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Showing posts from March, 2009

Sunday sport

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What a fantastic start to the Formula 1 season. There's been so much hype surrounding the negative aspects of this season's rule changes , that it was great just to get to see some racing . And how. After years of dull processions, F1 looked to have made a return to the good old days, based on today's Australian Grand Prix. First corner crash? Check. Exciting overtaking? Check. Dangerous manoeuvres? Check. British driver atop the podium? Check. ▪ ITV don't have much luck with sport. After their farcical coverage of the FA Cup this year (plus a history of poor decisions - from The Premiership to ONdigital - and their involvement with (what will hopefully become known as) the "dull years" of Formula 1, today was the last time they will be showing the Oxford vs Cambridge University Boat Race. In fairness, their coverage of the event has been praised, but what you have to ask is - who cares? There's no other sporting event in the world that has such se

The Apprentice: Wash out

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The Apprentice is back. And how. It always amazes me how clueless the candidates seem to be about the whole process. At times, the new candidates seem to have learnt from the mistakes of the past – for example, both teams managed to sort out team names pretty rapidly this year – but then everything falls apart. The women couldn't get themselves organised, at first spending too long choosing a team leader, then arguing over how much money to spend on cleaning products... and then bitching about it in the taxis. Their approach didn't look like it could get any worse... until they started arguing with their potential customers over how much to charge! £300 to clean three limos? £300?!? The phrase "That's an amazing quote" really shouldn't be used when you're charging double what the guy's currently paying. The boys on the other hand started very promisingly indeed. Within five minutes they'd sorted out a plan, had a potential client on the

Haute Définition

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With a few hours to kill last weekend, I thought I'd go for a wander around town and get some window shopping done (I'd incorrectly assumed that the supermarket opened at 10.00 on a Sunday morning, so rather than being the first person in the store, I was actually an hour early). This is always a slightly dangerous thing to do, because I'm not very good at resisting the temptation to actually buy something - usually music, but occasionally a new gadget or piece of hi-tech kit to play with. It was with a certain sense of inevitability then when I saw an ex-display (read: reduced price) HD Freesat box on offer in John Lewis... and ended up taking it home. In the battle of Head vs Heart, the latter was victorious, despite the very strong argument from Head that there was no guarantee that the "SAT" connection plate on the wall of the flat was connected to a dish at the other end. I'm very glad I did though, because although the channels available through

Review: Lego Indiana Jones

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The story The story follows the plot of the original Indiana Jones trilogy pretty faithfully – in Lego, of course – so we join the archaeologist as he gallivants around the world in search of priceless treasures and adventure. This being Lego, the Nazi content has been toned down somewhat, and there's no face-melting when the Ark of the Covenant is prised open. However, this is more than made up for by bucket-loads of comedy, wit and charm that you can expect from the little plastic Danish guys. The game The game is split into eighteen levels, with each "film" made up of six stages. Throughout each stage, there are a number of different objectives. The first is to collect coins, which can be used to buy new characters and unlock extra features upon your return to Bartlett College. There are also artefacts and unlockable features hidden on every level to discover. Challenges require a combination of puzzle-solving, building, jumping, dodging and "teamwork"

When you get what you want, but not what you need

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For the latter half of last year, I'd been saving up a little bit of money each month to buy myself a new, flat-screen television set. This plan worked for about two months, then I had a splurge, then Christmas came along, and by the start of 2009 I was worse off than I'd been in October. Nevertheless, I'd set my heart on a new TV, and finally got round to buying one (out of my overdraft, in the end) a few weeks into January. (This was also at the expense of a new laptop, as the old one broke on the morning of my TV shopping trip... but by that stage, I was far too excited to change my plans my mind was made up.) Now, I don't have much cash to spare at the moment either, but there are a great number of things all calling to me to be purchased. After I foolishly broke my digital camera last year (don't leave them at the bottom of your suitcase, folks. Especially when you're lugging that suitcase across London on trains), I've been thinking about getti

A grand don't come for free

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The internet has changed the way people think about business. Not only has it blast the marketplace wide open – at the expense of companies like Zavvi – but it's also turned the notion of the business model on its head: companies are able to offer services online for free , and still generate revenues. In the early stages, it looked like selling advertising was the answer. But the limitations of this approach soon became clear. Not only did they not generate very much cash, the system (where advertisers paid sites per click) was open to abuse. Furthermore, people soon became tired of irritating banners, pop-ups and splash pages... they used technology to block them, or voted with their feet and went elsewhere. Webco's were forced to be as dynamic and innovative with their business planning as they were with their internet services. For small-time sites, the " T-shirt economy " now provides a steady, if somewhat meagre, income which at least covers costs. Last