Browsing through Kottke, I stumbled across this interesting item about a potential future for the magazine industry. It links through to the original article, and a brilliant video. It's a little dry, but the production is great and the concept is fascinating. https://vimeo.com/8217311 Things I found of note: The idea of people enjoying completing a magazine, as a sense of satisfaction rather than neverending blogs I know it's only a …

After causing a bit of a kerfuffle with my harsh criticism of the special effects in The Terminator, I was intrigued to see the iTunes Film homepage feature some CGI Trailblazers. Now, we have already established that I am not an expert on movies, but some of these made me ponder. Terminator 2 - I'm saying nothing! Aliens - I've seen this one, although I don't remember it enormously. I …

We have long said that Leo Laporte and his TWiT network is an inspiration to us, and this video goes behind the scenes of what Leo is trying to do. I found it via the Inside TWiT blog, and they call it the best video about TWiT ever. Could well be. Worth a look even if you don't like Leo, as there's some interesting thoughts about net neutrality as well. …

I saw this story ages ago, was going to blog about it but promptly forgot. A father looking for his long lost daughter bought a domain of her name and set up a simple message saying: When you read this, please send me an email. Of course, nothing happened for a long time, but eventually the girl in question, April Becker, googled herself and found the site. She emailed the …

Rumour has it that the lovely Franck will be at Autosport International in January, racing in a charity karting event. All the information you need: David Brabham will be reunited with his Le Mans 24 Hours winning teammate Alex Wurz and fellow Peugeot Sport stars Franck Montagny and Nicolas Minassian as they join the Celebrity Karting Challenge primarily in aid of Malaria No More UK at Autosport International, on Friday …

Mr C is often surprised, no, actually, the word is aghast, at the number of podcast episodes I have to listen to and how far back some of them are dated. I recently tried to play him a TWiT episode from March. Actually, even I think that is a bit extreme, but in some cases, it doesn't really matter how old the information is. I listen to Farming Today, and …

A couple of pictures today: Credit: Brooke/Flickr Lots of pandas: Credit: May Wong/Flickr Plus, I can't embed it but check out this picture of a lady hugging a panda. I could not be more jealous. Finally, my dad forwarded this news story to me about pandas calling for mates. I refuse to believe that pandas "chirp" and "bleat." I don't know what noise they do make, but bleating? Really?

Naturally, Christmas is all about chocolate, but as it is hard to consume the stuff via the internet, I have been looking at alternative advent calendars. There are quite a lot to choose from. Firstly, a totally selfish plug first, we have the Sidepodcast F1 Advent Calendar 2009. If you're slightly interested in Formula 1, each day of advent there will be a three minute podcast running through the key …

Some more pretty graphics to display those lovely new media stats. This time, the iPlayer and how it is growing: Read more and view the full image here.

I've been hearing about the Microsoft Courier but not really been paying attention. It first came to my attention as a competitor to the still-fictional-at-the-moment Apple tablet, but from what I've read, it's not meant to be a tablet computer, it's something different. I recently saw a video of the potential uses for the Courier and was blown away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmIgNfp-MdI There are also pictures and more info here. It looks …

You're all very well aware that I am marginally obsessed with pandas, but it's become increasingly obvious recently that I am also fond of a few other animals... and they all begin with P! I don't know why it is, but animals that begin with that letter seem to have more of a chance of getting my adoration. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, as I like cows …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw I saw this stairs video recently but wasn't really sure what it was about. Then I discovered The Fun Theory - an initiative from Volkswagen. The idea is to make things fun to change people's behaviour for the better. They have three examples on the site, but are running a competition for submissions and ideas, with a monetary prize. You can see some of the submitted entries, and vote …

Just a quick note to say that the game I previously recommended to you I Love Traffic is now available on the iPhone/iPod Touch. I commandeered Mr C's Touch to purchase and play the game and it's as brilliant as ever. It's exactly the same concept as the online game, only this time there are 40 levels instead of 20. Considering I am technically still stuck on the last level …

You'll remember how excited I was when I received my first Etsy purchase in the post, and welcomed Mr Panda to the home? I showed him to my mother who was impressed. "Why don't you make him a girlfriend?" she said. "You could get the materials from the craft shop, some felt, some stuffing, a bow to make it a girl. It would be really easy to do." "What you're …

I have been holding off blogging about the Renault talk in the hopes that they might actually announce something, but it doesn't look like there will be anything forthcoming for a while. So, the talk is that Franck confirmed he had spoken to Renault about a potential seat with the team next year. Add to that the speculation that the team will want to rebrand and reinforce their French heritage, …

I watched the BBC dramatisation of Enid Blyton's life yesterday, cleverly titled "Enid." I thought it was a really good piece, and Helena Bonham Carter was fabulous - I adore the subtle aging process that I have only noticed now, watching back the trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvbO7JUZA1Q I've seen and heard some comments from people concerned that the documentary has shattered their illusions of the books they read as a child. I …

Over on Sidepodcast, we featured a guest post recently from Dan Brunell, who wrote about the need for quality reporting on the web. I highly recommend it, but to sum up for the purposes of this post, the internet has made reporting all things F1 cheaper but also cheapened the reporting. As we start to understand how the internet works, we will begin to realise that paying for quality is …

From Mint.com: View the full image for more stats.

Here are just a few things that struck me about the latest Doctor Who episode, The Water of Mars. If you haven't seen it yet, and you are able, it's up on the iPlayer already. It only finished 15 minutes ago! That is the first time in a long time, if you don't count F1 coverage, that I have watched live TV - even if I was streaming it on …

It's all about Doctor Who today, naturally, as we eagerly await the second Tennant special that leads up to the two-part festive end-of-doctor-ten story. I can't wait. While the time drags on, though, I discovered that some of the classic episodes are available to watch for free on YouTube. Full episodes provided by BBC Worldwide (channel no longer available). There are also other series on there, such as Dead Ringers, …

More than a year ago, I blogged about the cute and squishable Chumby, an internet gadget that seemed to just be a widget display showing you things like the weather, email and suchlike. I never bought one because at first it wasn't available in the UK, then the option to ship it internationally became available but the gadget was just that little bit too expensive. Now they have come out …

A few months ago, I posted my hastily edited video of Red Arrows footage, and I thought I did a pretty good job following those speedy little planes around the sky. I love the Red Arrows. It's bizarre because I do not like to fly, everything about the idea of being in the sky fills me with dread, I have nightmares about plane crashes that I've clearly made up, but …

In my recent post about breakfast, I inadvertently mentioned hangover cures, and a couple of comments picked up on that. That got me wondering what other weird and wonderful things people use to clear their hangovers. Let's be responsible about this though: drinking isn't smart or clever. Don't do it. Except if you've had a really bad day. Then you can be excused. Ah-hem, so... I mentioned that my hangover …

I rarely have breakfast. What fascinates me about that first meal is that there are select things you are supposed to have, and that's all. For lunch, you can have anything in the world, although it is meant to be relatively light. Sandwiches with any filling, a hundred different types of salads, soup, pasta, and smaller versions of main meals. For dinner, the possibilties are endless! Breakfast though, it tends …

I was in discussion with my mother a while back and for some reason we were talking about racing cars. Imagine that! Anyway, we were talking about the olden days, when they used to have driving gloves, leather hats and goggles. I pointed out that I do enjoy those phrases for things that aren't the way we do things anymore. Hmm. There must be a word for that because it …

Franck has returned to Le Mans this weekend, for a Peugeot Sport Meeting. I've never heard of this event before, but it looks like it's all different types of Peugeot cars and drivers head to the track to entertain the fans. Franck won't be in the 908, but is still happy to drive, and will be sharing the wheel with Minassian and Sarrazin. If you're lucky enough to be near …

Here is the fourth episode of Media. Future. Change. It's taken a while to come to fruition, so it is packed with interesting news snippets. With Formula 1 heading into the off season, you might find a few more of these episodes floating around soon. This is what goes for news these days This week we're going to talk about a USB stick you might want, Google taking over the …

One of the shows we do over on Sidepodcast is called the Parade Lap and features Mr C and myself in conversation with the fabulous Alex Andronov for an hour before a Grand Prix begins. It's the kind of show that feeds off the audience - we ask for predictions and feedback, we play games and music, and it is generally a bit of fun and chaos before the racing …

As a child, I didn't like fireworks. I didn't like the bangs and had no desire to go anywhere near the source of such a noise. For perhaps a year or two, at a certain age, I did enjoy a firework display. The sudden noises weren't exactly ideal but I even went to a November 5th display where there was a roaring bonfire. Standing in front of the flames was …

FKM will be on TF1 tomorrow in France to talk about the first ever Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. The race will be interesting as it is also the first twilight GP, and looks like it might be an interesting one. He'll be on at 13:55 French time. I don't have access to the channel, but yay for Mr M anyways!

Alex has written an interesting post about the types of things people pick up on when they see you using an iPhone. Once, when I was watching Friends, I heard two people talking next to me about how, having seen that, they were going to get iPhones. And on two separate occasions, people have asked me how difficult it is to get shows on there. And the answer is - …

A while ago, I tweeted about my desire to have some Nestle Pretzel Flips, but it appears they are no longer sold in the UK. Along with Lucky Charms, the best things are always stolen from me. My good friend pointed out a site called American Soda that delivers US groceries to our shores, but shipping isn't exactly cheap. Instead, I had an idea. Why not make them myself? I …

My favourite conversation of recent times: "Let me introduce you to... um... sorry..." "Christine." "Apologies. Christine, this is Paul." "It's Andy." "Ah."

When I was younger, I wanted to be a firefighter. Then I wanted to be a singer. Then I wanted to be a teacher. Now, I am not any of those things. I may not be sure about the career I have landed myself with, but I do not wish to be a firefighter or a singer or a teacher. A recent news item I read suggests that children as …

I featured Mr Panda in the last Baby Panda Thursday, and his creator Sarah left a nice comment there as well. That led me directly to her Etsy page where Mr Panda was for sale. Thus my introduction to Etsy was sealed. I have seen and read lots of posts about packages from Etsy, and how they are pretty beautiful right down to the smallest detail. I'm not even slightly …

As podcasters, we made the exexcutive decision to invest in two gym balls to use as seats. Okay, we did it because Leo does it, but it is good practice. They tend to squeak less than chairs do, it's good for your posture and generally speaking, an hour or two balanced on a gym ball is better than the same on an office chair. In some recent organisation, I had …

Our stationery suppliers often send free gifts as a thank you for our custom, and presumably an incentive to stay. Most of the time this is boxes of chocolates, or fancy biscuits. As it turns out, our stationery orderer (that's not a word, is it?), went off the idea of eating them all, and has been hoarding them up for a special tombola day. That was yesterday. Initially, I had …

Thanks to Kara who pointed me towards the San Diego video page via Twitter. There are all the videos we had on the last Baby Panda Thursday, plus some more ridiculously cute ones. However, we must move on from the videos, as I am crazy jealous of the people who get to play with baby pandas for a living. Instead, let's look at some more crafts and stuff. I like …

It's very quiet in Franckland at the moment - by the way, wouldn't that be the best theme park ever? The only bit of news doing the rounds is a rumour about a potential 2010 F1 drive with Renault. From what I can see the source is this interview [link no longer available], which was about the Singapore scandal, and doesn't mention driving for the team at all. My French …

It's always a bit of a struggle to find decent pictures for your blog. You either have to go with something you've taken yourself, or start battling with copyright free imagery. The answer could lie in a genius new site called PicApp. Mr C has written about this over on Sidepodcast and says: PicApp reimburse content providers via advertisements that appear when you rollover the images or during specified time …

I've gone into a bit of a nostalgic mode for my little corner of the web, as I suddenly have the urge to dig up all the posts I wrote for previous blogs I've owned. Particularly, of course, the personal blog that disappeared to be replaced by this one. (Although don't forget that nothing is ever truly gone on the web!) Anyway, I think perhaps because I am also looking …

The idea with these shows is to keep them under ten minutes, so as to be a nice concise wrap up of all things media. Episode three is already a failure, but there is a bumper lot of news to get through, and we only just missed the target. Everybody is watching sport on the internet Today we're talking about football on the internet, images with disclaimers, and broadband as …

I just wanted to post a quick note to recommend this site I found that collects together all the Google Doodles. It's called Doodle Source and here's what they say about it: Doodle Source is a website focused in gathering all Google Doodles (Google logos for holidays) that are happening right now. We will also sort all doodles and make an archive for every and each country that could be …

I don't want to just rip a post directly from ZooBorns but it would be remiss of me not to use this week's Baby Panda Thursday to publicise these crazy-cute panda videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLBjCy_3h08 --- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0JRzfkbxHI The San Diego Zoo released all five of the baby panda exam videos, and all I can say is: I might die from the cuteness.

Why don't printers ever just work? If I had my way, I would never have to print anything, but that is a different problem. Faced with having to print something, why does a printer, whose sole job it is to print, splutter to a halt? It's not even a silent, resolute, protest of "No, I'm not doing that." The annoying red light blinks at you until you have to roll …

There was no BPT last week, so today we'll have a bumper crop of panda goodness. A little snuggly cutie. Credit: SSkelton1/Flickr Going a little bit more abstract, I wanted to point out these panda slippers. I'm not really sure about wearing a panda on your feet, but they are kinda cute. Finally, this bit of origami work is awesomeness! We featured some panda creations before, but this one is …

Amazon have finally got around to offering up the Kindle to parts of the world outside the US, although at the moment it seems to still be a US Kindle. The UK site redirects to Amazon.com for purchasing, and you buy the device and subsequent books in dollars. It also ships with a US charger, which would need a converter. It seems as though this is a rush decision to …

If I gave you £100 (or equivalent currency) right now to spend on non-essential things, what would you buy? Would you get a lot of little things or one expensive thing? My friend was telling me that she and her husband save a little money every week and put it away for the January sales. Then, they split the cash, head in opposite directions and meet up later. He has …

I stumbled across Chris Evans' blog last week, and the first thing I saw was a very cluttered desk. The DJ himself was very kind and offered to help the desk owner tidy things up, and the results can be seen here. This reminds me of the time Mr C and I first had a heated debate about the amount of clutter on my desk. It was a few years …

From the Peugeot press release: Franck MONTAGNY: "It’s great to have won the Mini Le Mans! It all feels very weird, but I think the organisers were right to stop the race, because the conditions really were dangerous. We had an excellent strategy and our car was very fast once we were able to run on slick tyres." I am wondering if mini Le Mans has been translated badly, but …