the loose wire podcast: Recent Episodes
Jeremy Wagstaff
The loose wire podcast collects musings, interviews and BBC radio broadcasts on technology by Jeremy Wagstaff, former technology columnist at The Wall Street Journal and Thomson Reuters’ chief technology correspondent in Asia. Wagstaff first started broadcasting in 2004; the Loose Wire blog, from which these podcasts are taken, was launched in 2001.
We're living in a digitally ass backwards age, where everything you do of commercial monetary value is retained, amazingly easy to recover and commercially mined at mind-boggling speed, but everything else -- photos, an SMS, an email you sent to someone last week, the deed to your house -- is lost in the muddle of that drive an inch or two from your finger tips.
Apple has quietly moved the goalposts again, this time to impose its own social login service on developers. It's talking about giving users choice, and offering a more secure way of doing what Facebook and Google have been doing for years, but is that all it's about?
Reading through the documents released by the U.S. Judiciary Committee, I'm struck by how early we lost the war on walled gardens. I take a deeper dive and see where it all went wrong
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on cameras. (The Business Daily podcast is here. Script is here.) Loose Wireless 120516 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia:… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on the Google Dilemma (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 120117 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141,… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on the rise of the smartphone (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 120111 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on The Web of Things to Come (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 122111 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on how video doesn’t always tell the truth. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) The piece it’s drawn from is here. Loose Wireless 120711 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia:… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on my predictions for next year (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 110913 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South… Read More »
Here I discuss on my regular slot with Adelaine Ng of Radio Australia patent wars, Amazon’s pricing policy and anything else we can think of. (This is from last Wednesday, so probably of historical interest only, unless you like hearing me say ‘er’ a lot.) Loose Wireless 111101 Thanks to the ABC for allowing me… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on the future of tablets. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) I’ll post the text itself at some point. Loose Wireless 110914 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East Asia:… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on link scams. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 110803 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East… Read More »
(Not tech related, this, so please skip if the IMF and Indonesia don’t float your boat. The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on the IMF’s role in the Asian financial crisis of 1997/8 . (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 110607 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on Microsoft and Skype. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 110520 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 … Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on the PR noise behind the Flip’s demise . (The Business Daily podcast is here; the original piece is here.) Loose Wireless 110504 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on diminished reality (The Business Daily podcast is here) Loose Wireless 110427 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on why we do all our work in Starbucks. (The Business Daily podcast is here; the original piece is here.) Loose Wireless 110413 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on Nursery Rhymes: History’s Most Viral Startup? (The Business Daily podcast is here; the original piece is here.) Loose Wireless 110330 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041,… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on leaky information (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 110316 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on the relationship between communications and political change . (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 110216 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on Quora. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 110126 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East Africa: Mon-Fri… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on apps and paywalls. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 110105 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my piece on Truthiness. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 101208 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East Africa: Mon-Fri… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on the miscall. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 101117 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East Africa: Mon-Fri… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on the danger of making computers like appliances (The Business Daily podcast is here.) I’ll try to post the original column at some point. Loose Wireless 101103 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*,… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on unfriending/unfollowing (The Business Daily podcast is here.) I’ll try to post the original column at some point. Loose Wireless 101027 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 … Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on Stuxnet (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 101006 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East Africa: Mon-Fri 1941 … Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on Afghan mobile users. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 100928 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East Africa:… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on Google’s Missteps. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 100908 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East Africa: Mon-Fri… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on reading on the cellphone (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 100901 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on Turning Off the Comment Demon. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 100804 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141*, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on Hotel Serice (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 100728 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East Africa: Mon-Fri… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on presentation blues. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 100623 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East Africa:… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on browsers (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 100519 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East Africa: Mon-Fri… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on Facebook’s Internet of sharing. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 100505 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 … Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on software disappointments. (The Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 100429 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East… Read More »
This podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng, wherein we discuss HP buying Palm, students going cold turkey on social media, and China no longer being the spam capital of the world? To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless 100430… Read More »
Thispodcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng, wherein I chat about: Facebook’s new initiative: a deal with the devil or a whole new web? YouTube takes down copyright infringing-content. Including all those Hitler parody videos 99 year old woman gets iPad for birthday, writes limerick Connecting… Read More »
This podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng, wherein I chat about the issues of privacy concerning an inappropriate tweet, Google’s indexing of recent tweets, and some iPhone apps that let you spot celebrities. To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on the Gist of Things (the Business Daily podcast is here.) Loose Wireless 100414 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click here. Australasia: Mon-Fri 0141, 0741 East Asia: Mon-Fri 0041, 1441 South Asia: Tue-Fri 0141, Mon-Fri 0741 East Africa:… Read More »
The BBC World Service Business Daily version of my column on Findability (the Business Daily podcast is here.) To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless 100408 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service at the following times, or click… Read More »
Thispodcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng, wherein I chat about: Sick of the iPad? They’re bringing out a smaller one. And if that doesn’t get you, how about a 3D phone? Facebook measures gross national happiness Sending chairs into space: High altitude ballooning is the… Read More »
A weekly column I recorded on the fact that we’re not very good judges on what we want for the BBC World Service Business Daily (the Business Daily podcast is here.) To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless 100324 To listen to Business Daily on the… Read More »
Thispodcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng, wherein I chat about: The hacker on celluloid How to recyle your phone via an ATM machine (and get some money for it). etc etc… To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose… Read More »
Spending a week in the Philippines at one of Manila’s fancier hotels reminded me how far hotel business centers have to go to catch up with the rest of the leisure industry. A weekly column I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily (the Business Daily podcast is here.) To listen to the podcast,… Read More »
This (abbreviated) podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng: NTT DoCoMo’s eye-controlled earphones, Vodafone’s announcement of super cheap cellphones. etc. Schedule To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless 100219 I appear on Radio Australia Today every Friday at… Read More »
Going to watch a band I hadn’t seen in 30 years made me realised what changed everything. A weekly column I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily (the Business Daily podcast is here.) To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless 100217 To listen to… Read More »
This podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng: A recent phishing attrack on carbon permits in Germany The implications of Engadget’s temporary ban on comments. To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless 100205 I appear on Radio Australia… Read More »
This podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng: The MaxiPad, sorry, iPad The Google Nexus One (I’ve got one, not 100% happy with it) With Google threatening to quit China, enter the Google clones To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe,… Read More »
Is the future of interface design one involving, flicking, flailing arms and grunts? A weekly column I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily (the Business Daily podcast is here.) To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless 100120 To listen to Business Daily on the… Read More »
This podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng: The Google/China spat. How bad were the cyberattacks? Speculation about Apple’s next move: could we soon be controlling our computers with our eyes? To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless… Read More »
This podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng: CES: Techies are getting excited about tablets again. Is it deja vu or are we now ready for these devices? Security: it’s possible to tell whether someone is stressed when they’re typing. Could this mean the end of… Read More »
This week’s podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today last Friday with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng: From YouTube short to $30 million Hollywood deal. Companies are now allowing employees to use their own laptops The rise of 3D — on your computer, in your browser, on the road To listen to… Read More »
This week’s podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng. This week we discuss privacy in the light of Facebook’s changes, the sale of Friendster, and one guy’s battle to delete his online past. To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here.… Read More »
This week’s podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng: The Google/Murdoch debate. Is Google the future of news? Thanksgiving: The tipping point of mobile payments? Why you shouldn’t set up your website in Cameroon To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe,… Read More »
Is Wikipedia dying, or just growing up? A weekly column I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily (the Business Daily podcast is here.) To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless 091202 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into BBC World Service… Read More »
This week’s podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng: Reports of Wikipedia’s demise: Premature? Firefox turns five. What future the browser? Is Apple refusing to fix computers belonging to smokers? To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here Loose Wireless 091127… Read More »
This week’s podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng: Google gives more details about its planned operationg system. Important, or a waste of time? Are notebooks making a comeback in office meetings? Real notebooks, I mean? Twitter starts geotagging. Useful? To listen to the podcast, click on… Read More »
Who’s responsible for all the security holes in the software and websites we use? A weekly column I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily (the Business Daily podcast is here.) To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless 091118 To listen to Business Daily on… Read More »
How Microsoft loses my trust over Windows Seven, and how it can get it back. A weekly column I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily. To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here . Loose Wireless 091111 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into… Read More »
This week's podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng:
- Research company proposes coughing into your mobile phone for instant diagnosis
- Really? Men don't read manuals, men take less time on helplines than women but have to call back more often
- Sexting on the rise among old people? The American Association of Retired People (AARP) says yes, offers tips.
To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here.
How Microsoft loses my trust over Windows Seven, and how it can get it back. A weekly column I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily. To listen to the podcast, click on the button below. To subscribe, click here. Loose Wireless 091111 To listen to Business Daily on the radio, tune into… Read More »
This week’s podcast is from my weekly slot on Radio Australia Today with Phil Kafcaloudes and Adelaine Ng: UK firm launches game where people spot real crimes on CCTV The rise of the Photoshop Disaster: Ralph Lauren gets upset when it’s caught shrinking a model’s waist to zero Waiter tweets, gets fired. Why twitter is… Read More »
Here’s another appearance on Radio Australia’s Breakfast Club, now called something else, which after a hiatus is back on every Friday—around 1.15 GMT. Here’s the audio of the segment (about 10 minutes’ worth). Here’s what I talked about: My own experiences at the hands of Facebook’s disabling team. Lawsuit: Amazon Ate My Homework – Digits… Read More »
Here’s another appearance on Radio Australia’s Breakfast Club which is pretty much every Friday—around 1.15 GMT—and here are some links to the things I talked about this week. Here’s the audio of the segment (about 10 minutes’ worth). Facebook’s move to be more like Twitter. As I said on the show, Facebook fears that its… Read More »
I have actually been appearing on Radio Australia’s Breakfast Club pretty much every Friday—around 1.15 GMT–for the past year or so, but don’t always remember to post the links to the things I talk about (or intend to; there’s not always time). Here’s to trying to remember to do it (and audio, now it’s available.)… Read More »
Things are never so weird they can’t get weirder. Techdirt posts on a legal firm’s corporate song “Everyone’s a Winner at Nixon Peabody” which really has to be heard to be believed. I don’t guarantee it’s a pleasant experience, but it’s the only way to know just how low companies can go to get their… Read More »
Here’s something I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily show on recording music digitally. Email me if you’d like the transcript. (This podcast is a big file than normal; it’s longer, and it’s in stereo, because there’s a song in there. If you don’t like long podcasts and big files, I suggest you… Read More »
Here’s something I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily show on gadgets. Email me if you’d like the transcript. If you want to subscribe to an RSS feed of this podcast you can do so here, or it can be found on iTunes. My Loose Wire column for The Wall Street Journal Asia… Read More »
Here’s something I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily show on StumbleUpon, a service that allows you to wander the Internet via signposts left by others. Email me if you’d like the transcript If you want to subscribe to an RSS feed of this podcast you can do so here, or it can… Read More »
Here’s something I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily show on presentations. Email me if you’d like the transcript. If you want to subscribe to an RSS feed of this podcast you can do so here, or it can be found on iTunes. My Loose Wire column for The Wall Street Journal Asia… Read More »
A Loose Wireless podcast on the security of mobile phones, courtesy of the BBC World Service.
(A podcast of this can be downloaded here.) The walls of elite reviewers come tumbling down, and it’s not pretty. But is it what we want? I belatedly stumbled upon this piece in The Observer by Rachel Cooke on a new spat between editors, reviewers and blogger reviewers, and not much of it is new.… Read More »
Another in what I hope will be a more regular offering of podcasts, not merely recordings of my slot on the BBC World Service Business Daily but also interviews and other snippets that came my way in the course of my work. This week: a look at hacking into satellites, via an interview with Bellua’s… Read More »
Here’s something I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily show on how not to be scared by your computer. If you want to subscribe to an RSS feed of this podcast you can do so here, or it can be found on iTunes. My Loose Wire column for The Wall Street Journal Asia… Read More »
Here’s something I recorded for the BBC World Service Business Daily show on visualizing information by flying through your computer. I mention a particular program in the piece, 3D Topicscape, just in case you’re wondering. If you want to subscribe to an RSS feed of this podcast you can do so here, or it can… Read More »
Here’s something I recorded for the BBC on how to escape from your gadgets by climbing a volcano. Not an option for everyone, but it worked for me. If you want to subscribe to an RSS feed of this podcast you can do so here, or it can be found on iTunes. My Loose Wire… Read More »
Here’s something I recorded for the BBC on backing up (a topic I revisit in later columns and broadcasts.) If you want to subscribe to an RSS feed of this podcast you can do so here, or it can be found on iTunes. My Loose Wire column for The Wall Street Journal Asia and WSJ.com,… Read More »
Here’s a podcast of a piece I did for the BBC World Service on instant messaging, based on a blog posting I made here. If you want to subscribe to an RSS feed of this podcast you can do so here, or it can be found on iTunes. Thanks for listening, and comments, as ever,… Read More »
Here’s a piece I did for the BBC World Service on the Demise of the Considered Response.
How to get rid of receipts, without just binning them. Another piece from the BBC World Service.
A BBC World Service piece I did on the tenacity of a device that perhaps should have been binned long ago: the Communicator.
A BBC piece I did on how to complain about service without looking like you’re out for a freebie.
Today’s podcast is given over to an interview with my old friend Jim, further identity concealed, as we catch him via Skype on mission in the southern Sudan and ask him, not about the tense political situation and his efforts to bolster democracy in that troubled country, but about how he packs his underpants. Anyone… Read More »
(This post is also available as an experimental Loose Wireless podcast ) Remember the Kryptonite Affair? It was back in September 2004 when a company that sold bicycle locks crashed into the power of forums and blogs and came away battered and bleeding when it failed to respond in Internet time to complaints that some… Read More »
For those of you who listen to podcast versions of my slot on the BBC World Service, this isn’t one. Apologies. What this is is what I hope will be the beginnings of more regular podcast fare known, tentatively, as Loose Wireless. To start off, it’s just me yakking away on subjects that interest me,… Read More »
Here’s a podcast I did for the BBC World Service on the Mitsubish Jet Towel, the only automatic hand dryer I’ve come across that actually dries your hands. Here it is.
Here’s another podcast, this time about how we aren’t quite as smart as our technology makes us think we are. Many thanks to the BBC World Service for letting me include this clip on the blog. Here it is.
Recently I wrote (WSJ.com; subscription only I’m afraid) and spoke (BBC World Service; podcast here) about digital writing — the still peripheral business of using a pen to write on paper, and then have that work digitally transferred to a computer, PDA or cellphone. (And then, optionally, have any writing converted to text your computer… Read More »
My WSJ column for the BBC on devices to wake you up in the morning. Here are some links for products mentioned in the piece: Clocky SleepTracker
(A podcast version of this post is available here.) Steve Rubel, powerblogger (does anyone blog more than Steve? No one in my feed list does) complains about how newspapers offer only partial RSS feeds: for those of you not following this, an RSS feed is a bit like a newswire, a stream of stories as… Read More »
The joy of having more than one screen, and controlling other computers from one keyboard. It’s less nerdy than it sounds. This is podcast version of my BBC World Service column, which runs on the World Business Report. Download it and/or subscribe to the podcast feed here. For more on extra monitors, check out my… Read More »
From the BBC World Service World Business Report: Online shopping Here’s an excerpt from the original WSJ.com piece (subscription only, I’m afraid): Why does buying stuff online still look so similar to buying offline? First, Web sites still use the whole browsing-shopping basket-checkout metaphor, an approach that even real world shops are trying to get… Read More »
Here’s another podcast version of my BBC World Service column, which runs on the World Business Report. It’s about new words and where they come from. Download it, or subscribe to the podcast feed here.
Here’s another podcast of a piece I did for the BBC’s World Service ‘World Business Report’. This one’s on presence, a favorite topic of mine; Download it here. (Thanks, BBC, for allowing me to republish it as a podcast. I’m told the WBR appears in the U.S. on WBUR and other stations in the NPR… Read More »
Sorry they aren’t as regular as they could be, but here’s another podcast of a piece I did for the BBC’s World Service ‘World Business Report. This one’s on BitTorrent: Download Bittorrent1.mp3
Here’s another podcast of a piece I did for the BBC’s World Service ‘World Business Report‘. This one’s on using GPS to drive a car, courtesy of an eccentric woman called Myrtle. Download Myrtle here.
Here’s another podcast from the BBC’s World Business Report: this one is on how to prevent the gunk in keyboards from killing you, and it derives from a Loose Wire piece I did for WSJ.com and The WSJ Asia on September 30. (Subscription only, I’m afraid.) Here’s a snippet: The gunk in your keyboard could… Read More »
I’ve been recording pieces, usually derived from my WSJ.com and WSJ Asia Loose Wire columns, for the BBC World Service’s World Business Report for more than a year now, and they’re a lovely bunch of guys. (Here’s a link to Jonathan’s recent house move. As someone who hasn’t live in London for nearly 20 years… Read More »
I’m doing a piece on speech recognition for the Journal, all the time wrestling with my own voice menu cellphone demons. One message from Hong Kong’s 3 network sends me apopleptic with rage while at the same time kind of turning me on, which tells you more about me than you probably want to know.… Read More »
A painful story of what can happen when you let your spam rage get the better of you. Rachel Buchman was a reporter with National Public Radio affiliate WHYY when she tried to get off a mailing list from conservative for-profit company www.Laptoplobbyist.com, according to a piece she wrote for the Philadelphia Weekly. More annoying than… Read More »
Loose Wire — And Now, I Show My Age By Jeremy Wagstaff from the 16 May 2002 edition of the Far Eastern Economic Review, (c) 2003, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. I was drinking beer backstage with the guys from Deep Purple the other day (I’ve always wanted to be able to say that) when… Read More »