Aug 11

What’s this? Twitter is evolving!

BAM! Just like that, Twitter became a social network.Up until now Twitter has been what I would call a communications network. Some use it to broadcast, some as SMS 2.0 and some to share their breakfast but this latest move by Twitter is a pretty big sign of its future roadmap. It’s kind of like watching a Pokemon you’ve spent hours leveling up, evolve into something new. You still hold the same affection for it yet it’s different enough to affect how you use it.

When Twitter started they wanted to know what you were doing, then it changed to what was happening, more recently they promoted celebrity users and now their aim is clear; they want a social graph. It’s the latest in the constant battle of Facebook and Twitter trying to mimic each other and consequently both ending up entirely different from each other.It’s crucial for social networking to evolve, just ask MySpace, but I can’t help feel this is an evolution that makes me want to press B repeatedly at.

Jul 29

Thoughts on the BBC and Sky’s F1 Deal

It was announced today that the BBC’s exclusive coverage of Formula 1 is being cut back and that a new deal has been put in place with Sky covering every race and BBC covering only select races.There has been a huge backlash from this with a lot of negative attitude towards BSkyB and Bernie Ecclestone. Now I am not one to usually comment on topics that fall under the flashy umbrella of ‘Sports’ but oddly, I have enough to say on it.

Firstly, it’s a shame that BBC is losing content that it otherwise had. I love the BBC and the fact that it’s scaling down in what is hailed as excellent coverage of F1 is disappointing. However it is downright absurd to criticise BSkyB for taking on coverage of a very popular sport. Many have complained that Sky are abusing their wealth to make an offer for the coverage that the BBC couldn’t match. Welcome to the industry folks. That’s life. BSkyB is a money-making corporation and so is Formula 1. They provide entertainment and make heap loads of money doing so. The former wouldn’t exist if the latter wasn’t their incentive. The BBC is a publicly funded corporation and this has it’s advantages and disadvantages; this includes having to budget accordingly and when private companies have more money, there isn’t a lot they can do.

Other complaints have been highlighting the price of Sky’s subscriptions. Sky has excellent value for money services and offer a premium television experience, which now consists of complete F1 coverage. What Sky charge is neither here nor there; some pay a lot for food at high-brow restaurant owned by a celebrity chef, some pay a lot for a mobile phone because it has a particular logo on the back. Budget and personal valuation of experience and service is completely relative.The television industry, the sports industry and the entertainment industry are all highly competitive, super-rich money-making games. If you don’t like it, go find a stream somewhere.

Untitled

It was announced today that the BBC’s exclusive coverage of Formula 1 is being cut back and that a new deal has been put in place with Sky covering every race and BBC covering only select races.There has been a huge backlash from this with a lot of negative attitude towards BSkyB and Bernie Ecclestone. Now I am not one to usually comment on topics that fall under the flashy umbrella of ‘Sports’ but oddly, I have enough to say on it.

Firstly, it’s a shame that BBC is losing content that it otherwise had. I love the BBC and the fact that it’s scaling down in what is hailed as excellent coverage of F1 is disappointing. However it is downright absurd to criticise BSkyB for taking on coverage of a very popular sport. Many have complained that Sky are abusing their wealth to make an offer for the coverage that the BBC couldn’t match. Welcome to the industry folks. That’s life. BSkyB is a money-making corporation and so is Formula 1. They provide entertainment and make heap loads of money doing so. The former wouldn’t exist if the latter wasn’t their incentive. The BBC is a publicly funded corporation and this has it’s advantages and disadvantages; this includes having to budget accordingly and when private companies have more money, there isn’t a lot they can do.

Other complaints have been highlighting the price of Sky’s subscriptions. Sky has excellent value for money services and offer a premium television experience, which now consists of complete F1 coverage. What Sky charge is neither here nor there; some pay a lot for food at high-brow restaurant owned by a celebrity chef, some pay a lot for a mobile phone because it has a particular logo on the back. Budget and personal valuation of experience and service is completely relative.The television industry, the sports industry and the entertainment industry are all highly competitive, super-rich money-making games. If you don’t like it, go find a stream somewhere.

May 31