FrequencyCast UK - Show 108
The show notes to go with Show 108 of our technology radio show.
|
Listen to, or download, FrequencyCast Show 108 (31 mins)
|
Show 108 NEWS
Here's a look at the news stories covered in Show 108:
Windows 10 for Free: First off, an update on Windows 10. We're set to see Microsoft's new OS hit the shelves in late 2015. Words to look for include Microsoft's personal assistant Cortana, a new web browser, Spartan, and HoloLens , a holographic headset. The price? Windows 10 will be a free upgrade to existing Windows 7 and Windows 8 users for the first year, as Microsoft are presumably keen to try to get users off the older software for to make support easier. More on Windows 10 as we get nearer to consumer launch
- Mobile Phone Take-overs - The saga of the UK mobile phone market continues. With BT progressing with its takeover of EE, Owners of 3 are now interested in acquiring o2. And Sky has announced plans to partner with o2's owners Telefonica, to offer a quad-pack (TV, Internet phone and mobile). Expect a Sky mobilephone service from 2016
- New National DAB - Currently, there's one national DAB "block" for the BBC, and one for commercial radio. A second "block" will become available in 2016, and the two bidders have announced their plans – Sound Digital will offer new stations such as talkRADIO, talkSPORT 2, talkBUSINESS, Virgin Radio, Magic Mellow and British Muslim Radio. The other bidder, ListenToDigital, will offer service to existing stations, and local stations including Chris Country, Gaydio and Gem, plus some DAB+ content.
- Mailing Money with Google - Google wallet has been available in the US for the while, but it's just being rolled out here in the UK. You'll soon be able to email money via Google's Gmail. Look for the £ sign next time you're checking your Gmail. Competition for managing your money is hotting up, with Apple Pay in discussion with UK banks about rolling out their smartphone payment service. If you're interested in… err… helping us to test Google Wallet – please feel free to email us a tenner! Worth a try…
- Nokia is HERE? - In an interesting David and Goliath story, a UK startup is being threatened by Nokia, because it's location-based app as a "here" button for checking in. Can Nokia really claim ownership of the word "here" in the context of saying "I'm here"? Watch this cyber-space
- And Finally... And finally, thanks to Sarah for sending this in. Bruce Marler is a lucky chap. In the rush to snap up some of the new domain names that have started popping onto the market, he looked at buying the domain name credit.club. The name, priced just under £10,000 had been mis-priced, and Bruce bought it for £7. The domain provider's admitted its mistake, but it's honouring the price. Bruce is now looking for a buyer, if you're interested…
FOCUS: Show 108
Today's show comes from the Toy Fair 2015 in London:
Why Retro is back - Telegraph News Story
The end of the Google Glass
Interviews from Toy Fair 2015
Toy Fair 2015
This month's FrequencyCast comes direct from London's Toy Fair 2015. Here are some of the interviews and produicts featured:
- Anamin - Virtual Pets
- Wicked Boomer
- Wubble Bubble Ball from Dracco
- MicroDrone - Personal Drone - www.microdrone.co.uk
- Sooty & Sweep Interview
- Kidsme Baby feeder from Ciccada - www.kidsmebaby.com
- Science 4 U - Science projects to help you get hands-on with science
Please Use Our Amazon Store! When you're shopping at Amazon please use the link frequencycast.co.uk/amazon - It won't cost you a penny more, and shopping via our Amazon shop helps to pay for our running costs! |
Cast 108: Interaction
Thanks to everyone who got in touch with us since the last show. In this show, we respond to the following mails and calls:
eBooks with added VAT:
Shau got in touch following up from last month's news story:
"In show 107 it is stated that eBooks may increase in price due to changes in VAT rating. this is a retrograde move in my view as this will have an adverse effect in two ways:
So-called piracy will increase, and people will end towards physical books in preference to the electronic counterpart - meaning increased deforestation thus having a further adverse impact on our already fragile environment."
Nintendo 3DS XL:
Nicholas Skippins got in touch re. a new upcoming handheld games console:
"Hi Kelly and Pete. Please could you do a review of the New Nintendo 3DS XL which is being released across Europe including the UK on the 13th February 2015. I have pre-ordered a metallic blue one."
The New Nintendo 3DS and the larger XL versions ate a major improvement on the current Nintendo 3DS models with improved 3D that uses infrared to track your face to help keep the glasses-free 3D stable when you move the console about. They also have a faster CPU, better web browsing, support for microSD, built-in NFC and some additional controls such as the C stick and the ZR and ZL triggers.
Price £149, or £179 for the XL version
Shortwave Radio:
Bill Douse got in touch about our report of the 30th anniversary of the first mobile phone call:
"The first commercial mobile phone call - you quoted this as between two vodafone employees. Of course, being an internal call it was not commercial and was also not the first mobile phone call. Mobile Telephones existed for many years before the Vodafone commercial launch of analogue (TACS) mobile phone service on 1st January 1985. The Post Office offered manually connected mobile telephone calls from around 1960 (System 3) and automatically connected calls from 1980 (System 4). Both of these systems had very limited availability and were also very expensive.
The first UK Cellular network was built by Cellnet and operated in June 1984 for the World Economic Summit being held in London. Technically, this was slightly different to what was commercially launched in 1985 in that it was the American AMPS air interface operating on frequencies allocated for the TACS commercial service. Both car-installed and hand held mobile phones were used. Cellnet then built a fully compliant TACS network that was trialled for 2 weeks in November 1984. Also, as part of the Noel Edmonds 1984 Christmas Special, an attempt was made to place a call to a Cellnet hand-held phone in Regents Park. This failed and Noel was connected to busy tone. Legend has it that this was because the recipient was calling the Speaking Clock to check to see if it was time to receive the call!
Commercial launch of Cellular, analogue mobile phone service in the UK was achieved by Vodafone on January 1st 1985 although for the first few months Vodafone could only offer car installed or "transportable" (a hand carried version of the car installation manufactured by Nokia-Mobira) as Cellnet had struck a deal with Motorola (the only manufacturer at the time) for exclusivity for hand-held devices (as they also supplied the network infrastructure for Cellnet). Cellnet launched 2 weeks after Vodafone, largely due to the time taken to commission the billing system.
The first Cellular call in the UK (also not commercial) was made to me in May 1984 by Ed Jen (a Motorola Software Engineer). This was a Land to Mobile call made by Ed from the exchange site to me in a kebab shop a few streets away buying coffee. I was using a Motorola 8000X hand-held telephone (the famous "Brick").
The mobile phone as we know it first came about in analogue form in the late 1980s. The first digital, GSM phones in the early 1990s.
Another often repeated myth is that Motorola "invented" the first mobile phone. The correct statement should be that they designed and built the first hand-held Cellular mobile telephone. Cellular Telephony was invented and patented by Bell Labs in the 1940s, although technology to realise it was not practical until the 1980s."
BT Broadband and Spam:
Terry Costello asks:
"I am a BT broadband customer. In the last month I've started to get lots of e-mails in my in box that would normally go to my spam box. Are you aware of anything changing at BT? Is there anything I can do for myself to correct it? I am still on BT Yahoo mail and have not been migrated to BT only mail yet."
There are some basic spam filters supplied with BT Yahoo, but I guess you've tried those. To help with my spam issues, I'm using some software called G-lock SpamCombat, which logs onto my accounts and cleans them before my mail email app downloads them – well worth a look.
Shortwave Radio:
Hi to Mike Parks:
"Enjoyed Cast 107 as always. There is a 'newish' local TV station here in Leeds, not impressed with the offerings, not always Leeds-centric. The aerial topic pricked up my ears. As a Radio Amateur since the early 1970s, I'm always keen to hear new items about the radio spectrum. There might be room in your casts for a short segment, happy to oblige!"
Kelly sends 88s to all our amateur listeners!
Got a comment or question? You can leave us a voicemail by calling 020 8133 4567 or sending us a message. We'd love to hear from a few more of you, so please get in touch and say "hi" - our shows are driven by your feedback - So talk to us!
Want new shows as soon as they're released?Get FrequencyCast shows automatically, as soon as we've finished them:
|
Share This Page:
