Matt’s Journal

Feature Updates

Posted by Matt under Angry, Blogging, Happy, Tech, Update

You may have already noticed that I have rolled out a few feature updates. Let me tell you a bit about them.

1. OpenID Support

OpenID is an open standard that lets you sign in to other sites on the Web using little more than your personal URL. This means less usernames and passwords to remember and less time spent signing up for new sites. The plugin installed on m4tt.net allows commenters to use their OpenID to assure their identity as the author of the comment. It will also provide a framework for future OpenID-based services as OpenID functionality and it’s user base increases.

For example:

2. Post Rating

This plugin will allow users to vote for blog content on m4tt.net. It will allow me to gauge what readers of the blog are enjoying and also show in my sidebar what people are rating the highest for people like yourself to see. To use this feature, look at the bottom of any post on this blog and a rating bar should be visible for you to use.

Thanks to honest_ape for the inspiration.

3. RSS Updates

Some readers of this blog have had problems subscribing to my Feedburner RSS feeds. In order to allow people to syndicate with this blog and read my content in an RSS reader but not use the Feedburner URL, please bookmark or syndicate the following URL: http://www.m4tt.net/feed/atom/

Thats about it really! Any suggestions or comments, please do leave them using the forms provided.

The Future Of TV Media

Posted by Matt under TV

Ever since LOST hit our screens, I have been downloading TV shows in order to beat the broadcast delay in the UK. Before then, American TV that I enjoyed was limited to the odd CSI or Sopranos episode.

As soon as I had downloaded the entire first series of LOST, I watched it in one night and was left itching for more decent programming. In my search, I ended up downloading four to five American releases a week, including Desperate Housewives, The O.C, One Tree Hill, Family Guy and Heroes. The common theme here is that even though I was from the UK and downloading these shows, 50,000 other people (mainly from America) were doing the same.

Online media is the way that TV and Film needs to go in my opinion. Watching TV in the past used to be a family affair where plans for your evening centred around what you watch and when. You would decide on the best order of what was going to be shown and then if you could, you would record the rest for a later viewing. But as times have changed and the target demographic is considerably more technologically advanced than their older counterparts, concessions need to be made for those who don’t stay in to watch their TV shows anymore.

In the UK, we have Sky+, a service that allows you to view a constantly updated programme schedule for the next 7 days, set reminders for what you wish to watch and then digitally record (to the set top box itself) the programmes you were going to miss. So widespread has this box become, “Sky Plussing” a programme is as synonymous with recording as “Googling” is to web search. The point here is that people love to watch what they want, when they want. Allowing people to do this and having statistics for this specific quota of people would show that viewing numbers are not decreasing, people are saving content for a more convenient time. I have no figures to back this up of course but I think a straw poll would reinforce my point somewhat.

Take my above point that viewers from the country that the programme is shown are downloading the show for later viewing. It is a high quality file, delivered straight to your desktop and it’s free. Most of the time I has the advertisements stripped out and you can watch a show in less than 40minutes instead of the normal hour when watching it on the network channel. This is not just limited to North America, people from the UK and all over the world are downloading shows from their own television networks because it is convenient and in most cases fast and trouble free (minus the legal ramifications).

Don’t get me wrong, the ability to watch these programmes online from NBC, Fox and even the BBC exists and on the most part works very well. If these networks would syndicate with the PirateBay’s, Mininova’s and Demonoid’s of this world and publish their shows in an attractive 350MB DivX or Xvid file (even with advertisements intact), not only would the viewership of each show increase, I would stake money on the fact that other countries would want to syndicate the content on their networks, thus driving profit on any particular show due to DVD sales and deals from syndication.

The current system is restricted to limiting viewing to the country in which it is aired. I can agree with that, after all you need advertisements to remain relevant and allow the consumer to feel privileged. If networks would work with overseas networks and distributors, we would have market saturation and also the ability to create worldwide buzz about their product.

iTunes does already serve LOST downloads and I have heard that it works well. I feel that if a network has accrued rights to the programme and airs it free of charge as part of their listing, the download should also remain free. Of course they need to make a profit otherwise it wouldn’t be worth promoting the said show, perhaps advertising or subscriptions to online services would put paid to that?

Don’t see this as any sort of professional insight into the industry, I just feel free and available should be what the TV networks should strive for whilst catering to their board when it comes to profits. There has to be a way, the consumer knows what it wants but the traditional outlets are still holding onto their antiquated beliefs.

Film and music on the other hand, will have to wait to another day!

Wedding Banns et al

Posted by Matt under Wedding

This weekend has been fun, with myself and Katie running around the parishes making sure our upcoming wedding is all prepared for.

Attending church on Sunday, we stayed behind to confirm all was still OK for our wedding. We enquired about the confetti, whether they would ring the bells, who would infact be taking our service. That was all quickly dealt with and we were swiftly asked to fill in the form for the churches electoral roll. This should have been done a lot earlier but with the male vicar we had originally scheduled for our wedding having personal problems, we have been dealing with his wife (also a vicar) so there have been some delays in getting it all sorted. She will be taking the service which suits us much better.

So we are to be added to the electoral roll and next will be to make sure that our Banns are read. Because we have been attending the parish where we wish to be married for more than 6 months, we don’t need a wedding license and just need to make sure that they read the Banns before our actual wedding. What we didn’t realise was that we would also need to visit the parish in which we live (weird because the church we are marrying in is about a 10 minute walk away) in order to have the Banns read in the local parish. This required us to journey over to the vicarage, meet the vicar and then give him our details.

He then, in his infinite wisdom, mentions that because I have only been living at Katie’s for a short time, I may have to get the Banns read in my local parish before I moved, making it a third reading in as many weeks! We have to pay for each one of these readings and their certificates, weighing in at nearly £100 for the lot……that was not expected!

In summary though, we have got it all sorted and we are still on course to be married. It’s been a testing time and I think we will be glad when it’s down to the actual day as it’s been a tad stressful :).

Luftwaffles

Posted by Matt under Videos

I found this on Vimeo earlier and thought the animation was awesome:

The guy who made it is called Wil Barani and his site can be found here.

Twitter: Mountains and Molehills

Posted by Matt under General, Social Media, Spendage

I have been reading Techcrunch and various Web2.0 blogs recently bemoaning the fact that Twitter has been down so much since it’s popularity sky-rocketed. You have Michael Arrington single-handedly charting their ups and downs, telling us how Twitter can change their ways to maximise their cluster computing from Amazon.

The problem is that people are building this service up on a pedestal, making its very existence essential for them to live their lives.

I happen to have Twitter, Gmail, MSN, Yahoo and my blog as other communication mediums. When certain services are down (there have been times I am unable to connect to Gtalk and I bet they have better server management than Twitter), I have just switched to another service.

I’m stuck for things to do this Sunday afternoon and have been bombarded on Twitter and Google Reader with anti-Twitter propaganda and wanted to sound off.

Just for the record, Friendfeed is a useless service and I have no idea why people are singing its praises so much.

Bank Holiday

Posted by Matt under General

You Americans have no idea what a Bank Holiday is and I shalln’t tell you. All I shall tell you is that I will be relaxing a little longer than usual this weekend.

Things have been moving, I have been snowed under at work and only managing to come up for air once the clock hits 5pm. Katie has returned from holiday and got straight back to work, so we haven’t seen much of each other.

This weekend we were going to see the Moscow State Circus but when tickets came in at £27 each, I thought I could go to the zoo two times over the weekend and still pay less!

You like the new theme? I chose it and installed it all today, Twitter is catered for as well as the odd movie quote at the top.

Is this a quick, short and sharp blog post folks? Yes it is!