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Episode BritishMac006 1/2
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  | Apple release new products on the 28th Feb Apple Computer confirmed on Tuesday that it plans to introduce some "fun new products" next week, but declined to say more about what those products might be. In an e-mail sent to journalists, the company merely said the invited scribes should come to Apple's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters next Tuesday to learn more. "Come see some fun, new products from Apple," the company said in its invitation. Unlike past invitations, which hinted at which product Apple was targeting, the current invitation includes just a picture of a calendar with only the date Feb. 28 on it. At January's Macworld Expo, Apple introduced the first of its Intel-based Macs, including a revamped iMac and the MacBook Pro laptop. The company also updated its iLife and iWork software products, but announced little in its music business, which now makes up more than half of the company's overall sales. In other news: • Can Braun lift Yahoo's Media Group? • Wearable game weaves clues into cloth • MashupCamp: A new kind of get-together • Google to feds: Back off • News.com Extra: Digital books start a new chapter • Sign up for News.com's Morning Dispatch and other newsletters. Sam Bhavnani, an analyst at market researcher Current Analysis, said he thinks Apple may introduce a 17-inch MacBook Pro as well as a redesigned iBook with a 13-inch widescreen display. "The reason to expect an iBook announcement is so that Apple is able to have sufficient quantities shipping in time for back to school," Bhavnani said in an e-mail interview. "The fact that Apple started shipping Intel products ahead of schedule means it is serious about winning 'switchers,' and key to getting Windows customers will be to have systems that cost significantly less than $2,000." Bhavnani said that an ideal iBook would arrive in time for the education buying season, cost $999, and include Intel's Core Duo chip. Separately, NBC said Tuesday that it is making available for free download the pilot episode of its new legal drama "Conviction." The network will start selling other episodes for $1.99 once the show begins its run in early March. The pilot episode is free through March 3. "We believe we have a youthful and energetic cast that should appeal to a new audience that is increasingly comfortable with this downloadable format as a viewing option," NBC Entertainment Group CEO Jeff Zucker said in a statement. Bhavnani said he also expects to see Apple make more out of its recent pact with Nascar.
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  | Three firsts for Ricky Gervais Podcast.pay to listen.
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  | Last episode of Ricky Gervais released. Or is it? They are going to release the first podcast subscription that costs money via iTunes. I think they mentioned a £1 per episode. They (Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant & Karl Pilkington) have entered the Guiness book of records as the most downloaded Podcast ever.
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  | Ricky Gervais podcast goes fee-based By Jonny Evans
The second series of the world's most popular podcast, the Ricky Gervais Show, will be one of the world's first to charge for transmission.
The show celebrated 2.9 million downloads of the free first series earlier this month. The new series launches on February 28 and features The Office and Extras co-writers Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant: "Gleefully bursting the bubble inhabited by Karl Pilkington, a village idiot of global proportions," show representatives explained.
The second series will be available exclusively from Audible UK and the iTunes Music Store. It will consist of "at least" four half-hour shows, each costing 95p to download, or £3.75 for all four shows. All 12 episodes of Season 1 will be available for £2.75. The show is also available to AudibleListener subscribers.
The explosion of podcasting has caused some people involved to begin considering how to make money from the medium. It was only a question of time until someone would take the chance.
Many podcasters - both established broadcasters and well-known independents - will be watching to see what happens with Gervais' fee-based experiment.
Gervais accepts the move marks the first major transition from a free to a commercial podcast. Gervais joked that "he was a fool" to make the first series free.
"As with The Office and Extras, the podcasts have been attracting some high profile fans such as 'The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening, Christopher Guest from Spinal Tap, creator of 'Alias' and 'Lost' JJ Abrahams, and even Jonathan Ive, inventor of the iPod," Gervais said.
"I find it hard to imagine what these living legends must think when they hear the ramblings of that little bald-headed Manc, Karl Pilkington."
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  | Broadband now accounts for 64% of all net connections in the UK,
according to figures for December released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Dial-up appears to be in terminal decline, with connections down by a third compared with last year. The growth of broadband is been fuelled by its widespread availability and competitive prices. End of dial-up? It has been a remarkable period of growth for high-speed net access. In January 2001, when the ONS began compiling net data, broadband accounted for less than 1% of connections. The growth of broadband appears to be largely due to people switching from dial-up to an always-on fast net connection. The total number of connections grow by only 5.6% between December 2004 and December 2005, said the ONS.
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We fully expect a further price war before the summer as a result of mergers, acquisitions and local loop unbundling
Blair Wadman, uSwitch
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But over the same 12 months, broadband grew by 59% while dial-up fell by 34%. Broadband is increasingly becoming an attractive proposition, with many internet providers upgrading customers to faster speeds of 1Mbps (megabits per second) and 2Mbps for no extra cost. Most recently, there has been a flurry of super-fast (8Mbps) services becoming available. "We expect dial-up services to become almost obsolete by the end of the year as more internet users switch to broadband to access video or other content reliant on a high-speed connection," said Blair Wadman, of the comparison service uSwitch.com. "The influx of broadband providers last year caused huge competitive waves, and has resulted in a greater number of cheap and accessible broadband packages being available on the market. "We fully expect a further price war before the summer as a result of mergers, acquisitions and local loop unbundling which could result in broadband connections being widely available for less than £10 a month," he said.
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  | New security vulnerability in Safari has been identified by security experts at Secunia.
The company - which rates the flaw as “extremely critical” - says that the vulnerability was discovered by a source outside the company, Michael Lehn. It can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system, it warns.
The vulnerability is caused due by an error in the processing of file association meta data (stored in the "__MACOSX" folder) in ZIP archives.
“This can be exploited to trick users into executing a malicious shell script renamed to a safe file extension stored in a ZIP archive,” Secunia warns.
It can also be exploited automatically by Safari when visiting a malicious website.
The company has released a test users can run to check if their systems have been affected.
The vulnerability has been confirmed on an up-to-date system running Safari 2.0.3 (417.8) and Mac OS X 10.4.5.
Users can mitigate the threat by disabling the "Open safe files after downloading" option in Safari.
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  | Kubb perform at Regent Street store Feb 28 By Macworld staff
Apple's Regent Street store will host its next 'Live From London' event on February 28.
http://www.kubbmusic.co.uk/
Up-and-coming band, Kubb, will take the stage at 9pm. Their performance will be recorded and released exclusively through iTunes as another in the series of 'Live From London' recordings. It should be available one week later.
Kubb lead singer Harry Collier has been compared to Jeff Buckley. Liverpool-born, Collier left Merseyside to move to Tobago when he was four years old.
The band also features ex-Reef member Dom Greensmith on drums, John Tilley on keyboards and Adj on guitar. The current album ('Mother') was produced by legendary producer, Youth.
Attendance at the exclusive central London gig will be strictly limited.
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  | UNCLE MAC'S MAC MOMENT
For that special Mac moment when someone is admiring your Mac over your shoulder - hold down the shift key when minimizing a window to slow down the genie effect. Try pressing the shift key when activating Widgets via F12 - the widgets blend beautifully into the screen.
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  | A new Mac user group has launched in South Essex.
The group is called South Essex Apple Link (SEAL) and meets monthly in Wickford, Essex. The meetings offer Mac demonstrations and informal help-and-advice sessions.
SEAL also offers regular tutorials and presentations on Mac applications and topics.
The next meeting takes place on March 10. Mac users are welcome to attend a few meetings as a guest. Membership costs just £3 per month.
The next meeting of the London Mac User Group takes place on Monday March 13, THE HOBGOBLIN
21 BALCOMBE STREET.
MARYLEBONE LONDON NW1 6HE Costs £30 a year - includes monthly PDF magazine.
http://www.apple.com/uk/usergroups/finder.html
My local is the Birmingham Group. Next Meeting.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 21st February 2006 Starting at 7.00pm and ending at 9.00pm.
Venue New Technology Institute in Birmingham.
Come see the brand new Apple Authorised training centre and find out what's on offer. Directions, Map and Google Link here
The focus of the meeting is "FileMaker Pro".
MMUG member and all round knowledgable person John Tuckey from Hampton Associates will give us a guided tour of FileMaker Pro and show us some of the fancy ways it can make your data dance. Entrance to the meeting is free for MMUG members or £3 for non-members and includes a raffle ticket. See our Membership pages for details on joining the group.
The MMUG meetings are informal events, but include the following... Plenty of drinks and food. What's New! - latest releases of hardware and software for the Mac. Tutorial/Demo Session - A guided tutorial or presentation followed by discussion. Previous topics have included, AppleScript, eBay, Adobe GoLive, Softpress Freeway, FileMaker Pro and others. Software Offers - In conjunction with the Apple User Group Association we are able to offer discounts on a varity of products, but you can only get these at our meetings so come along. Update Your Mac - bring along your iBook, iMac, PowerBook, PowerMac, or whatever you can fit in your bag to connect to our network and update it with the various new patches and system widgets available. Reading Room - All the latest mac mags and others devoted to creative technology. Raffle
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  | ANOTHER BOOK REVIEW - Troubled Mac
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Fix a troubled Mac 'Fix a troubled Mac'
- a Macintosh troubleshooting book (PDF) (for Mac OS X Users)
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  | You can download a demo - real version cost is $10
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  | Readers letter - Jeremy
avoid the pregnant pauses and stumbling
Perhaps you could include in a future podcast some technical >> details regarding the kit you use to make your show, and also more >> about how you use your mac as a musician.
Given that there are plenty of Apple related gadgets out >> there perhaps you could devote a section of your show to listener >> reviews of them.
>> Hi Will >> >> I tried to write a review via podcast alley, but couldn't get past >> the apple ID page even though I registered. So, I thought I'd drop >> you a line by email instead. >> >> I've listened to all of your podcasts and for the most part have >> enjoyed them. I was going to complain about the appaulingly low >> volume of episode 5 but I listened to your update this evening and >> got your apology for that. >> >> As an english listener I appreciate your style and humour, however >> would it be possible for you to be a little bit better prepared so >> as to avoid the pregnant pauses and stumbling when it is obvious >> that you are making it up as you go. Not that I want you to lose >> the spontanaity, just to be a little bit more fluent. In any case >> I found it to be a distraction only in episode 5 and the Games >> special. >> >> The 'scoop' in your news item today I don't think is related to >> the leaked info about the Apple audio interface. The Apogee unit >> you describe is a full on pro unit already available, and is not >> an Apple product. The speculation was regarding an Apple product >> for the mass market at a low price. >> >> Perhaps you could include in a future podcast some technical >> details regarding the kit you use to make your show, and also more >> about how you use your mac as a musician. As a mac user of only a >> couple of years it is useful to have some dumbed down stuff for >> real world use. Some of the american podcasts lean toward the pro >> user. Given that there are plenty of Apple related gadgets out >> there perhaps you could devote a section of your show to listener >> reviews of them. I have some ipod related ones, itrip, shure e3c >> earphones, and a griffin cable for charging in the car. I'd be >> happy to give you my impressions. >> >> One more thing. Can you clarify the difference if any between >> "mac" and "apple"? I noticed a while back that there was at one >> time an 'Apple' computer which was not a 'Macintosh'. If Apple is >> the company name, what is Macintosh? >> Anyway keep up the good work. I look forward to your next show. >> >> regards >> >> Jeremy >> >> ps I live in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
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  | New BBC Podcast - Go Digital: Your digital world
Should Public Broadcast podcasts be seperated from rest of iTunes subscribe Top 100? Should video podcasts have a seperate list too?
Welcome to Go Digital, the weekly BBC World Service programme that looks at how technology is changing our lives. Each week we explore the world of digital technology in all its forms.
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MEET GARETH MITCHELL
Gareth Mitchell is the never-ageing face of Go Digital. Starting out as a broadcast engineer, he traded climbing TV transmitter masts for science and technology journalism about 10 years ago. His favourite gadgets include his digital radio, digital camera and ancient Psion personal organiser
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Almost every country on the planet has the internet and the mobile phone. The world is truly switched on to the digital age. But what does it all mean, what benefits can such technology provide, and who's in control? Tune in to Go Digital to hear the answers. Each week we will be speaking to leading figures in the computer industry. We tap into the BBC's network of reporters around the world to bring us the technology stories making the news where you are, changing the world around you. Go Digital will be available to as a podcast every Monday shortly after the programme is recorded at 1500 GMT / 1600 BST. It is also broadcast on the BBC World Service radio on Tuesday throughout the day. Get in touch with us If you have any thoughts on this week's show or anything else in the digital world that has caught your attention, let us know. You can send us a text message on +44 7786 202006. Or e-mail using this form:
Send us your comments:
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  | BRITISH ICON - TONY HANCOCK
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  | http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/
THAS
He was born in Birmingham, England, but brought up in Bournemouth where his mother and stepfather ran a small hotel then known as The Durlston Court, now renamed The Quality Hotel. He was educated at a boarding school in Swanage and Bradfield College, Berkshire. He left school at the age of 15. In 1942 he joined the RAF Regiment and following a failed audition for ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) ended up with The Ralph Reader Gang Show. Following the war he received regular radio work in shows such as Workers' Playtime and Variety Bandbox. In 1951 he gained a part in Educating Archie, where he played the tutor and foil to the real star, a ventriloquist's dummy. Here he developed a catchphrase; 'flippin' kids'; that was to earn him real recognition. In 1954 he was given his own BBC radio show: Hancock's Half Hour.§
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  | The Last Bus Home. Originally broadcast 13-10-59 - Series six of the Radio Series.
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  | The annual membership subscription to the Society is £10 for UK and £15 for overseas members. The subscription is payable 1st January annually, but you may join at any time during the year, pro-rata.
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