February 2008
Delete it from the Internet
More wise words on the Interweb from an SCMP reader who wants the government to set up an authority to monitor the internet and delete obscene material. Well, good luck with deleting material from the Internet...
As clear as the pictures on Cable TV
The Standard reports that "a pay tv operator" wants to be allowed to re-transmit the digital channels on its network. Which sounds like a good idea, except the picture quality on both Now TV & Cable TV both leave a lot to be desired. It's also hard to see why TVB would want to prevent their channels being re-broadcast when surely this can only bring in more viewers. What can they possibly lose by allowing this? Mind you, it's the sort of strange thing that is always happening here in the "world's freest economy".
Amazingly, the "nude photos scandal" is still front page news in Hong Kong newspapers. The latest non-news is that Edison Chen has admitted he did take the photographs, and also announced that he will quit showbusiness "indefinitely". Beats me how that is worth more than a few paragraphs in a gossip column, but the SCMP has given the story half of the front page of the main paper and all of the front page of the city section, and most of page 3 as well. And not for the first time, either.
It's progress of a sort, but it's no use to those us who live outside the UK. The BBC is going to start selling downloads of shows through the UK iTunes store. Unfortunately, those of us who don't live in the UK, and therefore couldn't watch these shows on TV (and can't record them), and who cannot access the iPlayer, will now also not be able to download the shows. Thee BBC shows are only available from the UK iTunes store, and anyway there is no iTunes store in Hong Kong.
Today the Hong Kong Observatory lowered the "cold weather warning" that has been in force for more than 3 weeks. In the past I have been rather scornful about this, but frankly it really has been quite cold for the last few weeks. The problem is that apartments in Hong Kong really aren't designed for cold weather (wooden floor, thin walls, single-glazed windows...), and some people feel an odd compulsion to open the windows just so that everyone knows that it's winter. Shut the windows!! Buy a heater! Switch it on!
Rude register
The problem with Talkback (the SCMP's 2nd letter column) is that they clearly don't have enough material, and so they will print almost anything, however muddled or irrelevant. Yesterday there was a marvellous example on the subject of the dodgy photos "scandal" from someone suggesting that "All website owners wishing to display any obscene material in Hong Kong should have to register first. These registered websites would have to indicate clearly that they contained indecent material, so that people were alerted and did not enter the sites unawares." I don't know where to start. What can you do with someone who thinks that Hong Kong can control or censor what goes on the Interweb? Ban the Interweb, that's what I say.
The funniest story of the moment has to be the one about appearance on the Interweb of some, er, candid photographs featuring several Hong Kong pop stars. It's even made it to The Guardian (Film star sex scandal causes internet storm in China). Fortunately the police have acted with commendable speed to deal with this serious crime, and have apparently traced the technician in a PC repair shop who found the photographs on a computer and then uploaded them. Now they just have to figure out which serious crime he may have committed.
Has the Premier League gone mad? They have apparently decided that what they really need is an extra 10 extra games added to the season, and to play them overseas in January (Top clubs consider overseas games). So, in the middle of the season, players will have to travel thousands of miles to play one game at a neutral venue, and then travel back to England to continue the season. Good thinking.
Spike's column in BC Magazine this week muses on one possible reason why HD-DVD & Blu-Ray have failed to take off - namely that if VCDs are popular (which they are here), picture and sound quality can't be that important, and few people will want to pay extra for something better than DVD.
posted by Chris @ Thursday, February 28, 2008
