhone, get shows faster by signing up via iTunes.

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