Thought I’d rename this weekly post as I wanted to talk about books and print media this week…

On Monday morning I got an email from the iTunes Festival to say that there had been some cancellations and 10 pairs of tickets were being made available for that night. I replied immediately but started to wonder when the replies might be sent - if I waited past lunchtime the chances of making it would be slim. I tried a few phone numbers and got nowhere so went to Durham station anyway, and then on to London.

A cancelled train, a 3 hour and 10 minute journey and a sprint through Central London got me to the Institute of Contempory Arts on The Mall. Two hours standing in the same place in unrelenting rain was completely worth it. It was also like a vision of what it might be like to own or use an Apple product.

Lots of running and standing in the rain, not sure of what’s going on, then being allowed into the warmth of the ICA where iTunes staff couldn’t be nicer and more welcoming. Being English and travelling 300+ miles to be there, I chatted with one of the smartly dressed guys who asked why I was such a big fan. On being given the ticket I was asked how I was today, and one of the guys asked how I enjoyed the gig on the way out. A fantastic evening, especially considering it was free to enter.

On the way home I finished reading Johnnie Walker’s Autobiography. I started reading on the way back from Birmingham, read another section on the way down on Monday, and then the rest on the way back up. I’ve never been that into books, but this one had me gripped from start to finish. Having only listened to Johnnie since 2005 the previous 35+ years are really painted well, and I only wish I’d heard more of his shows. In a few weeks I’ll be down in Harwich to hear Pirate BBC Essex on authentic MW frequencies, where Johnnie will at some point be presenting a show. Johnnie is also presenting whilst Terry Wogan is away on BBC Radio 2, 7.30am to 9.30am.

I didn’t watch much TV last week, but some things that looked interesting for next week… New episode of The Real Hustle, Monday, BBC Three at 8.30pm. Alistair Campbell will be on The Daily Show, Tuesday, More 4 at 8.30pm. Drop Dead Gorgeous was a great show on BBC Three last year and is shown again on Thursday, BBC One at 10.35pm. And Hollyoaks is really good at the moment.

The BBC vodcast trial is coming to an end. Newsnight, Breakfast, the Ten O’Clock News and STORYFix will no longer be available to download as a file - for now.

I love audio podcasts and have been downloading them for a few years, but only recently have started to get into video podcasts (or “vodcasts”). Some traditional media outlets seem more at ease with them than others, but that they’re being produced on a daily or weekly basis is more than encouraging.

The BBC has been doing them as a trial for a little while and they’ve been very good, in my opinion. At 10.30pm the last thing I’m ready to consume is a news programme and the ability to download highlights and watch them on my terms - i.e. on VLC Media Player, under Ubuntu Linux, at 8.45pm on Saturday without an internet connection - felt not so much liberating, but almost exciting as a feel of the future of this sort of content.

Watching Newsnight vodcast on Ubuntu Linux

I’ve watched Newsnight, Click and other BBC News content on a variety of computers, ISPs and speeds over the last year or two and often recall the video clip having either large artifacts, a garbled section of audio or most annoyingly, some buffering. For me, video podcasts just feel right.

It’s a shame that the trial has to end, although I quite accept the reasons for doing a trial and the need to evaluate costs and impact. Considering that even the more reluctant providers have started video podcasts, that BBC content always rates highly on the iTunes chart and a relationship and following had started to build for these downloads, it seems odd to cut everyone off. I rarely watch Newsnight live, but when I do it’s from start to end. I love the reports and the interviews, and now that it’s been made available like this I want more.

I know it’s available to stream online, and the week on Newsnight is on BBC News 24 at 0.30am on Saturday, but personally neither of those are really convenient or comfortable places to enjoy the programme.

Mark Barlex is the on demand editor at BBC News, and in a post on the Editors Blog titled File not found has described the end of the trial. It sounds like some podcasts didn’t do as well as others. Simon Dickson sums it up when he says “downbeat”.

On Wednesday in part one I looked at setting up a cheap Ubuntu machine either from something kicking around at home, a computer clearance company or ebay/Freecycle. If you have a bit more to spend, there are a few more options for finding a new machine on which Ubuntu will run like a dream.

Dell Outlet

As the order process with Dell allows you to chop and change the specification of a machine, any cancelled orders (and orders that couldn’t be delivered, were returned etc) end up at the Dell Outlet. The Dell Outlet is where many Dell products are listed at discounted prices, and there’s often no difference at all from the actual brand new item. My main computer is an Outlet notebook, and as a result has more memory, better graphics and a larger disk for the same money as a lesser spec’d, but “brand new” notebook.

There are two ways to buy from the Dell Outlet. One is the online store at Dell’s website here, and the other is Dell’s eBay shop here. The prices on the ebay shop were extremely low - I’ve just noticed that machines are now listed as Buy it Now and seem to be priced higher than previous auctions finished. There’s still some very good bargains to be had.

Bargain Computing

Someone recently asked me about finding a new machine for less than £200. I thought this was a little ambitious at first, but Dell turned up a good 64-bit machine without a monitor for £188 (a lower spec is available at £165). To save googling and looking through reams of forums, I often come back to dmxdimension.com who list all the E-Value codes and best prices.

Stores like ebuyer list some very cheap home and business PCs. An Esys machine at £145 seems incredibly good value for money, and a Fujitsu Siemens machine isn’t bad at £229. Stores like ebuyer also do barebones machines. By adding enough components to get a working machine, you can add on hardware as you feel ready too and build up a decent computer.

Do It Yourself 

So many people have done this at one time or another. Buy a case and some components, and spend a summers evening sweating over BIOS beeps. This is really cost effective and lets you spend money according to your priorities.

A recent article on Computer Shopper shows how you can build a computer that “doesn’t suck” for $250. I’ve filled a lot of 80GB drives and would go for a little more, but this machine doesn’t appear at all bad.

Using ebuyer, I was able to spec the machine up for £189 with free delivery.

To Summarise

As more and more applications go online, from Google Docs to Basecamp, for the more basic tasks almost any old computer will do. My £20 Compaq Deskpro is fantastic for Apache, storing music and common project files, Subversion and browsing when no other computer is free. Support for USB sticks and external drives is great, networking is no problem and more drivers are becoming available for printers and wireless devices.

Ubuntu is a great Linux distribution. Any problem is solved within minutes of searching for it and the Ubuntu Forums offer superb guides and support. Whilst using the command line might not suit everyone, it’s becoming increasingly easy to install and remove applications. Just searching in Synaptic package manager for an ftp client takes minutes from thinking of it to uploading files.

There are many places to find a sub £200 machine. The options are also numerous - you can set it up with lots of parental controls for the kids, no desktop at all for a web dev server, a web based torrent client for downloading on steroids, a media player under the TV for programs, movies and music or just a little machine for a relative who wants to send emails and write the occasional word document.

Being away from my main computer recently I booted up an old machine I’d installed Xubuntu on last year. Having read and responded to a few emails and performed some important work tasks I realised that the only application I really rely on is a powerful image editing/graphics program.

I forward all my addresses to GMail and Google Docs is a more than capable viewer and editor for what I needed. All my todo lists, project plans, bookmarks, RSS feeds and photos are on various online services. Whilst I wouldn’t want to be without a decent PC every day, Xubuntu (and Ubuntu on later machines) is a good, solid alternative for an extra PC, small server or something for the kids room.

Ubuntu or Xubuntu?

Whilst Ubuntu works well on the majority of machines, if you’re short on memory Xubuntu could be the way to go. Xubuntu is intended for less-powerful computers and features the Xfce desktop environment. I’ve used Xubuntu on a 600MHz Celeron, 128MB RAM and a 10GB HDD with half satisfactory results. At this level, an upcoming distribution, Fluxbuntu, sounds very promising.

Anything upwards of 600MHz, 256MB RAM and 20GB HDD should be fine with Ubuntu. Using an Xubuntu machine with a 1.8GHz AMD processor, 256MB RAM and 80GB HDD to write this post I have to say it’s flying.

Ubuntu and Xubuntu are a wheeze to install. If you’re running with less than 256MB RAM I recommend checking out the ‘Alternate’ CD and using the text based installer, which gets around speed and any graphics issues. The only drawback is the partitioning isn’t as clear, in my opinion. If you have a disk you’re not worried about, it’s a good idea to let Ubuntu do its stuff, then consider following this guide on creating a seperate home partition - a great idea when you want to upgrade.

Either request the CDs or DVDs through ShipIt (which take several weeks), or download Ubuntu here and Xubuntu here.

Route to a cheap Linux desktop, part one

Seems obvious really, but old machines are pretty good for this. All you need to do is check the drive is free of any data you want to keep, doesn’t have a PSU you recall having a problem but can no longer put your finger on and it isn’t a Commodore PET. If you have a machine missing memory or a processor, now is a good time to have a look on ebay and see if you can find a second hand component to get that machine going again.

In my case, I recently went to a local computer store which has a main shop, but also a warehouse with hundreds of second user ex-office computers, monitors and peripherals. Starting from £2 for a very basic machine, up to half decent Optiplex’s for £130 there’s bound to be something suitable. I found a pallet with Compaq Deskpro’s (550MHz PII, 256MB RAM, 20GB HDD) for £20 and all being in very good condition took one home. By the evening I had a fully functioning music player, web server and worthy Yahztee! competitor.

If you’re short on a monitor, keyboard and mouse those can add £15 to £25, and you have a computer capable of most tasks for under £50.

If you don’t have a store like this locally, you could check Freecyle for anyone disposing of an older computer. Another possibility is eBay, where companies clear offices and sell on computers. I’ve done this before and found that the machine wasn’t at all like the one shown, even though the feedback was in the thousands and incredibly good. Having said that, I’d have no hesitation in looking again at this option. Some also sell them without harddrives and offer to fit one for an extra fee, and I’d think about checking the price on a larger OEM drive at ebuyer first. Some sellers also add VAT on the prices shown, but this is normally explained.

A smaller footprint

Both in space and carbon, there’s lots of small factor computers out there. Often seen in libraries and offices, these machines are typically smaller and can sit along side the monitor in a stand. I’ve even seen one mounted in a book shelf with an old LCD monitor in a picture frame to make a fantastic music player (through a hifi) and digital photo frame.

I’m seriously considering something like this for under the TV, or as a small development server. The Dell Optiplex GX270, Compaq Evo D510 and IBM ThinkCenter desktops seem a good place to start.

In part two I’ll look at the options with new or home build computers.

In the 1969 film Carry on Camping, Mr Fiddler, the proprietor of the Paradise Camp Site responded to Sid James’ question “How much to camp?” with the answer “Just a pound, sir.” Sid James goes on to ask “Can we put up a washing line?” to which Mr Fiddler replies “Ah, that’ll be another pound”.

Sometimes I’m reminded of this exchange when using the iTunes Music Store. I’m a really recent convert to iTunes having seldom downloaded online, using various sites when there was a free voucher and so on. With so many internet radio stations I normally listen online as it’s free and you’re introduced to new music similar to the artists you’ve tuned in to hear.

The music I’ve downloaded in iTunes so far has been the iTunes Plus stuff - the higher quality tracks with no DRM at 99p. But I’ve also noticed music videos being sold in the store. Previewing the above video, Beggin’ by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the quality really stands out. Not having any device to watch them on whilst out, nor really wanting to watch music videos at home, I’d pass on downloading anyway. To download this video costs £1.89 - it’s a good video and everything, but £1.89 just feels a little steep.

The Apple iPhone includes a YouTube player, and once all of the videos are converted to allow playback on the iPhone I wonder how many people will be downloading videos like this when they’ll be available at just the cost of the data. The same video is available on YouTube, although the audio and visual quality doesn’t meet the iTMS equivilent.

What’s interesting about an increasing number of music videos on YouTube is that they’re uploaded by the record labels themselves. Entirely coincidentally today I watched Beggin’, which was uploaded by 679 Recordings (Warner), Popular by Nada Surf, which was uploaded by Rhino Entertainment (Warner) and Sophia by Nerina Pallot, which was uploaded by 14th Floor. These videos often seem to be in a higher quality and are free of the MTV logos and graphics.

Having first heard Feist months ago on a BBC Radio Cleveland programme, I didn’t see the videos until this week. I can highly recommend 1 2 3 4 and My Moon My Man, as well as all of the above videos.

With all the new features in mobile phones and the trend to keep making them smaller, increasingly more features are demanding more buttons, which inevitably get smaller.

There are a few handsets available for the elderly, with less features (i.e. no camera), and larger buttons to make dialling easier. Some even include a panic button, and these are a great idea. There are more mobile phones than people in the UK, and I would have thought at least one network would be interested in this market.

Not so, according to an article on BBC News Online. The head of Communic8, which makes the emporia Life mobile phone, explains that they’re finding difficulties in getting stores or networks to stock it. An o2 spokesperson points at the o2 Jet as their own phone aimed at this market.

In Register and CNET reviews it sounds like the phone is aimed at business users, but it is simple and has a good battery life. The numbers on the keys seem a little small, but it is a simple phone.

A few phones similar to the emporia Life have been launched in recent years, and I’m surprised even big branches of Tesco, Currys or Woolworths don’t stock them.

There’s an interesting article in this weeks The Business, Companies must mind their language or risk a backlash.

Matthew Lynn writes on companies and use of language. Recently in the news was McDonalds, lobbying the Oxford English Dictionary over the term McJob. There was also Stelios trying to take control over the word easy, involving a North London restaurant called EasyPizza. Google also spoke about the use of the term ‘googling‘.

Lots of magazines have websites, but the majority are very sparse with a cover of the current issue and subscription information. Some have gone a bit further with some articles and added content (such as blogs), but The Business have a really impressive website. Whilst I read this article in the printed edition, it was very easy to find to link to.

It’s clean, quick, full of good content and up-to-date - magazines take note!

There was a report at the end of the BBC 10 O’Clock news tonight concerning the following question;

What is 1/8 of 32

Apparantly many adults can’t answer that question. I think I only got it because of RAM and knowing 8, 16, 32, 64, 128MB etc.

There was a quote from a Head Teacher at the end though - it’s more important to show what you’re doing rather than just get the right answer (or something to that effect - there’s no video up). It reminded me of the song New Math, by Tom Lehrer.

Consider the following subtraction problem, which I will put up here: 342 minus 173. Now, remember how we used to do that: three from two is nine, carry the one, and if you’re under thirty five or went to a private school you say seven from three is six, but if you’re over thirty five and went to a public school you say eight from four is six. And carry the one, so you have one hundred and sixty nine. But in the new approach, as you know, the important thing is to understand what you’re doing, rather than to get the right answer.

New Math, on Wikipedia

I see a lot of blogs and sites with RSS feeds now, which is great. Many are starting to use the common feed icon instead of their own, or combinations of XML, ATOM, RSS, Feed and so on.

You may notice on some blogs that in Firefox a little RSS icon appears in the address bar, and the RSS icon in Internet Explorer 7 will light up on certain pages. This is done by placing a line of code in the <head> of your layout.

<link rel=“alternate” type=“application/rss+xml” title=“RSS 2.0″ href=“http://james.webkanix.com/feed/” />

That’s it. Replace the values with your own and check it out. Visitors won’t have to check footers, side navigation and content for the feed - it’s right there for the taking.

I’ve tasted American candy before and it seemed quite different from what I’d been used to in Cadburys. It’s very sweet, but doesn’t taste as milky to me. Anyway - there’s a really interesting article in the New York Times on candy from the UK and a shop in New Jersey selling Cadburys and Nestle stuff to expats.

Read: The World’s Best Candy Bars? English, of Course