Journalistic.co.uk - the UK digital journalism blog

In case anyone else has not yet seen this.

www.itvlocal.tv

Only one ITV region at the moment, but does offer a good pointer to the future of TV on computer through broadband.

As has been widely reported, Google has not been able to work out a deal with a company that claims UK rights in the name GMail.

Here’s the story.

So Google now has the following page:

But look closely and you can read this - (my words here: could existing Gmail.com users find their free account email address taken away?)

Google words as follows:

What if I’m a UK user who already has a Gmail address? Will that address ever change?

Unfortunately, we don’t know. We would love to say that your address will always remain the same. But the trademark issue is still unsettled, and unfortunately, we cannot predict what the other party or the courts might do here. You can always use your same username with an @googlemail.com address to avoid this issue later on. But trust that we will do the best we can to make sure your email address won’t ever have to change.

So if like me you have a Gmail account, you may want to keep on eye on this.

Here’s some stuff that has caught my eye.

Well, after over two years with BT Yahoo (and previously BT Openworld) as my broadbad provider, I’ve take the plunge and decided it is time to leave them and find another broadband provider for a better price.

First of all, let me say, BT Yahoo has been excellent as a provider of broadband. I don’t recall more than two occasions in over two years when it has been down. And even when it was down, one occasion was for a few hours and the other about hour. Annoying when it happened, yes, but it can happen from time to time.

My reason reason is purely based on price - BT Yahoo is way too expensive compared to others and importantly, where BT Yahoo offered a quality service and others not as good, the “others” have now caught up and improved themselves.

My first year of BT as a broadband provider was a freebie, so can’t really complain from March 2003 to March 2004 about the pricing, but since then, I’ve been paying. Usually it’s £26.99 but various months I’ve been charged £20.25 as part of BT’s policy to retain customers who when calling up and requesting the MAC - special code number you need to give to another broadband provider if you want to leave and migrate to them.

But Friday 14 october 2005 is the day when I was informed by email that my current promotional rate of £20.25 was going to change back up to £26.99. So I called up BT Yahoo and the best they could offer would be 10% off £26.99 a month if I signed up to a new one year contract.

Some will say, the better the devil you know. But a 2meg connection from other providers is much cheaper and the quality of service can be just as good.

After an hour or so of some serious surfing and looking at user comments, both complaints and saying good things, I decided to go for UK Online.

I remember them from years ago. UK Online was launched by Italian technology company Olivetti. By 1996, the company was sold to Easynet. Why do I remember them? Well, a few hours before the company was sold to Easynet, I got a tip-off about it from a reliable source and ran it as an exclusive in my technology column on Teletext. It was a great scoop for us to have.

After that UK Online continued. But a few years ago, as a brand within Easynet, it started to make some major impact with broadband and offering some great prices by undercutting everyone and having a business model that allows it to also make money.

Anyway…

With my MAC I decided to go with UK Online and for £14.99 I will have a 2meg connection enabled on my phoneline within the next few weeks.

BT Yahoo wants £26.99, UK Online wants £14.99.

Even with a 10% discount, BT Yahoo for me would be over £24 a month, so why would I or indeed anyone outside of a contract wish to start with BT Yahoo and its current pricing.

Sure there is some hassle for moving to another provider, but it’s not that complicated and if it saves you atleast £10 a month and provides atleast the same level of service you are getting, then you should also consider leaving.

Of course, I may regret the move if UK Online doesn’t provide a good service. But looking on the web and in various forums such as ADSLguide, I thnk I have made a good decision.

The winners have been announced for the 2005 UK Association of Online Publishers awards.

Emap scooped Launch of 2005 for WhatsOn.com which acts as a portal for its radio interests as well as getting Honour For innovation for Q Glastonbury Blog - Q4Music.com/blog

Online Publisher (Consumer) went to Guardian Newspapers for Guardian.co.uk while Reed Business Information collected Online Publisher (Business) for its portfolio of sites.

Full list of winners can be found here.

For the time being, The Observer is to give its groundbreaking blog a rest as its parent parent starts making plans to move into the new Berliner print format.

Writing on its blog, Rafael Behr says: “But, with all hands already occupied on the Berliner pump, the Observer blog is going into mothballs indefinitely.”

What a real shame. The Observer blog was the first newspaper to offer readers a real insight into the thinking and planning that goes on. It is a very useful blog, so don’t fully understand why they are putting an end to end pending the launch of the new format paper.

Having a blog now is more important than ever. As The Observer looks to move into the new Berliner, the blog could serve as a useful sounding off for readers as well as its own staff.

Maybe someone at The Observer could overture whoever decided the blog had to be frozen.

It just doesn’t make any sense especially as it has been a great way to communicate with readers.