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 the way to go.

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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 the web. I am slightly concerned about boiling the water needed to make pasta for dinner now. I don’t like the unhinged doctor all that much, although he is an interesting character study. It will make saying goodbye to the character much easier, if they make him slightly less likeable. I am fascinated by the idea of a colony on Mars, particularly the way they had the hub with the branches leading off to the various domes. What was that Ood doing there? I miss Donna.

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, which has full episodes, and many nature programmes and others that only have clips as well.

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 with the Chumby One, which is the next generation of Chumby. Firstly, the name makes me think of those campaigns to get innocent people out of jail. “Free the Chumby One!” That could just be me, though.

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 I do love those planes.

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 cure was simply bubbles. I’m assuming this is to do with the dehydration aspect, but I’ve found that drinking something like orange squash doesn’t help, whereas those bubbly water things do. And of course, Diet Coke and other such glorious beverages also do the trick.

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 to be one of the following:

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 is impossible to explain. An example: dial the phone. I haven’t seen a phone with a dial for a long time. Also, pull the chain, when really it’s all about the flush.

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 Le Mans, here’s a schedule for the weekend:

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 world, or music at least, and news that isn’t really news.

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 action begins.

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 quite hypnotising, if a little hot.

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 - it’s simple.

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 visited my mother today and we had a go at making them. Here’s how it went.

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 young as seven could start being given careers advice in the hopes that it might raise their dreams of the future.

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 crafty when it comes to tactile things, so it was all quite exciting.

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 to let the air out and store the little white stopper plugs until such times as we re-inflated them. When that time came, I managed to plug one of them but upon reaching into my bag for the second stopper, it wasn’t there.

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 myself a box of chocolates, but after some rather furious swapping - seriously it was like bartering at a marketplace - I have wound up with a cuddly Christmas polar bear. I instantly took the Christmas tag off, so in fact, it’s just a polar bear with a pretty scarf.

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 this badge/button thing, and there are a couple of others available on Steppie’s Etsy page. The nerd one is also a good one! However, I’m not sure what you are supposed to do with badge/buttons? My bag is not a material made for piercing, and my coat is similarly uncooperative.

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 is not that great though, so perhaps I am wrong.

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 intervals of inactivity. It has to be said, we’ve yet to see this in action, so it’s hard to judge how obtrusive the advertising might be. Assuming though that you can live with what appears to be a fair exchange, PicApp seems like a fine idea.

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 at new themes for this blog, I suddenly remembered that I used to create my own header images. Gah. What was I thinking? I am clueless when it comes to images. Words are my preferred medium. It is not a coincidence that I chose my current theme which doesn’t require a header image.

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 a legal right.

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 a Doodle target.

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. 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 up your sleeves and get involved. Then the printer gets all sarcastic, saying: “Haha, there’s no paper stuck in that door, silly. Oops, look, now you’ve torn it. Still not having your print out, nah, nah, nah.” At this point, your hands will usually be smudged with black ink, that you then brush across your face.

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 new. Origami has always baffled me, but I love it.

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 capitalise on the markets eager to get their hands on a Kindle (ie. me). However, I’m not convinced. Buying in USD doesn’t really appeal, and I’m not sure how or if they’ll change that in the future.

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 always splashed out on one item, such as a really nice jacket, whilst my friend has about fifty bags on her, from various different shops.

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 ago, and looking at it now, I can’t really understand how I functioned in such a state of disarray.

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 I quite like it. I may call it that from now on. Here’s a picture of lovely Franck with added trophy.

Franck won the race - hoorah! The Montagny/Sarrazin car was in the lead when the race came to an end, although it wasn’t exactly a stunning victory. The entire race was marred by bad weather, with a lot of the running halted due to lightning concerns. McNish was dominating up until a serious downpour, when he spun on his cold tyres, and let the lead change hands. It may not have been a thrilling way to take the trophy, but nevertheless, a win is a win, and it’s all about being in front when it matters. Well done to Franck, he did a fabulous job!

Here we are with the second episode of this rough and ready podcast. Don’t be expecting them on any schedule, mind you, just because I’ve done one for the last two Thursdays, and just cos I mention next week. Shh. Kinda Hard to Describe in Audio This week we discuss all things piracy and newspapers, plus an iPhone app, a Google Labs project, and a really expensive gadget. All that and more in our whirlwind round up of all things future media.

The first test day is complete, although Audi finished the day on top just ahead of FKM and Sarrazin’s car. The difference was only about 0.16 seconds, so that is a good start. One very important thing to note, from the Peugeot press release: Running in blue and chrome livery, the two Peugeots will be distinguished by: white mirrors and wing for the N°07 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Pedro LAMY (Portugal) / Nicolas MINASSIAN (France), blue mirrors and wing for the N°08 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Franck MONTAGNY (France) / Stéphane SARRAZIN (France)

Baby Panda with added pillow. Credit: Pok Kusuwan/Flickr

Chris Packham has hit headlines for resurfacing an old argument of his, that pandas should be left to die out with dignity. This is bound to ruffle my feathers, because I am one of those people he so resoundedly sneers at, donating £3 a month because the panda is cuddly. But why shouldn’t I? In the original argument, Packham introduces his theory, pointing out that the panda lives on the poor nutrition of bamboo, and isn’t exactly “rabbit-like” when it comes to reproduction. But then he says:

Okay, fine, I’ll hold my hands up and admit it, not only am I a blogaholic, I am also a podaholic. Instead of writing several posts on our very new project Media Future Change, I thought I’d dive straight in and create a podcast. It’s a simple trip through some of the news of the past week or so, looking at how the media is changing or resisting the changes that are coming. It sounds kinda weird, I know, so let me clarify. The first show looks at video advertising in magazines, music editing on the web, and why there’s no camera in the iPod Touch. It’s only six minutes, so you may as well have a listen, and let me know what you think!

It’s all quiet in FKM-World right now, so here’s a quick photo to brighten up your Friday. Credit: Mark Mattox/Flickr

I found myself with quite a few stories to discuss today, and rather than spend time trying to string sentences together on the page, I thought I’d bite the bullet and get on with the podcast. If You Want More Than 140 Characters A roundup of media news over the past week, including behind the scenes of TV shows, editing podcasts in the clouds, and a small victory for ebook fans.

People, I have found a new game! It’s been a while since I subjected you all to the addictiveness of I Love Traffic, and the wackiness of Skywire, so I thought it was time I shared another gem with you. This time we’re talking about Meeblings. At first it looks like a lot of random coloured blobs on the screen, and actually… that’s exactly what it is. It ever so slightly resembles the addictive Lemmings, in that you have to save the Meeblings by getting them to the Way Out sign. The non-orange Meeblings provide you with ways and means to do this. Click and hold on the yellow ones to drag all the blobs towards that particular Meebling. Click on the pink ones to reverse gravity. A grey one switches any electrical items on or off (normally fans). The green ones in the above picture, well, they grow into trees. I haven’t really figured out why yet.

If you have access to the BBC, and particularly iPlayer, I want to recommend the Saving Britain’s Past series. I have seen the first couple, and was very struck by the second episode in the series, all about the Park Hill Estate in Sheffield. The programme tracks the attempts to save some of the more iconic developments in Britain’s history, with other episodes focusing on country houses and the iconic buildings in Bath. The episode about Sheffield really captured my imagination though.

I have just remembered that Mr C asked me to write about the downside of the Google map via Android experience, just to provide a bit of balance to my previous post on the subject. We were headed out and about to visit the lovely Alex and Kat, but only managed to get five minutes from our house before hitting some serious traffic. We don’t tend to sit in traffic if we can help it, and would prefer an adventure through all the back streets rather than sitting snapping at each other. You don’t normally expect to have to break out Google maps before you’ve even got going, but this we had to do.

Ah, stupid Thursdays. Here are some baby pandas to help us all through the day. Credit: Dustin Crawford/Flickr I also want to point out the latest ZooBorns post on pandas, which introduces us to the newest cub at the San Diego Zoo. Nick, over on Sidepodcast.com, said the cub looked suspiciously like George from Rainbow. It does too!

Here are a couple of Twitter bits and pieces I have found that I wanted to share - when Twitter does good. Cabbie’s tweet reunites lost Blackberry with owner - a simple tweet saved a lot of headaches, which is a really nice story. However, the way Twitter is organised at the moment makes this kind of thing really unusual, as you have to be searching for something specific and just happen to see the tweet in question.

It finally happened - the App that has been hitting headlines for weeks now has made it into both the Android and iPhone store. There was a lot of doubt over whether Apple would allow the app into their store, particularly over in this corner of the web. However, it’s there, it exists, and it’s time to see what all the fuss is about! Here’s a first impression review of the iPhone app.

I have spent my Sunday evening arguing with Final Cut, however, I got there in the end. Here’s some footage I put together from this year’s Bournemouth Air Show. Music: Manda and The Marbles, Upside Down Also at the air show, the Avro Vulcan Bomber. Mr C donated some money towards getting the Vulcan back in the air, so we’ll dedicate this short clip to him!

I bought a new pair of shoes! These are pretty cheap shoes that were in a sale from one of those cheap shoe shops, so I am not bragging about the style or quality of the shoes. The point here is: it was an impulse buy! I hate buying shoes. Really and truly, it is one of the worst things I have to do, second only to getting my hair cut. I have big feet, shoes don’t tend to fit me, and I am not a fan of parting with money for something I take very little notice of.