This video is a about the gubbins behind the Raspberry Pi, the cutest PC ever?
Being a cold and damp Saturday afternoon here in West Wales and with a bit of time on my hands I’ve been looking through my photo collection. To be honest I am pretty poor at labeling photos, and have always relied upon my memory to tell me where and when photos were taken. Sadly, the ravages of time and age are starting to make this once infallible source of information rather less reliable. The photo above was taken a few years ago whilst the family and I were on our travels, and it’s actually one of those few photos where I do remember where it was taken, and because it was taken with a digital camera I also know the date.
But just for fun, I wonder if anyone else would like to take a guess at where the photo was taken? You can see old stone walls, you can see a palm tree, you can see two little girls. They way they are dressed gives a clue to the weather, must be quite cold.
Could be the Holy Land somewhere, could be France, maybe even Italy, hmm.
As a bit of a radio fan, it’s no surprise really that I love looking at old radio sets. I don’t have the space or money to really indulge my interest that much, so websites and magazine articles and occasional museum visits have to do.
There’s a lovely little presentation on the BBC website at the moment with some fantastic photos of old radio sets owned by Nicholas Logsdail who founded the Lisson Art Gallery in 1967. Have a look here.
Wales is full of castles, but very few of them are actually Welsh. Most were built by Roman, Norman, Flemish and English invaders throughout the centuries.
Dolbadarn Castle, pictured above, is different. It was actually built by the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great during the early 13th century, at the base of the Llanberis Pass, in North Wales. The castle was important both militarily and as a symbol of Llywelyn’s power and authority. The castle features a large stone keep, which historian Richard Avent considers “the finest surviving example of a Welsh round tower”. In 1284 Dolbadarn was taken by Edward I, who removed some of its timbers to build his new castle at Caernarfon. The castle was used as a manor house for some years, before falling into ruin. In the 18th and 19th century it was a popular destination for painters interested in Sublime and Picturesque landscapes. It is now owned by Cadw and managed as a tourist attraction.
I took the above photo in 1986 whilst on a walking holiday in North Wales. We just stumbled upon it on our way to Llanberis and I just had to have a photo of it. I can quite understand why so many people have painted the castle, it’s a perfect subject.
I must admit that I love Internet Radio, all those thousands of stations to chose from, all types of music, all types of talk, and all free. For UK-based radio fans like myself, the only way in the past that we could get any sort of choice was by tuning the shortwave bands, or by building huge frame aerials so we could listen to AM stations from mainland Europe. Not now, almost any PC or smartphone that can connect to the internet will allow you to listen in decent quality to stations from all over planet earth.
No surprise that others are also very taken with internet radio, even the USA, which has thousands of radio stations on AM and FM, has fallen in love with it.
According to new data from Edison Research and Arbitron, weekly Internet radio listening in the U.S. grew 30% from 2011 to 2012. “This is the largest year-over-year increase we’ve seen since we began tracking this stat in 1998,” writes Edison VP Tom Webster. And it’s likely thanks to smartphones.
The data is part of Edison and Arbitron’s report, “The Infinite Dial 2012: Navigating Digital Platforms,” which will be released in full on April 10.
The companies found that 29% of Americans 12+ used Internet radio (including AM/FM streams and pureplays) weekly in 2012, up from 22% in 2011.
Webster points to smartphones and mobile web access as the catalyst. “In a sense, the continued penetration of smartphones is encouraging something of a radio renaissance, though it doesn’t look like your father’s Victrola,” he writes.
When traditional FM and AM radio stations are playing the same old stuff, taking local programming off the air and replacing it with nationally networked advertiser friendly fluff, is it any wonder people are looking elsewhere for entertainment and information?
Long live Internet Radio!
AMAZING bargains for the UK!
