Rhod Sharp, Kevin Anderson and Chris Vallance blog for Up All Night

Chris Vallance - 27 March 2006

Back after a miserable bout of the flu Rhod and I were finally in the same studio at the same time, I had started to wonder if we weren't like matter and anti-matter and some unknown law of the radio universe was preventing our talking face-to-face.

But we began with a chat about the Guardian Changing Media Summit (pdf). A number of former guests on pods and blogs were there (surely their greatest claim to fame) Neil MacIntosh , Ben Hammer sly - sporting a fetching male-utility-skirt, and Suw Charman to name but a few. Among the points of interest BT talked about a new phone that will have live TV channels, a DAB radio and a host of other features on a single device. It's what people in the industry call "convergence" the coming together of different systems. Personally I already have a "convergent" device, it's called my laptop - via VOIP I can already use it as a phone, I can watch video (via itunes), and of course I can listen to the radio and podcasts. Of course it is rather large, and it needs an internet connection. But as wifi becomes more and more common, I wonder whether the BT device will really have a niche to fill?

Our first blogger on the programme was Patrick Belton of Oxblog . Patrick is a graduate student at the University of Oxford , he's beginning a trip to Pakistan 's North West Frontier Province . The tribal regions are the focus of much speculation about Al-Qaeda and the remnants of the Taliban. It's a risky if fascinating journey Patrick is undertaking. We'll be reading his reports on Oxblog with great interest. Incidentally the mobile phone connection was pretty poor so we edited the interview rather severely. I think Patrick will post more details of the conversation on his blog.

We then moved on to a report from a controversial rally, a story suggested to us by Dan of the blog Muscularliberals . The March for Free Expression held in Trafalgar square was organized through the blogosphere. It's aim was to highlight, what the organizers regard as the threats posed to free speech by recent legislation and religious fundamentalism. Of course the Danish Cartoon controversy was one of the key issues and it should be noted that at the same time as the March for Free Expression was held a counter rally was being organised by the Muslim Action Committee in Birmingham . While both sides have very different views of the issue, it's interesting to see something like a dialogue open up on the internet and a debate between the two groups is planned in Oxford . I hope both groups blog and podcast that debate, it should be a very interesting discussion.

And last for the first half hour - but by no means least - Clark Boyd of the The World's Technology podcast sent us a wonderful report about a French vlogger (video blogger) who is trying to sell is nation to the land of the Freedom Fry.

We've had blogs turned into books (Riverbend of Baghdad Burning has had her blog blooked and it's now up for a major literary award) but comic Janey Godley is turning her blog into a stand-up show. Her blog is very funny, but it's also very moving, Janey's personal history is pretty tough (she was sexually abused as a child, her mother was murdered to mention just two incidents). But the blog has clearly helped many people who are also going through tough times. The humour is pretty good too!

Boingboing.net bills itself as a "Directory of Wonderful Things" it's a great website and hugely popular. Katie Law of the excellent science blog Inkycircus and BBC Radio Five Live, caught up with one of its editors, Corey Doctorow, at something called a Girl Geek Dinner.

And finally Kevin Anderson, who is currently back in the US, caught up with the blogger behind Patently Silly , a really fun website that highlights all the daft inventions the US patent office grants patents to every year.