June 2008 Archives

June 30, 2008

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Being an extra on John Fogerty's Live at the Albert Hall DVD

I went to see John Fogerty at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday. I've been a big fan of Creedence Clearwater Revival ever since listening to my dad's tapes in the car in the 1970s - as you'll be finding out in a series of articles about music nostalgia I've got coming up in July - and so it was an ambition fulfilled to finally see him live. John Fogerty was also fulfilling an ambition as well. 37 years ago,...
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June 29, 2008

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Reaching their goal? Marketing the Euro 2008 'Score for the Red Cross' campaign online

Tonight Euro2008 reaches a climax, with Germany facing Spain in the final, and tomorrow it will be time for me to retire Euro 2008 Fansivu and the Euro 2008 edition of Chipwrapper. Both have been carrying banner adverts for the tournament's official charity campaign - "Score For The Red Cross" I just wanted to write a little bit about how difficult that was to set up. Now, I'm not knocking the Red Cross here - they've raised nearly €0.5m...
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June 28, 2008

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The Daily Mail site redesign: Part 5 - Sports section

Over the last week I've been reviewing the Daily Mail's recently revamped website. There have been some highs, like the innovative use of celebrity RSS feeds, and lows, like the heavy download footprint and annoying content preview overlays. Today I wanted to finish by looking at a section of the site which has been transformed for the better, and in the process demonstrates that the Daily Mail is really beginning to understand ways to utilise the power of the web...
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June 27, 2008

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The Daily Mail site redesign: Part 4 - Hovering preview

I've been reviewing the recently updated Daily Mail website design. So far I've been impressed with some clever RSS feeds and some enticing ways of promoting the message boards. However, I've also been concerned about the very long loading times over dial-up caused by the sheer weight of the pages. I first reviewed the new design a couple of months back when it was a 'beta', stressing the new features that I liked. There were a couple of things that...
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June 26, 2008

Last night's TechCrunch / BBC debate on a 'Common Platform'

Yesterday I went to the joint TechCrunch/BBC debate at Broadcasting House, where a panel discussed some of the issues raised by Mike Butcher's recent posts on TechCrunch UK bemoaning the lack of support the BBC was giving to innovation amongst Britain's web start-ups. The session was recorded, and I'm sure it will be released on backstage.bbc.co.uk or the BBC Internet Blog at some point, and that there will be copious commentary from many of the people there, so I thought...
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June 25, 2008

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The Daily Mail site redesign: Part 3 - Story layout and download footprint

This week I've been writing a review of the Daily Mail's new website design - concentrating on some of the aspects of navigation, the message boards, and their innovative use of celebrity-led RSS feed categories. Today I want to look at the individual story pages and the index pages that lead to them. Story pages The whole point of the re-design is, of course, to get more people to visit the site for longer, in order to get more eyeballs...
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June 24, 2008

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The Daily Mail site redesign: Part 2 - Message boards

Yesterday I started looking at the Daily Mail's recently redesigned website, concentrating on some of the navigation aspects, and looking at the provision of RSS feeds. Today I wanted to look at an area that they themselves are calling 'new' and 'improved' - their message boards. Message boards Whilst some national newspapers have been indulging in tit-for-tat spats over what gets moderated in their user-generated content areas, the Daily Mail has set about re-vamping theirs. Comments underneath article still work...
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June 23, 2008

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The Daily Mail site redesign: Part 1 - Navigation & RSS

Way back when I first started the currybetdotnet blog, the Daily Mail was one of the first newspapers to get its own category, as I alternated between writing about BBCi Search and having a go at the Mail's coverage of things like London's telephone numbering system. These days, I try very hard to keep my honest appraisal of the Daily Mail's site functionality apart from my occasional irritation with the editorial coverage in the paper of things like games and...
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June 22, 2008

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More thoughts on Google's sitelinks algorithm

I was writing yesterday about Google's choice of sitelinks for a domain name, and I was speculating, based on the evidence of the links they list for currybetdotnet, that there may be some hand-editing involved. What got me started on this train of thought was an article by Ann Smarty on Search Engine Journal. She suggested six factors that make up the 'sitelinks algorithm'. Surfers oriented Domain-authority oriented Internal-architecture oriented On-page SEO oriented Brand-strength oriented Competition oriented One of the...
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June 21, 2008

The future of Excel - according to Doctor Who

Spoilers don't respect borders, and so even in Greece I know that tonight's Doctor Who sees the long awaited <SPOILER ALERT!>. It was nice to see something familiar in last week's episode too - although not the landscape of Midnight, which, thanks to the deadly Xtonic rays, had never been seen by human (or Time Lord) eyes before. No, what was reassuringly 21st century was the fact that however far into the future we are in the Whoniverse, it doesn't...
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Is this evidence that Google hand-edits 'sitelinks' for small sites?

A few days ago Search Engine Journal published an article by Ann Smarty where she tried to reverse engineer the algorithmic decisions that lead Google to display a selection of up to eight sitelinks under a search result. She identified 6 potential theories. As ever, when dealing with the black box that is Google's SERPs, it is a mix of speculation, evidenced-based logic, and extrapolation from Google's published FAQs and webmaster guidelines. The 6 elements Ann mentioned were: Surfers oriented...
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June 20, 2008

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"You're wired!" - 7 things The Apprentice can teach you about new media projects

I'd never watched The Apprentice until this year, when a procession of people we were staying with in London had it as unmissable 'appointment' television. I was immediately hooked, and once we got back to Greece, I had an unmissable 'appointment' to download the show as quickly as possible every Thursday morning, whilst trying to avoid 'spoilers' on the British media web. Throughout the series, I couldn't help thinking about the parallel lessons that could be drawn from the programme...
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June 19, 2008

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Euro 2008: The websites - League table

Euro 2008 is now down to just 8 teams, but over the last two weeks of matches I've been surveying the websites of the original 16 finalists. There weren't any major surprises there. It seems that the larger and more prosperous nations had the best websites - and the big three of Germany, France and Italy seemed to be dominating in the online world in the way they have so often done in the past on the football field....
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June 18, 2008

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Euro 2008: The websites - Russia & Greece

As the Euro 2008 group stages have progressed, I've been reviewing the websites belonging to the Football Associations of the nations taking part. With today being the last day of group games it is the turn of Group D, and Russia take on Sweden tonight, whilst my old stomping ground Salzburg hosts eliminated Greece against quarter-final bound Spain. Russia and Greece are in the spotlight for my final Euro 2008 site reviews, two languages that stretch my ability to...
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June 17, 2008

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Euro 2008: The websites - France & Italy

Since the Euro2008 draw was made, probably the most keenly anticipated fixture has been tonight's replay of the epic 2006 World Cup Final between France and Italy - but few could have predicted that at the end of tonight there was the certainty that one would be eliminated from the tournament - and the possibility that both could go. I've been conducting a review of the FA websites belonging to the countries taking part in Euro2008, and today I'm...
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June 16, 2008

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Popcorn triple feature - Roxio's inconsistent labels

Being a big fan of Open Source solutions, I haven't actually had to make many purchases of software for my MacBook beyond OmniGraffle, as, amongst other things Firefox, VLC, CyberDuck, and FreeMind are meeting my needs. I did want a decent piece of software for burning DVDs though, and settled on Roxio's Popcorn. [1] I needed to purchase the latest version 3 in order for it to be compatible with my version of the Mac OS, so went to their...
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June 15, 2008

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Zattoo (slight return)

With the climax of the Euro 2008 Group phase rapidly reaching its end, I thought it might be an idea to look again at Zattoo, the streaming TV service that gathers together all of Britain's terrestrial channels into one broadband player. What intrigues me about the service is the potential clash between sports rights holders, broadcasters and Zattoo. A month or so ago I used the example of the UEFA Cup Final, where Zattoo's streaming of ITV1 was, to my...
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June 14, 2008

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Castrol's Euro 2008 Performance Index not performing on Google AdWords

As part of their sponsorship of Euro 2008, Castrol have developed a website which produces real-time performance statistics during the matches. Here, for example, are the figures from the Netherlands' obliteration of France last night. It looks like a very nice site - even if they can't spell 'defence' the European way. There is a downloadable Castrol widget for the tournament as well. It is built using Adobe's AIR, so in theory it should be cross-platform. I didn't download...
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Euro 2008: The websites - Sweden & Spain

In my series of posts looking at the national association websites of the teams involved in Euro 2008 I've so far looked at the sites that belong to Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Romania and Switzerland, Portugal, Turkey, Germany and Poland. That means I've not looked at any teams from Group D yet, and, if my ticket application had been successful with UEFA, I would have been back in my old home Salzburg preparing to watch defending European...
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June 13, 2008

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Begging more questions than answers - the BBC Trust bbc.co.uk review: Embedded content

I've written a couple of posts about the BBC Trust review of the bbc.co.uk website, one looking at the Trust's comments on search, and one looking at their views on external linking and the BBC's role as a 'trusted guide' to the Internet. I wanted today to touch on a third topic that concerned me in the report - the way the Trust spoke about the 'atomisation' of BBC content. "We are also not convinced that BBC management's ambition to...
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June 12, 2008

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Euro 2008: The websites - Poland & Germany

At the conclusion of tonight's Euro 2008 matches we will be exactly halfway through the group stages of the tournament, and with one co-host already eliminated, anything other than a victory against Poland tonight could see the same fate befall Austria in Group B. On Matchday 2 I reviewed the websites belonging to the Austrian and Croatian Football Associations, before their opening fixture in Vienna. Today I'm looking at the other two teams in the group who are all...
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June 11, 2008

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Euro 2008: The websites - Portugal & Turkey

The second round of matches in the group stage of Euro 2008 gets underway tonight, as I continue my review of the FA websites belonging to the nations taking part. On Saturday I looked at the teams in Group A's opening fixture, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Today I'm looking at the two who make up the rest of the quartet, Portugal, who are playing the Czech Republic in Genève, and Turkey, who face the Swiss in a 'must...
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June 10, 2008

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Begging more questions than answers - the BBC Trust bbc.co.uk review: External links

I started looking the other day at the BBC Trust's review of the bbc.co.uk site. I'm intrigued by the fact that on the one hand the Trust do not think the BBC should play a role in web search, yet on the other hand they think that the site should drive more traffic to external sites. I wanted to look a little bit today at the issue of external links. The BBC Trust are unhappy with the amount of click-through...
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June 9, 2008

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Euro 2008: The websites - Romania & the Netherlands

The 'group of death' gets underway at Euro 2008 today, pitting World Champions Italy, against World Cup Runners-Up France. Based on their qualifying record, however, neither of them earned a top seed spot, which belongs to the Netherlands. The Dutch open their campaign against Italy in Bern, whilst in the earlier game France take on the other team in the group, Romania, in Zürich. I've been looking at the websites belonging to the national associations taking part in Euro...
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June 8, 2008

Euro 2008: The websites - Austria & Croatia

Euro 2008 kicked off yesterday with an opening match between Switzerland and the Czech Republic in Basel, and another game between Portugal vs Turkey in Geneva. Obviously I watched the games, but I've also had an eye on the websites of the football associations in the competing nations. Today's programme of games sees co-hosts Austria start their campaign in Vienna with a game against the team that ultimately knocked England out of Euro 2008 contention - Croatia.   Austria We...
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June 7, 2008

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Introducing Euro 2008 Fansivu

Euro 2008 Chipwrapper isn't the only footie related website I've been working on getting launched in time for this evening's kick-off between Switzerland and the Czech Republic. I've also made Euro 2008 Fansivu. It gathers together comments from Twitter, new blog posts, and photos from Flickr that mention the tournament. They are all available on one page, or you can subscribe to a feed of each different type of content. The different content types update on different frequencies. Blog...
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Euro 2008: The websites - Switzerland & the Czech Republic

After years of organisation and planning, Euro 2008 kicks off tonight in Switzerland. England, of course, after the debacle of their final qualifying match against Croatia, will not be there. The last time England failed to qualify for a Euro finals was in 1984. In a way, that might make for a more entertaining tournament for me to watch. I remember enjoying the World Cup in the USA in 1994 precisely because every goal didn't involve me instantly trying...
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June 6, 2008

Begging more questions than answers - the BBC Trust bbc.co.uk review: Search

I was hoping that Alfred Hermida was going to blog the whole of the recent BBC Trust review of bbc.co.uk so that I wouldn't have to read it, but sadly on the backstage.bbc.co.uk list Brian Butterworth piqued my interest with some choice quotes about search and external linking, so I had to succumb. What has intrigued me is that of the handful of recommendations that the Trust had made to BBC management, two of them seem somewhat contradictory. The Trust...
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June 5, 2008

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Euro 2008 host cities on the web: Basel

This is the last of a series of articles looking at the official information made available on the web by the eight host cities that make up the venues for Euro 2008. So far I've written about Salzburg, Klagenfurt, Innsbruck and Wien in Austria, and Bern, Zürich and Genève in Switzerland. The tournament is now only two days away, and will open with a match between Switzerland and the Czech Republic in the eighth city staging games - Basel....
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June 4, 2008

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Euro 2008 host cities on the web: Genève

I've been writing a series of articles looking at the official information available to fans visiting Euro 2008 from the eight host cities in Austria and Switzerland. So far I have covered Salzburg, Klagenfurt, Innsbruck, Wien, Bern and Zürich. Switzerland is a multi-lingual society, and today I'm looking at a city variously know as Geneva, Genève or Genf. Genève Genève will be hosting the matches in Group A that do not feature the host nation Switzerland, meaning it can...
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June 3, 2008

The Daily Mail's moral stand over 'Emo' protests

If I had been eating my cornflakes when I read the Daily Mail's statement about the recent protests over its coverage of the 'Emo' music scene, I'm fairly certain I would have choked on them. The Daily Mail defended its coverage: "The Daily Mail's coverage of the 'Emo' movement has been balanced, restrained and above all, in the public interest." They also claimed their articles had used: "calm and un-sensational language" You might find that hard to reconcile with a...
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Introducing the Euro 2008 edition of Chipwrapper

Last year I produced a special version of my Chipwrapper newspaper search engine to celebrate the Rugby World Cup, and so it only seemed natural to follow suit for this summer's big football event - Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. Today I've put live the new Euro 2008 edition of Chipwrapper. As ever, Euro 2008 Chipwrapper comprises of a search engine, some feeds and some other bits and bobs to help you find content about Euro 2008 from...
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June 2, 2008

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Euro 2008 host cities on the web: Zürich

Over the last week or so I've been looking at the official websites of the host cities of Euro 2008, which starts on Saturday. So far I've covered all four of the Austrian venues - Salzburg, Klagenfurt, Innsbruck, Wien. Yesterday I featured the first Swiss venue, Bern. Zürich will be featuring France, Italy and Romania in matches from this year's 'group of death', and today I want to look at how fans from those countries will be able to...
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June 1, 2008

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There is the BBC's new media overspend...and then there is Google

Yesterday I bookmarked a piece on The Guardian's site which gave Edward Roussel from The Telegraph the chance to put his view on the BBC's massive new media 'over spend'. There are some good contributions from Jemima Kiss and Emily Bell in the comments, and the whole thread is well worth a read. Roussel makes the point that the BBC's new media budget is greater than the digital budget of all UK newspapers put together, and that it threatens to...
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Euro 2008 host cities on the web: Bern

I've been writing a series of articles looking at the official information being made available by the eight Euro 2008 host cities. So far I've looked at four venues - Salzburg, Klagenfurt, Innsbruck and Wien. Euro 2008 isn't the first time that the tournament is being co-hosted. Belgium and the Netherlands jointly hosted the tournament 8 years ago, and during Euro 2000 I went to matches in Amsterdam, Liege, Bruges and Brussels. Euro 2008 won't be the last time...
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