Aug 29
MoggyApple, Mac, Software, Update
Personally, I think I will be spending out the little £25 it takes to upgrade to Apple’s new OS, Snow Leopard. After all, I am a semi professional Mac user and I use an awful lot of processor intensive applications – so the snappier speeds Apple is promising will save me some time in the future, which is nice. I am also curious just about any new Apple software anyway, and I do like keeping up to date. Hence, why, I have ordered my copy from Amazon, and it’s on its way.
Having said all that… is Snow Leopard worth it… for the average user… I mean, really!? I have two personal friends with Mac computers – but I wouldn’t say SL is a must for either of them. Both own relatively new MacBook’s, but use them for general work and activities (like iPhoto and Pages). Wow, these are highly processor intensive, aren’t they. To be honest, I don’t think either of them would really care, and while £25 is cheap for an OS, it’s still a fair bit of money – that’s a good 30 or so iTunes songs… and about what I spend on my lunches for about two week period!
But hey ho, that’s my opinion and I thought I’d voice it out.
Aug 27
MoggyBBC, Internet, Media, Web Design, Website
On a day-to-day basis, I, and I’m sure many others of you do too, read the news. I commonly read mine online, brought forward to me either by RSS feeds or Twitter feeds – or by looking at my Safari homepage, currently set to Guardian.co.uk.
If you know me personally, you will know how much of a picky person I am, and here I will tell you why I picked the Guardian for my homepage out of all the other news sites to compare. I hve compared the layout of The Guardian to two other media sources; the BBC and The Times.
BBC News Online
I have always been a supporter of the BBC, and I shall say that for specific news stories, I read the BBC News online articles by choice. However, I dislike the BBC Homepage. Firstly, the whole thing just looks crammed in my opinion. I dislike the way that those eight ‘other top stories’ on the right don’t even get a description… and compare this to the ‘also in the news’ section and the ‘video and audio news’ section which have far less important stories, but are granted a thumbnail. Don’t get me wrong, the content on the BBC is great – but the layout and the homepage… not so.
Times Online
I rarely use the Times Online website, which is strange for me considering the Times is my favourite newspaper. Strange right? Well, I don’t read the online articles out of choice, nor is it set to my homepage, nor do I have any Times-related RSS feeds or updates of any sort. However, I thought I’d bung it in for comparison. I do rather like the layout, though see that big white space above the logo… yeah, thats a big banner ad – thankfully it’s not showing as I have an ad-blocker plug-in installed. Also see that space in the bottom right, yeah, that’s an ad too. I know companies like Times Online have to make money somehow, but I honestly hate large obtrusive adverts. Then there’s just the general feel of Times Online, it just looks… bland, plain, boring. Compare it to the Guardian, below, which makes better use of colour. And then, the layout, it hosts the biggest crime of all. When I’m scrolled to the top, excluding the ‘most read’ box, I can only see a maximum of 4 news stories. Just 4.
The Guardian
And then we have the Guardian, my current favourite. The page is vibrant and attractive, unlike The Times it is colourful and mildly exciting – and I can see more than just 4 stories! There are no obtrusive ads, and the column on the right is small and out the way in my opinion.
And then, finally, as it’s worth a mention – the Media Guardian section is fantastic and hosts great content – one of the real great reasons why I use The Guardian for online news reading.
Aug 26
MoggyTwitter
Another quick post today – why not add a feed for this blog to your twitter?
- My personal account @alastairmogford
- The blog automatically informing you of posts @moggysblog
Enjoy!
Aug 26
MoggyMedia, TV
I was very happy this morning. I woke up to the news that Channel 4 was ‘on the verge’ of announcing it will axe Big Brother from 2010 onwards. I was riveting in happiness, but until then, is it such good news? I mean… really!?
Turns out that Channel 4 signed a £180m contract with Endemol for 3 years worth of Big Brother to be shown, rather ruining my glorious TV schedule. That means, before BB actually gets axed, we have to bear another Celebrity Big Brother (no doubt with few celebrities anyway) and another standard Big Brother in Summer 2010. Great.
Mind you, after that, it should be the end of Big Brother on our TV screens for ever… well… possibly. Back in 2006, before the whole Shilpa Shetty race row, it turns out that this £180m deal was a fight between ITV and Channel 4. I cannot understand possibly why C4 wanted the rights for another 3 years, but they got them, but then cocked the viewing figures all up. But the news today suggests that Channel 4 is not interested any more – and they are just the broadcaster. Endemol are, probably, on the other hand, very happy with Big Brother in the production side of things, and I bet you any money that they will try get another broadcaster on board – ITV or Five perhaps. After all, they have 2 million British nutters who actually watch Big Brother to please.
And then, sadly, after this, we will still have to put up with Big Brother. Don’t get me wrong, it is fantastic news that Channel 4 is axing BB, Channel 4 is a great broadcaster and it was letting their programming down… but… don’t get your hopes up that the how has gone forever.
Update: Even better news! This article at The Guardian says that none of the other major broadcasters are interested in buying the rights for Big Brother. Whey!
Aug 19
MoggyMe, Update, Web Design, Website
Hi everyone,
I’ve spent the day flipping around my whole website. Homepage, blog, domains, hosting… everything. I’ve still got a long way to go, so if you’re reading this, don’t expect anything special to happen until around the beginning of September. After then, expect more and more frequent posts about interesting stuff!!
This blog is now hosted on Wordpress. I used to use Blogger, though found it restricting and annoying. I have since transferred all my previous posts over to here, and been making the UI look a little nicer.
Today, I also switched domain hosting. I was previously using alastairmogford.co.uk, though switched to alastairmogford.com after realizing that GoDaddy (whom I had just purchased hosting off), couldn’t transfer .co.uk domains. Therefore you’ll find I’m starting all over on the .com hosting, along with a fancy new subdomain. Nice!
Later everyone!
Aug 15
MoggyDesign, Fonts, Software, Web Design
Here are 4 free, clean, slick and modern fonts you may want to download and install… for free.
Bastardus Sans – download
Blue Highway – download
Sansation – download
Union – direct download link, and bold direct link
Enjoy. Share some of your own in the comments below if you so wish.
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