Over the last few months I’ve become obsessed* with Battlestar Galactica. Not the old 1970s series, but the new one from a few years ago. I’m at the end of series 3 now and I can’t believe they killed off Starbuck! She can’t be gone forever can she???!?! AND NO SPOILERS PLEASE!
*Obsessed as in watching it, not to the extent of dressing up as a Cylon and going to a convention in search of the best Caprica 6 look-a-like.
They (who are they!?) say three buses will arrive all at once and they’re not wrong, this week is a busy one for persons of the technological persuasion. Firstly there’s Channel 4′s 3D TV week. In case you hadn’t noticed, Channel 4 have been broadcasting certain programs in 3D this week – the old red/blue glasses type of 3D. You can still pick up your free pair of 3D glasses from Sainsbury’s if you are quick and the schedule of programs continues this weekend with a ‘best of 3D’ program and a Hannah Montana concert. Check out Channel 4‘s web site for a full schedule. I’ve been recording all the programs ready to watch in a 3D marathon at some point in the future.
Next up we have the beta release of Microsoft Office 2010 – Microsoft’s newest version of their Office productivity suite available as an unfinished preview to those wishing to help Microsoft test it out before they sell it. So far, programs like Word and Excel don’t appear to have changed too much since their 2007 versions with the odd minor cosmetic difference here and there, but Outlook 2010 is muchos betteros especially when using the Outlook Live connector to link Outlook with your hotmail / live mail account. I can’t see Office 2010 being revolutionary if you own Office 2007 but the promise of Office 2010 Starter edition as a freebie for those just interested in the basic functionality of Word and Excel could tempt a lot of people. Even the “Home and Student” edition, Microsoft’s most popular version at the moment allowing up to 3 installations from a single (£99ish) purchase might suffer at the hands of the starter edition.
And finally….. we have an online movie rental service from Sony courtesy of the Playstation 3. I’ve not tested this out yet but there are over 800 movies ready to download either to rent or keep (prices from £2.49 for the sorts of films broadcast every few hours on ITV3+1 but it’s a start) with a number of recent blockbusters in too. I’ve been waiting for this service for a long time and there’ll be a full report once I’ve given it a run for it’s money. For those of you who haven’t got a clue what I’m on about, the idea is that using my Playstation 3 connected to my telly I can now browse a virtual store for a film I’d like to watch. I choose to either buy or rent the movie, and my Playstation 3 then downloads the film over the Internet for me to watch.
Phase 1 of the digital switchover is now completed, and for those who don’t know what I’m on about your telly is probably going to stop working in the next couple of years. All of the analogue TV channels (that’ll be BBC1 through to FIVE) are being switched off and replaced with their digital Freeview alternatives. Phase 1 for the Kilvey Hill transmitter in Swansea involves turning off the analogue BBC2 and boosting the signal power for most of the digital channels which have been rearranged frequenecy-wise to take their place. The result is that our previously flaky Freeview reception is now pretty decent and watchable for BBC channels anyway which was the aim of this first part of the switchover . The remaining analogue channels are scheduled to be turned off in just under a month (9th September) so I guess that is when we’ll see the newspaper letters from “John, Neath Port Talbot” moaning that “no-one told me they were turning off the TV, what am I supposed to do with myself now? I don’t get my benefits for another week”. We are in one of the first regions to go completely digital, with most of the others being switched in 2011 or 2012 at the latest.
Anyway if you don’t know when your switchover date is, you should check on this web site: http://www.digitaluk.co.uk. If only use Freesat or Sky then there’s nothing for you to concern yourself with. If you do use analogue telly then your telly will either need replacing or your need to buy a digibox… and if you use Freeview already then you’ll have to remember to rescan for channels on your switchover day.
In all honesty I think the publicity for this switchover could be better. If it wasn’t for my own personal interest in what is happening I don’t think the switchover dates have been advertised enough. The digital switchover has been pushed in our faces quite a bit but it’s the specific dates that I reckon most local people wouldn’t have known about. I think I remember getting a leaflet through the door a few months back, and there is a small poster on the side of a bus shelter in Pyle with the dates on (in a comparativly small sized font), but I was at the least expecting a warning banner on the local transmission of BBC2 yesterday telling me that the channel was about to disappear.
So I was walking through the office reception yesterday when a Dalek approached me and tried to exterminate me. Luckily my ninja-like reactions saved my bacon and I dodged out the way just as The Doctor ran past and disposed of him with his lethal witty banter. Actually I just made most of that up, but the Dalek was genuinly in reception while a film crew were busy filming Doctor Who, presumably using part of our campus as a location film set. I’ve not seen any sign of *him* so I’m not sure whether it’s the current or the new Doctor, only time will tell….
Yay.. got to be one of my favourite TV shows ever, a new series of Spooks started last night on BBC1 and didn’t disappoint. Lots of explosions complicated dialogue which confused my sister 
I’ve recorded the second episode ready to watch later (hopefully) cuz I can’t believe they have killed off the main guy in the first episode. Oh well.. a new lead just so happened to arrive conveniently ready to take over. So much telly to watch, so little time… we’ve also got the Channel 4 zombie drama ‘Dead Set’ to watch too and the ongoing Heroes, Gadget Show, and what with Neil Young night this Friday on BBC3 the fun never ends (Ken advises me that BBC3 this Friday is compulsary viewing and not watching it is against the law, Gordon Brown said that apparantly).
