May, 2009 Archive
May 27th, 2009 by FrequencyCast in Gadgets, Technology
Satellite Navigation devices could start to fail from 2010, according to a US Government report. The network of orbiting GPS satillites is now around 20 years old, and satellites are expected to fail shortly.
The satellites need replacing after their 20 year lifespan, and the first launch of a new satellite was due for the start of 2007 by the US Air Force. This has slipped by over two and a half years so far due to “technical issues”, and the budget has already been exceeded.
It’s not clear just how close to failure the system actually is, but the official predictions are that if nothing’s done, we could start seeing breaks and unreliable GPS data from 2010, causing grief for the many military and commercial services that use GPS for positioning.
Bet you’re glad you didn’t throw that old A-to-Z away now?
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May 25th, 2009 by FrequencyCast in Announcement
A quick shout out to all of today’s towel carriers.
Today is Towel Day, celebrated the world over. FrequencyCast extends the towel of friendship to all men, women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri. Share and Enjoy, froods…
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May 23rd, 2009 by FrequencyCast in Announcement, Digital TV
News for those looking to switch to Sky – Sky’s currently giving away a Sky+ box for free to all new subscribers in May 2009, plus a £25 Tesco gift card and half-price installation. We’re not sure on when this offer expires.
More at www.sky.com/skyplus
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May 17th, 2009 by FrequencyCast in Phones
If you’re planning to get away this Summer – you might want to consider grabbing a Vodafone SIM card before you go.
This June, July and August, Vodafone will be dropping International roaming charges for over 35 countries. Mostly this affects European countries, but Australia and New Zealand are also included.
This three month offer is open to Pay-As-You-Go as well as contract customers, and covers calls, texts and picture messaging abroad. Unfortunately, data roaming charges aren’t covered in this offer (shame!)
The offer runs from 1 June to 31 August 2009, and you have to opt in to Vodafone Passport (which is free).
Countries included are:
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Channel Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroes, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and Vatican City. Australia and New Zealand are also included.
Full details of how to opt-in to roaming-free voice and text messaging at vodafone.co.uk/roaming
Data roaming is excluded. Listen to Show 38 for some tips on roaming with data on your mobile.
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May 14th, 2009 by FrequencyCast in Digital TV, Freeview, Podcast, Top Up TV
As we’re hoping you know, FrequencyCast produces regular online radio shows (a.k.a. podcasts).
Now and then, we release special audio “updates” to cover breaking stories, and so far there’s been a bunch of stories this month already.
So, we’re just out of the studio with a 16 minute audio update looking at Quest‘s failure to launch, the Top Up TV problems that hit last week, Tiscali takeover news, plus TomTom FM.
Download our 16 minute update now from http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html
Got an iPod or iPhone? Get shows and updates first via iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=142899029
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May 14th, 2009 by FrequencyCast in Digital TV
Today, 14th of May 2009 – Launch day for the new free-to-view documentary channel from Discovery… “Quest”.
Or so we were assuming.
Adverts had been released, Freeview’s website was carrying the news of the launch, user’s Freeview boxes had the channel placeholder on channel 47, TV listings were in the Radio Times, and the on-screen programme guide was showing the first week’s worth of upcoming shows.
This morning, before the 10am launch, promos for the new channel were running, and all was good.
Until launch time.
No launch – just a static “Coming soon” slide.
Quest’s website now carries the following message:
“Regrettably we have made the decision to postpone the launch of Quest. Due to a number of commercial factors we have had to make this difficult decision. We did not make this decision lightly and we are working towards launching Quest in the near future. We would like to apologise wholeheartedly to any of you that have been looking forward to this launch.”
We’re not aware of a TV channel EVER abandoning a launch within minutes of a launch, and this is clearly very embarrasing for someone, somewhere.
Question is… will we EVER see Quest TV now?
More on this story in our mid-May podcast – link below.
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May 5th, 2009 by FrequencyCast in Top Up TV
More troubles for Top Up TV users…
It seems that over the Bank Holiday weekend, something happened that affected users of a number of Thomson Top Up TV Anytime boxes.
The Thomson DTI 6300 hard-disk recorders appear to be failing to start up – showing an orange light. Attempts to reboot the boxes don’t seem to resolve the problem.
It seems that there was a problem with the EPG download on the morning of Sunday 3rd of May.
Top Up TV’s site offers some advice on the problem, but their suggested fix is to format the hard drive, losing all previously recorded programmes. This is obviously not an ideal solution.
You’ll find discussion on this problem on our sister site’s forum at http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?board=topuptv
Check out our mid-May podcast for the latest on this story (link below)
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May 3rd, 2009 by FrequencyCast in Random Stuff
We’ve heard a rumour that the Gadget Show’s Jon Bentley may be a listener to our humble tech podcast. Could this be our first famous listener?
Jon – If you’re reading, we gave you a shout in Show 39. Get in touch and say “hi”?
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May 1st, 2009 by FrequencyCast in Digital TV, Freeview, HD, Podcast
Show 39 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 and technology. Here’s what we cover in this show:
- News Updates: HD on iPlayer, concerns for canvass, plus 1 billion apps on iPhones
- Focus: Get more from Freeview.
- Focus: Hands-on with a low-price home security system from myhome247.
- Focus: FM radio on an iPhone with a Griffin Navigate.
- Your questions on Freeview HD, Slingbox on the move and BT Openzone.
You can download Show 39 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.
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