An analysis of what people are downloading using the file-sharing Bittorrent system offers an insight into how the way people are watching TV is changing. A site called SumoTorrent gathered the information from more than 400.000 .torrent files on the net. It found that most people use Bittorrent to download the latest episode of their favourite TV show. Nearly 50% of people using Bittorrent go online to download a TV

The debacle over the Engadget and Apple’s share price is a startling reminder of the power of some blogs. Michael Arrington has documented what happened over at TechCrunch. In brief, the technology blog Engadget reported on an internal Apple e-mail which claimed the iPhone was being delayed. The news reverberated across the internet and within a matter of minutes, $4bn was wiped off Apple’s market worth. Engadget corrected the story

One of the challenges facing journalists is how to adapt to a changing world of information. Traditionally, the journalist was the gateway for information to the public. This role has been eroded by the internet and the ability of anyone to publish. Suw Charman has produced a paper on the place of the journalists in a world of citizen journalism for the Suw is smart enough to realise that citizen

Traditional broadcasters are struggling over how to retain audiences as the web eats into TV viewing. While some like Fox and ABC are investing in internet video portals, CBS has switched tactics. It has realised that it needs to make its video as widely available online as possible, rather than keeping it within its own website. It has admitted that its video broadband channel called Innertube has failed and instead

Video online is one of the big growth areas on the web. When I was involved in setting up the BBC News website in 1997, video meant small, blurry images in Real Player. 10 years later, visitors to the BBC from outside the UK still have to put up with the same small video clips in either Real Player or Windows Media Player. Broadband quality video is only available to

If you are a Canadian newspaper editor, you are probably in Winnipeg for the Newspapers ’07 conference, organised by the Canadian Newspaper Association. For the rest of us, there is a group blog called Conventional Wisdom run by staff at the Hamilton Spectator. They are live blogging the event. Among the highlights so far: Rob Curley from WashingtonPost.com reminding editors they are in the news business, not the paper business

Yet another news organisation is joining the Second Life landrush. This time, it is Rupert Murdoch’s 24-hour news channel, Sky News. It is launching a “virtual newsroom” on May 27, with kicking off with a simulcast with politics editor Adam Boulton’s Sunday Live programme. This is not exactly pushing the boundaries but it is a start. In its press release, Sky says: Special virtual rooms will allow residents to step

My friend and colleague Mindy McAdams has some great words of encouragement for budding video journalists: just do it. In her advice to a graduating student with no HTML or web knowledge, she recommends setting up a blog and uploading videos to YouTube. The point is not to read a big book on HTML, or wait for someone to build you a website. There are enough online tools to create

Call it a triumph for the audience. The events of the past day at community-based news site Digg offer an insight into how it is virtually impossible to control information in the age of the internet. The revolt was sparked off by Digg’s decision to take down a submission with details of a software key that breaks the encryption on HD-DVDs. Digg did so to comply following legal pressure from