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Rory Cellan-Jones (BBC)

Listed below are comments made by Rory Cellan-Jones (BBC) between Sunday, 1st March 2009 and Saturday, 31st October 2009.

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24 hours with Ubuntu 02:24am on 31 Oct 2009 Sorry Pixelvision, I have been on holiday abroad for the last week - so have not been posting, though I have been scanning the comments on this post eagerly.

But quite a few interesting stories have broken in my absence - government filesharing disconnection plans, Google Music search - so I will try to write something for Monday on the plane home tonight.

Oh - and can I stress once more to all of those people who are angry that a)I gave just 24 hours to Ubuntu and b) I didn't immediately install it on my home and office computers, that this was meant to be a snapshot review, seen from the point of view of the average home user - and if I'd waited a week to complete the post on returning from holiday, there would have been very little for people to argue about in my absence.
24 hours with Ubuntu 2:07pm on 26 Oct 2009 This post has generated a huge volume of responses, so thought I'd clarify a couple of points.

First, the Audacity business - yes I should have gone straight to the software centre to install it, and when I did it was easy. It was just hunting the right version down on the web which proved tricky, so thanks for your advice.

Secondly, Canonical didn't send someone over because I was having trouble - the firm rang me and asked if they could come and install a few add-ons because they wanted to be sure that I'd get a good experience.

Thirdly, this was never going to be a full review, partly because the website already had Ubuntu coverage planned for this week, but also because I was going away on holiday on Friday night and wanted to get something posted before then.

What I find really puzzling is the idea that "RCJ likes to bait Linux users". The opposite is true - my aim last week was to make sure that amidst our Windows 7 coverage, we also took care to mention alternatives. This particular post was an honest attempt to recreate what would be the experience for average computer users, who are very much less expert than many who've responded here, when trying the Ubuntu environment for the first time.

Finally, is the kind of hostility shown in some of these comments really going to win over millions of the undecided to the Linux camp?
Who wins from an Orange iPhone? 3:33pm on 28 Sep 2009 FADviral(comment 17)You say :

"The iPhone was the first mobile phone with a touchscreen."Erm, no it wasn't."

Erm - the whole point is that the Strand report says this is another of the myths about the iPhone.
Listening to Mr iPhone 5:45pm on 01 Jul 2009 A quick response to comment 2 - I have in fact given recent coverage to the HTC Hero. I must also tell you that yesterday I got the following message from a Twitter user - "when are you and the rest of the BBC going to stop being so anti apple?" - so it is a difficult line to tread.

And I note that you say "it is nice to see British design continuing to be successeful." I agree - which is why I thought my account of the event with Jonathan Ive might possibly be of interest to those who weren't able to be there. If it was not, then I apologise.
The App Economy 6:02pm on 21 Apr 2009 Dear LordBeddGelert,

I am delighted that you are a regular reader of this blog and derive so much pleasure from it.

Upon re-reading this post, I can't quite see how you can construe it as indicating that mobile phone application development is going to be the industry that puts two million UK workers back in a job.

I do, however, believe that writing software for phones is a growth industry, and one where we as a country seem to have some strengths. But, as I make clear, we are in the early days of a gold-rush (not sure why you regard that line as PR tosh - most gold prospectors end up broke), and it's difficult to say just who the winners will be.

This blog aims to give readers an insight into new areas of technology, from both a technical and commercial angle. If you see topics like phone applications(many apologies for the facile abbreviation) as unworthy of examination, then I'm sorry but I disagree.

Every new development is heavily marketed - and our job is to try to cut through the PR guff and work out where the technology industry is going. You obviously feel we are failing in that job, but we'll just have to go away and try to do better.
Best wishes,

Rory Cellan-Jones
G20: The social media battle 4:55pm on 31 Mar 2009 Number 2 - Rob Murray - this is a blog post, not a comprehensive list of G20 web resources, but happy to see people posting links here.

Since writing this, I've also been contacted by the people from AudioBoo - which allows you to upload sound recordings to the cloud from a phone. They say there will be "booing" from inside and outside the G20 summit. I bet there will!
Bletchley Park's social media war 06:23am on 19 Mar 2009 Dr Sue Black has been in touch to point out that I've got a couple of things wrong. I've already corrected the Bletchley Park Twitter address - it's @bletchleypark . But it was actually set up in January by Christian Payne(aka documentally) , one of a group of bloggers taken on a visit to the Park by Dr Black. Another example of social media bringing people together around a cause.
Apple's "brave" price rise 06:49am on 04 Mar 2009 Oh dear, a number of people took my description of Apple's move as "brave" too literally.

Perhaps they were never fans of the British series "Yes, Minister" in which Sir Humphrey, when advising a feckless government minister about to embark on a policy which was bound to end in disaster, would say,"Well, minister, that is a very brave move."
Apple's "brave" price rise 6:27pm on 03 Mar 2009 Apple has now released this statement about prices:

"Apple suggests product prices internationally on the basis of several factors, including currency exchange rates, local import laws, business practices, taxes, and the cost of doing business. These factors vary from region to region and over time, such that international prices are not always comparable to US suggested retail prices."

The company says that there are other factors as well as currency which means UK prices won't always be the direct equivalent of those in the US.
Will Spotify change the music biz? 7:52pm on 01 Mar 2009 A couple of people have wondered why I didn't mention last.fm in this post. The reason is I'd already written a comparison between spotify and last.fm a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/02/spotify_versus_lastfm.html

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