February, 2010 Archive
February 27th, 2010 by FrequencyCast in Radio
As has been widely reported in the media in the last 24 hours, rumours are that the Beeb is considering axing digital music station 6 Music as well as the BBC Asian Network.
According to the last audience survey, 6 Music pulls in 695,000 listeners a week (0.4% of all UK radio listening). Amongst those that do listen, the station has a strong following, and we’re already seeing petitions and a “Save 6 Music” Facebook group and petitions popping up, in an attempt to stop the Beeb from closing the station.
Commercial station Absolute Radio (the station formerly known as Virgin) has been quick to leap in, apparently offering to buy 6 Music from the BBC, and run it more efficiently that the BBC has been doing. (Source: The Times)
At the moment, the future for 6 Music remains unclear…
»
February 23rd, 2010 by FrequencyCast in Gadgets
What’s the best game for the iPhone / iPod Touch? Flight Control, of course.
Hideously addictive, and oh-so-simple – land the planes without them crashing into each other. If you’ve not tried it – get it from the iTunes App Store now (assuming you don’t want to be productive for the next few hours, that is).
Now, Flight Control is available for a whole new platform – the Nintendo DSi. Congrats to the makers Firemint.
If you have a Nintendo DS, you owe it to yourself to fire up your DSi, go to the Nintendo store, go to DSIWare and download Flight Control. You’ll soon be gliding planes to a save landing with your stylus. It’ll cost you 500 DSI points.
If you beat our highest score, there’ll be trouble!
»
February 23rd, 2010 by FrequencyCast in Freesat
Spotted today – a Freesat receiver box for under £30.
OK, so it’s not an HD box or a PVR, but if you have a satellite dish you’re not using, £30 will get you the hardware needed to watch over 120 subscription-free TV channels.
The box in question, the Bush BFSAT01SD, is available for a limited time for £29.99 from Argos: Bush Freesat at Argos
»
February 22nd, 2010 by FrequencyCast in Freesat, Freeview, HD
We already have a winner for the first Freeview HD-compatible set-top box (won by Humax a few days back) – Now we have the first IDTV set with a built-in Freeview HD receiver. This telly from Panasonic also has an onboard Freesat HD receiver, optional wireless Internet connectivity and an SD card for external media.
The catchily-named Panasonic TX-P42G20B is a 42″ plasma TV supporting “Full HD” (i.e. 1080p) with a refresh rate of 600Hz – and here is our first picture:
The Panasonic TX-P42G20B Freeview HD TV is available now – we’ve found it at Comet online.
Oh – If you’re quick, you can get £60 off this (or anything over £1000 at Comet) using the magic voucher code AW60 at the Comet.co.uk checkout. The £60 off code expires on the 27th Feb 2010.
More on Freeview HD
»
February 19th, 2010 by FrequencyCast in Random Stuff
We’re after some listener help. We’re planning a feature on MP3 Players in an upcoming FrequencyCast show, and we’ve put together a short survey to get some opinions and stats.
Got two minutes to answer some MP3 player questions?
Fill in the survey at www.frequencycast.co.uk/limesurvey/index.php?sid=61754
Thanks in advance!
»
February 17th, 2010 by FrequencyCast in Digital TV
New TV-over-IP service SeeSaw has just launched.
Offering TV shows from the BBC, Channel 4 and Five, plus catch-up TV shows, this complements the BBC iPlayer very well and offers over 3,000 hours of TV shows that you can watch online. In return for the free content, you have to watch an unskippable TV ad.
Premium paid-for content will be added later this year.
Give SeeSaw a try at www.seesaw.com
»
February 17th, 2010 by FrequencyCast in Freesat, HD, Podcast
Ladies and Gentlemen, we’ve just released a mid-month audio update looking at the release of the Humax Fox T2 – the first Freeview HD receiver in the market.
The update runs for nearly 15 minutes and also looks at the new Freeview iPhone app, and some news on BT’s wireless network. We also review your feedback to the last full-length show, including your thoughts on weather stations and lounge net-top PCs.
The show is attached to this blog entry, or you can listen at www.frequencycast.co.uk/update.html
If you’re an iTunes user, get the show from the FrequencyCast Podcast page on iTunes
Please tell your friends!
»
February 17th, 2010 by FrequencyCast in Freeview, iphone
Freeview has just launched an app for users of the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.
Before you get excited – it won’t let you watch Freeview from your iPhone – what it does provide, is a handy and fairly powerful TV listings service to see what’s on the 50 or so Freeview channels.
Easy-to-use, and with handy access to the Freeview Twitter feed for recommendations and news, this is a must – especially given that it’s a freebie!
The Freeview HD iPhone app is available now on the iTunes App Store
Update: Reviewed in our Feb 2010 Update – Listen to Update / Read Transcript
»
February 16th, 2010 by FrequencyCast in Freeview, HD
Freeview HD launched in December 2009, but there was one big problem – you couldn’t buy a receiver.
Fortunately, that changed this weekend, when the first Humax Freeview HD boxes started to appear in the wild.
Yes, it’s now possible to get your hands on a Freeview HD set-top box – although HD is only being transmitted in the Granada and London areas at the moment.
The Humax Fox T2 HD
The new box supports DVB-T2, the format used for Freeview HD. It has an 8 day programme guide, auto-updates to new channels, supports digital audio, has HDMI and 2 SCART sockets and a digital audio output.
Those looking to get a little more from their kit will be happy to know that the Fox HD T2 has a USB socket which allows you to connect external storage (hard drive or USB stick) for playback of xVid video, MP3 audio as well as JPG images. The T2 also comes with an Ethernet socket that will shortly be able to connect to your Internet router to give you online services including the BBC iPlayer catch-up TV service
The price?
Considering your average standard-definition Freeview box is around £25, the RRP of the Humax HD T2 of £179 is likely to make a few people gulp (Sky’s HD box, the Sky+ HD box, is currently free, has a Sky+ recorder and can get BBC HD without an HD subscription).
Still, this new Humax looks to be a very capable Freeview HD receiver, and comes from a good pedigree of Freeview and Freesat boxes. We’re reasonably sure this will be a hit.
Available instore at some John Lewis branches. It’s also listed at Argos.co.uk
,
Very.co.uk (cheapest at the time of writing) and
Play.com.
More coverage of the Humax T2 in a podcast update due in the next 24 hours!
UPDATE: Podcast First Look released! Humax HD Fox T2 First Impressions
»
February 1st, 2010 by FrequencyCast in Podcast
Happy February people. The first of the month means a brand new installment of FrequencyCast…
Here’s what we look at in Show 48:
- News Updates: Fast broadband from BT, SeeSaw goes beta, and some new thingie from Apple.
- Focus: Getting more from your TV – devices you can connect to get more
- Hands-on: A new media player and a weather station
- Your podline and email questions on Freeview, iPlayer, HomePlugs and PC vs Mac
You can download Show 48 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.
If you have a minute, tell us if you’re happy with our news feed alerts in this short survey: http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/limesurvey/index.php?sid=25112
»
