Doom goes back to its roots

One of gaming's most successful franchises has its roots in little cardboard figures and funny-shaped dice. Yes, the blood-spattered carnage of Doom is based on a board game, or rather a whole heap of them.

And though there's no space here to dwell on the irony that Doom and its ilk went on to be far more popular than any bunch of stickmen ever were, you gotta laugh at the Doom franchise coming full circle, inspiring in turn its own board game which draws on the lore of the lone Marine battling the alien hordes.

It's all yours for $55 plus shipping.

Wacko pleads not guilty

Many newspapers note how King of Pap Michael Jackson made another proclamation of innocence to his fans via his website just before his trial began today. But few if any actually listed the URL.

The video is short and missing his trademark tics but judge for yourself whether the man is barking or just misunderstood.

Dot-bomb in full boom

Those were the days, the heady times in 1999/2000 when every idiot with an idea (and some without) was drowning in venture capital because the deluded men in suits thought this interweb thingy was going to be BIG.

Symptomatic of this excess was the insane parade of dot-coms who paid sums far in excess of their annual incomes to place TV ads during the 2000 SuperBowl. Most of the businesses are not even footnotes in history now but Forbes magazine's round-up (with footage) is an insight into a brief moment when just about anything seemed viable, so long as it had an 'i' in front of it.

Shroud of secrecy slips a little

Nokia has been remarkably coy, nay, evasive on sales of the unloved N-Gage - telling us only that 400,000 of the handsets had shipped (not sold) to shops in the first few of weeks after its launch in October 2003.

Now the Finns have finally revealed that 1.3 million N-Gages have actually been sold in the first 15 months of its life. Not bad at all, but unfortunately that's dwarfed by the 2.8m units of the DS unloaded by Nintendo in one month.

Still on the DS, the European launch date and pricing were confirmed at a bash in Paris yesterday. Stock hits shops on March 11 for €149 and it will include Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt in the bundle.

Lastly in console news, Sony is rumoured to be launching a music download service for the PSP handheld, also due here in March. Let's hope they do something about the existing and rather crap Sony Connect online music store (not available in Ireland, luckily) in the meantime.

Check for SARS

Mobile phones: safe or suspect? We won't know with any certainty for decades, despite the manufacturers' protestations, but you can take precautions such as using hands-free kits or limiting call times.

But are some phones more of a threat than others? All phones sold in Europe must pass the SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) test, which calculates how much radiation is emitted by the aerial. The maximum EU level is 2W/kg (watts per kilogram). Interestingly, the US maximum is much less - 1.6W/kg.

Information on what each phone emits isn't easy to come by in shops or on the networks' websites but the Mobile Manufacturers Forum maintains a list of SARs for most phones, though it's not bang up to date with the latest models.

You will be relieved to learn all phones available far exceed the minimum SAR safety requirement but it could be a useful tool in helping to make your decision on which handset to buy.

Eircom goes a-bundling

While Eircom shows no sign of cutting its ludicrously high line-rental charges, it's turning up the bluster with a new package launched today offering free phone-line connection together with free Sky installation plus digibox.

Sounds good but is there anyone who doesn't have a phone line already connected who's going to be tempted by this? The Sky offer is one that periodically crops anyway but at least Eircom discounts by 50% the first three months of the satellite subscription.

No sign of any further details on Eircom's site so far. Come back next week, eh?

Apple stops rot

A bunch of bug-fixes are rolled into Apple's first security update for 2005 - which the Mac maker recommends for everyone running versions 10.3.7 or 10.2.8 of OS X.

This is the first release in Apple's new naming system for its bug-fixes, following Microsoft's style of sequential numbering per year. So this one is 2005-001. It'll be interesting to see who wins the race for highest number of patches this year. MS is already up to 2005-003.

No hiding place for Windows pirates

It started with product activation for Windows XP in 2001 and has intermittently been used on some security updates (such as SP1 and the new anti-spyware beta) but Microsoft is now moving towards auditing every copy of XP for legitimacy.

Starting with XP users in Norway, China and the Czech Republic from February 7, anyone wanting to download security patches and other updates must submit to a check for a genuine copy of Windows. Presumably if this testbed goes without a hitch, the policy will be rolled out worldwide.

If you agree to turn on Automatic Updates, however, the policy will be relaxed but effectively it's Microsoft which then decides what gets added to your computer.

Would like some tunes with your Coke?

With more than 230 (legal) music download sites hovering in the margins of obscurity already, someone at MyCokeMusic decided we need an Irish arm of the store to rival the efforts from Eircom and iTunes.

Sugar-water shiller Coca-Cola hooked its star to the music download site in the UK 12 months ago (and it promptly fell flat on its first day), and now a year later that we've got the Irish version - even though you could buy tracks in Ireland from the UK store anyway (unlike - grrr - iTunes).

It appears to be a clone of all other stores (such as the Eircom Music Store, HMV, MSN, etc) which are based on the OD2 system set up by Peter Gabriel. So it's Windows Media files only (not compatible with Macs and iPods, for instance) and uncompetitive track prices of €1.29.

In its favour, full tracks can be streamed for just one cent (a much better way to consider a song for purchase than the standard 30-second free clip) and there's nothing to stop you burning songs to CD and then ripping them into MP3 to import onto an iPod. There are also 30 million promotional Coke cans and bottles apparently in circulation in Ireland (North and South) with credits for one download attached.

MyCokeMusic claims a catalogue of more than 500,000 tracks (iTunes has 700,000, Napster has one million) but a very quick check tonight found several songs which you could stream but not download.

Jack of all trades

Reviewed in this week's column, the iP5000 photo printer from Canon's new Pixma range proves that you can get great-looking black text documents as well as sharp pictures if you're prepared to spend that bit extra (€245).

Also in today's paper, you can read about the excellent (and free) Picasa which has just come out of the Google labs after a makeover. Version 2 turns Picasa into a powerful digital shoebox program for managing and editing your snaps.

In games, two similar role-playing/real-time strategy games emerge from the EA vaults after getting overlooked pre-Christmas. Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth is the better of the two, taking some welcome liberties with the Tolkien mythology. Armies of Exigo, on the other hand, is run-of-the-mill fare, bearing more than a passing resemblance to Warcraft III.

The new Paris Hilton video...

... no, no, she's got her clothes on this time. But Celebrity Justice, the US TV show which broke the story of the stroppy Hilton heiress allegedly nicking her own sex video from a newsagent, has kindly posted the security footage which pretty much convicts her.

Watch with glee as the famous-for-nothing-really Paris brazenly grabs a copy of her legendary amateur porn performance from the shelf and stalks off. The cops are "considering prosecution", apparently.

Cheaper texts inevitable

Vodafone's 6 cent per text offer is a genuine bargain, given that the cost can be as ridiculously high as 13 cent a go. You'd think by the amount of noise Voda is making that this is the new, permanent benchmark but no, the small print points out the deal lasts only until March 31.

The messages must be bought in blocks of 100, with only one block permitted per month. After you've used up the 100, the cost reverts to 8c a text. At least they carry over from month to month if you don't use them all.

This inexorable downward price trend can only continue, given that the networks could charge one cent per message and still they'd make a profit in light of how little it costs them.

In Denmark, for instance, texts cost as little as two cent, thanks in part to the serious amount of competition in that country. We can only hope for the same result now that Mobile Virtual Network Operators are about to make a comeback here.

Robo-grinds

OK, not quite robo-grinds but if any of those Leaving Cert revision schools are proving too hard to get into for you or your kids, one wacky idea could save the day: online tutorials.

Irish firm RevFacto is betting the huge demand for grinds coupled with the shortage/cost of places means students will be willing to try LeavingCertOnline.ie - where qualified teachers will be on hand to help with the cramming in a virtual classroom. The service is audio-only (over broadband and dial-up) but with a whiteboard feature and the ability to talk back (no, not back-chat).

Will it work? Who knows but it'll cost you €300 (for 12 tutorials) to find out. So far, Irish, English and Maths are the subjects on offer.

Office mayhem .. sort of

From the Funny For Five Minutes Dept: The goofballs who created Office Olympics think they're much hilarious than any impartisan observer would agree. But watching this bunch of loons running a hurdle race across a set of office cubicles is about as side-splitting as it gets.

What we want is blood, guts and real pain, not this half-arsed attempt to rub shoulders with Jackass. That said, it is kinda amusing for a quick squizz during your own office hours. Videos are about 3.5MB in QuickTime format. Don't all rush at once.

Ding, ding - the penny drops at Sony

A massive internal struggle has been raging for years at Sony but new signs suggest that reason is about to win. The electronics arm is at loggerheads with the "software" (music and movies) wing over how Sony as a group makes it difficult for consumers to manipulate and transfer the CDs and DVDs they've bought.

This internecine battle is most manifest in Sony's vain pursuit of copy protection, specifically by refusing to fully support MP3, insisting consumers use instead its proprietary Atrac format. Though Atrac is less restrictive than it was even two years ago, many people have responded to Sony's mallet-headed lockdown simply by not buying the products - a trend which allowed rivals such as Apple to steal a march in the music-player market.

The realisation is now slowly dawning among Sony suits that this was a giant mistake - the newest Sony players now support MP3 natively. And just today, Ken Kutaragi, head of Sony Computer Entertainment (the PlayStation people), fessed up to the error of their ways.

Kutaragi is tipped as the next boss of the entire Sony operation. He would do well to put his words into action. In the meantime, persuading his colleagues to abandon Atrac (particularly in its online store, not yet available in Ireland, if ever, given the delay so far) would be a start. We need another music format like a hole in the head.

Then he could make sure the forthcoming PlayStation Portable and PS3 (for which he is directly responsible) are as open as possible.

Clock is ticking for N-Gage

How long now before Nokia throws in the towel on the N-Gage? After a disastrous launch, a lukewarm re-launch and an ongoing stream of mediocre titles tainting its small library, the N-Gage is at best treading water or, more likely, headed for an early bath.

With heavyweight rivals from Nintendo (the DS) and Sony (the PSP) due in these parts within months, rumours have already surfaced of Nokia cutting its losses and shutting down the ill-starred project. The big N has been quick to pooh-pooh the mooted infanticide but only a fool can't see that N-Gage will be flatted by the DS/PSP juggernauts.

Fuelling the fire is Nokia's decision to mothball the R&D department directly responsible for the handheld.

Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Perhaps the Finns are better off sticking to what they know best: making damn fine phones.

Legal downloads sell by the truckload

The record industry has revealed a massive explosion in the legal downloading of music in the last year. Among the eye-opening facts:

• There are now more than 230 online stores flogging their wares - a fourfold increase over 2003
  
• Paid-for downloads leapt ten-fold to more than 200 million
  

The only answer to these dramatic figures is What took the record industry so long? If the stupid buggers had stopped stalling, playing silly beggars and suing people, then they wouldn't have lost so much revenue to the filesharers.

Now 200 million songs sold is still small change beside the CD, etc, formats, but think where everyone would be if the music muppets had woken up to the possibilities at the start of the century and authorised legal downloads sooner.

Granted, player technology such as the iPod has really only just hit the mass-market consciousness in the last 18 months but that was in part related to the difficulty involved with downloading songs legally.

Apple's iTunes store - which opened only in April 2003 in the US - has been a key driver in the sale of iPods because the two cooperate so seamlessly. Thanks to this (and Apple's trendy marketing) iTunes has also sewn up the lion's share of the download market (up to 90%, by some estimates - which leaves the other 230-odd stores scrabbling for small change).

You can read the full report from the IFPI - which represents the recording industry worldwide - here (2MB PDF).

Save the planet

Looking to get rid of some wonky old computer equipment that's kicking around since you got that shiny new PC at Christmas? If you bought from Dell, the Texans will kindly send a courier anywhere in Ireland to take away any PC, laptop or printer for recycling.

If the gear is still in the land of the living (none of yer 486 muck please), you can even specify that it be donated to local community groups.

The caveat: you must have bought from Dell in the last 30 days. But at least it doesn't have to be a Dell you're giving up for adoption/dismantling.

OK, so Dell isn't doing it just to be a good citizen - the EU's comically named WEEE directive comes into force this year and soon every manufacturer will be forced to accept stuff for recyling. But kudos to the big D for starting early.

Other companies in Ireland don't exactly shout about it (yet) but a little bit of digging produced at least one other take-back scheme, the HP recycling program.

Mid-priced megapixels

In this week's column, catch up with the Siemens S65, the latest cameraphone to tote a megapixel capability. Verdict: It's a looker and the camera's not half-bad either.

In games, Jak 3 got overlooked in the pre-Christmas rush (actually, Sony forgot to send it to me) and, although a re-run of part two, it does enough to justify the sticker price, for fans at least. Also reviewed: Zoo Tycoon 2 for PC (educational and fun too but only if you're under 15) and SSX: Out of Bounds for N-Gage (stirring stuff but ruined by N-Gage's flipping keypad).

Out of this world

Indulge your inner child with a shufty at the latest pictures from the Huygens (notice how the newsreaders go all Dutch to pronounce it?) probe which is nosing around one of Saturn's moons.

OK, so they look at bit dull but, for the true obsessive, listen to the "alien winds" - audio recorded during the descent through the atmosphere. Or not. Oh well, at least the downloadable wallpapers are nice.

Running scared or just bullish?

Apple's iPod Shuffle - its new flash-based MP3 player - has ruffled more than a few feathers, not least among its rivals who suddenly have a horrible vision of their whole market share collapsing.

Will the iPod Shuffle be a success thanks to Apple's canny marketing of a product which has been around for four years in various forms or will it lose out to players with more features for more money?

Companies such as Creative and Rio would like to think the latter but you can just smell the fear from their response to the Shuffle.

"We were very surprised that they would release a player with a limited feature set," said one particularly naive PR drone from Creative.

That's exactly the sort of lack of understanding - that mass-market consumers want simple, well-designed products - which has hindered pioneers like Creative. Looks as if they're going to stand by and allow their market to be owned by Apple all over again.

Gaze upon dawn and dusk simultaneously

There's a frighteningly expensive corporate toy which tracks the movement of the sun across the earth, displaying the moving swath of light on a flattened map of the globe.

Now you can have your own, albeit a less tricksy one, via the World Sunlight webpage. And - bonus! - you can even see where it's raining thanks to the overlay of cloud cover. Funny, there's always seems to be a whopper of a cumulo nimbus over Ireland.

Spying on the spies

Better belated than never, but Microsoft's making a credible attempt to root out noxious spyware, which infects a significant proportion of home PCs running Windows, usually without the owner's knowledge.

MS bought anti-spyware firm Giant in December and now just weeks later it's released a spyware fighter of its own - just rebadged, of course. Officially, it's in beta (lots of typos, possibly a bit rough round the edges) but it does the job of turning your PC from a roach motel to a much more secure citadel.

Greatly annoying, however, is Microsoft's insistence that it first check you're using a legal copy of Windows. It's an unnecessary series of hoops to jump through.

The software is free - for now - but doesn't come up to the gold standard of other veterans such as Spybot (also gratis) yet it's heartwarming to see MS is taking some responsibility for the mess it created with the spyware magnet Internet Explorer.

Let's hope Mr Gates takes security more seriously for the next version of IE/Windows - due next year.

Shiny shiny

The Consumer Electronics Show is an annual pageant of gadget pyrotechnics in Las Vegas. Tech firms save their biggest product dynamite for this gizmo-lover's heaven. It makes Toys 4 Big Boys look like the Late Late Toy Show.

No one ever invites me (sob) but to get a flavour of the goings-on, the sure things and no-hopers, have a wander through the reports from the Guardian, CNet, The Register and the BBC.

Can you tell I'm jealous yet?

No cheap books for us

Good news: Amazon is setting up in Ireland. Bad news: it's only the IT monkeys. So hurrays and boos for the IDA and Micheal Martin. Although they've managed to convince Amazon to locate its European systems department HQ in Dublin - fighting off competition from Luxembourg - it doesn't mean we Irish are going to get its books, DVDs or electronics any cheaper.

Stock will still have to come from Britain, so factor in shipping from Amazon UK for a single item and the savings usually come undone. What we need is for the IDA to twist Amazon's arm to build a big fecking warehouse here - or else makes us part of the UK to qualify for free shipping.

Come on, Micheal Martin, use your influence as Enterprise Minister and give us cheap books!

Windows on the critical list

Microsoft's monthly bug fix bonanza today plugs two critical holes in Windows and one other less serious flaw. Generously, Microsoft also offers a removal tool which can undo the damage of several of last year's most malicious worms and viruses.

Visit Windows Update for the cures or, better still, turn on Automatic Updates (under Control Panels in Windows XP) to get these and subsequent fixes.

How the Mac was born

Andy Herzfeld was part of the original team which created the Macintosh and now he's promoting his book documenting the brainstorming of the first real personal computer (as distinct from machines for corporate drones) in the early 1980s.

Among the interesting snippets in this CNet interview are the prediction that Windows' days of domination are numbered and that Apple needs to open up its iTunes/iPod encoding to other companies.

For fanatical Mac heads, Herzfeld's website Folklore.org carries many more vignettes from his time at Apple.

One size doesn't fit all

Creative's late realisation that technology needs a stylish polish has paid dividends with its iPod Mini challenger, the 5GB+radio Zen Micro, selling a boatload over Christmas.

Now the company intends to capitalise on its winning formula with five new flavours of the Zen Micro, 1GB, 4GB, 6GB and 5GB or 6GB with colour screen, at prices ranging from $200 to $350. You can see a picture of the flagship Zen Micro Photo here. No word on when it'll hit Irish shores.

The rumours were all true

Feverish speculation coupled with traditional Mac fanaticism reached a crescendo in San Francisco tonight as Apple boss Steve Jobs unveiled a slew of new products - but the surprise was a tad spoiled by the fact rumour sites had nailed them all almost spot-on.

The new and logically named Mac Mini tackles the notion that Macintoshes are too expensive by offering a stripped-down and low-cost machine ($500 in the US, an amazingly commensurate €520 here). Crucially, there's no monitor, keyboard and mouse, so the Mac Mini is clearly aimed at PC owners who previously couldn't justify buying a whole new machine but would like to dip their toes in Apple waters. It's just two inches tall, six inches square - incredibly - as cheap as many PCs.

Extending the phenomenally successful MP3 player family, the iPod Shuffle sets about conquering that tiny part of the market not already dominated by Apple's unassailable gem. No bigger than a few sticks of chewing gum and gossamer-light, the Shuffle is packing either 512MB or 1GB of storage for a fantastic €100/150. With no display, the best way to play the Shuffle is on random - hence the name.

The rollcall didn't stop there, Jobs pulled a few more rabbits out the hat, including an update to the iLife suite and iWork, the successor to the venerable AppleWorks but which includes just a word processor and presentation software. Microsoft Office need not fret.

Reduced and magnified

Casio's latest Exilim - the range of diminutive digital snappers - is another winner, albeit with some caveats. It's small but, amazingly, finds room for a zoom lens.

Read the full verdict on the EX-S100 in today's paper. Also in the column, the launch in Ireland of Apple's iTunes Music Store gets a more thorough going over.

In games, the post-Christmas drought leads to a round-up of some distinctly average titles: Leisure Suit Larry - Magna Cum Laude, Scaler and Sonic Heroes PC.

Don't play this game (and other good advice)

Gamespot has a monster (and highly readable) round-up of the best games of the year. Naturally, it's amusing to flick through the flipside, the most wretched pieces of software sitting on game store shelves. So save yourself some heartbreak in case you're tempted while rooting through the bargain bins.

iTunes comes to Ireland

Unheralded by a fanfare, or even a press release, iTunes has finally opened its doors in Ireland. More than two months after most of Europe was brought in from the cold, and a year and a half after it started up in the US, iTunes' song catalogue is now available for download, if you have an Irish credit card, with practically every one of the 700,000 tracks priced at 99 cent.

Either download the software from the Apple website - or if you have iTunes already, just click on Music Store, then select the Irish store. Remember, it's Mac OS X or Windows 2000/XP only. Or try this link.

Now all Apple has to do is bring the European stores up to par with the US service, which has 300,000 more songs, frequent free downloads and a number of other handy features.

Blog of the year

The Bloggies have been running for a rather staggering four years - aeons before anyone had heard of a blog, there were awards for the best of them? Go figure.

Altough somewhat in the shadow of the net's Oscars, the Webby Awards, the Bloggies are the chance for you to pay some respect to your favourite site by nominating it for this year's gongs.

It wouldn't hurt to look over the winners of previous years for an idea of how far blogs have come - memorably, they've been been described as the "mass amateurisation of (nearly everything)".

Nominations close on Monday for the Bloggies and on January 28 for the Webbys.

Apple tries to squash el-cheapo rumour

Ultra-secretive Apple gives nothing away when it comes to future products. Worse, it gets antsy when anyone else lets slip details of imminent new Macs, iPods or whatever.

Like today, when Apple got all heavy-handed and called in the legal attack dogs on Mac rumour site Think Secret for its report last week that a super-cheap iMac (under $500, but without a monitor - you wish!) and a competitor for Microsoft Office were on the way as early as next week.

This is the second similar suit by the company in the last month (a third is somewhat justified, being about leaked software). Frankly, Apple needs to get a grip. No one else in the industry is as paranoid and the slow-burning hype built by rumour sites around hot new stuff does anything but harm.

The lawsuit merely confirms what we didn't know for sure - that the cheap iMac, etc, is a reality and will be unveiled on January 11 at Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

Also confirmed for next week, according to Think Secret, is the tiny new flash-based iPod first mentioned here in November. It's likely to come in two versions, 1GB and 2GB, priced at $150 and $200, with a radio on-board.

From Pong to Grand Theft Auto

Hyperactive Mario is the world's most famous plumber - but what was his profession before he became a gaming legend?

If you can answer, then you'll be fascinated by the Video Game Revolution which charts the history of digital entertainment from Pong to Grand Theft Auto.

Among the golden nuggets are the revelation that the first video game was actually created in 1952 on a giant mainframe. But the site - created to accompany a PBS documentary (sadly not available online) - delves much further, with best/worst lists, insight into game development and a broad smattering of thinkpieces about the impact of gaming.

Microsoftians prefer Google

In a peculiar kind of irony, the drones at Microsoft prefer not to eat their own dog food when it comes to searching the web. According to an internet monitor, MS employees are turning up their noses at the company's newly launched search engine and sticking instead with Google, by a large margin.

Mind you, the data could be skewed by the possibility MS folk visit the MSN search via an intranet, so let's not get carried away. But this could be the beginning of a long-running internet myth.

In a similar vein, the survey shows one-third of Apple's employees choose not to use the company's own web browser, Safari.

Nobody's perfect, eh?

Free wireless breaking out all over

In this week's column, read about the sudden and very welcome outbreak of free Wi-Fi access all over Dublin. While Esat BT bravely soldiers on charging an arm and a leg for its Wi-Fi (in fairness it's targeting business users in comfortable locations - just today it pledged to connect some O'Brien's sandwich bars), Eircom has been quietly enabling loads of phone boxes where you can hook up for nowt. If you can bear the cold and the muggers, that is.

Thanks to the appalling structure of Eircom's web site, there's no direct link to the list of free wireless availability but go to www.eircom.ie, click on Site Map, then choose Wireless Broadband Locations. It's a small list but growing and a good sign that free Wi-Fi will soon be the norm.

Also read about Dell's new X50 range of Axim PocketPC-based personal organisers, which are handsome devils and, as usual, great value.

In games, Ghost Recon 2 is a simplified and therefore much more enjoyable squad shooter sequel, Blinx 2 fixes many of the problems which bedevilled the time-bending original and CSI: Miami is undemanding crime-solving repeated.

Poisoned loot

Be careful what free tunes you download via P2P programs such as Kazaa - the latest anti-pirate tactic by record companies seems to go beyond the planting of just passive dummy files.

Now the music giants appear to have seeded the networks with "songs" that spawn pop-up windows loaded with adware. So far, the technology is confined to Windows Media Audio (WMA) files and it's hardly what you'd call destructive but, at a guess, it's a sign the "war" on downloading is going to get dirty.

Wave of video

It might seem a bit morbidly voyeuristic but if you haven't had your fill of tsunami footage, visit this blog for a swath of mostly tourist-shot video from the frontline.

Then take a look at an animation created by a Japanese scientist illustrating the earthquake setting off the devastating wave across the Indian Ocean. Be patient, it's 1.2MB in size but worth it. The BBC has some startling before-and-after satellite images of Banda Aceh, in the north of Indonesia.

Finally, head over to the Irish Red Cross to donate some cash to help those people.

DIY: is this the future of the radio? Hope not...

Better late than never, Log On has finally found the time to catch up on podcasting, the hottish new trend which advocates say could replace radio broadcasting.

The basic idea is that anybody can record a radio show and make it available as an MP3 file for download (broadband only!) onto an iPod (or any other MP3 player). Like desktop-publishing software and idiot-proof web design or blog programs, it creates a curious kind of democracy but also frees the world's bores to natter on at length about their interesting socks or somesuch.

Lots of "shows" are already regular podcasters but few are really that gripping, beyond a certain novelty value of listening to some nerd in Wisconsin rabbit on while you're travelling on the 66 bus.

None are as polished as the self-styled guru of podcasting, ex-MTV host Adam Curry - despite the accent, he's based in Britain. Don't blame me if he bores you to death to begin with - but stick with it.

Personally, a more interesting example is Reel Reviews, a sort of DVD commentary by a film critic about classic films, with lots of nuggets and analysis.

Best of all about podcasting, from your point of view, is that the whole business of downloading and copying to iPod can be automated. Visit iPodder for more details.

Check out Wired News and The Guardian for where to get started elsewhere.