Grounded In Reality

The race to provide ‘on-demand’ TV in the UK is really heating up. Out of the major networks (that means no set-top box required), Channel 4’s 4oD was the first to market in December 2006 and has already claimed one million viewers watching a total of 20 million programs since it was launched. Although I understand from the Guardian’s Kate Bevan they still have to smooth out some compatibility issues.

Hot on it’s heels is the BBC iPlayer (sorry Katie Green another non-Apple lower case ‘i’ user to add to the list). The new service is located on the BBC and allows viewers to catch up with programs from the previous seven days and store them on a computer for 30 days.

This is all good for the UK consumer and means that we no longer have to wait or miss out on the programs we want to watch. However, in terms of marketing and general awareness, there’s still a lot to do.

I think the digital area is still riddled with unnecessary jargon and at the moment a lot of the messages are still aimed at ‘early adopters’. For the needle to really move we need to make things a bit more tangible. For example, I’m not a soap fan but most people in the UK probably don’t know that they are only ‘two clicks’ away from watching Coronation Street whenever they like…

If you are trying to get your head around what the UK networks are up to right now it’s worth checking out this well researched and, almost, impartial run down courtesy of the BBC.

For those with a pathological desire to square the circle or just have a serious aversion to ‘hype’ why not try out one of Ofcom’s beautifully crafted documents on digital TV. Sleep well.

I’m a Firefox fan and run more than 20 extensions on my browser—several I’m testing, many I can’t live without.  Here are two that have received positive feedback and are typically adopted when recommended to the general Firefox user:

1. All-in-One Gestures: This extension allows you to execute common commands using mouse gestures.  No longer do you need to drag your mouse to the top of the browser to navigate Back, Forward, Reload, Go to Home Page, etc.  This is navigation with  greater ease and minimum movement of your mouse.
2. Cooliris Previews: Just mouse over any link and the Cooliris preview window immediately appears to show you the content.  As tabbed browsing changed the way we surf, this replaces the need for click-through by displaying a full-page preview of any hyperlink.

What’s your top extension?