I “never thought it would happen”:https://blog.org/archives/cat_online_media.html#000861, but here’s a major media organization that is going to produce and promote its own peer to peer application. The BBC’s new media director Ashley Highfield just revealed plans to produce, “a fully flexible, platform-neutral, super EPG… that will allow TV content to be recorded TiVo-style.” I’m guessing that it won’t be designed to allow general p2p file sharing – only sharing of BBC content. It’s a little unclear at present whether we’re talking about a set-top box application or something for PCs or both. I hope more detail will emerge soon…

I’m even more delighted that the BBC is going to try to produce ‘ultra-local TV news’ accessable via iTV. I hope this move will not be led merely by the local radio stations but will also give a variety of local groups access to the media.

Thanks to “Techdirt”:http://techdirt.com/articles/20030918/068232.shtml for the link

(Bajra the Peacock Boat)

I just came back from the “Mayor’s Thames Festival”:http://www.thamesfestival.org/ and had a great time. It’s a good example of how cities have the scale to produce public goods which tens of thousands can enjoy. Tonight’s event was a two-hour-long parade of groups of varying age and ethnicity joining peacefully simply to have fun themselves and entertain others.

Oh, and I also love the fact that this is an entirely synthetic festival – set up six years ago just for entertainment, with no commercial hook (though of course it is probably good for the tourist trade)…

It’s slightly melancholy, however. as it is about the last of a string of large-scale public free events throughout the summer, and it is notably both colder and darker at this time of the evening than I remembered earlier.

I have always preferred cold weather to hot – and yesterday London suffered its hottest day in recorded history – 35.3 degrees C (96 F). There may be Americans out there who scoff at such weather but in countries like the UK homes don’t have air conditioning and office air conditioners often don’t work (because they are rarely needed!)

Fortunately it’s a little better today but the latest is that the temperature may go back up on the weekend. This is the last thing I need now that I am trying to put together the first draft of my dissertation – I can hardly think! The rest of Europe is suffering, too…

ChefMoz is a clever idea but a little under-cooked at present. Looking at the London section it has 172 restaurants listed and categorised (out of c. 10,000 available restaurants) and just 24 reviews linked – the Paris entry has 226 entries and 31 reviews. The search engine is pretty limited in its ability to use the categories that have been input. Nonetheless, it is an idea that deserves to go far and I hope it gets developed a little more. If you want to know where to eat in, say, Afghanistan (where conventional restaurant guides may fail to cover you) dmoz may have the answer one day – right now it just has one review.

The main existing London restaurant guides I used to rely on online – Zagats, the Evening Standard and Time Out – all now charge to use them.

Thanks to Danny O’Brien’s Oblomovka for the link

UK-based webloggers should know that the VoxPolitics crowd are doing a seminar:

Can Weblogs Change Politics?

14th July, 5:30 – 7.00pm
Portcullis House, Houses of Parliament (room tbc)
Drinks and Food Provided

Speakers
Steven Clift, e-democracy expert
Stephen Pollard, Blogging Journalist,
Pernille Rudlin, Mobile expert
Tom Watson MP, Blogging MP
James Crabtree, Chair

Dunno if I can make it myself but I expect the usual suspects will turn up and I will be interested to read what comes out of it. I do hope it won’t turn into a “aren’t weblogs wonderful” love-in..sprint ringtone sanyo 3g free5500 ringtone sanyoringtones 6340ifree nokia 6360 ringtoneblackberry free ringtone 7250download 8900 audiovox ringtone93 ringtone till infinityjobs warrington manager payable accounts in Map

When I first arrived in London I was disappointed that the tube begins to run down around midnight. I still find it a little unhelpful, though I don’t stay out so late much any more so I was happy to “sign” this Late Tube Petition which asks that the tube be kept running until 3am on weekends. I wonder if they’ll get their 100,000 signatures and if so whether Mayor Ken will do anything about them?whores free suck self trannylactating nipple lactating torture, nipplesnude nigerian girlshymen teensat teens voyeurlesbian pthcvaginas imagenes degay ebony men fuckingmature cunts creampiepeeing girls tolite photo camfuck hot moviesporn movies hotjack the ass moviemovie karate kidporn movies koreanclips movie avi jpegmovie preteensex movies sample Map

You’ll find on my website about my neighborhood – www.newingtongreen.org – a local history section. I recently discovered a book in the Islington library which details the origins and history of each street done as a retirement project by the reference librarian of Islington’s central library. The book is Streets With a Story by Eric Willats published 1988 by the Islington Local History Education Trust but as far as I know out of print.

I discovered that Poet’s Road (on which I live) is named after Samuel Rogers (who lived at the corner of Ferntower and Newington Green Road). There’s also a connection with Sir John Masefield – the poet laureate from 1930 to 1967 (best known for “I must down to the seas again for the call of the running tide/Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied”) after whom Masefield Court on this street was named

I also learned that the estate near me was built on the site of Dalston Synagogue not during WWII (when as I had heard a bomb dropped on it) but in 1967. I guess it had simply fallen into disuse by that point – I would be interested to hear if anyone else knows anything about it (or anything about Poet’s Road or the history Newington Green area not already mentioned on the website).

I was visiting London’s City Hall on Saturday and I came across this exhibit:

It’s meant to be interactive – you lift handles on the left side and models of a car, a bus, a bicycle and a tube train slide down the rails. Unfortunately, the tube train has fallen off its track – not unlike other tube trains have tended to do. (Incredibly, more than four months after the Central line derailment the trains on that line are only now starting to run on time!)

I have always been mildly curious about the disused stations on London’s underground – now, thanks to Haddock I have found more information than any sane person could ask for!degree real estate accreditedcard line chase 800 creditloans for dollar credit 3000 badcard life 0 credit boaaccept credit card unsecuredbetter alabama bureau business creditresident manager accredited programjoint credit air tour force Map

UpMyStreet, a pioneering experiment in delivery of geographically-based information in the UK, (which also employed a number of people whose work I respect) has
gone into administration. I hope that someone decides to pick up its assets and do something with them. The idea of linking information and discussion to postcodes is an excellent one and with the growth of location-based services of all kinds the site is bound to have a future – its directors say it is “only months from turning a profit”.