Do you listen to the radio? Do you use a DAB digital radio? Are you concerned about a digital switchover for radio which will mean that FM radio will be phased out?

Ofcom have produced the latest in a series of reports on which the future of radio broadcasting in the UK will be based. It seems to skew the data it uses on purpose to indicate that the use of analog radio is waning and that DAB uptake is a success.

For example, Ofcom claims five digital-only stations are reaching over one million listeners a week. However, the ‘listeners’ it cites are aged 4+ instead of the industry-standard benchmark of 15+.  Other ‘statistical shenanigans’ are also pointed out in this article at The Register.

It’s designed to convince us that DAB is a good idea and a complete success which we should all rush out to support by buying DAB radios and junking our perfectly-serviceable (and superior quality) FM sets.

There’s also a more in-depth blog about it by a chap called Grant Goddard, an independent media analyst, here – http://grantgoddardradioblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/lies-damned-lies-and-ofcoms-first.html

We’re being fed false information again. Somebody have a word before we’re sold a digital pup.

Yes, I know there’s a new iPhone coming out. Yes, I know the old model iPhones will probably be discounted soon. I just didn’t want an iPhone. The user interface is great (I’ve had an iPod Touch for ages) but I don’t like the way Apple control the way you use things, locking you in to their closed system.

The HTC uses Google’s Android operating system. It has a 5 megapixel camera, a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen display (lovely and clear) and a pretty speedy 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. The reviews of the phone are outstanding, so I’m looking forward to it arriving next week – expect a few photos from it on this blog soon.

It’s my first contract phone for years and is replacing my old Samsung SGH-E900 on T-mobile PAYG (the worst phone I’ve ever owned). On the contract I chose, it cost £99 but Orange knocked £50 off the price for me and as i’d ordered it through the Quidco website, I get £50 cashback too - making the phone effectively free.

Back of the net!

The Google Street View cars have been snooping into open WiFi connections as they drove round taking photos. Google said during a review that it found it had “been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open networks”.

What I think they mean is that after a German Data Protection Agency requested a data audit and found them out, they decided to come clean, but to say they didn’t mean to do it.

As if.

I’m experimenting with a new service for my clients where I ‘Tweet’ each job I undertake on their websites. Where appropriate I mention their business and add a link to their site. Twitter is a good way to network for business and hopefully it should be of benefit to Wensum.net and my clients too.

Take a look at Wensum.net to get a flavour of my working day (the latest Tweets are displayed in the right hand column). If you have a Twitter account, please feel free to follow – look for the account name ‘Wensumdotnet‘.

The idea is that you get some storage space on an internet server (it’s run by Amazon) where you can store your files and some software to install which creates a special folder on your computer. Any files dropped into this folder get automatically uploaded to your internet storage space. It’s a really simple backup solution for important files – however, it’s even more useful than this when you use more than one computer….

Installing the software on a second internet-connected machine allows you to have the SAME Dropbox on them both. Files dropped into one box magically appear in the other. I find it’s a great way to have my work files available on my home computer – especially as I made my ‘My Documents’ folder be my Dropbox. Now, whenever I create and save, or edit a document at work, I know that the same file is also saved to my home PC (and also backed up on the internet).

There are other ways Dropbox can work – by having individual accounts on each computer and sharing designated folders within  one of the Dropboxes for example (that’s what we do for House Advertiser). Its quite versatile. The best thing is that you can use the system free, paying for extra storage space only when you need it.

At H-A, we all mainly use PCs, but the system works with Linux and Mac too so I may install it on my Linux box at work when I have some time to play.

Niftiest bit of software I’ve found in ages!

Did you know that 20% of pea production in the UK comes from Norfolk? Also, did you realise that although the pea season only lasts around 7 weeks, one of PMC’s harvesters could fill 3,000,000 packs of peas in that time? Oh… and PMC’s Engineering Manager goes by the name of Robert Plant – if that doesn’t rock, what does?

More on the story at the BBC’s website.

I’ll be happy to get to work today – just for a rest from computers. No… wait a minute. That won’t work, will it?