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My Favourite Tipples in Free Pint #252
I'm in this week's Free Pint Newsletter writing about my five favourite tipples. No, despite the 'pint' in the name, I don't mean mojito, rum'n'coke, frappé with Baileys, tequila or 'any fizzy lager will do', but my five favourite websites. Frankly, upon realising that I wasn't going to be able to list any websites for downloading music, video, pr0n or cracked software, I was slightly stuck as to remember what else the interweb was for ;-) In the end I...

Read the full post - Published May 9, 2008 in Web

Wikipedia users respond to Tom Utley's criticism in the Daily Mail
I bookmarked this piece by Tom Utley in the Daily Mail today - "Abortion and why, since my boy fiddled my Wikipedia entry, I've feared the sinister power of the internet" - with the comment that: "I'm willing to wager Tom Utley will have an expanded Wikipedia entry pretty soon after publishing this article which seems to pin the decline of Western civilisation on his son's ability to vandalise Wikipedia, the BBC and Google's stance on advertising" In fact, I...

Read the full post - Published April 12, 2008 in Daily Mail, Web

Not going anywhere today with Expedia
I was just trying to tie up some loose ends of my travel arrangements this morning, and wanted to price up the relative merits of flying around Britain rather than using the rail network. All my instincts tell me that, at short notice, it will be much cheaper for me to vastly increase my carbon footprint. However, I wasn't getting any of the information from Expedia. A visitor to their site this morning was getting a positively old-fashioned "We've taken...

Read the full post - Published April 5, 2008 in Web

Reviewing the Instablogs 'citizen journalism' platform
A couple of week ago I was contacted by the team at Instablogs, asking whether I would be interested in having a look at their site. I normally shy away from this kind of promotion, but I was rather intrigued by the premise of the service, so I did have a look, and had a bit of email to-and-fro with the PR manager. In one sense, Instablogs is just another simple blogging platform. However, it combines the regular concept of...

Read the full post - Published April 4, 2008 in Blogging, Media, Product review, Web

Postcard from Macau #5: Hong Kong's Edison Chen sex photo scandal rumbles on
I recently spent three weeks visiting Macau, the former Portuguese territory on the south coast of China. As a former colony like Hong Kong, it is now a 'Special Administrative Region'. This post is one of a series looking at aspects of information design, user experience, internet use and journalism that interested me when I was there. "As of this evening, the police have made significant advances towards solving this malicious crime. As from the beginning I will continue...

Read the full post - Published March 22, 2008 in Macau, Travelogue, Web

The online fall-out of the Daily Express apology to Madeleine McCann's family
There is only one story about the media in today's media, and that is the story of the Daily Express making a front page apology to the family of missing Madeleine McCann. There is plenty of fall-out from the apology on the web as well, where the story was the lead item this morning, with the additional admission: "Please note that, for legal reasons, we have disabled reader comments on this article". The effects are felt strongest if you try...

Read the full post - Published March 19, 2008 in Daily Express, Google, Media, Newspapers, Search, Web

Woman's Own gets a print 'blog'
You'll do almost anything to keep yourself amused in an airport whilst waiting for a flight. On Monday in Heathrow's godforsaken Terminal 2, that included flicking through a copy of "Woman's Own". Well, a man has to get his fill of celebrity gossip, female health problems and lead interviewee Piers Morgan. At the back of the mag was the "Woman's Own" 'interactive' section, called 'Chat Room - Your life, your opinions, your page'. I was more interested in this than...

Read the full post - Published March 19, 2008 in Blogging, Media, Voting, Web

Promoting bands online in 1995 - Telwhat Mutelibtech to where?
I love stumbling across little bits of nostalgia about the way computers used to be - whether it is an old guide to getting online, or a basic instruction book for programming micro-computers. I spotted another one the other week. I was going through and ripping some CDs to iTunes - a process which I'm guessing, like the UK, may technically be illegal in Greece - when I came across a Freepost mailing slip card in Nitzer Ebb's dismal final...

Read the full post - Published March 9, 2008 in Music, Nostalgia, Web

Can domain names predict where Euro2016 will be held?
Whilst I was in the middle of researching the websites associated with this year's Africa Cup of Nations, it suddenly occurred to me to check whether a website had been set-up for Poland and Ukraine's joint Euro2012 tournament. Since UEFA recently issued a stern warning (stern for them, anyway) expressing concern about the pace of preparations, I was pleasantly surprised that the domain is registered and already pointing to UEFA. Which got me thinking about euro2016.com and beyond. It seems...

Read the full post - Published March 7, 2008 in Football, Web

The Buffy guide to the Internet - 1997 style
Back in 1997, in an episode called "I, Robot...You, Jane", Joss Whedon pitched Buffy The Vampire Slayer against a demon that had invaded the Internet. This article looks at all of the computer and technology in the episode. Was Sunnydale High was a Mac or Windows school? What does demon possessed computer software look like? And how can techno-pagans build 'circles of protection' using chat room software alone... Ms. Calendar: Oh, I know, our ways are strange to you,...

Read the full post - Published February 24, 2008 in Nostalgia, Popular, Television, Web

All your flame wars are belong to us - BBS systems are 30 years old

Published February 16, 2008 in Nostalgia, Web

Worst Amazon phishing attempt ever?

Published February 10, 2008 in Web

African football association websites get ready for the Ghana 2008 semi-finals

Published February 7, 2008 in Football, Web

Following Ghana 2008 on the official Africa Cup of Nations websites

Published February 3, 2008 in Football, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 16 - "Most Popular"

Published January 31, 2008 in Media, Television, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 15 - Lateral and related navigation II

Published January 30, 2008 in Media, Television, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 14 - Lateral and related navigation I

Published January 29, 2008 in Media, Television, Web, Widgets

24/7 TV news websites: Part 13 - Global navigation and classification

Published January 28, 2008 in Media, Television, Web

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell on the web

Published January 27, 2008 in Web

FAQ you! ACAP doesn't do 'attribution' for critics

Published January 25, 2008 in Search, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 12 - Search III

Published January 24, 2008 in BBC, CNN, France 24, Search, Television, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 11 - Search II

Published January 23, 2008 in France 24, Search, Television, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 10 - Search

Published January 22, 2008 in BBC, CNN, Search, Television, Web, Yahoo

24/7 TV news websites: Part 9 - Sky News

Published January 21, 2008 in Television, Web, Widgets

24/7 TV news websites: Part 8 - Russia Today

Published January 18, 2008 in Television, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 7 - ITN

Published January 17, 2008 in Television, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 6 - France 24

Published January 16, 2008 in France 24, Television, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 5 - Euronews

Published January 15, 2008 in Television, Web

Greece lets Athens Olympics domain names lapse

Published January 14, 2008 in Football, Greece, London Olympics, Olympics, Web

The worst flag icons in the world...ever!

Published January 13, 2008 in Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 4 - CNN

Published January 11, 2008 in CNN, Television, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 3 - BBC

Published January 10, 2008 in BBC, Television, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 2 - Al Jazeera

Published January 9, 2008 in Television, Web

24/7 TV news websites: Part 1 - Introduction

Published January 8, 2008 in Articles, Media, Television, Web

Gene Marks is dangerously wrong about "Tech 'solutions' your small biz can't use"

Published January 8, 2008 in Blogging, RSS, Web, YouTube

My bookmarks of the year 2007 - part 2

Published December 28, 2007 in Web

My bookmarks of the year 2007

Published December 27, 2007 in Web

Ten years of BBC Online

Published December 22, 2007 in Articles, BBC, Blogging, Nostalgia, Web

British newspaper robots.txt files

Published December 6, 2007 in Newspapers, Web

ACAP - flawed and broken from the start?

Published December 2, 2007 in Newspapers, Popular, Search, Web

Watching the FIFA World Cup draw in Greece and online

Published November 26, 2007 in Football, Greece, Web

Trust me, the Child Benefit data loss risk to children isn't from paedophiles

Published November 25, 2007 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail, Web, eGovernment

How accessible are Britain's online newspapers? Part 11 - Feature chart and scores

Published November 20, 2007 in Accessibility, Newspapers, Web

How accessible are Britain's online newspapers? Part 9 - Daily Star

Published November 16, 2007 in Accessibility, Daily Star, Newspapers, Product review, Web

How accessible are Britain's online newspapers? Part 8 - The Times

Published November 15, 2007 in Accessibility, Newspapers, Product review, The Times, Web

How accessible are Britain's online newspapers? Part 7 - The Telegraph

Published November 14, 2007 in Accessibility, Daily Telegraph, Newspapers, Product review, Web

How accessible are Britain's online newspapers? Part 6 - The Sun

Published November 13, 2007 in Accessibility, Newspapers, Product review, The Sun, Web

How accessible are Britain's online newspapers? Part 5 - The Independent

Published November 12, 2007 in Accessibility, Newspapers, Product review, The Independent, Web

How accessible are Britain's online newspapers? Part 4 - The Guardian

Published November 9, 2007 in Accessibility, Newspapers, Product review, The Guardian, Web

How accessible are Britain's online newspapers? Part 3 - Daily Mirror

Published November 8, 2007 in Accessibility, Daily Mirror, Newspapers, Product review, Web