Heart FM's borkfast show – a fine way to start your day There can be few things worse than Microsoft Windows elbowing itself into a presenting partnership, as seen in this digital signage for the Heart breakfast show. For those unfamiliar with the station, Heart is a UK national broadcaster with Global as its parent. It currently consists of a dozen or so regional stations with a …
Since a bork is definitely a thing, all of these displays should use the much vaunted connectivity the IoT promises.
As soon as a bork shows up, it should phone.... somewhere that has a routine or a meatsack who could immediately remedy the problem thereby nipping it in the bud.
Do you mean a printed poster? Do you know the carbon footprint of making paper, ink, printing etc?*
*Answer - it's a lot, lot, lot less than one of these Digital displays. Not so sure on the carbon footprint of sending a Jo-in-a-van out to change them once a month, though. Mind you, given the amount of printed paper that last came in the box with a computer & Windows installation... in every language possible...
Heart is part of a conglomeration of "local" radio stations.
They general play the same bland, middle of the road sings, 80% of which are old classics (read the most overplayed records in history). Throw in some "wacky" presenters and you are good to go.
And when I say local, it's really a national radio company that just plays lip service with some local adverts and a couple of local news headlines.
Seriously, you couldn't get more dreary radio if you tried.
If you want a much better radio experience, then give Radio Paradise a try - very eclectic, no ads, no inane talking and is financially supported by those listeners that like it that way.
Admittedly it's internet only, but for those who can, it's worth it!
Planet Rock for me. Listen on DAB all the time when I can, and sometimes fall asleep to it via Sky radio.
It has ads, but - if you opt for the 'supported by the listeners' option - you can get ad-free (albeit only online).
Radio Paradise has no ads, regardless of whether you're a supporter or not. There are also different streams, including Rock, Mellow and Eclectic depending on your mood. It's a good thing !
Heck I sideloaded radioplayer Canada (not available in the playstore in the UK due to geolocking) denied location access and now have access to a myriad of Canadian radio stations, including a plethora of rock stations...all of which are far superior to the banal inoffensive drudge that is uk radio and as a bonus the ads are even tolerable and on the whole non grating to listen to.
Other times I fire up Spotify and don't deal with annoying "presenters"
Heart is part of a conglomeration of "local" radio stations.
They general play the same bland, middle of the road sings, 80% of which are old classics (read the most overplayed records in history). Throw in some "wacky" presenters and you are good to go.
And when I say local, it's really a national radio company that just plays lip service with some local adverts and a couple of local news headlines.
Seriously, you couldn't get more dreary radio if you tried.
That was the result of the Radiocentre lobbying on behalf of their 'members'. They lobbied Ofcom to allow Global and Bauer to cut the number of stations by enlarging the area one station could broadcast to. So in the Thames Valley it allowed them to get rid of Fox FM in Oxford and broadcast everything from Reading. Or in Devon broadcast everything from Exeter and ditch Barnstaple.
For 'members' that would be (Cashley Taybor's) Global and Bauer as they do most of the funding for the body. Don't believe the other members especially those who have their stations where Global also broadcast were that thrilled.
It ain't just playing lip service to the rules. It's riding roughshod over them. Heart basically bought up a load of local franchises as a way of creating a national station. Ofcom and the government claim that local radio is essential, but they also implemented a system of selling off the bandwidth to the highest bidder with little or no oversight. When this sort of nonsense became apparent they handed some bandwidth to local "community" (ie for the most part embarrassingly amateur) stations. Just so they could prove they are committed to local radio.
My missis used to listen to those two annoying twats until I asked her to either change stations or switch the damn thing off. Not only are those two enough to make you take a hammer to the radio, the station itself seems to have a library of around 100 songs which they constantly recycle. Over a year since I stopped having the thing inflicted on me, I went somewhere that was playing Heart and, surprise surprise, they were playing the same bleedin' songs as when I last heard 'em.
Oh, and they're sponsored by TalkTalk, if you really need another reason to dislike them.
Well, looking at the screenshot, it clearly says "SRServer.exe... Application error / The application was unable to start connectivity"
A quick Duck Duck Go reveals SRServer.exe to be the client component of Splashtop Streamer Remote Desktop software.
So the software that has caused the bork is the very same software that would allow the helldesk operatives to remote in and fix the bork.
Bork, bork, indeed.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
